A couple of people have asked what the algorithm was for decoding Swait's letter. It wouldn't have been decodable this way if it was really what I described as a "Pseudocipher," but I made it decodable for the people who might have wanted to decode it for themselves. The algorithm was this: Take the letter that's written there, and go one letter up on the keyboard. For example, A goes to Q, S to W, D to E, F to R. It's a letter-to-letter formula but I also took out every other space between words to make it not quite as easy, so each "word" in the encrypted letter is actually a pair of words.

Someone else asked when this takes place. It's after Albus gets the knife stolen but before Albus's trip to the Hourglass Empire with his siblings and cousins.

Hope you enjoy Part Two! A lot of stuff will be made clearer... but a lot might not... :) But it will soon enough, I promise! Uploading this on Monday September 1st in honor of the start of classes at Hogwarts this year!


PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

PART TWO

O

Desulgon slipped out of Hogwarts in the middle of the night. He trekked out, deep into the Forbidden Forest, and lay a long, black cloak out in a small clearing. He Disapparated with a crack and appeared in a small, abandoned house.

"You got my message?" said Teddy.

"I didn't need one," said Desulgon. "You got the information?"

"Of course I did," said Teddy. "Did you ever doubt me? Swait is being held in Vorver."

"Vorver?" laughed Desulgon. "Holy shit, what did he get himself into now?"

"Pissed off the goblins, I guess," said Teddy. "Not sure how else you get thrown into the highest-security goblin prison in the world. But I did a little bit of research on the side, and I heard some rumors. Swait—"

"—worked with a goblin called Harz on the Bloodblade," said Desulgon. "I know. And the rumor is that he killed Harz, because Harz vanished off the face of the earth."

"You've done your research too, I see," said Teddy, working his tongue around his mouth in slight irritation.

"Here's a good rule to go by," said Desulgon. "Assume I know everything, because I practically do."

"You didn't know where Swait was being held," said Teddy.

"Goblins are nasty little tricksters, and they don't like anyone knowing what they're up to," said Desulgon. "They're better than wizards at hiding their secrets because they were raised to fully expect wizards to be stealing them."

"Swait is their secret?"

"If he's important enough to lock up without informing the wizarding world," said Desulgon, "then the reason is important enough for wizards not to know. So, can you change yourself into a goblin, or no? I've heard that one's a no…"

"I can do slight fluctuations in height," said Teddy, "but I can't change my entire body structure like that. My outward appearance changes but I can't do much about my innards, so if I made myself that small I'd be really crushing my internal organs."

"That's what I figured," said Desulgon. "All right, we'll just have to go in as ourselves and take what we need. Or rather—I have a better idea, for you…"

"And you?" asked Teddy.

"I have a very good friend who just so happens to be a goblin," said Desulgon. "Goes by the name of Rog. He's been down to Vorver quite a few times, in fact."

"Goblin Gilb mentioned him," said Teddy. "Rog is in his very trusted employ…"

"I've got more to offer him," said Desulgon. "In particular, I've been holding out on one important bargaining chip."

"And what, or who, might that be?" asked Teddy.

"That might be Ludo Bagman," said Desulgon. "He's really gypped the goblins in his years, even more than they realized at first. He's first on the wanted list at Vorver and they're eager to catch him. Thankfully, as I know everything, I know where Bagman is and how to snatch him."

"Ludo Bagman?" said Teddy, his eyes narrowing. "He screwed over Fred and George Weasley, too… but as I recall, he just paid them back recently…"

"And he's still a nasty criminal at heart," said Desulgon. "Come on, Teddy, don't get sentimental. It's how evil capitalizes on you."

"In much the same way that you're capitalizing on me, by guilt-tripping me about a cure for Exo?" said Teddy, arcing an eyebrow.

"In exactly the same way," said Desulgon, "but whether or not that's exploitation or a fair bargain is up to you to decide, and you decided it was a fair bargain."

"But I don't even know if you're going to follow through on that," said Teddy.

"Then I guess there really is no difference," said Desulgon, shrugging. "Do you think I'm evil?"

"I don't know yet," said Teddy warily. "But let's get back to Bagman."

"I told you, I have it covered," said Desulgon. "I can bag Bagman while you learn how to turn into—"

"I meant, whether that's our only available option," said Teddy.

"It is," said Desulgon. "It's the lowest risk, which means it's the only option I'm willing to take. Bagman stole a whole hell of a lot of money, Teddy. Doesn't he deserve to pay for his crimes? If he had gone on the run in order to collect money so that he could pay back the goblins, and done so, I would have a different outlook. But he stole all that money and just left without paying for what he'd done. What kind of world is that, where a person can do that? What kind of example is that setting? And why would we risk losing other lives because we were too hesitant to give a criminal his just desserts?"

"Because every person deserves humane treatment," said Teddy.

"Sentiments, Lupin, sentiments!" argued Desulgon. "You're going to ruin yourself and everyone else with those. Or, misplaced sentiments, rather. It's perfectly fine to have sentiments and use them to remind you what you're fighting for. But Bagman has earned this for himself. He can't run forever—he's gotten on in years and the goblins are bound to catch up with him soon anyway. So one day he'll end up there. We're just accelerating that a bit. Look me in the eye, Teddy, and tell me that you more value Bagman's freedom than our successful completion of this mission."

"I don't even know what this mission is!" said Teddy. "And all I'm saying is that we should also consider other options before we toss someone's life away—"

"—but that's what I'm trying to tell you, is that he's tossed his own life away!" said Desulgon. "He doesn't deserve to roam free! You can't possibly be arguing otherwise? And he's done even more misdeeds to the goblins than you've probably heard about up here, because of the skew of wizarding media against goblins."

"I'm not arguing otherwise," said Teddy, putting up his hands. "Fine. We use Bagman as leverage. We need Bagman in order to do that. So, you can go get him since it's your idea, and I'll wait here for you to be done."

"Good," said Desulgon. "I will do that—and you practice up on these transformations."

He handed Teddy a few more photos.

"Ah," said Teddy. "Getting to the endgame already, are we?"

"You'll need to learn how to turn into both Elbad and Penny Swait eventually," said Desulgon. "Might as well start now. I'll be back with Bagman."

He left again, and Teddy sat down on an old couch in the abandoned house, flipping through the photos.

He walked over to a mirror, and began practicing with the transformations. Swait's chin was prominent; his hair was thin and sparse; his nose was crooked. His looks were easy to copy because they were so distinctive; with some generic-looking individuals that Teddy had needed to mimic in the past, the fact that they were so average made it harder to do. The very subtle differences that made even a generic face distinct were hard to copy, because the people who knew those generic-looking people had learned to find what features made them distinct, whereas all Teddy saw at first glance was a face that looked like every other face in the crowd, nothing distinctive about it. He had to really give it a good look before he could transform.

Penny Swait was one of those people. Her face was plain, but prettier for it. She seemed like a very nice girl… How in the hell had Elbad Swait ended up with a girl like this? She could have done better. Teddy transformed slowly into her face, trying to find what made her look the way she was, how she was so pretty even with such average looks.

He enjoyed his female transformations a lot because of how vastly different he could make himself look, but unfortunately Victoire refused to go to bed with him when he looked like a woman. He loved her too much to especially care, but he had always secretly wished she was okay with having lesbian sex with her boyfriend. Really, how many people could do that without Polyjuice Potion?

He was startled by the crack of an Apparition in the house's living room; Desulgon couldn't have been back that soon, right?

"Hey," came Desulgon's voice. "You ready to head out yet?"

Teddy walked over to Desulgon, and stared at the motionless Bagman lying on the floor.

"Is he fully Stunned?" asked Teddy.

"Yes, he can't hear us," said Desulgon. "Speak freely."

"So we're going to see your goblin friend Rog?" asked Teddy. "And you're going to give him Bagman in exchange for access and secrecy in Vorver?"

"Yes," said Desulgon.

"I'd prefer if you went to Rog alone as well," said Teddy. "I haven't looked at Swait and his wife enough to be able to turn into them well enough… especially if I have to make one believe that I'm the other. I need a little bit more time."

"That's reasonable," said Desulgon. "I'll go to Rog and seal the deal."

"Careful," warned Teddy. "Goblins are—"

"—notorious for making very serious bargains with language that they can often interpret to their strong advantage in the aftermath," said Desulgon. "I know. Don't worry about me. Worry about you, okay?"

"And you'd better worry about yourself if you continue to patronize me like that," said Teddy. "I still don't even know why I'm helping you. And unlike a goblin, I haven't made a deal with you, so remember that I can back out at any time."

"At Albus's and Exorian's expense," reminded Desulgon.

Teddy huffed and shook his head.

"I'll be getting Rog to help us," said Desulgon. "Get as thorough as you can with those transformations in the time that I'm out."

"Yes, master," shot Teddy; Desulgon Disapparated again without hesitation.

Teddy rolled his eyes; leaving Bagman on the floor of the living room—he wasn't going anywhere—he walked back to the bathroom.

Suddenly the jet of a spell flew towards him, just barely missing his ear. Teddy whipped out his wand and threw on a Shield Charm for momentary defense. He backed away from the bathroom as a stranger garbed completely in black ripped through the Shield Charm with her long fingernails and sent a Stunner straight between his eyes. He dodged with a quick backwards tumble and quickly caused the ceiling to collapse, but she magically caught the pieces as they were falling towards her and began throwing them at him one by one. Teddy deflected them with his wand and lobbed intermittent curses at her, which were instantly nullified. He desperately threw a wall of fire around the room and the fire blasted towards his opponent; but with a sharp crack, she had Disapparated…

…and Apparated right behind him.

"Crucio!"

Teddy doubled over in the most intense pain he'd ever felt; he crunched himself into the fetal position and then extended all of his limbs, then sank into the fetal position again. It was burning, stabbing, squeezing, and twisting, and all he wanted to do was just die and end it—

Another crack heralded a second arrival; Teddy's torturer spun around, and he looked up desperately. He was still in too much pain to even grab his wand and fight, but the latter appearance had been Desulgon.

"Avada Kedavra!" shouted the woman.

Desulgon stood still as the curse flew towards him; Teddy screamed, silently since he had barely any breath left in his body, but the curse soared straight through his body and hit the wall on the other side of the room. The hologram of Desulgon flickered and faded as the real Desulgon appeared directly behind Teddy's assailant. With a single nonverbal spell that exploded on the back of her head, she was face-down and unconscious on the ground.

"Holy shit," breathed Teddy, still wheezing slightly from the pain. "Who was—what was that?"

"That was someone who was obviously too cowardly to confront me directly," said Desulgon, looking over to Teddy. "So she went after you…"

"What?! How did she know I was involved?"

"I did my best to conceal that from anyone," said Desulgon pensively, "but we are all reading out of the same playbook…"

"This isn't something to joke about," growled Teddy. "My life is in—"

"I wasn't joking," interrupted Desulgon. "I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to prevent this from happening again…"

"And what are you going to do with her?" asked Teddy, gesturing down at the assassin.

Desulgon lowered his wand. "Obliviate!"

They couldn't see her eyes because she was lying face-down, but the spell sounded like it had worked. Teddy looked over as Desulgon knelt down, hooked his arm under her chest, Disapparated, and returned seconds later without her.

"Where'd you put her?" asked Teddy.

"A different abandoned house," said Desulgon.

Teddy worked his jaw around. "So, she's studying these Devoctrix things as well?"

"More than likely," said Desulgon.

"So, she's just like you."

"A little more willing to get her hands dirty, but yes, I suppose," said Desulgon.

"But is she?" asked Teddy. "Because she's bound to attract the same kind of attention as you, since she's studying these same legendary spells as you. So I'm sure there are people out there who want to find and question her the same way she wanted to use me to question you. And you've just left her in a random house with no defense. She probably won't even remember she's a witch. She's as good as dead. You've as good as killed her, don't you realize?"

"Teddy—"

"It's not sentiment, Dalton," said Teddy, holding up his hands. "I'm just making sure you know exactly what you were doing."

"She can't be questioned," said Desulgon. "Her memory of anything worth questioning is gone. You can never get a single thought back from a successful Memory Charm, and I fancy myself as being able to perform a more than successful Memory Charm."

"That may be," said Teddy, "but once the people chasing her find that out, don't you think their easiest route from there will be to just do away with her, rather than risk being found out themselves?"

"Then maybe she's earned it, too," said Desulgon.

"And who are you to decide who's earned what?"

"Because the Wizarding world doesn't have much of a choice, do they?" said Desulgon, calm as ever. "Now, if you'll excuse me… Rog will be wondering why I disappeared before we even got very far in our discussion."

"How did you know I was in danger?" asked Teddy.

"Trade secret," said Desulgon. "But I'm generally always watching."

Desulgon disappeared once more.

Teddy walked on wobbly knees back to the bathroom, looking around cautiously the whole way… but if someone else was in the house, surely Desulgon would have noticed?

He sighed, and got to work on memorizing the transformations for Swait's and Penny's faces. He needed to work on these quickly—it usually took around a week for him to be able to switch to a new face flawlessly in a moment's notice, but they probably didn't have a week. Although it was the weekend, Desulgon likely needed to be back at Hogwarts before the sun rose, to avoid suspicion. Were they really going to rescue both Swait and Penny just today? Or only one of them, and the other tomorrow? Which one first?

For someone he purportedly "needed," Desulgon sure wasn't making Teddy feel that way…

O

Desulgon walked slowly under the Disillusionment Charm until he reached the jail cell in question. Rog turned his head slowly and nodded before continuing on his path; Desulgon turned to the jail cell and saw exactly what he wanted to see.

Elbad Swait was chained to a wall; by his gaunt and malnourished look, he had been there for quite a while. According to Rog, their timing was excellent, because Swait had already been convicted by the goblins' court and was sentenced to death; his execution was scheduled to happen in under a week.

Desulgon reappeared, losing his Disillusionment Charm, and beckoned his companion forward. Swait looked up, and his eyes widened.

"You!" he growled softly. "You're… you're that teacher boy at Hogwarts who wanted to know about…"

"Quiet," said Desulgon. "I have something for you."

He jerked his head, and Teddy walked into view, disguised as Penny.

Swait jumped to his feet in the blink of an eye, but his chains, which seemed to be alive, yanked him back down onto the ground.

"Penny!" he cried out.

Desulgon put a finger to his lips, signifying Swait to be quieter. "I received your message," he said. "You sent it to Albus Potter… I'm not sure what you expected him to do about the situation in which you find yourself, but he did the right thing and told me. I picked up your wife yesterday. She's fine."

"Penny, is that really you?" choked Swait.

"It's me," said Teddy quietly, smiling softly.

"Your voice," said Swait, his gaze sharpening. "It sounds… a little different…"

"They had me locked up in a cold room," said Teddy in a high but raspy voice, shivering. "I didn't speak for so long… my voice is still mostly gone."

"Prove it's you," said Swait.

"I can prove that easily," said Desulgon, taking out his wand. "Confundo. That's how you know it's her."

"Oh my God, it is you," said Swait quietly, and tears began to form on his face. "Penny! Thank the 'eavens, the stars, thank everythin'!"

"I notice you didn't mention anything in your note about rescuing you," said Desulgon. "Does that mean we can assume you didn't send that letter through the Vorver mailing service? You got caught recently of your own stupidity, and I don't see much reason to help you. Unless you're willing to follow through on that promise you made in your letter…"

"Please!" said Swait. "I'll tell you anythin' you want to know—just get me out of 'ere! They're gonna kill me!"

"I know," said Desulgon. "But what I don't yet know is why. The goblins have an annoying little habit of keeping their justice system completely quiet from wizards. Not even my goblin friend who got me down here would tell me what you did to land yourself in here. Now—"

Desulgon looked over to the corner of the hallway, and he raised his wand.

"Confundo."

Teddy was about to ask what he was firing at; a goblin walked into view a second later, and turned around just in time to see Desulgon's spell intercept the path in which he'd been walking. The goblin's eyes unfocused, and then he turned around and walked back in the other direction.

"So you see, I'm going to need to know that you're willing to talk, before I let you out and reunite you with your wife," said Desulgon. "So in order to get me to let you out, I want to ask you exactly what you did to that goblin Harz to land you in here—and don't short me on the details. I'll know, and you wouldn't want me to short you on anything…"

He quickly whipped the Bloodblade out of his pocket, and leapt behind Teddy, pressing a knife against his throat.

"No!" barked Swait. "I'll—I'll tell you. Okay? Get that blasted thing away from 'er neck, all right?!"

"Start choosing your words more carefully," said Desulgon. "If you're to keep talking, you'd better keep talking about Harz…"

"I destroyed 'is mind," said Swait simply. "All right? I destroyed 'is mind because we'd been workin' on the Bloodblade together and 'e knew too much. That's—"

"—not all there is to it," said Desulgon. "Believe me, I make it my business to find out everything. There's more to it than just 'you destroyed his mind.' You did it in a very specific and systematic way. The goblins were extremely displeased. You'd better tell me exactly how you destroyed his mind. Give me a fake story about what you did to Harz and I'll reenact it on your wife."

Swait paled; he was starting to sweat. He looked at Desulgon, and at Teddy disguised as Penny, and then he swallowed a lump in his throat and continued.

"I—I—the Chaos Contagion."

"The Chaos Contagion," repeated Desulgon. "Well… I always knew that contagion implied it was contagious, but the hereditary aspect was what I assumed that had referred to… And how, pray tell, did you infect someone else with your contagion?"

"Same way Gallen Ingot did to 'is bitch Dolohov," said Swait. "That's where I picked up the trick, anyhow. Please… Please let me out to see my wife."

"That's not quite enough," said Desulgon, pressing the knife a little farther into Teddy's throat; he let out a practiced whimper. "I'm going to need a little more than that… In fact, I'm going to need to know a lot more, but I'll at least set you free after this one. Tell me more about exactly how that works."

"I—pull the chaos out of my body," mumbled Swait. "Orally. 'Elps prevent the chaos from infectin' me. I need to do it every so often, otherwise the Contagion will take my mind. I'll go insane. I dumped my insanity out into the goblin to save my own mind, and I was doin' it for a long time, too. I still 'ad 'is body locked away when the goblins caught me. 'E's alive, just completely insane. That's why they're executin' me. Now… please…"

"Yes, yes, you've earned it," said Desulgon, smiling. He took the knife away from Teddy's throat, and raised his wand. He brought the wand down in a fast motion, whipping a spell at the jail cell's bars, and even the magically resistant goblin metal crunched down into the thickness of a dinner plate. He shot another spell at the chains, which disintegrated and receded into the wall; Swait stood up and ran towards who he thought was Penny, but Desulgon Stunned him instantly. He dragged Swait over to Teddy.

"Swait next," said Desulgon. "You're going to need to confuse the goblins, seeing as we can't Disapparate out."

"You can't find a way to overcome Anti-Disapparition Jinxes?"

"Sorry, not yet, but I'm working on it," said Desulgon. "Believe me, living at Hogwarts, I'd like to find a way around that. I'll correct myself—I know almost everything. And I'm also sorry that I couldn't get Rog to help us get out, too, but this was the only deal he was willing to make."

"I expected some sort of alarm," said Teddy, looking around as he turned into a replica of Swait.

"So did I," said Desulgon, tapping the top of Swait's head with his wand and giving him Disillusionment. "That's why it didn't go off."

They ran in opposite directions, with the intent to converge at the exit of Vorver. They passed numerous jail cells containing human, goblin, and even other kinds of prisoners; Teddy passed a hag, a banshee, and a centaur on his way out. But before he'd made it all the way, as expected, an alarm went off and a large deluge of enchanted water suddenly cascaded upon him. His magical disguise was ripped away—the Disillusionment Charm faded—but his Metamorphmagus abilities were inbuilt and couldn't be suppressed. He was standing in one of the hallways of Vorver looking exactly like one of the prisoners who was no longer in his containment.

An announcement was bellowed out through many amplifying metal tubes positioned all over the caverns; the echo was unbearable. The goblin making the announcement was speaking in Gobbledygook, and Teddy couldn't understand it, but he knew the goblins were probably noticing the escaped prisoner and marking his current position. Which meant that Desulgon should be making the real Swait reappear right about now, so that the goblin sentries would be told to swarm in two different locations. Hopefully, as Teddy and Desulgon alternated who was visible, the goblins would be sufficiently confused to allow them the time they needed to escape.

Teddy re-applied his Disillusionment Charm as another announcement went out around the caverns. But it was a different goblin voice—raspier and lower. The higher-pitched voice then retaliated with another comment, but he stopped mid-sentence—possibly because the Swait he had noticed (Teddy) was no longer visible. Teddy kept running up to the top of the caverns where the exit could be found; he turned himself visible a few seconds later and the two goblins making the announcements sounded like they'd begun arguing with each other. Apparently the goblins weren't in the same place, and the miscommunication was disorienting them exactly as Teddy and Desulgon had hoped. Teddy turned himself invisible once more, and the goblin guards who appeared around the corner in front of him a few seconds later were incredibly confused. They charged off in Desulgon's direction as another announcement rang out.

Teddy and Desulgon reached the exit to the caverns at about the same time, and a hoard of furious goblins were closing in on them. Teddy had faced worse, and he hadn't flinched then either, but something about being with Desulgon made it feel like… nothing was actually going to happen to him. It was like taking on the goblins with Jesus.

Desulgon's form wasn't ordinarily visible, but Teddy had trained his eye to see Disillusioned people. It wasn't helpful if he didn't know someone was nearby with the Disillusionment Charm, but if he knew they were there, he could usually find them. He watched as Desulgon's form raised a foot in the air and kicked at the sealed doorway with a simultaneous thrust from both of his wands; the goblin metal buckled and blasted off of its hinges.

Teddy looked around; the goblins had all stopped running at them. They had skidded to a halt and stared with open mouths as Desulgon leapt out with Swait's visible body, and Teddy, disguised as another Swait, jumped out as well. The goblins didn't even follow; they were still stunned to the spot by the fact that someone had broken through the goblin-metal door at all, let alone in one strike.

"Thankfully, that won't get out to the human media," said Desulgon. "The goblins will keep that a secret, too."

"To abandoned house number two, then?" asked Teddy.

"That would be a good idea, considering that the first is already compromised," said Desulgon. "Let's go, then."

He turned with a crack and Disapparated; Teddy followed closely behind.

They landed in another dark and cold house. It was still about three o'clock in the morning. Teddy yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"You're yawning," laughed Desulgon. "Was that too boring for you? Sorry, I'll try to make the escape closer next time."

"I'd rather not," said Teddy. "But I couldn't take any sleeping supplements… they tend to hamper my Metamorphmagus memory retention for turning into people."

"I'll revive Swait, then," said Desulgon. "You want to take Penny's face again for a while? I'll tie you both to chairs and we can interrogate Swait for a little more information before we actually do the rescuing."

"You are actually planning on doing the rescuing eventually, right?" asked Teddy.

"Of course," said Desulgon, narrowing his eyes. "What about my explanation left you in doubt that—"

He was cut off when Swait suddenly leapt to his feet; Desulgon turned a wand and fired a spell, but Swait was doing something Teddy had never seen. A blast of glossy black-purple goop had erupted from his mouth; it spread out like a shield and absorbed the spell, and then it sped forward; Desulgon jumped away but he was pursued, and he was knocked aside like a rag doll. Tendrils of the molten sludge raced towards Teddy; they wrapped around his limbs and one hit him in the face so hard he saw stars. He was lifted up into the air; it looked like a massive dark octopus with twice as many arms had seized him, but the octopus was sticking out of Swait's throat. He was slowly dragged back towards Swait's mouth and hovered just above Swait's head. The goo was sliding around his mouth, pressing on his closed lips.

"Don't raise your wand at me again," growled Swait, but his voice was all gargled with the ooze coming out of it. "Or 'e gets it! You thought I wouldn't be prepared for a little Stunner? I'm offended, you fuckin' liar! You of all people should 'ave known the Devoctrical method for resistin' a spell! Now tell me! WHERE IS MY WIFE?"

"We haven't gotten her yet!" said Desulgon. "We don't know where she is—please, stop!"

"Oh, who's beggin' who now?" roared Swait. "You listen 'ere, teacher boy! I want my wife, and I want 'er NOW! You bring 'er back to me or your little shape-shiftin' friend is gonna get it, got it?!"

"Got it," said Desulgon, still somehow sounding calm. "Just relax. I'll get her. I'll find her and bring her to you. Just don't hurt him, or I will find her and torture her and kill her. You understand me like I understand you?"

"I do," growled Swait. "And I'd like you to know somethin' else. You—you think you know everythin', do you? Well, tell me, then: What exactly am I doin' to 'im?"

He pointed up to Teddy, who was still hovering above Swait.

"I'll tell you," continued Swait as Desulgon stared, beads of sweat beginning to appear on his head. "I'm dumpin' my insanity onto him. Like I did to the goblin. Or I'm about to. I need to do it—guess what? Every twenty-three days. And if I don't, I'll go insane. That's what the Chaos Contagion does to you. And guess 'ow long I'd been in that prison? Almost twenty-two days. The goblins knew 'ow to stop me from doin' it, but you idiots set me free. But neither of you realize the full consequences."

"Just get to the point," said Desulgon as Teddy stared at the chaos tentacles hovering menacingly above him.

"All right, 'ere's the point," said Swait. "You 'ave twenty-four hours to find my wife, you understand? You 'ave twenty-four hours to find 'er and bring 'er 'ere, unharmed, or else I'm going to release the Chaos Contagion on 'im. It'll destroy 'is mind and 'e'll be insane for the rest of 'is life, if 'e 'as much of a life after it 'appens. You get 'er in time and I'll release your friend and find someone else. You come back 'ere too late and it'll be too late for your friend. I need to get this stuff out of my system in the next twenty-four hours anyway, so this isn't a 'ollow threat, nor is it somethin' you can negotiate with me. Twenty-four hours before I unleash the Chaos Contagion and your friend loses 'is mind forever."

"Okay," said Desulgon. "Okay. I'm going. Calm down… and I'll be right back. But tell me something first."

"What?!" screamed Swait; and Teddy flinched. "You can't possibly think you're in a position to interrogate me any further—"

"Not an interrogation," said Desulgon, taking out the Bloodblade. "I need to know if there's a way to recharge this knife—give it back its Dominict abilities. In case I need it to find Penny and rescue her—"

"That shouldn't be a problem for a man like you, should it?" cooed Swait. "You don't need that knife. I'm not tellin' you 'ow to get its powers back. You're wastin' time, teacher, and the clock is runnin' out for your friend here.

Desulgon looked Teddy in the eye.

"I promise," he said. "I'll be—"

"Then fucking go!" yelled Teddy frantically.

Desulgon Disapparated instantly.

O

Every single hour that passed afterwards were the most terrorizing hours that Teddy had ever experienced. He was motionless, hovering in the air, feeling the tendrils dig into his skin with a slight burn everywhere they touched as they slithered around him, holding him in place.

He didn't know whether Desulgon was looking for Penny, or looking for a way to rescue him without finding Penny considering that he hadn't even had a lead on Penny's whereabouts—or, if he had, he hadn't told Teddy. But if Desulgon's rescue plan failed—and Teddy didn't see how he was going to get out of this one without giving Swait what he wanted—then Teddy's mind was gone forever. He'd lose his mind, he'd go insane, and he'd never recover. In fact, this right here could be the last rational thought he'd ever have, for all he knew.

He couldn't even be assured that Desulgon was looking for Penny. It might have been that Desulgon didn't value Teddy's life enough to be worth risking his own. He could just have been dumping Teddy the way he dumped that assassin earlier. Too much of a liability. Time to get rid of him. In the perfect way—someone else does the dirty work, and no trace is left. Swait was wanted by the Aurors. No one would question the fact that Swait had done away with an Auror after escaping goblin prison. Desulgon might not even be coming back because he may have justified it to himself that whatever he was doing was for the greater good. Just like Grindelwald.

"Your friend's got one hour left," growled Swait; it was the only indication of time Teddy had received since the start of the countdown. "You'd better 'ope 'e shows up soon, for your sake, kid."

Teddy didn't say anything; he was paralyzed both with fear and by the tentacles around most of his body. One tendril dipped close to his ear; another right above his eye.

"You know what'll 'appen in an hour if 'e doesn't show. Don't you?"

"I know," said Teddy shakily.

"I'm only sayin' it because I assume 'e's listenin'," said Swait, rotating Teddy around so that Teddy's stomach was facing the floor, and Swait looked him in the eye. "So 'e'd better 'urry up if 'e doesn't want an utter lunatic for a servant."

"I'm not his servant," muttered Teddy.

Swait flipped Teddy right-side up in the air again. "Really," he said. "Didn't look that way to me, kid. Looked a 'ole 'ell of a lot like my relationship with the goblin. Careful 'e doesn't do the same to you as I did to the goblin."

Crack.

Teddy's heart leapt; two people had appeared. Desulgon was supporting a woman who was slumping onto the floor. Teddy recognized her instantly from the photos.

"Penny," said Swait quietly. "Penny—Penny, look at me! Penny, it's me!"

"She won't look," said Desulgon softly.

Swait glared at him. "What've you done?" he roared.

Desulgon turned slowly. His face was soaked with tears.

"She's—dead," he said. "I… I tried… I tried so hard…"

"No," hissed Swait between his teeth. "No! NO!"

"I'm so sorry!" cried Desulgon. "I found her—the Sandbloods were keeping her, they were going to use her to lure you! They know, they know about the Devoctrices! I broke her out, I rescued her, but they'd stuck a poison pill in her mouth just in case, and she was under the Marionette's Medicine—they forced her to swallow it—and—"

"NOOOO!" screamed Swait, and Teddy was heaved even further into the air; the molten sludge suddenly raced for his face—

"PROTEGO!" called Desulgon, but the Shield Charm was shattered—the sludge began slithering down Teddy's throat, through his nostrils, through his ears, through his tear ducts—he was trying to scream but the air was being pushed back—

Desulgon was trying Severing Charms, but the tendrils were reforming every time they were sliced off—he was screaming something, but Teddy couldn't hear or see, he could only feel darkness closing in—and then he heard a single last muffled shout from Desulgon, but he couldn't make out what had been said—

He dropped to the ground like a stone, and his head struck the ground. More stars in his vision. But he knew they were stars. Was he—Had his mind—

Slowly, he opened his eyes—he looked over to the side, where a massive, shining white Patronus, a reptilian bird that he recognized as Desulgon's, was giving off incredible radiance and a somehow cool warmth. The chaos tentacles were receding into Swait's mouth; they were sliding back inside him; he was gargling a yell, but the tentacles were retracting and nothing he did seemed to slow them down. The last wisp of black smoke was sucked between his lips, and he clattered back down to the floor.

Swait lifted his head up, and he started giggling. The giggling became chuckles, the chuckles became howls of laughter that he couldn't hold in. He scrunched himself into a ball on the floor, rolling around, twisting and convulsing with mirth and hilarity. Teddy stared at what had become of their enemy, still sideways on the floor, until he was suddenly pulled to his feet by Desulgon, who slapped his cheeks and looked into his eyes.

"Are you okay?!" yelped Desulgon. "I don't know… I just tried what came to my mind at the last second… It all went back into him, all the chaos, but I don't know if it was too late—answer me, Teddy!"

"I'm okay," mumbled Teddy. "I'm… I'm all right."

"What's my name?!" asked Desulgon frantically, grabbing Teddy's shoulders and shaking them. "Tell me my name—so I know nothing happened to you!"

"Dalton Desulgon," breathed Teddy. "Professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"

"Oh, thank God," whispered Desulgon, thumping his head onto Teddy's chest.

"…and the most self-absorbed fucking arse I have ever encountered," said Teddy, beginning to shake with anger.

Desulgon stared at him. "I'm sorry… what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" screamed Teddy, and everything was let loose at once. "You only care about yourself! Nothing at all about what happens to other people! You couldn't have cared less if I'd died!"

"I—"

"It would have been inconvenient for you if I'd died. But you wouldn't have cared! You would have found someone else to exploit! I'm not saying you're evil, but you're pretty damn close. The closest thing, honestly! You're just pretending to care about the Potters and Exorian Wilcox so that you appear like a good guy, so you don't have the good guys chasing you, too, and so you can convince people to protect you when you need protection!"

"Always use protection," giggled Swait.

"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" screamed Teddy, ripping out his wand and Silencing Swait with a bang. "You aren't researching the Devoctrices to help the world! You're researching them to help yourself! Maybe that includes stopping the bad guys from killing you, so you want to get rid of the bad guys, but it's not for us! It's not for Albus! It's all just a part of your sick and twisted plot for power and immortality!"

Desulgon didn't say anything. He was letting Teddy finish.

"I was about to be practically killed right then," said Teddy, "and I bet that if you hadn't needed me to accomplish your goals, you wouldn't have cared at all! You would have emulated the emotion of caring, but you wouldn't have actually felt it. Sentiments, Dalton, sentiments! That's what makes us human, and stops us from falling to this sort of temptation of power! Haven't you noticed how funny it is? That everyone who tries to gain power and immortality ends up meeting a premature end? What, are you trying to be the first to succeed? Haven't you wondered why there hasn't been a first yet? For someone who thinks he knows everything, you're so fucking stupid!"

Teddy paused to take several deep breaths; tears were welling up in his eyes.

"I bet those tears were forced, too," he hissed. "A little eye-watering spell and now I think you care about me. But someone who doesn't love can't understand that others can tell when it's not genuine, because all you understand is how to use people to get what you want. For example, take me and Victoire. I love her. I'll do anything for her. And I know she feels the same way about me. She's not going to ditch me the first chance she gets when I make something inconvenient for her. We love each other. And if you don't understand love, you don't understand life, and you have absolutely no reason to go on living."

Desulgon stared at Teddy. Slowly, he nodded, as if he understood. But Teddy would never know whether he actually understood what Teddy was saying, because Desulgon was perfectly capable of emulating any emotion he wanted to get what he wanted at that point in time.

Teddy looked over to Swait, who was silently giggling so hard that his entire body apart from his mouth and chest were limp; his eyes were squeezed shut and he seemed to be having trouble breathing with how hard he was laughing.

"Is that going to happen to you?" asked Teddy quietly.

Desulgon slowly shifted over his gaze to Swait.

"I don't know," he whispered.

They stared at Swait for a while, and then they glanced over to Penny's body, slumped on the floor several yards from her husband, who was nearly as brain-dead as she was.

"I have another favor I need to ask you," said Desulgon quietly.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."