Hermione didn't even wait a moment after waking, she was already up and tearing down the stairs at a pace that was certainly not dignified. She flashed past tutors quicker than she could be scolded for her unladylike manner, bowled other students and flung herself around corners. A suit of armour tumbled to the floor as she crashed into it, bounced off and left it clanging behind her as she clattered down the flight of stairs, across the entrance hall and into the south tower.
The entire coven was arrayed around the table, five exhausted and pale ministry officials with them. They looked up when she burst into the room and silence rang loud for several long moments.
'Hermione!' Lady Grindelwald let out a strangled cry, took a half step towards her, then recovered herself.
'I know where he is!' She panted, out of breath.
'Gellert?' The Lady asked, desperation in her voice.
'No, Livius Lucan... wait, Gellert?' Cold fear flushed through her, she remembered the dark wizard leaving to find him, the group that had left the walls. 'He's got Gellert?'
'Yes, we thought he had you too.' Frau Tunninger said kindly.
'He did, I apparated out last night.' She answered honestly, missing the looks that were sent her way.
'And just how did you get back inside the castle?' An unfamiliar witch demanded, but Lady Grindelwald raised a quelling hand.
'She apparates in from England every day, bypassing the castle wards. I can only attribute it to accidental magic, as neither of us can explain it. I do not consider it a risk to our security.' She dismissed with a wave of her hand. 'So, you can tell us where Lucan is hiding?'
'Don't be ridiculous, Katerina, of course this child cannot tell us, the location is unplottable. Send her on her way and let the adults deal with this.' She recognised the witch from her similarities to Yannick.
'I can too!' Hermione protested.
'Perhaps, this little witch can tell us how she got there, rather than the location.' A portly wizard with a long, viking-like beard chastised.
'Yes.' Hermione declared eagerly. 'What was the wind direction last night?'
It was the woman next to the Viking who answered that it had been northerly.
'So we flew for two hours into the wind, to a cave just south of a city.' She said. 'A thestral is slightly slower than my Longma, who can... could... cover about a hundred and ten miles in an hour into the wind, so assuming the thestral could cover a hundred, over two hours it would cover two hundred. So at a two hundred mile radius...'
She climbed up onto one of the chairs so that she could reach over the map. They'd studied scales and maps in geography recently and she'd made sure to revise it during her lunch break at school. That paid off now as she conjured a long string and measured it against the scale in the corner of the map. Lady Grindelwald pinned the end of it to Grindelwald Castle and Hermione extended the string northwards, stretching it to the same length as two hundred miles on the scale. She used a stick of charcoal passed to her by the Viking to scribe an arc. There was only one city near the line.
'The city I saw was midway to the horizon, so assuming the cruising altitude of a thestral is slightly lower than a Longma, that would make it about two and a half thousand feet, which is a total visible range of about sixty miles (she'd looked that up at the library on the way home), half of that is thirty.'
She measured out thirty miles on her string against the scale and scribed another arc, this one from the city. It crossed her other arc twice.
'So the cave where he is staying must be either here' - she circled one intersection, 'or here' - she circled the other.
As one, every wixen in the room leaned in, and peered at the two places. One was flat, open floodplain before a river; an unlikely candidate. The other was a hilly area, with a mining settlement nestled among two thick woodlands.
'I'd put money on it being there.' Viking poked the spot with his large finger, smudging the charcoal.
'I would agree. Dress and mount up, we will meet in the courtyard in fifteen minutes.' Lady Grindelwald instructed. The coven parted with a murmur of anticipation. Several people clapped her on the back and complimented her intelligence, but she was too nervous to be proud.
'Hermione. Come with me.' Lady Grindelwald instructed. She was already dressed in her stern battle dress, and Hermione jogged after her as she strode up the stairs to one of the many long galleries. She stopped in front of a small set of deepest black battle robes.
'Put these on, you're coming with us.' She instructed. Too surprised to rogue, Hermione obeyed, slipping out of the brown day dress she wore an pulling on the soft black shirt and tunic. The robe was the only layer on top of that, so light and simple compared to every other item she'd worn since coming to the castle. The Lady helped her don the leather breastplate and a pair of gauntlets with permanent shield charms imbued in them.
She felt like she was in fancy dress as the witch stood back to admire the effect. The entire outfit had resized to fit her as soon as it was donned, but she felt like she was playing at being some really cool fictional character. The cool swish of the robes around her ankles made her self conscious of exactly how she walked and the weight of the gauntlets made her hyper aware of how hers arms swung by her side. Suddenly she couldn't remember if she usually swung them or held them rigidly beside her.
'I saw the place where you were taken. That was some impressive magic.' Lady Grindelwald complimented from up ahead. Her jaw dropped, having never heard such a blatant compliment from the stern older witch. 'Your Longma will recover, although he will be scarred.'
'Katana survived?' She gasped, certain that the purple flash had been a death knell.
'He did, but only just. Healers and magizoologists are still tending to him. You will take Kelpie to the mines, where your job is to find Gellert and get him out.'
Hermione understood and an elf had already rigged the beast when they reached the stables. Like her, he wore a pitch black cloak like a medieval knight's horse, his usual blue crested tack now decorated by swirls of the black stones that held the enchantments. The Viking clapped her on the back as they arrived, congratulating her again and his wife smiled kindly as she helped her up onto the beast. Frau Yannick was glaring at her from atop a silvery Granian and Lady Grindelwald swept over to the remaining Granian, mounting as well.
'We will wait to land until you arrive. Good speed.' Lady Grindelwald announced, then in a thunder of wings, seven mounts lunged skyward, powerful wind almost knocking Hermione from Gellert's Kelpie as fourteen wings beat in unison.
'You just follow me, witchling.' The Viking said, his sleipnir towering over her. Kelpie was not a small mount, he would have been a tall horse in the muggle world, but the sleipnir had backs so broad that even most adults had to ride them side saddle. It was a mark of Viking's height that he was comfortably astride.
Kelpie may have been smaller, but he was faster and he really didn't like being behind the lumbering sleipnir. The massive eight legged horse had more stamina though and by the time her legs were beginning to hurt, Kelpie was flagging. She finally got a break from reining him in, only for the six witches and wizards around her to close ranks at some unshared signal. A moment later they burst out into a clearing.
'They've already checked for wards and found nothing.' A witch on an Indian looking half goat, half horse animal nudged her mount out in front of the group, then flicked her reins. The beast spat, a glob of poisonous green saliva flying unnaturally far, then landing at the base of an abandoned building. Even from here she could hear it hiss and a coil of smoke spiralled up from the spot.
'All clear. Is that the cave?' The witch pointed to the cave entrance. Hermione nodded, remembering the place with crystal clarity. It looked very different in daylight - a single, neat square of black in a rosy granite cliff face. The buildings were a little ghostly, so clearly abandoned but without a sign of a struggle. She could almost imagine that the workers had gone for lunch, or perhaps to church and they would be back to continue mining any moment.
Large piles of dark, brownish-grey rocks towered above them, sorted into various sizes. The buildings were all wooden, but black dust permeated every crack and crevasse, making them blend into the stone. A grubby stream ran past a machine of some kind, but the paddles had been jammed by a fallen cart and the water level had backed up behind the obstacle.
The six that were near her spread out and moved through the buildings and piles, then met up on the grassy patch before the cave. Wind buffeted her and depressions formed all over the grass. A moment later the seven winged mounts and their riders winked into existence as invisibility charms were cancelled.
'It's too quiet.' A dark skinned witch muttered, swinging off her mount with the others. The well trained beasts formed their own defensive circle, hindquarters in and a ring of gnashing teeth facing out. Hermione firmly told Kelpie to wait, then hurried after them, wand drawn.
The coven cast a bright witchlight in the entryway and Hermione realised it was full of abandoned tools. A set of tracks ran down, through the small passageway and into the gloomy depths.
They followed the tracks, the goat-witch lead the way forwards, constantly casting spells. Hermione knew something was wrong when they emerged into the cavern. There was no ward, no green glowing orbs. The dead milled around uncertainly, put down in minutes by the spell work of the coven.
She pointed them to the stairs and they climbed up cautiously, emerging into the room. The pillar was still there, as was her dress and the chains. They trod over the dirty ground, using their wands to investigate every corner.
'There's something here.' Frau Tunninger held her lit wand near a greenish smear on the floor. The dark skinned woman bustled up, cast a quick spell which glowed faintly blue, then scooped some up on her fingers. She sniffed it cautiously.
'Some rudimentary potion - sage for certain, mixed with... milk?' The woman answered, wiping her fingers clean on her tan battledress.
'What did it do, Rose?' The Viking asked, peering suspiciously over her shoulder.
'It is a bone healing spell from our family Grimmoire. That is my son's work.' Lady Grindelwald's voice rung across the room.
'Bone healing at ten, you don't ask much from your children, Katerina.' The Viking laughed. Lady Grindelwald scowled at him and he laughed even harder.
'There's more up here!' Herr Tunninger pointed at the ceiling above the door and the goat riding witch cast several spells.
'There was dark, dark magic cast here... although not of any spell I know. Nor does the signature match Lucan.' The witch continued as she cast more spells. 'Oh... Oooh.'
She backed away suddenly, looking with horror and disgust at the floor beneath him.
'This is Lucan.' She pointed at the floor, where their boots had tracked the dirt all through the room.
'The ground?' The dark witch asked.
'No, she means the dust. One of the most powerful disintegration spells I've ever seen.' This witch was pale with long silvery hair. Her robes weren't as ornate as some of the others, and Hermione guessed that she was Neele's mother.
A tall wizard with skin as dark as coal jumped back from the dirt with a remarkably feminine squark.
'Do you know who cast it?' The dark witch asked, bending and poking at the dirt with her wand.
'I'm not sure... I think... but it can't be, he's so young... I guess with accidental magic...'
'Hermione, I'd like you to do exactly what Arika tells you to. You're more than familiar with Gellert's magic.' Lady Grindelwald ordered. Hermione nodded and stepped up obediently. Arika drew her wand, looking uncertain as Hermione reached confidently for her hand. Remebering that Arika - Frau Fleiss - had learned magic the common way, Hermione faltered.
'I'm not good enough to watch without touching yet.' She admitted. Arika raised her eyebrows at Lady Grindelwald, but offered her hand out. Hermione took it and shut her eyes.
It didn't come as easily as mixing with Gellert's magic; the dark witch seemed much more rigid, and her magic was like iron as it flowed down her arm and through the wand. Hermione followed it.
The spell she cast was complex, but Hermione could easily see how it coaxed tiny strands of foreign magics from the ground and air. The witch let the spell end before Hermione could identify any of them. Her eyes blinked open, then she dropped Arika's hand and raised her own. With her eyes shut she poured out her own magic, sending it sweeping through the rock. Whenever it encountered a different magic strand, she magically examined it. The strongest presence was Arika's iron magic, followed by a slippery, bone white magic. Gellert's magic was strong here too - bursts of his dark, cool magic that jumped out to hers as though waving a flag. She opened her eyes to see a soft, white mist lying over the floor and the raised eyebrows of the coven surrounding her.
'Gellert did cast some magic here, but I don't know what.' She announced. The adults shared troubled looks.
'It doesn't mean anything, Katerina, I'm sure it was just accidental magic born of fear.' Frau Tunninger patted Lady Grindelwald on the back and the tall witch straightened.
'He has a lot of his father in him.' She said sadly.
'Nonsense. His father was a power hungry braggart from birth. Your Gellert is a sweet and helpful child, just look at how he treats Hermione.' The Viking scoffed. 'Now, he can't have gotten far. How about Hermione and I go look for him, whilst you all finish up here.'
With that decision made and agreed upon, Hermione was steered gently from the room and back out into the bright sunlight. The Viking pulled out his wand and waved it in the air with short, jerky movements. Bursts of white shot from his wand and shot across the area, forming a mass of white where the mounts waited, a singular blob where Kelpie stood outside the group, and another in a building to the left.
The tall wizard nudged her forwards and she hurried in through the dark doorway. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkened interior. It was a large room, filled with iron troughs and buckets. A large doorway at one end opened towards the mine, the other end had troughs which terminated over abandoned, half filled horse carts.
'Gellert?' She called out, 'its me, Hermione.'
She thought she heard a quick scuff at the far end and started cautiously between two troughs.
'Gellert? It's okay, your mum's here. I'm here with...' She faltered, glancing behind her to see that Viking hadn't followed her. 'Well, I don't know who he is, but I call him "Viking".'
'That's Herr Lintzen.' A voice drifted from the far corner. It sounded muffled, but definitely Gellert. She hurried down the aisle now and through an open doorway into what was probably a supervisor's office. There was a large desk, polished in direct contrast with the grubby workroom outside. A handful of poor quality crystals were arranged on the desk and an ink pot had spilled across a massive ledger. A battered fountain pen rolled away as she kicked it, and she bent to pick it up off the floor and replaced it on the desk. Gellert was huddled in the corner, the only dark spot in the room.
'Are you okay?' She asked gently. It was testament to how not okay he was that he actually admitted it. She moved around the table until she stood over him, noticing that his shoulders shook slightly. He still hadn't raised his head, but she had heard the tears in his voice. She shrugged and plopped down to the floor beside him.
'The coven have put down the zombies and are clearing up upstairs. I've got Kelpie here too.' She started. 'They're not angry with you of course - although, now that your mum isn't so terrified for you, I imagine I'm about to get a lecture and a half for going after that girl alone.'
'She loves you, you'll be fine.' Gellert mumbled, 'but you're right, it was stupid.'
Miffed, but unable to argue otherwise, Hermione fell silent for a moment.
'Frau Fleiss said that was the strongest disintegration curse she'd ever seen.' Gellert moaned and finally looked up. His face was blackened with dirt and smudged with tears and his eye's held the most tortured expression she had seen.
'I killed someone, Hermione.' He admitted. She cocked her head at him.
'So? He killed loads of people. Besides, the coven would have killed him anyway. You just started early. You probably saved loads of people.'
'You think so?' He perked up slightly.
'Of course. If he'd managed to slip away again he might have caught hundreds more people before they caught him.'
'I guess. Can we not tell everyone about it though? It's just, I don't want people to think I'm like my father.' He looked down again.
'Your mum told me about him, you know? The first thing I thought afterwards was that you were nothing like that.'
'That makes one. He told me I'd be a dark wizard when I grew up.'
'Yeah, but he was messed up already. I bet you didn't actually intend for that to happen, did you?' Asked the young witch.
'I just wanted him to go away and not hurt you again.' The boy replied.
'Exactly, see. You didn't go and plan the most painful death you could. You're just a powerful wizard who's magic obeys him.'
He agreed but still seemed unconvinced.
'Besides, I'm here, and Kelpie is outside waiting for you. We'll still like you even if some stooge calls you a dark wizard for defending us.'
She supported him out of the room, wishing that Lucan was still alive so that she could disintegrate hi when she learned that he's broken both of Gellert's legs. The action after the healing, followed by hours huddled on a cold floor hadn't done the injuries any favours and he'd probably spend several days with the healers when they got home.
Viking - Herr Lintzen - was waiting for them outside. He clapped both children on the back sending them staggering, then bodily picked them up and deposited them on the towering back of Kelpie. The beast clopped in a circle to try and nuzzle Gellert's leg, but he was seated behind Hermione and was unreachable. A moment later the other members of the coven filed out, each greeting Gellert. His mother just looked at him for a long moment, then nodded and walked away to mount her own beast.