A burning summer

20th July 1899

Night and darkness were arriving, but the light of the long summer days still illuminated Godric's Hollow.

The Dumbledore siblings were amazingly all in the living room. Aberforth had followed Ariana there, who had been drawing for hours: one of the few pastimes that still made her feel calm. Albus actually would have gladly escaped from that tense air that one breathed, but the living room had the only window in the house from which one could see the small entrance gate, and the young English wizard anxiously waited for his lover to come exactly that way. So he stood there, almost a piece of furniture, so as not to unleash another quarrel with his brother for some absurd reason. All the quarrels with Aberforth had been absurd in the past few weeks.

Gellert had been away for two days which to Albus rather seemed two years. He just couldn't remember how he had managed to live with the boredom and loneliness he felt when they weren't together, it was torture.

The fact was that Bathilda Bagshot had asked her nephew to accompany her around the country for a couple of conferences on her new book that had just been published. The young German wizard had initially been reluctant, but he had later discovered that on the way back they would pass through London and would thus have taken the opportunity to buy tickets.

They would soon be leaving Godric's Hollow, and honestly Albus wasn't particularly sorry: he would finally spread his wings and leave that tiny cage. It was time to go, everything was ready: they had prepared speeches and leaflets, planned the stages of their campaign and the cities they would go to. The ancient continent was their primary target, but then, with more followers, they would expand to the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa. The scent of a new, healthy society could already be smelled in the air.

He looked away from the window for a moment to his sister who had dropped her head on her forearm with a tired sigh, and when he looked back at the gate Gellert had appeared there. It was like the vision of a dream: the now lower light illuminated him from behind as if he were a comet that had just fallen from the sky.

Albus didn't waste an extra second and let his smile push him towards the door to welcome his lover. The blonde came up to him, smiling as well, and wrapped his tapered fingers around his wrist. Their lips touched, their mouths full of words.

"I have so many things to tell you! Al..." Gellert whispered on his lips and looked at him with such an intense gaze that the young English wizard understood that he must have made an extraordinary discovery.

"Al, we made it. I found it."

Albus looked at him in disbelief. He heard Aberforth get up from his chair in the living room and saved any questions he had for when they would be alone and free to talk. He hurriedly pulled Gellert into the house and they apparated to his room before the younger Dumbledore could even speak.

The auburn haired tugged at the buttons of Gellert's shirt and pulled him towards him for a proper kiss. They fell on the bed.

"Tell me" asked Albus who, despite the fact that he would have liked to get lost in all the kisses they hadn't been able to give each other in those two days, was burning with curiosity. The blonde kissed his jaw and neck.

"I know where it is. The Elder Wand."

A sigh escaped the young English wizard as Gellert unbuttoned his shirt with a flick of his wand to follow the outline of his collarbone with his lips. But he recovered and put his fingers under the blond's chin so that he would look at him.

"How ...? Where is it?" he wanted to know.

Gellert gave him his usual mischievous grin and enjoyed keeping him on his toes for a moment.