As the house-elf, Birdy, served the appetisers, and they began to tuck in, Albus found himself shooting furtive glances at Gellert. He found the other boy fascinating and he knew it would be only polite to make conversation, but much as he wanted to, he found himself quite tongue-tied. There was something intimidating about Bathilda's tall, stern great-nephew.
Fortunately, Gellert seemed to suffer from no such shyness. As he impaled a dumpling on his fork and shifted it to his plate, he said, "Großtante, you were saying about Albus' article in Transfigurating Today? I am very curious to learn more about him and his research."
"Transfiguration Today," Bathilda corrected him. "Yes, his article was on the conservation of matter, as I said. I would go into details, but we have the expert right here with us, so why don't you ask him yourself?"
Gellert turned and fixed Albus with a penetrating stare, and Albus felt a rush of warmth in his face that had nothing to do with the fire's heat.
"I would love to talk about my research," Albus managed to say. He looked down and fiddled with his cutlery, pushing the pastries around on his plate so he wouldn't have to meet Gellert's gaze. "But may I say, I'm curious about Gellert, too. I don't know anything about what he does, or his areas of interest…" He risked an upwards glance and saw Gellert looking at him with exactly the same expression as before, as though no time had passed. It was strange; Gellert's face was generally emotionless, but when emotion did appear, it was sudden and intense. It was as though his face only had two settings: blank or passionate, with none of the moderate expressions in between that most people had.
"Natürlich, I must tell you about myself also," said Gellert. "I came from Germany, as you know already. I have been a student at Durmstrang Institute until recently."
"Gellert decided that it would be best to take a break from his studies," Bathilda interrupted. Gellert shook his head at her.
"Nein, Großtante Bathilda, why do you lie? You are trying to protect my honour, or perhaps your own, but it means nothing to me. I am not ashamed of anything." He looked defiantly at Albus. "I was expelled from Durmstrang. The Headmaster and the other students will say that I broke the rules and did unspeakable things, but in truth, they were jealous of my power and my determination. I was the best student to ever attend Durmstrang Institute, and in my third year I already knew more magic than all of the teachers. There was nothing left for anyone to teach me, so I spent the rest of the years teaching myself, pushing the study of magic to the highest limit."
As Gellert spoke, a strange force seemed to animate his whole body with power and passion. His eyes blazed brighter than ever, his voice swelled like thunder, and his remarkable face seemed to shine with sincerity. Albus was enthralled. Though he didn't realise it, he was staring at Gellert with his mouth slightly open. He couldn't look away.
"You asked about my areas of interest? Magic is my area of interest. I want to be the greatest, the best, the most powerful magician that ever lived. I have read a thousand books and done a thousand experiments and gone further on the paths of knowledge than most wizards three times my age. But the more I learn, the more I see that there is so much more to learn… it almost makes me to weep, to think that although if I study for a thousand years, I will only have one droplet of power of the whole ocean of magic. But I will be the one who does this. The others are too weak, too stupid, too cowardly to become a great sorcerer."
"Only think, how much power there is in the universe, greater than any wizard has ever seen? The power of the sun, burning for hundreds and thousands of years, hotter than any fire on Earth. The power of the whirlwind, the tidal wave, the earthquake, the storm, all of which destroy cities and eradicate everything in their path. The power of the magnet, the atom and the electron, the fundamental forces of creation and destruction which drive the universe. These are the powers I want to hold in my hand, the powers a true superior wizard will control. And what can be done with these powers?"
"Think of how much suffering and wickedness there is on Earth. Everywhere we see war, disease, pain, death and cruelty. There is one solution only to these problems, which is true magic. The Mugglevölker will never solve these problems, because they lack magic. They can only make things worse with their devil machines. Most wizards also cannot solve these problems, because they lack vision, power and determination. But in every generation there is a great wizard, chosen by Fate or Destiny or Divine Providence, to lead the people. In King Arthur's time there was Merlin. Who will be the Merlin of our time? If we harness the true power of magic, we can create a perfect society, where people will live in harmony and peace, and no one will suffer from evil again."
As Gellert finished, there was a long, ringing silence, and in that silence Albus just stared at Gellert as though seeing him for the first time. How had the blond boy changed so much in the short time he had been speaking? It was as though Gellert's cold and distant exterior had been hiding a fiery and passionate soul deep inside it all this time. And when Gellert spoke of his visions of magical power, Albus felt as though he was finally seeing Gellert's true nature: a wild, dangerous and beautiful spirit that only rarely emerged, a secret part of Gellert that was both vulnerable and tender, yet incredibly strong and deadly.
Although Albus didn't realise it, in that moment he had already lost his heart to Gellert Grindelwald and would never fully recover it. The fire of longing that Gellert kindled in him that night would never go out, and Albus would never be whole again for the rest of his life.
Albus had never heard anyone speaking that way about magic before. Until this moment, he had thought that mastery of magic meant books, articles, theorems, calculations and reports. Magic was something academic. It was interesting enough, even fascinating, but on a purely intellectual level. Yet now, having heard Gellert speak of magic in terms of passion, having heard of Gellert's naked lust for power, his burning ambition to uncover the secrets of the universe, seize the powers of the elements, use magic to shake the very foundations of society, destroy evil and suffering, even death, create an earthly paradise… now Albus' old understanding of magic seemed empty, childish and worthless.
The way Gellert spoke of magic, as though it were a seductive enchanter, tempting the magician down paths of forbidden knowledge, a spiritual teacher, drawing the magician to its bosom and divulging the secrets of existence, a friend and lover, always keeping the magician company, even a divine saviour, promising to take away the suffering of the world… it had such a tremendous effect on Albus, shaking him to his core. For an instant he saw the world through Gellert's eyes, and was intoxicated by promises of power in Gellert's words.
And to think, Albus had been so excited to go to his study, lock himself in and read his old books! He had thought that magic was a small bare room and some dusty pages! But the promise of magic that he saw in Gellert's eyes now, was not a few silly spells written with ink and paper. It was the entire world. It was the true magic, the magic of life and death, creation and destruction, the magic that spawned the universe and everything in it.
And Albus was in love. Whether he was in love with Gellert, or his words, or the magical power radiating from him, or all three at once, Albus didn't know, but he knew that he would never be the same again. All his feelings were mixed up and churning inside of him. His mind, his universe, his horizons had opened up and expanded beyond his wildest dreams.
For a long time the two boys said nothing, but stared into each other's eyes as though communicating by some silent means. There was a new connection between them.
At last, Bathilda broke the silence.
"Well, Gellert," she said uncomfortably, "it's good to have ambitions, but we mustn't overstep the boundaries." She popped a dumpling into her mouth and chewed slowly.
"But," Gellert said, finally breaking eye contact with Albus, and looking at his great-aunt. "Sometimes boundaries must be stepped over for the sake of progress."
"If you say so, dear. But I hope you'll be taking a break from it for a while. Since you've been busy crossing boundaries in Germany, it might be nice if you take it easy for your stay here."
Albus hardly even heard what Bathilda was saying. He was too busy looking at Gellert.
Afterwards the two boys could not stop talking. Birdy served fresh courses and cleared away the old platters, but Gellert and Albus hardly had time for their food. They were talking about the latest magical discoveries, sharing opinions on everything from the nature of energy-matter to the proper care of juvenile unicorns. On some subjects they were in total agreement and there was much laughter, while on others they argued fiercely, but it was always in a spirit of good humour.
Bathilda was a distinguished professor and researcher, and an exceptionally sharp witch herself, but the level of the two boys' conversation was so advanced that at times she hadn't the faintest idea what they were talking about.
Albus was delighted with Gellert all over again. For the first time in his life he was having a conversation with someone who might be more intelligent than he was. Gellert's views on magical philosophy were miles ahead of most wizards', at least in Albus' opinion. The only trouble Albus found was that Gellert's social views were… surprisingly backward for someone so brilliant. The two of them clashed, for example, on whether women should be admitted to the major universities.
"It's nothing but discrimination," Albus said. "Why shouldn't one half of our population be given access to education? It's denying them a basic right."
"You see, Albus," Gellert explained, "if these university places are given to women, then these places will be taken away from the men."
"But what difference does that make?"
"Because women are not suited to the higher magical education, neither mentally, physically, nor by nature."
"Ahem!" said Bathilda.
"No, Großtante, do not misunderstand me. I mean no offence. You are a brilliant woman, as intelligent as any man. But you are an exception, and there are always exceptions. The most of your female sex are less capable than men in magical and scholarly learning."
Bathilda wasn't very impressed. "It's a good thing you are my favourite great-nephew, Gellert, otherwise I would give you such a smack for that."
Gellert reacted to that comment in a peculiar way. For an instant he scowled, looking quite ferociously angry for a remark meant in jest, but a second later his expression was smooth again, and he laughed it off.
As it turned out, Gellert's views on race were even worse than his views on gender. He was apparently convinced of the superiority of the Germanic race over other Europeans, such as the Celtic, the Slavic, the Mediterranean and others, whom he regarded as inferior and degraded. For his evidence, he insisted that most of the great magical discoveries of the modern era had been made by Germanic-speaking Europeans.
"Come now, Gellert," said Albus. "So many of the great contributions to magical philosophy have been made by civilisations from all around the world: the Chinese, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Indians, the Arabs and so on. Not to mention the astonishing number of Jewish wizards who have won the Nostradamus Award in modern times! How on earth can you claim that Europeans are superior, let alone that Germanics are the most superior of all?"
Gellert said, "Albus, I am now seeing that you have a gentle heart. You want to believe good things about everyone, all your fellow human beings. It is a good sign. You are gentle and kind. But the truth does not care about what is gentle or kind. Some facts are ugly, but they are still facts. I can see that this makes you uncomfortable, so let us speak about something else. I do not want to lose your friendship over these difficult issues."
The conversation turned to more pleasant subjects, and Albus found himself enjoying Gellert's company once again. They kept talking and talking until the meal was over and all the dishes were cleared away.
Suddenly Bathilda said, "My goodness, look at the time!" The clock was showing half past eleven. "Dear me, you boys do know how to have a conversation. I think I learnt more in the past two hours than I did in the last twenty years of my research. I'm sorry to spoil your fun, but I'm so tired now and I need to get to bed. It's my age. I expect Albus will want to get back to his family too. Come and give me a kiss, dear, then Gellert can see you to the door."
Albus gave Bathilda a kiss on the cheek, though he couldn't help thinking that he would rather kiss her great-nephew.
"Thank you for having me, Professor Bagshot," he said. "I enjoyed myself so much tonight, more than I have in a very long time."
Gellert walked Albus to the door, and then the two of them stepped out onto the lane. Although it was summer, the night was quite chilly. A cool wind rushed by and tousled the boys' hair, and Albus shivered a little and folded his arms.
"I'm very glad to have met you," he told Gellert. "The way you spoke… about magic, about everything. Your ideas, your passion… it's incredible. It had such an effect on me. I honestly believe this is a life changing experience. Thank you." He felt awkward, like the words were tripping over his tongue, and he didn't know what else to say. He stared up at Gellert's face, though it was obscured by shadow, only the cold eyes glinting by the light of the moon and stars.
"You flatter me," Gellert said with a warm laugh. He was standing so close to Albus.
At the sound of Gellert's voice, Albus felt bittersweet pangs surge through his body. He was having trouble breathing. He knew what this feeling inside of him was, but he had never allowed himself to express it before. It must be kept strictly controlled. This pain, this pleasure, the best feeling in the world, but at the same time the worst. He didn't want to go through this again. He wouldn't survive it.
"I am much looking forward to seeing more of you, Albus. We have much to teach each other. You are a brilliant mind, a sensitive heart, a rare and precious soul. Others may not appreciate this, but I can see your worth. I need you. With your help, I can achieve amazing things. Come and see me tomorrow… every day. Good night." He reached out and touched Albus's shoulder. Albus felt a thrill of pleasure radiating from that spot, all over his body. Then Gellert turned and went back into Bathilda's house.
Albus walked home as if in a dream. He couldn't quite believe what was happening. Everything felt soft and fuzzy, yet sharper and clearer at the same time. His thoughts kept turning back to Gellert, the way he stared, the way he spoke, the way he laughed, the way he said, 'You are special, Albus.' Had he really said that, or had Albus just imagined it?
When he got home, he let himself in as quietly as possible. He stole into the corridor outside Aberforth's bedroom and saw his two siblings asleep on Aberforth's bed, Aberforth sprawled out with his tall, ungainly form and Ariana curled up beside him like a little animal.
Albus went to his own bedroom, undressed and tried to sleep, yet every time he tried to lie down, he had to sit up again. His stomach was churning and he felt light-headed. He kept thinking of Gellert and grinning like an idiot in the darkness.
"Gellert," he whispered to himself. "Gellert. Gellert Grindelwald." The name was a spell, a talisman, a good-luck charm that erased the loneliness and emptiness of the past few months – no, his entire life – and promised a future full of adventure, excitement and new experiences. It was a sweet name, wasn't it? The best name in the world.
Somehow Albus Dumbledore fell asleep. He dreamed of a wolf's smile, a voice like thunder, the touch of a warm, strong hand, golden hair... and cold eyes, hard as chips of stone.