All characters are property of JK Rowling and I do not make a profit from this story.

Beta: Roman's Sundial

Chapter Nineteen: Grindelwald's Hideout

Ginny Weasley – The Present

December 25, 1999

Ginny hesitantly entered the room where Grindelwald and Thicknesse had just been communicating. She placed her hand on the handle of her wand, but Grindelwald chuckled and reached for it.

"I'll take that, little one, there's a good girl," he said, as Ginny handed it to him. She clearly had no choice at this point; her plan was to somehow send a message out through her galleon, she just needed to figure out a way to get to it.

"What do you want?" she asked, bravely.

"Now, Gloria, I'm not going to hurt you, as long as you do what I say," Grindelwald told her.

Gloria? Ginny ignored the name and played along. "What do you want?" she asked again.

"Well, you see, I have some questions that I need answered. If you answer my questions, I'll give you your wand, and off you'll go, back to Harry Potter. Him and his little Order will come back here and search the place, but I'll be gone, of course. I will make it easier for him, however, with this." He held out a folded piece of parchment.

"And what is that, exactly?" Ginny asked, buying time.

"I'm glad that you asked, Gloria. This here is a letter to Potter, actually, telling him my intentions. See how easy I'm making this? I'm an easy man to please, Gloria, so how about you answer my questions so that you may get this letter back to Potter?"

Ginny knew she couldn't trust him, but her best option right now was to play along. "Fine," she told him. "Ask away."

Grindelwald smiled. "There's a good girl. Now, Potter has been staying with you and your family, hasn't he?"

"Yes," said Ginny, choosing her words very carefully.

"More than that, Master, he's dating one of them," Thicknesse piped up.

"Is he now?" Grindelwald look at Ginny and smiled. "Is it you, Gloria?"

"No," Ginny lied, although, technically it was true that Harry wasn't dating Gloria.

"Do you recognize this book?" he asked, picking up Rita Skeeter's book about Harry and Voldemort, clearly bored of the subject of Harry's love life. Ginny nodded. "Have you read it?" he asked her.

"Not all of it," she said truthfully. "Her work is usually always rubbish."

Grindelwald smiled again. "My thoughts exactly," he said. "I like you, Gloria; you are going to make this very easy for me. What I need to know, is how much I could trust what Skeeter says about Horcruxes."

"Why, so you could make some?" Ginny blurted out.

"Easy, Gloria!" Grindelwald said, smiling. "Perhaps you should join my side, I like your cheekiness!" Ginny scowled at him, and he laughed again. "Tom Riddle thought he knew it all, yet he failed. I, a much more level-headed wizard, am determined to actually know what I need to know, in order to proceed."

"And what is it that you want to proceed on?"

"The Greater Good, of course!"

"Which is…?"

"Gloria, if you remember my instruction, it is I that will ask the questions."

"I do remember your instruction; you invited me inside to learn what the Greater Good was." Ginny knew she was pushing it, but she needed to buy as much time as possible so that she would be able to find an opportunity to reach her galleon. She watched Grindelwald pace back and forth with quite the grin on his face. Clearly, he was enjoying Ginny's - or rather, Gloria's - remarks.

Finally, Grindelwald spoke. "Your Ministry of Magic has started to see the Greater Good. Releasing the wizarding world secret was step one. See, what I want is not at all a bad thing. I'm portrayed as evil because I spent several years in Nurmengard – That's a prison, Gloria, but I was sent there for wanting what has now happened."

"Dumbledore sent you there which means you deserved to be there!"

"Albus Dumbledore was pressured to duel me, but if you know the story, you know he held off for a long time before doing so, because he knew that I was right. Albus had always succumbed to pressure. Pity; he could have helped the cause in such a large way." Grindelwald was lost in thought for awhile, clearly remembering his days with Dumbledore. Ginny attempted to reach into her bag, but quickly withdrew her hand when Grindelwald turned to her again. "Now, let us get back on track. What do you know of the Horcruxes?"

"Nothing," Ginny said. "Truly!" she added. In actuality, Harry never really discussed the horcruxes with her or anyone; it was something that he, Ron, and Hermione had kept to themselves. "As far as I know, Harry never even told his girlfriend; they wanted to keep it quiet."

"You know what, Gloria? I believe you. Potter was trained by Albus Dumbledore, and Albus Dumbledore was an intelligent man." He paced some more, strumming his thumb against the pages of the book. "I suppose I was too optimistic; this is a conversation I must have with Potter, himself. Very well, Gloria, you may go and deliver my letter." Ginny made to reach for the folded parchment, but Grindelwald pulled back. "My apologies, Gloria, there is just one more thing."

"What's that?" Ginny asked, hesitantly.

"I require the cloak, please."

"No."

Grindelwald laughed. "Surely you forgot who you were speaking to, so I will let that slide. The cloak please, Gloria."

"I can't, it's Harry's, I have to return it!"

"Gloria, I did not wish to make an example of you, do not force my hand; give me the cloak." There was a sudden noise outside of the house; all three heads turned to the large window. "Pius, go and see what that is." Obediently, Thicknesse headed downstairs, wand raised. With Grindelwald's focus elsewhere, Ginny slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out her galleon.

Harry Potter – Present Day

December 25, 1999

Harry walked into George's room to find a teary-eyed Molly Weasley. Not wanting to intrude, he tried to sneak away, but she had heard him.

"Harry, Dear, come in," she said, wiping her eyes on a handkerchief. "So sorry, Dear, it's just so h-hard, being c-christmas and all…"

"I understand, Mrs. Weasley. I promise you, we will fix this."

She took a deep breath and embraced Harry. "I know you will, Dear, you never cease to amaze me."

Not knowing how to respond, Harry said, "thank you, Mrs. Weasley."

"Harry, Dear, you have been in my family much too long to refer to me as Mrs. Weasley. Please, refer to me as Molly. You are, after all, dating my daughter!"

"Er, okay, Molly." Harry felt awkward saying it, but the look on her face showed how pleased she was that he had.

"Shall we go enjoy dinner, then?"

"Yeah, I'm starved." The two of them headed to the very crowded kitchen and took their seats. Dinner went without a hitch; there were no talks of Grindelwald, no talks of Abracadabra, there were rarely any talks of George, either. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, all except for Harry, who had a growing pain in his stomach the longer time went by without hearing from Ginny. As dessert was coming to an end, the rest of the Order members started to file in for their meeting, and, to Harry's displeasure, his private meeting with McGonagall and the Weasleys.

"Ready, Potter?" asked McGonagall, after greeting her fellow members.

"I guess," Harry answered.

"Meet me in the kitchen then, I'll make sure everyone is gathered in the meeting area before I ask Arthur and Molly for a private word."

"Okay." He entered the kitchen and poured himself a drink of water to calm his nerves. He nearly dropped his glass when he felt his galleon grow unexpectedly hot. "Ginny!" he said, hastily grabbing the galleon and fumbling it before turning it on it's side to read.

He's here.

That's it, that was all she was going to say? Not sure whether he should reply or not, he headed towards the door to find Professor McGonagall and show her, prior to their discussion with the Weasleys. He was too late, however, as McGonagall, Arthur, and Molly Weasley were walking into the room.

"What's this about, Minerva?" Molly asked. "Surely it could be discussed in the meeting?"

"I do not think it wise, just yet, to inform everyone of the information that Potter has received." At that, all three pairs of eyes turned to him.

Harry took, a deep breath, handed the galleon to McGonagall, and spoke. "I know where Ginny is and I'm worried about her." It didn't take long to fill in Arthur and Molly, and Harry was thankful that McGonagall had taken over and told them for him.

As suspected, Molly was hysterical. "We must go get her at once!"

It was Arthur, however, who was the voice of reason. "Molly, we cannot do that."

"Arthur, our little girl-"

"Is not so little. She made her decision and we would only put her in more danger if we were to go to her aid."

"She could die!" Molly cried.

"Ginny is a lot tougher than she is given credit for; she can handle herself," said Arthur, choosing that moment to look at Harry.

"Potter, she has written again," said McGonagall, handing his galleon back to him.

He wants the cloak.

Harry re-read the message aloud. "He wants the cloak?"

"She is with him? Actually with him?" Molly shrieked.

"It would seem that way, Molly," answered McGonagall. "Potter has a very rare invisibility cloak that Ginny had borrowed, it seems that he wants her to hand it over."

"What would he want with it?" asked Arthur.

"The Deathly Hallows," Harry spat out. When he received three quizzical looks, he went on to explain. "Dumbledore told me that Grindelwald was obsessed with becoming the Master of Death and getting all three of the Hallows. You know, the ones in the Tale of the Three Brothers."

"But that's a child's story!" said Molly, exasperated.

"It's actually based on a true story. I'm a descendent of one of the brothers, and my cloak is the cloak of invisibility mentioned in the story."

"You have Death's cloak, do you?" said Molly, in a somewhat mocking tone.

"Yeah, I do," said Harry, matter-of-factly, "and I had all three in my possession at one point."

Molly made to argue, but Arthur stopped her. "Harry has never lied before, even when the story sounded unbelievable. Let us not forget the story of Sirius and Ron's rat." Molly nodded, and Arthur continued, turning to Harry. "Where are the other two hallows, son?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I should say," Harry said quietly.

"I quite agree, Arthur, let the secret die with Potter," said McGonagall.

"I suppose that is best," he agreed.

"What about Ginny?" Molly almost yelled.

"Do you reckon I should reply?" Harry asked the group. Before anyone could answer, he received another message.

Do not reply. I will be there soon.

"Be where? Be here?" Molly asked him.

"I don't know, it seems like it," he answered her.

"Right now, we need to trust Ginny. Harry, when she does arrive, you need to allow her in here, for good."

Harry knew better than to argue with Arthur. He nodded his head in acknowledgement, then turned to his Professor. "What do we tell the Order?"

"The truth," she said, "but we do so lightly. This is a lot of new information to take in, and when Ms. Weasley arrives here, I am sure we will receive plenty more."

Harry ignored the voice in his head saying if she arrives, and instead told himself to do something that he hadn't done in a very long time: Trust his girlfriend.

Gellert Grindelwald – Present Day

December 25, 1999

Gellert stood over the girl crying in the middle of the room. The noise they had heard earlier was an intruder; Pius had brought up a girl that he found snooping around the outside of the cottage.

"Who are you?" Pius had asked her.

"My name is Magdalena, please don't hurt me, I was only picking some flowers!" said the scared girl.

"A likely story, who sent you? The Order?"

"What's the O-Order?"

"Pius," Gellert finally intruded. "She's a muggle. How old are you, girl?" he asked, looking at the frightened child.

"Fourteen," she answered.

"Old enough to know better than to snoop!" spat Pius.

"Don't hurt her!" Gloria yelled. Gellert turned to the Weasley girl. She was definitely brave, but also cunning. Had Pius not have told him that she were a Gryffindor, he would for sure have suspected her to be a Slytherin.

"Gloria, this girl is an intruder, and for that, she will have to be eliminated." He was testing her; he wanted to know how far he could use her.

"Killing an intruder is for the Greater Good, is it? I thought you weren't evil?"

Gellert smiled at her, then turned back to the newcomer. "Abracadabra!" he chanted. He watched the girl stiffen and lay motionless, as if dead. From the corner of his eye, he saw Gloria look at him, but she did not say anything. So, she picked up on the spell; she really was much smarter than he had anticipated. "The cloak, Gloria, it is time for us all to go. Pius, dispose of this," he said, indicating to the girl on the ground.

"I'll take her, but I'll need the cloak to return, too." Ginny said, staring at him hard.

"You are a very brave girl, Gloria," he laughed. "Hand over the cloak, take the girl, and go."

"I have a better idea," she told him, confidently.

"Oh?" he said, eyebrow raised.

"I take the girl, the cloak, and your letter for Harry. Then, I'll come back in about a week, with Harry's response and-" she hesitated before continuing, "and the answer to your Horcrux question."

Gellert was intrigued. "How do I know you will return?"

"You know where I live, you know who my family is, you can easily kill us all if I don't."

"You have no idea where I am headed."

It was her time to smirk, "I'll find you."

Gellert considered her answer. "You will not return with the cloak, and that is something I cannot give up." He watched her think for a very long. "Leave, Gloria, drop the cloak and go, I do not have time for these games."

"I need the cloak to take her home to her parents; they deserve the right to bury their daughter."

Gellert thought long and hard. He had never allowed anyone to tell him what to do; he was the infamous Grindelwald, after all. This girl, however, she was very intriguing, and he did have several questions… "You come back in a week, with the cloak, Potter's response, and the answers to my questions. You come alone, Gloria, and we make a habit of regular meetings. You do this, and I assure you that your family will live."

Gloria nodded. "My wand, please."

Gellert walked over to her, handed her the letter and the wand, and grabbed her wrist. "You return with that cloak, Gloria, do not test me."

Gloria pulled her wrist free, threw the cloak over the girl on the ground, and levitated her. She was half way out the door when she turned to him and said, "I'm not the one who can't be trusted." She glanced briefly at Pius, then left.

Gellert broke out in a deep, hearty laugh. "What a girl!" he said, enthusiastically.

"Why did you let her take the cloak, Master?"

"Pius, my trusted ally, she will return, and she will bring me more answers than she realizes." He continued to laugh to himself; she knew about the spell, which meant Potter knew about the spell. Oh, this was going to be a lot of fun.

Hermione Granger – The Past

June 1, 1998

Ron and Hermione apparated at the end of quiet street and walked hand in hand to a house Hermione led them to. She stood in front of the big house and sighed; although it was dark out, she recognized every chipped brick, every shrub, even the small chipped paint on the corner of the front door.

"So, this is where you grew up?" Ron asked her.

She nodded in response. "My parents sold it when I charmed them to move to Australia; I probably wouldn't recognize the inside anymore."

"So, who lives there now?"

"I don't know, and truthfully, I don't want to know." This was a very sad moment for Hermione; she had lost her parents and she had lost her home. She sniffled back a tear and turned to Ron. "Come on, my stuff is back here." She led him to the backyard where a small shed stood in the corner. "Alohomora," she said, and the door opened at once.

"How did you get away with keeping everything in there?" Ron asked her. "Surely the new homeowners would have thrown it all out."

"Muggle-repellent spell," Hermione smiled. "The muggles who bought this place don't even know that this shed exists."

"Brilliant!" said Ron. "And where are these muggles now?"

"I sent them away to some sporting area for the evening. Kingsley gave me the idea; they used the same tactic on the Dursley's one time when they needed them out of the way to get Harry."

Ron picked up the nearest box and frowned. "How are we supposed to transport all of this?"

"This wasn't the only thing I kept," she answered. "Follow me." Hermione led Ron a few houses down where a dead-end alley was present. She waived her wand vigorously, and suddenly a dark blue caravan appeared. "Disillusionment Charm," she told him, "and a muggle-repellent charm for good measure. This was my parents' vehicle. Come on, get in." She drove the caravan back to her old house, and together the pair of them loaded the vehicle with all of the possessions she had saved. Once they finished, Hermione got behind the wheel with Ron in the passenger seat, and she slowly drove away for the last time.

"How do you even know how to drive this thing?" Ron asked her.

"I got my permit during the summers at home," she told him.

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"Why are you so shocked?" she laughed, "Ron, I'm muggle-born, remember? Things like getting a Driver's Permit is normal for me."

"Blimey, Hermione, there is loads I don't know about you."

"Well, luckily you have the rest of your life to find everything out."

Ron smiled at her, but then curiosity changed his train of thought. "Where are we going?"

Hermione gripped the wheel tighter. "I don't know," she said sadly. "Other than Hogwarts, I have nowhere to live. I suppose I'll go put all of this in storage, and then once I finish school, I'll have to find a house."

"Hermione…" said Ron slowly.

"Hm?"

"What if… Well, I'm going to be working at the Ministry with you and Harry, so I'll have money soon, and we are dating… So maybe we can…" he took a deep breath and tried again. "Maybe we can buy a house together, you know, since we are together. I don't mean right now, I can stay at my parent's house until you're ready, maybe we can just buy it and, I don't know, get it ready, until…"

"Until what, we are married?" Hermione finished.

"Well, you know, one day, I'm sure Mum and Dad will expect me to be a gentleman and..."

Hermione laughed, "I love that idea, Ron!"

Author's Notes: Well, Harry is finally starting to trust Ginny, and I promise it's only going to go uphill from here! I love Arthur in this chapter; he's calm but logical and is giving Ginny the credit she deserves. I also love Ginny in this chapter too; she's showing the true qualities of a Gryffindor.

To reply to a few things: Throughout the story, different character's POVs are going to be more prominent than others. To start, I was really focusing on Draco and Hermione because of his hearing and Hermione's decision to help him. (I'm also a huge Dramione fan!) But as you can see, Ginny and Grindelwald's story is going to start being the focus. That doesn't mean I won't talk about the others, it's just at certain parts I focus on one thing more than the other. The concern was that I won't focus too much on Ginny and Harry but that is not the case. All in due time! Eventually, the focus will go onto Neville, then onto Amelia, then back onto Ginny, then onto Ron, etc etc... There's plenty of story to cover so even if you feel that a character is on the back burner, just keep in mind it's only for the time being. The main storylines haven't even begun to unfold. We still have to deal with Grindelwald, figure out the Abracadabra curse, found out what's happening with Amelia, have Draco's next hearing, discover who is buried with the Potters, and that's just the stuff I've introduced, there is still plenty of new things to come about.

The next chapter all happens at the Order, so plenty of Ginny in this one, as well as Grindelwald, the Order, and Harry.

Thanks as always for the reviews and I hope you enjoy!