IngloriousMe
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The Start of Second Volley (II) [Chapter 55]
🕑 Added 2022-11-23 15:06:03 +0000 UTC~~Unknown Location, Glasgow~~
“Harry! Harry! I finally found out why the Rosiers aren’t answering our letters!” Clifford Bones blurted out hurriedly as he rushed into Harry’s study, without bothering to rock.
Harry looked at the man questioningly. He has been feeling somewhat uneasy about the whole plan of using Rosiers to create problems for Destiny Grindelwald… Apparently, he was right. “What happened?” Harry asked dryly, he could already make a guess.
“Someone burned down their Family manor with Fiendfyre… The Aurors are suspecting that they were either killed or kidnapped!” Clifford revealed wryly as he took a seat.
“They are dead… She won’t gain anything by kidnapping them” Harry said firmly.
“She could have kidnapped them for their gold?” Clifford suggested thoughtfully. While Clifford also believed that the Rosiers were probably dead, there was still a chance that Destiny Grindelwald kidnapped them to stop them from messing up with her plans or she wanted to use their gold.
Harry rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look on his face… “I cannot dismiss the idea… The Rosiers aren’t the richest, but they are still quite wealthy. While the Blacks are supporting her, she would never say no to some extra gold…” Harry muttered while rubbing his chin.
“So, what are we going to do?” Clifford asked after a few seconds of silence.
“First of all, let’s call the others… I can’t decide anything on my own” Harry released a sigh and Clifford nodded his head in understanding. Clifford was a hardliner like Harry… Just like Harry, he believed that sometimes you need to make hard choices. That is the reason why he tried so hard to oppress his brother and his family.
“We could always reveal her existence through the Daily Prophet” Clifford suggested eagerly and Harry simply shrugged.
“I don’t know… I don’t think that will work. She is far from stupid, so there is a chance that she had already prepared for such a scenario” Harry stood up from his seat while scratching his head. “Let’s call the others so that we could discuss our next move” Harry added and while Clifford wasn’t happy, he could only agree with Harry…
<Line Break>
“Are you sure you will be fine?” Gellert asked in a skeptical tone as he stared at Destiny who was playing around with a Potion vial.
“Yes, Gellert, thank you for your concern, but it is kind of unnecessary at this point” Destiny snarked back in a clipped tone and Gellert simply raised his hands in the air in a placating manner.
“Hey, I am simply worried about you” Gellert added while giving Destiny a meaningful look.
“I know…” Destiny mumbled in a low tone. “That is why I have covered all of my bases. While I am quite sure that I have enough Magic to cast the Spell without any problems, I still decided to increase my capacity… just in case” Destiny added as she held up the Potion vial in her hand.
The Potion in Destiny’s hand is called Magic Booster, and it did exactly what the name suggested… The Potion would increase a person’s Magical Reserve by 10%. It wasn’t much, but a 10% boost for someone like Destiny could make a huge difference. Alas, the Potion did come with its own negatives… The Potion was very addictive and continuously using the Potion could severely damage a person’s Magical Core.
“Milady, if you don’t mind me asking, then what are you planning to do? You never mentioned any details in your letter” Unspeakable #21 asked curiously. The others gathered around Destiny and Gellert nodded their heads in understanding.
All the team leaders of Unspeakables were present as they were the ones who have sworn their loyalty to Destiny along with all the members of the Black Family, the Bone Family, all of her Lieutenants, and finally, Gawain Bulstrode. Destiny looked around the gathered crowd and nodded her head in understanding.
“I am sure that some of you must have heard about the Fidelius Charm… I am going to use the Fidelius Charm to hide my identity” Destiny revealed and murmurs broke out among the crowd.
“But my Lady, is that even possible? I mean we have studied the Fidelius Charm and it can only be used to hide a property” Unspeakable #39 sputtered.
“That should have been the case, but I was able to get my hands on a modified version of the Fidelius Charm, I have already tested the Spell and it works, so there is no need to worry…” Destiny assured the Unspeakable…
“All of you present here have sworn your loyalty to me in some manner… I do not know how the Spell is going to react to your oaths, so I will be releasing all of you before casting the Spell… That is why I called all of you here and I would also need to reveal the Secret to all of you after I am done…” Destiny revealed as she looked around at the crowd to see their reactions…
Another round of murmurs broke out among the crowd and Destiny decided to wait until everyone calmed down… It took the crowd nearly a minute to finally calm down. All of her Lieutenants and Cassiopeia already knew about Destiny’s plan, so they weren’t surprised by Destiny's words. When the crowd finally calmed down, Destiny started to release them from their Oaths one by one.
Destiny released Gellert from his Oath before anyone could arrive as she didn’t want to reveal the fact that Gellert was following her orders to anyone for the time being… It was simply better to make everyone think that she and Gellert were working separately…
It took Destiny somewhere around 10 minutes to release everyone from their Oaths… When she was finally done, she moved away from the group and chugged down the Potion… Destiny immediately felt the Potion taking effect. With a stern look on her face, Destiny whipped out the Elder Wand and pointed the Wand at her chest… An immense amount of Magic surged forward and the whole group except for Gellert lost their footing due to the immense Magical Pressure…
Destiny started to channel huge amounts of Magic through the Wand and she wasn’t surprised to see that the Elder Wand could handle so much Magic without any issue… She nodded her head in satisfaction and then she started to wave her Wand through the air as she also started to chant. Her knees started to tremble as she finally started to feel exhausted.
Her face got covered with sweat as she continued to release huge amounts of Magic at a steady rate… Destiny’s started to breathe heavily and when she finally finished the chant, a massive amount of Magic surged through her Wand and struck her right on her chest… She stumbled back and dropped to her knees… She succeeded. The Spell was cast and now she needed to deal with the aftermath before she could rest…
Destiny turned toward the group and a ghost of a smile appeared on her face when she noticed that some among the crowd were already in the process of pointing their Wands in their direction… Thankfully, Gellert seemed to be simply staring at her with an intrigued look on his face. Gellert was way more faster than any of them, so it was a good thing that he didn’t decide to attack her, or he could have taken down her already.
“I am Destiny Grindelwald!!” Destiny screamed hurriedly as she slumped down on the ground… While she was still conscious, she didn’t have the energy to wait and see everyone’s reaction.
Everyone blinked in confusion after hearing Destiny’s words and soon a look of realization finally dawned on their faces… The ones who were about to attack Destiny immediately lowered their Wands and it was Gellert who rushed toward Destiny before anyone else could. Ambika and Cassiopeia were only a second later than Gellert to rush toward Destiny.
“Destiny! Destiny!” Gellert called out worriedly as he kneeled down beside Destiny.
“Hmm… Do you really need to be so loud?” Destiny groaned as she rolled over on her back. Ambika kneeled down beside Destiny and then she carefully picked up Destiny’s head and placed it over her lap… “I can get used to this” Destiny mumbled with a grin as she made herself comfortable on Ambika’s lap.
“*cough* I am glad that you are enjoying yourself, but the others are still here” Gellert pointed at the crowd.
A blush crept up on Ambika’s cheeks, and Cassiopeia couldn’t stop a giggle from escaping her lips… Ambika threw Cassiopeia a dirty look but refrained from making any comments. “Anyway, are you okay, Destiny?” Ambika asked, concern evident in her voice.
“I am really exhausted, but besides that, I am fine…” Destiny said while looking at Gellert, Ambika, and Cassiopeia, who was kneeling beside Ambika. Destiny turned her head to look at the crowd… No, she couldn’t rest, yet. She needed to reaffirm their Oaths. “Help me up…” Destiny said as she slowly sat up. She was enjoying herself in Ambika’s lap, but she had other important things to do… She could always ask Ambika for a lap pillow at a later time.
While Destiny wasn’t worried about the fact that someone might try to reveal her existence to the rest of the world… After all, it was simply impossible for them to reveal her identity to anyone… The Magic at play simply won’t allow them, but Destiny simply didn’t want anyone of them acting against her from the shadows… After all, there was no saying when someone’s mind might change…
Ambika and Cassiopeia helped Destiny get up on her feet and Gellert simply stood beside them with a proud look on his face… “I would have been in serious trouble if I hadn’t taken that Potion” Destiny revealed with a toothy grin.
“I am just happy that you are alright” Ambika muttered in a relieved tone. Cassiopeia and Gellert also agreed with the sentiment.
‘Yeah… Me too…’ Destiny mused internally as she realized how close she came to dying… Her Magical Core might have been massive, but she still ended up using all of her Magic in one go… At least, her plan worked, and with this, she was able to deal a massive blow to the Order of Light…
<Line Break>
~~Minister's Office, Ministry of Magic~~
“Travers, please give me some good news” Hector Fawley, Magical Britain’s Minister of Magic said in a pleading tone… The man knew that there was going to be a shitstorm as soon as the news got out. He had asked Torquil Travers to stop the Daily Prophet from snooping around, but they couldn't hold them back for too long.
"Then I am afraid that I would have to disappoint you… It has already been a week since the attack happened and any Magical traces are long gone if there were any Magical traces in the first place…" Torquil revealed with a sigh as he plopped down on a seat, looking very tired.
"What do you mean, Torquil? Were they killed by Muggles?" Hector asked in a bewildered tone.
"No, whoever it was, they torched the place with Fiendfrye removing all Magical traces" Torquil answered dryly.
"Fiendfrye? Who could have done that?" Hector muttered with a pale face. With Grindelwald's escape, the public will be vying for answers… Answers he didn't have.
"We have no fucking clue, but one of my Senior Auror thinks that whoever is responsible for burning down the Rosier Mansion is also responsible for burning down the Gaunt shack" Torquil revealed in an exasperated tone. To be honest, he wanted to believe the man, but there was no concrete proof.
"Gaunt shack? You are telling me someone burned down the Gaunt shack with Fiendfrye?" Hector asked incredulously and Torquil simply decided to nod his head. "What about Marvolo? Wasn't he released from Azkaban?" Hector asked with a confused look on his face.
"We believe Marvolo is dead and the case was closed as it was decided that Marvolo probably decided to cast Fiendfrye and ended up losing control… After all, nobody would say that Marvolo was a paragon of sanity" Torquil revealed with a shrug…
Hector could understand where Torquil was coming from… If he was in Torquil's shoes, then he would have decided the same too, but the Rosiers weren't Gaunts… Too many people in high places were going to ask questions and not only that, but he would also need to deal with the public…
"Who is the Senior Auror you are talking about?" Hector asked after thinking for a bit.
"Theseus Scamander" Torquil breathed out with a sigh and Hector started to rub his chin with a thoughtful look on his face.
"What is his theory? I mean why does he think that the person who burned down the Gaunt shack is the same person who burned down the Rosier manor?" Hector questioned.
"Whoever burned down the Gaunt shack had immense control over Fiendfyre… According to his inspection, the flames were never allowed to spread far from the shack when we already know that Fiendfrye is extremely notorious to control and easily spreads out, which didn't happen at the Gaunt shack" Torquil explained.
"The case is the same with Rosiers too… The flames never strayed away from the manor… The flames were only concentrated around the manor. He believes that there aren't many people who could control Fiendfrye to such an extent and I do agree with him, but there is no solid proof and it would be like a wild goose chase since we don't have a single clue…" Torquil trailed off with a frustrated growl.
"...This is concerning… Have you checked in with the goblins?" Hector asked after a full minute of silence.
"No, they refused to say anything. They want me to contact them through official channels" Torquil scowled.
Hector couldn't stop himself from rubbing his face… "Greedy little buggers" Hector growled in anger. "So, we don't even know if the Rosiers are alive or not?" Hector asked, only to receive a nod from Torquil.
"FUCK!!!" Hector screamed in anger as he slammed his fist on the table. After taking several deep breaths, he was finally able to calm himself… "Did you ask for help from the Grey Cloaks? They might be able to notice some clue the Aurors missed" Hector suggested hopefully.
"I was going to ask them… After leaving your office, there is where I was planning to go" Torquil revealed and Hector simply nodded his head.
"Good! Good! Is there anything else you need to report?" Hector asked while rubbing his forehead.
"No, but if we do find something then you will be the first to know" Torquil said as he stood up from his seat and started to leave.
"Yes, do that!" Hector exclaimed in a pleading tone as Torquil walked out of the room. Hector leaned back in his chair… He really needed a Headache Potion right now…
<Line Break>
Harry Potter was in quite a bit conundrum, he could no longer speak or write Destiny Grindelwald's name… It happened all of a sudden when they were having a meeting about what to do next since the elder Rosiers were no longer among the living.
Except for the dimension hoppers, such as himself, nobody could remember who Destiny Grindelwald was… It's like all of them were Obliviated at the same time, which was kind of impossible since it happened right in front of them.
One moment, they knew exactly who Destiny Grindelwald was and the next moment, they completely forgot what they were talking about and that is when Harry and the other dimension hoppers realized that while they still remembered Destiny's name, they could no longer speak or write her name in the presence of anyone other than his fellow dimension hoppers.
Hermione tried to get around the issue by writing down her name in another room, but as soon as she entered the meeting room, the name disappeared… Harry did not know what type of sorcery was this, but whatever Destiny had done, she ended up dealing a major blow to the Order of Light…
Even the pictures they had of Destiny were only blank pieces of paper right now and they did have some documents where Destiny's name was mentioned, but all the places where her name was mentioned were blank now. To be honest, he had no idea how Destiny achieved something like this.
"I think I know how she did it!!" All of a sudden Lily Potter exclaimed. After the incident, Harry called off the meeting as they couldn't talk about Destiny in their presence… Thankfully even if the non-dimension hoppers no longer remembered Destiny, they were still willing to stand against Crimson Knights and Grindelwald.
Everyone present inside the room turned toward Lily expectantly, so Lily decided to continue speaking. "I think she used the Fidelius Charm to hide her identity" Lily revealed, making Harry frown and several others frown.
"I am familiar with the Fidelius Charm, and I am sure that it can only be used to hide a property" Hermione retorted with a scowl. She had thought of the Fidelius Charm too, but she quickly scrapped the idea as the Fidelius Charm only worked on properties.
"I am familiar with the Fidelius Charm too, but I think she was somehow able to modify the Spell… I know I do not have any proof to support my theory but the similarities between the Fidelius and whatever Spell she used cannot be denied" Lily explained and Harry has to admit, she did have a point.
"But how did she modify such a high-level Spell?" Amelia wondered aloud. "And if she really did use the Fidelius Charm or its modified version, then why do we remember her name? After all, nobody gave us the Secret" Amelia pointed out skeptically.
"Does it really matters? She either modified the Spell herself or she made someone else modify the Spell for her… It's us who were shafted at the end!" Sirius grouched unhappily.
Before anyone could say anything, Hermione spoke up. "No, Sirius we do need to know what she did so that we could try to reverse whatever she did, and even if we can't reverse it, we still need to know what she did" Hermione argued back and James along with a couple of other members nodded their heads.
"I agree with Hermione, we need to know what she did. We might need to use it to hide ourselves… just in case" The only blonde-haired Witch in the room muttered thoughtfully.
"Come on, Daphne? Really?" The only blonde-haired Wizard in the room asked the blonde-haired Witch in an amused tone.
"Yes, Neville. I am not saying that we need to hide, but we do not know when the Spell might come in handy. Not only that, she will come after us for our future knowledge… If we can't stop her, we at least need to make it hard for her to find us" Daphne Longbottom neé Greengrass, wife of Neville Longbottom pointed out with a prim look on her face.
"I may not like the fact that you are thinking that we already lost, but I do agree with you… Bloody hell, I can't believe I am saying this, but it is better to have a contingency rather than needing one and not having one when needed" One of the red-haired Wizards grumbled.
"That brings us back to…"
"Amelia's point. If she used…"
"...the Fidelius Charm, then how…"
"Can we still remember and…"
"Speak of her name?"
"What the two of them are trying to say is how can we still remember her when nobody revealed the Secret to us?" A dark-skinned asked after rolling her eyes at the twin-speak of the red-head duo.
"It might have something to do with our very existence… We weren't born in the dimension, so the Magic she used may not affect us in the same manner it affected the others or Altair might have protected us… These are only my guesses" Lily revealed thoughtfully before rolling her shoulders with a shrug.
"I think you might be right…" for the first time since the discussion started, Hermione agreed with Lily. If Lily's theory was right, then it made perfect sense. "Harry, do you think you can contact Altair?" Hermione asked as she turned toward Harry.
"I will try…" Harry said while nodding his head. Not only Harry, but all of them could reach out to Altair, but Altair most of the time it was Harry who reached out to her as their leader.
"So, what now? We can't sit around and admit defeat, right?" Sirius asked as he looked around.
"No, Padfoot, we won't. We still need to stop her from killing Torquil Travers if she is even planning to kill him in the first place… The timeline is already so skewed that I can't even imagine what is going to happen…" James rubbed his forehead before turning toward Harry.
"Scorpius, Rose, Neville, Daphne, the four of you are going to keep an eye on the Foreign Office… If you do find Crimson Knights loitering around, then don't try to be a hero and take them by yourselves… Inform us as soon as possible" Harry said while at the four of them.
"What do you take me for? I am not a stupid Gryffindor" Daphne scoffed as she flicked her hair over her shoulder in a haughty manner.
"I never mentioned you specifically" Harry retorted blandly, but Daphne simply sniffed and raised her chin upwards defiantly… He decided it was better not to argue with the blonde Ice Queen. "That's all for now, dismissed" With that, Harry finally ended the meeting…
<Line Break>
~~Timeskip (Two Days)~~
Rose Weasley followed a dark-skinned man down the alley… Fortunately, the man never noticed her as the man was following someone else. Rose looked at her surroundings and couldn't help but grimace… The Normals were loitering around the streets.
Rose did not hate the Normals, if she did, then she wouldn't be fighting to protect them, but right now their presence was the only thing stopping her from knocking out the man she was following… It has been two days since they started to watch the Foreign Office and it didn't take them long to find the Crimson Knights.
The Knights were obviously planning to kill Torquil Travers… Apparently, some things are never going to change, no matter how much the timeline changes. A monster is still going to be a monster… Rose continued to ponder as she kept following her mark. The person her mark was following finally arrived in front of a house and her mark decided to keep watching the person he was following.
Rose was completely gobsmacked when she saw her mark pull out his Wand and cast a Notice-Me-Not Charm along with a Muggle Repelling Charm out in the open… Did he not care about the Statute?? Rose worriedly looked around to see if anyone noticed or not and her shoulders finally slumped down in relief when she realized that nobody noticed him or his weird actions.
Then all of a sudden, an idea clicked inside her mind… Rose decided to take a leaf from her mark's book. She bit her lower lip worriedly as she slowly pulled out her Wand and pointed it at the man's back… Rose looked around for a second time to see if anyone noticed her or not, only to see that the Normals were busy minding their own business. With a determined look on her face, she finally cast a Stunning Charm at the man's back.
The Spell struck the man on his back and he slumped down on the street. Rose immediately rushed toward the man, after tucking away her Wand in her sleeve. She wasn't worried over the fact that a Normal might have noticed the man keeling over on his own… The Notice-Me-Not Charm and the Muggle Repelling Charm were still active, so there was no way a Normal was going to notice. Rose finally arrived beside the man and pulled out a toothbrush from one of her pockets.
Rose kneeled down and placed her hand over his back. "Liberty" Rose activated the Portkey with the keyphrase and moments later, she along with her mark were whisked away by the Portkey… Rose arrived at their secret meeting place along with her mark…
“Did you have any problem?” Scorpius asked worriedly as he rushed at Rose, but Neville stopped him by grabbing his arm. Scorpius turned around and was about to ask Neville what he was doing, but Neville was no longer looking at him.
“Code?” Neville asked as he palmed his Wand with his free hand. From the other side of the room, Daphne also pointed her Wand at Rose.
Rose simply rolled her eyes. “Delta 3437” Rose answered in an exasperated tone before releasing a huff. Neville smiled after hearing her answer and released Scorpius. This was a tactic used by Voldemort and the Death Eaters in their world… Not everyone is capable of casting the Fidelius Charm and not many knew about the Fidelius Charm in the first place.
So, most of the people were only hiding in safe houses protected by strong Wards… The Death Eaters started to disguise themselves as people who need help and when nobody was around, they would simply disable the Wards from the inside… Some Death Eaters like Antonin Dolohov were even known to murder everyone inside the safe houses by themselves.
A security code wasn’t infallible, but it was still better than nothing… “So, did you have any problems?” Daphne repeated Scorpius’ question as she tucked away her own Wand. Right now, Scorpius was busy making sure Rose was alright and Rose couldn’t help but glare at him.
“No, you wouldn’t believe what he was doing… He was casting Magic out in the open without bothering to check if anyone was watching him or not” Rose grumbled as she slapped away Scorpius’ hand. She decided to keep her own similar actions a secret… She did not know how the others were going to react and no harm was done, so it was probably alright. “Will you stop that?!!” Rose hissed angrily when Scorpius wouldn’t stop trying to baby her.
“Really?” Neville asked as he inclined his head. “Nobody saw him, right?” He inquired with a thoughtful look on his face. This would be the worst time for the Statute could break… Instead of fighting amongst themselves, the Normals would come together and attack the Magical World and there would no one who would be willing to stand against the Grindelwalds.
“I don’t think so… The Normals were minding their own business” Rose explained with a shrug.
“That is good… Scorpius, be a dear and make him sit” Daphne requested as she pulled out a vial of Veritaserum from her robes. Scorpius simply nodded his head before Conjuring a couple of ropes to bind the man. When Scorpius was finally done, Rose used Magic to keep the man’s mouth open and Daphne poured three drops inside the man’s mouth with the stopper.
“Wake him up” Daphne said as she tucked away the Potion vial and Rose simply cast the Rennervate Spell to wake him up.
As soon as the man opened his eyes, he immediately started to look around in clear panic… Daphne pulled out her Wand and pointed it at the man with a cold look on her face. “Imperio” Daphne cast the Imperius Curse in an indifferent tone. Just like their leader, Daphne didn’t have any problems using Dark Magic to get the job done and Interrogation is her specialty… Back in her world, she made a lot of people sing like canaries.
“What is your name?” Daphne asked, looking completely relaxed. Her Imperius Curse was simply impeccable and the man was already under the influence of Veritaserum, there is no way, he was going to resist her…
“Marko Tew” The man answered monotonously.
Daphne summoned a chair from the other side of the room with a flick of her Wand. Daphne sat down on the chair and then she stared at the man with an unimpressed look on her face… This man was at best a simple grunt, but he could still give her some information. “Tell me Marko, who do you work for?” Daphne asked.
“I work for Quinton Moor” The man revealed and Daphne’s eyes grew slightly in surprise. Quinton Moor is one of Destiny’s Lieutenants… Looks like they got lucky. Daphne quickly schooled her features…
“What is he planning to do?” Daphne asked with a hint of excitement in her voice, but she received no answer from the man.
“Is he fighting your Imperius Curse?” Neville asked Daphne in a surprised tone.
“No, I think some sort of Oath is stopping him from answering the question” Daphne answered with a frown. “What are you doing for him?” Daphne asked and this time, Marko started to speak without any issue.
“I have been following some of the Foreign Office employees” Marko answered with a blank look on his face.
“Why are you following them?” All of a sudden Scorpius asked heatedly and Daphne couldn’t help but throw him a dirty look. She hated the boy… The boy was simply way too impulsive and short-sighted. She couldn’t fathom how these cream-puffs even defeated Voldemort in their own world.
“I do not know” The man still answered the question with a blank look.
“Then what can you tell us?!” Scorpius screamed at the man with a look of anger in his eyes. Once again, they received no answer… Daphne was already expecting that. She gave Neville a look who shook his head… This is the reason why she hated Scorpius… Way too impulsive.
“It wouldn’t work like that… He has sworn Merlin knows how many Secrecy Oaths. If you aren’t specific, then he isn’t going to tell you and if you ask him something which he specifically swore to keep a secret, then once again, you will receive no answer… There is a reason why I am the interrogator, not you… Rose, be a dear and take him away” Daphne chastised Scorpius condescendingly.
“Sure Daphne. I don’t want him making a fool of himself any more than he has already done…” Rose said with an amused grin as she started to drag Scorpius out of the room, who was sputtering in protest.
“Well then, Marko… Now that the nuisance is gone, let’s start again…” Daphne said while cracking her fingers as she started to interrogate Marko Tew earnestly…
