No Other Man On Earth

i.

"And so I told her again that I was perfectly happy being the headmaster of Hogwarts and I had no desire to be Minister of Magic," Albus says, pulling his robe over his head. Elphias is already in bed, sitting up and smiling a little to himself as he watches Albus. "She ran over my qualifications again and again I refused - by this time it was getting a little tiring, as you can imagine. And then she said - " His head reappears and he smiles back at Elphias. "She said, in a hushed tone, 'If this is about Elphias, the Ministerial House has connecting bedrooms.'"

Elphias's eyes widen. "What on earth did you say then?"

"I told her," Albus says, his eyes twinkling, "that should I ever change my mind, it sounded like an excellent arrangement, as we could put our bed in one bedroom and all of your books in the other."

ii.

Elphias's favorite day of the year is when Albus comes home for the summer and the house begins to smell like him again, that distinct scent of sweets and old parchment. Fawkes perches on the end of the bed and Albus's robes are in Elphias's laundry; there are at least five owls a day with letters and music from the gramophone Elphias gave Albus for his thirtieth birthday, decades ago now, echoes through the house. At night before they go to bed Elphias brushes Albus's hair and Albus hums softly, a soothing sound that makes Elphias feel serene and drowsy. Albus always kisses him goodnight, even when Elphias can tell that his mind is on something else. In the mornings they make love soon after they wake up and Elphias wishes they lived together the whole year round, but it's not practical. Filius Flitwick and Gaius Kettleburn are both married and they go home to their wives every night, but Hogwarts needs Albus to be there as much as he possibly can be. Elphias is a historian, concentrating on the history of magical law, but it doesn't seem as though the History of Magic post will ever be open again. Besides, Elphias has his own work. Aside from his other books he's secretly working on a biography of Albus, but sometimes when he writes it evolves into a love letter and he recopies it and sends it. Albus has an entire box of love letters from Elphias; at this rate, the biography will never be done, but somehow, Elphias doesn't mind.

iii.

Aberforth may not believe it and some days, Albus fears, Elphias himself might not believe it, but Albus does love Elphias. Elphias doesn't have the same fire and passion that Gellert did, but Albus needs fire and passion for other things in his life these days. Elphias doesn't understand him the way that Gellert did, but no one else in his entire life has ever understood him the way Gellert did, and that's hardly Elphias's fault. Albus's life has suffered a great deal of upheaval and Elphias is that constant comforting presence always waiting to take him into his arms. He's never told Elphias everything about his summer with Gellert. There's always been something very innocent about Elphias and he doesn't need to be upset by it.

Elphias was the boy who still let Ariana sit on his lap after she grew over five feet tall and weighed over a hundred pounds. Elphias is the man who moved in with Albus and Aberforth after Ariana died and managed to keep the hostilities at a minimum, convincing Aberforth that he had to finish school and convincing Albus that a goat in the kitchen was all right provided it had just had a bath. Elphias was the boy who, at sixteen, approached Albus in their dormitory one night when everyone else was home for the Christmas holidays and said, his blushing face visible in the light from the candle, "If you want us to go to bed together, I'll do it. I want to," and Elphias grew up to be the man who pulled back the covers when Albus came into his room one night over a year later, even though he confessed to Albus later that he was nervous because he was a virgin and Albus wasn't and also because of the lingering dragon pox scars on his chest that he didn't want Albus to see. Many years ago Elphias was the little boy who told Albus that if people weren't nice to him because of his father, it was their own loss because they wouldn't find out how good of a friend Albus was. Elphias is the man who, when Albus tried to explain several months after the fact what had happened with Gellert, said, "He was very like you, Albus, and he sounds very attractive. Love can be complicated," and put his arm around Albus's shoulder.

Now Elphias is the man who manages to go for months in their bed alone and isn't angry when Albus says he'll be home for the weekend and then has to stay at Hogwarts instead. He's the man who never wants the praise and renown to leave Albus and turn to him, even though he's written eight books and is intelligent by anyone's standards.

Albus hasn't written a love letter since he was eighteen, but a few days after he returns to Hogwarts for the new year he gets out of his bed one morning and writes, "My dear Elphias, I thought last night of our long history together and of the constant love and support that you have always provided me. It is not often that I write you emotional letters, but there are times I fear that underneath your placid demeanor you question the power of your place in my affections. My hope is that you know how much I love you and that there is no other man on earth to whom I would rather come home." He had wanted that man to be Gellert, long ago, but Gellert is gone. Gellert is behind Numengard's walls and no matter what Albus does he'll never be able to bring that summer back. He has Elphias, and when he thinks about that wheezy voice saying "Love can be complicated," he looks at the last line of his letter and realizes how true it is.