Her parents hadn't argued when Gellert told them to pack their essentials. There was just something about his demeanour that couldn't be argued with when he changed from charming boyfriend to the Grindelwald the public saw. Less than an hour later and they were back on the yacht to the Australian Ministry of Magic.
The tropical island was deserted and they hurried their way up the moonlit sand between darkened beach huts. A single light was on and the friendly border guard they had met on their way in waited for them, still blinking sleep out of his eyes and with his robe on inside out. Hermione had no idea how Gellert had contacted him but she was more concerned with the unconscious prisoner that she levitated in front of her and how he had managed to find them.
Mr. Baiter seemed more than a little curious at the bound and disguised man but he was wisely quiet at the look Grindelwald sent him. The man fumbled through the paperwork, flicking his wand at the black pebble. He paused slightly over the Grangers' muggle passports but shrugged and entered the random numbers into the boxes on his form. Gellert smiled and passed a set of tickets to the hotel they'd just stayed at to him in return.
'For that wife problem, you'll find this helps.' The dark wizard hinted and Baiter's face lit up. He looked much happier as he cast the necessary spells on the stone and they all touched it with their hands. Just in case Hermione cast a sticking charm on her parent's hands and then the last thing she saw was Geoff smiling happily at the two tickets as they were whisked away.
They landed in the forest outside the wards, a carpet of dropped leaves breaking their fall. For several seconds, Hermione just lay on the ground gathering her composure before she sat up to see how the other passengers had fared.
It seemed autumn had arrived whilst they were away; the trees had dropped their leaves and bare skeletal branches reached up into the grey, cloudy sky. The occasional leaf still clung to the limbs, curled in on itself like a cocoon. The ground they lay on was a spongy russet mattress and she found herself sinking in it up to her calves.
A cold wind whipped around her; blowing through the light summer dress she had been wearing in Australia. She rubbed her arms and looked around to get her bearings, noticing the snow that already capped the mountains. Nurmengard speared the sky over the trees to her left, the dark shape standing out starkly and rippling with potent magic which clashed with the ambience of nature.
Her parents couldn't see the castle of course and proved the muggle repelling charm worked by deciding to buy some new climbing gear and heading off down the mountain. Hermione quickly apparated in front of them and seized both their hands, dragging them up to the castle determinedly.
'Hermione, you're a witch.' Gellert reminded her, disappearing with a crack. Hermione huffed and did the same, embarrassed at having almost walked the entire way to the fortress.
She appeared in the living area – one of the benefits of being the lady of the house. She could apparate in with people whenever she wanted without arriving in the cells. Her parents took a moment to recover from the unexpected travel, then stared around them in wonder. She watched them taking in the view from the massive windows, which had changed from earth browns and greys to stark black and white. The sunlight reflected brightly of the crisp peaks and pierced the shadows of the room. A fire roared in the grate even this early in the morning and blankets had appeared, folded on the seat of every armchair. The table was clear of research for the first time since Hermione had moved in, her own work on Salazar tidied away in her room and Gellert's various projects probably pinned to his walls. The absence of mess emphasised the pristine glass display cases filled with priceless objects and the wall-to-wall bookshelves of ancient books.
She settled them into the living area, pointed them in the direction of the library (their expressions when she told them that the living room was not the library were priceless) and introduced them to Narcissa quickly. The older witch seemed to have a sixth sense for Hermione's wardrobe because she appeared with a rich, fur lined winter gown for Hermione to shrug on and had performed a spell to calm her curls before she had even finished reassuring them about Nagini who was basking in front of the fire.
To her surprise, Gellert instigated contact when she arrived, placing a quick supportive kiss on her temple and taking her hand. They entered the cell together where Ron was unconscious and bound to a chair.
She rennervated him before she could think better of it and found herself almost imitating Bellatrix with her imperious expression. Grindelwald leaned back against the wall, clearly in Ron's line of sight but out of the way. The red-head blinked slowly and moaned, Hermione straightened her spine and lifted her chin. He tried to rub his eyes, realised they were bound, then awakened fully with a jerk, thrashing in his bindings.
Finally, he seemed to come to his senses and suddenly blurted out his nickname for her, searching wildly until his eyes came to rest on her. He squinted for a second then sighed her name in relief.
'Hermione, I tried to send a patronus. You've got to do something, she'd taken over the ICW.' He proclaimed and the witch frowned in confusion, glancing uncertainly at Grindelwald. This seemed like such a nonsensical answer that it threw her; she'd been expecting angry words or even begged apologies.
The dark wizard stepped forwards with an almost eager step, raising his wand and hitting the redhead square in the chest with a red bolt. Hermione flinched, expecting a screams but was surprised when nothing happened. Ron did the same, seeming to steel himself in a way she'd never seen before. Instead, when Grindelwald coldly asked him what he'd been doing in Australia. To both the younger witch and wizard's surprise, Ron started babbling out the entire story.
He'd left Nurmengard and tried to return to the burrow to help with repairs, only to be turned away by his furious mother when she arrived the next morning. Mrs. Weasley had said that she was ashamed to call him her son and that she couldn't believe his selfishness after everything the family had been through. She'd said it would serve him right to find his own home.
A week later, Ron had been replicating food at a muggle cafe to make himself at least feel full when he'd been found by a dark haired beauty. She was clearly a witch and she'd greeted him as a hero and seemed to share his hatred of dark wizards. She'd offered him food and shelter and he'd agreed, even as she explained her current experiments.
She'd explained how she had discovered a way to separate the ability to perform dark magic from someone and had offered to do the spell on Hermione if he could bring her to her. She'd already explained how she had managed to use her mother's ID to rescue Grindelwald from the ICW and had managed to reform him into a light wizard. The young witch even had the newspaper clipping of the dark wizard looking after the orphans as proof.
Ron had joined her wholeheartedly, but quickly realised that her 'cure' just mutilated the minds of the dark wizards that she had broken out of Azkaban. They couldn't perform dark magic, but then they couldn't do anything without seeking her approval, almost like children. He'd delved into her research, determined to find the flaw and bring his 'Mione back but found nothing, even as it became clear that his new friend was fanatically obsessed with destroying darkness. She was even convinced that the ICW had been corrupted when Grindelwald was pardoned and had hatched a plan to take it. A plan that she had launched tonight with her army of ex-dark wizards.
Ron had sent a patronus to Hermione to warn her, which had then returned to him when it couldn't reach her. He'd checked the newspaper, knowing that there was almost certain to be a report on her whereabouts. There hadn't been, but there was an article on Grindelwald visiting the international transport office. From there he had found it simple to deduce that as both were powerful wizards, they must be going very far abroad to not be able to apparate. Once he guessed that they were finding Hermione's parents it had only taken a couple of confundus charms on a muggle border force authority to get the address.
Grindelwald asked him a few more questions about the plan and its execution but Hermione was distracted. She had just finished what felt like two wars, now it seemed she was about to be thrust into another. For a moment, she considered just sitting back and letting this crazy French witch take over. Nurmengard was impenetrable, Lichtenstein was independent of international law, she could just hide behind the mighty doors and let someone else do the work this time.
Then she remembered the family in the airport, the border force guard and all those people that must have petitioned their governments to free Gellert. She knew that she was a powerful witch, Grindelwald was an army in and of himself. She was in a position to make a change and it would be poor thanks to sit back and let those that had supported her suffer under a tyrannical rule. Innocents would be persecuted, people who would flourish under a second chance would have their minds torn.
'We have to help them Gellert.' Hermione interrupted and the dark wizard glanced at her across the room. He rolled his eyes dramatically, heaving a sigh and flicked his wand to free Ron.
'No funny business.' He growled, poking the younger wizard in the back. Ron nodded hurriedly, and scurried out of the prison cell as the door opened.