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The Order Strikes Back (II) [Chapter 57]
🕑 Added 2022-12-18 17:18:31 +0000 UTC“So, how are you feeling?” Destiny asked Gellert as she looked up from the book she was reading.
“I feel… great. I do not know how to explain it, but I feel a lot more stronger, faster, and durable at the same time” Gellert explained as he clutched his hand to feel the power and Magic coursing through his body.
“Good… That is exactly how I was feeling. I wouldn’t be surprised if gained some sort of Magical resistance too” Destiny hummed thoughtfully.
“Yes, Chimeras may not be strong like a Nundu or a Dragon, but they do have Magical resistance” Gellert said as he finally started to get dressed.
“Though I was quite impressed with the way you killed it” Destiny praised him with a grin.
“Thought you would like it… Though now I am feeling somewhat bad for not choosing a Dragon, I also wanted to breathe fire” Gellert muttered with a longing look on his face.
“Well… Then you should have gone for a Dragon!” Destiny snapped mockingly and Gellert simply rolled his eyes at her in exasperation.
“Since we are done here, should we return?” Gellert asked curiously as he cracked his neck.
“My men are already cleaning up your old base in Belgium” Destiny pointed out and Gellert nodded his head in understanding. Without saying anything else, Gellert extended his hand toward Destiny.
Destiny simply rolled her eyes, she could have Apparated on her own, but she still accepted the offered hand, and moments later, the two of them were gone with a soft crack.
Destiny and Gellert arrived at Gellert’s old base in Belgium… Even though the Belgian Aurors were after him, they never found his base of operations, so this base was still operational.
Gellert noticed a lone woman playing on a swing and frowned… “Was it really wise to bring her here?” Gellert asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
“No… probably not, but I think it is about time she has her revenge” Destiny shrugged as he made her way her way toward the woman. “While she may not be completely sane, but I do feel for her and she is… a friend” Destiny added after a small pause.
Gellert gave her a look from the corner of his eyes and nodded his head in understanding. “Yes, you are right… She is also one of my few friends” Gellert mumbled solemnly and the woman finally noticed the two approaching her.
The heartbroken look on her face disappeared and a huge smile bloomed on her face. “Gellert! Destiny! You are finally here! I was wondering when the two of you are going to be finally back!” The woman exclaimed cheerfully as rushed at Gellert and pulled him into a tight hug.
“We weren’t gone for that long, Anna” Gellert pointed out in an amused tone, but he still hugged back the woman.
Annabell finally released Gellert and then she moved on to hug Destiny in a similar manner. “Yes. Yes. The two of you weren’t gone for long, but nobody wants to play with Anna… I was so bored!” Annabell whined after she finally released Destiny.
“I see… Do you want me to push you?” Destiny asked as she glanced toward the swing and Annabell immediately started to nod her head, looking extremely excited.
Annabell rushed toward the swing and plopped down on it. Destiny Apparated behind Annabella and started to push her. The woman started to squeal in joy and Destiny couldn’t help but smile at the scene. Even Gellert started to smile at the scene…
The woman has endured so much pain… She lost her only child and then she was abandoned by her own husband, and finally, she was abandoned by her own Family. The loss of her child hit her the most, but that didn’t mean that the rest didn’t hurt her.
“Anna, I think it’s about time you have your revenge” Destiny said as she continued to push Annabell. The woman’s head whipped back with a gleeful and excited look on her face as she jumped off from the swing.
Annabell turned around and looked at Destiny expectantly… “Really?” Annabell asked in a hopeful tone as she glanced toward Gellert who simply shrugged, so Annabell turned back toward Destiny, looking at her expectantly.
“Yes, really… So, when do you want to leave?” Destiny asked with a soft smile on her face and instead of answering, Annabell jumped into Destiny’s arms as she started to cry in joy.
“Thank you, thank you…” Annabell continued to thank Destiny under her breath and Destiny simply started to pat her back, trying to comfort the woman.
After a couple of minutes, Annabell finally stopped crying and separated herself from Destiny. “Tonight, he and his whore will die tonight” Annabell said while gritting her teeth with madness filled in her eyes.
“What about their children?” Gellert asked curiously. He wasted worried about her killing them as Annabell adorned children, but he couldn’t say for sure as she might see those children as an insult to her own son.
“I will Obliviate them and I will raise them” Annabell answered with a giggle and Destiny quickly shook her head.
“No… You can’t do that Anna. They are children, their minds are extremely fragile. If you try to Obliviate so many memories of their childhood then their mind will break, do you want that?” Destiny asked softly and Annabell gasped after hearing Destiny’s words.
Annabell covered her mouth in horror as she frantically shook her head. “No… no… Anna doesn’t want that. So, what should I do?” Annabell asked herself in a horrified tone as she started to pace with a mad glint in her eyes. “I know. I know… I will let the whore live so that she could take care of her children” Annabell mumbled to herself as s twisted smile formed on her face.
“Well… That is a good plan I suppose” Destiny wondered thoughtfully even though she knew that it was a really bad plan. Gellert couldn’t help but look at Destiny in complete bewilderment after hearing her words.
Annabell cheered in joy as her plan was approved, while Destiny started to consider her options. It would be extremely foolish to let anyone of them live… It would be a recipe for disaster, but at the same time, she could understand why Annabell decided to spare the children along with their mother.
Annabell loved children and she will happily accept death even if one of her precious children killed her, but Destiny couldn’t have that. So, Destiny decided to bind the mother and the children as Annabell’s slaves. Annabell won’t be happy and she will keep whining, but she will live.
Meanwhile, Gellert decided to open his mouth to say something but ultimately decided against it. Destiny was going to accompany Annabell and Destiny wasn’t stupid enough to leave any loose ends. He was quite confident that she will be able to take care of it.
“Okay, the two of you take care and be careful. I am leaving, I need to see if everything is ready for the meeting or not” Gellert started to walk away from the duo waving his hand at them.
“Okay… I will return as quickly as possible” Destiny called out as Gellert finally entered the house. After a few moments, she turned back toward Annabell. “So, is there anything you want to do for the time being?” Destiny asked with a mischievous grin on her face.
“Tell me about this Cassipeia Black… I heard that you are pursuing a relationship with her and Ambika is completely fine with it” Annabell gushed out excitedly as she plopped down on the swing.
“Ah… It is true, but it is not simple like that… I met Cassiopeia right after arriving in Britain…” With that, Destiny started to recount the whole incident to Annabell, whose eyes started to twinkle in excitement…
<Line Break>
“Harry, the Potion is prepared” Hermione said as she marched into Harry’s study followed by Lily and Daphne. The two of them have been helping Hermione with the Potion and the two of them were also quite interested in the said Potion.
Harry looked up from the book he was reading. “Good. I will send the message to the others. We leave as soon as possible” Harry said as he closed the book with a snap and placed it on the table. He pulled out his Wand to send a Patronus message, but all of a sudden he came to a halt as an idea popped into his mind…
“Hmm… What can you tell me about Sacrificial Magic?” Harry asked with a bit of uneasiness in his voice. He had three of the smartest Witches in the group, standing right in front of him.
Harry has been looking into some obscure forms of Magic and according to the legends, you can achieve anything through Sacrificial Magic. Harry realized that the three Witches standing in front of him are the only ones who could give him an insightful answer.
“Sacrificial Magic, what brought this up?” Hermione asked curiously. She knew how much Harry hated Dark Magic even though he was a hypocrite… After all, he hated Dark Magic, but he didn’t mind using the Unforgivables.
“I was wondering if we could use Sacrificial Magic to break the Fidelius Charm” Harry revealed his plan and the three Witches finally sat down with contemplative looks on their faces.
“Theoretically, it should be possible, but we don’t know much about the Fidelius Charm nor do we know much about Sacrificial Magic… So, can’t say for sure, but theoretically, it should be possible” Lily muttered thoughtfully as she started to bite her thumb.
“I think it will work, but I think we will need to Sacrifice a specific amount of whatever we are sacrificing to break the Fidelius Charm. I mean we cannot use anything less than necessary or our Spell will fail, but we won’t have any problems if we do end up overpowering our Spell” Destiny wondered aloud with a contemplative look on her face as she started to fiddle with her fingers.
“Wait wait wait!! What sort of Sacrifices we are talking about here in the first place?” Harry asked in a bewildered tone. The boy didn’t mention anything specific, so he wanted to know what they could Sacrifice to achieve the best results.
“Harry, there are a lot of things we can Sacrifice… We can Sacrifice gold, knowledge, Magic, and animals, but if we want the best results then we will need to use…” Hermione explained slowly, but she was unable to finish the explanation and simply trailed off uncomfortably.
“Humans. If we want the best results, then we will need to Sacrifice Humans” Daphne decided to pick up the explanation where Hermione left off. Unlike Hermione, Daphne was squeamish when it came to Dark and questionable forms of Magic. Harry couldn’t help but gape at Daphne and then he turned toward Lily and Hermione to get confirmation, only to receive nods from the two of them.
“Even among humans, Sacrificing a virgin will give you the best results” Daphne added with a straight face, but she wasn’t able to hide the amusement in her voice. She was quite aware of the fact that she was making Harry extremely uncomfortable, but he was the one who brought up the topic of Sacrificial Magic. He should have known better.
“Really? She is kidding, right? People still sacrifice Virgins?” Harry asked Hermione in a horrified tone and Hermione simply huffed as she rolled her eyes at him. Sometime, Harry could be such a baby.
“Really, Harry? Is that really hard to believe? This is a big world and we already know that there are so many horrible people living among us… It shouldn’t come as a surprise that they do sacrifice virgins” Hermione explained, looking really uncomfortable even though she was annoyed at Harry for being such a baby.
“We had a whole tome dedicated to sacrifices in the Department… The first time I read the book, I was completely horrified, but yes, there are still some people out there who would happily sacrifice the Virgins even for some measly gains” Lily explained with a shrug, and I do agree with Daphne. “If we meet to match the power of our Spell with the amount of the Magic ‘she’ used if we want to break the Fidelius Charm” Lily added with a smile as she glanced at Daphne from the corner of her eyes.
“That is if it was ‘her’ who cast the Spell in the first place, but there are only a handful of people who can successfully cast the Spell, so I guess it was ‘her’” Daphne explained after a bit of thinking.
“Okay… I think I have heard enough. I am not saying that I am dismissing the idea, but at the same time, I am really reluctant about using Sacrificial Magic, especially now that I know what it entails” Harry said, looking somewhat conflicted after a few seconds of silence. “So, what do the three of you think?” Harry asked as curiously as he wanted to know how the others are going to react if he decided to use Sacrificial Magic to locate Albus.
“I don’t think that others are going to like this… Someone as naive as Scorpius will create a huge fuss” Hermione pointed out and the others nodded in agreement. “And he isn’t the only one who will react badly…” Hermione added with an unsure look on her face.
"I know… Let's leave it here, I have heard what I wanted to know. We shelf this topic for the time being and we will only bring this up again if we don't find another way" Harry said, looking intently at the three Witches. The three of them nodded their heads in agreement. "Good! Now, let's call the others, we still have a lot of work to do" Harry said as he cast the Patronus Charm, calling everyone to the meeting room.
The Witches also followed his example and sent out their own Patronus to call everyone. There were still a lot of things they needed to discuss before initiating the attack and Harry wanted to avoid any mistakes as this was going to be their opening move…
<Line Break>
"Sir, Marko Tew has failed to report" Nikolae Wojcik, who was responsible for collecting reports from individuals, said with his eyes fixed on the register.
Quinton steepled his fingers with a displeased look on his face. He turned toward Bodivic Zalenski, who was responsible for the management of his group as it was impossible for Quinton to keep an eye over his whole group on his own.
"Didn't he return last night?" Quinton asked the man only to receive a head shake from Bodivic.
"No. He was asked to keep an eye on one of the employees, so I didn't tell you anything" Bodivic answered with a shrug and Quinton pursed his lips in displeasure.
He could understand what Bodivic was saying and it wasn't Bodivic's mistake, so he wasn't displeased with Bodivic or Nikolae, instead, he was displeased by the whole situation. "I see… Has he done this before? I mean not reporting?" This time Quinton's question was directed at Nikolae.
"No, sir. This is the first time he has done this and this is why I decided to point it out" Nikolae pointed it out.
Quinton rapped his fingers at the table, looking a bit annoyed. "Tell Francheska to keep an eye on the surroundings, but remind her to only keep an eye…" Quinton ordered Nikolae, who left the room after saluting Quinton. Since he didn't have anything else to discuss, he dismissed Bodivic too.
After Bodivic left, Quinton leaned back in his chair and released a huge sigh… Lady Grindelwald has warned him about a possible attack, but he didn't know if Marko Tew was captured for sure or not and even if he was captured, it was highly unlikely that someone was able to extract information from the man. Though Quinton couldn't help but wonder if he should take the risk of dismissing the whole situation…
After thinking for a few minutes, Quinton realized that he couldn't dismiss the whole situation. It would be better to be prepared even if nothing happened. He would rather not get caught with his pants down… In his line of work, getting caught means death…
<Line Break>
"So, you are Vinda Rosier, I have heard a lot about you from Gellert" Destiny said as she extended her hand toward the last surviving female member of the Rosier Family.
The woman turned to look at Destiny and her eyes narrowed. Vinda had no idea who this crimson-haired woman was, but something about the woman felt off to her. After all, Gellert never told her about any crimson-haired woman he was familiar with, and the way the woman was talking about Gellert, it was clear that the woman knew Gellert quite closely.
"Who are you?" Vinda asked as she schooled her features and a smile formed on her face.
Destiny returned the smile, but she didn't miss the fact that Vinda was on guard. "Ah… Forgive manners, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Destiny Grindelwald and it is nice to meet you" Destiny said as he raised her hand to reveal her Heiress ring to Vinda and the black-haired Witch felt like something went off in her mind after hearing the name.
Vinda felt something constrict her mind, but she couldn't place her finger on it, but she didn't dwell on it for much longer as she was way more busy gaping at Destiny like a fish out of water. Vinda kept staring at Destiny in complete surprise… Gellert never told her that he has a daughter and from what she knew, Gellert wasn't interested in Witches.
"How?!" Vinda sputtered as she continued to gape at Destiny.
"Oh… the two of you have met" Gellert announced his arrival as he approached the duo with a glass of wine in his hand.
"Yes, I introduced myself and I think I may have left her speechless" Destiny said while looking extremely amused.
“Hm… You may be right” Gellert rubbed his chin with a fake worried look on his face. “Vinda, are you alright there, my dear?” Gellert shook Vinda, finally breaking her out of her stumped state.
“Gellert, you never told me you have a daughter” Vinda blurted out with an incredulous look on her face. Both Gellert and Destiny started to chuckle after hearing her words.
“I am not his daughter… I am someone he decided to adopt in his Family” Destiny revealed as she finally stopped chuckling. Destiny never bothered to hide her origins and she wasn’t going to start now. “It’s a long story and I won’t bother with you the whole story, but the basic gist is, he took pity on me and decided to save me” Destiny revealed with a shrug, and Vinda subconsciously turned Gellert to get his confirmation.
Gellert simply shrugged as he nodded his head in confirmation. He didn’t like how Destiny summarized the whole incident, but at the same time, he couldn’t refute her words as she was right. He only saved her at first because he took pity on her and there is no reason to reveal the dynamics of their relationship to Vinda even though Vinda was one of his generals.
“I see…” Vinda muttered as she nodded her head in understanding. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that there was another Grindelwald running around the world. Though Vinda really wanted to know why the crimson-haired woman decided to reveal herself now and that is when something clicked inside her mind.
“You are the one who broke him out” Vinda stated while nodding her head. There was nobody in their forces with enough power to break Gellert out of the MACUSA Headquarters, but there was something else Vinda realized. If it was Destiny who broke Gellert out of the prison, it would mean that Destiny is an extremely strong Witch.
“Yes, I am the one who broke him out and that was the second time I broke into the MACUSA Headquarters. The first time I broke in was a week after Gellert was captured, but for whatever reason, Gellert decided to remain in prison or I would have broken him out a long ago” Destiny revealed as she threw a dirty look at Gellert, who simply ignored it.
Vinda felt a chill run down her spine… Vinda was quite confident about her skills, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she could have broken into the MACUSA Headquarters undetected and left unscathed. So, Vinda couldn’t help but start to wonder if the power has something to do with their Family name, but she quickly remembered that the Grindelwald Family was on the decline and they were never worth anything even in their hay day.
“Um… Thank you for saving him, I guess” Vinda awkwardly thanked Destiny as she didn’t know what else to do right now.
Destiny nodded her head in acknowledgment and decided to see if the woman loved her parents or not. While Destiny wanted to form a bond with the woman as Vinda was quite favored by Gellert, she also wanted to see how the woman is going to react to the news of the death of her parents. After all, Destiny wanted to refrain from forming a bond with the woman, just in case, Vinda decided to start loving her parents out of the blue.
Then Destiny would have put Vinda down to avoid future problems…
“By the way, I killed your parents” Destiny revealed without beating around the bush. She simply decided to rip it off like a bandage… Vinda was left completely gobsmacked for a few seconds, but a smile finally formed on her face. Vinda started to grin malevolently as she stared at Destiny.
“That is probably the best news I have heard today” Vinda beamed at Destiny and Gellert started to snicker in amusement.
“Told you, she never liked them” Gellert quipped and Destiny simply nodded her head in understanding, but she decided to test Vinda a second time.
“Your brother has been kidnapped too, but I don’t have any hand in it. Though I don’t expect him to survive for long” Destiny revealed while intently watching Vinda, wanting to see how the black-haired Witch was going to react.
The smile on Vinda’s face brightened up even more after hearing the news… “This is probably one of the best days in my life… Is there anything else you want to tell me? Keep them coming” Vinda said while grinning maliciously, her eyes brimming with joy.
“Unfortunately, that’s it” Destiny decided to rest her case as she didn’t have anything else to reveal. Destiny also decided that Vinda will live.
“Though now, I will have to take a husband so that I can carry on the Family. I may not have liked my parents or my foolish brother, but I don’t want our Family to end” Vinda said thoughtfully after a few seconds of silence.
“Well, I will never stop you if that is what you want…” Gellert said as he finally finished the wine in the glass. “I don’t think Destiny will mind helping you out if you decided to return to Britain” Gellert added as he glanced at Destiny from the corner of his eyes, only to receive of nod from Destiny as she agreed with his offer.
“I will take you up on that if I ever decided to return to Britain, but I am not planning to get married any time soon” Vinda muttered as she scrunched her face with a look of distaste on her face.
“Ah… I almost forgot. I am leaving with Annabell and don’t start the meeting before I return” Destiny hummed as she finally remembered why she originally came here.
“Okay… By the way, why don’t you take Vinda with you? I think it will be a good bonding experience for the two of you” Gellert said with a smile while looking at Vinda.
“Sure, she can come with me” Destiny shrugged as she turned toward Vinda, who stood up and nodded her head. Vinda also wanted to get to know Destiny. The crimson-haired woman has done a lot for her. Destiny not only broke Gellert out of his prison, but she also killed her parents. Those deeds were more than enough to gain the black-haired Witch’s favor.
The two Witches quickly left the room with Vinda trailing behind Destiny. “What are we going?” Vinda asked curiously.
“We are going to help a fellow Witch enact her vengeance… Unfortunately, we are going to be only spectators, I hope you are up for it” Destiny answered while looking somewhat amused and excited at the whole situation.
“I don’t mind” Vinda nodded her head in understanding as she continued to follow Destiny down the halls…
<Line Break>
“This is the blueprint of their base. I am not sure how accurate this is, since it is possible that our friend doesn’t know everything about the building” Daphne said as she sprawled a paper with some rough sketches on the table. The rest of the Order members were surrounding the table, intently staring at the blueprint of the building.
“Even though this isn’t accurate, this is the best we have” Neville added while scratching the back of his head. He was quite aware of the fact that bad info could lead to a disastrous mission, but sometimes, it was necessary to take risks.
“I understand, but this is what we have to work with guys. Sometimes risks are necessary and this is still a lot better than going in completely blind” Harry said while looking at everyone gathered around him. Almost all the members nodded their heads as they completely agreed with Harry’s words.
“So, how are we doing this?” Sirius asked as he looked at Harry before turning toward James.
“George, Fred, have you acquired what we asked you to?” Harry asked, only to receive mischievous grins from the twin devils of Gryffindor, George Weasley, and Fredrick, usually known as Fred Weasley. The two flicked their Wands and summoned two boxes from the other side of the room. The two of them grabbed the boxes and emptied the contents on the tables.
“Gas masks?” Amelia Black asked, looking somewhat confused. “We could have Bubble-Head Charms” Amelia added as she grabbed one of the gas masks.
“Yes, Bubble-Head Charms would have worked, but they are easy to get destroyed. Whereas gas masks aren’t that delicate and we will be able to fight without worrying, in case something didn’t work out according to our plan” Angelina Weasly neé Johnson, wife of George Weasley explained while staring at Amelia.
“Now, we only need to Enchant these against summoning” Alicia Weasley neé Spinnet, wife of Fred Weasley added as she grabbed one of the masks from the table.
“How long it will take you guys to Enchant them?” Hermione questioned with a hint of interest in her voice.
“An hour at most, if the four…”
“...of us worked together”
The twins finished their sentences for each other as they pointed to their better halves. Harry nodded his head in understanding. “Good… The four of you can start as soon as we are done here” Harry said and then he turned toward James. “We will divide in two groups, you will be in-charge of one group while I will be leading the other” Harry said and James nodded his head in understanding.
Before saying anything else, Harry placed his finger on the chimneys on the blueprint. “This is what we will use to fill the whole building with the Potion we created and James I leaving you in-charge of that” Harry explained and once again James nodded his head in understanding.
“Good, after pouring the Potion, you will wait for three minutes before sending us the signal and as soon as we receive the signal, we will break into the building” Harry revealed the whole plan. All the members had to admit, it was a good plan.
“How will I send you the signal?” James asked and Harry nodded his head as he signalled Hermione.
“I am glad that you asked. This is what we will be using to stay in contact with each other” Harry said and Hermione poured a stack of Galleons on the table. A lot of members immediately recognized the familiar coins as they have used the same in their own worlds.
“D. A. coins!!” The twins exclaimed cheerfully as they grabbed the coins.
“From all of your looks, some of you already know what these are, but for those who don’t know, I will leave Hermione to explain how these things work” Harry said. “Now, Daphne, is there something you can tell us about the Wards?” Harry asked as he turned toward Daphne, who was checking out the gas masks.
“According to our friend, they are only using some basic Ward to prevent Muggles from stumbling into their base as they don’t want to draw attention, but there is a very good chance that he isn’t aware of the Wards placed around the building” Daphne answered after thinking for a bit.
“We can’t attack them without checking out the Wards” Lily pointed out and Harry hummed in agreement.
“Then I want you to inspect the Wards… Don’t need to get close, I simply want to prod the Wards a bit to see what is what. Take anyone you want with you” Harry said while nodding his head.
“Good, then I will be taking, Amelia, and Hermione with me… After me, they are the best when it comes to Wards and their input will be important” Lily answered while scratching her chin with a thoughtful look on her face.
“Okay, and be careful… Good luck. Let’s move out guys! It’s about time we strike back!” Harry barked with a grin marring his face and everyone else cheered in agreement…
