I am getting the most spectacular rainbow-lines-of-doom across my screen. Please excuse spelling and grammar mistakes (or even better let me know about them in your reviews so that I can fix them) as I'm just trying to write and upload as much as possible before I have to start writing on a phone. Enjoy.
She'd asked him to teach her how to duel, a decision she was beginning to regret as they faced off against one another in the duelling room. It was one of the biggest rooms in the castle and had been one of the most heavily used. It had been where Grindelwald's followers trained and prepared for their upcoming battles but it was an area yet to be discovered by the order.
'Cast anything but the killing curse. I'll assess where you are at the moment.' He told her, standing casually at his end. Hermione adjusted her grip on her wand and widened her stance slightly, waiting for him to pull out his wand. He just stood there, the silence stretched.
He twisted his hand and suddenly she was on her knees with her hands bound and her wand was in his hands.
'Lesson one, strike first.' He said as her face burned red in embarrassment. He'd moved so quickly that she hadn't even had time to react. 'If you let your opponent strike first, you start out on the defensive. If you are on the offence, you dictate the fight.' He released the magic that held her and tossed her wand back.
'Again.' He demanded, once more standing unarmed in front of her.
She didn't make the same mistake twice, casting a tickling hex and sending a jelly legs curse following behind it before the first had even reached her opponent. Grindelwald's shield flashed brightly as the two spells hit but Hermione's pause to make sure he'd deflected them cost her. His wandless magic was invisible and once again had her bound and on the floor.
'Lesson two, always have a shield charm, even if you don't believe you need it.' He tossed her wand back, then looked at her more kindly. 'Don't hold back, I can defend myself. You must push yourself to learn.'
She nodded, cheeks burning again as she stood and cast a shield charm. Grindelwald was already shaking his head. He demonstrated a different shield – slightly more like a ward that a charm. He instructed her that it should be permenantly maintained so that she could never be caught by surprise.
They resumed, this time Hermione pounded him with spell after spell, casting whatever came to mind as quickly as she could. She alternated between spoken and wordless magic, trying to mislead him as to the number of spells being cast. Grindelwald took her assault for several minutes, letting each attack dissapate harmlessly against his shields, then he began to retaliate. It was weak at first – occasional jinxes, all spoken and using large, obvious wand movements. He slowly refined his technique, testing her defense. Soon she was completely on the defensive as he sent a massive variety of spells at her. She burned a swarm of wasps, melted ice, froze water, deflected missiles and dodges bolts of light. He started shouting instructions – move more, cast faster, reinforce her shield, deflect rather than fight.
Harry appeared into the midst of this, not realising the peril he ran out into and becoming victim to a powerful nose bleed charm deflected from Hermione's shield. He swore and cursed as the light of magic faded, Hermione rushing over to mutter the counter curse and apologise.
'There's people outside.' He declared, to which both Hermione and Grindelwald froze.
'Death eaters?' Hermione demanded tersely.
'No, they're not wearing cloaks.'
Grindelwald nodded and hurried out of the duelling room and down to the entrance hall, summoning his coat from upstairs. Hermione rushed after him, doubting the visitors had friendly intentions.
When they reached the massive gates, McGonagall and Kingsley were already talking to the group of witches and wizards through the closed portcullis
'Who are you and why are you here? Where is the prisoner.?' The leader demanded with a strong French accent.
'I am here.' Grindelwald called as he strode down the hallway, opening the portcullis with a wave of his hand. Several of the visitor gasped and one wizard gave a feminine squeak. 'I assume you are an envoy from the ICW?' He asked politely, barely disguising his sneer as he looked over their purple robes.
The envoy nodded, although he was whiter than a ghost and was fumbling in the folds of his cloak for his wand. His escorts took even longer and looked as if they'd like nothing more than to turn tail and run.
'Please, come in and allow us to explain the situation. We can talk over tea.' He extended his hand cordially, gesturing to a doorway just inside the entryway. The envoy and his escorts shared a long, uncertain look before one of them finally plucked up the courage to step under the porticullis and Hermione opened the door that Grindelwald gestured to. She stepped inside first, surprised to find herself in an impressive and lavishly decorated entertaining room. A fireplace surrounded by a massive stone overmantel featuring roaring dragons, battling unicorns and manticores.
A huge banner hung on the wall opposite, displaying Grindelwald's hallows symbol, which was also engraved into the oak table which dominated the centre of the room. Two crystal chandeliers lit the room brightly enough to make reading easy but not so bright as to be uncomfortable.
The envoy and his entourage filed in after her, followed by Kingsley, McGonagall and finally Grindelwald. He looked around at the decoration and huffed.
'I must have forgotten to update the decorations in here.' He said apologetically, waving his wand. The hallows symbol on the tapestry disappeared, replaced by a massive golden phoenix. The engraving on the table changed to match, the black and silver upholstery changing to crimson and gold to match the new banner. He poked his wand at the empty fireplace and a roaring fire burst into life, rapidly warming the room.
Everyone watched in silence as the dark wizard picked up a black kettle, using his wand to fill it with water before hanging it on a hook above the fire. He then turned and rested one arm against the backs of one of the manticores, facing the visitors to his castle.
'I assume you've been sent by the ICW to confirm rumours that Nurmengard is occupied again.' He asked the envoy. Hermione watched with interest, the room was clearly designed to impress but he'd filled the kettle himself as if he were an ordinary wizard. Then he leaned against the fireplace, completely relaxed but in command of the situation. She was ready to bet that he had intentionally used wandless magic to open the gate earlier to remind them just how he was not a wizard to be trifled with.
'Nearby residents saw lights on at night and it was reported that the wards had been recharged.' One of the wizards reported smartly as if he were reading from a report.
'That is correct. May I introduce you to Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter. She came to me in an hour of great need in her fight against the organisation currently terrorising Great Britain.' He drew the attention of everyone in the room to her and not knowing what else to do, Hermione nodded to them in greeting.
'I'm sure you are aware that this Dark Lord broke into my prison and tortured me for information several months ago? No? Well, I have agreed to assist the Order of the Pheonix in their fight to free Britain.' He used a long metal hook to lift the whistling kettle out of the fire and wandlessly summoned a tea tray from a small table in the corner. He served coffee for everyone and passed it around the table, offering a small jar of sugar and a pitcher of milk.
'So this order of the phoenix would free a dragon to fight an ant.' The envoy surmised, glaring disbelievingly at the the three order members.
'Oh, he's certainly no ant. Hermione witnessed the injuries I sustained duelling him a couple of nights ago when we rescued prisoners from his head quarters.' He paused in his prowel around the room, wincing as he touched his fingers to the burns down his back. Again, Hermione noted, displaying weakness right after strength.
'You might have heard that he defeated Albus Dumbledore last year?' McGonagall added, introducing herself as the teacher of transfiguration and emphasising how Hogwarts had fallen. Kingsley then chimed in, describing the takeover of the ministry and highlighting the changes when he saw their disbelieving expressions.
'The ICW was not aware that the situation was so dire in the United Kingdom.' One of the witches murmered to her colleague. Grindelwald laughed sharply.
'I don't claim to be an expert in such matters, but it's usually advisable to avoid international notice when staging a take over of a government.' He said airily, reaching to refill his cup and offering it around the table. She suddenly realised what all the adults were trying to do – Drawing connections between how Grindelwald had taken over Europe and how You-Know-Who was now taking over Britain. Meanwhile, Gellert threw in those human touches, reminding them that he was an accessible and extremely attractive ally.
'Unfortunately, the last of the order's strongholds was attacked a couple of nights ago. We came here with nowhere else to go.' Hermione added sadly, playing up her age. 'Gellert was kind enough to offer to keep us safe whilst we recovered. Most of us are just students that were at Hogwarts when it was attacked.' She must have gotten something right because the faces of all the ICW representatives softened.
'Don't vorry dearest, ve vill see vhat ve can do.' A witch with a startling resemblance to Madam Bones reached over the table to grasp her hand reassuringly. Hermione tried to a grateful expression that came out rather shaking, almost seeming to enhance the effect.
'Of course, there is the matter of insurance. The ICW will not stand the chance that we may have a second global wizarding war.' Their leader said matter of factly, sounding awfully like Fudge.
'You needn't worry. I have sworn a wand oath to Miss Granger and I have no doubt she shall return me to my cell once this is all over, although I hope the ICW will not mind that she agreed to give me a proper bed and some curtains in exchange for my help.'
This made most of the visitors crack a smile as they stood and shook hands with the order members, promising to plead their case to the ICW. Hermione found herself enveloped in several hugs by sympathetic foreign witches and forced herself to look grateful as they filed through the door and out of the castle.