Chapter 6

Austria was warm. Of course, it was only autumn, so this wasn't too surprising. Emily had booked them a portkey the same day they had discussed their plans to come here. The next morning she had two small bags packed and was shaking him awake for their departure.

"Why the bags? If we are just asking some questions, why do we need to be packed for a trip?"

Harry watched as his wife sighed exasperatedly. Knowing that whatever was obvious to her that was not obvious to him was about to be delivered in a condescending lecture, Harry held up a hand to stop her. "It's early Emily. Just tell me."

The image must have been amusing because Emily lightly chuckled. "We might get a lead, so I packed for a best case scenario. Every moment could count after all."

So Harry found himself standing on foreign soil once again. After having visited several different countries with Emily already, he found the sense of travelling with her again comforting.

"Been awhile since we've done this, huh?"

"Not even half a year, yet. Your youth is showing if you think six months is so long a period."

Harry with a grin, was ready with a retort. "And your years are showing if you thing six months passes by so fast. Careful, at your age a single fall could snap a hi- argh, damn it Emily."

He watched as his beautiful, young looking wife walked away spinning her wand betwixt her fingers. Rubbing his side from the stinging hex, Harry made to follow her. He knew she hated it when he spoke about her age. Which of course was why he did it. Looking around to his surroundings showed him nothing more than them being on a somewhat abandoned mountain ridge.

"So, where is this place?"

Emily kept moving, raising a delicate hand and pointing ahead of her slightly to the right. Harry saw nothing other than another mountain. "I don't see it."

"Its not particularly visible. Nurmengard is a rather imposing castle carved from a rather massive hematite ore deposit up on that mountain."

"Hematite?"

"Iron. The castle is fairly massive with several spiral towers. One tower in the center of the castle reaches higher than the others however, and it is in the topmost room of the highest tower where Gellert Grindlewald is locked away."

Harry nodded in understanding. "How many guards are there?"

"None."

Harry stopped walking for a moment, before catching up to her quickly. "How can one of the most dangerous people in the world not have any guards?"

"Not quite, Harry. More like they don't want anyone with a wand anywhere near the man. Powerful enchantments keep him locked away in Nurmengard, Harry, and without a wand he can't get out. There are two primary wards on the castle that keep him there, and a single one placed on his own room. A lonely squib is the man's caretaker for a stretch of several months, feeding him. I believe the job pays almost a thousand galleons for the length of the contract, which is a rather large sum as you should know. The castle is empty save for the two."

"So, if the castle is empty, what is the visitor's entrance you were talking about?"

Emily laughed. "Sorry, I was being sarcastic. There is no way for a witch or wizard to enter Nurmengard. It is impossible to enter as you and I, however, there are ways to subvert that. I will be using my skill in human transfiguration to get us inside the castle. Then we can walk into the tower. We'll then proceed upwards and check if the man's had any visitors."

"You know, ever time you make one of you plans sound simple things tend to go off course."

"It should be simple, regardless. For the two of us, anyway. No normal witch and wizard duo could break into Nurmengard, Harry. At the very least, one would need to be an animagus to get inside. Once inside, one has to pass through the myriad of Grindlewald's very own enchantments to make their way up the tower. The tower itself is where Grindlewald kept his prisoner's but the rest of the castle was his base of operations. The man was cruel Harry. If you thought the protections at the Department of Mysteries were powerful, then these will blow your mind, quite possibly literally. They may be even greater than some on the pharaoh's tomb in Egypt. Though the enchantments don't effect muggles, so clearly he intended to have a muggle staff keep his prisoners alive and healthy for their mental suffering. If my knowledge of Nurmengrad layout is correct, we won't be coming into contact with any of his protections though."

"So its got a ward to keep out witches and wizards. We'll have to be animals. You and I aren't animagus, though, so you'll transfigure us into them and we just walk in.

"Correct. Simians will work. Monkeys and apes will slip through the enchantments and their brains are evolved enough that we will still be capable of using magic. The transfiguration will have to be complete, no partial transfiguration will suffice. The ward will recognize our brains. That is why I will be doing the spells. While I am certain you could win a duel against one of your friends as a lemur, I wouldn't be comfortable with you attempting dangerous human transfiguration in that form."

Harry was already strongly disliking this plan, but couldn't help but feel a bubble of excitement flowiing up through his body. It was then he realized that he generally hated all of Emily crazy ideas, and the excitement was from knowing that normally they always worked well enough.

"Okay, so how are we getting there?"

"We can apparate close enough, but I wish to put some distance between our portkey location and our point of apparition. While its unlikely things will go wrong, if they do, I don't want anyone tracking it back to the two of us."

Harry nodded. "Did you get the portkey from the minstry? Don't they already know we are here?"

"Of course not, I changed the destination of the portkey."

"Wait, you can do that?" Harry was shocked to hear that.

"Yes, though its complicated. It involves a rather large amount of arithmancy and your knowledge in that area is a bit lacking. It wasn't a core subject so I didn't go out of my way to teach you the finer points. Most advanced magic takes a large amount of knowledge in arithmancy, though, so if you wish to grow more as a wizard, you'll have to knuckle down and learn it."

"Why not just change the destination closer to the prison?"

"Portkey travel is heavily monitored. I don't want them wondering why a portkey landed outside the gate of Nurmengard. Apparition is done by many and is not heavily monitored."

Harry nodded in understanding, then backtracked the conversation to the arithmancy bit. "Wasn't one of your goals to make me as strong as you, though? If that was the case, then why not teach me more advanced Arithmancy while we were traveling?"

Emily laughed lightly. "You're very strong Harry. In our duels you are certainly no slouch. If you and I were to go all out against one another, I could probably only win four out of five times. You knowing arithmancy wouldn't increase your chances of survival by much in a dangerous situation."

Though the words were said with praise, Harry's heart fell somewhat hearing he only had a twenty percent chance at winning. Emily must have felt his emotions dip because she clarified. "Harry, you're not even twenty years old. Being able to have any chance against me is already a feat worthy of praise. As you so painstakingly remind me, I am significantly older than you."

Harry was able to shrug off the feeling quickly enough, not certain if her words helped or not. He was fully aware of the power his wife held. "So why are my odds so high?"

Emily shrugged. "Because combat magic is simple. For people such as myself and your old headmaster, we can take on large groups of people in an open room. We know wide range debilitating magic, even deadly magic. In a war, Harry, things are simple and the magic is normally even simpler. You have the cannon fodder, like the MLE, who go down in droves and are primarily useless. Then you have the warriors, like the aurors, who can evade those spells and go one on one with you."

Emily stopped walking and looked at him. "You wouldn't fall for a wide range concussion spell. No, you'd block it, then get close to me. You're fast with a wand, Harry. As fast as I am. Your body is certainly more agile than mine. My reputation is misleading. While I can enter a room and completely dominate it, I couldn't do the same at the auror headquarters. Too many individual people with skill sets that can fight me. That's why I had followers. That's why I trained my followers. Even I can be overwhelmed."

"You said you beat Flitwick, McGonagall, and Snape when you fought the three of them and Dumbledore. What exactly is your limit against a group of experts?"

"Those three held Dumbledore back. Dumbledore and I don't waste time with normal spells. We go straight for the arcane magic. Something you can not do with others nearby. Of course, that was convenient for Dumbledore too. With a single distraction he managed to best me and steal you away. As for how many I could fight, depends on their skill. With a standard Hogwarts professor, I'd say I feel comfortable taking on three. As long as they worked together."

"But you fought the three strongest professors and Dumbledore at the ministry."

"And trust me, Harry, I was supremely uncomfortable. I managed in that fight, but obviously didn't win. Anyway, we are far enough, hold onto me."

Harry grabbed onto Emily's arm and mentally prepared for the sensation of side along apparition. It was always unpleasant, but he had no idea where they were headed, so he had no other choice. When the two of them were finally deposited at their destination Harry got his first look at Nurmengard Castle.

If there was ever a structure that could be called intimidating, it was the castle that held Grindlewald. It was certainly a full on castle. It was dwarfed by Hogwarts, but the difference was not as great as Harry thought it would be. The walls were solid black from what he could see and the central spire rising into the sky was what drew his gaze. At the top of that spire would be the man they wished to see. The enormous entrance, though still almost a hundred meters away was still visible, as were the words engraved on the doors.

"Für das Größere Gute?" Harry read out slowly.

"For the Greater Good. A slogan that should sound familiar to you."

Harry nodded. "Well, yeah. Its something you blame Dumbeldore's actions of almost constantly."

Emily frowned. "Exactly. It was a slogan he was fond of in his youth."

"Doesn't really sound like too bad of something though."

"Naive. You're so naive. How many atrocities do you think the maker of this prison committed, all in the name of the 'Greater Good?'"

"Yeah, but comparing Dumbledore to Grindlewald isn't even viable. If Dumbledore was a fan of the 'Greater Good' I'm sure he wasn't as oppressive with it as Grindlewald."

Emily made her way to the entrance and Harry followed behind him. He only barely heard her last words on the subject. "You will see soon enough."

The two of them made it to the doors before Emily pulled out her wand. As she spoke Harry look more closely at the walls of the prison. What appeared solid black now could be seen to have greys and browns mixed in. "Alright, I'm going to transfigure you and have you open the door. Just the slightest pressure will make them sway. Once we are inside the castle, we will only have to worry about Grindlewald's enchantments and not Dumbledore's."

"Wait, it was Dumbeldore who cast the spell that keeps people out?"

Emily nodded. "Obviously. Who else do you know strong enough to do so? No, wait, save it for when we are inside." With that Emily had transfigured Harry into a lemur just as she had said. Harry felt his body shrink and when his brain itself transfigured he was horrified. He could feel his ability to think and focus gain restrictions. His own head became a prison for his sense of self. He was aware enough to panic, but lacked enough sense to reason his way through his current predicament. His breathing picked up and his heartbeat quickened. He began to feel faint and it was only moments later that he knew he would pass out. He would die in this form and he'd never see Emily again. He was going to-

"Breathe Harry. Breathe."

All of a sudden, Harry was back in his body with Emily cradling him to her on the floor. His hyperventilating slowed to a normal pace and he focused on his surroundings. Black walls were all around him. Nurmengard. Yes, they were breaking into Nurmengard. "Wow, that was terrible."

"Yes, my mistake. Though I've had you practice human transfiguration on me, I've never had you yourself go through with it, not to mention such a complete transfiguration as that. It didn't help that I picked a rather small brained mammal. Had I picked a lesser creature, you wouldn't have enough brainpower to realize what was happening to you. Had I chosen a large ape, you may have had enough consciousness to recognize what was going on. I'm sorry, I don't often think about what I transfigure people into or how they react. Its normally for torture anyway."

Harry shook his head after hearing her explanation. "No, no, it was something I needed to learn. A good lesson. Now I know. Give me a moment to gather my wits, though."

Emily did so, and remained quiet until he pulled himself from the floor and out of her embrace. Emily must have notice him panicking, grabbed him and pulled him inside the castle before undoing her spell. Clearly she had gotten the two of them inside.

Harry shook his head once more for clarity before making a point he had wanted to when they were outside. "Anyway, why would Dumbledore leave a loophole? For someone to potentially get in here?"

"Normally I'd tell you something besmirching of your headmaster when you ask me something like that, but there is a limit to magic, Harry. Creating such a large ward to cover the entire castle is impressive enough. Making it strong enough to not be easily breached is an even greater feat. Maybe a couple hundred witches and wizards working together could do it, but why would they bother with Dumbledore readily available."

"I understand what you mean, but couldn't a house elf just pop in and hand over a wand to Grindlewald? Then he could just waltz out on his own."

Emily agreed with Harry's assessment. "Very true, but you forget there are two different wards here. One on the castle to prevent magical people from entering, and one on the tower. That one only allows magical people to enter. Grindlewald only ever wanted his strongest enemies in that tower. So he cast his own impenetrable ward so only a witch or wizard can enter it."

"So Grindlewald made a cage and Dumbledore just... sealed the spaces in between the bars?"

Emily mused over his words before nodding. "I suppose, though the anology is... odd. Only a squib has little enough magic to get inside the castle, and just enough magic to enter the tower."

"This just sounds crazier and crazier."

"It is. It doesn't help that the squib is armed with muggle firearms with an order to shoot and kill any intruders, not that this place has seen any since it Grindlewald was placed here."

"Didn't he have any followers who would help him? Even you had Peter."

"The times were different back then, Harry. Every important person associated with Grindlewald's reign was thrown behind bars, no trials. No attempts at claiming the use of the imperius, just life long sentences. His foot soldiers were were all forced to make an unbreakable vow to eternally denounce the man. There were thousands forced to conscribe to his forces. There was no one left who would or could save him. In the beginning many may have been truly loyal to the man and his vision, but after his attempt to burn the entire city of Paris to the ground, the only ones to join him did so out of fear or were just completely off of their rockers."

"What was his vision exactly? The history that I've read about him don't say much other than mentioning him being an oppressive tyrant."

"He was, for all intents and purposes. He wanted magicals to rule over the muggles. To protect them from themselves. A sense of Noblesse Oblige I suppose. Though instead of noble blood it was magical ability. He knew of the muggle wars and he knew that they were incredibly skilled at murdering each other. Grindlewald felt it was only a matter of time before they could threaten us one day, so he wished to put them under his heel."

Harry understood what she was saying. Grindlewald had been right, after all. Muggles did kill one another often enough and the existence of nuclear weapons clearly proved that Grindlewald was now more correct that he had been in the past. "The world has come a long way since then though. There aren't as many wars, certainly not a world war. I wonder if Grindlewald feels differently now?"

"Apparently, he feels somewhat remorseful, at least according to the words of one of his caretakers. No one has bothered to question him deeply on it. Here he lies forgotten, and the world is content with it remaining that way."

The two of them had been navigating the castle hallways during this talk and at Emily's next turn Harry's sight was met with a marble white staircase. It was bright, far too bright in the black castle.

"Gaudy, isn't it. I wouldn't be surprised to see that the Malfoys were descended from this man. Lucius' taste in décor would certainly lend credence to the notion."

"Its certainly, off putting. Why would he place a white staircase in the center of a black prison?"

"Probably to stroke his own ego. The staircase is where only he would roam, with everyone else being a prisoner locked in one of the rooms. Only he would have access to the way of freedom."

"I guess your guess is better than most. From one megalomaniac to another." Harry shot her a smirk, but saw that her focus was still on the stairs.

"The steps seem to be cursed, Harry. The white color may be an attempt to draw someone's notice from that. Not only that, but the steps are charmed to shuffle themselves at random intervals so it is impossible to know which one is safe to step on."

"You can sense magic better than I can, can you tell the difference?"

"No, the magic is too close together. Perhaps after examining each one for minutes I could, but we don't have the time for that."

"There has to be someway to tell them apart, otherwise Grindlewald would step on them when he brought prisoners here."

"Grindlewald was a seer." Emily replied simply.

This news floored Harry. "He was a seer? I've never read anything about that?"

"Its not a well known fact. But he built this prison and this staircase. So between his knowledge as the architect and his inner eye, he may have had some way of discerning what steps were safe and which steps were not."

Harry nodded. "So how will we proceed?"

"The simple answer would be a broomstick, but those charms would surely fail on the journey up. Fortunately for the two of us, I happen to be the only witch capable of flying without assistance. I will carry you with me as I go up the tower."

Emily, true to fashion, did not show a shred of dignity to Harry as she picked him up bridal style and began to fly up the staircase. She had done this several times in the past and always laughed at his mortification. It took only a minute for them to reach an obstacle, and Emily had to resort to hovering in place. The staircase was blocked by a wall made of the same material as the rest of the castle.

"Have we come to the top already?" asked Harry.

"No, we've not. There is a way around this, I'm just not certain as to what it is. I'm going to land, flying like this is tiring. Im certain the steps before the wall are safe. They'd be useless otherwise to subvert this... hindrance."

Setting Harry down beside her, she looked closely at the wall. "It has to be something a nonmagical person could do, if the caretaker gets past it."

Listening to Harry sensible comment, Emily hummed. "True, it can't be too magically reliant. Perhaps its as simple as a secret entrance. Emily began touching the wall in random places, and Harry just watched, unsure of how to help.

"It is certainly mechanical in nature, I can feel as much. I just can't figure out where the mechanism is to move it. Harry, you're far more familiar with muggle contraptions, what do you think?"

"I'm more surprised you're asking me than anything. In Dudley's cartoons it was always something that stuck out, like a torch bracket or a misshapen stone. Something like this thing."

With his foot, Harry kicked at a stone that stuck out half an inch at the base of the wall. He turned to look at Emily to see her looking at him with an unhappy expression, "Hmph. How simple. Let's go."

She quickly snapped him up and they began moving again. "Don't tell me you're annoyed about that." Harry, having nothing better to do as they moved, mentioned her reaction.

"It just annoys me that such a fantastic magical stronghold would have such a muggle device in it to prevent intruders."

Harry nodded his head. "True, but Grindlewald wasn't you, Emily. In the past you want the muggles to be stripped of everything. Grindlewald wanted them to be useful to him, if subservient, so it shouldn't surprise you to see signs of that here in his prison."

"They are far too dangerous now for Grindlewald's dream to be realized. Perhaps up to sixty years ago there was a chance. If anything, that is the reason Grindlewald gave up on his dream."

"What do you mean?"

Emily chose not to answer. The two of them had stopped and Harry felt her touch down. In front of the two of them was a simple wooden door, quite unlike the metal doors that lined the staircase up until now.

"Perhaps you may get a chance to ask the man yourself, Harry. We've arrived."