Fall to darkness

Return

You explained everything to Krall before you entered the house. He didn't say much on the matter, fearing his opinion might bring him consequences.

Abernathy met you at the door and explained that Grindelwald wanted to see you alone.

You walked slowly to the living room, Gellert was standing by the window with his back to you. He said nothing as you closed the door and shortened the distance between the two of you.

"Grindelwald?"

The dark wizard turned around slowly and approached you. Your gaze flickered between his eyes trying to pick up some kind of sign to how he was feeling. You got nothing.

Then, unexpectedly, he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close to his chest.

"Gellert?" You whispered in confusion.

A hand rested on the back of your head, the other around your waist. His nose buried into your hair.

Silence.

You placed your hands on his back and returned the gesture warily.

"I did not believe for a moment you had turned your back on us. What did you learn? What did he say?" He asked his questions slowly.

"He knew I had joined you. He knew I was in Paris, at the rally. He wondered why I had stuck with you, so I told him everything. He didn't believe I was here freely at first, but of course when Krall turned up, he knew then."

Gellert pulled away from you and held you at arms length. He looked you over.

"You're back now, that's all that matters. You must be tired. Go rest."

You didn't have anything to say to that, and refusing the, for lack of a better word, order, didn't seem like a good idea.

You retired to your bedroom.

You managed to get a good few hours rest.

Gellert stood facing the window, his hands clasped behind his back.

Dumbledore knew you were working for him, that he had sent you, and had asked you to stay to see what happened.

Did Albus think he didn't care if one of his followers went missing? Was Dumbledore trying to prove something?

Did he realise that he was wrong and that Grindelwald would come after his dear acolytes?

Gellert wondered what Albus must have been thinking when Krall turned up. Did he, perhaps, realise that you were worth the most among his movement?

The dark wizard smiled at his reflection.

He was quite fond of you. You had spark, potential.

You walked into the room, dreary from sleep, but otherwise quite rested. Gellert turned in his heel the moment he saw you enter through the reflection of the window.

"Tea?"

You nodded with a small smile and sat down alongside Gellert as he waved his wand. The report began to pour the tea into a cup.

"Grindelwald?"

"Gellert." He grabbed the cup and handed it you.

"Gellert..." You took it and wrapped both hands around it, enveloping it's warmth in your palms. "Were you worried I wouldn't come back? You seemed quite relieved to see me return."

"I don't want to say I doubted you, I have faith in my acolytes, but it did cross my mind." He spoke solemnly.

"I'm sorry you thought that." You sipped your tea.

"Don't apologise. You're here now. My plans can continue. Did you see Aberforth?" His voice perked up a little.

"No. I wanted to. Albus didn't know where his brother was, they had stopped talking quite some time ago. I didn't bother looking for him, more focused on gaining Albus' trust. I guess that was a waste of time now."

"Not exactly. I'm proud of what you achieved." He grinned.

"Really? I don't feel like I accomplished much." You lowered the cup from your lips.

"You did well." Gellert was looking you right in the eye, he sounded quite proud of you and it caused something to stir within you.

"Thank you, Gellert."

Silence fell between you, but it wasn't awkward. It was quite calm and you were certain that things were about to change between you.

Something quite special.