"I see," Gellert said, perhaps still a bit curtly. For a moment, he debated how much he wished to tell this man about his temporal origins. They knew each other, but that still spoke nothing as to the nature of their relationship. This Albus could easily be an enemy of some kind, or a competitor. Did he even know of Gellert's expulsion? How open was Gellert, in his future, about his premature departure from Durmstrang? It could be that Gellert had designs in Albus's time that hinged on concealing parts of his past, and he was rather reluctant to take steps that may ruin his own future plans.
So he allowed himself to hesitate for the briefest of seconds before he said, "Yes." It was the truth, technically, after all. Perhaps only for another few hours, after he returned--but at the moment, he still qualified as a Durmstrang student. If Albus was any sort of friend, despite the harshness of his initial words, then he would know when Gellert had been expelled. So Gellert added, "I come from May of 1899."
There was something about Albus Dumbledore that Gellert could not quite identify. Something in the way he spoke, perhaps, or his posture, his affect, the way he looked at him. If only he had his magic, could push into this man's mind, however clumsily.... He needed to know the truth of the matter. What happened, in his future. The future of his world.
"So what's it like, in 1904?" he asked. "Are things much...different?"