Beginning of the end?

Had Vincent Majere had a choice, he would almost certainly not be here, risking his life for what seemed to him to be a pointless battle. Unfortunately, he didn't have a choice. All death eaters had been called to arms, so there he was, standing at the grounds some distance from the entrance of Hogwarts where the main battle was going on. He wasn't fighting… Vincent believed his life to be to precious to waste on something like this, and besides, unlike his associates, he didn't receive excitement from murder or torture. Though not quite the pacifist, he did prefer to avoid combat as often as he could, choosing to solve matters through diplomacy rather than what the Death Eaters were doing now.

Acting mainly as an observer, Vincent kept an eye on the death eaters, and their performance. Indeed, they had gone on with their typical behaviour, attacking students rather than focusing on the order. If they had, the order would have lost by now. But it was no matter really, Vincent knew it was only a matter of time before Grindelwald stepped in, and he hoped that Jess was not fool enough to fight him.

After some time, it was clear that the battle was coming to no real conclusion, so Vincent was not surprised at all when he noticed Grindelwald make his way to the entrance hall where all the order members were. Quickly, he followed him in, not wanting to miss what would happen.

At the entrance hall, he quickly noticed two things. One, Elldir had betrayed them, for he was standing right next to Jess Potter. A problem for Vincent, because he had thought that Thaor had been shaping up to be a good leader. On the other side of Jess was a man Vincent had least expected to see. Shacklebolt. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Vincent had blasted him through the headmasters office on the sixth floor, yet he had somehow survived. It was a problem, but one easily dealt with later. Currently there were other matters that demanded his attention.

"Potter," Vincent spoke out in an urgent tone. "The students of Hogwarts will not be harmed… if you leave that is. If you don't, they might get caught in the crossfire, and besides, look around you, you have no real hope of winning. Staying here is folly." He was giving honest advice, for Vincent did not wish for the order to be defeated just yet, and Jess was leading them right into a trap.

Jess thought that no one would believe Grindelwald? Gellert looked around at those who were waiting, and quite a few had already begun to tuck away wands. He gestured towards them, saying, "When I am trying to win people's favor, Jess Potter, I typically find that it's better not to call them mentally unstable. Obviously, my words are not so unbelievable."

Gellert sighed as Jess continued on. "It would be wise to hear a man out as well, and really listen to what they are saying. I am not mad- I am quite sane, I'm afraid. And these are not my Death Eaters. Did I not just condemn both the Order and the Death Eaters. And here you are, threatening with further harm. I will not harm anyone, and yet, the school will still be safely in my hands so I can give it to the Ministry. I will not hurt anyone- that I will swear. Jess, I sugest you lead away you people. Thaor, the same."

Thaor took a step back and watched the conversation between Jess, Ne'Os, and Grindlewald. Grindlewald stuck to the plan, 100%. It appeared as though Gellert still believed Thaor to be on his side, this would work well for him.

Thaor turned to Jess, and without saying a word, turned and walked away. He pulled up his left sleeve, and held his wand to the dark mark, signalling all the death eaters to leave the grounds. The battle was at an end.

Jess smirked as Vincent Majere interjected with his usual slick words, feigning the pretense of urgency and desperation, always trying to weasel himself into the good books of everyone, even if it meant standing against what he'd previously believed.

He was about to open his mouth and tell Majere to sod off when Gindelwald spoke once again, his words forceful and seeming to carry a thinly veiled threat. "So where do you stand then?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow at Grindelwald but doubting the man could see it. "If you're not with them," he said, pointing at the retreating Death Eaters and those that remained in place, "Then why do they listen to you without question, and where do you stand?" He asked.

"Do you stay here at the school?" He asked before chuckling loudly. "No, I will leave when you, and the Death Eaters do, if you so wish to draw the separating line." He told the man, pointing once more at the Hogwarts gates.

Grindelwald. Kingsley had never met or seen him, but he had heard of him. He had died in the previous war had he not? But of course, a dark wizard like him would have had several horcruxes scattered around. Kingsley had expected that the Death Eaters had someone backing them in the fight, or else why would they have done such a bold move with the numbers they had? But never had he expected it would be someone like Grindelwald.He wasn't quite scared, but Shacklebolt was quite worried. They had been holding off easily against the death eaters, but with Grindelwald with them...

At Grindelwalds speech, Shacklebolt raised his eyebrows, surprised. This was quite unexpected. "Grindelwald wished for peace? Him, who was second only to Voldemort in his practicing of the dark arts? Shacklebolt didn't buy it. To Shacklebolt, it was clear what he wanted, so he stood by Jess in his decision. The Order couldn't retreat now and hand Hogwarts to Grindelwald, that would be foolish. Kingsley kept his wand towards Grindelwald while he turned to Vincent to reply. "I see more order members here than Death Eaters Majere," he replied coldly.

Gellert sighed. The Potter boy would have so much potential if he could just learn to shut up, listen, and get the facts straight. "Is every student here aligned with you? No. And yet most of them follow you. People can sense things- natural leaders, honesty, knowing what's best for them. If I have asked the Death Eaters to leave, should I not be someone you would want to respect or work with? Besides a few of your men seem ready to quit too." It was true. A few people had tucked away their wands.

"I stand on the ground of Hogwarts, calling for peace. Were I who I used to be, I would kill one of the Death Eater to convince you, but I want peace, not blood. And there are more Order than Death Eaters because the Death Eaters have recognized there's nothing more here to go after. The Order is known for beating a dead horse- people are tired, hungry, and exhausted. Why don't you all go home to your respective Headquarters. Let the Ministry and teachers assist the students in gathering their things. We can easily prevent more bloodshot if only our leaders would decide to further no more conflict. It seems the students are tired, they are willing to end this. The Death Eaters want to cut their losses and end this. Only you, Jess Potter, and your Order, wish to continue this battle. What say you?"

It wasn’t uncommon for Hogwarts to be in possession of ghosts. Jen had been good friends with Nearly Headless Nick when she’d been at Hogwarts but never had she come across Grindlewald’s ghost. Yet here was the man, standing before them casting spells at the leader of the Order who was, as always, making a spectacular fool of himself. Then of course there was Ne’Os who declared his allegiance immediately. Jen merely stood there, ever so often reaching around with her wand to curse a few spiders who had decided to make a meal of her. This battle was quickly becoming a Mexican standoff between an idiot and an old man and Jen wasn’t particularly sure she wanted to stick around to see the spells get nasty.

Jen yawned, bored.

“Why don’t you all go home?” She chucked in lazily, looking among the ‘gentlemen’ all fighting for a chance to say their bit. “I’ll look after the big burning building in the background and you can all go back to your wives, call girls – whatever – put your feet up and have a cuppa. How does that sound?”

Robert had already been informed about which side Gellert Grindlewald was on, and he wasn't surprised a bit at the man's bloody arrogance and the phoney call for peace. Still, the battle had been asinine in the first place and not anything he had ever wanted. He knew that this was just the tip of a much larger, nastier iceberg. He wasn't about to allow the chance to end this go by, though. There were still too many students at risk. He was going to just accept the school falling back under Ministry control and let everyone live to fight another day. He figured that might well be sooner rather than later, but still, with a little luck, Grindlewald would bore himself of killing children and focus on either something else for awhile, or decide to play with the grownups instead.

"Jen," Robert told her. "Work with Doyle, if you can find him, to start doing some damage control. If you can't find Doyle, do it yourself. If they interfere with what we need to do here, kill them. Its pretty simple. This shouldn't have been necessary to begin with. I suggest you start with getting everyone who is not Hogwarts staff or a student, or a Ministry employee off the grounds--immediately. And I do mean everyone who does not belong here." And as far as Robert was concerned, Grindlewald was included in that since he was neither from the Ministry or the Hogwarts staff.

Jess narrowed his eyes as Grindelwald spoke, his words ringing with the sounds everyone wanted to hear, but did they carry any real meaning? Maybe he was a reformed man, maybe he did want to go good, maybe he did want to make peace.

But then why didn't he end the menace of the Death Eaters in a more final way, rather then simply send them packing?

"I don't wish to fight, I wish to protect, which is exactly what your Death Eaters do not want, that is why I wish to remain. i came to the school in order to protect students and ensure their wellbeing, they," he said, pointing behind Grindelwald and mentally noting that the lines had been distinctly drawn now, "came here in order to reaffirm their control of the school at any cost. Look around you, have we harmed any students directly? No, what caused them harm was already happening when we got here. That should be proof enough of my intentions," he said coldly.

"But I respect the wishes of the Minister. Jenifer, if you even touch a student I shall kill you personally," he added. He, unlike Robert, could not forget the Head of Law Enforcement's shady past. "I request that the Order be given permission from the Ministry to remain here, but if not, I suppose those here who are not employed by the Ministry should leave," He said, secretly pleased that his position in the Wizengamot was finally delivering him a real benefit in society.

"That depends, Jess," Robert said. "On whether Order members can still follow Ministry orders." Robert wasn't yielding. If the Order could stop seeing itself as being in charge of the Ministry, then fine. If not, Robert would oust them too. "If the Order can be part of the solution, they can stay. If not, they're part of the problem, and Jen will toss them out. Its up to you, I suppose. Jen is in charge of damage control and in removing anyone we dont' want here. I suggest you lot assist in that and in getting the wounded off school grounds where they can be treated.

He looked at Grindlewald now. He wanted to see just how much of a "man of peace" he was. "If you want peace, then I trust you don't have any issue with removing the Death Eaters from school grounds?" He figured that request was far too easy for Grindlewald, but Robert had a specific reason for making the request in the first place. It would give him an initial idea about how well his new opponent did or did not play chess.