A/N - One chapter after this one. Some ends sort of tied up, then untied. Sorry. Playing a bit with the timing of things that occurred well before the canon stories, if you notice it great. Consider it artistic license.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

On landing near the border of Godric Gryffindor's masked land, Luc pulled his wand and began to scan the wards. "Very complex," the auror sounded impressed with the results, but then hissed. "Frank don't move." Luc flicked his wand in quick precise movements over the land and certain portions began to light up. "Curses, very unusual too, they seem to be random." At Frank's confusion, Luc continued, "The curse could be anything. I mean anything, from an annoying scratch you can't reach to death. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to where the curses were placed either."

The two men spent an hour figuring out how to dismantle the curses and discovered they were all connected, when the first curse was cleared, the rest fell as well. Once the path to the boundary was cleared, Frank took the lead, "Let's see what Granddad left." Frank pointed toward a small berm and the two men passed the ancient wards. Both flicked their wands and secured the wards with a bit more strength.

As they passed the wards, Luc felt the distinct desire to go the other way. "Let me hold your cuff or something, from what the portraits said, with me leading you the feelings should fade." They discovered Frank's thought accurate and once they reached the crest of the berm, a large home appeared.

For being at least a thousand years old and almost a nine hundred years without a caretaker, it looked good. The home was indeed nice, especially considering it would have been built in the dark ages. On entering Frank felt a definite acceptance by the walls of the home. His magic seemed to settle in a way it never did before. "Hello Grandson."

Looking up Frank saw a different portrait of his distant grandfather, a much younger and happier looking Godric Gryffindor bowed to the visitor.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

"The time has come." Godric waved to a pair of chairs that seemed remarkably clean. "When I made the decision to close off the lands I arrived here and informed me of the reasons. To say I was shocked would be mild. Only when I heard whose vision caused the decision I made did I understand."

Godric's eyes gazed into the far distant past. "We were all friends since childhood. While we had disagreements over the years, we all knew what we needed to do. We all knew the outcomes of our actions, of our lives. We still did them because had we not, our goal would not be achieved."

Frank sat a bit deeper in the chair and let the words flow over him. "You and Salazar, you agreed to allow your friendship to be destroyed to ensure the school succeeded."

"Yes, that is just one of the things, but that is true. We also knew there would be trials but you cannot fix everything, something always goes wrong. When we tried to fix something, the alternate became worse. By the time we started to build the school, we came to rely on Helga and her visions. She helped to direct some of the things we did originally at Hogwarts."

"There is a bit of a mystery as to what actually happened to you four." Godric hummed in amusement. "Do you know or do I need to ask the portraits at Hogwarts?"
"Oh, I know, I'm linked to the portrait there. I always knew you would be the one to find me. I sensed you earlier, you came with your boy. I felt the presence of two grandsons. But that is not for now. Eventually we each left Hogwarts for one reason or another. Shortly after my departure I received a letter from Helga. She left years earlier and none of us heard anything from her. The letter, simple in its wording told me everything I needed to know." A piece of ancient parchment floated in front of Frank and Luc.

Dearest Godric,

Prayers this missive find you safe and healthy. All that was needed to come to pass, hath been completed. The future relies on our descendants to choose the correct path. The one who dreams to rule will fall; however his compatriot brings more danger. Magic will rebel against him at his victory.

The price your family will pay, will be too steep, too much for it to continue. At its destruction, our world will fall. Then muggles will destroy what our kind has nurtured since the beginning. The hope for all magic resides with the ones who strive for what we wished to be.

I will see you again when our portraits meet,

Helga

"That was the last letter I received from her. I know more about her life now, but at the time, that letter proved I needed to close up the land."

Frank and Luc finished the letter and returned their awed focus to the man in the painting. "Grandfather, we have a request." The portrait seemed rather amused, "There is a child's tale in my time called the Three Brothers. It tells the story of three brothers who meet and bested Death. They each receive a gift from Death."

"Yes Antioch, Cadmus and Ignotus, they were some of the last individuals to cross our land. I know the basics of the story, as you can imagine. But why do you bring them up?"

Luc pulled a wand from his pocket and placed it on the table sitting in front of the painting. "Very interesting," Godric gave the man a look that Luc felt was searching his soul. "You do not want this, but worry others would kill for it. And you are correct." Godric glanced once more at the wand before looking at Frank. "Grandson"

"We wish to leave the wand here. With the wards still in place, this is one of the few places safe from those who would wish to control it, —" Frank stopped realizing something, "— the place where the separation between the living and the dead is the thinnest, the place your other portrait described, it's where the brothers met death, they are the same aren't they?"

"Yes," Godric didn't continue but watched the two men who both shut their eyes.

"Frank this is more than crossing between the realms, he wants to rule over Death." The Frenchman looked between the man to his side and the painting on the wall. Godric cleared his throat.

"I believe you are correct and this is the future Helga wished to prevent. Are you able to stop him? Able to stop the other?"

"We hope to Grandfather." Frank and Luc knew who the other was, the question remained in how to find them. It seemed Helga Hufflepuff long knew Dumbledore would fail in his desire but Grindelwald would be an ultimate danger for the magical world.

Frank and Luc leaned in and learned a few secrets of the winding river and the power of Death and that who rules over Death. At the end of the day, the wand was placed in home's library and the pair of men left the Manor. "That was quite amazing Frank. One day, after you remove the wards and allow visitors, I would like to speak with your ancestor again. He seems quite knowledgable. And let's not forget the library, some of those books. Magnificent!"

"Of course Luc. I'll need your help to ward the area around the river, while Death will allow my family near it, I would prefer if other couldn't access the place. Seems like a bad idea."

"Agreed, let's get back, it's getting dark and I worry if Grindelwald knows the location." The pair didn't think so, the curses were placed by Dumbledore and only his magic hung over the area just outside the ancient wards. With no evidence of anyone else near, the pair returned to their respective homes, each with their own tasks.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

On Wednesday afternoon Draco excitedly waiting for Remus to arrive. When the older wizard stepped through the floo Draco immediately started talking.

"I talked with Mum and since the weather is not very good, we converted the empty room next to the lab into a dueling room. Mum and Dad put up lots of charms, —" as Draco waved Remus to follow, the younger wizard didn't stop talking "— but I thought you could check them and add anything else. Once the others get home you said we could do practice duels and I don't want any of us to get injured."

Remus chuckled and waved to Narcissa who stepped forward to speak with Remus but couldn't stop her son's chattering. She smiled, a bit more worry left her heart. Draco seemed like the same boy he was before he was cursed. Now he just had a bit more time. She decided allowing him to have the practice room might fill up a few more of the hours in the day.

Lucius found Draco getting more and more involved in various aspects of Malfoy Industries. Lucius chuckled the night before about how Draco might be able to take everything over before he graduated if he had to remain hidden much beyond the summer. Lucius smiled at the thought, he now understood why his father was so pleased when Lucius began to step up into his role.

As Narcissa thought about that conversation, Draco and Remus disappeared into the dungeons. "So this is the room, is it ok?" Draco, a bit worried it wouldn't be right, gnawed on his lip.

"It's very good, I think you'll all be able to practice without fear of hitting each other." Remus noted the wall of mirrors, "Have those been secured?"

"Yes Mum did something, she said the idea of glass flying everywhere because we sent a wonky spell made her heart race." Draco went over toward the far wall and touched his wand to a mark. "This is for when you let us duel."

The stones on the floor began to shift and a runway of sorts appeared. It was wide enough for at least four people to stand shoulder to shoulder and as long as the room. It didn't lift too high, but enough to given those dueling boundaries. "Very nice, but dueling isn't something we will be doing for quite some time. I need to assess each of you before I even venture the idea of letting you loose on each other."

Draco sighed and nodded, he sadly pressed a different part of the wall and the lifted stones returned to their original position. "Now today I thought we could start with silent casting." Draco's eyes lit up and the sadness quickly passed. "We are starting with this because I have always thought the ability to still wave your wand is a bit easier than trying to speak the spell without the motion."

Draco pulled out a notebook, Remus wasn't sure from where, and began to take notes, "Ok, that seems like a good reason. Will I eventually be able to cast silently and without my wand?"

"Possibly, that is incredibly difficult and takes a great deal of concentration. I would liken it to the concentration needed for the patronus charm. Singular focus can be difficult in a dueling situation." A thoughtful expression passed over Draco's expressions as he quickly scribbled down what Remus said. The wizard did see a lot of himself in the boy.

For a couple of hours Remus talked about the theory of silent casting. They discussed the advantages of begin able to cast silently and how it was important that others not know about that particular skill set, "It could be something you need in the future. If someone knew you could cast without words, they would be more careful, making them more difficult to beat. As I said before, the art of dueling is two parts, your magical skill, that is to say your power, your knowledge of spells and quick thinking. But also, and more importantly, the ability to pick on the errors of your competitor."

"Take advantage of their weakness or mistake to shorten the duel. It's not about winning, but about getting yourself or others safely away from the danger."

Remus smiled, "Yes, this is defense. The advantage of knowing how to block spells means you understand them from an offensive point of view. You'll find most people, especially in duels, forget about thinking through spells and the defense of them. They are intent on throwing spell after spell. It is a difficult mind set and even more when trying to shift away from it."

Draco was surprised when dinner rolled around and Kitmu arrived. "We haven't actually practiced yet."

"No, I didn't think we would today, it is more important to understand. Next week we will work on it." Draco pouted a bit, he was looking forward to learning something new. "But what you can do, in the time between now and next week, work on the spells you learned in defense so far. Next week I will assess your level and work out if we focus on that and continue the theoretical discussion."

Draco swore to himself, he would be so solid on what he should already know, Remus would have no doubt about Draco's preparedness. It was, of course, Remus's plan. He knew how bored the boy was and giving him an outlet to expend that energy, even if it was the smokescreen or verdimillios charms, would be more helpful than spending the entire time working on silent casting.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

As February neared its end, the school continued its mission in teaching the next generation of leaders. When Sophie called for everyone's attention, the Hall quieted. "Thank you. I wanted to announce a new offering we will be starting after the spring holiday break." Whispers started, Sophie thought the students to be speculating.

She gave them a minute or two before calling for their attention again, "I doubt any of your guesses are right, so I will just tell you. This year, as a trial, we will be offering a short class on muggle technologies. As many of you know, our world recently began to offer some of the technologies muggles mastered decades ago."

Minerva chuckled at the excited expressions. She suspected more than a few realized the timing would coincide with the grand finales for the quidditch league. Minerva may have ensured the section on television coincidentally coincided with them.

"Now this will not be a graded course, but more of a practical in order for you to better understand some areas of the muggle world that seem the most confusing. This is something offered through the generosity of some of our student's parents." There was a chuckle and most turned toward Hermione who blushed at the attention.

"Now, in order to make sure we have enough space, there will be sign ups in each of your common rooms. We are not making this a required class, but we highly suggest students take advantage of this opportunity. Especially those students with limited exposure to the muggle world." Sophie ended the announcement and sat down. The Hall erupted with excited voices.

"How long until someone thinks about the quid —" Before Minerva could finish her question to Sophie, an overly excited yell was heard from a table housing a number of third years.

"The finals! Lucius figured out a way for us to watch the finals!" Harry's voice echoed off the walls. He and Blaise stood and gave everyone at their table a high five. The boys started to do so with the tables near them. Hermione, now no longer the focus of the rooms attention, rolled her eyes. She still didn't quite love the sport, but knew they did.

It took less than a half minute for the rest of the hall to realize they would have the opportunity to see the league finals live. The first time since they were ten to know the results in real time and not have to wait for family to send a letter or the Prophet. Everyone looked forward to the last part of the school year.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

Draco spent hours each afternoon sequestered in the dungeon practice room. He wanted to be good, but he also found throwing spells calmed him. The energy he exerted was exacerbated by the growth spurt currently making his pants too short.

Narcissa appreciated the extra practice as it did seem to calm Draco's frayed nerves. The witch suspected her son's emotions would only continue to rise as the time to the spring holidays neared. Severus mentioned how Hermione's attention span was starting to shorten as well.

She sighed seeing how short Draco's slacks were as he sat on the couch. She needed get him some new clothes, but it would be difficult to explain since no one knew of Draco's cure. Maybe she and Jean could go to muggle London.

Thursday seemed to be the best day as Draco would spend most of the morning it with his school work and whatever Remus gave him to do in the afternoon. When Draco stepped next to her a moment later, she realized they were almost eye to eye. She placed her hand on his cheek and smiled. Draco rolled his eyes, but leaned into her hand.

On the second Wednesday of defense work, Draco was excited when Remus complimented Draco's abilities with what he should know. "Very nice Draco, I know the defense class isn't the best, but you really do have a grasp on where you should be. In addition to making sure you remain that way, we will work on this year's work each week."

"And the silent casting?"

Remus chuckled at the hopeful look, "We will spend a bit of time on that too. Since I'm comfortable with where you are, we can start on silent." Draco cheered. "The best way to start is to select an easy charm and slowly work up to more complex ones. So we will work on the wand lighting charm." Remus lifted his wand and without saying a word, his wrist flicked the motion. Draco's eyes widened a bit when the tip lit up. "This is difficult Draco. You aren't going to get it on the first try."

And Remus was right, by the time they finished Draco was a bit frustrated. He wasn't used to not getting something with relative ease. Remus calmly placed his hand on Draco's tense shoulder. "The other reason I selected this charm, —" Draco acknowledged the man, "— this is something you can practice anywhere. You don't have to worry about damaging anything."

"Thank you Remus. I'll keep working on it. I will get it."

"I know you will Draco, some things are always more difficult than others."

When Remus left that afternoon, Draco remained in the dungeon until Narcissa came down and pulled her son upstairs for dinner.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

As the weeks following the showdown in Hogsmeade turned into months, Albus Dumbledore did not get better. In fact both Sirius and Gellert expected the man to have died almost immediately. Neither spoke of it, they each silently wondered what Dumbledore did to escape death.

Only a couple of days after saving Albus, Gellert realized he knew how his companion lived. Leaving the cabin, Gellert cursed his folly. He shook his head, he should have known then, known all those years ago. But Albus swore it wasn't him. Said it the spell to create the item was based on pre-mediation and neither planned for what happened.

Her death was an unintentional effect caused when their individuals spells collided. "Bastard would have turned on me." Gellert would have happily killed the man, but until he found the item, the man was immortal.

Gellert unsurprisingly turned on his now former friend. Knowing he only needed information about the elder wand and the location for lands of Godric Gryffindor, Gellert began to plan his retribution. When Albus figured out the location he refused to tell Gellert and now Gellert suspected he knew why. Once finalizing the basics of his own plan, he returned to the cabin.

It took Gellert almost two months longer to get everything he needed, but finally it was done and now only needed to rid himself of Black. Initially Gellert planned to just kill him, but thought the other wizard could prove to be a good distraction.

On a random evening near the end of April, Gellert looked to Black and rolled his eyes before initiating his plan. "Black, I think time to separate has arrived." Sirius nodded, he mentioned the same thing a couple weeks earlier. Both heard rumors on someone escaping from Azkaban but the Ministry refused to comment on it. Gellert didn't disagree with Black then, "As I said before the weather would conspire against us before now. It seems spring has taken hold and we aren't at that disadvantage."

"What about him?" Sirius nodded toward the man whose continued mumbles annoyed Sirius's sensitive ears beyond measure.

"I'll handle it. If you want to leave today, I'll be gone tomorrow or the day after at the latest." Sirius packed a few things, they split the potions they'd acquired and bid each other goodbye. Neither planned to see the other again.

"Now Albus, we need to discuss what you know." Gellert placed three drops of vertiserum on the other man's tongues and snapped the jaw shut. "Now Black didn't know I had that, so the next few days may be difficult for you." He glared at the delusional man, flicked his wand to set up a charm to document everything said. "Where is your wand Albus?"

"The auror took it. I always hated the French." Gellert's eyes widened and realized why Albus spoke so vehemently about the way he was captured. Albus continued to ramble about his original wand and how he protected it in the depths of the school. How he tried to get it back last year.

"Albus when you left us last year, you were looking for your old wand?" At the confirmation, Gellert continued, "Why? Where is it?"

"Hogwarts. I tried to access the chamber from inside the first wards. Like we did when I cursed that brat. The wards still accept me and I attempted to access the chamber from the grounds, —" Even though he started to mumble, Gellert noticed the charm documenting something so he allowed it to continue until Albus stopped. Gellert, reading the notes, smiled a bit darkly.

"What else is in that chamber Albus?"

"Under Hogwarts?"

Gellert growled. "What is in the chamber? How did you access it?" The quill scribbled furiously as Albus started to fade. Knowing the wizard couldn't actually die, Gellert kept the questions up. "Who else knows about the chamber?"

"Only one did. The only one who could know. The heir of Slytherin." Albus fell into a feverish fit and the spell continued to document the nonsensical ramblings.

Gellert remained in the cabin for another two days and documented everything his former lover said. When he finally exhausted the vertiserum, Gellert packed up what was left in the cabin and looked at the old man. "Thank you Albus, I'll make sure someone finds you. Not that you can die, but they will figure that out eventually as well." With a crack, Gellert left the cabin knowing he no longer needed the man there. Before he could fulfill his life's goal, he needed to finish his vengeance on Albus Dumbledore. To succeed he needed to find someone else.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

After securing the elder wand, Frank spent the next months researching. He and Henri kept in communications and discussed new ideas as other ideas fell flat. With a bit of knowledge from Godric's portrait, confirmation the three brothers were originally from Godric's Hollow, Frank started researching a different avenue.

He recently found some older records in the expansive files of the Department of Mysteries. Those records seemed to document bondings and births during the time just after the brother's received their gifts. Frank thought he might be able to find something about what happened after the second and third brothers received their gift and their respective deaths.

He finished his most recent response to Henri, including copies of the pages specifically related to the immediate family of the two brothers and sent it off. When Frank's stomach growled he realized it was later in the day than he thought. He also knew today was the monthly lunch for the aurors. It was always better than what was on offer in the cafeteria so he headed up to the auror department and hoped there was something left.

Luckily there was more than enough food and Frank settled with a few of his former coworkers and chatted about nothing of substance. As Frank finished the meal and began to bid everyone farewell he heard a frustrated yell from Amelia's office.

"Frank, be a pal and check on her? She always liked you more." The group laughed and Frank agreed, he could use a bit longer of break from reading the old dusty books downstairs. Knocking on the door, Frank heard the growl and took it as permission to enter.

"Amelia?" The witch looked up surprised to see Frank.

"It is lunch day, I rarely miss it." She didn't laugh. "Amelia?" Instead of responding Amelia passed a piece of parchment.

To whom it may concern,

If you care to locate one of your escapees, you should look in the area around the muggle village of Cosgrove in Northamptonshire. There is a rundown cottage just outside the boundaries. You might want to figure out how he lives.

You know who I am, but can you find me again?

"Have you just received this?" When she shook her head, Frank's eye twitched. Had Dumbledore been caught and no one knew it? Frank closed the door and placed a charm he picked up from Luc over the office.

"We found him a week ago and as the letter states he should be dead." Frank sat in the chair in front of her desk waiting to hear what stupid thing his former boss did this time. "We've had him at St. Mungo's trying to determine how."

Frank couldn't hold back any longer, "Why didn't you let someone in the Department of Mysteries know Amelia? This is what we do." He sided with her for years because she was a good person, but she again allowed an investigation to be delayed because she wanted to do it her way.

"Because it is an auror's investigation Frank. You shouldn't even know this much."

"No, Amelia it's not your auror's investigation, it is an investigation that is being run by the ICW and while you may hate it. You may think they are overstepping themselves, they will not look at this and see you doing anything more than hindering the investigation." Frank began to pace the office, she needed to understand, "Amelia, they are not after you. They are not Dumbledore. But if you are fired again it's going to be because you are not following protocol. This is not something you can pick and choose Amelia."

The witch picked up the paperweight and threw it at the wall, "You think I don't know that Frank? I've been doing this longer than you. I have been putting up with this bullshit for years. What does the ICW know that I don't? Nothing. Everything that damn French auror found was due to legwork done by my people."

"No, Amelia it's not. If you continue on this path you are only going to end up hurting yourself." Frank looked once more at his former boss, at someone he thought only wanted what was best and left. He suspected he and Amelia would never be on the same side of things again.

Frank returned to his office and rubbed his face. He dreaded what he needed to do.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

When the Minister arrived at Frank's office, the he was neither surprised nor impressed with the attitude. "Minister, you do realize the ICW will discover this and will not give either of you a medal for your good work. The man, a wanted felon who somehow escaped Ode Ore, who should be dead but isn't, is currently at a public hospital with no aurors ensuring he doesn't escape again."

"Frank this isn't…" Whatever Fudge was going to claim, it never came as the head of the Department of Mysteries came barreling into Frank's office.

"Minister, why in the name of Merlin did I just get a note from one of our unspeakables who works at St. Mungo's asking why Albus Dumbledore is a patient there?" Frank sat back, things just got significantly worse for Fudge.
"It's not your concern Thomas." Frank didn't know what would happen, but it wasn't to see Stefan Becker red in the face and readying his likely explosive reply.

"Herr Becker, please," Frank motioned to the conference room next to his office and noticed how Fudge became absolutely still. Frozen, in what Frank assumed was fear. Frank only offered the room in order to try and keep some of this secret. At this point Fudge should just put an article in the bloody Prophet. The irate German wizard who found out third hand about Dumbledore's apprehension was on the war path, but appreciated the other wizard's foresight.

"Danke," looking at the minister, Stefan pointed to the room, "We, Minister Fudge need to discuss what it means when the ICW takes over an investigation." Frank leaned on his door and watched the pair of men enter the room. He silenced it for two reasons, one those who sat outside the room did not need to hear the discussion and two, the wall separating the room from Frank's office was thin.

"Frank?"

"I just found out about an hour ago and have been debating what to do. Since you were still out, I put myself on your calendar for as soon as you got back. You just found out before I could tell you."

"So tell me the story now, Stefan is going to want to know everything." And Frank did, he admitted to what he told Amelia and how he feared her actions were due to everything she experienced. He spoke of his time in the group and how she never was one to accept help. With everything she experienced, she started to try and turn the DMLE into her personal group. A group she believed to be outside the bounds of the Ministry. "Well, that will change one way or the other. By the way Frank, I'm not letting you go back up there. You're mine now."

After Thomas left the office, turned back around, "That sounded wrong, what I wanted you to know is I have been trying to get you to move to this group for years. Now that you are here, I don't plan on letting you take a role in another department." He stood still for a moment, "I know I'm still years out from retirement, but you have years of things to learn, the timing would work really well."

"Thank you Thomas, let me get a year under my robes and we can talk about your retirement plans." The other wizard laughed.

"Good idea, let me know when they come out."

*TGE*TGE*TGE*

Frank and Thomas were placed under a vow to not discuss what they knew about the Dumbledore situation. When Frank asked about all the people at St. Mungo's who were aware, Becker growled and glared at the British Minister. Fudge claimed only a few individuals were involved with his care, but the expressions from Frank and Thomas led Becker to believe Fudge was again lying or just too stupid to know what was actually going on.

Frank's only comfort was Becker saying the ICW would review everyone who accessed Dumbledore and handle the situation. That evening Frank sent a letter to Luc and was unsurprised to learn of the Frenchman's arrival in Britain.

It wasn't until the next day that Luc and Frank could meet. Luc wasn't pleased at discovering Frank had been essentially muted on the topic. Anything Frank might learn going forward would remain under the vow. Even with Luc being in charge of the investigation.

Luckily Frank could work on the hallows as Becker did not include that in vow. Additionally Frank was to provide information in a round about way. Luc left with a stack of books and all the information obtained from St. Mungo's. Dumbledore meanwhile arrived in France. The ICW assigned a number of well known individuals to review the case to see if they could determine what happened.

*TGE*TGE*TGE*