「CHAPTER 15」

Adrien had almost freaked out when feeling that earthquake. He had excused himself quickly to go to the closest pub with a bathroom and when Plagg had explained what the earthquake was and meant, he had practically died inside. Instead, he had concentrated on the new mission, had gotten out of the bathroom fast and had told Nino and later his classmates about having a weird feeling about that earthquake and that he had to check out if the rest of classmates were okay.

Nino, of course, was on the same side, so both of them split: He was going were Plagg was directing him and he guessed that Nino was going to search for Chloé to get her help.

He didn't know what he had expected to see, but it hadn't been a near-shop burning to the ground nor another shop having a group of what seemed like dark wizards.

It was in that moment that Plagg got out of his jacket "Now, kid, you must stay here and wait for me to calm Tikki and for the help to arrive in time. Don't enter unless is absolutely necessary. I don't want you taking a lot of risks"

Adrien sighed, deflated "I know, I know… I'll wait here, okay? I won't take unnecessary risks, promise"

"Good" Plagg nodded at him.

Adrien could only sigh once again as he watched how Plagg phased through the door and got inside. He hated that he had to wait, but Plagg was right. There were too many wizards and going there by himself would be stupid.

He crossed his fingers, wishing that they could be lucky for today.

Worry. Anger. Fear. Shock. All those emotions had crossed Marinette since the dark wizards had appeared. Worry, when they had entered the shop. Anger, when they had threatened everyone inside. Fear, when she was unable to transform and saw that there was no way out. Shock, when her little kwami transformed before her very own eyes into what seemed like a little girl that was creating grass and flowers at her feet.

It wasn't just that; they were in a close space with dark wizards and with them was Hawkmoth, who all of them had just discovered it was Gabriel Agreste. In all honesty, it was too much information for her or any around to digest.

Looking towards the scene again, Marinette could see how Hawkmoth's kwami struggled to keep his akuma in control and inside of her kwami, controlling the waves that her powers were creating. At that exact moment, thankfully, a black blur phased the door, who was obviously Plagg, and she let out a relieved sigh.

"I hope you all haven't started the party without me" he seemed to grin.

She watched, the rest doing the same, as Plagg went to Tikki and transformed quickly into a similar little kid, taking her wrist to call her attention. Her wave ceased to be of the same intensity and seemed to have calmed slightly.

"Plagg…" her shock was proof enough that she hadn't expected seeing him.

"Sugarcube… You need to calm and be the responsible one. You know I'm not good for that" he told her with a little smile.

If Tikki had doubts, Plagg seemed to relax her with one look and with his hand still holding hers. She started to relax, the butterfly being released by the butterfly kwami. At the same minute, some people outside seemed to be directing towards the shop and the dark wizards heard the commotion, realizing that they were busted, and started to gather together and disappear from the scene one after the other. Two guys took Lila with them and vanished in a second, and the one that had seemed to be the boss went towards Gabriel's miraculous when, suddenly, the door opened. The adults at the door were, she recognized, part of the Hogwarts school staff, including the headmaster.

As the boss of the dark wizards seemed shocked at seeing so many people, she took advantage to crawl towards his partner's father and tag him to the ground, making him kneel to the floor so he would be far from the dark wizard's reach. Seeing as they were surrounded, the few dark wizards, that were still on the scene, took a breath and disappeared as quick as smoke.

"Oh, for the love of…" McGonagall huffed "Cowards"

"Now is not the time, professor McGonagall" the headmaster calmed her "We should see for the security of the students here and get out of the shop"

Marinette didn't know how none of the teachers commented on seeing two strange creatures but when she turned, she realized that they were not there and panicked, since her bag was also empty. However, as she was in the shop where all had happened, she got out with her classmates that were following the professors. Immediately, when she was out, someone grabbed her and hugged her, and she returned it, recognizing the blonde hair.

"I'm so glad you're okay" he sobbed quietly.

"Yeah…" she let out "Have you seen…"

"They are both with me" he interrupted, whispering into her ear and she smiled "Don't worry, they returned to the usual size once the teachers entered"

"We have to… Actually, we have to fix a lot of stuff. Lila has been kidnapped by them! They have seen both our kwamis! And your father turning into Hawkmoth! And… You know what? I'm just going to freak out, because I have no idea what to do or how to fix this… What am I supposed to do, fix everyone's memories? I didn't even transform! I mean…" she freaked out.

Adrien put a finger on her lips and she stopped rambling "Stop. We will figure it out. Right now, breathe" he told her "First, we maybe have to talk to my father"

"Me too?" she quirked her eyebrows.

"Logically, if he has seen your kwami and the dark wizards have stated that all the miraculous are here, you're the only possibility, Marinette" Adrien said with a sigh "You're the only one, not counting me, that hasn't been akumatized"

"... Right, I forgot that" she almost shrieked "This is so messed up…"

"Come on, let's go to him. We can freak out later, but right now we need to solve this and fast" he stated.

Marinette took a deep breath before nodding her head to him and they both went to where Gabriel was sitting.

"Father…" Adrien started and his father turned to him "We need to talk"

Gabriel felt that he was going to end with a headache. In all honesty, he was half thanking that, for the moment, not a single person wanted to talk too much about what had happened in the shop: Most of them had only declared that the wizards wanted some heroes for some jewels, thing that was confirmed by the French students. They also mentioned that they had used and kidnapped Lila. No one had said anything else and, in the meantime, Gabriel had only confirmed the same than the rest of the persons there. That is, until a very old wizard went towards him and told him to walk with him.

After an entire agonizing minute, the wizard spoke:

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Agreste. I am the headmaster of Hogwarts school, Professor Dumbledore" he gestured to him, polite.

"A pleasure" he bowed politely "Was there something I could help you with, headmaster?"

"That depends on your choices, Mr. Agreste" he replied kindly "You must know that I am quite aware of the situation of the French students. I also know that the dark wizards want the magical jewels known as miraculous that the heroes guard. I am also aware that Voldemort has coerced you on working with him; the question is… Why would he do that if you are a completely normal person?"

"... Exactly how aware you are?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow and all he received was another kind smile of the wizard which told him that he pretty much knew everything "I… I have something similar than the heroes, a magical jewel, as you have called it. Somehow, that wizard named Voldemort found out, I guess from my attack to London, and reached to me so I would help him get the other jewels by threatening my son"

He didn't add that the wizard had also promised him to let him have his wish to recover his wife.

"I must assume then, that you must be Hawkmoth, correct?" he asked. Gabriel didn't respond, but that was enough for Dumbledore, as he seemed to grimace "I do not intend to tell you if you have or not reasons for acting like that, but I can say that I won't let you harm any student, regardless of who they are, where they are from or anything. If you even think of using any student in my care, we will have a problem, Mr. Agreste"

If Gabriel was surprised by that, he didn't say, and instead, he replied "My reasons are personal and I have no intention on making you understand that. As for the students, I won't harm any of them by choice..." At that moment, Nooroo moved in his jacket and Gabriel, sighing, indicated him he could get out with a small nod. Dumbledore seemed to raise his eyebrows slightly at seeing the little kwami but didn't speak "What now?"

The little kwami retreated a little at Gabriel's tone "Well… We did harm, though not purposefully, Lila Rossi and the students that were in the shop would have suffered if… they didn't interrupt us"

"Ah… Yes… I have to retrieve her akuma…" he sent a quick look to his kwami, who nodded in agreement. Gabriel then transformed quickly and tried to call the akuma, but it wasn't working. He tried several times but, for some reason, the akuma seemed to be stuck on the object "It's weird, but I can't call it back"

The wizard looked at him briefly "Has that happened before?"

"Obviously not, or I wouldn't be so surprised" he snorted as he detransformed "The akumas follow my orders and this one is trying, but is just unable to do as I say"

"Mhm" Dumbledore looked down and seemed that he was thinking on something. Finally, he looked to the kwami "Is it possible for an akuma not getting out if the object is cursed by magic?"

"... Maybe" Nooroo responded "But I can't say, I haven't been affected by magic before and neither my butterflies"

"If there's a possibility, that's probably our answer" the headmaster nodded "Then, I assume that your owner wouldn't be able to do another akuma, right?"

"..." Nooroo stayed silent for a second, like meditating if he should answer or not, but Gabriel turned to him and glanced at him sternly "It's just…" If Gabriel was glancing him before, now he was just glaring at him "There is… some trust needed to get that"

"I understand" the headmaster nodded and Gabriel seemed to also understand, since he only rolled his eyes "I guess we'll figure out how to fix this. For the moment, I should try to calm my students"

The headmaster left him alone, and Gabriel sat on a bench to speak to his kwami when suddenly he was interrupted just in time by his son, making him turn.

"Father…" Adrien said "We need to talk"

"It wasn't my decision" he spoke before the teenagers could comment a thing.

"... We know, Monsieur Agreste" Marinette said in a quiet voice "I was there"

"Well, isn't this a nice reunion?" Gabriel snorted "Of all the people in the world, I've been fighting against my son and his almost girlfriend"

Marinette turned red at that comment, but shook her head and took a breath before speaking "Right now, that's not important. We need to work together to defeat these wizards. They're too dangerous and they almost killed us!"

"There is a bad thing, though" Adrien followed "The French students and people inside the shop have seen you and also our kwamis… We would need them to forget all of that, but…"

"We might have a problem with that" Gabriel crossed his arms "I haven't been able to call the akuma that transformed Lila Rossi, which means that I can't do a thing… Except if Nooroo suddenly decides to trust my judgement"

At his name mentioned, Nooroo got out of Gabriel's jacket pocket carefully, looking down and bowing a bit to Marinette and Adrien. This two looked to each other, before nodding. Adrien opened his shirt and Marinette her purse, both of their kwamis getting out. Tikki seemed that was struggling with herself to hug Nooroo and Plagg had that worried look in his eyes, but neither do anything as it wasn't the time nor the best moment to deal with their obvious reunion.

"What do you think, Nooroo?" Tikki asked gently "We really need you this time, these wizards were already a threat today and… I can't even start to think what would have happened… And we don't have the time to find a… good person for you right now"

"... I know… It's difficult though, I can't say that I trust him to keep his word on helping you" he whispered.

"I'm right here" Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

Plagg ignored him and took Nooroo by his little arms "We will be right here. And our owners too. Believe me, I will cataclysm him if he even thinks about it"

Nooroo laughed at that, slightly embarrassed, and let out a sigh "Okay… I trust you both"

"Thank you, Nooroo" Tikki said, sincerely.

Adrien cleared his throat and Marinette smiled at the kwamis with a pure lovely smile, thanking that they convinced the butterfly kwami.

"So I can make another akuma, but just so I can use it to make the witnesses forget what they saw" Gabriel stated, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, something like Oblivio" Marinette confirmed "But… you know, without chaos and danger so I won't have to fix it because then it will be for nothing"

"Right" he scoffed "Then, who wants to volunteer? Akumatizing another person will only make that person to remember everything and three of us is already enough"

"I'll do it" Adrien confronted him.

"But…" Marinette protested.

"If anything goes wrong, you're the only one that can fix it, my lady" he interrupted her "Besides… he won't hurt me and I can't trust him with you" Marinette shook her head, not agreeing with him, but not being able to tell him a different plan. Adrien just glanced her with adoration and kissed her cheek "I'll be fine, don't worry, princess"

To Adrien's surprise, Gabriel seemed to agree with Marinette on not wanting to akumatize him, but Adrien was resolved and just looked at him, defiantly. Gabriel shook his head, but one look to confirm with his kwami and he transformed once again in Hawkmoth.

Both Adrien and Marinette observed with curiosity as Hawkmoth gathered a white butterfly with his hands and this one turned black before their eyes. Adrien trembled slightly at the sight and looked briefly to Plagg, who nodded his consent. Adrien gulped before getting close to their enemy.

"Ah… Fear" he mentioned, smirking a bit, and Adrien couldn't help but shudder "It works good for my akuma…" he let it fly and Adrien closed his eyes when the akuma got closed enough to his ring; and then, Adrien felt it "Omission, you'll have the power to make the people forget the memories you desire, if you're willing"

"No exchange?" he mentioned, in part.

"No exchange, son" he confirmed and thought to himself 'For the moment, anyway'

"Okay, I accept" Adrien gave his consent and transformed, Plagg disappearing in the ring.

And like that, Adrien (as Omission) left the scene, making Marinette, Tikki and Hawkmoth stay together, all alone.

A day to remember, he had said. A good plan, he had told them.

Everything had gone wrong. Horribly wrong.

They hadn't even got closed to take any magical jewel, the goddess of creation had violated their own rules despite that they shouldn't… The one of Gabriel Agreste had minimized her waves, but it hadn't been enough for them to act and then, the god of destruction had appeared, the staff at Hogwarts and Dumbledore had entered… And of course they had to run away before they would be captured.

In the end, the only good thing that they had taken was a still controlled akumatized form of Lila Rossi and Voldemort had cursed her earrings the moment they had arrived so the akuma wouldn't be able to leave. At least, like that, the girl could be useful.

However, he had not been able to take the owner of the butterfly jewel or the jewel itself, which was in part bad. If they lost the akuma that Lila Rossi had, they would go into square one all again and he couldn't allow that.

He was surprised in any case. The gods of that jewels were mentioned as creatures that followed the rules that had been imposed, but the goddess of creation had proved him wrong by transforming into a human-like creature. Her power had been raw, creating life at her feet without even trying. It had made him realize that, despite the thing that they were against muggle-blood teenagers, the gods were still very powerful and even if it had been Ladybug instead of her kwami, he was sure that they would had had it difficult, though not as impossible and in all honesty, they would had been able to win. As such, they had been against a goddess and he had to admit that if it weren't for the butterfly god, they could have died.

There was also another problem. The staff at Hogwarts was aware and creating another situation like that one would be mostly impossible, not matter how he looked at it. Moreover, the jewels were inside the safest place in the magical world, not counting the bank. He wouldn't be able to use Draco again for support as they could discover him and his real mission wasn't the magical jewels, and any other student that was related to the Death Eaters weren't inside the group, at least for the moment.

He guessed that, sadly, he would have to choose. He had kept himself out of the eyes of the public and just gain power like last time, but he guessed that if he really wanted the magical jewels, his group or even himself would have to make appearances to make the gods of the jewels come to them.

Now… He only needed a better and new plan on how to approach them.

Madame Bustier thought that she wouldn't be able to survive another day without her students there. Though for the time being they had given her some work to do, it wasn't enough for her mind to be at ease.

The police still hadn't figured out much of the akuma attack: The woman that had been possessed didn't remember anything more than pain shooting into her brain and they had to get her to a mental hospital due to her bad condition. This meant that if her bad condition hadn't been fixed by the miraculous cure as always, there was something else—something darker—going on.

In any case, the students hadn't been found yet and with that attack, she was just crossing her fingers that they were safe. All of this made her remember that old voice that had said to know about the situation of her students, saying that they were in a magical world. Why she hadn't turned around was something that she asked herself each night. She had trusted him, in any case. He didn't seem like he was lying and what would he gain?

A knock at the door woke her up in a second and she saw a short Chinese old figure of a man that look kind "I hope I'm not interrupting" he said and she opened her mouth in shock when she recognized his voice "This is a dire circumstance or I wouldn't be here, Madame Bustier. I hope you know with this that I trust your judgment"

"Yes, of course" she couldn't help, but nod.

"There are a few things I have learned during these days due to a letter I received: The world your students are in is not of dark magic, but it seems that there is a dark group of wizards that seem to be very interested in our young heroes. Most possibly, some of them are compromised (some more than others) and getting out seems more difficult than I thought it would be. This group is dangerous and all I can say is that I hope that my advice on getting a wizard's help will provide a way home to all"

"Can't you go to them with… more help?" she asked.

"I would love to, but I don't have the same energy as I used to" he grimaced a bit.

"Perhaps…" another woman voice interrupted them, making them jump out of fear "I could be of assistance to you, Mister Guardian"

&&& And I know! I know! I'm a mess and I haven't published in months... TBH, this has been a mess for me too and I apologize for taking so long! /

This chapter took me some time and I still couldn't get rid of the little deus ex machina that I pulled off... Still, it's better than what I wrote the first time ^^" So yeahhh... (?) I think Gabriel ended a bit OOC, but...

Anyway, things are starting to fall into place and I would love for some theories, or ideas or whatever you want to share (with respect, of course...) :3

I'll remind you all that I started writing this story when not more than three chapters (maybe) from the third season had come out, so there are some things that are not canon, obviously...

Please, if you have enjoyed, leave a review, favs, kudos, follows, etc. Lots of love ^^ &&&