In Austria, the black Tower looked as stern and forbidding as ever beneath the spring sunshine.
Dumbledore stuffed something that looked like a broken trinket into his pocket. His expression was frighteningly grim as he shoved open the door to the room at the top of the Tower, moving far too quickly for a man over a hundred years old.
There he saw an old man with mismatched eyes, holding a magic book and calmly drinking tea.
Grindelwald looked utterly baffled. He, too, was over a hundred and had weathered his share of storms, but he had no idea why Dumbledore had come.
"Would you like some tea?" Grindelwald raised his cup, still looking puzzled. "You'll have to add your own honey. I'm out. You drank it all last time. Where's Will?"
Most of Dumbledore's anger vanished at once. Oh. I'd misunderstood.
"Will didn't come here?"
"What?" Grindelwald looked even more confused. "Weren't you supposed to bring him? I thought he was downstairs."
"Will is missing," Dumbledore told him. "He has been for several days."
"What?" Grindelwald's brows drew together. "Has Tom Riddle attacked Hogwarts?"
"No." Dumbledore shook his head. "Will has simply disappeared. I went to Romania to handle some Ministry of Magic business, and he went missing while I was away."
Grindelwald gave him an odd look. "So you suspected I'd run off with Will?"
Dumbledore faltered. "Er..."
"You don't need to explain. I know exactly what you were thinking, Al." Grindelwald seemed quite at ease. "But don't worry. I wouldn't do that. Besides, Will may just be busy with something else. You ought to trust him."
Dumbledore waved a hand. "Gellert, I hate to say this, but... you still don't understand what Will represents."
"That child worries you so much?" Grindelwald laughed. "You always say he's like