Fantastic Beasts 3

The Very First Battle of Hogwarts

HOGWARTS CASTLE, NIGHT

Newt stared out of the tower window. It had been twenty minutes or so since Aurelius had made an appearance, and he was still outside the headmaster's office. He was waiting for reinforcements from the Ministry of Magic while Dumbledore had gone to shut off the Vanishing Cabinet to prevent the acolytes from coming and going.

The corridors were silent, down this side of the school; it seemed as if Grindelwald didn't want Dippet to know. He sighed impatiently. This is taking too long. The Ministry was equivalent to muggle police, in a way, as they would respond to emergencies immediately. Maybe they don't believe Dippet. After all, Grindelwald hasn't been sighted in three years, after what happened in Paris.

Then he heard Parseltongue. And he almost turned around when he heard it, too, if it hadn't have been for the sound of Morfin's voice.

"Mr Scamander!" He said, "Take a look at what I have here with me."

Newt continued to stare out of the window, fingering his wand.

"Come on, Newt," Morfin drawled, "It's your Runespoor."

He could hear the hissing of the snake from behind him, and it certainly didn't sound like it had three heads. The floorboards creaked under the beast's weight and a tail flickered into his vision. It was scaly and dark in colour. He made a mental note to change the basilisk description in his book from "brilliant green" to dark green.

"So what brings you to Hogwarts?" He asked, trying to buy himself time to figure out an escape route.

"That's not your business. What about you?" He asked as Newt cautiously peeked down the ends of the corridor to his left and right. The snake was still behind him, so he knew not to look that way. Running wasn't an option, as the snake would just catch up to him and eat him alive.

"Me? Oh, I was just going to deliver the headmaster something."

He looked through the window. Aurors were beginning to apparate on the bridge.

If apparating boundaries don't go all the way to the bridge...

"A cloak, by any chance?" Morfin asked as Newt was busy surveying his options.

Newt took his offer as a chance to lure Grindelwald and his acolytes out of the school. "Yes, An invisibility one."

"Newt, look this way. Look what I have here."

Without warning, Newt withdrew his wand and cast a spell at the glass to make it shatter. He then leapt through the window frame and plunged a hundred metres or so to the bridge below him. He disapparated right before he hit the ground to the exterior boundaries of the school near the lake.

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MEANWHILE INSIDE HOGWARTS

Around ten or so acolytes approached Dumbledore as he rounded the corner of the corridor. After a couple of jinxes, they were standing on the ceiling. He chuckled in amusement. They tried to cast spells at him as he left, but he had used a shield charm that surrounded them like a dome.

He navigated his way through the school to the Room of Requirement. The fastest way to get there from where he was was to go up the switching staircases to the seventh floor.

More acolytes were trying to get across the switching stairs. It would have been hilarious if these people weren't intruders. When they saw him, he immediately began to deflect their hexes and curses. There were too many acolytes here, he didn't have the time to take them all on. So he cast a disillusionment charm upon himself and moved away from the location he was last seen in.