"I'm going!" Gabrielle said emphatically.
They were currently having an argument over whether or not Gabrielle should go and join in the fight against Dumbledore.
Or rather Fleur and Gabrielle were having an argument while Su, Susan, and Pansy watched, wondering who would win.
As for Susan, she thought the argument looked rather evenly matched, a result of having two headstrong Veela sisters together, with one being very protective and the other clearly not wanting to be left behind.
She understood that. While she wasn't the best duelist among the group (which to be fair she was among world class duelists), there was simply no way that she could live with herself if something happened and she wasn't around. Besides she could definitely hold her own. Obviously not against Dumbledore alone but against the average clone she was sure, in case he had more of them that they had to fight.
When it came to her opinion on if Gabby should stay or not, her feelings were mixed.
Even if Dumbledore was alone and they managed to corner him somewhere it was still bound to be dangerous, both for her and for the baby.
Of course the argument that Gabrielle was making was a rather good one. She was indeed an extremely accomplished duelist and the pregnancy hadn't even progressed very far.
Still Fleur did not want to take that risk.
"We'll be fine without you." Fleur tried to reassure her, "Just rest easy and we'll be back before you know it."
"Easier for you to say!" Gabrielle answered, "If you were the one pregnant I guarantee you you would be insisting on going."
"True," Fleur told her, having the nerve to have a slight smile, "and you would be the one making sure that I didn't go anyway."
"It would likely hold true for most of us." Su observed, "I'm just glad I'm not the one pregnant. No way I'm staying behind."
"Don't worry Gabby," Pansy said reassuringly, "I'm not going either. Someone has to be in good enough health to heal whatever is left of all of them."
"Whatever is left?" Susan questioned.
"It's a figure of speech," Pansy corrected, "I'm sure everyone will come back with the same number of arms and legs."
Still, such a morbid comment had an effect on all of them. There was a chance that that could indeed happen. Hopefully what would happen however is that they'd all get to gang up on Dumbledore while he was caught unawares and take him down easily.
That was the plan, but of course they were preparing for every eventuality, including a firefight like last time.
Tonks had had them running drills for the past few days along with the Auror Corps, who were instructed to be ready at all times, although they weren't told what exactly was in store in case Dumbledore had a spy among their ranks somehow.
At any rate, while there was still no word from Grindelwald to show that he had already escaped, Ariana was convinced that he already had and they would be hearing from him soon.
"Do you ever get a little on edge before a duel?" Susan asked Su.
"Sometimes," Su admitted as she restlessly polished one of her daggers, "there's always that brief lull right before it when you know what you need to do and you're feeling confident but you never know just how it will end up."
"I'd agree with that," Susan commented, "we're lucky my Aunt eventually decided to let us go."
"Probably realized she couldn't stop us anyway." Su pointed out as she glanced over at Fleur and Gabrielle who still appeared to be talking, "Just like Gabby's going to somehow manage to do despite Fleur not wanting her to go."
A valid point.
"I'd say Fleur is still going to try awful hard to make sure that doesn't happen." Susan insisted.
"They've both got minds of their own." Su answered.
"You don't?" Susan countered.
Su laughed a bit at that as she finished polishing her dagger. "Perfect, I'd say I'm good to fight whenever." She finally proclaimed after inspecting it.
"It looks like you might get your wish." Susan observed as she watched Ariana run into the room. Usually watching Ariana made her heart flutter a bit but right now it filled her with dread.
Tentatively Fleur asked Ariana, "Is it time?"
Ariana nodded gravely.
"Where is he?" Pansy questioned.
"The Muggle school that you went undercover at." Ariana admitted.
"Why would he go there?" Gabrielle asked.
While some looked perplexed as to why, as for her the answer was obvious. Why had Dumbledore chosen to be Headmaster of Hogwarts in the first place? Since he knew that indoctrinating people early while they were still young and impressionable could be far more influential and rewarding for him. If he could somehow kidnap a fresh batch of wizards, ones that knew absolutely nothing about him or the Wizarding World at large? He'd have a fresh new army and he wouldn't even need clones.
"I don't know how he found out, but he's going to try and turn all those kids into wizards. Due to Simmons' testing likely all of them are vulnerable, only requiring a catalyst to complete the process." Susan finally observed.
"We haven't even finished testing that!" Pansy exclaimed, now deeply worried, "Sure some of the Muggle students will become wizards but for others..."
She didn't need to finish. They all knew what the other result would be, but they couldn't know for how many.
"We've got to get over there now." Gabrielle insisted.
"You're staying right here Gabby." Fleur argued.
Gabrielle however ignored her and followed everyone else to go round up the others.
Evidently Ariana had already told the rest since they were already in the living room hurriedly preparing. As she scanned the room, she noted that they all had grim but determined looks on their faces. She loved each and every person in this room and it would be incredibly hard on her to lose any of them.
Faith, she reassured herself, just have faith that everything will turn out okay.
It took only 2 minutes to finish getting ready, none of them wanting Dumbledore to have anymore time than he already had to get at the kids.
Then they Apparated together as a group - minus Gabrielle who Fleur had somehow succeeded in making sure didn't go with them.
They found themselves just outside of the Muggle school. While normally she would be a bit fascinated by it, now was simply not the time.
"Should we wait for Tonks?" Harry asked Amelia.
Tonks, she guessed, was currently back at the Ministry getting the Aurors together.
"You were saying?" Tonks questioned as she appeared next to him.
Aurors began popping in after her in rapid bursts.
Amelia decided to assume command as she announced to them, "I can now tell you that our target is
Albus Dumbledore. Lethal force is allowed but unfortunately there are currently innocent Muggles on the premises. I am however authorizing you to use magic in front of them if warranted. We simply don't have time for the bureaucracy in this instance."
Even if her decision to burst into a Muggle building blatantly using magic was questionable, nobody had any objections, either out of respect for her or for recognizing the seriousness of the situation even if they didn't have all the details.
At that, they all marched forward into the school as they tried to locate Dumbledore.
The school, however, appeared to be empty as they walked through the hallways. Even at Hogwarts during meal times you could still find a few students wandering around.
That all changed however when they entered the auditorium.
Hundreds of students, likely the entire population of the school were currently all lying in their seats, appearing to all be asleep.
Or dead, she realized.
However she saw a few of them stirring in their sleep.
It was near the middle of the room that got the most attention.
Dumbledore currently stood there in the very center directing half a dozen students who were currently piling up bodies.
These, her gut told her, were already dead.
Evidently they were already too late. Dumbledore had already succeeded.
What struck her however was that the pile was actually rather small and made up entirely of teachers and older students, as if the survival rate greatly decreased with age.
Dumbledore, once he realized that they were all there, only grinned up at them as if totally unbothered by their presence.
Her blood boiled at that. Did nothing faze this monster?
Even so he was heavily outnumbered even if you included the likely imperiused students carrying out his dirty work.
They had even ensured that he couldn't simply Apparate, Portkey, or Phoenix flame travel out, yet he acted like it was no big deal.
"I was wondering if you were going to show up." Dumbledore admitted as they all headed down to surround him, even holding up a hand to greet them.
It struck her however that the hand, actually the entire arm was entirely made of gold, likely a result of
their last fight with him.
At least there were some benefits, she concluded.
While there were currently Muggle kids still around Dumbledore, evidently at least a few people considered them either expendable enough or far enough way that they decided to risk launching spells at him.
Instead of hitting him however it merely bounced off as a golden shield shimmered around.
"I'm afraid I took more precautions than that," Dumbledore replied calmly, "it's amazing what a little gold can do."
"Dumbledore," Amelia announced to him boldly as she stopped just outside the shield, "you are under arrest."
Dumbledore however pointed out, "Force of habit using the word arrest? You and I both know you neither intend to simply lock me away in a prison I can easily escape from nor I intend to simply come quietly."
Right now the Aurors were still at work on taking down the shield surrounding him.
"By all means, spend countless hours trying to remove my shield, I'm sure you'd be able to get in eventually," Dumbledore pointed out, "or I could allow one or two of you in to duel me? How about you Amelia? Don't you want your revenge? You can have it right now."
Her Aunt Amelia clenched her teeth at that.
She was hoping her aunt wasn't stupid enough to try that. Even with his wand arm missing she had to concede that Dumbledore was still the better duelist. It would be suicide to enter and totally pointless anyway since they'd get to him soon enough.
They literally had him trapped inside a box.
As if to demonstrate that Dumbledore did indeed have some measure of control over his shield, all of the Muggle kids suddenly exited as the golden shield surrounded their bodies as they passed through it but otherwise went through unharmed.
So humans could pass through if Dumbledore allowed it just not spells? She concluded.
Tonks and several Aurors immediately began removing the Imperious Curse from them as they began to blink with wide eyes, likely trying to figure out what was going on.
It occurred to her that they wouldn't be the only ones. Once those other children woke up there was no telling what could happen. It was a miracle that Muggles hadn't discovered wizards yet already, but with this many new wizards at one time... along with how it had happened... she wasn't sure if it could even be contained.
"I don't think so Dumbledore," Amelia declared, "I think I'll just wait until we get your shield down
and we can kill you all at the same time."
Dumbledore still appearing amused then looked over at Harry as he asked, "What about you Harry? Do you not want your chance? The chance to be the hero?"
"From what I can tell you're just trying to take someone with you." Harry observed, "You're just putting on an act knowing that there is no escape this time."
"Perhaps you are correct," Dumbledore was forced to admit, "perhaps this is all an act and with my death appearing all the more imminent I'm growing desperate. Yet do you want to take such a risk when I'm clearly giving you the opportunity that you seek? You wouldn't even have to go alone. How about get one of your little girlfriends to help you?"
Sick bastard, she thought.
The sooner this guy died the better, she concluded, as she watched Ariana and most of the Aurors currently still trying to break through Dumbledore's shield box.
"How about you Ariana?" Dumbledore questioned.
Ariana however decided not to even look at him, ignoring him completely as she still worked on taking down the shield.
That caused her to cheer a bit as if despite all the awful things he'd done to Ariana, he still wasn't worth her attention.
"The silent treatment I see, how rather childish of you, I thought I taught you better." Dumbledore stated, "While you've proven to be a most disappointing creation, I must say that you at least continually surprise me just how faulty you are."
Ariana however continued to ignore him as she glanced over at Tonks and stated, "I'd say it should take us another 2 hours to break through if we can get some of those magical barrier specialists you mentioned."
"I'm afraid you'd better make that 3." Dumbledore added.
"Why 3?" Amelia asked him.
"Them." He answered.
Just as he said it in strode many different political figures, the Minister of Magic and his entourage included.
"Ah so we've finally captured Dumbledore." Fudge declared proudly as if he had been the one to bring it about, "What did I tell you? We'd have him captured in no time."
However when he turned to look at the Muggle children who were still sleeping, Fudge became much less certain.
"Um, could someone explain to me just why there are hundreds of Muggle school children all asleep?" He queried.
As it was explained to him he grew angrier and angrier... and he wasn't the only one.
She winced at that. This clearly wasn't good. Adding hundreds of what would be essentially Muggleborns to the Magical World at one time? That would be awfully hard to handle for anyone much less a bumbling Fudge just barely holding onto his job from the whole Dumbledore fiasco.. It could easily destabilize Magical Britain's always rather tenuous circumstances, nor could they simply Obliviate everyone involved. Muggleborn children who decided not to get magical educations happened of course but they were always few enough in number for it to be dealt with. You couldn't hide all this away.
After thinking he was going to have this all wrapped up and spun to make it look like he'd done everything in taking out public enemy number one Voldemort it was more than Fudge could take.
Unfortunately he wasn't the only one as many other wizards also began arguing with her Aunt.
She felt sorry for her, having to deal with this. Technically she was supposed to be on maternity leave, not trying to find answers for one of the greatest problems Magical Britain had ever faced.
Glancing over at Dumbledore, he was merely watching the argument smugly.
She growled to herself, she really hated him. She couldn't even imagine how Harry or Ariana or some of the other girls must be feeling about it right now.
As soon as they got that stupid shield down, Dumbledore could expect to get a lot of deadly curses flying his way.
This was almost agony, watching the person you most wanted dead literally standing right in front of you but not being able to do anything about it.
Her poor Aunt was still arguing with Fudge as more wizards began to flock onto the scene. Evidently someone had spilled the beans on just what was going on and where it was located.
Ironic that it was all going down at a Muggle school.
She decided to go try and back up her Aunt as she entered the argument currently going on.
"This is your fault!" Fudge insisted, "If you had just kept better tabs on this school..."
"There were several Aurors assigned to watch this school, all of which he killed, we had absolutely no idea he was going to do this." Amelia argued.
She of course jumped into the conversation at this point, allowing her anger to be put aside for the task at hand. Her Aunt could use all the help she could get apparently.
DUELDUELDUEL
Su currently stood there, feeling entirely useless as she played with her knives.
Anything had to be better than this, this waiting. She was a good fighter, but evidently none of those skills seemed to be necessary at the moment.
The only fighting going on appeared to be political and that was definitely not her forte. Susan appeared to be helping out with that, but it appeared to only be bringing some results as more and more people appeared to join in the spectacle.
If Dumbledore had intended this to be a practical circus show all around him he got it.
Well he'd better enjoy himself while he could because he definitely wasn't escaping this time.
She had of course figured that this could indeed be some sort of trap, she'd be an idiot not to the way Dumbledore was acting, but she still hadn't been able to figure out what his game was.
This at least was something that she could try to do. Everyone else appeared to be busy doing something.
Harry, Ariana, and Fleur were busy helping trying to take down the shield, Susan and Tonks were helping defend Amelia, and even Pansy had showed up and was now helping do check ups on all the still sleeping Muggle kids as well as the few still awake that Dumbledore had Imperiused.
At that, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"What did I miss?" Gabrielle asked her.
She was totally unsurprised that Gabrielle had managed to get here somehow. No way she was going to miss out on something like this.
"Took you long enough." She commented to her.
Gabrielle rolled her eyes before pointing out, "I figured out a way, but I have to admit that this isn't exactly the sort of fighting I'd imagined."
"Definitely," She agreed, "and this whole time Dumbledore is just standing there watching it all unfold like he planned this."
She tried to explain and get her caught up everything going on, which totally freaked out Gabrielle.
"I can't believe this!" Gabrielle asked in total shock still trying to wrap her head around it all, "and don't tell me freaking out is bad for the baby. I'm pregnant, not inhuman. No way I can prevent myself from worrying."
"I don't blame you," Su agreed, "I wish I could just rip his stupid shield down with my bare hands and then cut his head off."
Morbid but oh so appropriate.
"I should really get out of sight before Fleur notices me." Gabrielle suggested.
"I'll join you." Su offered.
Simply standing here was driving her crazy anyway although she would definitely be sure not to go very far for when they finally got past the shield.
Dumbledore was still owed a little something from her.
They headed out of the auditorium as they headed down a hallway with Gabrielle appearing to be looking for something.
"What are you looking for?" Su questioned.
"I have to go to the bathroom," Gabrielle admitted, "I'm not sure when pregnant girls start needing to go every 5 minutes, but I'm definitely not looking forward to it."
Yeah, that would totally stink.
If she had ended up the one pregnant well... her decision on what to do might have been a bit different from Gabrielle's let's just say.
Upon locating a bathroom, she decided to wait outside for her while she went. One thing she would not miss about this place: the bathrooms.
And she thought the ones at Hogwarts were disgusting.
Glancing around at this place that had really only caused her nothing but grief, she felt something.
It was almost imperceptible, not even really a sound, just a sense that someone was nearby, currently hidden.
With a very fast lunge, she grabbed the person, ripped off their invisibility cloak, and had a dagger pointed against their neck.
"Impressive," The person commented, "I've never had anyone be able to catch me while I was trying to sneak up on them other than Dumbledore. At least not until it was already too late."
She sized up the man that she had caught. He was extremely old and gaunt looking, but that didn't mean she considered him weak. Appearances could be deceiving.
Besides she already had a guess as to who exactly this was.
"Grindelwald." She said gravely.
"That would indeed be me." He confirmed, "I simply couldn't resist watching my old enemy Dumbledore die. Evidently Dumbledore still has a flare for making things too complicated and annoying though."
With the dagger still pressed against his throat, she questioned, "You wouldn't happen to know what he's really up to would you?"
"No idea, other than that he clearly wants to die for some reason." Grindelwald admitted, "And by the looks of things he's trying to take as many as he can down with him. When I used the spell to locate him I was worried he might have figured out someone was doing it even if he couldn't stop it. Evidently he must have figured escape was impossible and just decided on his own way of how to end it. At least that's what I would do anyway."
At that moment, Gabrielle came out of the bathroom as she then took in the sight of the two of them.
"Hello Gabby, look who I just caught." Su greeted warmly.
"I'd imagine you would indeed like to kill me or perhaps lock me away again, both of which I probably deserve," Grindelwald observed, "however if you do either of those things I promise you won't live to see another day."
With steely eyes as she pressed the dagger closer against his throat, she insisted, "Tell me what you know."
"Obviously I'm not that stupid," Grindelwald answered her, "if I were to just tell you then I would lose my bargaining chip wouldn't I? How about you let me go and then I tell you what Dumbledore is up to."
"I'm not stupid either," Su replied, "once I let you go, you'll just leave."
"Then I'll give you something on good faith and then let you decide if my information is really worth letting me go," Grindelwald told her, "just think what Dumbledore would have to gain merely stalling for time as everyone tries to break down his shield. More and more people are gathering here all wanting to see Dumbledore finally be taken down while meanwhile they argue about the major problem he has caused in giving magic to those Muggle children. Of course people will come and go from here but he'll still likely take plenty of people with him. Nor can they escape when it happens. Those same attempts to keep him from Apparating or by some other means of leaving would also apply for anyone else trying to leave."
"So it is a trap," Su surmised, "what does he have several thousand more clones or something?"
"If he had that many clones he'd have just taken over magical Britain already," Grindelwald pointed out, "no, he's got another group in mind."
"Tell me," Su urged as she pressed the dagger yet again closer into his neck so that there was already a trickle of blood coming out.
"Su," Gabrielle suggested, "he won't tell us and killing hm won't solve anything."
"Your friend is correct," Grindelwald agreed, "like I said it's your choice whether my death is worth your own death."
While she wasn't happy about it, she finally released him...sort of.
She took her hand and the dagger off of him, but she still kept her wand leveled at him, not trusting him enough for him not to try anything.
Grindelwald decided to take a few cautionary steps away from both her and Gabrielle even while both of their wands were now pointed directly at him.
He couldn't Apparate or simply escape here so if he wanted to leave he'd have to walk out.
"That'll have to do," Grindelwald answered as he still backed up some more, "take a closer look at Dumbledore's shield. It's practically coated in gold and magic, far more than I or any human has ever seen. Wherever he got what he'd need to build such a shield in such a fashion, you can bet that they would desperately want it back."
"Who are you referring to?" Gabrielle pointedly asked him.
"Who else would be that obsessed with gold?" Grindelwald answered, "goblins. Unfortunately if I'm correct they speak a language no one else knows other than Dumbledore. You're going to need me."
Reluctantly she watched as Grindelwald began walking back towards the auditorium.
Evidently they had an untold number of goblins now after them.
They ran back into the auditorium to warn everyone.
Unfortunately it appeared the auditorium was now much more full.
Goblins.
That was all they could seem to see. Hanging from the walls, the ceilings, everything, practically surrounding them as yet more and more came in, each armed to the teeth with various weapons.
While they were only about 3 feet tall, the sheer number of them simply overwhelmed them.
Many appeared to be crowding around Dumbledore's shield, obviously attracted to the gold.
However they didn't appear to have attacked yet, although they did appear to be in the process of knocking down walls in order to allow yet more goblins to enter.
Their real intent for doing so she could only guess at: if they were to hold up the building by magic, if they were to say, all leave there would be nothing stopping the building from entirely collapsing and killing anyone still left inside.
However while looking extremely angry and nasty looking, evidently they had decided to talk first before they slaughtered everyone.
A large goblin, bigger than the rest and wearing a golden crown that was likely their king addressed everyone still there in a magically volume increased voice but in a language unfamiliar to her.
She glanced over at Ariana. Evidently she didn't seem to know it either.
Dumbledore however...
He immediately addressed the Goblin King in the same language.
"What is he saying?" Gabrielle asked.
However the question was not directed to her, it was to Grindelwald.
"He just told him you were the ones to steal his gold and used it to help create that prison for him, trapping him inside."
Before they could answer, there was a very loud and angry sound as many goblins made cries of protest.
"I'll bet you're glad you decided to save my life now," Grindelwald commented as he stepped forward and also magically volume increased his voice.
However they unfortunately had to trust that whatever he was saying to them wasn't going to bite them all in the butt.
Dumbledore seemed genuinely surprised to see Grindelwald as if not expecting him there.
However at any rate the situation still seemed dire. Quite literally their fate rested in the hands of a dark lord who even if he was on their side, would have difficulty convincing the bloodthirsty goblins from simply killing them all anyway.
At least the Muggle children appeared to have been moved, she noted. They had begun moving them to a different and safer location when she and Gabrielle had left, but evidently they had managed to finish in this time, although she had no idea where.
While the fact that they weren't here to possibly wake up to be surrounded by goblins and freak out brought some comfort, it did little to dispel her own fears for the situation and for every man, woman, and child still here.
Was she and everyone else she loved to die right here to die at the hands of goblins? Was Dumbledore to get in one last final trick?
Then...against all odds she began to hear singing.
DUELDUELDUEL
As Fleur currently stood there surrounded by goblins who were all pressing as near as they could into Dumbledore's shield, she was likely just as afraid as everybody as she tried to hold it together.
She really wished there was a way to get Dumbledore to shut up, whatever he was saying was clearly not helping as it only riled the goblins up even more.
The only reason they weren't dead yet was because evidently another man who she guessed was Grindelwald was also arguing their case...and that did little to reassure her.
She glanced over at Ariana, who seemed just as worried and confused as any of them did, clearly not knowing this particular language.
However when she heard the singing, she began to immediately calm down.
It was melodic and peaceful and all too familiar.
She glanced over at Gabby, the only other person capable of singing such music, not happy that her sister had come here despite her objections but grateful to her for singing and trying to calm everyone down.
In response she lifted her own voice to join in with hers as she allowed the power of her voice to help the situation.
Yet Gabrielle went further than that as she glanced over at her. There appeared to be a power behind her that she had never witnessed in her younger sister before. Her blue eyes seemed to be practically glowing, more beautiful than ever, but never more dangerous.
When Gabrielle finally stopped her singing, she spoke but in the same language as the goblins, archaic and unfamiliar but still with the same soothing qualities of her singing laced in her voice.
The only person she'd ever seen act like that was her mother, who had the ability to speak all languages, and at that moment she swore Gabby looked so much like her a few tears escaped from her eyes.
Just how this was happening mattered little at the moment as she addressed the Goblin King.
He in turn as he stood there bedecked in more jewels, gold, and other precious metals than any being she'd ever seen, seemed to be taking Gabrielle more seriously than Dumbledore and Grindelwald as if forced to admit her respect of her power.
She wished she knew what they were saying, but her feelings told her that everything would be all right.
Dumbledore however, just as shocked as anyone, tried to make one last ditch effort to get the goblins to kill everyone as he opened his mouth...
Yet no sound seemed to come out of it.
Ariana who was still close by decided to explain as she admitted, "I created a weak shield of my own over top of his. It should drown out anything he says."
"About time someone shut him up," Fleur commented.
Ariana actually had the courage to grin as she agreed, "Quite."
There followed several tense minutes as she and everyone else anxiously waited as Gabrielle kept up
her conversation with the Goblin King, looking still just as powerful and as in control.
Finally however the Goblin King nodded as he turned his attention fully and totally on Dumbledore with an angry glare as each of the Goblins made a loud cheer when their king told them something.
Now in English, Gabrielle told everyone else quite simply but all they needed to hear, "We're safe."
At that came more cheers, everyone relieved to hear that...other than of course Dumbledore.
Dumbledore looked extremely unhappy to find that his plan hadn't worked and failed at the last minute, now seeming to realize that his death would be for nothing.
Now it was only a question as to who would get to him first: the goblins or everyone else.
The Goblin king appeared to be instructing some of his subjects as they appeared to be working on taking down the shield.
They had already been getting close to getting it down already, but for the goblins who were much more familiar with such magic it didn't take them long at all to finish up.
The golden shield began to flicker and weaken until...
Any minute now.
NOW.
There was nothing standing in the way between Dumbledore and certain death.
Many, many spells came at him from all angles at once.
One from herself, one from Harry, one from Susan, one from Su, one from Pansy, one from Gabrielle, one from Tonks, one from Amelia, one from Narcissa, one from Sirius, and from many others whose lives had been impacted by Dumbledore's rampage.
Yet she would have sworn to her dying day that it was one particular killing curse from a particular person who had in fact been affected the most: Ariana.
Dumbledore died. Fell over, while extremely powerful, proving in the end to still be mortal.
It was over.
A moment later and his body was viciously attacked by goblins as they mutilated his body beyond all recognition.
One goblin removed his golden arm and took it proudly over to his king.
If this was what they had really been after she wasn't sure, the gold in his arm, but at the moment, it didn't seem to matter to her.
It was over. After so long, it was finally over.
As if to prove this, Fawkes the phoenix sailed in over everyone's heads trilling happily.
No one made a move to stop him as he dropped down onto Ariana's shoulder.
Ariana seemed overjoyed to have her beloved phoenix back, immediately freed from the spells he had been under as soon as Dumbledore died, kept apart through 2 different lives, but hopefully not to be separated again.
However she made her way over to her sister.
Gabby now looked visibly different from when she had been talking with the Goblin King, all the power that she had seen in her now gone, back to the same Gabrielle she had always known.
In fact, she looked visibly weaker, color having drained from her face.
When she seemed to be having trouble remaining standing, she quickly caught her before it could happen.
"Sorry," Gabrielle apologized.
"Sorry?" Fleur questioned, "you saved all of us. Why would you be sorry? For sneaking out and coming here anyway?"
If she hadn't, things would have ended very differently. Gabby was the true hero of this day, for without her she along with everyone else would be dead.
"I wasn't apologizing to you," Gabrielle admitted, "and it wasn't just me."
She couldn't resist pointing out, "When I saw you back there singing and talking to that Goblin King, it was almost like...like you were a Veela Queen."
At that however, Gabby's eyes turned downcast and worried as she put a hand on her stomach and confessed, "No, not me."
Before she could clarify the insinuation that Gabrielle had made however, they were suddenly rushed by all the other girls as well as Harry, all going over to celebrate and thank Gabby.
Her sister however still looking visibly tired however said little, obviously still lost in thought.
The others however couldn't be blamed for not noticing this, as happy as they were.
Today, despite all the problems had evidently been decided was a good day.
DUELDUELDUEL
An hour later found Harry sitting alone with Ariana while Fawkes quietly sang on her shoulder.
"His music sounds so peaceful," He commented, "almost like he's telling us it's finally over and we can finally have peace."
"For now." Ariana replied.
"What is that supposed to mean?" He questioned.
"Don't you think it was just too easy?" She pointed out, "For Dumbledore to just die like that?"
"I'd hardly consider what we went through easy," Harry insisted, "besides Dumbledore already left plenty of problems for us to deal with including all those newly made wizard children, or what to do with what was used to give them their magic."
"Either way the world is going to be changed no matter what," Ariana observed, "I just hope it turns out well."
"With us together as a family." He agreed as he put her hand in his.
Such a statement did not mean that he was already intending to marry her... but he knew Ariana would always be family nevertheless.
She smiled warmly at him, genuinely happy as she asked, "So what now?"
He laughed at that before saying, "Hopefully something good."