Until I Found You

|9|

When Albus and Gellert arrived in the village, the sun was already setting. The yellow-orange light shone towards them as they walked along the narrow, winding streets.

Unexpectedly, Gellert turned left into a side alley and pulled Albus along by the hand. "Where do we have to go?" asked Albus, looking deep into Gellert's blue eyes. In answer, the latter pulled a gold watch out of his pocket, but unlike what he had expected, it did not show the time. It was a very strange watch. It had twelve hands, but no numerals. Instead, small planets rotated in its round. Gellert must have been telling this clock something, because he put it back in his pocket and said "We have to go this way" and pointed down the alley they were in. "Where from-?" put in Albus, but Gellert beat him to it. "It shows you fragments of the future".

They stopped at an old wooden door. Albus would not have been able to distinguish this one from the countless others they had passed. His eyes searched for a nameplate, but there was none to be seen. Instead, there was a sign engraved on a stone to the left of the door. A triangle with a circle and a line in the middle. The sign of the Deathly Hallows. But it looked very battered. Albus doubted that it had deteriorated due to the weather, rather it looked as if someone had tried to remove it by force. However, he seemed to have failed.

The house looked weather-beaten and Albus doubted that anyone still lived here, but he didn't stop Gellert from knocking. As expected, nothing happened. But Gellert did not seem discouraged, rather the opposite. A smile spread across his face, not the one Albus had seen so often, but a sneaky smile. He drew his wand and knocked on the door, which opened as if on command. Gellert strode forward with Albus on his heels.

The inside of the house was not much different from the outside. A table with two chairs stood in the middle of the room. A layer of dust had formed on them, as it had on the rest of the objects in the room. Gellert raised his wand "Homenum revelio" the tip of his wand lit up briefly but nothing else happened. "Come with me Albus, there is someone else here" and he grabbed Albus's hand again but immediately stopped and turned back to him. "Albus your hand-" and he took it in both of his. "You're shaking" and suddenly he saw fear light up in Albus blue eyes "Nothing will happen to you. I promise you that" Gellert said and took Albus in his arms. "It's just, I've never been in a situation like this before." Albus informed meekly, looking down at his feet. "Hey it's okay you know?" And he embraced his friend's beautiful face with both hands. Gellert kissed Albus gently as a sign of assurance and waited until he nodded at him. Albus swallowed and took a deep breath, but finally nodded.

Gellert went up the stairs first and slowly opened the door to the bedroom. A beastly stench flew towards him and he wrinkled his nose. The room was very dark and only a ray of light from the setting sun illuminated the room. It was not long before his eyes were on the figure sitting on the bed in the corner. An old and sunken figure. Albus would have been convinced that it was dead if he hadn't heard the soft rasping breathing.

"Good evening," Gellert said, pacing slowly towards the person. "My name is Gellert Grindelwald and I have come from very far away. I-" "I don't have it, you're too late young man" replied the figure in a voice Albus had never heard before. "What do you mean?" asked Gellert, doing so with an innocence in his voice that almost even Albus believed him. "I don't quite understand you sir". "I beg you, like every burglar before, you and your friend have come to take the Death wand. But you are too late. I am not Loxias. Loxias has been dead for a long time now".

"We didn't come for the wand, my lord," Grindelwald replied, his innocence reflected perfectly in his eyes. "Loxias-" "Now don't say Loxias was your friend. Lad, many have tried that before your time. He died before you were born my dear, before you were even thought of." But Grindelwald only shook his head in response. "You misunderstand me sir. I am not here for Loxias. Yes he has been a brilliant man-" again Gellert was interrupted by the man. "Brilliant perhaps, but stupid he was. Flat out stupid. He deserved his death no other way." "However," Grindelwald continued calmly, as if nothing had happened. "Loxias wizarding skills were brilliant, there is no other way to put it. Yet I have not come for him. We are here because of you. You are a direct descendant, and you were not as stupid as he was. You are still alive." At these words, the figure sat up straighter. Gellert's words must have worked, because "God is merciful. Who would have thought that in my last days someone would come along who would know of my deeds. He surprises us every time" "Just tell us, we will make sure that your achievements will not be forgotten. They are too great to be lost".

At these words, the old man began to tell. He must not have talked for a long time because he never stopped. He had taken a liking to sharing it with them and his stories became more and more precise each time. But at some point his voice failed him and he cleared his throat. "By now I am too old to go on. Look at me, sitting here for days if not weeks doing nothing. A pathetic figure I have become. Sometimes I wish I had my father back. Loxias was always a funny fellow, even when he became too arrogant with that death staff. He was always waving it around and it was clear that it would be his downfall at some point." Gellert's eyes flashed at these words, but the man did not seem to have noticed, for he continued talking in his slow tone. "Those wizards Arcus and Livius appeared here one day and laid waste to the whole house. I heard screams, but by the time I got here it was too late. All that was left was my father's corpse. They had been after the magic artifact. Many had tried to kill him, but only they had succeeded. Arcus was the one who came towards me cheering as I tried to come to my father's aid. All I could hear was him muttering something about the Alps. I had resolved all my life to seek him out and hunt him down, but I could never muster the mum to do it." and with a heavy breath, the old man came to the end, looking completely exhausted and looking down at the ground.

Grindelwald, however, grabbed his hand. "Listen to me. We will find Arcus for you and avenge your father. My friend Dumbledore and I are fighting for the greater good, and I am quite sure we can finish this for you." At these words, a smile appeared on the man's wrinkled face. "Thank you very much," he said and with those words the last light in his eyes went out.