I would like to thank my beta, Kuilin.

Chapter 43.

Nurmengard, Part V. Girl-Who-Revived

8:12 am, July 20th, 1993

8:12 am, the exact time that Mad-Eye concluded that the night-shift prison guard would start to leave the castle, and leaving the castle they did. A small door on the side of a large black solid iron door of the formidable magical castle was opened, and a group of prison guards began to file out in a row. The guards needed to walk a long way toward the only transportation area in a radius of five kilometers to be able to Apparate or Floo home.

In the meanwhile, Hermione and her bodyguards, including Mad-Eye Moody and two Auror trios, were being searched at the Visitor's Entrance nearby. Their presence, especially, that of the famous Girl-Who-Revived's, attracted much attention from the guards walking out from the small door near by.

Officially, Hermione was here to conduct an experimental treatment for the victims of dementor exposure. As a matter of fact, half of the goal for this trip laid in this brief moment of passing with the guards.

The girl radiating a sense of purity and innocence extended her magic to the fullest, preparing every moment for fight-or-flight.

Hermione knew, once she felt any resonance of magic, the plan was for her to flee as fast as possible, even though her true Protego Vitamaxima would probably work better than any defensive spells her bodyguards could cast. Harry and Hermione had tested, Protego Vitamaxima fueled with the true Patronus could block almost every hex or curse Severus and Mad-Eye could think of, and the most effective way to crack the true Protego Vitamaxima was to use brute physical force, such as a falling two-ton stone statue - something that Hermione could easily escape from with her agility. Of course, Harry had to ask Severus and Mad-Eye to erase each other's memory afterwards, for they wanted to keep the true power and weakness of Protego Vitamaxima a secret.

However, when all off-duty prison guards had left the gate, all Hermione felt was a general unpleasant aura from the formidable castle, and there was something that was unclean in the general direction of the prison guards - not that was anything surprising for so many people flocking to Grindelwald with unspeakable motives. There was no upcoming DOOM or warning.

-So either I am not as sensitive a detector for Voldemort as Harry is, or Voldemort isn't in this group of off-duty prison guards.

After five minutes of security checks, the guards outside the Visitor's Entrance finally issued Hermione and her guards one-time passes, and let them go inside the first door, only to be checked again.

While Hermione was being prodded with various interesting magical items, she wondered if Grindelwald had intentionally misled them by providing a false identification of Voldemort as the new prison guard Alexander Dimitrov - or if Grindelwald was right, it was just that the little magic Harry put into her during her revival wasn't enough, so that she could only detect the true body of Voldemort, not enough to detect a disembodied soul.

Two days ago, Lucius reluctantly reported that Grindelwald demanded direct communications with persons with real power, instead of the "phony Bones" or the "crazy Eye", Grindelwald also claimed that he had spread the words that any harm done to the Girl-Who-Revived might bring catastrophe to the world, and he had offered a name that he suspected to be Voldemort.

As a matter of fact, Mad-Eye had already checked on the new prison guard Dimitrov, for anyone entering Nurmengard after Voldemort's reappearance was obviously a suspect. And Mad-Eye agreed that this seemingly likeable young chap was suspicious - not that Mad-Eye had a short list of people being suspicious.

The most accurate Voldemort-detector was obviously Harry, but the Boy-Who-Lived literally couldn't take any risks. Therefore, the Girl-Who-Revived had come in his place.

Originally, Harry had wanted both Severus and Mad-Eye to come with her, but Severus pointed out that they couldn't risk letting everyone know that the two most powerful wizards were both away from wherever the Stone was, or were both away from the Boy-Who-Lived.

Mad-Eye agreed with Severus' comment on principle, but he soon started a debate on who should go with Hermione: he didn't want the ex-Death Eater who made a run once given the chance to be alone with Harry, nor did he prefer the idea that Lucius' best friend would be given an opportunity to be near Lucius/Grindelwald/Voldemort. During Mad-Eye's endless inquisitions, Severus rolled his eyes, and scoffed: "Mad-Eye, is it so hard for you to admit the fact that I can verify what I say is true to my best judgement, while you can't?"

Before Mad-Eye and Severus could get into another argument, Harry had to interject and decided that since Mad-Eye was the one who was more familiar with Nurmengard, he should go with Hermione.

Hermione secretly suspected Harry might subconsciously prefer this arrangement because he wanted some quiet hours with Severus and the textbooks from Shakhov Vocational School the black-haired man got. To be honest, Hermione, too, was quite shocked and fascinated by the textbooks that resembled Muggle textbook in their structure and mode of thinking. She also wanted to spend some good reading hours with the textbooks and the half-blood wizard who could understand Russian. Unfortunately, they had a war to fight, and a world to save.

After both Severus and Mad-Eye had been asked to leave, Harry commented that the textbooks, the possible reason for magic to interfere with Muggle electronics, the possible limitation of Interdicts, and the suspect nature of magic were way more valuable than the pathetic war they were fighting, yet if they couldn't win in this war, no being would ever have any future.

Hermione agreed with Harry on principle, yet she couldn't help but to point out another pathetic matter: "Harry, I know the power game that you are playing with Severus and Mad-Eye, but the two most powerful followers of yours are not a good starting point for you to practice this game.. Their hostility toward each other is not only hurting our efficiency in every possible way, but it might also lead to our failure in the current war."

Harry had agreed, and he had promised to do something about it. Hermione dearly hoped that Harry's solution wouldn't be "I will become a God sooner".

As Hermione was led through the grim yard of Nurmengard toward the Healing and Consultation Center in the northeast corner, Hermione extended her senses again, trying to detect anything that might resonant with her magic, yet there was nothing of interest.

While Hermione was being checked again before she was allowed to enter the castle, she mentally rehearsed various scenarios for her upcoming meeting with Grindelwald.

When Lucius was taken by for "more testimony" two days ago, the snake animagus stated that he had a sense that Grindelwald might have developed some suspicion on their pretense that Albus Dumbledore was still around in some way or form. This had made things extremely tricky about the whole "direct communications with persons with real power" thing. If a dark lord locked in prison (no matter how well-connected that dark lord still was) could see that Madam Bones was not the real holder of Line of Merlin Unbroken, this meant a good portion of the other thirty-something top wizards in the world should be able to deduce this as well. Originally, they might think that Dumbledore was still behind everything, but overtime they might see the truth before any wizard on Harry's side could gain enough power to deter them all. And since Severus brought back the news that the former Comrades were heavily involved in Muggle politics, it was reasonable to believe that all the former Comrades knew about Muggle nuclear weapons - obviously, they had never actually used nuclear weapons, but that could be of the same reason that the Muggle nations had never used such weapons since the end of World War II. Therefore, even if Harry staged a show where he could cause a huge explosion at some remote location (possibly using transfigured antimatter) as Harry originally planned, the top wizards would only think that the British Ministry of Magic got their hands on nuclear weapons, instead of thinking that Harry was really powerful.

Therefore, in order to uphold the illusion of Dumbledore being around for as long as possible, they needed something to offer the ultimate authority on Albus Dumbledore - Gellert Grindelwald, who was definitely evil and sane at the same time.

Judging from Grindelwald's standard welcome package, the dark lord was quite sincere in his pursuit for wizards to rule over the Muggles, and he had clear plans for his empire: while purebloods were on the top of the hierarchy, half-bloods were useful administrators, Muggleborns served as lower-class officials, squibs (at least the females) were unpleasant but necessary supplements to offer wombs, and Muggles were the lowest of the ranks.

After reading the welcome package, neither of the two dark wizards on their side thought Grindelwald aimed at the annihilation of Muggles - at least, before Grindelwald figured out how to increase the fertility of purebloods. Harry agreed on Severus and Lucius' idea. This was of little moral comfort to Hermione, yet this did mean Grindelwald was sane and he could be pragmatic when needed.

The day before yesterday, their current Grindelwald "expert" on their side (since no one else was competing for this title), one Lucius Malfoy, suggested that he might have deduced part of the reason why Grindelwald started World War II. According to the books on Grindelwald and recent Muggle history that Lucius recently read like crazy, he found one coincidence: Grindelwald had been visiting France around 1916 to 1917, and he might have witnessed two of the most horrible battles in human history - Battle of Verdun and Battle of the Somme.

"I can imagine the shock Grindelwald experienced when he witnessed the true power of Muggle killing machines." The blond pureblood gulped, residual shock and horror still lingering in his grey-blue eyes, "When I read Muggle history books, I could hardly believe the descriptions. I wanted to find proof that the Muggles had exaggerated things, yet I found signs that the Muggles might softened things up when they recorded things down, probably because truth was more horrible. Lady Granger, Lord Potter, correct me if I am wrong, after reading the Muggle history books, I realized that the Muggles can bring danger not only to themselves, but also to us. The cannons depicted in the books can no doubtedly smash Protego wielded by most wizards - I doubt if five percent of adult wizards can survive when facing a cannon. Malfoy Manor may or may not survive if it becomes the target of an artillery regiment with a hundred cannons. - And how many did the Muggles utilized in Verdun and Somme? I am in no way an extraordinary wizard like Grindelwald, so I am sure that he could see the meaning of the things he witnessed firsthand."

Hermione wanted to point out that the Muggles had learned the lessons after World War II, and the Cold War had ended peacefully, yet she herself wasn't so confident in the probability that the next major conflict between Muggle countries would also end in a peaceful way - when there were only three data points, World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, who could say that the Cold War wasn't an outlier?

Lucius swallowed again as he said: "Grindelwald might have also witnessed something else: the death magic released by the massive death of Muggles. And somehow, he had devised a way to utilize this effect."

Harry sighed, looking increasingly like Dumbledore. "I can guess it from there. Grindelwald had an aim, and he had a way."

From Harry's explanation on Voldemort's mentality, Hermione also knew what Lucius was about to say: just like Voldemort, Grindelwald considered the Muggles an existential threat to everyone on Earth, and he considered world domination as a way to save the world from destruction. And Grindelwald had figured out a plausible way to do that. This is - this is just what a sane dark lord wants to do. For what is worse, both of them might actually believe they were doing it for "the Greater Good".

After all others had left, Harry sadly pointed out: "Hermione, I think Grindelwald might be more sane than You-Know-Who, or at least, he didn't fall into the trap where he enjoyed playing evil too much that he procrastinated on world domination. I guess, one comfort is, judging from Grindelwald's pretty much predictable moves - even by Lucius, he is probably less clever than You-Know-Who. Unfortunately for Grindelwald, actually, unfortunately for the entire world, the very act that Grindelwald tried to save the world from its destruction lead to the development of nuclear weapons, and pushed us one step nearer to the great cliff."

Hermione also sighed. "I suppose, pointing out that Grindelwald is possibly the biggest sinner for wizarding kind ever to his face isn't a good idea, for he might think who opposed him should be given that title, or he might regret he didn't kill all the Jews, including Albert Einstein, earlier."

Harry pulled out paper and pencil from his pouch, and said, "Let's begin by lining out all the possible things that might motivate Grindelwald, and then ask Lucius to evaluate them - he is the only dark pureblood wizard on our side anyway. First, Grindelwald most likely doesn't want the world to be destroyed. Second, Grindelwald wants to study the Stone and the Mirror, or the origin of magic - this desire is probably true as well. The first point has no conflict with the second either way. Possibly, Grindelwald doesn't want to learn the real secret of magic in a destroyed world, and he may think the true secret of magic can help him stop world destruction. Hmm."

Harry stopped, and fell deep into his own mind.

Hermione tried to concentrate on the current problem, but she couldn't help but to wonder what proposals Harry might raise afterwards. Usually, this mode of deep thinking lead to another possible way to destroy the world.

To Hermione's surprise and slight horror, Harry came out with a true bright smile. "Hermione, I have been stupid, or, I should say that I have fallen into the same trap as You-Know-Who did. Remember that I taught him to consider nice things for others? I did the same. If there is one place where people have the highest probability of surviving a nuclear war or most other methods that can destroy the world, that place is probably inside the Mirror. Being locked inside the Mirror is not only a punishment, it can also be a form of blessing in desperate times."

"Harry, that is BRILLIANT!" Hermione almost jumped from hearing this great idea. For more than one year, Hermione had felt the weight of the entire human race - no the weight of all sapient beings on Earth - on her shoulders, and now to know that everyone could be safe -

Then Hermione realized one thing: not everyone can be safe. There has to be someone staying outside the Mirror to release everyone when the conditions becomes safer. And that person has to be…

The Girl-Who-Revived saw the Boy-Who-Lived flinched a bit on a certain idea, or rather, a certain candidate. She volunteered: "Harry, don't worry. I have already accepted my destined path as a heroine, and since I probably have all the luck in the Universe, so I am the best candidate for this mission. We just need to ask Professor Snape and Mr. Moody to figure out how to lock everybody up in Time, and also continue with their research on how to retrieve people from the Mirror. I guess locking everyone up in Time is going to be much harder than our previous task."

And here, Hermione was presented with the daunting task that by truth, by outright lying, or whatever other methods, she should pacify Grindelwald and the rest of the world until they figured out how to retrieve Dumbledore from Time (the current estimated timeframe of which was approximately five years in a highly unreliable and probably-too-optimistic estimation), or until they find out how to lock everyone except Hermione up in Time (Harry and Hermione weren't entirely sure that this was doable), or alternatively, until one of the people on their side could gain power in par with Dumbledore (Tom Riddle only gained that level of power in his late thirties or early forties, though if necessary, Harry could wear polyjuiced version of Tom Riddle's true body and then use the Stone to fix it, which might or might not help in shortening the process, yet such change might also impact Harry's personality negatively).

Harry and Hermione's current plan was to convince Grindelwald that the world was fragile, and he'd better not risk pushing the limit; and Hermione could offer Grindelwald some small and possibly harmless pieces of information, such as the secret behind a Version 1.5 Patronus. The problem was, although the enemy might not be as smart as Voldemort/Harry, he was still smart, and his behavior patterns showed that he would like to take things into his own hands. For example, if Hermione were to reveal their plan as to save everyone by the Mirror in case of an apocalyptic disaster, the former dark lord might want a trigger on that ritual, and he might want to significantly reduce the number of Muggles to be saved, while this very act might lead to the end of the world.

Two long corridors and three flights of stairs later, Hermione was in front of the Healing and Consultation Center. As the heavy black iron door creaked open, Hermione and her bodyguards were ushered inside, she looked around the healing center, and found that it resembled more of the inside of St. Mungo's instead of the prison cell in Lucius' memory. Instead of the death-white walls, the inner walls of this healing center were of panelled oak, and the light came from shining bubbles clustered in the middle of the ceiling. And about half of the people in the healing center wore comforting light-green robes, instead of the grim-grey uniforms of the prison guards or the ugly orange robes for the prisoners.

"Lady Granger, it is a great pleasure to meet you. I am Head Healer Erika Fischer, we have communicated by owls." A tall forty-something brown-haired witch in light-green robes walked toward Hermione, her smile sincere, her English a bit stiff.

Hermione had wanted to shake Ms. Fischer's hands out of pure reflexes, but Mad-Eye's stares stopped her, so she smiled, and replied: "Good morning, Ms. Fischer. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, too."

"How was your trip?" Ms. Fischer had just began the courtesies, when a door near the reception area of the healing center opened, and her face stiffened a bit as she saw the old blond wizard in elegant black robes. A younger blond wizard also appeared behind the elder one. The poor Head Healer assigned here by the German Ministry of Magic took in a breath, and forgot about her own previous question: "Lord Grindelwald, please allow me to introduce our Guest Healing Advisor, Lady Hermione Granger."

The dark lord whose name still lingered in a lot of people's nightmares smiled politely, and inclined his head, his ice-blue eyes looking at Hermione as if he was assessing a prey, "Lady Granger, the famous Girl-Who-Revived, what a pleasure to meet you."

Hermione's excellent peripheral vision told her that Ms. Fischer swallowed a bit before she introduced Grindelwald: "Lady Granger, this is Lord Gellert Grindelwald, our Special Healing Advisor."

Although Hermione was still puzzled by why the winners hadn't stripped Grindelwald's title after World War II, she knew this wasn't time to argue this point. "Good morning, Lord Grindelwald."

Grindelwald had undoubtedly sensed Hermione's moral disapproval, and his smile became a bit colder as he said: "Lady Granger, I believe you have already met the Special Healing Assistant, Mr. Lucius Malfoy."

Hermione nodded, and addressed the convicted criminal that the British wizarding legal system had the decency to strip his title - though admittedly, if Lucius hadn't been that cooperating and handing his title to his son, it might be quite a legal battle: "Good morning, Mr. Malfoy."

"Good morning, Lady Granger." Replied the younger blond, whose evilness was dwarfed like a common mortal criminal in front of Lucifer when he was compared with Grindelwald.

Grindelwald's tone took up a hint of condescension, "Lady Granger, if you would excuse the curiosity of an old man, I would really like to see the special charm that turned a place of despair into a place of hope and life, and to see if it can also work its charms on the victims of dementors."

Hermione nodded, and marched toward the ward where Grindelwald and Lucius were in, and Mad-Eye closely followed her suit. Hermione knew the conversation could have been a bit friendlier if she had controlled her righteousness, yet Harry, Lucius, and Severus had all assessed that Grindelwald wasn't the type of person who could be swayed by the atmosphere of the conversation, but rather the results of the bargain. Therefore, there wasn't much need for Hermione to hide her feelings, - plus, she wasn't Harry or Lucius, and she wasn't good at this even if she tried.

After Hermione entered the ward, she saw a thin grey-haired wizard in constraint clothing tied up in the only bed in the room. The wizard's skin was pale, his eyes were empty, and he occasionally mumbled something inaudible, or slightly twitched in his bed. Hermione's excellent vision told her there was a name "Rabastan Lestrange" written on a small card in a corner of the headboard of the bed.

Ms. Fischer entered the ward after Mad-Eye, and began the introduction: "Lady Granger, Mr. Lestrange is a typical severe dementor victim. He is nonresponsive to outside stimuli for the majority of the times, but he can be quite violent at times, and we have also observed behaviors such as self-wounding, self-mutilation, and attempted suicide, so we had to put him in constraints."

Hermione scrutinized Lesath Lestrange's father, and found some facial features that resembled Harry's only minon. However, the most striking part of this man was the emptiness, as if the majority part of his soul - or his self-determined and sapient mind, if that was what "soul" was about - had been sucked out from him from years of dementor exposure on the bottom level of Azkaban. Apparently, this man didn't possess the fervent and painful devotions his mistress held toward Voldemort, and there had been almost nothing left in him.

Hermione took in a breath, and cast the charm that had shown some positive effect on Peter Pettigrew: "Expecto Patronum!"

A blazingly bright ball jumped out from the Girl-Who-Revived's wand tip, and stayed near Rabastan Lestrange's head. The man's eyes moved a bit, his gaze began to focus on Hermione's Patronus, his mouth slightly opened, and drooled.

"Mr. Lestrange, I know this might be hard for you, but can you try to focus on the light and the warm feeling of the Patronus?" Hermione said.

The man in constraint swallowed a bit.

Hermione commanded her Patronus to touch Rabastan's forehead, then the Patronus entered his head, and moved slowly downward. When the Patronus left Rabastan from his feet, the man twitched, and uttered the first audible sound Hermione heard from him: "D - Don't..." His sound was quite strange and rasp, as if his vocal cords were foreign for such functions.

Hermione immediately let her Patronus go back to Rabastan's head, and stayed there.

After gazing at Hermione's Patronus for a while, Grindelwald exclaimed: "Fascinating, absolutely fascinating. Now I finally believe that dementors can be killed by a Patronus. - Lady Granger, can we go somewhere with more privacy?"

Mad-Eye wanted to protest, but Hermione's gaze stopped him.

Grindelwald chuckled darkly, "Oh, Albus' crazy Eye, don't you even know me? I won't take the risk that you British delivered to me."

Lucius wanted to follow Grindelwald and Hermione, but he was also stopped by a glance from Grindelwald. The ex-Lord Malfoy didn't even try to protest.

Therefore, five minutes and twenty-eight privacy and security charms later, in an empty ward, Hermione was alone with the dark lord whose name could still stop children from crying after almost fifty years of imprisonment.

The old blond scrutinized the girl radiating with pure, light, and innocence again, and commented: "Such delicate design, such a lovely threat to the entire world, I should really applaud the mastermind behind this all."

At this time, Hermione was sure Grindelwald knew Dumbledore wasn't behind everything, because the Albus Dumbledore they knew would never bring an embodiment of lucky-now and doomed-forever to the world.

"Well, Lord Grindelwald, I suppose I can tell you one more thing to show our sincerity: David Monroe wasn't killed that night, and the body we buried wasn't him." Hermione stated something that was technically true, yet definitely misleading.

"Ha, and now you are claiming Britain still has someone almost in par with the top wizards in the world." Grindelwald commented sardonically. "Let it be truth or not, my initial offer still stands: let me study the Mirror of Noitilov and the Stone of Permanency, and I shall take an Unbreakable Vow that satisfies the British Ministry of Magic and magical governments of other major nations."

"I am afraid that wouldn't be possible unless you truly repented." The Girl-Who-Revived replied matter-of-factly.

Grindelwald firmly stated: "Though I might have lost in the cause that I still believe in, I shall not repent for it."

Hermione replied: "We do not expect you to. However, we can cooperate on other matters of importance."

"Such as the trivial secret behind your Patronus?" Grindelwald scoffed. The dark lord suddenly smiled viciously, "Muggleborn girl, do you know nuclear weapons?"

Severus, Lucius, and Harry had estimated that Grindelwald might know about nuclear weapons, but they didn't expect him to suddenly bring this up.

-Does he want to convince me how evil the Muggles are, and why wizards should rule the Muggles?

"I do, but -" Hermione wanted to point out that the Muggles were holding talks to reduce the number of nuclear warheads, and some countries would give up their nuclear weapons.

Grindelwald cut in: "And do you know the world almost came to its end in 1962, way before you were born?"

Hermione supposed that Grindelwald was referring to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which luckily ended in a peaceful way. She wanted to use this as an example to convince Grindelwald that the top figures in Muggle governments were sane - well, in developed countries, on such important matters anyway.

"Ah, yes, you are more knowledgeable than most. But do you know wizards such as Lord Lincoln, Comrade Shakhov, and the humble man standing in front of you are the true heroes who solved the issue?" Grindelwald stepped forward, his tall figure towering over Hermione.

"You, what?" Hermione was too shocked to form a reasonable reply.

Grindelwald looked down hard at Hermione: "Yes, an ardent communist such as Comrade Shakhov decided to go against his long-held communist party disciplines, a firm believer of freedom such as Lord Lincoln altered the mind of the Leader of the Free World, and the few people of the Known all agree to enlist me to stop nuclear weapons from being used by the British Muggles, by any means, at all costs, even if that meant I have to duel Albus - who probably would think I started all this to gain world domination. And without the Elder Wand, I expected myself to lose, but that would create some valuable time window for other Lords and Ladies to properly manage the Muggle politicians' minds. Well, Shakhov and Lincoln luckily managed to curtail their own Muggle leaders without too much trouble or wizarding opposition, and my service wasn't really needed that time."

Hermione was completely in loss of words. She supposed, what the Comrades, Lords, and Ladies did was quite reasonable, and the world was quite lucky to have them. However, to think Grindelwald amongst the group of people who saved the world, and Dumbledore as someone whose ideology might lead to world destruction - that was hard.

"I suppose I shouldn't expect a 'thank you' from Albus' hand-picked heroine such as yourself, but could you have a mind of your own, and realize how important the origin of magic is now? That might be our only way out, before another such crisis happens, and we may not be there to save the world from Muggles every time!" Grindelwald's voice was firm and harsh, and it was from above Hermione's head.

The Girl-Who-Revived took in a breath, and looked up at Grindelwald: "Lord Grindelwald, I need time to process this information, and I need consultation from others before I can give you a reply on this."

Grindelwald waved his hand, and dismissed Hermione.