With a casual flick of Grindelwald's wand, Lae felt a sudden weightlessness. Her hair began weaving, serpentine, through the air around her head, like it would flow below water, and her shoes broke away from the floor.
"Let me down!"
"All things in time," he replied simply, letting her glide idly to a spot beside him up amongst the duelling Ministry members.
She glowered at him when she finally stood firmly on solid ground. "This is not what I meant and you know it."
"True, but what else could you expect from a cruel uncle, such as I?" he mused, a glint of wickedness alighting in his blue and black eyes. "Perhaps it would be kinder to leave you here, so you need not suffer my presence."
Great. He planned to hold that lie from the trial over her head forever, didn't he?
Lae laughed nervously. "Let's not be hasty now, Uncle."
"Hasty... like a certain thirteen year old witch running off from her caring uncle without a word and later cursing him with his back turned? Would that be considered hasty?"
She flinched. Possibly, she deserved that.
A warm hand, circling around her back, squeezed her shoulder in jest. "So serious. You know I mean not a single word. You can't fault me for catching up on four years of lost teasing."
Subconsciously, she leaned into his touch, a weight leaving her chest she didn't even feel until it was long gone. "Now isn't the time to start. We're a bit busy at the moment. I hope you came in here with a plan."
"A plan? Never."
He always had a plan.
"Well, while you figure that out, I've left something of mine down there." She squinted around at the clusters of combatants, finally landing on Tom, looking far more alive weaving a vast web of curses at Aurors and other Ministry members than she'd ever seen him. The Guant ring glittered on his hand. Sticking close to his back, unbelievably laughing, stood Rabastan dueling a stout wizard in burgundy robes, with Fenella tucked close to his side. "A few things," Lae amended fondly.
"Ah, yes, the Horcrux boy. I have not forgotten about him." Grindelwald ran an assessing eye over Tom, obviously recognizing him from their last encounter. "A decent enough fighter, at least, but I don't think he's smart enough for my niece. His plan to get you out of here was worse than mine. His escape route is rife with all sorts of unpredictable elements. Fire? Really?"
"I thought you didn't have a plan?" she needled.
His arm around her shoulder rose to pinch her cheek as he said, "Cheeky." Then, he pulled away, slipping off his long, purple and gold coat to slip it over her shoulders. She startled slightly at the sudden weight. It smelled of him, of smoldering firewood and fresh pine. "Because you obviously have such high standards for your rescue—"
"I could have figured something out eventually."
"—I can't bear to disappoint. Go, fetch your things. Be quick about it."
She took a step, pausing to ask, "Can I borrow your wand?"
The frank look he gave her was answer enough. "I'm the most wanted man in the room, my dear. I quite imagine I'll need it more than you."
Expecting as much, she only nodded, but then he continued, "However, you do make a good point. I can't very well leave you unarmed..." He surveyed the enemy wizards surrounding them like a critical buyer at a stall. Miraculously, they had all been too otherwise detained to turn their focus on Grindelwald yet. His followers, many of whom turned out to be either seemingly respectable Ministry workers, or otherwise temporarily assuming the identity of Ministry workers, much the same way her uncle had. Right on time, an enemy wizard tore away from the fray to target her uncle. "That one will do. Take his wand." He pressed the Elder Wand into her hands, leaning in to whisper, "You have thirty seconds."
She barely had time to marvel over what a tyrant her dear uncle was before having to hastily deflect the oncoming spell. The wand felt light enough as to be weightless, yet lacked the warmth of her own wand, which she likely would never see again. The thought didn't trouble her as much as she thought it would. In the end, it was just a fancy branch, utterly replaceable. She would find another that suited her, one day.
"Expelliarmus!"
She stretched out an arm and caught the twirling wand with her free hand as it threatened to fly past, fumbling only slightly. When it at last donned on her opponent that he was now defenseless, facing Gellert Grindelwald in the flesh, and surrounded by more than just a couple of Grindelwald's followers, all colour fled his cheeks.
"Run along," Grindelwald coaxed him. "It's poor form to attack the unarmed. I won't kill you, if you are quick enough."
If possible, the man went even paler, and positively sprinted through a dozen different duels, somehow avoiding being hit, against all odds, and escaping out the adjacent door from which all the judges had entered earlier. If they didn't leave soon, that door would likely become a problem. Well, all the doors would be a problem, when reinforcements arrived, but it's not like she could just barricade them all in there until the Ministry decided they weren't worth the trouble.
As Lae handed her uncle back the Elder Wand, glad to be rid of it, a frown pinched at her brow. "Wait a second... Why couldn't I just borrow your old wand? It's not like you need it anymore." Her tone held an accusatory edge.
"I taught you better than that. You need to earn the wand you wield. Always."
That sure sounded like an excuse.
"Uh, if you say so." Against her better judgement, before leaping down to help Tom and the others, she asked, "What did you do to the real Minister? I'm sure he wouldn't have missed this fiasco willingly."
"How sweet. Are you worried about the actual Minister of Magic?" Now, Grindelwald's smile was anything but kind. "You should be."
Uh huh. Not at all concerning. And that, she decided, was her cue to leave.
Lae took a running leap over the lowermost level of chairs, using one of them to springboard her into a brief free fall down, down, down to the auditorium floor roughly eight feet below. Her landing was softened by a last minute cushioning charm that slowed her to an easy stop, not to say her descent was simple by any means. Well aware that even with the most wanted man across several continents to her back she still made for a rather tempting target, Lae kept an alert eye on her surroundings.
Although Tom briefly disappeared amidst the fire and fray, she spotted Rabastan managing, if only barely, to hold his own against a female Auror a small distance away, her teeth bared with fierce determination. It was all he could do hold her off, deflecting spell after spell in quick succession, let alone begin an offensive. Despite his general natural ability when it finally came time for him to be serious, she had at least two decades of fighting experience over him, and used it to full effect. He was losing ground fast, his feet swiftly dancing over one another as she pressed him closer to the wall of flames Tom had created to divide the room from any attackers long enough for them to all make an escape. That, of course, was before he knew Grindelwald would involve himself.
Rabastan needed help, desperately. Lae aimed for the witch from afar, but couldn't get a clean shot due to the number of combative pairs weaving through her line of fire. Without time to press closer through the tempestuous throng, she needed to get creative, or risk him getting more slightly crispy than either would reasonably appreciate.
This time when she aimed she intentionally kept her direction vague, focusing instead on what the witch was wearing. She pictured her outfit in her mind's eye. Would it be better to go for after robes?
In the end, she targeted the woman's lace up boots just barely visible past the tide of people and fluttering fabric, They appeared to fit tight around her ankles.
"Accio," Lae murmured.
She watched as the force of her summoning spell caused Rabastan's opponent to lose her footing, not all the way, because Lae's newfound wand was far from a perfect fit, making the charm weaker than she'd like, but still distracting enough to buy Rabastan the window of opportunity he needed to counter. A flash of green light out of Rabastan's wand had the Auror crumpling to the ground. It was startling to see how several minutes of dueling culminated to an end with a single landed move.
His head whipped around, his dark, shaggy hair fluttering around to handsomely frame his face as he sought out the source of interference that allowed him to gain the upper hand, instinctually sensing shenanigans.
Avoiding the stray spells that sparked all around them and carefully stepping over the first round of fallen bodies, she made for him, partially to collect him before her uncle enacted whatever plan he had in mind, and partially because she hoped he could lead her to Tom.
Spotting her, his whole expression brightened and he bridged the remaining distance. He exclaimed exuberantly, "My love!"
She frowned. "How is it that you 'love' me and every other girl our age, yet I swear I've never heard say that to Fenella?"
"There is, indeed, a very good explanation for that." He took her hands sagely between his, holding them up to his heart. "And that explanation is that I fear her."
If anything, Lae's frown deepened. Was she not deserving of his fear, too? "All things considered, you ought to be more afraid of upsetting me than her. I could run off to my uncle. He already heard all that nonsense you said about our 'profound' relationship during the trial."
"Ah, yes. That." Rabastan licked his lips nervously, having the good sense to look concerned. "Sure, he could kill me in a second, but Fen would do it with far more enthusiastic zeal." The concern passed. "Anyway, it hurts to hear you call what we have 'nonsense'. Do you not feel how my heart beats only for you?"
Before she could even begin to muster the energy for a response, Rabastan went rigid, then his fingers spammed open, releasing her hands with a jerk. Nevertheless, he didn't look the least bit surprised.
"Tom!" he said. "I knew if I got close enough to my dearest Ophelia that you'd materialize sooner or later, and here you are!"
So he was using me as bait? she thought.
"Your heart won't beat for much longer if you don't pay more attention to your surroundings," Tom rebuked, both his words and his curt tone indicating he'd heard much of their conversation, enough to be annoyed, even if that wasn't how it came across to the untrained observer.
No doubt from some suicidal recess deep within his soul, Rabastan summoned the gall to wink.
At Tom.
"Jealous?" he prodded.
Tom's answering flat stare spoke volumes. "And who, exactly, am I supposed to be jealous of?"
"Her, of course, but never fear, there is enough of me to go around."
Sounding nearly apologetic, Tom shared a meaningful look with Lae, saying, "I find it increasingly difficult to recall why I brought him along. Should we leave him here?"
She suppressed a wry grin. Now really wasn't the time for banter. "Let's find Fenella. We need to get up there." She pointed to where she left Grindelwald, only just noticing that Dumbledore had made his way up to the foot of the platform, standing below her uncle and speaking up at him. They stood too far away to hear any of the exchanged words, but both seemed tense, poised to either attack or defend at a moment's provocation.
She prayed it wouldn't come to blows. She didn't want to lose either of them, but to lose Grindelwald, especially, was unthinkable.
"Let's hurry," she added in a strained voice so unlike herself.
Tom, not missing the source of her altered mood, leaned in to be heard over the growing din — different departments evidently discovered the coup in their midst and came to interfere, slowly making attempts to quell Tom's flames blocking the lower entrances. He promised, "It will be okay. We'll all get out of here together." Then, purely to ruin the moment, he amended, "Unless you plan to knock me out a second time and escape by yourself. Again."
Wow. The pettiness.
"I didn't escape last time," she felt the need to clarify. "I was caught."
"You wouldn't have been caught if I had been able to assist." His eyes narrowed, daring her to argue.
Well, unfortunately for him, she loved arguing, and luckily that was a passion she could utilise while scouring the crowd for Fenella. Where could she have gone? "You really don't know what would have happened. Odds are, we both would have been put into a difficult position and I still would have been captured."
"You can certainly believe that. It wouldn't be true, but you can believe it..."
More to herself than anyone else, she muttered, "How stubborn."
"You're one to talk—"
"Fen!" Rabastan exclaimed, cutting Tom off mid-thought.
Before Lae knew it, Rabastan was already sprinting through the crowd, either oblivious or uncaring of the danger all around them. He didn't pause to check the safety of his designated route before plunging heartfirst.
"Rabastan!" she called at his retreating back, but it was quickly swallowed in the growing commotion.
Reinforcements managed to break through.
She turned to Tom, torn. "We have to go after him."
"Do we, though?" he said in an irritated huff, already starting to follow the Lestrange. As he passed, he grabbed hold of her hand to drag her on after. "I've got you. Focus on guarding our rear... unless, of course, you'd like to curse me from behind again. Then, by all means."
She rolled her eyes. "Forgive and forget, Tom. I hear it's the key to happiness."
"I'd love to meet the pretentious blowhard who came up with such drivel. I find my own happiness exists in holding this over your head until you beg my forgiveness, and then about a decade after that."
Lae deflected an errant spell, laughing in spite of herself. "To quote you, I never beg."
His eyes flashed to hers for a heated moment. "Oh, really?" he challenged.
They followed in the direction Rabastan disappeared off to, moving, blocking, and even firing off spells of their own in tandem, while Tom guided them both. Towards the edge of the chamber, they still hadn't found either Rabastan or Fenella, until they heard a familiar voice.
"No!"
"Let go of her or I'll—"
There was a horrible crashing noise. Lae spun on her heel, the heavy weight of Grindelwald's coat fanning about in a semicircular arc around her ankles, turning just in time to watch a scarlet spell spear Rabastan through the torso and cast him backwards several yards. He landed in a heap— atop one of the many lines of fire he himself had a hand in creating.
"Why isn't he moving?" Lae gasped, wrenching her hand out of Tom's.
A/N
Originally, I hoped to have finished this work by now, but I was too optimistic. We still have 2, maybe 3, chapters left.
I had a really fun vision of myself killing Rabastan off and making Fenella start down a Voldemort-esque character arc, but as much as I enjoyed the fantasy, I'm really trying to not make this one a tragedy.