Chapter 18
AN: Thank you for all the support. I really hope you like this chapter.
A few hours after her emotionally draining conversation with her father Mie is sitting cross-legged on her bed in the Dumbledore Tower reading multiple books from her father's private collection on advance magical topics. As she reads the books Mie is attempting to work on a way to send the books she brought to 1978 to another time period, when she hears tapping on glass.
Looking to her window Mie see that there is a small owl, feeling curious Mie gets up and walks over opening the window Mie lets the owl land on the inside windowsill. Once the owl is inside Mie takes the letter, as soon as she has the letter the owl flies away. As soon as Mie opens the letter, she sees what she recognizes as Remus's handwriting and a very short message; 'ROR 11PM'.
Reading the message there is no mystery of the meaning, but Mie can't help but feeling concerned. Walking back over to her bed Mie sits down once more but rather than continuing what she was doing Mie makes space and starts to work on something else, something a little more pressing after the message she received.
Hours after she got the letter Mie, having left well before the meeting time, makes her way to the Room of Requirements. At one point Mie had to hide in a broom closet to avoid Peeves, but even with that complication she manages to get to the Room of Requirement within a reasonable time.
Walking into the room Mie sees that Sirius, Remus, Regulus, Severus, Lily, James, Alice, Frank, and Amelia are already there.
"Mie, how are you?" Alice asks concerned, as Regulus walks up to Mie and hugs her, it being clear that they are all incredibly glad to see her.
"I'm okay," Mie admits, speaking to both Regulus and the wider room as the two of them break apart. "I got a little banged up fighting Bellatrix, but I'm okay," Mie explains, looking between her friends as she and Regulus stay close together.
"You sure?" Amelia asks curious, looking for signs of Injuries, not even thinking that they wouldn't be visible.
"I'm sure," Mie answers, and she sees glad looks on the others faces. "You know this was dangerous, meeting like this," Mie says, looking between the others.
"Told you she'd say that," Sirius says with an amused look on his face, as he sticks out his hand and James, who rolls his eyes, give him a gallon.
"Glad I'm so predictable," Mie says, looking amused, not at all surprised by the exchange between James and Sirius.
"And we're glad you're okay," Remus tells her.
"Thanks," Mie responds, giving a slight smile. "It's good that we can meet up like this, but we've got to be careful. Sending notes isn't safe," Mie says, looking between her friends. "Interception is too big of a risk," Mie explains.
"Why do I get the feeling you have a plan?" Lily asks, as that's what she assumes from the look on her friends' face.
"Because I do," Mie says, pulling a purse out of her pocket, causing the others to exchange curious looks. "I thought these could come in handy," Mie says, pulling out a coin from the purse.
"DA coins?" Regulus asks, having a look.
"Version two," Mie says, handing Regulus the coin, so that he can inspect it. "Rather than one coin being able to change the others any coin can effect the others," Mie explains. "See here," Mie says, pointing to the start of the serial number where there are two letters. "These can be changed to our initials, though I'll be MD instead of AD," Mie explains.
"What about Ab?" James asks curious.
"UA," Mie answers, and several people around the room look surprised. "There's a lot of us whose names start with A," Mie explains, as it was the best she could think of. "If we want to meet with someone specific, in this room, you change the letters to the initial, and then the next six for the date, then time," Mie explains. "If you want to meet with everyone change it to EE, if you want to meet with just us, not Dad, Uncle Ab, Minerva and Moody, change it to EA," Mie explains, as she figured that it would be likely that the 'teens' would want to meet without the adults, so she made an easy way to do that.
"Smart," Frank tells her, looking approvingly.
"It was a good system once," Mie admits. "And it's not known in this time, except for us," Mie says, including the others in that.
"Which means it will be unexpected, no one will look out for it, prevent against it," Severus says, knowing that that will work in their favour.
"Can we tell who sent the time?" Alice asks curious.
"Yeah, the last two letters say who," Mie explains.
"Smart, it's the perfect way for us to arrange meeting while staying as safe as possible," Lily comments as she is pretty sure that they are going to need that.
"With time we might be able to change the coins so that they can do more," Mie says as she starts to hand out the coins, it being clear that she is giving everyone a specific coin, but no one questions how she knows that. "I'll give Dad, the others so he can give them to Minerva, Moody and Uncle Ab…. Actually, I might give Uncle Ab his myself," Mie comments, thinking that that might be the best idea.
"Probably a good idea," Sirius comments, looking a little amused. "Has your Dad said who is taking over defence against the dark arts?" Sirius asks curious as that is something he really wants to know.
"No, I don't know if he knows yet," Mie admits.
"Mie, what happened with Bellatrix?" Amelia asks in a gentle voice, as she knows it may be difficult for Mie to talk about.
"We fought," Mie explains, as she sits down in one of the chairs, as the others do the same thing. "I was hurt when there was an explosion caused by Bellatrix's killing curse hit objects, that I put in the way, to block it," Mie explains.
"But you're okay, right?" Severus asks concerned, asking about more than just physical injuries.
"Yeah, I am," Mie confirms. "Bellatrix and duelled for a little while, I may have taunted her," Mie admits.
"You may have taunted her?" Regulus asks, raising his eyebrow at Mie.
"Okay, I did," Mie confirms, and several people around the room look amused. "I don't think she appreciated it," Mie admits.
"Yeah, Mie, there is no way she would have," Sirius says concerned, knowing what his cousin is like. "Bellatrix is going to have it our for you," Sirius tells Mie, sounding concerned about what that will mean for her.
"Yeah, that became clear," Mie admits. "I assume I'm going to have to deal with that in the future," Mie admits, feeling a little worried about that, but she fights not to let that show.
"Most likely," Alice confirms. "Do you know when you're coming back to classes?" Alice asks curious.
"I'm not sure yet," Mie admits. "Dad's concerned about me," Mie reveals.
"I'm not surprised," Lily admits. "The others are worried about you too," Lily explains and Mie smiles slightly as that means a lot to her.
"What about Peter? Is he suspicious?" Mie asks curious, feeling worried about what that could mean.
"Not that I can tell," James comments.
"I don't think he is," Sirius comments.
"Me either," Remus confirms.
"He's a deep sleeper so we were able to get out of the dorm without a problem," James explains, and Mie nods, feeling glad about that.
"It's actually good that you all reached out, I have something I want to discuss," Mie says, causing the others to exchange looks. "I was going through some of Dad's books earlier, and I was starting to work on ways for us to send the books to an earlier point in the timeline I'm from so that they have a chance to change things too," Mie explains.
"Do you think it's possible?" Amelia asks curious, while she knows that they talked about it back once they finished the books, she wasn't sure if it was going to happen as they haven't talked about it since.
"I don't think anything is impossible, but I do think it's going to be difficult and take us time to figure out," Mie admits. "That's if you're willing to help," Mie says, looking between the others, as while she is willing to do it alone, she would prefer to have help and she thinks that with help is the best chance they have for it to succeed.
"Of course, we're gonna help Mie," Remus tells her, as the others nod in agreement, and Mie gives them grateful look.
"What have you got figured out so far?" Frank asks and Mie starts to explain what she has figured out so far, and what they will need to figure out to make the plan a reality.
After spending a couple of hours in the room of Requirement with the others who know all the truth Mie returned to the Dumbledore Tower. After a restless night, but a night which surprisingly didn't result in her screaming, Mie decides there is no point just lying in bed so she gets up and gets ready.
Once she is ready Mie heads out into the living area. Even though she didn't try to be quiet it is clear that Albus didn't hear her. Feeling curious about why he didn't realise Mie walks up to her father and as she does Mie sees that he is sitting at the table drinking tea, and as she looks over his shoulder Mie sees that he is looking at a picture. While she hasn't seen the exact picture before Mie knows exactly who is in it.
"Dad," Mie says, putting her hand on his shoulder before taking a seat to his left.
As soon as Albus realises that he is no longer alone Albus turns the photo over, clearly trying to hide it from Mie.
"Dad, you don't have to hide," Mie assures him, reaching over and turning the picture over, wanting to show her father that there is no reason for the look off shame on his face. Looking at the picture Mie sees young Albus, leaning against the chest of who she knows to be young Gellert Grindelwald, who has his arms around Albus, and is resting his head on Albus's shoulder as they sit on a couch together, both with huge smiles on their faces. "How long had you known each other?" Mie asks, wanting to show her father that he can talk about someone who was once so important to him, something she is pretty certain he has never felt he can do.
"Two weeks," Albus answers, without needing to think about it, and Mie is a little surprised by that as they look so close for having only known each other a short time. "Ariana…. Ariana in one of her lucid moments took the picture, she said she liked how happy I was," Albus says, pain and guilt in his voice as while it was hard to tell sometimes, he knows that Ariana liked Gellert, which makes everything so much worse, and so Mie reaches out and takes his hand.
"He will always be the love of your life," Mie says, there being no question in her voice.
"He shouldn't be," Albus says, knowing that after everything Gellert done he shouldn't still love him, but he does.
"I'm no expert, but I'm sure we don't choose those kinds of things," Mie tells her father in a comforting tone. "Have you seen him since your duel?" Mie asks curious, as that's not something she knows, struggling to find a more delicate way to ask that.
"I saw him a few days after, I visited," Albus reveals. "Over the years I had used connections to make him more comfortable, but I hadn't visited," Albus explains, having done everything he could to make Gellert as comfortable as possible, and Mie notices the specific words.
"Hadn't?" Mie asks curious, gently pushing.
"After we read…. What happened to him, I went to Nurmengard," Albus explains, and Mie is surprised by that, wondering if that means he didn't sleep that night as it wasn't long between when he left the Room of Requirements and when he returned. "No one knew I was there, he didn't, I…I didn't stay long," Albus admits, as that's what he believes. "I just….." Albus starts to say before trailing off, not completely sure how to put it into words, something which he doesn't struggle with every often.
"Needed to know he was still alive," Mie realises, and Albus nods. "Dad, that's completely understandable," Mie assures him.
"Is it?" Albus asks. "You know what he did Annemie, what we talked about doing together, how are you being so kind to me," Albus asks his daughter.
"Because you deserve kindness," Mie tells her father. "Dad, you loved a boy. You still love the man he is, and he may have done horrible things, your relationship may have sometimes brought out the worst in each other, but the love you had is pure, like all love," Mie tells Albus. "He stood up to Voldemort in his last moments, he protected your gave, I don't know what that means," Mie admits. "I think it's not a question for me to ask or even answer, just like it's not my place to judge; which I will never do," Mie tells her father. "You love him, and I'm sorry that that love has caused you so much pain," Mie tells her father.
"Thank you," Albus says, his voice barely above a whisper and hearing that Mie lets go of his hand and starts to search in her bag. After a bit of searching, she finds what she is looking for a copy of The Secrets and Lies of Albus Dumbledore.
"Don't read the words, you don't deserve that cruelty," Mie tells her father. "But what you do deserve is the pictures, a lot of pictures that I think matter to you," Mie says, handing the book over, as while she is not certain she suspects that Albus may not have copies of some of the photos in the book.
"Thank you," Albus says, accepting the book and as they drift into silence Mie notices that Albus looks like he wants to say something.
"Dad? What is it?" Mie asks. "You don't have to be worried about telling me something," Mie tells her father.
"Gellert's mother was a muggle," Albus reveals, knowing that that wouldn't have been in any book Mie read as Grindelwald made sure it wasn't known, by anyone except for him. "When Gellert was nine she was killed by her relatives because they saw his father do magic," Albus explains. "His father grew angry, and bitter," Albus admits. "He raised Gellert after that and when Gellert was fifteen his father killed most of his mother's family, only leaving his aunt alive," Albus explains. "He died shortly after in jail," Albus explains, knowing that after that Bathilda Bagshot, his great aunt on his father's side, was basically his only family after that.
"I didn't know that, it's not known by anyone," Mie reveals, feeling shocked as she is reasonably sure she read everything about Grindelwald, and wondering what the implication of that is.
"Gellert never told anyone else, he didn't want anyone to know," Albus reveals. "But what happened to his mother, what his father became because of it, affected everything he did," Albus admits, knowing that in the beginning they bonded over shared pain. "What he became wasn't what he set out to become. In the beginning he just wanted to change things, make it so what happened to his mother would never happen to anyone else," Albus explains, feeling the floodgate open as he talks about things he has never talked about before.
"Your future self said he grew remorseful in his later life, do you think that's what you meant, that he regretted what he did in his mothers name?" Mie asks curious. While she is pretty sure that only Grindelwald can answer that question for sure she is pretty sure that whatever answer Albus gives will be the right one.
"I believe so," Albus admits, and the two of them drift into silence as they sit together Albus continuing to look at the picture of he and his lost love that was taken a lifetime ago.
For a little while Mie and Albus sit in silence, neither sure what to say, though Mie is thinking about the implications of what Albus revealed about Grindelwald. After sitting in silence for a while the silence is broken by a knock on the door to their chambers.
"People can get up here?" Mie asks surprised as she didn't think they could.
"Only Minerva… and Uncle Ab," Albus explains, feeling concerned as actually coming to his chambers is something that is neither are likely to do without a very good reason, so he gets up and heads to the door, opening it to reveal Minerva.
"I'm sorry to intrude Albus," Minerva says, feeling bad about that as he knows that Albus's quarters is the one private place he has.
"It is quite alright Minerva, what is it?" Albus asks, as he knows she would have a very good reason for coming to his quarters.
"The Minster is on his way," Minerva reveals. "He is insisting that he meet with both you and Mie to discuss what happened and he will not take no for an answer," Minerva says and Albus rolls his eyes.
"How long until he arrives?" Albus asks with a sigh.
"Fifteen minutes," Minerva answers.
"Please bring him to my office, I'll be there when he arrives," Albus says.
"Of course," Minerva says.
"Minerva," Mie says, getting up and walking over to her mother and Albus, searching her pocket for something. "For you," Minerva says, handing Minerva her enchanted coin.
"Enchanted coin?" Minerva asks, curious as she takes it.
"Yes, to set a meeting in the room of Requirements you change the first two letters to the initials of who you want to meet with, though I'm MD and Uncle Ab is UA," Mie explains. "If you want to meet with everyone change it to EE, the last two letters in the seral number will tell you who's called the meeting," Mie explains to Minerva.
"Okay," Minerva says, taking it. "I'll go wait for the Minister, again I'm sorry for interrupting," Minerva says before leaving and once Minerva leaves Albus closes the door behind her.
"So, the minister wants to meet with us," Mie comments, having a bad feeling about that.
"Apparently," Albus confirms, frowning slightly. "If you don't want to meet with the Minister you don't have to," Albus tells his daughter, as he has no intention of making her do something she doesn't want to do, and he will not let the ministry do so.
"No, it's okay," Mie tells her father. "It's probably too soon for me to get on his bad side," Mie admits.
"I don't think so," Albus comments, and Mie gives him an amused look.
"Dad, it's okay, I can handle the minster," Mie assures him, as after the practice she has had she is sure of that, and Albus nods. "Here, you get a coin too," Mie says, handing it over.
"Thank you," Albus tells his daughter. "These are very impressive pieces of magic," Albus tells his daughter.
"Thanks Dad," Mie says, sounding touched. "If we're going to deal with the Minister, I'm going to need a cup of tea," Mie comments.
"Yes, I do believe a refill is in order," Albus says, and they both walk over to the able.
Once at the table Albus and Mie both sit down and drink their tea, both taking their time, both being well aware that they are leaving the Minister waiting in Albus's office.