Summer 1899 // Grindledore

Green Carnations

Potential TW: No smut, but suggestive themes are present. Also this chapter deals with homophobia so another TW.
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KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. "Keep it down in there!" Aberforth yelled, "Ariana is trying to sleep, and so am I!"

From inside Albus' bedroom, Gellert giggled at Aberforth's anger. Albus— who was panicking at the chance of being discovered— on the other hand, practically sprung out of bed from where he was pinned beneath Gellert to check and see if the door was locked. After seeing the door was in fact locked, Albus said, "sorry. We wi- I will be quiet."

Aberforth sighed, a sudden urge to bang his head against the door in frustration overcame him. "Is He in there with you?"

"What? no!" Albus cried.

"Hello, Aberforth. How are you?" Gellert asked, a grin spread across his handsome face.

Albus shot his lover a deadly glare, and Aberforth stood outside the bedroom dumbfounded.

The middle Dumbledore child collected himself and said, "I want him gone. Now."

"Abe-"

"He doesn't belong here. He doesn't... he doesn't belong with you."

Albus could hear his brothers footsteps disappear into the silence of the night, followed by his bedroom door closing shut (silently as to not disturbed Ariana anymore than she had been on that night).

"Are you going to make me go?"

Albus sighed, crawling back into bed with Gellert. "No," the older of the two said. "Let's just lay here, yes?"

"Of course."

Albus lay his head in the crook of Gellert's neck and Gellert let one hand caress his lover's bare waist, the other combing through thick locks of auburn hair.
It was moments like these Albus lapped up: he loved and was the beloved. A real relationship, something he had craved since his Hogwarts days. He never imagined himself being with a former Durmstrang student due to blood purity nonsense, but the universe truly is a mystery which works in riddles and solves even the most confusing of enigmas.

"Your brother said something I can't ignore."

"Hmm?"

""He doesn't belong with you" that's what he said."

Albus shrugged. "He says a lot of things on matters he doesn't understand."

"Does he not like us because were... sodomites?" The last word felt like poison on his tongue.

"What? No, he's not like that. He may be a bit standoffish, but he's not hateful."

"He sure hates me. I don't think you know your brother as well as you think you do. It's this muggle town, it's gotten to his brain."

Albus gently lifted his head so that he could meet Gellert's eyes. "What on earth are you talking about."

"Muggles don't like our kind—those who like the same sex."

'It's true', Albus thought. He recently heard of a nearby muggle boy sentenced thirteen months hard labor for sodomy. Then his mind went to all the torture people like him went through. The humiliation. Even muggle genius Leonardo da Vinci spent prison time and stood trial simply because his love laid within the hearts of men.

"When us wizards are in control, silly muggle prejudices will die." Gellert stated. "Albus, you must know I don't hate muggles. I really don't. What I hate is how much power they have been given when it is we who hold the true power. You and I— the leaders of our revolution— must stomp them out."

"Their power may just an illusion," Albus replied, "but our rule must be benevolent. What do you mean by "we must stomp them out"?"

There was a silence lingering in the air— a silence that seemed to say everything and nothing all at once.

Albus knew what Gellert meant by that, anyone who had the chance to hear one of his speeches knew he meant death to many— genocide. Muggles weeded out and killed like vermin. Albus may have understood Gellert's cruel words, but he just turned away.

"That muggle writer you cherish so much— Wilde— am I correct?" Gellert said, breaking the silence.

Albus nodded, a lump forming in his throat.

"Look what his own kind did to him! They locked him away and continue to humiliate him because he had the audacity to be himself." Gellert grabbed Albus' hand and gently squeezed it, "To be like us."

Albus nodded and gave Gellert a squeeze back. Any doubt he had in his lover, in their revolution, faded away.