Hiding in Plain Sight (A Hinny Fanfiction)

Still Recruiting

Matilda leaned with her elbows onto the gleaming wooden surface. "The question is vat could Harry Potter possibly have to learn from Gellert Grindelwald. Unless you're here to kill him, in vich you would have no shortage of help vere you to ask."

"No, I'm going to kill Lord Voldemort," Harry responded, stone-faced. "But Grindelwald might have a solution to why Voldemort stays alive. We've figured out a lot of it, but there's still one piece."

"And vat makes you think Grindelwald will help you?"

"We have to try," Ginny resolved.

"Besides, if Dumbledore still came to visit him after all these years, all that anger and destruction, there has to be something still worth talking to," Harry added, more to himself than anyone else.

Matilda grimaced, but nodded. "But before I tell you vat I know – vich is not much – I vant you to hear vat that man really is. Then you can decide whether to call on him.

"Ve're in this place because of Gellert Grindelwald, but I'm sure Klaus already told you that. But he doesn't really know why. Grindelwald believed that magical people vere a... how you say?... evolution from Muggles, and that ve should take our rightful place as masters of this vorld. No more hiding. No more pretending. Many people vere attracted to that basic idea – including a young, naïve Matilda Strauss.

"But as more people believed in the idea, they also believed in him. He used that to his advantage. He vas a powerful vizard, but it vasn't his skills that gave him power. It vas his ability to pollute other people."

"Sounds familiar," Ginny said ruefully.

"Yes, but Voldemort dueled Dumbledore to a draw in the Ministry, remember?"

"So did you, in the graveyard," Ginny grinned. Harry shrugged.

"So, while the Muggles vere having the greatest var they've ever fought, Grindelwald took the opportunity to attack," Matilda continued. "Some say he vas even working with the German Muggle leader, perhaps the most evil man to ever live. They had... common interests. So ven the var ended, Germany lost and the country vas in ruins. Millions of people died. And everyone remembered seeing Grindelwald's vizards aiding the evil Muggles, rounding up and torturing others, so they blamed us as vell. All of us.

"Many vitches and vizards moved away. Some vent into hiding. The ones that could not leave, or did not vant to, vere moved here. As you can tell, they are still frightened of us. They need the valls and the guards to feel safe." Matilda's eyes were starting to dampen.

"Why haven't the other countries done anything?" Ginny asked.

"That is a question for your Ministry now, is it not?"

"I don't think you'll be getting anything from our Ministry anytime soon," Harry said. "Which is why you need to help us. Things wold be even worse when Voldemort takes more and more power. Britain won't be enough for him."

"I know, Herr Potter. I just vant you to know everything. I promised Dumbledore. He alvays vanted to protect you."

"Yeah, that was a bad habit of his," said Harry through narrowed eyes.

Matilda laughed. "One day, you vill grow to understand. Hopefully it is not ven you are as old as I am."

"Thank you, Matilda," Ginny said as she reached over to pat her on the shoulder.

The old woman clapped her hands together, shaking off the tension in the air. "Right. This is all I know, and it could be nothing. There is a... vat you call them?... house-elf! Yes. It comes once a veek to the grocer down the road, Maurice. Apparates. Gets some food. Same every veek. Then leaves. Doesn't say anything. But it's more food than a house-elf needs."