A/N: This is the OC chapter.
Nine crept up to the large, country house, his footsteps muffled by the spell he had cast on his shoes. Ceru trailed quietly behind him, his wand in his hand. This was Queensland Manor, an old manor made by a famous wizard who had arrived in Australia back when it was under British control. It was smaller than the average manor but was big enough for the purpose it was being used for tonight: ministry business.
The moon hung full in the cloudless sky, providing the only light not coming from the manor itself. Lumos, Nine heard Ceru whisper two steps behind him. He turned around and glared at Ceru who quickly extinguished the light and began muttering a spell, more discreet but less commonly used. Nine reached the entrance and gently pushed the gates open. The wards had been taken care off earlier tonight and the gate was easy to crack for Nine. Why did the Australian Ministry think this was suitable protection? They had grown incompetent with no major threat to their distant shores for the last two centuries. Unlike their European and American counterparts, the Australian Ministry had spent the last few decades in harmony. Something didn't feel right. He turned around his senses sniffing for danger but everything was as it seemed. Then why-
"Let's go!" Ceru's impatient voice hissed at Nine.
Nine waved his wand, searching for any hidden surprises but nothing registered. It was all perfect, all as it should be. The manor's various rooms were lit up and their presence had not been detected yet. Nor would it, if their plan went perfectly.
"Well," he said straightening up, "Let's make an entrance." Nine began moving up the path his Disillusionment charm slowly wearing off, emerging in the night, like a shark on the surface of the sea. Ceru chose the more direct route, Dashing towards the door.
Together, they charged the door. Nine's wand flashed once and the door sprang open. Ceru's wand flew at the windows smashing the glass to pieces. He leapt up in a magically-assisted bound and reached the first floor, his wand out in front of him.
Nine moved in firing a combination of revealing charms and stunning spells. Nobody was in the room. Nine frowned, this was the biggest room of the house and he had just sensed a flicker of magic here so-
A blasting spell came out of nowhere; reacting purely on instinct he blocked it before firing a spell in the general direction it came from. Nothing replied from the dark interior of the house.
Suddenly, more came at him in flashes and bangs forcing him to his knees. One after the other, like a relentless train storming ahead. What? Who- No human could do this, not even a whole group of them. It had to be something else. Impossible. Could it be a Magical Creature or an ancient machine that would sprout out spells, faster than any human could do? All these thoughts swirled around his head, as his wand swirled and twisted, desperate to keep the dance alive. Nine had to turn the tables onto this thing because staying here was going to end in an inevitable defeat. Seeking a respite, he slammed his wand into the ground, leaving it there and creating a quick temporary shield that would hold against the inhuman onslaught for a few much needed seconds. His knees tensed and he blasted off into the sky, hovering for a few moments.
Free.
But he needed his wand back.
Swooping down, he held out his hand taking deep breaths to summon the magic to return his wand back to his hand. Jerkily, his wand carved a path through the air to his hand. Nine smiled and from his wand fiendfyre sprouted towards the house below to kill whatever was inside. The roof melted under the intense heat and Nine smashed through the second floor of the house; the thing definitely wasn't on that floor. A blast hit him out of nowhere. Nine went straight through a brick wall and landed in a lavishly furnished room. The thing moved through the hole in the wall Nine had created. It had no form, it was simply pure magic. Nine had heard of such creatures but they were supposed to have died out millennia ago as magic slowly diminished in the world and their purity was too potent to handle. The last of them were hunted by the ancient Egyptians who feared any magical creature stronger than them. Who could have kept such a thing? But Nine did know one thing; this world was too magically deficient to carry them for long. Eventually, this being would disintegrate in a world full of computers and TV.
The thing moved closer and then leapt at Nine forcing him to bring up his wand as a shield. The thing passed right through it but Nine was ready and leapt back. The thing didn't pause, Nine swung a sofa, followed by a table in its way before scrambling into the next room. It didn't pause. Suddenly, Ceru was there, his wand flashing various curses. Where had he been when I was fighting?
"NO!" shouted Nine, "It sucks up magic. STOP using magic!" Nine then broke his own advice by using his wand to pull Ceru to his side. They ran through the hallway and ran down the flight of stairs seeking to get out of its way.
"We've got to bring the roof down on it," panted Nine.
"Isn't that using magic?"
"Yes, but the wood should cut off its magic from its surroundings, like a fire, we need to smother it."
As Nine and Ceru exited the manor, they simultaneously threw up a shield at the doorway. Nine, the stronger of the two, held the shield while Ceru ineffectively tried to weaken the manor's structures by firing fireball from its wand.
"Hurry up." The thing was coming closer to the shield. There was no way Ceru was going to be able to collapse the manor, especially with its impressive defences. Gritting his teeth, Nine summoned his magical energy and threw it at the thing. It stopped and absorbed. Nine catching on to the idea threw his (feeble in Nine's point of view) magical energy at the thing. It was growing bigger and bigger and was absolutely brimming with energy. Nine was sure that the most powerful creature in the world at present was in front of him at that moment. At the edges of the inhumane mass, the energy flickered and spun, catching on to nearby furniture. The energy spread faster than any fire on Earth. It crackled as it leapt from the furniture to the floors to the walls. Objects erupted into dust as soon as the energy fluttered past it. The energy advanced onto the walls, but the old house wasn't simply protected with walls; magic spells and protection coated the walls preventing damage. Nevertheless, the walls were weakening. The thing had expanded so it filled the entire front hall and was rapidly spreading but the walls were getting weaker and weaker and at any sec-
The walls crashed down onto the thing smothering its magical energy into a tight supernova-like ball. The thing tried in vain but the two-hundred-year magical walls were too powerful and trapped its energy penting it up in a super dense ball. There was only one way for that pent-up energy to go.
Outwards.
The thing exploded outwards; its energy smashing through walls, furniture, and the roof.
The Queensland Manor had stood there for two hundred years and was currently a blackened, charred mess. Mini fires sprung up everywhere regardless of whether the material was flammable or not. He could still see the furniture and the numbers of paintings that must have adorned a lavish house such as this.
Striding into the unaffected courtyard, Nine paused for a second and surveyed the burning manor. Nine winced; a powerful house such as this destroyed by his wand. The authorities would swarm over him, like bees after honey, for the next decade. How could such a routine operation go so disastrously wrong? Spots swam before his eyes and Nine suddenly felt weak. Obviously, all that magical energy expended. Nine closed his eyes but before he could regain control, his mind had started to wander.
He was transported back to 1939, during Grindelwald's rampage across Europe. Nine marched through the streets of Warsaw, his wand alert to every danger. To his left and right were his allies, friends, Nine might have called them an hour earlier, but there were no friends in wartime; only enemies and allies. No one was stupid to be on the streets in times such as this but Nine kept his wand out all the same. Only a handful of the Polish ministry men and women remained. They had gone into hiding among Warsaw's burgeoning muggle population. But, here in the slums, their magical trace would stand out like boat from the uniform waters.
There was a flicker, and Nine Dashed, his body passing through the stone walls of the house with ease. The muggles in the house cried out with the sudden appearance of a brown-haired English wizard. Nine's wand flashed and a figure collapsed from the ceiling. The muggles screamed again. The figure cried out at the sight of one of Grindelwald's senior officers before being promptly knocked out by a stunning spell. Nine walked out of the front door with the unconscious wizard floating behind him. Nine chuckled to himself at the expression on their faces as he walked the length of the peaceful street.
Just as he reached the end of the street with the Polish wizard in tow, a wizard walked up to him, "Sir, all magical resistance has been crushed." Sighing, Nine paused to wipe the sweat dripping off his brow. The wizard waved his wand shooting golden flames and within seconds there were ten more flames in the air responding in different colours. The battle was over, it had been swift, lethal and utterly unpredictable; just as Grindelwald had planned it a month earlier. Nine wearily apparated into the magical village where the fighting had broken out.
Grindelwald was in full flow. His ashen face stared at his followers and his hands gestured manically as he outlined his plan to take over magical Europe. Grindelwald is an amazing public speaker, Nine observed, just look at how he captivates their attention.
Suddenly, a droning noise filled the sky. What the hell is that? Grindelwald was cut off mid-speech. Seemingly unmoved, he pulled out his wand in a single movement and brandished it at the sky, demanding for the source of the disturbance. There was no response.
Now everyone in the village had their wands out, all preparing for whatever was going to drop out of the sky. There was no fear in the Storm-wizard's eyes; the battle was won after all. There were behind some of the most powerful wizards on the planet. What was possibly going to hurt them? A strange flying contraption suddenly burst out of the cloud cover.
What the- No sooner then when it had appeared, it was shot down and it fell, crashing and burning into a nearby building. The army watched as it crashed, their wands limply by their side. Grindelwald's eyes danced with recognition and his voice broke through the stillness that had existed a second earlier.
"The Nazis have begun their attack," he announced dramatically. The crowd gazed anxiously at each other while Grindelwald's senior members exchanged quick looks; even Nine was surprised by this. Who exactly were the Nazis? They certainly weren't a well-known wizarding group.
"The Nazis are muggles, brighter than their fellow counterparts, but muggles all the same. We, while not direct allies with them, are in agreement not to engage with any sort of duelling or as they call it warfare. These measures will protect many of you. They will occupy the ministries, the muggles and the magical creatures who will struggle to stay afloat in this war. The Nazis will push the muggle world to the brink of catastrophe until we step forward, conquerors of Magical Europe to rescue them from their plight. This plane in front of you is only the start."
As if to illustrate his point, the sky filled with dozens of the flying contraptions passing over the village and into the heart of Warsaw. Nine watched with his mouth wide open as squadron after squadron passed overhead, dropped their load and left. Screams filled the sky followed by fires, later followed by the sound of gunfire. Nine thought he knew everything about the world at the age of 24, but the magical world and the Muggle world were two very different worlds.
As Nine roused himself from the unexpected memory, Ceru was busying himself by setting up enchantments around the border of the manor. You stupid fool; you've wasted ages in a ministry-owned building that you just burnt down.
"We've got to get moving," Nine announced, "We've wasted far too much time here already. Wait… why are you putting up enchantments?" Ceru didn't respond. Nine frowned. He could read magic extremely well, and although the art was obscure and nothing like reading a book, he immediately picked up traces of a wall. So they were going to make their stand here? That was such a- No, it wasn't a shield. Nine narrowed his eyes…a cage, it was a cage. Ceru was building a cage for Nine.
Ceru suddenly leapt up and slashed his wand at Nine. The gesture was so unexpected that Nine was dumbfounded as the curse ripped through his body. If he hadn't taken the time to activate his wards that morning, he would have been slashed in half. Cursing, Nine rolled under a couple of hastily shot curses before rising up into the air. Ceru followed him so they were almost face to face with no chance of one firing a spell before the other. In fact, there were so close that Nine could see his chin and his wild brown hair in Ceru's stormy eyes. Ceru yelled out a war cry before transfiguring his wand into a dagger aimed at Nine's heart.
Nine looked at it before deftly side-stepping in mid-air. Why the hell is Ceru attacking me? What have I ever done to him? Nine blocked another spell before resuming his contemplation. Ceru clearly was furious so was probably looking for revenge. At the rate he was firing spells, it was obvious that he hadn't planned this out at all which was unlike Ceru. He had gone over meticulous detail what they were going to do once they had retrieved the Pebble. And Ceru could've killed Nine at any number of opportunities over the past month. The truth hit Nine. It was a diversion.
Nine smiled at his opponent letting him know that he had seen through their plan before- It didn't work. Nine gritted his teeth: Anti-apparation charms. They were close. Immediately, Nine turned on the offensive. His wand flashing and darting as he sought to end this fast. It was over in no more than thirty seconds. Ceru might have been a young, quite adept wizard but Nine although having the appearance of a twenty-year-old had lived five times as long, been to all seven continents and had duelled the greatest wizards of his time including Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. Ceru lay on the floor, his eyes closed, although Nine was pretty sure he was still alive. Nine launched up into the air before promptly crashing into an invisible barrier in the sky. Cursing, he fell thirty metres slowing his fall at the last possible second. They were close. He could sense them now. Dusting himself off, he turned around his eyes frantically searching for a good-
A crack cut him off followed by three more. Nine gritted his teeth. They obviously weren't bothering with secrecy and laws. Ordinary men wouldn't dare to apparate directly into an old formerly well-protected house.
"Hello, Gentlemen." Crack. "Who are you? The Ministry? The Syndicate?" Crack.
The men made no response. Ministry men, then. Crack. His wand twitched quietly behind his back creating wards for protection and shields to exhaust magic. Crack. They began to mass directly ahead of him and looked English. He studied them closely his eyes pulling them apart searching for their calibre. Crack. Their eyes gave nothing away. Crack. Definitely Ministry men. And powerful and skilled ones. Crack. Definitely European; it was quite easy to tell once you knew what you were looking for, in this instance, it was their grip on the wand that gave them away. Crack. What were Europeans doing in Australia? And why had Ceru tipped them off? Crack.
"You are placed under arrest for breaking the International Statue of Secrecy, associating with Gellert Grindelwald, murder, arson, robbery, invasion, using the Unforgivable curses, unlawful mind control -" At that moment there were more cracks cutting the man off.
"If you come calmly-
"Who are you?" Nine interrupted.
"Who we are doesn't matter-
"Who are you? How did you find me? I have been at peace for half a century. No ministry has bothered me except for the occasional spy. I have committed no criminal activities."
"Except for smashing up a house in which an artefact of great power was hidden."
"Except for that?"
"That alone is enough for us to put you under arrest and potentially send you to the British prison of Azkaban."
"What about a trial?"
"No trial will be necessary."
"What happened to being innocent before proven guilty? The Muggles have better laws than us."
The man who had spoken paused before saying, "Arrest him."
Twin ropes immediately lashed him. His hands and feet were bound and his wand fell from his hands, clattering to the floor. Nine laughed to himself; this was probably the third time he had been disarmed this decade. The ministry men moved toward him with precision and skill, the wards defending them impenetrable. Nine watched as they broke down previous curses, wards and defences Nine had employed, so any escape attempt would be quickly ended. They stripped his magic and laid it bare. They grabbed his wand, held it aloft and ungracefully snapped it in half. It gave a feeble spark of light before fading to a dull grey again, never to possess magic again. Nine eyes were as cool as his broken wand now. In his home country, the breaking of a wand would often be associated with a feeling of great shame but there was no anger or embarrassment in him. Nine was a calculating man and a calculating man never struck irrationally. Nine was still smiling when they apparated away.
A/N: Nine's and Grindelwald's storyline will meet sometime soon. In case you didn't understand, Nine was one of Grindelwald's lieutenant and is now in hiding. Thank you for reviewing and favouriting this story.
