Regency in Diagon Alley [Theodore Nott | Harry Potter AU]

Chapter Sixty-Two

The person he needed to woo, as Grindelwald put it, was one named Ya Zhou.

Their time in Dodona granted Grindelwald the ability to single out the person he needed to find and persuade to his grandfather's agenda, and the oracle grove gave Grindelwald the vision of Theodore meeting with Ya Zhou, a delegate in the Magical Confederation. And with that information, Theodore and Grindelwald left Dodona and returned to their temporary home and went to work, collecting information about Ya Zhou, from her movements, the circle of people she dwells in, the people she influenced, her stand in the matter of independent magical cities, magical beings, and who she supported.

Learning about Zhou involved hiring spies to, and those spies took months to return with information he could use, in those months Theodore worked, he was in and out of Aeaea, participating in his grandfather's court, playing the part he was needed. There were times when Alexander would invite certain people of the Confederation to Aeaea for discussions or celebrations, and Theodore would play his part of influencing these people to support Santos, even when the election was years away, along with getting his grandfather's seat in the higher ranks of the Confederation.

He would admit that he was hubris, he saw himself as a good player in games of court, he liked outsmarting people, outtalking them, and he liked winning in these games. It took him months to get used to the new setting, to crawl his way back to the title of "best player", but after months and months of learning about these people, knowing how they talked, how they think, who they are and what they are, Theodore was owning the game. Once, while he was playing chess with Grindelwald in their temporary home in the mainland, he referred to what he did as an art, much like weaving – which he was very good at. The people were the weft, the unmoving parts in the art, and he was the warp, the one weaving through stable threads, the knowledge he had on them were the types of thread, and each conversation, each successful result created a masterpiece.

But that was not the only art he made. While in Dodona, Theodore created a blanket for Carina's birthday, it was not specifically for her, but he knew she would appreciate the thought. It was a blanket for their child. After seeing the vision in Dodona, he was certain that she was having a boy, and he started his work while Grindelwald meditated at the corner, he created an image of the night sky with the Argo constellation, and the image of Argo itself. It was just a small blanket, so he managed to finish it before they left Dodona and had his grandmother send it to Carina for her birthday, which has already passed by the time he came back.

The night was still cold from the fleeing supposed winter months, and when Theodore received news about Carina's wellbeing from his grandparents. He was with Grindelwald at the time, spending later nights in the temporary house, discussing about Ya Zhou while in a game of chess.

"Almost most of the confederation has warmed to my grandfather," Theodore said while reading the pieces on the board. "It won't be a challenge to him if he invited higher members to a celebration of spring, Ya Zhou included."

"That is if she accepts." Grindelwald moved a piece, advancing his pawn.

"We'll make sure she accepts the invitation and stays in Aeaea for a time and experience the Mediterranean climate." Theodore moved a piece.

"And how will you do that?"

"We send her an invitation with my grandfather's seal. But no flowery words, Zhou isn't fond of flattery. She's frank. Precise. And does not have the patience for shite."

Grindelwald chuckled. "Will be in attendance in the gala?"

Brought by the new face and identity, named Percival Graves, Grindelwald has been welcomed to some soirees hosted in Aeaea. Theodore informed his grandfather of his newly found friend who has been helping him in his tasks. If Alexander knew about the secret, he never showed nor did he pry. He simply welcomed Percival Graves in Aeaea with a firm handshake and never spoke to him again. Just as Theodore though, Grindelwald – er, Graves, knew exactly how to fish these people, how to influence them to open their minds to Alexander and what he could give to the Confederation: more support from the magical beings, with Alexander in the inner circle as a representative of magical beings around the world, wars like the one with werewolves, vampires, giants, and other dark magical beings would cease. And mostly, no troubles with the Statue of Secrecy. Of course, Grindelwald did not fail to show the work done by the Notts in Danu, claiming the co-existence of magical beings and magical folk were going swimmingly and not once has there been an uprising since the city was established.