"It still doesn't explain why you are coming to me with that," he said. "Like I said, I am a mere teacher -"
"And you were once best friends with Gellert Grindelwald," Sal intercepted. "Believe me, Mr. Dumbledore, I did my research."
Well, Newt did the research, but in the end it was the same…
Dumbledore just frowned at that.
"So you came here to make me do what?"
"Nothing grave," Sal assured the older-looking man. "The only thing I need you to do is to tell me about him. What interested him? How was he like when you were friends? Were there any indications that he might turn evil? What is he after?"
"I fear that I can't help you with that," Dumbledore replied fatherly. "I also don't think that knowing anything like that will help you, lad."
Sal sighed and pinched his nose.
"Believe me, Mr. Dumbledore, any information I gain about him will help me. We need to understand him to stop him. For all I know he's even working on another goal behind the goals he's showing the world and when we stop him from taking over the wizarding world, he won't be affected at all but rise to new power somewhere else where we didn't even suspect it -"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoire. There's nothing I can do," Dumbledore replied, stopping Sal in his explanation abruptly. "I don't even know how you came to the conclusion that I could help you in your quest -"
"Grindelwald's great-aunt Bathilda Bagshot told me that you -"
"Anyway! I fear I have to go now. Good luck with your quest, Mr. Malfoire," and with that, Dumbledore emptied his bottle of butterbeer, put down the bottle and some money and left.
Sal's eyes followed him darkly.
"I didn't ask anything of you but to give me the information I need to stop him myself," he whispered darkly. "Even if what your brother told me was true and you were in love with that man, this shouldn't have been too hard. He was partly at fault for the death of your sister, after all."
And Albus Dumbledore had been his only lead.
The great-aunt had not been able to help him very much and there was no other family left. Albus Dumbledore had been his only way to gain any important information about Gellert Grindelwald - and Albus Dumbledore knew something. Sal had been able to see it in the other man's surface thoughts. Would he have had a little bit more time he would have been able to find out what it was as well. As it was, Sal had nothing but the confirmation that Dumbledore had known Grindelwald and that the other man knew what Grindelwald was looking for.
"Shit."
Sal guessed that he would have to do it the old fashioned way - heading into danger without having enough information and hoping for the best like he had done in another life-time when he had still been living in the future…
"If this is the reason for the Second World War, Albus Dumbledore, I won't let this slide!"
1939
The true start of the war, was another three years later, when Gellert Grindelwald finally surface with his army - and controlling the muggles as well…
Before that, there had been some skirmishes with Gindelwald's men, but until now, it hadn't been a full out war, spilling in the muggle world…
"Sal, my Iron Bellies brought some news," Newt said, stepping into their hide-out. "Muggle Britain and France declared war on Muggle Germany."
Sal closed his eyes tiredly. He had been working tirelessly on stopping the war before it truly began - even with the knowledge that history had already happened and that there was no way for him to change it.
"There goes my dream of a missing World War," Sal said dryly. "Alright, Newt, tell the others we need to meet."
Newt nodded and then left, but not without clapping Sal on the back reassuringly.
A few minutes later, the elite of the Resistance was situated inside the room.
"So, what do we do now?" Jêrome Delacour asked darkly, standing stiffly at the entrance. "The Muggles are at war as well and Grindelwald -"
"We're going to step up the war," Sal intercepted him. "Oblivator squads, Smugglers, everything will have to work around the developing Muggle war from now on."
"What about our fighting devision?" One of his other, new advisors asked. His name was Marius, he was a squib - and their technical genius with more knowledge about muggle fighting techinques than it might be good for Grindelwald's men.
"We will step it up as well," Sal said and Marius grinned.
"Good," he said satisfied. "I've got some things I would like to test."
Grindelwald's men soon would wish that they had never been born. Soon, Grindelwald's men would cry and hide behind their mothers when just hearing his name.
"We also request some further training," Cassiopeia Black spoke up in that moment. "You have helped my devision a great deal, but we've still some issues and I'd like you to take a look at them. You have a knack in fixing problems others struggle with for the longest."
Sal just inclined his head at that.
"Anytging else?" He asked.
Newt grinned.
"Another one of my Iron Bellies found one of Grindelwald's hide-outs," he said. "He promised to beacon it tonight, but he needs some help to take down the wards."
Immediatelly half of the room looked at Sal pleadingly. Sal rolled his eyes.
"No newcomers," he said. "Sirius and Regulus, back-up Charlus and Arcturus. Smugglers have a new route to plan. We lost the one from Germany to France. The Oblivator Squads -"
"Lullabies!" Half of the room objected. Sal rolled his eyes and continued.
"- have their usual hounds tonight," he said. "There's a planned attack on Seville, Spain, so I need some of you there and another planned attack in Aschaffenburg, Germany, so we have to split."
He didn't even have to split his teams himself. Within minutes they had decided who went where.
"The rest of the wizards have guard duty," he ended the briefing. "The witches stay behind tonight."
Grindelwald had not a single witch in his troups. A witch didn't fight. It simply wasn't done.
And yet, Grindelwald feared the women of the Resistance the most…
Once, Gellert Grindelwald was one of the most powerful wizards in the whole world.
Once, he was the master of chaos, the lord of Europe.
No opponent could stop him ultimately.
His men were the most feard, the most ruthless and the most dangerous men in the wizarding world.
Muggles listened to him and starting a war was a child's play - yet, this was before he was about to regain exactly that fearsome influence he once had in the first world war and would some times in the future regain before the second world war.
Of course, in 1939 he yet hadn't regained his influence at all and because of that, his people were a lot more susceptible to superstition and fallacy.
To Gellert Grindelwald's misfortune, the Resistance had been able to utilize that fear to their own merit.
"Sirius, Charlus - you take the wards," Sal said, while leaning over the map in front of him.
"Sure thing, Sal," was the immediate answer from both of them. "They'll be down in half an hour or less."
"Good," Sal nodded in agreement. "Garrick - oblivators."
"Of course, uncle! Lullabies to me! I'll ensure that you'll be in position before the wards come down!" Ollivander said, smiling creepily.
Sal rolled his eyes at the fake-shiveres of the other Oblivators.
"Allaric - smugglers," he said instead of saying something about the mentality of the 'Lullabies'.
"I knew I would get stuck with them," Allaric grumbled good-naturedly. "First I raise them to be the best and yet I'm unable to get rid of them! Should have seen that coming before I got roped in!"
There were snickers all around at that and some of the other Smugglers - those that ensured that people got to safety while the fight continued - shot some harmless prank-spells at him.
"Jêrome, Thes - diversion," Sal continued.
"D'you think that I could ask some of Grendel's men to play quidditch with me?" Theseus Scamander asked amused.
"I could help you in organizing it," Jêrome said grinning.
Sal snorted while the others called out different suggestions whatever else they could do.
"Archie -"
"My name is Arcturus, Sanctuary!"
"My name is Malfoire, Archie!"
"Shut up!" A spell was lazily thrown at Sal, but hit a shield instead of him.
Sal rolled his eyes in amusement.
" Arcturus - direct attack," Sal told the young heir of Black. The twenty-four year-old man rolled his eyes at him.
"Of course direct attack," he said matter-of-factly. "What else? I'm far too danger-addicted to work with the wards."
"I wish you weren't," his father, Lord Sirius Black, spoke up with a sigh.
Some of the other Blacks sighed as well or rolled their eyes at them.
Sal just continued on.
"Newt - intelligence," he said.
"Sure thing," Newt said. "The dragon division is ready to go."
There were some more discussions, but in the end, the Resistance was ready to go.
"Alright!" Sal said. "Let's go!"
He stood up, but just before he actually left the room, he turned back once more, to look at the women in the room.
His eyes raked over them.
He knew that in Grindelwald's army, no woman was allowed to fight.
In the end, he smiled at them while deciding what to do with the women who were part of the Resistance.
They were women, after all.
Witches.
They were light, not as strong and thanks to the structure of the Resistance not involved in the knights, the smugglers or the lullabies…
"Witches," he told them. "Stay behind!"
With that, Sal and the others left - the witches staying back, like demanded…
Grindelwald's men were in the middle of organizing their own raid, when death descended upon them.
It would take overhearing the talk of the people in the Resistance to give death a name - but the fear was sown that day.
It was late in the evening and dark, when it happened.
One second, everything was normal and the next, the wards they were under broke and hell descended.
There were explosions.
Spells out of no-where.
And above it all was death, riding beneath broomstick - not on it, but bound to them and steered by the ankles. The riders were light, lighter than most men and smaller, wearing formfitting black clothes and masks. If people would actually see them better against the dark night sky, they would have seen that every rider was female.
They all were equipped with explosive potions and their wands - later in the war, with the entrance of 'Mad Marius', their equipment would get even more deadly.
Grindelwald's men had nothing to counter their attack.
The moment the black rider descended upon them, they were the prey instead of the predator.
"Duckt euch!"
The potions exploded around them.
"Gare à toi!"
Men fell to spells, landed on the floor screaming when potions hit him.
"Piedad!"
The wards which had come down around them gave way to the Knights of the Resistance.
"Achtung!"
Muggles who had been captured by Grindelwald's men were freed by the Smugglers and the Lullabies of the Resistance.
"¡Agachaos!"
Tents caught fire, people ran around without rhyme or reason.
"Au secours!"
There was fear and chaos everywhere.
"Hilfe!"
There were people fleeing and screaming.
"¡Socorro!"
And everywhere the Resistance was winning against Grindelwald's men.
"Help!"
Yes, the entrance of the witches into the war was something that Grindelwald would never forget - and would never be able to counter.
He had his dragon devision, but the dragons were less flexible, less fast and less agile - they had nothing to counter the fast broom devision of Sal Sanctuary's Resistance.
Of course, the moment Theseus and Newt Scamander heard about the devision, the name changed from "the broom devision" to something a bit… more fanciful.
"How are the Knight Witches?" Theseus asked with a grin the moment the Resistance met after their first aggressive fight against Grindelwald's men.
"The Knight Witches are formidable! Exactly like I knew they would be!" Callidora Black exclaimed proudly.
The other Blacks who entered behind her snorted.
"Of course you were formidable! You were led by Blacks!" Pollux Black - one of the younger Blacks snickered.
Sirius Black playfully swatted him.
"Shush, you!" He said amused. "Stop bragging - even if it's actually true!"
"Blacks!" Charlus Potter exclaimed amused and stepped in behind the Black family.
"Oh! Shut it, Potter!" Sirius said grinning and searched his place at the table.
Yes, Grindelwald's men gained a new nightmare the day the knight witches descended upon them the first time.
Of course, it didn't help that not a lot of time later, young Marius Black - a squib who had been taught muggle science thanks to his family, decided to add to the concept…
"You know," Marius said, leaning over the 'wing' he was currently working on. "Those potions comined with that little explosive will make a nice big bang…"
"Oh," Dorea Black said and leaned down to look at the potion her brother had pointed to. "It will?"
Marius nodded enthusiastically.
"It will!" He assured the young girl. "And then there's that. It works like a flash of light. Combine it with this potion and the wards it will be thrown at might self-comburst as long as there's a ward to hide them from muggles active…"
"Oh!" Dorea said. "Nice! Do I get one of those, too?"
Marius looked at his sister with a frown.
"That's your first flight," he pointed out.
Dorea returned his look with pleading eyes.
Marius cackled.
"Don't worry, sweety," he told his sister. "I have far better things for you…"
Of course, in the end, it would be on the battlefield that Dorea and Charlus Potter would interact for the first time.
The only thing Dorea would later say to that would be: "It was love from the first spell. But then, that's known to happen in love and war…"
Grindelwald's men on the other hand would gain two more nightmares with the entrance of the siblings from hell - one Mad Marius and one Dorea Potter.
Of course it didn't help that they would hear the name of the broom devision for the first time from Dorea's mouth and misunderstanding it.
Years later, the 'knight witches' were forgotten - but the name Grindelwald's men had for them would follow them even into the first war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters…
"Nachthexen! Nachthexen!" Grindelwald's men cried when the moon showed the black wings full of poisons, potions and mad experiments of the knight witches.
"By Merlin and Morgana! Night Witches! Run for your lives!"
Sadly, a warning like that, always came way too late for Grindelwald's men…
"You're a Legilimens?"
"Mm. Yeah. But I always have trouble with your kind; Brits. It's the accent."
They were half-through the rest of the wards when Sirius and Charlus finally managed to poke a hole into the wards, using the mistake Sal had pointed out to them - a hole big enough to let through some of the people.
Of course, that was also the time everything started to turn wrong.
"There's another ward hidden -"
Sadly, Sal's warning came too late.
The hidden ward had already been triggered before Sal was able to warn Sirius and Charlus.
The hole in the wards had triggered another set of wards - a set that alerted Grindelwald of their coming. A second later, Grindelwald's men were swarming the bailey of Nurmengard.
The moment, the men turned up, Allaric Moody took up his position as one of the leaders of the Resistance.
"Jêrome!" He called out. "The left flank! Prince! The right! Smugglers - try to get through! Now!"
Sal turned his attention back to the wards, but was stopped to immerge himself into their structure by his godson.
"Uncle Sal," Charlus called out the moment he noticed the alert ward they had triggered. "We can't all continue to hold the wards! You are our leader! Your part in this isn't by the wards - it's by keeping Grindelwald from our men!"
For a moment, Sal wanted to object, but when he saw the first of his men fall to Grindelwald's hands, he finally handed over the wards to one of the other, more competend people when it came to wards - one Garrick Ollivander.
Of course, this wouldn't be the last thing that went wrong that day that would end the second Grindelwald war…
But then, the whole war had gone wrong long before that point in time - especially when it came to one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore…
1940
Sal was in Britain again.
Actually, he shouldn't be here. He had enough to do as it was. Within the last few years he had organised the Resistance, started to smuggle people out of the countries in Grindelwald's grasp - especially those that refused to bow to him and their families - and organised counter-attacks to slow down Grindelwald's take-over of Europe. Sal also was the one who organised the oblivator-squads that tried to stop the leaking of the existence of magic into the muggle world.
The concequences of Sal's actions were numerous, especially for him: he was bone-tired, he hadn't had a bath for days and his robes were in a worse condition than even Sirius Black's when he met the man in third year.
And yet, Sal was standing in front of the Wizengamot in Britain, a plea for help on his lips.
"Europe will fall if you don't help us now," he pleaded. "If you don't want to send fighers, don't, but taking in refugies, sending supplies, anything, could help us against Grindelwald. Even if it's just voluntary assistance by your people, whatever help we gain would be welcomed - just think about it, please!"
He had been talking to them for two hours now, had explained why he asked them for help, what they were fighting and how it would affect the British Wizarding World if it didn't step in now. He had brought up all his abilities in politics to get those men in front of him to understand, but -
"We all know that the typical British citizen has no chance at surviving a war against Grindelwald," Albus Dumbledore said. "He's also statuated just over the channel in France. You and I know that your little group of… fighters… won't be any help to us if we declare war on Grindelwald. He will swamp us with his army and destroy us before the day ends."
"I'm not talking about a direct attack!" Sal countered tiredly. "I'm talking about subtly helping us. I am talking about aiding fellow wizards and witches who had to flee their homes, children who -"
"I think we all know that you want us to fight your war for you, Mr. Malfoire," Dumbledore intercepted. "Believe me, I have heard your fellows pleading often enough to know what you want. You aren't the first who came to me, asking me to take on Grindelwald -"
"I'm not asking you to fight Grindelwald!" Sal protested heatedly. "I'm asking you to help us! I'm asking for supplies, for sanctuary, mayhap even for healers! That has nothing to do with asking Britain to join the war - and especially nothing with asking you to do so, Mr. Dumbledore!"
"Lord Dumbledore," Dumbledore corrected coolly and Sal closed his eyes defeatedly.
He wouldn't gain any help here today.
Sure, he could take the throne and force them - but he also knew that by taking the throne he would make Britain a greater target on Grindelwald's list. He wasn't willing to risk even more innocents just to gain a few more fighters. No, Britain had to join the war as it was, because then it was just another country among many targets - just like it had been all along. Having a king would change that because a king had power over the land and could draw more magic from it like the average witch or wizard.
There was also the fact that everybody with magic born in the land of a king was automatically sworn to him by birth, so if Sal took the throne and asked, everybody would fight for him until he asked them to stop or they died. There was a reason why Grindelwald had gone after the ruling families of Europe the last time he had tried to rise to power. Grindelwald, being raised in Durmstrang would know that and he would see the threat in a fully united Britain and would act to stop them even if he had to annihilate the whole country - which he would have to do if Sal as a king asked them to fight - so convincing had been Sal's only option.
Regretfully, Albus Dumbledore had refused to even truly listen to his pleadings and the man had a lot of influence in the Wizengamot thanks to the friendships he could claim and the magical power he whielded.
"I am sorry, Mr. Malfoire," the Minister said in that moment. "But Britain won't enter into the war you have with Gellert Grindelwald."
At that, Sal turned his deathly green eyes towards the British Minister.
"As you wish," he said coolly. "Just don't expect us to help you if you need aid in the future."
And with a last glance at Albus Dumbledore he left.
1943
The last mission was a catastrophe.
Grindelwald's men had been more prepared for them than they had anticipated - and that had cost them dearly.
Theseus Scamander was leaning heavily on his brother who was bleeding from his head. Charlus Potter was unable to stand anymore, both of his legs broken. Jêrome Delacour was unconsciousness and Sal was leaning over him - also heavily bleeding from a chest-wound - while trying to ensure that the man whose heart nearly had been ripped out would live.
Not too far away from them, the Blacks were surrounding one of the fallen - one Cygnus Black.
They had won the fight - but the price had been high.
Too high.
The only one who was half-way in any condition to do anything else was Allaric Moody, who was hurt, but at least still alive and well enough to stand.
It was him, who in the end raised his wand into the sky, waiting for the one transport that they always could count on.
Just a second later, there was a loud blast, and then a violet bus was standing there, the side of the bus having printed on three words: "The Knight Bus."
The next moment, the door of the bus opened and Ernie Prang stepped out.
He looked around, his eyes grave.
"We need help," Allaric told him while holding his side. "You will have to bring us back to headquarters immediately."
Ernie's grave eyes swept over the wounded and dead.
"Of course," he said before stepping up to help Charlus Potter stand. "Let me take care of you…"
The moment Ernie Prang had left the hurt and wounded at headquarters under Sal's care - he turned around to return to his Knight Bus, his face determined.
He was just surprised when he was met at the bus by Newt Scamander whose head had been bandaged but not healed.
"Newt," Ernie said, but it was Newt who intercepted any objection the other man might have wanted to utter.
"Cygnus is dead," he said, his voice a lot cooler than even the Resistance was used to when he was in any kind or way serious. "I will not stand by and wait until the others are back to health to get my revenge. Grindelwald shall feel my wrath now - so that he finally knows that attacking and hurting us won't go unpunished in any way or form!"
"And we won't let you two go alone," another dark looking man added while stepping up behind Ernie.
Ernie turned just to look into Allaric Moody's and Garrick Ollivander's icy eyes.
"Er… alright," Ernie stuttered.
The four grinned at each other maliciously.
To their surprise, this was when Marius Black stepped out of the shadows of the Knight Bus.
"Let me help," he said, his eyes gleaming with darkness. "They killed my father - I have every right to help."
Next to him, Dorea Black stepped up, her eyes as fierce and dark as her brothers. Her sister Cassiopeia and her cousins Callidora and Cedrella following her, their eyes as serious as their sister's.
When the war would be recorded later on, this would be recorded as the day that Grindelwald had one of his greatest setbacks in the entire war.
After that day, his people would truly fear a few names of Sal Sanctuary's Resistance…
"Nachthexen!" They cried.
"Night Witches! Run for your lives!"
But this time, there was no mercy and not a lot of survivors.
"The Knight Bus! The Knight Bus! Duck!"
But explosions thanks to potions thrown by Newt couldn't be stopped that easily.
"It's Mad Marius! Run! Run away as fast as you can!"
But the mad man, drenched in blood of his enemies and the insane Black-grin on his face, was unstoppable even with magic…
This would be the night Grindelwald would learn to fear Mad Marius even more than he ever feared or would ever fear the rest of the Blacks…
When Grindelwald's men would throw down their weapons the next time Mad Marius would take a step onto the battlefield, Sal would only raise an eyebrow at Mad Marius's Uncle.
"Seems like your nephew managed to gain a bit more of a reputation than you ever had," he said dryly to the other man.
Sirius just raised an eyebrow at Sal.
"Truly?" He asked interestedly and slightly sarcastically. "I thought it was normal that people would flee from my nephew when he cackles like he does right now…"
Sal snorted.
"Guess that could it be as well," he answered before turning back to the rest of their won battle. "But then, whatever it is, I won't object to the consequences it brings with it…"
From then on, not a lot of Grindelwald's men would dare to fight against Mad Marius… or any of his associates - like Newt Scamander, Garrick Ollivander and Allaric Moody.
Of course, not once would a follower of Gellert Grindelwald ever enter the Knight Bus - even in the future, way after the war…
1945
The last years had been one of the hardest Sal ever lived through - and with his years of experience that meant something. He had worked against Grindelwald since the raising of said man and it was solely thanks to his organisation that the wizarding world was still hidden from the muggle world - of course, the Second World War, in part curtesy of Grindelwald, had helped to hide magic as well, but a lot of it had been thanks to Sal's underground organisation.
Sal's people had worked ceaselessly to not only keep magic hidden but also to pull out endangered families and organise disruptions of Grindelwald's operations. Grindelwald had long since gotten irritated by them but until now he hadn't been able to find their headquarters or their leader - there were some advantages of being a few thousand years old and having more knowledge of magic than anybody else.
Still, it had taken Sal years to organise everything. His first priority had always been the people and their safety, so taking down Grindelwald had to wait until Sal had been reasonable sure that even if something went wrong the innocent would have a way to hide from Grindelwald, still.
"You look like you contemplate falling down dead right here," a man next to Sal said in that moment and Sal looked up tiredly.
"Pollux," he greeted the man. The dark haired, thirty-three year old man was one of his advisers, Pollux Nigellus Black.
"The Ukrainian Iron Belly got us the ward scheme. Charlus Potter says that he can do it," Pollux said when he saw that he had Sal's attention. "Regulus is his back-up and Uncle Sirius and Arcturus are willing to take on the second ward the moment Charlus has brought down the first."
Sal nodded at that.
"What about the rest of the wards and the attack itself?" he asked, while turning back his main attention to the potion he had been brewing. "I'm not willing to risk it if we don't have a chance after taking down the attack-wards on Numengard."
It was odd that it were the Blacks of all the wizarding families of Britain who had decided to screw the politics of their country and had left to help in a war the British still tried to ignore - not that they could do that anymore since Grindelwald had finally started to attack them just a few months ago.
The Blacks instead had joined Sal's organisation just a few months after Sal's last stint to Britain and had been with him ever since. Cygnus Black had even died in the war just two years ago. And with the Blacks had come some of their allies: the heir of House Potter, Charlus; the heir of House Moody Allaric; and some more, like Prince, Nott and Greengrass. All in all, they weren't a lot, but they brought good councel and a lot of magical knowledge and power - they were a blessing for Sal's Resistance.
"The attack group is assembled," Pollux replied. "Allaric Moody and Iacomus Prince are leading the left flank attack, Jêrome Delacour and Garrick Ollivander the right. Pablo Eugenides and Konstantin Krum are willing to lead the primary attack group and Johannes Aichinger told me that he and his daughter Loni would be willing to take down the rest of the wards. The Ukrainian Iron Belly will pull out his people the moment the wards fall and they will take over as a back-up if anything goes wrong, but since they aren't many, we definitely shouldn't rely on them solely."
Sal nodded at that.
"Alright," he said. "Tell Geronimo Rossi that I need his team as back-up for the main attack. I won't risk too much of us going in without any other back-up in place."
Pollux nodded at that and Sal turned down the heat by pulling the cauldron of the flames.
"The attack will be tomorrow morning. I want everybody at the best condition, so go to bed early. I'll be done here in half an hour and then I'll take a nap as well."
Pollux snorted at that.
"You, Sal Sanctuary, need more than a nap to be even half-awake tomorrow morning," he said and Sal rolled his eyes.
"I promise I'll sleep the next five years the moment we've taken down Grindelwald," he answered dryly. "And stop calling me that! I'm not a place!"
Pollux snickered at that.
"No, you aren't," he said. "But you can't deny that the moment you are somewhere, everybody else around you is safe. Besides, you have objected to that nickname for years now - what makes you think that we will change it now when we're preparing the hopefully last attack on Grindelwald?"
"Oh, come on, now, brother! He's hopeless! He will never accept that he can't escape that nickname ever again!" another man intercepted before Sal could even think about replying. Pollux snorted at that.
"Right you are, little brother," he said amused. "How are the distractions coming along?"
"I keep getting distracted," the other man, Marius Black replied dryly. "Now, tell me again why I am the one working on them?"
"Because they're technology and I'm bonkers at it?" Pollux suggested.
"Nope, keep going," Marius said while raising an eyebrow.
"Because my magic would blow them up if I got frustrated?" Pollux tried again. Marius thought that over before shaking his head.
"Could be valid but isn't accepted."
Pollux frowned at that before deciding to go for the killing blow.
"Because you are my little brother and you are awesome?"
At that, Marius nodded gravely.
"Exactly! And don't you dare to forget that!"
Years later Marius would be blown of the family tree by Walburga Black, his own niece, for being a squib, but at that point of time not one of the Black's cared and so, when Marius had insisted in joining the fight against Grindelwald Sirius Black, the Lord of Black only had asked one question: "Alright. What can you do?"
And just like that, Sal's Resistance had gained a technological defence that left Grindelwald's men reeling. Not one of them had ever figured out what spells Sal's men were using - no wonder since technology definitely wasn't explainable with magic.
The Resistance loved it.
And just like that they also loved their technilogical genius in their midst.
"So, Sal. What else do you need me to do for tomorrow? Some more bombs? Some electric shock equipment? Some awesome light-show?"
Sal just rolled his eyes at that and then shooed away Pollux with the words, "off you go! I've still some work to do for tomorrow!" Before explaining in detail what he needed from Marius.
The next day was hell on earth - a hell, that would never leave Sal's mind ever again…
When Sal let go of the wards to take on Grindelwald's men, he had no idea, that this would be the last time he would see some of his men ever again.
Allaric Moody would die that day.
Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Lycoris Black and the older Arcturus Black would loose years of their lives that day.
And in the end, the history would write itself like Sal had been taught it all those thousands of years ago…
When the attack of Grindelwald's men came to it's peak, it were the ward-breakers who decided to sacrifice themselves for their comrades.
"It's us or them," Sirius Black panted. "Either we break the wards and take the backlash or we watch our comrades die right now!"
"Sirius," Charlus said, his eyes wide, knowing what his friend was asking him to.
Sirius just looked at him gravely.
"There's no other way," he told his best friend. "No other way."
The other Blacks and Garrick Ollivander nodded.
Charlus sighed, but in the end gave in.
"We even it out - if we loose our lives, we will loose it all together, do you understand, Black?"
Only when Sirius and the others nodded, Charlus turned back to the wards and ripped them down instead of dismantling them gently.
The backlash went through him and hit his ward-holder Sirius Black. The other ward-breakers and ward-holders just followed their example.
In the end, the backlash of the wards would not only hit the warders, but also confuse Grindelwald's men - an avantage which would ensure that the Resistance would gain the upperhand and Grindelwald's men started fleeing.
It would be a decade later when Charlus Potter understood that Sirius Black had lied to him that day. Like Regulus Black who would die 1959 at fifty-three years of age, Arcturus Nigellus Black who would die also 1959 at seventy-five years of age and Lycoris Black who would die 1965 at sixty-one years of age, Sirius Black had taken the brunt of it and would die in 1952 at seventy-five years of age. The decision of the Black family would cut short the ages of several of their members for more than just a few decades of their lives - and even Sal who stopped to stabilize the fallen warders after Grindelwald's men had retreated couldn't change that the Blacks' lives had been cut short…
And Sal would never forgive Dumbledore for disregarding this sacrifice of the Black-family and belying it in Britain with his words alone - words that were believed more than the words of an unknown cousin of the Potters, a Hogwarts-drop-out, a mad wand-maker or a Black…
In the end, the only thing that Sal could do was to stabilize the warders who had suffered the backlash and rush on.
Grindelwald's people were many, but Sal had been planning the attack for years and his people knew exactly what to do. Even if they were less, they were winning.
Marius' bombs, granates and other electronic devices - all usable the moment the wards came down - where definitively effective if it came to taking out a lot of people at once. So naturally, they were winning.
That was until Grindelwald entered the fight.
He swung his wand at Sal's people, ready to take them down with one strike, when Sal stopped him by drawing a ward into the air and releasing it just in time to prevent the attack.
Sal's ward shattered under the brunt force of Grindelwald's attack, but his people remained unharmed and Grindelwald turned his eyes onto Sal.
"It seems that the pathetic group calling itself Resistance has some undeveloped potential in its midst," he said, scrutinizing Sal coolly.
Sal returned Grindelwald's gaze with a deadly green glare.
"I don't think that my abilities are undeveloped," he said coolly. "After all, you haven't found me or our hideout for more than twenty-five years."
At that, Grindelwald raised an eyebrow.
"Ah… the mysterious Sal Sanctuary," he said and Sal wanted to groan. He was known to his enemy by that name?! "I heard that you visited my dungeons some time ago and decided to leave there with… most of my prisoners…"
Sal shrugged at that.
"I've always been interested in dungeons," he said. "And your prisoners were freezing. I thought that they would feel better elsewhere…"
Grindelwald snarled at that before launching his attack on Sal.
Sal knew that he had no chance in winning the fight if he concentrated on brute force. Grindelwald was a powerful, fully grown wizard - Sal on the other side had the magic of an average fifteen-year-old. He couldn't win in brute force, but he didn't plan on it.
Pulling out his wand with his right hand he did a shield-spell while at the same time he started to draw runes in the air with his left. When the spells of Grindelwald reached him, he ducked. His shield-spell shattered but the curses hurled over his head harmlessly anyway.
Grindelwald laughed when he saw the shield-spell shatter.
"Seems as if you have taken on a little bit too much, Sal Sanctuary!" He cried amused.
Sal refrained from answering and instead hurled a silent spell towards the dark lord.
Said lord did a shield-spell - and then managed to duck out of the way just in time when Sal's spell wasn't stopped by his shield like he had intended.
Well, there were advantages in being a very old being - knowing spells everybody else had forgotten was one of them.
He could see the surprise in the dark wizard's eyes when the spell went through the shield and the dark wizard had barely enough time to duck out of the way of the spell.
Sal threw out his runes.
Grindelwald meanwhile had cast attack spells again, and Sal dodged, knowing that the strength in the spells would shatter his shield again. Sal returned the spell-fire with another two spells, all the while watching his runic spell creeping through the stones of the walls and floors of Numengard.
There wouldn't be a lot of prisoners left when Sal's spell was done - and Sal's group would have some more help from those who had been held prisoner until now.
Not that Sal's group needed help.
While Sal preoccupied Grindelwald, his people had started to take down Grindelwald's troups as if those were ants and not fully grown wizards. The little task-forces Sal's group had splitted in were a lot more agile than the army-trained wizards of Grindelwald. Adding to that their unusual technological equipment - some of it solely invented for the war against Grindelwald - and the other knick-knacks Marius had insisted that they would take with them, and the other side looked oddly ill-equiped to deal with the Resistance. The military like group of dark wizards truly had no chance.
And Sal guessed that they would have won against Grindelwald like they planned it, if the British wizards hadn't interfered suddenly.
As it was, the British wizards appeared just before Sal's people were able to take down the last of Grindelwald's men, wands blasting and hitting people left, right and center - not caring if they hit Sal's people or Grindelwald's. Three of Sal's people went down within the first minute and didn't get up again.
Sal cursed and activated the emergency runes he had on his people, shielding them before the British could kill them with their careless spells.
That distraction used Grindelwald.
With a single spell he hit Sal, throwing him against the wall.
"Well, little wizard," Grindelwald said grinning. "Seems like I am winning."
Sal snarled at him, but he was still empowering the runic shields around his men, so using complex magic was out - it was oddly like shielding Camelot back when he had still been young and naïv.
But that didn't mean that Sal was without a way out.
Without hesitation he pulled one of his daggers and rammed it into Grindelwald's side.
The dark lord hissed and let go of him to hold his injured side. Then he looked up at Sal darkly.
"You are something else, aren't you, Sal Sanctuary?" He said half-impressed sounding, half-amused. "Muggle weapons against a wizard - that's something I definitely haven't heard of before."
Sal grinned at that, showing the dark wizard a bloodied smile.
"You have no idea what else I'm capable of, Grindelwald," he said, but before he could do more another spell slammed into him, hurling him out of the way and then Dumbledore entered the scene.
"Stop baiting children, Gellert!" Dumbledore said and Grindelwald turned to look at his one time friend.
"I wasn't baiting any children," he said icily and Sal wondered if it was wrong of him to suddenly feel a bit of kinship with the dark lord in front of him.
"I have eyes in my head, Gellert," Dumbledore said. "I saw what you were doing!"
Grindelwald snarled at that before turning to Sal.
"I fear I will have to take a break in our duell. I need to take out another idiot first!" He said to Sal and Sal blinked at that. A dark lord with manners, huh?
"Sure, go ahead," Sal said amused. He had definitely enough to do with shielding his own people without adding the troubles of fighting Grindelwald to his worries.
So while Dumbledore and Grindelwald engaged into their epic battle, Sal turned towards his men and the trouble they were in thanks to the British.
"Stop it, now!" he hissed at the British who tried to herd of his men together with Grindelwald's. "Some of them are mine and I definitely won't let you take them as if they were some kind of criminals!"
"You were all part of Grind -" One of the British started when finally Arcturus Black, the heir of House Black, managed to come to the front.
"We were fighting those bastards, you dunderheads!" he said coolly. "Or do you truly think that you could have apparated in here without us taking down the wards just half an hour ago! I swear to you if my father dies out there because you dunderheads decided to destroy our operation by barging in here without being invited I will call a blood feud with you!"
It took just a minute for the British to recognise Arcturus Black.
"Heir Black!" He exclaimed. "I thought you were in the Resistance!"
"I am, dunderhead! Like the most of us are - or do you think it's natural for Grindelwald's men to fight each other?"
At that, the British looked at each other sheepishly before releasing not only Arcturus but everyone else he told them to.
Then Arcturus turned to Sal.
"You mind taking a look at my cousin Pollux and at my brother and father?" He asked and Sal shook his head.
"Gather the wounded outside," he said. "I'll treat them there."
And with that, he left.
In the end, Dumbledore was hailed the defeater of Grindelwald and ten of Sal's men were dead, thirteen others' lives were cut short - they would die within the next ten to twenty years - and another fifteen were scarred for life. Considering that Sal had gone in with only fifty men, a lot of them had gotten hurt - and at least half of them wouldn't have been if the British hadn't intercepted their mission.
"You should be thankful that we came when we came," Dumbledore told him after Grindwald had been restrained. "You would have been annihilated within the next five minutes."
Sal just stared at the man in front of him.
"I would have preferred it if you hadn't meddled," he said coolly, and Dumbledore patted his head.
"You don't have to thank me, lad," he said.
"I don't think he was," Arcturus Black said in that moment, stepping up next to Sal. "Was it your idea to come here with your people?"
"Of course," Dumbledore answered. "I noticed that the wards of Numengard lost its strength, so we decided to come and use the chance we got. I guess that you did the same?"
Sal gritted his teeth at that.
"My father and brother shortened their lives to bring down the wards," Arcturus said icily. "My Uncle Cygnus and a lot of others died to ensure that we even got to that point. We didn't simply wait until 'the wards lost its strength'!"
"It was a little misunderstanding," Dumbledore said. "My men definitely didn't plan on killing some people of the Resistance. We're all on the same side, after all."
At that, Arcturus looked at Sal and Sal closed his eyes.
"No, Mr. Dumbledore," Sal finally said. "We're not. If we were, we would have fought side by side from the beginning."
And with that he turned away. He had enough. He had begged the man in front of him to help them for years, he hadn't begged for someone to fight his battles but to either fight with him or at least help him and his men in any other way. Britain had refused, Dumbledore had refused.
Neither of them could ever claim that they were on the same side like Sal and his men.
"It was a win for both of us," Dumbledore said. "We won today because of the good cooperation between us - so of course it's our victory! Of course we are on the same side!"
Arcturus just looked at Dumbledore icily.
"The House of Black refuses to ever again be named next to the House of Dumbledore," he said. "At least not until House Dumbledore recognises the debt it now owes House Black!"
Dumbledore frowned at that.
"We saved you and your men, Heir Black," he said. "You should be thankful to us, even if you might be bitter for the hurt my men inflicted upon your family without meaning to…"
Sal just shook his head when Arcturus opened his mouth to say something else.
"He won't understand," Sal said. "He's blinded by the fact that your leader lacks the magic to even think about taking on someone like him head-on. He's blinded by the fact that we were few and the enemy many. He's blinded enough so that he will never understand what we have done today and what he did by entering into a fight that wasn't his. Let him have his glory, let him have his power. He has just lost the most important thing: He has lost the trust of several families not only in Europe but in Britain as well."
With that, Sal walked of.
For a moment, Arcturus stood there, scrutinizing Dumbledore.
"If my family will ever have to choose again, not one of them will ever work for you again. We might help the Potters when the Potters help you, we might help others who are connected to you, but when you ask us who we will chose, them or you, it will always be them. We will never work with you again - even if it means we will have to chose a dark lord over you," and with that he followed Sal.
"And I guess that my own child will never go to Hogwarts," Newt Scarmander said darkly. "You might have fought for me back then when I needed help and I still respect you for that - but that's not enough to not keep my family at a distance from your… interesting ways of thinking."
Then Newt followed Sal.
The rest of Sal's people did the same.
Dumbledore would never understand why the Blacks and a lot of others stopped supporting him in the Wizengamot. He would forever blame Voldemort for the split of the Wizengamot between 'dark', 'light' and 'neutral', never understanding that the split hadn't occurred with Voldemort but with the day he won against Grindelwald and refused to acknowledge the sacrifice those families made so that his duel was even possible.
Of course, Dumbledore never even felt a little bit of regret, even after finding Allaric Moody's body - killed by one of the men Dumbledore had brought with him.
And whatever Sal tried to tell the British wizarding world, in the end, the Resistance consisted of a disregarded Potter - a Potter who couldn't reveal himself as the heir if he didn't want the political backlash to hit the House of Potter - a mad wand-maker, an even mader creature-fanatic the 'evil' Black-family and a man not known to anybody anymore…
No, in the end, Dumbledore's version would be the 'truth' in Great Britain - and Sal would never forgive the future Headmaster of Hogwarts who destroyed the sacrifice of the men and women who fought by Sal's side for all those years…
But then, he wasn't the only one - even if others would never say it as plainly as the Blacks or Sal Malfoire himself…
"It would take months to contradict every other wild assertion in Ms. Skeeter's book… it is true that I was the first person ever to capture Gellert Grindelwald, and also true that Albus Dumbledore was something more than a schoolteacher to me. More than this, I cannot say, without fear of breaching the Official Magical Secrets Act or, more importantly, the confidences that Dumbledore, most private of men, placed in me."