Action-Is-All-That-Left (II)

~~Grindelwald's Cell, Nurmengard Castle, Austria~~

"So, what is it going to be?" Harry asked as he raised his eyebrows at the former Dark Lord. Gellert eyed Harry warily… He could only accept the first option. What other choice did he have? He didn't want to end up as someone's slave, but becoming a willing slave was much better than becoming a Mindless one, especially when he was going to end up as a slave either way.

After some consideration, he realized that he might be able to get something out of the deal if he joined the boy willingly…

"What do I get if I choose the first option? You don't expect to work for free, do you?" Gellert asked as he leaned back on the wall. He was still somewhat afraid of the boy as the boy possessed the power to break his Mind, but he still decided to explore his options. Harry hummed at his question for a couple of seconds before he finally started to speak.

"You are getting your freedom" Harry pointed out, looking like it was the most obvious fact.

"Well… There is that but to be honest, I don't care much about freedom… If I wanted my freedom, then these shackles and this Castle couldn't have stopped me. They might have imprisoned me, but I am still imprisoned due to choice…" Gellert explained with a small chuckle.

Harry tapped his cheek with a thoughtful look on his face before nodding his head in agreement. Gellert might have lost the war, but a lot of his loyal supporters disappeared after the war and decided to lie low. Right now, some of them were in influential positions, and if Gellert wanted, he could have used their influence to escape prison. Harry refused to believe that a man like Gellert lacked the ability to send messages outside the prison.

"That's true…" Harry admitted. "From what I know about you, you are a man of research… You love exploring Magic as a whole, don't you?" Harry asked, both of them knew that it was a rhetorical question, but Gellert still nodded his head in assent, so Harry decided to continue speaking. "If you join me, you will get access to new branches of Magic" Harry explained and even though Gellert didn't want to, he ended up giving Harry a skeptical look.

It was understandable that Gellert was skeptical of his claim… After all, no matter what, he was still a 14 year old, so Harry decided to give the man some proof. Harry raised his hand and their surroundings started to transform. The shackles restraining Gellert disappeared much to his shock and the cell unfurled and started to twist before the hall outside the cell started to morph into something unrecognizable.

"Satisfied now?" Harry asked and the man dumbly nodded his head while looking around. It wasn't exactly a Spell as Harry simply decided to manipulate the mirror dimension. Harry decided to use this instead of using a Spell because this display was more impressive and impactful than any Spell he could cast at this moment.

It took Gellert somewhere around half a minute to regain his bearings. "Alright! I believe you" Gellert admitted reluctantly. He knew nothing about a branch of Magic while a 14 year old had him beat in that department… It was a bitter pill to swallow. "But there is something else I want too" Gellert spoke hesitantly, making Harry raise his brows in question.

"Don't you think you are asking for too much… I believe I am already giving you a good deal" Harry stated airily. "Well, out with it" Harry huffed as he waved his hand in the air.

"I want you to free all of my followers imprisoned here in Nurmengard" Gellert declared his demand, making Harry give the man an incredulous look.

"You have to be kidding, right?" Harry asked in an amused tone, but when Gellert didn't smile or laugh, the look on Harry's face turned cold. "Why the fuck am I going to do that? I have nothing to gain" Harry stated while glaring at Gellert.

"All of them will join your Lost Garden, that is the name of your group, right?" Gellert asked. If he was being honest, he knew that the chances of Harry helping him free his followers from Nurmengard were extremely low, but he still had to try… All of them were in prison because they joined his cause and he didn't like the idea of leaving them here to rot.

"Really? I don't believe you can decide for them anymore" Harry pointed out as he narrowed his eyes at Gellert.

"Yes, they will… It might have been decades since they stopped being my followers, but they are still loyal to me and I believe, they will happily choose servitude if you free them. There are only two types of people in this world… Leaders and Followers, and all of them know in exactly which category they belong" Gellert explained and Harry hummed thoughtfully at his words.

"Alright! I will give all of them a chance, but if they don't agree…" Harry decided to leave the threat hanging in the air and Gellert simply nodded his head in understanding. While Gellert thought that Harry would kill them if they didn't join his group, Harry didn't have any plan of killing anyone… He was simply going to Obliviate them. He wanted to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed even with a murderhobo mother stuck inside his head, but Gellert didn't need to know that.

He wanted Gellert to think that he would kill anyone who refuses the offer so that Gellert would try harder to make them join… Now, the whole process was going to be quite hectic and time taking, but Harry was prepared to go through with it as he would be getting a lot of followers, which was obviously a good thing from his point of view. "By the way, do you want me to do the talking or shall I leave it to you?" Harry asked curiously.

"Let me do the talking… They followed me and they knew me. No offense, but you are nobody to them" Gellert stated with a smile.

"Some taken" Harry offered with a mock offended look on his face. "Just tell me which ones of them used to be your followers and I will bring them here…" Harry stated and moments later, projections with the view of the insides of the cells started to appear in the air.

With the alarms already triggered it would be impossible for Gellert to have any constructive conversation with any of his former followers, so Harry decided to bring them here, and right now, it looked like someone had kicked the anthill with Aurors and Hit-Wizards arriving at Nurmengard Castle with Portkeys, not that Harry was worried as right now, they were inside the mirror dimension.

Gellert was intrigued by whatever Spell Harry used to bring up the projections, but he decided to shelve the question for time being as he had other important things to deal with… "Him, him, her, him…" With that Gellert started to point at the projections so that Harry could locate all of his followers…

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~~Knockturn Alley, England~~

Himera sauntered through the dark streets of the Knockturn Alley like she owned the damned place… While she was originally from Russia, she left the country as quickly as she could after escaping from the vile clutches of Hydra. After she realized that she wasn't going to get any sort of justice from either the Magical Government or the Muggle one, she decided to make herself scarce as there was always a chance that Hydra would catch up to her.

The only reason she was able to escape from that place was because her Mutation had triggered at the most opportune moment… They didn't expect her to trigger with regenerative powers, so they tried to stun her after she triggered, but her powers made it impossible for the tranquilizers to work, and after that, they tried to gun her down with machine guns when they realized that tranquilizers don't work, but even guns failed to put her down.

Ultimately, she was able to escape by accidental Apparition after crossing the Wards. She didn't know how to Apparate, but she knew the basic theory and she was desperate enough to escape… Alas, her escape wasn't perfect. Her left leg was left behind as she splinched, hence accidental Apparition, but thankfully, she was able to regrow her left leg within a few minutes, much to her relief.

After leaving Russia, Himera arrived on the continent and since then she had been traveling around, not wanting to settle in one place as she was always worried that Hydra might find her. In her travels, she had visited Britain and Knockturn Alley quite a few times as it was the perfect place for people like her, so she knew how to act inside Knockturn Alley if she wanted to avoid being targeted by low-life thugs.

Her plan obviously worked as nobody dared to impede her stride even though she noticed quite a few people watching her intently from some distance… Himera arrived in front of the bar named the Tipsy Pixie… It was quite a high-class bar, frequented by even high-class people, which made this a nice place to gather some information and if that doesn't work, then she could always try to buy some information from the hookers and strippers inside the bar.

Himera took off the hood of her cloak, revealing her face before handing a Galleon to one of the bouncers. This was the first time she was visiting this establishment with her own gold, but she did have gold to spend, thanks to her new, but generous employer. The bouncer nodded his head before opening the door for her and Himera simply entered the establishment without any more posturing…

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