"So, what did you think?"
"I liked the class" Gellert admitted, holding his notebook up on his hands and checking his notes. "But it wasn't exactly what I thought. I thought you had more practice with dark creatures, or that you could at least try to use some curses, to learn them correctly."
"Well, it was just the first class" Albus said, smiling at the younger boy. "We usually learn some things about dark creatures such as vampires and werewolves, dementors and the alike. And we do practice some curses, but not all of them. Not the ones aurors are allowed to use"
"Like Crucius? Or Imperius? You could use animals for those, not necessarily students" Gellert said, writing something down on his notebook before closing it and putting his pen and book inside his little bag he carried everywhere.
"We surely could learn but I don't believe Hogwarts wants to teach us how to take over someone or torture them" Albus responded, tilting his head. "They want us protected, not in power of something dangerous"
"When danger really comes, you think a spell like expeliarmous will be able to save you?" Gellert raised his eyebrow, and Albus smiled softly.
"Hopefully so"
"You sound like a pacifist" Gellert chuckled and it was Albus' turn to raise his eyebrow.
"In Durmstrang aren't you taught that peace is the answer to world problems?" he asked, honestly curious, and Gellert shook his head.
"No, we are thought that we should fight violence with violence"
"Well that is unfortunate" he chuckled, looking forward again, heading to the Gryffindor's common room. "Because I do not believe you will find what you are looking for here in Hogwarts. Not even the Slytherins have access to those types of curses and we are not encouraged to fight. In fact, my own brother has lost many points for Gryffindor because of his fights around the corridors."
"Your brother likes duelling?" Gellert asked with interest, and Albus shrugged.
"I believe so. And even if he doesn't, he is a master of getting into trouble. Its not his fault really, he just cares too much about what other people think. Specially slytherins. He is a typical Gryffindor I can't do anything to change his mind."
"People talk about you by your back?" Gellert asked, looking at him, and Albus looked back, their eyes locking for a bit of time. "As in, about your family?"
"Oh… yes, yes, but that's not important" Albus chuckled and nodded as the stairs stopped. "Come on. I need to leave my books in my room"
"And then, where are we going?" the boy asked, curious, not minding the change of subject. Albus hummed, thinking about it for a moment.
"Why don't we stay in? Or we could check the lake, its not too late to go" he nodded, and Gellert hummed, following him quickly.
"I am curious to see the lake, however, we need to stop one day to go leave my name at the goblet, I haven't had time to do that just yet, and its only three days left" Gellert said, taking a little piece of paper with his name from his pocket. Albus looked at him, surprised, and stopped in front of the dorm door.
"You… are volunteering?"
"Of course I am. Aren't you?" he asked, his fixed on Albus. "I thought you would"
"I… honestly, I haven't made my mind yet" Albus mumbled, turning around and whispering the password to the lady in the painting. She opened the door, and he nodded for Gellert to come inside first. "My brother thinks I should, and I want to, but if something happens to me, the responsibility is too great."
"Responsibility over what?" the boy asked, following him up to his room. "Do you have a kid or something like that?"
"What? No!" Albus said, loudly, and looked at Gellert, who was smirking at him. "Where did you get that from?"
"I mean, your 'responsibility' sounded so important, I thought you had gotten a girl pregnant or something of sorts"
"No… nothing like that" Albus shook his head, disgusted, and sighed, putting his books under his bed and sitting down on it. "I just… uh nothing, you don't want to listen to my problems"
"Of course I do" Gellert said right away, sitting down next to him and putting his purse away. "We are alone here, you can tell me anything you want. No pressure."
Albus looked at him, surprised, and then chuckled weakly, shaking his head and crossing his legs over the bed.
"Thank you Gellert, but I don't think a fifteen-year-old boy from another school that just met me would need to worry about my problematic life" he said, shaking his head and sighing. However, when he looked at the boy again, his blue and brown eyes were fixated on him, his expression serious.
"You can tell me" he said, and reached closer, taking Albus' hands on his own. "Trust me"
Albus looked at him, stared at his eyes, and it was like he was entering a trance. It felt like a spell, but if it was one, he would have known. There would be a trace. No, this was just Gellert's weirdly trustable nature and Albus' despair to have someone to share his fears, his worries.
If he was going to speak anything about his private life to this stranger that he had no idea what intentions were, it was his fault and his alone.
Even if it didn't feel like it.
"My father is in Azkaban."
His voice sounded something in between dead and extremely emotional.
Gellert's eyes widened but he held Albus' hands tighter and pressed his lips together, as if he was thinking about how to answer to something like that.
"I" he started, unsure "I'm sorry. Why… why is he there?"
"He killed three muggle children" Albus said, and sighed, shaking his head to calm himself down. "He was mad at how the ministry of magic couldn't do anything to punish them because they were muggles, so he decided to make justice with his own hands"
"And what did they do to deserve such fate?" Gellert asked, his voice sounding extremely surprised, and Albus shook his head, suddenly having very vivid flashbacks of that dreadful day, eight years prior.
The screams seemed just as loud as they had been on that day.
"They… hurt someone important to him. To us" he mumbled, and sighed, opening his eyes and smiling weakly to the boy in front of him. He seemed actually worried, which was nice, and at the same time it felt very bitter in Albus' tongue. "It doesn't matter. It is past now. But people still remember it, so they talk about us as if we are all lunatics."
"I'm sorry about your father. And about whoever the muggles hurt" Gellert said, looking down at their hands, and only then Albus realized they were still holding each other, their fingers intertwined. It made his heart race for a few seconds, despite of the difficult subject they were talking about. "Muggles… they have hurt many people. They will hurt many people again. I don't… like them."
"Not all muggles are bad" Albus said, softly, despite of himself not believing those words.
The truth was that he would have done the exact same thing his father did if it had been him. The harsh truth was that he would do anything to get his father out of jail, that he wanted to destroy the entire ministry of magic for what they did to his family, the truth was that he wanted to do so much, to hurt so many people for how much they had been hurting all these years.
He wanted revenge, but he knew that revenge lead to nothing. So he sucked it up, and did his best to push the feeling away.
He was not a murder. He was not a dark wizard. And thus, he would, not act on his wishes, because they would eventually disappear and he would learn how to deal with his loss, just like Aberforth would, and just like Ariana and his mother would.
"All muggles I've had the displeasure to meet were" Gellert answered, and their eyes met again. This time, Albus saw the rage hidden in those very different irises. It was like an eternal flame. "We shouldn't hide because of them. They are so weak and repugnant, but they insist in getting in our way. If we leaded the world, everything would be so different. Peace would be restored, no one would be hungry, everyone would be treated equally. They have retarded morals, senseless rules, they don't work as society but as enemies. If I could, I would eliminate them from the face of earth."
"Gellert…" Albus breathed out, surprised with the strength of those words, and Gellert blinked, as if he hadn't been just staring at Albus all this time. As if his eyes had been looking beyond and were only now focusing on what was just in front of him.
They stayed silent for a moment or two, before Gellert pulled his hands away from their hold, grabbing his purse and standing up, back turned to Albus.
"I have to go."
As he gave the first step towards the entrance of the bedroom, the door closed in front of him by a spell that Albus didn't even noticed he had used, and he stood up, letting his wand go and holding Gellert's wrist, stopping him from moving.
The boy didn't look at him, and Albus stared at the back of his head, eyes wide, heart racing.
"You can trust me too."
The silence took over again, and Gellert tensed up, just as Albus' hand slid down his wrist towards his hand, intertwining their fingers again. Only then the blond boy turned his head, slowly, until his blue eye stared back at Albus, his mouth in a straight line, body stiff.
"I can't yet" he said, firmly, and pulled his hand away, rushing out of the dormitory and jumping down the steps to the main floor. And Albus stood still, staring at the open door, that slowly swag to hit the wall on the other side.
His hand was still warm.