Grindeldore // The Hallows That Divide Us

~7~

Having just received the letter from Gellert, Albus wasn't sure whether to feel dumbfounded, joyous, or scared.

He scanned the words over and over on the parchment, looking for an incantation of fakery, but there was none.

This had been handwritten, and these had been his words. Gellert's words.

"I need you, Albus."

He'd never felt words like this from Gellert since their summer together...

He shook his head.

Undoubtably he felt he should have been having a breakdown. He couldn't possibly still have feelings for Gellert. This didn't mean he still wanted him did it...?

Of course it didn't. He threw the letter down. This was just to make him feel weak. He couldn't do that, and yet he could not move against his old friend in battle.

"He's a sociopath, Albus. What are you thinking? You can't..."

Albus was pacing his office again. He did this often. It wasn't so much a stress thing, but more of 'clear his mind', endeavour.

It didn't help.

When he stopped pacing, an abrupt knocking came at his office door. This was followed by an immediate raspy voice, imitating an almost scared tone that Albus was widely aware of.

"Dumbledore...Dumbledore!!! Can I come in? It's important, I apparated here from London!"

Before Albus could get to the door, a familiar red-haired man fell through the door and onto the floor. The door had not been locked.

Albus looked down at the peculiar man, offering his hand so he could get up, a wash of pure embarrassment and adrenaline on his face. An odd combination of emotions.

"Newt, a pleasure." Dumbledore shook his hand before patting him on the back. He gestured to the chair in the corner of the office, which Newt declined to sit in as he was too fixated on telling Albus what he had came there to say.

"Dumbledore, I'm sorry. I was planning on sending an owl, but I was unsure on the current circumstance with...privacy."

Albus nodded. "I see. Go on."

"Well, after our last meeting, I returned to London, sending out word for potential sightings because of Grindelwald's escape. Only to those I could trust you see..."

"So not your brother...?" Albus raised his eyebrows.

"No...unfortunately not anymore." He stuttered. "But, what I did find was a potential sighting in..."

Dumbledore stopped him.
Walking over so he faced Newt, he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know where he is." He whispered.

"You do?" Newt said. "Where? Why haven't you said anything?" He was intentionally shouting. Albus tried to quieten him down.

"I didn't want to burden you with the whereabouts. He's very powerful...and I wasn't sure if you would be ready to confront him."

"You wanted me to hunt him down...have you changed your mind?"

Albus sighed. "More like a change of heart..."

Newt gazed a curious glance at Dumbledore. Unsure of what he meant, as he knew how he spoke cryptically, sometimes.

"What do you want me to do?" Newt asked.

Albus went to speak before closing his mouth again. He cautiously paced towards the door of his office, apprehensively looked out for prying ears, and then locked the door behind him.

When he turned back to Newt, he spoke in almost a silence, suddenly very worried.

"I need you to find him...before he finds me." Albus' tone rash and fast. "I need you to go to this address," he passed Newt a small, black card. "It's in Paris. A safe house, so you can hide out for a while. I think you'll find it quite useful..." he winked.

Newt took the card. Turning it over in his hands before digging it into one of his coat pockets.

"Thank you." He said.

Albus didn't respond. Instead he looked down at his own hands before giving Newt an impromptu send-off of his raised eyebrows. It was unintentionally arrogant.

"Let me know if anything else comes up this time. I like to be pre-warned if I'm going to be attacked by a dark wizard." Newt said with a sly attempt at humour.

Albus gave a smirk under his fallen face. He suddenly felt very isolated, but was able to cover his emotions.
Wanting Newt to leave, he offered his right hand for Newt to shake before he departed from the solum room.

In his hand, he'd slipped him the key so he could let himself out.

Newt walked to the door, turned the key in the lock, heard the faint sound of a 'click', and exited the room.

"Have a safe trip." He called out after Newt through the door. Before it closed and he'd turned away, Albus received one last smile from his former student.

And then he was gone.

Unfortunately, when Newt had pulled the door behind him, it hadn't closed it all the way. Frustrated and a bit agitated, Albus leapt over to close it behind him.

He pushed the door...it wouldn't close.

He tried again...it wouldn't close.

He looked down. A bit of fabric had caught itself. Probably off Newt's coat, he suspected.

He leant down so he could remove it, but when he pulled the door open, he realised it wasn't fabric...

It was a shoe. Albus gasped.

He quickly took his stance and opened the door. Holding his breath had not been enough because if he had not covered his mouth in that moment, he would have screamed.

"How touching..." said Grindelwald.

~~~
...cliffhanger!
I realise it's not exactly like the film anymore, but I've wavered from that and gone with my own storyline now. Hope you like.
Also, what do you guys think of my cover image?