Chapter 20

Nothing happened.

Every eye in the cavern focused on her, with her stupid hand on her stupid wrist, as her finger pressed into the stupid button on the stupid watch. No one moved. The tension rose for a moment before laughter shattered it.

Anger rose in her as she stood there and endured it. She hated being laughed at. She hated it more than, well, almost anything that she'd ever encountered in her life. But she was smart enough to know that the extra moment of recovery was worth more than her annoyance.

"British ministry then?" Grindelwald asked as he peered down his nose at her. She shook her head.

"No," she said, wondering why he would even ask. But it seemed like a decent way to stall for time while she tried to recover. She straightened on her feet and glared at him. "Why do you ask?"

"The watch seems like a Weasley product," he said. She had no idea what he meant. She could vaguely remember members of that family. And could infer that they must have some type of manufacturing offerings. But other than that she had no real idea what he was talking about.

"I have no idea what that is," she admitted, figuring that was her best option at the moment. There was some snickering from the doorway as the others apparently thought her naivety was amusing.

She didn't like the way they were looking at her. None of them expressed any doubt that their master would make short work of her. It seemed they were more interested in how he'd finisher her, and perhaps if he'd share, than there was any doubt at all about the outcome of the match.

"They run a joke shop in Diagon Alley," Grindelwald said. "Some very creative pieces are available there. But from what I've managed to gather they make a great deal more money selling enchanted pieces to the British ministry."

"What would the government want with some joke items?" she asked, raising her brows as she attempted to figure out what they could possibly want with such endeavors.

"The two of them have some strength. Nothing overly prodigious. But their magic blends well together. And they have come up with creative ways to imbue small things. Often with very powerful defensive spells. The watch is what, a shield charm? Or perhaps more? Given that it has multiple buttons on the side it wouldn't shock me if it had multiple uses. I look forward to studying it."

"It's nothing of that nature, no," Emily said, even though, in a sense, it was exactly something of that nature.

"And you thought it would surprise me if you, what, focused less on defense? Relying on someone else to protect you?" he asked.

"I said that's not what it is," Emily retorted.

"Come, Gina, no need to be petulant," Grindelwald said, giving her a compassionate smile. "It's not like you have much left to give. I'll make it quick if you are cooperative."

"You're very confident," Emily scoffed.

"You are too. I, however, think I've earned it. Most would say I'm the most powerful wizard to have ever lived," Grindelwald said. It was Emily's turn to laugh. He didn't take kindly to it, his expression darkening as soon as the nose left her mouth. It distracted her for a moment though. And the instant it was over she realized one of the women was missing from the group behind Grindelwald.

"That's rich," she said, wondering what was taking Harry so God Damned long to get here. Of course, she was relying on Priya Patel being correct in that the enchantments on the watch were strong enough to penetrate nearly every magical defense Harry had ever encountered.

And she was hoping that Harry would be able to get through the defenses on the mountain cave. And make it directly to wherever she was. All of it seemed a little bit like a stretch. But it was also all things she expected she'd be able to do if push came to shove. And it seemed stupid to hold Harry Potter to a lower standard than she held herself.

"You disagree?" Grindelwald said, his eyes narrowing as he focused on her. She didn't feel any increase in power from him. He seemed content with watching her for the moment. Still, she figured any extended lull increased her chases of support.

Although, she felt her lips curl into a smirk. Part of her wondered if she'd need it.

No, she thought. There was no reason to get over confident. She wondered if she was even as strong as the last time they'd fought. She'd only let loose once and that was against Harry. So, even then, she hadn't been trying too hard to seriously maim him. She'd ignored the lingering feeling in the back of her mind when they'd sparred.

At least until Neville voiced it. She was trying much harder than he was. And he'd ended the fight on his own terms with the illusion that she'd fought him to a draw. Part of her wondered if she should spar with Longbottom next as a way for him to atone for that comment. And a way to see just how much of her came back.

"I mean, I think everyone would disagree," Emily said.

"You disappoint me, Gina," he said.

"I'm not sure how I will ever live that down," Emily countered.

"Who has done more than Gellert Grindelwald?" he asked. Now she could feel the power rising in him. But he was doing it for show. No attack was forthcoming. She frowned to herself. He was stalling for time just as readily as she was. Which begged one major question.

Why?

"Did you get up to a lot of intensive magical research while you were locked away in Nuremgard?" Emily asked. She saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

"Some," he said. "There was an awful lot of time to pass. And Albus was at least good for a book or two a year."

"I don't even want to know. But also I believe you fought once, and lost. So there's your answer for wizards better than you," Emily countered.

"You can think whatever you'd like to think, girl," Grindelwald said.

"Then I will continue to think of you as a pathetic old man stuck in the past," Emily retorted. Part of her was enjoying the banter. There was something intrinsically fun about taunting an opponent during battle. More of her mind; however, was wondering just how long it was going to take Harry Potter to show up.

"I'm going to-," Grindelwald started. The pink gem flashed between them and Emily felt warmth flush through her body again. She narrowed her eyes and fought the distracting thoughts as she let her vision focus on Grindelwald. Who, she noticed, had remarkable cheekbones and an impressive jawline.

Something close to an idea clicked into her head at that moment and she blurted out her next sentences well before he'd finished whatever thought he'd had. "What's with the sex gem?"

"Excuse me?" Grindelwald looked surprised. He was clearly not accustomed to being interrupted mid threat.

"The sex gem," Emily said, nodding toward the floating pink crystal. She tried summoning it with only her will. It lurched a few inches toward her until Grindelwald lifted his hand and stopped it in mid air.

"Why would I tell you that?" he asked.

"Well why not? If you're just planning on killing me then why does it matter if I know?" she asked with the most coquettish smile she could muster. If anyone asked she'd blame the gem.

"I'm not a fool. There's always a chance you'll escape alive. However unlikely. And I've no need to brag about my own brilliance," Grindelwald said.

"It's not that brilliant," Emily said. It stopped Grindelwald in his tracks. Fury flashed across his face.

"Excuse me?" he scoffed.

"It's not that brilliant. I'm pretty sure I have it figured out," Emily said, her eyes flashing to her side again. She thought she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, but there was nothing there.

"That's not going to work," Grindelwald said.

"What's not?"

"I'm not going to be conned into telling you anything. You don't deserve to know," Grindelwald said.

"It's not that complicated," Emily said. "Actually a bit more rudimentary than I would have expected from you."

"I told you that isn't going to work," Grindelwald said.

"Yet you're stalling."

"So are you."

"Well, you seem intent on killing me, so anything for a precious few seconds more of life," Emily shrugged.

"I do like your spirit but this is an incredible waste of time," Grindelwald said. He shifted his weight slightly, leaning toward one side. The side, she noticed, that would keep him away from his companions if they were to engage. She resisted the urge to counter in the same way. Instead she spoke up.

"There's only really two possibilities and they're both derivative of each other so there isn't much of a point to differentiate between them except, I suppose for semantics," Emily said.

"That is certainly a sentence," Grindelwald countered.

"Well, I'm not sure of the exact mechanics of it. But I suspect the notes on the desk behind me contain all of the information I'll need," Emily said.

"I've had enough of this," Grindelwald responded.

"Well you could stop me at any moment. Yet you're not. So you're either incredibly bored with your distinctly mediocre companions," Emily said. She heard a smattering of scoffs from her side. One of them didn't quite come from where she expected but it was all of the information she needed.

Perhaps, she thought, mediocre was being generous.

"I like people to be able to choose their last words," Grindelwald said. "Yours have been less enlightening than most."

"I'm hurt," Emily pouted. Grindelwald raised his brows at her, clearly amused and not the least bit persuaded by her expression.

"Are you going to continue or shall we finish this?" he asked.

"I didn't think you were interested," Emily said, turning slightly away from Grindelwald and doing her best impression of a jilted suitor. Grindelwald laughed.

"You're going to be like that?" he asked.

"Just get it over with," she said, looking even more away from him and tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Come now, tell me," Grindelwald said.

"No."

"I suspect one of them just blabbed anyway," Grindelwald said, nodding to his companions in the doorway.

"Because I couldn't figure it out myself? Because heaven forbid a random young woman was more intelligent than Gellert Grindelwald," Emily said. It was all too easy to let the venom drip into her voice.

"It would be very unlikely," Grindelwald said.

"Pig."

"And I can still see what you're doing. You're just talking in circles. You have no idea what you're talking about. And, I suspect by now Astrid has figured out whatever shield that watch provided. So we'll know if you were smart enough to incorporate a dead man's switch or dumb enough to not know this was a suicide mission," he said, raising his hand up as if to give a signal.

Emily played her second to last gambit.

"The gem and the water are both enchanted," Emily said.

"Obviously. It hardly takes a genius to determine that," Grindelwald rolled his eyes. The gem pulsed once more, spending another wave of magic through the room. Emily bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep her mind focused.

"Without examining them more closely it's hard to say exactly what is doing what, as it were, but there's only a few possibilities that make any sense," Emily said. Grindelwald sighed but otherwise froze. His expression was clear, she could continue but she'd not managed anything that warranted a response.

"I think the water is more of a conduit. I think it imbues characteristics from things around it and spurs those traits into people that consume it. The gem, quite obviously, increases the libido of those around it," Emily said.

"Why on Earth would we care in the least about that?" he asked.

"You don't," Emily said.

"Then what is the point of all this?" Grindelwald said.

"Experimentation," she said. "The gem was just the most harmless object with enough power you could find."

"On what?"

"I'm not sure yet," Emily said. "I'm hoping that my initial assumptions are incorrect."

"You think your theory is incorrect and yet you're wasting my time with it?" Grindelwald asked, his expression growing more annoyed as he spoke.

"Oh no. I'm fairly confident about that. You have some strange sex gem and some oddly enchanted water. The only real possible outcome is that you're trying to combine them."

"For what purpose?" Grindelwald asked.

"To see if you can," she said. It was her turn to roll her eyes. She wondered if all men were as obvious when they were trying to bait a conversation. She expected they were. Given that she hadn't encountered any who could be the least bit subtle she expected that had to be the case.

"Interesting," Grindelwald said. "I'm still not sure what you think we're doing."

"Fucking around," Emily countered.

"Clever," Grindelwald said.

"You're using a relatively harmless gem, at least assuming everyone is consenting and understanding what's going on. And you're keeping it enclosed and guarded, to a degree. You're clearly trying to see if you can do something and figured this was the easiest avenue to do so," Emily explained. Grindelwald's brows raised and he looked almost impressed for a moment.

"Well you do have a brain cell or two to rub together," Grindelwald said. "You're rather close. It is fairly impressive."

"At least until we get to the part that annoys me," Emily said.

"Oh well we wouldn't want to annoy you," Grindelwald responded.

"The water runs out of the complex. Which means that it's probably made its way into the surrounding areas. One would think it diluted enough by that point to have no effect," Emily said.

"One would think," Grindelwald agreed.

"And yet the closest town had a rather recent problem with a young man who had magical powers that feel far too similar to your pulsing pink rock," Emily said, feeling proud of herself for not giggling at her own euphemisms. That would have made her seem like a foolish girl.

"Any experiment is bound to have some, shall we say, kinks, to work out," Grindelwald responded. She glared at him, his joke wasn't as clever as hers.

"And I could accept that. If I thought it was the case," Emily said.

"And it isn't?"

"If it were a mistake, or a kink, or a minor something or other, well, it seems that it would have affected more than one random villager to the degree it did. And given that Jochen was so recently there, two plus two equals you did something to the town," Emily said.

"I did nothing of the sort," Grindelwald smiled. "I wasn't even here. Anything unfortunate that occurred had nothing to do with me. Which is a positive for me, given the violent nature in which it was taken care of. Something that I certainly don't condone. I'm sure with a little bit of patience and some memory charms we could have come up with a much less bloody solution."

"I'm sure that's what you would say if it became public," Emily said. "But I don't see much of a reason for that."

"Why not? Would be the story of a lifetime for such a journalist as you. Or is that what you're going to use to try to get out of here?" Grindelwald asked.

"Oh no," Emily said. "That's not going to be necessary."

"So you've accepted your inevitable death then," Grindelwald said. His hand, still held in the air and ready to signal twitched ever so slightly. His eyes focused on hers. She could judge his expression easily enough. She'd seen it on the faces of many men before. He thought he was supremely correct and the only one capable of being so. He knew his own superiority and he expected to see fear.

She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

Emily took a deep breath and steeled herself for the fight she knew would come. She'd stalled long enough. If Harry Potter wasn't here by now then he wasn't coming. She'd take that up with him when she walked out of the cave.

"No," Emily said. "Willingly letting a score of women be prayed upon by a pumped-up teenager is bad enough. But you did far worse. I don't know how you did it. But I'll figure that out soon enough. But you empowered him somehow. Impressive, really, that you managed it. I'd like to ask, but, well, I'd like to dismember you first."

"You really do have spirit, girl," Grindelwald laughed. "But enough of this facade. Take her now." He dropped his hand when he spoke. Emily raised hers and jutted it out to her side.

Astrid appeared a few feet from her. Her expression one of sheer terror. Whatever camouflage spell she'd been using wasn't familiar to Emily, but it had been very complete. Except that she'd given away her position when Emily had insulted their group. After that, she'd been able to keep track of her easily enough.

Now the woman froze. Undoubtedly she could feel the pressure Emily exerted on her. Her eyes welled and her body fought against the magic inside her as Emily latched her power around the woman's heart.

It had been far too long since she'd used her magic like that. The exhilarating thrill of it all rushed back through her. She knew she shouldn't admit to it. But it was intoxicating to have someone's end based entirely upon your own whims. To know that you could end it all for them at any given moment. And that there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it.

Grindelwald, for his part, groaned audibly at the development. His expression showed nothing past disappointment at the incompetence of his soldiers. He lazily drew his wand back and muttered two all too familiar words as he thrust it at her.

Emily ripped her hand back as he cast the spell, throwing her arm across her body as she did so.

Astrid only made one quite gasp as her heart ripped clean out of her chest. Emily closed her hand into a fist and the organ exploded in mid air between them. She opened her fingers as her arm finished its ark and a sheet of blood splashed between them. It absorbed the green magic from Grindlewald's arm.

"You bitch!" Jochen yelled. He readied his own wand but Grindelwald waved him away. Jochen's jaw set as Emily held the blood shield between them.

"Blood magic?" Grindelwald asked. He shifted around her, knowing she would move with him. To his credit he put his body between his companions and her. He only spared a brief glance down toward his dead companion.

"Two birds, one stone," Emily shrugged. She wiggled her fingers, forming some of the debris of Astrid's organs into small balls and started to sharpen them with magic. An idea she'd actually received from her Muggle husband, ironically enough. A magical shotgun of sorts. The more pellets, the more dangerous.

"I doubt the British Ministry would appreciate you using Blood Magic. And doing so without the decency of using your own blood is, well, petty at best," Grindelwald said.

"Worked though," she shrugged. "And I told you. I'm not with the British ministry."

"So you've said," Grindelwald shrugged. "Either way, this finally got interesting."

"Fuck off," Emily retorted. It was the most clever aside she could come up with. She pressed her hand toward him and forced all of the blood pellets at him. Grindelwald threw a shield up between them. Fifteen to twenty of the pellets splattered against it before his shield buckled. He dodged away from the rest, slashing his wand to banish a few more as he did so.

He knew Blood magic as well as she did. It could be supremely powerful, but only as long as the host was alive. Emily could feel that power draining rapidly. She shifted away from a series of cutting hexes, dodging around them and the pink gem as she let go of the blood and let the rest of it splash onto the floor.

She brought up her wand, relishing the feeling of the power strumming through it as she raised a shield against Grindelwald's next spells. She maneuvered to her side as he threw spells at her. He matched her steps, continuing his onslaught.

She stayed defensive, countering and shielding every spell he threw at her. She could see a familiar frustration rise on his face as they danced. Part of her wondered if she should press the offensive.

She didn't. She knew her limits. She wasn't sure that she could take all of them at once in her current state. So if she could somehow eliminate Grindelwald without the others joining in, well, it would make her job that much easier.

For the moment they seemed hesitant to join in and she saw no reason to persuade them to do so.

But she was already winded. Grindelwald didn't seem to be in any hurry to stop her. But the stupid pink gem kept pulsing in the center of the room which wasn't helping her cause either.

She debated destroying it. It seemed the quickest and easiest solution. But it was also short-sighted. She wanted the gem. And no, she scolded away the first thoughts that flooded into her mind, not because of what it was doing to her body.

No, it would be handy evidence. Moreso if she could also get out of this with the notes. She let her gaze shift to the desk, half wondering if she should summon the notes to her and make sure that she had them if she had to make a quick escape.

Her mind wandered as she countered a cutting hex and a rather nasty bludgeoner from Grindelwald. She wondered how he would feel about the fact that she was hardly paying attention to his ministrations. Then again, he was male, he should be used to it.

She scolded herself. It wasn't a time for jokes. And, really, it wasn't a time for her own negativity. Why was she thinking about needing to escape, or wondering if she'd be able to secure the gem or the notes. Those thoughts were all utterly pointless.

She would have plenty of time to secure everything in the cave system after she dealt with all of the annoying inhabitants. Or she would die, and there would be no real need for any of it. So it was time to just deal with it.

She countered another cutting hex and wondered why Grindelwald was being so boring with his spell selection. He'd been more flamboyant when they'd fought all those years ago, but here he was clearly holding back.

What that meant she wasn't sure. He could have wanted to make more of a show out of the fight outside of Nurmengard. But what was the point of that? He'd been fighting a pissant of a schoolgirl who meant absolutely nothing to him.

Or was he skeptical of her? Was this another sort of recruitment pitch? Was he merely testing her? Was he testing himself? She'd done that before. She'd duel left handed, or severely limit her spell choice, or not use her wand. It would serve to test her own limits, or to make the kill all the sweeter when the prey thought it had a chance.

The thought that he was toying with her annoyed her. The fact that it was a thought of her own invention didn't matter. She deserved far more than that from Gellert Grindelwald. And if he was going to be cocky and overconfident, she would use that to her advantage and blow him straight to hell.

No, not with her mouth, she thought as the gem pulsed once more. Frustration grew in an instant. She saw Grindelwald's eyes focus on the gem for only an instant. She felt magic pulse from to it. And she felt something building in it.

And suddenly his limited offense made sense. He was fighting her more with the gem than with his own magic. But what did he hope to gain from that? Possibilities spun through her mind but none of them were particularly pleasant.

Honestly the implication angered her. A lot. She let more power into her spells, throwing them straight at Grindelwald as she attempted to put a barrier between herself and the gem.

Grindelwald continued to lazily counter her spells as the gem pulsed once more. Emily braced herself against it and instantly knew the barrier was useless. She ignored her own panting and decided it was time to press the assault.

A barrage of spells pushed Grindelwald back. She stepped in front of the gem and continued to cast against him. He braced as he stepped backwards, his expression focusing on her as he poured more energy into a shield and blocked everything she had to throw at him.

In a moment of inspiration she threw a series of spells at Grindelwald, slashing her left hand across her body midcast of a bludgeoning curse to throw a shockwave directly at Jochen. The German's eyes widened in terror as he attempted to bring a shield around him and his friends.

He failed.

Grindelwald didn't. His own arm flew out and she felt her magic impact against his shields once more. But it served its purpose and the shield he'd used on himself weakened and shattered against another series of hexes. She kept the barrage up.

He was annoyingly talented. He countered most of her spells and used smaller shields to neutralize a handful more. But more got through. He grunted as a cutter pierced his side, and yelled as she hit him full on with a bludgeoning hex and then Dumbledore's condensed version of her shockwave. He flew back into the wall as she kept the barrage up.

The extra time that bought him, though, was enough to bring more shields up. She stepped toward him, throwing more power toward his companions. Grindelwald didn't bother to shield but, with the exception of Jochen, they'd ducked for cover in the previous room. The German managed to shield her spells, but his knees buckled.

She stalked toward Grindelwald, sensing the end of the battle, even as she felt her legs weakening. Her breathing was harder than it should have been. But she attributed that to not bothering to condition her new body.

Grindelwald recovered quickly. He cursed her in German and as he brought himself back to his feet. He dodged around another burst of force that left a large indent in the wall and threw his own spells back at her.

He was putting far more power into them now. She shielded them without much effort and continued her own barrage. The magic impacting against the shields created a strobe effect in the small cavern. Bright white light flashing blurred her vision, interrupted by the occasional blast of pink that was easy enough to ignore.

One such blast, though, caused her to wobble and her shield to falter. Grindelwald's lips curved into a smile as he threw an icy blue spell she didn't recognize right toward the gap in her shield.

She reacted on instinct, letting the spell impact against her left hand as she brought up Harry's absorption trick.

The fingers on her left hand started to turn black, reminding her of the most severe frostbite she'd ever seen. It started to spread down over her knuckles and into her hand as she felt the cold shill start to spread down her arm. Grindelwald laughed, clearly expecting that spell to have ended it all.

For a moment she feared she'd lose the hand. But as the frostbite stopped mid palm. She could feel his magic inside her. She could imagine herself gripping it. And then she knew she had it. Grindelwald opened his mouth to taunt her in the same instant she thrust her hand out toward him. The frostbite flew up her fingers and shot out toward him, an icy blue bolt coming from each of her fingers.

To his credit, he managed to counter three of them. But one hit his chest, and one his stomach, and he gasped in fury. His eyes shot down to himself as he started to mutter a counter-jinx.

Emily pressed the offensive. Again she backed him into the wall. She threw another shockwave toward Jochen and the others, not expecting anything to come of it and hoping to demonstrate that she was fully aware they were still there and that they shouldn't get involved.

Grindelwald slouched against the wall and looked up at her. She relished the fear in his eyes. His left hand worked on countering his own spell she'd redirected to him, while his right focused on protecting him from her onslaught. She could feel his shields weakening with each cast. It was her turn to let the smile curve upwards onto her lips.

Three spells later it broke. Triumph rushed through her. Two more pushed Grindelwald back into the walls. He grunted and coughed as she hit him with a third in his stomach, a variation of a spell he'd used on her all those years ago. What could she say? She was petty.

A look of realization spread across Grindelwald's face. Whether he recognized her, or just knew his total defeat was inevitable.

She felt a surge of power from her side. She didn't need to see it to determine anything about it. She threw her own power at it, knowing she'd only need a few seconds to decide which spell to use to end it all.

Grindelwald let loose a ferocious scream, his eyes flashing in anger and his hand shot out toward her. She threw up a shield without a second thought but nothing impacted against it. She leveled her wand on him, relishing the power thrumming through it.

"Avada," she said, as something pierced through her hair and pressed into the back of her neck. It was hard and cold and as soon as it touched her skin her world exploded.

She let loose a sound that very few people had ever heard her make as her body collapsed under her. She writhed on the ground, pushing the gem more against her skin, which just made her writhe more.

Time froze. She could think of nothing more than the feelings flooding through her body as she struggled against it. She rolled, reaching behind her, trying to get the gem off of her. When her hand found it, another surge flooded through her.

She whimpered and rolled away, but the gem followed her. She groaned and continued to struggle. Her eyes flashed and saw Jochen helping Grindelwald to his feet. Both Germans were smirking, obviously not expecting her to be able to recover.

She saw Grindelwald rise to his feet and brush himself off. He glared down at her and stepped toward her.

"I remember now," he said. "I'd be curious as to how it's possible, but at this point there seems little reason to bother. You've lost something, or Albus wouldn't have found you so difficult."

He paced around her. She noticed a slight limp. It gave her a modicum of pride, even if she still struggled to focus, as she tried to get the gem away from her.

"What was it last time, drowning? I think that will serve," Grindelwald said. He leveled his wand on her. Her moves felt sluggish, almost satisfied, but she still couldn't get the stupid gem off of her.

From somewhere far off she could feel power rise once more. Part of her thought it would be another wave to flow through her. Another part of her knew it would be the waves that would finish the job they'd started when she was a teenager.

She took some solace in the fact that she wouldn't have to explain to Priya Patel or Harry Potter that she'd been felled by an orgasm.

And then the cave shook.

It toppled Grindelwald. Jochen dove to prevent his master from falling to the ground. The rumbling spurred enough of a loss of concentration that the gem slipped away from her skin. Emily rolled away from it, pulling herself to her knees as quickly as she could.

"The hell was that?" She heard Jocen scream. She conjured a small and summoned the gem into it, tucking it into her pocket as she took care not to touch it all while hoping it didn't pulse again.

The room rumbled once more, as if fighting against something. She felt the tension rising in the air, as if the magic surrounding them was fighting against something. It only took her a moment to figure out.

Unfortunately it also only took a moment for the magic to shatter as a new presence blasted into the room. Debris kicked up and flew all around the room. Emily watched as some of the notebooks scattered around the room.

She summoned a pair of them, hoping for the best as she shrunk them down and pocketed them as well.

When she looked up, she saw Harry Potter standing in the middle of the room. His eyes flashed around as he surveyed the scene. Jochen, to his credit, reacted first. He fired a series of hexes at Harry.

Purple magic flared off of Harry and absorbed everything that Jochen threw at him. Harry didn't even bother to look at him. Instead he turned to Emily.

"Took you long enough," she said as she struggled to her feet. She wobbled as she stood. Normally her legs feeling like jelly wasn't that bad of a consequence to deal with. Now she found it embarrassing. He raised his brows at her.

"You're that bad off after fighting with him?" Harry asked, giving the slightest of nods toward Jochen.

"No he's an afterthought," Emily said. She steadied her legs as the room shook once more. She nodded to her left.

"How did you get here?" Grindelwald asked. Emily took a small point of pride in the fact that he was still favoring one leg and there was blood near his mouth.

"Apparated," Harry said.

"Into the mountain?" Grindelwald looked stunned. Harry reigned the purple tendrils in a few inches, they shifted away from Jochen and focused on Grindelwald.

"Essentially," he shrugged. "Couldn't get in straight from Scotland. So I got to the mountain. Couldn't figure out a way in and blowing up half the mountain seemed excessive. So I found her inside and popped in."

"You can't," Grindelwald started.

"Yet here I am," Harry said. "Ready for round two."

"Boy you killed us all," Grindelwald said. He turned to his companions. "Flee!"

"Nah," Harry said. "Just you."

"I hate to agree with him," Emily said. "But he's right. The defenses on the mountain are incredible. And you just broke them. I suspect they'll react violently."

"I know," Harry said. "It's not the first time I've done something like this."

"You've got to be kidding me," Emily sighed.

"We should have about five minutes," Harry shrugged.

"We need to get out of here, boss," Jochen said.

"You're not going anywhere," Harry said.

"He bested you once, he'll do it," Jochen started, but before he could finish the sentence a blast of power threw him from the room.

"I don't have time for this, boy," Grindelwald said. He threw his hands forward and threw a burst of magic at Harry. It impacted against his purple glow and fizzled into nothingness.

"Make time," Harry shrugged. "It's just some failing protective wards. It's not like the entire mountain is going to explode."

"It might," Grindelwald admitted.

"Well, I'm durable," Harry shrugged.

"As much as I hate to say it we should go," Emily said. "We have what we need. I've collected more than enough information."

"We need his head," Harry countered.

"No one will believe you of all people," Grindelwald countered.

"They buy your bullshit and I'm way prettier," Emily countered. It drew a chuckle out of Harry.

"She's got you there," Harry said.

"Do you think that anyone in Britain will take kindly to the Chosen One slumming it with her?" Grindelwald countered.

"I didn't think anyone on the planet would take kindly to you blowing up a town," Harry shrugged. "I've been wrong before."

"I had nothing to do with that," Grindelwald countered.

"Sure you didn't," Harry said.

"I hate to think of what your stunt here did. The nearby villages will surely suffer," Grindelwald said.

"Nah," Harry disagreed. "I'll prevent anything absurd from happening."

"You're a foolish child," Grindelwald said. Harry rolled his eyes and with an anticlimactic shrug of his shoulders stepped forward to engage Gellert Grindelwald.

Author's Note: As always thanks for reading and reviewing. I do appreciate it. If you wish to support me further I am on PAT RE ON at TE7Writes. There are two additional chapters of CtS already available there as well as the first four chapters of my next work.