Riding a Nightmare

Time to Talk

Last Time:

A blood speckled Bellatrix sneered, "The fake Hagrid had this." She held up her own jar, which was similar to Nagini's. Albus felt a sense of relief and sadness over this news. "He also quite quickly gave up the fact that he sent a warning to Grindelwald just before he was caught!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"What?!" Several people gasped. Albus' heart sank. Did they lose their advantage before even getting a chance to strike?

A loud clang was heard and everyone looked at the Death Eater that was helping ladle out the stew, which was almost gone because it was so tasty, "Sorry. She told me to." He said, pointing at Nagini.

Nagini flicked her tongue, 'So much panic and for no reason.' She said, her words appearing in clear bold letters.

Minerva raised an eye, "No reason?! Did you hear-"

Nagini raised herself higher up with a light hiss to demand silence, 'I heard that Fenrir ran into Hagrid and knocked him out so does he even know that anyone beyond Tom's Death Eaters were even there? If not, we can still spin this.' The spectacled serpent hissed.

Everyone in the room pondered the idea as Tom looked at Fenrir, "Exactly what happened?"

Despite being quite weak, Fenrir sat up from his spot on the couch, "I stupidly rushed through the floo and Hagrid was there. He didn't hesitate to attack me. I was body slammed very hard and slightly stunned, but not actually out cold. I pretended to be unconscious to see if he'd take me to his allies. Even then I wasn't sure if he was attacking me because Albus and Tom's men haven't found him yet and explained or if he was Grindelwald's lackey so I let him drag me away. I didn't even need to see the bitch. I knew once he carried me into her office saying pretty damning things. I knocked him out. There's no way he could see and hear until he broke it, which could take a lot of magic."

Minerva and Albus looked at all those who were in their group during the rescue effort, "None of us saw him as we headed to save your group."

Loretta hummed thoughtfully, "We found him on the opposite side of the forest close to the train tracks."

"That's definitely outside the runes, if only by a little bit." Severus commented, not caring about the overly curious stares. "However, that's the farthest route to the edge. Breaking your spell probably left him too weak to apparate, which is why he only sent a message."

Albus paled and nodded, "If he knew that then maybe there's a secondary escape setup on the tracks otherwise why go there at all with it so far in comparison." He sighed, mentally adding this to his list of things to check.

"Most likely." Tom said before looking back at his scaled friend and familiar. "I assume you already have a few thoughts on this."

Nagini nodded, 'Confront Grindelwald. If he only wants you to clash with Albus then he won't care about what you discovered.'

Suddenly, Nagini stopped talking. Faster than anyone was mentally prepared for she had slithered up to Sam. However, her interest was in the cat weakly purring in the retired man's lap.

'That's concerning. It's heart is weakening.' She hissed curiously, only mildly interested in the situation. Normally she'd eat these little beasts, but now was a time to be alert. Lunch can wait for when a tasty spy is ready to be devoured.

Sam paled as the words appeared in the air, "What? Your man checked her for spells." The old man said harshly, making the poor Death Eater manning the stew flinch.

"I only checked for trackers." The Death Eater exclaimed as he moved towards the cat, but Narcissa got there first.

With a quick scan Narcissa scoffed, "Poor thing was put under a discipline spell." She explained as she and the Death Eater removed the spell.