A/N : okay, just a quick little thing…when I say "Germanic" I do not mean German…I mean from the lands of and around Germany…to my knowledge, most of those nations (Germany, Denmark, etc.) have pretty similar accents (someone correct me if I'm wrong)…I do hope you can read through the accents, I didn't make them too hard to understand…ENJOY!
Chapter #2 – Grindelwald and Dumbledore
After a nearly day long journey, they touched down in Denmark. Tom had never ridden a broom so long and he was getting quite sore. He actually had to get his balance back once he got on the ground, as did Lena, who had never been on a broom that long either. They both had the idea of getting a flying carpet, which seemed to have not been as harsh on the Macnairs' sense of equilibrium once they were on the ground.
Tom looked around, finding his surroundings were not all that different than what it was like in some parts of England. There was a large forest that surrounded the area that looked very deep, almost like the Forbidden Forest. The main part of the town was only about a hundred yards way from where they had landed. All the houses looked to be made of either stone or brick with wooden beams making geometric shapes in buildings' facades. The streets were smooth cobblestone with drainage ditches running along their edges next to the buildings. There were many witches and wizards milling around between homes and shops. One of the men among them shouted at the five arrivals and ran towards them to greet them.
"Dame Isolda!" The man spoke with hardly an accent at all. He was young (though still older than Tom) and well-built, wearing what looked like woolen robes. He was clean-shaven, tanned, and had short dark brown hair. His features looked as though they had been chiseled somewhat roughly from stone, but it was probably just the result of many harsh winters. "How good to see you again! Come, come…"
Darcy's mother smiled and followed him. The man led them through the crowd, all of who seemed to know the Macnairs, and watched the two strangers with interest. They reached a tavern after a short distance and entered. It was a rather roomy place with the beams above them for the roof exposed. There were two fireplaces crackling merrily at either end of the room. Several wooden tables were scattered around the room with four chairs at most of them.
The man that had lead them there hurried over to a table where there was a group of five men sitting – men that, in Tom's opinion, looked very much like they would have been friends of Grindelwald. They had the same beards and hair, as well as about the same build. "Soren, Gregos, look who's here."
The men at the table all looked up and one stood. "Isolda…dear, how haff you been? Ve thought you might not come back."
"Vell," said Darcy's mother in a voice thick with a Germanic accent, "my son has a friend dat vishes to meet you all. Soren, dis is Tom Riddle."
"Riddle?!"
The young man was shocked when all of the men said that. Had Grindelwald said that much about him? He watched them all, wondering what they were going to say or do.
"You vere the one that Grindelvald talked of so much. Ve are so pleased to meet you."
"Ja, ve dought you might not come here, vhat vid dat Dumbledore's…"
There was an angry grumbling that went around the entire tavern it seemed. Tom fully understood the feeling too, even though he would never admit to actually be peeved over the lose of Grindelwald as a teacher. Yet there were still some questions that he had not had answered, not even by Darcy, that dealt with the Dark Lord that had just been defeated.
"Could any of you tell me exactly what happened to Grindelwald? I know so little about it," he said quietly, knowing by the way they had reacted it was still a very bothersome subject to speak of.
"Ja, come und sit." Soren summoned an extra chair from another table just by pointing at it. "Und I'll tell you vhat happened dat night."
Tom sat and Soren ordered a pint of mead for him. Though he was not really in the mood to be drinking anything (for he had never been one for alcohol), he still tried it and found it was not half bad. While he drank, as did most of the other men at the table, Soren told Tom of what happened. He had not noticed Lena and the Macnairs disappear, he was too wrapped up in hearing about Grindelwald.
"It vos one of dose strangely eerie nights vhen all is quiet, one dat made people dink dat someding ill vos going to happen. Grindelvald had said dat de aura of de night vos one he did not like when he left this table to retire for the night. It vos not long before midnight vhen Dumbledore appeared right outside of the house in vhich Grindelvald vos staying. He politely knocked und all, people said. Vilhelmine, Grindelvald's hauskeeper, opened de door und she knew immediately who it vos. Oh, vhen she screamed, it vos like de entire town voke.
"Grindelvald ran out of his haus und starting dueling vid Dumbledore, right in the middle of de street, still in his nightshirt! Half de town vos out dere in no time, votching und vaiting. Some vere even taking bets, I dink. But vhen Dumbledore cast de Adficos Curse, oh, all de onlookers scattered. Our great Dark Vizard vos den powerless. It's vos not nice to see a vizard's magic sucked out of him like breath. Dumbledore took him to the Ministry headquarters in København, but he had already been punished so dey let him go. He disappeared after dat und right now no one knows vhere he is. Many of his friends are trying to find him. But ve haff had little success so far."
Tom had listened intently, but still, the fact that it had been Dumbledore bothered him still. "What can you tell me about Dumbledore?"
"Oh," one of the other men said, "he is not one to play vith. No, no. He used to be un Auror, und a very good one. He vos very feared until some oracular friend of his told him that he vould be teaching the future Dark Lord at that school in Scotland. He left his job at the British Ministry and vent there to start teaching immediately. Dumb reason to go into teaching, in my opinion. Trying to stop Dark vizards before they become Dark vizards. Vhere's the fun in that?"
All the people around the table had a good chuckle at that, but Tom was thinking. "No, I actually think that he might have just been looking for the student that might end up becoming that new Dark Lord, so he knew who he was, so he might find some weakness that that person had…"
"Eh," Soren said, "could be…could be…"
"So, did anyone know how Dumbledore found Grindelwald?"
"Dere are a lot of rumors about dat. No one really knows for sure."
"Ah, but one of the parts of it dat tends to stay de same is dat he vos told by some spy. But vid all de Aurors dat vere looking for him, vhy dat spy vould haff gone to Dumbledore instead of de Aurors, no one knows."
Oh, Tom knew. He was certain that he knew. It was to show Tom what Dumbledore was made of and what he was capable of. Perhaps it had been to serve as a warning to him. But Tom would not fear the Transfiguration professor, he had no reason to. Tom decided, though, right then, that he would become more powerful than Grindelwald. He would not be so easily defeated by anyone…least of all Dumbledore.
"So vhy haff you sought us out, young Tom," one of the men asked.
"I really just wanted to know what happened. I wanted to come and talk to the people that were friends and associates of Grindelwald. Perhaps even find a teacher among you that might take his place."
"You are still interested in the Dark Arts?"
"Oh, yes, very much so. If anything, my desire to learn has only increased since April."
"Vell, sadly, none of us are good as teachers. Grindelvald vos de one dat vould haff been good for dat."
"I understand. But I am sure there are plenty of other Dark wizards I can learn from. Right?"
"Acutally," Gregos was wagging his finger, seeming to have suddenly thought of something, "I do know of a vizard that lives out in the forest near town. He vos a good friend of Grindelvald, though ve do not know too much about him. He tends to keep to himself most of time. But he might just be able to help you start learning more about the Dark Arts."
Tom was suddenly beaming with joy. His luck was extremely good at the moment. Meeting Grindelwald's friends and possibly having a new teacher dropped into his lap. This was great! He smiled at them all.
Lena suddenly came up behind him and touched his shoulder lightly. He turned to her and she smiled. "It's getting late, Tom, and I'm sure you're tired. If you can pull yourself away from the discussion…"
At her mentioning being tired, he did suddenly feel tired. A massive yawn escaped him and he turned to the others at the table. "If you would excuse me…"
"Oh, ja, go on to bed," Soren said, waving him off.
"Und sleep well," another man said.
"Ve vill be here in de morning."
"Ve are alvays here."
Tom nodded to them and he walked off with Lena. He thought that she would need to get a room first, but she said that she had gotten the room before he sat down to talk to those men. He asked where the Macnairs were and she pointed up the stairs they were climbing. Tom did not say that he had not noticed she was gone, but he knew that she knew it anyway. They settled down in bed together and Tom drifted off to sleep before Lena, tired from the long trip they had made to get there. But in the morning, he would be ready to get into deeper discussions with them, to see what else he might learn.
*********
To my reviewers –
Aurdomiel, Ravenstar – yes, I know how long you've been waiting – just as long as everyone else…:-P Hmm, Korbin acting strange…you know, that doesn't really mean he's a spy or anything…it could just be he doesn't want to be lonely…after all, he has no one now – wife dead, only child gone off to who-knows-where…I'd want my daughter to stay home in that situation too, most likely…
Lady Mandara Snake – thanks for thinking it's a great start…I did really try…you have no idea how many times I rewrote the first few chapters of this story over the past few months…
lord archimonde – yes, I do realize it's been a month…and I did mean to get the first chapter out sooner than that...but don't worry…as long as nothing happens *crosses fingers* you'll be getting a chapter a week from now on…and I hope I answered your questions in this chapter…and was this chapter long enough for you?
IRM Karmada Dothlthleig – thanks for saying it's a good start…^_^
Liv - *dances* you still love it…YAY!!! Hope you feel that way once chapter 10 or so rolls around…
(insert name here) – I hope it'll prove to be as good (or better) as the previous story as well…but for more than half of this story I have so little information to go on…so I'm really just guessing at stuff that happened…^_^;