The students who had tried to defy the Snape regime were getting a bit restless. It was getting late, judging by the clock hanging on the wall of the room of requirement. Not that Neville was particularly punctual, but the absence of their temporary leader still made other members constantly looking over at the entrance to the Hogs head. One minute passed, then another, the normal conversation being more subdue than usual did nothing to help the atmosphere in the spacious room.

It was enormous, and looked rather like the interior of a particularly sumptuous tree house, or perhaps a gigantic ship's cabin. Multicolored hammocks were strung from the ceiling and from the balcony that ran around the dark wood-paneled and windowless walls, which were covered in bright tapestry hangings. The gold Gryffindor lion, emblazoned on scarlet; the black badger of Hufflepuff, set against yellow; and the bronze eagle of Ravenclaw, on blue. There were bulging bookcases, a few broomsticks propped against the walls, and in the corner, a large wood-cased wireless. But there was one person missing.

The resistance was led by the new trio of Ginny Weasley , Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. Ginny had gone home to the burrow, as soon as the Easter holidays arrived, while Luna had already been kidnapped before she could enjoy her winter holidays. That led Neville into the driver's seat of the entire rebellion and the movement has been secretly flourishing ever since. Even some of the teachers, notably Mcgonagall and Sprout, has seemingly deferred to Neville as their leader while they visited the lair of Dumbledore's army.

Neville may not have the natural charisma of Harry Potter, nor had the proficient skills in Defence against the dark arks to back up his fame, but he was by no means a fighter to be overlooked. Most people wilt under pressured situation, Neville however, found his inner strength while comfronting the Carrows, fighting on multiple fronts at once. The growth of his magical mastery was respectable too, as though the Auror genes passed down from both his parents had decided to manifest themselves at last.

Those who had been openly scornful of Neville's performance at Hogwarts had now been treating him with reverence, and most of it was hard earned.

And now their leader was more than an hour late for their secret meeting.

Minutes went by as the mutterings of unease steadily grew in volume. Then without warning, all the light in the room went out as if darkness powder was dropped in the middle of the room. People gasped and looked around frantically, as if expecting lethifolds or Dementors to attack them. Several of the Army members tried Lumos, but to no effect. And then a harsh coughing can be heard through the veil of darkness. Several tense moments later, the darkness began to dissipate.

" What the hell, Neville?"

For the first time since the turn of the century, Grindelwald felt.. umblemished. Though deep, bubbling pain reverberated through every fiber of his being due to the aftereffects of illusionary tranfiguration, it was pure ecstasy to once again possess a young body without creeking bones whenever he moved. And also spry enough to instantly cast a light repelling ward after recognizing the room he had entered, which had taken a read on his intent, and only begun to change.

Can't have my covers blown this early.

As the memories of Longbottom fully assimilated into his consciousness due to Legilimency, he coughed again. He then willed the room to stop changing, and it did.

With two dozen schoolchildren standing above him, he faked another violent cough. With subtle movements, he waved his wand. The modified cheering charm did its work as the posture of everyone surrounding him relaxed somewhat. " Sorry guys, dozed off while eating. " Gellert said scratching his head. " What the hell was that smoke, er, darkness anyway?". Most of the people before him shook their heads and Gellert relaxed somewhat. A quick passive legilimency scan later, and he was both content and slightly disappointed. What was he thinking? That he expected a teenage Dumbledore or himself in the crowd? The group of teenagers were fighting dark wizards twice their age and three times their magical power.

What a waste it is to spill magical blood. Ah, all the easier for me then.

" So what now Neville ? you said we would resume discussion of the plan after you got some food for yourself and us!" " Are we going to just continue to keep up those reconnaissance trips ? The effing good that will do us."

Gellert turned his head slowly to regard those who had spoken to him so dismissively. His smile then would have had even phoenixes running at the sight. He did not even bother to act like the self-depreciating Longbottom. This was his arena, at long last. There was an audible scrape of chair legs as someone scrambled to retreat away from him.

" Now, Neville's been under lots of pressure. Let's just hear what he has to say." Said a red head girl. Ginny, the former girlfriend of Harry Potter. Might be useful later.

"No, I think not. Now everyone listen up . I received news while I was at the Hogs head. It seems that there was an disturbance in Hogsmeade once again. Something about protesting Snape. " said Gellert. The crowd cheered.

" Oh, and here are the foods." A wandless summoning charm while no one was looking only served the lightened the crowd's mood even more. "Aberforth also managed to scry up some skelegrow, nutrient potion and pepper up potion for us. You know, just in case."

" And then I think we need one more surveillance trip into the castle. You guys freshen up, Let me just make sure if the coast is clear for reconnaissance ."

"Why can't we plan later? " Someone in the crowd asked.

"If Snape does not have Hogsmeade under surveillance yet, he will shortly. According to Abe, there is a big chance the professors are going to going to be needed to contain the riot, I think our best chance is now." And without another word, Gellert set out to the exit on the other side.

The real Neville Longbottom would warrant further attention at some point, but more pressing matters are at hand. He had to see someone about a wand.

Voldemort ignored the whimpering of his bounded prey.

With a wave of his wand, Colin Creevy's mouth was bound tight. Another twirl, and the dirt between them and the ritual center was scalped clean. " Colin Creevey. Do you not recognize the greater scope of things?"

Colin Creevy's cries became so loud that not even the conjured rag could entirely hold them back.

"Apparently not, " Voldemort sneered, and peered at him curiously. " You lack the power or the bloodline to make you a deserving wizard. You are quite useless, indeed. Or, at least you should be, if I had not intervened. But you will at last prove your usefulness in this final act."

The septagon incasing the ritual center rose slowly from the ground. The magic within the clearing reached such a crescendo that the nearby tree trunks has suddenly turned transluscent.

" Gryffindors. I always wondered why they continue to fight when the war is lost." He mused, mostly to himself, as the moving pattern stretched out on the ground before them. A single wave and the wand tip glowed green.

Colin Creevy shook, but not to try to escape. There was clearly no way out of the bonds. " Avada Kedavra" The voice sounded almost bored.

The corpse was then levitated down silently. His unkempt hair hung limp, unmoved by the slight breeze. "Magic is a wonder." Voldemort murmured as swept a finger down the body's cheek. "Or should I say, I am. Here he floats. Frozen in limbo, one could believe he was merely asleep. " In the shadows, two dozen centaurs stood rigidly. Eighty yards away from the dark lord, no daring to move. Or perhaps the petrification charms he had cast over the clearing were simply too overpowered. A single note of high laugh escaped he mouth.

Filled with panic unseen by the centaurs, Colin Creevy had no control over his body and certainly couldn't nod or shake his head. It was as if he was bouncing between mortal consciousness and ethereal perception.

'"Prophetic , I believe. What was started by mudbloods must end with mudbloods. "' Voldemort gazed at the corpse before turning away with a twisted smile. "Foolish and weak. Though, I confess, I was even more foolish for not recognizing the ancient magic the first time around."

Voldemort waved his wand around the body, sparks of vivid emerald light cascaded alongside until the boy was cocooned by magic. Then, with an almost whisper, he intoned a faint spell of ancient lore, far softer than the rustling of leaves. "Les Seviitis Horx."

And then the world shifted on its axis.

The Dark Lord was interrupted from his musing as three of his henchmen entered the room. " No sign of the wand, my lord." Said the heavily hooded figure of Dolohov. "We searched manually and tried to summon it after we checked that there was no summoning charm in place." It seems as if the death eater was terrified of making eye contact with him. Voldemort had expected this, but his yew wand still glowed a sick azure color as him fist clenched. " Did you even bother asking or persuading the neighbors?" He asked silkily. All three of them shook their head quickly. "No, Antonin, I think not. Crucio." Several loud seconds later, Voldemort released the curse. " If Dumbledore's ancestral home does not hide his greatest secret, then I think it's time we focus on the one who got away. Correspond with Augustus and work with him on the Austria case and get a sample of the magical signature to me before classifying al the evidence. I want it untainted. I expect results within the week. Do not disappoint me. Again." Voldemort then tossed a silver key at Dolohov. He tried to catch but his hands shook too violently and he was still too nauseated to believe that what he had seen was some kind of hallucination. " The password of the portkey is Nurmengard." Said Voldemort coldly in his sibilant hiss.

Minerva was not in a happy mood. And she hadn't been in one for several months. It was her corridor patrol shift tonight, and her mood sank even further. How many students would she need to report to the Carrows again without them getting suspicious. Moreover, she felt something different about tonight. It may be the way the clouds were half obscuring the moon. Yes, there was something sinister in that. Deciding she had dawdled long enough , she tied her dressing gown and hurried out of her bedroom, through her office, into the quiet, dimly lit corridor and started patroling. She looked this way and that, assuring herself that she was alone; Pomona's rooms were on the floor below, so she set off quietly down the staircase. Perhaps she could get a warm drink or two?

" ..My Lord?"

"Back so soon, Severus," a voice hissed. "It has been only a day."

Horror filled Minerva's veins, and she froze on the stair. The voice that had spoken was terrifyingly familiar. Barely audible, it nonetheless wove its way up the stairs to where she stood, petrifying her like a basilisk. Snape had allowed Voldemort into the castle, where underage students lay sleeping and defenseless.

"Of course, my Lord," said Snape's voice. He was perhaps forty feet from where Minerva now stood, but she could hear every word. "I only meant—Dolohov has said—"

"They are dealt with, for now," hissed the voice. "They have broken Lord Voldemort's trust, and they have paid the price. But now, I have matters of importance to discuss..."

"Of course," Snape replied, and his oily voice was approaching ; they would see Minerva at any moment. "My office is not far, My Lord. The Carrows are waiting for us in the next corridor."

Minerva moved faster than apparition as she tucked herself out of sight down the corridor in the opposite direction by summoning the distant walls to her and holding her breath, as though that would help her blend into the stone infrastructure. She heard the distant swish of cloaks, and a moment later, she chanced a look out from her hiding place. There was no mistaking the tall, pale white figure that kept pace beside Snape as they disappeared into the shadows at the far end of the corridor. What was going on?

Grindelwald was back in his element. Striding down Hogwarts corridor with the current headmaster as his own personal puppet was something of a golden dream come true. Had he not lost that duel against Dumbledore so long ago. Impersonating his younger dark lord counterpart while slightly off putting, reminded himself while he was as the peak of his power, although speaking in English was still slightly less compelling as compared to barking orders in German. Still, with the limited knowledge of the dark lord Voldemort, Gellert felt that he ought to be congratulated on his impersonation, with the receiving end being Severus Snape nonetheless. Gellert wasn't sure if he could fight Snape in current state, if the rumors were genuine. This would be a true test of his abilities. The man rumored to be Dumbledore's downfall…and the current master of the elder wand. Still, being able to pull the wool over someone supposedly this powerful for a time this long…Gellert cannot but help feeling disapp-

Power blasted through the hallway as a sickly streak of purple light zoomed forward. A howl of a gale-force wind shrieked through the hallway as Gellert, otherwise preoccupied, responded a millisecond too late and had to duck. A crackling bolt of sapphire energy ensued with a noise reminiscent of roaring griffin . Gellert raised his shield just in time and was impressed as his shield was vibrating as though an electric charge was surging through it when the spell struck. Severus Snape was glaring at him, his dark eyes aflame with bewilderment as his wand began to dance from curse to curse. " Imposter ," he snarled coldly, " reveal yourself! How dare you usurp the image of my master!" . Simultaneously, two narrow beams of golden light of eldritch magic shot out Snape's wand following a pair of overpowered shield piercer. Gellert sighed at the obvious tactic, barely flicking his wand and flicked a piece of glass to intercept the golden curses, which melted on impact and counter cursed the pair of piercers that would have exploded against him and his shield. Grindelwald smirked in response and sent a flurry of powerful spells at Snape, turning defense into offense as he tested out Snape's speed. Simultaneously, Gellert reviewed his mental shields, and loosened his hold on his magic, dragging it up as if from a deep well. His speed increased, he was almost a blur as a curved cutting curse, four nightmare curses and a trident of triple blood boiling curses leapt from his wand, with the latter simultaneously concealing a pair dark colored decaying curse from a blind angle.

The charcoal eyes widened as Snape took in the magic coming at him. The headmaster wrought a ball of gray fire and threw it, before putting up a pulsing blue shield. A silent protego maxima, Gellert observed. Acceptable but not great. He is trying to duel without destroying half the school. All the better for me. The ball of energy collided with six spells, which resulted in a massive explosion of light and sound and the corridor shuddered. The protego maxima swallowed up the decaying curse and also shuddered but held before the remining curses obliterated the advanced silent into bluish flames . Snape's responding mote of silver light was half formed before Gellert smashed it into smithereens. " You know, for a supposedly dark wizard who killed Albus Dumbledore, I am a little surprised at your spell choice. No killing curses and fiendfyre. Yet, " Gellert remarked nonchalantly, simultaneously bisecting three pulverizing spells which zoomed over his head as he squinted at Snape. " One spell in particular, reminded me of him. Not that you are at his power level. Or even mine when I was young for that matter. Which begs another set of- "

He saw Snape narrowed his eyes. " Who are you really?" he interrupted with a snarl, and continued to cast a darker variety of disemboweling curses, blinding curses while attempting to animate a pair of suit of armor that Gellert wrestled control from a split second later.

" I think the wiser question is , why am I – "

"Headmaster! " Oh great, Snape has got help.

" What the f- "

" My Lord?What-"

"He is an imposter, you blabbering morons! Can't you see the fading transfiguration camouflage? Pin him down with unforgivables as you two are so fond of doing!"

For the first time in a long time, Gellert let out a nasally snort. A spilt second later, he realized his slight mistake. His snort seemed to have cemented the fact that he was indeed an imposter as the two newcomers, a dumpy witch and a fat wizard, started firing green light down the hallway. Meanwhile, Snape whipped his wand forward, shooting a sickly yellow spell that divided into four spells and sped in Gellert's direction. Taking note that Snape was not carrying the elder wand, Gellert caught one of the divided spells with his wand tip before overpowering it and sent it careening into the other three. Wandlessly, soild shields also sprang into existence to intercept the green lights. Gellert looked on with slight contempt at the newcomers.

Unlike Snape, the newcomers were far less elegant with their magic. Large lightning-like jolts sparked off the dirtying glass, destructive magic tearing through the walls with little precision and tactic. Bricks shattered and dust flittered from the roof as the hallway became filled with sporadic blinding green light. Golden fire flickered into existence and raged in tandem as Snape conducted an unending stream of magic that molded the fallen stones into lava and shattered glass into white hot molten torrents. His dark robes flapped around him madly and his lithe stature twisted and turned to evade curses and active rune structures by millimeters.

As the duel continued in earnest and the right side wall complete blown apart, Gellert's opinion of Snape rose somewhat. When Severus Snape , who couldn't possibly be more that 40 years of age dueled alone like a standard duelist , he fought like a very strong dueling master. But when his mediocre comrades jumped in and began making mistakes, Snape was transformed into a genius, not unlike Dumbledore, who never wasted energy, as he redirected magics of all spectrums from making permanent damage.

However, his opponent was Gellert Grindelwald.

When great masters duel, they see the logic of their opponent's spells and tactics. One's spell may be so powerful that the other may not be able to stop him, but the plan behind the moves will be clear. Not so with Gellert. His moves did not make sense. And Gellert could tell that Snape had reached that conclusion as his face screwed up with frustration with the Carrows throwing unforgivables like Halloween candies. For a few times, the old war lord doesn't even mind taking spells to his torso or extremities , he walks through them, only for him to switch stances, becoming a southpaw duelist or wandless duelist. Once or twice, cutting curses split his skin only for the blood to seep from the wound, and transform into blood fire, burning the marble floor as it sought to burn the three opponents. Furthermore, even with the quick casting speeds of Carrows, Gellert eclipsed all of them in raw output as he employed single syllable curses with fervor. Russian bone breakers , Swiss body-binds and Nordic concussion curses rained from all angles from the warlords wand.

The duel had only gone on less than a minute.

Then the left side walls shuddered, dust and mortar creaking from the loose bricks and a section of the roof groaned as it crumbled downwards and was consumed by Killing curses fired by the Carrows as the duel's end was signaled by Snape's scream.

An explosion hex had punched a hole straight through a protego maxima and hit the headmaster straight in the left eye. Although he continued the onslaught of spells, he and his friends was no match for Gellert as he up the ante. Six petrification spells later, the carrows were lying in a pool of blood, cradling their stumps for hands with their wand displaced. Snape meanwhile, was partially upright even as blood gushed from his left eye.

"Finite supremus,"

Severus blinked. Grindelwald lowered his wand. There was no replacing his left eye, bur the other wounds were gone. For a moment, they looked at each other. Then, slowly, the right eye of Severus Snape widened and Gellert gave a minute nod.

" Maybe, not everything…is as it seems, I suppose…"

And then Snape fell sideways onto the stone floor.

Gellert looked at the man with mixed feelings. Greasy black hair hung like limp curtains to frame a sallow, gaunt face. His lips too thin, his nose far too large for his face .Yet for all that the man lacked in stature and dignity , he had presence. Gellert could feel his aura as an almost tangible thing. It radiated power and hunger. Not the hallmark of a dark wizard, but also not one up to sainthood. Gellert decided that he liked the young man.

"I think that, under the circumstances, you can call me Gellert." He murmured to the unconscious form.

And with that, he swept from the scene of destruction, towards the headmaster's office.