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Harry had opted to send those that'd had wands back first. Were they the only Magicals in the place, what they knew would likely be leagues beyond that which the Muggles in their little band did, if the battle back in the UK had taught him much of anything; Muggles were — those that followed Grindelwald, of course — nearly always oblivious as to what they were truly fighting for. Some were controlled, others deceived and the few that knew the truth, just as cruel as Grindelwald.
It surprised him that the Magicals had been nearest to the exit, given they'd oft sacrifice the Muggles for their safety when things turned violent. Mayhaps they'd intended on keeping the place secure, but after a very long time, they'd grown lazy and confident.
Then again, as Harry levitated a body up and through the space he and Elaine made, he pondered if the Magicals had chosen that spot to keep the Muggles in. After all, regardless of morale or personal thought, a Muggle wouldn't want to stand against a Wizard, would they?
He figured not.
Certainly not. It was a fight they'd lose unless the Magical were caught off-guard, and based on the security of the place — before Elaine had taken much of that security over or destroyed it outright — it would've been hard for them to leave even had they beaten the Magical on guard duty.
Harry looked over his shoulder, to the passage they'd moved to after they'd cleared the first chamber of sorts, but he couldn't see Elaine anymore than he could see anything else down the passage.
So he turned his attention back to the final few bodies before him, and climbed up after them with the final of the hastily-made portkeys in his hand. As soon as he reached the top, he brought the immobile Magicals to his person, set the portkey in their hands and secured it with a sticking charm, and finally, said the activation word.
With a barely-audible pop, the last of the Magicals amongst the place had been sent off, leaving nought but the Muggles behind. Truth be told, he was still debating whether or not to send them back via the same process he'd done so with the Magicals. It was incredibly unlikely they'd know anything of worth, and so the added work hardly seemed worthwhile.
It wasn't like they'd escape justice if he chose to turn them over here either. Just about any nation in the world had a bone to pick with those that'd followed Grindelwald, Muggle or Magical.
Harry turned back and descended once more, and after he reached the bottom, he covered the path made. The Muggles didn't need to be brought back along with the Magicals — only the latter were needed, he decided, but that didn't mean they'd not be questioned.
No, he and Elaine had brought along a myriad of potions, and in that near-countless number of vials stored in either satchel or bag, there were a good number that'd see ones lips loosened, and in a way that was far more reliable than torture would ever be.
It was a good thing that, since he reckoned silence by way of the Muggles when questioned would have very likely have led to violence from Elaine as a response. Violence he'd have more than allowed, given who they'd followed and what it meant they'd likely done in his service.
Not one follower had been innocent thus far. No, those who remained were his most devout.
Harry shook his head and started back down the path that'd lead him to the second chamber, where Elaine was. It'd taken him a good few minutes to carry the bodies of the Magicals out with care, and to see them taken via a Portkey elsewhere. There was no reason to think of violence, even despite the anger that would so oft well-up in him.
Grindelwald, even should he return, would have all but nothing.
He lacked his wand, his army, his Muggle allies, and day-by-day those few that remained shrunk in number.
When he finally would appear, if he was even given the chance, the fight would result in his final, and total destruction.
Harry could go about investigating the whole 'Horcrux' matter in-depth then. That, and rituals, and politics and so much more that he'd shoved to the side.
Reckon the Goldhorns, Potters and just about everybody else I've made wait understands, he mused to himself. How couldn't they? Never just at Peverell Manor, am I? Or in the Ministry.
There were entirely too few days that had seen Harry and Elaine spend them in peace and quiet.
Harry emerged into the chamber, took a quick glance around the place, and then poked his head into the only room which light shined forth from.
Elaine was there, sure enough, and sat so comfortably behind the desk it nearly looked as if it were her own.
"Find anything worthwhile?"
She glanced up at him from beneath long lashes that partially concealed her eyes. "What would you determine to be worthwhile? Additional holdouts where he's likely not hidden? Perhaps information regarding local officials who'd worked with Grindelwald or those that'd followed him for the sake of protecting themselves?"
"That's all that you've found?" He drew closer to her, taking step after step until he were by her side, and when he was, he looked down at the parchment she'd had translated via the enchanted-quills she was so fond of. After the first few sentences, he furrowed his brow. "Replacement?"
"It would seem those that followed him here had been steadily working on acting the part of those of importance in the area," Elaine said, summoning forth a crate from the corner of the room and setting it upon her desk. "Open it, lover. You'll see what I mean."
He cocked his head at her, but with a flick of a finger, sent the lid of the box off, back to the corner it'd come from. As soon as he did so, his eyes landed on the many vials of dark liquid stored within. "Polyjuice potion. Any way of telling if these ones are already keyed to a specific person?"
Elaine tapped her fingers. "One that I'm absolutely certain of, another as well, albeit one without a full sense of certainty," she flipped the parchment that looked as if it were a log of some sort, and watched as what was written was translated and written once more on the new parchment she'd placed beside that of the original. "Whilst we wait, I should think we need to take note of what we've learned."
"Worried?"
"Not for myself," Elaine's gaze switched from the parchments and quills, to Harry, as her left hand grasped his right. "Polyjuice amongst other such ways of imitating others is cause for concern and increased security, but not for any great worry. Not in our Ministry. It's the others that trouble me."
"Wait," Harry raised his left hand lest she continued speaking. "Why isn't it cause for concern at our Ministry? Last I recall, there's not much there that's meant to do away with illusions or disguises — we had a bl—"
Elaine tutted. "I've given our newest advisor the task of internal security, organisation between departments, and the rooting out of all corruption that isn't to our benefit. Daphne's very fond of such things."
"Is she smarter than Grindelwald?"
"She needn't be smarter than Grindelwald, just those that remain of his followers," Elaine's eyes went back to the vials before them. "We'll return with these and see them identified. If the person they belong to is unknown to us, we'll have portraits or Muggle-modified cameras capture their likeness and see such photos sent out. Such information should aid us in the destruction of this 'replacement' plan."
Harry scrunched up his nose in thought. "So long as it's not already too large."
"Elsewhere, perhaps," Elaine mused. "But not back home, no. We'd have picked out if any person of a prominent enough position had been replaced."
"I'll send word to that new German Ministry and McMacson. Merlin, probably Aster and Corene too. Best to have them aware just in case, I'd say," Harry finally stepped away from the desk, and summoned the vials of Polyjuice potion after doing so. "I'll store these while you go through what remains — how much more and how much longer?"
"A dozen parchments of interest, more or less," Elaine stretched, her arms rising up over her head as her back arched; all the while, her eyes sought out his. When they caught them, she smiled. "We could pass the time in a more pleasant way, lover. Wouldn't you say?"
"You're having a laugh."
"I could be having you," Elaine grinned when he shook his head. "Fine, see your curiosity satiated. I'll remain here and go through what these logs convey — and lover?"
"Elaine?"
She beckoned him forth with a finger, one that saw him taken at speed towards her, and before he could so much as utter a word, she rose and placed a kiss on either cheek. "Do wait for me, if you find anything more, yes?" she kissed the tip of his nose next. "This date of ours has been entirely too fun not to end together."
"If I find anything, I'll be sure to come get you," Harry's off-hand found purchase around Elaine's waist thanks to her raising herself up to steal her kisses, and so he stole one of his own when she made to return to her seat. "Same goes for you too, yeah? If you find anything, get me."
"Naturally, lover," Elaine said with a snicker, one hand trailing down from his shoulder, to his arm and finally, to his hand where she seemed to hesitate in letting him go. "Be careful. I'll be cross with you if you're hurt."
"With me?"
Elaine narrowed her eyes; Merlin, to think he'd once been afraid of such a look from her. Her dark eyes, darker, long hair and the general beauty she possessed even despite a 'displeased' look could never be doubted. She was like an angel, albeit one that'd fallen, what with her perfection and darkness. "Remind me to take you to the basement upon our return home, my love. There's something for you to complete that we should've done so very long ago."
"Wha—" Harry made to ask, but he was cut off when Elaine spoke again.
"Not yet, later," Elaine smiled at him, wide, eager almost, and kissed his hand before turning him around altogether.
Harry now wanted to remain with her… but he'd go and take his glance around, see if anything was kept hidden, and then return. Neither would be going anywhere anytime soon, and he'd get his answer eventually.
The first chamber where the Magicals had been lacked any form of secret pace so far as Harry could tell. There were no hidden passages, no little rooms with doors hidden by way of illusions or the like, and no items worth taking.
His search of the place revealed only empty bottles of wine and vials of potions, trash from food they'd consumed and tattered clothes; there was even an extra wand that had been kept hidden under a pillow. That nearly made him go back to the 'Muggles' they'd found to determine if their wands were kept in a similar fashion, but he opted to complete his search of the first chamber first.
It was thanks to that resolve that he found one more item of interest; a map.
There was writing on the back of it, but the language was one of the many hundreds which he couldn't read.
He flipped it back over to look at the map proper — he could have Elaine use those quills of hers once she was finished to determine just what was written thereon. In the meantime, he favoured checking it over to determine if there was anything easily identifiable present. Harry recognised it was a map of Europe easily enough, but sans that, there seemed nothing else.
Which meant, to him, there was a word that needed to be said much like the old Marauder's Map.
Harry pocketed that, and started back to the second chamber. He'd take a little peek around and ensure there wasn't anything else they'd missed when they'd taken care of the previous occupants.
Perhaps ten minutes later, Harry found himself returning to the archway that'd see him to Elaine with nothing else to show off. The Muggles were, as best as he could tell, just that; Muggles. No hidden wands under pillows had been found, and there wasn't anything else indicative of Magicals in their chambers — something that'd track given the Muggles and Magicals that followed Grindelwald didn't seem to care all that much for one another.
Harry reckoned the Muggles being used as sacrifices didn't instil them with any sense of love for their Magical counterparts.
"Empty vials and an extra wand, nothing else," Harry nodded at her once he'd finished. "You?"
"A few more lines in regards to their 'replacement' project, and a mention of two others," Elaine with but a wave of her hand sent a parchment his way. "The wand."
He took the extra wand and tossed it her way a second before he clutched the floating parchment.
Harry began to read it as Elaine checked what last the wand had cast; he hadn't thought of that. He would've, he'd just been preoccupied in his search.
A few seconds later, he looked up from the parchment. "Yaxley? I thought last we'd heard he was nearby in the UK, and then everything had gone silent?"
"Cliff aided us, and as we'd learned together, had been spotted in an inn. We had meant to reconvene, but when he failed to appear, Corene and I concluded he'd been found out, and killed," Elaine shrugged, as if that were the way of the world. "It would seem, however, he's quite alive — spotted, in Normandie with another man of importance to Grindelwald that had made contact with the 'officer' here."
"You don't know anything more?" Harry remembered Cliff. Years later it may be, the cagey, helpful boy had been a friend. It'd always bugged him that he hadn't learned of his fate — it seemed that wrong would be righted soon enough. "Truly?"
Elaine pouted out her bottom lip. "I thought we were past such doubts, lover?"
He continued to look at her.
"Fine, truly," Elaine huffed. "Better?"
Harry smiled, pleased she'd caved; he hadn't doubted her, not really, but getting her a tad riled up was always fun. "Better," he agreed readily, "Suppose we're off to Normandie then, is that right?"
"It is," Elaine's eyes went past where he stood in the archway. "After we've had a few moments to speak with our most gracious hosts."
"Right," Harry pushed off from the arch and started towards where they'd kept their Muggle captives.
He supposed they did have to question them just to be certain.
By this point, however, he doubted they'd learn anything helpful from some Muggle foot soldier that'd likely never so much as seen Grindelwald… but the Magical who'd been behind the table, at the desk, that was one such person he was most eager to learn about.
Most certainly.
As he'd imagined, the Muggles had known next to nothing of importance. All they'd offered up was information in regards to their relations with the Magicals Elaine and Harry had captured; his latter idea had been that which was correct, meaning things had been tense. It was for that reason the Magicals were nearer to the exit, and for that reason that they'd collapsed the nearby sister-structure to that which they occupied — Harry and Elaine hadn't heard of that second place, but a quick stop there had revealed it to be the truth.
It existed, and it was destroyed.
Unfortunately, they knew not so much as the word 'replacement', much less anything about the project or other works that would've been beneficial.
That led them to where they were now, that being the Ministry's holding cells, with their guests inside being questioned one after the other. Elaine had seen fit that she and Harry each take part in the process to an intimate degree, and with their friends in the DMLE ever-present, their presence was readily accepted.
"No," the monotonous voice of the 'officer' of Grindelwald answered.
Harry hadn't been paying much attention to the various interrogations, he'd been entirely too lost in his thoughts, but with the person of importance now up, he was keen. Very keen.
"Do you know where Grindelwald is?"
"No." The man's tone continued to sound dull, lifeless almost, as he gave his answers.
"Would've been too easy that, wouldn't it?" Aster piped up from behind Harry and Elaine, from the direction of the doorway.
Harry would give him that. "Yeah, suppose it would've been," he looked back just in time for the next question.
"Do you know about the 'replacement' which was written about in documents found at your desk?"
This time, the monotonous voice gave a positive answer. "Yes."
"Tell us about this replacement — does it involve impersonating others?"
"Yes."
"Killing the originals?"
"No."
"Holding them?"
"Yes."
On and one the questions went, and to such a degree that Harry, Elaine, Aster and the staff working with them were given a clear enough picture after little more than ten minutes had passed them by.
The 'replacement' plan was their last effort, one that was shrinking with every remnant group found, to see them victorious. Politicians, Quidditch players, famous Magicals and other people of importance would be set upon, captured and kept alive for the sake of endless potions. Their minds would be picked, their possessions gone through and their vast resources used for the sake of regrowing and returning to power what remained of Grindelwalds faction.
Their captive knew a dozen names — more than any present had thought they'd get, and in return for not being given the kiss; Elaine had promised the man, but he'd seen her look. The man's fate was always going to end in that one, specific way once they'd had confirmed his crimes.
"Thank you, Aurors, that'll be all."
Harry heard the words come from Elaine, again having been lost in thought, a moment before her hand found one of his own. He watched them go, and flexed his grasp of her hand before he turned towards her. "Side-room?"
"Yes," Elaine dipped her head and leaned into him, resting her head atop his shoulder. "We've much to discuss, including that little discovery of yours — a map, wasn't it?"
"It was," Harry pushed open the door with but a gesture, and held it with that same hand as they strode through it together; he gestured for Aster once they'd passed through to make sure the other boy followed. "Should we get Corene? We could just have her apparate here. Reckon we're going to need one of the boards."
"Do you?" Elaine seemed amused as she directed them with all the know-how of the cells layout one might expect.
"There's something hidden, I know it. You'll have to translate whatever's on the back with one of those quills." Harry withdrew the aforementioned item now that they were well enough away from the eyes of others, and handed it over to her.
The trio entered a private room, one of the many the Aurors would use when in need of space and quiet, and locked it shut behind them; Corene was one of the few who could apparate as much as she'd like within the Ministry.
Elaine sat down and immediately set to work on the map he'd produced, and without all that much focus; her eyes stayed on his as the quills worked and her wand moved.
"You truly think something noteworthy's present, lover?"
Harry nodded. "I know there is, I just don't want to risk using the wrong spell. You're better when it comes to the spells meant for identifying objects or bypassing their protections — I'm better when it comes to Muggle items or those enchanted that're based on Muggle creations."
"Give me more time with that pamphlet and more by your side so that I might pick from that wondrous mind of yours and we'll see the latter fact contested," Elaine then flipped the map around, and gestured to it. "There's a word to activate and deactivate the enchantment, but I'm unaware of it and meddling so that we might have it will take a half an hour or thereabout, should I wish to be careful, which I do — that means whatever it's hiding will be shown in perpetuity."
As for what it showed once she'd sent it his way again, that was quite simple; that same map of Europe, but this time, with little markings that varied in colour. Some were black, some were white, and a select few were grey. Harry had no idea what the meaning of the various colours was.
He certainly didn't like that they used his house's colours either — the Peverells, that was. Only Elaine knew his real house.
"A system," Aster mused as he looked it over beside Harry. "There's always one, isn't there?"
"Order requires a system," Elaine tutted at the other boy. "If it's self-correcting, the meaning will be quite easy to figure out so long as it means what I believe it does. Should it mean something else to that which I believe, it'll take but the passing of time for us to ascertain the truth of it."
Harry had an idea of his own, and so he said it aloud to see if she could confirm it. "The status of those places?"
"That's what I believe, yes," Elaine tapped the spot where they'd gone to, the one they'd learned of only recently; to Harry, there were entirely too many 'holdouts' left, it felt like that letter that made mention of 'recruiting' had paid off.
Even now, defeated, dead really, as Grindelwald was, the man still attracted followers. It was as absurd as it was enraging.
"And the colour of ours is grey? Why not black or white?" Harry's eyes went back to that mark she'd pointed out for a few seconds, and then they moved back to her face as he sat back in his chair once more.
"Uncertainty, perhaps. One would think white and black are known to be destroyed or active… Aster, you know of the more militaristic strategies. Give your opinion." Elaine's words were commanding as she turned her attention to their friend, and raised a brow as she awaited his response.
Aster, for his part, looked amused as he glanced between her, the map, and Harry. He did so for a few seconds' time before he cleared his throat and pointed at the spot she'd made mention of earlier. "If that's grey and you're certain it was the spot you cleared, then one could suppose that means 'unknown'. I would wager they have some sort of charm or ward that requires manual input for the sake of communication sans words or owls — it'd show they're still present with little effort."
"It'd go grey after one day?" Harry figured that sounded a touch paranoid.
"I would have set mine to hours," Elaine mused. "Every six or twelve. A day isn't hard to believe. Not when those that remain of his followers are few in number and wavering in morale."
"Wavering? More like completely evaporated," Aster nodded towards one that was black then. "Black means clear or empty, I should think — that spot was one that Urban led a raid on recently. Cleared it out, lost a few Aurors."
Elaine clapped her hands in a girlish manner, and stood up from her seat after little more than a minute in it. "Wonderful," she swept past Aster — after giving him a pat on the back — and made her way to Harry's side, whereupon doing so she immediately grasped his hand and pulled him along after her as she exited the room. "Aster, see our meetings delayed a day. Harry and I plan on making a few trips."
"You need an—"
"No," Elaine shook her head as she called back over her shoulder to Aster, the map in her hand folding itself with but a word from her. "We'll be quite alright, I'm sure. Just see to it that all the newest captives are safely stored and the documents copied for our office as well."
"We'll be back before too long," Harry added, for the sake of his friend. "Think we're just making a couple of quick stops, isn't that right, Elaine?"
"Very quick stops."
And with those parting words, she grabbed his hand right as the map stored itself in her pocket, and apparated away.
When Harry blinked, he found they were no longer in any type of civilization. Instead, Elaine had seen them off to some cottage in the far north based on the look of the land.
"What's this?"
With a wave of her hand in the direction of the aforementioned cottage, Elaine spoke. "An old residence Malfoy had hosted us at once before. It's seldom-used and very close to the location which had been recently raided."
"Still hear from Malfoy?"
Elaine glanced at him when such a question came. "On occasion, yes. He's a useful, wealthy fool with many connections by way of his family's business. You're past your juvenile dislike for him, aren't you, lover?"
"If he's past his crush on you, sure." Harry still thought back quite fondly to their 'duel' of a sort; there'd been restrictions and it'd taken place in a classroom setting, sure, but he had no doubt that he'd prove able to decisively defeat the other bloke should they ever fancy a rematch — to think he thought himself worthy of Elaine in any way.
He wouldn't have tempered her or helped her, showed her she could achieve her desires without going about doing so in a heinous way.
"Jealousy," Elaine pressed herself more firmly into his side after she said aloud the one word with a wide grin, and squeezed his flank after an arm slithered thereto to wrap itself around him. "I do like such a look on you, but I should tell you that you've nothing to worry about — before you, I had no interests of a romantic sort. My heart was full of one yearning alone."
Harry could believe that based on the fear others had of her before he'd arrived. Even after his emergence, she'd been a good deal more aggressive and prone to grabbing or some other show of possession. Now, Elaine was quite calm and collected, and most certainly less apt to commit acts of violence… he'd talked her down to the simpler 'better' deeds like blackmail or bribery.
But if that made the Magical world better, more peaceful and certainly far more stable, was that wrong? Was it not making certain the lack of wars in the future?
"I still remember the first time you looked at me, you know." Harry had tried to avoid her eyes, but those dark, seemingly endless pools of brown had captured him as they still did to this day.
Elaine gestured ahead with her free-hand, to a spot on a hill in the distance that seemed to be the remnants of some stone-made structure. "Our destination," she said, and then more words came as her hand kneaded his side and moved about whilst doing so. "Your eyes sang such lovely songs for me when first I peered into them. So unguarded, nervous, and so certain that I was your enemy. You might not have known it then, but that first moment I saw you, I knew you'd be mine."
"Is that right?" Harry had thoughts back then as well, hard as that was to believe with how foolish he'd been. Confliction and anger at himself had been in such thoughts just as surely as contempt towards her had been.
How things changed.
"In a way I'm still unable to decipher, we're linked. Mayhaps a greater being thought it amusing or did so on a whim, or perhaps Magic itself saw fit to put us together — on and on I've theorised what could've happened to see us joined together as we are, but always, I lack an answer without doubt," Elaine paused in her speaking, but her feet continued to carry them forth and her hand that'd kneaded him moved to grasp one of his hands. When it did, their fingers interlaced and the smile that'd started on her face grew wider. "I would hear all that you know of our bond, once the work with Grindelwald is finished. I should have your trust, years as it'd been and many a deal as we've made."
At that, he blinked. What'd brought that sudden shift in their conversation?
"What?"
Elaine shifted so that she could more easily make eye contact with him, and after doing so, she elaborated as to her meaning. "There was a being of a sort in your mind, and with powerful enough magic so as to keep me out of your memories. I would have you connect the errant pieces of the puzzle so that we might learn the nature of our bond — in my years of searching, there's been nothing close to what we have with one another ever established, much less documented. I'd not wished to push you, but for so long I've wondered what the whole truth is."
"I don't remember everything." Harry spoke the truth; he remembered bits and bobs, odds and ends, but just like what Elaine knew, much was missing. He still lacked any real reason he'd been sent here in the first place. "But when we're home tonight, I promise, I'll tell you more of what I know… I don't think you'll like it very much."
"Does it involve that pale man that haunts your dreams on occasion?"
That very nearly made Harry stumble in his steps, but he caught himself before he did so, and instead, turned to look at her with — he hoped — not too quick a turn of his head. "You've seen him? You've never talked about him before."
Elaine cocked her head in a manner that pushed down, to some degree, the rising nervousness and anger at the mention of the man; one he'd come to learn was so different from Elaine. It made him think of her and Corene, and how they'd come to learn of one another as cousins.
That look on her face, one that'd gone from a smile, to something more worried upon seeing his various expressions to her words, returned to a tentative smile once more. "I'd hear all of what you have to say, lover, and in your own time — to answer your question as well, I've seen much of what haunts you in your sleep, and I feel what you feel during and after them. It's not so hard to determine which memories or visions you're fond of, and which you feel wrathful or sorrow towards."
The more she spoke of his dreams — his memories really — the more it made sense how she'd known all along, in some manner of speaking.
"Tonight," he reassured her as he slowly increased the pace of their walk. "I'll tell you everything. Memories, dreams, nightmares, and what I've connected from it all. It's not much, and I hope you'll understand."
"Whatever you've done is of little consequence, regardless of what it was."
Harry furrowed his brow at her words, and looked at her more closely; there was still a happiness on her face despite the heaviness of the words shared between them. As for what she'd only just said, it seemed to be the truth. There wasn't so much as an ounce of concern expressed, just honesty.
"Whatever?"
Elaine nodded. "Whatever. I doubt it's worse than anything I've done in the pursuit of power," she kissed his cheek, and, with her head on his shoulder, increased their speed and saw them turn down a side-path, thick with undergrowth. She spoke again a second or so later, and in a quieter tone of voice, "Perhaps, in time, I'll tell you of that just as you'll tell me your past. Neither of us are as we were back then."
With that, he absolutely agreed. Neither of them were remotely similar to how they'd been when they'd met, and he was certainly far-removed to the him of his time. Merlin, he didn't know just how lucky he'd been until he'd been here, years along in his journey.
"I'd hear everything you want to share," Harry meant it just as much as she had. "Whe—"
He paused mid-sentence when he saw the place ahead of them, the ruins which they were seeking, crumble. Not the lot of what remained, there was still a decent bit standing, but it seemed the whole right tower-like structure had caved inwards. Harry had thought it was a spell of some sort at first on account of the loud, thunderous noise.
But thankfully, that wasn't the case. It was just decay from the battle that'd been fought here.
"We're near to the secondary exit based on the survey the Aurors had done and the accounting of the battle from one Director Urban Maxus," Elaine gestured some ways ahead of them, to a spot marked with a simple ribbon around a tree. "It seems they're quite fond of underground operations, wouldn't you say?"
"Why do you suppose that is?" Harry had noticed just about every place they'd gone, as she'd said, had been underground in-whole or in-part.
"Easier to hide, especially with plenty of wards and spells to conceal one's presence. The weakest chain in the link will always be that of the people aware of such places' existences," Elaine waved her hand, and saw the area ahead open up; trees moved, bushes shifted back and the 'hidden' entrance revealed itself in its entirety. "Shall we take a tour of the place?"
Harry shrugged, and then he gestured to the spot she'd brought attention to. "Ladies first."
"You'll remember that when we return home and make for the bath, won't you?"
"Of course."
The pair moved forward, to the entrance, and after nought but seconds, they were in.
What was immediately apparent to the pair was the difference in quality from the place they'd visited recently, and that which they currently found themselves in. For one, the tunnels were a dirt and stone mixture rather than concrete or some other common Muggle material. Next, it lacked the coherency that the previous place and the few others seemed to have — well, save for that place in Belarus.
This place just seemed to have random openings in the wall where little spots were dugout, and one could see quite simply where fights had taken place via damage to the dirt or stains in the ground.
"Hastily built, wasn't it?" Harry asked, with a glance around at the ruinous state of the tunnel system around them. "Doesn't feel particularly safe to be in."
"I would imagine without reinforcement or repair, the surrounding land will soon consume what remains," Elaine brought forth her wand, and let a Lumos break the dim, moon-lit ambience that'd previously been present; in far more detail, they could make out the long, winding tunnel with little holes all around. "Dull and empty, and damaged to a point of collapse at the far end."
"We've got our answer, then." Harry reckoned the code was confirmed then, unless another solution to the little puzzle they had just so happened to match was hiding from them.
Elaine raised her wand, and saw the collapse at the far end slowly right itself. It seemed she was focused on that and the area nearest to them at once. "Whilst we're here, there's no harm in ensuring our dear Aurors missed not a hint of evidence or magic."
"You have the file, don't you?"
"I do."
Harry gestured to her satchel. "Was there any magic catalogued then? Localised, I mean, not artefacts or other such items they took along with them back to storage."
"Only in two spots, one of which was the room that controlled the few protections they'd set up," Elaine sounded almost disappointed in their lack of security. "The other was down, beyond where the cave had collapsed, and seemed to be related to ritualistic magic. One search revealed whispers of what they'd done, but Urban had deemed it unnecessary to investigate given the lack of manpower."
"Still?"
"Many of those from other countries have gone back to their homeland. We could only keep them for so long," Elaine ran a hand along the crumbling dirt wall with many a scorch or chunk missing the further they moved inwards. "It's best not to get used to outside help. Even if they're loyal to the crown, it doesn't come sans questions or mutual discoveries."
That made Harry's upper lip twitch. The last thing they needed was some new problem as a result of other nations' help.
"I see."
Elaine grinned, and then, a look flashed across her face. One that was full of mischief and amusement; a look rarely worn by her.
He opened his mouth to query as to what the cause of it was, but before he could do so, she'd gone and turned into that mist-like form whilst still having her hold of him… which meant he too had turned misty. From there, and with a bout of laughter, she shot them forth, down the path with no regard as to what they passed.
The speed and lack of care — since it was no longer a necessity to watch where you went — saw them to the far end of the tunnel, and down one more that saw them past a staircase. At the end of it was a cracked, splintering wooden door that was still ajar from the last person who'd gone through it.
Elaine, without pausing, saw them through the open space and only once they were inside the 'ritual' room itself, did she turn them back to their actual, full-bodied state.
As soon as she did so, she made a comment that went along with what first he'd thought upon seeing the space.
"This is their ritual room?" With a soft exhale of breath that splashed down Harry's face on account of their closeness, she peeled away from him, and moved closer towards the space in the very middle, where an outline of a body was formed in the stone; there was a cauldron and empty glass vials nearby too, but nothing full and certainly no tomes. "One would think it was Hogwarts students that saw to this. Inept ones, at that. How disappointing."
"Not like ours in the basement, is it?"
Elaine seemed to take offence at that based on the narrow-eyed glance she shot him. "Not remotely. I'd have you know I put a lot of time into that space. This one is unrefined, and sloppily made. I would wager based on the ambient magic less than a handful of uses were even seen."
"So nothing worthwhile?"
"No," Elaine shook her head. "Save for the information we've confirmed."
Harry was ready, this time, when Elaine moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his torso. A few minutes later, the pair were back at the wide-open entrance, standing atop the lesser-used dirt path. The woodlands around them were as quiet and peaceful as one might expect.
It was strange to think, some week or so earlier, it'd been the location of a quite nasty fight — and with people that hadn't been known to follow Grindelwald during the time of the war. Not all of them, at least.
But no paperwork had been found that alluded to recruiting or further plans. It'd truly seemed, after that last attack on the Ministry, that Grindelwald and what remained of his followers had been thoroughly defeated.
Then again, Harry supposed the worst pests were always the ones which were hardest to kill, and that seemed to ring especially true when he thought of Gellert.
If only Dumbledore could've had more of a chance to live… but then again, suppose he'd not want Elaine and I where we are, would he?
That was a bitter thought that he quickly pushed away. "Our second stop?" Harry asked, watching as Elaine set everything back to how it was meant to be so that the 'hidden' passage wouldn't remain quite so visible. "I'd imagine you don't mean to one of the spots we believe are active."
"Certainly not," Elaine shook her head, and grasped his hand, and promptly apparated them well-away from the forested area they'd been in. "I mean to visit a magical community for a brief look around, and whilst we're there, we could make an evening of it."
Harry opened his mouth — found himself apparated alongside her once more — and spoke. "A beach?" He looked around the place, but found nothing save for Muggle houses scattered where sand met grass-covered hills. "And I suppose you mean Normandy, then?"
Elaine pressed a kiss to his cheek, and then she stole another after turning his face towards her own with a gentle, but firm hand. Pleased that he'd gone along with both, she nodded. "Corene or one of those who answer to her could've done the same, but why allow them to have all of the fun?"
"I can remember when we'd sit for hours in a classroom going over the most annoying sub-rules of runes or trigonometry," Harry leaned in close to her. "Fun, you said?"
"We had much that needed doing back then. Don't you remember Professor Slughorn and his abhorrent father that loved you but despised me?" Elaine had a sneer when she made mention of Slughorn Senior, but just as quickly as it'd come, it vanished. "I'll not get lost in remembering such times — we rule as Minister and Deputy Minister, we claim two of the greatest, oldest houses, and all know us as unbeatable when together. We've won even if Grindelwald isn't completely dead. Now, come."
And with that, she apparated them once more.