As the numbers diminished Gellert breathed a sigh of relief. The heat of Marcus' questioning gaze made him scrunch his eyes to battle the headache erupting in his head.
"Everything alright Gellert?" Marcus asked. Not waiting for a reply he grabbed Gellert's shoulders and steered him away from the remaining crowd. "I must say this seven-day waiting nonsense would do our cause much good. It is almost as though you are waiting for someone to show up."
Gellert did his best to hide the flush of pain from his face, he hated the fact that Marcus was right. "Seven days, it gives us time to formulate a more universal and undeniable message. All European ministries being hit at the same time with the same message from a unified force will send more shockwaves. If we rush in now, all emotion and no planning, it is likely that some of our rebellion will be caught and our aim will be blown to the wind."
"And your friend might show up."
"Doubtful."
Marcus patted him on the back. "We'll catch him later, once he sees us doing the greater good he'll jump on board."
Gellert sighed, "Perhaps."
*****
Gellert leant on a lamppost, his eyes taking in the splendour of the heavy gothic architecture of a four-story building in the late afternoon sun. A cool wind gusted through the street but did little to take the heat from the air.
People scurried past him, some pausing to look in the same direction, a flash glance at an unimportant historical building. Hurrying on without a second thought.
Like rats, squandering the resources and spreading disease in populations beyond your own. Gellert pulled his lapel closer to his face, not to keep away the wind, but the straying glance of the people leaving the building he was watching.
"Is that the last of them?" Marcus said from behind a newspaper. He rose from the bench to join Gellert.
"Hard to tell, many of them use the floo-network. But Briggs is often one of the last out of the office. I think there are enough of us to deal with any stragglers." Gellert stepped into the road. He strode to the eastern alleyway and pulled out his wand.
A flash of amber light and the roar of flame sent Gellert sprawling backwards into Marcus. The air filled with words of shock and shrieks of concern. A figure became more pronounced as the light grew tolerable, his arms raised above his head, a large bird perched upon his closed fists.
"Albus?" Gellert tried to blink away the blindness.
"Am I too late to join the party?" Albus brought his arms down so he could stroke the phoenix. He spoke gently in the bird's ear and sent him away.
"Never too late for someone like you." Gellert rushed towards his friend, ignoring the dismissive coughs and sighs from the band of people behind him.
Albus bekoned Gellert closer and whispered so no one else could hear, " I have heard things that make me a little apprehensive to travel, but something told me today might be a good day to visit Gemany, and I wasn't wrong."
"Apprehensive?"
"There are a few unpleasant rumours hanging around back home, and your exploits here have not gone unnoticed either, I'm sure I don't need to spell out how this could be potentially problematic."
"I have not been acting alone."
"So I see," Albus smiled, "I needn't have worried about you being lonely. By the way, that book you sent was fantastic."
"Are we doing this or not?" Marcus gave him a pointed look, "we're not exactly inconspicuous here."
"Later," Albus placed his hand on Gellert's shoulder.
Gellert lost his voice to the warmth of Albus' hand. He nodded and marched back to the doorway hidden in the pavement. Pointing his wand at the crack in the slab of rock he cast Alohomora. The ground beneath his feet rumbled as the stone shuddered downward, the crack separating it into two distinct steps that joined into an existing staircase.
"Seems a bit simplistic," Finn said as he stepped forward to peek in. "One simple charm and anyone with a wand can find their way in."
"It is a secret staff entrance that not all the staff know about." Gellert grabbed his collar to stop him toppling in or trying to climb down ahead of everyone else. "It looks simple, but the entrance moves throughout the building and it would be easy for 'anyone' to end up in a trap or lost without hope of finding their way out."
Finn swallowed hard and took his place at the back of the crowd.
"I'll take the lead, if we are lucky this will take us close to the atrium and main staircase. If not then we could be in for an hour of negotiating the lesser-seen corners of this building. Apparently it knows when people are up to no good."
Albus chuckled, thinking to himself about the many corridors and passageways of Hogwarts. "But we are hoping to do good, so the building should be on our side."
"Rightly said..." Marcus looked to Albus.
"Albus Dumbledore."
"We can establish the pleasantries later, we need to focus right now." Gellert hopped down the staircase two steps at a time. His heart thrummed in his ears as he grasped the brass doorknob and pulled it open a crack. The smell of warm apple strudel made his mouth water. His stomach rumbled loudly. "We're in luck," he whispered, "It's the kitchen."
A few house elves busied themselves with the pots and pans in an overflowing sink of bubbles. The female in charge singing away as she scrubbed them into a mirror shine. Another stood beside her, his aged hands knobbled with age, he dried each item with an expression of love.
Gellert ducked low and used the worktops as cover. He resisted the temptation to run a finger through the cream or grab a serving of the pastry. His stomach threatened to give them away as if grumbled in protest. He signalled left and sprinted for the open door.
His throat narrowed as he crossed the wide atrium. His footsteps sounded unnaturally loud on the marble floor. He hurried towards the glint of polished brass. The closer to the spiral staircase he got the slicker his palms became, his wand slipped an inch lower in his hand.
He took the stairs as quickly as he dared, flying past the first floor of offices. Weezing and light-headed he stepped into the corridor. "This is the level we want, boys and girls, all these offices are the higher ranking officials we need to hear our message. Finn and Hazel, you take the furthest corridor on the left, remember to stick to the offices, avoid storerooms. Marcus and Wilheim, the first on the left, Astrid and Jutta you take the first right."
"How many offices are there?" Matilda whispered as the gang split up, leaving her with Gellert and Albus.
"Between 200 and 300, depending on how many they need at any one time." Gellert took the lead and hurried to the last corridor on the right. The sound of locks doors creaking and drawers opening fuelled his anxiety. "You take the offices on the right side, you know what to do. Albus, stick with me."
The first few offices calmed his nerves, he almost forgot Albus was with him. It was only when Albus offered to do the mark that he remembered. "Feel free, the quicker we get it done the sooner we can get out of here and regroup for phase two."
"I'll do this end, you go on and do the other, we can meet in the middle." Albus's wand work was better than Gellert's. His mark and writing looked as though it had been done by a scribe, as opposed to Gellert's peasant's scrawl.
Gellert flew through the offices, taking joy in graffiting the offices of people he knew. His elbow collided with a portrait of Romy and her husband. He felt no guilt at the sound of smashing glass. The top drawer of her desk was ajar, something glistened from within, drawing him closer. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of a knife. As he pulled it from the shadows he noticed the blade, barely sharp enough to slice open a letter, he tossed it back into the depths and slammed the drawer closed.
His hand faltered on the door to the last office. Albus had made light work of his share, and Matilda was almost at the end of her row too. He swallowed back his fear and slipped inside. His eyes seemed to take forever to adjust to the dark, shapes appeared to move dangerously in the dark. His wand twitched in his hand.
The last embers of a fire lay dying in the grate, a fine peppering of green ash trailed over the dark marble. Gellert pointed his wand at the blank space of wall above the mantlepiece. He focused his thoughts on each line to silence out the worry in his gut. The door opened sending a rush of adrenalin through his veins.
"Didn't mean to make you jump," Albus whispered, "Matilda only has one office to go."
Gellert nodded, not trusting his tongue to be civil. He turned his back on Albus and took up his art once more.
Albus looked around the small room, it was darker than all the others, making it hard to discern anything amongst the shadows. He lit the tip of his wand. A thick travelling cloak hung from a coatrack roughly carved from dark wood. The waxed canvas scratched his thumb while the warm woollen lining caressed his fingertips, the weight seemed impossibly light.
Curious, he picked up a wooden frame from the desk. The blue eyes and angular jaw took him by surprise, too similar to Gellert's to be a coincidence. "Whose office is this?"
"My father's." Gellert caught sight of his mother's portrait seconds before she disappeared from the frame. "We don't have long, she's bound to have told him already. Come on." Gellert grabbed Albus and pulled him from the room.
He didn't pause to ensure the group were following them, his mind fixed on getting Albus to safety, away from his father. "We need to hurry," he said before anyone could raise a question. He flew down the stairs two at a time.
Their hurried footsteps made a great cacophony that echoed through the emptiness. Instead of heading back through the kitchen, Gellert pushed through a hidden staircase behind a painting of three crows at sunset. "Everyone go through, you'll be on the main street in the alley between the butcher and barber."
"What are you doing?" Albus let the others go past him.
"Go." Gellert pushed Albus into the arms of Marcus. He turned to parry off a stunning spell that rebounded off the wall. "We don't have time to discuss this." Another bolt of red light signed from wall to wall.
"Protegro" Albus thrust his wand in front of Gellert just in time to shield him from an unknown jinx.
"He's not alone!" Romy shouted as she rounded the corner.
"Go!" Gellert pushed Albus out of the door. His fingers knotted around Albus' and he spun in the air, his mind filled with the scent of a pine forest after the rain.
The gentle patter of rain through leaves greeted his ears. A smile stretched from ear to ear. "We did it, Albus."
"Did what exactly?" His stern tone and unimpressed look left Gellert crestfallen.
"A unified front across Europe, all ministries have been given the same message at the same time. That we must stand up for the greater good of the world."
Albus shook his head, "I worry that it will not be taken as you expect it."
"I thought you wanted to be a part of this revolution."
"I do, I really do, but I doubt this will be received the way you think it will." Albus found his hand batted away from Gellert's shoulder. "They will see this as a threat to our society rather than a call to action."
"They will have to act eventually."
"Yes, but I fear it will be too little too late if you continue little stunts like this."
"Little stunts?" Gellert's face contorted with pain.
"Are you trying to tell me this has nothing to do with your father?"
Gellert opened and closed his mouth several times, but no retort could effectively convey his hurt and anger. He pointed the elder wand at Albus.
"It is a fine specimen, though I would rather it not be pointed in my direction." Albus felt the sweat trickling down his back as he tried to keep his voice level. "Emotions are high..."
Gellert's eyes glazed over. The world shifted and Albus was replaced by an older counterpart, the grey heavy in his beard and hair. He stepped backwards, observing that his hands too had been weathered by age.
"You have lost your way again Gellert," old Albus lowered his wand and outstretched a hand, "Let us not waste a good friendship on silly mistakes."
Gellert stretched out his hand.
"Are you alright?" The scene faded, young Albus and his flaming auburn hair stepped forward to take his shoulders.
"You were right, silly mistake, high on emotions." Gellert's words slurred together as he collapsed into Albus' arms.