DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I don't.

CHAPTER EIGHT – The Adventure Begins

"I can't believe I'm going to be Keeper for the Cannon's," said an excited Ron as he and his friends suddenly appeared.

"Yes, we heard you the first thousand times," said an annoyed sounding Ginny. "What are we doing here?"

They all looked around and saw that they were standing not that far from the remains of Hogwarts.

"I don't know," said Harry as he tucked the All Purpose Portkey that Damascus had given him into his pocket. "I was about to send us to one of the places they told us about when I felt something tell me that we should come here first."

"Like what?" asked Neville as Harry started walking towards the rubble.

Suddenly, Harry stopped when he noticed something sticking out from a pile of stone.

"No way," he whispered to himself before running forward towards the shimmering light that he could see.

"What is it?" asked Hermione, who was running to catch up to him.

A smile enveloped Harry's face as he reached down into the opening, and when he pulled his hand out, he was gripping the hilt of the Sword of Gryffindor.

"How did it survive?" asked Neville as he joined them.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Grindelwald set the rune covered stone on Dumbledore's desk before turning and leaving the office.

"Goodbye Albus," he said as the doors closed behind him.

Dumbledore, struggling for air due to one of his lungs being punctured, slowly stood up and made his way over towards where the Sorting Hat rested on a shelf.

"I need you to do a favor for me old friend," Dumbledore said.

"Anything you wish Headmaster," said the Sorting Hat.

"I need you to guard the sword as you once did before," said Dumbledore. "I believe that it might come in handy if anyone finds out what Gellert is up to and is in time to stop them."

"Of course," said the Sorting Hat.

Dumbledore then picked up the Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor, and using his last bit of strength and energy, muttered a spell as she placed the sword inside the hat.

Just as he finished, the dying Headmaster fell to the floor as the last bit of his life faded away and a brilliant flash of blue light exploded out from the rune covered stone.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Harry pulled out his wand and transfigured a small stone into a sheath for the sword, which he then strapped to his back. After checking to make sure that he could easily pull it out when he needed it and satisfied, he turned to look at his friends.

"Alright," said Harry as he walked over to the join them.

"So where are we going now?" asked Luna.

"Nevada," said Harry. "That's in America. It's the only known location Damascus had on one of the items that Grindelwald will be after. If we're lucky, he hasn't been there yet and all we'll have to do is wait for him to come to us."

"And if we're not lucky?" asked Ginny as Harry pulled the A.P.P.K. out of his pocket.

"Hopefully there will be some kind of clue as to where he went," said Harry.

They all placed a finger on the A.P.P.K. and Harry tapped it with his wand. A second later, they six of them vanished.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I think I'm going to be sick," muttered Ron and they left the hidden magical city under the Nevada desert a few hours later.

"He killed them all," said Ginny. "How… How could he do that?"

"I don't think he did," said Neville. "While Grindelwald is powerful and an acclaimed duelist, he would have needed someone to watch his back."

Harry noticed Hermione sitting on a large rock, her body shaking as she tried to fight back the tears. He quickly joined her and pulled her close, holding her as the damn finally broke.

"How could he do that?" she asked as she burrowed her head into his chest. "All those people. Men. Women. Children… All of them dead."

"I don't know," said Harry, feeling his anger rise at the horror he had seen. "But I swear we'll stop him."

"How?" asked Hermione. "We don't even know where to look for him."

"I might have a way," said Luna, causing everyone to look at her. "My father knows a wizard in Taipei. It's how we first found out about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. He's an expert on all sorts of things. He might know what Grindelwald is after and where we can find them."

Harry looked at everyone else and asked, "What do you guys think?"

"Whatever Luna wants, you know I'll agree to it," said Ron as he came up behind his blonde girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her.

"It couldn't hurt," said Neville.

"It's not like we have any other leads," said Ginny.

Harry then looked at Hermione, who nodded in return.

"Alright," Harry said as he and Hermione stood up. "Then I guess we're going to Taipei… Now all I need to know is where the hell is Taipei."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Grindelwald walked into the large cavern and kneeled down.

"You have summoned me?" he asked.

"We have," said a voice. "It has come to our attention that Harry Potter is alive."

"WHAT?" shouted Snape, who was waiting just outside the large cavernous room. He stormed in and looked around. "Impossible. Potter is dead."

"Who is this Harry Potter?" asked Grindelwald.

"He's a brat," said Snape. "A boy who harbors delusions that he is important."

"He is important," said the voice. "He has vanquished the dark wizard known of Voldemort twice in his life time."

"You mean The-Boy-Who-Lived?" asked Grindelwald.

"A boy who was just lucky," said Snape with a sneer. "And it is impossible for him to be back. He's dead. I saw the body."

"The Powers That Be have returned him to the mortal coil," said the voice. "He is prophesized to be able to prevent the return of the one true witch. That cannot be allowed to happen. Morgana must return."

"Then I shall return him to the land of the dead," said Grindelwald. "Before he can prevent the plan."

"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Snape. "The boy has beaten a dark wizard that even the great Albus Dumbledore could not defeat."

"I know of a wizard in Brazil," said Grindelwald. "This wizard is well known in certain circles for being able to obtain… Certain things. I shall pay him a visit and collect what we need in order to stop Harry Potter."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Harry and his friends entered a strange little shop that was crowded with far too much stuff for sale. And not all of it normal. Next to a Coke machine was a basket full of monkey paws. Neville looked at it and shook his head as he wondered what this 'Coke' thing was.

From behind the counter a man started speaking to them in Mandarin. Harry was about to say that he didn't understand when Luna responded in the same language.

"Did you know she spoke Mandarin?" whispered Hermione.

"Not a clue," Harry whispered back. "Then again, I had no idea she and Ron were together. When did that happen?"

"A few weeks into summer," said Hermione. "From what Ginny told me, they just started spending time together after school let out until one day she walked in on them snogging like there was no tomorrow."

Harry had to stifle a laugh at the mental image he had of a shocked Ginny walking in on Ron and Luna snogging.

"Well, at least that's all she walked in on," said Harry. "Could have been a lot worse."

"I don't want to think about that," said Hermione. "That's just…" She shivered at just the thought of it.

"Awww, come on," said Harry with a teasing smirk. "What's wrong with them expressing their love for each other. Her crying out to empty his Wrackspurts into her. His pale, freckled bottom moving up and down."

"I think I'm going to be sick," groaned Hermione as she started to gag and covered her mouth.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ginny as she moved closer to them.

"Hermione was telling me about how you guys found out about Ron and Luna," said Harry.

"Then why does Hermione look like she's eaten a rancid Niffler?" asked Ginny and so Harry grinned and repeated what he had said to Hermione. "That's disgusting… Eugh, now I have that image stuck in my head."

"What image?" asked Neville and Ginny whispered in his ear what Harry had just told her. Neville then glanced over at Ron and then at Luna, who was still talking to the man behind the counter as they looked at a map of some kind. "I don't know," he finally said. "I don't think his bottom would be pale. I think Luna might be the kind of witch that likes to spank her wizard."

"You two are disgusting," said Ginny as she and Hermione quickly moved away from Harry and Neville, who were now laughing.

"Well, I have good news and bad news," Luna said as she joined them after she finished talking to the man behind the counter.

"What's the bad news?" Harry asked, dreading what he was about to hear.

"They don't have any chocolate frogs," said Luna, turned to Ron with a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Ron said with a shrug.

Harry shook his head. He should have known that bad news to Luna wouldn't mean the normal sense of bad news.

"What's the good news?" asked Harry.

"Xin believes that Grindelwald will need to go to a place called Rome," said Luna. "One of the things he's looking for is in an old arena there."

"Rome?" asked Hermione, who had just rejoined them along with Ginny. "Old arena… You mean the Coliseum?"

"I believe so," said Luna. "My mandarin is a little rusty, so he either said Coliseum or the house of the dancing flower."

The five of them stared at her for a moment and wondering why they were even surprised by anything that came out of her mouth anymore.

"I'm going to go with the Coliseum," said Harry.

The six of them left the shop and found an empty alley, and from there, they used the A.P.P.K. to travel to Rome.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Grindelwald walked out of a small shop with a metal box in hand.

"I cannot believe that they had something like that," said Snape. "Or that you were given it for free."

"Carlo is the son of a man that aided me during my days in the S.S.," said Grindelwald. "He helped us find an artifact that Hitler wanted in his crazed search for religious and magical items he believed would help him win the war. After we got it, we were supposed to kill him. Instead, I felt it best if he lived. So I killed the rest of the S.S. that were with us and he swore to me that if I ever needed anything, to just ask and it would be taken care of for sparing his life. I never felt the need to call in that favor. But now… Just the thought of seeing this in action makes it worth it. I just hope Potter doesn't die to quickly. It would be a shameful waste of such an entertaining possibility."

"I believe you shall not be disappointed," said Snape. "Potter killed a basilisk when he was only twelve. And at fourteen, he survived an encounter with a female Hungarian Horntail."

Grindelwald looked surprised upon hearing that.

"I have known fully grown wizards that have lost their lives to a female Horntail," said Grindelwald. "The fact that this boy survived speaks highly of his power… Yes. He should provide quite the entertainment against this little surprise."

"But where will we wait for him?" asked Snape.

"The Gauntlet is in an old arena in Rome," said Grindelwald. "What better place for Potter to fight for his life than there."

A/N: So, anyone want to take a guess as to what Grindelwald has procured for Harry and his friends to fight? A hint? Well… It's awesome and damn near impossible to kill.