Chapter 3 What Now?
"Harry? Harry we have to go." McGonagall said to Harry who was still dazed. After a moment she turned to Hagrid "Please take care of things hear."
"Aye." Was all he said in return. He was obviously caught up in his own sorrow.
"Come on Harry." McGonagall said as she half dragged Harry away from the tower.
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The phone rang waking General Johann Koch; he picked up the phone in annoyance.
"General Koch, we have a…"
"My god man, do you know what time it is?" Koch cut the man off.
"Yes sir, but you really need to be informed. We have detected a magical surge from Nurmendard."
General Koch was silent. It was almost unbelievable; Grindelwald making a move after so many years. Something must have changed and he needed to find out what that was. But first, he had to contain the situation.
"Sir? Are you still there?" Asked the man on the other end of the phone
"Yes, put me through to the minster. And let me know if you find out anything that might be connected to Grindelwald and his unexpected escape attempt. And one more thing, find out the movements of Voldemort; I want to know if he had something to do with this. Make it fast."
"Yes sir, the minister should be on the line shortly." With that the phone went dead leaving Koch to think alone.
Troubled times were coming. Koch could feel it. Grindelwald's strategies were heavily studied by all German officers. No one could say that Grindelwald was a poor strategist. He wouldn't have struck out without having a strong position. Koch just didn't know what his strength was. They should tread carefully until they knew the whole situation. Hopefully the minister felt the same way.
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Harry could feel McGonagall pulling him…somewhere, but he just couldn't find the energy to care. Other than Serious, Dumbledore was the only other adult that he felt close to.
Harry didn't bother to look around until McGonagall talked to him.
"Harry, you need to stay here. I will be back in a while." She hurried out of the room
He finally looked around and noticed that he was in the headmaster's office. He felt almost physical pain at the reminder of headmaster. The whole world was going to hell and he now knew that it was up to him to regain the stability of his nation or die in the effort. It was not a good feeling. He didn't know anything about how to do such a thing.
Harry didn't see the old man staring at him until he talked "I am so sorry Harry."
Whirling to face the voice Harry looked into the eyes of Albus Dumbledore.
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"General Koch, I am told you have a report for me." Minister for Magic Ernst Eichmann said over the phone
"Yes Minister, earlier tonight a magical surge was detected at Nurmendard. It is my belief that Grindelwald tried or has escaped. We don't know at this time what happened because there has been no communication with the guards of the prison. I have sent scouts to assess the situation there and report back to me."
"The situation must be contained; I want the press to report this magical surge right next to a picture of Grindelwald's corpse. Grindelwald broke the terms for his imprisonme…" Koch didn't hear the rest of the sentence because of the aid opening up the door
"Just a moment Minister I have a report ready for us." He looked up at the aid "Report! And speak up so the Minister can hear you on the phone."
"Grindelwald is still at Nurmendard. He seems to be waiting for us in the outer courtyard just inside of the outer wall. We still have had no communication with the guards but we have seen several body. We believe the guards are all dead. I also looked into Voldemort's movements; we found very little concrete evidence of any major movements. It looks like he is still building his support. We know even less about his covert operations. We don't think it had anything to do with Grindelwald but earlier tonight Headmaster Dumbledore was murdered by death eaters at Hogwarts. We know this from a report filed at the British Ministry barely thirty minutes ago by Minerva McGonagall; she is the Deputy Headmaster at Hogwarts. That is all we have been able to find at this time." With his report done the aid left
"Did you hear that Minister?" Koch asked
"Yes I did. There is no denying it, though I am sure the British will, they are at war with themselves. And we will be to if we don't end this tonight. Send thirty of your best men to end this. Keep me posted General."
"I don't think this is the best course of action Minister. Grindelwald has proven that he is just as powerful as he once was. By now he could have set up all sorts of traps for our men." Koch replied
"I understand your concern but this must be settled tonight; we may lose a few men but there is no way he can take them all down. I want to know the moment Grindelwald is dead." With that the minister hung up the phone to leave General Koch to prepare for the attack. He had work to do.
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"I know that a portrait is no substitute for the real me, but this portrait does contain all the memories of the Albus Dumbledore you knew." The portrait Dumbledore told Harry
Still almost unable to believe it Harry took a moment to decide if he should be happy or angry. His emotions finally deciding to be angry Harry started yelling. "How could you die and leave me by myself! How could you have trusted Snape! I can't beat Voldemort without you! I am not good enough…" Harry whispered the end almost choking back his sobs
"I am so sorry Harry. I didn't mean to leave you alone. I was actually going to fake my death and take you away to train you for the last few months I had to live. I would have never believed that Severus would kill me. He gave me an unbreakable vow that he was not loyal to Voldemort."
"Snape obviously found a loop hole in his unbreakable vow." Harry replied scornfully
Dumbledore gave a smile "Obviously. I may not be here in the flesh but I can still help you if you chose to accept my help." Harry nodded in affirmation "Very well, you must go back to Privet Drive one last time. But you will not be going alone; I will be going with you. But no one should know that my portrait is awake. Voldemort fears me for many reasons; even though I no longer have the power I did with a body Voldemort will want to destroy me. There is a blank portrait in my drawer; replace it with my portrait and take me with you. We have much work to do over the summer." Harry did as Dumbledore asked and waited for Professor McGonagall to return
A/N
This was my update right before the new year. I hope you enjoyed it.
I do have the entire story line finished I just need to write it.
Thanks to everyone who puts up with my really slow updates. (: