DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.
CHAPTER FIVE – The Battle Helm
Madam Rosmerta sat behind the bar of her empty pub, the Three Broomsticks, as she pondered what she was going to do now that Hogwarts was gone. No Hogwarts means no students. No students means no Hogsmeade weekends. No Hogsmeade weekends means that she, along with the rest of the shops, will see a very large drop in business. The average Hogsmeade weekend usually brings in enough galleons to allow her to remain open the entire summer holidays without a single customer and not have to worry about how she would be able to pay her bills.
She figured she could always ask Aberforth how he manages to stay open with so few customers.
Madam Rosmerta was snapped out of her thoughts when the door burst open and a rush of people came in.
"On the table," one of them said.
"Is he breathing?" someone asked.
She noticed Hagrid was carrying something wrapped in a wool blanket in his arms and hoped that it wasn't one of his pets. That was the last thing she needed.
"How the hell did he get here?" someone else asked.
"Thought he was dead," another person said.
"He was," a witch with pink hair said. "I was at the funeral."
Hagrid set whatever was in the blanket on one of the larger tables as Madam Pomfrey came forward and started waving her wand over it as she checked for vitals.
"Pulse is week," said the healer. "His magical core is slightly fluctuating."
"What does that mean?" asked McGonagall.
"I don't know," said Madam Pomfrey. "I've never seen anything like this before. But I can say for sure is that this is really him. There's no sign of any glamour charms or polyjuice in his system."
Madam Rosmerta, who had been inching closer to see who was on her table, gasped when she saw the locks of raven black hair and the faint outline of a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.
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"I still do not understand why you felt the need to go to the school," said Snape as he and Grindelwald appeared in the middle of the Nevada desert.
"When Albus defeated me all those years ago, he took my wand as a trophy," said Grindelwald.
"It's just a wand," said Snape. "The Order could easily acquire you a new one."
"The wand is no ordinary wand," said Grindelwald as they started walking. "The wand is one of the keys needed to bring her back."
"You mean…" Snape started to ask.
"Yes," said Grindelwald. "It is her wand. One of the seven pieces needed to draw her soul back to this world."
The two walked in silence for a few minutes before Snape asked, "Where are we headed?"
"The wizards of the country have a hidden district here," said Grindelwald. "Or more correctly, under our feet. They hide it in plain site from the muggles as a military base rumored to hide the remains of creatures from the stars. It is there that another one of the pieces is kept hidden."
"Shouldn't we acquire more followers to aid us in finding this piece?" asked Snape.
"No need," said Grindelwald.
It wasn't long before the reached the front gate where two men dressed as American soldiers stood guard.
"This is a restricted area," said one of the guards. "You're going to have to leave now."
"I think not," said Grindelwald.
In the blink of an eye, his wand slipped out of his robes and into his hand. Before the guards knew what was happening, two flashes of green light had taken their lives.
"I would prepare yourself," said Grindelwald and he shuck off his black robes.
With a flick of his wand, the gate was torn open, causing alarms to sound throughout the base.
Snape pulled out his wand as the two of the walked past the gate and onto the ground of the base that hid the entrance to a hidden wizarding village.
Dozens of men and women came running out with wands in hand.
Grindelwald just watched them all with a smile on his face just moments before he swiped his wand in a long arc.
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It was late that night when the teachers of Hogwarts and various Ministry officials escorted the students off the train and set them up for the night in various magical tents based on their year and house.
The students were all quickly informed about the destruction of Hogwarts for reasons unknown, and that the following afternoon, the train would be taking them back to London, essentially canceling the school year while the castle was rebuilt.
The only students who weren't shown to the tents were Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna.
Professor McGonagall had personally claimed them from their compartment and brought them over to the Three Broomsticks.
"Professor, what's going on?" asked Hermione.
"To be honest, I am not entirely sure," said McGonagall. "A lot had happened in the past twelve hours. First, the castle was destroyed."
The five of them gasped in surprise.
"Albus is also missing, and we fear that he might have still been inside when Hogwarts collapsed," said McGonagall. "But this isn't the main reason I brought you here."
"It's Harry," Luna said, earning strange looks from her friends and a look of surprise from the Transfiguration teacher.
"Miss Lovegood, what makes you think something has happened to Mr. Potter?" asked McGonagall.
"I do not think," said Luna. "I know. I felt his aura this afternoon. Where is he?"
Luna looked around, as though expecting to see Harry sitting at another table, enjoying a butterbeer.
"Luna… Sweets… Harry's gone," said Ron.
"I'm afraid Miss Lovegood is actually correct," said McGonagall, which earned her surprised looks from the others.
"That's not possible," said Hermione as she fought back the tears that threatened to fall. "Harry's dead… He's… He's gone. He can't be back."
Professor McGonagall sat down next to Hermione and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Miss Granger… Hermione," she said. "Believe me, I know what a shock this is. In fact, it's been a few hours and I still have trouble believing it myself. But Harry is alive somehow. Hagrid found him just outside his home, unconscious. Madam Pomfrey checked him herself and she guarantees that it really is him."
Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes and asked, "Where… Where is he? Can I see him?"
"He's still unconscious," said McGonagall. "He's upstairs in one of the rooms while we wait for his magical core to stabilize."
"Stabilize?" asked Neville.
"Whatever brought Mr. Potter back has caused a flux within his magical core," answered McGonagall. "While we're unsure what has caused it, Madam Pomfrey assures me that by morning, it should return to normal and he should wake up."
After a quick meal, the five of them were shown to their rooms on the second floor of the Three Broomsticks, which Professor McGonagall had acquired for them, as she knew they would want to be close when Harry woke up.
In the middle of the night, Hermione snuck out of the room she was sharing with Ginny and Luna and slipped quietly into Harry's room.
The bushy haired witch couldn't help but let out a quiet gasp when she saw him on the bed sleeping.
At first she thought he looked exactly like he had before he died. However, as she moved closer, she could tell he had changed a bit. He seemed to be a little taller. Gone was the slightly frail look he had after so many years of being underfed by the Dursley's. Not only had he filled out, but there was also a faint definition of some muscles to his body. His hair was a little longer and shaggy looking, which she thought looked kind of cute on him.
All in all, Hermione had to admit that for someone who was supposed to be dead, Harry Potter looked good.
Pulling up a chair next to the bed, Hermione sat down, determined to wait by his side until he woke up.
Downstairs, Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, and Remus sat together at a table, sipping from bottles of butterbeer while Moody's magical eye was looking up.
"Call it," said Moody.
Remus pulled out a pocket watch and said, "Two thirty six."
Remus, Kingsley, and Moody all groaned while Tonks smiled triumphantly. The three men then reached into the pockets and pulled out five galleons each, which they handed to the now green haired Auror.
"How did you know?" asked Kingsley in his deep voice.
"I was at Grimmauld Place last Christmas," said Tonks as she fingered her winnings. "You remember, when Harry was blaming himself for what happened to Arthur?"
They all nodded.
"Well, she doesn't know that I know, but each night, Hermione snuck out of the room she was sharing with Ginny and slipped into Harry's room," said Tonks. "I don't even think Ron knows about it since the boy could sleep through huge war going on around him."
"You mean they…" Remus started to ask.
"Shagged?" asked Tonks. "No. She just held him and comforted him. It was the same every night during the Christmas holidays. Within thirty minutes of going to bed, she would leave hers and slip into his. Kind of sweet when you think about it."
"And why didn't you say anything before now?" asked Remus.
"Sirius," said Tonks. "You know as well as I do that if he found out, they stood about as good of a chance not being teased about it as a muggle would have in a house of Death Eaters."
Remus couldn't help but agree with Tonks on that. Sirius really would have teased the two of them about it nonstop till eventually Hermione finally got annoyed and pulled her wand on him.
"Alright, enough of this crap," said Moody as he finished his drink. "There's work to be done. Remus, you and Shacklebolt head to Godric's Hallow. I want to know what happened there around the time Potter's body left his grave."
"Shouldn't we just be happy that somehow he's back and let it go?" asked Tonks.
"Not yet," said Moody. "We don't know what brought him back. If it's some plot of some dark witch or wizard we don't know about, Potter could be a threat."
When Moody looked away, Tonks stuck her tongue out at the grizzled reinstated Auror.
"And just for that, you're on watch duty," said Moody. "Don't let anyone who isn't supposed to up those stairs."
Moody, Kingsley, and Remus stood up and proceeded to leave.
"I hate that bloody eye," mumbled Tonks as she signaled for another drink.
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Grindelwald closed his eyes and breathed in deeply as the last guard fell dead before him.
"How I missed the feel of battle," he said. "That was one of the reasons I enjoyed the fact that the Order placed me within Hitler's ranks. I might not have agreed with his actions, but when it came to battle the British and American's while hunting down magical relics… No greater pleasure then watched a foe fall before you in defeat… That's how I came across this wand."
Snape arched at eyebrow at the wizard.
"It was in China," said Grindelwald. "Hidden deep within a mountain. When the council discovered the Lady's plans, they hid her objects on the far reaches of the world to prevent them from coming together and freeing her. A group of American wizards discovered our attempts at getting the wand and attempted to stop us. Nineteen members of the S.S. were killed before I found the chamber containing the wand. Five minutes after that, the American's were dead and the Order had finally obtained the first relic of the Lady. Sadly, it wasn't long after that when I dueled with Albus and lost.
"He knew of the wand because he was once a member of the Order of the Shadow."
Snape looked at Grindelwald in shock, and the elder wizard chuckled.
"You did not think Albus had a darker side, did you?" he asked.
"Dumbledore always worked for the light," said Snape. "He always worked for the Greater Good."
At this, Grindelwald started to really laugh.
"The Greater Good," he said, "was what the Lady once called her plan. It was the motto of the Order till Albus left and corrupted it for his own means. He even took the name of the Order and created his own, changing the darkness that we prefer to work in into the light by using a creature of light."
"So, if Dumbledore was one of us, what happened?" asked Snape, who was for the first time in many years, curious about something.
"His sister happened," said Grindelwald. "She discovered that he was a member of the Order, and when the Nine found out, they ordered him to kill her. Albus of course, refused and left. Knowing that he was more valuable alive, they sent an assassin to kill her. I was young and brash then. He caught me just as I ended her life… It was that reason he came after me during the second Great War. There was no sense of right or wrong in his actions. He didn't stop me to protect the wizarding world from a dark wizard. It was vengeance. Pure and simple… He would have killed me had there not been witnesses that stood by as we dueled. But that would have ruined his stance of being such a firm believer in the light. Ah, here we are."
The two of them reached a very large steel door. Grindelwald held up his wand and began chanting some kind of spell. Over the next ten minutes, there were shimmers of light as the various wards began to fall, and soon, the steel door began to melt and fade away.
Grindelwald stepped into the large vault and picked up the lone object.
Snape could feel the power radiating from the object. There was a hum of magic in the air as the wand connected to what Grindelwald held.
"I never thought I would ever lay eyes upon it," Snape breathlessly said.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Grindelwald. "The Battle Helm of the Lady. The one true witch… Morgana."