Rescue

James and Maxym remained hidden under the cloak of invisibility near the cellar entrance.

"We have to get in there," James whispered, lightly shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Maxym reached for his arm. "Then let's be smart about it," she reminded him. James looked at her questioningly, but Maxym didn't take the time to explain her plan. She reached for her wand and waved it lightly.

The pictures on the wall behind them moved, and the two guards immediately turned towards the sound.

"What was that?" one asked. "Is there anyone here?" With their wands drawn, they crept up to the pictures.

"Now!" whispered Maxym, pulling James towards the cellar door. With the guards' backs still turned to them, James opened the door and they both slipped through.

"That was close," James gasped.

"Be quiet," Maxym whispered, looking around cautiously.

He said, "There's no one else here." He then lit the room with Lumos.

"How do you know?" her boyfriend asked her.

"Intuition," he replied with a shrug and headed down the stairs.

Oh, and why are we still under the cloak then? Maxym couldn't stand his arrogant facade.

"Precautionary measures," he said absentmindedly. "Wait, there's something ahead." He pointed into the darkness and quickened his steps. Maxym had trouble keeping up with him.

But a few seconds later, they found themselves standing in front of a cell, separated from the rest of the cellar by thick iron bars.

Before either of them could say or do anything, dark figures approached them. James recognized them immediately and removed the cloaks from both of them.

"Grandfather," he called, moving closer to the iron.

His grandfather, James Potter, raised his hand in warning. «Careful, don't come any closer!»

James paused in the movement; he drew his wand, but Maxym stopped him.

"Why not?" Maxym looked at the wands more closely.

Sirius and Remus came over to their best friend. "The wands are enchanted," they said. "Anyone who touches them will burn from within."

«We'll get you out of there.» Determined, James wanted to break the curse.

"No, James," she said. "Don't do that. We don't know what this curse is or what else it does. You have to get out of here; it's not safe." Lily pleaded. She was the last to join them and looked worriedly at her grandson.

Maxym was about to make an attempt to break the curse when she heard footsteps.

"Hide," James Senior whispered, and his grandson and Maxym disappeared back under the cloak of invisibility.

Not a moment too late, a few seconds later McManus came down the stairs. His upright walk and broad shoulders made him look even more powerful in the small cellar.

James and Maxym huddled against the far wall, breathing shallowly. Their hearts beat fast and wild as they trusted the cloak's protection.

Welcome! Giffor greeted his prisoners.

What's this, McManus? We haven't done anything!

«Now, is that any way to greet your host? We should always remain polite.» Giffor grinned sardonically at them.

»Polite? We were dragged out of Hogwarts and brought here. What was polite about that?« Sirius took a step towards him.

»We expect a fair trial. You owe us that,« Remus demanded.

McManus burst into peals of laughter. A laugh that made Maxym's blood run cold. A laugh that would haunt her in her sleep. A laugh she could never forget.

»Fair? For you? There is no such thing anymore. New times have dawned. We don't obey your rules anymore. Never again. You're all the same. Look at yourselves. Ancient wizarding families, powerful and you took advantage.« Giffor's laughter had died down and he looked hatefully at the marauders. »Never again will there be such as you.«

»Such as us? What do you mean?« Lily, standing behind James, looked at him suspiciously.

»Old wizarding families. You all keep to yourselves and mock mudbloods.« Giffor straightened his tie. An unnecessary gesture, for everything sat impeccably.

»We do not mock them. I'm a mudblood myself,« Remus countered. »What do you want from us?«

»I want nothing. Nothing from you and your families.«

»Then why are we in this cell?« James pointed at the prison bars.

»Just because I want nothing from you doesn't mean it's not part of the plan.« Giffor tried to turn around, but was stopped by Sirius.

»What plan?«

»Plan? My bloody plan, of course. The plan why you're here. The plan why Death Eaters are in Azkaban. The plan that will free us all and revolutionise magic. That plan!« Giffor talked himself into a frenzy, getting louder and louder.

»Revolutionise magic?« James didn't let up. The children still had to be present and they were their only chance. If they could elicit the plan from Giffor, his grandson and Maxym had a chance to report the information to the Ministry and bring down McManus.

»Yes, magic needs to be revolutionised. Everyone sees that and yet no one took action. We, the revolutionaries of magic, we do this. We overthrow everything that clouds magic, weakens it and tramples on its basic idea.« Giffor looked dreamily at the wall behind James.

»How is that going to work. Who weakens magic?« James drilled on.

»You do! The wizard families with pure blood. You destroyed magic. All the purebloods. They're scum, a disgrace to magic.«

»But I'm not a pureblood, I'm a muggle-born witch.« Lily pointed at herself.

»You betrayed us. You turned to a wizarding family.« Giffor pointed at her husband. »We have to save magic.«

»How? How are you going to save magic?«, Sirius urged him. They desperately needed to know his next steps. The more information the children got, the quicker the others could react. Those who were not yet in Azkaban.

»We've arrested or placed all the major families, all the pure-blood wizards and witches under surveillance. Not long now and the Ministry will see that I am the only one who will guide us through this crisis, and I will become Minister of Magic. Then I will arrange for the immediate removal of all wizarding families and pure-blood wizards and witches. Magic can recover and will be resurrected under me.«

James reached under his cloak for his wand, but Maxym pressed him against the wall. He would not survive a fight with McManus in his own manor. They didn't know how many of his followers were here and who would come to his aid. An attack would be James death sentence.

Her friend looked at her angrily. But Maxym shook his head slightly. His hand trembled, but he realised there was nothing he could do. Not now.

The cellar door opened and a bright glow filtered in. »Master, everyone's waiting,« a broken, quiet voice called downstairs.

»Well, as much as I appreciate this exchange, I must leave you. My comrades-in-arms are waiting.« McManus smoothed his shirt, straightened his cuffs and turned on his heel.

»Enjoy your new home!« he called over his shoulder, going up the stairs and closing the door behind him.

James and Maxym pushed themselves off the wall they had been huddled against until now and went back to the marauders. With a flick of his wrist, James took off his cloak.

»You must leave at once!« urged Sirius to the children.

James shook his head. »I'm not leaving you here.«

»Yes you will, boy. Get out of here before you're discovered. We can't break the curse that quickly and if we do, it will attract attention. We have no wands here and cannot protect you. Please get yourselves to safety!« Lily looked pleadingly at her grandson.

»She's right, James. We can't help them. Not now. We need to get help and come back stronger. Please, the others must be waiting.« Maxym also realised that they couldn't do anything. As much as it pained her to leave the marauders behind, they also had Colin, Ashwin and Katelyn to think of.

James Jr. hung his head helplessly and reached into his coat pocket. »At least take this then.« He pulled out a jagged, shiny object and carefully placed it between the bars. As he did so, he was careful not to let his fingers touch the bars.

»The mirror, very good idea,« praised in Sirius, accepting the small part of the mirror.

»Part of a mirror? What are they going to do with it?« Maxym didn't understand what that was about.

»I'll explain later, come on!« James pulled her close and threw the cloak over them both. »We'll be back,« he said to the marauders, who could no longer see them but still hear them.

»Take care.« James Potter looked into the blackness, but knew his grandson was still with them.

Quickly, Maxym and James crept upstairs and carefully opened the door. They were both lucky and the guards were standing slightly off to the side, so they were unhindered, opening the door enough to leave the cellar.

Maxym, who wanted to leave the Manor the same way they came in, was grabbed by the arm by James. With a wave of his hand, he pointed to the ceiling above them. He wanted to go to the first floor. Quickly, Maxym shook her head. They should leave and not push their luck.

But when James put something in his head, he would not let go of it. Maxym conceded defeat and close together they headed for the stairs opposite the cellar door. On silent soles they climbed the steps and stood in the hallway of the first floor.

»Now what?« whispered Maxym. James put his index finger to his lips and pointed to the right.

Maxym glanced over their shoulder and saw a door ajar at the end of the hallway with a thin glow of light coming through. It was worth a try.

James took her hand and hidden under the camouflage cloak, they both ran to the door. The closer they got, the louder the voices that came from the room.

Very slowly, James opened the door a little wider so that Maxym and he could pass through the gaps.

Maxym sucked in the air. They had come in the middle of a meeting. The square room was lit by a few small table lamps. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stood against the walls. Small chests of drawers were placed under the window ledges. In the centre were groups of seats and side tables. On these leather armchairs sat many men unknown to Maxym.

James, however, knew them, for he kept pointing at one of the men and looking at them in shock. Fortunately, one knew who they were dealing with.

The centre of the gathering was Giffor McManus, who had just poured himself a glass of whiskey and turned to face his guests.

»Sit down,« he invited them. Maxym noticed the mood tense, conversations hushed and everyone hurrying to a seat.

»Today we have a great victory to celebrate,« Giffor began, raising his glass. His guests imitated him and some tapped on the side tables near them.

With a small wave of Giffor's hand, the tapping died away.

»Let me recap for all of us. We have successfully completed phases one to four. With the capture of the famous marauders, we now begin phase five. Greg, report back to us. Is the ministry behind us?« Giffor looked piercingly at the man Maxym knew from Ted's trial.

The latter nodded quickly. »We have the majority. A few individuals are still resisting, but we will be able to convince them too.«

Giffor, visibly unhappy with the statement, turned away from Greg Broin. »Phase five is underway and in a few weeks we will have the ministry behind us. Phil, what about the other countries' ministries.«

A man Maxym did not know rose and took the floor. »I may report that the other countries will not intervene, we have been able to negotiate a deal with France and Germany. America has been kept quiet by a payment from our esteemed Tom.«

Giffor nodded to him appreciatively and Phil sat back down, relieved.

Before the meeting could go any further, a house-elf ported himself next to Giffor and whispered something in his ear, after the last word had left his lips he immediately disappeared.

»Gentlemen, that dinner has been served. Please follow me and let us continue at the table.« With that, he placed his glass on one of the tables and walked with long strides towards the door. His companions followed him.

The two Rebels remained alone in the room. Before Maxym could begin to speak, James was already shaking his head and pointing to the large balcony doors facing them.

Before Maxym could think about what he wanted her to do, he pulled her along. Standing on the balcony, she surveyed the garden lying in darkness.

»What are we doing here?« she hissed.

James pointed downwards. »We're getting out of here. If we had to go through the house again, there's a greater risk of being discovered. Come on, there are no guards in sight right now.«

James took the cloak from them and climbed over the railing of the balcony. Maxym just hoped no one would see them and followed her boyfriend. They shimmied off the balcony and landed on the raised terrace. James quickly threw the cloak over them and they both ran to the garden and back to Katelyn.

Arriving panting, James took the cloak away so Katelyn could see them »There you are at last.«

»It took longer than expected. Where are Colin and Ashwin?« James looked around.

The two mentioned came out of a dark corner. »Here. We were waiting for you and secured the area. Did you find them?« Colin looked questioningly at James and Maxym.

Maxym nodded. »Yes.« She raised her hand and stopped Ashwin. »We couldn't free them. A curse held them. They urged us to leave without them.«

»Come, we'll tell you everything else when we're safe again.« James beckoned them closer. Katelyn, Colin and Ashwin went to them, grabbed hands and Ashwin apparated them back to Hogwarts.

That's it. The end of season 2. But the next part is already in progress.