Chapter 37
AN: Thank you so much for the response to the last chapter. I really hope you like this one, let me know what you think.
After Albus says the words it's time to go they sink in around the room and everyone, even those who are going to stay at the Hogshead, knows how dangerous what they are about to do is.
"I will leave first everyone else whether going to Godric's Hollow or Voldemort base wait two minutes then go," Albus says, looking around at everyone. "Get Annemie, get her to Madam Pomfrey," Albus requests, looking at Gellert.
"I will," Gellert promises, and Albus nods, looking at his love Albus gives Gellert a look, a look of understanding passing between them, Albus making it clear that he wants Gellert to focus on Mie rather than him.
"Be careful, Albus," Minerva says.
"Bring Annemie home," Albus says, as that's what matters most to him, before disappearing.
"Everyone grab what you need, we've got two minutes," Moody says and he, Minerva, Amelia, Alice, and James get ready to follow Albus while Gellert, Aberforth, Sirius and Remus get ready to rescue Mie and Frank, Regulus, Lily, and Severus all get ready in case they are needed as backup the others, something which they will know thanks to their enchanted coins.
Less than five minutes after Albus left the Hogshead Gellert, Aberforth, Sirius and Remus arrive near location where Mie is being held. Thanks to Regulus the four of them know exactly what kind of protections they'll be facing.
"Let's go," Sirius says, looking between the others, and after seeing the nods they start to walk.
For about a minute the group walk together, but then Gellert suddenly pulls Aberforth, who is in the front, back.
"What the bloody hell are you doing that for?" Aberforth asks angrily.
"Don't you feel it?" Gellert asks, not understanding how he couldn't, and Aberforth looks confused for a second, but then he realises.
"We've hit the protection," Aberforth realises.
"I can feel it, it feels like spikes," Remus says, sounding surprised about that, Gellert nods.
"We can't dwell on it, we've got to get through it and get to Mie," Sirius tells the others. "Who knows how long Albus will be able to keep Voldemort away," Sirius says, feeling worried.
"Longer than you think," Gellert admits. "He'll try to get Voldemort to see that what he is doing isn't right, that theirs is another path," Gellert says as he pulls his wand. "Albus always wants to give people a chance to change, to see a different path," Gellert says before performing complicated spells to get rid of the protection, it being clear that he is speaking from his own experience.
Far away from where he knows his love, brother and students are rescuing his daughter, Albus is waiting for Voldemort. While he knows that Minerva, Moody, James, Alice, and Amelia are nearby Albus feels alone as he knows they won't reveal themselves until they have to. Even though he knows that he should be focusing on what is going to happen with Voldemort Albus can't help but think about his daughter, he wonders if Gellert has gotten to her yet, he wonders if she is okay, whether she Is safe.
For a little while Albus waits until finally Voldemort appears with several Death Eaters, just like Albus suspected the death eaters who are with Voldemort are some of his most trusted lieutenants, with one noticeable exception, Bellatrix, which tells Albus that she is with Mie, just like he suspected.
"Dumbledore," Voldemort greats.
"Tom," Albus responds, and it is clear that Voldemort very much doesn't like being called that. "Where is my daughter?" Albus asks, even though he knows the answer as he wants to know what Voldemort will say as it will affect things.
"Safe, while we talk," Voldemort responds.
"Of course," Albus says. "Tom, you don't have to go down this path, you can do things differently," Albus tells Voldemort.
"So, you've been telling me for years," Voldemort says, rolling his eyes.
"Because it's the truth," Albus responds.
At the location where everything tells them they will find Mie Gellert, Aberforth, Sirius and Remus are walking towards the structure, what seems to be an abandoned house, having gotten inside the grounds as Gellert was able to break the protections. As the group approach the house, they are spotted by two guards, and before the guards can alert anyone to their presents Sirius and Remus stun them in perfect unison.
"Nicely done," Aberforth tells Sirius and Remus as they walk towards the entrance into the house.
"We should split up, it will give us the best chance to find Annemie," Gellert tells the others, as they walk past the unconscious people and into the house.
"Remus and I will go left," Sirius says.
"I'll go right," Gellert says, not knowing them well enough to be concerned about them. "Aberforth…." Gellert starts to say.
"I'm with you," Aberforth finishes as he does not trust Gellert to be alone.
"Fine, we don't have time to argue, we need to find Annemie," Gellert tells the others, as he knows Mie is more important than the anger, he and Aberforth feel towards each other.
"We'll meet back here," Remus says and while he and Sirius go in one direction Gellert and Aberforth go in another.
Over the next minute or so Gellert and Aberforth walk through the building together. For the most part they aren't noticed by anyone, but they are required to stun a couple of people before they see them. While Aberforth is surprised that Gellert did not do something more lethal he doesn't voice that, as it's not the time, but what he does do is glare at Gellert as they walk.
Getting to a stairwell Gellert and Aberforth exchange looks and then head down the stairs. As they are walking Gellert can feel the look of pure hatred and anger that Aberforth is giving him, but because Albus asked him to focus on Mie he is ignoring Aberforth and looking signs for where Mie could be.
When they get to the bottom of the stairs, they find a room with two doors coming off it, clearly leading to other rooms.
"I'll take the right," Gellert tells Aberforth.
"I'll take the left," Aberforth says and after giving Gellert one more look of pure loathing he turns away and heads to the door to the left while Gellert walks to the right.
As Gellert walks closer to the door he feels the magic and is sure that it is the room where Mie is, but as he doesn't want to deal with Aberforth and his suspicion any more than he has to, Gellert uses nonverbal magic to remove the protections on the door so that he is able to open it.
Looking into the room Gellert see a figure, who Gellert knows to be Mie, lying on the ground. As Mie hears the door open, she looks up and even though she recognizes exactly who it is she is seeing she cannot help but think that she is imagining him.
"Grindelwald?" Mie asks shocked, as she tries to push herself up.
"I'm here on behalf of your father," Gellert says as he walks over to Mie. "Your Uncle and two of your friends are here too," Gellert says as he helps Mie to her feet. Considering everything he knows Mie knows Gellert feels that it says a lot that she is not fighting against him. "I'm going to get you home, Annemie," Gellert tells her and for once Mie doesn't feel the need to correct him to say, 'it's Mie', and while Mie would very much want to go home, she knows there is something she has to do first.
"There's something I've got to do first, I can't leave until I do," Mie tells Gellert, and even though she very much looks like she is barely able to stand it is more than clear to Gellert that she means what she says and that as long as she is conscious nothing will stop her from what she has to do.
"Then I believe you are going to need these," Gellert says, reaching into his robes and pulling out Mie's wand and her beaded bag which he gives to her. "Albus wanted to make sure you had them," Gellert tells Mie.
"Thank you," Mie says as she takes both items and as soon as she has them, she feels more like herself. Keeping her wand in her hand Mie puts her bag around her shoulder and she goes to take a step, but she stumbles, thankfully because Gellert reacts quickly she doesn't fall. "Thanks," Mie tells Gellert, feeling grateful despite everything.
"If you insist on doing whatever it is you have to do then lean on me so I can at least help you," Gellert requests, and Mie nods, not feeling strong enough to actually argue against him.
"Okay," Mie says, and she leans on Gellert, as while she isn't sure she can trust Grindelwald she knows her father does and while she is still hesitant knowing how her father's feels does mean something to Mie, and allows her to feel a slimer of trust towards Gellert. "You said two of my friends are here, who?" Mie asks as Gellert starts to help Mie out of the room as Mie needs to know who is risking themselves for her.
"Um, Sirius and Remus I believe they were called," Gellert answers.
"Okay," Mie says and through the flog of her mind Mie feels extremely worried about her friends, and as they walk into the middle room, they see Aberforth walking out from the other room.
"Mie," Aberforth says, looking thrilled to see her and so he walks over and hugs her. "I'm sorry," Aberforth tells her as he hugs her.
"It's okay, it's not your fault, Uncle Ab," Mie assures her uncle, as the two of them break apart.
"Where's Peter?" Aberforth asks, though he suspects he knows the answer.
"Dead," Mie says, guilt in her voice as she does feel guilty about what happened to him, feels that it is her fault. "I need you to go find Sirius and Remus, we'll meet you outside," Mie tells her uncle.
"No, I'm not leaving you with him," Aberforth says, glaring at Grindelwald.
"Uncle Ab, it's okay," Mie assures him. "I'll be okay, but there's something I have to do," Mie tells her uncle. "Please make sure Sirius and Remus are okay," Mie requests, as she needs to know that they are okay, giving her uncle a pleading look.
"Five minutes and then I'm coming after you," Aberforth tells Mie.
"Five minutes," Mie tells her uncle, and Aberforth nods and he heads upstairs.
After seeing her uncle go upstairs Mie, needing help from Gellert, but it is clear that she is leading the way, heads straight to the self where Mie saw the locket. Needing to be careful Mie uses a simple spell to make sure there are no protections, and she isn't surprised when there isn't as she knows Voldemort hasn't put the locket in it's final protected place. Once Mie is sure that there is no outward protection on the locket Mie reaches out for it with one hand while putting her other hand into her beaded bag, and Gellert quickly reaches out and grabs the hand that is reaching for the locket.
"Can't you feel the power? The darkness?" Gellert asks concerned, and Mie knows that it is good that he can sense that as Mie knows that it means the Horcrux is still in tack.
"Of course, I can," Mie admits, pulling out the version of the locket, the broken version that Kreacher entrusted her with, out of her bag.
"You know exactly what you're doing," Gellert realises, looking between the two identical objects though it is clear that one is destroyed, and feeling his confusion grow.
"I do," Mie says, and as Gellert is no longer stopping her Mie puts the undestroyed locket into her bag and lays the destroyed one flat on her left hand while using her right hand to cast a nonverbal spell to make it look like the locket isn't destroyed. While she hasn't repaired the damage, that is impossible because of how it is destroyed, what she has done is cast a glamour to make it appear undestroyed.
"The magical signature isn't the same, you can tell it's been destroyed," Gellert tells Mie, needing her to know that as while he doesn't know exactly what she is planning he does know that that is important to know.
"I know, I don't know how to hide that," Mie says as she puts the old broken version of the locket back in the exact spot the other one was. Once the locket is in place Gellert uses his wand, and speaks language that Mie doesn't understand and points at the locket. While Mie doesn't know what Gellert has done she can feel the power radiating and knows that he did something.
"What did you do?" Mie asks, feeling curious.
"Gave it a dark magic signature, it will not fool Voldemort if he touches it, or gets too close to it, but it will make it so he doesn't feel the different from a distance," Gellert tells Mie.
"Thank you," Mie says, feeling grateful as she knows it will hide what they are doing from Voldemort for a while longer, and before Gellert can say anything in response they both hear screaming from upstairs. Exchanging looks and both feeling worried, Mie and Gellert hurry upstairs, Mie's needing Gellert's help to get upstairs.
At the Hogshead feeling extremely worried about what is going on with their friends Frank, Regulus, Lily, and Severus are all in the background at the Hogshead. As they wait Regulus is pacing back and froth while the others are sitting around and as he paces the group hear the door to the bar open, which causes Regulus to stop pacing.
"DUMBLEDORE!" A voice yells.
"That's the minister," Regulus realises, causing the teens to exchange looks.
"Reg, stay here," Lily tells Regulus and she, Severus, and Frank head into the main area of the bar, and because Regulus knows exactly why Lily told him to stay behind Regulus listens to what is going on in the other room.
Walking into the main area of the bar Lily, Severus and Frank see who they know to be the minster for magic Harold Mitchum, Barty Crouch Snr, the head of magical law enforcement, and several other people who the trio don't recognize on sight but likely know.
"The three of you were there when Dumbledore was in the hospital wing," Mitchum says, recognizing them. "What are your names?" Mitchum asks.
"Lily Evans,"
"Severus Snape,"
"Frank Longbottom," Frank says and as soon as Frank says it's name it is clear that all the attention of the Ministry personal is on him. While this does not surprise either Lily or Severus neither are happy about it.
"Mr Longbottom, where is Dumbledore?" Crouch asks, and both Lily and Severus are sure that neither would be addressed as kindly if they were spoken to.
"Which Dumbledore?" Frank asks with a pleasant tone of voice.
"Albus Dumbledore!" Mitchum says, sounding annoyed.
"He's not here," Frank answers.
"What about Aberforth Dumbledore?" Crouch asks.
"Also not here," Severus answers.
"Annemie Dumbledore?" Mitchum asks.
"Not here," Lily answers.
"Then why didn't you just say that!" Mitchum exclaims. "Where are they?" Mitchum asks, sounding angry, and the three students exchange looks, none of them completely sure how to answer that as they aren't completely sure how much the minister should know.
"We don't know for sure," Lily answers.
"What do you mean?" Mitchum asks, and once again he is looking at Frank, which causes Lily to feel annoyance rise up inside of her.
"Two of our friends have been taken by Voldemort," Lily explains, causing all eyes to turn to her. "Professor Dumbledore went to negotiate their return, he said for us to stay here where we're safe," Lily explains.
"Was Annemie Dumbledore one of the students?" Crouch asks, and Lily, Severus and Frank exchange looks, not sure if they should answer. "That's a yes," Crouch realises.
"McLaggen, take the students back to the Castle. Crouch, search the bar," Mitchum instructs and because Regulus hears that from the other room he leaves via the backdoor as he knows it will not be good for him to be caught.
"We were told to wait here," Severus argues.
"I'm the Minister of Magic, you're students, you belong at the castle," Mitchum instructs, giving McLaggen a look, clearly giving an order, and the students realise that they have no choice but to listen. As they are forced out of the bar Lily, Frank and Severus exchange looks and all three of them come to an understanding, that they will go straight to the Hospital Wing as they know that it's the most likely place where the others will go.
Having no idea about what is happening with his students Albus with Voldemort in the outskirts of Godric Hollow. In the time they have been in the same location neither have cast a spell, but rather they have been talking.
"You just don't understand power," Voldemort tells Albus.
"No Tom, the fact that I understand power is exactly why I know that what I am saying is true," Albus admits.
"Your just afraid of power," Voldemort says as he feels himself being called by Bellatrix, and as he feels the call, he knows exactly what that means. "You're trying to distract me," Voldemort realises, and he goes to disaparate, but Albus quickly sends a curse at him, wanting to give Gellert, Mie, Aberforth, Sirius and Remus more time to get away, and as soon as Albus sends the curse a fight breaks out between Albus and Voldemort with the Death Eaters, Amelia, Alice, James, Minerva, and Moody watching on.
After hearing the others yell Gellert and Mie have hurried up the stairs, but because he realised that that Mie is struggling Gellert picked her up and carried her up the stairs. Once they were on the main floor Gellert put Mie down and the two of them, both holding their wands at the ready, hurry towards where they heard the yell coming from, Mie still needing to lean on Gellert for support.
Getting to the entry area of the building Mie and Gellert sees Sirius and Remus Dulling several lower-level death eaters while Aberforth is dulling with Bellatrix. Sirius looking like he is trying to get to Aberforth as he wants to battle Bellatrix.
Even with how weak she is feeling Mie knows she has to help her friends and so she sends several stunners towards the Death Eaters Sirius and Remus are fighting, knocking them out, and with every curse she sends Mie can feel herself becoming weaker. As Mie sends the stunners Gellert realises that even though Aberforth is a better duelling that he would give him credit for Bellatrix is clearly superior and so Gellert casts a strong shield charm that basically dives the room in half, and protects Aberforth, Mie, Sirius, Remus, and Gellert from the Death Eaters.
"Grindelwald," Bellatrix says, sounding completely shocked, as while she recognizes the man thanks to the history books and her family stories, she can barely believe what she is seeing.
"We've got to go," Sirius says as he and Remus hurry over to Mie to help her.
"Albus gave me a portkey that will take us to the hospital wing, but we need to get beyond the barrier to use it," Aberforth tells the others.
"Go, I'll hold her up," Gellert says, and not needing to be told twice, and having no issues with leaving Gellert behind, Aberforth starts to run.
"I'm not just going to leave you," Mie says as while she has a lot of complicated feelings towards Grindelwald, and isn't sure how she feels about him, she knows she cannot leave behind someone who rescued her, and she knows her father wouldn't want her to.
"I'll catch up," Gellert promises. "I'm here to rescue you, go," Gellert tells Mie.
"Come on Mie," Remus tells her and he and Sirius help Mie out of the building as Mie isn't able to hurry on her own, leaving Gellert with Bellatrix and the unconscious death eaters.
After being escorted back to the castle by Minister Members Lily, Severus, Frank head straight to the Hospital Wing, meeting up with Regulus on the way. As they get to the hospital wing, they hurry in and look for signs of the others.
"What are you lot doing here?" Madam Pomfrey asks, seeing them, and having no idea why they would be there.
"Mie was abducted by Voldemort, we think Peter handed her over," Lily explains. "We assumed they'd be here by now," Lily says, worry in her voice, but before Madam Pomfrey can ask one of the million questions, she has there are the tell-tale signs of a portkey and Aberforth, Gellert, Sirius and Remus appear, it being clear that the others are holding up Mie, who looks unconscious.
"What happened?" Regulus asks worried, as Aberforth, Sirius, Remus and Gellert lower Mie to the ground.
"Bellatrix hit her with a spell as we were leaving, I'm not sure what it was," Sirius says, though he knows for sure it wasn't the killing curse as there wasn't green light.
"She's not breathing," Remus reveals, as a feeling of horror takes over the room.