1 1: A Dreadful night

24th of December, 1980

On the cold night of Christmas Eve, the air was crisp and biting, and a palpable chill was permeating everything in the environment. The sky was clear, with stars twinkling overhead and a full moon casting a pale, eerie light on the landscape. The darkness was deeper and more profound than on a warmer evening. The sounds of the world seemed muted and muffled while a man and a woman in their mid-twenties, ran through the streets and alleyways of Godric's Hollow. The woman is holding two babes, covered in silk cloths and blankets.

"He's getting closer..." said the woman with a nervous but stern tone. The man looked at her, seemingly wanting to take on every single feature of her beautiful face. He then closed his eyes, and after opening them, you could see a newfound flame of resoluteness, as he just had made a decision of a lifetime.

"I'll stall them for the three of you to escape, Isadora." said confidently the man.

The woman, now Isadora, suddenly stopped running. She then looked at the man, and the stern expression her face had been adorning until now melted into a loving one.

"If you're going to face them, then what kind of wife would I be to let you do it alone?" spoke Isadora with a chuckle, trying to lift the somber mood that settled.

The man, however, hurriedly said.

"Please My Love, you have to escape. Do you want little Alaric and little Lysandra to grow up without the both of us?"

"But Leopold, I can't possibly let you fight against him all by yourself! He came here alone, he's underestimating us! Maybe if we fight him at the same time, we can..." Isadora tried to convince her husband, only to be cut off.

"Isadora, please listen to me. He's not called a Dark Lord for nothing. People say he's as strong if not stronger than your father. We can't possibly take him by ourselves. I'll gain some time for you and the babies..." said Leopold. Before he could say anything else, he felt a soft pair of lips giving a chaste, but full-of-love kiss on his lips.

Isadora, whose tears had already ruined her makeup, quickly declared.

"You're the love of my life and know that even if you don't make it today, you'll never leave my heart. Not now, and not in a thousand years."

"I love you too, more than anything..."

Before they could share another loving kiss, a voice reverberated in the air with a *BOOM*.

"ISADORA GRINDELWALD, YOU DARE RUN AWAY FROM THE DARK LORD."

The couple quickly looked to the source of the voice and saw a dark-hooded figure, with only his hands showing. His skin had a sickly pale tone, while in his right hand, rested an ashen-white wand. The worst of it all was that the figure was floating, not with the aid of a levitation charm, but with what seemed to be true, unsupported flight.

"RUN NOW!" shouted Leopold, before transfiguring the snow around him into a dozen different creatures, who quickly jumped at Voldemort.

Isadora just nodded, before starting to run away through the cold streets of Godric's Hollow.

"Filth."

Before the transfigurated beasts could even move from their place, with a wave of his hand, the Dark Lord made the creatures vanish, like they never existed. Leopold could only grit his teeth, as he knew the power and skill one needed to have to perform wandless magic at the level Voldemort just demonstrated.

Leopold immediately followed up with a bone-breaking curse, then with an Impedimenta spell to slow his opponent down, followed by a blood-boiling curse. Voldemort, on the other hand, barely moved to dodge the spells and resumed his pursuit of Isadora while flying.

However, before he could continue, he disapparated from his place, instantly appearing below, in the middle of the street. Had he not done that, he would've been hit by the killing curse Leopold casted.

"YOU PEASANT. NOT ONLY DID YOU MARRY A FILTH WITH THE BLOOD OF FAILURE OF A DARK LORD, BUT YOU ALSO HAVE THE GALS TO TRY AND HIT ME WITH A BARELY PROPERLY CASTED KILLING CURSE ON THE BACK!" shouted angrily Voldemort. "And here I was thinking of hunting you down only after having killed your family…CRUCIO!"

Instantly, Leopold fell to the ground, feeling like a million knives were slowly skinning him. He thought he knew this pain well. In Durmstrang, more often than not, professors would use the Cruciatus Curse with rowdy and unruly students. But he now discovered that a torture curse casted by a professor couldn't even begin to compare to one casted by someone as powerful as the Dark Lord.

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[Isadora's Pov]

I ran and ran. Ran until my legs were starting to give out. With all the wards placed by that filth who calls himself a Dark Lord, I knew that, even if I managed to hide from him, help wouldn't come until dawn. My only other option would be to run out of the wards range, then use the untraceable portkey I carried in my pendant since a child.

I ran through the woods that circled Godric's Hollow. The warming charms I had placed in my little ones were starting to fade. My eyes would often wander to the ring I had in my right hand, an enchanted artifact that informed me of the well-being of my dear Leopold. I knew what he was going through. I could feel it from the ring. But I could only pray. Pray that the Dark Lord would deem him unimportant enough and come after us.

As I was praying, a green jet stream shot down from above. I quickly transfigured the trees surrounding me so they could take the curse. I then looked up at the sky, and I could see Voldemort in his signature dark robes, dancing in the chilly breeze of the night. As I was about to shoot a spell at him, my voice got stuck in my throat.

My love…my dear Leopold… he was being grabbed by the back of his neck. His left arm was missing. Half of his face was disfigured. And the worst of it all, while he was breathing, his eyes were blank. As if his brain had shut down, so the body could cope with the pain.

Voldemort then threw him at us. I quickly casted an Arresto Momentum with my wand, so that Leopold didn't suffer any more injuries. "Hmmm… yes, what a nice painting this would give. A disfigured blood traitor, limp and void of any emotion, a woman with filth for blood, and their two little babes who won't even see their first birthday. A shame I can't toy with you more. I received news of a rather troubling prophecy…" said eloquently the Dark Lord, muttering the last part.

I thought that, for a second, the ruthless Dark Lord had a moment of sympathy, that he would spare us. How wrong I was. He just wanted to toy with us. This filthy snake, that sullies the name of the Dark Arts. Ohhh… how beautiful it would be if my father wasn't incarcerated. He would make this little man with dreams of grandeur pay for everything he did!

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[3rd Pov]

"For the crimes of carrying the same blood of a failure of a Dark Lord, I, Lord Voldemort, sentence you, Isadora Grindelwald, and your little family, to death." After deciding on the sentence, Voldemort lifted his ashen-white wand, before chanting out loud "FIENDFYRE!"

Before the cursed flames, who had taken the form of a giant basilisk, could reach the family, Isadora had already activated the portkey, making them vanish from the spot, leaving only deformed and melted snow where they once were.

"No…No..No! NO! NO! NO! HOW COULD I NOT FEEL THE MAGIC FROM A SIMPLE PORTKEY!" Voldemort then started thrashing around, making the trees around him either explode or simply vanish. The snow around him quickly melted, showing the dirt ground, void of any grass. The ground then also started to melt, leaving boiling magma beneath the Dark Lord's feet. Suddenly, amidst his rage, Voldemort remembered something. He then quickly regained his calm but terrifying persona, as if the destruction around him never happened.

"No matter, no matter. Those two kids will amount to nothing in the end. Just like their mother." He then began to walk to seamlessly nowhere "If what Severus heard is true, then either the Longbottom child or one of the Potter children will cause my 'downfall'. Pftt….HEHEHEHE. Like a simple babe will defeat Lord Voldemort!"

He then quickly disapparated from there, going god knows where.

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On the snowy mountain peaks of the Austrian Alps, a woman with silver-blonde can be seen walking in what seems to be a completely frozen river. With the moon casting a soft glow on the snow-covered ground, the ice crunches beneath Isadora's foot. In her embrace, two cloth-covered babies can be seen. With her left hand free, she seems to be guiding a floating body with her wand, that is right beside her.

As she treks higher up the mountain through the frozen river, the snow becomes deeper all around. As the cold starts to seep into her bones, she again casts a warming charm. Her heart is racing as her body fights to keep the dozen or so protection charms on her kids up, while she slowly floats her husband to a safe destination. As she seems to reach the end of the river, she continues walking forward, passing what appears to be a gel-like barrier. As she emerges from the other side, a nostalgic, but breathtaking nonetheless view reaches her silvery-blue eyes.

'It's been soo long…' she thought as looked at the 'house' she grew up in.

The 'house' was a beautiful castle, settled on the slope of the highest peak of the Austrian Alps.

As she approached the castle, she could see its towering walls and majestic towers jutting out against the white backdrop. The castle, as old as it was, was built to provide a strategic vantage point for its inhabitants. The walls of the castle were made of gray stone, rough-hewn, and weathered by the harsh mountain climate.

[Picture]

As she drew closer to the gigantic doors that lay after the drawbridge that allowed passage through the moat, the doors started to open by themselves. From them, emerged an old house-elf, clothed with a small butler suit, perfect for his size. The elf, although old, carried himself with some pride and in a refined way.

"Mistress Isadora, this humble Nitwib is happy to see you" greeted the house elf, with slight happiness clouding his tone.

"We'll have time to pleasantries later Nitwib. Quickly arrange a bed in the infirmary hall for my husband. He has been gravely injured. And put my two babies to sleep in the main living room. Don't forget to warm them up." Isadora, as if she hadn't left the castle for 7 years, quickly gave her order to Nitwib, who quickly disapparated with her two children.

As she was carrying Leopold to the medic hall, her thoughts went to Voldemort again.

'I'll make him pay' she thought as she gritted her teeth.

But then, she wandered about her kids. Of what they would have to go through if they blindly sought revenge. The pain they would have to endure. She also thought of their 'curse', being surnamed Grindelwald. Isadora wasn't ashamed of her name, quite the contrary. She was proud of her family's legacy, and mastery over the dark arts, and, even if her father did terrible things, he was still one of the most powerful wizards to ever live. But, she knew the consequences of what going around saying their name could bring. One consequence being named Voldemort.

'No, I can't let them live a life full of pain and suffering' Isadora then made up her mind. 'It'll be up to them if they want revenge. I just want my babies to be strong.'

And what better place than the home of Gellert Grindelwald himself?