The next morning followed the usual routine of breakfast followed by hours spent in the dim light of the library organising books. His aunt's collection of books on various legends across the globe held his attention more than any others in the library. He used his chores as an excuse to pry any secrets from their pages.
He jumped as the library door swung open. The book in his hand was hastily shoved back on the shelf as his cheeks flushed. Around his feet, several books of interest lay in a semicircle. He floundered for an excuse.
"You look like you're up to no good," Albus smiled and closed the door behind himself. Gellert was sure he heard the word Taciturnitas whispered before his friend turned back to him. "It worked!"
"It worked on two heavy-set quidditch beaters when I last used it, so I don't see it being a problem on a sapling like your brother." Gellert stepped out of his collection of potential leads.
"You don't know how stubborn he is."
Gellert swallowed back the admission that the two beaters in question hadn't willingly ingested the potion either.
Albus picked up one of the books and examined it with lukewarm interest. "I have Lagunas keeping an eye on things, just in case. How far have you got?"
"I've got a likely owner of the cloak, it went from the Peverells to the Potters through marriage..."
"Is their line is still true?"
"It appears to be. The information is a little dated of course, but I suspect they have had at least one child by now."
"The Potters used to live here in Godric's Hollow, the Masons live their now, but I'm sure we could trace them down it was only a couple of years ago." Albus scratched some new notes in a notebook that had seen better days, half the pages appeared to be falling out. "Of course we cannot guarantee that the tradition has been followed all these years since Antioch, Ignotus and Cadmus."
"I agree. My grandfather left barely anything to my uncle, his eldest son or his two youngest daughters. My father inherited most of his estate because he was the more prominent son. Bathilda got a collection of books and historical artefacts."
"Not forgetting the chance that the family has forgotten what the cloak is and sold it on. Another Quester may have gotten very lucky, or it passed to someone with no idea about the legend they now possess." Albus started to place the books back on the shelf.
"I think we should keep it within the family until we are sure that they have been lost, save our brainpower for the real quest." Gellert took the book from his hand and placed it in the correct place on the shelf.
"The Elder Wand?"
"The Elder Wand," Gellert nodded.
"I agree it will be harder to find as it doesn't go from father to son. But the volume of blood spilt for its ownership has left enough of a trail that we should be able to follow it. At the very least we should be able to narrow down our search area."
"The trouble comes in the passages of time where it disappears from view entirely, nobody seems to know who killed the last known owner and whoever it is doesn't seem keen to brag about it."
"Perhaps they are the ones that truly mastered it, to hold such a wand, with all its power, but not draw attention to themselves."
Gellert sighed. "Sounds like an impossible task."
"And yet some canny people or organisations have managed it for decades at a time."
Gellert's eyes illuminated, "That could be how they did it, an organization. The wand does not belong to one person but is shared amongst the group, keeping it safe. Everyone in the group gets to use it to their benefit, but it must be shared, and not used on each other." Gellert said excitedly.
"That sounds like a brilliant idea in theory. Perhaps if we are lucky enough to find it we could come to a similar arrangement." Albus rubbed the auburn stubble on his chin, "I would gladly share the power with you, you could go first, of course, I think saving the muggles from themselves comes before my selfish desires." Albus looked in the direction of his house with guilty eyes.
"I wasn't sure when you would be coming so I have hidden something in my room that I think you might be interested in." Gellert smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "it almost cost me a couple of fingers to get it, but I'm sure it will be worth it."
"You haven't... have you... and you haven't been tempted to peek?" Albus sprung to life and rushed for the door. "Her notes?"
"We have to be careful, I don't want her to know I have it, I'm going to have to try and put it back when we are done."
"Couldn't you just duplicate it?"
"It won't let me, I tried that first, if we want to copy it we need to do it by hand."
The two of them padded quietly across the hallway into Gellert's cramped room. Gellert put a detector charm across the end of the corridor and the anti-eavesdropping spell on the door. "Thanks for teaching me that one, I think it will come in useful."
With them both on the bed, Gellert reached into the top drawer of the bedside cabinet and pulled out an old notebook. Only the inside of the leather binding retained the authentic bottle green colour and the pages were well on their way to a creamy yellow at the edges. A few of the front pages had sustained water damage, enough to blur the old ink and warp the paper, fortunately, the words were still legible.
They skipped through the origins of the tale and the evidence that three brothers did indeed exist and that they were powerful enough to create such artefacts themselves rather than accepting them from death. Gellert grew impatient with Albus who stopped every time they came across a familiar name in regards to the cloak he had little interest in, he longed to snatch the book and get to what really captivated his attention, The Elder Wand.
The more intense the tale the closer the two boys squashed together so they could both read and take notes in their respective quest books. Some names were familiar to them both as the person noted held a worldwide reputation. Whereas others such as the wizard who had taken the wand to Australia to find magic within the Aboriginal population was unknown by Gellert as the tale of the Bavarian wizard who tried to put an end to the Black Plague was unknown to Albus.
The two of them shared their own knowledge on the two lesser-known owners of the wand to each other, unable to control their excitement they grew loud enough that both questioned if the charm on the door would be strong enough to stop people hearing them. They were both vibrating with energy as they flicked the page eager to hear the next thrilling instalment, only to find the page completely blank.
Gellert's disappointment hit like a kick to the stomach. He snatched the book out of Albus' limp fingers to fan through the pages for any hint of ink or erased workings, indents from a page written and then removed but found nothing. He felt sick.
"Perhaps," Albus said with a desperate look. He drew out his wand and tapped it on the spine of the book three times.
They both held their breath as they opened the book again. Nothing.
"Well, that's..." Gellert started.
"A step forward." Albus' mind was racing.
"I was going to say disappointing, but feel free to share your thoughts."
"Don't you see we have closed the gap, before we were looking at centuries of history where facts and artistic licence may not be so clear cut, to more recent times with names we can follow up on and places we know a bit about." He could see that Gellert wasn't fully believing him. "You said your grandfather took you to France to chase the wand, well that's not a million miles away from Bavaria is it?"
"Well no, it's not, but..."
"And just because it isn't written in here doesn't mean that Bathilda hasn't got it written in another notebook or manuscript to keep it safe. We are close Gellert, I can feel it."
Gellert sat there for a moment holding the notebook that he felt had betrayed him. He could feel the excitement rolling off of Albus, and it started to infect his thoughts too. After all, Albus was right, the time period they needed to research was now considerably shorter than it had been. Hope blossomed in his heart and before he knew it it was holding Albus close to his chest. "Thank you."
"I wasn't the one that got the book," Albus lifted his chin so their eyes could meet.
"But you were the one that gave me hope, I needed that."
"You're welcome." Albus kissed him on the forehead."So do you want to do this?"
"What?" Gellert asked his mind whirling through all the possible meanings to that question.
"Are we going to turn this friendship into a partnership and save the world?"
"Oh, yeah," Gellert nodded enthusiastically his cheeks red as he backed away from Albus' warm embrace.
"You were thinking something else," Albus smiled and kept Gellert's hand within his own.
Gellert tried to deny it but his body refused to commit to the words.
"It's okay Gellert, I... I feel the same."
"You do?"
"A brilliant young man like you, how could anyone say no?" Albus' let his hand rest on Gellert's thigh.
"I had no idea..."
"I didn't stop you last time did I?"
"But you avoided me after, I thought I had overstepped the line."
Albus swept a lock of hair from Gellert's face, "As with most things, my family got in the way, and I apologise sincerely if I made you feel like I wasn't interested or that I didn't enjoy our moment together."
Gellert couldn't find words, his breathing came in quick snatches that make him feel lightheaded.
"I'm willing to make up for it now though if you want since I have a few more hours in which to enjoy myself?"
Gellert gulped, his mouth so dry he was forced to nod in reply.
Albus gripped Gellert's shirt and was about to pull it over his head when they heard the high pitched wail of an alarm. He jumped and let go of Gellert.
"It's okay," Gellert croaked, straightening out his clothes, "That's the detection charm, Bathilda is coming."
"What do we do?"
"Hide this for a start," Gellert threw Bathilda's notebook back into the drawer and slammed it closed.
"Do we try and make it back to the library?" Albus whispered, forgetting the muffling spell on the door.
"We won't make it and it will look more suspicious. I take it you do want to be allowed to come back here?" The look he received left him with little doubt. He pushed Bathilda's books under the bed and pulled his bag onto the bed and pulled out some of his school books. He managed to pull Albus back onto the bed just as the doorknob turned and his Aunt walked in.
"Everything okay up here, I just thought I should ask if you intended to stay for dinner Albus?"
Albus looked at his watch, counting down the hours he had free. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to politely decline the offer, I need to get back home soon."
"What are you two up to anyways? I doubt if someone as intelligent as you can find anything of interest in his school books, Albus." Bathilda's keen eye narrowed on them both.
"I wanted to see how they compare to our own, and they study different subjects at Durmstrang so I was curious to see the similarities and differences between our curricula."
Bathilda laughed, "I've always said you would make a great teacher Albus. That mind of yours is always looking to learn or teach others. Perhaps, when you have your private life sorted out, you might look into it. Any school of magic worth its salt would bite your hand off to have you on staff."
"I want to see the world a little bit first, experiment some more, but I will always keep it as an option."
"Well I'll leave you two brilliant boys to it then," she backed out of the door, "If you change your mind, Albus, I'm happy to set an extra place at the table."
"Thank you Bathilda, I must say I have missed your cooking." This comment made her face light up with pride and she closed the door while humming a happy little tune. He waited for her to be out of earshot before locking the bedroom door, "Now where were we?"
"You were going to enjoy the few remaining hours of freedom," Gellert said with gaining confidence.
"Ah yes, indeed I was." He hurried back to the bed and pushed Gellert backwards into the mass of blankets, fighting against their combined weight to pull Gellert's shirt from his body. "Just tell me if I do anything you don't like or are not comfortable with, okay?" he whispered into Gellert's ear.
"You too," Gellert said with a cheeky grin as he removed Albus' shirt. He traced his finger down Albus' lean chest, savouring the electricity that seemed to pass through them both.
"This isn't your first?" Albus was a little surprised by Gellert's comfort as his own insides were squirming with nervous energy.
"No. You?"
"Umm, I've gotten close a few times, but never... no..."
"We'll take it slowly then," Gellert let his tongue play on Albus' ear, smiling as he felt Albus shudder against him.
Their hands explored every contour of each other, searching for the secret spots of pleasure. Experimenting with different pressures, stroking motions and gentle biting until neither of them was in any position to mutter anything more than a moan.
Gellert could feel the thin bead of sweat trickle down his back as he laid there looking into Albus' brilliant blue eyes that seemed too full of water. He brushed a single tear away from Albus' eye before it could reach the start of the fine auburn stubble on his chin. "Are you okay?"
"I don't want to leave you."
"Is it that time already?" Gellert couldn't help but try and hold on tighter.
Albus rolled himself over Gellert so that he was now straddling him and reached for the pocket watch on the table. It already felt warm. His face dropped as he realised how little time he had left. "I'm sorry." He kissed Gellert as deeply as he dared, not wanting to let his rational mind get overpowered by a more primal urge. For a moment he hovered there able to feel Gellert's heartbeat along with his own. "I love you."
Gellert couldn't make himself repeat the sentiment, his heart ached even though Albus was still there. "Don't be gone too long."