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scriptstructure · 3 years

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part 1 I have multiple alien planets, but the things is I want to to be similiar in earth as in 200 countries, 5000 ethnic groups, 6500 languages, varied climate/terrain/politics. Part of the story is still on earth and obviously as a whole, 99.9999% of stuff on earth isn't even getting used, but we know there is more and sometimes there are little hints. That is stuff we know from real life and generally doesn't need explanation. Example, a character says "We borrowed this from the Russians."

Part 2 Regardless of what is really important, what we know and doesn't need explanation is a lot because we figure readers generally understand--or they can google. Hell, there could even be lots of subtle culture references as well. Anyway, depending on the reader's knowledge, it can enhance the reader's understanding in various and subtle ways. But when I do things similiar in alien planets, it makes no sense and requires extra explanation to fill the details. So, basically useless.

Part 3 Thus it seems I'm unable to fully give the type of experience as when using earth as pretty much everything needs to be important to the story. Unless there's another way to do this so I can make my alien planets seem so much more than what's actually focused on without the needless exposition? It feels like at best I could try to mention a few things but it could never feel as vast as earth does. Perhaps maybe I just need numbers?

Reminder that if your question doesn’t fit in a single ask box, you should use /SUBMIT instead.

I have had a few questions in the past which are very similar to this one, [HERE] is about how to introduce invented elements of secondary worlds (stuff that doesn't exist in the real world but has been made up for the story), [HERE] is about how and why we might include extra details about the places that a character is visiting, [HERE] deals with establishing what a 'normal' day in an invented setting is like, and [HERE] is about ways of thinking about worldbuilding, and how much you need to know vs how much the characters know.

So it is a fairly common shortcut, in scifi writing, and scifi film writing in particular, to portray alien planets as kind of 'one thing' settings. Here is the desert planet, and there is the dessert planet, and over there is the Evil planet, and there's the cute jungle teddy bear planet moon. This can be useful if you're making a film or story where you just want the different worlds to work as shorthand for certain ideas 'shitty home world', 'the seat of democracy', 'the swamp where Yoda lives' etc.

But it is very simplistic, and obviously looking at Earth, as you've said, there's a vast array of different climates, cultures, people, languages etc. We do tend to simplify the way that we portray Earth in film and stories, as well--think about, say, Australia being largely signified by the Opera House/ Harbour Bridge, and the Outback™, or the UK being Big Ben and the houses of parliament, or the USA being a vast stretch of corn fields between New York and Hollywood.

So how do we effectively give the sense of a world being bigger than the particular spot that we happen to find ourselves in?

First off, you need to have background information about the world that you're building. If you know what the major cities are, what the main continents are, if your alien world has countries, or if it has a singular centralised system of government--or is it divided into city states? or is it divided into time zones? or is it divided into... etc

Think about how your characters conceptualise their world, and their place in it. Do they think about the world, with all its variety, as a single vibrant whole? Or do they think of 'us on this continent, and them over on that continent'?

How does trade work on this world? Do they have extensive trade networks among the various cities/ countries/ regions? Or do they rely on off-world suppliers for various things?

What kind of cultural exchange is common among these different areas, and what are the cultural touchstones that your characters might be familiar with, or interact with on a daily basis?

As with the examples I gave in the first linked post above, it is less about providing the readers with an exact view of how the politics and interactions of the various places function, and more about demonstrating what that means in practice for the characters.

Say there's a certain kind of fruit that is PROTAGONIST's mother's favourite, and she spends all day searching the hypermarket for one to surprise her mother with for her birthday, but turns out there's none of that fruit available because it's all from OTHER REGION, and there's a war on, or a volcano has erupted and interrupted trade, or the shuttle crews are on strike and so the fruit can no longer be transported down from the moon.

If your protag's favourite pop group is from a polar region and only produces music six months out of the year, because the other six months they have to work with their community to produce supplies for the long dark winter, that tells us something about the way that polar community is organised, and how it interacts with the rest of the world.

What else can we think about when constructing alien planets/ secondary worlds?

It can be difficult to think 'outside the box' of the culture that we're immersed in. It's very easy to slip into thinking that we're doing things the 'correct' way, and if someone else somewhere else does stuff different, that's weird, wrong, or sinister. Often it can be just a different way of doing things that gives the solution that the person is after.

I think it can be very helpful to read books about ancient history, especially stuff about societies that no longer exist, because a lot of the assumptions that we make about the way the world currently works are less useful when we look at ancient history. There are some extremely varied ways of approaching society and culture and a whole lot of stuff which isn't immediately obvious, but which we can understand by looking at the vast differences between ancient societies.

Well written history books can really help you get the sense of how societies form, and how culture develops, and some of the forces involved in cross cultural relations. Also, there are some great examples from the ancient world, of, for example, the various different Ancient Greek societies, and how each of them thought of themselves as 'doing culture the best', of their neighbouring hellenistic states of 'doing culture not quite as well' and of everyone who didn't speak greek properly as barbaric outsiders.

At the moment I'm reading Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors by Adrian Goldsworthy, and I think one of the things that has struck me as super interesting is the difference between how the Greeks vs the Persians organised their societies, and the way that they thought about and approached warfare.

So what are the basic questions we're working with?

-What is the protagonist/ focalising character's relationship to the world? Were they born on-world? Are they adult settlers? Are they traders passing through? Has the character travelled to other places on the world, or have they mostly stayed in their home city/ area?

-How do the protag/ focalising characters think of the other places in the world that they are not currently visiting? (ie, I am in Sydney, Australia, what do I think of Boston, USA, or Paris, France? Big cities with a Reputation, I probably know something about. Small towns or cities I may or may not be familiar with, depending on my life experience or interests)

-How do the material goods which are needed for daily life pass around the world? Are certain goods only available from certain areas? Are there Events happening which may disrupt supply routes? Are there cultural elements which may cause friction in trade?

-What kinds of cultural export or exchange happen on this world? Is there a particular city which is well known for its entertainment production? (Hollywood, California--movies, New York City--the print publishing industry) Does this mean that portrayals of the rest of the world are skewed by the perspectives of that place? (Remember, Australia is just a bridge, an opera house, and red dirt!)

There's always going to be a gap between what your characters know, or are aware of, and what is 'actually' happening in the world of your story, but as long as you have the information decided, and can write the world consistently and with sensory and suggestive details, the reader can and will pick up the puzzle pieces and fit them together.

It's a complex problem, but it's one that can produce interesting complex settings.

I hope this helps!

#writing #worldbuilding #world building

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3laxx · 3 years

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Built to Last - Chapter 1

Amity hadn't dreamed to spend her summer like this. She had just graduated from a prestigious private school and had hoped she could escape to her own little adventure until her scholarship at the college starts, but instead, her parents decide to pimp up her résumé and make her a supervisor at their newest little project, a mansion in the middle of nature. She would rather be anywhere else, yet as she meets Luz Noceda, she finds construction work very interesting, all of a sudden. And that's totally not due to the fact that Luz is all her gay dreams coming true.

Heya people! I'm back with a new story!

One of my bigger projects at the moment and one of the reasons why I haven't been uploading for over a month xD I started working in my new job! Also got my first paycheck already! And I've been writing A LOT ever since the start of September! So yeah, this is kind of inspired by my work and I've written quite a bit for this already. It's basically just Luz being hot, Amity being gay, and a lot of mad blushes x)

Ao3 / FF.net

---

As Amity’s car came to a stop, she sighed, before pulling the handbrake and looking up to the mansion that was standing in front of her.

Or rather, the structural work she could see. While the shape of the mansion was already erected, with the base and all the walls out of sturdy concrete standing, there was still a lot to do.

Her parents had decided to build a giant new mansion in the middle of a huge land they had purchased, full of forest and beautiful scenery, and it was on her to oversee the construction.

It wasn’t that Amity had any idea how construction worked.

Her parents were on a business trip, like almost all her life long, and her siblings were in the middle of their studies, and focusing on this was of the utmost importance in the Blight household.

Amity was twenty now and had just graduated from an expensive private school her parents had sent her to, to enable a scholarship at a very renowned university.

So, essentially, her summer had been meant to be free and be spent by maybe relaxing for once, maybe even traveling a little, but since her mother detested holes in her résumé, she had to be kept busy somehow.

This meant that her position in overseeing the progress on their new mansion project was registered as “construction project management” and she was required to at least show up once a day and stay for a few hours.

She knew exactly what her parents' plan was.

They believed workers worked twice as fast and neatly when the customer was standing right behind them and monitoring their progress personally.

In short, her parents believed in intimidation.

It really wasn’t Amity’s style to be a fearmonger and do nothing more than to annoy the workers and create tension in their workspace. It was an issue of trust, that Amity had in the companies her parents had hired, but her parents didn’t and she couldn’t understand why.

After years of being monitored down to the littlest detail, she knew out of experience that someone breathing down her neck wasn’t something that helped along with productivity, quality, or speed.

But her parents had put her name on the project, it was all over everyone’s plans and she was an official member of the board overseeing this construction.

It wasn’t mandatory for her to show up to the site in her job description, nor was it mandatory for her to oversee any progress. But her parents had made sure to let her know what they expected of her before they had left. Amity hated that she was so intimidated by her parents to fulfill their wishes even if they weren’t here, even if she wasn’t sure if they were still on the same continent, but she was and so she had driven up here every single day and seen the mansion be built up completely in a matter of a month. Well, construction had already started when she had still been in school, so she hadn’t seen all of it.

Her parents had done that, of course.

Sighing, she got out of the car and headed up to the mansion, located on a little hill, towering above the giant property. It was a holiday getaway, her parents had insisted, even if she believed it was more to house some high-ranking guests, maybe some politicians her parents paid, to get in their good graces.

She mostly had that theory because she couldn’t remember the last time her parents had taken a genuine break from their work. Granted, sometimes they traveled to some holiday homes or some luxury hotels, but even these were sprinkled by meeting someone, having a friendly round of golf to discuss business and such things.

Her parents never acted without their business in the back of their heads.

Shaking her head, Amity freed her thoughts of her parents. She didn’t want to think of them. Coming in a few months she would move far away from them, actually near where they were building this mansion right now, and start her studies. And then she would only have to deal with them whenever they cooked up another business thing and roped Amity in, or at family holidays to keep the illusion of a happy family. She was just glad her siblings would be there with her.

Today, the interior design team would start.

The structural work was done, as far as it went, as were all the systems in place like heating, water, and gas.

Now, they had commissioned a fairly small local company building luxury interiors to do all the decorating in the entire house with floors, walls, ceilings, doing all the interior design of the sanitary rooms and kitchen, as well as all built-in furniture and whatever else Amity could think of.

It wasn’t that Amity knew what was necessary for the installation of everything, but she had self-taught quite a lot of theory through videos online due to a personal interest of hers and at least had an idea of what they were talking about.

Not that she let them in on that.

Whenever she had been there overseeing construction of the structural work, she had done her best to make herself appear as clueless as she could without sounding dumb, so they would be able to relax a little more.

If someone was looking over your shoulder who had no idea what you were doing anyway, it’d always feel more relaxed.

She hoped to at least relieve some of the intended intimidation meant by her parents.

Approaching the estate, she already saw some of her colleagues looking in her direction, some of the actual project managers, and a new site manager that she didn’t know yet. She had long black hair and a relatively tall statue, as well as a rigid posture. She was wearing a suit, too.

Did someone tell her Amity was coming?

If so, and she had decided to wear a suit just for her, that’d be embarrassing.

She appeared to acknowledge her arrival but turned back to another site engineer that Amity hadn’t had the pleasure of being introduced to yet. She looked very similar to the other one, only that her hair was really long, gray, and in a rather messy ponytail.

She also wore work pants and a simple shirt with the name of the company printed on the back and, smaller, on the chest. Amity immediately recognized the symbol on the woman’s chest as the one printed on the van next to them as well, which was a stylized owl, and read Clawthorne Sisters beneath it.

Amity had been excited for them to arrive. Now that the concrete was in place, all the drywall installations were finished and all the necessary cables and pipes were installed, the interesting part would begin. Making everything look like a home, instead of a palace of concrete and ugly pipes.

Or, well…

A house. Make it look like a house, instead of a skeleton. This mansion would never become home to anybody.

Finally arriving at the front door, Amity greeted all the project managers, engineers, and architects she already knew, who didn’t show up every day but had only come here to oversee the start of the interior design, before turning to the tall woman with a clipboard and strikingly green eyes.

“Good morning, my name is Amity Blight.”, she started and held out a hand to the woman, whose eyebrows shot up at the mention of her last name. Apparently, nobody had told her that she would be coming and Amity felt relief flooding her veins when she realized that this site manager had not dressed up for her.

“Lilith Clawthorne, it’s my pleasure.”, she greeted back and they shook hands, before she turned to the other, an equally tall woman next to her.

“This is Edalyn Clawthorne, site engineer and master mechanic of our company. You may direct any questions you have about plans, time management and schedules at me, and any technical questions at her.”, Amity nodded to that and shook the other woman’s hand as well. They seemed to be the sisters after which the company was named.

“Alright, good to know.”, she said but didn’t continue any further, so she just listened to the project managers talk for a while, before looking around and finding the master mechanic missing.

The site manager seemed to notice this.

“If you like, Miss Blight, we can head inside and oversee the progress since this morning.”

To that, Amity nodded, although a feeling of dread pooled in her stomach.

This meant producing the stress her parents wanted. They had explicitly instructed the project managers to inform their workers not to address them or interrupt their tour in any way.

In Amity’s experience, this had always resulted in tensions.

But Ms. Clawthorne was already heading inside and everyone else stepped back to let Amity in first, so she followed.

Just after the door, they each took a helmet from a prepared stand and put it on, since there would be overhead installation going on and the Clawthorne Sisters company had insisted on everyone, without exception, to wear a helmet. That had just made them all the more attractive to Amity, while she already held them in high regard judging from their portfolio and versatility in interior design and luxury decorations.

As expected, the conversations between some workers installing a floor in the entrance area quickly died out and they hunched over, focusing on their task ahead. They stopped as Ms. Clawthorne began explaining how these natural floorboards would be imported for them, ground and finished to feel natural yet soft, while Amity began looking around.

There were a lot of new faces around here since the Clawthorne Sisters had brought all their workers and replaced the construction crew almost completely, safe for a few left-over workers who cleaned up the last of their work and deconstructed some equipment they had used.

Amity mostly noted how young most of them were.

The entrance area was manned by two boys, maybe even younger than her, who were doing some of the easier tasks, managing wires to be hidden by the floorboards by tying them together and treating some sealed pipes. Down the hallway she saw a girl, around her age, managing some wires in the walls and making sure everything was neat and orderly for the wall decorations to be installed on top.

Taking a few steps away from the planning team, she peeked into the main lobby and saw three more people, two boys, and a girl, rearranging some supplies and equipment they had brought to be stashed in the wide space and not be in anyone’s way, looking just a bit older than her.

“Huh…”, she felt herself mumbling, before turning back and feeling all eyes on her as she returned to the group, immediately feeling a blush rising.

“Is everything to your expectations, Miss Blight?”, Ms. Clawthorne asked and she was quick to nod.

“Oh, yes, everything is alright!”, she was quick to assure, but the piercing eyes of the site manager quickly realized there was a question forming, so Amity seized the opportunity, “Just… I’ve seen a lot of workers my age. Do you usually employ younger workers?” To her surprise, Ms. Clawthorne smiled at that, something she hadn’t expected to see today when she had seen the slight scowl she always seemed to wear on her lips.

“We’ve had a few workers leaving the company for their retirement lately, and my sister and I strongly agree to encourage and support the younger generations to get an education in handicrafts. We have assembled a strong team of young employees and trainees for our company and they’ve proven to be very reliable, you can be assured.”

Amity nodded at that and quickly jumped in to reassure that her question wasn’t meant as a critique or concern.

“Oh, I wasn’t worrying! I think that’s very progressive.”, she quickly said and earned a nod from Ms. Clawthorne, giving her the feeling that she had just risen in her respect before the group continued walking through the mansion. Ms. Clawthorne pointed out a few things, explained some others, and they gradually lost more and more project managers and architects to discuss plans in more detail, until just Ms. Clawthorne and Amity were left to walk through the upper level, talking about some decoration elements that would be installed up here in the master bedroom, their conversation having turned rather relaxed and almost amicable after they left all the workers and other project planners behind and had some time to get to know each other better.

Until someone came stomping up the stairs rather loudly.

Ms. Clawthorne, Lilith, as she had assured her, immediately stiffened up and Amity turned to locate the commotion, seeing a tall girl her age come barreling up the stairs with some boards on her shoulder, a wide grin on her face with white teeth that shone against her dark skin in the contrast, as she jogged up the last few steps.

The girl turned, the boards swinging around, and suddenly, Amity saw the boards coming her way, right at the height of her face.

Seemingly just before impact, the girl gave the boards a nudge while Amity was already ducking her head, and a cheerful voice that sounded like it was laughing a lot in her life, sounded.

“Whoops! Duck!”, she exclaimed and the boards went right over Amity’s head, bonking her helmet, before she dared to look up again, watching the girl stopping right in front of her, still turned sideways not to have the boards that she was balancing on her shoulder trying to decapitate Amity again.

“Woah there, that was almost bad! You good?”, the girl chuckled, her not-so-scrawny shoulders shaking in delight, before giving Amity’s helmet a knock with her knuckles. Her ears were almost ringing from the knocking and she ducked her head again, only then did the girl let off, “That’s what the helmets are for!”

Amity managed a nod but the girl was already walking past her, whistling a happy tune, while waving her hand back at them.

“Sorry again!”, she called, before rounding the corner and apparently finding a coworker of hers with which she began talking, her voice carrying away the further she went.

The young Blight was embarrassed to admit that she had stared after her toned forearms and biceps, her slim calves, and her back long after she had vanished behind a wall.

Slowly, Amity could relax her shoulders again and straightened back up, adjusting her helmet, and turning back to Ms. Clawthorne. To claim she was furious was probably an understatement.

Her entire face with a rather fair skin tone was flaming while she looked after where the girl had gone and she was shaking in anger.

Turning away from Amity, probably to shield her from her voice, she yelled after the girl, raising her fist.

“LUZ NOCEDA, COME BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!!”, she yelled and Amity couldn’t deny she had flinched before the melodic voice with the slightest Spanish accent called back.

“Just a moment, Lily! Be right there!”, she faintly called, but Amity couldn’t focus. All she could think about was her name that she had just learned, and she swore she wouldn’t forget it.

Luz Noceda.

“You wanted to talk to me?”, the girl, Luz, grinned as she came back, this time without boards, and propped her hands upon her waist. Only now, Amity could get a proper look at her.

She felt her heart speeding up when she took in her whole appearance. Luz was wearing worn-out safety shoes, some loose-fitting shorts, and a dark pullover with the company’s logo printed on her chest with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows, as well as a toolbelt and a helmet on her brown, sweaty, and very messy hair.

Her face was cute and looked like she was a lot of fun to be around, her brown eyes sparkling with joy about something she had just experienced, maybe a joke with a coworker, judging from the volume at which she had been laughing downstairs and down the hall.

Well, Amity had known she was gay, but that gay?

Gulping, she took in the girl in front of her that was about half a head taller than her, then she flinched at Ms. Clawthorne’s voice winning in volume again.

“Luz Noceda! First of all, workplace safety! You know exactly to check your way when carrying big loads. And second of all, you apologize immediately! Do you know who-”

Luz seemingly shrunk more and more with each word her boss was yelling at her, and since she couldn’t bear watching that bubbliness being suppressed like this, Amity acted unthinkingly and cut into her tirade, holding out her hand.

“I’m Amity. Pleasure to meet you.”, she quickly exclaimed, a little louder than planned to interrupt Ms. Clawthorne, but her speaking up had an immediate effect.

The older woman next to her gulped the rest of her sentence and switched her gaze from Luz down to Amity, staring silently.

In contrary to her boss, Luz was apparently delighted. Immediately, her shoulders straightened again and she took Amity’s hand after taking off her glove, grinning.

“Luz. Sorry for slamming the boards on your head, I’ll take better care next time. You the architect’s intern or something?”, she replied while shaking Amity’s hand and she giggled, shaking her head, paying Ms. Clawthorne no mind while she started getting angry again, ready to make Luz three heads shorter.

“No, I’m-… Doesn’t matter.”, she laughed, waving it off, “A-And, uh, don’t worry about the boards, that’s why we wear helmets.”

Luz gave her the finger guns and clicked with her tongue, before pulling on her glove again.

“Alright then, have a lot of fun planning or whatever you guys do, I’ll do more interesting stuff.”

She winked and Amity could’ve sworn she was flirting with her. Which completely distracted her from the fact that Ms. Clawthorne’s eyelid was already twitching in uncontrolled rage.

While Luz sauntered off, Amity caught the attention of her boss again, eager not to let her be too mad at her employee. Trying a careful approach to change the topic, she softly clapped her hands together, winning back Ms. Clawthorne’s attention.

“So… I believe we haven’t talked about the bathrooms yet, am I correct?”, she inquired and Ms. Clawthorne immediately switched back to her polite way, nodding stiffly.

“Yes, Miss Blight, right this way.”, she offered Amity to walk ahead and led her down the same hallway Luz had gone, and she couldn’t stop herself from peeking inside the room Luz and a coworker of hers were preparing to work on, catching a glimpse of Luz’s toned calves flexing when she stood on her tiptoes to mark something on the wall.

Unfortunately, the door went by quickly and she couldn’t see much more of her when she had already walked past, before having to turn back to the topics her parents wanted her to discuss. Which was a lot drier planning and listening and trying to visualize complicated construction plans.

It really wasn’t that Amity wasn’t interested in learning all of this. She loved hearing about construction projects and planning where to put elements to create a harmonizing room.

But now that she had seen Luz?

Well, it wasn’t that Amity was overly starved of seeing attractive people. There were a lot of attractive people in her close environment, some of her friends for example and she couldn’t deny that most of her family’s acquaintances were fairly good-looking as well.

But something about Luz had fascinated her.

The way she moved, the way she was covered in dust and sweat and had still smelled kind of good. The way her eyes were sparkling and how she was so comfortable in her own skin, walking through her life as if she was exactly in the place where she wanted to be.

Amity was fascinated by the honest and self-assured way she was moving, behaving, and acting.

And, well, there was the fact that Luz was just ridiculously attractive to her.

She sure as hell wouldn’t forget the way her white teeth shone against her dark skin and how her muscles moved and-

“I’m afraid I must ask you to excuse me, Miss Blight.”, a firm voice suddenly interrupted her thinking and she looked up from the plan Ms. Clawthorne had spread on a nearby table, only then hearing the ringing of a phone. Mutely nodding, Amity took a step back to grant her some privacy and tried to look back at the plan, making some sense of what she saw. It was some kind of cover for the bathtub, she believed. Or was it for the sinks?

Internally groaning, she shook her head to herself. If she hadn’t spent dreaming about Luz the entire time she would have an idea of what Ms. Clawthorne had been explaining to her and she’d be able to work out what the plan was about.

But, as luck would have it, she got off her phone and turned to her with an apologetic face.

“I’m very sorry, Miss Blight, but I’ll have to cut our tour short here. Some of my workers have started laser measuring the walls downstairs and I’m afraid I have to join them and the architect to work out the plans for that. Do you need me to bring you back to the front door?”

Her chance!

Quickly, Amity shook her head and smiled.

“Oh, no thanks! I will look around a bit more and get back to you before I leave, thank you.”, she excused the woman and without missing a beat, the site manager nodded and left her to her own devices.

It wasn’t that Amity had wanted her to go, but now she could maybe sneak a peek at the attractive worker, Luz, again…?

Tempted to slap herself, she furrowed her eyebrows.

Spying on workers?

How shameful. She shouldn’t do that.

Humming, Amity turned to wander out of the bathroom-to-be and down the hallway again, hearing voices getting louder the closer she drew to the room where she had seen Luz starting her work. But instead of spotting the ridiculously attractive girl, she was met by her rather sturdy coworker with slightly chubby cheeks, a kind face, and dark hair, along with the dark-skinned boy she had seen in the entrance hall already. They both talked quieter when they noticed her wandering past and Amity picked up her pace to be out of their hair as quickly as possible again.

She wondered where Luz had gone.

Maybe she had gone downstairs again to get more boards?

Amity decided that checking it out wouldn’t hurt, so she walked downstairs, past some more surprisingly young workers and some of the management board nodding to her politely, before stepping out of the entrance area again into the fresh air and breathing through.

Behind her, the work was picking up and she began hearing a drill hammering into some concrete, as well as a saw somewhere around the mansion, but she didn’t think much of it, the air was feeling way too nice after walking through the dusty construction site.

Wait a minute…

She had seen Luz carrying up boards from below. Maybe she had cut them to length?

More out of curiosity than anything, Amity stepped off the porch and rounded the mansion, peeking around a corner, only to spot the very same girl she had found herself losing her concentration to upstairs, standing by some trestle legs on which she had placed boards, cutting them with a circular saw. She looked very concentrated and was wearing some ear protection now, as well as some glasses to protect herself from the saw dust.

Amity clenched her hand around the corner of the house when she felt her heart speeding up, licking her lips when she saw how Luz was leaning forward a bit more, the muscles on her elbow coming out.

She wasn’t overly muscular or anything, and Amity didn’t like bodybuilder types anyway, but it showed that Luz had worked in this field for quite some time already, and with being on constructions like this one, she probably got all the workout she needed just by working.

Humming, Amity finally decided to stop being a creep and pretend to be on her phone like a normal human, pulling it out to pretend and tap on it a little while walking out from the corner.

She did her best to appear busy on her phone, but Luz didn’t even acknowledge her.

Better for her, because she could keep staring.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Amity could see the saw dust covering Luz’s forearms, giving them a slight sheet of dust, and she wished she could be closer to watch her cutting those boards in more detail.

But this was getting really creepy. She should stop.

Shaking her head, Amity groaned and looked up to the sky, before shooting Luz one last glance and walking back to the entrance area, putting her phone away.

Maybe she could talk to her someday. Or just listen to her again.

Grumbling to herself, Amity did one last tour of the whole house, waiting and hoping for her confidence to build up again to talk to the cute girl, but when she had walked past Ms. Clawthorne a second time, she supposed she had to wave that wish goodbye.

Bidding her goodbyes to all the members of the project management board, she walked back to her car and sat in the driver’s seat, defeated.

Now she had had the chance to have normal conversations here, the entire mansion was full of young workers instead of moody old men, and she had blown it. She could only hope Luz would be there tomorrow.

Sending a last, longing gaze to the now-abandoned saw sitting on the trestle legs, she started her car and put it in reverse.

Either this had been it or she would have another chance tomorrow.

For now, this was enough for her. But this evening she would deeply regret leaving without having tried anything because when she lied down to sleep, the pictures of an unfairly attractive girl working at the site wouldn’t leave her mind alone.

---

“LUZ NOCEDA!”, a voice yelled from downstairs just before the evening and the young woman currently handling the last of the wires listened up.

“Oh, that sounded like Lilith.”, she noted and Willow snorted.

“Ya think?”, she asked and Luz grumbled when she got up, shooting Willow a look.

“I don’t need your sass right now, Willow.”, she shot back at her friend who just snickered, shaking her head before going back to drilling holes into the boards for tomorrow.

“COME DOWN HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”, made both of them flinch, causing Luz to duck her head.

“You better go, she sounds seriously angry.”, Willow shooed Luz with a handwave, putting her drill into position again.

Luz quickly made her way out of the room and down the hallway towards the stairs, where she already saw Lilith standing at the base of them.

Gulping, she made her way down and Lilith glared at her, making her grimace.

“Uh, yes?”, she sheepishly responded, already scared of what she had done wrong when Lilith turned and waved her to follow. Oh, this was bad.

If she didn’t want to scold her in front of everyone, she was going to get the harshest yelling she had ever gotten. Lilith led her outside, before turning back to the young woman and holding out her finger, her face uncharacteristically red.

“Do you have any idea what you did today?!”, she hissed and Luz pulled up her shoulders, eyes wide.

“Did-… Did I, uh, what did I do?”, she carefully asked, but that only seemed to explode Lilith’s rage.

“You embarrassed us IN FRONT OF OUR CUSTOMER!!”, she finally yelled and Luz could already feel all eyes on her while her coworkers gathered on the windows to watch where the yelling had come from.

“O-Our customer?”, Luz ducked her head more when Lilith got redder.

“YOU SLAMMED BOARDS ON HER HEAD, YOU IDIOT!!”, she screamed and Luz’s heart dropped into her pants. So that fancy-dressed had been because she had been the customer.

Oh.

Oooooh.

She had… She had bonked boards on her head and then knocked on her helmet. On their… On their million-dollar assignment customer.

Gulping, Luz sunk into herself more. She had absolutely blown their assignment, hadn’t she? She had just lost the company a couple Million dollars, she had gotten all of her coworkers fired, she’d pay compensation for the rest of her life, she would-

“You’re lucky she wasn’t hurt!! This could’ve gone very differently! I don’t know what kind of guardian angel you blackmailed to look over you, but if this had been Odalia Blight you would’ve been dead and the company along with you!!”, Lilith got closer to her and her screaming suddenly dropped to a very dangerous whisper, “If this hadn’t been the daughter of our customer, I would’ve killed you on the spot. You’re lucky she’s a lot nicer than her mother.”

Gulping, Luz leaned back a little.

“I-I’m not fired…?”, she tried and Lilith finally found back to her normally pale skin color, adjusting her suit.

“Your mother and my sister would have my head if I fired you. Also, Miss Blight was very forgiving and didn’t cancel our assignment, yet. We’re allowed to continue working for now. Until that’s not clear, though, you better not step too far away from the hanging tree, because I will personally put the hangman’s noose around your neck if the Blights terminate that job. Is that understood?”, Lilith got dangerously close again and Luz gulped, rubbing her neck.

“Very graphically understood.”, she mumbled and Lilith glared at her one more time, before straightening back up and walking back to the construction site.

“If you speak to her again, it will be an absolute emergency and you will do so politely and with some respect and dignity. And now clear up your things, we’ll leave at five sharp and if you’re late you’ll sleep here.”

Grumbling, Luz patted her chest to attempt and soothe her beating heart, before running a hand through her dusty hair and shaking it out. This had been shorter than she had anticipated.

Once again rubbing over her neck, she then followed Lilith inside and sighed. She was looking forward to the days where the jobs would be mundane enough for Lilith to stay in the office and let Eda handle the coordination. Having Eda as her superior instead of Lilith was absolutely preferable.

Well, if she was lucky, she would have to focus on work so much she wouldn’t even have time to acknowledge Miss Blight anymore. Maybe she also wouldn’t come back tomorrow, after all, the rich and wealthy had other things to worry about, right?

Especially their customers, who were paying for this giant mansion.

Humming, she entered the building again and ignored all her coworkers looking at her, before starting to pack up the tools she had used and collecting her personal stuff, like her gloves and jacket.

Willow shot her a sympathetic glance and Luz clapped on her shoulder to reassure her that she was okay for now, then they all gathered around their bus to be taken back to the company so they could end the day.

The whole evening, though, Luz fretted going to work the next day, fearing the possible encounter with the Blight girl. Hopefully, she wouldn’t show up so Luz wouldn’t risk her head, her financial stability, and her dignity for all eternity.

---

Let me know what you think! <3

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grindellore · 5 years

Text

fanfiction: and when he falls (chapter 3)

Fandom: Harry Potter | Fantastic Beasts Pairing: Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald Characters: Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, Ariana Dumbledore Rating: M

Summary: Third chapter of my Summer of 1899 Grindeldore fic.

Also available on my AO3 (see the link in my profile).

When Albus came back up the stairs, it was with a look of tired relief on his face. Ariana was trailing behind him, idly playing with what looked like a game of skill. She glanced at Gellert as she passed him on the way to her room, giving him a shy smile. Albus was beaming at him.

“Everything is alright,” he said as he closed the door behind Gellert and himself. “She just overturned her chair by accident when she got up from the table.”

“I’m glad,” Gellert replied. “It must be hard to be constantly on the lookout for your little sister ... I suppose we all remember how it was when we couldn’t control our own magic yet.”

At that, Albus gave him a very peculiar glance that made Gellert wonder if he, perhaps, couldn’t recall such a thing. Of course Mr Model Pupil would have been able to control his magic at a very early age... But when Albus spoke, it was still of his sister.

“I’m just worried Ariana might actually breach the Statute of Secrecy someday,” he confessed. “If she does, it will be my liability alone because I am the only adult in this house.” He sighed.

“But that wouldn’t be fair!” Gellert exclaimed. “It’s neither her fault nor yours she can’t control her abilities yet! You can’t always watch over her...”

“No, perhaps not,” Albus interrupted him firmly. “But I’m still the closest person to a parental figure left to her, and therefore both her well-being and her conduct are my responsibility.”

“I see your point,” Gellert admitted. “What I still don’t see is why the burden of secrecy needs to be thrust upon the parents and guardians of our kind in the first place.”

“You question the Statute of Secrecy?” Albus blinked.

“I do indeed question the Statute of Secrecy.” Gellert gazed at him levelly. Now, he thought. How Albus reacted now would decide if he could confide in him.

“But it is an ancient law of the wizarding society that was introduced for good reason!”

“For good reason at the time,”Gellert countered. “Witch-hunting is over, so the major reason why it was introduced has become void. Laws can be changed.”

“And you think you can change the Statue of Secrecy?” Albus gave him a calculating glance.

“I will abolish it,” Gellert said firmly. Albus raised both eyebrows.

“Oh, a revolutionary, are we?” he said completely unimpressed. “But how would you muster the courage to stand up against the law if you’re already afraid of a little flower?”

“I’m not afraid of a flower!” Gellert said passionately. “But I’m sick and tired of the name-calling and the derisive laughter whenever a man is thought to be in a relationship with another man. I’m sick and tired of hiding every single part of who I am in front of Muggles, whether it is this or the fact that I’m a wizard.” He lowered his voice for effect. “I want a world in which everyone is allowed to be who they are without fear of being humiliated or persecuted. A world where it is not an offence to live freely and without fear, but where it is an offence to restrain people from doing so.”

Albus didn’t respond to Gellert’s short speech at once. He only looked at him, expression unreadable. But Gellert had the impression that something in his gaze had shifted.

“That ... is quite an ambitious goal you’ve set for yourself,” Albus said at last. “I’m sure Bathilda told you that I was British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot. It’s a very ... traditional institution, I must say. The majority position there seems to be to stay out of Muggle affairs whenever possible, and of course all members are required to abide by all national and international laws of the wizarding society. I don’t see how it would be possible to convince them of your opinion, and those are only the witches and wizards of the British Isles.” He started to pace up and down in his room, lost in thought. “In fact, I’m fairly certain the Statute of Secrecy cannot be recalled unilaterally by only one party who signed it. However, I’d need to read up on that again since I never researched this specific question.”

“Oh, Albus, you’re so young and yet you already think like a politician.” Gellert smiled indulgently. “But didn’t you realise it already? I don’t want to wait and see if I can convince some old farts of something that will never have their support anyway because it’s too far out of their comfort zone.” He paused for effect, seeking Albus’s eyes. “What I want is a revolution.”

There seemed to be something about the things he said or about the way he said them that made Albus pause. Then Albus looked directly at him. There was something unsettling about Albus’s eyes; something that made Gellert’s heart skip a beat and then speed up. These bright blue eyes seemed to pierce into his very soul.

“How?”

“Beg your pardon?” Somehow Gellert’s brain seemed unable to catch up with the information from his ears.

“How?” repeated Albus. “How do you want to achieve this goal?” Almost as an afterthought, he added: “And how do you think the Hallows will help you achieve it?”

Gellert stared. Albus Dumbledore was amazing. He had realised at once that his quest for the Hallows and his aim to overthrow the Statute of Secrecy were interconnected.

Then again, he shouldn’t have expected anything less.

“Maybe it would help if you closed your mouth and then used it to utter some words,” Albus suggested dryly. “Unless, of course, this is a test whether I’m able to retrieve the answers to my questions from you via Legilimency.”

And he is a Legilimens too? Gellert felt a strange urge to get on his knees in front of Albus or do something similarly old-fashioned and ridiculous.

Finally, he thought. Finally I’ve found someone with whom I can talk, actually talk about my ideas.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was just ... fascinated you made the connection so fast.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Albus raised his eyebrows. “What I know about you is that you’re dedicated to find out as much about the Deathly Hallows as you can, and I also know you want to abolish the Statute of Secrecy though a revolutionary process. Assuming a link between the two seemed only logical.”

“If you put it that way...” Suddenly Gellert felt dumb in comparison to Albus’s quick wit, and he hated that feeling. He tried to make it up with an eventual reply to Albus’s questions.

“I will travel to all the countries that signed the Statute of Secrecy where I will convince as many witches and wizards of its negative effects as I can,” Gellert said in the same confident tone in which he had explained his reasons to repeal the statute. “I will show them all the evil Muggles will not only do to us but to each other if we fail to contain them.” Again, he made a short pause, lowering his tone. “It is only us who are able to ensure human co-existence without war. We are much more willing to see beyond the conflicts, territorial and otherwise, that modern Muggle states have with each other. Ultimately, the ability to do magic unites us well beyond the nationalist quarrels of Muggles.”

Albus acknowledged Gellert’s words with a curt nod, closing his eyes for a moment while he raised his eyebrows. Gellert waited for him to pass his judgment, heart pounding.

“Alright,” Albus said. “You still didn’t answer my question about the Hallows, but I’ve got another one: Showing them the evil Muggles will do?” He gave Gellert another piercing look out of bright blue eyes.

Gellert’s first impulse was to deflect that question; to talk about how anyone who had all but a cursory glance at Muggle newspapers on the Continent once in a while would know how eager they all were—the Germans, the French, the Austrians, the Russians—all so eager to measure their strength with each other. How it was only a question of time that they would finally clash; that there would certainly be a war nobody had seen before...

He realised it would not do. He wouldn’t be able to fool him. Not Albus.

“I Saw it,” he said simply. “I’ve been Seeing ... a war like none there has ever been before ... terrible things people do to each other ... ever since I was a kid.” His first impulse was to look away from Albus; to avoid the look of doubt that had always been a given after confessions like this; the calming tone: Surely you’ve just been dreaming. Horrible nightmares. Perhaps you shouldn’t read so much if it’s giving you bad dreams...

“That must have been terrible.”

Gellert stared at Albus wide-eyed. He only saw compassion in the way Albus gazed at him; no doubt, no incredulity. I bared my soul to you and you did not tear it apart, he thought. This was a first.

“I learned to deal with it,” Gellert said. “How to control the visions so they can’t overwhelm me at any minute. Just sometimes, when I’m agitated or asleep...” He broke off, giving Albus a small, bitter smile. “But yes, I had ... quite an interesting childhood before I learned how to control my magic.”

At that, Albus raised his arm as if to touch him; to return, perhaps, the hug Gellert had given him earlier. But he seemed to think better of it, focusing, instead, on a spot somewhere above Gellert’s head.

“Do you have a means to show your visions to other people?” Albus said eventually. “To the wider audience you want to reach?”

“I’m ... experimenting with something, though it’s not quite ready yet,” Gellert admitted. He wasn’t prepared to lay all his cards on the table all at once. “But you said you were a Legilimens?” He gave Albus an inquiring look.

“Some people say I’m quite good at Legilimency,” Albus admitted with a smile.

Gellert grinned. That, he supposed, translated to Not to boast, but I’m actually brilliant at it in Albus speech. He made an inviting gesture.

“Go ahead.”

“Right now?” Albus laughed incredulously. “Better sit ... I don’t know, on my bed? Having someone look at memories ... visions ... like these can get quite intense, I imagine.”

“That’s really not necessary.” Gellert tried to brush Albus’s concerns off. “But thank you nonetheless. I appreciate the opportunity to sit for a bit.” He flopped unceremoniously on Albus’s bed. “I just need a moment to sort my visions...” And lock my other thoughts, he thought to himself. There were many things on his mind that he didn’t want Albus to find out right now, from his expulsion and the reasons for it to his fascination with and admiration of Albus himself. He did plan to tell Albus eventually, but all in due time and certainly not by accident because he wasn’t good enough at Occlumency.

“Now,” he said, consciously thinking about the men in dirty trenches; the machines, cannonballs, explosions and, of course, that dreadful vapour.

“Legilimens,” he heard Albus whisper, and then the images became as clear as in his visions again; as if he was standing right beside those men who were wiped out in this cruel, faceless machinery of war where you rarely even saw the enemy that killed you.

“Gellert,” a deep voice said softly. “Gellert, it’s alright. You’re here, in my room. Open your eyes.”

Albus’s auburn hair was the first thing that swam into focus. His bright blue eyes followed, and then Gellert was seeing him clearly. It was only now that he realised he was shivering. Albus was holding him by the shoulders, steadying him.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “It ... I should have become used to it by now, but somehow...”

“I hope you’ll never become used to that,” Albus said. There was a raw sincerity to his tone that made Gellert want to lean in and have his hair petted, just like his mother did when he was little: Semmi baj, Gellért, minden rendben van... He straightened himself instead, gazing directly into Albus’s eyes.

“There will be men who won’t get that choice,” he said. “Not to become used to that, I mean. Unless we act.”

“I see that now,” Albus said, staring into the void as if it was him who was able to look into the future, not Gellert. “And this is coming from someone who always thought Divination was humbug.” He gave Gellert a lopsided smile and took his hands from his shoulders. The moment when Gellert could have leaned in was gone.

“Divination is a tricky subject if you don’t have any natural talent for it,” Gellert admitted. “In that case, the best you can do is foretell events with a certain plausibility.” He returned Albus’s crooked smile. “Your intuition is probably more accurate than the predictions of untalented people who try their hands at Divination.”

“I should hope so.” There it was, that tiny, confident smile, only noticeable for the twitching corners of Albus’s mouth. Gellert felt himself fall into those sparkling blue eyes, acutely aware of how physically close Albus was to him. This time, his racing heart had nothing to do with his visions.

Then Albus rose from the bed. Gellert already thought another precious moment lost, but Albus returned soon enough with the bowl of sweets from his desk. Sitting down next to Gellert, he pulled a wrapped chocolate frog from the bowl and offered it to Gellert.

“Do you like sweets?” Albus asked. “I’ve always found a little bit of chocolate quite comforting after emotionally troubling experiences.”

Gellert nodded gratefully and took the enchanted piece of chocolate. He was a little picky when it came to sweets, but he did like chocolate in any way, shape or form. Even if that form was moving and threatened to hop away if you didn’t catch it fast enough.

Gellert took no chances. He grabbed one of the frog’s legs as he was unwrapping it, putting it in his mouth as soon as he had freed it from the paper.

“Ah, a connoisseur!” Albus smirked, unwrapping his own chocolate frog in a similar way. “So which card did you get?” he asked, mouth full. Gellert chuckled. Normally, he didn’t like when people spoke with their mouth full, but if Albus did it, it was somehow endearing.

“Faris Spavin,” he said, holding the card up. It showed the very old, very wrinkled face of a wizard with thick reading glasses.

“Oh, the Minister of Magic himself,” Albus said. He had swallowed his frog in the meantime. “The longest-ever serving Minister and also the one with the most long-winding speeches. They call him Spout-Hole behind his back.” Albus chuckled. “Though I must admit it’s less funny if you sit in the Wizengamot and can’t leave because he won’t stop talking.” He pulled a face. “I started bringing books with me to have at least something to do while he kept babbling. Sometimes I wonder if I should thank him for acing all my N.E.W.T.s.” Gellert couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing.

“See?” Albus said with a satisfied smirk. “A bit of chocolate always cheers you up. Especially if it’s a chocolate frog.”

“Oh no,” Gellert replied, still grinning. “It’s you who cheered me up. And I appreciate it.” Toning down his obvious flirtation, he added: “But now I want to know which card you got!”

Albus gave him a melancholy smile. He held up his card so Gellert could see it as well. It showed another old man, much frailer than Faris Spavin. The wrinkled face was devoid of Faris Spavin’s impressive beard and moustache.

“Ah!” Gellert’s eyes widened in recognition. “That’s Nicholas Flamel, isn’t it? The famous alchemist?”

“None other.” Albus’s smile faded and he stared pensively at his card. “Do you want it? I’ve got several already.” Gellert ignored his question.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “You look so sad.”

“Oh, it’s just...” Albus sighed. “Mr Flamel and me corresponded. He invited me to visit him in Paris during my tour on the Continent...”

“But since you couldn’t go, you can’t meet him now,” Gellert completed the sentence for him. “I’m sorry, Albus, but I’m sure you’re going to meet him eventually.”

“I hope so.” Albus tried another, more confident smile.

“You will.” Gellert took Albus’s free hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Thank you, Gellert.” Albus looked into his eyes. Gellert felt a sudden urge to lean forward and try to kiss him; try to kiss away the melancholy and the sadness in Albus’s life. But it would have been too early—they knew too little about one another—and there were several things Gellert wanted to tell Albus before he burdened him with his feelings.

The moment passed. Gellert withdrew his hand, passing his chocolate frog card from one hand into the other.

“Do you have that one already?” he said, holding Faris Spavin’s card up again. “If not, we could exchange our cards.”

“I do, actually.” Albus chuckled as if nothing had happened. Gellert suddenly realised that this was Albus’s way to deal with negative emotions: Laughing past the sadness. And perhaps, Gellert thought, he wasn’t all that different; filling his life at Durmstrang with pranks and capers that sometimes got out of hand.

“In that case...” Gellert held out his hand, smirking. “I’ll gladly accept your offer to gift me the Nicholas Flamel card. Let it be a token of our beginning friendship.” Now Albus actually laughed, handing him the card. Gellert took the pouch from his belt and put both cards inside, wiggling his eyebrows at Albus.

“Don’t think you can chicken out of my question about the Hallows just because you’ve declared the card a friendship token!” Albus said as soon as he had stopped laughing.

“Chicken out?” Gellert said, pretending to be affronted. “You wound me. I don’t chicken out of anything!”

“Well then.” Albus grinned at Gellert’s mock annoyance, but his posture had become more serious. “How will the Hallows help you achieve your goal?”

“Not all of the Hallows,” Gellert replied. “Wait.” He retrieved an old book from his pouch, realising belatedly that it still had a Durmstrang Library: Restricted stamp on its spine. Well. Albus didn’t know yet that he had been expelled. He also had no means of knowing that while Durmstrang pupils were allowed to read books from the Restricted Section of their library, they weren’t allowed to borrow them.

Placing the book between Albus and himself so both of them could read in it, he tipped on it with his wand, casting a wordless spell. Then he flicked to the page where it all started; the page he knew by heart at this point.

“Here.” He used the tip of his wand to point Albus to the relevant passage, knowing better by now than to use his finger. Albus’s eyes flicked over the passage with remarkable speed.

“Ah!” he said at last. “Godelot, the author of Magick Moste Evile, explains in his notebook that he wrote his famous reference book on Dark Arts with the help of his ‘moste wicked and subtle friend, with bodie of Ellhorn’!” Before Gellert could say anything, Albus placed his finger over the word “Ellhorn,” only to pull it back with a pained yelp.

“Ouch!” Albus frowned at the little drop of blood that came out of his index finger. “That stung!”

“Sorry,” Gellert said with a contrite smile. “I should have warned you.”

“You should.” Albus glowered at him, licking the drop of blood off his hand. Gellert suddenly found it uncomfortably warm in the room. He hurriedly looked away, staring at the open page.

“And you should wash your finger rather than lick it after touching an old book,” Gellert scolded, trying to divert Albus’s attention from the blush that had surely formed on his cheeks by now. “You never know which forms of mould and magical contamination the parchment could contain.”

“I doubt there is any real danger,” Albus said with a shrug. “You got stung, too, didn’t you? And you’re still alive as well.”

“But I didn’t lick my darn index finger!” Gellert glowered at him. By contrast, Albus’s gaze softened and he gave an amused chuckle.

“Your concern for my health is quite endearing, but I assure you it’s entirely uncalled-for,” he said with a smile. Then he bowed over the book again, and Gellert decided that maybe it wasn’t so bad that their heads were almost touching as they read in it.

“Well,” Albus said after his eyes had darted over the passage. “I’m afraid that’s not as helpful as it could be. Yes, it may serve as evidence that a particularly powerful wand made of elder actually exists, but all we know is that the early medieval wizard Godelot had a powerful wand made of elder that he used to help him write his collection of dangerous spells. We also know he was starved by his own son Hereward so he could gain ownership of that wand. What we don’t learn, sadly, is the exact amount of power Godelot’s wand had and what happened to the wand after Hereward gained possession of it.”

“That’s true,” Gellert admitted. “I—we?” He gave Albus a hopeful glance, but the other boy’s expression remained unreadable. “We,” he continued nonetheless, “need to find later evidence for the Elder Wand’s existence, and we need to learn if it is really as powerful as legend has it. But if it is...” He looked up, staring directly at Albus. “If it really is that powerful, and if you can really learn ancient spells from it that its former owners performed, it will be of great help to us because it cannot be easily overcome.”

“Very well.” Albus slid away from the book, resting his back against the wall. “Assuming that I decide to help you, and assuming that we actually manage to find the Elder Wand ... which one of us should have it?” His tone was not suspicious, not accusatory; merely curious. “You—or me?”

“I thought we could ... maybe ... share it?” Gellert glanced nervously at Albus.

“Share it?” Albus raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you want it just for yourself?”

“I...” Gellert blushed. “I think that’s exactly the problem all the former owners of the Elder Wand had. They boasted with it, like the eldest of the three brothers in the tale, or they wanted it so much they killed their own family for it, like Hereward did with his father.” He thrummed his fingers nervously, stilling them as he realised that he was quite close to putting them on the stinging pages of the old book. “I admit the story of the Hallows fascinated me ever since I first heard of them, but I don’t want the Elder Wand just to possess it. I want it because I want to use it for my—our cause.” He paused, only to add in a low tone and in a very rushed manner: “I so want this to be our cause, not just mine.”

“Why?” Again, something in Albus’s gaze had shifted; something Gellert couldn’t quite read.

“Because you’re brilliant!” Gellert exclaimed. “And I don’t say that because Aunt Batty told me so; I say that because I’ve never been able to talk about any of my ideas the way I did today. I believe I’ve only got a glimpse into your magic so far, but what I saw—what you made me See ... That was amazing.” He looked at Albus, half expectant and half nervous of his reaction.

“Gellert,” Albus said. Gellert was still unable to read his tone and it was almost driving him up the pole. “What you said about the freedom to be who you are ... that we need to prevent the dreadful scenario you Saw ... your idea to use the Elder Wand to make sure you can overcome the forces opposed to the idea of change ... All of that sounds quite appealing to me.”

Gellert stared at him, full of hope and yet reluctant. Quite? What did Albus mean by quite?

“But I think you’ve focused too much on your ideas so far,” Albus continued. “What you need is a strategy. A method to convince people in a way that goes beyond showing them your visions.” Albus locked eyes with him. Gellert’s heart was beating faster. He had realised by now Albus tended to avoid looking directly into someone’s eyes unless he thought it necessary to get a point across.

“I can help you come up with a strategy,” Albus said. “Let’s make this our cause.”

Notes:

Semmi baj, Gellért, minden rendben van... is Hungarian for Nothing’s wrong, Gellert, everything is alright... Thank you to the lovely Ivett (isabellaofparma on tumblr) for helping me with the Hungarian! ❤️

Neither Faris Spavin nor Nicholas Flamel are mentioned as characters on chocolate frog cards by JKR, but I figured there would likely be cards at the end of the 19th century that aren’t printed at the end of the 20th century anymore. They’ve probably become expensive collectors’ items by now. (I do think it would be reasonable to assume Nicholas Flamel has his own chocolate frog card, though.)

The “quote from Godelot’s notebook” is taken from Albus Dumbledore’s commentary on “The Tale of the Three Brothers” in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. (As someone who’s interested in the history of the English language, I feel the need to point out that Godelot, as an early medieval figure, should have written in Old English rather than in this toned down mock Middle English. Then again, maybe Albus is quoting from a later source that didn’t retain the original Old English... ;) )

#grindeldore #albus dumbledore #gellert grindelwald #harry potter #fantastic beasts #fanfiction #my fanfiction #katemarley #grindellore

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