Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“That’s not a vision, it’s a trap,” Tom insists. “If it’s really what you say, it’s impossible that he doesn’t know and worse, that he won’t use it to his advantage,” he emphasizes, taking Harriet’s arm. “You can’t go there. You can’t give him exactly what he wants.”

“If I don’t go, my mother will die.”

“So what?”

The twins put a hand to their faces. Ah, of all the inappropriate questions available, Tom had to choose that one. Harriet responds sharply.

“She’s my mother and I won’t lose her too because of him. I won’t abandon her.”

“She would abandon you,” Tom points out. “Or have you forgotten? She wants you dead. She would use you as a shield in that place if you miraculously manage to get there and find her.”

“Well, I’m going to take that risk! I’m not like her.”

“You’re more foolish and more suicidal,” Tom snarls.

It must be a trap. Harriet experiencing these mind invasions is evidence of how aware and desperate Grindelwald is to take her with him. Who knows his magical intentions, but Tom is certain that at any moment, he'll try to make her his lover.

Or his slave, depending on how stubborn Harriet turns out to be.

Tom finds it suspicious that this is happening right now, just as Umbridge has definitively disappeared from the picture.

And speaking of Harriet's family: he's been thinking a lot about James. About how convenient his death was, as well as Sirius's. Why were their wills so meticulously prepared? He reviewed them; both are so carefully crafted it's strange. Nobody does that! Not to mention James's obvious depression. Tom is inclined to think something strange is going on and Grindelwald is somehow entering the equation.

A plan to lure Harriet, perhaps? Cornering her by threatening Lily. If so, why hasn't he tried to kidnap her again? At Christmas, she was vulnerable for quite some time. There are so many nonsensical things! And yet, he's convinced that James and Sirius were planning something.

"But he could be there! Right now!"

"The fireplaces throughout the castle are blocked. You won't get there in time! You don't have…!"

"It's my mom. I can't just… ignore it." She tells him directly and Tom shushes.

Harriet finishes tying her boots. She's never changed so quickly. Barely two minutes and she's ready. Tom taps his end on his shoulder, changing into something less uncomfortable. Harriet tilts her head, confused.

"If it's a real trap, you'll have to run and I know plenty of other ways to do it," Tom points out. "Hurry up, so you can prove me right."

"You're unbearable," Harriet complains.

"I love you too, sweetheart," Tom says sarcastically.

"Hey! Wait!"

Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville also come down from the dormitories. They're dressed casually and head towards her. "We're coming too. If there are a lot of people, you'll need help," Hermione says and Harriet just nods. She's not going to stop them; she doesn't have time anyway. Outside Gryffindor, Luna and Drakonys are waiting. Tom is annoyed that the Slytherin girl is there.

"She told me what's going on," Drakonys says. She walks alongside them. "I have a method of instant messaging. I can ask my dad to help us. I'll tell him I'm there and they're going to kill me. My mom will get him to send help." She explains in more detail and Harriet is exasperated that the staircase is moving so slowly.

"You could contact our parents too," Ginny suggests. "And Neville's. They're very good duelists and sometimes helped out when undercover Aurors were needed."

"Is there a specific password?"

"Just say we're going to die," Ron huffs.

It's incredible that they trust Drakonys with something like this.

"Thank you," Harriet says as a farewell. The group hurries out of the castle. Drakonys stays in the entrance and sighs, wringing her hands.

She doesn't feel capable of facing Grindelwald, even if she has the strength to fight with spells. So it's best if she doesn't get in the way, offering her only way to help. She hopes Umbridge hasn't returned to her office…

"You guys!" she calls to the red-haired twins. She heard them say they would stay behind to create a distraction in case anyone noticed their absence. "I need to go to Umbridge's office. Help me."

It sounds more like an order than a request. Under other circumstances, they wouldn't do it; In these situations, there aren't many options and who knows, scaring Umbridge again sounds like a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Tom doesn't understand where Harriet is leading them. He doesn't see the point of entering the Forbidden Forest now and even when they reach a clearing, it's pointless. Harriet heads straight for the Thestrals. The black horses come to meet her, butting their heads against her for affection.

"Luna, they're faster, aren't they?"

"Is something there?" Ron asks quietly and Hermione shakes her head. She doesn't see anything either.

"They're faster than broomsticks," Luna announces. "And they're also very good at finding their way around." She strokes the muzzle of a smaller one. "I hope they don't mind."

The process of getting them on was both funny and complicated. Harriet climbed into the same one as Tom, even though he wasn't keen on the idea. He asked Hermione for her expandable bag and Nagini got in. She hates flying. She gets motion sickness. There's risk of falling off, so she hid inside.

Everyone clung tightly to the Thestrals. The speed at which they flew was not only very strong, but the gusts of wind seemed to be against them.

┈ ⋞ ⟨ ✷ ⟩ ⋟ ┈

"What do you mean they left?"

"More than half of everyone here just left. He didn't tell me anything. I think he doesn't want us to know he left," said Sirius, leaning against the doorframe. James, with a frown and a disbelieving expression, said, "I know they went to the Ministry, that's all."

"Is he going to try to take it by force?" James said sarcastically, annoyed and tense.

“I wouldn’t do something as risky as that. There must be something else,” Sirius insists, shaking his head. “The Department of Mysteries, perhaps?”

“He’s still obsessed with prophecies. The only problem is, I don’t know which one he wants or why. He hasn’t wanted to talk to me about it.”

Sirius studies James closely. He doesn’t realize he’s got him so nervous, disoriented and preoccupied. He recognizes that these are events that happened when he wasn’t there. Sirius pushes back a strand of hair with one hand, letting it fall a moment later.

“I know I’m not your favorite person right now, but you know you can tell me whatever’s going on,” Sirius says as tactfully as possible. James looks away. “If it’s something I can help you with, if you just want someone to listen and not give their opinion—I can do whatever you need.” He takes a couple of steps closer. James shakes his head.

“It’s nothing… Let’s go to his office. We’ll find something there. If he took everyone, they won't even notice.” Sirius nods and lets him go first. He sighs, frustrated by his companion's secrecy.

Entering Grindelwald's office wasn't difficult. The place is emptier than ever. Hundreds of papers are piled on the desk; he barely has time to glance at even a portion of each one to figure out what they are.

Archaic rituals, notes on rune translation, spells and dark magic curses. There are symbols with annotations of different possibilities and what appears to be the profile of a person from the 1920s.

A man from the Japanese magical world, smiling and known for his white magic. After him, the profile of a serious woman, distinguished by her dark magic. They both died at the same time. Why is that important? Questions for another day.

“Sirius, do you remember what Lily said about premonitions?”

“Aside from being a light show in the Department of Mysteries, not exactly,” he confesses, focused on his investigation. He finds records of people who share the same markers: high-level white and black magic. “Was there anything else?”

“Grindelwald has different seers and different data here. It ends up in Trelawny,” James informs, sitting down in the enormous chair behind the desk. Sirius peeks in, still holding the records. “He’s interested in a prophecy from over ten years ago. He has the date, who it was told to—”

“Doesn’t it say why it matters?”

James shakes his head. He only has the essential details: the date, who said it, who it was told to and a list of people with crossed-out names. That reminds him of precisely what he asked. “Only whoever is named in the prophecy can take it—he hasn’t been able to take it, but why does it matter?” he mutters.

Sirius is wondering the same thing. Prophecies can be useless, so it's odd that Grindelwald is so interested in one. Specifically that one. Keeping that document at bay, they continue searching for any clue, anything.

Sirius, ransacking the bookcase looking for something, notices that it swings open backward. He whistles, calling James over. Once open, it reveals a large, perfectly maintained room: a huge bed, white, red and gold sheets, a large canopy; stuffed animals as decoration; a desk, bookcase, stationery, a huge mirror mounted on the wall and wallpaper that matches the bed.

There are no windows.

No lights.

Sirius looks under the bed, discovering enchanted chains. James checks the desk. Simple textbooks, some novels and new notebooks. He opens the drawer and wrinkles his face.

There are crumpled papers, seemingly hidden. As if he knew someone would search his office.

"We have to go to the Ministry."

"But—"

"We could end this now! He won't expect us there!" Sirius judges him.

Convinced that James isn't thinking straight. He's rushed and desperate to protect Harriet. He doesn't blame him, but at the same time: he's putting everything they've done so far at risk. This is an opportunity for hundreds of different things, not necessarily exposing themselves as traitors.

"You're only saying that because Harriet is at risk. She's—"

"I can't let him do anything else to her. I've already allowed too much," James argues, almost hysterical and driven mad by the way he's expressing himself. "And… we have the element of surprise. He doesn't know we're going."

"Harriet can't even leave Hogwarts."

"Oh, please, neither can we and we did it more times than we can count," James counters, exasperated. Sirius rubs his temple.

"What's your plan? You're not thinking of just showing up, are you?"

James shakes his head, puts everything back in its place and hurries out. Sirius follows him without hesitation. James sometimes comes up with brilliant plans when he's under pressure. Perhaps this is one of those times. One of those opportunities where his instincts tell him something and fortune, having him as his favorite son, is simply on his side.

At the same time, Sirius decides to do something James will surely appreciate later: all the parchments begin to duplicate themselves in the trunk in his room. He's already done this with much of what Grindelwald has given him, either by using his own memories to duplicate them or by directly making a copy when he's not looking. James does it too, but he's not in the right state of mind for it right now.

┈ ⋞ ⟨ ✷ ⟩ ⋟ ┈

Harriet didn't think about where to leave the Thestrals. She only hopes they can return to Hogwarts on their own and at the same time, that they don't need them to get back to Hogwarts. Her hope is that if her mother is here, she'll help them return to the school, or that Dumbledore will understand why they came all this way.

Not to mention that with how long it took them to do anything about Umbridge, Harriet finds it almost impossible to trust them. Last time, they were the ones helping Arthur Weasley. They have to do the same.

Entering the Ministry is easy; the only difference is how incredibly eerie it is at night. There isn't a soul in the vast magical space. The statue in particular filled her with panic. Chills.

As if, somehow, the rock is watching her. They get on the elevator together, Harriet presses the button and lets out a breath.

"What do we do if we run into one of Grindelwald's followers? I don't think he came alone," Hermione says.

"Disarm them, throw them far away, anything but kill them, but seriously injuring them is fine," Harriet continues. Her eyes fixed on the elevator sign, wondered why the Department of Mysteries was so far away.

"This is a trap," Tom insisted, a hand on his hip. "Do any of you know how appear?" Judging by their faces, they didn't even know what he was talking about. Tom pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is going to be a massacre."

"We just have to help Mom. That's all," Harriet murmured, ignoring the conversation happening around her.

Maybe Lily would like her if she saved her.

Maybe everything would go back to some semblance of normalcy if she saved her.

Maybe Lily would love her if she saved her.

The elevator doors opened, announcing the department they had arrived at and the long, black hallway opened up before them. Harriet took a deep breath and frowned, listening to something in the distance. Just like the last time she was here with her mother.

"Come on," Tom urged, puzzled by her sudden withdrawal. Harriet stepped out of the elevator first.