Archive of Our Own

It begins as a dream.

Somehow with Gellert Grindelwald it is always a dream, or perhaps it is a part of the reality that is lost to Albus Dumbledore now that his lover has gone rogue.

Grindelwald’s disappearance in Bhutan has caused rumours and speculation and reporters from the wizarding world have been seen gathering in crowds around Hogwarts. Some even ventured as far as the main courtyard before being turned back.

They were, no doubt, trying to find a way to his class, in the hopes of interviewing him, Professor Dumbledore, the one who is widely rumoured to know all about Gellert Grindelwald.

In his dream, they are back in that cafe on the corner of some London street.

Albus is seated across the empty seat which Gellert will soon occupy.

Even in this dream, he can feel it, almost, the shimmering in the air, the change in the particles before a wizard apparates into the room.

Albus listens to the buzzing, the air singing before there is a soft glow of light that signals Gellert’s arrival. He notices then as he opens his eyes that Gellert Grindelwald is watching him with a tender smile upon his lips. His mismatched eyes seem almost overjoyed to see him.

But Albus knows that in just a matter of seconds, their light conversation will take a turn for the worse.

It is always the same few words that haunt his dreams.

“Do you really intend to turn your back on your own kind? On me?”

Somehow, once those words are spoken, it always ends in flames as the restaurant burns down around them and Albus wakes with his sheets tangled about him.

Albus finds it most strange that Gellert comes to him in his dreams now so frequently.

With their blood pact destroyed, perhaps this is Grindelwald’s new method of attacking him, chipping away at his mental barriers night after night. So much so that these days, Albus swears he spies the rogue wizard hiding in the shadows in the hallways at Hogwarts. Sometimes Grindelwald will even show up during his classes, hovering in the back of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, distracting him from his lessons.

Albus chooses to ignore it, an act easier said than done.

He convinces himself that it cannot be real. He would know if it were the real Gellert standing there.

The man, after all, has a presence that Albus had grown so attuned to over the years. He is certain that he can tell the real Gellert apart from the ones conjured from his sleep deprived mind.

Gellert Grindelwald is a wanted man, a fugitive of the wizarding world.

Nowhere is safe and so Gellert finds himself constantly on the run.

Running is easy, it is something he is used to. After all, he has spent years running, changing from one disguise to another with such ease that it is second nature to him. He forgets, sometimes, when he’s in disguise for too long, just how he used to look like.

But lately the disguises are wearing him into the ground. It is taking more and more energy for him to be left alone and undetected by the Aurors.

The various Ministries are getting better at finding him and the nights that Gellert is able to get a good rest have been reduced to barely a few hours these days. There is no place that is safe. No place where he might lay his weary head down to rest and it is this lack of rest that finally costs him.

Gellert finds himself trapped, surrounded by Aurors in his latest dingy hideout. The only thing left to do is fight and fight he does.

As exhausting as it is, Gellert fights until he is the last one standing amidst the pile of rubble. The Aurors dead or unconscious at his feet, the house blown to dust.

Gellert sinks to his knees, breathing hard. A moment’s respite is all he has to survey the damage done to him. His coat is covered in soot, blood and bits of debris. His body feels weary, old beyond his years and a strange lethargy settles over him, the flicker of a flame dying out.

Perhaps he should give up the fight here.

Perhaps this would be it. The triumph of the Ministry and their Aurors and the defeat of a rogue wizard.

‘Not before you see Albus...’ whispers the thought in his head.

Somehow his lover’s name alone spurs him into action.

He needs to move.

There will be more Aurors closing in when they do not hear from their fellows.

As he pushes to his feet, Gellert feels the world suddenly tipping, his vision fading to black before coming into focus again.

It would be easy enough to apparate to the one place that he knows to be safe. But with his reserves of energy, Gellert knows that he will not be able to make it and he doesn’t want to risk losing any more time.

So he does a typically Muggle thing, buying a ticket for the earliest train to King’s Cross station where he transfers on Platform Nine and Three-quarters for the next leg of his journey that will take him to Hogwarts.

Gellert Grindelwald is focusing the reserves of his energy, keeping a hold on his disguise as he steps aboard the train to Hogwarts.

It is only when he is in the privacy of his cabin, with the shutters drawn and the door locked, that he dares to let the disguise drop. He keeps his wand at the ready, grasped in his hand while he watches the door.

As the train slowly rattles away from the platform, it becomes clear to Gellert that perhaps, he might be able to get some rest after all. No one had come crashing into the train to take him away. No one has apparated into the confines of his cabin...

His eyes feel heavy and his body leaden. The plush leather of the train cabin’s seats are soft and cushiony as his head falls gently backwards and he closes his eyes.

In his dream, Gellert Grindelwald finds himself looking down at the letter he had received with neat cursive script. Signed A. D., it is an invitation to meet at a cafe in London.

It will be his first meeting with Albus Dumbledore in at least a decade. So of course, Gellert is...in part, nervous, apprehensive and unsure.

It was almost like a date this meeting of theirs, Albus inviting him to meet in a cafe.

Gellert remembers watching from across the street as Albus enters the cafe and takes his seat. He remembers watching Albus waiting for him, calmly stirring his tea, but not drinking it.

Just, waiting...

Gellert doesn’t take the front door for it is far too conventional. He would rather apparate into the middle of the cafe, silent enough to buy him a few minutes to watch as Albus Dumbledore listens for his arrival, his eyes closed in anticipation.

Gellert feels like a fool in love all over again just gazing Albus, all calm with his eyes closed. He cannot help the tender smile upon his lips, one that grows slightly wider when those clear blue eyes open and meet his. Albus seemed slightly shocked at getting caught by him with his guard down like that.

“Would this be one of your regular haunts?” Gellert had asked as though they had seen each other just the day before and not, in fact, close to a decade or so ago.

“I...don’t have any regular haunts,” Albus admitted, averting his gaze.

It is a happy memory, this dream of his, despite the fact that their conversation deteriorated almost immediately after in the real world.

But this is not the real world, so Gellert steers the narrative.

He likes to imagine that they didn’t have that conversation. He likes to imagine that they were perhaps truly on a date, heads bent closer together than was necessary. His hand laid conspicuously over Albus’s just to stake his claim to the world. It would be enough to make Albus’s cheeks flush with colour as he made to pretend it were all normal, stirring away at his tea, eyes quietly averted.

Before long, Gellert is wearing yet another disguise. It is enough to get him past the gates of Hogwarts, enough to allow him to move through the school grounds undetected.

Having visited this school once in his youth on an exchange programme courtesy of his former school, the Durmstrang Institute, Gellert finds himself making his way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Cloaked under a disguise so that no one would recognise him, he quickly follows the signs and before long he can hear Albus’s voice.

“There is no need to be afraid. It cannot hurt you,” Albus assures his student. “You’re safe now. You’re safe. There’s nothing to worry about.”

It is reassuring to hear Albus’s voice and Gellert feels assured to hear his tone, so kind, so gentle.

‘You’re safe now...’ Albus’s voice sounds in his mind and Gellert stumbles leaning against the wall for support now, finishing the last lap to the classroom.

Albus notices the tall man standing at the back of his class just a moment after he enters, leaning against the wall. Gellert has come to visit again, his mismatched eyes watching him carefully.

At first Albus thinks that it is only his mind playing tricks on him once more. It isn’t until he realises that Gellert is hurt, his coat soaked through with blood that Albus instantly pulls them both into limbo as their surroundings still, leaving them both alone together in a pocket of time.

Albus crosses immediately over to Gellert, tongue-tied and gazing up at him. He is still unable to believe that the wizarding world’s most wanted man is standing right here before him.

“You stopped your class, putting everything on hold, all just for me?” Gellert asks seemingly incredulous as he leans back heavily against the wall of the classroom, trying to pretend all is well.

“You’re hurt…” Albus finally manages his eyes taking in the damage, assessing the severity of the situation, the cuts upon his lover’s brow, the blood staining his coat. He must have been on the run. He notices now too that Gellert’s skin is pale, paler than usual and his eyes are haunted, tired and bloodshot. “Oh Gellert, what happened?” he asks, voice soft as his hand instinctively moves to cradle the other man’s face.

Somehow, it breaks his heart to see Gellert like this.

“You...care...” Gellert exhales leaning into Albus’s palm, closing his eyes. Perhaps his body knows that he will be safe here with Albus and Gellert feels all the strength draining out of him as his knees buckle and give way beneath him.

“Gellert!” Albus exclaims, catching him as he collapses.

“There was never any doubt that you would help me,” Gellert whispers as he feels Albus’s arms tighten about him, supporting him, “You of all people...” there’s a light chuckle as he says that.

Albus notes the slight faltering in Gellert’s voice as he speaks but he doesn’t comment on it. It must have taken Gellert much strength to come here, and on foot too from the looks of it.

“You should have arrived sooner,” Albus says, leading Gellert over to a chair in the corner of the classroom and settling him down on it.

“I came as soon as could,” Gellert replies defensively.

What a lie for Albus Dumbledore had been his very last resort. Because time after time Gellert had contemplated running to Hogwarts, to Albus, but the only reason that he hadn’t was that he feared that Albus had given up on him, on them.

And yet here they are now, together again, Albus kneeling at his side, concern written into his features. The quick precise movements of his wand, is followed by soft incantations. Gellert can feel the cuts upon his face starting to itch as new skin grows back. He feels a gentle warmth encompassing him, filling him with strength.

“Albus...” Gellert cautions, trying to stop the wizard’s transfer of his energy. But Albus, his stubborn Albus, will not listen.

“You know where my chambers are?” Albus asks now as he stands slowly, his vision swimming for just a second.

“I know where your chambers are,” Gellert assures him, making to stand now too as he steadies Albus one hand perched upon his shoulder.

Albus wants to know how that is the case, but he doesn’t have the time to ask that of Gellert just yet, “Good. I’ll see you there shortly then. Go.”

As soon as Gellert has left the classroom, Albus channels the flow of time again, losing the bubble of limbo that had encapsulated them just moments ago.

“Class, there has been an emergency that I must attend to,” Albus announces, “As such we shall stop here for today with your practice on the boggart. I want all of you to read up about the boggart. Those of you who have yet to face it, be prepared for it the next lesson. Also the results of your pop quiz will be out next week. Without further ado, class is dismissed!”

Albus quickly packs his things, noting the students with their curious eyes all watching him as he dashes out of the classroom. He doesn’t even stop to pull on his jacket or to take any questions.

Albus weaves through the students streaming out of their classrooms. He’s short of running through the hallways at Hogwarts just to get to his chambers, but he fears that people might figure out that something has changed. He fears that they might somehow find Gellert Grindelwald is hiding here, within the walls of Hogwarts.

As soon as he reaches the hallway leading to the various professor’s chambers, Albus strides quickly to the staircase with his name on a plaque next to it. Then he takes the stairs up to his chambers two at a time and is short of throwing up from the dizziness from the roundabout manner of the stairs by the time he reaches the landing upstairs.

On the other side of the door is Gellert, and he can already feel the latter’s presence just behind the heavy wooden door. Albus turns the handle and pushes into his chambers finding Gellert, paler than usual, still standing and looking through his things, wandering from shelf to shelf.

“Gellert you are in no state to be nosing about my things,” Albus snaps as he throws his jacket over the magical coat rack which catches it expertly, pulling his messenger bag off from across his body, he tosses that aside too, “If you would please take a seat.”

Gellert tuts, “So bossy, Professor Dumbledore” he teases as he makes to sit upon the couch, “Not afraid that I will stain your upholstery?”

“Please,” Albus chides, “I couldn’t care less about the furniture. Not when you’re bleeding out.”

Gellert smiles softly, watching as Albus folds up his shirt-sleeves, producing his wand before coming to settle down across him on the couch.

“Alright, show me,” Albus nods at him.

Gellert Grindelwald is not usually self conscious, except for right now. After a moment’s hesitation, he grimaces, making to shrug out of his blood-stained jacket.

Clearly the wound hurts so Albus reaches out, steadies Gellert’s hand before he can go any further.

“Here, let me,” Albus says before he whispers a soft incantation and Gellert’s jacket seemingly having come to life, slips off his shoulders, the buttons of his shirt slowly coming undone and baring his skin.

“Well, well what an expert in the art of undressing,” Gellert teases as he looks down at his shirt buttons, moving of their own accord, “How much practice have you had Albus, hm?”

“Be quiet you,” Albus chides as his face burns at the insinuation of Gellert’s words, “It’s a simple enough spell, everyone knows it.”

Gellert chuckles, “If you say so, Professor.”

Albus lets out a soft hiss as he takes in Gellert’s injuries, his heart twisting at the sight of the darkened bruises. They would heal but the great slash across his chest...

“They nearly got you,” Albus whispers his voice soft as he instinctively moves his hand to hover over the wound. A gentle white light emits from his palm and Gellert feels the soft warmth of Albus’s spell against his skin, stopping the wound from bleeding.

“You’re lucky that you didn’t loose too much blood,” Albus muses as he trails his thumb lightly over Gellert’s warm flesh, tracing the edge of the wound upon his chest, just inches above his heart. It isn’t a fatal wound, but still, it looked deep enough, painful enough.

Gellert grips Albus’s hand stopping him mid-exploration. Albus’s touch did things to him, especially after all the years that they have spent apart. Those calloused fingers, so gentle against his skin make Gellert feel things that he’s thought he’d forgotten how to feel. It is much easier to block it up and seal those feelings away. It is much easier to continue down his war path, since things are after all nearing the end.

“Wouldn’t you be happy if they got me?” Gellert snarks.

Albus’s eyes widen slightly in shock at Gellert’s words, the venom in them, the hardness in his lover’s eyes.

“Nonsense,” Albus hushes him, as he pulls his hand away from Gellert’s, “You of all people should know that I wouldn’t be happy if anything were to happen to you,” he continues softly as he turns away, eyes scanning the room.

“Accio, basin,” Albus summons, the washbasin over to him. “Aguamenti,” he whispers, waving his wand to fill the washbasin now.

“Accio, cloth,” he continues taking the soft cotton cloth and immersing it into the cooling waters in the washbasin.

Gellert notices that when Albus turns back to him, his eyes are guarded. They avoid his gaze and a frown mars his usually calm countenance. He realises that Albus is annoyed with him once more as he takes the cloth to his wound, cleaning it.

“I would be devastated at the loss of you,” Albus confesses, barely looking up as he says those words.

Gellert smiles ruefully, feeling an unfamiliar stinging in his eyes. He finds that he is glad to hear those words coming from Albus. He is glad to know that Albus still holds some sort of feelings for him, no matter how diminished those feelings are. He wonders now if it is possible to turn back the hands on the clock, to erase all the deeds that he has done and start over again with Albus.

‘Impossible...’ the voice in his head hisses, ‘You will only hurt him.’

Perhaps it is too late...perhaps the only option now is to pay for his deeds...

If that is to be the case, then Gellert wants to treasure these last few hours that he has with Albus.

Cautiously, Gellert reaches out a hand, trailing his fingers down Albus’s cheek in a gentle caress.

“Gellert...?” Albus whispers, stilling in his motions as Gellert’s fingers gently grip his chin, tipping his face up.

Curiosity tinged with surprise registers in Albus’s clear blue eyes as he meets Gellert’s mismatched gaze now and Gellert is reminded of the day he first kissed Albus so long ago. How shy his Albus had been, skin all flushed as he blinked seemingly like waking up from a deep sleep.

Albus swallows as he keeps his gaze steady with Gellert’s, tongue flicking out to wet his lips as his body prickles in anticipation. He sees now the softening of Gellert’s eyes, the tenderness of the boy that he had loved in his youth and Albus leans in, drawn to him once more. One hand perched for support against Gellert’s bare chest, he closes the distance between them.

Forehead to forehead, their noses just brushing.

Gellert sighs softly, revelling in this shared moment of tenderness with Albus. He feels the tension leaving his body as he presses his forehead to Albus’s, their lips ghosting against each other, feather light and teasing. Somehow, the years could not keep them apart. Somehow, they were always meant to find each other once more.

‘A final farewell...’ Gellert thinks.

“Albus,” Gellert whispers, his hand moving to the back of his lover’s neck, fingers just barely tangling in his hair, “I have missed you,” he confesses, hating how weak he sounds.

“And I have missed you,” Albus breathes, conviction in his words as he presses his lips softly to Gellert’s in a reassuring kiss, “I have missed you more than you can ever know,” he continues in a sigh, trembling hands moving to rest against either side of Gellert’s face as he pulls back, just to stare into his lover’s eyes.

Albus’s beautiful blue eyes glisten with unshed tears and he purses his trembling lips, bites down on it just to hold back the tears.

Gellert feels his heart twist again for the pain he has put Albus through. All the suffering and hurt. If he can only take it back, he would. But Gellert supposes that for him, there is no going back. There is only the final journey to take to atone for his crimes.

“I am sorry too,” Gellert confesses thumbing away Albus’s silent, falling tears, “For everything that I have done.”

Albus lets out a laugh, shaking his head as he leans in to Gellert once more, “Forgiven,” he whispers, kissing Gellert once again.

This time, Gellert keeps him in place, one hand on the back of his head as he kisses Albus deeply, tongues dancing together. In this moment there is only him and Albus, nothing else. Their reunion is tender, passionate, eager.

Gellert smirks into their kiss as Albus presses up against him, the professor is short of climbing into his lap and Gellert’s hands map their way down the sides of Albus’s body, gripping his hips, he draws Albus closer, wanting to feel him too.

It is all the encouragement that Albus needs as he shifts kneeling up on the couch, barely breaking their kiss.

“Professor Dumbledore?”

The voice is followed closely by a polite knock.

Albus, startled by the sound, by the voice of a colleague, hurriedly pulls back. In his haste to extricate himself from Gellert’s hold he causes the washbasin to flip over off the table. Water splashes all over Gellert’s trousers outlining quite clearly the state of the other man’s arousal. Albus feels his throat tightening as his eyes meet Gellert’s dangerously darkened ones.

Somewhere behind the washbasin is rolling away, clattering over and over on its rim before a silence settles over the room.

“Professor? Is everything alright in there?” Minerva’s voice sounds again on the other side of the door.

“J-Just a minute!” Albus calls finding his tongue again despite the panic as he looks from Gellert half dressed and now also soaking wet form, to the door.

With a flick of his wand, Albus locks the door buying himself some more time.

“Professor? Did you just...lock the door?” Minerva asks sounding half appalled and yet also concerned.

“Yes! I’m...in a bit of a state you see.”

“Are you unwell?” Minerva asks.

“Tell her you’re meeting a parent or something,” Gellert suggests keeping his voice soft. “Or—” Albus claps a hand over his mouth glaring sharply at him as he shakes his head.

“Quiet, she’ll hear you!” Albus whispers harshly.

“Professor is there someone else in there?”

Albus cocks his head to the side glaring pointedly at Gellert now, “See?” he quips.

“I’m in the midst of a meeting with a friend,” Albus says feeling Gellert’s lips curl into a smile under his hand, “I would be most grateful if you could come back later Professor McGonagall.”

“Well, sure, of course.”

They both listened in silence to Minerva’s retreating footsteps.

It is only after he is sure that there is no one else but them that Gellert reaches to curl his fingers around Albus’s hand, taking it off his mouth. “You’re protecting me now are you?” he asks.

“Well of course,” Albus answers his eyes still trained on the door.

“And how long do you plan on keeping me hidden here, hm?” Gellert asks kissing the back of Albus’s hand and drawing the latter’s attention back to him.

Albus’s gaze flicks back to Gellert’s. What a compromising state they seemed to have evolved into. Gellert, half naked, chest bared, his trousers soaked through with water. Albus himself perched against the other wizard’s chest, one hand braced against warm flesh, the other held in Gellert’s hand now inches from his mouth.

‘It has been such a long while since...we last...If Minerva hadn’t interrupted...’

“Albus?” Gellert’s voice is soft as he watches that far away look in his lover’s eyes, “Albus are you with me?”

Albus shakes the haze off, “My apologies...I was distracted...” he mutters pulling back, his hand slipping away from Gellert’s.

“By the thought of what might have been if we were not so rudely interrupted,” Gellert fills in, a statement, not a question.

It is enough to make Albus’s cheeks colour as he turns away, choosing to ignore those words as he goes about cleaning up the mess.

How Gellert smirks seeing his Albus all flustered as he busies himself. It reminds him so much of when they were younger. How he used to protect Albus, to fight for him, for them. Albus would always insist that he is capable of standing up for himself too. Somehow things had turned out so differently from everything that they had dreamed of.

With his time running out, Gellert decides to take his leave before the Ministry tracked him down to Hogwarts. He will besmirch the name of the Great Albus Dumbledore by merely being associated with him in the papers.

Reaching for his wand, Gellert is about to enchant his clothes back on when Albus stops him, one hand covering his.

“Your clothes need to be mended and washed,” Albus says meeting Gellert’s eyes.

They both know that is an excuse, one to make Gellert stay here longer. For to mend the clothes by hand and wash it in one of the Muggle inventions would take a day at most. There were spells and charms that could wash and mend clothes in the blink of an eye. But Gellert does not mention it.

“Of course, I’ll leave that to you then,” he concedes.

They take dinner together in Albus’s chambers.

Gellert is dressed in some extra uniforms that Albus has managed to find in his size. Unsurprisingly, they bear the colours of Slytherin House.

Perhaps they both knew the inevitable end that they would eventually reach later that night though they were both too afraid to bring it up first. That kiss this afternoon had been the spark to ignite the flames that burned within them after all and neither could forget it, how good it felt to be back together again.

Dinner is carried out in an almost tense silence. The passing of cutlery Gellert realises is followed by their hands brushing, accompanied by a sharp intake of breath and Albus’s eyes darkening as they meet his. But Albus doesn’t say a word, he only swallows hard, pursing his lips as he clears his throat and goes back to his meal.

It is strange how even as they are seated on either end of Albus’s room later after dinner, their eyes manage to meet at the exact same moment. Gellert looking over the top of a book that he had helped himself too and Albus looking up from his student’s papers.

Gellert holds Albus’s gaze and as it almost always seemed to be the case in their youth, Albus smiles, cheeks heating as he breaks their intense staring contest, going back to his work.

“If you’d like you can make use of the washbasin and prepare for bed,” Albus says, “You don’t have to stay up on my account.”

“Are we to share your bed then?” Gellert asks nodding to the four posted bed on the raised balcony behind Albus.

“No. You can have it all to yourself,” Albus replies without even looking up from his paperwork, “I doubt that I’ll be sleeping much. I have work to do,” he continues sending one stack of finished parchments floating over to a desk where more such stacks awaited.

Albus doesn’t lift his head to watch as Gellert gets up from his seat. He is fighting the urge to join him upstairs in his bed...to finish the beginnings of what had started this afternoon.

Just when he thinks that Gellert has headed up the stairs to the balcony, he finds a shadow falling across his paperwork.

“It would be rude of you to not entertain your guests,” Gellert comments as he stands before Albus.

Albus looks up to him, “Gellert, I have work to do. These parchments need to be marked.”

The rogue wizard looks down at the parchments, “Pop quiz. They don’t count to the student’s grades. You can mark these any time you want, by next week even.”

‘I don’t have until next week, I don’t even know if I have until tomorrow...’ Gellert thinks and perhaps Albus can sense it too for he sets his quill down.

“I’ll...be with you in a moment then...” Albus says his cheeks hot, blood already pounding in his ears.

As the shadow of Gellert lifts from his desk Albus looks after his retreating form, climbing the stairs to his bedchambers in the balcony that overlooks his office.

If he were to go through with this right now, then every night that he spends here in future...alone...would be a reminder of this moment.

Albus closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to calm his nerves. ‘It is better to have memories than to regret not making them at all.’

Albus is still nervous as he takes the stairs up to the balcony where his sleeping quarters are. On the other side of the bed, Gellert is already seated, toeing off his shoes.

Albus follows suit, pulling his woollen vest over his head and setting his shoes to the side before he sits down gingerly on the bed, fingers curling into the mattress on either side of him. He can feel Gellert’s presence behind him shifting, feel the dip of the bed under his lover’s weight as Gellert comes up from behind him, hands snaking up his body in wanton exploration.

Albus trembles as Gellert’s warm palms coast up his chest. He is not used to the feeling of being touched like this, possessive and all-powerful. Gellert draws him back against his chest and Albus swears he can feel the warmth of his lover’s body burning into his skin despite the layers of clothes between them.

“Relax,” Gellert coaxes, encapsulating Albus in his arms and letting his hand rest above the other’s racing heart. It is a gesture that they knew only too well for they has spent warm summer afternoons and nights lying in each other’s embrace, feeling the beating of the other’s heart beneath their palm.

Trusting his word entirely, Albus’s eyes flutter close as he leans back into Gellert. A soft sigh escapes his lips as his hands move to cover Gellert’s ones, holding his lover in place.

Albus lets his head fall back against Gellert’s shoulder as the latter nuzzles close, his nose pressed against his skin, lips, slowly kissing a trail up to his ear. It tickles, feeling Gellert’s grizzled cheeks scraping against his sensitive skin. Albus feels the familiar prickle of need and he sighs softly, breath coming out in a shaky release as Gellert’s lips ghost against his ear.

“Albus,” Gellert hisses, nipping his lover’s earlobe playfully.

“Yes?” Albus replies his voice sounding high and breathy.

“Let me undress you,” Gellert whispers hearing Albus gasp softly now as his hands move to the buttons of his shirt.

Albus doesn’t say a word as he keeps his eyes closed feeling the anticipation building in his chest as Gellert’s fingers work their way up the trail of buttons on his shirt.

When the last button is undone, Gellert works the shirt from Albus’s shoulders, pulling it off him, slowly such that the fabric whispers over his skin. Hands on his hips, Gellert guides Albus to turn around to face him.

Albus turns as instructed, standing before Gellert. He feels his lover’s eyes coasting hungrily over his nakedness, watches as Gellert’s lips curl up in a satisfied smirk as he kneels up on to the bed now, coming to join Albus.

Gellert kneels before Albus, trailing his fingers absently up his lover’s belly. He likes to watch the way Albus’s eyes darken, the only sign that the latter is enjoying this at all as he ghosts his fingers up Albus’s belly, teasing the smooth softness of his flesh.

Gellert lets his fingers trail up over the fabric indents that Albus’s trousers have left marring his skin and then just when he senses Albus growing impatient, Gellert slides his fingers back down, outlining the curve of his lover’s belly button before his fingers playfully tug at the dark wisps of hair that trail below his trousers.

Albus gasps at the sudden tug around his waist, the fingers smoothing over leather, cloth and burning into the curves of his hips. Gellert has always had a penchant for such teasing foreplay. Albus himself on the other hand, only wished for them to become one.

Gellert looks ravenous as he starts to undo the clasp of his belt. All the while Albus holds his gaze, metal clinking and leather creaking until, at last, he feels the release of the zipper and a soft, much sought after pressure against his growing need as Gellert palms and massages his half hard cock through his briefs with one hand, the other lazily shucking off his trousers.

“Look at you, Albus,” Gellert hums appreciatively, outlining Albus’s erection with his finger, “How you’ve grown.”

Albus swallows hard lips pursing as he stifles a moan.

“Still too shy to let your voice be heard?” Gellert taunts.

“This is Hogwarts, Gellert…I’m a professor…” Albus chides, his voice wavering as Gellert continues to touch him.

Somehow Albus feels so naked already with himself half undressed, and Gellert embodying the Slytherin value of cunning as he sits there still fully clothed touching him and rediscovering his body once again.

In the end, Gellert leaves Albus in only his briefs, socks and those horribly racy sock garters cinched just below his lover’s knees. There’s something about it, those sock garters, that makes Gellert’s blood rush.

“Oh Professor Dumbledore,” Gellert teases, drawing Albus into bed on top of him, “I do love hearing you cry for me,” he says gripping Albus’s throat and roughly drawing him closer.

Albus whines at the way Gellert touches him possessively, scrubs a thumb over his lips and looks at him with such a feral, heated gaze.

“Do you remember how you used to take control, Albus?” Gellert continues, “How you used to ride me?”

“Gellert!” Albus admonishes for stirring up his memories so. His cock is straining against the confines of his briefs and Albus shifts slightly, involuntarily moving his hips, rocking into Gellert’s body and offering a moment’s relief.

Gellert chuckles, hands smoothing up Albus’s bare thighs and then trailing back down to play with the sock garters, “You look even better than you used to in these.”

“Hush, you,” Albus whispers his heart full to bursting as he looks at Gellert.

“You don’t know how much I’ve dreamt of seeing you again,” Albus confesses as he straddles Gellert now, kneeling up as he cards his hands through Gellert’s hair in an equally possessive manner, watching the man’s eyes close as his lover revels in his touch.

“You don’t know how much I’ve dreamt of touching you again either,” Albus continues, hugging Gellert to him, snaking his arms about his lover and curling his body around him.

“I thought I’d lost you forever when you disappeared in Bhutan after the ceremony.”

“Did you look for me?” Gellert asks, cradling Albus to him too.

“I sought signs that would show me that you were alive,” Albus recalls, his hands playing with Gellert’s hair, “But actively searching for you? No,” Albus confesses, “I feared the reporters would be on my case faster than anyone else and once that happened...the Ministry will have you in their grasps.”

“Who’s to say they are not already moving on Hogwarts now?” Gellert asks, pressing a kiss to Albus’s chest, “But, the Ministry be damned right now. I’m here for you, Albus.”

Gellert kisses his way up Albus’s body now, lips ghosting over heated skin that smelled faintly of lavender. Fervently, he worships his lover’s body, scattering reverent kisses across the expanse of Albus’s chest. Fingers, dig into his shoulders now, curling into his flesh as Albus’s breathy cries encourage Gellert to flick his tongue out, toying with those dusky nipples.

Gellert swirls his tongue about one, thumbing and rolling the other sensitive nub between thumb and forefinger.

“Merlin’s beard, Gellert!” Albus curses above him and Gellert smirks, elated to know that he still has his skills.

Hands braced against his back, Gellert hungrily devours his Albus, loving the way he arches into his mouth.

“Oh Gellert,” Albus gasps, fingers twisting in his Gellert’s hair, pulling him ever closer, as his lover’s wandering lips continue to tease him mercilessly.

“Look at you,” Gellert marvels, “How excited you are,” he muses, palming Albus’s briefs again and purposefully toying with the darkened, tented patch.

Albus stifles a gasp then as Gellert slips a hand into his briefs, unabashedly curling about his hard length. All of a sudden he feels quite light headed and he leans against Gellert’s head as the rogue wizard pulls his briefs down, exposing him fully. In silence, Albus watches as Gellert’s expert fingers trail along the length of his cock, ghosting over the sensitive organ and making it twitch.

“Enough with your teasing, Gellert,” Albus pleads, his voice strained.

In one practiced move Gellert curls his fingers into a fist around Albus’s girth, tugging slow and languid enough to draw a wanton moan from Albus’s lips.

“Is this what you wanted, Professor Dumbledore?” Gellert husks as he feels Albus nod, “You like that?” he asks, thumbing the thick vein on the underside of his cock.

Albus hums his approval, hips already eagerly shifting.

“Did you think of me touching you like this?”

“Yes,” Albus hisses, feeling a warm wetness dribbling down his cock now, making Gellert’s movements so much smoother, so much more...sinful with those slick noises accompanying it.

“Tell me how shall I have you Albus, hm?” Gellert asks, as his hand slips lower still, slick fingers toying with the tight furl of his lover’s entrance

“I want to watch you as you take me,” Albus sighs, as Gellert’s fingers toy with him, easing slowly into him, “I want to watch you go wild and come undone inside me.”

“I’ve always loved this honesty of yours,” Gellert chuckles as he switches their places, rolling Albus beneath him.

Gellert marvels at the way Albus takes him. How his lips part on a silent gasp, as Gellert pushes fully into him, making them one again after so long. He smooths his hands up Albus’s chest, watching as his lover’s eyes flutter open to meet his.

“Merlin’s beard,” Albus whispers, blindly reaching for Gellert’s hand and intertwining their fingers, bringing them to his lips and kissing them, “How you’ve grown,” he says throwing Gellert’s words back at him and making his lover chuckle.

“Too much?” Gellert asks, leaning in, touching their foreheads together again. He feels the slight shake of Albus’s head beneath his.

“Not enough,” Albus replies as he locks his legs behind Gellert’s back, drawing him in deeper and sighing at the ardent press of their bodies.

Gellert rolls his hips in a test, keeping Albus’s hands pinned to the bed now.

Albus writhes beneath him, eyes half hooded as he pushes back down on Gellert’s cock, his cries all breathy with pleasure.

They move together now, making up for lost time, bodies undulating as one in slowly rhythmic thrusts. Gellert sets the pace for them as Albus clings onto him. His cries are just barely muffled when he purses his lips or draws Gellert close to him, lips by his ear, encouraging Gellert softly with his praise.

Gellert swears that he can get lost in Albus’s body like this. Albus is all tight and snug about him, his eager entrance encompassing him, reminding Gellert of how good they used to be in bed together. Sometimes rough and quick, sometimes slow and sensual, drawing on each other’s energy just like right now.

Gellert angles his hips, thrusting home once more, making Albus cry louder this time as he hits his sweet spot. He loves the way Albus, usually so restrained becomes vocal for him. Swivelling his hips, Gellert draws back and thrusts in again with a resounding slap of flesh and a surprised little keen from Albus who instinctively tightens about him, blue eyes expressively asking him for more.

Albus sighs softly as Gellert grips his legs, just behind the curve of his knees, holding them apart. His lover’s eyes burn into his own, watching for his reactions all while burying his shaft deeper, carving himself into his body. Albus lets his fingers caress Gellert’s belly, coursing up his lightly furred chest to settle against his neck. He draws Gellert closer, holding his lover’s mismatched gaze as Gellert begins to cant his hips, picking up the pace.

With them, it is always an eager race to the finish. Once they have thrown away their pretences, once they are through with taking it slow, they are held together by their intense need for the other.

Gellert’s hands curl about Albus, possessive, needy as he holds his lover in place, fucking into him with a fervent eagerness now, as if he can make up for the years of being separated. The sound of their mating bodies, flesh against flesh, fills his ears. It is accompanied by his own ragged breathing and the slick sounds of their joining punctuating each thrust of his hips.

‘Ah, the wonderful symphony of sex,’ Gellert thinks with a little smirk as he presses a kiss against Albus’s leg, resting against his shoulder.

Albus’s fingers twist in the sheets of his bed, head thrown back as he moans unabashedly now. How many nights has he dreamt of their joining again? How many nights has he imagined Gellert loving him the way he is loving him right now? Pleasure thrums through him, building and rising to a white hot pinnacle. At which point Albus cries his lovers name, as he is pushed over the edge.

Gellert follows not seconds later with a low groan.

Albus watches, his lover’s mismatched eyes hooded, hips stuttering in their powerful strokes as Gellert groans, body trembling as his release explodes within his body in long heated bursts.

Ragged breaths, light touches and a soft voice coaxes Gellert back down to reality.

Albus reaches for Gellert’s arms, tugging gently, wanting to have him close, wanting to inhale the scent of their lovemaking fresh on his skin.

Gellert willingly lowers himself to Albus, one hand moving to curl about Albus’s leaking shaft, milking the last of his release from him as he pulls out.

In the aftermath of their joining, Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald lie together, limbs tangled, bodies still pressed together, their hearts beating as one beneath each other’s palms. Each of them is lost his his own thoughts and it is Gellert who breaks the silence first.

“How long do you think it will be then, before they come looking for me here?” Gellert asks as he kisses Albus’s bared shoulder.

“Do not ask that of me now,” Albus replies, turning to blindly seek out Gellert’s lips.

They share a kiss of assurance, tender and slow.

“I do not want to spoil this perfect moment,” Albus continues softly.

Gellert smiles ruefully as he watches over his lover with his eyes still closed, as if the mere act of keeping them shut will stop reality from cruelly marching on.

“We’ll figure something out,” Albus says as if sensing his thoughts just then, “We were always great at coming up with plans after all. We will be alright.”

‘Will we be alright?’ Gellert thinks as he settles down too, closing his eyes and keeping Albus close to him.

Albus can be so optimistic sometimes.

Gellert doesn’t sleep a wink that night. He knows the exact moment that Albus has fallen off to sleep, the moment his breathing steadies and he settles back against his chest.

Instead he focuses on the vision of the future that has revealed itself to him and now plagues his mind.

The Aurors from the Ministry of Magic surround the entrances to Hogwarts. They are here to take Gellert and deliver him to his long awaited punishment. In the morning light, with the mist just parting, two figures cross side by side on the bridge.

Gellert recognises it as himself and Albus.

Before they are even halfway across, a jagged bolt of green races towards them.

And even before he watches the following moments play out, Gellert already knows what will happen next.

Albus dives to protect him, knocking him out of the way and taking the full force of the killing curse. The Aurors on seeing that things have gone wrong, do not move at all. And in the stillness of that misty morning, Gellert crawls to kneel beside his lover. He draws the lifeless body of Albus into his arms and there isn’t any sound at all as he screams.

A chill courses through Gellert’s body as he comes back to the reality before him.

Gellert tucks his chin over Albus’s shoulder, his arms tightening protectively around his sleeping lover who is snoring lightly now.

He will not let Albus sacrifice himself for him.

Knowing what is to come, Gellert presses a soft kiss to Albus’s cheek, lingering in the pleasant warmth of his lover.

“I am tired of running, Albus,” he whispers, “I wish I could stay here, with you, but I have to protect you. I am sorry, my dearest one, for not giving you a choice in this,” Gellert continues before he extricates himself from Albus’s embrace.

In a bid to stop the outcome that he has seen, Gellert will seek out the Aurors first and turn himself in.

If he is lucky, there will be no fighting necessary.

The light of dawn is soft and gentle, signalling the start of a new day.

Hogwarts rises out of the shrouding mists that rolls off the lake.

Across the bridge suspended from the mainland to the school, an army of the Ministry’s Aurors has gathered. They await their orders from their superior to move on the school and their target, Gellert Grindelwald.

It is about an hour, before they are told to move out when one of them spots a familiar lone figure stalking through the mists headed towards them from the castle grounds of Hogwarts.

The Aurors are immediately on the defensive, circling the area about the end of the bridge, wands at the ready.

It is as he had expected, an entire company of Aurors from the Ministry of Magic and their various international counterparts were camped across the bridge.

“Looking for me?” Gellert asks, cautiously approaching them.

“Gellert Grindelwald,” Seraphina Picquery greets. She stands at the head of the team of Aurors, their leader, keeping them all at bay with a hand held out, “Nice of you to join us.”

“Quite a team you’ve got here,” Gellert notes calmly as he looks at the Aurors gathered on the other side of the bridge to Hogwarts. He is sure that Aurors from the British, French and American Ministries of Magic had somehow banded together in order to hunt him down. “A shame that you won’t be needing them though,” he informs Seraphina as he continues his approach across the bridge hands still held at his sides, “I want to make a bargain.”

“You do not get to bargain,” Seraphina bites back, wand at the ready, poised to attack.

“Cranky are we?” Gellert mocks, noting her offensive stance, “At least hear me out before you even turn me down. It might save you some trouble.”

“You have already caused enough trouble, Grindelwald. You should count yourself lucky that I didn’t have you killed on sight.”

‘But you certainly planned to, in another reality at least,’ Gellert thinks. **

“I can assure you Seraphina, what I am going to ask of you, is but a simple request, before you take me into custody,” Gellert replies as he comes to a stop, a good distance from her and the Aurors gathered on the other side of the bridge.

Seraphina narrows her eyes at him, “Speak then.”

“If I come quietly with you, I ask that you do not implicate him,” Gellert says, casting his eyes back towards Hogwarts with its beautiful and majestic towers, “Dumbledore is a professor after all and despite what you might think of our relations, intimate or otherwise, he did not aid me once in my escape. In fact, we’ve barely even spoken since Bhutan,” Gellert recounts, a blatant lie, “I simply decided to to utilise Hogwarts as a place of refuge for a short while before I delivered myself to the British Ministry of Magic.”

There is disbelief in Seraphina’s eyes but she doesn’t speak, choosing to let him continue.

“Now, I propose that my sentence take place in one of the death cells in MACUSA,” Gellert begins, “I quite fancy the way one dies while lost in their happy moments. It is, rather poetic, don’t you think?”

“As if you are capable of having had such a moment in your life,” Seraphina scoffs.

Gellert chuckles, “Sadly they were all stolen from me,” he replies calmly, “So, are we agreed then?”

Seraphina studies him and after a moment she nods firmly, “It will take some paperwork for your transfer but I believe it is doable, yes.”

“Good, let us make haste then, shall we?” Gellert asks holding out his hands, “No tricks this time, promise,” he adds as they search him and take his wand from him.

Seraphina claps silver restraining chains about his wrists soon after. They are imbued with charms to dull his affinity to the use of magic and to weaken him.

In a flurry of flashes the Aurors, with Seraphina holding Gellert captive at the head of the group, disapparate from Hogwarts one after the other.

Albus wakes as if from a nightmare, his heart still racing from the memory of his dreams.

Outside his window he can see the successive flashes of lights, making him believe for a moment that there is a thunderstorm brewing outside…only he doesn’t hear the patter of the rain on the roof tiles or the hiss of rain either.

Next to him, the bed is empty and cold, Gellert must have left awhile back. But where would he have gone at this early hour?

As Albus gets up from the bed, he finds the clothes he had taken for Gellert hanging over the back of a chair.

A flash of panic fills him and Albus hurries over to throw open his armoire where he had hung up Gellert’s mended and washed clothes. True enough their hangers sit empty now, missing Gellert’s clothes.

It is as he had expected. Gellert has left him once again.

“Where in the world would he have gone to?” Albus mutters as he freshens up, all the while trying to recall anything in their conversation yesterday that might give him a clue.

“Think…think!” he hisses.

‘I have to protect you…I’m sorry my dearest one…’

Those words that Gellert had said to him in his dream…the kiss he had felt…

Surely…Gellert couldn’t have just walked out on him like that. What of the threat of the Aurors? He would have been arrested on sight!

Hurriedly Albus grabs his wand and dresses with a flick of it.

In the blink of an eye he’s apparated down into the hallway of the teacher’s wing, turning a corner, he nearly collides right into Minerva.

“Professor Dumbledore!” she exclaims, “I have been looking all over for you!” Minerva gives him a once over now, a soft gasp leaving her lips, “What’s happened to you?”

Albus self-consciously adjusts his scarf about his neck, “Minerva I need you to cover my lessons for me.”

“Does this have something to do with the Aurors who have recently cleared out from the other side of the bridge to Hogwarts?” Minerva asks pointedly.

“I do believe so, yes,” Albus replies.

“Gellert Grindelwald, was he the friend you were meeting with yesterday then?”

Albus nods once. There is no point in lying now. “Do you know where they’ve taken him to?”

“The Ministry have him,” Minerva informs him, “There are whispers that say he spent the night here, hidden in Hogwarts before they arrested him,” she continues, holding out a copy of the Daily Prophet, no doubt freshly delivered.

Dark Arts Wizard Gellert Grindelwald Caught Outside Hogwarts — To Face MACUSA Death Cell

Albus feels his blood run cold. He needs to get to Gellert.

“Do you mean to go after him?” Minerva calls, striding after him as Albus stalks past her.

“Yes.”

“What about the Headmaster?” Minerva asks.

“What about him?” Albus snaps, and then sighs, “I will speak with Headmaster Black after I have Gellert. Cover for me?”

Minerva frowns, “Do you believe that he will change?”

“I believe he wants to,” Albus replies softly, “but he doesn’t know how.”

Minerva nods, “Go then and I hope you find him quickly.”

Albus apparates into MACUSA and cloaks himself in an invisibility spell before heading down the hallways in search of the holding cells.

He is just in time to catch the jailers, dressed in white, leading Gellert from the cells.

It would seem that they are wasting no time at all with his execution.

Somehow, even from a distance, Albus can feel the resignation rolling off in waves from Gellert. He seems different somehow, more mellowed. His posture speaks for him too, in the way his shoulders droop and his head bows. Albus feels his throat tighten at how Gellert looks so defeated.

What had changed?

How had his lover, usually so confident and wild changed like this over night?

Albus keeps out of their way now as the two wardens lead Gellert down the hallway. He follows after them at a distance, keeping his footsteps light.

It seems that apart from locking Gellert up, they had not harmed him at all and it is a relief to Albus. For with Gellert still able-bodied, it will be much easier to run should the guards be alerted. Though there didn’t seem to be many guards stationed along the Death Cells. He supposes that they didn’t see much of a need to post guards here seeing as wizards almost never escaped the Death Cells, unless of course they were wrongly accused — as in the case of his good friend Newt Scamander.

Before the door to the Death Cell could be shut, Albus slips into the room, keeping to the far corner such that he is able to see Gellert’s face as the wardens flank him.

The room is sterile possessing a lone metal chair and a platform leading up to it. The only other furniture in the room is a table upon which lies Gellert’s wand and the wands of the wardens.

There will be nothing left of Gellert once they are done with him. Not a shred of fabric or a bone to remember him by. The Death Cell will erase all trace of the criminal altogether. It will be as though he had never existed to begin with.

“Think of a memory that made you happy,” one of the wardens instructs now, picking up a wand as the other stands guard.

Albus watches the softening of his lover’s mismatched eyes and he wonders just what the memory might be.

Curiosity makes him pause as he watches the warden extract the silvery strand of Gellert’s fond memory and tosses it into the pool.

Still invisible, Albus creeps closer to the edge of the pool and he recognises the moment immediately.

The summer of 1899.

The memory begins in their youth with their first meeting, their handshake. It is the moment when perhaps they both realised that there was something special between them.

To think that Gellert’s happiest memories were all shared with him…

Albus knows that he cannot have misjudged the man. There is bound to be flaws in everyone and perhaps Gellert simply needed a guiding hand and a second chance.

He watches now as the warden closest to Gellert, turns him to face the path leading up to the chair, “Go on now, don’t you want to join him?” the warden urges.

Gellert nods mutedly taking a step forward and Albus jumps into action.

“Expelliarmus!” he cries dropping the invisibility spell and sending the warden closest to Gellert flying across the room, slamming into the wall before slumping down unconscious from the sheer force of the impact.

Just as the other warden makes to dive for the wand on the table, Albus points his wand towards him too, “Petrificus Totalus!”

The warden’s body stiffens immediately before he falls with a resounding thud upon the ground, completely immobilised.

In that moment, Albus lunges for Gellert, pulling him back from the memory pool which is still playing the reel of Gellert’s happiest memories of their youth.

“Wake up,” Albus calls as he grips Gellert’s wand and hands it back to him.

“Albus?” Gellert asks seemingly confused as he takes his wand, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m getting you out of here, that’s what,” Albus says as he links his fingers with Gellert’s and disapparates them out of the Death Cell.

Within moments, they crash back down into Albus’s chambers back at Hogwarts in a tangle of limbs.

“Are you crazy!” Albus snaps, as he pins Gellert down now, sitting astride the other man. His fear towards Gellert’s death has a funny way of expressing itself through rage.

“Albus, I—”

“What would possess you to do such a thing!” he berates Gellert, “I simply do not understand! How could you?” Albus continues, his voice shaky, soft, “I nearly lost you, Gellert! After last night…how could you?” Albus croaks, as his vision starts to blur, “I said that we would figure it out! I promised you. I promised that I would keep you safe...”

Gellert is silent as he sits and reaches to cradle Albus’s face in the palms of his hands, thumbing away the silent tears upon his lover’s face. He could never have imagined that Albus Dumbledore would break into MACUSA to steal him away from them. He had been resigned to his fate, happy with the fact that he had at least, managed to see Albus again, just one last time before he paid for his crimes.

“I saw you die Albus,” Gellert reveals, his voice is near inaudible, shaken by the memory of the possible future that he had seen, “One moment you were there and the next you were in my arms, cold...lifeless. I wanted to protect you.”

There is understanding in Albus’s blue eyes, and he smiles through his tears, leaning his forehead against Gellert’s, “You should have told me.”

Gellert laughs, “You wouldn’t have listened,” he says, “I know you and you would have argued for me to let you follow. You would have gone out there with me and it will all have come true.”

“How did it happen?” Albus asks moving to wrap his arms about Gellert now.

“One of the Aurors performed the death curse, targeted at me,” Gellert continues to explain, “I saw you as you jumped in front of that green bolt of death. There wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation,” he whispers cradling Albus to him, “I knew then that had to stop that moment from happening...I didn’t think that you would come after me.”

“Of course I would,” Albus sighs, as he revels in the intimacy of the moment.

“I wanted to make things right, foolish as it sounds,” Gellert answers with a mirthless laugh, “And I didn’t want you to have to choose to hand me over to the Aurors either, I knew that it would break you.”

“And so you decide to send yourself to the gallows while I slept?” Albus asks, incredulous as he pulls back to meet his lover’s mismatched eyes, “Did you not think of the pain that you would cause me if you…if you had…” Albus swallows and shakes his head unable to finish the sentence.

“I wouldn’t be here to think on such things if you had arrived any later than you did,” Gellert replies, “My only thought was, and is, to protect you,” he continues meeting Albus’s steady gaze.

“It seemed to me that I have always been the cause of your pain. Your worry. Your broken heart,” he adds, one hand laid over Albus’s chest now for emphasis. 

“I thought it best if your association with me ended once and for all...I was at times, so close to giving up the fight...but I told myself, not before I see you again...” Gellert pauses, “And then I saw you,” he says with a helpless shrug, “You with your tenderness, your protectiveness, your optimism. I thought it was enough, that I got to spend one more night with you.”

“You don’t get to decide that on your own, Gellert. I’m not done with you just yet,” Albus chides taking Gellert’s hand upon his chest and intertwining their fingers. A show of loyalty, commitment.

“What will we do now?” Gellert asks, “The Aurors will come to Hogwarts again and this time you will be in trouble.”

“I’ll have to speak to the Ministry, to Seraphina and Headmaster Black too,” Albus replies.

“You have a plan?”

“Of sorts. We’ll figure something out, we always do.”

A week after what has now been termed ‘The Great Grindeldore Escape’ by the papers, Minerva McGonagall stalks into the staff lounge, looking none too pleased.

“The journalists are certainly having a field day with your story,” she comments, setting down the stack of various newspapers in front of Albus Dumbledore who is quite calmly stirring his tea and leafing through some of his Year Seven’s essays.

“My story?” Albus asks looking to her with large, questioning blue eyes.

“See for yourself,” Minerva nods to the papers that she has laid out.

Albus notes that the headlines bear both their names. His and Gellert’s.

Albus Dumbledore Steals Gellert Grindelwald From MACUSA, Proposes To Oversee Correctional Rehabilitation

Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald Is Professor Dumbledore’s Darkest Secret

Hogwarts Professor Albus Dumbledore Saves Dark Arts Lover Gellert Grindelwald From Death Sentence

Hogwarts to get new Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher? — Professor Dumbledore to supervise Gellert Grindelwald

“I don’t know how you managed to persuade Headmaster Black to allow Grindelwald to become a fellow Professor here, but perhaps you can persuade him to ban the journalists from entering Hogwarts altogether?” Minerva asks, “They’ve started to make their way past the main courtyard and they’re interrupting the student’s lessons too as it is!”

“Perhaps I should scare them away?” Gellert asks joining the duo, his jacket folded neatly over one arm, already dressed to perfection for another day of teaching.

“Ah, Professor Grindelwald,” Minerva says with a stern nod to him, her eyes warily watching the man.

“Professor McGonagall,” Gellert greets with a nod and a charming smile as he pulls out a chair, “Join us for tea?”

“I’ve already had my tea, thank you. Another time perhaps,” Minerva replies politely as she heads off in the direction of her office.

“She doesn’t like me,” Gellert comments as he takes the seat he had offered to Minerva, hanging his jacket over the back of it.

“She takes time to warm up to everybody,” Albus says as he motions for Gellert to come closer, doing up the last few buttons on his shirt that he’d left open.

“And about the journalists, don’t you even think about it,” Albus warns as he waves his wand and a teacup and saucer saunter their way through the air, slowly filling with steaming hot tea before coming to a rest in front of Gellert.

Gellert takes a sip of the tea and smirks, “At least a Slytherin-worthy prank?” he bargains, “After all, if the students are not getting to their lessons on time, then surely that must be a cause for action, no?”

“You are under my supervision Gellert and I’m telling you, no,” Albus answers firmly.

“You won’t be saying that tonight,” Gellert replies softly, with a smirk as he finishes his tea and makes to stand, “Perhaps I’ll even be able to persuade you otherwise, Professor Dumbledore?”

Albus smiles, feeling a familiar heat fanning out against this cheeks, “You can try, Professor Grindelwald, you can certainly try. But my answer will remain as a no...”

“...at least until the end of your probation period and once all the Aurors have left.”

- END -