AN: It's been a while since my last post. This chapter didn't come easily to me, and with how busy I've been, it's been hard to find the time or motivation to write some days, but good news, I do have a pretty good idea of where the story is going from here, so I think I can safely promise it won't be so long before the next post. Definitely think I'll wait till my next story is pretty much finished before starting to post, like I did with my first story. I always feel a bit bad when I don't post every week or every other week, since I know as a reader how much it sucks to be waiting for the story to continue. As always, let me know what you think, and thanks for all the support and sticking with me and the characters I've created or adapted.

Chapter 14

"Last night was a great success, and a huge blow to Riddle's forces!" Barty Crouch said ecstatically. "Our forces grow, while his shrink. Soon, we will be able to kill the bastard and end this!"

"Calm yourself, Barty," Albus said, still looking shaken from the events of the previous night. Though Harry couldn't blame him. He'd almost thought the old man would have a heart attack when he got back from his raid and found Gellert Grindelwald in the hospital wing. "Last night did indeed hold some great victories for us, but we must not get overconfident. We must be cautious."

"Bah, cautiousness has gotten us nowhere. It was decisiveness that has gotten us this far," Dawlish retorted. "We lost two of the newer recruits while taking Azkaban, but we liberated nearly two hundred prisoners! We conquered Azkaban! We lost three at the attack on the brothel, but liberated thirty slaves! If even a tenth of those decided to join up, we'll have replaced those we lost and gained greater numbers! The Death Eaters lost nearly eighty of theirs last night, including that insane Witcher bitch."

"Watch it," Katie said, with a dark tone. "She might have been evil, and was only a doppelganger of my friend, but if life had been kinder to her, she would have been one of your greatest fighters, as you saw last night when our Izzy killed eight Death Eaters by herself at the brothel."

Dawlish looked like he was going to retort, but he saw the looks thrown at him and he took the hint to shut up. The dimensional travelers were firmly supported among nearly everyone in the Order at this point, and especially among most of the newer recruits.

"Regardless, caution is the approach here," Harry said, causing Dawlish and Crouch to scowl, and even many others to look unhappy. "Riddle will find an answer to us, and with our two victories last night, and his continuing losses around the world, he'll continue to get more erratic and dangerous. Riddle's forces still outnumber us by at least ten to one, and I don't want him to get lucky because we got arrogant or got too overeager."

"So what are you proposing we do now?" Fabian Prewett asked. "How can we continue to push Riddle's forces while being cautious?"

"Cautious and stagnant are not the same thing," Neville replied. "It just means we aren't going to run missions just to run missions. We'll plan out the right missions that get us the best result."

Fabian and Gideon both nodded at Neville, obviously placated.

"Tonight and tomorrow will be quiet," Harry said. "Rest up, tend to or visit our injured, and be prepared. With fresh bodies, we'll hit the Death Eaters hard and set up the endgame that will end with Riddle's death."

There were some cheers at that, and even those who wanted to go out and fight Death Eaters at that moment seemed somewhat placated as people started walking off to enjoy a night off. Harry waited until all but his friends and family remained before he sighed. Only James, Lily, Sirius, Marlene, Remus, Tonks, Rebecca, Molly, Arthur, Bill, and Fleur of this dimension's people remained.

He looked around seeing his friends and family, but them being there only further highlighted who wasn't.

"How are Jace and Alicia?" Harry asked Jamie, who was looking absolutely exhausted.

"Not good," she admitted tiredly. "I've never seen either one so lost. Jace can't even look at Izzy, which hurt and infuriated her, causing Jason and Alicia to basically barricade themselves in their room. They both know it needed to be done, and they both know that it wasn't our Izzy, but still, it was Izzy. You know how much she means to both of them. It's shitty to say, but I'm glad I didn't have to see it, or I'd probably be with them," Jamie finished, as Fred held her hand.

"I can't imagine killing my sister, even if it was a doppelganger," Rebecca said softly, being hugged from behind by her mother.

"They'll get through it," Ginny said, though not looking completely sure of herself. Seeing Isabelle die, even if it wasn't their Isabelle was giving her nightmares and she knew it would be far worse for Jace.

"Izzy will get them through it," Angelina said confidently.

There were murmurs of agreement around the room at that.

"Even with Jace and Alicia out of commission, we must press on if we want to get out of here," Harry said grimly. "Unless something comes up, the goal will be to hit Diagon Alley, and Gringotts specifically one week from now. We'll seize Riddle's last horcrux, and then we'll go straight to Hogwarts, just like we did in our war, while Riddle is trying to confirm if we've destroyed them all or not."

"Mate, as much as I'd love to force the end of this conflict or at least our part in it," Ron said, "I think we need to hold off. Possibly even as much as a month or two. We're going to need a boost in forces to fight Riddle's army, or a major decrease in his own. Over the next month or so, we can widdle down his forces more, and then we can try and recruit and rehabilitate some of the prisoners and slaves that we freed. We can try and recruit some of the members of the various resistances around the world and gain an army of our own, and then we'll be ready to fight him."

"Harry, he's right," Hermione said, softly. "We can't do this yet. It's not like our world. He has too many followers in this world. His Death Eaters are too great in number, and most of the Ministry would come to his aid. We can't fight upwards of five thousand wands with our small number, even if we bolster ourselves with fighters from abroad."

Harry sighed, slumping over. "I just want this to end. It's taking too much of a toll, and none of you should even be here."

"Hey, none of that," Ginny rebuked softly, leaning her head against his own. "We chose to follow you here, and chose to stay with you here. None of us regret that, or we'd have already gone. Jace and Alicia, as much pain as they are in right now, probably still don't regret it. We can't afford to go to pieces when we are so close to the end. Get out of your head."

"I'll try, love," Harry whispered back before he sighed and leaned back from his wife and looked at everyone else. "Have the rest of the liberated been transported to that hospital in Australia?"

"Just about," Ron confirmed. "There's a few more that need to go, and I don't think anyone is sure about what to do with Grindelwald, but otherwise, it's under control."

"I can't believe you guys found Grindelwald," Fred said in amazement. "What was Riddle doing keeping him?"

"I'd imagine that he just enjoyed knowing or bragging that he held the previous darkest wizard in history as his prisoner," Daphne said. "I doubt he can learn anything from the old man, but maybe I'm wrong."

"Well, there is one thing that he could have learned from Grindelwald," Harry said thoughtfully, "but I'm not sure he would have gone looking for the elder wand in this world, since he didn't have to overcome the twin cores of his and my wands.

"Well, it's probably just the prestige, like Daphne said," Ginny said, "but he might be able to learn stuff from Grindelwald. I mean, Grindelwald was considered Dumbledore's equal, so it's possible he might know dark magic that Riddle never learned."

"None of that answers the question on what the hell we do with the bastard," Sirius (2) said.

There were chuckles around the room as Marlene hit her husband on the shoulder and Rebecca laughed at her father's words.

"I'm really not sure," Harry admitted. "They say he was repentant in our world, towards the end of his life, and he was killed by Riddle in his prison cell, which meant he must have resisted helping him, but whether that was him trying to do good or just trying to spite Riddle, I don't know. I guess we should just see what he's like and go from there. We could always just see if the Australians would be willing to hold him in jail. While I wouldn't count him out as an old man, he's been imprisoned so long that I doubt he can cause much trouble."

"If he's repentant and seems willing to help, do we let him?" Neville asked, looking a little uncomfortable with the idea.

"You're talking about letting one of the darkest wizards in history help fight his successor," James said in disbelief. "You'd actually give him a wand?"

"Maybe," Ron said, frowning, causing many to look at him in surprise. "What?" he said looking around the room. "We desperately need the help, and if we can get him healthy, then we'll have gained someone that could duel Dumbledore in his prime. He could be a huge asset. We need people that can duel Riddle and his inner circle, and Grindelwald has the potential, and we know he's ruthless enough, or at least he was."

"How could we trust that he wouldn't turn on us and join Riddle?" Harry's godfather asked.

"Well, we could have him make an unbreakable vow, or we could use legilimency against him," Hermione said. "Besides, Riddle kept him prisoner, so I doubt he would join Riddle's army. The worst case scenario, he turns against us and starts a war against us and Riddle, but he doesn't have followers like he did forty years ago. He can only do so much damage, and if he started a three way war, he'd most likely attack Riddle more than us, both to try to bring him down, but also to recruit for his own army."

"You're underestimating him," Lily warned. "You need to remember that he was once the most feared dark wizard in history. Imagine if Jason, Alicia, or Isabelle, or even Harry decided they wanted to just go on a killing spree. No filters, no worries about holding back or minimizing destruction. Any of you could cause untold destruction. Let's be real, Jace and Alicia probably could have taken Azkaban by themselves last night. If Grindelwald is healthy, he'd be just as capable if not possibly more, since he had more years of magical education than you all did, even if it's been forty years since he's held a wand."

"It's not that we're underestimating him," Hermione said back calmly. "We just know that there are plenty of people that could neutralize him. Harry, Ginny, Isabelle, Albus, and Kingsley are to name but a few. If Jace and Alicia recover, add two more."

"Yes, but any of those people would have to be around and have to confront him before they could neutralize him," Marlene argued, joining Lily's side. "Also, just because all of them are capable doesn't mean they will win. All it takes is having a bad day and Grindelwald getting in one very clever or very lucky shot and the fight is over. You're overconfident in your abilities. Riddle has never beat Dumbledore in a duel, but Grindelwald almost did, and that was in their prime. Riddle's more evil and more deranged, and more powerful, magically, but Grindelwald was the stronger duelist."

"He could kill a great many of us before someone managed to take him down," James said.

"Grindelwald isn't like Tom Riddle," Hermione argued back. "He wouldn't betray us unless he could see something that would benefit himself from doing so, and with his followers all dead or working for Riddle, and Riddle being the one who was keeping him in prison, I doubt he'll turn on us."

"You don't know that!" James protested. "We can't trust him! We need to either throw him back in prison or end his life."

"As much as I would like to agree with you, James," a voice cut in, and everyone turned to see Albus Dumbledore standing in the doorway looking sad, "I think Miss Granger has the better grasp of the man. He enjoys or enjoyed power, and he certainly believed that wizards are superior, but he also didn't think muggles deserved to be murdered or enslaved unless necessary, and he never would have approved of the world Tom Riddle has created. I cannot say what his dreams and aspirations would be anymore, but I would not think he would betray us, unless it was to gain something quite important to him, which is something that Tom Riddle would be unable or unwilling to offer."

"Are you sure your judgment is sound on that, Albus?" Sirius (2) said archly. "Merlin knows you didn't have the best track record with him, even if you did end up defeating him."

"Sirius, I know better than most what my infatuation with Gellert Grindelwald cost," Albus replied softly, "but I do believe that he could be of use to us at this time, if we are but willing to ask."

"I'll talk to him," Harry said, causing heads to turn towards him. "I'll get a feel of him, and what he might desire, and depending on my judgment, I'll make the decision on whether we send him to prison or enlist his aid."

**HP**

Ginny watched Harry walk out of the room to go talk to Grindelwald, a worried look on her face. She wasn't worried about him dealing with Grindelwald, but she was worried about his state of mind after the raid on Azkaban.

"I'm going to go check on Jace and Alicia," Jamie said tiredly. "Mum, dad, Alex, and Isla were trying to look out for them, and Isabelle of course, but I'll go see if they've made any progress before getting some sleep."

"I should go check on Izzy as well," Daphne said looking concerned.

The three of them slipped out of the room and headed towards the apparition point to head back to the Potter's cottage. Most of the others seemed to be in agreement about needing rest as Ginny watched Sirius (2) and Marlene convince Rebecca to leave with them. She almost grinned as she saw Remus and Tonks leave right behind them, looking cozied up.

"Is Harry going to be alright?" James asked, still looking off towards where Harry had walked away.

"He'll be fine," Ron said. "He's a fighter. Right now, the best way to help him is to help plan out some of the future missions and take some of it off his plate," Ron said grimly. "Harrys' a decent strategist, but this is my specialty."

"In the aurors, right?" Bill asked, still looking at Ron with that sad and nostalgic look that none of this dimension's Weasley's could shake whenever they saw Ron or Ginny.

"Yeah," Ron said, nodding. "Neville, Jason, Harry and I all joined up at the same time, right after the war, and while there are things every auror needs to be good at, like being competent duelists, knowing magical law, having a knowledge of the dark arts, there were other things that each of us specialized in, not counting others in the DMLE who already had their specialties. I breezed through the Best Laid Plans portion of Auror training. Nobody can get close to Tonks's level at concealment and disguises for obvious reasons. Katie," he said looking at the witch in question and winking, "is the best interrogator in the department. Harry is definitely one of the best at conducting investigations and has probably the best battle instinct in the department. Jason was the best tracker in the Ministry, and he and Harry were definitely the best and the worst at crisis avoidance and de-escalation," Ron said with a grin, getting a snort of laughter from Sirius, Neville, Katie, and Ginny.

"The best and the worst?" Arthur asked in confusion while Molly, Bill, and Fleur also looked confused. James and Lily just looked interested to hear a bit more about their lives in their world.

Ron chuckled. "Harry killed Tom Riddle in a duel, and it's well documented that Jason also technically beat Riddle in a duel in Godric's Hollow and at the very least dueled him to a draw at the Battle of Hogwarts where Riddle was eventually forced to retreat. Anytime Harry or Jason would show up, you'd get one of two reactions," Ron continued grinning broadly, much to the Weasleys surprise. "Either the aggregators would throw down their wands immediately, not wanting to test their power or they'd immediately start casting unforgivables at the pair, determined to prove themselves by killing Harry or Jason."

Neville grinned. "It was good to be their partner, since you never had spells cast at you. They always went for Jason or Harry. Still do most of the time."

"Ronald Weasley!" Molly scolded. "How is that funny?"

Ron's face showed alarm as Sirius, Neville, Katie, Hermione, George, Angelina, and Ginny all started laughing.

"Well, I mean, it's a little funny," Ron defended himself weakly, knowing his own mother had berated him the exact same way when he'd joked about the same topic.

Sirius decided to take pity on him. "It's not so funny for the people that tried to curse Harry, but it was pretty funny to see fairly nasty witches and wizards see Harry or Jason show up and immediately decide that fighting wasn't in their best interest," Sirius said proudly. "They were ready to fight when it was just us 'normal' aurors, but as soon as one of them showed up, it was time to come quietly."

"Still doesn't mean he should be making light of it," Molly said sternly. "He's Ginny's husband after all."

"Hey, he was my best mate first!" Ron said with a grin, and George started smiling knowing exactly where this was going. "Ginny stole him from me!"

Ginny snickered, very used to this argument.

"Poor Hermione. She'll always be second fiddle to Harry Potter in Ron's heart," Angelina crooned mockingly, and Hermione nodded mournfully.

"Honestly, all the things Harry's gotten us into, it's hard not to make light of things like that happening to him," Neville said with a shake of his head. "A bunch of second rate thugs trying to kill him is the least of his problems."

"That's true," Ginny said with a sigh.

"Ginny!" Molly scolded.

"What?" Ginny said with a grin. "My husband gets himself into a lot of trouble. However, he's also one of the most powerful wizards on the planet, and one of the most capable duelists. He's plenty capable of getting himself out of trouble almost as much as he gets in it."

"Almost?" Bill said with a smirk.

Ginny grinned. "Sometimes he needs just a wee bit of help."

"And that's what we're here for," Ron said with a smile.

**HP**

Jason was lying in bed, feeling about as miserable as he ever had. Alicia was curled up into his side, but even though they were trying to comfort each other, they could barely speak to each other, both of them locked into their minds, seeing the dark Isabelle's death over and over again. For the first time in their lives, their occlumency shields were a curse to them as their waking and sleeping nightmares were excruciatingly vivid with more detail than any dream had a right to contain.

He'd only slept a few hours before nightmares had forced him awake. Trying to burn off excess energy, he'd gone out into the woods and attempted to blast apart some trees, but his spells had been so weak, and his wand was so shaky he'd missed his target a few times. He knew he just needed to get his head on straight, but he didn't know how, but it was crucial he got out of his head. If he couldn't defend himself, his family, or his friends, what use was he?

Alicia wasn't much better. He'd come back from his failed attempts at destructive magic to find her sobbing quietly, obviously having about as much success at sleeping as he had. He'd quickly got back into bed and pulled her in close, trying to provide comfort, but feeling like he was failing.

It was just so damn hard. Both Alicia and Jason loved their parents, but something they both had in common was that their sisters were the most important people in each other's lives other than each other. As they became friends and eventually started dating, that love and protectiveness had transferred to each other's siblings. Seeing Jamie so broken at the brothel, and then now Isabelle's lifeless body at Jason's hand was just a bit too much to handle in a short amount of time.

"JASON! ALICIA! OPEN THIS BLOODY DOOR RIGHT FUCKING NOW OR I WILL BLOW IT DOWN!" Isabelle's absolutely livid voice yelled from their living area. Jason and Alicia both winced, hearing her voice, but knowing she was completely serious, Jason shakily waved his wand to unlock the door and remove the simple wards Alicia had placed to try and keep people out.

Isabelle stormed in, their bedroom door crashing into the wall, her stormy grey eyes flashing furiously, power radiating from her. Jason and Alicia winced at the sight of Isabelle's face, still seeing Jason's last curse in Azkaban, and they both lowered their heads.

"So help me gods, if you two don't look up at me, I will bloody well body bind the two of you, so that you're FORCED to look at me while I knock some fucking sense into you," Isabelle said, her face set in a snarl that would make most people run in fear.

Hesitantly, Jason raised his head, his tortured grey eyes meeting his sister's angry ones. It took a lot of him to not flinch and look away. It didn't help that through his sister's anger, he could see how much he was hurting her by struggling to look at her. Jason had never liked seeing Isabelle hurt, emotionally or physically, and his protectiveness hadn't gone down over the years even though she didn't need him to protect her anymore.

Isabelle glared at two of her favorite people in the world, knowing she was going to have to hurt them to get them out of their depressive moods. All of her family and friends had gone through their bouts of rage and depressive states over the years, and she had ways of dealing with them all.

Harry tended to lash out when he was depressed or angry, and it could lead to some major rows if you didn't shut him down quickly, or you didn't understand where his thought process was. Ginny was much the same, and when they were both angry, their fights would shake the foundations of whatever building they were in. However, if you shut them down, they were both quick to apologize, and even if you didn't shut them down, they didn't hold grudges against those they loved. When they were depressed, you just needed to take them flying to help them destress and think out their problems.

Ron tended to lash out and get all sullen which usually resulted in trying to hurt others with insults. He'd come a long way since Hogwarts and usually stopped himself from going too far, but he still had his moments. Hermione could yell, but usually you were treated with the silent treatment until you realized the error of your ways and apologized, which made moving past the fight harder when Hermione was in the wrong, even if it was quite rare. She was also very slow to apologize when wrong, though usually she would do something to try and make up for her attitude. All in all, big fights tended to drag on and usually resulted over the course of a day or two before one side caved and apologized or they worked through whatever the issue was. She rarely saw depressive episodes out of Ron or Hermione, but if Hermione was depressed, just give her a good book and a caring Ron and she'll be fine. If not, one of her future sisters-in-law was always there with a bottle of wine and a ready ear.

The twins rarely were angry or depressed, and since they'd married Jamie and Angelina, those rare bouts had become almost nonexistent, but you generally could just let them blow off steam and they'd be back to normal. Angelina was a fiery woman who would yell her head off if you pushed her past her limits, and it usually ended with some minor hex, jinx, or curse, but whomever (usually one of the twins) was on the wrong side of her temper usually deserved it, so it was hard to find fault with her. Jamie was not a loud or explosive person, and often if she'd reached the point where she was losing it either out of anger or sadness, she'd disappear to cool her head whether that be crying to Jason, Alicia, and Izzy herself, or blasting apart some training dummies.

Daphne withdrew when she was angry or sad, but Isabelle had learned long ago to force Daphne into confrontations when this occurred in order to get the problem out in the open and dealt with rather than let it fester because Daphne could become quite vindictive and unbearable if you let her fester on her perceived injustice or issue. It was one of the few things Isabelle disliked about her on and off again girlfriend, but she knew how to stop it, so it was irrelevant nowadays. Izzy herself preferred unleashing her rage on practice dummies rather than deal with a problem angrily, though on occasion she would handle issues by throwing threats and warnings to those who pushed her buttons too much.

Katie, like Ginny and Angelina, liked to yell and maybe throw a jinx or two, but the friendly girl rarely let her temper get loose around her friends, and when she was sad, she was one of the first people to call up Angelina, Alicia, Ginny, Jamie, Fleur, Audrey, or Isabelle herself to vent to and help herself. Neville was rarely angry or sad and simply disappeared into his greenhouses when he needed to cool down or find happier thoughts, and frankly, Isabelle had never seen Luna angry off of the battlefield, so she wasn't even sure Luna could get all that angry with her friends. Maybe irritated or annoyed with people's staunch protest to some of the creatures she believed it, but that 'irritation' was just followed by some quick witty barbs about lack of sight and understanding, and usually followed by some of her 'proof' to why the creatures do exist. Isabelle had seen Luna depressed at times at school, but after the DA when she started getting a tight knit group of friends, she rarely saw sadness out of her friend, who'd only really ever wanted some friends.

Jason and Alicia handled their anger nearly opposite of each other. Alicia was fiery and fierce. She didn't yell all that often, but the deadly angry tone in her voice hit just as deeply as yelling ever could, and it was usually backed up by her wand with a few of her choicer hexes and jinxes. Jason, when dealing with those he loved, usually kept his anger under a tight lid. If he was absolutely furious, he'd maybe throw in some cutting remarks to help make whatever point he was trying to make, but usually he stayed cool and tried to defuse situations. It's how he'd always been when dealing with her. He'd always kept his anger under a tight lid, so as not to frighten Isabelle when they were younger and he was the one mostly caring for her. When he was right, his logic usually stopped people cold, and when he was wrong, he usually ended up accepting whatever punishment was dished out whether that was Hermione's cold shoulder or Alicia's favorite hexes. Isabelle had only seen Jason completely lose it and start shouting once. It had been one of the few times he'd seen Alicia in the same state, and it had been the worst fight the couple had ever had, but that's a story for another time.

Unfortunately, even when Jason and Alicia were depressed or angry, they'd always been able to lean on each other or lean on Isabelle and Jamie to get through the hard times, so Isabelle couldn't treat this like normal, since Alicia and Jason were struggling to help each other, and were both avoiding Isabelle and Jamie to an extent because of their doppelgangers.

"I guess it's a good thing I never saw you like this while we were growing up," Isabelle said, staring at her brother. "It would have sucked to have learned my wonderful big brother was capable of hurting me just like the staff at Angelwing."

Jason flinched and his eyes, which had been trying to see anything except Isabelle met her own, and she could see his regret at how his actions were hurting her. Alicia's face morphed from sorrow to anger, and Isabelle felt a sense of savage victory, knowing the quickest way to get Alicia's anger out was to attack Jason.

"Izzy, I'm sor-" Jason started gruffly as Alicia started saying, "That's going too-"

"I don't care," Isabelle said flatly, cutting them off, before sighing, and reining in her anger, knowing she'd gotten their attention. "I'm not going to say that you're not allowed to be sad about what you had to do," Isabelle said, "because I understand that, but you have no bloody right to ignore me! You have no right to ignore Jamie or our parents! Get a hold of yourselves. What would have happened if you hadn't killed that Death Eater?" she demanded, omitting her own name for the moment.

"Harry might have died," Jason said hollowly.

"Exactly," Isabelle said. "You can't regret it. Even if you'd spared Isabelle's life, then what? Would we have taken her prisoner and tried to hold her, or would we have let her go?"

"Well, maybe we could have turned her to our side," Jason said, sadly. "We don't know why they work for Riddle. Maybe we could have done something."

"No, we couldn't have," Isabelle said flatly with a firm shake of her head. "You and I are completely loyal to our friends, to our family, to our beliefs. We always have been and we always will be. I doubt our counterparts are any different, but in this case, they're loyal to Riddle. They got their foundation from him, and they don't hold any delusions about them. We can't change that, no matter how hard we try. All that would happen is the Order would have killed her, or she would have escaped and killed more of us before we were finally able to kill her. Maybe she would have gotten Harry or Ginny. Maybe she would have cornered Jamie or Rebecca. You can feel sad and wish they had chosen differently, but don't you dare regret ending the life of a murderer, or saving the lives of our friends and comrades," Isabelle finished fiercely before taking another calming breath. "Now, Rebecca, Gabrielle, and Madelyn will be over for their lesson in an hour. You will be there or we're going to have another conversation, and you will enjoy it even less than this one."

That said, she turned and marched out of the room, leaving her brother and sister-in-law in a daze as their depressed minds processed her words, and tried to start putting themselves back together.

**HP**

Harry walked into the room that they'd been forced to quickly create in order to make a holding cell for Grindelwald. Grindelwald had obviously not been cared for very well by the Death Eaters. He was severely emaciated - a frail skeletal figure, with sunken eyes, wrinkled cheeks, and most of his teeth gone, though Harry knew some potions could help him out, if they decided they wanted his help.

Despite his physical strength and appearance, Harry could tell that none of Grindelwald's magical strength had deteriorated. Grindelwald was practically thrumming with power after not having used magic in fifty years. His power was a bit weaker than Ginny's, Jason's, and Albus's. With the Elder Wand, he must have wielded incredible power.

"Gellert Grindelwald," Harry said solemnly. "You are someone I never thought I'd meet, and frankly someone I'd never wanted to meet."

"I-I can't say I blame you, young man," Grindelwald rasped out. "I did a great many terrible things in my quest for power and invincibility."

"Yes, you did," Harry said, reaching out subtly with his legilimency.

He could feel Grindelwald's occlumency shields, though they were quite weak. Harry was honestly surprised that he even had any, after so long in prison under the Death Eater's ministrations. Occlumency shields could be easily maintained in a proper cell with rest and food, but the weaker the body got due to being starved, beaten, and possibly sleep deprived, the weaker one's occlumency shields got. With how terrible Grindelwald looked, he would have expected his shields to have failed him ages ago. A testament to the man's skill and power. Harry could crush the man's shields, but that wasn't needed, at least not yet.

"You must be able to tell that you could rip things out of my mind if you wanted to," Grindelwald said. "There is no reason for me to try and hide things from you, not when you could have killed me and moved on. What is it that you want from me? The same things Riddle wanted?"

"What things did Riddle want from you?" Harry asked, honest curiosity in his tone.

"All my knowledge of the dark arts," Grindelwald said softly, "but there was little I could tell him that he didn't already know."

"The important things that you do know about, he knows nothing about," Harry said, causing the old man to glance up in surprise. "I take it that he didn't ask about them, nor try to force them out of you, since he never thought to do so."

"You know about the Hallows," Grindelwald said curiously.

"I do, and I have no intentions of laying claim to the one you know about," Harry answered, and Grindelwald nodded solemnly.

"Very wise, both for your mental and physical health," Grindelwald said softly. "That particular Hallow invites danger, but it also takes a strong person to use it without it affecting their mind."

"The power it brings can be very corrupting," Harry agreed, and Grindelwald nodded, still eyeing Harry with interest.

"So, if it's not the Hallows you seek, and I suspect it is not my knowledge of the dark arts you desire, then what is it that you can get from an old, broken man like me?" Grindelwald asked, though Harry suspected the old man had already guessed.

"I'm trying to get a feel of what type of person you are now," Harry replied, and Grindelwald nodded.

"You want to know if I will help you fight him." Grindelwald said quietly, and Harry shrugged.

"Not necessarily him," Harry said. "I plan on fighting him, when it comes time, and I've got several friends who want cracks at him as well, but another powerful wizard, one who once rivaled Dumbledore with a wand, is hard to pass up. Riddle is not the only powerful wizard in his army. We could use the help."

"Why would you trust me?" Grindelwald asked. "Surely Albus is against this."

"I'm not sure that I do, or that I would," Harry replied, "and actually, he was one of the few that thought this might be a good idea."

Grindelwald stared at Harry before his eyes closed and he took a breath.

"He's still forgiving. Far too forgiving and trusting," Grindelwald said quietly.

"No, I don't think he is," Harry replied. "Not anymore. I think he just is desperate, and is willing to take a chance on someone who could only harm us so much, but might be capable of wreaking great damage to our enemies. And . . . I think he still can see the parts of you that he did like . . . the parts of you that could have been a great wizard."

Silence fell between them for a moment before Grindelwald reopened his eyes and stared at Harry.

"What do you think?" Grindelwald asked finally. "I don't know who you are, but I can sense your power. You're the one deciding if I'm trustworthy, or at the very least, whether I can help your cause, so you must be very important to the resistance. What do you think?"

"I think that your true followers died fifty years ago, and that your aspirations died with them. I think that we need all the help we can get, and I think you could help save a lot of lives by joining us," Harry said, leveling a piercing stare at the former dark lord. "I think that you're an old man with only so much time left in this world, and I think you'd rather be doing something to try and rectify your mistakes rather than rotting in Riddle's prison cell, possibly providing that monster with knowledge that he didn't previously have. I'm willing to go out on a limb, but I will warn you that should you try to betray us, I will not be as forgiving as Albus."

Grindelwald nodded slowly before rasping out. "Very well. I'll help you, at least up to the death of the new Dark Lord."