Bab 165: CHAPTER {191-193}
****THE-COLD-WAR-INITIATED (IV)****
Harry looked around at the gathered group and he wasn't able to stop himself from feeling a bit nervous… This was going to be Lost Garden's first appearance as an organization, so obviously he was somewhat nervous. Even after mulling over the plan quite a few times, he wasn't certain if everything was going to go as smoothly as he planned or not. After all, plans were meant to go haywire after the first contact with the enemy.
If Harry was on his own then he wouldn't be so worried… He was strong enough to improvise in the face of all the odds, but that didn't mean that all of his followers could… Gellert could probably handle himself, but that wasn't the same for the rest of the members. The only saving grace was the fact that none of the members of Lost Garden were inexperienced, well, except for Jacklyn obviously, but she has access to his Magic, so he was certain that she would be alright.
|You are worrying too much. Everything will go according to your plan| Lily tried to comfort him and Harry seemed to relax a bit after her words, but still, he wasn't completely certain.
|Well, there is no going back right now…| Harry pointed out internally with a sigh before straightening up. "All right. Let me make a few things clear before we leave… Once we are inside Hogwarts, there is no turning back. None of you will be able to leave without me, or Jacklyn from inside the Wards, which means escape options are pretty limited" Harry pointed out as he looked over at the group. Still, he didn't manage to find anyone who wasn't confident or excited.
"We have two objectives. First, Narcissa will retrieve her son from Slytherin dorms and when she is done, she will send me a message through her Mark" Harry explained as he pointed at Narcissa and the woman took all the attention in stride. "Secondly, Jacklyn will be paying a visit to Durmstrang ship to kidnap Karkaroff. When she is done, she will also send me a message through her Mark"
"While Narcissa and Jacklyn will be completing their tasks, all of you will be creating a distraction for them to carry out their mission as smoothly as possible. After getting confirmation from both of them, I will inform Gellert, who will be leading the distraction and he will be the one who will give the order for retreat. After he gives the order, all of you will have a timeframe of 5 minutes to make your way to the seventh floor, where I will be waiting for you" Harry paused for dramatic effect.
"I will be at the exact same spot where I will be dropping you guys and in case you can't make it back to the seventh floor within five minutes, then you will need to make your way toward the Black Lake, where Jacklyn will be waiting for all of you at the edge of the lake. In case you can't reach me or Jacklyn, then just leave the school and use your Portkeys after you are out of the Wards" Harry finished his explanation and took a deep breath before his eyes turned cold.
"And if you somehow fail to escape, then I will eventually spring you out from Azkaban" Harry said coldly and some people seemed to stiffen at his words. "And if you plan to sell me out in exchange for a lighter sentence, then I will find you and then I will feed your Soul to Dementors…" Harry growled and some paled at his promise while a lot looked somewhat uncomfortable. It was obviously a promise, after all, Harry didn't make threats.
"Well, I believe Gellert has only made this clear, but I don't want you to go for the kill, but at the same time, I don't expect any of you to die just because you were pulling your punches…" Harry added softly in a caring tone. "All of you have memorized the map, right?" Harry asked, earning nods from every single member of Lost Garden. To make sure everything went smoothly, Harry drew maps of Hogwarts and handed them over to the members of the Lost Garden as he didn't want any of them to get lost and get left behind.
"Good! I suppose we have wasted enough time… Let's go" Harry declared and started to move his hands in the air, opening a sparkling green portal beside him, and on the other side of the portal, they could clearly see ancient stone walls. Without any further ado, Gellert made his way toward the portal with the others following behind him. Within a minute, almost everyone had stepped through the portal, leaving only Harry, Jacklyn, Himera, Narcissa and a few more members of the Lost Garden.
Harry inclined his head and another sparkling green portal opened on his other side… On the other side of the portal, they could clearly see the Black Lake and the Durmstrang ship floating at the edge of the lake. Jacklyn approached the portal followed by Himera and the rest of the members of the Lost Garden in the room, but just before she could enter the portal, Harry spoke up.
"Be careful out there, Jacklyn" Harry said with a clear hint of worry in his voice and instead of saying anything snarky or sarcastic, Jacklyn simply nodded her head before entering the portal. Himera and the others followed her soon… It wasn't a secret that Harry cared about Jacklyn, but this was probably the first time he was showing concern for her so openly.
When everyone besides Harry and Narcissa were gone, Harry closed the portals and looked at Narcissa. The woman looked confident, but he could see that she was nervous… "Are you ready?" Harry asked and after getting a nod from the woman, Harry opened a portal, leading straight inside Draco's dorm room. Severus had unwillingly given him the exact location of the boy's dorm room as Narcissa didn't know anything about his dorm room.
Thankfully the boy was already inside the room and as soon as he saw the portal, he turned toward the portal, but he immediately gaped when he saw his mother standing on the other side of the portal. "He is all yours" Only then did Draco register that there was someone besides his mom on the other side of the portal…
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****OLD-FRIENDS-REUNITED (I)****
The moment Draco noticed Harry beside his mother, he forgot everything else… "What are you doing here?!" The boy snarled in anger as he shot up from his seat. Then Draco turned toward his mother. "What is he doing here?!" He pointed at Harry and asked his mother, looking outraged. It was pretty obvious that he didn't like Harry, at all, since all of his problems began after the boy came into his life.
At first, all of his friends walked away from him, not wanting to get involved with him for whatever reason, but then the harassment started for real. As usual, he tried to use the name of his father to get his way, but he was simply laughed at by his tormentors before they revealed that his father was nothing but a traitor. It was a really humiliating experience for him and he almost ended up attacking them, but he knew that he wasn't strong enough to deal with them, so held back.
Immediately afterwards, he reached out to his father and mother as he expected them to solve the problem, but instead of getting anything solved, both of them simply told him to keep his head low and weather the storm without giving him a concrete reason… With no other option, he decided to do what his parents asked him to do and he hated it. He hated every moment of it… He was a Malfoy and he hated being trampled by the others.
Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the end of his miseries. On the day of the First Task, his mother came to Hogwarts with the Half-blood filth and the barbarian whore and then his mother told him to be respectful to the filthy half-breed!! He had no idea why his parents were acting like that, but there was no way he was going to lower himself in front of a filthy half-breed.
Then there was the final nail in the coffin… His Godfather went to visit his parents as he was certain that there was something wrong with them. Draco agreed with him on that or why would they treat a filthy half-blood with respect, but his Godfather never returned… Instead, he was visited by a group of Aurors who told him that his Godfather was kidnapped by Harry Potter and his parents might be experiencing the same fate.
At first, he obviously didn't believe them… He expected it to be some sort of Ministry cover-up or something like that, but everything changed when he received a letter from his mother, explaining that his Godfather was never going to return. Even though the Aurors were keeping a close eye on him, he managed to hide the letter from them. The Aurors started to keep an even closer eye on him, but he still managed to hide the fact that he was in contact with his mother through letters.
He didn't know why she was adamant that they shouldn't find out about their constant communication, but he still decided to follow through with her order. He had asked for answers, but every time, she avoided the topic by saying that they were in grave danger… It frustrated him to no end, but his father no longer bothered to write back anything to him, so his mother was the only source of information.
Then she finally agreed to tell him everything when he returned home during the Christmas holidays. Draco was somewhat excited about that even though he wasn't going to admit it out loud, but all of his hopes were dashed when an Auror paid him a visit and told him that they will be arranging a place for him to stay if he wanted to leave Hogwarts during the Christmas holidays or he was free to stay at Hogwarts.
Draco wanted to lash out at the Auror as he already hated them and the people they worked for, but he could only listen as his father no longer held any sort of power… It was a bitter pill for him to swallow, but he eventually did it… He was so angry that he didn't even notice his mother rush at him and wrap her arms around him lovingly, but as soon as he realized what was happening, he flushed a bit and his anger disappeared.
He didn't even notice the portal disappear as right now, he was just glad that he was in his mother's arms. School has been really stressful for him this year…
"How are you Draco?" Narcissa asked softly as she finally pulled back from him and started to run her hand over his head.
Draco opened his mouth to answer, but then all of a sudden he remembered that his mother didn't come alone, he looked past her only to find that the portal was gone… "How-How are you even here?" Draco stuttered out as he was completely out of the loop.
"Well, it is a long story and we don't have much time. I am here to take you back home, how about that, my little dragon?" Narcissa asked softly as she continued to pat his head lovingly.
"Yes… Yes, I would like that" Draco immediately agreed to return home as there was nothing for him at Hogwarts. He didn't have any friends. He didn't have anyone to talk with and then his Godfather was also gone. Instead of having fun at Hogwarts, it was starting to feel more like a prison to him. The Aurors were watching his every move and even though he was no longer getting harassed by the other Slytherins thanks to them, he still hated it.
"Alright. Gather your things" Narcissa smiled at him and Draco didn't need to be told twice. It only took him somewhere around a minute to gather everything with the help of his mother and their new house elf Alef. When they were done, Narcissa decided to contact Harry through her Mark and only a second later, a green sparkling portal opened inside the room, leading to Draco's room in the Malfoy Manor.
Draco had never seen anything like the portal so he was obviously surprised and taken aback by such a Magic… "Let's go… We have a lot to talk about" Narcissa said softly as she grabbed her son's shoulder and started to lead him toward the portal. Draco was a bit nervous just before he was about to enter the portal, it was like crossing the barrier of platform 9¾ for the first and when he finally went through, his body relaxed.
Moments later, the portal was gone, leaving the mother-son duo in the room…
<Line Break>
While Narcissa was having a chat with her son, Gellert was already making his way towards the lower floors with his followers taking the lead. Gellert had decided to cover his face as he didn't want to be recognized by anyone before he could surprise his old friend. It wasn't like he hated Albus, but he hated his 'Holier than thou' attitude and he also wanted to see the face Albus would make after seeing him.
It didn't take them long to find the first group of Aurors patrolling the hall. The patrol was quickly dispatched by his followers before the Aurors were relieved of their Wands. He wondered how the Aurors were going to react after realizing that they didn't have their Wands after waking up from their unwilling naps… Gellert believed that their reactions would be hilarious.
Since Gellert and his followers weren't hiding, it didn't take long for the portraits to raise the alarm, which led all the Aurors and the staff members to confront them on the 5th floor.
"You are illegally trespassing on these grounds. Please drop your Wands and surrender!" The Auror leading the group exclaimed loudly. Gellert was certain that the Aurors had contacted their HQ for reinforcements, so he knew that he couldn't stay for long, but at the same time, this was the first time they were getting to show off… Basically, they were going to make their first appearance and it has been quite some time since he let loose and it was the same for his followers.
Gellert decided that he wasn't going to order for a retreat anytime soon… At least, not until the reinforcements arrived, but still, that would depend on their numbers… Gellert smiled under his mask when he noticed his old friend arrive with a flash of fire with his blasted songbird sitting over his shoulder. The blasted bird flew off before it trilled… Gellert blamed his younger self for handing over such a bird to that weakling Aurelius Dumbledore.
He should have known that the boy would balk when the time came, but his younger self trusted too much in his visions… Thankfully, it has been ages since he had another vision and he wanted to stay it like that. After all, he had long realized that the visions could be misleading… Though everything aside, he would have to admit, his old friend still had the flair for dramatics.
At the arrival of Albus, the Aurors seemed to gain some confidence while his own followers turned back toward him. "I repeat again! You are illegally trespassing on these grounds. Please drop your Wands and surrender!" The lead Auror exclaimed again and Gellert realized that it was about time he stepped forward and greeted his old friend. He started to step forward and his followers started to part way for him.
He arrived at the front and Albus' eyes grew as saucers along with everyone else's on his side as he took off his mask. "Hello, old friend…" Gellert greeted Albus with a smile and all hell broke loose…
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****OLD-FRIENDS-REUNITED (II)****
"Hello, old friend…" Gellert greeted Albus and the respected Headmaster could do nothing but gape at the sight in front of him. He already expected to meet Gellert somewhere down the line, but he never expected his friend to look young again… There were some Magical means to look younger, but none of them could make someone look this young.
Even the Aurors and other Professors gathered around were shocked to their cores… "What have you done to yourself?" Albus asked in a horrified tone. Almost everyone believed that Albus Dumbledore is all-knowing, but he would disagree with that notion… Yes, he was old and knowledgeable, but there was a lot he didn't know. He hated not knowing, but he zealously avoided certain branches of Magic.
One of them was Dark Arts. Tom and Gellert were a lot more knowledgeable than him when it came to Dark Arts. He also didn't know much about Black Magic, but Merlin be damned, he was glad that the others were also on the same boat in this regard… All knowledge of Black Magic had disappeared through time and he was glad that it was gone. Then there was Blood Magic and Sacrificial Magic…
It took him a lot of time, but he managed to understand that the Protection used by Lily was Sacrificial Magic, not Dark Arts… Then there was Blood Magic. Albus had to get Blood Magic banned and while it was illegal in almost all the countries, he wasn't able to eradicate it completely as there were still practitioners of Blood Magic and then there was Spain… Even though Spain was a part of ICW, except for Black Magic, everything else, including the Unforgivables, were completely legal in that country.
Back to the topic at hand, it was clear that Albus wasn't all-knowing, so it was kind of understandable that he thought Gellert might have used some sort of Ritual to become young again…
Gellert quirked his brows at his questions and looked down at his hands… "You mean this?" Gellert asked with a grin. "This was not my doing, my friend. This is a gift from my new boss" Gellert revealed and Albus gave his old friend a disbelieving look.
"You are working for someone?" Albus asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Times are changing, my friend and I needed to change my ways too" Gellert admitted that he was working for someone, but he did it in a roundabout way. If it wasn't for Harry's threat of turning him into a mindless doll, he wouldn't have agreed to work under him, but the Strong always ruled the world… It wasn't anything new. He had to go with the flow or he would be swept aside.
"Now, I believe we have dallied enough" Gellert declared with a soft smile before he jabbed his Wand toward Albus, releasing an orange beam from the tip of his Wand and much to Albus' credit, he reacted with equal zeal as jabbed the Elder Wand toward Gellert, releasing a pale blue beam, which collided with the orange beam creating a huge shockwave.
Everyone standing near Gellert and Albus stumbled back a few steps due to the shockwave… All of them were sporting various looks of surprise, horror, and awe on their faces… The hall trembled around them, but both Gellert and Albus held strong. Neither of them wanted to give their opponent even the slightest opening. A few seconds later, both of them broke their initial greeting and attacked each other for real.
"Everyone clear!!" Albus screamed loudly as he didn't want any of the Aurors or his staff members to be struck by any errant Spell as it would mean certain death for them. Even though Albus was using non-lethal Magic, he wasn't holding back, which meant there was a certain force behind all of his Spells. Force strong enough to grind anyone's bones into dust at impact.
Gellert didn't even need to tell his followers to move back as they knew that could become collateral damage at any moment. As the others scurried away from the Magical Titans, once again their Spells collided mid-air, creating another shockwave, but this time, the walls around them started to crack as they were no longer holding back. A large block of stone fell from the ceiling near Gellert and he jabbed his other hand forward, and the stone sailed toward Albus.
Albus was forced to drop the Spell, but he easily stepped around to dodge the Spell and when Gellert's original Spell collided against the wall, it blew a hole through the stone wall… Albus paled a bit at the sight, but he didn't have the time to pay the destruction any Mind as he had to dodge a flame whip before he attacked Gellert with a stream of water.
"Having some trouble, Albus?" Gellert asked in a mocking tone before he raised a stone wall with a sharp front in front of him with a flick of his Wand, but moments later, was forced to jump back when the water almost engulfed him. A smirk appeared on his face… Albus might have lost his touch thanks to his advanced age, but the Elder Wand was helping him hold his own.
Meanwhile, instead of mocking Gellert, he simply decided to press his opponent even more… Gellert was back to his prime, that much was clear to him. He was a bit stronger than Gellert in his prime and while Gellert was stronger than him with the Elder Wand, he managed to beat him because Gellert wasn't able to cast the killing blow, but now the story was different.
He was no longer young… He was no longer as powerful as he was in his prime and he would have already lost the fight if it wasn't for the Elder Wand, but the Elder Wand wasn't infallible… It couldn't make him keep going forever. He would eventually get tired if the fight became long drawn… That was why he knew that he needed to beat Gellert as quickly as he could. It was a bitter pill to swallow as he was no longer Gellert's match without the Elder Wand helping him along.
Though moments later, Gellert struck back from behind the stone wall with a lightning whip and he was forced to jump to the side or he would have lost his head to the Spell… With a look of horror, he saw Gellert slowly step out from the dust cloud with his usual manic grace as he was still on the ground, but before Gellert could attack him, he had to take a step back and defend himself from Spell.
"Albus, get up!" Minerva exclaimed as she came to his rescue along with Filius.
Without wasting any more time, Albus forced his old body to get up while Minerva and Filius were holding back Gellert. It was clear that Minerva and Filius were barely holding back Gellert, so even though his body ached a bit, he stepped forward and attacked Gellert. "You two get back!" Albus screamed, but Minerva and Filius didn't seem to back off.
"The others need you!" Albus exclaimed before Conjuring metal spikes in the air with a wave of his Wand.
"The reinforcements are already here. They can hold their own!" Minerva screamed back, surprising Gellert. He had no idea that the reinforcements were already here. To be honest, he was having too much fun so he forgot about his followers. None of his followers were near him, but even if he wasn't paying his followers any mind, they should have informed him about the reinforcements.
That was when all of a sudden the hall shook due to a loud explosion from the floor below them and thanks to cracks in the walls, courtesy of Gellert and Albus, the floor started to crumble and all four of them started to stumble around… Gellert started to wonder what the hell his followers were doing and he hoped that they weren't trying to bring down the castle on top of their heads.
'What the hell are you doing?!' Gellert screamed through his Mark in complete outrage as another explosion shook the hall.
'Gellert! We are barely holding out here!' Someone answered.
'The whole goddamn DMLE is here!!' Someone else screamed.
That was all he was able to get before the floor finally gave up and the hall started to crumble. "Hold on!" He heard Albus scream before the man cast some Spell and he was engulfed by some sort of translucent shield along with Minerva and Filius, but Gellert didn't pay him any mind as he was staring at the Aurors and the Hitwizards his men were fighting. There were at least two hundred of them while his forces were only forty strong.
He could see them retreating thanks to the debris, but it was the same for his own forces… With this stunt, his followers managed to buy some time, but the odds weren't looking good for them. Once again, he started to wonder how did so many of them managed to get here so quickly? The reinforcements weren't supposed to arrive this quickly and surely not so many. He quickly cast Arresto Momentum on his boots to slow his fall.
He could crush the reinforcements on his own, but he couldn't engage them with Albus still on his feet… Additionally, Minerva and Filius were nothing to scoff at. He could probably beat the two of them, but all three of them together? His odds weren't looking good just like his followers. Gellert realized that they might have miscalculated and bit off more than they could chew.
'Harry, we are cornered' Gellert decided to call in the big guns since there was no way they could win. They never expected so many reinforcements this quickly in the first place.
'Hold on. I will be there' He received an answer only a second later, but there was something dark in his voice, which was something new to Gellert…
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