Grindelwald's Gremlins
In The Year 1914:
Gellert Grindelwald sat in a high backed wooden chair, staring into the fire expectantly. He was alone save for the fire elemental he'd just summoned. Several weeks ago, he'd set the creature to spying in Muggle fires for any war intel he could discover on when and where their next bombs would be dropped. Wizard civilians dying because Muggles were entirely too stupid to get along was not acceptable!
While Gellert's own visions were often helpful, and always accurate, they were not under his control. He could not bring them on at will. When he needed to know when something was going to happen, he had learned to employ other methods. Elementals were his current favorite, and he'd always had an affinity for air and fire.
"There is nothing to report."
The voice of the fire elemental crackled like the fire in which it hovered.
"Thank you," Gellert said, dismissing the salamander shaped flame creature with a wave of one elegant hand.
It was always wise to thank the Elementals even if they brought you nothing, else the next time you called upon them, they may not even be that helpful.
Gellert Grindelwald understood the way he currently felt was irrational and would do him no good. Feelings of frustration and hatred did not make for a clear head and someone in his position needed a clear head. Forming a wizarding resistance was far more difficult than he'd expected even in these trying times. He had believed that this war would open the eyes of wizarding kind to the fact that Muggles could not be left to their own devices! For centuries, they had been a danger to wizarding kind, and now, with the rapid development of their...Technology, the danger they presented was growing at an alarming rate. This could not be tolerated.
To Gellert's surprise the fire elemental did not vanish away at once as its kind usually did when dismissed. Instead it lingered, weaving about in the flames in a nearly playful dance as it gazed at him with what felt like a thoughtful regard.
"Once it would have been wise to employ the wood sprites to spy out such matters, for these attacks must originate outdoors," the elemental crackled.
"As humans grow more greedy the sprites withdraw more and more, rarely emerging.
Gellert blinked in confusion.
"What does human greed have to do with the sprites," he asked, intrigued.
The elemental shook its head, causing the flames to crackle around it in evident annoyance.
"You prove my point," it said, and Gellert thought he could feel sadness emanating off it at that.
"You are unaware. Even wizards have forgotten."
Gellert simply waited, knowing that if the creature would give him a more complete answer, it would be in its own time.
"Humans used to placate them with milk and other such offerings of respect and the wood sprites maintained the weather. The placation were forgotten, so if you notice the weather being frequently more unpredictable, this is why."
"Truly," Gellert said, frowning in thought.
"I never knew. Unfortunately, our education systems in wizarding schools are sorely lacking."
He sighed.
"And your parents no longer pass down the lore," the fire elemental crackled its question.
Gellert stiffened slightly, but shook his head.
"Not to me. My parents were killed when I was three years of age."
His parents had died when their boat was destroyed by a nearby Muggle ship exploding due to some sort of accident.
"Well, unless all the parents die, the others among you have no such excuse."
Gellert felt his lips twitch.
"Quite true. So should I offer milk to the wood sprites for an audience? Must I go deep into the forest to do such a thing?"
The fire elemental shook its head.
"They do not like humans now. They will not help you."
Gellert frowned in disappointment. Then he remembered that he didn't take 'no' for an answer, and grinned.
This time when he thanked the fire elemental it vanished away as he'd expected it to do previously. As soon as it was gone, he apparated away as well. He had a bit of research to do and a lot of milk to buy.
Three hours later he'd tweeked his elemental summoning spell to draw wood sprites rather than elementals. After taking a few minutes to commit it to memory, he apparated into the middle of the Black Forest armed only with five jugs of milk. Gellert had always believed The Black Forest to be the most magical forest in Germany, so if wood sprites were anywhere, they should be here.
He settled himself on the ground cross legged with his back to a massive oak. Next he arranged the jugs of milk in a wide circle around him with precise flicks of his wand. He opened each jug in turn so that the scent of the fresh milk could permeate the nearby surroundings. Then he took a deep breath and began his summoning. This sort of summoning edged closer to a dark binding rather than a gentle request for an audience, and if it worked properly it should be very uncomfortable for any wood sprites to ignore his call.
Gellert cast the summoning over and over, the spell gaining power with each casting. Even before he achieved results, he enjoyed the feel of the magic passing through him, seeming to expand his own power as its wielder. Gellert expected success, for all of his summoning of elementals and like creatures were successful in the past. For this reason, when he heard one of the jugs of milk thumping over onto its side, he was not at all surprised when he turned to see a small gray wizened creature sitting astride it.
When he met the little thing's eyes, it frowned before bending to slurp up the milk that pooled rapidly from the toppled jug onto the green moss of the forest floor.
"A human has never sought us out."
Not an it. A he, Gellert decided. The voice was too low and raspy to be feminine.
"I am special," he told the wood sprite with a bold grin.
"What do you want," the sprite asked, peering up at him before bending to slurp up more milk.
"You seem thirsty," Gellert observed.
"Hungry," the sprite replied.
"They stopped feeding you," Gellert said and the sprite nodded, frowning down at the now dry moss.
Gellert chuckled.
"There are four other jugs left, you know," he pointed out.
"Ah, yes," the sprite agreed, then leapt to the next jug, toppling it as he had the first so that the milk pooled onto the moss for him to drink.
"What if I not only feed you, but give you a way to make them feed you again as well," he asked.
The little sprite looked up, interested.
"You and as many of your kind as you can tell, in fact," Gellert continued.
"I will show you how to feed on the anti magic that poisons the world, and you can help to bring the downfall of those who create such anti magic."
The wood sprite suddenly snarled as it lunged up from the milk at which it had been idly lapping while Gellert spoke.
"What have you put into the milk, Wizard!"
Gellert smiled.
"Just a taste of what you needed to become better...more."
Gellert's experiments on animals during his final days at Durmstrang had failed because his ideas were better than the animals he used to carry them out. Since then he'd discovered that he needed stronger carriers for the magical enhancements that so tantalized his imagination. Immortal beings and elementals took change far better. The sprite was already changing before his eyes, in fact. His gray tree trunk like body with vines for arms and legs was turning green and scaly. Rather than twiggy looking fingers, the sprite's three fingered hands now sported razor sharp claws.
"Look," Gellert offered.
As he spoke, he reached into a pocket of his black robe and extended a mirror. Its inner light showed the sprite his reflection.
"Ah," the creature breathed, staring at its own countenance, not in displeasure.
Gellert suppressed a smile of relief that the little creature seemed to like the changes he'd brought about. One could not afford to show triumph or pleasure until the deal was sealed. Still, he was so close!
"What have you done to me," the sprite asked.
"I have fed you milk mixed with the oil and ground metals of Muggle machines. They fly these machines in the air, and drive them on the streets. They use them in their factories to make furniture and clothing. With them, they pollute the world. I have used the blood and inner workings of these machines to make you stronger, and to give you a taste for them as well. You will grow strong when you climb into any of these machines to feed and play."
"Play?"
Gellert nodded, grinning.
"Tearing them up, taking them apart, reveling in their complicated inner structure could be quite the game. I love games, and something told me your kind has gotten bored. Games are just what you need."
"Why?"
"Because they grow stronger, and to survive, we all must grow stronger as well. I have made you stronger."
"What do you want? Once humans gave us milk to leave them alone, and now you give us change, and a new way. What do you want, Wizard, in exchange for your gift?"
There it was at last! Gellert felt his heart leaping as victory came into view.
"I want you to help me to take them down. Make their machines crash from the sky, make other machines explode in their faces when they are on the ground. Give them hell!"
The sprite grinned.
"Done."
Gellert extended a palm and the sprite touched his small and now scaled hand to Gellert's own.
"Gellert Grindelwald," he said in way of introduction.
That and he wanted the creature to have an anchor to find him again. A name made quite the powerful anchor.
"I am new now, so I should have a new name as well," the sprite replied after a second of hesitation.
"I think I would like you to name me, Wizard Gellert Grindelwald."
Gellert studied the creature for a moment, then grinned.
"How do you like Scratch?"
Scratch grinned back.
"I like it!"
"What I would appreciate from you now, Scratch, is if you would share the rest of this milk with all of your kind that you can get to drink it. As you have already ingested quite a lot, I believe you shall be the strongest of this new race of sprites. But you should share your strength so that your people may grow mighty."
Scratch grinned, nodding eagerly.
"I will call upon you personally from time to time to check in and see how things are going as well as to see if you need any help," Gellert continued.
"Help?"
Gellert nodded.
"I don't see you encountering any serious problems, but if there are things you don't understand or if unforeseen problems arise, I will help you. I have made you what you are now, and I owe you that."
Scratch nodded.
"I would appreciate it if while running amuck in Muggle machinery, you and yours spy a bit and tell me what they are doing...If you could be informants as it were."
Scratch nodded again.
When they parted, Gellert felt he'd made a new friend. Before long, word had spread in Muggle newspapers of Scratch and his kin causing many machine based accidents and disruptions. Only the Muggles called them Gremlins. Gellert actually found the name quite fitting and hoped Scratch did as well.
[Dear Reader:
If you want more of Gellert, we have a whole novel's worth for you. He may have gotten taken down, but not out. Read how it wasn't him that Voldemort killed in In The dark, also uploaded by us here.]