I know it has been so long since I updated last time, but real life can be a demanding bitch when you live in a failed state. What can I say?

I'm sorry for all the inconveniences I might have caused to you. And also for all the mistakes in my last chapter, I´ll keep working on it. English is not my first language and even if I have no trouble in conversation and reading, writing is a little bit of a challenge I hope to overcome soon.

Gellert POV.

I knew what awaited me behind the heavy doors of my home, but I couldn't hope to survive without a single Knut. So I pulled myself together and opened the door to find the dark house as I remembered before leaving for Durmstrang. Knowing father, he´ll wait till I reached a false sense of security before attacking, I didn't have a wand thanks to the damn Headmaster but that could be easily corrected once I arrived at my destination. The dark corridors where clear, the only light source being the candles evenly spread.

Mother was at the second floor, I could hear her manic laughs as I passed the closed door of her "study". Yeah, right. I don't know how she got away with her savage experiments and I got expelled just for a fraction of that.

Well. Life is unfair and I was quite overconfident.

I reached the treasure room where we kept the family heirlooms, I just needed to get my hands on one of the old wands stored there and maybe I'll be able to fight… of course I should have known better.

The curse came from the darkness ahead of me and I couldn't dodge in time, pure agony flashed through my body, my vision swam with tears I wouldn't shed even if it killed me. The indignity of it all!

Of course my nutcase of a sister giggled excitedly from behind as father emerged from the dark.

_ You´re so predictable, my son- he sounded like a caring father admonishing me for something silly like not doing the homework… but behind those eyes a madness even worse than my mother´s was hiding. And he unleashed the beast when he punished me. Just looking into those eyes I knew it, this time he will do his worst.

May the Gods have mercy on my soul, just this once?

And not, the Gods have no mercy, even less on my behalf.

I woke up in the basement, tied up to a table my father keep down there to play with his toys. Poor souls that wondered in his hands for many reasons, and none of them ever leave this place alive.

He had vanished my robes and had me stark naked, ankles and hands tied to the table with leather strings.

All sort of things were stored here in jars, pilled in the shelves and even in wooden boxes.

I dreaded this place with a passion… even since I was a toddler I could hear the screaming. Father relished in the screams of his victims so he didn't care much for silencing charms, even if he had children in the house.

Mother, never being the motherly type, didn't care. And the poor nanny, bless her soul, quit when I turned six and could defend myself to an extent. She was the only mother figure I ever had, my dear Hilde, I was beyond thankful to her, even now we wrote to each other and I know she´s remorseful for leaving me here. Bless her soul.

_ At last, you grace the world with your awareness- my father rose from his throne like chair, at the other end of the basement and surrounded by books. The best dark art books money and fear could get him- My fun will be cut short if I started while you slept. Being expelled from Durmstrang will be the last mistake you commit being my heir, but before I finish with you, let's have some fun.

He cut me, with his dagger collection, each cut worse than the last one. After that he put salt and dittany on my cuts, to make sure I had them on my skin permanently. He likes to smoke, so he burnt me with the end of his cigarettes and tobacco, even with his old pipe.

Then, he brought those foul concoctions he calls potions. All the while he made fun of me for being expelled and confirmed my suspicions, he was worse than me in his time at Durmstrang and never got expelled or even punished. He made sure his victims couldn´t talk to blame him, and when people got suspicious it was too late already

It was not surprising, my father was pretty decent with mind magic. I´m sure he made good use of that on many people.

_ You prove to be useful this time my son. I was dying to prove this potion on someone, I found it in a pretty little diary from a known potion master of the Dark Age. You see, he was a vindictive bastard and pretty creative in torture to utter destroy the victim, in mind and body.

I was barely conscious on that stage so he poured that awful thing down my throat.

_ I know you´re bent- he said, with surprising disgust lacing his voice- So I choose this punishment just for you. I hope it makes you miserable, and that the world comes to know how much of a freak you are. And a weak freak at that. If you´re different in a world like this, you also have to be strong to back up your plans. Is a pity. You´re an easy prey.

After all that, I woke up. He had the courtesy of leaving robes at my side. Even if they were work robes with harsh material to rub on my wounds. I guess it was the one trace of fatherly instinct in his crazed mind. And of course a crumpled piece of parchment in which he detailed with great delight what he had done to me.

A freak, I was a freak indeed.

For no man was supposed to get pregnant. He detailed everything. No contraception method would work for me.

…

I woke up screaming.

Frau Bagshot, it couldn't be someone else, entered the room and began to sing sweet nothings at me, caressing my hair and wiping the sweat on my forehead. My heart was beating like a wild thing. The room was alight with the tip of the wand held in Frau Bagshot´s free hand.

For a couple of minutes I sat there, trying to pull myself together and fight the damn nausea. My nutcase of a father knew how to break people, I hand him that much.

_ Gellert dear, here. Take some water- she offered me a pewter cup, maybe cause I had broken at least a dozen of glasses just this past week.

Yesterday I waited all day for Albus to appear but he never showed up. And that brought me to tears, much to my embarrassment and anger. Damn fucking hormones!

She didn't ask about the nightmare, even if I keep waking her at weird hours. She took to my care with a determination that no one ever had, Albus being the only exception to that rule and of course I had to stay away from him even if it pained me.

_ Aberforth left for Hogwarts today, I think is time you talked to Albus, poor dear looks like death warmed over.- she admonished as she took care of the mess I made earlier by the bedside.

I winced.

She seemed satisfied just for relying the message, thank the Gods for that.

But of course, after what seemed just five minutes, she came back, with a basket and my coat.

_ Go take this to Albus, dear. I put the key in the basket, you´ll find him in the living room, poor dear is quite beat up and he didn't seem interested in moving.

Deciding to be done with it, I took the basket and my coat, leaving the house without looking back. It was a little bit heavy so I was slower than usual. It´s time to face the music them. To tell the only individual I ever wanted in my life, that I was a freak and pregnant with his child.

…

Albus POV.

The house was dark and silent, I didn't feel the pull to turn on even one candle. What would be the point? Aberforth left today and I was… relieved.

That just made me feel even worse, my sister died because of me, and I hated my remaining family member with a passion. My nose was broken and barely fixed, and even the tiniest movement left me seeing stars, Aberforth hit me with all he had at the burial and only the intervention of the townsfolk saved my life. Mrs. Bagshot brought me home and healed what she could. She left hours ago promising to come back with food.

I couldn't care less for that. Since Ariana died I felt no hunger or sleep. I just existed. I blamed the world, the Gods if they existed, everything. I hated everything.

For the death of my sister also costed me the love of my life.

The unfairness of it all.

All my life was full of challenge, I was ready or so I thought. I was ready for all that rained down upon me. I wanted to prove myself and learn all I could, I was foolish enough to think that something I could find in the books will bring me my sister back. And maybe prove to the Wizengamot and the world at large that my father was not a demented muggle killer, even if it was too late and he died in Azkaban, I wanted everyone to know that my father, Percival Dumbledore, was not a monster. It was those damn muggles that deserved all they got.

The door opened with a weak crack that revealed a lack of maintenance, my wand was at the table on the entryway where I left it earlier, so I was defenseless. I didn't care. Maybe it was Mrs. Bagshot with the food she promised.

Something heavy hit the floor and startled me. I jumped out of the chair and turned to the dark hallway of the entrance. A basket was on the floor. Surprisingly nothing got out of it or broke with the impact. A pale hand was extended on the dark wood. It couldn't be Mrs. Bagshot´s hand.

Taking my wand from the table and uttering a Lumus, I saw Gellert lying on the floor, unconscious.

Panic like no other I ever experienced got me paralyzed. What was wrong with him?!

The first thing was getting him to a bed. Levitating him to my room was quick. He was cold and pale, I had to get a grip on Mrs. Bagshot and get him to a healer.

All my hurt and anger disappeared just by looking at him. The mere thought of him being sick was enough to drive me up the walls.

…

Gellert POV

The Dumbledore house was at the outskirts of town, walking in the dark and carrying this heavy basket was not my idea of spending the night. I couldn't spell the thing to be weightless. My magic had been acting up with the weirdest results this last few days and I couldn't risk it. It might be that what ended up playing against me.

I was reaching my destination out of sheer stubbornness. Out of breath and with an insistent pain on my lower back and midriff. I finally reached the front lawn of the house. It was darker than usual, but I guess Albus was not in the mood to be a home maker this days.

I stopped to pull myself together before entering. The Elder Wand in my pocket gave me the strength I sorely lacked, founding the key to the front door hidden between two containers in the basket I opened the door when the world started to spin around me. The basket went flying into the dark hallway landing with a heavy sound, and I soon followed it. My world turning into darkness.

…

Bathilda Bagshot prided herself on being a pretty decent lady in the community of Godric´s Hollow. So… when someone started banging on her door past midnight she was pissed. With her wand held tight and her robe hastily done on top of her night gown she had a few curses at the tip of her tongue which died down as soon as she opened the door to a desperate looking Albus Dumbledore.

The poor dear was pale and frantic. He looked like he had run all the way from his house, and the lack of Gellert at his side just screamed bad news.

_ Let´s go- she said instead, closing the door and downing her shoes in a hurry. – What happened? - She asked when they started walking. The only healer available in town hated it when people appeared in his front yard, so walking it is. - Did you think of looking for healer Highs?

_ He´s out of town and his wife said he will be out until tomorrow. I don't know what happened to him- Albus said, desperate- he just collapsed in the doorway. I put him on my bed before coming to find you ma´am.

She cursed inwardly. That lad will be the dead of her… surely he over exerted himself and barely reached the house before collapsing. He should've said something!

Albus was visibly agitated, otherwise he might have appeared instead of running all the way to her.

They reached the house in no time, she left her coat in the hanger beside the door and ran upstairs to Albus´s room, familiarized with the house.

Gellert was pale under the purple blankets and the moonlight entering from the window made him look even more fragile.

_ Albus dear, stay with him. Have you tried to wake him? - At the negative answer she continued- Try with some alcohol under his nose. I´ll advise to have an empty bowl nearby, he might throw up when he wakes up. I´ll go look for his healer at Saint Mungo´s.

Without waiting for an answer, she disappeared.

…

The fire in the room had nothing to do with the snow storm outside and all to do with the two boys on the bed. Lost to their desires and the hormones overpowering their common sense and everything else, a friendship born out of intellect and the need to change the world. Two minds destined to great things trapped in this little town. Books littered the floor around the bed, a pair of glasses was on the table beside it.

All of this begun in the middle of an investigation, a simple kiss started it, their desire did the rest. Albus pinned Gellert to the bed, discarding the robes that covered his slender body, the scars littered the pale skin from his ankles to his wrists. Cuts and what appeared to be lashes… but before he could ask, Gellert kissed him again to distract him without a doubt, damn that boy and his secrets. Only Merlin knows how many things he keep to himself.

That made him more interesting to Albus, he wanted to discover all of Gellert. Had his mind set on solving the walking puzzle that was Gellert Grindelwald to him, and on Gellert´s part all he wanted was to have someone to share his ideas, to have a mind able to keep up with his own. Not to judge him without having all the facts, all that and more

As strong as he was, Gellert was reluctant to physical contact, what made this all but a miracle. Leaving aside the scars that littered his lover for another time, Albus took his time getting to know Gellert´s reactions to his touch. What he liked and disliked. The way he clenched the blankets and arched his back, the blush on his cheeks and the fire in his eyes.

Someone who prided in keeping control at all times, completely striped of it.

The blood in his veins was fire, his breathing coming out in gasps and the occasional groan when Gellert´s erection touched his.

I love him

The thought was sudden, but not less true. He loved Gellert. His mind, his smile, his wild hair and fierce temper. The loyalty. He realized, Gellert had good reason not to trust anyone, and yet, it was no secret Gellert trusted him more than anyone.

The silence in the room was heavy and charged with regrets, at least on Albus´s part. Gellert looked like a corpse and in the purple blankets he had and he kept thinking on the instructions Mrs Bagshot gave him… why on earth muggle alcohol? He had some at hand, thank Merlin. But he didn´t get it.

What was wrong with Gellert?

The crack of apparition almost made him fall on his arse and out of the bed. Lucky him there was a chair near the bed that gave him some leverage. Mrs. Bagshot and a young man with healer robes where at his side in an instant.

_ Albus dear, let´s leave Healer Bluemoon alone so he can do his work- she coaxed gently but her grip on his arm was like a vice. He was going out of the room whether he liked it or not.

Albus went along with Mrs. Bagshot until they were at the tea room, she sat in the chair by the window leaving Albus to settle in the sofa, the silence in was almost unbearable.

_ I know you have a lot of questions but I´m not the one who can give you the answers- she said- that´s up to my nephew. And Merlin knows Gellert is not an easy business when it comes to secrets and about his past.

_ Are you sure he´ll want to talk? He´s been avoiding me for weeks.- Albus said, without meeting her gaze, she was the one to dismiss him every time he went to her home in search of the temperamental blonde.

_ Gellert fainted here, at your house bringing you a basket with food, that´s a sign that he wanted to talk. Believe me, he´s one for actions, not words. Not that I can blame him taking into consideration his life at home. You know about it, right? - She had no doubt and that´s what her tone of voice conveyed to Albus, Mrs. Bagshot knew more than her nephew gave her credit for.

Albus wouldn't be surprised if she knew exactly what Gellert planed on doing. And it was obvious she didn´t care, she just wanted him to be happy.

Albus just gave her a nod. He felt uncomfortable discussing this, it was like a betrayal to Gellert, and someone as secretive as the blond was bound to be upset when he found out.

_ My brother-in-law is a right bastard, sometimes I think he came directly from beyond Hell and is a demon in disguise. I don´t know how my sister ended up marrying him. But I could tell she loved him, she went along with his whims, leaving everything she knew behind. We were distancing slowly, post owls can do so much and she´s in Germany. She told me about the pregnancy. Oh how happy she was when she was pregnant with Gellert. From the start he was a very powerful baby. Soon, her letters were almost frantic. She realized that the man was insane and feared for her children. She asked me for help, begged me to receive her or her children if the need ever arouse. I was worried when I stopped getting her letters, the last thing I know about her is the little I could get out of Gellert. And he remembers his mother as a deranged woman… Albus you´re an intelligent young man, I don´t need to spell it for you. That boy was abused. Badly. His own father did horrible things to him and I believe he is doing awful things to my sister and niece. - Mrs. Bagshot was the picture of composure even after relying her dark tale, and Albus respected her even more for it. He stored the information for later study, but was satisfied to know more about the blonde.

_ I think something was done to Gellert before he arrived. Knowing my brother-in-law I expected something worse. Gellert got expelled from Durmstrang and that must have been something that angered him. My sister… she sent Gellert with a portkey I gave her. The one for emergencies and also a sign. I gave it to her as a wedding gift, and told her that if she ever needed help, she could get away using it. Or send it to me and I´ll be there. I want to go, but also, I don´t think Gellert wants to go back. And if he does, it will be to kill his father.

Albus didn´t know what to say. It was a lot of information to process. He knew the situation with Gellert family was complicated but never knew it could be something like this. And if it was worse? This sickness Gellert had was making noise in the back of his head. The symptoms… but it wouldn´t make sense. Not at all.

The healer came down the stairs, Albus knew because the last step had a noise, he jumped out of the chair and ran to him. Intent on finding answers. Mrs. Bagshot followed him at a more sedate step.

_ The circumstances are dire. I´m afraid he won´t wake up without help, he needs a magical transfusion and it must be done know. He can´t wait any longer. - The healer had a grim expression, and that didn´t bode well for the blonde.

_ It has to be Albus? - asked Mrs. Bagshot. And the boy in question just looked at the healer and them at her with a bewildered expression.

_ His body refuses another kind of magic- was the response.

_ Let´s get upstairs then- Mrs. Bagshot went upstairs at the lead and the two males followed her to Albus´s room.

…

Dark. He was comfortable in the dark, after all it was peaceful in there. This place was familiar from other visions he had. Yes, and old castle brimming with power and an old man wielding it. Who was him? And why did he look so sad? He kept staring at a mirror, it was no ordinary mirror judging by the longing in the man´s eyes as he stared at it. He found himself staring through the old man´s eye, and gasped.

There, in the mirror, the Dumbledore family stared right back at him. Kendra and Percival smiled surrounded by their offspring. Ariana seemed healthy and happy, running around in a blue dress with her blond hair down. Aberforth… it was not the same hateful brat he remembered, but he was smiling at his little sister. And Albus, he had the most beautiful smile on his face, his eyes shining with joy and not dull with pain and frustration, he said something to his mother and them… Gellert saw himself appear next to the happy family on the mirror… the darkness consumed him again when he realized that sad old man was Albus. His Albus.

Before meeting him, his sun, he was cold and closed off, couldn't trust anyone, but then, his aunt made sure he meet Albus Dumbledore and he knew right away the redhead was special, for he could keep up with him in all discussions and had a refreshing habit of reading. That brilliant mind was wasting away in a backwater town. And he was brimming with indignation for the injustice of it all.

The world needed genius and power, Albus had both and was wasting away his abilities in order to take care of his siblings, who should be in the care of the Ministry or a foster family.

In that short span of time, Gellert Grindelwald learned what it was to be concerned with someone else, to care so deeply about a person´s fate that you wanted to change it. He learned that after all, he had a weakness.

You could change it all. You know? - He knew that voice, in the darkness surrounding him, he started to search for the source, for that voice belonged to someone who was already death.

_ What do you mean? - He asked as he searched.

Well, you can´t bring me or my parents back to life but you could make Albus happy, and he really deserves it. He looked after me even when he could have said no. And I really wanted to hit you when you left. You should know better, Albus will protect you from everyone, even from Aberforth.

Ariana was in seated in a light spot, with the same blue dress she had in the vision on the mirror. And she was pissed, but she looked healthy and not deranged. "I must be dreaming for sure"- Gellert thought- "She´s death. She can´t be talking to me right now. Unless I´m death".

I died to protect you and my little nephew of course. If that curse had reached you, you´ll have died or lost the child and Albus will never be the same.

_ Nephew? - Gellert looked at her, bewildered.

Yes, silly. Nephew. There´s no secrets in death. He´ll be powerful, more even than you and Albus. That´s why you´re so weak, you silly.-Ariana was quite amused with the situation if her smile was something. And Gellert was to… suffice to say he couldn´t bring himself to yell at her or do anything.

_ What do you mean? - Gellert asked, he wanted some answers. And hated to be in the dark about anything. Even more when it had to do with himself.

The baby is too strong for you to feed it with only your magic. My silly brother has to help too. And if you stayed and told him like you were supposed to, you wouldn´t be dying right now.

…

To Albus, it looked like Gellert was merely sleeping, but his tossing and turning around and also his pale and sweat covered face told another history. The healer instructed him to lay down in the little space at his disposal on the bed beside Gellert. Mrs. Bagshot sat down beside the bed and took his wand. Healer Bluemoon proceeded to cast spells under his breath and instructed him to place his hands on Gellert´s stomach (of all places) and concentrate on his magic.

_ It´s very important to focus on the amount and the frequency, you could hurt him or the…- the healer shut up at a glare from Mrs. Bagshot- suffice to say you must be concentrated and try to make the magic influx as stable as you can manage.

Albus did as he was told, he will get answers, but after this.

The change in Gellert was gradual but noticeable. He looked healthier, not so pale, and he settled on the bed in a peaceful slumber.

_ I guess we just have to wait for him to wake up. If there´s a change in his condition take him to Saint Mungo´s immediately - and the healer went with a crack.

_ I think I need some answers Mrs. Bagshot or I might go insane. - And he meant it.

_ Of course dear. - She surrendered. - It's a long story but I think we have all night