Harry had learned to keep the magical part of his life a secret from Magnus and Kristin. So, when Magnus asked Harry about Hermione the following day, he lied.
"Where did you disappear yesterday?" asked Magnus.
"I didn't disappear, what do you mean?"
"I saw you talking to her, and then Uncle G came, and after a few minutes I saw, but all of you were gone," replied Magnus.
"Oh! That, well… My uncle needed some help with our bookshelf, and that conversation with her wasn't going anywhere. So, I chose the excuse I got and left," replied Harry, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Magnus eyed him suspiciously but didn't ask any further questions. Harry however was finding it difficult to not think about her. He had a lot of things on his mind, like Voldemort coming back, his training which was getting difficult and tiring day by day, his excuses to Magnus and Kristin for staying home during the vacation and to top it all off, Hermione and the fact that she was also a witch and went to Hogwarts. He was well and truly smitten by her. Not only was she pretty, but she also went to Hogwarts, the magical school that Harry was never allowed to go to. He had so many questions about Hogwarts and the life of students in it, but he knew that he'd never be able to talk to her again after what had happened the previous day. A few days went by just like that. Harry had seen Hermione a couple of times in the street but had ignored her every time. Though, to put it more accurately, she ignored him as he tried to approach her a couple of times. One evening, Harry returned home after a 2-hour swimming session with Magnus and Kristin.
"Master Potter," greeted Grindelwald as he entered the door.
"Uncle G," said Harry in return. It was time for his daily training. By the time he got freshened up, Grindelwald had placed the quietening charm around the house as usual, so that no sound got out.
"So, what are we going to do today?" asked Harry.
"Same as yesterday, we're going to work on your shield charm," replied Grindelwald.
"Again? Why can't we do something different," replied Harry, but before he finished speaking, he got hit by a spell and he fell backwards with a thud. "Ouch! I wasn't even ready," said Harry.
"Your attacker won't wait for you to get ready," replied Grindelwald. Before Harry could get up, Grindelwald hit Harry with another spell, but this time Harry was ready for it and managed to shield himself. In the past couple of years, Harry had learned a lot of spells, attacking as well as defensive. But ever since the vacation had begun, Harry was finding training difficult as he was now tasked to duel Grindelwald with non-verbal spells. As Grindelwald hit Harry again and again with more spells, Harry was now finding it easier to shield them. As a few minutes passed, Harry was now easily able to block and shield Grindelwald's spells.
"Is that all you've got?" asked Harry, pleased with himself. The moment he asked that question, he realised that he should not have. The very next moment, Harry found a big book, "The Great Wizards of the 19th Century" hurled at him. And just as he ducked to evade that, he realised what was about to happen. In trying to evade the book, Harry had lost concentration and his shield wasn't powerful enough to block Grindelwald's attack and Harry fell with a thud.
"Have you landed Master Potter, or would you like to get cocky again?" asked Grindelwald.
"That was a cheap trick," replied Harry coughing.
"And yet here you are, on the floor," replied Grindelwald.
They took turns to hit each other with the stunning and disarming spell. After about an hour, they stopped and took a break.
"Are you tired already?" asked Grindelwald.
"Already? I have already been hit 7 times by your stunner," replied Harry.
"You have good endurance, but there's so much there to improve. Don't worry Master Potter!" replied Grindelwald. Harry and Grindelwald sat there in silence for a few minutes before Harry spoke.
"Uncle G, why can't I tell Magnus and Kristin about… you know, me and magic and the magical world?" asked Harry.
"It's the International Sta..." replied Grindelwald but was cut short by Harry.
"Yeah I know that revealing is not allowed and that secrecy should be maintained, but why?"
Grindelwald was lost in a world of his own for a moment there. He looked back at his life, his youth in particular when he had a certain ideology.
"Master Potter, there are some things which are difficult to understand. Believe me, I have asked that question many times, to many people. Think about it, if the wizarding world was to be revealed to muggles, there'd be chaos. It is difficult from the outside to accept our world. A lot of things that muggles struggle to do, wizards can do them in an instant. A lot of conflicts have occurred in the past over this very question," he finished.
Harry did not have a follow-up question because his mind was travelling to many different places. He was at one moment thinking about the only time he had been to Britain. It happened 4 years back. On the night after his eleventh birthday, Harry and Grindelwald had gone to Diagon Alley, to get Harry's wand. Dumbledore had insisted to Grindelwald that Harry get his wand from Ollivander. Dumbledore had also arranged for Ollivander to be present in the middle of the night. It remained one of the most surreal moments of Harry's life. The moment he held his wand, he felt something in his stomach. There was something about the wand too. It seemed to hold in his hands perfectly. Harry's thoughts were halted by Grindelwald.
"Master Potter, lost are we?" asked Grindelwald.
"I was just thinking of the day I got my wand," replied Harry.
"Anything on your mind?"
"No, nothing, let's start," said Harry.
After a few minutes of the same spells and shields, Grindelwald stopped abruptly.
"What happened?" asked Harry.
"Master Potter, I have been meaning to begin a different training for a while now. I don't know what I have been waiting for, but I believe it's time to teach you Occlumency," said Grindelwald.
"What's Occlumency?"
"Occlumency is the art of shielding your mind," replied Grindelwald.
"We can penetrate someone's mind?" asked Harry curiously.
"The art of Legilimency is a way to navigate someone's mind. And if you wish to be a powerful wizard, Occlumency and Legilimency must be mastered," replied Grindelwald.
"Teach me," said Harry excitedly.
"It's not that easy Master Potter. It requires immense concentration and mental toughness," replied Grindelwald. "I'll try to invade your thoughts, don't worry, I will make it easy for you to shield me. And we'll work our way up," said Grindelwald. Harry nodded.
"On the count of 3 then," said Grindelwald. As Grindelwald completed the countdown, Harry felt this weird sensation. He couldn't tell exactly what it was. It felt almost as if all his memories and feelings suddenly came to the surface. It was there like that for a few seconds and all of it was gone, just like that.
"Master Potter, are you alright?" asked Grindelwald.
"Yeah, wait you're done?" asked Harry.
"It wasn't that difficult to penetrate your mind. Did you feel anything?" asked Grindelwald.
"Yeah, it felt as if my memories were suddenly there, a lot of them," replied Harry.
"It is wise to keep your thoughts closed off, keep an empty mind, clear your mind of all thoughts and emotions," said Grindelwald.
"How should I do that?" asked Harry.
"Master Potter! Think of your mind as a room, or if you like, this house. This house has many doors leading to different rooms. If you had to go inside a room, you'd have to push a door to open the room. Now, imagine that your mind is the house. Like this house, your mind also has many rooms. Each room might contain a memory or a feeling. When I try and enter your mind, you'll have to make sure to keep all the doors closed," replied Grindelwald. But he could see the confusion in Harry's face. So he continued, "Master Potter, let's take this one step at a time. Think of something, a moment in your life that reminds you of happiness. Your happiest moment" said Grindelwald.
"Okay I can do that," said Harry and after a moment, he said, "I'm ready"
"Now I'll invade your mind, on the count of 3," said Grindelwald. Harry was thinking hard, trying to remember everything about his 15th birthday surprise. It was Tristin who had woken up Harry. The moment he woke up, he saw Tristin and Magnus, who were there standing on either side of his bed. They screamed "Happy Birthday" and hugged him. It was a beautiful feeling. As Harry recollected the events of that night, he felt that weird sensation again. He couldn't explain the feeling. And it was gone in an instant.
"How did I do?" asked Harry.
"You did what I told you to do, you focused on one thing, one particular memory. But in a real-time scenario, you'd have to shut off your mind at an instant's notice and repel your attacker."
In the following days, Harry and Grindelwald spent most of their training time practising Occlumency. Within the first few days, Harry had got the knack of clearing his mind. He was using a trick that Grindelwald had taught him.
"This is not ideal, but you can, for now, think of something, any random memory to be kept in the forefront. So the attacker will be shown that part of your memory, while the rest will be guarded."
This proved easier than blanking his mind, though he knew that, in time he had to do that as well. Grindelwald had also allowed Harry to perform legilimens on him. On the first few occasions, however hard Harry tried, he got nothing to see. Grindelwald's mind was entirely shut off from him. But in other situations, Harry was shown some pieces of Grindelwald's mind, so that he could understand what legilimens felt like. One afternoon, while reading a muggle book called "Brain & Mind", Harry thought of something.
"Uncle G, was Voldemort good at Occlumency?" asked Harry.
"The Dark Lord was a great Legilimens and Occlumens. He would often use this against his opponents," he replied.
"Is that why you're teaching me Occlumency?"
"Master Potter, you should not live your life wondering what you should do to defeat the Dark Lord. The answer to your question is yes, but that's not..." replied Grindelwald, but stopped talking abruptly. He gestured to Harry to keep quiet and strained his ears. He motioned Harry to hide behind the couch, and himself went and stood behind the kitchen door. Harry was confused about what was going on. At first, he thought he heard something too, a faint sound of a crack, but ignored it as nothing happened. A few seconds later, there was a loud bang and both of them saw the front door of the house being blasted open. In came 3 people, all dressed in black coloured cloaks, with masks on their face. Harry looked back at Grindelwald, but couldn't see him. So he made a rash decision. The 3 cloaked figures stood a few feet inside and scanned the entire house. At first, they couldn't see anyone, but then they saw a young boy coming out from behind a couch.
"Who do we have here?" asked one of the death eaters, laughing.
"I was about to ask the same question to all 3 of you," replied Harry.
"Brave!"
"Child, do you know who we are?" asked the 3rd death eater.
"Why would I ask you, if I knew the answer to that question," replied Harry. He had no idea what had come over him. By the looks of things, he had realised that the 3 cloaked figures were wizards of some kind, evil-looking too. He was sure that his Uncle was planning something, and all he wanted to do was buy him some time.
"For a kid your age, you talk a lot," said the 2nd death eater.
"Where are your parents, kid?" asked the 3rd death eater.
"I don't have parents," replied Harry clutching at the wand in his pocket tightly.
"You live in," the 3rd death eater paused and looked around the mansion, "a house this big alone?" he asked.
"No," replied Grindelwald as he appeared out of thin air and hit the 1st and 2nd death eater with the stunning charm, they fell backwards. Grindelwald hit the 3rd death eater with a spell but he blocked it easily.
"You'll pay for this," growled the death eater and white sparks flew out of his wand directed towards Grindelwald which he shielded easily. A duel ensued between the 2 as Harry watched on. A jet of fire with blue flames erupted from the death eater's wand and made its way towards Grindelwald, but he countered it with a ball of water that gushed from his wand. If Harry wasn't afraid to death, he'd have called the duel a spectacle worth watching. As the wizards matched each other, Harry saw from the corner of his eye that the other 2 cloaked figures were now back on their feet. Harry got up and pointed his wand at the pair of them, but got pushed back by an immensely strong invisible force which he later realised was Grindelwald's work. As Grindelwald pushed Harry out of the way, the 3 death eaters got together and were now 3 on 1 against Grindelwald.
What happened next can only be described as annihilation. Harry witnessed one of the best duels, and more importantly his guardian in peak form as the death eaters were no match to the once dark wizard. Grindelwald was hit with multiple spells from all 3 of the death eaters which he blocked, shielded or dodged. Once the barrage was over, the battle was all but done. Grindelwald's speed and endurance was no match to the death eaters as they struggled to keep Grindelwald out for long. One by one they fell, and as the 3rd death eater fell, he said, "I know who you are, you are the dark wizard," but before he could finish, green sparks flew from Grindelwald's wand and the death eater fell motionless. The other 2 met the same fate soon. As the 3 bodies fell motionless, a terrified Harry walked towards Grindelwald and gave him a hug that Grindelwald would never forget for the rest of his life.
"Are you ok, Uncle G?" asked Harry, pulling away. There were cuts and bruises all over Grindelwald's arms and face.
"Never better, Master Potter," replied Grindelwald. The pair of them made their way outside the house. Harry's eye caught the shadow that was looming over their house high up in the sky. It looked like a colossal skull, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. As Harry eyed the Dark Mark curiously, Grindelwald erased it with a couple of spells.
"It's the Dark Mark, Master Potter, the 3 men that lie inside the house, they were Death Eaters," said Grindelwald.
"Death Eaters? They were Vol..." replied Harry but was stopped abruptly by Grindelwald.
"Not the name, Master Potter, not the name! And yes, they were You-Know-Who's followers," replied Grindelwald as Harry stared at him shocked. As they were making their way inside the house, they heard the footsteps of a person running behind them. They looked back and saw that it was Hermione Granger.
"Hermione!" exclaimed Harry.
"Miss Granger," greeted Grindelwald.
"I… I saw the Dark Mark! But, it's not… there anymore," she said pausing and looking at the sky and then back at Harry and Grindelwald.