• October 15th, 1996 •
• 10 minutes after the gate was sealed •
[Albus Dumbledore]
There are many methods of transportation in the wizarding world. Some weird, like the Knight Bus; some conventional, like the trains; and then some that occupy that awkward spot between very weird and batshit crazy—like Portkeys.
Sure, there are plenty of other methods never mentioned in the books, but most just rank somewhere between Portkeys and the Knight Bus on the sanity scale. Few are truly spatial in nature; only Apparition fits that category.
The Floo Network, for example, uses a private spatial network crafted centuries ago, tied with a very complex ritual to an alchemically engineered fire in the form of Floo powder and a single specific key enchantment. It's a marvelous invention that was never improved upon nor studied further, because it's a "strategic resource" of the Ministry.
'Bullshit, if I ever heard any.'
It's not like different countries lack access or don't use it. It just means the Ministry wants control. Plain and simple.
'I really need to start working on better transportation methods,' I thought with a sigh as I kept spinning through the sky, heading toward the Vatican.
Portkeys are genuinely not a good way to travel. I never thought I'd know what clothes feel like in a washing machine, but now I can't stop my mind from making the comparison.
I felt the shift in speed and the tunneling and got ready to disembark. There was a kick-like motion before I started gliding down the protective tunnel.
That's what a Portkey is. Not true spatial travel, but a failed attempt at an Apparition enchantment.
Funnily enough, that's why it's called a Portkey—though the actual process involves a wizard enchanting an object, which then creates a protective tunnel and a propelling force that spins the rider through said tunnel, through the sky, very quickly, to the designated location.
...
Near the Colosseum. The surrounding area was already evacuated by the joint effort of the Italian wizard Auror forces and local muggle police and military.
A bright blue gate throbbed in the middle of the Colosseum. Waves of misty magic and natural energy leaked from the gate, raising the level of magical concentration in the area.
'This could be a problem,' I thought as I took a deep breath and started heading toward the gate. Distracting myself with transportation trivia wasn't going to help me now. It could when I try to figure out everything about the gates, but not now.
I made my way through the crowd. The sea of military personnel, government officials, police officers, and all kinds of people in suits parted ways to provide a path for me without the muggles even noticing I was there.
My head still throbbed, and I had a million things to do. So let's just get this over with.
Only two witches noticed my arrival, and that was only when I was already a few feet away from the sealed gate.
'Even then, it's still an impressive feat,' I noted to myself, summoning my Archive.
The golden screen appeared, followed by a keyboard with matching colors and aesthetics. My fingers danced across the keys as I focused on scanning the gate for everything—starting from how it affected the surroundings, to magic, space-time fabric, and everything in between.
My screen suddenly filled with numbers, symbols, and runes. Different pop-up screens appeared one after another, showing the scanning progress for different parameters...
"Excuse me, Signor Dumbledore..."
I was interrupted by a fearful, shaky voice coming from behind me.
I blinked twice and turned around to see who was talking to me. I was pretty sure I had a "don't bother me" aura around me.
The aura was pretty strong too, as I'd activated it to keep people from coming my way, so this was a surprise. Was this woman just that courageous?
She steadied her hand on her wand in her holster, her finger tightened, and she swallowed her saliva.
"Signor Dumbledore? Is that you? What are you doing here?" She asked, using a sweet, syrupy voice.
I smiled and shook my head in amusement. "Yes. It is I, and as you can see, I am trying to figure out what this thing does…" I replied casually, gesturing to the giant gate behind me, and saw her nerves relax. Though that could be because I dialed down my aura.
"Still, seeing as you are here, tell me more about the gate." I asked her. "And your name."
"Masca Zabini." She introduced herself with a curtsy. "Current head of Magical First Response Force—or as you call them, Aurors."
I was slightly intrigued, not by her beauty, but by her young age as well as her senses. She noticed me even though I'd cloaked myself with a basic spell—one charged with more magic than advanced ones, but basic nonetheless.
I gave her a once-over, scanning her magically—something she noticed as she stiffened slightly, making me smile. 'So she does have an extra acute magical awareness. That's a very good talent.' Her magic capacity was similar to old McGonagall, which was surprising for someone so young. She looked a little older than a newly graduated student.
Twenty-five years old at most, and she's already head of the department?
"Sir, we don't know much about the situation either. There were monsters—similar to goblins according to all the eyewitness testimonies we gathered. There was an angel too, according to them—" She paused, her eyes darting all over the place. "Um, sir, do you think it's true?"
"The angel, you mean?" I asked.
She nodded quickly while checking around.
"Hahahah." I laughed slightly. "Why not? And if it's true, then that would be interesting, wouldn't you say?"
She looked at me as if I had grown a second head before schooling her expression quickly.
The Italian wizarding community was one of the more vocal ones when it came to ridiculing me a few weeks ago about the whole "divinity trace" thing, along with the French, American, and German.
'It's nice to see things go according to plan, even if by accident,' I thought smugly. 'It feels even more exciting for some reason.'
As if remembering something, Zabini started talking again. "However, there's something weird about the creatures." She added. "After a few minutes, their bodies disappeared, leaving only this—"
She showed me the pale blue crystal that had dropped from the creatures' bodies.
'This is magic,' I thought. 'This is a crystallized magic stone.'
I picked it up from her hand. The magic of the stone brushed against my own. It felt smooth. Like silk.
'Okay. I'm pretty sure I figured out what that idiot A was thinking. He was treating this reality as if it was his own game…'
I scowled slightly before sighing as I saw the young woman flinch. "Thank you for the information, Miss Zabini." I smiled. "I have more work to do here. Anything I discover will be shared through the Archive later."
"But sir…" She stopped mid-sentence as I gave her a look.
"Miss Zabini." I said slowly. "I advise you to get yourself and all those under your command and wait for further information. I have a second gate to check in the USA after this, and spatial travel is not working due to obvious reasons. Oh, and please do deliver my message for me: do not do anything that endangers the wizarding world without my notice. This is my order as the Supreme Mugwump."
She backed down and nodded seriously, though I could feel her fear and trepidation.
I turned around and continued my work. It took me a few more minutes of scanning before I took the second portkey from my pocket, sighed in resignation, and used it again.
'Time for another wash cycle, I guess.'
---
• Texas, ten minutes after the gate was sealed •
[Albus Dumbledore]
The air turned dry as I landed in Texas, though I didn't really have time to ponder the weather. My mind was occupied with deciphering the data I'd collected so far, so I was understandably single-minded in my focus as I started heading toward the gate.
'The magic concentration is a lot higher around here than in Rome.' I noted this concerning fact once more.
My concern stemmed from the fact that magic, after passing a certain concentration threshold, is toxic to the average wizard or witch, and outright fatal to muggles. There's a reason olden-times magicals had their own secluded communities.
And if every gate keeps expelling energy like these ones did?
'Yeah, ROB's mission for me just keeps making more and more sense.'
I shook the thought out of my head as I walked past all the people crowding the scene. There were a lot of wizards, military personnel, and scientists coming through the blockade with huge vans and trucks, as police and agents helped them navigate through it all.
'I can honestly say this was far more chaotic than Rome. Then again, it's morning, so it's understandable, I think.'
Chuckling lightly, I found myself standing well past the seal and right in front of the gate. I could hear shouting coming from behind, no doubt wondering how I'd bypassed the seal while they couldn't.
I didn't feel generous enough to indulge them for now, so I just focused on making sense of what I was reading.
…
'What the fuck is this supposed to mean?' I thought, frustration making my headache flare up again.
I'd been standing here for five minutes, doing nothing but trying to make sense of this. The data indicated that the portals are not exclusive to our world—they're a feature of the new one. New gates will open on the other side too.
'I don't know if I should be relieved or concerned.'
That also means the new world wouldn't have to fear Trihexa—the Beast of Apocalypse, at least. As of this moment, I know for sure that he is a non-entity, as well as any conceptual beings related to chaos, evil, etc.
The new world just filters those energies and recycles them through the gates and the monsters. This means the world itself will last for a far longer cycle than ours or the other two.
But it also means our safety is not guaranteed either. I grimaced as I started to see the true scope of things.
The new world, if completely formed and stabilized as ROB wanted, will be one of a higher order. That means we have to evolve to match it, or be erased and replaced by new species.
'I don't think even the gods are safe from this. Sure, they will no doubt have more power, but they will still die if they are killed.'
"I need to verify all this information first," I decided as I closed the Archive screen. "And maybe it's time I actually made an effort to raise my divine status."
Turning around, I began to walk away from the gate, a new weight settling on my shoulders. Questions kept going through my mind…
'How would I even begin to unravel this?'
'Can I just shatter my divinity into separate ones? Like the gods in PJO or DxD?'
'Do I even want to do that?'
'How would that affect my world?'
'Isn't it better to have an all-encompassing divinity?'
My common sense says that letting my divinity develop naturally is the right choice. My world is a virgin when it comes to divinity, so even if the faith gathered varied, it wouldn't affect the overall development of the authority itself.
'Can't I just go to the other worlds and solve the problem?'
It was sudden. The realization that I could actually do that. And with that realization came a wave of headache that would probably accompany me for the next few hours as I tried to work out all the small details.
"Dumbledore!"
A cold, hard voice brought me out of my thoughts as I passed the seal barrier.
I looked to my right, only to find a highly unamused Emily Jackson standing there. The Director of MACUSA—effectively the Minister of Magic in the U.S.—stood with arms crossed, looking at me with a cold, stoic face.
'I don't know if she thinks that's going to help her somehow, but I really do not have time to waste on the endlessly and unreasonably complicated American bureaucracy and magical politics.'
"Emily, nice to see you here in person." I smiled and replied. I may not have the time, but I could squeeze a few minutes to entertain myself.
"Dumbledore. I thought we made it clear that MACUSA needs to be notified in advance whenever you visit?"
"You did." I nodded, smiling broadly. "And I thought I made it clear what I think about your opinion?"
"Dumble—"
I interrupted her by raising a hand, my fingers so close to her face that I could feel her hot breath on my palm.
"I am not sure what you are trying to do here," I confessed. "You know what my position is. You know what it means. Yet here you are once again, telling me what I should and should not do. Does the U.S. magical community plan to remove itself from the ICW? Because you know what that means for you, right?"
I watched her stoic mask crack. Her face did something interesting as it seemed unable to decide between showing how offended she was or how frightened by the implications of my question.
And she should be afraid. Cutting ties with the ICW was essentially a rebellion. That means the U.S. would lose all autonomy as a magical community. It means the ICW would come down on it like the hammer of God and just make it another Switzerland.
No local government. No private forces. Everything would essentially belong to the ICW, making the U.S. another headquarters.
"You could also try the same methods that Germany and its allies are using—trying to remove me from my position. Which is fine, but I have to remind you that Gellert is youthful, powerful, and free again. That means he will somehow succeed in nominating himself for the position, and this time he will succeed…"
"Enough." She forcefully interjected. "I understand."
"Good." I smiled brightly and started walking again, completely ignoring all the tense and ready forces surrounding me.
"You should check the Archive for the latest update on what's happening. And I await you at the ICW session tomorrow."
I heard something that resembled a snort, but I paid it no mind. 'I have other things to worry about than trying to please and babysit the ambitions of petty politicians.'
---
• Bucharest, Romania •
[Gellert Grindelwald]
Gellert Grindelwald was in the middle of a conundrum. After his last meeting with Albus, he'd gone back to his safe house and stayed there for two days, thinking about everything.
He had confirmed that this Albus was still the same old Albus he knew. The meeting in the cemetery was not just because he wanted to visit Ariana. No, he wanted to test Albus's reaction to the situation.
It took him two days of studying his memory and reviewing the Archive scan data to get all the relevant information he needed to put the puzzle together.
He analyzed Albus's reactions, magic fluctuations, body language, movement, etc.
He knew that this Albus was the same Albus he knew because of that. He might not be carrying the same guilt he once did, but that was most definitely because he knew the real reason for Ariana's death.
It was neither him nor Albus. It was Aberforth's spell that caused the whole mess. The situation might have been a magical freak accident, but the cause was Aberforth. His spell was unstable.
'And if I know that, then Albus definitely does,' he thought, his hand touching his chin. 'But that also means his efforts to bring Ariana back will be doubled, just so that he can save his brother from the guilt once he finds out.'
Gellert had no doubt that Aberforth would find out. Albus's brother might not be as smart as them, but he was not that far behind.
Nevertheless, this was not the reason for his conundrum. No, that was because he was now wrestling with the fact that he needed to expand his group once again. His old followers were either dead, too old to be useful, or just too weak for what was coming.
"But then, do I really need to get the vampires?" He asked himself as he walked through the streets of Bucharest, Romania.
He had already sensed the people following him, but he was too strong to care about the pebbles.
'This is annoying,' he thought as he quickly wrote something in the air. In less than a second, the area around him was enveloped in an illusion.
He continued his walk, uncaring about the shouts and rustles he kept hearing behind him.
He was a man on a job. Either get the Romanian vampire enclaves under his thumb, or kill them. Or so Vinda said. Something about them being a threat if left unchecked.
He couldn't see it himself, but that was probably because he was one of the most proficient wizards when it came to fire spells…
Fire + vampire = ash.
He chuckled slightly at his own joke. It was not that he couldn't see why Vinda advised him to take this course of action. He knew well that those still willing to join him would need time and resources to get their level up to the new standard, and vampires had gold in spades.
It was either that or going after the goblins, and he couldn't do that. Not yet.
So yes, he could see why taking the vampires—and werewolves after them—under his wing was necessary. He needed soldiers to fight.
'Plus, my new Scripture Magic makes tying them to me and dealing with their weaknesses an easy task.'
A few minutes later, he arrived at his destination. An old mansion that was loaded with blood wards.
'Well, let's see.'
He took out his wand and started writing lines of silver-colored letters, linking them together to create a small keyhole in the blood wards.
One must be mindful of the entrance. That's the seventy percent needed to make a long lasting impression.
Click~
He felt his magic take hold, and smiled. A wild, carefree smile.
Well then, let the world welcome back the Dark Lord, Gellert Grindelwald.