TFLN

[plungeintofire]

You know what you must do.

Comments

[chambermusicandtenpins]

Mm, exactly. Besides, I think you would like me less if I were exactly the same as you. It'd be boring to talk to me if I always agreed.

[greatestgood]

I don't often talk to myself in a mirror. When I do, I wish I were with you instead. [Is that romance?]

[chambermusicandtenpins]

[Dumbledore thinks it is!] How sweet of you. When that happens, you should send me a note instead. Perhaps I'll write back.

[greatestgood]

You are asking for pure nonsense. [But he will deliver the letters anyway.]

[chambermusicandtenpins]

Do you expect anything less from me, Gellert?

[greatestgood]

There is genius hidden in your nonsense.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

You flatter me, Gellert.

[greatestgood]

I would never lie about genius.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

I think you may be biased about me, but I appreciate it all the same.

[greatestgood]

I can be biased towards you and understand genius nonetheless. We wouldn't have met and bonded otherwise.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

I imagine you're right. It was your brilliance that I first noticed about you when we met.

[greatestgood]

I didn't know someone like you existed in any country.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

I wasn't sure anyone like you could exist. I thought I was just built to feel distant.

[greatestgood]

No, you and I were meant to meet. The world could not keep us separated. [Sadly, they manage what the world can't.]

[chambermusicandtenpins]

Perhaps not. Perhaps that's why we're both here now.

[It's what he hopes. He'd much prefer a destiny that didn't end in death or a duel.]

[greatestgood]

I will believe your optimism. [Because believing otherwise is like carving out his heart.]

[chambermusicandtenpins]

As will I. Maybe something will work out for us in this time. [After all, this is so much better than a war and losing each other.]

[greatestgood]

I will stay in contact with you. I cannot promise pristine behavior, but I won't endanger you or us.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

I didn't think you would. Nor did I expect pristine behavior. I would not ask you to suddenly become a model of angelic conduct.

[greatestgood]

My temper is foul and I am aware of it. It is a daily trial and I can't let it come between you and I again.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

[He looks sad but fond at that.] I appreciate that you would undertake it all the same. I don't expect you to be perfect, Gellert. But I appreciate you making the effort.

[greatestgood]

I won't duel you. [He is resolute on that point.] Even if I'm furious, I won't lift my wand.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

[That breaks his heart a little bit. Especially because he knows himself well enough to know that, if he had to, he would duel Gellert without restraint.]

Perhaps it doesn't need to come to that.

[greatestgood]

Not here. [But it's how he feels under all of his bravado.] I don't want to fight you. I never did.

[chambermusicandtenpins]

I don't either.

...I didn't want any of it to turn out the way it did.