Disclaimer: Some of the characters, all of the rules of magic, most of the places belong to JK Rowling. The rest came from my twisted brain (isn't that scarey?)
Chapter 18 – In the Laboratory
It took just moments for Elijah to pull the memory from his mind, drop it in the pensieve and have the likeness of the man who had controlled him displayed. Brennan eyed the miniature projection hovering over the top of the bowl. "That is Adam Fullerton," he confirmed. "Since I confronted him in Hogsmeade and ended up killing him, there's every possibility that he never reported to Grindelwald." His expression was grave before he turned toward Albus. "Can you explain the trap to us?" he asked.
"Forgive me," Albus began. "After coming so close to failure, I prefer not to voice this. I will let you see into my memories so that you know everything that has taken place, but I will not explain this to you. If there were another opportunity for Grindelwald to overhear what I've done, I doubt if we would escape undiscovered." He pointed his wand at his head, pulling the memory from his mind, and dropping the wispy white traces of it into the pensieve bowl. "I will not join you inside. It is too soon for me to relive that battle so completely."
Crouch and Brennan both nodded. Albus took a moment to reach into their thoughts once more through legilimency before allowing each to see what he'd seen. He was surprised at how many wanted to witness these events, including Lorelei's death. He found the thought morbid and distasteful. Ultimately, Crouch, Brennan, and McCleary were joined by Howard, Nate and Perenelle, as each reached, one by one, to touch the milky surface of the memory essence and disappear inside. Minerva stood before Albus with a contrite expression. "Professor, I must see," she said apologetically. "If there is any detail important to our fight, I need to know. I can see that it hurts you. I would stay and not witness this loss, were it no so important to our cause." She fixed her dark eyes upon him and finished, "Forgive me?"
He merely nodded. Then the girl stepped with purpose toward the bowl, turning once to look at him again, before bending and touching the surface, allowing herself to be pulled inside.
A healer walked into the room with a cup in her hand. She asked Elijah to drink the contents and then stood examining him for a moment, before slipping silently from the room.
"She's not big on chatter is she --Healer Delus," Elijah remarking, pointing after her. Albus shook his head and smiled slightly. Elijah was trying so hard to make the situation less uncomfortable. The auror lifted the cup Healer Delus had given him and drank the contents. Then he set the cup on the nightstand.
There was a long silence, finally broken by the younger man. "How much did you give them?" Elijah asked, yawning broadly.
"Everything," Albus answered. "If they stay inside, it will move them without interruption from when Lorelei entered the laboratory, to the point in which I brought you and Nicholas here."
Elijah sighed heavily, a distraught look crossing his face. Albus wanted to ask how he was accepting the loss of a limb so easily, but couldn't find the right words, so he said nothing. The silence stretched painfully.
"It hasn't sunk in, you know?" Elijah offered finally. "I keep looking where there should be two legs covered in blankets, and I can see. Yet I still feel it is still there."
"I'm – It's not -- You should be angry," Albus stumbled. "Certainly you should not be defending me."
"I probably won't tomorrow," Elijah admitted. "For now, I'm much too angry with myself for being so -- so malleable – I can hardly blame another for reacting to my failings."
Albus considered this. He had always thought that Elijah was a good man, and there had been signs that something was wrong, though he had been so lost in shock and sorrow that he had not noticed the warning clues. Worse -- he and Nicholas probably could have taken Elijah into their full confidence much sooner. Would everything have been compromised if they had? Would the whole scenario have played out differently? Would Lorelei be alive?
In truth, everything came down to that. In the thousand alternative scenarios Albus' mind had gone over, that was always that one burning question. He was trying to find some way to undo what had occurred, though he knew it was impossible. And some part of him had avoided the trip through the memory because he wanted to deny her death. But giving a memory to a pensieve did not remove all traces of it from his mind, and he admitted to himself that probably was for the best. As painful as it was, it would not be prudent to forget that Lorelei was dead. He might spend days looking for her, only to be, once again, devastated by her loss.
Albus looked up from his thoughts, only to discover that Elijah had once again drifted off to sleep. In his unconscious state, Elijah's face was smooth and free of worry and regret. Albus watched him sympathetically, hoping that Elijah would forgive himself for being controllable, even if it meant anger directed at Albus; at least Elijah could heal emotionally then, though never physically. And Albus tried for a time not to let himself think about what the others were witnessing – not to let his mind return to the scene that had taken Lorelei from him. He was unsuccessful.
He'd been working in the laboratory in London. It was a strange way to spend a Saturday, and yet he'd spent most weekends of late working on the intense set of spells that made up the trap. Both he and Nicholas had failed in several previous attempts as they worked to get the right combination. That very morning, Nicholas had successfully created a spell recording charm that was undetectable. Added to Albus' own work, the watch was nearly complete. It would record Grindelwald's wand work; allow the group to track Grindelwald, even through a Fidelius Charm; and it would reveal everyone who was in league with Grindelwald of their own accord by projecting what was recorded in a small spelled mirror which lay on the countertop. Albus had prepared the incognus potion and was applying it to the watch, which was a perfect match of the one they had purchased for Lorelei's father and which Grindelwald had taken for himself as a trophy. He had soaked a silk pouch in the potion and had just dropped the watch inside, where it needed to remain for fifteen minutes, when Lorelei had walked through the door.
"Good evening, Albus," she had greeted him, with a smile on her lips. He had not expected her to drop by, but he had responded in kind and welcomed her with a light kiss. He didn't immediately sense anything was wrong, and wondered now if that fact cast him in a careless light.
"I thought you were avoiding the 'ghastly smell' of the potion," he'd remarked. Smells had lately been so heightened for her that Hagrid had been forced to move most of his pets out of doors, a fact which Albus was uncertain if the boy minded. In fact, this project had required several putrid potions and a few exploding spells, and it was so unsettling to Lorelei's olfactory senses that trips to the laboratory left her severely nauseous. She had mostly been unable to participate. It was the reason that Albus had never discussed with her the decision to use a watch. Now, as much as he hated to admit it, Albus was grateful for that fact.
"It does smell awful in here," she'd replied. "But I have missed you, and found I absolutely needed to pull you from your work. Is there anything I can do to distract you?"
He'd grinned at her flirtation. "Always," he'd said. "But I'm so close to finished that I beg to delay you a few more minutes, then I'm all yours."
"You're done then?" she'd responded, eyeing the bag.
He'd smiled broadly. "Almost. Of course, there is still the matter of delivering the working, though I think we shall find an opportunity before too long."
"And it will destroy him?" she'd asked.
That was the moment that Albus had first suspected something was wrong. They had not created a magic time bomb – of this Lorelei was aware. He met her eyes and searched her, promising himself he'd apologize after if he were wrong. He had not been, though he could see something – an internal battle raging. She was trying to fight the spell that had been placed upon her and must have somehow kept Grindelwald from reading certain things within her mind. Albus took a step back from the woman he loved, summoning the bag to him as he did so. Uncertain what to do, he knew he could not break the spell for her. His mind raced over possible options, each as unlikely as the next. If the control was isolated by distance, he could grab her and disapparate to Egypt or some other far away location. They suspected it was the rare imperius curse, but they could be wrong. If instead she'd been given a cursed object or something of that nature, distance would not suffice.
Lorelei lifted her wand as her captor realized that Albus had found him out. The curse she'd used was not something Lorelei would even know of. Albus barely deflected it, and the impact of the magic brought pieces of the roof tumbling down toward them both. Albus magically repelled the debris, trying desperately to protect her – to protect them, and such was his focus that he didn't immediately realize the newcomer in the room – Wilhelm Grindelwald. The evil wizard threw a blinding hex that Albus barely dodged.
Albus had assessed the situation in a split second, hoping that by distracting Grindelwald, Lorelei might be able to free herself completely. He completed a hasty reflecting spell that projected four perfect replicas of his image around the room. Then Albus spun, disapparating from one point and reappearing in another, knowing that his replicas would likewise appear to disapparate and move locations. It effectively confused Grindelwald and he fired off a spell at one of the fakes, instead of the real Albus.
Albus spun again, moving himself and his replicas once more. He apparated next to Lorelei and put a shielding charm around her, hoping to protect her from cross fire, and maybe block out Grindelwald. But the latter was a powerful wizard and he broke through the protective magic almost instantly. He aimed another dark curse at one of the replicas, and Lorelei mirrored his actions, hitting another. The images crumbled, leaving only two likenesses and the real Albus. They both aimed again, Grindelwald at another replica and Lorelei at her actual fiancé.
Albus quickly transfigured a stool into a mountain troll, which roared stupidly, distracting Grindelwald from completing the spell, and from directing Lorelei, as well. Albus allowed himself a moment to set Grindelwald's robes ablaze with gubraithian fire, something that Grindelwald would have to work at to stop. Lorelei, in the meantime, attempted to stun him, but he blocked the spells easily.
It took only a breath for Grindelwald to destroy the troll, and it was only then that he realized his robes were ablaze. Imagining that it was normal fire, the dark wizard attempted a simple aguamenti to put out the flames and discovered that nothing so elementary would suffice. Albus, in the meantime, threw a wand-breaking hex at Grindelwald. He blocked barely in time, but was forced to stop the work he was doing to break the gubraithian fire spell. He cried out in pain as the fire reached his skin.
That was when Lorelei broke free. "Albus!" she cried in the wrong direction, as she faced one of the replicas. In the instant he turned toward her hopefully, Grindelwald slipped a spell past his protections. The blast shook the foundation. Albus gasped Lorelei's name, leaping to protect her, hoping she'd simply apparate. She didn't move, though Albus was able to shield her from the falling debris once more.
The laboratory was now demolished, much of its roof lying in piles of stone on the floor. The spelled mirror that was to catch the image of Grindelwald's activities, once the watch was delivered, had been smashed. Albus made eye-contact with Lorelei, but she was again under Grindelwald's spell and now she had turned her wand at her own chest, though Albus could see her hand shaking as if she struggled against it.
Albus aimed a freezing charm at her and then transfigured her to a butterfly. Grindelwald roared angrily, thinking that Albus had rendered her invisible or somehow sent her away. "So it's just you and me now, Dumbledore!" Grindelwald growled, aiming his wand at the true version and ignoring the others. "More the better!" Of course, it seemed to Albus that Grindelwald had a problem with the truth, for no sooner had the words left his mouth, then two of his followers showed up to join the fight.
Albus was nervous about Lorelei's placement. He would have liked to send her away, but the pressing enemies were too distracting and every time he had a split second to try to send her elsewhere, another spell would fly at him.
He managed to round the two strangers up and trap them in an anti-disapparation spell, but Grindelwald used another of the explosive hexes, raining more pieces of the disintegrated ceiling on the whole group and destroying one of the two remaining replicas. Albus freed Lorelei from the freezing charm, but did not return her to her true form. It was much easier to hide her in this way.
Albus considered changing his own form. He could have a great advantage in flight, though it would be harder to protect Lorelei. He blocked more spells from Grindelwald, a few that he actually didn't recognize despite in-depth studies of dark arts for the purposes of defense. He discontinued his one remaining replica, when he realized it was no longer helping, and tried several obscure spells he'd never actually had a purpose for before. At some point, he realized the fight had gone on well past fifteen minutes.
Albus used a complex hybrid hex to knock Grindelwald off his feet and again set him on fire. This time the dark wizard was expecting Gulbraithian fire, but it was much simpler than that. Albus only wanted a distraction, which is precisely what he achieved, long enough to replace one watch with the other, leaving Grindelwald none the wiser.
At this point, he might have pursued Grindelwald, but he had thought it necessary to gather the evidence they needed to once and for all determine Hitler's role in the war, as well as the Minister of Magic's loyalties. For that reason, Albus hesitated a moment longer than he should have. He had turned to summon Lorelei, who remained in the form of a butterfly, but Grindelwald had already found her and turned her back into herself. She seemed to stand for a moment, perfectly fine and healthy, or so he thought. Then she sagged and collapsed. He'd never seen the spell that killed her. He hadn't even seen when the blow had come, though she must have still been a butterfly at the time. Grindelwald spun and disappeared in that second when Albus sped toward the woman he loved, believing that maybe she was just injured. He'd not even made chase. There had been no last blast of magic or attempt to stop Grindelwald. All Albus' focus had been on reaching her, helping her, saving her. But it was too late. A single trickle of blood spilled from her scalp. Her eyes were fixed, lifeless.
He'd folded, clutching her to him, sobbing and screaming her name. And there he'd remained until Nicholas returned to the laboratory. He'd given no second thought to the two Grindelwald supporters that had been trapped in the corner. Some part of his mind could remember hearing the aurors say that one had died from falling debris, though it had not sunk in at the time.
Albus slipped fully into grief, thinking how his own decisions had ultimately cost Lorelei's life. When the others returned from the pensieve, he was so distraught he had not even noticed. He vaguely heard Perenelle ask Minerva and Nate to take Albus home, though he couldn't bear the thought. Hagrid was there and would have to be told, but more than that, thousands of small reminders existed in that place. Clothes, books, muggle artifacts, perfumes, her toothbrush, makeup, her gobbstones – all scattered throughout the rooms they had shared. And the worst was the knitting -- tiny hats, jumpers and booties -- the thing he'd been trying desperately to shield himself from. He had lost them both.
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