The Grindelwalds 3

13th Birthday Part 1

The family moved on with their lives with Gellert being there. Benji's funeral was very sad, but it helped Sarah having her husband there.

The funeral started at 10:00am the following day Gellert arrived back and lasted a couple of hours. Penelope and Luzia cried and Sarah spent most of the time cuddling with Gellert as if he was a little safety blanket. Afterwards, they all explored the castle with Gellert and he showed the children all of the secret areas while Sarah, Mildred and Felix all sat in the dining room drinking lemonade.

Mildred, the house elf chef, went to great lengths to make this day special; not only because it was the day of Benji's funeral, but because her Master was home. She even made the lemonade from scratch.

"I wish I knew Benji more." Felix said to Sarah in his French accent. "He looked just like his father."

"Yes, and just like his older bother, Gellert Jr."

                                                 *

The following months were tough, but the world was becoming normal again, everyone assumed Delphini was dead even though she had returned to resurrect Gellert from the dead. So much so, Professor McGonagall had ordered all Hogwarts students to return to school on the 1st of August rather than the 1st of September so the children would have a chance to catch up on missed lessons due to the outbreak of the 'Riddlease', that Delphini created.

Today was the 14th of June which was the girls 13th birthday, their first birthday without their other triplet, Benji. The atmosphere in the house was strange, the girls felt sad and so did their mother, Sarah. Penelope was still grieving her brothers death and she still didn't trust that her father was really back and alive. Luzia was angry that Richard Villarreal, her Potions teacher, had been ignoring her letters. Part of her wondered if he was dead.

Sarah and Gellert Grindelwald were kissing in their bedroom when Luzia knocked on their bedroom door.

"Yes?" Sarah called out.

"Mum, can we visit Professor Villarreal? I am worried about him."

Sarah and Gellert looked at each other, they both knew that he was killed to resurrect Gellert, but they couldn't really explain that to a child.

"Maybe another day."

"But mum, he helped me when I was hurt by Delphini at school, he deserves visitors."

Sarah and Gellert looked at each other again.

Gellert whispered to her. "I have an idea. Go out there and give the girls their birthday presents while I do something to make her think this Richard guy is still alive."

"Like what?"

"Doesn't matter, just go."

Sarah kissed his lips and they felt as soft as candy floss. She left him and went to see Luzia.

"Mum?" Luzia asked as she left her room.

"Let's focus on right now, Luzia. I bet you and Penelope want your birthday presents, right?"

Luzia smiled and nodded.

"Ok, they are in Mildred's room, go and sit with Penelope in the living room while I get them."

"Yay, where's dad?"

"He is erm..." Sarah made something random up. "Shaving his armpits..."

Luzia giggled and went downstairs.

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and went to get the girls presents.

In the bedroom, Gellert was writing something down on his typewriter that he brought from his castle. He knew that he wouldn't be able to write the letter by hand as he and Richard would probably have different handwriting styles so the typewriter was the best option. He wanted to fake a letter to Luzia on her birthday from Richard Villarreal, after all, Gellert Grindelwald had been very naughty since being brought back from the dead. He was still waiting to punish Sarah for cheating on him while he was dead.