Chapter Text
The Second Vision
.~.
Once again, Albus spent the night with Gellert in his room in Bathilda Bagshot’s home. And once again, Gellert woke him up in the middle of the night.
“Noooo!” Gellert cried, shaking as he relived a repeat performance of the previous night.
Disoriented by the noise, Albus cast a quick 'lumos' to reveal a shaking Gellert beside him. “Gell? You alright?”
“Albus, I had another vision.” Gellert whimpered and hid under the covers. “It was horrible.”
“Oh no!” Albus worried, slowly coaxing Gellert out of his hiding place. Albus removed the covers to find Gellert’s face stained with tears that he gently wiped away. “What happened? Did someone die? Did someone find out about my sister?"
“No, nothing as dire as that,” Gellert admitted.
Albus let out a sigh of relief. “Then what? Was it about me again?”
“No, this time it was about me,” said Gellert.
“Ah, turnabout is fair play,” said Albus, glad it was Gellert’s turn this time. “So? What was your vision about?”
Gellert winced as he rubbed at his temples. “There was a lot to this one. At first, it was all jumbled up and it didn’t make sense. But there’s one very clear thing that stood out. Albus, in this vision… I think I was a muggle!”
“The horror!” Albus clutched his chest, half being serious, half mocking his boyfriend.
“Yes. I had no wand and no powers – I was completely defenseless.” Gellert shuddered. “Also, I had short brown hair, which means my beautiful golden curls were gone.”
“Noooooooooooooo!” Albus sobbed. “NOT YOUR CURLS! Are you sure this was a vision? It sounds like a nightmare.”
“I’m sure. My third eye hurts, that’s how I can tell.” Gellert touched the center of his forehead, which was throbbing.
Albus was still stuck on the curls. “So if you didn’t have your curls, were you the same age you are now?”
Gellert shook his head. “I’m a lot older, perhaps in my mid-fifties. It felt like I was advertising something. Me, in sales! As if I would ever stoop so low.”
Albus patted his hand in sympathy. “What were you advertising?”
"I can't say it out loud," Gellert moaned. "It's too embarrassing."
“Impotence potions?”
“Worse.”
"Sex toys?"
"Even worse!” Gellert couldn’t speak properly so he whispered it in Albus’ ear. “Men's perfume."
"You're kidding!" Albus gasped, his hand flying to his mouth in shock. "You're right, that IS embarrassing. I'll never let you forget it as long as you live."
"Please don’t,” Gellert wailed. "A muggle salesman, Albus! I literally can't think of anything worse for someone of my abilities and talents. Parading myself around like that. For shame! Don’t leave me on account of this vision."
"Of course I’m not leaving you. I said that we would be together forever, remember?” Albus kissed him gently before returning to the subject at hand. “Now, in this vision, do you know what happened that made you choose this path to go into muggle sales? Were you destitute and you had no other choice?"
"I don't think so," Gellert sniffled. "Actually I got the feeling that I was extremely wealthy."
Albus frowned. "So why were you advertising this.... men's perfume?"
"I don't knowwwwww," Gellert howled, beginning to tremble. “DON’T JUDGE ME!”
“Calm down, love,” Albus soothed even as he hid a smile and took Gellert into his arms. “Is there anything else you remember?”
“Yes, I was playing a guitar, but it wasn’t a regular guitar. It had muggle enhancements and it was extremely loud and the music was discordant and unrefined.” Gellert shuddered. “Definitely not to my personal tastes.”
Albus, who had a penchant for chamber music, was disturbed. “What else?”
“I was wearing these dark shaded glasses… I looked absolutely ridiculous but I feel like they were supposed to add to my sex appeal.”
“Interesting,” said Albus, now wondering what Gellert would look like wearing his glasses. When this was over perhaps he could ask Gellert to wear them and nothing else when they…
“And earrings, I had multiple silver hoop earrings,” said Gellert, bringing Albus’ attention back to the present. “And I was wearing gobs of black eyeliner. I got the sense that I was trying to appear to look younger.”
Albus was rather intrigued by the eyeliner but didn’t voice that opinion at the moment. “What else?”
Gellert winced. “You’re not going to like this, but… I had facial hair.”
“Ewwww!” Albus shrieked as his arms flailed around in a gay panic. “I don’t want you to look old. You’re only sixteen!”
“I’m not planning on growing facial hair anytime soon,” Gellert had to reassure his boyfriend.
Albus narrowed his eyes at Gellert. “What kind of facial hair did you have?”
Gellert nervously gulped. “Er, well… the vision got hazy and-”
Albus glared at him. “What. Kind.”
“A mustache. And this weird little goatee thing.”
Albus shuddered. “This vision is the worst. Anything else you remember?”
Gellert closed his eyes, trying to recall the vision. “I was in the desert driving a… horseless carriage, one of those awful newfangled muggle contraptions that spew black fumes everywhere.” He opened his eyes and shuddered. “I couldn’t apparate properly. Driving a muggle vehicle… for shame.”
Albus was trying to rationalize this situation that Gellert was giving him. “How can you drive in a desert?”
“There was a road in the middle of the desert with white dotted lines,” said Gellert.
“A road in the desert. I don’t think this can get any weirder,” said Albus, but he was wrong.
“Think again,” said Gellert. “Then I get a shovel out of the boot of the horseless carriage and I start randomly digging holes in the desert.”
Albus frowned. “Holes? You didn’t run into anyone named Stanley Yelnats, did you?”
“No,” said Gellert. “But then I saw a fox.”
“Fawkes was there?” Albus smiled, thinking of the baby phoenix that he had recently adopted who hated Gellert with a passion.
“No, a fox,” Gellert corrected. “Then I took off the necklace I was wearing and buried it in the sand.” Gellert’s eyes grew wide as he realized something. “WHAT IF IT WAS OUR PENDANT?! And I buried it in the desert, like it was nothing? My never-ending symbol of love for you that holds our mingling drops of blood encased for all time!”
Albus rolled his eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. I doubt it was our pendant. Anything else?”
Gellert tried to remember the rest but it was fuzzy. “I muttered something about magic, which is very ironic if you think about it. And that’s all I remember.”
Albus furrowed his brow. “Help me out here, Gell. What does any of this have to do with men’s perfume?”
“Absolutely nothing,” Gellert confessed. “My best guess is they were trying to use my sexy voice and old man sex appeal to sell the product.”
“Your mid-fifties isn’t old,” Albus corrected him. “Now, 115, that’s old.”
“Like either of us is going to live that long,” scoffed Gellert. “What do you think this vision means?”
“Gellert, I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Albus with a shrug. “It seems harmless enough. I don’t think you can make any sense out of all that.”
“Yes, but what does this say about the future of the muggles if they automatically associate these random events and the hot older me in the desert with men’s perfume, so much that they’ll buy it?” Gellert asked.
“It says that they can’t think for themselves. So no surprise there,” said Albus.
Gellert chuckled. “You always know how to cheer me up, darling. I suppose we should go back to sleep now.”
“We should,” said Albus with a yawn. “Goodnight, Gell. I love you.”
“I love you too,” said Gellert, grasping the pendant that hung around Albus’ neck and gently kissing it before tucking it safely underneath Albus’ white nightshirt. “Always.”