"Listen to me a little!" Regulus shouted, "Just stop!" With another wave, he barely managed to deflect his daughter's disarming spell.
"I don't care."
"Quincy! Stop! You must come to your senses!"
"..." She didn't answer; she simply went on the attack once again, surprising Regulus. Back in the forest, her daughter was not this good or focused. Yet he couldn't be happy about it... if he also retaliates for real, he may hurt her for good!
"Quincy!" He shouted again, feeling that he was almost lifted from his legs to the air, barely managing to reverse the quiet, invisible spell aiming at his ankles.
"Stop calling me by name."
"I gave it to you! Listen to me, you must come with me! You have no future besides that bastard!" The moment the words left his mouth, Regulus could see a bright, red jet fly past him, just missing because he managed to turn into a dog and back in time. "Quincy! If you keep letting him poison your mind, you will be sentenced to death alongside him! Don't you see I am trying to save you from his grasp? It's death's cold fingers around your neck, don't you feel it?!"
"Is it?" She asked, looking directly into her father's eyes, her tone never before being this flat and devoid of warmth.
"It is! Please start seeing it for what it is! He is-"
But before he could say anything, Regulus felt as if a fist landed in his stomach as Quincy's knock-back spell hit him, making him lift into the air before crashing back down with a loud crack.
"You will never leave me alone, will you?" She asked, walking close and looking down at him, watching him wriggle in the snow, trying to sit up, feeling his chest being cracked at many places.
"You are... my... daughter... I will... fight for you... for... ever... and... ever...!" He grunted, looking up at her, "You have to... leave that... scum-"
But he could not finish what he wanted to say because Quincy's wand erupted in a jet of green light, making Regulus fall to his back, dead. For a second, that felt minutes for Quincy; she just stood there, watching, unmoving, her hand slowly beginning to quiver. It took her great effort to lower her hand just so she could hear Conrad's shout.
...
....
.....
"Quincy!" I rushed over, hugging her, for a moment thinking that she was hit by it and not vice versa. Looking at the corpse of her father, I felt nothing, but I knew whatever happened here was...
"It's fine." She whispered, finally looking away and hugging back, softly kissing my lips, and I could taste the salty flavor left behind by her tears. "I have chosen you, and I will always choose you."
"I won't leave you, ever..." I answered, hugging her back, flinching when we heard an explosion, and turning towards the source, we saw Grindelwald dueling the two remaining wizards.
I had to realize that he was way faster now than when training us. It was as if he managed to cast two spells at once, not only standing off against two others but beginning to push them back. Honestly... it was a sight to behold, watching differently colored, flashy spells clash and blast to the side in a rapid fire. When they finally appeared to regain control, exhausting Grindelwald, the blue fire emerged around him once again, forcing them to break apart, retreating farther away. It was different from the spell that Lockhart taught me. This one was lighter in color and burned without any sound. It was like... blue in a way, as a ghost was. More ethereal and not part of the world of the living. At least, that was the feeling it gave me.
"Come." He said calmly, and we knew it was aimed at us. "Time's up."
"No!" The grizzly-looking man grunted, warning us, "That fire is worse than fiend fire! You will die!"
Would we? I wouldn't believe the words of someone from the Order, not even when they are telling the truth!
"Listen to him!" Shouted the woman, with honest-sounding worry in her voice, but I had already walked through the fire along with Quincy, and we felt nothing. It was neither hot nor cold; letting us coming to stand next to him just in time to hear a small 'pop' sound and watch as Dumbledore materialized from nothing right in front of us and the blue fire.
"Albus."
"Gellert."
The way they greeted each other was just like when two old acquaintances met on the street. I could not feel any tension or anger between them, but I could see that both were holding their wands firmly between their fingers.
"You look healthy." Dumbledore exhaled, ignoring the two dead bodies close to him, keeping his blue eyes fixated on Grindelwald's own.
"Thank you. On the other hand... You don't. Please... take better care of yourself, Albus."
"It's hard; you know that better than anyone else."
"I do, Albus. That's why I'm saying it. I took your advice; it is best if you listen to yourself; it isn't too late."
"Funny..." He smiled, and I saw him relax his fingers around the end of his wand, "I wanted to say the same thing."
"Haaah... I hope, one day, we can sit down and talk again as friends, Albus. I would love that... Until then, please. Do take care."
"No promises..." He nodded and just watched as Grindelwald put his hand on our shoulders, and then, everything went dark.
...
....
.....
"Was this... wise?" Moody asked, leaning on his massive stick, his magical eye whirling in his socket, looking for ambushes while McGonagall was checking on the bodies of Regulus and Charlie, closing their still-open eyes with a sorrowful look.
"I arrived late." Dumbledore whispered, looking up towards the black sky and silver moon.
"I will pursue them! This is the worst possible outcome!"
"No, Alastor."
"But Albus!" McGonagall exclaimed, drawing in a sharp breath.
"We can't afford to split our forces. We must focus on finding the last two Horcruxes and let the prophecy fulfill itself! Neville and his improvement is something we never saw before, which tells us that the prophecy is working, driving us close to its end. We must not falter..."
"But..."
"Maybe his appearance will be to our advantage. The world has changed so much, and he is only familiar with one place, the only place he could have gone now."
"Durmstrang..." The two whispered, making Dumbledore smile, although it wasn't out of happiness.
"Right now, we must take advantage of the situation. When two snakes fight, you don't separate them, but wait until they kill each other..."
...
....
......
"Where are we?" I asked after we reappeared in an overgrown, abandoned yard behind a half-collapsed old farmhouse. It was cold, but the snow had already melted away because it was in the middle of spring, revealing its unkempt mess.
"The home where I grew up." Grindelwald answered very simply, raising up his wand, and with one simple wave, the destroyed house began realigning itself right until it was in a tip-top shape. It was like watching time flowing in reverse. "Let's go in and rest until morning."
I wasn't arguing about that and followed him, holding Quincy's hand who was awfully silent... but I could understand why. The inside of the house was old, but it didn't smell weird, and soon, we were sitting on a couch, watching the fire dance within the fireplace. Quincy silently snuggled up to me, hugging me ever so tightly, resting her head on my shoulder while I was replaying the previous duel I just had.
"This land and the surrounding wilderness belonged to my family for centuries. I guess no others came and claimed it, which I am not surprised by. It was jinxed to bring misfortunes to anyone but my blood."
"Are we going to stay here from now on?" I asked while gently rubbing Quincy's head.
"Not for long. When the sun rises, I will go out and visit some key places. You can't come because the magic guarding it would retaliate against your presence, so until then, stay here. After I am done, we will move up north, where Valdemar is."
"Valdemar?" I raised an eyebrow because I never heard of it before. Not that I paid attention in any geography classes.
"It is our own Hogsmeade. It is a city within Durmstrang's rule, housing some ancient wizarding families. From there, we can explore the grounds and infiltrate the castle itself. But that is for then! Now, we rest. I am still weak; the battle was a good exercise, but my body is not up to par with my mind.
With that, he ended our conversation, leaning back in his big, puffy armchair, closing his eyes, and going into sleep... or meditation. I couldn't really tell. Whatever it was, I decided to also rest, lying down with Quincy in my arms, watching her without a word.
"Conrad..."
"Hm?" The moment I heard her quiet, weak voice, I rapidly blinked my eyes, chasing away the sleep that almost got me.
"Did I do something... unforgivable?"
"I don't think so."
"I did kill my father... Isn't... isn't that the worst sin?"
"Nope."
"But..."
"When did you meet him first?" I asked, playing with her hair and looking into her eyes.
"When he kidnapped me..."
"Exactly. When he kidnapped you. Kidnapped. Where was he until then? Even in hiding, why didn't he ever try to contact you? There were so many options..."
"..."
"I don't buy it. Not for a moment. If he had managed to take you away sooner, you would not have said 'kidnapping,' but it would have been rescuing. No?"
"I think..." She nodded, pondering about it.
"My opinion is that he was simply trying to appease his own ego. He wouldn't have been this self-centered if he genuinely cared about you. Why didn't he listen to what you want? Why was it about him and always about him?"
"Your father never acted like that..." She whispered, pressing her head against my chest. "I miss him..."
"Me too..." I answered, kissing the top of her head. "Don't blame yourself, Quincy. I am with you, no matter what."
...
....
......
"Did you see Hermione anywhere?" Brigitte asked, meeting with Elodie, who flinched when being spoken to, something she just couldn't shake off since returning from their 'trip.'
"Yes, she, once again, complained that her head was hurting and skipped the afternoon classes."
"Tsk... I can't believe they can't do anything about it!"
"You heard what the Headmaster said... It can't be helped."
"Yeah, right..."
What the two didn't know was that it was only a half-truth. Hermione did have a headache, something she had been dealing with ever since Fleur made her drink that horrible potion. Still, it was something she could deal with by simply focusing her mind and thoughts, alleviating the pain completely. That is why she was in the library, buried behind stacks of books and newspapers, researching the history of the past fifty years. Her goal was simple: he wanted to learn everything about the current conflict, what led to it, and, more importantly, she wanted to find out the history of the Anguine family.
"I wish I was back in England..." She groaned, rubbing her temple.
"Pst, Hermione!" Another voice interrupted her, belonging to a younger boy speaking to her in English.
"Colin?" She asked, looking at the top of her mousy, brown hair, pushing the books apart to finally look into the small boy's twinkling, brown eyes.
"I heard you want information about what is going back at home, yes?"
"Um, yeah... but..." She stopped, trying to think how to say it nicely. Colin was not in a position to really help her out. Yes, he was also a 'refugee' like many others, saved by the same person, but besides that...?
"Hehe, I knew it! Look, look!" He chuckled, bringing over a big album and placing it before Hermione. When she opened it, it was filled with cutouts from the Daily Prophet, dating back at least 40 years.
"What? H-h-how? Where did you get this?!"
"My parents!"
"Aren't your parents... muggles?" She asked, flipping the pages, her eyes lighting up more and more. But this was still weird... Colin was here because of the same reason as she.
"Yeah, but they volunteered to join the Order, but that is a secret! Don't tell anyone! They are what they call a muggle-spy! I have been speaking with them regularly; they always send me newspapers! This is my collection because I want to be a journalist one day!" He exclaimed, raising his camera and snapping a photo of the dazzled Hermione.
"Colin... can you... ask them if they can find something out for me?"
"Is this some kind of scoop?" He asked while going very quiet, leaning forward. "Is it important?"
"Yes. It is very important. Can you help me out?"
"Um... I can!" He nodded his head like a chicken, and soon, he was listening to Hermione, who could barely hold back her newfound excitement.
"Listen to me a little!" Regulus shouted, "Just stop!" With another wave, he barely managed to deflect his daughter's disarming spell.
"I don't care."
"Quincy! Stop! You must come to your senses!"
"..." She didn't answer; she simply went on the attack once again, surprising Regulus. Back in the forest, her daughter was not this good or focused. Yet he couldn't be happy about it... if he also retaliates for real, he may hurt her for good!
"Quincy!" He shouted again, feeling that he was almost lifted from his legs to the air, barely managing to reverse the quiet, invisible spell aiming at his ankles.
"Stop calling me by name."
"I gave it to you! Listen to me, you must come with me! You have no future besides that bastard!" The moment the words left his mouth, Regulus could see a bright, red jet fly past him, just missing because he managed to turn into a dog and back in time. "Quincy! If you keep letting him poison your mind, you will be sentenced to death alongside him! Don't you see I am trying to save you from his grasp? It's death's cold fingers around your neck, don't you feel it?!"
"Is it?" She asked, looking directly into her father's eyes, her tone never before being this flat and devoid of warmth.
"It is! Please start seeing it for what it is! He is-"
But before he could say anything, Regulus felt as if a fist landed in his stomach as Quincy's knock-back spell hit him, making him lift into the air before crashing back down with a loud crack.
"You will never leave me alone, will you?" She asked, walking close and looking down at him, watching him wriggle in the snow, trying to sit up, feeling his chest being cracked at many places.
"You are... my... daughter... I will... fight for you... for... ever... and... ever...!" He grunted, looking up at her, "You have to... leave that... scum-"
But he could not finish what he wanted to say because Quincy's wand erupted in a jet of green light, making Regulus fall to his back, dead. For a second, that felt minutes for Quincy; she just stood there, watching, unmoving, her hand slowly beginning to quiver. It took her great effort to lower her hand just so she could hear Conrad's shout.
...
....
.....
"Quincy!" I rushed over, hugging her, for a moment thinking that she was hit by it and not vice versa. Looking at the corpse of her father, I felt nothing, but I knew whatever happened here was...
"It's fine." She whispered, finally looking away and hugging back, softly kissing my lips, and I could taste the salty flavor left behind by her tears. "I have chosen you, and I will always choose you."
"I won't leave you, ever..." I answered, hugging her back, flinching when we heard an explosion, and turning towards the source, we saw Grindelwald dueling the two remaining wizards.
I had to realize that he was way faster now than when training us. It was as if he managed to cast two spells at once, not only standing off against two others but beginning to push them back. Honestly... it was a sight to behold, watching differently colored, flashy spells clash and blast to the side in a rapid fire. When they finally appeared to regain control, exhausting Grindelwald, the blue fire emerged around him once again, forcing them to break apart, retreating farther away. It was different from the spell that Lockhart taught me. This one was lighter in color and burned without any sound. It was like... blue in a way, as a ghost was. More ethereal and not part of the world of the living. At least, that was the feeling it gave me.
"Come." He said calmly, and we knew it was aimed at us. "Time's up."
"No!" The grizzly-looking man grunted, warning us, "That fire is worse than fiend fire! You will die!"
Would we? I wouldn't believe the words of someone from the Order, not even when they are telling the truth!
"Listen to him!" Shouted the woman, with honest-sounding worry in her voice, but I had already walked through the fire along with Quincy, and we felt nothing. It was neither hot nor cold; letting us coming to stand next to him just in time to hear a small 'pop' sound and watch as Dumbledore materialized from nothing right in front of us and the blue fire.
"Albus."
"Gellert."
The way they greeted each other was just like when two old acquaintances met on the street. I could not feel any tension or anger between them, but I could see that both were holding their wands firmly between their fingers.
"You look healthy." Dumbledore exhaled, ignoring the two dead bodies close to him, keeping his blue eyes fixated on Grindelwald's own.
"Thank you. On the other hand... You don't. Please... take better care of yourself, Albus."
"It's hard; you know that better than anyone else."
"I do, Albus. That's why I'm saying it. I took your advice; it is best if you listen to yourself; it isn't too late."
"Funny..." He smiled, and I saw him relax his fingers around the end of his wand, "I wanted to say the same thing."
"Haaah... I hope, one day, we can sit down and talk again as friends, Albus. I would love that... Until then, please. Do take care."
"No promises..." He nodded and just watched as Grindelwald put his hand on our shoulders, and then, everything went dark.
...
....
.....
"Was this... wise?" Moody asked, leaning on his massive stick, his magical eye whirling in his socket, looking for ambushes while McGonagall was checking on the bodies of Regulus and Charlie, closing their still-open eyes with a sorrowful look.
"I arrived late." Dumbledore whispered, looking up towards the black sky and silver moon.
"I will pursue them! This is the worst possible outcome!"
"No, Alastor."
"But Albus!" McGonagall exclaimed, drawing in a sharp breath.
"We can't afford to split our forces. We must focus on finding the last two Horcruxes and let the prophecy fulfill itself! Neville and his improvement is something we never saw before, which tells us that the prophecy is working, driving us close to its end. We must not falter..."
"But..."
"Maybe his appearance will be to our advantage. The world has changed so much, and he is only familiar with one place, the only place he could have gone now."
"Durmstrang..." The two whispered, making Dumbledore smile, although it wasn't out of happiness.
"Right now, we must take advantage of the situation. When two snakes fight, you don't separate them, but wait until they kill each other..."
...
....
......
"Where are we?" I asked after we reappeared in an overgrown, abandoned yard behind a half-collapsed old farmhouse. It was cold, but the snow had already melted away because it was in the middle of spring, revealing its unkempt mess.
"The home where I grew up." Grindelwald answered very simply, raising up his wand, and with one simple wave, the destroyed house began realigning itself right until it was in a tip-top shape. It was like watching time flowing in reverse. "Let's go in and rest until morning."
I wasn't arguing about that and followed him, holding Quincy's hand who was awfully silent... but I could understand why. The inside of the house was old, but it didn't smell weird, and soon, we were sitting on a couch, watching the fire dance within the fireplace. Quincy silently snuggled up to me, hugging me ever so tightly, resting her head on my shoulder while I was replaying the previous duel I just had.
"This land and the surrounding wilderness belonged to my family for centuries. I guess no others came and claimed it, which I am not surprised by. It was jinxed to bring misfortunes to anyone but my blood."
"Are we going to stay here from now on?" I asked while gently rubbing Quincy's head.
"Not for long. When the sun rises, I will go out and visit some key places. You can't come because the magic guarding it would retaliate against your presence, so until then, stay here. After I am done, we will move up north, where Valdemar is."
"Valdemar?" I raised an eyebrow because I never heard of it before. Not that I paid attention in any geography classes.
"It is our own Hogsmeade. It is a city within Durmstrang's rule, housing some ancient wizarding families. From there, we can explore the grounds and infiltrate the castle itself. But that is for then! Now, we rest. I am still weak; the battle was a good exercise, but my body is not up to par with my mind.
With that, he ended our conversation, leaning back in his big, puffy armchair, closing his eyes, and going into sleep... or meditation. I couldn't really tell. Whatever it was, I decided to also rest, lying down with Quincy in my arms, watching her without a word.
"Conrad..."
"Hm?" The moment I heard her quiet, weak voice, I rapidly blinked my eyes, chasing away the sleep that almost got me.
"Did I do something... unforgivable?"
"I don't think so."
"I did kill my father... Isn't... isn't that the worst sin?"
"Nope."
"But..."
"When did you meet him first?" I asked, playing with her hair and looking into her eyes.
"When he kidnapped me..."
"Exactly. When he kidnapped you. Kidnapped. Where was he until then? Even in hiding, why didn't he ever try to contact you? There were so many options..."
"..."
"I don't buy it. Not for a moment. If he had managed to take you away sooner, you would not have said 'kidnapping,' but it would have been rescuing. No?"
"I think..." She nodded, pondering about it.
"My opinion is that he was simply trying to appease his own ego. He wouldn't have been this self-centered if he genuinely cared about you. Why didn't he listen to what you want? Why was it about him and always about him?"
"Your father never acted like that..." She whispered, pressing her head against my chest. "I miss him..."
"Me too..." I answered, kissing the top of her head. "Don't blame yourself, Quincy. I am with you, no matter what."
...
....
......
"Did you see Hermione anywhere?" Brigitte asked, meeting with Elodie, who flinched when being spoken to, something she just couldn't shake off since returning from their 'trip.'
"Yes, she, once again, complained that her head was hurting and skipped the afternoon classes."
"Tsk... I can't believe they can't do anything about it!"
"You heard what the Headmaster said... It can't be helped."
"Yeah, right..."
What the two didn't know was that it was only a half-truth. Hermione did have a headache, something she had been dealing with ever since Fleur made her drink that horrible potion. Still, it was something she could deal with by simply focusing her mind and thoughts, alleviating the pain completely. That is why she was in the library, buried behind stacks of books and newspapers, researching the history of the past fifty years. Her goal was simple: he wanted to learn everything about the current conflict, what led to it, and, more importantly, she wanted to find out the history of the Anguine family.
"I wish I was back in England..." She groaned, rubbing her temple.
"Pst, Hermione!" Another voice interrupted her, belonging to a younger boy speaking to her in English.
"Colin?" She asked, looking at the top of her mousy, brown hair, pushing the books apart to finally look into the small boy's twinkling, brown eyes.
"I heard you want information about what is going back at home, yes?"
"Um, yeah... but..." She stopped, trying to think how to say it nicely. Colin was not in a position to really help her out. Yes, he was also a 'refugee' like many others, saved by the same person, but besides that...?
"Hehe, I knew it! Look, look!" He chuckled, bringing over a big album and placing it before Hermione. When she opened it, it was filled with cutouts from the Daily Prophet, dating back at least 40 years.
"What? H-h-how? Where did you get this?!"
"My parents!"
"Aren't your parents... muggles?" She asked, flipping the pages, her eyes lighting up more and more. But this was still weird... Colin was here because of the same reason as she.
"Yeah, but they volunteered to join the Order, but that is a secret! Don't tell anyone! They are what they call a muggle-spy! I have been speaking with them regularly; they always send me newspapers! This is my collection because I want to be a journalist one day!" He exclaimed, raising his camera and snapping a photo of the dazzled Hermione.
"Colin... can you... ask them if they can find something out for me?"
"Is this some kind of scoop?" He asked while going very quiet, leaning forward. "Is it important?"
"Yes. It is very important. Can you help me out?"
"Um... I can!" He nodded his head like a chicken, and soon, he was listening to Hermione, who could barely hold back her newfound excitement.
