Defeated

April 30, 1945

"Please tell us what qualifies you for this position, Miss Horton."

Rosemary stared back at the interview panel for a moment while her mind suddenly went blank. Healer McHughes sat in the middle and on his left was Zara Cartney, the lead Healer Assistant in the Potion Poisonings Ward. It had taken Rosemary a moment to remember Zara after their introduction, but quickly recognized her as the Gryffindor half-blood that had served as Head Girl during Rose's second year at Hogwarts.

But then there was Roderick Stidolph, the Acting Director of St. Mungo's hospital, whose stoic face was reminiscent of aged leather. He reminded her of Jennings with his indecipherable expression that either equated to aloofness or thinly veiled dislike. It threw her off completely.

"Well, erm…" she grappled with her response. What were her qualifications? Would they actually be any better than those of the others interviewing for this same position?

Damn! Where was her arrogance when she needed it? What had she been thinking? This was her first interview which would arguably be the most important one of her life. Why hadn't she practiced more beforehand? It was far too late now – one question in and she was already well on her way to humiliating herself.

She needed to say something…anything. Her hands were shaking slightly when she finally opened her mouth, hoping what might come out wouldn't be too outlandish: "I have earned top marks in all of my N.E.W.T. coursework required to become a Healer. Furthermore, I was appointed as a Prefect and then Head Girl which allowed me to gain leadersh-"

"Excuse me, Miss Horton," Stidolph interrupted. "Surely you're aware that all of our applicants are exceptionally qualified students with similar achievements as your own."

"Of course, Sir." She felt her face flushing red.

He narrowed his eyes slightly at her. "Then what makes you superior to the others? Only the very best are recruited to work at St. Mungo's, do you understand?"

Rosemary's mouth nearly fell open at his blatant condescension and her temper flared in response. "Actually, I was already recruited to work at St. Mungo's alongside Healer McHughes in the development of the antidote to ECB."

"And we very much appreciate your hard work," Blair chimed in and gave her a warm smile.

"…only a glimpse of what working at Mungo's is actually like…" she heard Stidolph muttering to himself under his breath.

Zara coughed suddenly – or was that a disguised laugh?

The interview continued through several additional questions regarding her interest in potions, her reasons for wanting to become a Healer, and a hypothetical case where she was told to identify the correct potion to administer and talk through her reasoning.

"One more question, Miss Horton," Blair began. "It is important that anyone we hire at St. Mungo's commits to at least five years of service. Would you be willing to sign a contract with those terms?"

"Certainly." The truth of the matter was that she would sign her soul away if it meant this opportunity; but she supposed telling him that would be a bit overkill.

"Excellent. Do either of you have any other questions?"

Zara shook her head. "It was a pleasure to meet you more formally, Rosemary."

"Alright," Blair said quickly and clapped his hands together, as though to protect her from another interrogation from Stidolph. "I should be getting back to –"

But Stidolph interrupted by clearing his throat and suddenly asked, "What exactly do your parents think of all this, Miss Horton? A pureblood lady such as yourself rarely pursues Healing as a profession."

She froze. What now? Should she lie and tell them that her parents approved? No, that wouldn't work – her father knew just about everyone. In fact, he might have found out about her interview already and instructed Stidolph to prevent her from getting hired…

As lying appeared to be far too risky in this situation, Rose took a deep breath and said, "I have yet to tell them."

"And if they disapprove, which is nearly certain given your hesitation to tell them? Where will that put us if we pursue you instead of other candidates? We aren't in the business of wasting time, after all."

"Stidolph," Blair said sharply.

Rosemary was still shocked at his gall, but forced herself to maintain her composure. After all, if she planned to take a diverging path from the one her parents and society had paved for her, she supposed she would need to get used to this sort of thing. "The last thing I want to do is waste your time," she told the three of them, allowing her gaze to linger just a bit longer on Stidolph. "But I want this position and have for just about as long as I can remember. So if my parents disapprove, they will just have to get over it."

Stidolph rolled his eyes, probably believing she was naïve for saying such a thing. Her stomach sank in the realization that anything she could have said wouldn't have been enough to change his opinion that she simply did not belong at St. Mungo's.

"I'll walk you to the tea room where Horace is waiting," Zara offered, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over the room. Right. Rosemary had forgotten that she would be expected to recount every detail of the interview to Slughorn on their trip back to Hogwarts. Given the security measures at Hogwarts, Dippet had only permitted her to attend the interview under the condition that a staff member escort her there.

Rosemary nodded and quietly thanked Stidolph and McHughes for their time before following her out of the meeting room and into the corridor. "Sorry about Roderick. He can be a complete prick; not all the time. Most of it, though. You handled it surprisingly well."

"Oh, it's alright," Rosemary laughed nervously, still a bit shaken from the encounter.

"Don't worry – Blair likes you, and in the end his opinion is the one that matters. And personally, I'd much rather be working with a fellow Hogwarts alum." Zara winked at her, then laughed. "I suppose I should reserve my biases until we're through interviewing. Anyhow, you should receive a letter from Belinda, the secretary for our Ward, within the next week or so to let you know whether or not you received the position and, if you did, what some next steps will be."

Rosemary's stomach twisted uncomfortably. It seemed so anticlimactic that the answer to an opportunity she had waited the better part of her life for would be revealed through a measly letter.

Tom lingered behind his classmates as they filed out of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Missing among them, of course, was Rosemary, who had missed classes that day to visit St. Mungo's. His heart pounded excitedly every time he remembered, knowing she would soon be back with news that she had secured the career she had dreamt of for so long. And under the minute possibility that someone else received the position that was rightfully hers? Well, he would take care of that personally.

But celebrating or otherwise, it would have to wait. That night, everything he and Raoul had planned over the weekend would be put into action and if it all went ideally, it might mean the end of Grindelwald's reign.

"Is there something I can help you with, Mr. Riddle? Do you perhaps require more clarity on the topic of defending oneself against curses that afflict the victim subconsciously?"

"No, Sir," Tom let out a short, arrogant laugh. As usual, they had learned nothing with Dumbledore's teaching that Tom couldn't teach to himself (or already had). "Actually, I was just thinking to myself how interesting it is…" Despite the minor inner voice that was ardently trying to tell him to stop, he simply couldn't resist: "…how interesting, that everyone has been saying that you're the only one that can stop him…"

"Are you referring to Gellert Grindelwald?" The professor asked him with his typical look of slight amusement.

"Yes. I suppose I have been curious about what it is that you have actually been doing to stop him? After all, the Ministry has put an exorbitant amount of faith in your grand abilities." Tom narrowed his eyes and bitingly added in afterthought, "Sir?"

Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, revealing nothing in his calm expression. "I can certainly understand your fears, Mr. Riddle. It is a rather troubling time for many. But you can always be assured that the good will triumph over one man's desperate grasp for power."

"I'm sure," said Tom with a smirk while turning to leave. "Good day, Professor Dumbledore."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled for a moment. "Good day, Mr. Riddle."

Thanks to Slughorn's incessant attempts at reassuring her that she had indeed gotten the Healer-in-Training position and had nothing to worry about, Rosemary arrived late to the Room of Requirement, where Tom insisted that they all meet in order to maintain the exceptionally confidential nature of that evening's activities. She was so late, in fact, that Tom was already addressing the others: "Grindelwald's followers have probably noticed the missing portkey by now – we will have to be vigilant upon arrival."

Rosemary took great care to be as quiet as possible as she entered, but everyone turned to see who had dared to come in late anyway. The glares fell from many of their faces when they saw that it was her (after all, who would dare to question Tom's girl?) and she glanced up at Tom, who gestured to the empty seat next to Dolohov in the front of the room with a small, satisfied smirk upon his handsome features.

When she was seated, Tom continued in his authoritative tone, "As discussed, we will rendezvous with our allies and depart with the portkey in three groups."

Our allies. She was still rather astounded that Raoul and his men were on board will all of this. Then again, it was he who had gotten Tom involved in the first place, she supposed.

"Please refer to Malfoy if you do not recall which group you are in."

Tom, of course, would be in the first group, along with the best duelists of the Knights and Raoul's group. They would make sure the area was clear before Lestrange made a trip back with the portkey to fetch the second group and then the third. Rosemary would be on the second trip, likely due to her lack of dueling prowess, though she wasn't offended. More than anything, she was just excited to go.

But first, they had to get out of Hogwarts. In the end, Tom decided that the thirty-some of them would go in pairs and small groups through the Vanishing Cabinet that led to Borgin and Burke's, a plan which Mr. Burke (in his hatred of Grindelwald and admiration of Tom) had graciously agreed to.

"You are to conjure a mask and maintain it the entire time we are outside of the school. If you allow your identity to be known by anyone we encounter, you will put yourself, your families, and– most importantly– the rest of us in danger. One last reminder: my word is the only one that matters. You do not answer to the Allies' leader. Is all of this understood?"

Voiced affirmation rippled across the room in unison. "Excellent. Then let's get started."

Silence gave way to quiet, excited murmuring as the first few Knights left for the Vanishing Cabinet, led by Dolohov. Rosemary had expected Tom to leave with them, but he strode over to her and bent his neck to give her a kiss on the cheek instead.

"Well?" Tom asked her in a lowered voice, gazing at her in expectant excitement. "How did it go?"

"We'll discuss it later." Honestly, she hadn't expected him to bring up her interview in the midst of everything that was about to happen. And she rather wished he hadn't: the last thing she wanted at the moment was to be reminded of the knots in her stomach which had yet to relax after her interview that morning. She was already nervous enough to be visiting the hideout of the most infamous wizards in recent history; she couldn't even imagine what Tom felt like beneath his cool exterior. Then again, did he ever really get nervous? "Are you ready?"

"Of course." He gave her an assured smile and another kiss, this time on her lips. "I'll see you there."

Tom left with Rosier shortly after and for the next fifteen minutes, Rosemary watched three more pairs and groups of the Knights leave at their appointed time before it was her turn to leave with Carina Bulstrode, Edna Flint, and Jocelyn Zabini.

If there was one failure in Tom's plan, it was this: there was no plausible explanation for Rosemary to be seen anywhere near Bulstrode, Flint, and Zabini, who had been close friends with Olive for years. They loathed her.

"So Rosemary," began Carina as they exited the Room of Requirement. "I've heard rumor after rumor about your revenge on Olive. And I must say – I'm impressed. Using Myrtle to get to her was a nice touch."

Perhaps they…didn't loathe her…?

Edna nodded and chimed in. "I always thought that you were all brains without the motivation to put them to good use – I suppose I was entirely wrong."

For a moment, Rosemary suspected that they were trying to trick her into thinking they suddenly liked her. But then she realized that what she did to Olive may have actually garnered her some considerable respect from them, just like it had with Tom's friends. It was rather remarkable (albeit a bit sad) that they were so drawn to power that they were even willing to side against those in their own house to be closer to someone who had more. Then again, that did seem like a very Slytherin thing to do. And they were siding against Olive, after all, so she certainly wasn't about to complain.

"My parents will be away once we finish Hogwarts and I was planning a little soiree. You'll come, won't you?" Edna Flint asked her.

"Perhaps," Rosemary gave her a noncommittal shrug, admittedly relishing her newfound popularity, even if her new admirers were not to be trusted. She was truly beginning to understand why Tom was so keen on maintaining his power. "The Continental Wizarding Dueling Tournament begins soon after the end of the term and I will be attending it with Tom, of course."

"What a dream," Jocelyn mused. "I couldn't be more jealous."

Carina snorted, shooting Rosemary a look of mixed envy and admiration. "The entire school couldn't be more bloody jealous."

They reached the Vanishing Cabinet shortly after and, after making sure they weren't being followed or watched, each of them conjured their temporary masks. After a moment of consideration, Rosemary chose a masquerade-esque version that covered half her face.

Soon they were in Knockturn Alley with the others and it was then, while waiting for Lestrange to return to bring them to Grindelwald's outpost, that the feeling of panic truly began to set in. Were they truly prepared enough, even with Raoul's people (some of whom were previous Tournament contestants) to back them? What if a horde of Grindelwald's men were there just waiting for Tom and the others to appear? Could they fight their way out of it? Rosemary tapped her foot against the ground impatiently while contemplating how angry Tom would be if he knew all of the questions flying through her mind.

"It's Walpurgisnaught. You know – the Walpurgis Night. I reckon that means some sort of good luck for us, don't you?" Malfoy commented as they admired their work and waited for the second group to arrive.

Tom smirked behind his mask. He wasn't one to fancy luck, but it was a delightful coincidence.

Around them lay ten of Grindelwald's men – some stunned unconscious, some dead. Indeed, they had noticed the missing portkey and had increased security accordingly. Though apparently not quite enough.

His smirk deepened as the second group arrived with Rosemary among them. She wobbled as the effects of the portkey wore off and he caught her by the wrist as she began glancing around – presumably for him.

Tom could see her eyes widen in surprise behind her mask and she asked him, "How did you know it was me?"

He reached out and lightly tugged the strand of dark red hair that had escaped from the hood of her cloak.

"Ah." She let out a nervous laugh and tucked it back into her braid

Once the third group arrived, they divided into two forces: one that would move west around and up the cliff and one that would travel east. From his scouting that week, he knew that both routes had considerable forest cover and would allow them to get quite close to the tower without being seen. Tom took the east with Rosemary and most of the Knights while Raoul took the others west.

As they entered the woods, the thick canopy overhead blocked out the majority of the moonlight and they lit the tips of their wands to compensate. His nerves were buzzing with excitement and his senses seemed to be working at their full capacity. This was it – the evening he had spent so long planning for. And while he and Tom hadn't been terribly optimistic during their planning that an encounter with Grindelwald would actually occur, Tom felt it now. His instincts told him that this was the night that Grindelwald would be defeated.

But of course, where was the fun without a few obstacles first? he thought dryly as a multitude of cloaked figures suddenly stepped out from the trees, surrounding the group.

"You must be the idiotic bastards that decided to steal our portkey," the leader greeted them.

"Excellent powers of deduction," Tom smirked, generally unconcerned by the encounter. The Knights outnumbered their men two to one. "Because you appear to be so clever, why don't you inform me what is going to happen next?"

"I'll tell you what happens next," the leader growled while raising his wand. "You and your friends will be coming with us - without a fight if you'd like to live."

Tom tsked once and sighed. "Wrong. What a shame. This is what happens next."

For a fraction of a second, the forest was silent, except for the uneven, startled breathing of the other Knights around him. They were scared, but ready for this nonetheless; he had gone to great lengths to prepare them, after all.

Then the brief silence passed and everything lit up in a blaze of colors: purple, red, yellow, blue, green, pink.

Tom dueled the leader who proved to have considerable abilities, though they failed to come even close to matching his own. No surprise there, really. Afterward, he cursed another of Grindelwald's men that Rosier seemed to be struggling with and spun around to find Rosemary. He spotted her about fifty feet away, handling her duel with a man twice her size quite nicely. For a moment, he couldn't seem to decide whether to stay back and admire her or step in and play the hero.

But just when he decided against interfering, she tripped over a thick root and toppled to the ground, misfiring a jinx that missed her opponent and ricocheted against the nearby trees. Tom immediately sprang into action, throwing several curses over the course of just a few seconds.

Unfortunately, in his urge to defend her he failed to notice before it was too late that someone was also firing curses at him. Tom swore as a Splintering Curse struck the back of his lower leg, effectively breaking the bone. He steadied himself against a tree, his teeth gritted in pain, and turned to meet his assailant now that he had bought Rosemary sufficient time to recover.

It took an embarrassing amount of effort (at least in Tom's mind) to defeat the attacker, though this wasn't entirely surprising given his new limitation in mobility. But when he was finally successful by administering the Killing Curse– chosen partly for his impatience in finishing the duel as well as hurt pride over his injury– he glanced around to see the Knights making good progress with the others. Even so, their success came with a few casualties and several of his followers laid unconscious or otherwise injured on the forest floor.

He braced himself against the tree in preparation to help the others finish off the remainder of Grindelwald's men when Rosemary suddenly appeared at his side. "Sit down," she told him hurriedly, eyeing his leg in concern. "I'll fix it before helping the others. Thank you, by the way." She smiled. Then she leaned close to him and effortlessly mended his injury with a complex series of incantations he only half-recalled.

Tom looked up at her in admiration, his mind flooding with the urge to say that same, simple phrase that he had sworn to himself he would keep to himself until he was certain that things between them were stable. But here they were, in the midst of a scene that even a year ago he couldn't have imagined…

Fuck it.

"I love you," he exhaled, almost in a sigh of relief as he finally satisfied the compulsion that had haunted him for days.

Her smile widened slightly. "I love you too."

Their tender moment was short-lived as Rosemary, with Tom closely behind, soon dashed off to help the others. And soon, the Knights were victorious. Tom did a quick calculation in his head and realized they had taken out nearly twenty of Grindelwald's men since arriving via the portkey - not counting whoever Raoul and the others had run into.

"The edge of the forest is just there, over that hill," Dolohov gestured ahead while they assembled back into their formation and continued toward the prison. "I saw it while chasing down one of the others that tried to run."

"Excellent." He felt a devious grin spread across his face, but it quickly vanished when he realized that anyone in the tower surely could have seen the light of their recent duel from this close. Had they completely lost their advantage of surprise?

But fortunately, when they reached the edge of the forest, nobody was there waiting for them. Nor was there any indication that their presence was known.

Tom's eyes traveled up the tower and squinted at one of the top-most cells of the prison, where a figure stood at the bars of their cell with a smoldering cigarette in hand. Tom snapped his fingers and Dolohov obediently handed over his pair of ominoculars. Tom brought them to his eyes, adjusting the dials on the side, until suddenly he recognized Carl Jennings staring right back at him in his typical, steely gaze...

Well that certainly explained why training for the Tournament had been cancelled for a few weeks. It also told him the real meaning behind what Raoul had told him a two nights prior: "Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"It's Jennings," he told Rosemary under his breath.

Her eyes widened in surprise and he handed her the ominoculars to prove what he had seen. "Does this mean he knows about Raoul and MAGI?" she whispered back.

"Apparently."

"Riddle," Dolohov hissed sharply. "Look!"

He followed Dolohov's gaze to the top of the prison, where a man with shoulder-length dark blonde hair was pacing about and either muttering angrily to himself or arguing with someone else. He shook his head and came to stand the edge of the tower, a distressed look upon the boyish face that Tom recognized immediately as Gellert Grindelwald's.

Could he hit him with the Killing Curse from here? Probably not. He needed to get closer.

Grindelwald turned away from them once more and Tom was about to give the others a signal to make a run for it across the lawn that led to the tower entrance when a great bolt of lightning suddenly lit up the sky, striking right on top of the tower.

But it wasn't lightning, he soon realized – it was the effect of two powerful wands clashing. The duel was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before: incredible power combined with raw, ancient magic. The wind picked up considerably and high above them all, clouds began to spin into the shape of a vortex with its center directly above the tower. Tom was so transfixed by the sight of the duel that his disappointment in the fact that someone had reached Grindelwald before him did not seem to phase him.

From their viewpoint on the ground, they could only see Grindelwald's side of the duel. But the sparks marking where the two spells had crossed paths seemed to be getting closer and closer to him, which meant things were looking quite badly for the wizard so many had claimed to be the darkest of their time.

And then, just as abruptly as it had begun, it was over. Grindelwald fell to his knees, defeated, and the victor strode to the edge of the tower to stand above him. As the sight of the incredible duelist registered, Tom's senses snapped back to him and he felt every cell of his body fill with rage and disbelief.

Dumbledore.

"Celebratory drink?" Raoul popped a bottle of champagne and handed Rosemary a flute, while Tom sat motionless, staring out the front window.

Raoul followed her gaze, strode over to Tom, and offered him a glass as well. When he made no gesture to take it, Raoul set it near him on an end table and clapped him on the shoulder. "Cheer up, lad. The important thing is that Grindelwald is defeated, after all."

Tom said nothing; nor was there any indication that he had even heard Raoul, who turned and exchanged a concerned look with Rosemary before attempting once more to evoke a reaction. "Perhaps Dumbledore –"

"Do not say that fucking name to me again," Tom glowered at him, suddenly on his feet.

Raoul snorted a laugh. "Sorry mate, but you'll have to get used to hearing it. He's going to be celebrated for this, you know."

He glared at Beaumont with such rage that the expensive-looking china cabinet behind him promptly burst into flames.

"Tom," Rosemary said sharply, rather terrified by this side of him. She had seen his temper before, but it he had never been anything like this.

"You'll go mad trying to piece it all together," Raoul sighed, extinguishing the fire with a flick of his wand. "Either we were wrong and he was with the Ministry all along or there is something larger to the picture. We should remain skeptical, but it's over, Tom. At least for now. Enjoy it! Surely this means the Tournament is back on. Not to mention the fact that anything MAGI was gaining from this is effectively terminated."

"I could care less about the fucking Tournament! Or MAGI, for that matter!" Tom roared, before he seemed to regain his composure and the tone of his voice fell to a chilling calmness. "Dumbledore has gained something from all this and I plan to find out precisely what that is. You may choose whether or not you plan to help; but if not, I strongly advise that you stay out of my way."

With that, Tom promptly left without so much as a glance in Rosemary's direction. She gave Raoul an apologetic look while she slipped on her cloak. "He'll get over it," she told him.

He gave her a short laugh in return. "Oh, I highly doubt that."

By the time she let herself out of Raoul's front door and into the heavy rain that had begun upon their return from the prison, Tom was already halfway down the street, carried by his long, angry strides in the direction opposite that which led back to Diagon Alley.

"Wait!" she called, running briskly after him.

He ignored her and kept walking, but soon she caught up. "Tom..." Rosemary began gently as she jogged to keep pace with him. "Maybe Raoul was right…maybe you need to take a break from all this and come back to it with a fresh mind."

"If you truly believe that, then clearly you don't have the first fucking clue of what you're talking about."

"Now you're just being unkind." She reached out to grab his arm. "Tom – stop."

He did, but the tone of his voice chilled her to her core. "Leave, Rosemary. Now."

"No." Rosemary looked up at him in concern "Where are you going, anyway? Diagon Alley is that way," she gestured in the opposite direction.

"I'm going away," he said simply.

"What does that mean?"

He simply stared at her through his empty, near-black eyes and an awful feeling filled her stomach. Was he actually planning to leave Hogwarts over all of this?

"I'm worried about you, Tom," she told him while fighting the urge to cry, feeling utterly helpless in regard to how she should go about attempting to calm him. "You've been wrapped up in everything for weeks. You should take some time to rest and then come up with a plan for investigating Dumbledore. I'll help you – we'll do it together, Tom."

"I have no need for you to worry about me," he sneered angrily. "Nor do I need your help."

Her eyes burned with tears as her concern for him began to erode into anger. How dare he speak to her like that after everything? "Fine," she told him coldly while turning away from him so he wouldn't witness her crying. "Then I hope you do go away, you prick."

"A man's ego is just as fragile as a woman's heart." – Elizabeth Grant

So Grindelwald is finally defeated! I told ya big things were happening this chapter.(;

Thanks so much to RosiePosie15, slacker4life, alexc123, TigerInTheMoonlight, x2leoj, Lady Ravanna, gr8rockstarrox, Oksanallex, and a guest user for your reviews! Much appreciated!