They appeared into yet another battle, spells lit up the windows of Grimmauld Place, appearing for all the world like there was a TV on in every room. Hermione wiped her face with her hand and took in Grindelwald. He looked exhausted, his coat had charred where he'd been hit by the fireball and he was caked in thick white stone dust.
Hermione knew she looked little better, the heat had made her hair frizzy and she was fairly sure her back was caked in a similar mixture.
'Are you okay?' She asked, concerned. The wizard nodded, rolling his shoulders to prepare for yet another fight. Hermione was starting to feel they had spent more time fighting over the past couple of weeks than not. The days in the tent seemed almost idyllic now. The only thing that kept her going was the promise that some day, she would be able to walk down the street in complete freedom again.
'Are you? I think I managed to bring the house down on Voldemort too.' He joked with that one-sided smile. Hermione laughed.
'One day, everything will go back to how it was. That's how I keep going.' She told him. He was silent, standing up and stalking off into the house. She realised she'd put her foot in it spectacularly, of course he wouldn't want things to go back to how they were. He'd spent the last half a century in a prison cell with nothing but a cot.
She scrambled after him, but he'd already disappeared into the depths of the house. She was stopped half way up the stairs by a large death eater who only seemed to know the cruciatus curse. She disabled him within minutes, then bumped into Harry. There were still a couple of injured to move and he took one look at her before letting her take over the coordination.
Feeling guilty – after all, she'd actually done very little of the actual fighting today and she'd just been horrible to the man that was almost single handedly responsible for the continued survival of the order and who'd just risked his life to rescue her best friend.
She sent off the last of the wounded, then cast her patronus, sending it running through the rooms of the black house to signal the retreat before disapparating herself. She reappeared in the living quarters and tried Grindelwald's rooms but he wasn't there, so she rushed out of their quarters and into the general living quarters. It took her over an hour to get through the living quarters, everyone had questions or problems. She deferred most of them to Harry, confirmed the rumours that this was Nurmengard and that yes, they had taken down Malfoy Manor and rescued the prisoners with just the two of them, no she had not duelled You-Know-Who, that had been Grindelwald.
It was a relief to reach the bottom lower floors where the population density thinned. She reached the stairway that allowed access to the prisons and the lower levels and conjured a wall to conceal it. She knew that Gellert would consider it a nightmare if "heroes" found their way into the less savoury parts of the fortress. Despite that, she continued her search, voice ringing out as she called his name. She reached the ward room without finding him, so she apparated back to the living quarters and checked his room again. There was only one more place she could think of without having to enter unexplored unfamiliar areas of the fortress. She concentrated very carefully, then apparated.
She appeared in the occupied cell. Grindelwald stood in front of the window, staring down at the view. He must have known she was there, but he made no move.
'Gellert?' She began, he made no sound, so she ploughed on anyway. 'I'm sorry, it was thoughtless of me to say that.'
'It's true though. Once we have defeated You-Know-Who, you'll put me back in this cell and everything will go back to the way it was.' He held up his hand to stall her reply, 'I know, you don't want to but there's no choice.'
'There's always a choice, there'll be a trial, you've already served over fifty years and you're helping to defeat You-know-Who.'
'Would you give You-Know-Who freedom after fifty years in prison?' He asked her and she had already denied it before she realised what she'd said. Grindelwald just turned and raised an eyebrow at her.
She pulled out her wand and transfigured the cot in the corner into a four poster bed, opened her beaded bag and pulled out several of her muggle story books and stacked them in the corner. She banished the bars and laid an old blanket out on the floor in front of the doorway. Almost as an afterthought she changed the colour of the flames burning in the sconces from blue to golden.
'There. Now it won't be the same. It will be much more comfortable. Besides, this time you'll have visitors and a wand.' She said simply as Grindelwald gaped at her.
'I'm the worst dark wizard in history; you don't even know the half of what I'm capable of.'
'We'll so far all you've done is save me and my friends.' She reasoned and he made that small smile again. 'Now, come downstairs, you're a hero.' She laughed and Grindelwald scowled.
He really was; the story of how he'd taken Malfoy Manor with only Hermione and some bugs for backup had circulated through every witch or wizard in the fortress. That, and his almost impenetrable fortress had enough space for the entire Order of the Phoenix to live without having to have more than two to a bedroom.
Fortunately, they didn't have to go through the entire living area to reach Grindelwald's private quarters and they were in such an obscure location that nobody thought to wait for them in an auditorium of all places.
Harry was waiting for them and he greeted them with a tired yet happy smile when they entered. He had dinner waiting for them as well as a set of tweezers and some healing cream from the potions cupboard.
'Ron's awake. He's with Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing recovering.' He told her as they sat down to tuck into the dinner the elves had prepared. Hermione pulled the jar containing Nagini out of her bag and dropped it down on the table.
'and I captured one snake.' She declared. It would only be a matter of days before they would be able to remove the last piece of Voldemort's soul from Harry.