In a small unused classroom, Ron sat with his girlfriend and waited. Hermione looked at the letter in her hands, and reread the words on it. In her most recent letter, she mentioned that she was having massive flashes of irritation and anger, and that she felt as if she was on the edge of a breakdown. She wrote about how she couldn't compartmentalize her feelings anymore, and that such a thing didn't seem as if it was the correct way of learning Occlumency as her penpal had said. She had even researched the curse, and it was a curse, that Sara had mentioned in a previous letter.
She shuddered slightly as she thought of cutting off her emotions via magic. Magic that could only be broken by utilizing that very emotion in the casting of the counterspell. While Sara did warn her that it was a last resort, she knew, knew without a doubt that Harry Potter didn't need the spell and neither did Cedric Diggory. She acknowledged that Harry may be beyond her abilities to emulate, however Cedric? She could do anything he could.
She could prove that muggleborns were not weaker than anyone else. Just like Sara said,"the circumstances of our birth should not limit our opportunities." A phrase that Sara said came directly from Grindlewald. Hermione confronted the woman about her identity, and Sara admitted that yes, she was at one point that same person that served under Grindlewald as a spy for the United States Congress. Her death was faked once more by the same government, as it was decided that too many people knew of her identity. Then she was tasked with further research for the magical government, research that had hit a dead end.
It was the most recent letter that prompted Hermione to call her friends in. A part of the Defense Club that she started; the friends were the best of those that attended. Padma, Pavarti, Fred and George, Susan, Luna, Ginny and Neville. As they gathered in a different room, Ron shut the door behind them and leaned against it. He knew what his girlfriend was going to say.
"The Ministry of Magic is holding a man prisoner. His name is Adrian and he is a muggleborn. He is held there only because of his bloodstatus." Hermione pulled a newspaper clipping from the letter she held. A clipping from the National Wave, a newspaper from the US, the headline read "Non-maj born Wizard captured! Adrian held by British Ministry of Magic!" As the people read it they flinched.
"Adrian was my penpal's husband, and was captured and has been held for over a year. Sara Undrage, my mentor, has been researching in exchange for his freedom. The Magical Congress of the United States wants to trade this research for her husband. The issue? Sara can't complete the research."
Susan asked confused,"Why? Undrage is a marvelous researcher, if she can't figure it out then what is the issue?" Fred and George nodded, as Undrage's Theory of post-shielded potions allowed some of their projects to work.
"The answer she needs is hidden in his mind. Adrian was a researcher as well, and had excellent Occlumency. That is what the Ministry is trying to get to. That information." Hermione spoke as she looked around the room. She waited for them to say what she knew one of them would.
It was Pavarti that broke the silence. "So you want to rescue Adrian?" At the bushy-haired witch's nod, she asked the next question on her mind. "And what has Harry said about this?"
Ron spoke up at that moment. "He hasn't been asked yet. That will be my job."
"Well if Harry agrees, I'm in." Pavarti and her sister nodded with Ginny's response. Fred and George shared a look before shaking their heads.
"We are out." Without looking back, they exited the room, followed by Susan. "I can't do that. I refuse to break into the Ministry. Sorry Hermione."
Ron shut the door after them, and looked at his girlfriend who met his gaze. "Go ask him. We will go ahead." He could see her mind was made up and that nothing he could say would sway her. So, he went.
Ron ran down the corridors, hoping he would be fast enough, when he turned a corner and slammed into two bodies. As he picked himself off the floor he looked up at the twins. "What the bloody-"
"Language Ronnie." One of the twins spoke, the other picking up the line seamlessly, "We were just after the darling Apprentice."
"Let's go, if anyone can stop that madness its him." Ron gently squeezed between the two and started to run again. His brothers running behind him.
Hermione and the rest of the gang easily made it to the grounds; her adventures with Harry proving useful once more. She lit her wand and started to walk to the left of the castle. "This way, we are headed towards a padlock behind the castle. Its where the Thestrals feed." She led the way, her footsteps silent on the dark path. Within minutes, a pale wooden fence, that was merely two boards between posts, appeared. Keeping her wand lit, she pulled a small bag from her pocket. Tossing it to the ground in front of her, she muttered a severing charm. With a dull flash, the bag opened, and with a simple canceling spell, the shrinking charm on the half cow that she had brought from the kitchens appeared.
She placed two fingers to her lips and let loose a long loud whistle. "Now. We wait." No one noticed her eyes flash pink in the wandlight.
Ron pounded on the door infront of him, yelling as loudly as he could with his brothers as lookout. "Harry! HARRY!"
With a jerk, the door opened, and a furious Nicolas Flamel stood in the opening. "What pray tell do you need? You not only interrupted me, but my apprentice is sleeping!"
Ron sputtered," Sleeping?! Its barely six! That doesn't matter, Hermione went off the deep end! She wants to invade the Ministry of Magic to go after someone named Adrian!"
Nicolas' face went stony as he turned back to the room, "Come in. Hurry. If that girl is as intelligent as I suspect, she could already be partially towards London. I must make an elixir to awaken my apprentice. While I do so, you shall explain to me exactly how Granger's behavior has shifted over the last term. I have noticed that her grades have rapidly improved."
The twins looked at their brother before they started to speak. "She is more driven, focused and capable with a wand than she was just last term. We thought that maybe she was abusing potions, but we tested that. Flushed her system twice a day for a week we did." The right-hand side twin continued, as the left one was silenced with a flick of Nicolas' fingers. "We can only assume she is learning Occlumency. Bill Charlie and Dad both know it, and we are slowly getting there. But Hermione… its like she is suppressing, not creating a mental space or anything."
Nicolas nodded, as vials and mixtures and tonics all were created by his hand, wand and magic. "It is likely that she was being mentally modified as she learned, possibly via some form of potion or…" he trailed off as he paused for a moment. "Does she have moments of irritation, unusual affectionate moments or moments of intense obsession over something?"
Ron nodded, his mind flashing to all the moments when Hermione would cuddle up to him kissing his neck and cheeks in the common room while others were watching, a trait she failed to display in the year and a half that they had dated before "she started writing her penpal, Sara Undrage."
Nicolas nodded, "My apprentice mentioned that. It is likely that your friend is under the effects of a concoction known as Drudanae."
"What is that Professor?" Ron asked as he looked at his brothers, who both looked confused.
Nicolas shook his head as he continued to make the elixir that needed to awake his apprentice. "Children… of course they wouldn't know of it… it is extremely rare. Drudanae is a potion, that when applied to an object can imbue will, thought and even in cases, consciousness onto anyone who touches the object. As such it was used at one time to control others, by imbuing thoughts of loyalty and devotion to the creator of the potion. Extremely difficult to create in large quantities, and even harder to imbue with anything more than faint instructions, it would take a potion master, an alchemist or similar to even think of using it. Sara Undrage is both. It also makes sense as to why she instructed the girl in Occlumency. Occlumency takes aspects of one's psyche to create the defense, and as such fortifies aspects of that personality. If one of Ms. Granger's aspects is that she is devoted to equality and freedom of magic, that will reflect in her Occlumency."
"If her aspect is that she is fully devoted to Sara Undrage, that too will reflect in her Occlumency. She would be as entangled in that witch's control as any fool hit by an Imperius curse, her own defenses blocking the thought of negative actions on Sara's behalf towards her." Nicolas frowned as the blue elixir stabilized. "We must hope that she has not been dosed to that point. It is a tricky problem, as dosing Drudanae to someone you have never physically seen is near impossible to be accurate." He kept silent about another possibility, being that Granger was not dosed until recently, when doubt would start to creep in after being confronted by the Headmaster and Harry.
With a slight tilt of his hand, the blue elixir dropped onto a previously invisible barrier, dissipating it immediately. With a gasp, Harry sat up, his breathing heavy.
"Damn…we nearly agreed there. What is the matter Master? If I had another half hour I could have finished." Harry looked around the room, his eyes rapidly taking in the looks on Ron and the twins' faces. "Hermione is doing something stupid again isn't she?"
Nicolas took the opportunity to speak,"She is likely being dosed, Drudanae is the only thing that matches the symptoms. Amount, unknown. Method likely via skin." Harry took in the information.
"Well that complicates matters. If Sonja is behind it, as she is the only real option, then it is likely to be modified in some way." Nicolas' raised an eyebrow, causing Harry to continue. "That was her M.O.; she modified existing magics to precisely meet her needs. I wouldn't be surprised that if she meets Hermione in person, her magic would trigger a delayed effect. That would be possible by adding bicorn horn powdered with a crushing spell."
"It would lower the shelf life of the potion by over 90%. It would become inert within a week." Nicolas pointed out, though he rethought his statement slightly. "It wouldn't matter however if Albus was right about her position."
"Exactly. We should assume that as of now, Hermione Granger is working for Grindlewald."
Ron and the twins erupted in protest. "Mate! How the hell could you say that?!"
With a flick of his fingers, Harry silenced them all. "Sara Undrage is really Sonja Longfellow. A convert of Grindlewald, who once worked at Hogwarts. Headmaster Dumbledore let her go after discovering that she betrayed her country for Grindlewald, and after his imprisonment fled back to their waiting arms. It is likely that the reason she wants Hermione in the Ministry is to release someone we don't want going back to Grindlewald."
With a walk that was graceful and a maddening smile, Bellatrix Lestrange continued her way down to the deepest holdings of the Department of Mysteries. Behind her, six masked Death Eaters levitated and held at wand point, three Unspeakables. Flanking them were further Death Eaters, with Antonin being the only one unmasked.
Soon, they reached a door that held three red gems, no handle and no way for the door to open. With a twirl, she pointed her wand at the Unspeakables. "Now. Open. The door."
Being let down gently, the Unspeakables, all under multiple imperius curses obeyed without question. Slicing through their palms, they placed their bloody hands on the red gems. In unison they started to scream, their forms rapidly aging as the red gems sucked the life out of them. In a flash of red, each fell to the ground, and the door started to open.
"To think, that they wanted you to rot here…" Bellatrix laughed as the room, a small cell with a single man chained to the wall hung. His body looked as well as it did in the memories the Dark Lord shared with her from over two decades previous. His hair was long, flowing past his waist and white as snow, his glasses were dusty, and his torso was covered in stitched scars. The chains glowed an eerie blue, and sucked any magic from the room into their runes.
"Get him down. We only have six hours before the next shift of Unspeakables come." Antonin spoke gruffly, as he turned his back on the prisoner. Soon, their master would have the prize that he sought.
Adrian simply smiled; his face hidden by his long hair.
Hermione and her cohorts flew fast towards London; the thestrals easily carrying them towards the Ministry of Magic. Her mind was fortified, and most importantly, as soon as she was in the air, her thoughts cleared. It was really going to happen; she was going to rescue a muggleborn wizard who could teach and help her. She did research into Adrian Undrage; he was a master of illusionary magic. Illusions were NEWT level and beyond magic, as they effected the mind and senses and were only glossed over in the 7th year of Charms. Incredible magic, and Sara promised Adrian would be willing to teach her. As the thestral started to bank towards the blur of lights, she was thankful that she remembered that the entrance to the Ministry was near the Tower of London from her readings. She smiled as she watched her fellow students descend behind the lead thestral. Neville was the only one that noticed that her eyes flashed pink in the darkness.
As Antonin instructed, hammers were being directed at chisels to free the man's chains. His lord would be pleased with those chains; able to drain magic in an area around them along with whomever they were chaining. Bellatrix was skipping up and down the corridor, her wand out as a sentry. He grimly smiled, there were few that could get past Bellatrix; especially now that she was in a good mood.
His smile disappeared as one of the new recruit's chisel shifted and slammed into the chain where it attached to the wall. "Careful! If you damage the chain there isn't telling what would happe-"
"An explosion of all the magic that had been siphoned would occur, likely killing every single being within this level of the building, possibly even causing the building to collapse." A wizened voice came from Adrian as his chains pulsed brighter. He coughed a few times and spat out a wad of blood before continuing. "Afterall, I watched them be created. I would advise shifting the chisel thirty degrees though." When the Death Eater on the right attempted to obey, he sighed," Not you, the one on the left." As the Death Eater obeyed, Adrian commanded, his voice firm,"Now strike."
With a muted pop, the chain escaped the wall loop. Adrian hissed slightly as his arm fell to his side, the meter and a half of chain rattling to the floor. A flash of blue and the manacle attaching the chain to his wrist opened, freeing his left hand. For the first time Adrian looked up and met the eyes of Antonin. A smile started to split his face as with a flexing yank, his right chain removed itself from the weakened wall. In seconds, Adrian Frankenstein was freed for the first time in fifty years.
He couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up his throat as he reached for the nearest Death eater and snapped his neck with a twist of his hands.
Hermione led the way into the Ministry, the entrance a bathroom with all the stalls out of order. A tap to the back wall with a wand opened a stair well that would lead to the Atrium. As the students ran down the steps, it was Ginny that asked a question. "Do we even know where this Adrian is? The Ministry isn't small Hermione!"
"Of course it isn't small! But we don't have to look everywhere. Adrian would be in the deepest hole they could throw him… After all, barely anyone knows he is here." Hermione answered as they walked through the empty Atrium. It was devoid of life; the fireplaces to each side unlit, the fountain turned off and even the security desk empty. As it was a weekend, the Ministry operated with a skeleton crew, and considering it was nearing midnight, most of them had left as well. It was likely that the only ones in the building were members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
As they entered a lift, Hermione hesitated as the lift vocalized that they would be going down, and "Which floor would you like to exit?"
"Lowest floor." Hermione's voice was steady even as she trembled slightly. Pavarti gently grabbed her hand, causing her to smile. In a flash, the lift plummeted, its speed nearly forcing the students' knees to buckle.
"Department of Mysteries, Courtroom ten." The lift said as the doors opened.
Hermione's eyes widened as she and her friends were greeted by carnage. Blood was everywhere, as people in Death Eater regalia were hunched in groaning piles, their life blood filling the hallway. Along the walls, Unspeakables were slumped, their bodies still. Sounds of continued combat could be heard down the hall. Looking at her companions, she met each one's eyes.
Neville looked determined as he fingered his wand, Pavarti looked nervous as she played with a strand of her hair. Padma and Ginny both looked lost in thought as they gazed at the bodies. Luna was looking at Hermione, a look of intense concentration on her face. With a nod to all of them, Hermione started down the hall, her wand leveled in front of her.
"When did Hermione leave us?" Luna asked the group who began to follow. Not for the first time, she was ignored. With a huff, she continued after her friends.
Adrian smiled as he used the wand of the death eater he killed first to bat a spell away as he dueled Antonin. Bellatrix's spells kept missing him, and the one with the sword was fighting air, his sword swinging around aimlessly. It was so long since he had duelled; this was glorious! He ducked as another stunning spell nearly clipped his head. With a flick, a fireball erupted from the borrowed wand, only to splash harmlessly against a shield.
"We do not wish to fight you Frankenstein. We wish for you to meet our master! That is all!" Antonin spoke as he blocked another spell. Bellatrix's spells were missing by hairs, likely another illusion. With a swift movement, a finite slammed into Bellatrix's back as Antonin flicked a razor sharp slice of magic forward. Bellatrix's face paled and then Antonin was glared at.
"He belongs to me now." In an instant, Antonin obeyed, as the Right Hand of Voldemort started to cast. Three, four even five spells erupted from her wand with every movement; her body radiated black wisps of magic. Pain curses, cutting charms even the occasional killing curse flew from her wand.
Adrian frowned as he started to be pushed back. The wand in his hand was not a great match for his fighting style, as he flicked up a wall slower than usual and was clipped by a mild pain curse. The followup cutting curse bore down on him as he twitched slightly in pain.
The curse bounced off a hastily cast shield, and Adrian smiled softly. "Hello Sonja." With a jab, a black billow of smoke erupted from the wand he held, hiding him from everyone. When the smoke was vanished by an irate Bellatrix, Adrian was gone.
"Find him." Her voice was calm, yet Antonin and the sword wielding Death Eater both nodded. Moving quickly, the duo split up.
Hermione and the crew ran down the hallway, Adrian with them. Hermione was unsure how he reached them in the smoke, but he just grabbed her arm and started to run down the hall. Halfway down the hallway he yanked them into a room. "This way. I must grab my wand!" As soon as the door shut, the door on the other side of the room opened, revealing a hallway of over a dozen doors on each side. Calmly they started to jog towards a door labelled "Artifacts" on the far side of the hall.
"Your wand? What about that thing you are carrying in your hand?!" Ginny snarked as they followed, their jog speeding up as they heard a faint explosion in the distance.
"Not mine at all! I borrowed it from a corpse." He giggled as the death eater with a sword appeared in front of them, coming from a connecting door on the right side. As the door shut, it disappeared, showing a blank wall. With a with a tap of his wand, the lock that held his saber shut opened, and the saber was pulled free. The blade was blood red, its flat covered in black runes that danced and moved along the surface. With a swish the blade was held infront of the skull mask.
"I give you this chance to surrender. Should you decline, my blade shall taste your flesh." The waspy voice of the Death Eater spoke certainly, as Adrian frowned. '
"You broke my illusion. Simply by drawing that blade, the magic shattered. Interesting… I wonder…" In a movement that the children all missed, Adrian flashed forward. He slid under the slice from the death eater easily, his body bending in a way that shouldn't have been possible for a human. Pressing up with his hands he twisted his body into a swinging kick aimed at the Death Eater's neck. A kick that was countered by a flick of the flat of the blade that knocked it up as the Death Eater ducked. Finishing the movement, Adrian landed on his feet.
"Bye now." Adrian turned and ran down the hall, his body blurring as he entered the Artifacts room. Leaving Hermione, Neville, Padma, Pavarti, Ginny and Luna with the Death Eater. The same Death Eater that turned towards them and took a step forward.
"It would be prudent to eliminate you; I shall serve no distractions when I sever his limbs." Hermione reacted first, blasting forward a reductor curse, Harry's words in her head. Have you ever wondered what a Reductor does to the human body?
The curse was casually caught by the blood red blade and seemingly sucked into the sword. Behind the man's mask, he grinned. "You foolish children. Sanguin here is a Andrvaoall. It absorbs all magic and can redirect it as I please. Observe." With a flourish, the sword tapped the wall where the door he used to enter once was. In an eruption of magic, the wall was vaporized as if the Reductor connected there instead of the sword.
Hermione looked at her friends and nodded. As one they raised their wands, and started to cast. Each let loose as many spells as they could, several of them considered deadly as Cutting curses and Severing charms and Reductor curses flew forward. The death eater grunted as several were blocked by his blade, yet others he was forced to shield against using the wand in his off hand. Step by step he walked backwards, as the spellfire slowly eased.
The Death Eater was furious. He was unable to block every attack, and his left hand was bleeding, his ribs were likely bruised from a partial shot from some form of banishing hex, and he had black boils on his right shoulder that he believed were from a Venomic Boil Curse. He wasn't sure where the children learned that, but it certainly wasn't pleasant. With a his he tapped his wand against his ribs, as those were the most injured and knocked aside another curse with his saber. He grinned slightly as the children came into focus, the dust from one of the blocked reductors slowly clearing. They were all panting, no doubt not used to unleashing such volleys of magic. He tightened his muscles and pulsed his magic readying himself to rush forward to kill them when Sanguin quivered in his hand. Reacting only via experience, he dove to the left, allowing the bone-crushing curse to sail through the space his spine was previously and strike one of the children in front of him. Turning around he scowled as Adrian strode forward, a wand of white wood with red streaks throughout its length twisting in his fingers.
"Oh poor thing… I am sorry. I missed." Adrian pouted slightly as he saw that Padma was screaming as she clenched her thigh, the victim of his bone-crushing curse. Hermione flicked her wand, transfiguring several slivers of wood into a stretcher.
"Get her out of here Pavarti, Ginny. Luna Neville and I will cover your retreat. Neville, no more holding back. Luna, you are disruption as we practiced. I will be point. Lets go." Hermione took charge and as they started to obey, Hermione dove into her Occlumency lessons, preparing to defend her friends to the death. As her mind cleared, and Pavarti and Ginny lifted the stretcher, the door leading to the exit opened, revealing the three figures of Harry Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.
Harry frowned slightly at the situation in front of him. While he agreed that either he or his Master must travel to gather the students, he disagreed on who would be the one doing so. However, when he discovered who would be travelling with him, he put his foot down. Only to be told in uncertain terms that it was not optional. In a rush of floo flames, the trio was away, easily making it to the Ministry.
It was simple for Remus, the man once known as the Arawn to hunt down the scent of Hermione Granger's shampoo. As the trio headed down towards the scent location, they noticed all the bodies hidden away in the alcoves that the student must have missed. Ministry workers were tore through, and several Death Eater corpses were present as well.
"How was the alarm not raised?" Sirius mumbled as the first Auror corpse was found. Harry frowned but Remus shook his head.
"Its after hours, and that is left to one Department these days. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a plant in the Communication department that is stopping that order." The werewolf took a deep breath of the air through his nose. "This way. The scent has changed too, I would say that Ms. Granger is in a fight."
With mumbled curses they continued down the hallways, now ignoring the blood and bodies. Luckily, they seemed to have found all of the students at once.
"Remus, deal with the Death Eater. If I am right that is Mulciber." Harry's voice was firm as he locked eyes with Adrian Frankenstein. "Sirius, Mulciber can't be the only one here. Cover me. If I was Voldemort, I'd send at least one other Inner Circle." He strode forward until he was level with Hermione. "What, in the sane hell are you doing Hermione?"
"Adrian is a muggleborn being held by the ministry. We have to save him from the Death Eaters!" As Harry appeared, Hermione was clearly certain that with Harry, Remus, and Sirius present they would help her rescue Adrian.
"Let me be clear. I am not here to rescue Adrian Frankenstein." Harry's voice was cold as he looked at Frankenstein. Hermione's eyes widened as she looked at Adrian.
"You… you can't be Frankenstein. He was supposed to be dead. Sara said you were dead!" Hermione's voice was high as it hit her exactly what her mentor wanted her to do.
"Oh… you don't understand. Well I guess I have to be honest." With a flick of his wrist, a banisher slammed into Mulciber and threw him through a door into an office. With a glance between his other team members, Remus ran after him.
Adrian continued to speak as he slowly stalked forward. "My name is Adrian Frankenstein, and I was and am the First Lieutenant of Gellert Grindlewald. I am the husband of Sonja Longfellow, also known as Sara Undrage." He stopped as Harry's wand pointed at his head. "I do apologize that you were deceived young one. Knowledge… should be enlightening, not just crushing. You are now thinking that everything that Sonja told you was a lie." Adrian read Hermione's face effortlessly. "Some of it likely was. However, I am a muggleborn, and I was held here for the secrets inside my head." He flicked his wand up to kill Harry with a severing curse.
In a flash of movement Harry blocked Adrian's attack, easily knocking it upwards. His counter, a piercing curse slammed through Adrian, only for his body to fade into mist, the illusion broken. Hermione was gone, and so was the Doctor.
"Sirius, gather the remaining students. They need to get to the school." Sirius nodded and looked at his godson, his question unasked.
"I am going to hunt down a doctor and our wayward bookworm."
As Remus entered the office of the Unspeakable, Mulciber was wiping blood from his lips after pulling his mask to the side. "Hello Werewolf. It has been a few years hasn't it?"
Remus nodded as he pulled a long hunting knife from its scabbard on his back. The blade was black as the night sky, with white runes on the flat. As he pulled the knife, he never took his eyes off of the man. When Remus first graduated, he joined the Division of Beasts. His partner was Alvin Mulciber the Second, at the time unknown Death Eater and the first person that Remus ever told he was a werewolf. His friends, James Sirius and Peter had all known but only because they figured it out. Alvin was the first person that Remus told personally. They were out on a mission hunting a group of vampires close to the full moon. Thus, it was required. Mulciber didn't treat him differently.
At least not until it was discovered that Mulciber was the enemy. Remus hunted him down and found him. Dragged him in, sword and all, into the Auror department. But not before he was forced to resign from the Beast Division. It was Alvin Mulciber that awakened the Arawn, he who hunted down any dark wizard he was tasked, who never let a man walk away.
Mulciber looked at the knife in Remus' hand. "You still have that do ya Werewolf? Good. I always said I'd take it from your dead body." Remus stayed silent as Mulciber darted forward, his blood red blade whistling through the air only to meet Remus' black knife blade. With a shockwave of displaced magic the reductor curse that Sanguin absorbed from one of the students blasted outward, its energy spent in an instant feedback loop as Remus' knife cancelled the magical output.
"Did you forget that Antlia cancels magic? It was made as the counter to your Sanguin after all…" Remus smiled as Mulciber struggled against the knife that slowly pushed back the red blade. His smile slipped from his face as the two disengaged and began their fight anew.
Antonin grunted as his spell slammed into a black tinted shield that protected the children. He had run into them by accident as he was searching for Frankenstein. Now he had to deal with the Grim himself, going all out. While he was confident that he could kill Sirius Black, he knew he couldn't do so and kill the kids too. He ducked a curse and retaliated with a stone turner. The fast spell rocketed towards Sirius, who slapped it aside with a shield. Sirius blurred forward, his magic humming inside him as a black lance of fire erupted from his wand. Antonin channeled his magic into a water fountain that turned the black fire into steam, steam he then turned into ice daggers that were rapidly transfigured into birds. The birds opened their beaks and their song erupted causing visible waves of sound to rush towards the Death Eater.
Antonin slit his finger and flung the blood up and muttered in a guttural language. A red barrier appeared, protecting the death eater and shattering at the end of the onslaught. Sirius smirked as his body danced with black lightning, his magic making his hair stand up slightly.
"Let's see if I can't add to my total of dead Death Eaters."
Adrian strode through the Atrium, dragging Hermione by the arm. He reached the giant fountain and turned pulling her closer to him. "Now, to see if Sonja did as I believe… wecke." He breathed into Hermione's hair as he tapped her forehead with a single finger. Hermione shuddered and her eyes flashed pink.
"Now, you must understand. That while yes, Sonja lied to you. She did so for the Greater Good. Our lord fights for what you believe does he not? The equality of all magicals, a freedom of magic and an equal partnership between magicals and the magical beasts and creatures of this world. Tell me… do you agree?" Adrian's voice was soft, its edges blunt yet still cutting deep into the consciousness of the brilliant girl.
Hermione was flashing through the dozens of books she read about magical law, magical society and the ruinous aspects of both. There would be no equality for her or her kind in that system. The only way to completely change a system was to eliminate it. That logically meant that Grindlewald was correct… but Grindlewald wasn't… Grindlewald wasn't a good… Grindlewald was… good.
"HERMIONE!" Harry's voice cut into her mind, and with unseeing eyes she looked at him. A blink, and clarity returned. She saw the figure behind Harry raise a wand and just reacted.
"Behind you Harry!" Hermione yelled as she pulled Adrian out of the way as well. Harry reacted, twisting his body as fast as he could down as the flash of green slammed into the fountain. Bellatrix Lestrange stood at the lifts; her wand pointed at Harry Potter as her eyes locked on Adrian Frankenstein.
"I am going to kill you both. And dance on your bodies."
AN: Well, this was a bit of a long time coming. I sorta lost over half this chapter about a month ago, which ruined my motivation to write it again. So, this is one of the last chapters of Year Five. Sirius is now moving, and we will discover what happened to him mentally next chapter. Mulciber is one of my favorite modified characters, with some major history between him and Remus. In canon it is assumed that Mad-eye or other Aurors captured all the death eaters, yet I dont really like that. I felt that Remus would be a perfect tracker and hunter, thus the Arawn was born. And finally we get to see Bellatrix vs Harry vs Adrian, and that is a fight I have been teasing for literally months now. Speaking of Adrian, what do you think of him?
Until Next time...
Zero