Chapter 29

It was very dark and dusty in the Shrieking Shack. Nobody had been there for years, and Landry felt quite lucky to have even been able to apparate there successfully, as she only knew what it looked like from photographs. All of the resurrected escapees were already there, and Landry's friends were starting to pop up now as well. Miles suddenly appeared right next to Landry, and she immediately engulfed him in a hug. There was an odd aura around the room, and Landry knew that her boyfriend, and everyone else, could feel it too. It felt like the calm before the storm.

"It will be okay," Miles said, sensing his girlfriend's fear.

"I hope so. It's just…" Landry sighed.

"What is it, Love?" Miles asked.

Landry took a deep breath. "I've spent the last six and a half years of my life reading about the past. All these terrible things that happened. All these battles that were fought, all the lives that were lost…they were things of the past. They were like fairytales, you know? Stories. Nothing more than horror stories, fiction, fantasy. I never thought of it as real. Back in first year, Gen and I would pretend that we were fighting Voldemort. We would pretend we were in the battle of Hogwarts, fighting and defeating Death Eaters. We would write ourselves into history for a few hours, imaginarily accomplishing these things that we thought were so amazing. But now it's not a game anymore. It's real. And it's not so amazing. It's not this glamorous, empowering adventure. It's really freaking scary. It makes me wish I was still pretending. But I'm not, this is it, this is what's happening. This is what I've been given. And I figure there's a reason for that. I don't know that reason yet, and I may never. But that's not important, honestly. I'm doing it because I can't do anything else. I'm here, writing myself into history, for real this time. This is my story. Our story. And over my dead body will it not have a happy ending."

The room was silent. Landry looked around, and suddenly noticed that everyone was staring at her. She had not realized how loudly she had been talking. Feeling very unsure of what to do, Landry laughed nervously. That was when the room erupted into cheers. Everyone from Lily Potter, to Fred Weasley, to Mad-Eye Moody was clapping for her. Even Dumbledore, who had just quietly apparated into the shack halfway through Landry's monologue, let out a whistle. Landry smiled with extreme appreciation. But now was not the time for a sappy moment. Voldemort was after them, and Landry was certain that Hogwarts would be one of his first guesses as to where they went.

"Alright, so, I realize I'm just a teenage girl and you're all legends, but I think I have an idea for how we should proceed," Landry said.

"The floor is yours," James replied.

"Thank you," said Landry. "So I figured that Albus, Scorpius, and Genevieve can lead all of you to the Room of Requirement, since I'm pretty sure it'll be the best place to hide such a large number of resurrected war heroes. Meanwhile, Dumbledore will go to meet Grindelwald at his grave, and Miles and I will go get the headmistress, Professor McGonagall."

"Ah, old Minnie McGee's still around? Figures," Sirius laughed.

"Uh…right…so…we should probably get going, then," continued Landry.

"Lead the way, little Ravenclaw," Tonks said to Landry with a smile.

"Sorry, but I don't know the way. I've never been to the Shrieking Shack before," Landry apologized.

"I'll lead the way, then," said Remus. "I've been here plenty of times."

"Yeah, you could say this house was built for you, Moony," Sirius chuckled. Remus rolled his eyes. He led them out of the room they were in, and down some stairs, until they got to a hallway. As they walked down it, it became less of a hallway and more of a tunnel, with tree roots sticking out from the ceiling and walls. They soon came to a halt in front of a silver, shimmery wall. Remus took out the wand that Dumbledore had given him and tapped it to the force field. "Spinach soup," he said, handing the wand to Sirius before walking through. Everyone followed suit, one by one, with all of the escaped prisoners using the single wand to let themselves through. Soon they had all made it through, so they continued walking. Eventually, a light was visible, coming from wherever the tunnel ended. The path started ascending, but when they got to where the first light of dawn was shining through, Remus stopped in his tracks.

"How are we going to do this? We don't have anyone small enough to go stop the tree from trying to kill us," Remus realized.

"What are you talking about?" Genevieve asked.

"The Whomping Willow protects the entrance to the Shack," James explained. "I'm sure you're familiar with the Willow."

"Yeah, of course," Scorpius said.

"Well, there's a specific knot on the tree that you press to get it to temporarily freeze. Only, the person who used to do that for us isn't here. He was an animagus, like Sirius and I are. He could turn into a rat, so he was small enough to dodge the thrashing branches and get to the knot," James explained.

"What are we going to do?" Miles asked.

"Are you kidding me? You guys are all so daft! Are you wizards, or not? Just use magic to press the knot! Idiots," Pippa said with exasperation.

"I like this kid," said Fred.

After Remus pointed it out to her, Pippa used her wand to levitate a rock up to the knot. She then shot the rock straight at the knot, hitting it easily. The tree immediately froze, allowing everyone to climb out of the tunnel. Gasps were heard from among those who had been resurrected as the Hogwarts castle came into view. Almost all of them had attended Hogwarts themselves, and the memories from their youth were now flooding back into their minds. This was the moment that it really hit them that their hearts were beating once more.

Walking, uncovered, in the bright light of morning, left Landry feeling quite vulnerable, even under the cover of the force field. Thankfully, the group made it safely to the castle. This was where Miles and Landry turned away from the rest of the group, walking as quickly as possible towards McGonagall's office, while the rest of the group headed towards the Room of Requirement. Dumbledore went in the opposite direction from everyone else, starting his walk to his own, literal, tomb.

Landry and Miles finally reached the griffin statue that guarded the entrance to the Headmistress's office. Luckily, Miles remembered the password that McGonagall has used to let them in last time they had come to her office. "Sherbet lemon!" he exclaimed. The griffin sprang to life, revealing a staircase that led up to a large wooden door. Miles and Landry both began to pound furiously on the door, until it finally swung open. McGonagall herself stood in front of them, with an odd look that combined both anger and relief on her face. Landry was equally sure that McGonagall was about to expel them as she was that McGonagall was about to hug them.

"I…I'm not even going to start right now, for I'm sure you have a better reason for coming to my office at six in the morning than to get yourself punished," McGonagall said.

"Oh, trust us, we do," replied Landry. "I can't really put the situation into words, though. This is something you just have to see to believe."

McGonagall was intrigued. "Very well," she said, stepping out of her office and closing the door behind her. "Lead the way, Miss Beckett."

Landry and Miles led McGonagall to the spot where the Room of Requirement was housed. When the arrived, Landry turned to McGonagall. "Before we go in, I just need to warn you. This is most likely going to be the most shocking thing you've ever seen," she warned her teacher.

"Yes. And, to answer the question you're bound to ask, it is, in fact, real," Miles added on.

"Get on with it, then," McGonagall said. "Don't leave me in suspense."

Landry took a deep breath and closed her eyes, imagining the room she needed to enter. The door appeared on the wall. Miles slowly opened it, revealing the room filled with the resurrected Order of the Phoenix to McGonagall.

Her jaw dropped, and for once in her life, McGonagall had no words.

"As you can see, Voldemort has made good use of that stone," Landry explained, as she watched her teary professor walk slowly towards the group of her old students and friends.

"Long time, no see, Professor," said James Potter, struggling in his attempt not to cry. At the sound of James's voice, McGonagall dissolved into tears completely, throwing her arms around him, and falling to her knees. She remained there for a very long time, until she truly had cried all her tears. Slowly, McGonagall stood up again, wiping her cheeks. She took out her wand, whispered something into it, then extended it in her hand and cried, "Expecto patronum!"

A silver cat sprang from her wand, dashing once around the room before exiting it, and running out of sight.

"What was that for, Professor?" Scorpius asked her.

"I just sent a message to the Minister, telling her to bring her entire extended family here immediately. I sense there are some others besides myself who would like to become reacquainted with our guests," McGonagall explained.

"Would you like Scorpius and I to go get Professor Longbottom?" Albus asked, eyeing Neville's parents.

"I believe that's an excellent idea," replied McGonagall. "Please wake your sister, too, Albus."

Albus and Scorpius set off to find their Herbology professor, while McGonagall scanned over all of the dearly departed faces once more. That was when she realized that someone was missing. "Where's Dumbledore?" she asked, suddenly sounding very fearful.

"Oh my gosh, I nearly forgot!" Landry cried. "It's a really long story, but we have to get down to the White Tomb straight away!" Landry had decided it was best not to get into another argument with Dumbledore in the shack, but there was no way that she was letting him meet Grindelwald alone.

McGonagall nodded in response to Landry's statement, and she, Miles, and Landry started off, leaving Genevieve and Pippa in charge of the Order. They ran through the castle and across the grounds as quickly as they could.

—

It had shaped up to be a very cloudy day, so dark that it almost felt like night. There was a strong wind, and a light drizzle of rain was falling down. Dumbledore slicked his long auburn hair back with rain so it would stop blowing in his face.

He had decided that it was a very odd feeling, walking to his own tomb. Dumbledore knew that the decomposed body of his elderly self was lying inside the white marble box that was coming into view. The bridge across the Black Lake seemed very long, but finally, he stepped off of it and onto the island in the center of the lake that housed the White Tomb. Grindelwald was already there, back to Dumbledore, staring at the tomb. Dumbledore cleared his throat, so as not to startle Grindelwald. The blond turned around at the noise. "Oh, Albus! I'm so relieved that you are safe!" gasped Grindelwald, running to Dumbledore and pecking him on the cheek. Dumbledore chuckled.

"You're relieved to see me? Gellert, you're the one who ran off to confront Voldemort," Dumbledore pointed out.

"That is true," Grindelwald replied.

"Were you able to hold him off?" Dumbledore asked, curiously.

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" said Grindelwald, avoiding eye contact.

"Indeed, you are," answered Dumbledore.

"So, what do you say, Albus?" Shall we retrieve your rightful wand?" Grindelwald asked.

"That is why we are, is it not?" Dumbledore said.

"You do the honors, Albus," Grindelwald said, gesturing to the tomb.

Dumbledore walked up to the marble structure, tracing his hand along the top. Suddenly, words magically appeared in the stone.

"A price must be paid to get inside, for more than bones in here I hide."

"It wants my blood," Dumbledore figured out, taking out his borrowed wand. He uttered a spell and sliced his wand across his palm, leaving a cut. He placed his palm on the lid of the tomb. It, slowly, began to rise. Soon, the skeleton of the original body of Albus Dumbledore came into view. Laying on top of it was the Elder Wand. Grindelwald grinned at the sight of it. He began to reach for it, but Dumbledore's non-injured hand blocked him. "What are you doing, Gellert?" Dumbledore asked, calmly.

"I'm getting your wand, Albus," he said.

"Are you sure about that, Gellert? Or are you taking it for yourself? Or maybe for Voldemort?" Dumbledore guessed.

Grindelwald sneered, his cover finally broken. "You knew," he spat.

"You clearly do not know me very well anymore, Gellert," Dumbledore said.

"Why do you go through all of this, then, Albus? Why didn't you just send me off at the start?" Grindelwald asked, angrily.

"Because, if I had, we would've had Death Eaters coming after us. With you there, I knew they wouldn't harm us. At first I thought that that was because they knew they were no match for you. But whenever you said you would go and hold Voldemort off, I realized it was because their master had ordered them not to harm you," explained Dumbledore.

"Very clever, Albus. But if you did not want me to claim the wand, you shouldn't have opened the tomb," Grindelwald smirked.

"I needed to get the wand so that neither you, nor Voldemort, could retrieve it," Dumbledore said. "And, again, that is much easier to do without you or Voldemort trying to stop me."

"Ah, but alas, you've made a mistake. Don't you think that there is a reason why Voldemort wanted me to work with you?" pointed out Grindelwald.

Dumbledore's face fell. He had been so caught up in fooling Grindelwald into thinking his plan was working that he had never stopped to think about why he was doing it.

Grindelwald chuckled. "Harry Potter placed a spell on your grave so that only you would be able to open it. Nobody else's blood would have worked. Voldemort recruited me to trick you into claiming it for him. And that is what I have done. Only, I've decided I'll be keeping it for myself." he explained.

"I have defeated you once, I can do it again," Dumbledore warned.

"Well then, let us see if that is true," Grindelwald say, pulling out his wand. "Avada Kedavra!" he cried. The spell hit Dumbledore straight on, but he did not fall. In fact, he seemed completely unharmed. "Of course," Grindelwald muttered angrily. "Neither of us can be killed without having the stone."

"Expelliarmus!" Dumbledore cried. Grindelwald blocked the spell easily.

"Stupefy!"

"Petrificus totalus!"

"Crucio!"

"Confundo!"

The two wizards dueled, blocking all of each other's spells. Colored sparks flew through the air, shooting from their wands as though they were water spouting from a fountain. The men who had once been in love were now at war once again, and Grindelwald was quite determined not to lose to Dumbledore for a second time. "Here we are again, Albus," shouted Grindelwald through the sound of their colliding spells. "It reminds me of our very first fight. Or don't you recall? I am referring to our squabble with Aberforth. The one that resulted in your sister's death."

Dumbledore twitched slightly, but otherwise kept his face straight and the grip on his wand strong.

"Don't you remember you sister, Albus? Your little sister, Ariana?"

"Expelliarmus!" shrieked Dumbledore. Grindelwald was not able to block the spell. His wand flew from his hand, landing in the dark waters of the Black Lake. Dumbledore walked towards Grindelwald, his wand pointed towards him. He opened his mouth, preparing to stun him. Grindelwald was completely unarmed. This was his chance. Grindelwald's face was stricken with terror. He knew that there was nothing he could do to stop Dumbledore now.

Dumbledore stood, staring at Grindelwald, the man he had once loved. Though he had been acting, feigning belief of Grindelwald's cover, spending the last few days with him had come at a price. Now, looking down at the terrified face of the love of his life, looking 17 again, the age they had been when they had met, he could not get the stunning spell to come out of his mouth. Grindelwald smirked. "Voldemort was right about one thing. Love is weakness."

Grindelwald punched Dumbledore hard in the face, and he collapse to the ground, unconscious. He stepped over Dumbledore, walking over to the open tomb. He grinned wickedly at the feeling of the Elder Wand in his hand. "Now to find Harry Potter and disarm him, so that this wand will once again answer to me. Then I'll be back to get my cloak! Spinach Soup!" he cried, and with that, he apparated.