Chapter 123: Magic, What is it Good For? (Part 2)

Long ass Chapter to make up for the lack of Chapters... Hope you enjoy!

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Grindelwald hummed a soft tune under the din of the room, his heterochromatic blue-green eyes searchingly caressing every table he strolled past. The tune was from the play Les Misérables, specifically the most rousing song in the entire play... ’Do you hear the people sing?’... It was a favourite of his that he had hummed many times throughout his long stay inside Nurmengard Castle, his former fortress during the second wizarding war.

Lights flickered on and off at the edges of the expansive chamber as fairies flittered between tables. Crystal candelabras and fixtures softly trundled through the air as if they were carried by a river of pure air, their illuminations casting shadows across many wizards’ and witches’ faces.

He ran his fingers along the edge of an empty dark oak table, his magical senses pouring information into his mind as the history of the object was unveiled to his sixth sense. Oh how he loved the history etched deeply in France, even if the people were somewhat distasteful in their morals... In his opinion the Germans would always be superior in moral fibre. Though he admitted he might be a tad biased since his family was Prussian.

A chuckle boiled in his throat for a few seconds before the front entrance to the La Cour des Sorciers; The Wizards’ Court, a magical lounge-bar in the innermost segment of the French magical district, was opened.

He watched for a few moments until he noticed that the new customers were his newly found comrades. His eyes narrowed in satisfaction as he could feel their hatred of their fellow ’citizens’. Their gazes were hard and disgusted by many of the less savoury elements of Wizarding society that were present in the expansive room.

As they stalked through the building in search of him, Grindelwald delicately adjusted his trench coat to wrap around himself before sitting backwards into an exquisitely carved chair made of mahogany and that was surprisingly made for Napoléon Bonaparte. He would be taking this chair very soon, it did not deserve to be sullied by middling wizards and ineffective men.

His musings were softly pushed to the back of his mind as he noted the kind gestures of some of his new comrades, their care for their fellow Frenchmen and women shining through in the way they softly inquired of his presence. Not all of his new members lacked morals it seemed... A positive for the future scheme he had in mind.

Flicking his finger in the direction of the blonde Veela who had shown morals, he sent a small pulse of air against the back of her neck, the wind pulsing in a nigh imperceptible rhythm. The woman abruptly rotated in his direction with her wand extended and a spell on her lips, a bone-breaker if his accuracy in reading intent and lips were as accurate as before his stay in prison.

"Kind but fiery...My oh my, how my former comrades would have appreciated you." Grindelwald whispered to himself wistfully as the woman lowered her wand and slowly ambled in his direction. Many of the patrons around her had clasped their own magical items and focuses but eventually settled when she walked away from them. It was one of the policies of this establishment, ’never get involved in other peoples’ dealings unless you are affected’... A perfect rule for what he intended to speak on, this night.

The other interested parties he had lured here tonight with some of his former contacts had also noticed his presence at this stage and wandered over, all of them staggering their journey to the table.

Naturally the Veela was the first to reach him and he couldn’t help but internally chuckle at the flustered expression painted over her pristinely porcelain face. "Do you not know how to properly greet a lady monsieur Grindelwald...!?" She hissed quietly under her breath as she collapsed into one of the chairs next to him.

"I do indeed mademoiselle. I shall endeavour to greet them properly when I meet one of them..." He slyly remarked with a small upturn of his lips whilst the Veela huffed in indignation.

"It seems you need house training after so long in prison monsieur." She commented harshly as she pushed her bright gold hair behind her right shoulder, her pouty lips smacking against one another as bright blue irises carefully examined his posture and gestures... She was using the back and forth to analyse his character. He was mildly impressed.

"Nein, nein... I do not need training mademoiselle Delacour, merely some of your time and perhaps an open ear..." Grindelwald calmly rebutted before a giant man dressed in dark cloak and hunters’ cowl daintily scooped a chair out from under the table opposite the recently freed dark lord and sat down in one single smooth motion.

"What is the purpose in calling upon the old life debts old man...?" The giant asked in a gritty tone, his voice box sounding scratched and cracked from many a shouted spell or command, possibly both. Delacour turned her nose up at the intruder but maintained her silence... It seemed she knew when her words were wanted and needed, a useful skill to have.

"Life debts are such a honourable thing to listen to Lord Yaxley... You should not treat them as merely a service to be conducted as quickly as possible and with as little effort as you can muster..." Grindelwald chided softly as the order he had placed when he first walked into the Wizard’s Court floated over and softly settled in the middle of the table. Wines, Whiskeys and Meeds were all arranged in a circular pattern before the three of them, Yaxley grumpily grasping onto a meed close to him.

"Answer my question old man." The British Lord ground out after gulping half the pint down.

"Hah, very well. I wish to bring the cause of magicals and magical creatures forwards once more." He paused and gauged their reactions... Delacour seemed interested but had a subdued expression as if she were holding back her hopes and dreams. Yaxley was the opposite, he was greedily staring towards him as he took a sip of wine before continuing. "Of course this cause must change with the times and therefor I cannot expect society at large to fully treat muggles as, inferior, but I do wish to separate us from them further... To use their scientific progress to fuel our own prowess and to remain isolated."

Before either could butt in, he continued. "My goal is to bring all magical beings together... To allow a Veela, a Goblin, a Centaur, a fairy the same rights as Wizards and Witches. Together we will prosper, divided we shall fall... Corruption, decadence, intentional ignorance and discrimination has festered wholly inside France, Britain, Russia, America, China and almost every element of Wizarding society..." He took a sip of his drink before finishing his speech. "I foresaw this all happening due to my sight, but alas I could not change what was meant to be... Still, I had a role to play within fate’s hands and did as I was charged... Now, however, we have a chance to enact my original goals for magicals everywhere... Freedom for all, and most importantly, freedom from the disastrous technologies of the muggles."

Delacour immediately broke in at the end of his speech, her irises digging into the side of his wizened face. "You say that freedom for all is what you want and yet in the last war you attempted to usurp the international leadership using necromancy and a dead magical creature that many consider holy to mother magic herself..."

Grindelwald held back the frustration he felt deep within his soul at how perceptive and knowledgeable she was. "This is true... I’m afraid that at the time I was under immense pressure from my followers and Dumbledore himself to accomplish something that would show success for my former cause... My followers killed the beast instead of bringing it to me so I may be judged and one of them, foolishly, used necromancy to attempt to hide his mistakes from me and mainly the world. I was just as surprised that day when the creature was revealed to be dead..." He splayed his hands out in a ’what can you do’ gesture.

"Whatever, I don’t give a fuck about some dead or undead creature from almost one hundred years ago or whatever... How the fuck are you going to achieve your goals and what support do you have?" Yaxley spat out inquisitively whilst waving off the woman at the table. It seemed he was a misogynist and disliked Delacour simply because she was a Veela... Perhaps it was a mistake inviting him to the table.

Grindelwald lightly shook his head side to side whilst sipping his wine, his eyes staring blankly at the large brute of a man across from him. He set the wine glass down.

"Some people care, Lord, because it adds perspective and understanding to ones’ comrades. That particular tale has been a thorn in my side since it happened and I was happy that she had asked for clarification before throwing accusations around as if they were stunning spells..." Yaxley’s right eye twitched as Grindelwald spoke onwards, "As for how we could achieve our goals and the support we would have... I would prefer to stay, surreptitious, for a time... Gaining connections and influence with several political factions across the world. From these connections we would try to slowly convert Lords, Ladies and Heirs to our cause."

Delacour appeared close to breaking into his explanation before he raised a hand and flashed a small smile in her direction. He was trying to reassure her that he would answer her coming question in the next part of his explanation.

"As for the New Bloods, or Muggle-Born as many call them, I would wish to give them an organisation they could come to and learn of the Wizarding World’s international culture, history and hierarchy... As I stated before, I do not wish to divide magical kind apart through arbitrary racial biases... If they can use magic or are a part of mother magic, they are one of us, even if their origin came from those of the mundane."

"Y-YOU WOULD HAVE US CONSORT WITH MUD-BLOODS!?!?" Yaxley roared out in rage, his fist slamming into the table as his right hand reached for his gnarled wand that was stupidly jutting from his cloak-pocket.

"Sit." Grindelwald flexed his magical aura and clamped down onto the man with the force of his many rituals and the sheer might of his magical power.

"Guhk~" Yaxley crumbled in on himself, his chair squeaking backwards as it caught his full weight.

Delacour’s arms were covered with hundreds of feathers that were sluggishly receding back inside her human skin. Her eyes were a strange mixture of avian-yellow and glistening blue as she held her polished white wand in-between her dainty fingers. She was quick to react, quick to respond and almost completely willing to unleash hell upon her enemies... Grindelwald was seriously considering making her his right hand in the order he was building.

"Calm down my dear, he simply... misspoke... didn’t you Yaxley?" He asked whilst staring into the the man’s soul through his eyes.

"Y-yes... I-i apologise..." He whimpered, his body cowering deeper into his seat as the rest of the room slowly shifted back to their own business, the majority of them shooting the pureblood British noble death-glares.

"Very good. Now, how about we end this meeting here? Perhaps we can meet sometime next week... Say, Friday? Then I will be more prepared for strenuous questions and hopefully your presence in the movement I have planned." He calmly stated whilst flaring his cuffs and softly patting his trench coat down.

"I do not need a week. I am in. You have convinced me with your sincerity and your explanation of that particular historical event." Delacour stated plainly, eyeing Yaxley with derision and distaste all the while.

"Ah, a most wonderful result from this meeting... Perhaps you can share my goals with your allies that have refused to come join us in discussion? I would prefer they meet me face to face should they come next time." He suggested politely, his gaze lingering on several members that hung in the corners of the room... such as a certain Charlie Weasley who was supposed to be firmly under Dumbledore’s thumb. It was intriguing to him.

"Understood... From now on you may call me Fleur, since we are to be comrades." She nodded towards the wizened dark lord before walking off towards Charlie Weasley.

"Gellert, you may call me. And I do hope we meet next week my dear, our conversation was far more gratifying than I had expected." He whispered through magic into her ears before standing from the table, rounding it, and grasping Yaxley by his lapels... The man cowering in fear at the physical contact he was making with him.

Fleur gave no response back but he did not need it to understand that he had swayed his right-hand woman for his new cause and that she would work, at the very least, for the short term.

"Let us have a, constructive, discussion my Lord... Perhaps we will find some way in which you can aid our cause that does not, impede on your morals?" Grindelwald weakly suggested before forcefully apparating the man out of the lounge-bar.

~~~

Dumbledore had not expected his support to be so thoroughly ousted out from under him in such a short span of time. With Gellert free and able to continue their work he had considered losing people to his former boyfriend’s philosophies or cause... And yet it was Harry Potter, the bumbling idiot of a teenager that he had ensured was abused to be a weapon against Voldemort, that had caused such deep damage to his version of the Greater Good.

"It is most concerning Fawkes... Harry has stepped into the darkness too far..." He spoke softly to the lesser Phoenix as he squawked in pain from the magical bindings placed over its body and soul like a slave’s collar.

His only supporters now were Mundungus Fletcher, Arthur Diggory and his various operatives throughout magical society. Severus had been absent from meetings and Hogwarts for a time now and had been on an extended journey with Belatrix Lestrange to find some items of Voldemort’s... No doubt one of his Horcruxes.

"First I must curb his political power through exposing his murder of Quirrell, then perhaps I can place the blame of the Chamber of Secrets incident upon his shoulders?" He mused to himself as he paced back and forth in front of his desk within his office at Hogwarts.

*SQUAWK*

The lesser Phoenix moaned in pain as another chain wrapped its way around its magical core and forced the bond between it and Dumbledore to stay open.

"Indeed... It is a good idea Fawkes. Perhaps I can also expose his use of the time turner, maybe suggest that he stole the device from the restricted section and used it without instruction? It would lead to the unspeakables trying to capture him and throw him through the veil..." he nodded to himself as he paced for the hundredth time this night.

"Yes, that is what I will do. Turn all of his heroic feats into chains around his legs and then use them to hang him with." He paused his frantic pacing, his eyes becoming hollowed and tired. "I can’t verse Voldemort and Harry..."

He shook his head.

"No, it is too insane to work with Gellert. We disagree on too many things!" He started pacing for a minute before halting once again, this time in front of his Pensieve.

"Perhaps it is the only path..." He muttered darkly, his hands clutching the edges of the white artefact, its rippling pool of memories swirling before his eyes in a chaotic pattern of thought and recollection.

"We shall see..." He dunked his head into the device for the seventy fifth time today, his mind stretching and expanding to witness his last fight with his former lover and potential husband.

*SQUAWKkkkk* Fawkes whimpered as another premature burning was initiated by the magical bindings.

~~~

"You are now officially Lord Potter once more James." Nagnar growled out in exhaustion.

"Great! Now I just need a griffin-style set of glasses and me and my son will be super-wicked!" The freshly reinstated Lord of the Potter exclaimed whilst he wife rolled her eyes in frustration.

"Not finished Nagnar." Harry broke in carefully, his tone respectful despite being abrupt.

The goblin groaned and brought out another stack of empty papers from under his desk.

"What else do you require Lord Pendragon-Ravenclaw-Slytherin-Peverell?"

"I wish to create two vassal houses under the Pendragon title. One Lordship will go to my friend Drecarios Frost here and shall carry his family’s name." The goblin nodded excitedly and waved his hand over several sheafs of parchment. "Finally the other is for my uncle Remus Lupin, which will be named after his family."

"Easily done... They shall each be granted a Duke title within the Pendragon royalty. This does mean that should you challenge the current muggle queen for right to rule that they will be required to swear oaths to you and your bloodline magically and they will require a designation of land should that time come." The goblin finished succinctly before grabbing a stamp and smacking it onto the top-most parchment.

"Well, I dislike being beholden to anyone but knowing you Harry you’d simply just tell me to go do whatever whilst you fucked Tonks over there or something..." I stated plainly whilst Tonks squeaked in embarrassment and horniness.

"We’re True Sith, we don’t have chains we don’t need or want Drecarios. I wouldn’t allow anyone to make a magical oath unless they were fully capable of accepting the responsibility and the chains that come along with the position... Perhaps you could become my court mage or something as compensation for the altered contract?" Harry said before turning to Nagnar with his question.

"Easily done. As Lord Pendragon you stipulate the feudal contracts of your dynasty, it is merely our work as Goblins to ensure the contracts are upheld and made in good faith.: Nagnar spouted company policy around a wicked grin.

"See." Harry pointed at Nagnar whilst looking at me.

I inclined an eyebrow and simply snickered at the teenager’s antics.

"Are we done yet?" Nagnar questioned soon after our exchange finished.

"NOPE, I want to call on all of the Black life debts to the dark-side families. They are to meet me on Friday this coming week to discuss family matters." Sirius cut in before slinking back, leaving Nagnar behind his desk to slam his head onto another stack of empty papers.

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