Bad Romance

Chapter 11

Bellatrix searched the faces in the room for any looks of disbelief, but saw none. Instead some seemed a bit too knowing, and she took this to indicate they knew this Grindelwald was the one and only. He nodded in acknowledgment to the Minister's words then turned to the room. "Nice to meet you."

Kereston then indicated the group of three people and one elf who sat around him. "These are Gellert's family, and I shall let them introduce themselves."

An almost fragile looking willowy blonde woman rose. She appeared almost fragile only until one looked into her steely blue eyes. "I am Sabra Zabini... The Black Widow. Gellert is my adopted son, and I am here to protect him if necessary. Considering that I apparently killed seven men and escaped prison, I believe I am qualified." Her lips twitched slightly. "My skills are in poisons, and I can even use them as a long distance battle weapon so if you lot would like to be equipped, I'm your spider. Aside from poisons that can kill rapidly or slowly, there are also poisons that can simply debilitate a person or make them ill. Just so you're aware."

Many Aurors made low murmurs of interest as she took her seat. A short, stocky, muscular man with short, curly, dark hair stood next. "I'm Geo Zabini. I've returned from the dead seven times, so obviously I don't mess around, and I am difficult to kill. I may even be more of a badass than my wife, considering." He grinned and resumed his seat. He spoke in a heavy Italian accent, and though he didn't look very dangerous, Bellatrix assumed he likely was, considering who he was married to.

When the other two didn't speak, Gellert nodded to each in turn. "This is Mr. Blaise Zabini, my partner in all things, and our family elf, Bramble, who I fondly call Little Evil, if that tells you anything." The elf shot him an annoyed scowl and Grindelwald pretended to cringe back as he obviously struggled not to laugh.

"Blaise makes enchanted items with Gellert, and as they are adept in the construction of complex charms I wanted them to study the items in the Department of Mysteries as well," Kereston said. "I have asked all the workers in that department to accommodate them, giving them free access to any item they wish to study. This is because I feel we will need all the weapons against Delphini that we can marshal."

She turned to a young looking goblin with neatly combed shoulder length black hair and a sharply pressed black suit, who sat at her side looking mildly uncomfortable and out of place. "This is my Senior Undersecretary, Goriandor. He's the first goblin to hold an office in the Ministry of Magic! I have hired other goblins since, and I am excited to see what wizarding and goblin magics can do together to keep us all safe!" Goriandor smiled, but his expression was a bit strained as he nodded to the room.

"This is our new Head Auror, Romeo Valdez, direct from Spain." Kereston continued with a slight smile. "I stole him from the Aurors there,"

"The job sucked," Valdez said with a grin as he stood. He was tall, strongly built without being too bulky and had dark hair and eyes that likely had many ladies interested. "I went through a lot as a teenager at the hands of Voldemort's followers when they infiltrated my school, posing as professors. As a rule, when it comes to violent criminals, I am one to kill first and ask questions later rather than have innocents endangered. In these trying times, this trait is apparently something our Minister values highly. I hope all of you who will be working with me will see the merit in it as well, as I'd hate to see good lives wasted by Delphini's minions. They certainly will try."

He resumed his seat. Kereston turned to the Lestranges next. "As everyone probably already knows, these are the Lestranges. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan. They worked as Shadow Ops for the former Ministry and will do similar work for us as well as Ministry security and the overseeing of Azkaban."

"In which we spent much time," Rabastan said with a grin.

"If any of you would like to speak?" Kereston concluded, arching an amused brow at Rabastan. It was Bellatrix who stood, though. She intended to be amusing rather like the Zabini parents in order to break the ice a bit. "Everyone already believes us to be mad so..." But her throat stuck on the next words she intended to utter. It was something about how that meant they could use extreme measures to get the job done, and were now quite mad for the Ministry... Instead she found herself staring out into the small sea of faces blankly as she floundered for words.

Suddenly she felt quite cold and small and alone as she realized that the joke was no longer funny. "We were believed to be quite mad," she tried again, words coming out faint. "We...were..." Well, she certainly looked mad now. And this engendered a mad cackle. Her own mirth served to ease her nerves... Girl still had it!

"Voldemort had us all under compulsion since nineteen seventy nine, and we were actually the first to try to kill him while every-fucking-one-else was too frightened to do so! We discovered that he was taking apart his own soul whilst having absolutely no loyalty for his own, and we knew he needed taking down. It was the three of us, Regulus Black, Kreacher, and my Uncle Orion Black, gods rest his soul! Voldemort kept us alive, though...to remind himself that no one could be trusted, but he twisted our minds to ensure that we would be his most trustworthy dogs from then on." She stared at the faces that stared back at her until many of them dropped their gazes. "That's all I have to say," she said, then sat back down.

To her surprise it was the goblin Senior Undersecretary who started the applause, but everyone followed. Then to her shock and mild horror the room began to swim because her eyes were full of sudden tears. Apparently she could still be moved by a little fucking support! Kereston proceeded to introduce various goblins, elves, and even four Acromantulas who were working as Aurors or in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.