The opening sortie of the night was already over by the time the two children arrived. Frau Fleiss was magically binding and gagging the two stunned security staff who'd been on duty. Hermione had assumed that there would be people here, but she hadn't expected them to be normal. She'd expected Alice's minions.
'Those that didn't come to that castle must have been approached by Dumortier. I imagine they would have been only to happy to fall in with him.' Frau Hassel said bitterly. 'Centuries of protection against Dark Wizards and muggles alike and they turn on us in a heartbeat.'
'They do not understand how much we do for them.' Frau Fleiss agreed, poking at the guard with her heeled boot.
'Yes, they will rebel against us, then coming running for shelter when the next threat presents itself. Dumortier only gave up in France when Frederich turned. His followers surrendered that night and begged the Delacours for shelter.' Lady Grindelwald said with equal bitterness. Hermione pursed her lips and surveyed the atrium.
It was a dark room, black polished floor and low, dark ceiling hung with brass oil lamps. Fireplaces framed by deep burgundy stone pillars lined the long walls, each fireplace had next to it what Hermione could only describe as a steampunk vending machine. There was a coin slot; large and thick to fit one of the wizarding coins, then a hole lower down where a delicate claw hung open. A bin next to the machine held a collection of little bags, glittering with the residue to floo powder.
Mordred appeared behind her, sword already drawn and the group of six made their way down the long atrium and into what she assumed was the main room. Gellert stunned another security guard in this room, then Frau Fleiss bound him as the rest of the group hurried between tall, imposing pillars. The room ended abruptly, widening to a spacious plaza ringed by dark doorways.
The group stopped abruptly. To Hermione nothing seemed wrong. There was a stone fountain in the middle of the plaza, a massive eagle-bird with water sheeting from extended wings. Hanging from the wall behind it was a massive white banner with spread black eagle, with an evilly hooked crimson beak and claws.
'That fountain used to be part of the beacon system.' Gellert muttered for the benefit of Hermione and Mordred.
'Oh.' Hermione mumbled. The removal of the beacon system was a visceral rejection of everything the Grindelwald family did for the general public because nothing else could symbolise the family's offer of protection better than the method used to extend that offer.
The older witched visibly drew themselves back together and the group hurried onwards to their destination. They took the third black archway and Hermione experienced an odd feeling of disembodiment before she suddenly found herself standing in a brightly lit office, manned by a small collection of wizards and two khaki robed guards. For a moment there was stunned silence as the two groups stared at each other, then chaos erupted.
The two khaki clad aurors shot spells as they dove for cover and the collection of office workers dropped below their desks a fraction of a second slower. Gellert lashed out with an impedimenta jinx as Hermione raised both hand and wand, erecting a shimmering white-silver domed shield around their entire group.
The two spells collided with it in a shower of sparks, then Hermione let the shield drop, rolling sideways in a twirl of gold and white party skirts as Mordred swept a hand out. A pulse of air sent desks flying backwards in a snowstorm of parchment. Gellert joined her behind a partition which exploded into splinters three foot to his left a moment later. Hermione shrieked in surprise, and dragged him behind the more solid filing cabinet with her. Across the room, Arika Fleiss screamed some spell which screeched across the room with a sound like a firework and exploded against the wall, filling the air with thick smoke. Hermione jumped up and cast a spell of her own; a neat little tripping jinx that landed perfectly on the official trying to escape through a distant doorway. She dropped back down just as Gellert poked sideways with his own spell.
'I love magic.' Hermione breathed as adrenaline pumped through her.
'You're secretly a very violent witch.' Gellert snorted.
'Secretly?' Mordred questioned from Hermione's other side. Silence had fallen now, aside from the panicked quacking of someone who'd been turned into a large goose. As the dust settled, the coven made quick work of binding their opponents and confiscating their wands.
It had really been rather successful, they had no injuries among them and no casualties or escapees among the office workers - aside from the goose, whom Frau Hassel assured would be returned to his natural state if he did exactly as they asked. If not... well, Hermione was certain the victim would be able to fill in the ominous pause the usually homely witch left after that statement.
'The other will be back soon! You'll never get away with this.' Spat a witch in creamy robes.
'The others?' Hermione asked with false confusion.
'Yes. They've only been called away for a moment.' The witch replied, straining to break free of her bonds.
'Chasing down death omens; I doubt they'll be back for an hour or two at least. That's more than enough time for us.' Lady Grindelwald smiled as Frau Hassel reverted the goose back to human form. Still trembling, the mousy wizard obeyed the coven witch and began tapping his wand against a large map on the wall. Where his wand touched, little red lights began to glow and delicate writing scrolled beneath with the address. Then, he began tapping other red dots which disappeared with a blink.
'Excellent. That will do, I think.' Frau Hassel finally announced.
Hermione quickly stepped forwards, brushing past the mousy wizard and raising her hand to brush against the old map.
'Do you think you can do it?' Mordred asked in her ear. She shrugged.
'Guide me?' She asked and Mordred nodded, dropping his hand onto her shoulder. His magic flowed through her along the Sect bond, through her hand and into the wall. He neatly severed the enchantment that held the map onto the wall and the huge sheet of parchment rustled to the floor. Quickly, Lady Grindelwald and Frau Fleiss gathered the sheet up, folding it into a large bundle.
They were about to leave, when suddenly the mousy wizard scrambled forwards, clutching at Lady Grindelwald's dress. The high witch stopped abruptly and turned to stare at his prostrated form.
'Please, Lady Grindelwald, gracious Lady. Take me with you. Dumortier's lieutenants will kill me.'
Lady Grindelwald's nose wrinkled with contempt and she flicked her skirts from his grip.
'Interesting how you only wish to support me when your life is threatened.' The matriarch stated coldly. 'How am I to know you won't change allegiances as soon as I have you within my wards?'
The man hesitated, then to Hermione's disgust he broke in hysterical sniffling tears.
'I swear I won't. I've got a daughter.' The man snorted and wiped the snot from his nose.
'Yes, you have. I know you.' Hermione realised suddenly. 'But your daughter is already in the castle, and last time you forgot about her after she survived an attack by Livius Lucan.'
Now she had remembered the somewhat familiar face, she couldn't miss the connection between this man and Atalanta now that she looked. They had the same dark eyes, although Atalanta now wore her hair in luxurious russet waves now, before her accident she'd had the same brown hair. Atalanta, now aged 8, had more bravery and dignity in a single scarred hand than her father was displaying now.
'His daughter,' Hermione elaborated for those who weren't as familiar with Atalanta as she was, 'is now an apprentice seamstress. She is hard working, talented and very brave and works every day to pay for food and shelter for herself because this man spends all his earnings on dreamless sleep and firewhiskey.'
'I think,' Frau Hassel decided, her expression rather dark, 'that we will leave you to suffer the consequences of your own decisions. Your daughter will be well cared for.'
A flick of the matronly witch's wand had Atalanta's father bound on the floor and the party swept out of the transportation office, floo network safely tucked beneath Frau Fleiss' elbow.
A cacophony of bells started ringing as they slipped between darkened columns and into the atrium. The painfully discordant bells masked their loud footsteps as they broke into a run. Spells shot between columns as they wove between them. Frau Hassel blasted the eagle statue to smithereens, shards of stone knifing across the plaza and eliciting cried of pain and surprise from the aurors who were streaming through the doors behind them. The floos remained dark, shut down only minutes earlier and the party dashed down corridor using the fireplaces and powder dispensers for cover as the marble-coated aurors lit the corridor in a deadly display of light. Hermione threw out her hand, magic surging out with the simple command to protect and formed a silvery barrier across the hallway, shorting out the delicate magic which worked the oil lamp and showering them with sparks and splatters of gelatinous red potion.
They waited, chests heaving as Frau Hassel opened the portal, urging her on by bouncing on their heels and shifting their casting stances. Aurors moved like ghosts behind Hermione's shield and she poured power into maintaining it, but fortunately they didn't make any attempt to pull it down, perhaps puzzled by the unusual form.
'Go, go!' Frau Hassel shouted, her words whipped away by the wind of the portal. Lady Grindelwald went next, then Gellert followed reluctantly. Last went Hermione, holding tightly onto Frau Fleiss' cool hand as she maintained the barrier until the last minute.
The minute the blistering wind died, Frau Fleiss apparated away with a crack of displaced air. Any breath that survived the portal was squeezed from her lungs by the second mode of transport, then before she'd even regained her balance she was being bodily deposited onto a broomstick and her stomach dropped out from beneath her as Gellert shot into the air like a cannonball.
She emptied every bit of dinner into frigid air with gut wrenching heaves that sent to broomstick squirrelling sideways and had Gellert struggling to stay aloft and straight. When her feet finally hit the solid ground of the castle she sagged into a relieved heap, pressing her cheek into the icy stone.
'That was awful.' She groaned.
'Well, the last bit was but the rest of it was brilliant.' Gellert replied sounding far too spirited for anyone who'd just portalled, apparated and flown on a broomstick through an enchanted Siberian winter in a space of less than five minutes had any right to be.
'Yes, brilliant. I would say we've made a rather brilliant acquisition. Now, how about we get rid of those summoned Grims and then we can really finish Hogmanay with a bang by evacuating some people to Fort Stark.' Frau Fleiss held the folded parchment bundle that controlled the floo network beneath one arm and she hefted it to demonstrate her point.