I'd like to thank Pahan and InquisitorCOC for beta-reading.

Chapter 7: Misunderstandings

Hogwarts, September 16th, 1997

Back in Albus's office - international crises couldn't be dealt with in the middle of a school hallway - Gellert Grindelwald faced Hans. "What are the French thinking? Why would they declare war on Britain and Prussia?" They couldn't be itching for a war, could they? The Battle of The Burrow and Diagon Alley's rout should have been enough for some time.

Hans nodded. "Meister Grindelwald, this is merely speculation, but I think they feel threatened, what with you controlling both Britain and Prussia."

"What?" Gellert blinked. "That's ridiculous! And wrong. Britain is ruled by Mr Weasley, and he certainly has nothing against the French. His heir even married a French witch!" You didn't have to go that far for good relations with your neighbour. Especially if you had the sea between you and the French. And the witch obviously hadn't managed to reach the Duc d'Orléans to clear up this misunderstanding. He shook his head. "And Prussia is ruled by Chancellor Whatshisname, Steiner!"

Hans coughed, which was a very bad sign.

"What?" He glared at his friend.

"Ah, Chancellor Steiner has been… replaced, Meister Grindelwald."

"Replaced? By whom?" What hadn't he been informed about this? Sure, he had been busy with Voldemort, but a wizard liked to be informed about changes in his home country.

"By you, Meister Grindelwald." Hans stood at attention.

"What? How can I have conquered Prussia without knowing?" He blinked. "That wasn't what I meant when I told Katrina to clear up things in Prussia!" And really, how far had his home country fallen if a single witch and her recruits managed to conquer it? He didn't exactly expect Prussians to be as stubborn as French, but a little more resistance would have been nice. Next, they would make jokes about how you could conquer Prussia by accident!

Hans coughed again. "I think she felt that with you taking over Britain, she should follow your example."

Gellert sank into Albus's comforting chair. Of all the things Katrina could have done to show initiative, she had to choose this! "Ah well, with us in charge of Prussia, at least there, things are under control. So, that leaves us free to focus on straightening out things with the French before they launch an invasion."

Hans nodded. "Jawohl, Meister Grindelwald. The available forces under Katrina's command should be more than enough to hold the line against the Poles and French."

"What about the Poles? I thought only the French had declared war."

"Poland entered an alliance with France two days ago, Meister Grindelwald. The information wasn't available in Britain until now."

Gellert sighed. Now that he thought about it, The Quibbler's international news section had been rather slim lately - since the magazine had replaced the Daily Prophet as Britain's main newspaper. Apparently, Lovegood was like Shacklebolt and needed a crisis to thrive. Well, they had a crisis on their hands right now!

He glanced back at Albus's portrait behind him. If only it would wake up so he could talk to it. He was rather certain that conquering Prussia hadn't been part of Albus's plan. On the other hand, it wasn't as if Albus would have told his portrait, left hanging in a school under his enemies' control, anything truly important. But a little moral support would have been nice. He couldn't do everything by himself.

"Hans, gather everyone in my command room! Everyone important, that is." You had to be clear when giving orders to Hans. "We'll need a plan to deal with this."

The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon, September 16th, 1997

"You shouldn't be here, Harry! You should be resting!"

"I'm fine," Harry Potter lied and clenched his teeth. His head was sporting a bandage to still the bleeding from his scar, and his temples throbbed with pain. But this was too important to sit out. Besides, Hans had insisted he'd attend, and the old Storm Wizard looked ready to drag him by his ankles from Hogwarts to The Burrow if Harry didn't want to come. And one glare had been enough to convince Ron and Ginny that they shouldn't try to come along - Hans's training method had left an impression that would probably last a while yet. Though it made him wonder - and worry, a little - why Hermione was ordered to attend this meeting.

Hermione huffed. "If you collapse and open your wound, don't blame me!"

"I won't," Harry said. "Promise."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You won't collapse, or you won't blame me?"

He grinned. "Neither, trust me." The pain wasn't that bad. And the command room had chairs. He'd be fine.

Unfortunately, the command room was also filled to capacity, Harry realised as he entered with Hermione. Mr Weasley, Percy, Fleur, Bill, Grindelwald, of course, Hans - glaring at Harry, probably because he was among the last to enter, as it seemed - Luna, who was waving at him, all the Storm Wizard section leaders and… was that Dumbledore's portrait, on that chair? Dumbledore's sleeping portrait?

He had a bad feeling about this.

"Let's go sit with Luna. She can fill us in," Hermione whispered and started to drag him towards their friend.

Harry's bad feeling intensified.

"...and Daddy said that the invasion of Gringotts was the onion that broke the Snorkack's back. If you want answers, you need to follow the money, as every good reporter knows, and Gringotts is all about money. Conquering Britain wasn't important - no one cared when Voldemort did it - and not even Daddy knew about the takeover of Prussia, but Gringotts? That made international news," Luna whispered, then nodded sagely. "And that's why the French are going to war: They are paid by the dwarves, who will not tolerate anyone else defeating their hereditary enemies, the goblins." She beamed at them. "It'll be covered in detail in tomorrow's edition of The Quibbler. By Daddy, of course - my duty is clear: Where's a war, there's embedded journalist Luna Lovegood!"

Harry wasn't certain if his headache had grown worse from Luna's explanation. He was very glad that Hermione had conjured a seat for him. He glanced at the witch, but she was scribbling on her notepad.

He was about to ask her what she was writing when Grindelwald stood and cleared his throat. The whole room fell silent at once - the wizard was frowning and was obviously upset. And when Grindelwald was upset, it paid not to draw his attention, much less his ire.

"France has, in the erroneous assumption that I've conquered Britain and Prussia, declared war on both countries. Poland, France's ally, has done likewise. That's not much of a concern for us, though, since they'll be busy with Prussia. Now, how can we sort this mess out without fighting another war?" He looked around. "Mrs Weasley, as the resident French person, you're our expert."

Harry saw Fleur pale, and Bill lean towards her and hold her hand. "Ah… Je ne sais… I don't know. I travelled to ze Cour, to tell ze Duc that you didn't intend to invade Britain or France, but 'e didn't believe me. 'E even told me that I would be considered a traitor, should I return to Britain. I think that I would have been arrested if Arthur 'adn't made me an envoy." She sniffled. "I fear that war is unavoidable."

"We've appealed to the ICW to mediate, but they claim that this didn't fall into their jurisdiction unless the Statute of Secrecy was endangered," Mr Weasley added.

"A radical proposal. We'll have to table it as long as we have alternatives," Grindelwald said.

"Err, it wasn't a proposal," Mr Weasley said.

"Don't worry - I know what you meant," Grindelwald replied with a smile, that, as far as Harry could tell, didn't reassure Mr Weasley in the slightest. "Any other ideas about how to solve this?"

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Grindelwald held up a hand. "For those who don't know her, she's our resident expert on muggleborn matters and propaganda."

That was news to Harry. And not good news.

"If the French want a war, let's give them a war!" Harry's friend spat. "They've supported Voldemort's regime, they've threatened Prussia, and they are oppressing muggleborns in their country. They're an absolutist monarchy in this day and age! The French muggleborns won't die for their pureblood rulers - they will turn on them as soon as they see a chance to take control of their own country! The French won't stop until they're defeated, and the sooner we start with that, the sooner we can put this behind us!" She pounded her armrest with her fist. "Let's invade them and liberate Magical France from the oppressive grip of its pureblood aristocracy!"

Harry closed his eyes as his headache grew even worse.

Gellert Grindelwald wondered - silently, of course - why every important wizard seemed to have a fanatic witch at their side. Katrina, for all her loyalty, was a little too eager to advance his cause as she saw fit, as she had recently demonstrated by her unapproved takeover of Prussia. Voldemort had had that weird crazy one, apparently a rather unhinged but very skilled dark witch. Potter had Granger. And Albus had… well, McGonagall probably counted. She certainly seemed obsessed with occupying Albus's office. Four important wizards, four slightly unhinged witches. That couldn't be a coincidence.

Ah, well, he had to ponder that mystery another time - there was an international crisis to solve. "Hans!"

"Hier, Meister Grindelwald!"

"What's the military situation?"

"While we lack exact information on the size and composition of the French forces," Hans said, glaring at the French Weasley - had she been sent as a spy as well as an envoy? Grindelwald didn't remember mentioning it, but Mr Weasley could have done that; it was his country that was threatened, after all - "we can safely say that the Storm Wizards are more skilled than the French, as the recent engagements have proven."

Well, Gellert already knew that. Skill and discipline beat sheer bravery; everyone but the French was aware of that.

"Given our recent recruitment numbers, a pincer attack from Britain and Prussia, coupled with uprisings by the French muggleborns and a decapitation attack on the French Court, will see us in control over all important areas of Magical France in a week or two."

Gellert hadn't asked for an invasion plan. All he had wanted to know was whether or not the French could invade Britain and Prussia. But it was only logical that if you could invade your enemy and defeat them, they couldn't do the same to you. So, there was no need to reveal the misunderstanding. "I see."

"We can move within a day, a week if you want to finish training the latest recruits, Meister Grindelwald," Hans said with a rather eager expression.

"Using muggle transport, we can strike into the heart of France undetected." Granger's expression left no doubt that she was already contemplating how best to raze Chateau d'Orléans. Witches were simply too emotional for war. Or for diplomacy.

"Give the word, Meister, and we'll smash your enemies!"

"And free the muggleborns!"

He suppressed a sigh. For someone educated by Albus, the witch was rather bloodthirsty. But then, Albus, as his plans had shown, had grown rather radical in his old age. Still, Gellert was certain that Albus wouldn't want him to invade France. He shook his head. "No, there will be no invasion. There is no reason to fight a war over a misunderstanding. I will personally travel to France to meet the Duc and clear this up."

"But Meister Grindelwald!" Hans gasped. "This could be a trap!"

He held up a hand. "Don't worry, Hans, I will not travel alone, but with a suitable escort, large enough to deter the Duc from attempting any underhanded means. See to that."

"Jawohl, Meister Grindelwald!"

Gellert smiled. They would talk this out, just as Albus would have wanted.

"Oh, and someone please check with Katrina what exactly happened in Prussia." Her reports had been concise, but scant on details.

Château d'Orléans, Île-de-France, Magical France, September 18th, 1997

"A misunderstanding?"

Gellert Grindelwald nodded, smiling widely. Finally, the Duc d'Orléans seemed to have understood him. Progress!

"A misunderstanding?"

Or not. Maybe he didn't understand Englisch? Or German? But he was speaking English…

"You slaughtered my Gendarmes! You decimated my Guard! You destroyed my château! You stunned my wife and broke my wand! And you say this is a misunderstanding?"

Well, there was no need to yell - unlike the Duc's ears, Gellert's were working fine. "Yes. I have no intention to invade France or hurt anyone of your subjects. It was all a simple misunderstanding, you see? I had to fight Voldemort, but he had taken over Britain, so..."

"YOU DID INVADE MY COUNTRY!"

Gellert was tempted to cast a Silencing Charm, but that would make it even harder to understand each other. And understanding each other, as Albus had been fond of saying, was the ground upon which peace and cooperation grew. And love, but Gellert wasn't interested in the Duc that way.

He cleared his throat and explained. "Well, there might be some superficial similarities to an invasion, I'll admit that." The suitable escort Hans had selected had been a little on the large size - but as events had proven, he had needed every wand when the French attacked. And yes, he had had to fight his way through a number of misguided Gendarmes and the Ducal Guard to finally see the Duc, and things got a little out of hand, but Albus had always said that even if you had to go to great lengths and make some sacrifices, it was worth it if it meant you could talk things out peacefully. Gellert had done nothing more than following Albus's wise counsel, although most of the sacrifices had happened on the French side.

That wasn't his fault, though. The Duc could have told them to let him through so they could talk like civilised wizards. It wasn't as if either of them were American, after all. Or Swiss Germans. Good fighters, but they barely understood and certainly couldn't speak German. Gellert had needed a Bavarian translator to talk to them last time.

"'Superficial similarities'?"

Did the Duc have to repeat everything? They weren't at school. "Exactly! I didn't come to invade, but to talk to you to avoid an invasion." He hadn't launched the attack from Prussia, after all.

"You invaded my country to avoid invading my country?"

If the Duc put it like that, it did sound a little strange. But then, Albus had been very clear about politics - or politicians? It probably didn't really matter - seldom making much sense, and that would certainly apply to international politics as well. So Gellert nodded. "Yes. I'm glad we could clear this up. I would have loathed invading France just because of a misunderstanding." Even though he also loathed to leave anything unfinished, and he had never conquered France the last time he had been in the country.

The Duc started to laugh. And laughed. And laughed.

Gellert smiled. The Duc had to be really relieved that this wasn't an invasion. But the Duc didn't seem to have any intention to stop laughing - he was kneeling on the floor, despite all the dust from the hole in the wall covering the carpet, not even paying attention to Gellert any more. How rude to leave a guest waiting like this! Gellert had more things to worry about than France.

Maybe he should fix the hole in the wall as a gesture of goodwill while he waited? And the roof? The door? He couldn't do anything about the Duc's wand, but he could wake up the Duc's wife… no, better not. Witches were so emotional, she would probably have a breakdown before the Duc could explain the situation. Or she would attack Gellert again - she was French after all - and he would have to stun her again.

He sighed, then blinked. What was that noise? Was someone yelling? He walked to the hole in the wall and peered outside. The gardens were filling with witches and wizards. Civilians, as far as he could tell. And French ones. But why were they yelling about a 'republic'? What was that, anyway?

Harry Potter closed his eyes and held up a hand as he found his friends and nominal subordinates. "Don't tell me, I'll guess: You are saving priceless pieces of art, furniture and books before they run the risk of getting destroyed in the fighting."

"Wow, you're good! That's exactly what we're doing! We couldn't be acquiring supplies for the war since we're not at war, you see?"

"Thank you, Luna," Harry said.

"Pleasure!" she chirped, then continued to shrink and pack up what looked like the Duc's collection of golden eggs.

"I saved you a crate of the best wine we found," Ron said, "but you'll have to pick up your own loot - I don't know what you'd prefer. Although I wouldn't worry about furniture - Ginny's got a whole trunk full of it, enough to furnish an entire house."

Harry clenched his teeth. "We've fought our way through the Ducal guard so Grindelwald can stop this war, and you're looting the Duc's house?"

"We've left perfectly fine copies," Hermione said. "For the books, anyway. Books are meant to be read, and the library was covered in dust. Honestly, they should be grateful we're leaving copies at all - that's no way to treat valuable books!"

"I think the library was covered in dust because we've blown a hole in the wall," Ginny said. "Harry!"

Harry would have appreciated her support more if his girlfriend didn't have to drop a rather heavy bag - filled with shrunken trunks, as far as he could tell - to hug him.

Hermione sniffed. "They should have had cast spells to protect the books against such an event. It was simply reckless to assume that the walls would hold. The Hogwarts library is far better protected."

Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "You didn't loot that one, did you?"

She gasped. "Certainly not! Who do you think I am? Madam Pince would never forgive me!"

"And she couldn't crack the protection against Doubling Charms," Ron said, earning himself a glare.

"Cheer up, Harry," Ginny said. "With the mob gathering outside, I doubt anyone will notice a few missing pieces of furniture or books." Her definition of 'a few' certainly was generous.

"Or wine and jewellery," Ron added.

That they probably wouldn't get caught wasn't the point, in Harry's opinion. His friends shouldn't be looting in the first place… "Mob?"

Luna nodded. "Yes! The French muggleborns have chosen today to topple the autocratic pureblood regime and install a democracy! Imagine - instead of covering a boring diplomatic talk, I get to report on a historic event! The first revolution in Magical Europe since Grindelwald's coup in Prussia!"

This sounded far too familiar to Harry. He narrowed his eyes at Hermione. She couldn't have...

She had the grace to blush. "I was merely facilitating our mission by organising a distraction for the Gendarmes. And educating the muggleborns of their rights and of the actual state of Britain and Prussia."

She had. He sighed. Compared to inciting a muggleborn revolution, looting the Château would appear like a minor issue. And all had technically happened under his command!

"So, do you want the wine?" Ron asked. "Otherwise, I'll send it to Mum as an early Christmas gift."

Harry certainly could use some alcohol.

"Yes, hand it over. And then we leave the château and will never speak of this again!"

"Does that mean I can't use this for my articles?"

Lots of alcohol.

Ah, the people outside were muggleborns starting a revolution! Gellert Grindelwald nodded. That explained the 'republic' - certainly a muggle term. Or an American term - they had some republics over there, at least there were some the last time he had read up on the political situation in the New World. The American wizarding enclaves tended to change a lot due to all the wars in the northern parts.

Well, neither American politics nor internal issues of the French were his concern. The Duc could sort this out - provided he'd stop laughing any time soon. Really, Gellert certainly wouldn't be laughing if a mob were storming his stronghold - unless he had prepared a trap for them - but that was the Duc's business, not his.

He was needed in Prussia, to straighten out the issues there. Whatever they were - he still wasn't quite certain what exactly had happened there, other than that his banner was flying over the Chancellery of Magical Prussia.

Just as it been so many years ago. Those were the days. Bad days, of course, filled with his mistakes, but not completely without appeal.

Gellert smiled as he mounted his broom and left the château through the window as the first revolutionaries entered the main wing. With this crisis taken care off, it was time to head to Prussia!

Chancellery of Magical Prussia, Berlin, Germany, September 19th, 1997

"Meister Grindelwald! Prussia is yours!"

"Yes, so I heard." Gellert Grindelwald didn't bother to hide his sarcasm - Katrina would either ignore or miss it; he hadn't yet found out which was the case.

"And here are the heads of those who dared to usurp your rightful position!" The witch smiled widely as she summoned a chest. A rather large chest. "Steiner and his entire cabinet have been punished for their crimes against you!"

"Rather excessively, I gather," Gellert commented. Some of them probably hadn't even been born yet when he was defeated.

Katrina gasped. "Oh, no!"

Gellert looked up. Did she understand that she had gone too far - once again - in her zeal? Maybe she, too, had grown wiser and more understanding in the decades since his duel with Albus.

She shook her head. "I had them summarily executed by beheading - I foolishly didn't anticipate that you wished them to suffer more. Forgive me, Meister!"

Gellert grimaced. "It's alright. In fact, it would be very unfair to torture anyone else to death now, so we won't be doing that, right?"

"As you command, Meister!"

Gellert sighed. Katrina must have heard about Hans beheading the British Minister and just had had to outdo her rival. As usual. At least they didn't compete in burning down villages any more. That had been a messy month in 1942. But now Hans would want to outdo Katrina.

Gellert glanced at his friend. Yes, he knew that expression. He had to ensure that Hans was kept busy training new recruits or the wizard would probably go and kill the Ottoman Sultan. Or the Czar of Magical Russia. Or the Duc - no, the French had beheaded that one themselves. Even the French muggleborns were so… French.

Well, they weren't his problems any more. Unless they allied with him. He winced. Anything but that. Having a bunch of French wizards among his followers would make dealing with Katrina look easy.

But everyone was looking at him, so he better had to say something that didn't make him look like he hadn't been paying attention. "What's the status of Prussia?"

Katrina beamed and pushed out her chest. "I am proud to report that recruitment exceeds expectations! We'll soon have enough Storm Wizards available to keep France occupied and invade Poland without exposing our borders to Austrian-Hungarian or Scandinavian attacks!"

Gellert blinked. "Are we at war with Austria-Hungary or the Scandinavians?" He hadn't heard anything about that, but then, he hadn't heard about his takeover of Prussia either.

"Not yet, Meister. They might still see reason and join us peacefully."

"Join us…" Gellert shook his head. This was getting out of hand. This had gotten out of hand long ago! What had he been thinking, letting Katrina stay in Prussia? He should have taken her with him and had Hans stay here. Of course, Hans would have pressed every Prussian wizard and witch above seventeen into Gellert's service by now and would have turned half of them into utterly loyal Storm Wizards ready to die on his command, but at least he wouldn't have been starting wars.

He had to solve this mess, and quickly. He took a deep breath. "We cannot spread us too thin, my dear Katrina. We're still at war with Poland, aren't we?"

"Jawohl, Meister Grindelwald!" Katrina nodded sharply. "They have probed our eastern borders but so far haven't been able to secure any territory."

Well, it wasn't as if there were much territory to be taken. Most was muggle Poland, after all. "So, we'll have to focus on ending that war, before we engage in other adventures."

"Will we be talking this out with the Księżna?" Hans asked.

Gellert shook his head. "No, I don't think she will be as reasonable as the Duc." The Polish leader was a witch, after all. "We will have to beat her forces in the field before we can engage talks to end this senseless war. Katrina, this will be your task: Secure our borders. Without annexing Polish territory, though."

"Yes, Meister Grindelwald." She nodded, then ducked here had a little. "Not even when the opportunity presents itself?"

"Especially not then," Gellert said as firmly as he could. "We have been dragged into too many conflicts due to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, and so we need to show Europe that we're not planning to conquer the other countries."

Katrina stared at him as if he had been speaking French - she looked utterly lost. Like McGonagall when he had told her that Albus's office would become a memorial for the greatest wizard who had ever walked this earth and that she would need to find other accommodations for her deputy. How to explain that he had changed so she could understand… He took a deep breath. "Fifty years ago, we tried to conquer all of Europe. We were stopped in France and defeated when all of Europe - the parts we weren't occupying - allied against us. We would be foolish to repeat that mistake. Today, Britain is a staunch ally, and in France, the muggleborn have risen and taken control of the country. Do you see why we aren't trying to conquer other countries any more?"

She blinked, then gasped. "Of course! When we attacked a country with the intent to invade and conquer, we drove them to close ranks - even many muggleborns chose their country over our movement!"

Well, pushing an 'all wizards are equals and far superior to muggle animals' policy probably had alienated a number of muggleborns as well, seeing as not many liked to hear such talk about their family. But hindsight was always 20/20 - whatever that meant.

Gellert nodded. "Exactly. In our zeal to unite Europe under our banner, we united it against our banner." And laid waste to much of it.

"But by using local groups as fronts to start revolutions and supporting them, we turn the other countries into our allies, and anyone who wants to stop us will be seen as the aggressor! Ingenious, Meister Grindelwald!" Katrina beamed at him. "Europe will be yours!"

"Ah…" Well, that wasn't exactly what he had meant, but at least Katrina wouldn't conquer any other country any more. He nodded. "Now go and secure peace in the east for us!"

"Yes, Meister Grindelwald!" She saluted.

"And send the new Chancellor to me. I need to talk about our internal policies."

"New Chancellor?" Again that lost look.

"Who's running the country right now?" Gellert asked. Someone had to be, hadn't they?

"You are, Meister Grindelwald!"

He was? Why hadn't anyone told him that? And why hadn't anyone asked him if he wanted to run a country in the first place? That wasn't what he had broken out of his cell for! He had to dump that on someone before everyone got used to the idea that he was their Chancellor. But he didn't know anyone like Mr Weasley in Prussia. Everyone he knew was a Storm Wizard. Or dead. Or an enemy.

What to do? And both Hans and Katrina were staring at him again. He had to find a solution, and quickly. Or at least something that sounded wise or cryptic. What would Albus do? Wait… Democracy. That was the solution! In a democracy, people chose their leaders. He might not know who would be a good Chancellor, but the Prussians certainly would have an idea at least. He'd have to turn Prussia into a democracy.

But he had no idea how. Albus had told him about that thing often, but it had sounded so weird and boring. Voting, and elections… everything sounded so muggle.

Hans and Katrina were glancing at each other. He had to say something.

Granger! She was a muggleborn, and Albus had said that muggle Britain was a democracy. Or something close to it. She would know what to do. He nodded. "Send for Miss Granger. I have a task for her."

Alte Strasse, Berlin, Germany, September 19th, 1997

"You what?" Harry Potter must have misunderstood his friend. He leaned forward on the table in the street café around which all his friends had gathered.

Hermione beamed at him. "I'm acting Chancellor of Magical Prussia!"

So, he had understood her correctly the first time. "How did that happen?"

"Grindelwald told me to turn Magical Prussia into a democracy, and I said I'd need more authority than being an advisor for that. So he made me acting Chancellor." Hermione sighed. "It's a dream come true - I'll be at the forefront of the democratic movement in Magical Europe!"

"Ah." Grindelwald obviously had issues. Hermione was a great witch, a loyal friend, probably a genius, but she was seventeen years old - until tomorrow - and, as far as Harry knew, didn't speak German that well. He didn't know who would be a worse choice to lead Magical Prussia in the middle of a war - Hermione, or a wizard who thought she was the best choice. Not that he would tell her that. She was obviously too happy about this.

And she might overreact to criticism. With her wand.

"I'll expect to have an exclusive on your first interview!" Luna said.

"Of course!" Hermione smiled. "I'll also have a press statement ready tomorrow."

He cleared his throat. "So, you'll not join us when we're going to the border to push back the Poles until they make peace?"

She frowned. "I wish I could. I hate not doing my part in the war. But this is more important."

"Don't worry," Ron said, wrapping his arm around her. "You're doing your part running the country. And we'll loot any book we find for you! I mean, we'll save any book we find."

"Thank you!" She hugged Ron.

Harry sighed and glanced at Ginny with a rueful smile. Ron was not objective, but Ginny would certainly realise how crazy this situation was.

Or, he thought as she smiled and leaned over to hug him, she would misunderstand his glance.

Near Olsztyn, Olsztyn Voivodeship, Poland, September 25th, 1997

"More Uhlans, six o'clock!"

Harry Potter cursed and turned his Firebolt around when he heard Ginny. How many Uhlans did Magical Poland have to send against them? That was the third group this morning. "Follow me!" he yelled at her when he flew past her.

He didn't have to glance back to know that she was falling into formation to cover him as he flew towards the approaching Polish flyers. He did it anyway, just to catch a glimpse of her. You never knew what could happen in the air.

Ginny looked great on the broom, with her hair flying in the wind. "Where's Ron and Luna?" she yelled.

"They should be east of us," Harry yelled back. He had used his enchanted mirror to signal Ron but hadn't received an answer. If his friend was looting the countryside instead of paying attention, they would have words!

There were three Uhlans. The Polish Uhlans still flew in groups of three, forming an inverted 'V'. The Prussians flew in finger formations - four per formation, split into two groups of two. Both had advantages and disadvantages, but overall, Harry thought the finger-formation was superior. The Uhlans, especially the inexperienced ones, often spent too much time trying to stay in formations rather than trying to hit their enemies.

Which usually cost them dearly.

The Uhlans ahead of them didn't look experienced - the formation was too neat, too rigid as they turned towards Harry and Ginny. And they started to cast far too early, further reducing their effectiveness.

Harry rolled and pulled up, ignoring the curses that passed below him as he rapidly climbed. They tried to match him, but their brooms couldn't keep up. And now Harry and Ginny were above them, with the sun at their back.

Harry banked left and entered a dive, aiming straight at the enemy leader. The Uhlan was brave, holding his course, not trying to evade, but his spells were still going wide. Harry rolled to the side, just enough to avoid a collision, and nailed the Polish flyer with a Bludgeoning Curse to the chest at point-blank range. The man's shield shattered, as did his ribs, and he was thrown off his broom as Harry passed the other two Uhlans, continuing his dive.

No, the other Uhlan - Ginny had cut the second Uhlan's broom in two with a well-aimed curse, sending him to the ground in a flailing, screaming tangle of limbs and broom parts. The third Uhland turned and tried to dive after them, but just as he was slowing down at the apex of his turn, Ron appeared from below, Luna close behind, and blew him out of the sky with a Reductor Curse.

That was the third group they had seen on today's patrol, and the third group they had blown out of the sky. Magical Poland couldn't afford those losses much longer. They couldn't afford them, period, in Harry's opinion. He just hoped that the Księżna would realise that too, and soon.

He and his friends reformed into a finger formation a mile away. "Nice shot," Harry told Ron.

"Thanks!" Ron smiled. "Do you think their brooms survived the crash?"

"I cut one apart, but the others looked alright to me," Ginny said. "But they weren't high-quality brooms."

"I guess we can skip the recovery then," Ron said. "Return to base?"

Sometimes Harry still despaired at his friends' penchant for looting. But he had stopped nagging them about it. It was pointless. At least they didn't let it affect their combat effectiveness.

And they gave him his cut.

Chancellery of Magical Prussia, Berlin, Germany, October 20th, 1997

"Meister Grindelwald! The border in the East is secure! Peace reigns over all of Prussia!" Katrina saluted with obvious pride.

"Indeed. We fought hard, but we achieved our goals." Gellert nodded, relieved that that mess was finally over. Without having to strike at Warsaw, even. But he had to spend a week talking to that obnoxious witch ruling Magical Poland until the Księżna had finally agreed to end the war. For a country with half their forces killed, Poland had proven to be remarkably stubborn. Like the French.

Of course, his original proposal - return to the status quo ante - would have been accepted in a moment, but Granger, representing Prussia, had had to modify it to include reforms granting the Polish muggleborns equal rights as purebloods. Gellert still didn't quite understand why the Księżna had been so opposed to that. With half their purebloods dead in the field, the Polish should have been happy to get more wizards trained and schooled - Russia had been paying attention to the war, after all, and you couldn't afford to look weak to them.

Well, Russia at least wasn't a problem for him. And Granger had been handling Prussia well enough. It seemed that removing the cabinet had greatly improved the efficiency of the Prussian Ministry. General elections - which were simply elections, as far as Gellert understood, where everyone could take part - were scheduled for November 1st. After that, Prussia could govern itself.

Gellert smiled as he entered his office - formerly belonging to the Chancellor; Granger had taken over the office of the Minister for the Interior. Peace at last after listening for a week to that infernal Polish witch!

He stopped. Had he gotten lost? Taken a wrong turn? He quickly checked. No, this was his office. But why was his desk covered with parchment and letters? "Granger!" he bellowed. Handling that was her task!

"Yes, Meister Grindelwald?" She somehow managed to sound both respectful as well as implying that she had better things to do than attend to him.

He pointed at his desk. "Why are there letters on my desk? You're the acting Chancellor; those should be on your desk!"

She smiled. "Oh, those are letters personally addressed to you, not to the Prussian government."

"What?" He shook his head. "I thought we had a secretary to answer all the mail." He certainly couldn't be bothered answering every letter begging him to come and kill some nasty teacher or unfair player.

"We have. Those are the letters that Mark cannot handle since they require your personal attention."

"What? What kind of letters could that be?"

"I haven't read them, but as far as I know, they include missives from the ICW, Magical Scandinavia, House Habsburg, the Sultan of the Magical Ottoman Empire and the new President of Magical France. Among others." Granger said.

That was… Gellert barely noticed how she bowed and left him as he stared at the mail. What was going on? For fifty years, Albus had been the only to care about him, and now everyone wanted to bother him?

He picked up a letter at random. Durmstrang informing him that they were now accepting muggleborn students. Why did they think he wanted to know that? He had finished school almost a century ago, and he hadn't any grandchildren to send to school! And what was that about wishing to discuss further reforms with him? Was he a teacher like Albus? No, he wasn't!

He dropped the letter and grabbed another. Magical Scandinavia inviting him to discuss the werewolf question. What werewolf question? He was neither a Healer nor a Curse-Breaker!

The next letter all but blamed him for rioting golems in Prague. He had never used golems. Inferi were far cheaper to make and less temperamental.

And this… he stared. The ICW informing him that he had been nominated for the post of Supreme Mugwump?

Gellert sank into his chair. This was a nightmare. Those people were crazy! Didn't they understand that all he wanted was to fulfil Albus's last wishes and execute his love's plan? He hadn't broken out of prison to rule anything! He had changed! He had become good!

Why couldn't they see this?

No, the question was: How could he escape this trap before he went crazy - or, much worse, fell back into his old, evil habits, and betrayed Albus's memory and lessons?

He rubbed his forehead. His work was done. Albus's plan had been completed. Voldemort was dead. His love avenged. Britain saved.

He took a few deep breaths. He had done what he had set out to do. And he had stayed true to his love's teachings. He would have to keep that in mind and let Albus's wisdom guide him.

Hadn't Albus told him once that the hardest, but most important thing was letting go? He didn't remember in which context Albus had said that, but it certainly seemed to fit his predicament. Those people certainly needed to learn to let him go!

They wouldn't, though. Not Hans, not Katrina, probably not Granger, and the last time he had talked to Potter, the boy had been whining about looting, of all things - as if that wasn't normal in any war - so Potter would probably be bothering him about that soon enough.

No, they wouldn't let him go.

But they wouldn't be able to stop him either. He just had to find a location where they couldn't bother him.

And as it happened, there was such a location where he would have his peace and quiet. Where he would be safe from all those lunatics.

He smiled.

No one would be able to bother him in Nurmengard!