The passageway still existed and was as dark and dank as ever. Grindelwald maintained a constant shield in front of them, wary of any still smouldering fire or ashwinder eggs. Hermione and Harry's wands cast ghostly shadows across the rough hewn walls as they crept forwards.
Soot marks started to appear on the wall before they reached a closed door. Harry and Hermione shared a look – the passageway had ended in the room last time.
Harry stepped forwards and tried the door but it wouldn't budge. His hands came away covered in charcoal. Hermione tried several unlocking spells, then fell silent as they heard voices outside.
'Goyle! There you are. The Dark Lord has given permission to extract information from the Cho girl whilst he's at the manor. Draco claims she was Potter's girlfriend.' It was Bellatrix Lestrange.
They listened with bated breath as the two death eaters approached, arguing over who would get to cast the first spell and who would ask the questions. One of them, presumably Bellatrix started to run her wand along the wall, they heard it tapping against the stones, then continue to tap over stones as they passed the door that the trio were huddled behind. They waited for a couple of minutes as the voices faded away.
'The door doesn't exist!' Harry whispered
'The enchantment on the room must be damaged.' Hermione concluded.
'We need to rescue the prisoners. They've got Cho!' insisted Harry, Grindelwald muttered something unsavoury about heroes.
'We could slowly dismantle the wall, but it could take ages and anyone who went past would catch us or we could blast our way through which means they would hear us but we'd be in quickly.' Hermione considered, inspecting the doors. From this side they looked wooden but there was no telling how thick the stones were.
'We need a distraction, they are with the prisoners now. We need to get them away from the dungeons so that we can rescue everyone.' Harry said, pulling out the map and spreading it out on the floor.
'We will need an easy escape route too – a lot of the prisoners will be injured.' Grindelwald added.
'How about we blast our way in, then create a false entry point a little way away. Leave some brooms there as if we've just flown in and disguise this exit.'
'Then Miss Granger and I head up to the headmaster's office, make a lot of noise, some fire. Whilst Mr. Potter rescues the prisoners.'
'Brilliant, then you guys can escape by floo powder and I'll come back here with everyone else.'
They'd learned that plans were best left open for adjustment, so without delay Hermione blasted through the wall and they burst through. Harry scooped up the splinters of wood and glamoured them into brooms. Hermione cast an intricate glamour over the exposed passageway whilst Grindelwald went to exercise his particular brand of destruction on the window at the end of the passageway.
Several earth shattering blasts later, the dark wizard reappeared. Harry chucked his brooms in the direction of the gaping hole and the three of them split off to their separate destinations.
Hermione guided the two of them towards the Headmaster's office, stopping to spread dusty footprints or leave weak traps at any junction where the death eaters could potentially stop following them. They had already reached the enchanted staircase into the office when Harry's patronus let them know that the death eaters had just passed him on their way up to the disturbance.
Here, they ran through a whole host of detection charms and on Grindelwald's advice Hermione conjured a flock of birds, sending them ahead to check for any that may not have triggered their spells. They came up with only the basic protection and privacy wards, something that Grindelwald expressed concern over as there were plenty of effective spells that any dark wizard would utilise.
They hurried up the stairs anyway, blasting the door open and rushing into the room. Hermione repaired and sealed the door whilst Grindelwald cast numerous protective enchantments, some of which were entirely new to the young witch.
'Find the floo powder, and anything else you think might be useful.' Hermione ordered, glancing over Dumbledore's many magical artefacts.
Grindelwald nodded, allowing her to take over the protective enchantments and taking her beaded bag to collect the many treasures that even Voldemort hadn't touched.
They heard the shouting well before the onslaught began; Hermione concluded that neither of Malfoy's cronies had ever genetically stood a chance as first Crabbe Sr. then Goyle Sr. got caught in the disappearing stair, Bellatrix was squealing in excitement and Lucius was hollering at everyone to slow down and check for wards.
Unfortunately they must have, because everything went quiet for a while. Hermione ran to help Grindelwald manoeuvre the pensive into the bag, then she went to look through the documents on the desk. Outside the racket started up again as the death eaters started to bombard the wards.
'Why are we always the distraction?' Grindelwald asked as the first of the protective enchantments failed. He pulled Dumbledore's empty portrait off the wall and used his wand to break the security charm on one of the cabinets.
'Because you're the best at it. Still no floo powder' She answered, searching through the cabinet as Gellert moved to the next.
'Try that one.' He pointed to the stationary desk. The last ward fell and the door exploded into splinters. Hermione and Grindelwald dived behind the desk and Hermione cast an impervious charm on the ornately decorated item.
'Accio floo powder' Hermione shouted, holding her wand aloft. Nothing happened. 'We need to figure out another way out.' She shouted over the cacophony of spells.
'Destroy that fireplace so nobody can come out behind us.' Gellert ordered but Hermione was already casting reducto charms. She summoned the feather mattress from the headmaster's bed and magically plugged the chimney with them.
'Harry's clear!' Hermione shouted as she spotted fireworks from the seventh floor window. She looked frantically for a way out, briefly considering the windows but they were too exposed. The chimney would have to do. She flicked her wand, sending the mattress soaring across the room to block the doorway and animated the sheets and sent them to wrap around any pursuers. She shouted to get Grindelwald's attention, mimed a countdown and they both threw themselves into the remains of the fireplace. Hermione grabbed the wizard's arm, and pointed her wand towards the starry square in the distance.
'Ascendio' She screamed and they shot upwards. The chimney was barely wide enough, the exit at the top even narrower.
'Reducto' Grindelwald bellowed, just as the chute started to narrow. They exploded upwards in a shower of stone and soot, soaring into the air and out over the forbidden forest. They plunged towards the ground, clinging to one another so as not to get separated.
'Arresto Momentum' they both cried out in unison, twining their magic together to break their fall. They crashed through the tree canopy, branches whipping at Hermione's hair and face, threatening to tear them apart as their spell strained against gravity.
They stopped suddenly several meters above ground, lowering more gently the rest of the way. Both of them lay panting on the ground for several minutes before Hermione burst into slightly hysterical laughter. Gellert sat up, and she noticed that he was covered head to toe in soot and blood from hundreds of tiny scratches. His white hair was almost black and his one blue eye looked as maniacal as moody's magic eye.
She dragged a hand through her own locks, fingers coming away cleaner than before.
'There's thestrals here.' Grindelwald prodded a pile of dried dung with his wand.
'Hagrid trained them; we rode them the whole way to London a couple of years ago.' They climbed to their feet. 'We need to hurry before they get brooms.'
Hermione opened her bag and summoned the leftover roast the Grimmauld Place elves had given them. She laid it in the middle of the clearing, casting a ventus spell to spread the smell across the forest.
Fortunately they didn't have to wait long, the first thestral arrived within seconds. Last time she'd been close to one of the beasts, Hermione hadn't been able to see it, so she was frozen for several seconds acclimatizing to the appearance of the skeletal horses. She could understand how they'd freaked Harry out.
They decided to double up on the single mount rather than risking waiting any longer, so Hermione approached and explained what they needed, feeling silly for talking to a horse the whole time. The beast looked disgruntled but abandoned the roast and angled its wings to allow them to climb on. She gratefully promised the animal more food once they reached their destination and took Grindelwald's offer of a leg up.
He climbed up behind her and they soared up into the night sky.