A/N: In true JKR tradition, since this is the grand finale, I'm going to include some quotes from writers far greater than myself. Thanks to WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, as always, for being a fantastic beta, and thanks to Alex, who won't be reading this here, but reviewed it on LJ. A huge "sorry" to my readers here, whom I neglected. After reading this, I highly recommend you listen to Crowded House's "Don't Dream it's Over".

5

Gellert

"Don't Dream it's Over"

-

You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."
(Dr Seuss)

"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night."
(Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes)

-

Dear Albus,
Good to hear that my cheap imitation is gone. Now that you are no longer wasting your time with war, we can turn over a new leaf and return to more important things - KINDLY DISPENSE WITH THE VIOLIN SHEET MUSIC. My eyesight is going, and as it is, you know I had a gift for playing by ear. Both in the musical and the metaphorical sense. This Christmas I would like a guitar...

Gellert isn't sure if Albus will take him seriously, but he continues, as music is one of the few ways he can unlock some kind of freedom within Nurmengard.

...You see, the new guards – charming young boys – you didn't perchance employ them to tempt me, did you? I have a suspicion...well, never mind. They took it upon themselves to update my repertoire by threatening that if they heard any more of that "classical junk" they would ensure that my coffee was always burnt beyond consumption. I tried explaining that the piece is actually called "Classical Gas" and recommending they ask their parents for proof that it is indeed a piece of popular, modern music, but, oh Albus, you know what I'm like without my daily dose of caffeine. So I let them bring me...cassettes, I think they call them. And I've become addicted to REM, U2, The Police, Bon Jovi and Duran Duran among others – but you try arranging their music for classical violin and I'll be all yours...

Gellert has lost so many battles, but he is determined not to lose the last one. He will not surrender to death, he will salute it to its face. Just as, he feels, he will gain a sort of bittersweet victory over Albus by openly declaring his feelings for the man. It gives him some kind of liberation and relief.

...although...well, as if I wasn't to start with.

Counting down the days until Christmas,

Yours sincerely, truly, faithfully, &c
Gellert.

Gellert puts down his quill – but only for now, as he sees no reason why his epistolary exchange should end here. He rolls up the parchment and places it in his empty coffee mug under the flap in the front door. He lies down in front of the slitlike excuse for a window, well aware that with his feet pointing in the direction of the door, the Chinese would call it the "coffin position".

He rests peacefully. He easily reaches the final stage of sleep, where we dream.

Roused by raindrops on his face, he looks up and notices the hole in the roof. Licking his lips, he realises that they taste suspiciously like tears. He walks over to the wall, climbs up it like a fly would, crawls across the ceiling and towards liberty at last. He is invigorated by the blood rushing through his veins, and his heart beating away like a drum.

"I'm coming, Albus! I'm coming! Next time you hear a knock, it'll be me at your door! Just you wait! They thought these walls would keep me from you – but they were wrong!" he yells to the shadowy sky. "The WHOLE BLOODY DAMNED WORLD was wrong! It's not over, Albus! It's not over between us! IT'S NOT OVER, DO YOU HEAR? It's NEVER over between me and you!"

Fin.