A/N: Gasp! Can it be? Did I actually update? YES!!! Sorry this took so long. Writer's block, bleh. Thanks for being patient. Hope this was worth the wait. The next chapter, if I ever get it up (ha), will be full of action and all that fun stuff. Okay, I'm done. You may read now.
~~~
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: DESTINY'S CALL
~~~
Hogwarts was starting to suffer from the shortage of teachers. They had lost the headmaster to a murder, the Charms instructor to a promotion and then a staged death, the Arithmancy instructor to an arrest, and the Transfiguration instructor to a promotion. The faculty was trying to make adjustments, but no one could handle the overload for long, and classes were being cancelled left and right. Dumbledore was doing his best to think coherently, but his rage over Grindelwald was impairing his judgement, and he told Natalie Cypher that he wanted her making most of the important administrative decisions for for the time being. The deputy headmistress, like all the other teachers, was suffering from burnout, and she was starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to close the school until Grindelwald was no longer a threat and they could get more teachers to replace the ones they lost. Most of the other teachers agreed with her, and Dumbledore let her have the last word on the final decision.
A week after saving the prisoners and discovering Grindelwald was alive, Natalie arrived at that decision. It wasn't easy, but she knew it had to be done: Hogwarts needed to be closed. There weren't enough teachers, and no one could concentrate with this shadow hanging over their heads. Not until Grindelwald was dead, more teachers were found, and Rachel Revueltas's name was cleared could school resume.
Natalie didn't announce her choice immediately. She knew she would have to sooner or later, but there was still the small part of her that was afraid to do it. She almost needed more assurance. That was why she found herself sitting on a couch in the staff room at two o'clock in the morning, drinking a cup of hot chocolate and staring off into space in hopes that someone besides Peeves the poltergeist would show up and offer her some words of wisdom.
Just when she was beginning to believe that no one would come, the door opened. Natalie was surprised. Although she wanted someone to come, she didn't actually believe that anyone would. "Minerva?"
Minerva, too, was surprised to see the other person. "Natalie?" she said.
"What are you doing awake at this ungodly hour?" Natalie asked.
Minerva arched an eyebrow and walked over to her. "I was going to ask you the same thing."
Natalie tapped the sides of her mug, sending ripples through the hot liquid inside. "I couldn't sleep. What's your excuse?"
"I was asleep, but then I woke up and remembered that I left my gradebook in here earlier," Minerva answered. "I knew I would have to come get it before someone like Peeves found it."
"Minerva McGonagall, forgetting things as important as gradebooks?" Natalie said. She clicked her tongue. "My, my, what is this world coming to? And not a word about prepositions."
"What about beginning sentences with the word 'and'?" Minerva asked, and both women chuckled.
"Has anyone ever told you that your obsession with grammar is quite annoying?"
"Frequently." Minerva spotted her gradebook lying on a counter and decided to go get it before she forgot again. She walked back over to Natalie and the couch, flipping through the book to make sure no damage had been done. Upon seeing that it hadn't been altered, she relaxed and sat down again. She sighed, placed her elbows on her knees, and rested her face in her palms. "I don't understand. I'm usually not this forgetful."
"Well, ever since... last week, no one's been acting like they normally do," Natalie said.
"Especially Albus." Minerva shifted full support of her face to her left hand and let her right drop. Her fingers drummed against her knee for a few moments before she spoke again. "It's like... I don't know, almost like he's another person."
"But he did ask you to marry him," Natalie pointed out. "That implies coherent thought."
"Yes, but he's been struggling to act like he knows me ever since," Minerva replied. "I know he's trying, but... but it's like there's a wall in his mind seperating his normal self from the side induced by seeing Grindelwald alive." She paused, then said, "You're going to recommend that the school be closed, aren't you?"
"How did you know?"
"Why else would you be here at this hour?" Minerva asked. Then, she added, "And, well, we've been thinking you might do that for a few days now."
"So much for the element of surprise."
"Are we going to devote all our energy to stopping Grindelwald?"
Natalie nodded. "What else would we do?"
"I know, I know, rhetorical question," Minerva said. "Any idea as to how we're going to do it?"
"None whatsoever." She turned her head and looked at the other woman. "You?"
Minerva shook her head. "No clue."
~~~
Albus Dumbledore couldn't sleep.
For hours, he had been tossing and turning in his bed, waiting for sleep to come with no success. Sleeping had been difficult for him for the past few months, and almost impossible since finding out Grindelwald was alive, but had consumed a sleeping potion before going to bed almost three hours ago, and not only was he still awake, he was fully alert. A force stronger than exhaustion was at work. Something was going to happen tonight. He didn't know what it was or who it would happen to. All he knew was that something was going to happen, and it was going to be big.
He gave up on sleep, got out of bed, dressed, and then pondered what to do for a moment. He thought about checking on Minerva, but wasn't sure how she would feel about being woken up at two o'clock in the morning by a crazy old man who wanted to make sure she was alive. After thinking about that for a moment, he figured he probably didn't have anything to worry about. He'd felt something when Armando Dippet died, and he was much closer to Minerva than he had ever been to the former headmaster. He and Dippet had been friends, of course, but he'd always been closer to Grindelwald. Dumbledore couldn't help but wonder how Dippet would feel if he knew that it was Grindelwald who killed him.
He decided to pass the time by working on memorizing the dictionary. If nothing else, it would help to take his mind off Grindelwald. He walked over to his bookcase, took out the dictionary, and began searching for where he'd last left off. As he was flipping through the Gs, though, something happened. It felt like something had just hit his head. The pain and surprise were so great that he dropped the dictionary and almost fell to the floor himself. Somehow, a coherent thought made its way through the pain: Grindelwald was here, now, and within the next few hours, someone was going to die.
There had been plenty of signs. It was obvious that the time Professor Liem had spoken of so long ago was at hand. He had to find Grindelwald and stop him, even if it meant losing his own life in the process. There was nothing else he could do.
~~~
After a few more minutes of conversation, Minerva felt she should probably be getting back to bed. She said good night to Natalie ("Good morning is more like it," Natalie replied) and left the staff room. She was making her way through the halls of the school toward her chambers when something stopped her: the sound of approaching footsteps. "Natalie?" she called tentatively, glancing around. Nothing. No response, no more footsteps, nothing. Was she hearing things?
Minerva stood still for a few more moments, then decided it was probably just sleep deprivation and continued on her way. When she resumed walking, though, so did the footsteps. She stopped walking again. "Who's there?" she asked.
Silence.
She was starting to get angry. Either someone was playing with her mind or she was going crazy. She took two steps, and heard the echo of three. "This isn't funny!" she nearly yelled.
The sound of someone chuckling was heard, and a figure stepped into her line of vision. "Yes, it is."
Her eyes grew wide with shock. "You!"
Quinn Grindelwald smiled cruelly at her. "It's good to see you, too, Minerva."
"Don't even try that, you bastard," she hissed.
He held his arms out and shrugged. "Hey, I tried to help you. It's not my fault that you didn't take it."
She was so furious she didn't even know where to begin. He murdered one of her closest friends, sent an innocent woman to Azkaban for his crimes, and nearly tore her life apart. What made her the most angry, though, was how he pulled his death off. Inducing a death-like state on himself was within the realm of possibility for someone as skilled with charms as he was, but what about the acclobane? That mystery still had yet to be explained.
Minerva realized that thinking probably wasn't the best thing to be doing right now, and decided to take action. She reached for her wand, but the time it took her to get it out was more than enough for Grindelwald to assume the offensive. As soon as her wand was out, he seized her by the wrist. He tried to break it, but he had forgotten that Minerva had been trained in self-defense when she became an Auror, and he only got as far as dislocation before she reacted, planted her elbow in the side of his face, and sent him falling to the floor.
While Grindelwald struggled to his feet, Minerva painfully popped her wrist back into place. It would be all right eventually, but it was useless for the time being. Right now, she had one choice, and that was the one she turned to only as a last resort: run.
She took off sprinting. For a few moments, she contemplated going into her Animagus form, but realized that with a hurt wrist, the transformation would not be advantageous. Grindelwald was coming up fast. She was running out of options.
Suddenly, she felt the force of a Stunning Charm hit her in the back, and everything went dark.
~~~
For reasons unknown to himself, Dumbledore found himself racing to the staff room as soon as he could get back on his feet. When he got there, though, he knew why. Lying facedown on the floor was Natalie Cypher. He feared she had been killed, but when he checked, he saw that she wasn't dead, just stunned. Sighing with relief, he took out his wand and pointed it at her. "Ennervate."
Natalie's eyes opened, and the first word out of her mouth was, "Grindelwald!"
"What about him?"
"He's here! Now!" She tried to sit up, but her muscles were still stiff from being stunned, so it proved to be more difficult than she anticipated. "You have to stop him," she said. "Look for him! I'll alert the rest of the staff. Go!"
He didn't need to be told twice.
~~~
Half an hour later, everyone at Hogwarts was awake, staff and students alike. Students were instructed to stay in their dormitories, and the teachers searched the school for Grindelwald. They were unsuccessful. The only evidence they had for Grindelwald's appearance was Natalie's statement and Dumbledore's premonition.
"Nothing," grumbled Geoffrey Poe, the head of Slytherin house, as all the staff members assembled outside the Great Hall after their search of the school. "Not one stinking clue."
"I know he was here," Natalie said. "I saw his face. He stunned me."
"I believe you, Natalie," Poe assured her. "I just don't understand how he could have disappeared so quickly."
"A secret passage, maybe?" Jennifer Hensley suggested.
"Possible, but unlikely," came the reply from Theodore Chaplain.
Suddenly, Warrick Larios realized something. "Where's Minerva?"
Dumbledore nearly jumped as all the pieces came together in his head. "Of course!" he shouted, and ran into the Great Hall.
The other faculty members, not knowing what else to do, followed him.
Dumbledore stopped running when he reached the fireplace and dropped to his knees next to it. "Look at this," he said, taking a pinch of a powdery substance that was sprinkled all over the fireplace. He showed it to the first person that appeared by his side, which happened to be Larios. "Tell me what this is."
Larios caught on at once. "Floo powder," he said.
Dumbledore stood up. "That's what happened," he said. "Grindelwald used this fireplace to escape, and he has Minerva with him."
"That fireplace is connected to the one in the Minister of Magic's office," Natalie said.
Dumbledore nodded. "I know. That means he's in London." He stepped into the fireplace. "I'm going after him. Natalie, you're in charge, and be ready to take on all of your duties in the event that I do not return."
"What do you want me to do?" Natalie asked.
"See about getting a certain individual released from Azkaban."
"But, Albus," Larios said, "unless you kill Grindelwald, no one is going to believe Rachel's innocence."
His eyes gleamed with a mix of fury and determination. "Then that is what I will do."
"You're going alone?" a confused Paul Fenner asked.
"I have to," Dumbledore said, and took a handful of Floo powder from the container mounted on the wall next to the fireplace. "None of you must interfere."
"But he's so powerful," Natalie said. "You could be killed!"
He looked at the powder in his hand, and saw that his fingers were trembling. No one ever said facing destiny was easy, but he knew it had to be done. "My life doesn't matter," he said. "If my fate is to die while destroying him, then so be it."
~~~
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: DESTINY'S CALL
~~~
Hogwarts was starting to suffer from the shortage of teachers. They had lost the headmaster to a murder, the Charms instructor to a promotion and then a staged death, the Arithmancy instructor to an arrest, and the Transfiguration instructor to a promotion. The faculty was trying to make adjustments, but no one could handle the overload for long, and classes were being cancelled left and right. Dumbledore was doing his best to think coherently, but his rage over Grindelwald was impairing his judgement, and he told Natalie Cypher that he wanted her making most of the important administrative decisions for for the time being. The deputy headmistress, like all the other teachers, was suffering from burnout, and she was starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to close the school until Grindelwald was no longer a threat and they could get more teachers to replace the ones they lost. Most of the other teachers agreed with her, and Dumbledore let her have the last word on the final decision.
A week after saving the prisoners and discovering Grindelwald was alive, Natalie arrived at that decision. It wasn't easy, but she knew it had to be done: Hogwarts needed to be closed. There weren't enough teachers, and no one could concentrate with this shadow hanging over their heads. Not until Grindelwald was dead, more teachers were found, and Rachel Revueltas's name was cleared could school resume.
Natalie didn't announce her choice immediately. She knew she would have to sooner or later, but there was still the small part of her that was afraid to do it. She almost needed more assurance. That was why she found herself sitting on a couch in the staff room at two o'clock in the morning, drinking a cup of hot chocolate and staring off into space in hopes that someone besides Peeves the poltergeist would show up and offer her some words of wisdom.
Just when she was beginning to believe that no one would come, the door opened. Natalie was surprised. Although she wanted someone to come, she didn't actually believe that anyone would. "Minerva?"
Minerva, too, was surprised to see the other person. "Natalie?" she said.
"What are you doing awake at this ungodly hour?" Natalie asked.
Minerva arched an eyebrow and walked over to her. "I was going to ask you the same thing."
Natalie tapped the sides of her mug, sending ripples through the hot liquid inside. "I couldn't sleep. What's your excuse?"
"I was asleep, but then I woke up and remembered that I left my gradebook in here earlier," Minerva answered. "I knew I would have to come get it before someone like Peeves found it."
"Minerva McGonagall, forgetting things as important as gradebooks?" Natalie said. She clicked her tongue. "My, my, what is this world coming to? And not a word about prepositions."
"What about beginning sentences with the word 'and'?" Minerva asked, and both women chuckled.
"Has anyone ever told you that your obsession with grammar is quite annoying?"
"Frequently." Minerva spotted her gradebook lying on a counter and decided to go get it before she forgot again. She walked back over to Natalie and the couch, flipping through the book to make sure no damage had been done. Upon seeing that it hadn't been altered, she relaxed and sat down again. She sighed, placed her elbows on her knees, and rested her face in her palms. "I don't understand. I'm usually not this forgetful."
"Well, ever since... last week, no one's been acting like they normally do," Natalie said.
"Especially Albus." Minerva shifted full support of her face to her left hand and let her right drop. Her fingers drummed against her knee for a few moments before she spoke again. "It's like... I don't know, almost like he's another person."
"But he did ask you to marry him," Natalie pointed out. "That implies coherent thought."
"Yes, but he's been struggling to act like he knows me ever since," Minerva replied. "I know he's trying, but... but it's like there's a wall in his mind seperating his normal self from the side induced by seeing Grindelwald alive." She paused, then said, "You're going to recommend that the school be closed, aren't you?"
"How did you know?"
"Why else would you be here at this hour?" Minerva asked. Then, she added, "And, well, we've been thinking you might do that for a few days now."
"So much for the element of surprise."
"Are we going to devote all our energy to stopping Grindelwald?"
Natalie nodded. "What else would we do?"
"I know, I know, rhetorical question," Minerva said. "Any idea as to how we're going to do it?"
"None whatsoever." She turned her head and looked at the other woman. "You?"
Minerva shook her head. "No clue."
~~~
Albus Dumbledore couldn't sleep.
For hours, he had been tossing and turning in his bed, waiting for sleep to come with no success. Sleeping had been difficult for him for the past few months, and almost impossible since finding out Grindelwald was alive, but had consumed a sleeping potion before going to bed almost three hours ago, and not only was he still awake, he was fully alert. A force stronger than exhaustion was at work. Something was going to happen tonight. He didn't know what it was or who it would happen to. All he knew was that something was going to happen, and it was going to be big.
He gave up on sleep, got out of bed, dressed, and then pondered what to do for a moment. He thought about checking on Minerva, but wasn't sure how she would feel about being woken up at two o'clock in the morning by a crazy old man who wanted to make sure she was alive. After thinking about that for a moment, he figured he probably didn't have anything to worry about. He'd felt something when Armando Dippet died, and he was much closer to Minerva than he had ever been to the former headmaster. He and Dippet had been friends, of course, but he'd always been closer to Grindelwald. Dumbledore couldn't help but wonder how Dippet would feel if he knew that it was Grindelwald who killed him.
He decided to pass the time by working on memorizing the dictionary. If nothing else, it would help to take his mind off Grindelwald. He walked over to his bookcase, took out the dictionary, and began searching for where he'd last left off. As he was flipping through the Gs, though, something happened. It felt like something had just hit his head. The pain and surprise were so great that he dropped the dictionary and almost fell to the floor himself. Somehow, a coherent thought made its way through the pain: Grindelwald was here, now, and within the next few hours, someone was going to die.
There had been plenty of signs. It was obvious that the time Professor Liem had spoken of so long ago was at hand. He had to find Grindelwald and stop him, even if it meant losing his own life in the process. There was nothing else he could do.
~~~
After a few more minutes of conversation, Minerva felt she should probably be getting back to bed. She said good night to Natalie ("Good morning is more like it," Natalie replied) and left the staff room. She was making her way through the halls of the school toward her chambers when something stopped her: the sound of approaching footsteps. "Natalie?" she called tentatively, glancing around. Nothing. No response, no more footsteps, nothing. Was she hearing things?
Minerva stood still for a few more moments, then decided it was probably just sleep deprivation and continued on her way. When she resumed walking, though, so did the footsteps. She stopped walking again. "Who's there?" she asked.
Silence.
She was starting to get angry. Either someone was playing with her mind or she was going crazy. She took two steps, and heard the echo of three. "This isn't funny!" she nearly yelled.
The sound of someone chuckling was heard, and a figure stepped into her line of vision. "Yes, it is."
Her eyes grew wide with shock. "You!"
Quinn Grindelwald smiled cruelly at her. "It's good to see you, too, Minerva."
"Don't even try that, you bastard," she hissed.
He held his arms out and shrugged. "Hey, I tried to help you. It's not my fault that you didn't take it."
She was so furious she didn't even know where to begin. He murdered one of her closest friends, sent an innocent woman to Azkaban for his crimes, and nearly tore her life apart. What made her the most angry, though, was how he pulled his death off. Inducing a death-like state on himself was within the realm of possibility for someone as skilled with charms as he was, but what about the acclobane? That mystery still had yet to be explained.
Minerva realized that thinking probably wasn't the best thing to be doing right now, and decided to take action. She reached for her wand, but the time it took her to get it out was more than enough for Grindelwald to assume the offensive. As soon as her wand was out, he seized her by the wrist. He tried to break it, but he had forgotten that Minerva had been trained in self-defense when she became an Auror, and he only got as far as dislocation before she reacted, planted her elbow in the side of his face, and sent him falling to the floor.
While Grindelwald struggled to his feet, Minerva painfully popped her wrist back into place. It would be all right eventually, but it was useless for the time being. Right now, she had one choice, and that was the one she turned to only as a last resort: run.
She took off sprinting. For a few moments, she contemplated going into her Animagus form, but realized that with a hurt wrist, the transformation would not be advantageous. Grindelwald was coming up fast. She was running out of options.
Suddenly, she felt the force of a Stunning Charm hit her in the back, and everything went dark.
~~~
For reasons unknown to himself, Dumbledore found himself racing to the staff room as soon as he could get back on his feet. When he got there, though, he knew why. Lying facedown on the floor was Natalie Cypher. He feared she had been killed, but when he checked, he saw that she wasn't dead, just stunned. Sighing with relief, he took out his wand and pointed it at her. "Ennervate."
Natalie's eyes opened, and the first word out of her mouth was, "Grindelwald!"
"What about him?"
"He's here! Now!" She tried to sit up, but her muscles were still stiff from being stunned, so it proved to be more difficult than she anticipated. "You have to stop him," she said. "Look for him! I'll alert the rest of the staff. Go!"
He didn't need to be told twice.
~~~
Half an hour later, everyone at Hogwarts was awake, staff and students alike. Students were instructed to stay in their dormitories, and the teachers searched the school for Grindelwald. They were unsuccessful. The only evidence they had for Grindelwald's appearance was Natalie's statement and Dumbledore's premonition.
"Nothing," grumbled Geoffrey Poe, the head of Slytherin house, as all the staff members assembled outside the Great Hall after their search of the school. "Not one stinking clue."
"I know he was here," Natalie said. "I saw his face. He stunned me."
"I believe you, Natalie," Poe assured her. "I just don't understand how he could have disappeared so quickly."
"A secret passage, maybe?" Jennifer Hensley suggested.
"Possible, but unlikely," came the reply from Theodore Chaplain.
Suddenly, Warrick Larios realized something. "Where's Minerva?"
Dumbledore nearly jumped as all the pieces came together in his head. "Of course!" he shouted, and ran into the Great Hall.
The other faculty members, not knowing what else to do, followed him.
Dumbledore stopped running when he reached the fireplace and dropped to his knees next to it. "Look at this," he said, taking a pinch of a powdery substance that was sprinkled all over the fireplace. He showed it to the first person that appeared by his side, which happened to be Larios. "Tell me what this is."
Larios caught on at once. "Floo powder," he said.
Dumbledore stood up. "That's what happened," he said. "Grindelwald used this fireplace to escape, and he has Minerva with him."
"That fireplace is connected to the one in the Minister of Magic's office," Natalie said.
Dumbledore nodded. "I know. That means he's in London." He stepped into the fireplace. "I'm going after him. Natalie, you're in charge, and be ready to take on all of your duties in the event that I do not return."
"What do you want me to do?" Natalie asked.
"See about getting a certain individual released from Azkaban."
"But, Albus," Larios said, "unless you kill Grindelwald, no one is going to believe Rachel's innocence."
His eyes gleamed with a mix of fury and determination. "Then that is what I will do."
"You're going alone?" a confused Paul Fenner asked.
"I have to," Dumbledore said, and took a handful of Floo powder from the container mounted on the wall next to the fireplace. "None of you must interfere."
"But he's so powerful," Natalie said. "You could be killed!"
He looked at the powder in his hand, and saw that his fingers were trembling. No one ever said facing destiny was easy, but he knew it had to be done. "My life doesn't matter," he said. "If my fate is to die while destroying him, then so be it."
