Anton Says: Get Lost! (4k)

"Dumbledore's power is beyond doubt. To be honest, I have my doubts about whether you can break Dumbledore's spell..."

"But I can offer you an idea."

"Anton—oh, Antony Weasley—he can map out magic and study it slowly. Maybe you..."

Lockhart rambled on beside them. Professor Harris frowned and turned to look at him. "Perhaps you should be quiet, Mr. Lockhart. You're far too nervous."

"I know. He's afraid of dying." Minister Yaxley, the old witch, waved her wand, sending streaks of colored light crashing into the Magic Mirror. Flowers immediately began to grow across its surface.

She turned back and looked gently at Lockhart. "Listen, I said I approved of you becoming an Acolyte. As fellow Acolytes, if Dumbledore discovers you, I will protect you."

"Ha~" Lockhart found that oddly amusing. "You? Protect me from Dumbledore?"

"Of course~"

A flash of anger crossed the old witch's aged face. "He owes me!"

"Back then, he wrote to Godric's Hollow and invited my parents to join him, to fight and change this world. But when my entire family went to find Grindelwald, filled with hope, we were told that he had come alone!"

"He hid inside that damned Hogwarts Castle!"

"For his ideals, Grindelwald gave everything. And I—my parents, my aunt, my brother, my lover, my son—we all fought for it, died for it!"

"That coward!"

"Over the forty-odd years we fought, he never showed himself. Ha ha, how ridiculous. When we were about to succeed, more than forty years later, he finally stepped forward..."

"To stop it all!"

"More than forty years! A war that affected several generations began because of him and ended because of him. It was absurd to the point of being laughable!"

"I don't know what face he had to dare stand before me!"

"Besides~"

The old