Harry Potter belongs to JKR
Chapter 60
Bellatrix watched as the conversation unfolded in the makeshift larder. Concern for Hermione cut through the fog shrouding her thoughts, and she blinked as the world came back into focus.
"Grindelwald is alive?" she thought, "The Aevum is his?"
Hermione wanted to get answers. So did Bella.
She pulled the wand from the strap on her thigh and stood up, and everyone turned to look at her, but they were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Harry asked as he cancelled the privacy charm.
"It's me," Ron's voice came through the door.
Harry walked over and threw it open to reveal a slightly out-of-breath Ron Weasley. He shook his head.
"He got away, ran out past the front gates and apparated," he said, "or maybe it was one of those emergency portkeys. He might not make it, to be honest. There's a trail of blood all the way across the manor."
As the two Aurors and Ginny continued talking, Bella extended her hand down to Hermione, pulled her to her feet, then kept hold of her hand. The muggleborn wore an expression of concentration, two small lines separating her eyebrows.
"Are you okay?" Bellatrix asked.
Hermione nodded.
"It's like there's an argument going on in my head. Whatever it is, it's not nearly as powerful as an Imperius curse," she replied, "It's insistent, but now that I know it's there, I can fight it if I concentrate on what I'm doing. Are you okay? You were… dazed, or something."
Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"It's this bloody cold," she replied, "seems to be a bit better now though."
Harry's voice interrupted their conversation.
"Something big has happened, we'll explain on the way," he said to Ron, then he stopped and turned to Hermione, "err, where are we going?"
"Expecto patronum," Hermione replied, and her otter's light filled the room and lifted Bella's spirit with joy. She couldn't help but smile, as she always did when in its presence.
"Find Professor McGonagall, tell her we need to speak to Dumbledore's portrait. It's an emergency," she said.
The otter shrank into a point of light and shot off through the ceiling.
"Can't you just tell me while-" Ron said.
"No! Shut it," Ginny said.
"Hopefully she's there and-" Hermione said, but she was interrupted by a streak of white light dropping into the room and resolving into an ethereal tabby cat.
"You may use the floo to the Headmistress' Office, Hogwarts," McGonagall's voice said, "I will allow you through the wards."
Harry put his hand on the door, then turned around.
"Nobody can know anything, not until we have a plan," he said, "nobody except us, and McGonagall."
Bellatrix nodded along with the other two witches.
"Someone want to fill me in at least a little?" Ron asked.
"Sorry Ron, it'll take too long. You'll have to wait until we get there," Harry replied, then he opened the door, and they filed out after him.
Bellatrix paused, and picked up an apple on her way out. The hall, previously nearly deserted, now hosted a half-dozen Aurors. Potter waved to them as they passed through, and he paused to speak with the blonde woman in the white dress, who Bellatrix surmised must be Rebecca Fawley, Head of the DMLE. There was no sign of Draco or Cissy.
"Probably in the ballroom, seeing to the guests," she thought.
"We're good, let's go," Harry said, then he stopped and glanced around, "err…"
Bellatrix rolled her eyes and tugged Hermione after her as she led them to the nearest floo fireplace. Thirty seconds later, she appeared in a burst of green fire into McGonagall's office. The Headmistress still wore her day robe; apparently, she'd been working into the night.
"Now that everyone is here, could one of you please tell me what's happened," McGonagall asked.
Harry took a deep breath.
"Okay… this is going to sound absolutely insane, but I have to ask that you trust us. The situation is very serious, and we'll fill you in fully before the end of the night," Harry said. He turned to Albus Dumbledore's portrait, "sir, could we ask a few questions?"
The elderly wizard smiled down at them through his half-moon spectacles, a twinkle in his eye.
"Of course, Harry my boy," he replied.
Harry nodded to Hermione.
"Sir… have you ever heard of something called the Aevum?" she asked.
The kindly smile faded from Dumbledore's face and he regarded her seriously.
"Where did you hear that term?" he asked.
Hermione closed her eyes and muttered under her breath.
"Please sir, we need to know about the Aevum. Where does it come from, and what is its purpose?" she asked.
Dumbledore stared at Hermione intently, then glanced to McGonagall, who nodded to him. He turned back to Hermione and took a deep breath.
"The Aevum of Eternity is a theoretical name coined for the river of time between the Veil, and the hereafter," Dumbledore replied.
Hermione caught her glance, then turned to Harry.
"Is it not a metal frame of some kind?" Hermione asked.
"Made out of cold iron, with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows at the top," Harry added as he motioned with his hands.
"Ahh, so he did create one. I wondered," Dumbledore said quietly.
"Sir?" Harry asked.
"What you found is also likely called the Aevum, yes," Dumbledore replied, "my old friend turned Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald, and I once theorised it might be possible to create. It was his early research on the topic which saw him expelled from Durmstrang. I'm curious to know where you found it."
Ron's eyes widened and he covered his mouth with one hand, to stop from asking questions.
"I fell out of it a year and a half ago, in the Black sub-vault," Bellatrix replied, "my mother's aunt brought it from Europe."
Dumbledore studied her through his half-moon spectacles.
"Miss Black, I presume you would have died around the time you awoke next to it. Your mother's aunt… was it Vinda Rosier, perhaps?" Dumbledore asked.
"I… don't know, it could have been," Bellatrix replied.
The Golden Trio exchanged confused glances.
"Vinda Rosier was one of Gellert's closest and most loyal followers," Dumbledore said, "her brother was Druella Black's father."
Harry looked like he was having a headache, and Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"Some head of house you are. You could at least put in a minimal effort," Bellatrix whispered, "have you even looked at the tapestry?"
"It's been in storage," Harry whispered back.
"It is possible she absconded with one at the end of the war and hid it in her niece's family vault," Dumbledore continued.
"Shut up!" Hermione said and she turned back to the portrait.
"One? You mean there could be more?" Hermione asked as she pressed her fingers into her temples, "What is the Aevum, what does it do?"
Bella turned away from Harry as her heart thumped heavily in anticipation. Here was the secret, the knowledge of how she'd survived the Battle of Hogwarts.
"It was a theory meant to develop a method of achieving a form of immortality," Dumbledore replied, "though, as we delved further into it, we determined the cost would be far too high."
"Goodness Albus, exactly how many secrets did you take with you?" McGonagall asked.
Dumbledore smiled knowingly at the Golden Trio; Ron's eyes now bulged like they wanted to pop out of his head, and clapped a second hands over his mouth.
"Would any of you ever divulge the secrets you learned in the process of defeating Tom Riddle?" he asked.
Hermione shook her head.
"If it were necessary to avert another calamity. Can you tell us how the Aevum would work, in theory?" Hermione asked.
"Clever, she's trying to head off his argument," Bellatrix thought.
"I do not think that would be wise," Dumbledore replied with a twinkle in his eye, "even theoretically."
"But… we've obviously found one," Hermione said, "and you said yourself there may be more…"
Dumbledore shook his head.
"My dear, that is unlikely," he said, "I believe it is only through possession of a particular wand that the creation of one would be possible. Has it been kept safe?"
He turned to Harry, who nodded silently.
Hermione made eye contact with her, then turned back to the portrait with narrowed eyes.
"Tell us, please," she said, "we wouldn't ask unless it were critical."
Dumbledore stared at her for at least ten seconds, then spoke slowly.
"It was research into the nature of the Veil, and soul magic," Dumbledore said.
"The Veil, like the one beneath the Ministry?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore nodded.
"Stop interrupting!" Hermione said.
Dumbledore smiled patiently and continued.
"The theory was that it might be possible to manipulate or otherwise influence the flow of the Aevum of Eternity to allow a soul which had been violently parted from its body to be bound to a new one, or perhaps reconstruct a soul from a particular time," he said, "one would prime the artifact, engage in a ritual with it, then if one died by violence or otherwise had their life unnaturally cut short, the Aevum would activate, bringing the deceased individual back to life in a new body. Gellert was concerned his life might end before he completed his 'work'. I suspected in his later years, he might have grown so paranoid that he may have created one as a backup plan. It is for this reason, after our final duel, I ensured he remained alive, and that is why Gellert Grindelwald will safely die of old age in the topmost room of Nurmengard castle."
Dumbledore smiled, but Harry, Hermione, and Ron all exchanged glances.
"You died before he did sir," Harry said as his hand went to his scar, "Voldemort killed Grindelwald in his cell. I saw it. Now that I think about it, he goaded Voldemort into killing him. He was taunting him."
"Oh," Dumbledore said seriously, "oh dear."
Hermione trembled with restrained fury.
"'Oh dear', that's all you have to say when Grindelwald's probably come back to life and got himself elected Minister for Magic?" Hermione asked, "why didn't you tell anyone that this was possible?"
"It would not have been wise," Dumbledore replied, "first, one of his followers, like Vinda, may have taken it upon themselves to do the deed, thus restoring their leader to youth and power. Second, others may have attempted to follow his research, and the cost would have been staggering."
"What cost, Albus," McGonagall said, her countenance as severe as Bella had ever seen it, "how does one go about creating the Aevum artifact?"
"Free soul magic is exceedingly rare. A small amount is released upon the murder of an individual," Dumbledore said, "this soul magic can be used to fuel certain rituals, one of which is already known to you three. But the amount of soul magic required to breach the Veil, divert the flow of the Aevum of Eternity, recreate a body and possibly a soul and bind them together is staggeringly large. We theorised it would require the murder of tens of thousands, with the magic released all captured in a cold iron ritual circle, and funnelled into the artifact before it grew unstable. It was upon this realisation that we ceased our research."
"You mean tens of thousands of people would need to be deliberately murdered in the same place, in a short period of time?" Hermione asked.
Dumbledore nodded.
"Sort of like the death camps," Hermione muttered.
"Death camps?" Harry asked.
Hermione started explaining to Harry, Ron, and Ginny about some muggle war in the forties, and Bellatrix took the opportunity to stand in front of the portrait.
"The Aevum, does it divert the soul of someone who died, or recreate it?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, I do not know how Gellert completed his work. He and I parted ways shortly after we stopped our research, and we did not speak of it again," Dumbledore replied.
Bellatrix glanced over her shoulder at the Golden Trio engrossed in conversation, and stepped closer to the portrait.
"But then… what am I?" she whispered.
Dumbledore smiled kindly.
"My dear, that is a question that has plagued us since we learned to speak," he replied, "do let me know if you come to a satisfactory answer."
Bellatrix stared at the wizened old man, the only wizard the Dark Lord feared.
"We can't murder the Minister for Magic on a hunch," Harry said, cutting through her rumination, "the fact he survived the last Avada aside, I'm pretty sure if that were an option, someone would have done it in the forties. Plus what if we're wrong?"
"We're not wrong," Hermione said, her lower lip protruding in a very cute manner.
"Here's a thought, why don't we try talking to him?" Ron asked, "I mean, he could have killed me last Halloween, you too, but he went out of his way to keep us both alive. Don't you think we should find out why?"
"He needs you for something," Ginny said as she looked at Harry, "Isn't that what he was saying in Andromeda's house after the duel?"
Harry nodded.
"We need to figure out what he's up to, what his goal is," Harry said, "Let's put all our cards on the table and try to figure out what he's doing."
He took a deep breath.
"The goblins swore me to secrecy, but there was a break-in at Gringotts last week. Someone stole a lot of orichalcum, using a time turner," he said, "it must have been him."
Bellatrix and Hermione locked gazes, but Harry stopped and smacked his palm into his forehead before they could say anything.
"Stupid. The Sevens," he said, "their symbol is a pair of sevens top to bottom, like a lightning bolt. The seventh letter of the alphabet is G. It's his initials."
"So… wait, he's the Sevens? And he's been killing off Death Eaters and writing to the papers all along?" Ron asked.
"That doesn't make any sense though," Ginny said, "if he's in control of the Death Eaters, why would he kill them off?"
"Gellert is well versed in blood and sacrificial magic, and there are many uses for magical blood, especially from powerful wizards whose deaths would go unpursued," Dumbledore said.
The room fell silent for a moment, perhaps shocked at the clinical way the normally whimsical old man had decoded Grindelwald's motivations.
"Everyone thinks the Sevens are working for me…. plus we've worked together on legislation, and I helped get him elected Minister," Harry said, "he's been tying himself to me for months. If the truth comes out, everyone is going to think I knew who he was and we've been working together all along."
Rustling paper and shifting books drew Bella's attention as Ron pulled open random desk drawers.
"Can I help you, Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall asked.
"We need parchment, and ink, to try and put all this together," he said.
McGonagall's lips formed a thin line, and she walked over to assist him. They spread several sheets out, along with a half-dozen inkwells and quills.
"Right," Harry said, "orichalcum, plus… Professor, have you ever heard of Nostrandis Emperiosa?"
Bellatrix nearly gave herself whiplash as she locked eyes with Hermione again.
"It's one of the key ingredients in the cure for obliviation," Hermione said as she stared back at her, "so is orichalcum."
"What? No… that would have shown up in the Tracer report for sure," Harry said.
"It hasn't been approved by the Council of Master Healers yet… they've been delaying it," Hermione said, "unnecessarily so."
Bellatrix shook her head. Did Winthrop, no, Grindelwald, have a hand in that as well?
"Of course he knows about the cure too," Bellatrix said, "he was the faculty in charge of overseeing the project and the submission. He has the formula… oh nundu's balls. He's the one who took the Resurrection Stone."
"The what?" McGonagall asked.
Hermione covered her eyes with her palm just as Bella realised she probably shouldn't have said that. Oh well.
"The Deathly Hallows are real, don't tell anyone," Hermione said without looking up. McGonagall's head swivelled back and forth between them, her mouth open wide like a codfish.
Dumbledore's portrait cleared its throat.
"You must be cautious. If Gellert has acquired the Resurrection Stone, he will no doubt have been communing with my shade," Dumbledore said, "the true power of the Stone lies in its ability to plumb the depths of knowledge of the recently deceased."
"He knew exactly which buttons to push to get me on board with his political agenda…" Harry muttered.
"Me too," Hermione said.
"Do you know how the Stone works?" Bellatrix asked, "I could only speak to a few people when I used it."
Dumbledore smiled.
"All my research indicated it requires love," he replied, "I surmise it allows the holder to speak with the souls of those they are bound to by love."
Bellatrix shook her head and bile wanted to rise up to her throat.
"I don't love my father, or the Dark Lord," she said, "he wanted to kill me, and I made him my slave."
Dumbledore's knowing smile was maddening.
"Love is the most powerful force in the universe, and it cares not for time. There are many types of love… romantic, fraternal, familial… unrequited. You must have loved them both at some point, in your own way, for the Stone to have worked," Dumbledore said.
Bellatrix huffed and pouted; it was true though, she didn't always hate Father, and the Dark Lord... perhaps she really did love him, once upon a time. Dumbledore looked to Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
"Gellert is fiendishly intelligent, a master of transfiguration, and very knowledgeable about wards, blood magic, soul magic, rituals, and duelling. He is relentless in his pursuit of the greater good," Dumbledore said, "he is also a Seer, so a time turner, if he has indeed come into possession of such a device, would be even more potent in his hands."
"He mastered transfiguration, like you?" Harry asked.
"Yes. It seemed the most likely method of winning ownership of the Wand, so we both committed ourselves to mastering the discipline, though I was perhaps a shade more skilful," Dumbledore replied, "Keep it hidden, Harry. Without the Wand, he will be limited in what he can accomplish."
"We might have to fight… How did you beat him?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore smiled.
"Ah, I tricked him into believing his Sight was false, by allowing him to strike a mortal wound," Dumbledore replied, "as I lay dying and he was distracted by what he had done, I disarmed him, thus winning the duel. Afterwards, Fawkes healed my wounds, otherwise I would have certainly perished."
"How did he even become Defence Professor?" Bellatrix asked the Headmistress.
McGonagall cleared her throat.
"Frances Winthrop returned from Europe after the Battle after more than a decade abroad, and assisted with the repairs," she replied, "as you know, there was extensive damage, including to the wards. He helped restore them, and while the repairs were ongoing, applied for the role of Defence Professor. We needed it filled and due to recent history, there was a notable lack of qualified applicants. He was very well versed and engaging, a perfect fit, though now it is obvious why."
"Right, a little too perfect," Bella thought.
Harry sighed deeply.
"Okay… so… now what?" he said, "there's still so many questions. What does he want, and what does it have to do with me?"
"He wants to remove the Statute of Secrecy, I'm sure of it," Hermione said, "as for what that has to do with you… I don't know."
"Gellert thought, and I did as well, at one time, that the world would be better off if wizards took the reins of leadership," Dumbledore said, "while I came to abandon this line of reasoning, Gellert did not. Destruction of the Statute is a necessary step for him."
"He's bringing up the proposal this week… he's going to try and do it legally, I think," Harry said.
"Gellert will have a backup plan," Dumbledore said, "more than one, most likely. One thing you must understand, Harry, is that he is NOT Tom. Where Tom obsessed over a single prophecy which ultimately sealed his fate, Gellert can peer into the future at any time, and manipulate events to his favour."
Ron, who had been staring at the parchment and taking notes, now looked up.
"Harry… didn't Rastaban Lestrange say Rookwood was planning to ritualise a poison and kill a whole bunch of muggles before he died?" Ron asked.
Harry nodded.
"And you said orichalcum and Nostrandis Emperiosa are two key ingredients in the cure?" he asked.
Hermione and Bellatrix both nodded.
"What if… what if he lied to Lestrange… what if he's not going to ritualise a poison at all?" Ron said, "what if he ritualises the obliviation cure, and undoes all the muggles' obliviations, at once…"
McGonagall put a hand to her chest.
"The Statute would certainly collapse," McGonagall said, "Severus, can the potion be ritualised?"
Snape's portrait cleared its throat.
"How kind of you to recall that I exist," he said, "I would need to know the composition of the potion, and how it is brewed."
Hermione launched into a concise description of the potion, as if reading from a textbook. A smile spread across Bella's face as she watched her in her element.
"Once the brewing process is complete, it is a relatively simple water-based potion," Snape said, "ritualising it to cover a large area will only be moderately difficult."
"How large?" Hermione asked.
"It depends on the strength and skill of the caster, and the blood used for the ritual," Snape replied, "it could be several hundred yards to a half-mile or more, but, admittedly, human sacrifice is not my area of expertise."
"They were shipping the stuff to Europe," Harry said, "he must be planning multiple rituals."
He removed his glasses and rubbed his face with both hands.
"Okay… we can't tip our hand," he said, "The only thing we've got going for us now is the element of surprise."
He sighed as he stared at the notes and parchment laid out in front of them.
"We need allies. Normally I'd go through the DMLE or try to coordinate with the ICW somehow, but he's the Minister for Magic, and there's still a mole we haven't found," Harry said, "he could take action against us, speed up his timeline… who knows. It's better to get everyone on our side at once. We know what happens when we try to tell everyone a Dark Lord has come back from the dead, and I'm not going through a repeat of fifth year."
He took a deep breath and turned to Hermione.
"He'll definitely be at the Wizengamot to pitch the proposal for withdrawing from the Statute. You can tell him I'm on board with the Statute repeal, and during the meeting, we'll hit him with Revelio charms and the entire Wizengamot and the press will see it," he said.
Hermione shook her head.
"I can't be trusted," she said, "part of me is still saying he's right, and it's taking all my willpower to keep the compulsion back… I might spill the beans if I talk to him face to face."
Bellatrix slipped her hand into hers and was rewarded with a grateful smile.
"Okay… I'll tell him," Harry said, "and that's the other thing, we need to figure out what spell he used on you."
"He's using it on others too, probably everyone in the DADA special class," Hermione said, "Daisy Vane is obsessed with him. I'll have to see a healer… I think I know someone who can help."
She glanced over, and Bella knew what she wanted, for her to see a mind healer as well.
"Not bloody likely," she thought.
"But… after we reveal him in front of everyone… what then?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know, I'm making this up as I go along," Harry said, "the one thing I'm sure of is it's better if everyone knows who he is than if they don't."
They started discussing the specifics of how they would remove his disguise, and Hermione released her hand to point a few things out on the parchments. Bellatrix quickly lost interest as she thought back to the past year, on how her opinion of Winthrop had gradually shifted whenever she spent more time around him.
"That would explain why Hermione is so much more affected… she's working with him every day, but I was definitely under some kind of a compulsion as well," she thought.
Part of her was livid at the wizard for manipulating her, wanted to charge over to the Ministry and challenge him to a duel.
"But if it wasn't for him and the Aevum, I wouldn't be alive right now," she thought.
A foreboding stole over her, the realisation that whatever the Aevum artifact was, it almost certainly was not designed with her in mind. That perhaps it had not functioned entirely correctly, and that's why she came back without her memories, that perhaps the unshakable cold she'd picked up was somehow a result of a ritual not fully completed.
"Am I really Bellatrix Black, or the result of some kind of Dark experiment who stole her memories?" she thought, "did I accidentally break something when I restored them? Do I have pieces of tens of thousands of muggles in here with me?"
The question of what she was started to consume her. She looked up at the portrait of Dumbledore, who smiled at her knowingly and put a finger to his lips and winked. She glanced over her shoulder at the group huddled around the table, the Golden Trio plus Ginny, and McGonagall, all of them focused on planning their next steps. Hermione spoke animatedly while gesturing with her hands. Bellatrix smiled at the sight, then quietly slipped out the door.