The day the new resident of Godric's Hollow arrived, had finally come. It was a very usual day and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary on this nice summer morning.
Roxanne had been looking forward to that day and ironically, when it came; she had almost forgotten about it.
In the time that had passed since Bathilda Bagshot had told her the news of her great nephew coming; lots of things took place.
The most important one was the latest outbursts of Arianna's powers. Being suppressed for so many years, they had become volatile and under moments of emotional stress, they would unleash themselves and potentially injure innocent bystanders.
Worse was the fact that poor Arianna felt guilty about it, resulting in her not leaving her room for days on end. Not even Roxanne had the ability to fully make her smile anymore or even persuade her to come out of her room; something that had saddened the metamorphmagus fully.
She was deep in thought as she walked, her mind trying to think of something to cheer Arianna and support Kendra more when she bumped into someone.
"My apologies, I wasn't looking," she said and she lifted her head to look at the person she had bumped into.
He was a young tall man, taller than Albus and her for sure. Yet, he seemed to be in her age of 16 if not a year older.
His hair was little past his shoulders and we wore only black, yet somehow making it look stylish and formal.
The most mesmerising thing about him, however, was the depth of his eyes. They glowed with intelligence and power like no one else's. One look at him and one would tell that this young man was destined for greatness.
"You were not" was his reply, a little cold and rude.
Immediately, a pout formed on her lips and she narrowed her eyes at him. "I admitted that no need for you to repeat it you know," she said, folding her hands in front of her chest as she craned her neck to keep eye contact.
The stranger seemed amused by her reaction and yet lifted an eyebrow, curious to see what she would do next.
That moment never came as Bathilda Bagshot walked out of the shop nearby, in her hands holding a basket filled with new quills and ink.
Upon noticing her, the older woman smiled. "Roxanne! Oh, I was just about to find you. Couldn't this be any better" she said with a huge smile as she stood next to the young man. "This is Gellert, my great nephew I talked to you about?"
Immediately, Roxie paled a few tones once she connected the dots. The shock was so big that she lost control of her powers, her eyes quickly turning from their usual amber to green and red before she regained control.
"Uhm, yeah...I remember" she said as she tried to hide the little embarrassing moment, thankful that it wasn't her hair affected by her emotions this time.
Gellert had his sharp gaze on her, silently studying her. He had gotten a good look at her sudden eye colour changes and it did not take him more than a few seconds to realise what the young woman in front of him was.
"Gellert, this is Roxanne Louise that I mentioned. She leaves at the cottage on the other side of the village and she will be your guide in this town" Bathilda said, a radiant smile on her lips as she had just secured the match of the year.
"I see," he said, eyeing her up and down before his lips curved into a smirk. "A metamorphmagus, right?" He asked casually, making her look around to ensure that no one overheard them.
This made him frown, upon seeing both his aunt and Roxanne ensuring that no muggles would hear them. Yet another place where magic and wizards were forced to remain hidden from the non-magical ones.
"I am. Not many are aware of it, so consider me impressed" she said, giving an almost contagious smile.
"I will leave the two of you to just be" Bathilda said, gave just the faintest of taps on his shoulder and walked away.
The two teenagers stood there a little awkwardly for a moment too long before an idea popped into the girl's mind. "Come, if I have to show you around; better show you the best places" she said and grabbed his wrist, gently tugging him towards one direction.
With a small silent protest, Gellert Grindelwald let the smiling teenager drag him along this small village.
The small guiding around did not last long since Godric's Hollow was a small place with only the basic shop among the few houses.
Gellert could not help but watch how popular Roxanne was amongst muggles. They greeted and talked to her, some younger boys threw comments and she always talked back; giving everyone that smile.
Yet, he could not help and see this as hypocrisy and nothing more.
"You do understand that if they were to know about you, they would never be this friendly to you. They would attack you and most likely try to kill you" he said, pointing out the obvious fact.
If they learnt that she could do magic or worse, that she could change shapes and faces; they would attack her...just like they did back then.
The sudden suppressed memory made Roxanne come to a halt and grab the edges of her red dress a little too tight. She stared at practically nothing but it was clear that something had affected her.
That dark memory of the boys attacking her and the shouts of Arianna, the sharp pain from the stone against her face...she thought she had made peace with it but deeply she knew, she merely tried to forget that encounter.
Her hand went to her cheek where the scar was as her hair started to change from colour to length and even texture and style.
"Roxanne?" Gellert called her name, placing a hand on her shoulder.
The girl suddenly took a deep breath, as if almost waking up from a bad dream. Her chest heaved up and down but her powers quickly went under control.
She closed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them, her heart rate dropping slowly and her hand was lowered from her cheek.
"Yeah...I am sorry...I...just a bad memory" she said, pushing some of her hair behind her ear and looking around. She had somehow brought them close to the foot of the small hill, where she and Albus would always choose to hang out when they wanted to escape the village. At the thought of her childhood friend, her smile quickly returned. "Come, let me introduce you to another friend. I think you will like this one" she said and started to sprint upwards the small heel.
Gellert, who had been watching her dismissing the subject; was too focused on her cheek scar and speculated it was muggles that had done this to her.
Anger did grow within his heart each time he heard or saw muggles harming wizards for being who they were; superior and powerful beings.
Yet, all that was quickly gone as she started to sprint up the hill with a new burst of energy.
He didn't question and he simply followed after, not jogging but he was not walking slowly either. He was curious about what friend she was referring to, although he doubted he would make any relationships with anyone.
Even with her, he considered it quite impossible and for now only kept her close until he learnt the village and what he was initially looking for...the deathly hallows.
The oldest of the Dumbledore siblings was sitting under the tree. Wishing to be away from the drama in the house, he had taken his book about Runes and had chosen to sit at the only place he could find some peace of mind.
"Albus!" The familiar voice of Roxanne reached him, carried by the wind long before she would be visible in his view.
The now-17-year-old could not help but crack a smile, hearing her joyous voice. It was a habit of his everyday life to hear that voice and if he ever didn't, the day felt simply wrong.
Despite the darkness that his family was going through, she was the light that tried to help them all. She was the light that stuck with Dumbledore like a never-dying star to sailors; guiding him as he navigated his ship across the waves of the rampaging sea that threatened to drown him in their darkness.
This time, though, while he expected her to come alone; she came with someone else. Immediately, his muscles tensed and his blue eyes turned cold behind the pages of his open book.
That tree was supposed to be their place, one of solitude and yet she had brought someone else.
"Albus, this is Gellert Grindelwald," she said with her usual smile, quickly introducing the young man. "He is Bathilda's Bagshot great-nephew, which I am sure I mentioned that he would come...or at least, I think I did" she admitted, quickly doubting her memory.
Honestly, with all those things going on in such a short amount of time; one would wonder how she kept track of things. She did try her hardest but sometimes, she could not help but forget small things here and there.
She glanced between the two boys, seeing how they silently judged one another with their eyes but never said anything for almost a whole minute.
"Is this a book about Runes?" Gellert finally asked, deciding to approach the thing that had gotten his attention.
"Yes" was Dumbledore's only reply.
Roxanne felt the need to roll her eyes at the two of them. "Albus here has taken Runes as an extra class for his final years and he studies extra before the semester starts"
On their way across the village, Roxanne had talked faintly about Hogwarts at Gellert. She mentioned how both Albus and she were students there, the houses they were sorted and the classes they had.
Gellert, on the other hand, had only briefly mentioned to her that he attended Durmstrang but he never truly said why he stopped attending; hiding the fact that he got expelled after he had worked too closely with the dark arts and dark magic itself.
"Interesting" was all Gellert said, copying Albus and giving only a one-word answer.
Albus looked at him carefully, studying him and the corner of his lips ever so faintly lifted in amusement.
Perhaps he would like this newcomer.