Harry Potter belongs to JKR

Chapter 65

Harry slumped into his chair at his cube. A stack of parchment waited for him on his desk, and he forced himself to at least skim through them. After the Wizengamot meeting, Ginny had returned home, and then he and Ron had filled in Robards and Fawley on everything they knew. After that, it had been a non-stop fire drill of field investigations and searches, from the Minister's office to Winthrop's father's house, where they'd found another ritual circle buried beneath the kitchen-converted-to-potions lab. Harry suspected they would not find any additional incriminating evidence at either location, but they had to tick the boxes regardless. They'd just finished that up when someone at the DMLE realised all of the new Ministry employees working on the Being Outreach program couldn't be located, and had in fact vanished a few hours prior to the Wizengamot meeting.

"Which is what he did when he went back in time. I should have known he wouldn't have returned to the Wizengamot chamber," Harry thought.

The rest of the day and well into the evening had been spent searching ever less likely locations scattered across Britain and Ireland. Most of the parchments on his desk were missing person reports filed by the families of the Being Outreach workers, including a score of recent Hogwarts graduates.

"They're probably behind wards somewhere while Grindelwald plans his next move," he thought, "question is, are they hostages, or followers?"

Ron stumbled past his cube and tossed a copy of the Prophet onto Harry's desk.

"Believe this? The elves, veela, and goblins haven't condemned Grindelwald yet. I mean I get it that they have Wizengamot seats because of him but come on, he murdered someone," he said.

"Hasn't been convicted yet, they're waiting to see how everything plays out," Harry said.

Ron shook his head and slumped against the wall.

"I'm knackered," he said, "let's call it a night. We're not going to do anyone any good tomorrow if we can't keep our eyes open."

Harry, too tired to vocalise another response, nodded in agreement.

"Think Kreacher could fix us up some supper?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded again, and the two weary Aurors trudged to the floo. Harry collapsed onto the couch before the green flames even died down, and Kreacher appeared with a pop.

"Master Harry has returned," the house elf said as Ron arrived.

"Supper, Kreacher, something hot," Harry said. Kreacher bowed low and popped back to the kitchen. The flames flared again, then died down to embers. Ron sat on the far side of the couch, and the two of them stared at the opposite wall.

"D'you think he ran?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged helplessly.

"All the international portkeys have been locked away, special approval only, so that'll make it more difficult to leave the country without the Ministry's knowledge, but…" Harry replied.

He left the next part unsaid, that it would be a trivial matter for a wizard of Grindewald's power and skill to find a way around a ban on portkeys.

"Yeah," Ron replied.

Kreacher returned with a covered bowl of what smelled like hot beef stew, along with several slices of steaming bread, and popped away again. Harry thought about sitting up to take a bite, but nothing happened and he remained slumped on the couch.

"Probably too hot to eat right now anyway," he thought.

The room glowed slightly as the embers flared.

"A floo call," Harry thought through the haze of fatigue.

"Mr. Potter, are you there?"

Winthrop's voice! Harry sat bolt upright and stared at Ron, who had mirrored his reaction. Harry held up a hand for Ron to stay where he was on the far side of the couch, out of view of the fireplace. He smoothed out his robes and stepped in front of the embers, which had opened to reveal the face of Gellert Grindelwald, the wizard who had nearly conquered all of Europe.

"Ah, there you are. Well done, I didn't see that one coming," Grindelwald said with a smile.

"Right, well, I don't take too kindly to people who lie to me," Harry said.

"Understandable, understandable," Grindelwald said, "though I would have preferred an owl or a face-to-face."

"Why, so you could obliviate me or something else?" Harry asked.

Grindelwald hmm'd noncommittally. Harry paused and stared at the face in the low flames, and Grindelwald stared back, a small twitch of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Well? You called me, what do you want?" Harry asked.

"It should be obvious… I want my wand," Grindelwald replied, "I know you have it hidden somewhere, and you're apparently intent on never using it again."

"That's right, you can forget about seeing it, ever," Harry replied, "why do you want it so bad?"

"Fashion," Grindelwald replied, "I found a pretty stone and I need something to complement it and complete my outfit."

He held up a small object next to his cheek, distorted slightly by the low flames, but undoubtedly the Resurrection Stone.

"I knew I shouldn't have just dropped that bloody thing on the ground in the Forest," Harry thought. He should have known better than to assume such a powerful magical creation would stay hidden like a needle in a haystack.

"You're still looking to unite them, to become Master of Death," Harry said quietly.

Grindelwald tsked.

"Master of Death. Who cares about that when time is so much more interesting? I will, however, make you an offer," Grindelwald replied. He pursed his lips, then spoke again, "I will trade you, one Hallow for another."

Harry's mouth slipped open as he tried to force his weary mind to function while Grindelwald continued speaking.

"I possess the Resurrection Stone. Give me my old wand back, and you could speak to your parents again," he said, "and Remus and Nymphadora and Sirius and all the people you've lost. You could apologise. You could make things right and finish whatever they left undone so they could rest more easily. You could let young Dennis Creevey speak with his brother one last time."

"How did he know about all that?" Harry thought, "of course… he's been talking to Dumbledore about everything up until sixth year, and he's been watching me after that. He knows everything. Except Sirius. He doesn't know Sirius is alive."

The allure of the second Deathly Hallow called to him. Once again, it was within his grasp… but Harry had resisted the call of the Stone before, and the Mirror of Erised long before that.

"I need to keep him talking," he thought, "got to learn more about what he's planning..."

"Let's say I'm interested. What would you do, once you had it?" Harry asked.

"I've been very clear about my intentions. I'm going to end the Statute," Grindelwald replied.

"How?" Harry asked.

Grindelwald closed his eyes for a second and sighed.

"I'll humour you, but please, stop stalling for time, it is in short enough supply as it is," he replied, then spoke as if he would to a child, "with my old wand, I could create a ritual powerful enough to undo all the obliviations across half a continent. The Statute would collapse worldwide in a matter of minutes."

"It's exactly like Hermione theorised," Harry thought.

"But why? Why do you want to remove the Statute so badly?" Harry asked, "To enslave the muggles?"

Grindelwald frowned with distaste.

"The danger of learning history from books, rather than from those who lived it, is the loss of nuance," he muttered, "No. Not that I don't regret some of my choices, though given the state of the world at the time, they were correct, at the time."

He paused and tilted his head slightly to one side, as if listening to a silent companion.

"There is not a soul alive that does not wonder about returning to the past to revisit some decisions, but we can only look forward," Grindelwald said, "The past fifty years of history and advancements have convinced me there is now a better way, without any need to dominate muggles outright. Remove the Statute, and wizardkind, the superior kind, will rise to the top, whether or not force is used."

"So you do want to dominate them," Harry said.

"It's not that I desire them to be dominated, but that they deserve to be dominated. It's the way of life. It's also for the greater good," Grindelwald said.

"Bullshit, you can use that excuse to justify just about anything," Harry said.

Grindelwald sighed.

"I have used my Sight. Wizards and muggles must work to work together to solve a myriad of problems, otherwise there will be wars. Terrible wars," he said, "Most of the muggles will die. A few scattered enclaves will probably survive here and there to begin rebuilding… but almost all the wizards perish, and then the Light of Merlin goes dark forever."

Harry's forehead furrowed as he tried to comprehend.

"Wait, are you saying-"

"We need to remove the Statute and work together with muggles, or nearly everyone dies, and magic will vanish for all time," Grindelwald said, "when it comes to weighing a few tens of thousands, or even a million muggles against the existence of magic, there is really only one path we could choose… that we must choose."

A slightly uncomfortable weight pressed against Harry's mind. Grindelwald made a compelling argument and he almost wanted to agree, but then the fog cleared and Harry shrugged it off.

"W-Why didn't you say something?" Harry asked.

Grindelwald took a long, slow breath, as if he'd had this conversation many times before.

"You don't think I've tried? I have lived with this curse for over half a century," he said, "Telling people too much about the future usually changes the future, often for the worse. I can only act, and draw like-minded people along in my wake."

Harry filed away that tidbit of information for further reflection.

"But… if we remove the Statute suddenly, thousands of people could die, possibly more," Harry said, "surely we could nudge them in the right direction without removing the Statute outright-"

Grindelwald shook his head slowly.

"It won't work," he said, "I've peered through the sand of time hundreds of times, and every time we try to help covertly, it fails. Muggles will not take initiative to work together to solve problems. They need strong shepherds to guide them. Most of them secretly crave strong leadership, to take away their burden of responsibility, but… if they put the wrong muggle in power…"

He shook his head slowly.

"And of course you're the right person," Harry said, but then something struck him, "wait… you said 'we', you mean me and you working together? That's why you've been using the Sevens, to bring us closer together?"

Grindelwald smiled.

"In the eyes of the public, yes," he said, "I need you, Harry. I cannot do this alone. You have the ear of the people, you have the same gift of voice that I do, and you're far more aligned with this modern muggle world than I."

"I… what?" Harry asked.

Grindelwald smiled again, and an excited, almost maniacal gleam filled his eyes.

"Have you not noticed that others follow you effortlessly? That you can convince anyone of almost anything with your words and will alone, like the time when you were a child and formed a clandestine military unit?" he asked, "I shouldn't have to tell you this, but that's not normal for a fifteen-year-old wizard. I'm surprised Albus never tried to cultivate it in you."

Harry thought back to several times over the past year where he'd forced his will upon people, tried with all his might to convince them of something, and they'd almost always acquiesced. That power scared him though, and he'd been wary of how he might misuse it. He suspected Grindelwald held no such reservations.

"And that's how he convinced nearly half the Wizengamot to withdraw from the Statute," he thought.

"And if I refuse?" Harry asked.

"I urge you not to. To… reconsider," Grindelwald replied, "We need to work together, for the good of mankind. I can see the future, but you have the reputation and leadership to convince the people who matter to make the difficult decisions. It's a horrible choice that I would not wish on anyone, that some must die so that most may live, but from what I have seen, from what I have heard, you're capable. You're strong enough… and after all, it is for the greater good."

The earnestness, the pure and absolute genuine belief in the righteousness of his cause, was infectious, and suddenly Harry understood how a great number of wizards and witches in the first half of the twentieth century had followed this man, even as he plunged Wizarding Europe into death and destruction.

"I…" Harry said. He sensed he was at a crossroads, that his next few words would ripple outwards, like waves from a stone cast into a still pond, growing in strength and taking on a life of their own. A chill climbed up his neck and down his arms.

"You're asking me to take you at your word, nothing but blind faith that what you say is true," Harry said, "maybe if you were a good friend, but you've spent the past year-plus lying to me and manipulating me. You put a compulsion on Hermione. You even tried to do it in this conversation."

Grindelwald's eyes narrowed.

"It's a test. If you succumb, then you deserve to be swayed. Surely you can see this," Grindelwald replied.

Harry shook his head. The hubris! Then again, when a wizard could see the future, that certainly would tend to make him confident in his abilities and decisions, perhaps even to the point that he felt he should be the one to direct all others' actions.

"I can't," he said as he shook his head, "and I urge you to turn yourself in to the authorities to answer questions about the whereabouts of Frances Winthrop, and the murder of his father Abel Winthrop."

Grindelwald's expression became neutral.

"I notice you did not ask about the Death Eaters the 'Sevens' eliminated on your behalf," he said, "shall we weigh the deaths their removal prevented against the murder of one old man who did nothing with the power he inherited?"

"That's not the way the law works, or society," Harry said, "you can't break everything down into pure numbers. If every wizard thought like that, it would be chaos."

"No, you can't break everything down into numbers, and I'm not every wizard," Grindelwald replied, "I've Seen what happens if you refuse me here. Please, please, reconsider."

Harry shook his head.

"I can't do that without betraying my friends, my family… who I am. I think I'll take my chances," he said.

Grindelwald closed his eyes and sighed. Harry imagined his shoulders slumping as well.

"I will remove the Statute myself, one way or another," he replied, "it will cost precious time, time we do not have, but I will do what I must, as I have always done. If you're not going to return my wand, then at least do not oppose me, so we might avoid needless death and destruction."

"You know I can't do that," Harry said.

"You can, but you won't," Grindelwald said, "I've heard stories of how bull-headed you can be, Mr. Potter. You're an excellent duellist, but you're no Albus Dumbledore. We both know we are not evenly matched, and you cannot use the Wand to face me. For you own good, and the good of your family, and of humanity, stay out of our way."

The embers went dark as the floo call ended. Harry stood for a moment and listened to the sound of his own breaths.

"Bloody hell," Ron said.

"Yeah, I know," Harry said.

"I can't believe what I just heard," Ron said, "I mean… Merlin's rancid taint, he's convincing. I was almost about to sign up."

Harry ran his fingers through his hair. All trace of his earlier weariness had fled.

"Yeah, he's bloody dangerous," he said.

"One thing's bothering me," Ron said, "He was pretending to be Avery, right? Why didn't he kill me last Halloween? He made you think he killed me, but he went out of his way to make sure I was still alive."

Harry shook his head.

"I don't know," he replied, "it's like Dumbledore said, he's got a plan. You must factor into it somehow."

"Maybe we can use that to our advantage," Ron said.

Harry nodded slowly.

"We need to plan, I need to bring people together… people we trust," he said, "The DA, and maybe the old Order and a few others, alongside the DMLE. He's still got a spy somewhere inside, maybe more than one, but it's a risk we're going to have to take."

Ron nodded silently.

"I'll take the DA," he said.

"You'll have to take the Order too," Harry said, "I'm going to be up to my ears with the DMLE, and since you're on my team I can cover for you."

Ron nodded.

"This is completely mental, you know that, right?" he said.

Harry sighed deeply.

"At what point have our lives been anything but completely mental?" he replied.

Harry picked up the bowl of stew and held the cover down as he tossed a handful of powder into the fireplace to return to the Ministry.