Different Paths

Chapter 11: Plans in motion

For about a full minute, Snape stared at his old school enemy as Sirius stared back at him, a large smirk on his face. Unfazed by Sirius´s comfort and confidence, Snape simply turned away saying, "Just send him to Azkaban. His old cell should still be ready for him there."

"Wha...Snape!" Sirius sprang up to his feet and called out for his old nemesis. "You´re not seriously going to leave me here to rot are you?"

Snape ignored him. Sirius started swearing under his breath. Calmly, he spread out his hands, placed his fingers on the bars in front of him, and closed his eyes. With a sudden surge of magic, the Double-Neutral spell shot out of Sirius´s fingers into the bars, causing them to blast out of the way and crumble to dust. That caught Snape´s attention.

"Hmm, I see you´ve picked up a few tricks."

"You bet I have. There´s is no way I´m letting myself become a hindrance to Harry."

"No, you´re just letting yourself become the fly in my eye," said Snape, his voice filling with disdain.

"And proud to be doing so," said Sirius while taking a small bow, a malicious grin on his face. The guard wizards were so frightened by Sirius´s display that they didn´t dare go near him. "If you want to know, the reason I let myself get caught was because I figured that Harry would eventually come visit the Department of Magical Law Enforcement some time or another; it´s a sure way to meet him. Plus I also wanted to rub this new spell of mine into that ugly face of yours."

"Disdainful," sneered Snape. Sirius smirked at him.

"Now, what´s the first order of business? Interrogate that Death Eater in the cell down the hall from here?"

"Death Eater?" said Snape. He turned to one of the guard wizards and asked, "Was there a Death Eater brought down here?"

The guard perked at Snape´s question. "Um, yes sir. He was brought in the other day. The charges against him are kidnapping, assault, and attempted murder."

"Why wasn´t I told about him?" snapped Snape. The terrified guard was about to speak but Snape just shook his head and said, "Never mind, just take me to him." Sirius cleared his throat and Snape grudgingly said, "OK, take us to him."

The guard nodded and led Sirius and Snape down to a cell down the hall. Silently, he opened the door and let Snape and Sirius in.

Lying on the cot in the cell was a man with piercings, a Union Jack tattoo on his head, a bleached Mohawk, and dragon hide clothing. He was reading a magazine in the dim light offered in the cell, his wrists manacled in front of him. "Hey, mind if you could switch me to a different cell, mate? There isn´t enough light in this one." He spoke with a thick Australian accent.

"Well, well, well, Chucky Sullivan. I never thought there´d be a time when I´d see you here," said Sirius.

"You know me?" asked Chucky without looking up from his magazine.

"Of course I know you. Our cells were right next to each other for twelve years at Azkaban," said Sirius.

Chucky finally looked up. "Well now, Sirius Black and Severus Snape! Two people whom I was under the impression worked for our side."

"Well, you should get caught up on the times then," said Sirius.

"Probably for the better," said Chucky. "This way when I get sent back to Azkaban I won´t have to lose any nights of sleep to your constant screams of `I´m innocent!"

Sirius looked furious. "Oh yeah, well I suppose I should be glad that I don´t have to listen to maniacal laughter of yours everyday," he snapped.

"You want a piece of me?!" yelled Chucky springing to his feet.

"Yeah sure, bring it on!" said Sirius.

"I´d throttle you right now if it weren´t for these chains!"

"Well I can take care of that." Sirius grabbed the chain between the manacles on Chucky´s wrists. With a surge of the Double-Neutral spell, the chains shattered and blew away like dust, much to Chucky´s surprise. "There, now are we going to do this?" said Sirius.

Before Sirius and Chucky could come to blows, Snape cleared his throat. "As much as I´d enjoy watching you two decide who´s the bigger idiot, I don´t have that much time."

"Fine," said Sirius. "He´s all yours." Sirius backed up a little and Chucky sat down on the cot.

Snape stood in front of Chucky. "Are you going to answer my questions honestly or would I have to use Veritaserum?"

"Don´t bother with the truth potion," said Chucky with a slight wave of his hand, "I´ll tell you everything."

"What? You´re giving away everything like that?" asked Sirius.

"Humph, it´s not like I took an oath of silence."

"Well then, lets hear it," said Snape. "First of all you could tell me which one of the Death Eaters could´ve killed 50 Hit Wizards in a single night."

"Yeah, I heard about. Such a sob story I tell you," said Chucky. "Well, aside from the Dark Lord himself only two of the Elite Ten have the power to do some thing like that."

"Two?" said Sirius. "You Death Eaters must be losing your touch."

"Killing 50 Hit Wizards isn´t necessarily difficult," said Chucky. "I could kill 50 without much of a problem. It´s the time frame of a single night that makes the difference." Chucky looked at Snape once more. "Anyway, the first of your two potential suspects would be Seth Soran."

"Ah him," said Snape. "I figured he might be one of the few capable of doing this."

"But he´s probably not the one you´re looking for," said Chucky.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"I was able to get a copy of the Daily Prophet this morning," said Chucky. "They gave a rather detailed description of the crime scene. It said that the corpses were mutilated, some probably tortured to death. That´s not Seth´s style. He prefers a quick killing curse."

"So," said Snape, "If it´s not Soran, who is it?"

Chucky looked up into Snape´s eyes and said, "It´s Grindelwald."

* * *

At the Dark Lord´s secret lair, chaos was ensuing.

"My Lord!" Horace Salacion burst into the primary dining hall of the lair where Voldemort and Yasmin were having dinner. "My Lord, two Death Eaters have just been killed at their posts! There is an intruder in the lair!"

"Intruder?" said Voldemort standing up. "Tell me Horace, what condition are the corpses of the killed Death Eaters?"

"Why, mutilated beyond recognition..." Horace stopped as realization dawned on him. "My Lord, you don´t suppose..."

"You think correctly, Horace," said Voldemort. "I don´t think it is an intruder who´s entered at all. In fact, he´s hanging on the ceiling right above me right now getting ready to strike even as we speak."

A lot of things happened in the next minute. A figure hurtled down from the ceiling wielding his wand toward Voldemort. The Dark Lord spun around and whipped out his wand faster than any western lawman or outlaw could draw his gun. The next thing Horace and Yasmin noticed were Voldemort and the other man pointing their wands at each other both with smirks on their faces.

The other man had a full head of blonde hair with streaks of white, was wearing elegant purple and scarlet robes, and had a black blindfold wrapped around his face. If the blindfold wasn´t telling enough, the scar tissue peaking out from under the blindfold was enough to show that the man was completely blind. "You´re losing your touch, Riddle," he said. "You used to be able to draw a lot faster."

"Really Grindelwald?" said Voldemort with a smirk. "I´m surprised you were able to tell, not being able to see and all."

"You mock me, Riddle," said Grindelwald. "You stole my sight, and one of these you´re going to pay for it!"

The Dark Wizard Grindelwald was the dominant dark wizard a generation before Voldemort. He had spent years terrorizing Europe during the chaotic years of World War II before finally being brought down by at the then Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore in 1945. What was not as well known was that Dumbledore brought Grindelwald down with the help of Hogwarts Head Boy Tom Marvolo Riddle.

It was late March 1945 and previous to that date, the Dark Wizard Grindelwald had been terrorizing Magical Europe while Muggle Europe was immersed in the chaos of World War II. At the height of his power Grindelwald had gathered all of his dark forces and initiated an invasion of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as always the symbol of hope and freedom in the magical world.

As it turned out however the attack against Hogwarts had been tipped off by a spy and Grindelwald´s forces were devastated by a troop of Aurors and hit wizards aided by the students and staff of the school. Grindelwald himself was brought down by the then Transfiguration Professor Albus Dumbledore, long said to be the most powerful of wizards on the side of good.

"C-curses!" Grindelwald muttered. He looked up, a man defeated at the one whom had just triumphed over him.

Albus Dumbledore glared down at his fallen enemy, his long auburn hair and beard swaying in the night wind and his blue eyes radiating with power that made the bravest dark wizards cower in fear. "And so it ends," he said. "Your reign of terror is over Grindelwald. You shall never reclaim the former power you had."

Grindelwald glared at Dumbledore, his red eyes blazing with hatred. He tried to pull himself to his feet but collapsed back on the ground moaning in pain. "D-defeated I may be," he wheezed, "but...I will return. I´ll grow m-more powerful than before...and I will rule this continent!" With his last once of strength, Grindelwald summoned a piece of ragged cloth. It turned out to be a portkey and the dark wizard disappeared. Dumbledore sighed his relief and sauntered off to the school matron to have his broken nose treated.

As Dumbledore made his way toward the castle one of the students ran toward him looking panicked. She was clearly a seventh year, was wearing the Slytherin House crest and the Head Girl badge, and had long wavy dark brown hair. "Professor!" she cried, her amber eyes filled with tears.

Dumbledore looked up at the Head Girl, his face troubled. "Miss Correllan? What is the matter?"

"Professor," Yasmin gasped, while clutching a cramp in her side, "Professor, it´s Tom."

"What about Mr. Riddle?"

"He´s gone," wailed Yasmin. "I can´t find him anywhere."

* * *

Grindelwald crawled through the grass deep within the Forbidden Forest. The portkey had apparently been damaged in the conflict and had only managed to transport Grindelwald deep into the Forbidden Forest. The dark wizard moaned in pain as he struggled to gather enough strength to Apparate.

"How the mighty have fallen," said a voice from nearby. Surprised, Grindelwald looked up to see a seventh year Hogwarts student with longish black hair, the Slytherin House Crest, and the Head Boy badge. If Grindelwald had been in his right mind at the time, he would´ve wondered what a Hogwarts student was doing deep within the forbidden forest.

"C-come to gloat have you?" hissed Grindelwald. "Come to see how the mighty have fallen? Well not for long! Tell your p-precious Professor Dumbledore that I will return, more powerful then previously! My rise to absolute power will not be ruined!" He tried to pull himself up to his feet.

Tom Riddle approached Grindelwald twirling his wand around. "Yes, I´m sure you will," he said. "You´re not completely dead yet and I´m sure that in time you´ll regain enough strength to cause a little chaos in Europe once again." Riddle crouched in front of Grindelwald and said, "But I´m not willing to let any potential rivals ruin my own rise to power."

Before Grindelwald could comprehend what was happening, Riddle pointed his wand at Grindelwald´s face and said, "Occulus Caeco." A burning blast of red light erupted from Riddle´s wand into Grindelwald´s face. Grindelwald screamed in pain as his eyes were burned.

"Since that day, not a single day has gone by where I haven´t despised you, loathed you, blamed you for preventing my return to power, for stealing my eyesight!" hissed Grindelwald.

Voldemort laughed. "Well now, like I said, I wasn´t willing to let any potential rivals ruin my own rise to power," he said. "In fact, I have no regrets since I´ve been able to secure you as an ally."

"On the single condition," hissed Grindelwald, "that I be allowed to attempt to kill you any time I wish."

"Of course," said Voldemort, his mouth curving into a delighted smile, "You´re one of my two conditional Elite Ten. I get a good ally in my own rise to power while you get a free shot at me whenever you like." Voldemort lowered his wand though Grindelwald continued to point his wand at Voldemort. "By the way, I just heard about those fifty Hit Wizards from last night. A rather impressive feat might I say."

"That was nothing," said Grindelwald. "The killing of fifty Hit Wizards was pleasurable, but not satisfying enough. Only seeing you dying at my feet as I spit on your face will satisfy me enough."

Voldemort laughed. "All in good time."

* * *

"Well, so is there anything else you want to know mate?" asked Chucky, once again reclining on his cot.

"Why assassinate Fudge?" asked Snape. "I know the Dark Lord´s style, he would only do something like that as a prelude to something bigger. Something more sinister."

"You do know the Dark Lord well don´t you?" said Chucky. "You´re right, Fudge´s assassination was a calling card to the world. It was a sign to Death Eaters all over Europe that the Dark Lord will be moving into the final phase of his plan while at the same time throwing the ministry into chaos."

"Plan?" exclaimed Sirius. "What plan?"

"The last plan," said Chucky, his voice taken on a hint of awe. "The final plan that will place us in power, and make the Dark Lord master of all Europe. And eventually, the world."

Sirius stepped past Snape, grabbed Chucky by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up. "And what is this plan?" he hissed. "Tell me!"

Chucky chuckled. "I´m going to going Azkaban soon meaning I won´t be able to take place in the execution of the plan. That´s what I´ve been looking forward to not what comes afterward. If I don´t get to participate no one will," said Chucky. "On the night before the full moon, a whole legion of Death Eaters and Dementors led by the Elite Ten will storm into the city, and London will burn. Before dawn, all that will be left of Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic will be a pile of ash."

Stricken, Sirius released Chucky. He glanced over at Snape who seemed to be contemplating something. Wordlessly, the two men left the cell and started making their way down the hallway. Chucky simply shrugged and went back to his magazine saying, "And no one thanks me for the information. Well you´re welcome."

Sirius was rather agitated as he tore down the hallway. Snape raised an eyebrow and said, "Well?"

"We have to stop them," said Sirius.

"It´s rather obvious we will have to stop them," said Snape.

"So, that´s what we´ll do," said Sirius. "What´s the plan?"

"There is none at the moment. But one thing is for certain, I swear on everything I´ve ever fought for the burning of London will be stopped," whispered Snape.

"I swear on the lives of everybody killed in this war that London will not burn!" yelled Sirius. Interestingly enough, neither man noticed that this was the first time in their lives that they had ever agreed on something.

To be continued...