When Gellert and Ariana reached the hospital, everything seemed to be in order. They were immediately authorized to go check on Albus, who was being maintained in a little room with the air conditioner on warm, covered by many, many blankets, receiving some type of serum and being checked by a doctor. Aberforth was standing just next to the bed, and as the other two walked inside, the doctor nodded and stepped back.

"Nothing stopped working, his limbs are in perfect health, we do not have serious complications. I would advise to keep an eye on him for any signs of pneumonia, and make sure he is one hundred percent better before he goes back to work, which might take a couple of days" he said, writing something down on a little file. "As soon as his temperature goes back to normal, he can go home. He might get a flu, and he may be moody for the next hours, even after he sleeps."

"He will be fine, right?" Ariana asked, surprising the doctor, that hadn't seen her and Gellert walking inside. He nodded, and then smiled.

"Don't worry. He will be perfectly fine" he assured and turned to Aberforth. "I will leave now. In a few hours a nurse will come to check his temperature. As soon as it is normal, he will be allowed to leave. Take care."

He left the room, leaving the three of them alone with a sleeping Albus. Ariana was quick to move, running around the bed and looking over Albus from the other side. She caressed his head before hugging his shoulders and sighing.

"He is the most brilliant mind at this town but he can be so stupid sometimes" she mumbled, and Aberforth chuckled, walking to stand next to her.

"That's the downside of being smart. You also get dumb" he said, ruffling her hair fondly and then looking up at Grindelwald, who had his eyes focused on Albus' sleeping face. "Thank you for bringing my sister, Elza."

Gellert blinked slowly and turned his face to Aberforth, tilting his head.

"You're welcome, Ariel."

"Oh gosh" Ariana groaned against Albus' shoulder, lifting her head and staring between the two. "Could you stop please? Specially you Aberforth, you sound like you are five."

"Wh-I-"

"Don't try to justify yourself" she said, poking his nose with her finger and sighing. "Thank you Gellert."

"You're welcome Ariana" he answered politely and smiled ever so kindly to her. "Also don't worry about your brother. It's a coping mechanism."

"No it's not!" Aberforth said, offended, and Grindelwald raised his eyebrow.

"Yes it is. You don't know how to deal with the feelings of your brother getting himself popsicled for whatever fight you two had so you need to distract yourself by making fun of someone that has nothing to do with your problems to make yourself feel better" he said, calmly, and tilted his head. "It is a very common coping mechanism."

Ariana and Aberforth stayed quiet for a moment before he growled, angry.

"You will see the coping mechanism when I punch your face with it."

"That is yet another way of coping. You know I am correct, however you do not want to admit your weaknesses, so you are threatening me with violence to see if I will shut up" Gellert said yet again, making Aberforth even angrier. "Usually such threats are worthless, specially in an environment such as this, but I am capable of believing that you are so emotionally unstable that you will actually walk up to me and punch my face, despite knowing that it will result in you getting thrown out of the hospital."

"Gellert, stop it!" Ariana said, loudly, and held Aberforth's hand tightly. "You're being mean! Aberforth didn't do anything bad enough for you to treat him like that!"

"I am just stating facts" Grindelwald replied, raising an eyebrow while Aberforth huffed through his nose and looked down, trying to calm himself down. Getting into a fight in the hospital would not result well to anyone.

"That… is a coping… mechanism" a soft voice made its way through the silence, and Ariana gasped, looking down at Albus, who seemed to be waking up. Aberforth and Gellert looked at him as well, both as surprised as the youngest Dumbledore. He blinked his eyes open slowly, and groaned, head turning to the side to look at Gellert. "You… outsmart people… when you feel threatened… so you can justify… people's… hatred over your… self…"

"Albus!" Ariana squealed, not paying attention to a single word he had said, before pulling him for a tight hug and making him groan again. "Albus you're awake! You are fine! I was so worried!"

"hey Ari" he mumbled, happily, and groaned when he tried to move his hand. "I feel sore all over…"

"Because you are still frozen, brother" Aberforth chuckled, looking over Ariana's shoulder and smiling at Albus. "Welcome back. You will be better very soon. Then we will go home."

"Hoooooome" Albus whined, his voice deep and weak. "I want to go home…"

"We will take you home soon" Ariana assured, kissing his forehead and sighing happily. "Oh I'm so happy you're okay. Albus please don't scare us like that again."

"I… won't" he promised, while Aberforth looked up to see that Grindelwald had vanished. He looked back at Ariana and Albus, checking if they were fine before he stepped away and walked out to the hallway, checking for the blond.

He saw him by the end of the hallway, walking away towards the exit.

"Grindelwald! Wait up!" he called, running to him, and the older boy stopped in his tracks, but did not turn around. "Where are you going?"

"Home" he said, shrugging, and turned to face Aberforth, face expressionless. The middle Dumbledore furrowed his eyebrows.

"Just like that? Without saying goodbye to Ari or Albus?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and making Grindelwald roll his eyes.

"What is this about? You don't want me near them, why would you care?" he asked, coldly, and Aberforth sighed deeply, letting his hands fall to his sides.

"Alright listen" he said, looking around before nodding. "What you said in there? Truth. Okay? I am a mess" he admitted, frowning. "And what you just said? Yes, I hate you and I don't want you close to my siblings. And you know why?"

"Why?" he asked, already done with that conversation. Aberforth took a deep breath and looked right into his eyes.

"Because I know you are trying to get it on with my brother, and you are not good enough for him."

Grindelwald's expression changed to a confused one, and he chuckled, shaking his head.

"I don't want anything with your brother."

"Sure thing. That's why you always look at him like you're undressing him in your mind" Aberforth said, coldly, and tilted his head when Grindelwald looked away, crossing his own arms. "Don't be defensive around me Grindelwald. I am seventeen, I know exactly what you're doing because I do it all the time with the girls at my school. And yes, I hate you because I don't want you close to my brother. Because you're sketchy, because we have met in the worst way possible, and because I only know you for two days. But my problem is that Ariana and Albus seem to like you. So we have a blockage there."

"You can't push me away because they like me, yes" Grindelwald nodded, looking at him again and raising an eyebrow. "So what will you do? Fight me off?"

"No, we are going to compromise" Aberforth said, raising one hand for a handshake. "We will pretend these last two days never happened and start again. We will shake hands, erase yesterday and the day before, and maybe you will have a chance of convincing me that you can stick around my family."

"Isn't this the older brother's role you're playing?" Grindelwald asked, uncrossing his arms and looking between Aberforth's eyes and hand. Aberforth shrugged at the question.

"That's what a middle child has to do when they have a stupid older brother like I do."

"… fine" Grindelwald nodded and took his hand, shaking it firmly. "Let's erase these last two days and begin again, Dumbledore."

"Good thinking, Grindelwald" he said, and then they let go of each other's hands. "Now, you can go home but leave your phone number with me. I will call you when Albus is allowed to leave so you can come with the car and take us home."

"How… do you know I came by car?" Grindelwald asked, confused, and Aberforth smirked, handing him his phone.

"Just write down your number."

Gellert rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone, writing it down and handing it back to Aberforth.

"I come when you call."

"Deal."