Burned Into Glory

Gellert

Queenie woke and pushed herself up onto her elbow, watching as Grindelwald slept peacefully on his back beside her. In his sleep, his thoughts swirled and pushed against her mind, and she tried to keep them out to no avail. She stroked gently at his chest, but he didn't wake. He squirmed a little and let out a low sound, but he was still asleep as a powerful, vivid dream thrust itself into Queenie's consciousness.

"My boy," Grindelwald said softly to Aurelius Dumbledore, standing in the cottage up on the mountaintop, "You will do great things. Not just for me, and not just for yourself. You will do great things because you will become great."

"I feel weak still," Aurelius argued, but Grindelwald took the boy's face in his hands and whispered slickly,

"No. You are strong. You are powerful. I feel your power in my very veins, Aurelius. I feel your magic. I feel it now. Hmm?"

Then he leaned in and kissed Aurelius gently, and Aurelius gasped. The boy's hands went to Grindelwald's waistcoat, and he eagerly kissed Grindelwald back. Grindelwald brushed his thumbs over the boy's cheeks and licked at his lip before deepening the kiss.

Suddenly Grindelwald's eyes sprang open, and he blinked a few times, and his Occlumency shields went up at once. Queenie felt tears streaming down her cheeks, and she shook her head wildly.

"Was that real?" she demanded shrilly, and Grindelwald slowly sat up. Queenie sat up with him, staring at him and swiping at her tears. "Was that a memory or a fantasy, you kissing him like that?"

Realisation seemed to come over Grindelwald, as if he hadn't known what she'd seen until that very moment. He nodded.

"Aurelius in the cottage."

"Yes, Aurelius in the cottage." Queenie panted, starting to hyperventilate a little, and she adjusted the neckline of her pale green slip. She pulled herself out of Grindelwald's bed and muttered, "It was real. I can tell."

He dragged his fingers over his ice blond hair from the bed and watched her as she began dressing in her emerald green wool dress. He mumbled quietly,

"Queenie, I kissed him to bring him more thoroughly under my wing. You must understand that physical contact, for me, is a tool. A form of manipulation, if you will. It is a means to an end, as I've told you. I felt no pleasure in kissing Aurelius; I did it because I needed him to feel trust and safety, and -"

"So last night, when you were pounding me into the sheets, was that just a tool of manipulation, too?" Queenie yanked on her dress, feeling her face go very hot, and Grindelwald cleared his throat as he finally pulled himself from his bed, wearing just his pyjama trousers.

"No," he said calmly. "It's different with you."

He approached Queenie, but she bent down and started pulling on her silk stockings, started putting on her t-strap shoes with shaking fingers, and she muttered,

"You're playing me like a fiddle."

Everything froze then. Those had been Jacob's words. Queenie rose slowly and stared at Grindelwald, who seemed suddenly angry. He took a step toward Queenie, forcing her to back up toward the wall. He took another step, and she backed up again. He put his hands on either side of her, bracing her in, and he shook his head.

"I will not equivocate," he said. "I use any means necessary to advance the goals and cause of my movement."

"Including cheating on me," Queenie sniffled, and Grindelwald tipped his head as he asked curiously,

"Cheating? Are we at that point, you and I?"

"You made it seem like we were," Queenie said rather sadly, and she studied his asymmetrical eyes, deciding they were very strange-looking. She huffed and begged him, "Let me go, please."