Soon spring came, and with exams approaching the older students were already starting to enter a state of panic. Some of the less talented first and second years were doing their best to imitate them, and their little study club had become even more crowded. Of course not much had changed for Jasmine and Violet, they were sure that they could already pass all of their exams with perfect marks if they were asked to. Violet guessed that in her boredom, Jasmine had started to give additional help to Eileen who was one of the students who were struggling the most. Violet didn't try to hide the fact that she wasn't very fond of that arrangement, it was eating valuable time in what only was the second daughter of a minor house, but sometimes Jasmine was annoyingly stubborn and she refused to let the little squib to drown under her own lack of talent.
However, commotion came after them when in a morning, much like all others, the morning owls came in carrying the morning mail as well as the newspapers. Violet was quite surprised when Abraxas gasped just after reading the headlines.
"He actually did it!" he exclaimed with slight horror in his voice.
"What happened?" asked Violet.
"Grindelwadl annexed Bohemia, well technically Bohemia decided to integrate themselves with greater Germany, but I think we can all agree that they were coerced." he rapidly explained. 'So the preparations before the beginning of the war have ended.' thought Violet with dread.
"Why do you think they were coerced?" questioned Violet, this had been one of the topics Jasmine hadn't been able to teach her at all, as BInns worked better as a somniferous than a teacher. She was really ignorant of the intricacies and details of the war against Grindelwald, making them ill prepared for their plans.
"How else could he have done it? Prusia, Austria and Bohemia have spent centuries on the brink of war, just to suddenly unify in less than a year?"
"They may be just following the example of the Muggle government, both times the changes in borders happened at the same time." suggested Violet.
"More like the Muggles are doing their job as lambs correctly, that Hitler guy is either under imperius or working for Grindelwald." confidently stated the blond.
"Why do you say that?" asked Jasmine.
"Have you heard of Grindelwald's Ideas? He is convinced that the muggles will soon develop a new weapon, one we will be unable to defend against. Then, a genocidal madman arrives in power in muggle Germany, one who seems to be following all the same geopolitical moves Grindelwald is doing. That seems way too precise to be a coincidence." explained Abraxas.
Nott joined his conversation at that point "He more likely just wants to consolidate power to put reassure on the other major countries in Europe. He wishes to create a new European alliance, to combat the muggle forces and put them under the guidance of magicals not conquer the magical world like Hitler wants to do in the muggle world."
"What is the European alliance?" asked Violet, not recognizing the term. Both boys looked at her with surprise.
"It truly is the beginning of the end. One of our little prodigies doesn't know the answer to a question. Preposterous!" dramatically exclaimed Abraxas.
"As you know the Statute of Secrecy was first applied in Europe in 1692, however, the Ottoman Empire refused to disband their companies of wizards working under their Sultan. Thus, the rest of the magical communities of Europe united in order to force the rulers of the Empire to sign the treaty. It is the best proof of the superiority of wizardkind over any muggle nation." said Nott confidently.
"Then when he says that he wants to recreate said alliance, he is implying that he wants to go to war with the Muggles?" asked Violet incredulously.
"That is, according to him, a necessary step in order to guarantee our survival. He claims to have visions of some kind of super weapon that could destroy the world, he thinks that magicals need to be a firm hand guiding the muggles so that they don't destroy themselves and us with them. And that in order to have that we will eventually have to go to war with them." clarified Nott.
Abraxas scoffed "My mother says that most of the people who have been convinced by his rhetoric have decided to immigrate to Germany instead of fighting to convince their respective governments. My French uncle mentioned during the holidays that there was basically no way that a new Alliance would be formed, especially against a hypothetical and ridiculous threat. The rest of the governments of Europe know well enough that it is better to leave the Muggles to their own foolishness. Why do you think he allied himself with a muggle? He surely is the only one who hears him." said Abraxas.
"But aren't you afraid he tries to convince them by force? He has been devouring territory left right and center." Jasmine reminded them.
"Even though he has been able to get the resources of Austria, Prussia, and Bohemia peacefully he doesn't have enough power to win a war with either France or the Commonwealth before the other one intervenes. He is a genius he wouldn't try that, it would be suicidal." said Nott.
"Yes, the powers of Europe have accepted these annexations because they were accepted by their respective governments. Moreover, they are already quite apprehensive about this new great power. If Grindelwald tried something now he would be destroyed in a two front assault." added Abraxas.
"Oh, but you are forgetting a factor there, my dear friend." said a new voice, as Dorea approached them. "Grindelwald was hailed as one genius not seen in decades, and he went to Drumstrang so he is prepared for war not dueling."
"As if a single wizard would be enough to change the ties of war." scoffed Abraxas.
"Oh, but it has happened in the past, or have you forgotten Thermopylae?" said Dorea with a somber smile.
"The details of said battle are lost in the sands of time and you know it. There's no concrete evidence other than legends that there were only 300 wizards."
"Yet history is plagued with battles such as that one where a small contingent of wizards was able to stomp on a bigger force, even our history has examples, have you not heard of the battle of Agincourt?"
Malfoy huffed. "The number of French wizards in that battle was never determined, of course, a dozen wizards would have been able to stop a whole army of muggles."
Dorea rolled her eyes at the strong headed heir. "Your French pride is showing there, heir Malfoy. Either way, we have proof of Grindelwald's prowess with a wand. He was the champion of the worldwide dueling competition both during his years at Drumstrang and in 1900 and 1904. He never lost a single round during his career and he stopped participating because he considered it boring."
"Yet this is a war we are talking about, not dueling. He may be talented but in a real battle, his opponents won't be limited by space and a spell list." stubbornly argued Abraxas.
"Do you think someone who was expelled from Drumstrang has a problem using dark magic?" asked Dorea, lifting her brows in disbelief. "I'm more preoccupied with France and the Commonwealth the last time one of those two went to war was like in the 1700s, and we all know that Beauxbatons isn't known for his teaching in dark magic like Drumstrang."
"Don't you think that in itself would be a reason not to go to war? It's well known that the best enchanters and curse breakers come from Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, Drumstrang does little more than creating brutes. Do you think Grindelwald would risk losing trade with them for no real gain at all?" asked Malfoy incredulously.
"Then you haven't heard his rhetoric. For him, this isn't a fight to guarantee more spots in their schools, cheaper food or to get hold of one of the magical reserves. For him, this is a fight for survival."
Violet felt herself shiver at the dark tone Jasmine's cousin had taken, hearing how those words echoed her own thoughts about what the future of Muggle and Magical relationships is. She knew that Grindelwald's warnings were right, Jasmine had only talked about it in passing but she knew that in the near future the Muggles were going to develop weapons capable of destroying whole cities. However, she doubted that helping Grindelwald fight them now would do much of a difference, the magical world wasn't prepared for an all out war with the muggle world, and even though Grindelwald was astute enough to not fight them head on she already knew how the second world war ended.
Malfoy seemed prepared to continue their debate, sadly for him the bell finally rang and they were forced to abandon the theme for the moment. The whole school had been talking about Bohemia's absorption. Violet found it almost laughable how few were actually contemplating a possible war. Most thought that Grindelwald didn't have the raw military power to actually fight two other great powers at the same time, but history had proven otherwise. They were more preoccupied with the economical implications of the emergence of a new strong continental power.
She was delighted when she saw how troubled Dumbledore looked. When she had learned about his relationship with Grindelwald she had felt disgusted. Asking so much of Jasmine's life and happiness for the possibility of war, yet the man had stayed here hidden in a castle, like the coward he is, when war was at their doorsteps.
After classes ended, it finally was time for Violet's favorite part of her day, her personal study sessions with Jasmine. They went to the room of requirements, which had transformed itself into a big stone chamber illuminated by torches resembling the halls of the castle. Jasmine put herself in the center of the chamber when she started her lecture, she looked much more serious than what Violet had come to expect from the reincarnated witch.
"Since war is coming, I feel it is time for you to start learning more about the dark arts," said Jasmine with a solemn tone. "I have already taught you some of the simplest dark curses such as the bone breaking curse, however, those are simply fueled by aggressive anger, you want to fight your opponent, you want to beat him. Therefore that emotion is one of the easiest emotions to get in the middle of a fight. Plus, in the case of the curses I have taught you until now they don't require just emotions anyway, intent is as important as the emotions that fuel the spell."
"Expecto Patronum" A beautiful shining white raven emerged from the tip of her wand, it was warm and protective in a way that Violet had only felt once before when Jasmine had covered her with magic. It gracefully flew around them for a few minutes before dissipating.
"The Patronus is one of the most complicated pieces of dark magic there are. It creates a representation of an emotion, your happiness, it's power depends on both how much magic you give but also how much emotion you pour in. Contrary to more simple dark magic, to cast it correctly you need to use only emotions, no memories, no intent. Part of the reason it is so complicated is that it is opposed to how most magic works. " she explained with much more seriousness than usual.
"This is the safest dark spell there is, thus we are going to continue your instruction with this so that you get a feel on how to summon your emotions for battle. First, you are going to try to summon happiness. You can use memories as a clutch for the moment if that feels better for you, but remember it is the emotion that truly fuels the magic, not the memory." instructed her friend.
Violet nodded and tried to think of the times she had felt truly happy, she thought of those summer days in the park where she and Jasmine would just spend the whole day there with nothing else other than magic between them. She focused on the image using her Occlumency training to make it the only thought in her whole mind. She lifted her wand and with careful enunciation she said.
"Expecto Patronum." a white mist started to appear around the point of her wand. But Violet wasn't focused on that; she was focused on the sudden change in her emotional landscape she had felt. It was subtle, someone without Occlumency training maybe wouldn't have noticed, but she felt her emotions change unnaturally, a feeling of loss and a lingering sadness had appeared in her when previously there was none.
"That's one of the risks of casting dark magic, real dark magic." said Jasmine seemingly reading her wayward thoughts. "When the spell ends or more dangerously if you fail to do it properly you would feel the loss of what you sacrificed and the antithesis of what you sacrificed. Although if you fail to cast it properly the backlash is more intense." Jasmine hugged her delicately and the abnormal feeling disappeared into the air. "One of the reasons I decided to begin with the Patronus is that this is the worst that could happen, you aren't sacrificing anything permanently, it doesn't affect the memories themselves but the feeling of happiness that they produce when you think about them. Give it time and there won't be feeling the consequence as intensely."
Jasmine looked directly at her with those bright green eyes of hers. "The second risk of dark magic is when you are able to cast it successfully, it usually makes you feel happy, almost euphoric in the case of the most complicated pieces."
Jasmine took out her wand and pointed it to the ceiling, "Daimonikí Fotiá" she softly whispered, and from the point of her wand fire started to appear. It grew and grew until a giant snake made out of fire started to float above them both, circling them in a way that made Violet feel protected and safe. The heat of the blazes stroked her skin with much more delicacy than what she would expect from the torrent of flames that was flying above them. It reminded her of what she had felt with the Patronus just a few minutes before, however, it was a different feeling than with the other spell. If the Patronus was calm serenity and produced a feeling of warmth inside of her, this spell made you feel as if you had a possessive tiger protecting you, they weren't just protecting you they were claiming you. It had power behind it in a way that felt much more tangible to Violet.
"This is Fiendfyre is quite similar to the Patronus, if the Patronus is a personification of your happiness, this is a personification of your righteous hate, your desire to destroy, to tear apart in order to protect. Much like that desire, it has a mind of its own, it is easy to lose control of it and should be used with respect and caution." Jasmine said her voice full of solemn awe, in a way that Violet had never heard. "Doing it properly it's incredible, words fail to properly describe the emotion you feel, the power is intoxicating, you feel as if you could wrestle against Death and win."
The fire died down, despite the numerous torches, the chamber looked much more somber than it had just a few moments before. "For the Patronus, the problem is that if you are able to cast it correctly, you will feel happiness and warmth from it and you will lose that feeling when the spell ends. There have been people who use it almost like a drug, casting it until they couldn't anymore just to feel the high. Luckily most wizards are unable to cast it properly and even less have the power to cast it repeatedly, that's why it is much less regulated than other dark spells, most of the time it is completely harmless. Now try again."
Violet nodded and once more she tried to search for a memory that brought forward happiness. She remembered the day Jasmine had shown her magic, she certainly had felt happy but her emotions had also featured curiosity and anticipation, she knew that she hadn't felt as happy as she would need for the spell. Therefore, she had to look for another memory, one where happiness had been the main emotion, without other emotions muddling it. Taking a deep breath she remembered that time when they had punished that kid for killing Euryale. How Jasmine had accepted and helped her, how happy she was avenging Euryale after weeks of psychological torture.
"Expecto Patronum!" she yelled, once more a white mist appeared, but this time it remained until it solidified into a white transparent shield.
"That 's great!" said Jasmine with a wide smile on her face pride shining brightly in her eyes. "It isn't perfect yet but you are getting there, I'm sure that by the start of the next year you are going to be casting a corporeal Patronus even if you were facing dementors." she exclaimed excitedly.
Violet couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm her friend was showing. Even after so many years, she always seemed so impressed when she was able to cast some complicated piece of magic. She always seemed so amazed and proud, her praises were much more important than those made by their professor.
"I think that's enough for today. Now do you wanna duel?" asked Jasmine with a wicked grin on her face, Violet knew that whatever was coming next it was going to hurt.
After almost a full hour of non stop dueling, they lay on the floor, their chests rising and descending, their breath labored. They knew they had to move soon to take a shower and descend to eat as they had astronomy later that day. However, both were too exhausted to move a single muscle.
"What do you think?" asked Violet, her breath still uneven.
"About what?"
"Grindelwald."
"It isn't surprising I already knew war was coming, although it makes it feel more real I guess." mused Jasmine, her gaze pointed towards the scorched ceiling.
Violet hummed. "I didn't think it would have been this complicated, to be honest. When you described the war to me it seemed as simple as Dumbledore and Grindelwald dueled and that was the end of it."
"War is never simple, I never learned the details of the war, I just knew the basics. Binns was even worse dead than alive."
"But the way your cousin talked about him, they don't even talk about Dumbledore that way."
Jasmine shrugged. "I suppose that it is because there is a difference between the two, for all his prowess on magic, right now Dumbledore is seen first and foremost as an academic. We treat him with so much reverence here because he is our local prodigy. Grindelwald is Prussia's equivalent, but Dumstrang is known for their proficiency in battle, not runes or transformation; he is well known for his dueling prowess, and in dueling he can't use all his repertoire. It is normal to assume that he is much more dangerous in a fight."
"I thought he never graduated."
"He never did." agreed Jasmine. "But as you should know a diploma isn't where the brilliance of these once in a generation prodigies truly shines. It is in their feats outside of their curriculum to which Grindelwald has plenty."
Slowly Jasmine rose up groaning loudly, it was clear that she was still in pain after such an intensive duel.
"You know I will be there with you no matter what? But if you don't want to fight him, it's okay we can find another way." her face full of worry for her.
"No! We already know how Dumbledore is, always convinced that he is the only one who knows best. During your war he didn't share valuable information with the ministry putting them at risk he would do the same if we tried to collaborate with him. We need to quash that problem before it forms." affirmed Violet.
"We could work with Grindelwald, his ideas and ours align in some regards." nervously proposed Jasmine as if trying to convince herself.
"Yet muggles still outnumber us almost one hundred to one, we wouldn't survive a fight now any more than we would survive a fight. No, both Dumbledore and Grindelwald are underestimating muggles we can't follow either."
Jasmine smiled fondly at her, "Then we shall eat, let's go to the common room to take a shower, I think that Grindelwald would admit defeat if he smelled you right now." teased Jasmine, pulling Violet back to her feet. Violet smiled warmly at her friend's antics.
