Hello everybody, thanks for reading and for liking the Story (thanks to everyone who consideers writing a Review or making this Story on of your favorites, I appreciate that sooo much).

xoxo Leviosa

Chapter 27

"What's your name?" "Jacob. I think it's Jacob? No, it was probably John. Yeah, yeah, John Macbeth", he said, his brain still strangely full of dust and confusion. "John Macbeth? Okay, then tell me what you know, Romeo", the person in a dark robe and a mask on his face said. "Romeo? Didn't I tell you that I'm Jacob?" "No, you said you're John Macbeth. What is your profession? Are you possibly an actor?", the man lifted his eyebrows, visibly amused by his prisoners words. "I don't really know" "To be or not to be?", he asked. Jacob had no idea. "I guess to be? Or maybe not to be? Is that some kind of riddle? I can't even remember my own name how should I be able to know if it is to be or not to be?", Jacob stuttered. "Are you stupid or just really really weird? Honestly, you confuse me. I'd better kill you before Grindelwald wants me to serve somewhere else because I went mad", the guard decided. "Oh, I'm sorry, you're talking about Shakespeare, right? I am sorry, I was just a bit confused. Where are we?" "We are in a special place in Paris, and I am afraid that I won't be able to kill you in the next hours. Grindelwald wouldn't be delighted if I kill you before it begins" "Before what begins?" "The games. What else should I be talking about? Didn't you know? Oh, I forgot to tell you. Basically, you have to fight against everyone else in the arena, the two people standing last, will be free.", the follower of Grindelwald said. "And who am I fighting against? Why do I have to fight?" "You fight against the other non magic people we caught in the last months. The ones that survive have proven their worth to the wizarding community, there for are not useless anymore and will be part of Grindelwalds new world and accepted by the people around them. Grindelwald is not a dictator, he is willing to give every one of you a chance, and he does not believe that all of your kind are ignorant. You should feel honored to be in this competition" Jacob had faced fear too often in his life, fear of losing memory, fear of losing people he loved, but he had never ever felt that much fear of losing his own life. "But that Is totally brutal. I don't have to be a good fighter to be a good human", Jacob whispered, not able to talk louder, the fear was controlling him. "Magic blooms only in rare souls, Mr. Macbeth. No one here is a good human, and even if you were, you wouldn't count as a good human in the face of Grindelwald. You can only prove your purity by winning the games", the acolyte explained to him, a spark of madness in his eyes. "You say I count as a good person, worthy of your respect, after I kill hundreds of people? Doesn't one of them exclude the other?" It did not help Jacobs brain to discuss right now. The only thing he knew was that he had to get away from here as quick as possible.

"Hey", someone ran into her, accidentally. She hated it, when people did not look around themselves, when they were not aware of their environment, because she always had to be, because she was reading too many thoughts at once. Queenie had no time to think about other people, she should find Jacob, before Grindelwald could get him. Jacob suddenly apparated, this patronus took him somewhere, somewhere Queenie did not know where it was. "Hey? You bettere watch out where you're going, Theseus Scamander", Queenie shouted at him, but stopped as she realized in what persons head she had been looking into. "Theseus Scamander? Newts brother?", she added. The auror looked at her, both eyebrows lifted. "I am Theseus Scamander, indeed. But who are you and why do you know my name? I don't know why, but you seem... familiar?", Theseus said and began to stutter, like his brother. "My name is Queenie Goldstein, and I am a friend of your brother. And you seem to be looking for your fiancé? I haven't seen Leta, but... There is a no-maj... You are British, right? I can tell you this and you won't kill me because of it. I am in love with this no-maj, Jacob, and he was kidnapped. By Grindelwald. And I... You are an auror. You could... help me? You help me and I help you find Leta. Do we have a deal?", Queenie asked him. In her life, she had learned that confusion was the best method to get people to do what you want. Knowing toomuch and saying even more things, things the other persons brain could not work through entirely in such a short time period. "Umm... Okay?", Theseus decided. "Swear it", she whispered. "I have to find Leta, I won't let her get her kidnapped again. This is why I swear to help you", Theseus declared. "Okay, now that this is finally done, we'll get to the arena. And yes, I know this because I can read your mind. It is the only place that is abandoned and glamorous enough to be used to hold slaves, or in this case no-majs. Did you know that the old Romans used these theaters for gladiator fights? Gladiators were often slaves, that wanted to be free, and the only way to get freedom was to survive in the arena for a long time period", she began to talk. Theseus was so confused, that she almost pitied him, but the only way to get Jacob back was in the guidance of an auror, it was the only way. If she had known what happened in the arena right now, she would have hurried a bit more.

"I don't want to talk right now", Gellert whispered, as Albus was knocking on his door. "Of course. You never want to talk, Gellert. You want a kingdom, not a therapy session. But if you don't tell me, you're going to tell it no one. And I don't want to find you under your bed ever again. Don't get me wrong. I just... I don't want to have to worry about you all the time", Albus said, his ear on the door, because Gellert was almost not understandable. "You worry about me? What a beautiful thought. As if you were not the person to worry about. After all of your fights with Aberforth and what happens to your sister", he said, as he opened the door suddenly, which pushed Albus away, and he fell on the stone steps. Gellert reached out his hand and helped him back on his feet. "Don't try to distract from your own problems", Albus suggested, "also, it would be logical that you let me in, now that you opened your door", he added. Gellert rolled his eyes at him, but slowly pointed into the direction of his room. "Oh please, my life is made out of problems. And you, Albus Dumbledore, are my biggest problem", he said, while walking up the stairs to his room. Albus followed him, carefully watched out, so he did not fall over the books laying on the floor. He did not know why his heart was beating so fast. Neither did he know why he knew that Gellert was totally honest to him. He was his problem. After a moment of awkward silence, where Albus was standing weirdly around, Gellert took a deep breath and pulled him onto his bed. Completely concentrated, he closed his eyes and began to speak. "Please don't interrupt me. It is not easy for me to talk about my feelings and everything, so don't make it harder than it is. A letter arrived. I am expelled from Durmstrang, they made their decision. Don't judge me, please. Let me tell you why. They said that I almost killed a student, because of experiment with dark magic. The student was said muggles son, you know the muggle that — why am I saying muggle? I was too long with you, Albus. We don't just are the same, we say the same things. Okay, so said peoples son... I was doing an experiment, just like they said. I tried to — and I am sorry, I regret every time I close my eyes, it would have never worked, I tried to resurrect my parents from death. For obvious reasons, it did not work. Then this muggleborn student came in my direction and said... This person has magic, even though his parents are witch hunters. He said that my parents would have deserved to die because...", Gellert took a deep breath again, and Albus could hear the tears in his voice. He had the strange desire to hug him, right now, even though — or better because- he was looking so miserable and haunted by his past. "He told me that my parents were thieves, murderer and that they were freaks that searched for three deathly hallows, so they could rule the world to get more money and power. I almost killed him. I would have killed him, wanted to trade his life for the lives of my parents. Later, I found out that he was lying to me and that my parents were killed by the muggles just because of their own fears. The boy only wanted my attention, because he was a stupid idiot, who only got happiness by insulting others. I almost killed him — but I remembered that my parents would have never wanted me to be a murderer. They believed that love can change the world, just like I do. I mean — I did not at first but... Thanks, Albus. Just thanks, for understanding me. Because no one else does"

"Whatever. Krall, there is an event we have to attend. You as my first acolyte, have to come. Don't try to tell me some kind of excuse, I know when you are lying", were Grindelwalds words. Kralls brains state had slowly turned from slightly scared to mad and probably only coming out of this dead. If Grindelwald wanted him to do something, he could not do anything about it. Maybe it had been the wrong decision. But his brain had forbid him this kind of thoughts. He was doing something good and the fact that Grindelwald still let him spy for Dumbledore was extraordinary. "I mean, you are attending. Attending in my name, of course. No matter what happens, keep calm and apparate if anyone is trying to kill you. And do some fancy speeches, you know what I mean. Before anyone is dying, they should understand me. Uhh, I forgot, you don't understand me. Is it possibly too much effort for you... Why does my life have to be that complicated? You know what, just try speaking as if you were Albus Dumbledore. As if not everything we had got destroyed. Err... What was I saying? I'm sorry, Krall, just tell them some stuff about your family and that this is the reason why you fight for the "greater" good. Forget the things I said about Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore"

"John MacBeth!", the guards screamed his name. Someone pushed him, Jacob tumbled, ran against a wall, before he landed on the sand floor. He was dizzy and it was too dark to see anything, except the bright full moon on the sky. The moonlight brightened up the stone steps, on which Grindelwald stood, in the center of the light. Jacob was willing to believe that this should make him feel little, stupid, because he and the others could not see anything, except Grindelwald. But Jacob would not play these little psychopathic tricks with him. The only thing that counted was not listening now. Gellert Grindelwald believed that muggles were stupid, easy to manipulate and not worth of anything. And he would try to make him that way, if Jacob listened and believed him. "Good evening, ladies and gentleman. My name is Gellert Grindelwald and you are part of a competition, which is supposed to tell me who of you is of any worth. But before we begin, I will, as a fair leader, give every one of you a question to ask me which I will have to answer truthfully. Why am I doing this? Because I want you to understand me better, even if you are dead a few minutes later", he declared and lifted his head up, to the sky, as if he heardvoices in his head. With a wink of his wand, the arena was brightened up by spotlight and Jacob finally saw that he was standing in a giant arena, next to him stood other people: children, elder, women, men. And everyone of them wore a sign on their clothes: non-magic, squib, muggleborn. And under the sign was another, the reason why they were standing in this arena. A redheaded woman next to him had a long text on her sweater, she whispered into his direction: "I'm Bunty, I got caught because I... It's a longer story and it includes riding on an erumpent and trying to attack acolytes with my hippogriff, oh, by the way, I am muggleborn. And you are Jacob, right? Newt wrote me a letter, where he told me about everything that happened. I assisted him when he was traveling around the world, and we are still dear friends. Unless I die today, of course" Bunty shook her long red locks, as Grindelwald lifted an eyebrow. "Bunty, do you want to begin? You seem to have a lot of things to say", he said, the sarcasm in his voice was too visible. Bunty smiled at him, and flipped her hair back. "What do we have to do, so every one survives?", she asked. Grindelwald laughed at her. "You really believe you know everything, darling. There is only one way for you all to survive and that is to understand me truly. When you know me as good as I know myself, when you ask the right questions, you... may... be free, maybe not. But I don't think my dear acolytes would like to see that, still, I have to give you a chance", Grindelwald smiled brightly and Jacob hated him at this moment more than ever. He was trying to play with them, trying to make them fear things. Jacob heard a little child, with the sign "squib" on her clothes, say, calmly: "Tell me the one thing that would make you give up. And if you answer nothing, you are a liar" "You're so sweet. That something would make me give up... As if I would ever give up. I'm a seer, I know that I will never give up. Not even death threatens me... And I decide what is a lie and what is truth, Jeanne Hicks. And now be quiet", Grindelwald shouted at the little girl. But instead of being scared or hiding somewhere, she laughed. Jacob wanted to save her, this strange kid, willing to laugh the darkest wizard in history into the face. "Age alone doesn't make you wiser", she whispered and her words gave her a strange power. She was just a girl in an old dirty dress, her short brown hair was messed up, and she was clearly too tired to be awake right now. But at this moment, she was a hero for all of them standing in the arena. "Okay, now that we heard all the important questions, I decided that we will have to start now. Let the games begin", he screamed, but because he was Gellert Grindelwald, it still was not louder than his usual whisper. The crowd of acolytes on the steps over their heads cheered, as if they were happy to see their blood. Now Jacob understood why they had to fight on sand, their blood would paint the floor and it would look like a painting. Just the thought of killing people made him want to punch Gellert Grindelwald right in his silver eye. But the only thing he could hear except the crowd screaming, was Jeanne. "You will pay for this", she murmured, as acolytes began to cast spells at them. Jacob could not really process that they were actually bringing lions in to the arena. For now, the only thing that counted, was to survive. Grindelwald would not have mercy with them.And a second later Jacob knew that it all was over.