Chapter 8 – Gee. Thanks.
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Previously on The Forgiven: Grimm, Norse, and Liar were successful upon the repeat of their mission. While Grimm and Norse have forged a friendship, Liar continues to be alienated for abandoning them on their first assignment.
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A few months have passed since the success of the Forgiven's first mission.
The team of three completed several clandestine missions since then with all the expertise of professionals. Dumbledore, Mad Eye, and Kingsley were fairly impressed by their performance, which repeatedly surpassed expectations. Everything seemed to be going well, at least, from an outside perspective.
Within the team, however, they were divided between Grimm-Norse and Liar.
The boy wizard, who was talented in espionage, naturally became the Forgiven's designated spy and utility man. He gathered information, acted as their infiltrator and exfiltrator, played the thief, and was the tool for all the odd jobs.
Meanwhile, Grimm and Norse worked together most of the time to do the heavy lifting. Being the ones who were fluent in the Killing Curse, they handled all the battles and assassinations. Only they personally experienced life threatening situations, while Liar was mostly stationed in the rear in complete safety.
It wasn't a bad set up at all. In fact, the organization worked with a fluid efficiency. If it was compared to cooking, Liar gathered and prepped the ingredients, while Norse and Grimm cooked the meal. They each had their assigned parts and performed them well, producing optimal results overall.
Grimm actually possessed skills both clandestine and combat. This led the leader to having an interchangeable role, where she often worked with both her teammates separately. At the moment, she was partnering with Liar to scout a potential enemy's workshop.
Recently, Dumbledore and Mad Eye had heard disturbing rumors concerning the activity of a certain Death Eater. It was said that one of them was making real strides towards resurrecting Voldemort. The Headmaster had an inkling that an artifact in Hogwarts may hold a clue, and was investigating there. Kingsley was working with the Ministry on his end. Mad Eye was reaching out to his informants. And that left the Forgiven to do the leg work and follow their best leads.
Grimm and Liar left Norse behind, and snuck into one of Voldemort's old castles. It was a tall, grand structure. Several towers stretched towards the sky with gnarled rooftops, which gave it a twisted sort of atmosphere. Grimm had the strangest sensation the estate was very much like a mini dark version of Hogwarts. Maybe a school with only Slytherins would be accurate.
It took Liar hours to get through all the security enchantments, but eventually, they were able to walk freely in the halls of the lair. The pair moved from room to room, casting detection charms to probe the nooks and crannies. The castle seemed like it hadn't been touched for a long while. Layers of dust had gathered on every surface.
Without finding much of anything, they arrived at Voldemort's laboratory. Unlike the other places they checked, the basement was fairly clean and possessed traces of life.
"Okay. Someone's definitely been in here… Liar, do a recheck of security. There's a good chance, they've added extra defense charms on this floor."
"Got it."
As the wizard worked to disarm all the traps and defenses, Grimm scanned the lab with a cautious eye. The walls were lined with shelves housing a variety of potion books and apparatuses. Jars full of mythical beast parts and ingredients. On the work desk, were several cauldrons: two of them stewing over an active fire. The steam colors changed with each passing second.
"We're clear."
After Liar gave the green light, the two walked to the cooking cauldrons in question. Back in Hogwarts, Grimm sped through her Potions Classes with impressive results, but even this concoction was beyond her. She glanced at Liar, who had a hand to his chin.
"You know what this is?" she asked.
"…I can't decipher all of the compounds but…"
"What? What is it?"
Liar sighed. "There's definitely Unicorn Blood in it."
"Ugh. So this is what they're trying to use to revive you-know-who."
"Heavy odds on that."
"Alright…This can get tricky real fast."
"What do you suppose we should do?"
"Something this complicated. It must be easy to make a mistake, right?"
"Yes. It would."
"Do you think you can sabotage it without the chemist knowing it was on purpose?"
"Please. Sabotage is my forte."
Liar cracked his fingers and rubbed his hands together. He began moving his wand right above the liquid's steaming surface. Small ripples coursed through the brew as it lightly bubbled.
Wingardium Leviosa.
A small portion of the potion floated into the air and into a small petri dish. Liar incanted all kinds of testing spells, trying to determine the ingredients, as well as the materials to counteract them.
"Okay. Let's see…I'll need an eye of dragon, two hippogriff feathers, a mermaid's scale, and a one centaur… testicle."
Grimm looked at him wide eyed.
"...Are you serious?"
"No, I'm just fockin' with you! Just hand me that green bottle on your left."
"How did you say all that with a straight face?"
"It was very difficult."
Grimm chuckled and handed him the bottle.
"Finally, she laughs! My goodness, it's been ages since I've seen you or Norse so much as smiled in front of me."
"We do serious work, Liar. We don't exactly have the convenience, or the breathing room to screw around."
"So you say. But you and Norse seem to find the time to enjoy your battles. Not the killing part mind you, but the brawling portions."
"Fighting is fun."
"And so is sneaking around. I know you actually like it as much as I do, and you're good at it."
"Pretending like you know everything."
"I do know everything."
"Oh yeah? Did you also know Norse and I have been awares you've been using Legilimency to spy on us?"
Liar gulped and stopped his work.
"Okay…I might not have known that."
"You were the one who suggested brushing up on my Legilimency."
"I—…I have no excuse."
Grimm shrugged. "It's whatever."
"You're…not furious with me?"
"Well. I'd be more surprised if you didn't try something like that."
"Now who's pretending to know everything?"
"I'm your leader. It's my job to know the ins and outs of my team."
"I see. Well, that's wonderful. As if I wasn't in the dog house already. Any remaining hope of patching things up has gone out the window. Not like we're supposed to be friends in any case. Just three kids trying to be 'forgiven'."
"….Hehe!" Grimm chuckled.
"What?"
"I had a hint, but I was completely bluffing about you spying on us."
Liar gaped at Grimm.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
"Your mind reading really is undetectable. As big headed as you are, you actually underestimate your abilities, don't you?"
"Unbelievable!" Liar cried.
"Need to brush up on my Occlumency and Legilimency so I can detect you for real. You should work on your card game."
"UN. BELIEVABLE!"
"C'mon, Finish up, already."
Liar gave a deep groan and completed sabotaging the potion.
The liquid stewed a sequence of rapid changing colors. After a small light show, it restored to its original disposition. It seemed no one would be the wiser if they compared the concoction to a few minutes ago.
"Done and done. And what pray tell is our next course of action?"
Grimm weighed the options in her head with care.
"I want to camp out. Wait for whoever cooked this to come back, and Imperius them."
"Alright, then."
"You should return. It'll be dangerous. Inform everyone about the situation."
"You're going to stay here—alone? What happens if you get caught?"
"I'm good at sneaking, remember?" Grimm grinned.
"Greetings. My name is Liar and I lied about that bit."
"Shut up, I'll be fine."
"Grimm…" Liar spoke in a serious tone.
"…?"
"I'm staying with you."
"Things could get hairy."
"Would you please stop treating me like I'm chicken shite? I'm trying to prove myself here!" Liar exclaimed.
"Picking the worse time to do it…"
"Something's off about this mission, and you know it. I'll live with the insubordination and Mad Eye's lecture, or whatever else."
"How noble~ " Grimm teased. "For a chicken shite."
Liar grunted in exasperation and went to find a hiding spot. Grimm laughed a little and followed.
The two took apart a section of the stone ceiling and hid in it. Once through, Liar enchanted concealment charms to camouflage their presence, and fill the hole with an illusionary one.
Now, all they had to do was wait.
"The blue's wearing out," Liar commented suddenly.
"Hm?"
"The blue. In your hair. It's wearing out."
"Ah… Yeah. Been a while since you dyed it."
"Should I attend to it when we return home?"
There was a tense silence that followed the question.
"I…'ve been thinking of learning to do it myself for a while now."
*Sigh*"Yeah. Alright. I get it."
"Look, Liar—"
"Shh! Someone's tripped my detection charm outside."
They immediately switched over to communicating through thoughts.
"Do you know who it is?"
"'They'. There's four of them. Two are the Lestranges. I recognize them from Moody's files. Should I send an emergency message?"
"No. I doubt they'd be able to detect it, but on the off chance they do—No. The safer option is to wait this out, and escape when we can. The concealment charm will hold, right?"
"It will. I can promise that."
"A promise on your life. We can't Apparate in here, and the Lestranges aren't weak enough to Imperius. The fight's gonna be tough if it comes to that."
"It won't."
"Be ready to send the message."
"Understood."
In the next moment, they heard the door to the lab open and four raggedly cloaked figures stepped through the threshold.
The Lestranges went straight to the cauldrons to check on the potions' state, while the other two hung back behind them. When they removed their hoods, Grimm immediately recognized the woman. The young man on the other hand, she had trouble believing.
"Bellatrix and...Barty Crouch Jr.?!" She furrowed her brow.
"Crouch? As in, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department Crouch?"
"His son…"
"Wow. The apple fell, grew legs, and ran from the focking tree on that one."
"Not too surprised. His dad's an asshole."
"Sounds persona that."
"Yeah, well, he did sentence me to life in prison or death once upon a time."
"What a coincidence. I shared a similar fate. And who would the crazed looking woman frothing at the mouth be? Bellatrix, was it? I don't recognize her."
Grimm stared at Liar for a time.
"…You don't?"
"No. Should I?"
"Well. She was pronounced dead so that's why we never went over her profile but…"
"But what?"
"She's a really prominent Death Eater. You don't recognize her at all?"
"No? Why would I?"
"Well…"
Grimm pointed to Liar's Dark Mark, as if to remind him that he was a former Death Eater.
"Oh. Well, I never met her personally or anything. We ran in different circles."
"Right…—"
Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a wrathful screech below.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'THE POTION'S FAILED'?!" Bellatrix started a tantrum.
"Something must have been off in our alchemy," Rudolphus Lestrange answered.
His brother, Rabastan, stepped beside him. "The potion is very complex. Some errors are to be expected!"
But the wild witch wouldn't hear of it. "That's all you can come up with?! Excuses?!"
"You have no room to criticize us! It's not as if you had any hand in its brewing!"
"Enough!" Crouch Jr. yelled as he moved between them. "We just have to gather more ingredients. The revival potion comes closer to completion with every attempt."
"Listen to the boy, sister-in-law. He has more sense than you do. Now go fetch us more Unicorn Blood."
"HOW DARE YOU ORDER ME AROUND!"
Bellatrix fired a yellow bolt from her wand that drew a crooked arc towards Rabastan. The wizard barely pulled out his own wand in time to deflect it. When the spell changed direction, it flew to the ceiling; more specifically, the place where Grimm and Liar were hiding.
""SHITE!"" they both thought.
The two dove away from the peeking hole as a yellow beam went through the illusion charm and almost hit them. After the projectile dissipated, Liar and Grimm knew they had to recover fast.
First, recast the concealment charms before they faded. A strange painting-like liquid spouted from Liar's wand and masked the hole that was torn briefly.
Next, Grimm had to replicate the attacking spell's effects. She pointed her wand at an uncollapsed part of the hole.
Reducto!
Liar's charms hid the red light given off the spell, as part of the roof crumbled down into the room below.
If the four downstairs were paying attention, they would have noticed the delayed impact and all the incongruities that came with it. Liar prepared to send the emergency message, while Grimm steeled herself for a fight.
A few tense moments passed, but all the pair heard was more arguing below. Additional spells were fired off, which seemed to distract the Death Eaters from Grimm and Liar's presence. Eventually, the quarrel settled. The Forgiven breathed easy after seeing the four begin work on a new potion.
When Grimm was sure they had gotten as much key information as they could, she turned to Liar.
"Okay. Let's get the hell out of here."
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Grimm and Liar returned to the underground base safe and sound. Before them were all three Forgivers, who listened intently to every word of their report.
"And you're sure it was Crouch's son?" Kingsley asked in disbelief.
Grimm nodded. "Without a doubt."
"There were rumors but…"
"The mission's touchier than a Blast Ended Skrewt. The Department of Defense Head's son…" Moody spat.
"A high profile case. This is no longer a suitable mission for the Forgiven," Dumbledore added.
"Aye. We risk exposure with something like this."
"It has become a Ministry matter. Aurors will soon be investigating."
"Are we sure we want to leave it to them?"
They all turned to Grimm.
"Bellatrix, Lestranges, Crouch…They're powerful magi. Some good Aurors could die trying to bring them in. Might be the better course of action if we take them out ourselves."
"…No," Kingsley flatly refuted. "We risk Barty Crouch investigating the Forgiven if we assassinate his son. Even if we erased all evidence, the man won't let things go so easily. Besides…" He looked at the teenagers. "…As skilled as you are, these are full grown Death Eaters. Witches and wizards who were part of the Dark Lord's innermost circle."
To that, Norse threw him a stubborn look, while Grimm seemed to take in his precautions, at least part of them.
"How about some assistance, then? Make sure the Ministry doesn't screw it up. Liar and I have seen the castle. We know the layout," Grimm suggested.
"I see. When the operation takes place, I will bring Liar with me. The fighting will be left to the Official Law Enforcement, however. You and Norse will not be a part of it."
"Besides, you have other work to do," Mad Eye growled, while handing them a few pieces of parchment. "Corrupt Aurors and government officials. Scum, who've been killing Muggleborns for sport…. They've done in some good folks. Make sure you two to put an end to that."
A small raging fire stoked in Grimm's chest. Moody knew how she felt about people in power abusing their rank. It manifested like a dark claw tightly grasping around her heart. Something more sinister than what she usually expressed rose to the surface.
"They're as bad as you can imagine. No need to take it easy on them," Mad Eye drove the dagger home.
The leader of the Forgiven skimmed the list and then looked up at him. "I understand. Norse and I will handle it… But this thing with the Lestranges."
"We will take every precaution," Dumbledore assured her.
Grimm looked at the Headmaster like she didn't believe him. "If you really want to take every precaution, maybe you should take the frontlines for this one."
"Alas, I must tend to the school. Perhaps I can arrange some members from the old Order to assist."
"I'm sure they will assign the best Aurors to the case. I can't imagine Crouch doing otherwise," Kingsley added.
"The Longbottoms would be more than willing."
It felt as if Grimm's insides were doused with cold water. The image of the kind couple floated into her mind. She tried to control the temper in her voice, but struggled.
"It doesn't have to be them…! The Ministry would welcome your help!"
"Grimm!" Mad Eye's voice interrupted her. "It is not Albus's place."
Kingsley walked over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"I will put my life towards making sure Frank and Alice come out this safe. I promise."
"They can handle themselves. They're damn good Aurors and we need all the strong wands we can get!" Moody growled.
Grimm was silent for a moment. "Mad Eye…Don't let anything happen to them," she said with a soft voice.
The gruffy man gave her a firm nod. "Enough chatter! We have to move quick before the group decides to change location. We all have our parts and the Forgiven don't have one in this! I don't like it much either, but we'll work with the Ministry on this one."
Although some were reluctant, everyone agreed on the next course of action.
The Forgivers were made their way towards the exit portkey with Liar. Before they left, Grimm called out.
"Liar."
"Hm?"
"Be careful out there…."
Liar's lips curled up ever so slightly.
…
"Gee. Thanks," he parted with a sarcastic grin.