Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

I was sitting in our library, leaning back in a soft, oversized leather armchair, eyes closed, letting my thoughts drift aimlessly while subconsciously organizing everything I had read in the past three hours. It was my way of letting everything settle down and helping me get a clear image without overexerting myself. It was broken when Quincy walked in, stopping after a few steps and seeing me open my eyes.

“Wrong time? Sorry…”

“It’s fine. What happened?”

“A weird thing.” Sitting on the armrest, she continued, “Professor Lockhart got a message telling us that ‘old friends’ had come to see us. Us, personally. We got a coded coordinate that points toward the coast of the Irish Sea, at the western edge of Wales.”

“A trap?”

“I already sent out word and ordered our informants to check it out. So far, it doesn’t seem so. Also… there was a message.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it!”

“I got better in broom racing.”

“I’ll be damned…” I whispered, already thinking about Neville.

“Do you believe it is him?”

“Mostly, yes. I don’t think the Order would be using him intentionally. But I am also not stupid enough to not realize they for sure would watch him.”

“What should we do? Send someone else?”

“Get me a volunteer.” I nodded, sitting up, “They will carry something that lets us speak with them yet remain hidden.”

“There is another message.” Said a new voice, and it made me look towards the door; it was Grindelwald coming in. “It is from your old Headmaster, coming through Horace Slughorn’s mind.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with surprise.

“There was a hidden sliver of magic within his consciousness, taking control over his mouth, delivering a direct message. He wants to meet with you two in two days.”

“What the hell…” I laughed, shaking my head, finding it hilarious, “Suddenly, we got to be the most wanted parties in the world? Every side is looking for us? I will blush!”

“Seems like it because another faction wanted to meet with us right after Lockhart unearthed the message.”

“…”

Okay, this was getting out of hand. What was happening? Is this what it means to be famous?

“Who?” Quincy asked, regaining her mind a step ahead of me.

“The goblins… Old Silver, to be exact.”

“And with us or with you?” I hummed, forming a slight smile that was mirrored straight on his face. 

“With you. They are straightforward when it comes to business and when they are the ones who need to ask for something. When that happens, they drop all pretense and try to do it as quickly as possible, with as little fuss as required.”

“Huh… They may have found something?” I asked, but of course, nobody was there to answer me. Well… there was, and to my surprise, he was awake.

“Clues at best.” Herpo said, feeling like he was yawning in my ears, being woken up from his ancient slumber, “If they follow the clues, they find more, confirming the validity of their ancient king, that he is not only a myth. But that’s all. Still, I guess it is a pretty big deal for modern-day goblins and something that would strengthen one force over the other.”

“So… You are trying to tell me,” I smirked, “That we have all the good cards in hand and can play them as we like?”

“Just don’t go overboard.” He warned me, “That would backfire. You know how goblins are. Strike a balance and ask for things that hurt them, but only like pulling out teeth. They will grit and endure for the long-term profit.”

“Huh… okay!” Standing up from my chair, I clapped, “We will meet with the goblins first, then our old friend, and with Headmaster Snape last.”

“I will accompany you on all of these meetings.” Grindelwald spoke, his voice firm. “With how you are now, you would still lose against Dumbledore or Thomas.”

“Thomas?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Tom Marvolo Riddle. Isn’t Tom the shortened version of Thomas?” Surprised, he looked back at me, tilting his head, “Weird.”

“Well… if you say so, I do believe you.” I nodded with a shrug; Tom or Thomas… Who cares what Voldemort’s real name is. “How long will it take for me to be able to stand up to any of them?”

“You don’t need long.” He answered, and it surprised me. I was expecting something like a decade or a hundred years… or something similar. “Your most lacking feature is true death and life experience, not magical knowledge. It is not something that could be picked up by training or battling with me. You either earn it, or you die in the process.”

“Hmph!” Quincy snorted after hearing him speak while I began scratching my chin.

“That is… better than I expected.”

“Conrad!”

“What?” I asked, leaning in and kissing her cheeks, “He is right… The true test of a pudding is eating it. Or something like that.”

“I don’t want my pudding to be wasted…” She mumbled, hugging me back, lifting my mood into the high heavens; I already had a feeling that our three meetings would be fruitful!

…

….

……

Our meeting with the goblins was not in their village, a Gringott Bank, or a place they specified for us. No. It was going to happen straight in our home.

“This is highly unusual…” Professor Slughorn mumbled after learning about it, curious and surprised that I agreed that he could be present when it happened.

“Why?” Quincy asked while we were sitting at the dinner table. She was always closer to the Professor than I was. Not that I minded it; I still didn’t forget his passiveness, yes, but I wasn’t harboring any ill will towards the old wizard. Still, I wouldn’t trust him with anything truly important.

“Goblinkind does not like to bend the knee, so to speak.” Slughorn explained, “The fact that they insisted on meeting here, where you, as a wizard and witch, would have an advantage, already speaks of their willingness to compromise! It is rare. Very rare.”

“He is right.” Grindelwald agreed, nodding his head with a half-smile, and I could feel he was proud of it, which, in turn, also made me proud. Deep down, I was feeling very close to how I always felt when I caught my dad’s delighted expression. “Whatever you did, it benefited Old Silver greatly… Or.”

“Old Gold.” I hummed, “Maybe he found something extra that put Old Silver behind? And he is now coming to me for a second clue?”

“Could be.” Grindelwald nodded and continued smiling, making Slughorn look back and forth between us.

“May… I… Ask a question?” He said slowly, wiping his mouth of grease with a handkerchief, already beginning to regain his waistline with how much he was eating, enjoying being our guest.

“Go ahead, Professor.” I nodded, watching him stare at Grindelwald.

“Do… Do I know you?”

“Gellert Grindelwald.” He nodded back at him, and I could barely hold back my laugh as the Professor dropped his fork, forgetting to close his mouth. “We never met, but I do know of you and would have tried recruiting you, albeit our paths never crossed. I did hear that you ended up befriending Albus.”

“Albus was everyone’s friend…” He mumbled, playing with his fingers, becoming a bit more nervous.

“He had a knack for that.” Grindelwald nodded, finishing his meal and reaching for his cup of wine. “I also heard that you like making friends with influential people, including Dark Lords. Well, congratulations on that part.”

“I don’t know if I should be praised for that.” he gulped again, smiling weakly while looking at me, asking for help, but I promptly ignored his gaze. Serves you right.

“I was named to be a Dark Lord by others; I never considered myself evil.” Grindelwald continued, speaking honestly, “I was doing what I was doing because I believed in it. I am not saying there were no selfish motivations within it, but they aligned with what I truly believed would be the betterment of our kind. As far as I can tell, the current one revels in his title.”

“That… is true.” Lockhart agreed, sighing, “Don’t worry, Professor Slughorn, Young Conrad here knows how to collect trustworthy partners!”

“Really…” The old head of my house mumbled a short answer, looking at Lockhart with a doubtful expression that made me giggle, mainly because the latter also realized it but kept ignoring the underlying message.

“So,” Quincy spoke up, redirecting our discourse, “The goblins are coming over. What then? Should we host a big party? Or what?”

“Most certainly not.” Grindelwald interjected, “What we need is a clear strategy on what we want from them in exchange for whatever they need. Do we even know what they need?” He asked, turning towards me.

“I do. That clue? About their legendary king, Ugnok? They had to find something, and now they want to know more.”

“So you weren’t bluffing.” He chuckled, nodding his head happily and asking no more, trusting me completely. “Can you do it again? If so, don’t hold back.”

“Ugnok?” Slughorn asked, furrowing his brows, “Isn’t that just a legend?”

“You know about it?” Quincy smiled, turning back at the Professor with a surprised smile.

“Not much, I just heard it while searching for unique, extinct ingredients. Should be nothing but a goblin children’s tale, should it?”

“Not exactly.” I said plainly, not wanting to tell more than I must, “It most certainly was real, and it just happens that I know of some clues that lead to proving his existence.”

“It was you!” The Professor suddenly clapped, understanding everything, “I heard that the goblins began acting erratically, and it has been causing great headaches for wizardkind everywhere!”

“Guilty as charged.” I laughed, pouring some wine for myself. “It is as you guessed.”

“Incredible… you two grew up so quickly….”

“Didn’t have much choice, did we?” I mumbled, making Quincy reach over and placing her hand on the top of mine, intertwining our fingers. “But now that we are here… I think I will go all in with our goblin friend.”

“What do you mean, Young Conrad?”

“Easy, Professor.” I smiled at Lockhart. “I want money. I want a lot of money…”

“What for?” Slughorn asked, trying to guess, but he didn’t need to, so I answered as simply as possible.

“To build an army. If I learned one thing from looking at muggle history, it is that war needs three things. Money, money, and more money. I will pay people to fuck off. I will pay people to switch sides… and I will pay people to simply look the other way while we do our own thing. Let’s see which will win. Loyalty, ideals, fear, or a chest full of shining gold.”