A History of Magic

France, 1944

Luc Bonaccord looked over the place that had once been his home. Two deep trenches faced each other, each filled with uniformed Muggle men; gunfire was everywhere between them.

Was this what his five-year departure had turned his home into? He had left Switzerland for a break from warfare, not to be caught up in the silly quarrellings of Muggles.

But already he knew he was wrong. This was no mere squabble, this was a terrible fight. The two armies that faced each other look tired and worn, much like many of the wizards had back in Switzerland.

Amidst the gunshots, Luc did not hear the crack from behind him. The first alert he had of the presence of Albus Dumbledore was a hand on his shoulder.

"I warned you," said Dumbledore. "I told you you would not find rest here."

Luc turned to face the other wizard, with his long auburn hair and beard and colourful clothing. "Why is this happening?"

Dumbledore hesitated, then said, "It is nothing to do with Grindelwald." He said the name like a German word. "But the man behind it is of very similar ideals."

Luc had left his quiet country home five years ago, in order to try to combat a force that was gathering in the mountains: Marcus Grindelwald, an evil, twisted wizard from a small village of the same name. Together with other Aurors, trained fighters from around the world, he had launched attack after attack on this man. But nothing had happened. It didn't seem like anything was going to happen either.

"Are you sure this is nothing to do with Grindelwald?" he asked his English friend.

"It is possible, I daresay," replied Dumbledore. "But I doubt it."

"He hates Muggles. What would be better that to let them tear themselves apart?"

"Maybe. But Grindelwald is not the only evil in this world. There are always others. We wizards are, have always been, an almost insignificant proportion of the population."

Luc looked back at the fighting. Aeroplanes were massing overhead now, great metal beasts of death. Even as they watched, one exploded in a ball of brilliant orange fire.

"How come they don't see us?" he asked.

Dumbledore smiled. "Even you should know the answer to that, my friend. We are on a part of your land that you charmed invisible to Muggles. There is no way they could see us."

"Will the fighting ever stop?"

"It always does, for a time. One day some wizard, of much greater powers that me I should think, will defeat Grindelwald and we will have peace again. And one of these armies will crush the other to dust, and the Muggles will also have peace. But there will be another evil soon enough. Maybe it is even right under our noses and we don't know it. But it will reveal itself in time."

Luc nodded, and swallowed. The Muggles may not have been able to see his house, but they had reduced it to rubble and ashes anyway. "What shall we do in the meantime?" he questioned.

"Return, and fight the present evil. The more pressure we put on it, the quicker we can destroy it. Let us return to Grindelwald."

Luc Bonaccord looked back on his land one last time, then Apparated away to fight his last battles.