The Provisional Laws of Acquired Behavior or Learning

Authors Note: While Diagon Alley burned down many of the side alleys did not. Also, I hate this chapter, profoundly, I just don't like it at all, I'm gonna post it then disown it, As far as I'm concerned my cat typed it with his bum. I'm posting it now to get rid of it so it is out of my mind.

Disclaimer: I don't at this time own any published work of Sega or JK Rowling, if I did I'd gut the current Sonic fandom and only allow literate people to contribute cutting the fandom back by 90% and improving the quality by the same percentage.

April 1st 1992, Hogsmeade Village
The memorial stood at the tail end of the street, a tall stone tablet with an engraving of Hogwarts School engulfed in steel thorns stood in Hogsmeade far away from where the Great Kudzu Attack had actually happened, sixteen students had died or were otherwise presumed dead in the attack their remains unidentifiable. Hogwarts School, visible in the distance from Hogsmeade had a veritable flurry of construction wizards and goblins bustling around the castle like bees. The castle itself had known better days, great gashes in the stonework, shattered windows and the great ravines scarred into the land stretching from the edge of the forest to the lake from the vines rising through the ground, had altered the once scenic view into a more rugged and savage terrain more in place with something found in the most isolated of wildernesses.
Still, life went on in Hogsmeade village though busier than usual with troupes of artificers, enchanters, soldiers, volunteers, and Sky Patrollers making their way to and from the castle in an effort to restore the beleaguered castle.

Hogsmeade Village, Bluewind House
At the Bluewind House, things had also changed though not as negatively, for their actions in the defense of the students Maurice, Susan and Lee as well as many others had been awarded the Order of Merlin First Class, though given the circumstances there had been no award ceremony. Maurice just thought the gold medal with its green ribbon was a bit gaudy, as well as the deaths of the students leaving a bitter taste in his mouth causing him to later just put it in a drawer in his study to forget about. Susan at the advice of Queen Amelia had had her medal displayed in the queen's office next to Susan's picture for foreign dignitaries to be impressed by. The entire government seemed to be buried under important work, the restoration of Hogwarts featuring heavily as the castle was an important national icon.
With Hogwarts under reconstruction the students had been offered homeschooling by tutors in assigned buildings funded by their refunded tuition fees, a easier feat since the Restriction on Underage Sorcery had been lifted with the Great Secrecy Crisis the Americans had discovered. Susan had started to become overwrought with the many morale-boosting royal appearances her position mandated so Maurice had offered his own home as a sanctuary away from the press, the King and Queen had leaped on this opportunity to simultaneously help their daughter, show sympathy for the common people and earn positive PR in this trying time, like sharks.
So now Susan was tutored in Hogsmeade as opposed to her home or at Hogwarts. The crown princesses regular appearances near the castle allowing residents to feel safe again. The tutoring circle led by Hopkirk had expanded to include Lee Jordan as well as Fred's little brother Ronald Weasley who had bravely defended the hospital wing from creeping vines with his bow and arrows.
Maurice stretched like a cat in the plush armchair as the fire roared away merrily in the grate warming his toes as he patiently took notes as Hopkirk drilled them again in their knowledge of magical theory for the upcoming exams whilst Susan fiddled with her transfigured snuffbox by adding more and more intricate designs to it. Miles sat at the kitchen island with Neville, Bunnie and new addition Virginia 'call me Ginny' Weasley. Another new addition to their group Lee Jordan or as he'd been permanently dubbed Knuckles by Miles after hearing Maurice repeatedly refer to him as Knucklehead, was doing sit-ups on the carpet with his feet hooked under Maurice's chair. Next to Maurice sat Ron who had gained a nickname of his own with convoluted reasoning behind it which could more or less be summed up as the initial comparison of him to Robin Hood which had snowballed when his younger sister sitting next to him not catching the reference to the altruistic outlaw had said that robins were red and not green like hedges in reference to his hair. Fred had leapt on that unwitting pun with a grin like a crocodile and had from that moment henceforth called Ron by his new nickname Rob Hedge. Ron or Rob as he was now known to the group had not initially responded but had in a startling turn about of a prank on his siblings, accepted the nickname wholeheartedly and then refused to be called anything else. Ginny had been invited to the Bluewind tutoring circle at Fred and George and Rob's request who all agreed that their beloved s'mothers behavior had gotten a bit unbearable at home for all involved after the hands of their status detecting magic clock for four of her children had simultaneously pointed to mortal peril with ominous chimes. Ginny had been taken to get her wand early and now blazed through the first year syllabus with the Wit-Sharpening potions the whole group now used, if there was one problem though that Susan found amusing it was that was Maurice hadn't yet noticed Ginny's burgeoning crush on him though she kept it remarkably well-controlled to blushing and stuttering when interacting with Maurice.
So all in all the Bluewind House had become a hang out spot and makeshift schoolhouse though very relaxed with lessons sometimes taking place in the nearby no longer forbidden forest alongside the construction of the village in The Ravine. Some days however when the weather was bad like today the group would floo over and begin lessons with the older students occasionally slipping the younger more advanced spellwork.
"Do you all have nicknames?" Ginny Weasley asked Miles as she sipped at the hot chocolate, Miles shook his head "Nope, it just kinda happens, Parvati is Bunnie because she bounces back from everything, Neville sometimes goes by Boomer but it doesn't really stick that well, Lee is Knuckles because he's a Knucklehead" "Oi!" Protested the aforementioned Knuckles from the floor earning a chuckle from those listening.
Miles continued "People are beginning to call Maurice Sonic now because of how fast he can move and he likes it so that's his nickname now" Indeed it appeared that one intrepid reporter had managed to snag some really good shots of the daring leap Maurice had made to the top of the Astronomy Tower and mentioned the sound of the sonic boom he'd made in the process. Maurice loved the name for reasons he couldn't quite remember and had flatly announced that that was his name now, unaffected by the chuckling from his friends as they realized he was being serious.
"Blaise almost got called Espionage but that was a bit of a giveaway and a mouthful so he's been making an effort to get it shortened to Espio, it seems to be sticking" added Fred as he walked through the front door covered in dust and sneezing, cleaning as much dust off himself with a spell as possible before heading to the bathroom to clean up.
"Everything going well at the castle?" Susan asked Fred sympathetically as the masonry dust did not look comfortable in the least "Constructions coming along, between learning new spells and casting spells all day I'm bushed"
Plenty of people had volunteered to help in the reconstruction, former students with deep feelings of school pride over a certain age had been allowed to help in the less dangerous tasks suck as levitation rubble, filling in holes and general landscaping while more dangerous tasks like placing stone or fitting glass windows went to those good enough at the art of transfiguration to make a job of it.
Sonic smirked not looking up from his notes "We'd help, but we're banned from the construction site because of our age and the Headmistress keeps giving Knuckles the stink eye for flooding the castle, so he's too terrified of her wrath to go anywhere near her" Knuckles threw a pillow at Sonic sparking much laughter.

April 2nd, W.A.N.D Department of Mysteries
The Head Unspeakable stretched in place and yawned as he eyed the stack of files in his in-tray, it was a slow day but considering recent events the paperwork was likely about to double, He'd sent about half of his agents to investigate the site of the Hogwarts Incident on the order of the Queen who had relayed the order through General Vance, and they hadn't reported in yet. Owl had made some startling headway on the Malfoy Case and handed in his report a while back, a massive file indicating that Owl had really done his research. He had only skimmed the conclusion as there had been more pressing things going on at the time. From what Owl had found out the Wish-Magic Incident had explosively affected more than just the Department of Mysteries, in the days after the Wish-Magic Incident Lucius Malfoy and his wife had abruptly retreated from the public eye, furthermore there were massive monetary transactions made from the Malfoy Vaults and a noted correlation with many ritual artifacts and rune carving equipment delivered from overseas, clearly whatever the Lucius Malfoy had been doing though had been interrupted by something powerful. Powerful in the manner that it had completely bypassed the wards and wrought havoc on the building and seemingly abducted the Malfoy family in the effort, too powerful to be a simple lethifold that had snuck its way across borders by hiding in one of the deliveries.
Efforts to track down the anonymous informant had been completely stymied by the soldiers in charge not taking the informant seriously and investigating anything, which had seen that soldier immediately demoted. The other question remaining now was what had happened to the missing Malfoy child, who according to forensics on the scene had not been taken with his parents and in fact been present in the ruins before vanishing shortly after it had been reported.
Then there was the matter of the apparent cellar full of rotting corpses that the Lethifold had gorged itself on…
The Head Unspeakable pinched the bridge of his nose to forestall the inevitable headache and penned a note to turn the file over to the new Investigations Department to chew on, he was so done with this.

Munich 1927, Back Alleys
'This isn't right!' Agent Silver silently screamed to himself as he ducked down an alleyway. No sooner than he had entered the photo studio then the rest of the group waiting inconspicuously outside in various guises had been ambushed by what was unmistakably an entire wizard battalion, one that according to all reports should not be here at this point in the timeline.
"Hello Lupin" came a familiar voice, pallid white skin, silvery-white hair with blue tips and eyes stained red like rubies from her descent into the darkest of magic, Delphini Riddle cut a most impressive figure for such a slight looking figure.
Silver skidded to a halt in alarm "You!"
Delphini laughed "Yes me! I suppose you never thought ahead about what you'd do when you caught me, having second thoughts ickle Lupin?"
"Shut up" Silver snarled and raised a wand ready to knock her out "I'm taking you back to my time to fix the mess you've made of it!"
"Oh Silver" Delphini tutted then cooed "If anything I improved it"
Silver growled "Improved it? Improved it! Our world is gone Delphini! A scorched wasteland of fire and ash! Because of you!"
Delphini tutted feeling amused when it made Silver snarl "It won't be like that when I fix it Silver"
"I've seen what you consider fixed, Delphini! I won't let you repeat it!"
Delphini merely grinned and began shooting off spells so fast that he was hard-pressed to block only to discover that she hadn't been aiming for him in the first place if the screams of the two ICW agents who had caught up with him were anything to go on.
The third agent was faster casting a smoke spell blinding the sight of Delphini and their other pursuers enough for the group to joint Disapparate away to safety.
Part of the pursuit team broke off and walked to her, Operative Opossum approached Delphini briskly as she straightened from her crouch with a side smirk at the lingering oil stain on the cobblestone.
Only instead of the praise she expected Opossum snarled and gripped her by the collar pulling her close "You stupid girl! You don't even realize what you've done!"
Opossum look has his face been visible through the concealment charm could have curdled milk.
"I got rid of Lupin and two of his accomplices!" Delphini protested causing Operative Opossum to sneer "If only you'd been smart enough to not use a signature spell!"
Delphini's heart dropped at the realization of her mistake "Oh"
"Yes 'Oh' we knew they'd figure it out at some point, but handing out secrets like this is beyond the pale!"
"Sorry?" Delphini squeaked Operative Opossum sighed in aggravation letting Delphini fall from his grasp to the floor in a heap "I expect better in the future Operative Metamorphia, are you able to get back to work?"
Delphini forced herself to her feet her form beginning to shift, her height rose, her hair darkening losing all traces of blue and fading from white to pale blonde while her red eyes changed to a stunning sky blue. Delphini straightened out her pullover, dusted down her skirt, checked her silk stockings for signs of damage and repaired one of the heels of her high-heeled shoes which had gone crooked in the confrontation "How do I look?" Delphini asked teasingly swaying on the spot seductively, Operative Opossum just shuddered at the unsettling transformation and mannerisms "Just.. get back to work."
Back at the photostudio and having stopped to pick up a bag of pastries as an excuse for her lateness Delphini in disguise walked into an interesting scene "Ah Miss Braun did you hear what happened a while ago?"
Delphini shook her head demurely and spoke in perfect german with nary an accent "I have not, I was purchasing some pastries, perhaps you could regale me of the event whilst we eat?"
Hoffman chortled and turned to the man on his right jovially "You can see why she is my favorite assistant, she brings me pastries! Ah where are my manners, allow me to introduce the man of vision himself Adolf Hitler, Adolf, This is my assistant Eva Braun"
Delphini faked a blush at the older man's intense gaze "It's a pleasure"
"The pleasure is all mine fair Fräulein"

April 4th, Wands by Gregorovitch, Carkitt Market
Sonic forced himself not to shudder at the empty alley a street over and focused on the wand shop he was about to enter, noting Miles impatient look Sonic braced himself and entered the store.
The bell tinkled as Sonic pushed the door open, cautious of receiving another jumpscare from another renowned wandmaker. Miles had no such apprehension and wandered in with curious eyes. Walking up to the welcome desk Sonic rang the bell on the table and signed into the visitor book which was an entirely different experience than from Ollivanders. A voice hollered from the back of the store "Be with you in a minute!" Sonic examined the store with an eagle eye, it was a lot cleaner than Ollivanders with a lot of clear or colored lacquer on the wood surfaces "I see you admiring the woodwork! We also do furnishings and occasionally furniture in addition to wands if you are interested?" With pure-white hair and a thick, bushy but well-trimmed beard contrasting his dark eyes and typical wizardwear Mykew Gregorovitch was a dignified old wizard but evidently much more straightforward than most of his kind.
"I'm actually here for a second wand" Sonic illustrated by rolling up he sleeves showing the white vambraces with his holly and phoenix feather wand sheathed in the left one.
"Oh? That's quite interesting" Gregorovitch rubbed his beard thoughtfully examining the bracer "What type is the wand? I assume that's an Ollivanders work?" Sonic nodded "Yes, holly wood and phoenix feather"
Gregorovitch mummed thoughtfully "Hmm difficult to find a match for that combination, Though I should be able to do it, It is probably a good thing my assistants called me back in given the recent upswing in business, they've been almost driven to their knees in exhaustion. Still, there is a bit of poetry to a single person dual-wielding a wand each from rival wand makers"
Gregorovitch gestured for the two to follow him towards the wand display. "Now unlike Ollivanders I do not perform that elaborate wand selection ceremony, I simply don't have the mage sight nor the patience for it."
Miles piped up remembering something Sonic had told him "I thought the wand picked the wizard?"
"True to a extent, are you okay being here?" Gregorovitch asked Miles who caught his meaning right away and just smiled. "I know I can't do magic like big brother, I don't mind I'm just curious"
"Don't let that curiosity turn to jealousy and you'll be fine" spoke Gregorovitch gruffly as if remembering a bad experience.
"I won't" Miles chirped.
"Such a gem" Gregorovitch traded a look with Sonic who smirked.
"Anyway here we narrow down the components of your wand then you get to test the stocked wands of that combination to find a match" Gregorovitch pulled out a large tray from a nearby shelf and set it on the table "first the wood, bring your magic to the surface as if casting a spell and pick one you like"
The tray was full of labeled blocks of wood. Right away Sonic discarded the cherry rosewood and elm into the helpfully provided and labeled reject tray, next to be discarded was holly which got a strange look from Gregorovitch, next was willow which Sonic spared a conflicted look at before moving onto walnut which was discarded with a look of outright disgust. Hawthorn and blackthorn were definite maybes along with the english oak and red oak. Apple got a better reaction but Sonic continued to examine the blocks, cypress provoked a shiver of unease and was rejected immediately, whereas fir and reed earned a look of deep interest, maple and pear merely got a confused look and were fast discarded.
Sonic re-examined the blocks he hadn't yet discarded tentatively discarding blackthorn and the red oak block at last choosing between hawthorn and english oak. "I don't think I can choose between these" Sonic admitted quietly, "Take your time or we could move onto wand cores if you like and come back to these?" Gregorovitch encouraged with understanding eyes. Sonic nodded unsure "Let us move onto cores"
The next tray contained an array of feathers, horns and a few vials of heartstrings, Gregorovitch unnoticeably twitched when Sonic discarded the phoenix feather, unicorn hair and heartstrings wholesale and abruptly hyper-focused on the small golden feathers as well as a long blue whisker.
"One of these..." Sonic spoke unable to take his eyes off the cores Gregorovitch moved the two cores out of sight very carefully and Sonic twitched coming back to himself when they were out of sight with a strange look on his face Gregorovitch spoke into the silence "I have seen that reaction once before and I have no intention of suffering a repeat performance. I shall go get all combinations with your chosen woods and cores and we can begin testing" Gregorovitch bustled out of the room while Sonic leaned heavily against the table with a worried looking Miles looking on. "What just happened?"
Sonic looked at his hands as the tremors died down and tried to put what he'd just experienced into words "There were two paths in front of me and I wanted to walk both directions at once, but when I couldn't the path tried to tear me in two"
Miles echoed his confusion "That doesn't make sense"
"Divination rarely does" Came Gregorovitch's voice as he returned with two shoeboxes.
"What? Your telling me I saw into the future?" asked Sonic skeptically, Gregorovitch shrugged "It does happen, even in someone with no such talent, magic is capricious like that." Gregorovitch set the boxes down "Now I'm obliged to warn you that the wands in this box have Golden Snidget feather cores and were harvested before the species were declared a protected species, More than one person have had their wands stolen just for the feathers, so if you do select one of them then I advise you not to spread the information around." Gregorovitch held their gaze seriously to make sure they got the point then moved to the other box "The wands in here are made of a less rare but equally hard to find sea serpent whiskers, all the wands here are made from either hawthorn or english oak, please test all the wands and pick whatever you feel fits you best."

April 5th, The Ravine
Miles 'ohhed' as 'ahhed' as Sonic levitated two boulders slowly with a seeming gesture of his hands dual casting from his new hawthorn and sea serpent whisker wand and his holly wood and phoenix feather wand. The two wands worked well together for all that the holly was a poor match unless casting directly from the vambrace, as Gregorovitch had remarked it was as if the holly wand had agoraphobia though remembering who he was working with he amended that statement to 'the wand having the survival instinct its wielder lacked' if its preference for staying in the hardy vambrace to avoid any danger of being broken by accident was any indicator.
Lowering one of the boulders a slicing spell carved through the stone with a cloud of rock dust as Sonic amateurishly carved it into a crude table getting progressiveness more detailed as the sun moved across the sky.

April 6th, Hogwarts Castle
Floating invisibly through the ruined castle Professor Binns smirked holding the black key engraved with thorns, it appeared that while Fronsac had lost the ward key to Sgùrr Mòr, one of the students had found it and proceeded to hide it in the famed cursed vaults though likely not by choice given that Binn's had been forced to fish it out of a dead dragon's guts. Evading the unspeakable's in the process had been the most difficult thing he'd done by far these past few years. Now it was time to open the gate and help his master prepare for his glorious return! And what a glorious return it would be! Binns smiled darkly reminded of an old quote 'Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice' yet either or both would fulfill his desire for as far as he was concerned, both elements burned quite nicely even if in different ways.
For now though, there were some loose ends to be tied up, starting with former professor and headmaster Basil Fronsac..

April 8th, Hogsmeade Village, Bluewind House
"Now, now! No need to look so despondent! If anything this assignment shows that the royals still think highly of you" Madam Hopkirk gently admonished the sullen-looking Sergeant who sat in his wheelchair scowling mutinously down at the written orders he'd been given "...My soldiers won't stop laughing at me, no matter how many push-ups I make them do, demoted to the babysitter or am I the one being babysat?" the medically benched Sergeant admitted ruefully. Hopkirk ruthlessly suppressed a smile because it really was funny, But Rufus only had himself to blame for not taking the medical advice he'd been given and working himself into a fever from an untreated hairline fracture that turned into an infection. Still on the road to recovery and still driving himself to exhaustion the exasperated General Vance had assigned him as the Princesses study groups secondary tutor and bodyguard, forcing him off the heavy workloads Rufus would otherwise recklessly tackle.
Hogwarts was still being rebuilt though there was talk of just finishing the year early, mainly because the unspeakable's were forcibly plumbing the secrets of the castle with extreme prejudice because of the discovery of the legendary cursed vaults which had turned out to be less legendary and just plain extraordinarily lethal. The five-page newspaper spread on the oldest, largest and most vicious horntail dragon ever recorded to be used as a guard dragon in one of the vaults in a school had been chilling to say the least. As observed by young Maurice or Sonic as he now went by the Kudzu attack had likely saved young Jordan's, similarly going by his own nickname, Knuckle's life, by cracking that wall in the vault otherwise he'd have never been found. Still, he doubted they'd find all of Hogwarts secrets, the founders had been extraordinarily tricky like that.

April 10th, Hogsmeade Village, Gladrags Wizardwear
Sonic yawned despite himself, the scent of worked fabrics made him want to sleep but he was here for a reason, Susan had near begged him to come to the W.A.N.D Charity Gala with her next month at the newly refurbished former ministry building which now on the outside looked like a small-scale embassy and was for the first time open to the public and above ground. Natural since Sonic and Miles were attending the event with the Princess it meant they had to dress the part, hence clothes shopping at Gladrags Wizardwear. He'd made the poor decision of mentioning this in Hopkirks presence who had ushered the entire group of everyone attending into a crown funded clothes fitting, which basically amounted to Sonic, Miles, Knuckles, Rob, Fred and Neville playing the part of customizable dolls for Bunnie, Susan, Ginny and Hopkirk to have fun with.
At the end of it, Sonic modeled a set of dark blue robes with a white dress shirt to exaggerated cheers and sat back to watch the others play clothes horse slash suffer, poor Miles looked ever so betrayed.
Idling around while waiting for his friends to finish Sonic had picked up a few nice pair of warm white Acromantula silk gloves which he'd grown fond of for protecting his hands from the Kudzu thorns as well as allowing him to perform parkour over rough surfaces without losing a layer of skin by accident, though apparently the price had gone up for some reason the shop assistant had mentioned irritably.
No longer the center of attention if Knuckles indignant yelping and everyone's giggles or commiserating moans were any indicators, Sonic went to browse the rest of the shop's wares and its more quirky merchandise, immediately catching his attention was the description of the enchantment on a set of two large blue bracelets, noticing his attention on the objects one of the shop assistants came over. "Do you require any assistance?" Sonic nodded "How much is this?"
The shop assistant examined the bracelets in question and his expression lit up "That's part of our Ability Enhancement Range created in 1906 by the Stevenson family, as long as you land after a jump with the sole of one foot flat on the ground you'll bounce higher than your initial leap, its quite expensive" Sonic winced as the price was listed, the sales assistant leaned close "In the absence of a suitable ramp the expanded range includes a few things a person capable of breaking the sound barrier might find useful if you'll come this way" The assistant hinted leading the bemused Sonic to another part of the shop.
Reaching the display case the shop assistant handed Sonic a letter and bade him to read it, reading it Sonic expression fell into one of surprise, for as it turned out the part owners of the shop was the Greengrass family who had left a message that anything Sonic, eg. the boy who had helped save their daughters life from a collapsing common room, buys on his first visit to the shop was to be massively underpriced. So Sonic left the store with a Bounce-Bracelet set and a set of golden Antigrav-Buckles clipped to his shoes at a much more affordable price which in combination with the Bounce Bracelet allowed Sonic to use his momentum to ricochet off walls and jump to incredible heights all without the aid of killer kudzu and the new ability to land from any height without hurting his legs. It opened up so many possibilities and paths! He'd have to set a camera up to catch his friend's expressions when he used it because their expressions were bound to be amusing.

April 10th, Unknown location
The fire burned happily in the grate flames leaving trails of flickering light to dance around the darkened room, Gellert Grindelwald swirled the glass of scotch around watching the rich amber liquid catch the fires light from his armchair. At the desk Operative Opossum finished his report and laid it on his desk for later perusal.
"Do you know why I named you Opossum?" Grindelwald asked out of the blue, breaking the quiet silence between them.
Opossum chuckled "I have some faint idea, Sir"
Amber liquid tinkled "Perhaps more foolish sentimentality on my part, Names have meaning after all. Do you know why Operative Metamorphia originally named Operative Augurey was named so?"
Opossum paused brow crinkling in thought as Grindelwald chuckled "There is not a single operative in my army named after a magical creature and even then we all have animal code names so.. why her?"
"I had assumed you had plans for her sir. As the daughter of the former dark lord I assume she's quite a valuable resource"
Grindelwald snorted in amusement "And in our many discussions of the future I plan to create have we ever discussed the role of magical creatures?"
Opossum paused thinking back realization leaving him quite bewildered "No, Sir... now that I think of it... we have not."
Grindelwald sipped at his scotch and sighed looking into the fire "In the Second World War a couple on foot walked across Germany into Switzerland having previously jumped out of a train taking them from one concentration camp to another. They took with them their young daughter and passed her off to the border guard with a written diary and almost immediately dropped dead of exhaustion on the spot."
"Sir?"
"Several years ago a non-magical woman lifted a one-tonne car to save the life of an infant trapped beneath it. Magical humans also have many such records of pulling off such fantastic magical feats in defense of another"
Grindelwald paused "Now, Combing through our history, how many of these feats have been attributed to magical creatures? Would you like to guess?"
Not giving Opossum time to respond, Grindelwald answered himself "None, In thousands of years, not a single such action has been recorded. Even non-magical animals have their moments but magical creatures?"
Grindelwald scoffed "You think I designate Delphini as a valuable resource? No, it's quite the opposite I named her such because she is utterly disposable and at most an outside contractor even if she does not recognize it as such."
Opossum gaped as Grindelwald continued pouring another glass of scotch and handing it to Opossum and refilling his own in the process with a sharp smile.
"She'll play at being a Dark Lady and dream of the subjugation of all magical kind, but ultimately to those of us who play a bigger game? The rain she brings bestirs not a ripple in the pond."
"Is that why you gave her that assignment?" asked Opossum, mouth suddenly dry.
"To keep the squalling little child out of the way yes. She will do her job and siphon the needed resources to hidden locations that were never discovered as planned, the nazi's collective plundered wealth should prove useful" Grindelwald gazed into the flickering fire. "and when the noose tightens and she awaits a rescue which will never come?"
Grindelwald tilted his head to the side "Well that should save us the trouble of putting down a rabid animal don't you think?"
Opossum raised his glass in a toast amazed again by the leader he had chosen to follow and raised a glass. "Out with the old, in with the new?"
Grindelwald chuckled and toasted in agreement with a tinkle of glass "I could not have put it better myself"

April 20th, Hogsmeade Village, Bluewind House
Scowling at the circuit board Miles pushed it away with a huff and looked over to his brother who had apparently fallen asleep in the poofy armchair, retrieving a warm woolly blanket from the cupboard he briefly looked down at the open book splayed in the exhausted student's lap and tilted his head in curiosity at the strange picture on the cover, he'd never seen a book like this before. Glancing back at the circuit board Miles shrugged it wasn't like he was going to make any progress tonight and that book did look interesting… quietly closing the book and tucking in under his arm he covering Sonic with the woolly blanket and crept quietly upstairs to his bedroom. Safe at last with his borrowed prize lying on the bed Miles opened the book and began to read aloud but quietly "First iteration, The Angel of Goliad..."