A True Riddle

Chapter 16 - Rescue

"So, how are things with Draco?" Tom asks Hadrian as they sit in the flying carriage.
"Good." Hadrian replies.
Well, this is awkward. Jormun says from his customary place around Hadrian's neck.
You don't need to say it out loud. Hadrian hisses to him. The slightly awkward silence continues as both passengers desperately try to think of a topic of conversation that doesn't involve betrayal or Hadrian's private life. They are currently in a carriage being pulled by thestrals, flying over Austria, and the alps are just beginning to loom in the distance.
"That's where we're going, right?" Hadrian asks, looking out the window over the country.
"Yep. Nurmenguard was been built into the alps by Grindelwald, and he was locked up there when he was defeated." Tom responds.
"How do you know so much about him?"
"When I worked out what Dumbledore was doing I looked into his past, and found Grindelwald. I investigated him, in the hopes he could help, but Dumbledore attacked before I could find him."
"Huh, interesting."
"Yeah." Tom nods in agreement.

When the alps appear as nothing but giant slabs of rock because of how close they are to them, the carriage slows to a stop.
"We'll have to fly on brooms from here, the carriage is too noticeable." Tom says, standing up and pulling two brooms out from inside his seat.
"Okay." Hadrian stands up as well and takes the broom Tom hands to him with a murmured "Thanks."
"I'll go first." Tom opens the door and stands in the doorway for a second before straddling the broom and jumping out. Hadrian waits in the doorway until Tom has moved away before jumping out on his broom.
"Follow me." Tom turns and flys between two peaks, with Hadrian following. They follow the wall of rock, sometimes darting forward to see if they had reached Grindelwald's cell, only to dart back out when they see they haven't. Finally, Tom flys into the circle created by the mountains that nestles Nurmengard and doesn't come back out, Hadrian follows.

In front of them is a tall tower, with a tiny window at the top.
"We'll have probably set off an alarm, let's be quick." Tom says.
"Okay." Hadrian nods and follows as Tom flies towards the window. When they reach it they can see a hard bed and a thin blanket that barely manages to cover the lump curled on the bed.
Tom turns to Hadrian, "Hold on to my broom."
"Sure." Once Hadrian grasps Tom's broom, Tom reaches out to wrap a hand around one of the bars in the thin window.
"What are you doing? It's too small to get through." Hadrian says, watching his father.
"In this form, yes." Having said that, Tom falls silent, concentrating. Slowly, scales spread over his hands, when they reach his sleeve he is no longer human, rather a snake, with part of its body on the bars.
"You're an anomalous?" Hadrian asks, despite it being rather obvious that Tom is indeed a snake animagus. His head rises to look at Hadrian, nodding quickly before turning and slithering through the bars. Once inside Tom turns back into a human, and faces the bed, with the person still sleeping on it.
He strides to the bed and roughly shakes the body, "Hey, you alive?"
A pale blue eye slowly cracks open as the person rolls to face Tom, "What do you want?"
"You're Gellert Grindelwald, right?"
"Do you see anyone trapped in a prison of their own making?" Grindelwald asks, waving his arms to gesture to the room. He drops them with a self deprecating laugh, "Rather poetic, isn't it? But that is what he has always excelled at."
"He?"
"Albus." Grindelwald explains, "What other he is there?"
Tom declines his head in acceptance. "Well, my name is Tim Riddle, and I'm here to get you out."
"Nope." Grindelwald drops his head.
"What do you mean?"
"Good luck with that. I highly doubt you can break the walls, not to mention Albus will hunt us down. Why would you want to do it anyway? Didn't you know I'm a Dark Wizard menace?"
"And I'm the Dark Lord, join the club." Tom shrugs. "Now get up." He reaches down and grasps one of Grindelwald's arms, pulling him up.
"Okay okay." Grindelwald pulls his arms from Tom's grasp and stands up, "What do you mean you're the Dark Lord?"
"I'll explain later, you've wasted enough time already." Tom moves to the window, and Hadrian who has been watching them, "Move back, I'm going to blast the wall, once it's down, pass me my broom, and get back to the carriage, I'll follow."
"Okay." Hadrian nods and flies back.
"Bombarda Maxima." Tom says, the wall shakes and bits of stone break off but otherwise it remains intact. "Confringo!" He shouts and the wall explodes outwards, debris flying. Hadrian sets through the dust and hands the broom to Tom, who waits until Grindelwald has mounted it before getting on. They fly towards the wall of the Alps, but just before Tom and Grindelwald fly through a spell flies through the air pat them, Tom points his wand behind them, blindly shooting the stun spell until they slip through the gap and zoom to the carriage, flying through the open door and falling on the floor. Hadrian slaps the wall, and the thestrals take off, speeding through the air.

"Well, that was fun." Grindelwald says, slumping on one of the seats. "Now please tell me why we just broke out of one of the most secure prisons."
"Was that secure? Honestly, Azkaban was harder to get people out of." Tom says.
"Well, it was one of the most secure prisons, they just forgot about it." Grindelwald replies, "Now answer the question."
"Fine, as I said, my name is Tom Riddle, I'm also known as Lord Voldemort and the Dark Lord. This is my son, Hadrian and his companion, Jormun." Hadrian gives a quick wave and Jormun lazily opens and eye to study Grindelwald, "Long story short, Albus Dumbledore killed a bunch of people and did a bunch of bad things and blamed me for it. And now the whole wizarding world wants to kill me. Sound familiar?" Tom says, watching Grindelwald, "I think it does. Because I think that's what happened to you. Am I right?"
"I loved him." Grindelwald whispers, "And he loved me, at least I thought he did. Then Ariana died. And he changed, twisted, became even more obsessed with the hallows. He wants to get them all, he thought he could summon Death and get his sister back. And when he began killing people and being noticed, he blamed me, it was easy, people already didn't like me. You know the rest."
"Indeed we do. But it isn't over yet. We want to stop Dumbledore." Tom says.
"And you think I can help."
"Yes. I believe he still cares for you."
"Wishful thinking." Grindelwald snorts.
"And even if he doesn't, surely you know something we use against him."
"Well, if we go to Hogwarts and threaten to tell the truth he'll probably come out, and then one of you can kill him. Problem solved." Grindelwald says.
"Fabulous plan." Tom cheers.
"Wait, really? You hadn't considered that?" Hadrian asks, turning to Tom with a look of incredulity.
"Umm, I mean, maybe briefly?" Tom says, "But he'll probably be more likely to come out with Grindelwald there." He defends.
"Merlin." Hadrian groans.
"As touching as this is, where are we going?" Grindelwald asks.
"Malfoy Manor, where our allies are." Hadrian says.
"Great." Grindelwald leans against the wall, satisfied to just sit there. Hadrian and Tom look at him, turn to look at each other and shrug. Tom leans back, staring into the air. Suddenly he feels Hadrian tentatively resting his head on his shoulder. Tom freezes, surprised by the contact, but he soon relaxes as Hadrian falls asleep, reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes. And that is how they sit for the rest of the flight, Hadrian resting on his father's shoulder, and Grindelwald contemplating days long gone.

~~~

A/N: The song is Jailbreak by AC/DC because the chapter is about breaking out a man who had committed crimes, but maybe for right reasons, from jail, a bit like  how Grindelwald (as he has done a lot of things wrong, but it was to try and stop Dumbledore) is being broken out in this chapter.