Chapter 42
AN: Thank you for the support. Sorry that this chapter is late. Christmas day sucked for me, and I got Disney Dreamlight valley on my computer, so I've been playing that a lot. Hope you like this chapter.
A day has passed since Mie first woke up after being unconscious for ten days and even though she spent so long asleep she has spent most of the last day sleeping, so much so that she spent all of the time Amelia, Sirius, and Lily were visiting with her asleep. It's early morning and Mie is once again awake, feeling a little stronger, with Albus, Gellert and Aberforth sitting around her bed. As she is more aware Mie realises that there is tension between her uncle and Gellert, something which does not surprise her. As she has realised that her dad has been by her side since she was hurt Mie is trying and failing to get him to leave for a little while.
"Dad, I'm okay," Mie says to her father. "You should have a proper rest in a bed, have something to eat, have a shower," Mie tells her father.
"I like being here with you," Albus tells Mie. "I don't need to go anywhere," Albus tells her
"Yes, you do," Mie tells him. "Dad, I hate that you haven't left my side for eleven days, that you haven't looked after yourself," Mie admits, feeling bad about that. "You should go back to our quarters, just for a little while, and bring me back the books in the cupboard next to my bed when you come back," Mie suggests with a grin, as if she is going to be stuck in the hospital wing there is something she wants to do, and Aberforth snorts, clearly amused.
"Annemie…" Albus starts to say, as he really doesn't feel comfortable leaving Mie.
"Uncle Ab will stay with me, Madam Pomfrey is right here, we can send a Patronus or send a message with one of the portraits if needed," Mie tells her father. "I'm okay, you've looked after me for eleven days, and that means everything to me, please look after yourself," Mie says with a pleading look. "Please Dad," Mie requests, as she wants her Dad to spend some time looking after himself as it is clear that he hasn't been.
"Albus, a couple of hours won't hurt," Gellert says gently, wanting to do what he can to help Albus as he agrees with Mie and feels that Albus needs to look after himself.
"How will I know that I am collecting the right books?" Albus asks Mie as he knows that Mie's room is full of books, just like most of their quarters.
"They are the only things in the bottom of the cupboard next to my bed, they are three of them," Mie tells her father.
"I will be back at lunch time," Albus tells his daughter. "If you need me before then I will come back straight away," Albus says. "Promise me that you will let me know," Albus says to his daughter.
"I will," Mie promises, and once she does Albus hugs her.
"Stay with her," Albus says to his brother, who nods, before he and Gellert leave.
After Albus and Gellert leave Aberforth gets up and walks over to Mie's bed and sits down in the chair that Albus has been sitting in.
"Mie, I'm sorry," Aberforth tells his niece.
"What are you apologising for?" Mie asks, looking confused.
"I played right into Voldemort's hands, I got distracted and you got captured," Aberforth says. "I am so sorry," Aberforth says, guilt in his voice.
"Uncle Ab, no," Mie says, reaching over and taking his hand. "It wasn't your fault," Mie assures him. "What happened is on Voldemort, and…. Peter, it's not on you," Mie assures her uncle. "You have nothing to apologise for, I promise you that," Mie tells him. "I love you, Uncle Ab," Mie says to him.
"I love you too," Aberforth tells his niece, after the last week and a half he has realised that he is incredibly glad that Mie came into his life, he is incredibly glad that she came into his life.
As most of the school are in their first morning class Albus and Gellert are able to walk from the Hospital Wing to Albus's office without seeing anyone. Walking into his office rather than walking towards his quarters Albus walks over to his desk where there is at least six Owls waiting.
Looking around the room Gellert sees objects that he recognizes and sees the bits of Albus that he has put into the room over the years, but he also sees what Mie talked about lack of personalisation as a way to keep others at arm's length.
Getting to the owls Albus starts to take the letters of the owls and he checks who each of the letters are from. For the majority of the letters, he leaves on his desk, but a couple he keeps. After sorting the letters he gives Gellert a look which says follow him and they head into the quarters, Albus saying the password while giving Gellert a look, clearly giving him permission to use it if needed, and the two of them walk into Albus's quarters for the second time, and Albus puts the letters down while Gellert allows himself to actually look around, something which he didn't get to do last time as they spent so little time in the quarters.
"Whose letters are you ignoring?" Gellert asks curious.
"The Minster's, we are having a disagreement," Albus explains, without going into details.
"I take it that's a common occurrence," Gellert assumes.
"It is," Albus confirms. "The minister is suspicious of me, he cares about clinging onto his power, is more concerned with that than protecting people," Albus explains. "Voldemort uses that to his advantage," Albus explains. "In the timeline that Annemie is from the ministry interfered at Hogwarts, tried to take control, and temporary forced me out because they did not trust me. I would not be surprised if that happened in this time especially after what happened with the Minster and I in the hospital wing," Albus explains.
"That's more likely to happen when the minister finds out about me," Gellert says, starting to comprehend what Albus is risky by keeping him out of jail. "Albus…" Gellert starts to say.
"I will deal with the Minster," Albus says, walking over to Gellert. "You saved Annemie, I am so thankful, but that's not the only reason I want you here," Albus tells him. "And neither is the skill and knowledge you possess," Albus admits, reaching out and taking Gellert's hands. "I will figure out the Minster, and Voldemort, I want you here because I want you," Albus admits, giving himself this rare moment of vulnerability, even though it is against his nature.
"We'll figure it out," Gellert corrects. "I love you," Gellert says and the two of them kiss, and after a few moments they break apart. "Is that kitchen of yours stocked?" Gellert asks, and Albus nods. "Then you are going to go have a shower, and I am going to make us something to eat," Gellert explains. "As we eat, we'll talk about where we go from here," Gellert says, Albus nods and while Albus heads to the bathroom Gellert heads to the kitchen.
Even though it has been decades since he cooked it was once something he loved to do and so once he got started it is easy to full into old routines.
A little while after Mie and Aberforth talked about how Mie doesn't want Aberforth to blame himself for what happened they hear footsteps and turn to see Lily, James, Amelia, Alice, Sirius and Remus walking into the Hospital Wing. As soon as Mie sees her friends, she can't help but smile, looking very glad to see them.
"Hi you," Amelia says, smiling at her friend, and looking very glad to see that Mie is awake.
"Hi," Mie responds, looking between her friends, the people she truly did not want to leave even with how tired and scared she is.
"Sev and Frank wanted to be here, the others too, but Madam Pomfrey is limiting visitor," Lily explains as she sits down on the edge of Mie's bed, and Mie nods in understanding. "They said to tell you they love you, and can't wait to see you up and about," Lily says as she promised she would pass that message on.
"Tell them I love them too," Mie requests, and Lily nods.
"How are you feeling?" Remus asks, looking concerned.
"I'm okay," Mie says, looking around at everyone.
"Well for the record you scared the crap out of us, don't do that again," Sirius tells Mie.
"I'll try not to," Mie responds, a little amused. "I really love you guys," Mie says, looking between her friends, who have become her family.
"We love you too, Mie," Alice says with a smile. "We're so glad you're back with us,"
"Are you okay?" Mie asks James, wanting to change the subject as she doesn't want to share where she was, as she knows that he would have taken Peter's death the hardest as he still believed that Peter could be saved.
"Trying to be, I had hoped he wouldn't go down this path," James admits. "I am sorry Mie, you paid the price for my faith," James tells her, feeling guilty because of that.
"It's okay. I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to have lunch with Peter," Mie tells James, and as she does, she realises something. "The Horcrux? What happened to it?" Mie asks concerned, not being able to believe that she didn't think to ask about that earlier.
"Reg destroyed it, it's back in your bag," Sirius explains, a proud look on his face, clearly proud of his brother and what he was able to achieve.
"Good," Mie says, sounding relieved, knowing that makes them a step closer to defeating Voldemort.
"Want to know what you missed out on?" Alice asks curious as she assumes that that would be something that Mie would be curious about.
"Please," Mie responds, and her friends proceed to explain everything that Mie has missed in the past eleven days, though unknown they all hold going into explicit details about just how bad it was for them to watch magic keep her alive; they don't admit just how worried they are.
While Mie is getting a crash course in what she has missed out on while she was with Harry in the place between life and death, Albus and Gellert are sitting in Albus's quarters eating the food that Gellert made.
"You haven't lost your touch… this is delicious," Albus tells Gellert, trying not to think about the fact that Ariana loved Gellert's cooking.
"I'm glad you think so," Gellert responds. "So, that cloak Mr Potter keeps hiding me underneath, it's the cloak?" Gellert asks, stressing 'the', finally asking what he has been waiting days to ask.
"It is," Albus confirms, having expected Gellert to ask by now. "It is James's to keep, to use how he sees fit, to pass on," Albus tells Gellert, wanting to make that clear.
"Of course," Gellert responds. "That leaves the stone still out there somewhere," Gellert says, and he notices Albus tense at that. "Albus? What is it?" Gellert asks.
"The stone is gone," Albus explains. "Voldemort had no idea what it was, of course, he wouldn't have cared if he did, but he turned it into a Horcrux," Albus explains. "The Horcrux was destroyed, but it was able to be used once," Albus explains and because of the pain in Albus's voice Gellert comes to a conclusion.
"You were able to see Ariana, talk to her," Gellert realises, feeling afraid as he doesn't know how Albus is going to react to him mentioning his sister.
"And mother and father," Albus reveals. "She told me that she's okay, that she is at peace, that I did my best," Albus reveals, pain as well as amazement in his voice, and because he can tell that Albus needs to say this Gellert doesn't speak, he just allows Albus too. "She… she told me that I needed to forgive myself, that I need to stop punish myself and let myself truly be happy…. That I need to try harder with Ab," Albus reveals.
"She's right," Gellert admits. "Though I fear I will only be a hindrance to the ladder," Gellert admits.
"We'll figure it out," Albus responds, and the two of them drift into silence as they continue to eat.
"Horcruxes," Gellert says, breaking the silence after a few minutes. "How many does Voldemort have?" Gellert asks.
"We've destroyed three," Albus reveals. "In the timeline Annemie is from Voldemort had created another four, one by accident," Albus explains and Gellert can't help but from as he understand Horcrux's, though never had any intention of making them himself, so he knows how significant what Albus is saying is. "Two of them haven't been created yet," Albus explains.
"I'm assuming that the remaining two aren't going to be easy to destroy," Gellert says to Albus.
"We have the means to destroy them, the actual destruction is simple, getting to them is another matter," Albus admits. "And we have the added complication of now that we have started to change events Voldemort could create Horcrux's we don't know about, and if his soul was fragile enough to accidently create a Horcrux once…" Albus starts to say.
"It could happen again," Gellert finishes and Albus nods. "That does present complications," Gellert says and Albus realises something. "That's why Annemie disguised a destroyed locket and left it, to give you more time before Voldemort realises you know about his Horcruxes," Gellert realises.
"We can't risk Voldemort knowing that we know about his Horcrux's before we are ready," Albus explains. "But we also cannot let this war drag on," Albus explains.
"You need time to destroy the Horcruxes, but you also need to work fast to assure that all the horrors that occurred in the timeline Annemie is from don't come to past," Gellert realises.
"Yes," Albus confirms, with a pained voice, and the two of them once again drift into silence as they continue to eat.
In the hospital wing the Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Alice and Amelia have left as Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let them stay for too long and so once again Mie and Aberforth are alone in the hospital wing.
"So, how much longer do you think Dad's going to stay away for?" Mie asks, glancing at the clock.
"I think that will completely depend on Grindelwald," Aberforth says bitterly.
"Uncle Ab," Mie says with a sign, having realised that this was coming.
"Are you seriously okay with him being here? You know everything he did, you know everything period," Aberforth says, sounding angry that Mie could consider trusting him.
"He did help to save me," Mie says.
"Mie," Aberforth says, sounding a little annoyed. "What do you really think? Because I think Albus is making the second biggest mistake of his life, the first of which was letting that Bastard into our home in the first place," Aberforth says angrily.
"I think, Grindelwald and I talked yesterday, it was eye opening," Mie tells her uncle, who leans forward.
"Mie, you can't trust him, manipulating people with his charm is what he does," Aberforth warns.
"I know that," Mie admits. "And I'm not saying that I trust him, not yet anyway, but what I am saying is that I am going to give him a chance, not for him because you're right he doesn't deserve it, but Dad does," Mie tells her uncle. "No matter how I may feel Dad loves him, and he believes that there is good in Grindelwald that he can help, and I'm not going to take that belief from Dad without a good reason," Mie admits. "I'm not asking you to be his best friend, I'm not even asking you to like him, I just asking that you're not overtly hostile," Mie tells her uncle.
"That's still a hell of a lot you're asking," Aberforth tells Mie.
"I know," Mie admits. "Uncle Ab I'm not asking you for him, I'm not even asking for Dad. I'm asking for me, give it a chance, and if it turns out you're right I will drag him back to Nurmengard myself," Mie tells her uncle.
"If I'm right you won't have to do anything, I will," Aberforth says, and an understanding look passes between them as they drift into silence.
For the next few minutes Aberforth and Mie sit in silence, until they once again hear footsteps and this time Albus and Gellert walk into the room, Albus holding the books Mie wanted.
"My books," Mie says relieved, pushing herself up in bed as she grabs a pad of paper off the bedside table as she is very much looking forward to having something to do rather than just lying in bed.
"Annemie, I appreciate that you want to work on whatever this is, but you also still need rest," Albus tells his daughter, not acting to pass them over.
"This is me figuring a way to send the books to an earlier point in the timeline I'm from," Mie tells her father and Gellert finds that fascinating, but he isn't comfortable enough to ask about it. "It's incredibly important," Mie tells her father.
"I know that," Albus tells his daughter. "But Annemie you are still healing," Albus tells her.
"I'm okay, Dad, I won't push myself too hard, but I need to do something," Mie admits. "My mind doesn't do well being idle," Mie tells her father, and an understanding look passes between them so Albus hands her the books.
"Take rests when you need, and I'm here if you need to talk something through," Albus tells his daughter.
"Thanks Dad," Mie sys as she continues to work on her plan, picking up where she left on, while Albus, Aberforth and Gellert watch on, occasionally Mie would pose a hypothetical question to her father, and he gives his opinion and about an hour later, when both Mie and Albus are stuck Gellert gives a hypothesis of his own; which allows Mie to continue her work until she is too tired to.