GREY WINGS || A Hogwarts Story

Chapter Nineteen

Utterly overwhelmed with information, Grey hurried from the office. He wasn't certain, but he didn't want to tell Richard what he had learnt. His views had just entered a whole new realm of complicated and for the first time, Grey wasn't sure that Richard would understand. How could he explain Dumbledore without the proof and conviction Grindelwald had used to impart the news?

Tucking the charm into his shirt, Grey began mindlessly wandering the corridors, replaying the conversation in his head. He'd almost forgotten the unpleasant incident of the morning. The sleet had turned to rain beyond the castle and the rhythmic patter on glass kept his mind far from his eyes as he wandered. The wounds on his palms were sore yet he continued to dig his fingers into them. 

Grey was pulled unexpectantly from his raging thoughts as a voice sounded beside him.

"Are you ok?"

Pausing, he turned to see Aurelias standing in an open doorway of what must be his room. 

"I-"

"Queenie said you'd been hurt before. Is that true?" Aurelias pressed.

Grey silently cursed the legilimens. 

Yes." He forced.

Aurelias' face fell and he rubbed at his hands. The movement was familiar to Grey, and he spied the linear scars on the other's palms. 

"You were too." He remarked without thinking. 

Aurelias flinched at his words.

"Sorry," Grey muttered.

"It's ok, would you like to come in?"

Grey accepted his offer silently, following the older boy into his room. The room felt much darker than his own, with its walls painted a deep navy. All the furniture was disorderly placed and covered with papers and books. Yet, unlike in Grindelwald's office, the chaos leaked desperation rather than power. 

Aurelias lent against a wall beside a faded mirror and sink, watching as he glanced about the space. Hairs on Grey's neck prickled uncomfortably. 

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" He asked tensely, tracing his fingers across indents in the walls. 

"He's been talking about you for so long, but you're not what I expected," Aurelias murmured. 

"Grindelwald's been talking about me for a while?"

Though he half knew about it already, the thought of Grindelwald talking about him made Grey anxious. 

"It's complicated."

"Can you explain?" He pleaded quietly.

Grey didn't want to upset the obscurial but he was equally desperate for answers. Aurelias moved past him, softly closing his door. He then pulled over a chair for Grey, which he accepted. They sat opposite each other, observing the other carefully. 

"For a while, he sought two people," Aurelias began to explain in a hushed tone, "After he found me, he'd constantly talk about the other child of Tycho Dodonus' prophecies. He wanted to find them and bring them here."

Grey nodded encouragingly. 

"On top of his other goals, he sent people out looking for traces of this person. But a couple of months into his investigations, he came back here, after a rally, I think. He was upset and confused. He shut himself up in his office for three days, not even Queenie knew what he was doing. When he finally emerged, he informed us that there was someone else he wanted to find, a child around the age of fifteen or sixteen, most likely in England."