.

Lost

.

And I don't want a never-ending life.

I just want to be alive, while I'm here.

And I don't want to see another night

Lost inside a lonely life, while I'm here.

I got guns in my head and they won't go.

Spirits in my head and they won't go.

.

.

"You know, Norse, I love beating house odds as much as the next bloke, but this next bit… I find it difficult to find another word to describe it other than—"

"Grimm would give you a proper tongue lashing if she heard you utter it."

"Impossible," Liar said with a heavy finality."Taking on an army of dark guilders, AND Voldemort—with only the pair of wands between us, and no help from the Centaurs? Frankly, my dear Norse, victory is all but impossible," he emphasized.

In the bedroom of Hog's Head Inn, the two Forgiven discussed battle plans.

Together, they turned to their sleeping leader's face with expectation. They didn't know what might happen. The word "impossible" never failed to rouse the more defiant side of their leader's personality, forever a taboo entry in Grimm's vocabulary.

…

But it seemed it would fail today.

While Norse and Liar went over their next plan of action, they laid maps across Grimm's sleeping body. They had scarce left her side since her fateful coma. And though unconscious, they made it a point to hold their discussions in her company.

A part of them probably hoped if they annoyed her enough, she would waken simply to chastise them.

"Well, were it only so easy…" Liar sighed. "I think it is time, Norse. Troll Garden's army is only a day's travel from the school."

"And Firenze brings word they make final preparations to leave camp."

"We could attempt to neutralize them. Give it the old Forgiven, damn-the-odds, spit-in-the-face-of-fates, gamble…" his shoulders drooped, "…but it would be nothing short of foolhardy suicide."

"Your thoughts echo my own, brother. A meaningless death is not to be our end. It will not. Even in the case it were so, this would not be right."

"Oh, and why would that be?"

"An end without Grimm's company would be most unfulfilling."

They both spared a glance to their sleeping leader once more.

"I suppose I can't argue with that. Our deaths would lack a certain flare and joyful bravado without her presence."

"I miss her, too."

"It hasn't been a week."

Norse moved to the other side of the bed, and clapped Liar on the shoulder.

"We must tell Albus to evacuate the school."

"…By the gods, Norse. Are you actually willing to admit defeat?"

"…This is not the end. Our war with Voldemort has only just begun. They can have the school, but they will not have its children."

With that, the two Forgiven packed up their things and readied to leave the room. Just before they were out the door, they performed the same spell they made a habit of, before leaving Grimm alone.

""Expecto Patronum.""

Norse and Lair left the Hog's Head Inn. They mounted their brooms, and made way for Hogwarts.

.

X

.

The world twisted around her. Cascading shadows drifted into form, and then receded like dark tides. Her mind finally settled into the surroundings.

A dungeon. A very familiar dungeon that made Grimm's insides churn inside out.

"Don't. Please, don't," she begged.

Her limbs were chained against the cold, bricked wall. The steel links clamored as she tried to break free from them, but was helpless to do so. Grimm could only watch—watch with terrifying horror at the spectacle before her.

"DON'T DO IT!" she screamed.

Bellatrix and Rabastan only smiled.

""Crucio!""

The bodies of the Longbottoms contorted again at the point of their wands. Grimm could actually feel their minds unraveling. For a moment, she met eyes with Alice, who looked to her with such pain that she couldn't help but cry out.

"STOP IT! TORTURE ME, INSTEAD!"

"My dear, this is your torture," Bellatrix merely explained. Her tone and manner completely unlike the original's. "After searching your heart, after exposing you to the endless curses you have inflicted on others, after making you relive every dark memory in every twisted parody, THIS is the one that breaks you."

"Just stop it, please. I'm begging you. Not this…!"

"Ah, now that I think on it, this is where you first attained your ability to use the Cruciatus Curse, isn't it?"

"Do whatever you want with me! I don't care! Just not them!"

"Not them, is it? Then, will this suit your tastes better?"

In the Longbottom's place, Moody and Kingsley appeared.

"Oh, and of course, there is this option."

Then, Tonks and Grimm's mother.

"Oh, you should see the look on your face."

"STOP IT! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"You haven't guessed, yet?"

The form of Bellatrix mangled and shifted. A new figure stepped closer to Grimm, and grasped its fingers tightly around her jaw. A young woman with cruel eyes and a darkened presence solidified.

"I am you. I am your Cruciatus."

Grimm could only stare blankly back at her reflection.

"There it is, recognition. I thought it was rather obvious, for what other witch is greater skilled in the Cruciatus Curse than yourself?"

"No," Grimm wept. "No more."

Her wretched self, turned its wand to the Longbottoms again without breaking eye-contact.

"CRUCIO!"

Grimm could not cry out hard enough against her shadow. She could not break away. She could not block out their screams. The witch shrieked, as if emptying her entire soul.

Until there was nothing left, but pain.

And she was lost.

.

X

.

Norse and Liar touched down on the school's premise, and made a beeline towards the Headmaster's office.

They had planned what they were going to say ahead of time. They had come up with alternatives should Dumbledore try anything conspicuous or evoke the Forgiver's commands. The two agreed, if it came down to it, they would even curse the Minister of Magic to intervene.

All the scenarios they imagined came to nothing upon entering the Headmaster's office.

Dumbledore was not alone. Kingsley and Moody were with him, but they were not the only ones. Witches and wizards of different ages and appearances filled the chamber. All eyes turning to the pair who just entered.

"Wotcher!" a mousy, young woman approached them from the crowd. "You two got called up, too, eh? Wicked masks… Kind of familiar-looking."

"Uh…" Liar mumbled wordlessly, while looking to the Forgivers for clarification.

As to answer, Dumbledore stood from his desk.

"The Ministry has dubbed our situation baseless and lacking in credibility. Furthermore, they believe Hogwarts should not be evacuated."

"What?!" Liar bellowed. "But we sent them those captured—"

The wizard stopped himself, once he remembered many of those gathered worked for the Ministry.

"The Head of the Magical Law Enforcement believes they have been coerced," Dumbledore continued. "Crouch has given a direct order that no action be taken. Fudge has electively chosen to remain ignorant. And all available resources should be focused on finding the culprits, who broke into Gringotts Vaults."

"Did you tell those idiots, one of the engineers of those break-ins was the leader of Troll Garden?!"

"I did. They believe the accusations, baseless."

"That's insane! I'll curse them myself, if that's what it takes!"

"Funny, that's exactly what Mad Eye said, right before they kicked us out their offices," Tonks commented with a sympathetic chuckle.

"Great," Liar scanned the room. "So, what's all this, then?"

"What do you think? We're here to fight for the school."

Another look registered many of those in the office as Aurors, retired Aurors, and even some former members from the Order of the Phoenix. It was a gathering that numbered thirty in total. A pale army in comparison to the Guilders about to march.

Liar almost laughed, if the situation wasn't so dire.

"You're all going to die."

"Well, that's rude. If you don't have the stones for this, then maybe it's best you keep your head out of it."

"Nymphadora!" Moody shouted from across the room.

"Don't call me that!"

"Shut your trap, right now! You and the rest of our people prepare for flight as soon as possible!"

"We're already ready, Mad Eye!"

"Then, go double-check your provisions! The lot of you, join her!" he ordered to the rest in attendance. There was an awkward pause, before everyone but those belonging to the Forgiven Coven filed out of the office.

Once the five were alone, Norse began scribbling madly into the air with her wand.

"I DON'T GIVE TWO DAMNS WORTH WHAT THE MINISTRY SAYS! ISSUE THE EVACUATION OF THE SCHOOL!"

Dumbledore merely held up a patient hand.

"The Hogwarts Express has already been made ready to take the students from the school at any given time. Minerva and many of our professors have been informed of the situation. The evacuation will commence well before any harm reaches within ear's distance."

Norse smashed her fist against the wall.

"THAT ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH!" her face read.

"It will suffice. For now, the Forgiven are to operate as it always has."

"We cannot operate without Grimm."

"You two must find a way to convince the Centaurs to our cause. If you cannot, we will use what forces we have to make sure Troll Garden does not take Hogwarts."

"It's just a damn school!" Liar intervened. "I don't care how special it damn well may be, it isn't worth losing lives over!"

"…There are several secrets Hogwarts holds. Many of them may aid us in the war to come."

"So, use them now!"

"I haven't the faintest, where all of them are."

"Are you mad?!"

"I am completely serious."

"How many people are you willing to sacrifice to your damn ego?!"

Liar was about to press forward, when Kingsley held him back.

"I sympathize with how you feel," he said.

"No! You don't! None of you do!"

"Losing Grimm is hard…"

"You don't have any fucking idea!"

"She would understand more than anyone the desperate steps we are taking."

"And a great place that self-sacrificing, nobility shite got her!"

Callused knuckles backhanded Liar across his face. The force caused him to reel back, but not far. The strike was open-handed, more intended for effect than harm. The wizard was about to return the favor, when he realized the one who hit him wasn't Kingsley but Moody.

"Get ready," he said in a low growl.

Liar was about to retort, when he saw the slight wavering in the Forgiver's remaining eye. The old man was barely keeping it together, but only him and Norse would notice that. After being taught by him for so long, working under him in such close proximity, they could tell how their "teacher" was really feeling.

"Get ready, now," he ordered with a harsh hush.

Mad Eye never had to evoke the Unbreakable Vows with the Forgiven when obedience was concerned. And he had no intention of doing so now.

Liar and Norse straightened.

""Yes, sir.""