We saw Gellert with the blood pact vial doing all his evil, manipulative things. Now we're going to check in and see how Albus is doing. But before we check in on Albus, Newt is going to introduce us to Albus and his vial.
I will probably edit/add more tomorrow, like I have done for the previous chapter. :) I'm tired right now, so I'm sure I've made a few typos that I won't catch until I look through everything a second time.
I have thoughts and feelings and canon information at the bottom, once you've read this.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story since the last update. I have so many feelings.
GirlInThatDress - Thank you! I will definitely keep updating this as more ideas come to me. I need Grindeldore a lot.
charon90888 - Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed. :)
Grindeldore - Thank you, I am glad you are enjoying this so far. Albus and Gellert's story is so complicated and so tragically beautiful. I cannot wait until we get more information about their relationship.
Newt Scamander - Late September 1927
Lots of people liked to think that Newt Scamander was not very good at understanding people or relationships.
He assumed that this was due to a couple of reasons. He was usually more interested in his magical creatures than he was with people. This led to the assumption that Newt was simply bad at understanding others due to lack of experience with human contact, or something like that - at least, that is what he surmised most people thought. It was true that he was awkward in social situations. He was extremely introverted, and he was never good at socializing with people because he usually did not know what to say. So, a lot of the time, he talked to people about his creatures, because that was something he knew and was comfortable with. Yet it seemed that this annoyed most people, or it bored them, because most people eventually got tired and annoyed about hearing him ramble about them. He was always a bit of a social outcast, and it seemed that people assumed that he was a social outcast because he wasn't "people smart." As a Hufflepuff, this was sometimes confusing to people, because Hufflepuffs are often quite social, and Newt was never that. He was always friendly and kind, but quiet.
He also didn't like close physical contact either. He was already self-conscious enough in life, and close physical proximity only left him feeling more uncomfortable most of the time.
But he watched people. He was observant. Just because he did not have many close friendships does not mean that he could not recognize it. Besides Leta, he didn't have many friends at Hogwarts. He had feelings for her, and she knew it, but he wasn't sure anyone else knew it. Most people, upon hearing that he had feelings for Leta, would probably not believe it. Newt was too busy caring for his magical creatures, and he was too weird to have feelings for a girl.
He can read love when he sees it. And he can tell when something strange, something secret, is afoot.
It didn't take him long to figure out what was happening with Jacob when Queenie arrived with him at Newt's home in London. Even though Jacob had a comic personality, Newt could tell he wasn't completely himself. He knew Queenie had enchanted him - given him a love potion. And he knew that when he said, "Congratulations on your engagement, Jacob," his friend would be dumbfounded.
Newt watched the vial glowing on the table. He was sitting in a wooden chair in his kitchen. He was to meet Dumbledore first thing in the morning. His brother, Theseus, was feigning sleep upstairs. Nagini, who had no place to go and no where to call home, was staying tonight, along with Tina and Jacob. They would be accompanying him to Hogwarts. Newt knew that, most likely, not one of them were asleep.
Everyone had lost someone just hours before, in that terrible Pére Lachaise cemetery. Theseus had lost Leta. Nagini had lost Credence. Tina had lost Queenie. Jacob had lost Queenie. Newt could feel the pain emanating from each and every one of them. And it was all because of Grindelwald.
He had healed his Niffler's paw, and with everyone in their separate spaces for the night, Newt finally had a chance to truly examine the vial that Newt had seen in Grindelwald's front pocket.
Taking the vial in his hand, he noted that the metal felt cool to the touch, but the center of the glowing part of the vial was warm. Pulsating within the pearly glowing substance was a drop of red that spun faster when the vial was being moved about. It almost seemed to have a heartbeat. There were ornate carvings of twisted metal around the red and pearly-white center. On the center left and right of the substance were two heart shapes twisted in metal. And at the top of the vial was a round, flat surface that looked almost like a lid for the substance. On that lid were the letters 'G' and 'D' - and they were intertwining in a twisting, intimate fashion.
He knew this vial was protected by incredibly powerful magic, and that it was beyond what Newt could destroy. Innocently, he placed the vial back on the wooden table in front of him, pointed his wand at it, and said, "Incendio."
Predictably, nothing burned except the wood on the table. After putting the fire out, Newt quickly picked up the vial to see if it was warm. The metal remained cool, untouched by the flames.
Next, Newt applied pressure to the vial using a spell that would normally crush even the strongest of rocks to powder and compact steel.
Red hearts started shooting out of the sides of the vial, but otherwise, it remained unharmed, with no trace of any dent.
With slightly raised eyebrows, he slowly returned his wand to his pocket. Newt had seen enough. He didn't need to be a genius to know what this magical object was and what was once between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
This vial held the blood of both Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald, and both men had willingly shared his blood with the other. A blood pact was much more intimate, and much stronger, than an ordinary Unbreakable Vow. The mixing of magical blood was very rarely done because of its tendency to lead to unforeseen consequences. To mix one's blood with another... is to tie your fate to that person. To harm the person you make a blood pact with would be to harm yourself. It made it impossible for one to harm the other. As long as that vial existed, Grindelwald's blood ran through Dumbledore's veins. And Dumbledore's blood ran through Grindelwald's veins. The spell only worked right when both knowingly and willingly elected to mix each other's blood - Grindelwald hadn't taken Dumbledore's blood forcibly and created the vial. This was a creation both of them had equally built.
At one point in his life, Dumbledore had tied himself willingly with Grindelwald. They were to live in harmony with one another and die together, forever joined magically. The only way to break this intertwining of their fates was to destroy the vial.
If it was an Unbreakable Vow, then one could have lived on even after the other had died. But with this blood pact, both of their lives were tethered, and neither could harm the other.
Unbreakable Vows were made to force another to do or not do something - no more, no less. Unbreakable Vows did not have equals: there was always someone whose life was safe and another's that was in danger should they break the vow. Anyone can do an Unbreakable Vow. But a blood pact... that was something only the most infatuated of lovers agreed to, for a blood pact always said these two things: I will never hurt you, and I will die with you.
What makes Albus Dumbledore so... fond of you? Grindelwald had asked Newt that a year ago. And tonight, he had asked him, Do you think Dumbledore will mourn for you? He had so carefully said Dumbledore's name, with each syllable stressed, both anger and amusement in his voice. It was only now that Newt finally understood what it all meant.
Grindelwald was irrationally jealous because he had unresolved feelings for Dumbledore. Somehow, years before, Dumbledore and Grindelwald had found each other, and they had been the most infatuated of lovers. It was the only explanation.
Everything fit. Everything clicked into place.
Newt Scamander
Newt stood on the bridge to Hogwarts, waiting for Albus Dumbledore to come to him.
He had gotten next to no sleep that night, and he knew that Theseus had not slept at all. Newt had put his arms around him again, and Theseus had clung to him. There were no words needed for Newt to explain to his brother how sorry he was. But there were words to explain something simpler that he needed the Ministry to know.
"I need to meet with Dumbledore alone," Newt had said quietly after Theseus had stopped clinging to him. He was not going to out Dumbledore's secret. No one else knew about the vial, and Newt was going to keep it that way.
"Newt," Tina had said, momentarily pulling him out of his sorrow, "it's time to go."
Dumbledore was coming into view. Newt stepped forward to meet him halfway on the bridge. He heard someone move forward to follow him, but his brother said, "I think it would be best if he spoke to him alone." The shuffling stopped, and Newt knew that he would indeed be facing Dumbledore alone. Thank you, Theseus.
As Newt walked, he tried to think of a plan of what to say. All too soon, he was right in front of Dumbledore, and words failed him. He had no words.
At first, neither, apparently, did Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked like hell. All traces of calm and serenity were gone. The playful spark that he usually had with Newt, that same playful nature he used with all of his students, had been extinguished. His eyes were hollow. He looked ten years older than the last time Newt had seen him less than a month ago. He clearly had not gotten any sleep the night before either. Newt had never seen Dumbledore look this way.
Words coming to Dumbledore at last, he hoarsely asked, "Is it true... about Leta?"
Albus Dumbledore
Newt gave him the answer he did not want to hear. Yes.
Albus had thought about Leta Lestrange all night. He had failed her, as a teacher and as a person. Their last conversation kept playing through his mind, and he couldn't turn it off.
"Don't bother answering," she had said. "I know you didn't like me."
As someone who taught her for seven years, he hated hearing that as a teacher. It meant that in seven years, he had never been able to make a personal connection with her. She sat in his classroom for seven years, and he had never once effectively communicated to her that he cared about her. He felt so ashamed; as her teacher, he had completely failed her.
He had spoken with what he had hoped was compassion and empathy.
"Leta, I know how painful the rumors about your brother Corvus must be for you -"
"No, you don't," she had snapped furiously, dislike, anger and raw pain all radiating off her at once. "Not unless you had a brother who died too."
She had not believed him, he could tell. She had not believed that he understood what it was to lose a sibling. But he did, and he never talked to anyone about it.
"In my case, it was my sister," he had said honestly.
That had gotten her attention. She was still angry, but he had seen a flicker of curiosity behind her eyes.
"Did you love her?"
He had given her a small, painful smile as he considered how much he should tell her. Taking a couple of steps forward, he gave the most honest answer he could give.
"Not as well as I should have done," he had said softly.
And just like that, all of the hostility and anger had left her. She was staring at him, and he knew her mind had been racing wildly behind that calm face.
"It's never too late to free yourself," he had said. His words echoed in his mind as he reflected back on the last thing he had told her. "Confession is a relief, I'm told. A great weight lifted... Regret is my constant companion. Do not let it become yours."
With a jolt back to the present, he stared at Newt. That woman he had come the closest to confessing to was now dead, dead because of the source of Albus' regret: Gellert Grindelwald.
"I'm so sorry," he finally managed to tell Newt. He did not know what else to say. He knew Newt's feelings for her ran deep.
Wordlessly, Newt reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something Albus never thought he would see again. It was the blood pact vial. Albus could feel Newt's eyes on him, waiting for him to say something, waiting for some reaction, but Albus could not speak. He felt wave after wave of emotions washing over him. Amazement. Torment. Sheer embarrassment. Affection, warmth at the realization that Gellert kept their blood pact vial on him even after all of these years apart. And then shame, utter shame that this realization that Gellert kept it close to him would still make Albus feel warmth and happiness. Albus wanted to reach out and touch it, but he was frozen, overcome by the emotions that were coursing through him. Though he did not register this immediately, Albus' unconscious magic was now holding the vial up in the air on its own. The rest of the world had faded into the background.
It was Newt who broke the silence, breaking Albus out of his trance. "It's a blood pact, isn't it? You swore not to fight each other."
He did not want to admit it, but how could he deny it? It was right there, Newt knew what it was, and Albus knew that the letters G and D were on the lid. Bitterly ashamed, it was all Albus could do - he nodded. Then he reached out and grasped it.
Barely managing to keep his voice steady, Albus exclaimed, "How, in the name of Merlin did you manage to get -?" He released the vial, but it remained suspended between them.
Newt pushed back his jacket to reveal a Niffler, sniffing his nose and watching the shiny vial between them.
A half-chuckle of amazement escaped from Albus' throat.
"Grindelwald doesn't seem to understand the nature of things he considers simple," said Newt.
Knowing that Theseus now had the upper hand over Travers, Albus raised his hands in the air, his sleeves sliding down to reveal the Admonitors. Theseus flicked his wand, and they broke away. Better for the Ministry to remove them than Albus himself, since that would have surely been a crime. Albus continued to stare numbly at the vial.
"Can you destroy it?" asked Newt.
"Maybe," Albus replied softly, feeling overcome and tearful at the thought of destroying the blood pact between himself and Gellert. So long as that vial existed, Gellert's blood ran through his veins. He could already think of a few things he could try to destroy it. "Maybe."
Trying to speak cheerfully but failing, Albus looked at the Niffler, who was still sniffing the air at him, and said, "Would he like a cup of tea?"
"He'll have some milk," said Newt, fixing Albus with a knowing yet still friendly expression.
As the pair of them started to walk toward Hogwarts, the vial now securely in Albus' possession, Newt added, "Hide the teaspoons," but Albus was too overwhelmed by the hurricane of emotions he was feeling to pick up on the joke. The Niffler ran ahead of them.
Albus Dumbledore
He had half-expected Newt to question him about the blood pact. Any normal person would have. Any normal person would have said, You set me up. I've been to hell and back last night. Leta is dead. You aren't telling me the full story. What was the nature of your relationship with Grindelwald? But Newt wasn't a normal person. He was better than that.
Instead, Newt described what had happened at the rally in Paris, how Credence had joined Grindelwald, along with Queenie Goldstein, and how Grindelwald had used fear to control the audience. None of the details surprised Albus, but he was deeply disappointed to hear that Gellert had been successful in collecting Credence. An Obscurial was the last thing Albus wanted Gellert to have.
"Leta managed to break his skull - I mean, not his skull, but..." Newt looked more uncomfortable talking about Gellert's Seer skull than anything else. "Well. See, how he showed his vision to everyone was..."
"He smoked from it and blew it out the vision," Albus supplied, his dread and embarrassment temporarily being replaced by amusement at Newt's utter confusion as to what he had seen that night.
Newt just stared at him.
Albus closed his eyes and gave a slight smile. "Grindelwald is a Seer, Newt. That skull is how he lets other people see his visions. I am sure he was quite enraged by its destruction. He's had it since he was sixteen."
This information seemed to make Newt even more uncomfortable. "I... didn't know... Seers were real," he said.
"Most who claim they are aren't," Albus said quietly. "That is why he wanted something that could show everyone what he saw to begin with. Who would trust someone who claims to be a Seer unless they can see proof?"
"I was rather hoping that it wasn't real - what he showed us," said Newt, still looking quite uneasy. "It terrified everyone. It convinced most of the audience that the future would be just as terrifying unless we act. Grindelwald got angry after showing the vision. He said..."
Albus did not desire to hear the details, but at the same time, he was glad it was Newt who was doing most of the talking instead of him.
Yet still, when they did part, they parted awkwardly. Albus felt like there had been an accusation in Newt's final words to him.
"Let me know if you're... successful... in destroying that vial," Newt had said.
Albus had vaguely promised he would.
It was only after Newt had left that he felt extremely guilty. He should have told Newt the truth... but Albus had a feeling that Newt already knew the truth.
Albus Dumbledore - January 1928
Albus kept the blood pact vial on him constantly. On some nights, he slept with it beside him, right next to his wand... but, most of the time, he slept with it in his hand or in a pocket on his chest. Sometimes, he watched it pulsating light in the darkness, if he couldn't fall asleep. He thought about the seventeen-year-old Gellert who had sworn to him that he would die before he hurt him... and he would die with him rather than live without him.
He could still picture that Gellert: his blond hair was disheveled, his whole body sweaty and trembling ever so slightly, pulling Albus in close, kissing him, holding his lips to Albus' and whispering, "I love you," after they had made love on that barn floor with the newly made vial next to them. His breath had been so warm against Albus' lips. Gellert had conjured a blanket and covered it over them, and Albus had settled down against his chest and gradually fell asleep feeling safer and more loved than he ever had as Gellert kissed his hair softly.
He had truly thought that he was loved.
The vial's core was still warm to the touch, as if it was proof that the heat of their passion on that day was enough to keep burning for another hundred years.
Albus hated thinking those thoughts, and he hated what thinking them made him feel. But when he was all alone at night, and he was staring at the glowing substance within the vial, he could not help but reliving their blood pact and its aftermath over and over again. He could not help but wonder if Gellert used to do the same thing when the vial was still his.
Unlike Gellert, Albus didn't keep the vial in view, ever. He hid it, shamefully, deep within his pockets where no one could notice it.
He kept telling himself that he would destroy it soon, or at least, try to. He was not sure if he could; both himself and Gellert had given the vial the most powerful protection they could muster. Gellert's blood ran through his veins so long as the vial existed. His life and Gellert's were tethered in death; if Gellert died, Albus would follow; and if Albus died, Gellert would follow. Knowing these two things made Albus feel less alone. They had been so certain that they would never not be together. They would never part.
Maybe it had been a sign of how young and naive they both had been.
Since receiving the vial, Albus' dreams about Gellert had increased. Some of his dreams were happy ones, but others were nightmares. He was reliving their whole relationship over and over again, and yet he still could not destroy the vial. His correspondence with Newt stopped. His thoughts about stopping Gellert were diminishing, while his thoughts about that summer they were together were increasing. He was going backward, and he knew it, but he could not stop it.
He wished he could stop remembering. Yet he still slept with that vial every night. Dreaming of him.
Albus Dumbledore - March 1931
The first time Gellert had touched him was the customary handshake. Albus knew, despite the fact he tried to deny it, that he was attracted to Gellert the moment he met him. But it wasn't the handshake he thought of when he remembered the first time Gellert had really touched him.
This was what Albus was dreaming of now.
Albus had not even heard Gellert approach him.
After a near sleepless night, Albus had gotten out of bed, got dressed, and went to visit his mother's grave. He sat down by the gravestone, bowed his head, and closed his eyes, grief overtaking him. Tears leaked out from under his eyelids. He wanted to say something, but there was a lump in his throat that made his words die painfully in his throat, unable to make their way out of him. There was so much he should have said to his mother when he had the chance to. There was so much he wanted to tell her now. He would give anything to speak with his mother just one last time. He wasn't ready for her to die when she did. But he would never speak with her again. It was too late. He would never be able to tell her how sorry he was. He could not even remember the last time he had told his mother that he loved her. A sob escaped from deep within his chest, and then another. It was as if someone was squeezing his lungs, forcing his breath out unwittingly. He needed air, but every breath inward was a small gasp, and then it was forced back out too soon.
He heard two footsteps, and he realized someone was right behind him, but he did not have the courage to look up and see who it was. He didn't want anyone to see his tear-stained face. He felt the person behind him sit down crisscrossed beside him, and then he felt strong arms wrap around his shoulder and pull him in close to his chest. At first, Albus had assumed the person beside him was Aberforth, but then as he was brought closer to this person, he realized that this person was too large to be Aberforth.
It was Gellert.
"It's all right," Gellert whispered as he pulled Albus toward him. "You're all right, Albus."
Albus had surrendered to his touch. He let Gellert pull him closer still, and Gellert ran his hand up and down his back.
"I've got you," Gellert had whispered.
How could the young man who held him like that be an evil person?
That had been the turning point for them. This was the beginning of their emotional intimacy. Things were different after that. Gellert had seen him vulnerable, and he had not recoiled. It was the opposite.
Albus' dream changed.
They both realized early on that they could talk for hours at a time and not say everything they had to say to each other. They talked. They had talked so much. They took each other's ideas so seriously. Their debates were thoughtful and their words were eloquent. They were very formal; their friendship was founded on their brilliance and intelligence first. Until...
Even though Albus had already believed that Gellert was indeed a Seer, there was still something about that topic that Gellert wasn't telling him.
"I can show you my visions," Gellert had announced in Albus' room one night. Gellert's voice had been tense, and Albus got the distinct impression that Gellert had been planning out how to tell him this for days.
"How?" Albus replied skeptically. "Only Seers can see the future."
"I invented something that lets me project my visions so anyone can see. No Seer has ever had anything like it. I know that there will be so many people that will say that I'm a liar, so I wanted something that would help prove that I am not lying." Gellert was wearing the most serious expression Albus had ever seen. Gellert paused here very deliberately, and Albus knew it was his turn to prompt him.
So he did.
"What is it?" Albus asked with what he hoped was the right amount of curiosity.
"It's this." Gellert reached into a small pouch with an extension charm on it and pulled out a skull. There was a tube attached to it, and the words, 'For the greater good, 1898' was written on the skull's forehead. "I just have to light a fire, remember the vision, and blow it out as smoke."
Somehow, miraculously, Albus had managed to keep a straight face. It was one of the most difficult tasks he had faced in his entire life. Laughter was threatening to burst out of him, but he could tell that this was extremely important to Gellert, he had been building up to this moment for a long time, and he knew if he laughed, it would be a devastating blow to his friend. So he kept his mouth tightly shut and waited patiently for Gellert to go on. Gellert was studying his face intently, looking for any sign of doubt or criticism.
"It was not easy to get this," Gellert said, finally deciding that he could go on. "This skull belonged to an ancient and powerful wizard, and it was heavily guarded." He paused.
Feeling safe enough to open his mouth without laughing at this point, Albus said, "Well, go on then. Prove it to me. I know you're dying to. Show me something."
It was as if Albus had given him a cue to act. Obediently, Gellert lit a small flame on his wand tip, the skull glowed ominously, and Gellert closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then he exhaled, pulled the tube to his mouth, and breathed in the smoke deeply. Albus thought he was going to burst out laughing again - his eyes were practically watering as the hilarity in him mounted, but before the laughter escaped, Gellert exhaled, and the smoke arranged itself into a vision of Albus Dumbledore himself. Albus had expected to see the future, but instead, he saw the past. It was him getting his first wand in Diagon Alley when he was eleven. Amazed, Albus watched his eleven-year-old self receive his wand, and then the smoke faded out.
"I've been getting visions of you for years," Gellert said, breaking the silence. "I knew I'd run into you eventually in real life, because why else would I keep seeing you? That one was a very old one; I saw it years ago. But I remembered it. You."
Albus sat there, completely stunned. Gellert smiled, looking extremely pleased with himself.
"This is ridiculous," Albus finally blurted out.
Gellert looked like he had been slapped at first, but then he smiled, looking amused. "What?"
"I think it's a trick," said Albus confidently. "I think that that thing is some kind of device used to fool people into thinking you really are a Seer. I think any witch or wizard could blow smoke from that and get moving pictures."
Gellert looked affronted, but Albus could tell he was not truly offended.
"All right, Mr. Dumbledore," said Gellert loudly, "why don't you do it then? If any wizard can do it, you surely would be able to. Just put this to your mouth and breathe in and think of something." He swiftly went to hand the tube over to Albus, but then wiped it on his sleeve where his lips had been moments before. (Albus felt an unwanted jolt of pleasure go through him at the thought of putting his lips where Gellert's had just been.) "Since you're such a genius for seeing through my tricks and all."
"I will," Albus snapped angrily, but he was smiling. "Give me that too. I'm going to do it exactly like you did. You were holding it, so I'm going to hold it."
Gellert handed over the glowing skull to him, rolling his eyes at Albus' insistence of duplicating exactly what he had just done. Albus paused. The seconds ticked by.
"Well?" Gellert prompted impatiently. "What are you waiting for?"
"I'm just thinking," said Albus innocently.
"Surely your brain must work faster than this? I'm getting bored."
Albus exhaled all of the air he could get out of his lungs, put the tube to his mouth, and breathed in the smoke deeply. It stung and made his eyes water, but he was determined not to cough. Then he slowly let it out, and... nothing. Just smoke that dissipated immediately.
Silence. Albus looked completely crestfallen.
Then Gellert started to laugh. Albus had heard him chuckle before, chortle even, but now, his friend was completely cracking up at the despondent look on his face. His laughter became contagious, and Albus began to laugh hard as well. They laughed until their stomachs hurt, and finally, Gellert snatched the skull and tube from Albus, gasping for breath.
"That was pathetic," he told Albus loudly, still grinning widely, his white teeth showing. "Never, ever, will I let you do that again."
Albus' dream changed again. That was the start of their ability to laugh with each other, to take one another less seriously, to take themselves less seriously.
That was the true beginning of their close friendship.
It might have even been the moment that Albus truly fell in love...
Or, perhaps, he had fallen in love with him the first time Gellert had kissed him.
He rolled over to his other side in his sleep, faintly conscious of the weight of the vial against his chest as he shifted.
Albus had never been in any kind of romantic relationship before. He didn't know how to tell if someone else was attracted to him or how to communicate attraction to someone. In the days that had followed his disastrous attempt at re-creating Gellert's smoke visions using the skull, he thought that he started seeing something softer in Gellert's eyes. And each time Gellert looked at him, Albus could have sworn that softness was growing each time.
But he always told himself that he was just imagining things. It was just the lighting.
Gellert stayed at his house late into the night each night. They were always sitting on the floor in his room, with papers and books and quills and parchment - they were scheming. Trying to find the Hallows. Albus was finding it increasingly difficult to focus on much of anything other than Gellert's body. Gellert's words were what had captivated him first; his ideas, his wishes, his ambitions for unifying the Wizarding and non-magical worlds had been fascinating to Albus. He had never encountered someone who was as good with words as Gellert Grindelwald was. His friend's passionate speeches had left him spellbound, and Albus truly did want to find the Deathly Hallows, but lately, all he could think about what the more concrete parts of Gellert. Albus was painfully aware of everything Gellert did - when he shifted his weight, when he cleared his throat, when he scratched his face, when he tilted his head... Right now, Gellert was deeply concentrating on something he was reading, and by very carefully sneaking peeks at him, Albus had realized that Gellert had apparently skipped shaving this morning because there was a little bit of stubble on face, especially the left side -
Gellert closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and slowly let out his breath. Albus was able to look at his face a little bit longer due to the fact his eyes were closed. He began to suspect that Gellert was going to start getting a vision, but then Gellert opened his eyes again. Albus quickly looked away and pretended to be reading.
Suddenly, Gellert moved closer to where Albus was sitting on the floor. Albus looked up at him.
"Who's Elphias?" asked Gellert as he let the parchment he was reading fall to the floor.
"What?" asked Albus, startled.
"Elphias. I saw the name Elphias on a letter on your desk."
"Oh," said Albus, thoroughly taken aback. "He's just a friend of mine from school."
"Mm," said Gellert, fixing Albus with a particularly thoughtful stare. "Did you have many friends at Hogwarts?"
"No," said Albus simply.
Gellert was looking at him carefully, as if he was considering whether or not to say something. Finally, he settled on, "What was it like, going to a school with both girls and boys? I honestly cannot imagine it."
"It was irritating," Albus blurted out before he reflected on what was going to come out of his mouth. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I liked - I don't dislike girls in general, or women, and one of my best friends - she was, you know, er, a girl." He was positively tripping over his tongue now. "It's just everyone was always like wild animals during - um, well, all the time but especially during the spring time. They were always obsessed over who was attracted to them and vice versa."
Gellert was positively staring at him as Albus made more and more of a fool of himself.
"I just wish people had focused a bit more on other things, that's all," Albus said. He knew his face was burning and that he had said way too much, but he could not stop talking. "I used to feel bad if some girl was attracted to me and I didn't reciprocate because honestly I just wanted to read and... that kind of... thing."
A smile spread across Gellert's face. He was looking terrifically amused.
"How many girls tried throwing themselves at you while you were just trying to read, Albus?" asked Gellert with a grin. "I can just picture it."
"I mean," Albus said uncomfortably. His tongue felt like rubber. "It wasn't often I guess, but. You know. Sometimes."
Gellert continued to watch him with a small smile of amusement.
"I found dragon's blood more interesting," Albus added idiotically, trying to fill the silence.
Gellert's smile widened again. "Yes, I suppose you did write about the twelve uses of dragon's blood in Transfiguration Today rather than the twelve ways to seduce a girl."
He felt a little bit of his embarrassment ebbing away. Albus smiled a bit.
"What was it like going to school with just boys?" he asked.
Gellert smirked at him. He raised his arms slightly and stretched before replying, "Well, I can't say I complained. But I would have been fine around girls too. Doesn't matter to me."
Albus stared, his embarrassment giving way to curiosity.
Gellert smiled at him again before looking away at the materials on the floor. A silence fell between them.
Finally, Gellert broke the stillness and the silence. He shuffled closer to Albus, and at first, Albus thought he was going to stand up and tell him it was late and he was tired and he was going to go home, but instead -
"You missed a spot this morning, you know," said Gellert quietly, looking carefully at his friend's face. He was dangerously close - the last time they had been this close was when Gellert had held him as he cried at his mother's grave. "Right there," he said as he raised a hand to Albus' face. He brushed his hand against the left of Albus' chin, and Albus was filled with a desperate yearning for more contact. He unwittingly closed his eyes.
He got his wish.
Gellert leaned forward, and the rest of the small space that was between them disappeared. Gellert put his lips to Albus'. Albus could feel the stubble that he had been staring at out of the corner of his eye for the past hour against his skin.
Albus' brain, which had only been functioning at half-power for several minutes now, completely turned off. Pleasure and want coursed through his entire body like an electric charge.
He blindly kissed Gellert back. He had never kissed anyone back before. Now knowing that Albus wanted this just as badly as him, Gellert put his arms around him and deepened the kiss. Everything Gellert was doing to him was very, very welcome, every little touch, and the two of them were losing more and more control of themselves with each passing second.
Gellert began kissing Albus' jawline and progressed down his neck as Albus tried to remember how to breathe. Albus' eyes fluttered closed at the feeling of Gellert's tongue against his neck, going downward.
But then, just as suddenly as it had begun, Gellert retreated. He pulled away from Albus and let go of him. Albus opened his eyes.
"I'm sorry," Gellert said. His lips were red. He looked disturbed and unsettled. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have done that."
"But I want that and more," Albus said quickly, surprised by his own words.
Gellert gave a flash of a smile, looking smug. "Yes, I can see that," he replied flatly. "But I should have asked you first. I let myself get carried away. I'm sorry. Listen, I - I have to go. We'll talk in the morning."
"But -"
"- Listen -"
"Gellert, I want this -"
"I know you do, and so do I, desperately, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. We need to talk in the morning, all right?"
Unable to stop him, Albus watched as Gellert stood up off the floor and tried to gain his composure.
"I'll see you in the morning," Gellert said again reassuringly. "Good night, Albus."
He watched him go, terrified that he would pack his things and leave Godric's Hollow.
But Gellert did not leave Godric's Hollow. He was there again in the morning.
That was the beginning of their sexual relationship. It wasn't long until they were making love for the first time in Albus' bed.
His dream changed. What had been so pleasant was now a nightmare.
The present day Gellert Grindelwald was staring at him. Albus had no wand on him. He started begging Gellert to listen to him, to not kill him, to love him. But instead, Gellert raised the Elder wand and slashed it through the air. Albus' body was deeply cut open. He screamed as blood poured out of him, and Gellert just smiled as Albus collapsed, dying on the floor at Gellert's feet.
Albus woke up with a jolt. He was shaking. The nightmare part of his dreams had been so real that he had felt pain coursing through him until he moved in his bed and convinced his brain that the pain was psychological rather than physical.
Devastated, with tears sliding down his face, Albus rolled onto his other side. He placed the vial on the table beside his bed.
He had to stop this. He needed to destroy this vial so he could face him. He didn't want to feel this anymore, to carry this anymore.
Yet, he still could not bring himself to destroy it.
A/N: Okay, um, this winded up a lot longer than I thought it would. I hope you enjoyed? Let me know what you guys want to see!
Some notes for those of who are questioning how closely this chapter relates to canon:
1. The Blood Pact Vial Description: You can buy the pendant online. Some nice people who did so have posted detailed pictures of the pendant. Everything I described about the physical appearance of the vial is canon. There are hearts within the twisted metal, and the letters G and D really are intertwining on the "lid" of the vial. It's pretty darn suggestive of a romantic nature between Gellert and Albus.
2. Implications of a Blood Pact: We know, from Newt, that a blood pact indicates an oath to never harm each other. Whether that means it is physically impossible for Gellert to hurt Albus or vice versa is undetermined. However, I am taking this a step further. Think about it. If all Gellert wanted was to make sure Albus never hurt him, they could have just done an Unbreakable Vow. Remember Voldemort using Harry's blood to come back to life, how that tethered their lives together even more? I believe that there were larger consequences to the G/D blood pact other than just "we swore not to fight each other." It is not the exact same thing as what was between Harry and Voldemort seeing as a piece of Voldemort's soul was inside Harry, and there was Harry's mother's protection flowing through his veins, and the Elder wand's allegiance was not to Voldemort when he cast that last Avada Kedavra spell, but rather to Harry. However, I do truly believe that the blood flowing through Albus' veins is also Gellert's blood, and I do believe their lives are united in death. I believe that Gellert was intending to destroy the vial once Credence goes to kill Albus and he feels like he's safe to do so, thus severing his life from Albus'. I strongly think a blood pact is an Unbreakable Vow on steroids with much more dramatic consequences.
3. I 100% believe that Albus is not going to destroy the vial until many years later, and Newt is going to confront him about it.
Let me know your thoughts - what you agree with, what questions you have, what you want to see me write about, etc. I love bouncing ideas off of all of you.