6. Gellert Grindelwald
Perhaps it's the chilliness or the adrenaline from the sheer fact that Grindelwald's very home base was evident in the distance. Theseus had successfully convinced the higher-ups of this mission, thanks to him displaying the memory of his and Queenie's talk (although he made sure he altered it enough to hide Queenie's identity). Despite Travers' reluctance, other Ministry workers had faith in him. Theseus would hate to think it's his reputation that bought him this - abusing his name never sat right - but regardless, he knew he needed to get Grindelwald once and for all.
They had been given Portkeys, which located them just south of the mountain where Nurmengard lay. As the Aurors tread up north, he heard a few murmurs behind them. "Is that real?" "Surely, a secret base made by Grindelwald wouldn't be so visible to anyone who passed?" "Is Scamander really sure about this location?" Theseus clenched his teeth tightly but stayed silent. It hurt a little to know the Aurors he was leading had little confidence considering he had hand-picked some of them to join. But he couldn't lose hope now, with the castle just a couple hundred metres uphill.
Theseus abruptly stops a hundred metres or so before the gate. "Now," he starts, in a hushed voice, "I'm going to need everyone to split up in two in the groups we were assigned previously. Moody, lead your group around to the back; if my sources are correct, there should be a smaller back entrance. My group will try to go through the front." Amarantos Moody, an Auror with whom Theseus would trust his entire life, nods firmly and quietly leads his group of six Aurors around the back. He takes one look back at Theseus, and Theseus hears his voice in his head. "You know what to do if anything goes…." Theseus doesn't reply, and Amarantos can only turn and follow his Aurors around Nurmengard.
The entrance was unguarded, a red flag that caused Theseus to be even more cautious. He led the Aurors around the bottom floors, which were nearly mute beside the sound of their own footsteps softly echoing off the stone walls. Everyone had their wands up, and their attention was on full alert to all their surroundings.
It wasn't until they reached the third floor, where they were reunited with the second group did they start to hear other noises. Soft muttering came from the room furthered down the dark hall. As the entire group cautiously walks closer, Theseus freezes. The distinct accent could be heard from here, and he was sure, at the very least, Amarantos would have known. He gives him a hardened look and non-verbally casts legilimens. "You stay here with the rest, I'll go in and then I'll signal you all in through the enchanted pocket watch I gave you," Theseus mentally communicates. He eyes Moody's right pocket, and he hears a yes in response in his head. Theseus gives everyone a look and asks through hand motions whether everyone has their pocket watches too. Everyone nodded, and Theseus peeked around the corner into the room, then made his way in.
"Ah, is it the older Scamander? The War Hero, I heard." Grindelwald's at the very end of the room as Theseus raises his wand, but the door creaks behind him, closing his Aurors outside. "I've been…expecting you, let's say." Theseus' heart races, but the grip on his wand stays firm, and his mouth stays shut. He knows silence is better than speaking too much in these situations - especially when your life is in the hands of the top wizard killer known to wizardkind.
It's clear that Grindelwald wasn't even a bit threatened by the British's presence. He spoke in an almost rewarding tone in his voice as if Theseus' presence alone was something he was amusingly proud of. "It takes a true man - a true wizard - to go against the world, you know, Mr Scamander?" Theseus cocks his head to the side, making Grindelwald huff in amusement.
"You're part of Albus' crew of his, aren't you?" When he gets no response, he answers himself. "It was your Aurors in Paris, backed up by those foolhardy Ministries. And you in Bhutan too. Of course, with your brother and those monsters of his, am I right?" Silence. Theseus could feel his mind running around in circles, events he thought he had erased now buried deep down now resurfacing. Leta in Paris, Jacob in Bhutan-
"Yet you're standing here, in my very home, alone."
Alone, alone, alone. Those words ring louder in Theseus' head-
"You're quite the admirable man, aren't you? There's no Albus that told you to be here - in fact, there's no Albus around. The very man you should be working with, the one who everyone says is the answer. Shouldn't everyone seek the safety they say he has-" then Grindelwald chuckles to himself. "Oh right, Albus has pledge to many he'll take me down, yet where is he?" He pauses. "Hogwarts," he says in a voice that mocks Theseus right to the core, "somewhere where he feels safe and sound. Running away from the one real thing he vowed to seek and take down."
"But you're here because, frankly, although foolish, you're not Albus. You're much, much braver than him. A Ministry man, yet you're going against the very foundation that taught you. Surely, Albus had taught you some Defence?" Only for a few years, Theseus thinks but keeps his mouth shut. "And your brother, he's been around since the New York days," he hums as if reminiscing the past years. "You've been sticking around to him more. The Head Auror and the Magizoologist. Isn't that quite the pair? It's all you have left, yet you're here because what's left in your hands doesn't change the way you perceive the world around you. Stubborn but brave."
But the following words strike a cord in Theseus that only wash over him with something between guilt and confrontation. "Of course, everything has been for the Lestrange, hasn't it?" Theseus doesn't say anything, but this time, it's because he's afraid of what he will say rather than what he should.
Yet he can't help it: "You're captured, Grindelwald-" A spell is blasted from Grindelwald's wand, but Theseus quickly throws a silent protego at it. A familiar red spell is shot and misses by mere centimetres as Theseus quickly shuffles out of the way. The Auror mutters flipendo as he casts it, hoping to act as a distraction for a more potent spell, but the dark wizard blocks it with ease. Grindelwald remained unfazed, however, as he hit another similar spell. The Auror nearly managed to cast a matching shield, but his wand flew out of his hand before he could react. He mentally swore as Grindelwald began to approach him. He felt his hands forced behind his back, and his breathing became audible as the pants bounced off the cold walls.
"Brave, but foolish. All you Aurors are," Grindelwald says with a hint of mockery tinting his voice. Destress begins to sink in slightly, but deep down, there's relief. The words, at least it's not anyone else, runs in circles in his head, washing over every other emotion that dares to rise up. Now, Theseus, wandless, knew his voice was the only asset left. There isn't much use anymore, he knows, because a head Auror from the land Grindelwald wants to conquer is too good of a chance to kill.
"Your plans won't work, Grindelwald. It'll be over sooner than you think," Theseus weakly taunts, his breathing still heavy and overpowering his words. The said man only cocks his head to the side in amusement, "You've never been the smartest with your words, have you? The world is in my palm, Scamander." "A man who fears death has nothing to gain from the living," Theseus rebuts, and he notices how his words catch Grindelwald by surprise, though the Auror watches how Grindelwald quickly hides it. "I see Albus has said too much as always…." "And look at you - still speaking of Professor as if he's your ally - are you struggling to let go, Grindelwald? The blood pact has been broken for nearly a decade; the one thing that connected you and Dumbledore. Do you fear losing the man you're supposed to dispose of?"
But when Grindelwald raises his wand at his head, Theseus knows his time is up. He watches the tip of the wand and hears the words he's been waiting for all this time to come. Green flashes in front of his eyes, and it's the last thing he sees.
What both men were unaware of was the fact that Amarantos Moody had managed to push the door ever-so-slightly, only enough to have a more precise hearing of the voices inside. He listened but never acted, despite what his heart told him. Everything in his head screamed at him to do something, but he couldn't betray Theseus' trust like that. The minutes dragged longer and longer, with every passing minute only making Theseus' inescapable doom come to a bigger, recurring image in his head. Moody hadn't noticed the vibration of his pocket watch until another Auror (Longbottom? He's never been fond of remembering the names of all the Aurors) gently nudged him with his watch in his hand. Everyone's eyes were on him, asking for a command to act.
From the way Grindelwald was talking, Theseus seemed apprehended, yet no command was given to go in; instead, the beat of the vibrating pocket watches was warning all the Aurors to abort the mission. Moody shook his head and signalled the Aurors to continue to stay down. A nagging voice told him that there was still something that could be done, yet he stayed still. It wasn't until a flash of green shone through the crack did Moody realise the fate they could be put through. He rapidly opens his pocket watch, with everyone following his example as they become sucked into it. A portkey back home.