Fox and Falcon

The Serbian Healers insisted on keeping Frank in the hospital for an entire week. He wanted to start looking for Alice as soon as possible but it probably wouldn't make a difference to her if he found her a few days later, not after over eight years apart.

Afrim Rishani had to return to Albania. His colleagues had captured another group of Death Eaters and he was needed for their interrogation. He promised Frank to support the struggle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters and wished him good luck.

Madam Jovanovic visited him as well and brought the Israeli newspaper with the articles on Anthony Goldstein in it. Frank learned that Anthony Goldstein was going to speak in Heidelberg, Germany next week.

The Healers were positive that he'd be well enough to travel by then and so he decided to go there. Frank had gotten used to travelling the Muggle way and he didn't want to attract magical attention. He left the hospital to get a ticket to Stuttgart airport which was closest to Heidelberg. From there he'd either continue by train or apparate.

When he was finally let out of the hospital, he changed money and returned to Madam Jovanovic for one last night in Belgrade. He thanked her and promised her to invite her to his English home if the circumstances would ever allow it again. She told him that he was always welcome and wished him luck as well.

Nada Zoric accompanied Frank to the airport, immaculately dressed like a Muggle. Frank thanked her for her help before they said goodbye as well. The people here had all been very helpful. On his own, Frank wouldn't have stood a chance to find the Horcrux.

The plane was on time and the Muggle officers didn't confiscate Frank's wand. They did not recognize it as a potential weapon of course. During the flight, Frank contemplated the things waiting for him.

In Serbia, he had been in a good position because he knew Madam Jovanovic. In Germany, this wasn't the case. Frank had once been there with his father who used to be the Head of Magical Cooperation and two times in the course of his work as an Auror but he hadn't gotten to know anyone closely on those occasions. In Germany, he'd be completely on his own.

The country still had a reputation for being home to an unusually high number of dark witches and wizards as well. Frank wasn't sure how reliable this information was. His last contact with other British wizards lay over twenty years in the past. Maybe they had just been influenced by the Grindelwald-war which had ended only few years before Frank had been born. Back then, many of Grindelwald's supporters had probably been still alive. Now, sixty years later, the number of those was probably rather small. Still, Frank felt a certain amount of unease. While on the plane, he decided to take the train rather than draw attention to himself by apparating.

The train journey went smoothly even though it took rather long.

At around 6 am, Frank reached Heidelberg where he faced a new problem. He didn't know where the magical street of Heidelberg was. During his former trips to Germany he had stayed in Berlin where the Ministry was located. They had always travelled there by magic because doing so the Muggle way had been extremely difficult or so the people with Muggle relatives had told him.

Frank knew that drawing attention to himself was his only choice now. He pulled a violet and green scarf out of his pocket and put it around his neck. These colours were recognised all over Europe to show that someone was a wizard looking for other magical people. Frank would have preferred to avoid that but he probably wouldn't find his destination any other way.

Only a few moments after putting on the scarf, Frank was approached by a group of five people wearing uniforms that looked a lot like those of the German Muggle military. The only distinctive features about them were their unusual hairstyles and their black armbands with white runes. Frank could sense that they contained magic, some sort of protective charm if he wasn't very much mistaken. The magical aura those people were giving off was distinctively dark. Frank's hand wandered to his wand.

"Guten Abend. Wer sind Sie?" a woman with blond braids asked. She carried herself with an air of pride and confidence in her own skills that made Frank think of a blond Bellatrix Lestrange. He knew that first impressions might be deceptive though. Being polite was his best option. Fighting five opponents would have been a feat in his prime years, nowadays it was impossible.

"Guten Abend. I'm sorry, I don't speak much German. Do you speak English?"

The woman said something in German to her companions, three men and another woman. They seemed rather hostile.

"Your left arm" the woman said.

Frank knew that they wanted to know if he had a Dark Mark. Were they Death Eaters who hoped to find a partner in crime or did they want to check that he wasn't one? Well, if he fled they'd suspect the worst whatever it was in their eyes, therefore he decided to oblige. He rolled the sleeve of his Muggle shirt up and revealed his Mark-free arm.

The woman nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Er ist keiner von denen," she told her companions.

"Very well. Who are you and what are you looking for? My name's Aslaug Schreiber."

Frank thought that his intuition hadn't been too far off. The Schreiber-family was known as something like the German equivalent of the Blacks, the family even had various accounts of Parselmouths being born among them. Frank didn't know if this woman was able to speak to snakes but the idea didn't make him trust her. The Schreibers had been known for their avid support of Grindelwald as well. A witch called Gudrun Schreiber had been an infamous prison guard and torturer under his regime and her brother a professional killer. This woman might be his daughter or granddaughter.

"My name's Frank Logan," he told her, giving his alias. "I came to visit this beautiful town and I'm looking for our part to find accommodation."

"Alright. Just go to the Universitätsplatz. Go to the pedestrian zone on the other side and walk along the shops there three times. If you're one of us, you'll see a bookshop the third time you walk along. Simply go in, everything else should be obvious."

"Thank you very much," Frank told her. "Have a nice day."

He turned to walk away but Aslaug Schreiber stopped him. "One thing I need to tell you and don't forget to inform your people back home. If your half-blood Lord and his followers harm any of our people and that includes Muggles, they will pay. Our government might close their eyes but we will fight for our country with every means necessary. We're not like this order of weaklings back in your country. We're not afraid of killing and we won't be slaughtered like lambs. We will give the Death Eaters their own blood to eat."

Frank was rather taken aback but this, especially by the remark about the Order of the Phoenix. He wasn't going to lecture five dark sorcerers about ethical magic use on a train station full of Muggles in a foreign country though.

"I understand your sentiments but I'm not on speaking terms with You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters. You'll have to look for someone else to pass your message on."

"Anscheinend noch so ein Flüchtling," Aslaug Schreiber told her companions. Whatever that meant, it didn't seem to be very awe-inspiring but didn't turn them aggressive either.

"Thank you for your help again." With these words, Frank disapparated towards "Universitätsplatz" hoping that the information he had gotten from this woman was accurate.

He was lucky. The book store really emerged and it sold ordinary magic books of the sort that might have been on a Hogwarts book list back in his time. The cobbled street behind the shop was lined with houses in neat rows. Some of them were half-timbered, others had brightly painted shutters. Many houses were decorated with flowers at the windows or plants at the entrance. A few people sat around a fountain, children among them. The shops sold things like cauldrons, Quidditch supplies and potions ingredients or food. Aslaug Schreiber obviously hadn't sent him to the German version of Knockturn Alley. There was a wizarding bank as well which Frank visited to exchange Muggle to wizarding money. Anthony Goldstein's visit was announced on various placards. The placards also advised to arrive earlier at the magical festival hall so there would be enough time for security.

He came across three places that rented rooms for visitors, two of them had no rooms available but he was lucky in the third. He got a nice room. It was quite expensive but he hoped he wouldn't need to stay here too long. At least, he had a place to stay. The first thing he did was warding his room with protective charms; afterwards, he left again to find something to eat.

Given that he had nothing else to do, Frank decided to arrive at Goldstein's speech earlier. He hoped that he might be able to talk to the former member of the British resistance but learned soon that it would be impossible. He wasn't the only one who had decided to come an hour earlier; people were already queuing at the entrance. Ministry officials in dark blue robes were checking each visitor thoroughly. Frank also saw two Aurors in dark green robes looking over the crowd watchfully. They were all recognizable by the German eagle with the letter "Z" underneath it on their robes.

The German witches and wizards didn't seem to be able to form a proper queue. Some people kept pushing and no one stood in an orderly line so new arrivals would know where the queue ended. Frank was rather annoyed by this. Everything seemed to take much longer than it would have needed to. He would have liked to tell the people who kept pushing past him off but he knew that it would probably be useless because they couldn't understand him. Therefore he stayed quiet and tried to be patient which was hard because he already feared that this wouldn't bring him any closer to Alice or any interesting information.

Over half an hour later, Frank was finally being checked. One of the Ministry wizards spoke enough English to communicate the procedure to him. Frank introduced himself with his Muggle name and once again showed his Dark Mark-free arm. He had to hand his wand over to the German Ministry wizards who checked it for recent use of dark magic. Afterwards, he was being tested for Polyjuice Potion and another spell showed that he wasn't attending to smuggle any dark objects in and no Muggle weapons either. About ten minutes later, he was given a small green band around his arm and allowed to go inside.

A rather narrow corridor led up to the festival hall. Frank tried to get to know the localities as well as possible. One of the many things he had learned in Auror training. There were doors on either side of the corridor, one of them led to the bathrooms, the others were locked. Ministry officials were standing guard again. They checked if he wore the band which he did. After this, he finally reached the hall. It was already quite full; Frank gave up on any hope for a personal conversation with Anthony Goldstein. There were Ministry wizards and a few green-clad Aurors here as well. He settled down in the back third of the hall behind two pretty dark-haired witches who were giggling over some sort of fashion magazine.

A few moments later, a woman with short brown hair walked up to the seat next to him. She wore simple grey and green robes but her blue eyes seemed very watchful. Frank looked at her again. He knew this woman. Her hair hadn't shown any trace of grey the last time he had met her but this difference was minimal. In the past it had been long but since she had been at the hospital, she kept it short.

"Madam Savage?"

His joy upon meeting an old colleague again overcame his cautiousness for a moment.

"Good evening," the woman said. "Do we know each other?"

When he heard her voice, Frank was certain it was her.

She looked at him intently. "Is it, can it be, Frank Longbottom?"

Frank smiled before he remembered that he was travelling under a different name. He looked around worriedly but no one seemed to have noticed. Cordelia Savage drew her wand and cast a quick spell that would make other visitors ignore them and their conversation.

"Yes, I'm Frank Longbottom. So you've survived?"

"Obviously. They wanted to arrest me but I was quicker. Where have you been? Did you emigrate as well?"

Frank lowered his voice. "I've been living as a Muggle. That's why I'm here now. I want to get information."

"As a Muggle?" Cordelia whispered disbelief in her voice. "Haven't you been in the care of a Healer?"

"No, the Healers never "cared" for me," Frank said. "I got away as soon as I realised what was going on. I believed Alice had died and I'd be next. Do you know what happened to us?"

This was the question he desperately wanted to have answered while dreading the answers at the same time.

"I'm sorry, I don't know. When I had to leave, you were both still at Saint Mungo's and both alive. I don't know what's happened. You've really fled Saint Mungo's as soon as you remembered?"

"Yes, I did," Frank said. He realised that it sounded rather cowardly in hindsight. "I was absolutely sure that Alice was dead." Did he want to persuade himself or Cordelia?

"I'm surprised you were able to," the other Auror said. "I was much too weak at this point. It wouldn't have been possible."

"It's hard to believe what's possible if it needs to be done," Frank said.

If someone had asked him if he would be able to keep this secret under Occlumency while having the Cruciatus curse used on him by up to four people for three hours, he surely wouldn't have said yes. Somehow, enduring it all had been possible even though it had cost him almost fifteen years of his life.

"Very true," Cordelia said. "I was like that too, the first two days. Believed the Healers wanted to finish me off completely and desperately wanted to get away."

Frank thought that her fears hadn't been unfounded. She had been in the care of a Death Eater after all.

"I was told it was one of the symptoms," she added.

Frank didn't answer. He didn't believe that the choice that had decided over his life since the illness had been inspired by nothing but a pathological feeling caused by the after effects of the curse. He had been in real danger; the hospital had been in Voldemort's hands. And so had Cordelia even though he wouldn't tell her so. If she felt better when she could believe that Lestrange had really meant to help her, Frank didn't want to rob her off the illusion.

There was a commotion near the entrance and Cordelia's attention focused on it right away. Frank was glad about the distraction. Five people had entered the hall, Frank was certain that they were the five who had told him how to get here. They still wore the rune armbands but instead of Muggle uniforms, they had put on black robes fastened by a pin with a skull on it. "Verlassen Sie den Saal!" one of the German Ministry officials said.

"Wir bleiben hier. Wir wollen das auch hören."

Frank didn't need to understand German to realise what was going on. The Ministry official wanted to throw them out but the five didn't want to leave. Four Aurors joined the other Ministry wizards now.

"Raus jetzt!"one of them called his wand raised.

"Warum schicken Sie uns fort? Wir sind auch gegen diese Drecks-Todesser."

Cordelia shook her head. "Yeah right. They say they're against the Death Eaters but they should know well enough that they aren't admitted like that. I wonder how they got in in the first place."

Frank was asking himself that as well. Surely the guards couldn't have overlooked their attire, could they? Or had they been too scared to send them away?

"Is this some sort of organisation?" Frank asked.

"Grindelwald-supporters," Cordelia said, looking over to her colleagues who still tried to persuade the Grindelwald-supporters to leave. "I wonder if they need help over there. Let's see. I'm supposed to keep a low profile today."

"Grindelwald-supporters?" Frank asked. "Hasn't he been defeated more than 60 years ago?"

"Yes. They hoped they could free him from prison though. And now they want to avenge him. You-Know-Who killed him you see."

"Ah, I understand," Frank said. This explained why they seemed to be so hateful against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

"An unpleasant bunch," Cordelia explained. "Pure-blood supremacists and also racists. Their favourite targets used to be Muggle-borns from immigrant families. Now they mainly focus on fighting Death Eaters though. The Ministry thinks it's rather convenient."

"It is in a way. Two dark groups finishing each other off," Frank said. "So there are Death Eaters here?"

"Yes. They claim they've got nothing to do with the British government and only feel inspired by them but no one really believes it. The government still prefers to accept it officially because it's less trouble. Bit like Fudge really."

The Ministry officials managed to get the Grindelwald-supporters to leave without Cordelia's help. Their abandoned seats were soon filled by other people. Some of the Ministry officials had to draw up extra-chairs and there were still people standing.

"Couldn't they simply capture those people if they have committed crimes?" Frank asked her.

"Well, dressing the way they do isn't illegal, at least not yet. The Ministry discusses a law to ban the skull pins and rune armbands but so far they haven't reached an agreement. We can't capture anyone without proof."

"So you're still working as an Auror?"

"Yes, I am. Wouldn't give up the fight, would I? It's all I can do now; try to keep You-Know-Who from getting too much support on the continent. Look, Anthony Goldstein has arrived."

A young wizard with brown hair and glasses walked onto the stage. He was accompanied by three wizards and a witch in pin-striped robes. One of the wizards had short dark hair and slightly bushy eye brows. Frank was sure he had seen him before but he didn't remember where.

Anthony Goldstein walked up to the speaker's table while his four companions sat down. Their seats were chosen in a way that allowed them to keep an eye on the entire auditorium without drawing too much attention to themselves. Frank wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been involved in similar tasks in the past.

A bell tolled and everyone fell silent.

"Guten Abend. Es freut mich sehr, dass so viele von Ihnen heute Abend hier sind. Sie werden wahrscheinlich schon wissen, dass ich nicht gekommen bin, weil ich möglichst viele Exemplare von meinem Buch verkaufen möchte. Das wäre zwar ein netter Nebeneffekt-"

Many people laughed and Anthony Goldstein fell silent for a moment. Frank didn't know what they were laughing about, a situation he didn't really like. He cast a questioning look in Cordelia's direction.

"He told them he's glad that so many people are here and that it's not only about his book even though selling some copies would be a nice bonus," she said. "That's what they laughed about."

"Thanks," Frank muttered, hoping that Goldstein wasn't going to hold his entire speech in German.

"Leider reicht mein Deutsch nicht aus, um Ihnen alles in Ihrer Sprache zu erzählen, aber Frau Blumberg wird die wichtigsten Dinge für Sie übersetzen."

He looked at his female companion who nodded with a smile.

"Wir haben außerdem eine Broschüre mit den wichtigsten Informationen zusammengestellt. Die können Sie am Eingang mitnehmen. Falls Sie nachher Fragen haben, dürfen Sie die gerne auch auf Deutsch stellen."

"You're lucky. He's going to speak English now," Cordelia informed Frank. "They made brochures in German though. Really quite a lot of effort."

"Very well, welcome again to all the English-speaking listeners who've come here tonight."

Frank might have imagined it but he felt as if Goldstein was looking into his direction. It could have been Cordelia's as well of course.

"Before I begin a few important notices: I'm going to tell you about our resistance group at Hogwarts, the DA, short for Dumbledore's Army. Some members have given me permission to talk about them using their real names, for example Luna Scamander, who has come here as well."

A blond witch in the first row got up and waved to the people in the auditorium.

"Some members still live in the UK, a few have gone missing and I don't want to give any of them trouble. Therefore I'm going to use aliases when I'm talking about them. I hope you understand that this is necessary. I will use the real names of any teachers. Their respective subjects are enough to give away their identity anyway."

Madam Blumberg translated this into German before Goldstein continued.

"At first, a few words about the DA. Some of you might have wondered why we've been calling ourselves Dumbledore's Army. It's quickly explained. Back when I was in my fifth year at Hogwarts, Headmaster Dumbledore knew that You-Know-Who had returned. He warned the public and the Ministry but the Ministry refused to accept the truth. Instead, they sent a woman to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts who refused to let us practice any spells. She's in charge of Muggle-born Registration now under You-Know-Who. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger decided to found a group where we could learn to defend ourselves back then. The Ministry claimed that Dumbledore wanted to found a student army and we called us that to make fun of them."

This reminded Frank a bit of the group called "Phoenix Apprentices" they had founded during his own time at Hogwarts. A bunch of young, idealistic people who believed that they could fight for good. As far as Frank knew, he was the only one left alive. After having met Cordelia, he didn't rule the possibility of other survivors out completely anymore but he knew that many of them had died.

Those last two years at Hogwarts had been among the best of Frank's life. He had felt that he was able to make a difference but hadn't been forced to face the realities of war yet. This had happened as soon as he had started Auror training. His life had still had a purpose, but the carefree days were gone. Forever.

"During sixth year, we didn't need those meetings anymore because we had an able teacher, Severus Snape. He turned out to be a Death Eater later but he still taught us properly. As most of you probably now, Snape killed Headmaster Dumbledore at the end of this school year and everything changed."

He made a small pause and Madam Blumberg translated some of the things he had said.

"When Pius Thicknesse became Minister of Magic, my parents received a letter. My grandmother isn't magical you see. They were asked to come to the Ministry so they could be taken into custody "for their own protection." People might attack them out of anger at this "defilement of magical blood." Grandma hadn't thought she'd experience this kind of thing ever again. They decided to leave the country right away. My parents wanted to stay though. They didn't want to leave everything behind. Not as long as Harry Potter was still alive and people hoped that things might change again soon."

Madam Blumberg translated and many people in the auditorium shared aghast looks. Frank wondered if she had translated something different from what Goldstein had actually said. This kind of thing was to be expected from the likes of Voldemort. If the Germans really didn't know that, Goldstein's speech was very important indeed.

"Attendance of Hogwarts became compulsory but everyone had to go to the Ministry and get a "Blood Status Card". You had to prove that you had a magical ancestor. I've brought mine so you can take a look at it."

He cast a quick spell and a large image of the card became visible behind him. The names of Anthony Goldstein, his parents and his grandparents were on the card, underneath stood the words "witch", "wizard" or "Muggle." The last line was: Bloodstatus: Mixed-Blood.

Some of the listeners were shaking their heads, a few whispered to each other.

When the noise had died down, Goldstein continued: "The new Ministry claimed that Muggle-borns had stolen magic from witches and wizards who later became Squibs. Muggle-borns were rounded up and imprisoned. No one knows for sure what's happened to them later but it's not hard to guess."

He paused for a moment again, Frank knew what he was hinting at and he was sure everyone else did as well.

"Muggle and Muggle-born spouses of so-called pure-bloods were rounded up and killed. If their partners tried to defend them, they were murdered as well. New Muggle-born witches and wizards aren't admitted. Instead, the children are subjected to a spell that robs them of their magic. Many go insane or die in the process. That, Ladies and Gentlemen is what You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters want to do with Muggle-borns all over Europe. It's easy to forget that when we're dealing with more cultivated and diplomatically savvy Death Eaters but this is what they're doing to Muggle-borns and to Muggles who dare to love witches and wizards. Are there any Muggle-borns here tonight? I don't-"

A man with short brown hair got to his feet. "I'm a Muggle-born and I'm proud of it," he said loudly.

Soon, more people followed, saying things like "So am I." Among them were a few Ministry officials and a green-clad Auror. Frank watched in astonishment. He hadn't expected something like this. British Muggle-borns had usually kept a low profile even before Voldemort's rise to power. He didn't know if that had always been different here or if Voldemort had caused changes into the other direction as well.

"Danke, thank you," Anthony Goldstein said. "I wanted to tell you that I don't want you to expose yourselves, only think about it but I'm glad that you chose to do so. No one should be afraid to admit that they're Muggle-born and that's why we all have to fight this madness. It's extremely important that you stand up for yourselves. It is also extremely important that all the pure-bloods, half-bloods, mixed-bloods and whatever else they're using as classification stand up against this. Only a small minority of British wizards and witches were Death Eaters when they took over. If the others had had the courage to refuse taking part in this, they would not have been able to carry it through. This didn't happen though. Too small a number of people raised their voices and they were killed or forced into hiding."

"Very true," Cordelia whispered to Frank. "I could hardly believe it myself. So many people were too scared or to keen on their own advantage. This way, it was easy for the Death Eaters to punish anyone who resisted brutally. A few of us suggested that the entire Ministry should go on a strike when the Muggle-born Registration Commission started. We found a few allies in the Auror department but the rest of the Ministry simply accepted it all. They were so scared of You-Know-Who. I never understood. I had met him and he was nothing more than human."

"I'll never understand this either," Frank said.

"When I returned to Hogwarts the following term, everything had changed. Severus Snape, Dumbledore's killer had been turned Headmaster and people accepted it without hesitation. The former Muggle Studies teacher had been murdered and as a replacement they hired a Death Eater, a woman named Alecto Carrow. Everyone was forced to attend her classes which only consisted of hateful talk against Muggles. Her brother Amykus Carrow taught Defence Against the Dark Arts which was turned into Dark Arts. We learned curses to cut and burn people's skin, to break bones and many more nasty things. In the end, we had to practice the Cruciatus curse. During detention, all those curses were used on students. Some of them only first-years."

There were shocked whispers once again. Frank didn't want to believe what he heard here. The Cruciatus curse, taught to students at Hogwarts? Students being tortured? What had they done to his country?

"Alecto Carrow told us how Muggles were supposed to be filthy and vile beasts that couldn't be called human. She often made two people come to the front of her class, one pure-blood and someone with mixed ancestry like me. Then she pointed out traits that were supposed to show my inferiority compared to the pure-blood's perfection."

"Das ist unfassbar!" a woman behind Frank said to the one sitting beside her. "Unbelievable," she repeated when she saw Frank looking at her.

Other people seemed outraged as well. Frank hoped that many people in Germany and other European countries felt that way and didn't sympathize with Voldemort's ideology.

"There was one student in my class though who did not take this quietly. Florian was a Gryffindor and he started telling the class the truth from the very beginning. During his first detention he had to use a Blood Quill and right the words "I must not defile my pure-blood line" until they were etched into the back of his hand."

A few people gasped in shock.

"This did not deter him though, quite the opposite. He kept speaking up to them, he comforted people who were hurt and sad and upset and he got together with Luna and a sixth-year Gryffindor girl, Isolde to restart the DA. We still had our magical Galleons which we used to communicate. You might be wondering why I'm telling you this. The Carrows didn't find out about it but later in the year, right after Harry Potter's death, Isolde was captured and they found her Galleon. From this point on, the Death Eaters knew. At the beginning, we could use them though and we met again. All the former DA-members still at Hogwarts came, we were 14 people."

DA almost sounded like PA, Frank thought. The Hogwarts students had shown the courage the adults had lacked during those crucial times. If Harry Potter had received proper support rather than being alone with his friends, he might have survived. If he and Alice both had been available they might have been able to do something Frank thought. Maybe Voldemort's victory would have been avoidable if Harry had received proper help.

"Together, we planned all kinds of actions to show that we didn't take the new regime quietly. We wrote messages on the walls, listened to illegal radio stations, spoke up to the Carrows together, tried to protect people from punishment and helped them when they were injured. Florian was particularly good at this. He had a knack for healing magic. The three of them, Florian, Luna and Isolde tried to retrieve Godric Gryffindor's sword from Snape's office because they thought Harry needed it. They got captured but Snape only gave them a relatively mild detention. He sent them into a forest with dangerous creatures in the company of the gamekeeper."

Some people whispered about Goldstein's idea of a "mild detention," a few of them gave Luna admiring looks or said something to her.

"When Carrow demonstrated the Cruciatus curse to us, Florian was the one he had chosen to do this to. It affected him like it does everyone of course but it didn't make him waver in his dedication. The more they hurt him, the more determined he seemed to become. It was really quite impressive because he used to be a rather fearful person when he was younger. He kept telling all the rest of us how important it was not to use this kind of magic. Florian was quite successful as well. There were few people who actually learned how to do it and they were all intellectually challenged Slytherins. They were allowed to use it on people who had received detention."

Frank was quite impressed by this "Florian's" story. The way he had taken care of his wounded classmates and persuaded people to stay away from the Cruciatus curse reminded him of Alice in a way. Frank was sure she'd have done the same if she had been in this situation. He wondered who the boy really was and what had happened to him.

A sudden chill was filling the room. Frank crossed his arms in front of him, wondering why it had suddenly become so cold. Everything Anthony Goldstein said felt so hopeless all of a sudden.

"During the Christmas holidays, Luna was abducted by the Death Eaters. Her father had written critical articles in his magazine. This was reason enough to abduct an, at this point, sixteen year old girl."

People closest to the entrance started to scream.

AN: If someone wants the exact translations of the German parts, you can write me an PM. I tried to give Frank the necessary information in text, so I hope it's not too confusing. Just couldn't resist...