A/N: Thank you to glisteningsunlight for providing feedback for this chapter.
Alexandra stopped spinning, and landed face first onto the muddy ground. Her lip tasted of blood. I'll never get used to portkey travel.
Manoeuvring her body on to a dead tree-stump, she lifted herself up and took in her surroundings. She appeared to be in a large, abandoned field, which was littered with overgrown plants, dying trees and thorny bushes.
She jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Alexandra turned and saw the face of her brother.
"Hello Alexandra, father said you wouldn't arrive for another few weeks."
Alexandra lifted her cuffed hands. "Things change."
"I see," said Maximilian. He waved his wand and the silvery cuffs disappeared. Alexandra immediately touched her lip, from which blood had started spilling onto her clothes.
"Amateurs. They should've tied the cuffs to their magical signature." Maximilian waved his wand again, and the blood disappeared.
"Thanks Max," said Alexandra.
"I take it they have your wand?"
"Yeah, they do." In the midst of her great escape, Alexandra had almost forgotten that detail.
Alexandra took a moment to think about all that had happened. It had all been so sudden, one moment she was in a potions lesson, the next moment she was being carted off to Eerie Island and now she was here, in the middle of nowhere, with no idea of where she was going and what she was doing.
"Where are we?"
"It's better if you don't know, for now," said Maximilian. Alexandra fought the impulse to whine, and nodded. "It's for your own safety, and ours."
"Ours?"
Maximilian laughed. "You think I've been hiding out in this hellhole by myself? Father will be arriving soon, and he can answer all your questions. I'm sure you have plenty."
Alexandra nodded. The two stood in silence for a while. She sat down and leaned against the tree stump. Maximilian sat next to her.
Both of them seemed to want to say something, but Alexandra just couldn't come up with the words. So much had changed since the two of them last sat like this. She didn't know where to begin.
"How's Julia doing?" said Maximilian. Alexandra was ashamed to realise she'd barely checked on Julia, since the incident with the time-turner.
"It's been hard for her, hard for all of us."
"I never wanted any of my family to suffer," said Maximilian softly.
"Have you told Julia and Thalia yet?"
Maximilian sighed. "No, I haven't. Father insists that it's too dangerous, that the WJD are monitoring them," Maximilian's tone became more aggressive. "I think they have a right to know, but seeing as I'm hiding out with Father, I have to listen to his rules."
"Why do you let him control you?"
"What choice do I have? I can't rejoin society or I'll be arrested, which is even more likely now that the Thorn Circle members are known."
He's right. He's stuck with father, and now I am too.
The consequences for her arrest warrant suddenly dawned on Alexandra. She wouldn't be able to see her mother, or her friends, and she was surely expelled from Charmbridge now. She had never felt more powerless, here she was wandless, ostracised and at her father's mercy.
"What about Martin? Does he get to find out?" said Alexandra. Maximilian flinched.
"I wouldn't have the first clue how to contact him," he said, not meeting her eyes. "Also, unless his plans have changed, he was going to join up with the Florida Regiment. I can't exactly be fraternising with the people trying to arrest me."
"Come on Max, you know he'd never tell."
"Even if he doesn't, I'd still be exposing him to an unnecessary risk by him knowing." He sighed. "Well, I suppose if they arrested you, everyone will probably find out soon enough."
Their conversation was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Abraham Thorn.
"Thanks for entertaining your sister, Maximilian," he said. Abraham turned to Alexandra.
"What's this I hear about an arrest?"
"They found out about Darla and Max."
Abraham regarded Alexandra silently for a moment. "I thought something like this might happen," he said. "That's why I gave you the bracelet."
"What do you want? You said that there were things I deserve to know, what are those?" Alexandra was growing impatient with all the waiting.
Abraham raised a dismissive hand. "We'll have plenty of time to discuss those things. But right now, I need an oath.
"An oath?"
"Yes, an oath. An unbreakable vow."
"I almost got arrested and you're demanding an oath?" she cried.
"It's no less than you've demanded from me," said Abraham.
Alexandra wanted to tell him 'no', to demand to be left alone, but she didn't really have a choice. Her father was her only chance at evading the Wizard Justice Department, the only person they wouldn't be able to track down.
"He made me swear the same vow," said Maximilian. "It's to protect you more than anything."
Alexandra glared, and aggressively offered her hand to her father. Her father laughed and gripped it firmly.
"Maximilian, will you be the mediator?"
"I will."
"Excellent," said Abraham. "Begin when you're ready."
Maximilian muttered quietly, reciting the words of the vow to himself. When he stopped muttering, he gave a curt nod to Abraham. He flicked his wand in an upwards motion, and gold sparks flew from the top of it, swirling around the locked hands of Abraham and Alexandra.
"Do you, Alexandra, promise, to the best of your ability, not to reveal the existence of The Moral Collective, either directly or indirectly, to someone who wasn't already aware of its existence?"
Alexandra did not understand the promise, but she had no choice but to accept it.
"I do."
"Do you, Alexandra, promise, to the best of your ability, not to reveal the membership status of any person in The Moral Collective either directly or indirectly, to someone who wasn't already aware of that person's membership?"
What even is The Moral Collective?
"I do."
With each of her utterances, the yellow sparks grew brighter, until they almost blinded Alexandra. Maximilian flicked his wand again, and the sparks coalesced into a chord, which wrapped around both her and Abraham's fingers and stretched between them. The chord faded, and Abraham let go of Alexandra's hand.
He handed her a piece of paper. The Moral Collective Headquarters is Located at The Grimm Ancestral Home, Blacksburg, Virginia.
The world around Alexandra rapidly transformed. The overgrown grass shortened, the dead trees sprang to life and grew tall and the dirty, grimey swamp became a huge lake, with clear blue water. Alexandra spotted a rangale of deer in the distance, running between the oak trees. Large, oleaginous amphibians sprang to life, and aimed at luminescent insects with their long black tongues. She could also spot an old, grand building in the distance, which rivalled Thalia King's house for size. She was speechless.
"It's beautiful, isn't it," said Maximilian. "I couldn't quite believe it myself when I arrived here."
"What sort of magic is this?"
"Old magic, with some new magic woven into it," said Abraham. I cast a Fidelius charm on the manor, but connected it to the pre-existing disguises. Reginald Grimm, who created this house, was a very paranoid man, and sought to keep the location of his manor hidden from those who might wish to harm the family."
Alexandra had a plethora of questions. She asked the most pertinent one.
"What's The Moral Collective?"
Abraham grabbed her shoulder tightly. "I think that's something I need to show you."
Alexandra found herself apparated into a grand, palatial hall. Two spiral staircases crossed the perimeter of the room, leading to an upper-level balcony, with several doors along it. The room contained a vast assortment of animated portraits, opulent ornaments; at its centre was a towering, ostentatious statue of a bald man with a beard that touched his shoes.
"That man in the middle is Reginald Grimm, the person who built this house," said Abraham.
"Is he related to Dean Grimm?"
"Yes, he is. He's Dean Grimm's ancestor, and a founding father of The Moral Collective - the first opposition to The Deathly Regiment."
Alexandra scrunched her face in confusion. Abraham was silent for a moment, and scratched his beard.
"Follow me," he said. He opened one of the doors, and led Alexandra into the room, which had an open fireplace and a cosy looking couch - it reminded her of the common room at Charmbridge.
Abraham sat down on the sofa, Alexandra sat next to him. He looked her in the eyes.
"The Confederation has not been kind to you, since you entered the wizarding world," he said. "You have witnessed their corruption and moral depravity first-hand."
Damn right they haven't been kind to me.
"I am aware that you disapprove of my methods, but you must understand. My hatred towards The Confederation is not a petty political squabble. The Confederation is a far worse beast than anyone in the general public knows!" he said the last part with a roar which caused Alexandra to jump.
Abraham's expression softened.
"Would you believe me if I told you that every day The Confederation slaughters muggle and muggle-born children, like cattle, to power their magical machinery?"
No. That can't be true.
"They snatch them from their homes, obliviate their families and kill them in cold blood, to power their fancy wizard rail and their grand educational institutions."
Alexandra's face grew more horrified with each word Abraham spoke.
"The walls of Charmbridge are coated in the blood of the innocent, those conscripted to the Deathly Regiment."
Alexandra desperately didn't want to believe her father's words, but when she looked into his eyes, she felt the conviction in what he was saying.
"That was why Reginald Grimm, along with Prometheus Hucksteen and my ancestor Absalom Thorn, started The Moral Collective, a group of Elect members who were opposed to the Deathly Regiment, when it was decided, on the grounds of its moral depravity. It started as a peaceful, law-abiding group, consisting of only the rich and powerful, but over time it has developed a greater purpose. Today, the moral collective consists of citizens and magical beings of all classes, and is committed to nothing less than the complete and total destruction of the Confederation."
Alexandra sat silently for a moment, contemplating and taking in all this new information. This must be what Absalom said I was too young to know about.
"Are you the leader of this group? Is anyone else in our family in it?"
"I am the current leader of The Moral Collective, yes. As for who's in it, all your older siblings except for the eldest sibling and Julia are. There are many members, although numbers are thinner these days, thanks to the efforts of WJD agents like Diana Grimm."
"Wait. If The Confederation knows about The Moral Collective how come it's never mentioned anywhere, or talked about?"
"It isn't in the interest of The Confederation to mention or talk about it. The more people know, the greater risk there is of people finding out about our sole reason for existing. Also, thanks to stringent secrecy oaths, current and former members of The Moral Collective have never been able to reveal the group's existence, which has ensured its continued survival."
Abraham took a sip of his coffee.
"The Governor-General himself was a member once, and he knows all the members who were there when he was. He's targeted them, but he can't even reveal why they're targeted to his own agents. Essentially, you have two wars going on. A war in the public-eye, between The Confederation and the Thorn Circle, who are not part of The Moral Collective, merely pawns that we used to try to overthrow the current administration. Then there is the centuries-long war between The Confederation and our group, hidden in the shadows, never to be mentioned in the history books."
Abraham got up from the sofa.
"I think that's enough for today," he said. "The members are waiting for me in the meeting room."
"Are you going to ask me to join? I still don't agree with violence, when you derailed that train, you were killing muggles too, just like The Confederation."
Abraham's eyes narrowed, but he quickly returned to a neutral expression.
"No, I'm not asking you to join the group just yet, but I think you deserve to know what's truly going on."
Alexandra spent most of the afternoon in her assigned living quarters, reading the books on her bookshelf that her father had left her. There were a great variety of tomes, books on magical history, books on potions, transfigurations, charms and many more subjects. Without a wand, Alexandra wasn't able to practice anything she was reading, but unless she did something, she thought she would die of boredom.
Maximilian or Abraham still hadn't come back yet, with the meeting seemingly lasting all day. Alexandra was still trying to wrap her head around The Moral Collective, the Deathly Regiment and all these other secrets that had been kept from her. Since she arrived in the Wizarding World, every time she thought she knew her place, or the order of things, everything got turned upside down. It was immensely frustrating.
Bored of her room, she decided to venture outside and explore the rest of the Grimm manor. Alexandra couldn't help but wonder about the Grimm sisters. Were they a part of The Moral Collective like their ancestor was?
When she entered one of the kitchens, her jaw dropped. Triss was there, frying some pancakes on the stove.
Triss let out a startled yelp when he saw Alexandra.
"I'm sorry - sorry about the time turner," she said.
Triss trembled, his eyes narrowed and he pointed his finger at Alexandra. "Miss Quick…what is you doing here? The Moral Collective Headquarters isn't a place for bad, bad witches like you."
Alexandra hung her head in shame.
"I don't know how to make things right," she said.
"Don't try. Triss doesn't want to see you or speak to you. Now go away!"
Alexandra tried to say something, but found her lips were glued shut. She glared at Triss. Fine, I tried to be nice and this is the thanks I get. She stormed off.
Alexandra went back to her room and sat on her bed, trying to quell the stirred emotions her encounter with Triss had wrought. She was angry, but it was more at herself, for taking advantage of the elf. Then she was reminded of why she did what she did.
"Hey Troublesome, everything okay?" said her brother, Maximilian, who shut the door behind him as he spoke.
"I'm fine," she snapped.
"No, you aren't. You're scrunching up your face with that look you always do when something is bothering you. What is it?"
"Everything. Everything, Max. The arrest, the fact I can't see my mother or my friends, the fact that everything I thought was true is a lie!" the words came out in a flurry. Alexandra deflated.
Maximilian sat down on the bed next to her and patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.
"Try not to think about it, it will end up consuming you," he said.
"Does it bother you? The fact you can't see your sister and your mother, or your boyfriend."
Maximilian sighed. "Yes, it does bother me. But I prefer to focus on what I do have, which is a troublesome, vexing but wonderful little sister."
Alexandra smiled.
"There are some spare brooms out in the courtyard, how about a race?" he said.
"As long as you don't push me into a tree this time!"