CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE ENEMY LIVES

~~~

Alive. Quinn Grindelwald was alive.

Albus Dumbledore was in a state of shock during the entire trip back to England. He wouldn't speak to anyone, not even Minerva. They hadn't told Larios, Moody, or Natalie about Grindelwald yet, so the three of them had no idea what had Dumbledore so upset. Eventually, they gave up on trying to talk to him and went about other business. Natalie tended to Ben and the other Muggles, and Larios and Moody discussed random things pertaining to the Ministry of Magic. Minerva tried to get Dumbledore to come around, but not even she could get him to react to anything. Like the others, she soon decided to leave him alone, too.

As Minerva walked through the airplane to join Moody and Larios, she contemplated whether or not to tell them about Grindelwald. She wondered if that's what Ben Cypher was talking about when he told her and Natalie that they were walking into a trap. Grindelwald must have been the one Ben said was "in charge around here". That explained a lot; from how Grindelwald knew that Natalie was Ben's sister to how he used him to lure them there. But why? Why was he doing this? How could Grindelwald even be alive? He had been confirmed dead by the Ministry of Magic, and there was enough acclobane in his system to kill him ten times over. Something didn't make sense. And if Grindelwald was alive, then Rachel Revueltas certainly didn't kill him, which meant she probably didn't kill Armando Dippet, either. What did Grindelwald have against Rachel, or any of them for that matter? Had he been deceiving them all this time?

"Hi, Minerva," Moody said when he saw her enter their section of the plane. "How's Professor Dumbledore doing?"

Minerva sighed and glanced out the window for a moment before turning her gaze back to Moody and Larios. "Not good," she answered. "He's not talking. He's not even moving. All he does is stare straight ahead with a worried look on his face and blink every once in a while."

"You two saw something strange in France," Larios said. "Not just anything could get Albus Dumbledore in this sort of mood. What was it?"

She sighed again and figured that now was as good a time to tell them as any. "Grindelwald's alive."

For almost a full minute, Moody and Larios were speechless. Finally, Moody choked, "That's... that's impossible. I checked the body myself. He's dead."

Minerva shook her head. "No, Alastor. He's alive. We saw him."

Alastor folded his arms across his chest. "You're imagining things, Minerva. Quinn Grindelwald is dead."

"I know what I saw, Alastor. Do you think anything else would have Albus as upset as he is?"

"Minerva, we must be realistic," said Larios. "Grindelwald is dead. People don't come back from the dead, and unless what you saw was a ghost-"

"It wasn't a ghost!" Minerva interrupted. "It was a real, live, flesh-and-blood Grindelwald! I don't know how or why he's alive, but I'm beginning to think that Albus is right about Rachel's innocence."

"What are you suggesting?" Larios asked. "That Grindelwald killed Dippet and faked his own death to pin everything on Rachel?"

Minerva paused for a moment to reflect on everything that had happened since her arrival at Hogwarts as a teacher. "Not initially," she said. "I remember him telling me on several occasions when I was involved with Armando that Albus was in love with me. It was almost like he was trying to turn the two of them against each other. Then, when Armando was murdered, who was the prime suspect? Albus."

"But the murder weapon was found in Rachel's possession," said Larios.

"It could have been planted," Minerva said.

"It was covered with Dippet's blood and Revueltas's fingertips," Moody pointed out.

"It was a lamp!" Minerva said. "She probably touched it! Grindelwald is alive, and he set up Rachel to take the hit for him."

"What about the acclobane?" Moody asked. "Explain that."

She didn't have a response to that one. That was the only part of this puzzle that didn't make sense. Everything up until there could be explained. "I don't know," she admitted. "All I know is that somehow, Grindelwald is alive, and as long as he's alive, he's dangerous. Someone is going to die, and I have a feeling that I know who it is."

Moody and Larios looked at each other and nodded. They knew as well as she did that if the real killer hadn't been caught and he continued on his current streak, the next one to be decapitated, disembowled, poisoned, or fall victim to some other brutal form of death was Albus Dumbledore. "Should we get some Aurors to patrol the school?" Moody suggested.

"That didn't work with Armando or anyone else," Minerva said. "Nothing personal, Alastor, but I don't think Aurors would make any difference."

"What if it was me?" he asked. "If McCarthy won't let me go, I'll quit. I will not let another person die who I could have saved if given the opportunity."

She shook her head. "No. Grindelwald's not afraid of you. He won't hesitate to take you out as well."

"Did Grindelwald see you?" asked Larios.

"I don't think so, but I think he might have known we were coming."

Moody cringed. "Oh, shit."

"What?" Minerva and Larios asked in unison.

"I ran through that place on fire," Moody said. "Do you honestly think that wouldn't be a dead giveaway? If Grindelwald's alive, like you say he is, he'll know. He thought that prank was good." He sighed and put his hand on Larios's shoulder. "Just kill me now. Throw me out the hatch or something."

"Shut up, Alastor," Minerva said. "You had no way of knowing, and it got all those men out before we blew the place. We're going to have to be extra careful."

"What about Albus?" Larios said. "He's not going to be able to think a coherent thought until Grindelwald's head is mounted on his wall."

She didn't respond. She knew Larios spoke the truth. If Grindelwald was alive, Dumbledore was not going to rest until the man they all thought was dead became so.

~~~

They landed in London about an hour later, and the freed prisoners of war were taken to a hospital. Moody went home, and the rest of them went to the Ministry of Magic and used the fireplace in Tobias Hawkins's office to get back to Hogwarts. Not a word was mentioned about the possibility of Grindelwald being alive, and Minerva made Moody promise not to say anything to McCarthy or anyone else at the Ministry. Hawkins already thought they were crazy, so they saw no need to further that notion until there was no doubt that Grindelwald was alive in all of their minds. Dumbledore and Minerva, though, required no convincing. They knew what they saw. He was alive, but until they could prove it, they were at an impasse.

After Minerva said good night to Larios and Natalie (Dumbledore remaining silent and all), she and Dumbledore walked through the halls of the school. Her quarters were on the way to his, and he walked her there every night. Usually, they were engaged in some sort of conversation, but now, there was nothing that could be said. The same shadow was hanging over their heads, one that could not be lifted until Grindelwald was destroyed.

"He's alive."

When she heard those words escape Dumbledore's lips in a choked whisper, Minerva glanced over at him, surprised to hear him speak. He looked at her, too, with an intense, desperate look in his eyes that she had never seen before. "He's alive," he said again. "Rachel is innocent, and he's alive."

"He framed her," Minerva said.

Dumbledore nodded. "I know. But why? Why Rachel?"

"Because it didn't work on you."

He stopped walking, and she did, too. Finally, everything made sense. Grindelwald had been evil all along. Who knew how long he had been deceiving them? "He used us," Dumbledore said. "He used us all."

"You, me, Armando, Rachel, Riddle..." She didn't like thinking Tom Riddle fell into the same category as herself and the others in this situation, but the fact remained that he had been used just like the rest of them.

"The rest of the faculty, Hawkins, McCarthy... everyone," he finished. "He destroyed us from the inside; lied, tricked, turned us against ourselves. Why did he do it?"

"Because that's what evil people do," she said. If there was a better reason out there, then she couldn't think of it.

"This is it," Dumbledore said. "This is what Professor Liem told me all those years ago. He said that someday I would save Hogwarts from a great evil and that there would be signs. That 'great evil' has to be Grindelwald, and I'd say that there's been plenty of signs."

Minerva didn't believe in Divination, but this Professor Liem sounded like he really was a true Seer, and if his prediction was correct, then prophecy was coming true right before their eyes. "Did this Professor Liem happen to predict if you would come out of this alive?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, he didn't. Not even the most powerful Seer can predict death. There are things that simply cannot be seen, and death is one of them. Don't tell Chaplain I told you that."

She smiled in spite of the situation. "Don't worry."

He didn't know if he was going to survive the encounter with Grindelwald he knew was coming, but he knew that with her support, his chances were a lot higher. He reached for her hands, and they kissed. When they pulled apart, the question that he had wanted to ask her for months came out. "Will you marry me?"

Minerva was so surprised that for a few moments, she couldn't even blink. She had never expected a marriage proposal to be so... spontaneous. She wondered if he was thinking clearly. "Are you serious?" she asked. "I mean... shouldn't you wait until you're not exhausted and -"

"Deranged and neurotic and all around psychologically unstable?" he finished.

"Uh... something like that."

"I could, but believe it or not, I am seeing things more clearly than I ever have before," he said. "I love you. I have always loved you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I plan for that to be a very long time. I have no way of knowing what will kill me someday, but I swear that it will not be Grindelwald."

"Well, in that case, I guess you're stuck with me."

"Is that a yes?"

"Of course it is."

By the time they got around to saying good night, it was morning.