Chapter 27
After Landry's talk with Dumbledore, and the discovery of her true lineage, she was left feeling very strange, indeed. It didn't feel as though she'd lost herself, no, that wasn't it. It was almost like she'd unburied a new side of herself that had always been there, but never come to light. Now Landry felt, looking back, that quite a lot of things about herself made a lot more sense. She could remember a story from when she was very young, before she went to Hogwarts, before she even knew she was a witch. It was one of Landry's earliest memories, she must have been about three or four. Before her dads adopted her, when she was still living in a group care home, Landry could remember one of her earliest experiences of accidental magic. It had been another child's birthday, and there had been a party, with cake and balloons. She could remember that it was Springtime, and everything had begun to bloom. Landry had found herself feeling quite jealous, as she herself had been born in January, and when she had had her party, it had been winter, with ice and snow. Everything outside had been cold and colorless. Being a child, she did not understand why her friend got an outdoor party in a colorful garden full of flowers, while she got an indoor party in the dining room. It made her green with envy. She wished she could take away all the flowers, make them colorless just like her own party. Landry had been standing in front of her window, looking out at the caretakers setting up the party in the garden, wishing with all her might to take away the flowers. Slowly, the flowers began to die. All the plants in the garden shriveled, and Landry's eyes widened. Had she caused this?
Now, looking back, it figured. Her first sign of magic had been death. Landry found herself feeling very nervous about this. She suddenly had this terrifying ancestry she had to live with, and part of her was yearning to try and deny that she had very telltale signs of it. Part of her wanted to write up pages and pages of essays on how unlike Death she was, but she knew it was false. She had some similarities, and that was okay. It didn't make her evil. Death wasn't evil. Death was normal, and, according to Dumbledore, far less difficult than life. Landry had accepted it, and now she found it gave her a new wave of determination. She was here, in Godric's Hollow, with all her friends. It was time to do what they came here to do.
Landry marched purposefully into the tent, where the rest of the group was all sitting. She cleared her throat loudly, and all eyes turned towards her. "So," she began, "I kinda have something to tell you."
"That you're related to Death? We know. You were literally sitting right outside the tent when Dumbledore told you, did you really think that Miles was the only one to overhear?" Pippa said quizzically.
Landry was taken aback by Pippa's bluntness, (as was the usual after everything Pippa said) but she quickly regained her composure. "Oh. Okay then," she said, with a small giggle. "That isn't all I wanted to tell you guys, though," Landry continued.
"What? Am I related to Death, too? That would be quite strange, seeing as how we're both adopted and not related by blood," Pippa pointed out.
"No, that's not it either, Pip," Landry laughed. "Though you know that it doesn't matter whether or not we're related by blood or not, you're still my little sister and I love you bunches."
Pippa rolled her eyes. "I get it, you've literally said that same thing about a million times since I was first adopted. Get on with it, Landry. What do you actually want to tell us?"
"Well, we've kind of just been camping in this little grove for a couple days. I just think it's about time we do what we came here to do," explained Landry.
"I was thinking the same thing," said Genevieve. "So what do we do? We don't even know if Voldemort is in Godric's Hollow! Though I'd say our chances are pretty good considering those dementors we saw."
"Actually," said Grindelwald, "we do know he's here."
"What?" Scorpius questioned.
"He tried to get me to join him. He captured me and brought me to his camp, and when I refused to help him, he imprisoned me. I obviously escaped, but when I was chained up, I was secluded. I did hear other voices nearby, though. I'm sure there are other prisoners, probably innocent ones. We could start off by attempting to free them. I know just where Voldemort is keeping those captives," Grindelwald said.
Landry was surprise by how…not evil this plan was. "That's actually a very good idea, Gri- Mr. Grindelwald," she said,
"Okay, so if Grindelwald knows where the prisoners are, what are we standing around here for? Let's go release some innocent people! Yeah!" Pippa cheered.
"I…what she said," said Genevieve, shrugging.
"Alright. Let's go. But we have to be very, very careful not to be seen," warned Landry.
"Duh," snorted Pippa.
"I know where the back entrance to the cave he's using as a jail is. I escaped through it. I'll lead you there!" Grindelwald said enthusiastically.
Landry furrowed her brows. She was still not at all convinced that Grindelwald was trustworthy. "Are we actually going to follow him?" Landry whispered to Miles.
"I guess so. Do we have any other option?" Miles pointed out.
"I suppose that's true. Like Albus said before, Dumbledore really seems to trust him, too, so I guess we should try, too," Landry conceded.
Grindelwald and Dumbledore led the kids to the edge of the force field. "Does everyone remember the password?" Dumbledore asked. They all nodded. "Excellent. Let us be off, then."
Dumbledore tapped his wand to the wall of the force field, and said "Orange sorbet." Grabbing ahold of Grindelwald's hand, Dumbledore led him through the force field. All of the rest of the group immediately followed, and soon they were all standing outside of the area of their magical protection spells. Landry felt quite vulnerable. This was the real world. She was about to infiltrate the camp of the Lord Voldemort. She knew nothing could possibly prepare her for the possibility of encountering the Dark Lord himself again, not that it had fully set in that it was all real. She hoped with all hope that she wouldn't have to.
"Lead the way, Gellert," said Dumbledore.
Grindelwald, with his borrowed wand lighting the way, led them on the darkest and shadiest path that he could find, so that they would be as invisible as possible while on their way to Voldemort's jail. Landry heard Pippa grumble something about how useful her invisibility cloak would be right about now. After what felt like hours of sculling through dark spaces, they arrived on the edge of a forest. "We are about to enter Voldemort's camp. Keep your wands out, and be silent. The back entrance to the cave is very close," Grindelwald said.
Landry held her wand tightly in one hand, and Miles's hand tighter in the other. They walked along a twisted path through the thick forestation, until, eventually, they came to a small clearing in the forest which housed a rocky structure that had obviously been made using magic. There was a tiny crack in the stone, just large enough for one person to squeeze through. "This is it," Grindelwald said. "Single file, please."
The group followed him, one by one, through the hole and into the cave. It was dark, cold, and utterly terrifying inside. There were jagged rocks spiking out in various random angles, sharp enough to slice through a dragon's hide. Landry did not want to think about what it could do to a human. "This is where I was being held," Grindelwald said, gesturing to a small flat patch of stone in a corner. Landry was confused.
"Where are your chains?" she asked.
"What?" Grindelwald replied.
"Your chains. When you were being held captive, you said you were chained up," Landry repeated.
"They're right there," said Grindelwald, giving her a weird look. Sure enough, when Landry looked back to the corner, there was a set of broken chains still secured to the wall. She did a double take. Landry was absolutely sure that the chains had not been there before. "Oh well," she thought. "It is quite dark in here. I guess I just didn't see them at first glance."
The group carefully navigated their way deeper into the cave, and soon they began hearing voices echoing from nearby. As they turned a corner, a set of shadowed figures chained to the cave wall came into view. All of them looked up at the sound of Landry's group's approaching footsteps. It was very dark, and their faces could not be seen. "Who are you?" asked one of the figures. "Are you Death Eaters, come to torture us some more?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Nymphadora. They're clearly Hogwarts students," said another of the shadowy figures in a deep, gruff voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" said the first figure again, angrily. "Anyways, I couldn't tell that they're students, not all of us have magic eyes like you."
Nymphadora. That name sounded very familiar to Landry, but she couldn't quite remember where she had heard it before. There was no time to think about it now. The teenagers, Pippa, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald all rushed over to the prisoners, all crying "bombarda," severing their chains. "Follow me," Dumbledore said to the newly freed prisoners. "Quickly, now."
They all rushed as quickly as possible through the cave and out of the forest. They snuck through the village, and into the graveyard which housed their secret garden campsite. As they tiptoed through the graveyard, two of the escapees stopped in their tracks as they passed a specific set of gravestones. "No time to pay your condolences, we have to get to safety," Grindelwald urged. The group moved on, and finally they reached the force field. They used the password and led all of their new companions inside. Only once everyone was safe did Landry stop to look at them. It had been too dark inside the cave to see their faces, but now they were all too striking. Albus grew pale, stepping towards the two escapees who had stopped at the gravestones.
"Grandma? Grandpa?" Albus gasped.
James and Lily Potter were just as shocked as their grandson.
"I am becoming increasingly more suspicious that we are, in fact, alive," said Remus Lupin.
"You think, Moony?" said Sirius Black sarcastically.
"Albus? Is that you?" asked Mad-Eye Moody.
"Yes," answered both Albus Dumbledore and Albus Potter.
"Merlin's beard," a shocked Fred Weasley gasped.
"You're saying that we're alive again? How?" asked Nymphadora Tonks.
"I promise that all of your questions will be answered soon," Grindelwald said.
"Is that Grindelwald?" yelped James Potter.
"Indeed, he aided in your escape," Dumbledore said.
"This is too weird," Fred said.
"For you and I both, Uncle," Albus replied.