Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

Inside the Order's headquarters, Dumbledore stood before his office's window, watching the sunset, facing towards the west as the sun's last rays painted the sky orange and purple. Nature's beauty and constantly changing colors were reflected on the snow-covered landscape, turning the scenery pure and free of the destruction these lands had experienced in the past decade. Although his face remained calm, his eyes were distant, hiding the anger he was experiencing deep within, only peeking through a little, like the sun did at that moment.

He couldn't help it; since the new year had started, worse and worse news was being put on his table. It started with the new flier that appeared, then the fact that by New Year's Eve, it was confirmed that three of their, albeit only middle-ranking, informants had disappeared. The only positive side was that Snape also contacted him, informing Dumbledore that the same happened to the Death Eaters. They were even worse off because they had multiple conscripted, young wizards who jumped onto the sudden opportunity, disappearing, some reappearing in America, a place where none of their factions had any influence. Not yet, that is.

"Where do you get the money from, old friend?" He asked himself, raising one, slightly shaking hand and stroking his long beard. This shouldn't be possible to keep up for long, yet there were already enough galleons spent that even he felt a bit apprehensive. Who knows what those people revealed to them. "Anguine… you raised a dangerous son."

Turning around, his eyes landed on the silvery sword displayed on the wall above his fireplace. He was just about to use a spell to ignite the fire when his hand stopped mid-casting, eyes transfixed on Gryffindor's famed weapon.

"The goblins… Gringotts!"

With a hasty step, he hurried to his drawer, pulled out the Invisibility Cloak, put it on, and with one look into a mirror, seeing his reflection disappear, he apparated straight onto the steps of Gringotts within Diagon Alley.

The bank was already closed, the streets empty, and many of the shops boarded up, having gone out of business years ago. For a brief moment, he couldn't help but stop, observe how much it all had changed, and know that many were at their breaking points. Everyone was looking for a way out, and if the Anguine kids started providing one, people would take it.

"We can't lose our support, the people, or we lose the war…" he thought, turning away and heading directly into the bank. The protections put on the front door proved no difficulty for him to bypass, slipping through solid matter like a specter.

Using another spell hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, he ensured that none of his steps had any echo while he was hurriedly walking through the main chamber, watching the empty booths and teller stands.

"Where are the goblins?"

Even if the bank was closed, it shouldn't be empty. He understood that many of these banks were having troubles in the past years, unable to let their customers access their own vaults. Something was going on, and nobody could uncover what, but Dumbledore never believed it to be connected to the Anguines. Or to Grindelwald. Nobody should have that type of sway over them, and he knew his old friend also lacked any real bargaining chips. Did that change? He did believe it now.

Entering deeper, the eerie silence and absence of the goblins were further increasing his worry that his sudden idea was not only a panic-induced folly, but reality. The goblins were working with them. Boarding one of the empty train cars, he used it to descend deeper into the vaults, passing through multiple enchantment removers, yet the Invisibility Cloak never once failed him.

"They are not all gone…" He thought to himself when his cart stopped because another was taking up the spot at one of the platforms he arrived at.

"What was that noise?" A crass shout asked as two goblins appeared, watching the empty cart while Dumbledore was already walking past them.

"Someone came through?" Asked the other, sniffing the air, wanting to see if he could notice anything, but all of his senses returned nothing.

"We are too understaffed!" his partner grunted. "More and more machines break, and we can't keep maintaining them with only a dozen of us working."

"Let's go!" The first goblin grunted back at him, "We need to empty the vaults on this floor before sunrise. The second cart will come in handy; we were about to call one down anyway."

"They are stealing everything… but why? Or… better yet, how?" There was no chance anyone would answer Dumbledore's question, but now he was sure that Grindelwald made a deal with the goblins. Or… No. That had to be the case; there was no other explanation for why. "Every misfortune can turn into a fortune; it rests on the wizard to exploit it."

It was the only thought he needed; instead of despair and anger, a new idea emerged within Dumbledore's mind, heading straight for the vault of the Dark Lord. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… and he was going to make it count.

…

….

……

"I hate this."

"Is it your head again?" Quincy asked, standing behind me, beginning to massage the back of my head.

"Nah, I got used to Snape's spell and his device; I just hate the feeling that it leaves within my mind. The way his message intrudes upon my thoughts is alien feeling. It is hard to describe, but it doesn't disguise itself as your own thoughts; you feel it to be foreign, wiggling itself inside your brain. Brr. Anyway, Dumbledore discovered our little secret."

"Which one?" She asked, surprised; moving from my head to my shoulders, she continued massaging me.

"Multiple, in fact." I shrugged, "He knows the goblins are working for us. That they are stealing gold from them to finance our side. I don't know if he goes public with it; we will see."

"It could jeopardize our partnership with the goblins, no?"

"I don't think so. Old Silver has made preparations; at least, I have that feeling of how confident he was when we signed our contract. If that happens and Dumbledore tells the world, our goblin partner will shift the blame onto the Dark Lord, who is already trying to take over Gringotts. That is my guess, at least. I know that bastard is fed up with the constant delays and wants to know that his Horcux is safe in his vault."

"Hehe… If he learns the truth… I wonder what kind of expression he would have."

"An ugly one. But here is the other thing Dumbledore has learned. Snape told me that after discovering how empty Gringotts were, he managed to locate and open HIS vault. He thought it was a gift, his destiny being fulfilled all of a sudden… Finding gold at the end of the tunnel."

"Instead, he found nothing." She chuckled, sitting down on my lap.

"Yeah. No Horcrux, and worse, no Resurrection Stone. On the other hand, I think he is fairly certain that we have it, and he is not wrong. So, now we are also targets. I don't think he will come after us, at least as long as the Dark Lord lives."

"Which side will we focus on?"

"For now, we wait. We continue paying off people and continuing to weaken them. Whichever one buckles first is the one we will attack."

…

….

…..

"I called this meeting because we must act." Dumbledore said firmly, standing at the head of the table, looking at the core members of the Order. "Here."

"Is that…?" Moody asked, watching as Dumbledore threw a ring in the middle of the table. They knew what it was; they all memorized its shape as it was one of their targets.

"It is a fake. The original has already been stolen and destroyed by the Anguines. I am sure of it."

"Then we are one step closer… once again!" Moody chuckled, feeling happy, just like many others at the table. Looking at them, the old Headmaster noticed that only McGonagall remained calm, watching the fake ring, without beginning to celebrate.

"How did you get this, Albus?" She asked, silencing the room as everyone suddenly began thinking about the obvious question.

"It was a sudden opportunity, Minerva. One that only comes along once every hundred years. I also learned more than any of us guessed. The goblins are emptying out the vaults of Gringotts."

He quickly explained what he saw, what he experienced, and what his talk with Snape was. They all realized what it meant, and Dumbledore's plan was to make it known, make everyone understand what was happening, and, more importantly, scare Voldemort.

"When he learns of it, that nowhere is safe, he will go and collect the last of his Horcxues. Severus is keeping a close eye on him, and when he moves, we move. We will ambush him when he has all of the remaining Horcruxes in his possession, and we will end it. End it before the Anguine kids do more damage, before the goblins truly get involved, and everything collapses! We are so close… SO CLOSE!" He said with so much vigor that it surprised many of them.

"This is it…" Moody nodded wholeheartedly behind the idea. "We will catch him with his pants down and end it. What about the boy, Neville? He came back, didn't he?"

"Yes." McGonagall nodded, "I talked with him."

"He will accompany us." Dumbledore spoke firmly.

"Albus!"

"It is a must, Minerva. He is the chosen one; this is his destiny. With him amongst us, it will be the moment Tom falls."

"Is it…? Really?" She asked quietly but received no answer.

"Everyone should be ready. We will orchestrate this well, and when Severus gives us the signal… we end it. Once and for all!"