Five Months Later
June 1996
It was a hectic five months for Evelyn and Johnny. Their face was plastered in every article of the Daily Prophet, their picture placed on every street corner in every Magical Community. Dumbledore had been working hard to prove their innocence, before he was forced to flee Hogwarts in April after Umbridge discovered Dumdledore's Army and the Headmaster was forced to flee.

Dumbledore had been hiding at Grimmauld Place with Evelyn, Johnny, Sirius and Remus. Molly, Arthur and members of the Order had popped in here and there, even Gellert had come when he received news his Daughter-in-Law was alive, and both Evelyn and Johnny were safe. Tonks, who had came straight to Grimmauld Place, broke down into loud sobs when she saw Evelyn and Johnny, and hugged them both tightly.

Currently, it was twenty past seven in the evening, and there was an Order meeting in place. There really wasn't many members there. Evelyn, Johnny, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Remus, Sirius and Dumbledore. Moody was in the middle of discussing how he was tailing Macnair, when Snape burst through the door, severely out of breath.

"Headmaster..." Snape panted heavily. "It's Potter, he's at the Department of Mysteries. You-Know-Who has lured him there and the boy is under the impression You-Know-Who has captured, tortured and killed Johnathan Grindelwald."

"As you can see, I'm not dead," Johnny said sarcastically, holding out his arms but the sarcasm masked Johnny's concern. Johnny stood up, placing his brown suede boots on, making sure his black skinny jeans were covering the top of his ankle, and Johnny rolled the sleeves of his white dress shirt up, before pocketing his wand and grabbing his blue denim jacket.

"Who's with Harry?" Evelyn asked, also preparing herself to go to the Ministry. Snape took a glance at both of them.

"Granger, Ronald and Ginny Weasley, Longbottom and Lovegood, I think," Johnny cursed under his breath. Johnny remembered telling Hermione that previous summer, that if anything was to happen to him, not to go looking for him.

"You're not going," Evelyn told Johnny sternly, when her son had made his was to the front door.

"Yes, I am," Johnny said, just as stern and he shoved his way past her. Evelyn grabbed for his wrist but Johnny yanked it back. "My girlfriend is there! Harry and Ron are there, and they're my brothers! You can't expect me to just sit here and fucking wait for you all to come back!"

"You watch your tone!" Evelyn snarled, shoving a finger into Johnny's chest. Her gaze softened when she met Johnny's pleading eyes. "Fine, you can come, but you be very careful."

Johnny nodded his head and followed his mother out onto the street, where he grabbed her arm and they apparated to the Ministry of Magic.

"Quickly, this way!" Tonks yelled urgently, having waited for the two of them to arrive. The trio rushed through the marbles coming at a halt in front of the elevator that would take them down to the Department of Mysteries.

"I always hated these fucking elevators!" Evelyn yelled in frustration, banging her fists against the golden gates, but that seemed to do it, as the elevator stopped and automatic voice announced they were on the right floor. The trio once again started running, and made outside of the door the rest of the Order was surrounding. Dumbledore, however was no where to be seen.

"Three, two, one..." Sirius counted down, before bursting through the door with the rest of the Order following behind him. Johnny saw Lucius Malfoy turn and raise his wand, but Johnny had already sent a Stunning Spell right at him. Johnny didn't wait to see whether it had made contact, but dived off the stone steps out of the way. The Death Eaters were completely distracted by the appearance of the members of the Order, who were now raining spells down upon them as they jumped from step to step towards the sunken floor. Johnny had managed to dive right next to Harry and Neville, who looked extremely relieved to see him alive and well,

"Alright, lads!?" Johnny yelled, as another spell soared inches over their heads. "Stupefy! Heard about the Army's exposure!"

"This no time for a bloody catch up!" Harry yelled, ducking from another spell.

The stone floor between them exploded as a spell hit it, leaving a crater right where Neville's hand had been only seconds before; the three of them scrambled away from the spot, then a thick arm came out of nowhere, seized Harry around the neck and pulled him upright, so that his toes were barely touching the floor.

"Give it to me," growled a voice in Harry's ear, "give me the prophecy--"

"No one touches my brother!" Johnny growled, pocketing his own wand. Johnny's eyes flashed red, his claws and fangs extended and he let out a loud roar, causing the room to shake. Johnny pounced on the Death Eater he recognised as Macnair, and he sunk his teeth into his neck, causing the Death Eater to let out a loud wail of pain as his blood dripped down Johnny's chin and shirt.

"Damn, you look like shit, smell like shit and taste like shit," said Johnny distastefully, wiping his tongue with his finger.

Harry pulled Johnny and Neville aside as Sirius and his Death Eater lurched past, duelling so fiercely that their wands were blurs; then Johnny's foot made contact with something round and hard and he slipped. He saw Moody's magical eye spinning away across the floor. Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing down upon Harry and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.

"Tarantallegra!" Dolohov shouted, his wand pointing at Neville, whose legs went immediately into a kind of frenzied tap-dance, unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again. "Now, Grindelwald, Potter--"

He made some slashing movement with his wand just as Harry yelled, "Protego!"

Johnny felt something streak across his face like a blunt knife; the force of it knocked him and Harry sideways and they fell over Neville's jerking legs, but the Shield Charm had stopped the worst of the spell.

Dolohov raised his wand again. "Accio proph--"

Sirius had hurtled out of nowhere, rammed Dolohov with his shoulder and sent him flying out of the way. The prophecy had again flown to the tips of Harry's fingers but he had managed to cling on to it. Now Sirius and Dolohov were duelling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand-tips--

Dolohov drew back his wand to make the same slashing movement he had used on Harry and Johnny. Springing up, Harry yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" Once again, Dolohov's arms and legs snapped together and he keeled over backwards, landing with a crash on his back.

"Nice one, James!" shouted Sirius, forcing Harry and Johnny's heads down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew towards them. "Now I want you both to get out of--"

The three of them ducked again; a jet of green light had narrowly missed Sirius. Across the room Johnny saw Evelyn fall from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat and Jakob, looking rather triumphant, running back towards the fray.

"Mum!" Johnny yelled in fright, but both Sirius and Harry prevented the boy from going near her or chasing after his father.

"Boys, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!" Sirius yelled, dashing to meet Jakob. The boys didn't see what happened next: Kingsley swayed across their field of vision, battling with the pockmarked and no longer masked Rookwood; another jet of green light flew over their heads as they launched himself towards Neville--

"Can you stand?" Johnny bellowed in Neville's ear, as Neville's legs jerked and twitched uncontrollably. "Put your arms round our neck-"

Neville did so-- Harry and Johnny heaved--Neville's legs were still lying in every direction, they would not support him, and then, out of nowhere, a man lunged at them: all three fell backwards, Neville's legs waving wildly like an overturned beetle's, Harry with his left arm held up in the air to try to save the small glass ball from being smashed, and Johnny hitting the stone step head first.

"The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!" snarled Lucus Malfoy's voice.

"No--get--off-- me ... Neville--catch it!"

Johnny watched with blurred vision as Harry flung the prophecy across the floor, Neville span himself around on his back and scooped the ball to his chest. Malfoy pointed the wand instead at Neville, but Johnny weakly jabbed his own wand in Malfoy's direction and yelled, "Impedimenta!"

Malfoy was blasted off his back. As Johnny scrambled up again he looked around and saw Malfoy smash into the dais on which Sirius and Jakob were now duelling. Malfoy aimed his wand at Johnny, Harry and Neville again, but before he could draw breath to strike, Lupin had jumped between them.

"Boys, round up the others and GO!"

Harry and Johnny seized Neville by the shoulder of his robes and lifted him bodily on to the first tier of stone steps; Neville's legs twitched and jerked and would not support his weight; Harry and Johnny heaved again with all the strength they possessed and they climbed another step--

A spell hit the stone bench at Johnny's heel; it crumbled away and he fell back to the step below. Neville sank to the ground, his legs still jerking and thrashing, and he thrust the prophecy into his pocket.

"Come on!" said Harry desperately, hauling at Neville's robes, as Johnny stood up and seized the robes once again. "Just try and push with your legs--"

The two boys gave another stupendous heave and Neville's robes tore all along the left seam--the small spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket and, before any of them could catch it, one of Neville's floundering feet kicked it: it flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. As the three of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them. Johnny could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could he hear. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.

"Harry, I'b sorry!" cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder. That's when Johnny realised Neville also had a broken jaw. "I'b so sorry, Harry, I didn'd bean do--"

"It doesn't matter!" Harry shouted. "Just try and stand, let's get out of--"

"Dubbledore!" said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Johnny's shoulder.

"What?" Johnny asked.

"DUBBLEDORE!"

Johnny turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Johnny felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body--they were saved.

Dumbledore sped down the steps past Johnny, Neville and Harry. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realised he was there and yelled to the others. One of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. However, Johnny fired a spell at him which pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line--

Only one pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Johnny saw Sirius duck Jakob's jet of red light: Sirius was laughing at Jakob.

"Come on, Talons, you can do better than that!" Sirius yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

"You're right, Padfoot, I can," said Jakob triumphantly, a mad gleam in his eye.

Harry and Johnny both released Neville, though they were unaware of doing so. It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Johnny saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place.

Johnny heard his fathers triumphant laugh.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!"

"Harry, no!" Johnny yelled, wrapping his arms around his cousin, and holding him tightly. "There's nothing you can do, Harry--"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"--it's too late, Harry."

"We can still reach him--" Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Johnny would not let go...

"There's nothing you can do, Harry... nothing... he's gone."

"He hasn't gone!" Harry yelled.

"I got him!" Evelyn cried, wrapping her own arms around Harry so Johnny could let go. Evelyn looked at her son, a pained expression on her face, but he saw the glint in Johnny's eye. And Johnny was off, scrambling up the stone benches; people were shouting behind him but he didn't care. The hem of Jakob's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were in the room where the brains were swimming ...

Jakob aimed a curse over his shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Johnny was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within: the brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long coloured tentacles, but he shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and they flew off him up into the air. Slipping and sliding, he ran on towards the door; he leapt over Luna, who was groaning on the floor, past Ginny, who said, "Johnny--what--?", past Ron, who giggled feebly, and Hermione, who was unconscious. Johnny wrenched open the door into the circular black hall and saw Jakob disappearing through a door on the other side of the room; beyond him was the corridor leading back to the lifts.

"Come on, Jakob!" Johnny yelled, his voice echoing. "Come and fucking play!"

Johnny ran, but Jakob had slammed the door behind him and the walls were rotating.

"Where's the exit?" Johnny shouted desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the way out?"

The room seemed to have been waiting for him to ask. The door right behind him flew open and the corridor towards the lifts stretched ahead of him, torch-lit and empty. Johnny ran... He could hear a lift clattering ahead; he sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner and slammed his fist on to the button to call a second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and Johnny dashed inside, now hammering the button marked 'Atrium'. The doors slid shut and he was rising...

Johnny forced his way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. Jakob was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but he looked back as Johnny sprinted towards him and aimed another spell at Johnny. Johnny dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren: the spell zoomed past him and hit the wrought-gold gates at the other end of the Atrium so that they rang like bells. There were no more footsteps. Jakob had stopped running. Johnny crouched behind the statues, listening.

"Come out, come out, little Johnny!" Jakob called in a mock baby voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here for revenge for what I did to poor Evie!"

"I am!" shouted Johnny, and a score of ghostly Johnny's seemed to chorus I am! I am! I am! all around the room.

"Aaaaaah... do you love mummy, little baby Johnny?"

Hatred rose in Johnny such as he had never known before; he flung himself out from behind the fountain and bellowed, "Crucio!"

Jakob screamed: the spell had knocked him off his feet, but he didn't writhe and shriek with pain--Jakob was already back on his feet, breathless, no longer laughing. Johnny dodged behind the golden fountain again. Jakob's counter-spell hit the head of the handsome wizard, which was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.

"Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, you little fucking cunt!?" Jakob yelled. He had abandoned the baby voice now. "You need to mean them, Johnny! You need to really want to cause pain--to enjoy it--righteous anger won't hurt me for long--I'll show you how it is done, shall I? I'll give you a lesson--"

Johnny was edging around the fountain on the other side when Jakob screamed, "Crucio!" and he was forced to duck down again as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, span off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.

"My son, you cannot win against me!" Jakob cried. "Why don't you come home with me and your new mummy? Yes, Bellatrix and I are married now! Isn't it wonderful?! We would've sent you an invite, Johnny, but we didn't know where you were hiding!"

Johnny could hear Jakob moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of Johnny. Johnny backed around the statue away from Jakob, crouching behind the centaur's legs, his head level with the house-elf's.

"I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant! I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete--"

"Stupefy!" yelled Johnny. He had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at Jakob's back as he peered around the fountain, Jakob reacted so fast Johnny barely had time to duck.

"Protego!" The jet of red light, Johnny's own Stunning Spell, bounced back at him. Johnny scrambled back behind the fountain and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.

"Johnny,, I'm going to give you one chance!" shouted Jakob. "Make Harry give me the prophecy--and I may spare your life!"

"Well, you're going to have to kill me, because it's gone!" Johnny roared. "Your dear old mate Voldemort knows it's gone! He's not going to be happy with you, is he?"

"What? What do you mean?" Jakob cried, and for the first time there was fear in his voice.

"The prophecy smashed when Harry and I was trying to get Neville up the steps! What do you think ol' Tom Riddle'll say about that, then?"

"LIAR!" Jakob shrieked, but Johnny could hear the terror behind the anger now. "POTTER HAS IT, AND HE WILL GIVE IT TO ME! Accio prophecy! ACCIO PROPHECY!"

"Nothing there!" Johnny shouted mockingly. "Nothing to summon! It smashed and nobody heard what it said, tell your boss that!"

"No!" Jakob screamed. "It isn't true, you're lying! MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED--DO NOT PUNISH ME--"

"Don't waste your breath!" yelled Johnny. "He can't hear you from here!"

"Can't I, Grindelwald?" said a high, cold voice. At that exact moment, Harry had burst into the room and slipped over the head of the statue, landing directly next to Johnny. Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupilled eyes staring... Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at Johnny and Harry who sat frozen, quite unable to move.

"So, you smashed my prophecy?" said Voldemort softly, staring at Harry and Johnny with those pitiless red eyes. "No, Jakob, they are not lying... I see the truth looking at me from within their worthless minds... months of preparation, months of effort... and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter and Johnathan Grindelwald thwart me again..."

"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting Sirius Black!" sobbed Jakob, flinging himself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know--"

"Be quiet, Jakob," said Voldemort dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"

"But Master--he is here--he is below--"

Voldemort paid no attention.

"I have nothing more to say to you, boys," he said quietly. "The two of you have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

But the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth to land with a crash on the floor between Harry, Johnny and Voldemort. The spell merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms to protect the two boys.

"What--?" cried Voldemort, staring around. And then he breathed, "Dumbledore!"

Johnny looked behind him, his heart pounding. Dumbledore was standing in front of the golden gates.

Voldemort raised his wand and another jet of green light streaked at Dumbledore, who turned and was gone in a whirling of his cloak. Next second, he had reappeared behind Voldemort and waved his wand towards the remnants of the fountain. The other statues sprang to life. The statue of the witch ran at Jak0b, who screamed and sent spells streaming uselessly off its chest, before it dived at him, pinning Jakob to the floor. Meanwhile, the goblin and the house-elf scuttled towards the fireplaces set along the wall and the one-armed centaur galloped at Voldemort, who vanished and reappeared beside the pool. The headless statue thrusted Harry and Johnny backwards, away from the fight, as Dumbledore advanced on Voldemort and the golden centaur cantered around them both.

"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way--"

"By which time I shall be gone, and you will be dead!" spat Voldemort. He sent another killing curse at Dumbledore but missed, instead hitting the security guard's desk, which burst into flame.

Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that emanated from it was such that Johnny, though shielded by his golden guard, felt his hair stand on end as it passed and this time Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it--an oddly chilling sound.

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are you? Even after I put Evelyn and Johnathan, two of your best fighters behind bars?"

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit--"

"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.

"You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Johnny felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless; he wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backwards towards the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. "Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness--"

Another jet of green light flew from behind the silver shield. This time it was the one-armed centaur, galloping in front of Dumbledore, that took the blast and shattered into a hundred pieces, but before the fragments had even hit the floor, Dumbledore had drawn back his wand and waved it as though brandishing a whip. A long thin flame flew from the tip; it wrapped itself around Voldemort, shield and all. For a moment, it seemed Dumbledore had won, but then the fiery rope became a serpent, which relinquished its hold on Voldemort at once and turned, hissing furiously, to face Dumbledore.

Voldemort vanished; the snake reared from the floor, ready to strike--

There was a burst of flame in midair above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.

"Look out!" Harry and Johnny yelled in unison, but even as he shouted, another jet of green light flew at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand and the snake struck--

Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the jet of green light whole: he burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless. At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one long, fluid movement--the snake, which had been an instant from sinking its fangs into him, flew high into the air and vanished in a wisp of dark smoke; and the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass.

For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass--

Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.

"MASTER!" Yelled Jakob.

Sure it was over, sure Voldemort had decided to flee, Harry and Johnny made to run out from behind the statue guard, but Dumbledore bellowed: "Stay where you are, boys!"

For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened. Johnny couldn't see why: the hall was quite empty but for themselves, the sobbing Jakob still trapped under the witch statue, and the baby phoenix Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor--

After a scary moment of Voldemort controlling Harry, everything seemed relatively normal.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Johnny asked, sitting Doreen on the fountain, a mix of sweat and blood soaking him.

"Yes," said Harry, shaking so violently he could not hold his head up properly. "Yeah, I'm --where's Voldemort, where--who are all these--what's--"

The Atrium was full of people; the floor was reflecting the emerald green flames that had burst into fire in all the fireplaces along one wall; and streams of witches and wizards were emerging from them.

"He was there!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Jakob had lain trapped only moments before. "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a man and Disapparated!"

"I know, Williamson, I know, I saw him too!" gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pyjamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. "Merlin's beard--here--here!-- in the Ministry of Magic!--great heavens above--it doesn't seem possible--my word--how can this be--?"

"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Johnny-- an air of confidence about him, he walked forwards so that the newcomers realised he was there for the first time (a few of them raised their wands; others simply looked amazed; the statues of the elf and goblin applauded and Fudge jumped so much that his slipper-clad feet left the floor)-- "you will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the room with an archway, bound by an Anti-Disapparation Jinx and awaiting your decision as to what to do with them."

"I'm afraid Johnny is quite right," Dumbledore said with a proud smile, patting the boys shoulder.

"Dumbledore! Grindelwald!" gasped Fudge, beside himself with amazement. "You--here--I--I--"

He looked wildly around at the Aurors he had brought with him and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind to cry, "Seize him!"

"Cornelius, Johnny and I are ready to fight your men--and win!" said Dumbledore in a thunderous voice. "But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong people for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!"

"I--don't--well-" blustered Fudge, looking around as though hoping somebody was going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, "Very well--Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see... Dumbledore, you--you will need to tell me exactly--the Fountain of Magical Brethren--what happened?" he added in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard and centaur now lay scattered.

"We can discuss that after I have sent Harry and Johnny back to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "And you release a full statement on Johnny and his mother's innocence."

"H-his mother?" Fudge stuttered. "Evelyn Grindelwald is dead!"

"No she wasn't," Johnny seethed, anger feeling him. "She was kidnapped and placed in Azkaban by Jakob Grindelwald, Barty Crouch Junior, Peter Pettigrew and Dolores Umbridge!"

"Dol-"

"Yes, the Senior Undersecretary," Johnny said angrily, trying to advance on Fudge, but was held back by Harry and Dumbledore. "It seems, Minister, the Death Eaters have been working under your nose for years."

Fudge took a deep, shaken breath, before sitting down against the fountain, shaking.

"I shall explain everything," repeated Dumbledore, "when Harry and Johnny are back at school."

He walked away from the pool to the place where the golden wizard's head lay on the floor. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Portus." The head glowed blue and trembled noisily against the wooden floor for a few seconds, then became still once more. He repeated the spell with the arm of the centaur.

"Now see here, Dumbledore!" said Fudge, as Dumbledore picked up the head and the arm and walked back to Harry and Johnny carrying them. "You haven't got authorisation for that Portkey! You can't do things like that right in front of the Minister for Magic, you--you--"

His voice faltered as Dumbledore surveyed him magisterially over his half-moon spectacles.

"You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts and placed in Azkaban immediately," said Dumbledore. "You will tell your Aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work. I will give you..." Dumbledore pulled a watch with twelve hands from his pocket and surveyed it... "half an hour of my time tonight, in which I think we shall be more than able to cover the important points of what has happened here. After that, I shall need to return to my school. If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me."

Fudge goggled worse than ever; his mouth was open and his round face grew pinker under his rumpled grey hair.

"I--you--"

Dumbledore turned his back on him.

"Take these Portkeys, boys."

He held out the golden head of the statue and the golden arm of the centaur statue and Harry placed his hand on the wizards head. Johnny repeated the action with the golden, past caring where he went. He needed to see Hermione, he needed to kiss her, to hold her.

"I shall see you in half an hour," said Dumbledore quietly. "One... two... three..."

Johnny felt the familiar sensation of a hook being jerked behind his navel. The polished wooden floor was gone from beneath his feet; the Atrium, Harry, Fudge and Dumbledore had all disappeared and he was flying forwards in a whirlwind of colour and sound...

Both of his feet landed on solid ground and Johnny could see he was in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, and as his eyes connected with Madame Pompfry, he collapsed into a pool of darkness, his already throbbing head bouncing off the stone floor...

Johnny awoke with a start. Looking around, Johnny noticed he was in a bed at the Hospital Wing, still in his clothes which had been cleaned of all blood and sweat, the cut on his forehead had been cleaned too. Johnny got up from the bed and moved the curtains aside, it had to be about four am from glancing outside the window.

Johnny looked around. Professor Umbridge was led in a bed, bruises and cuts covering her cheeks and her left wrist was handcuffed to the bed, her Dark Mark on full display, a few beds down was Ginny, her ankle bandaged and healing, next to her was Ron, who had thick bandages wrapped around his neck. Opposite Ron was Luna, who had a few cuts on her face but looked relatively okay, and next to her was Neville, who's legs had stopped jiggering and his jaw had been mended.

Looking around once more, Johnny saw her. Well her outline. Hermione's bed had curtains wrapped around it, hiding her from view. Johnny crept in silently and smiled when he saw Hermione, but frowned when he noticed the thick bandage wrapped around her midsection. He took a seat next to her on the bed, and softly stroked her cheek.

"J-Johnny?" Hermione slurred, her eyes fluttering open.

"It's me, darling," Johnny reassured her. Hermione let out a small sob and wrapped her arms around Johnny, bringing her boyfriend in for a tight hug.

"I-I thought I lost you," Hermione cried quietly, pulling back to cup Johnny's cheek. "W-when Dumbledore told the s-school what happened, I-I could've killed her!"

"Who? Umbridge?" Johnny asked, a small smile on his face as he took in Hermione's features.

"Yes!" Hermione exclaimed quietly. "I lost control of the Wolf!"

"Then why weren't you arrested?"

"McGonagall said it was because Fudge didn't want an article about him sending a Muggle-Born to Azkaban."

It fell silent between the two of them, just taking in each other's features.

"I love you, Hermione Jean Granger," Johnny said softly, pulling Hermione into a passionate kiss. He pulled back and pecked her lips three more times, causing Hermione to smile. "So much."

"I love you too, Johnathan Fleamont Gellert Grindelwald," Hermione said, equally as soft as the last. She spent the next two hours explaining what Johnny has missed in his time away. How Marietta Edgecomb was the one who ratted out the DA, Dumbledore fleeing Hogwarts, McGonagall taking three stunners to the chest, Hagrid fleeing Hogwarts, Gwarp (Hagrid's giant Half-Brother), Hermione and Harry leading Umbridge into the forest for her to get taken by the Centaurs, and finally how they made it to the Ministry.

"Seems like you had quite the year," Johnny muttered, kissing Hermione's forehead. Johnny led down and Hermione led on his chest, resting her head against Johnny's beating heart and listening to it ease as Johnny ran his fingers down her back.

"Who did this to you?" Johnny muttered, motioning towards the bandages around Hermione's midsection.

"Dolohov."

"I'll kill him."

Later that day, after being properly reunited with all his friends, Johnny was called to Dumbledore'd office.

"I am truly sorry for all you went through this year, Johnny," Dumbledore started the conversation when Johnny had sat down. "I should have tried harder to employ a proper teacher, and not have let the Ministry step in."

"Dolores Umbridge us the reason why my mother was put in Azkaban to rot," muttered Johnny.

"I did not know your mother was alive," Dumbledore said, not looking at Johnny but down at a bowl of Lemmon Drops. "I assure you, if I had known Evelyn was alive, she would not have been in there that long."

"Just like you assured the Ministry that Jakob Grindelwald was innocent all those years ago, right, Professor?" Said Johnny sarcastically, his clawed hand carving into the arm of the wooden chair. "Now, a husband is left without a lover, a daughter is left without a father, two boys are left without their godfather, and a best friend had lost her brother."

"What is your point, Johnny?"

"My point, Dumbledore, is that Jakob Grindelwald should never have been sent to Azkaban in the first place!" Said Johnny angrily, his rage soaring through the roof as he swiped all the items off of the desk, the items making a loud crashing sound as they hit the floor. "Jakob Grindelwald should have been fucking killed! Just like you!"

"If I deserve to be killed, then kill me," said Dumbledore, raising his arms. "I'm defenceless, Johnny, have a shot at me."

Johnny raised a clawed hand, his red eyes staring at Dumbledore with nothing but pure hatred, but something was holding Johnny back from actually killing the old man in front of him.

"Deep down, Johnny, you know I do not deserve to die," said Dumbledore calmly, watching as the boy threw a glass globe across the room, the globe shattering against the wall. "I do not deserve to die, not yet at least."

"There is no shame in what you are feeling, Johnny," said Dumbledore's voice. "On the contrary... the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength."

Johnny felt another white-hot anger lick his insides, blazing in the terrible emptiness, filling him with the desire to hurt Dumbledore once more for his calmness and his empty words.

"My greatest strength, is it?" said Johnny, his voice shaking as he stared out at the Quidditch stadium. "You haven't got a fucking clue... you don't know..."

"What don't I know?" asked Dumbledore calmly.

It was too much. Johnny turned around, shaking with rage.

"I don't want to talk about how I feel, all right?"

"Johnny, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human--"

"THEN--I--DON'T --WANT--TO--BE--HUMAN!" Johnny roared, and he seized the delicate silver instrument from the spindle-legged table beside him and flung it across the room; it shattered into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall. Several of the pictures let out yells of anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet said, "Really!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Johnny yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANY MORE--"

He seized the table on which the silver instrument had stood and threw that, too. It broke apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions.

"FOR MONTHS, MY NIGHTMARES HAVE ALL BEEN THE FUCKING SAME!" Johnny yelled, throwing yet another one of Dumbledore's possessions. "BACK IN AZKABAN, COWERING AT THE SIGHT OF THOSE FUCKING DEMENTORS! HEARING PEOPLE WAIL AND SCREAM AS THEIR WORST MEMORIES FLASH BEFORE THEIR EYES!"

"You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Johnny demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it."

"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL!" Johnny roared. "YOU--STANDING THERE--YOU--"

But words were no longer enough, smashing things was no more help; he wanted to run, he wanted to keep running and never look back, he wanted to be somewhere he couldn't see the clear blue eyes staring at him, that hatefully calm old face. He turned on his heel and ran to the door, seized the doorknob again and wrenched at it.

But the door wouldn't open. Johnny turned back to Dumbledore.

"Let me out," he said. He was shaking from head to foot.

"No," said Dumbledore simply.

For a few seconds they stared at each other.

"Let me out," Johnny said again.

"No," Dumbledore repeated. "By all means continue destroying my possessions," said Dumbledore serenely. "I daresay I have too many."

He walked around his desk and sat down behind it, watching Johnny.

"Do you know how many times I wanted to kill myself over those fucking nightmares?" Johnny asked, a tear rolling down his cheek. When Dumbledore shook his head, Johnny continued on. "I lost track of the exact number, but one night I grew the balls to end it, but I chickened out at the last moment. I had the letter prepared, the noose, the suit. I was ready, but then I saw the sad faces of Hermione, my mother, Harry, Tonks and even Moody, and then I realised, I do care, I care about them five people, more than I care for myself."

"So if they wasn't around, you would have ended it all?"

"No doubt in my mind," said Johnny instantly. "That's what five years at this school, a deadbeat dad and three weeks inside Azkaban can do to a boy, Dumbledore. Let me out."

"Do you have any regrets about attending Hogwarts?"

"No, because if I had never of come, I would've never met Hermione, my mother, Harry, Ron, Hagrid, Tonks and I could go on."

"Then you just proved my point, you do care," said Dumbledore, motioning towards the door. "You may leave now, Johnny, but next year I want you to join Harry in seeing me around twice week for private lessons, have a nice summer."

Johnny took one last glance at Dumbledore, before leaving.