• NINE •

Will We Die?

Albus did not know what to say to Aberforth the next morning. Gellert did not leave by the window when they woke up, legs entangled beneath the bedsheets, and Albus awoke to his azure eyes floating above him.

Gellert leaned backwards, shrugging the blankets back over himself with a contented smile when Albus stirred. "Hello again."

Groaning, Albus sat up, wiped sweat and grit from his eyes. "Mmph. Good morning. What are you doing here?"

The flicker of a frown crossed Gellert's eyes. "You do not remember?"

"Remember… What did we do?" And then he remembered. His cheeks darkened. "Oh. That ."

"Yes," replied Gellert, looking amused. " That ."

Somehow they managed to get dressed without waking half the house. Albus couldn't look at Gellert as he straightened the cuffs on his shirt. Gellert, on the other hand, was sleeker than usual, sliding his arms around Albus' waist before they'd even got to the door.

Getting Gellert out of the house was a different matter. No sooner had they bundled their way to the landing, there came the creek of a boot on floorboards; their laughter stopped.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The voice was gruff, curt. Albus froze.

"Aberforth?" he called up the stairs and Aberforth's tangle of auburn hair appeared over the bannister. The rest of him soon followed, still clad in his nightclothes, arms folded across his chest. He stared at the sight of Gellert, who was casually leaning against Albus' arm in the middle of the staircase. The stare hardened into a glare.

"What is he doing here? Again , for Merlin's sake."

Albus bit his lip and tried not to blush, summoning all the resolve he had to stand his ground. "Gellert is a guest, Ab. Be polite."

His brother cast a scathing look over the pair of them. "Guest? Yeah, of course he is."

Albus didn't like the sound of that. The look in Aberforth's piercing blue gaze was shrewd. Too shrewd. He'd made a grave mistake in underestimating his younger brother. "Please don't glare at me like that," he said, taking a deep breath to prevent his legs from giving way.

"Like what?"

"As if you hate me."

With a snort, Aberforth turned away, not even looking at Gellert. The set of Gellert's jaw was contemptuous, full of fury. Albus felt a thin stick of wood shift against his arm.

He pushed it down. "No," he whispered, still staring at the spot where Aberforth had vanished. "Don't hurt him. He hasn't done anything wrong - not really. And he hasn't got any proof."

"What if he goes to the Ministry?"

Albus pushed that horrible thought away. "He won't," he said firmly, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were true. "I know he won't."

In silence, he led Gellert down the stairs and into the kitchen. To his surprise, humming came from the spot by the stove and he stepped around the table to see a thin, pale hand, making shapes on the floor in sheep bones.

"Ariana."

She looked up. Her narrow face was pinched, blue eyes ringed with shadows, and the humming stopped as Albus came towards her. His heart twinged. What had his neglect done?

"Ariana, have you slept?" Albus kept his voice soft as he sat down cross-legged on the floor next to his sister, who gathered up the handful of bones and let them slip through the cracks between her fingers.

Her eyes were vacant and, after a second's pause, she shook her head.

"You…? But I thought Aberforth helped you to bed."

"That does not necessarily mean that she slept."

Albus jumped. He hadn't noticed Gellert slipping up behind him. Turning around, he found the other boy looking at Ariana thoughtfully, one finger tracing his mouth. Albus was captivated.

"I- I suppose so. But, Ari, you can't have been awake for all this time. How did you get downstairs?"

"She walked, naturally," said Gellert.

"No," said Albus, shaking his head. "Her room is locked. The night after our mother died, we woke up to find her gone. Aberforth found her in the goat shed, blue with cold."

"Then she must have got out another way. It hardly matters how she slept, or even why she got out. Her magic is growing stronger."

Albus bit his lip. That was bad. What was he going to do? He couldn't take Ariana on their quest to find the Hallows. Not when she was a danger to their surroundings - and herself.

He looked down at the bones on the floor, scattered here and there with their twisted heads and limbs. "What are those?"

Ariana looked at them too, scrunching her forehead.

Silently, Gellert slipped his hand beneath hers and scooped the bones into a pile. He began to sort through them, counting one by one.

At last, he sat back on his heels and looked at Albus. "Oracle bones. Your sister is more awake than you know," he said.

Albus blinked at the little girl beside him, grubby in yesterday's dress, her feet bare and icy-looking on the stone floor. He shook his head. "She isn't," he told Gellert sadly, stroking the blonde hair of Ariana's forehead. "She is just ill."

"What have you done with Ariana?" The next second, the kitchen door had flown open and Aberforth stood there, his shirt half done up and shoes untied. His eyes were wild. "Where is she? If Grindelwald has done something, Albus, I swear to God-"

His mouth gaping in surprise, Albus looked down at Ariana, who had curled herself against his chest, her warm heartbeat fluttering against his. Before he had time to speak, however, Gellert had got to his feet and looked Aberforth squarely in the eye, tapping his wand against his wrists and smirking.

"Hasty, aren't we? You might want to learn to get out of that habit of leaping to conclusions."

"Get out of my kitchen," snarled Aberforth, fists clenched.

Gellert stepped aside so that Ariana, frightened but unharmed, was visible. "Certainly," he said with a neat bow, and Aberforth's mouth fell open. "Albus, I will see you later."

"Wait-" Albus began, nudging Ariana off him and getting to his feet.

But Gellert had already whisked out of the door.

Aberforth snorted as he came towards them, crouching down on the floor beside Albus and stroking Ariana's cheek.

"She all right?"

Albus looked at him, studying the melting lines of his brother's face. "She hasn't slept."

Aberforth swore. "How d'you know?"

"We came downstairs and heard her humming. She told us."

At the word 'we', Aberforth's back stiffened. They sat there in silence for a long while, Ariana curled up between them, the bridge between their chests.

Aberforth's voice was gruff when he spoke. "You've got to be more careful."

Albus said nothing.

"I'm not kidding. You can't risk hurting her or leaving us to fend for ourselves. Don't you dare go getting arrested."

A bitter smile twisted Albus' lips. "I won't," he told a shelf over his brother's shoulder.

"Good," grunted Aberforth, glaring at him. "Because he isn't worth it."

Silence returned again and, when Albus next spoke, it was as he got to his feet. "Take care of Ariana for me. I have work to do."

"All right," mumbled Aberfroth, not looking up as Albus slipped from the room, "I will."

When he and Gellert met again, it was in a place that made Albus shudder.

"Could we really not have spoken anywhere else?" he asked, clinging to the rough thatch beneath him as he looked Gellert desperately in the face. "If we fall through the roof, Aberforth is going to kill us."

"I am sure he will," replied Gellert, looking perfectly at ease beside the weathervane. "But I despise being stuck inside and I have had to put up with Old Batty's books all evening."

"Still," Albus grumbled, wiping pigeon excrement from his hand. "The roof."

"It is only the goat shed," said Gellert carelessly. "More private than either of our houses and much more interesting."

Albus sighed and resigned himself to being panic-stricken all night. How they were going to get down was beyond him. He had kept his eyes shut on the way up.

"My mother wrote to me, yesterday," said Gellert quietly after a long pause, examining his own fingernails.

Sitting up straight, Albus almost slipped from his precarious perch. "You are not going home, are you?"

Gellert flashed a smile his way. "No. Possibly not ever. But she was asking me about England and, naturally, I told her it is dreadfully dull."

Albus laughed, then felt his forehead crease. "She doesn't know about me, does she?" he asked anxiously.

"No," said Gellert again. "I have no intention of telling her."

"Do you get along with your family?"

A shrug. "As much as anyone."

"Oh." Albus didn't know what to say. Gellert had never expanded on the topic of his parentage. Albus wasn't even sure his father was still alive. "I understand. I feel the same about mine."

Gellert gave him a long, hard look, then settled back against the slant of the roof, crossing his legs in front of him with his arms behind his head. "Tell me more about the Dumbledores. Your ancestors were powerful, I believe."

"Very. Although my mother was of course muggleborn. There have been a few legends which have sprung up around us over the years."

"Legends?" Gellert's eyes were suddenly keen. "I did not know that."

"You wouldn't," replied Albus with a laugh, "I hardly know myself. But they say a phoenix will come to any family member who is in dire need. Anyone with Dumbledore blood has the summoning ability. I do not know how it is done, but I heard my great-great-grandfather had one."

"And where is it now?"

"No one knows. It took flight at his death and never returned." He stared into space over the tops of the houses opposite. Every window was empty, every street and home devoid of life except the dirty straw roof which poked into their backs. He had never felt closer to freedom, and yet so trapped.

"Albus," said Gellert suddenly, shifting position so they were closer together. "I have been meaning to mention... About my own family."

"Your…?" Taken by surprise Albus turned to look at him. Gellert's chin shone in the moonlight, titled up towards the sky. It was a few seconds before Albus realised the atmosphere had changed, that his back had gone rigid, horribly rigid. "Gellert?"

No reply. And then a horrible moan issued from the shadow next to him, a moan so unlike Gellert's voice that Albus' blood froze.

He sat up and inched towards him. "Gellert? What is the matter?"

But Gellert was still in his rigid position, his eyes glazed, reflecting the stars that shone above them. And then he collapsed backwards.

"Gellert!" Albus' stomach twisted as waves of panic crashed over him. Gellert had begun to thrash, flat on his back and gasping for air, his limbs stiff by his sides and his eyes rolling upwards. "G-Gellert, can you hear me? Speak to me, please, I don't know what to do. I have to get you awake before I can get Mrs-"

"Albus."

The voice that croaked from his right roused more terror than relief. Gellert lay still as a statue, his mouth slightly open, sweat beading on his brow, mouthing words that had no meaning.

Crawling to his side, Albus looked down and touched his arm.

Gellert groaned, his fingers clinging so tightly it was painful. "Help me up," he breathed and Albus, still trembling, helped to ease him upright.

When he let go, Gellert let out a long sigh and lowered his face onto his knees. His elbows shook.

"Oh, God. People running. Flashing lights. Death and destruction and darkness."

"What happened?" whispered Albus, lifting a trembling hand to push the sweat off his forehead. His whole body was numb with shock. Never had he imagined that Gellert Grindelwald could collapse like that.

Gellert exhaled again. "Albus, there was a dark mass. A child of immense power. I have never had a vision like this before."

"A vision?" Albus's eyes widened. "You- You did not tell me you were a prophet."

"Not a prophet. A seer." Gellert's voice was low, still shaking. "It runs in the family." He raised his head and gave Albus a knowing smile. "Much like your Phoenix legend."

Disbelieving, Albus tapped his foot against the thatch. So much power. He had had no idea.

"Are you all right?"

With another smile, Gellert sat up and lounged back into his original position. "Of course."

Albus breathed in through his nose. "That was some powerful vision," he said quietly.

For the first time, something in Gellert's confident smile seemed to flicker. "Yes. It was."

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know," replied Gellert, frowning. "But I am certain it was important. We can use it on our travels. When we change the world. Somewhere, there is a child in danger. And children in danger can be used."

Of course. Their plan. Albus hunched over and watched a cloud slide over the silver half-moon above. In a second, it was gone, barely distinguishable against the velvet mass of sky.

"What will happen to us if we don't go?" he asked suddenly.

Gellert's gaze slid over him, then up at the moon too. "We'll die," he said, his voice so faint it seemed to come from half a world away. "We'll die."

Albus shivered as he watched the stars on either side of the ghostly orb twinkle. He did not need to ask what Gellert meant. They would die. They would shrivel up, wasted like their forebears, unknown, unloved, as obscure as their shadows entangled in front of them.

"We all die eventually," he whispered, the truth heavy on his heart.

Gellert's fingers reached out and entwined themselves through his. "Not us," he said softly, his breath warm on Albus' ear. "Not us."

It was true. They didn't need the Hallows to go down in history, Albus thought, tilting his head back to drink in the cool night air. They alone were enough. Merely their presence, their knowledge of each other, could set the world on fire. And he imagined the thatch bursting into flames beneath them, brighter than the phoenix that dwelled in his veins, hotter than anything the Earth had ever seen.

But the fear was still there, surging under his skin, images of the frightful scene Gellert had conjured up, of the dark mass, of the screaming and lights. What if they died? Could something so mundane tear them apart? And then he remembered Ariana and the coffin shape that had appeared in her teacup. His heart clenched so tightly he couldn't breathe.

"Don't go," he whispered to Gellert. But he was hardly sure the other boy had heard him. He was alone in his terror and the warmth of the phoenix flickered and died inside him.