Dumbledore arrived first. It hadn't taken much for him to believe Zia's tale, especially after she gave background information that she shouldn't have had. She was fairly sure he was convinced that she was a seer rather than a denizen from another world. Why he believed her didn't matter as much as that he did. After her explanations, and several questions from him, he withdrew to begin formulating plans.

Newt Scamander came next. Several of Regulus' shady contacts arrived shortly after. Then several more of Dumbledore's friends. Then more. Wizards and witches from all over the world took over her living room. Nobody could get into any of the other rooms in the house unless given permission, thanks to Ravenclaw's Room of Requirement-style house plan, for which Zia was grateful. Some of Regulus' friends were the kind that liked to take things that didn't belong to them.

The living room expanded in size as more people joined their ranks. When some of their guests needed a place to stay, a new doorway appeared on the main room that revealed a set of what were essentially small hotel rooms. Several of the international witches inquired as to how Zia had charmed the house to work this way, and she'd just shrugged and explained that she'd purchased it that way. It certainly made things easier.

Pozey was constantly on the move, preparing meals and taking care of all the guests. She seemed to enjoy the busyness. A pang of guilt flared in Zia's stomach. Without Tom there, she probably hadn't been the best mistress for the house elf. She'd mostly been dragging herself though each day in a daze.

Once the majority of the group was gathered there, the process began. Zia was tasked with examining every single person there to make sure they were all trustworthy and not in league with Grindelwald. It was exhausting going through so many minds, and it took an entire week to complete. Then came the meetings.

"He recruited in France openly," a witch from the United States said. Her face pulled into a sad frown as she spoke, but otherwise she kept calm. "He may try a similar tactic elsewhere."

"Not if he went to Nurmengard directly after. He took another lad with him then. Why is he collecting these boys?"

"Credence was a powerful young wizard. Powerful enough to live with an Obscurus even into his teenage years," Newt Scamander spoke now, his eyes fixed on the table in front of him. "It seems that Grindelwald is looking for powerful young magic users who he feels he can mold."

"Is he trying to create some kind of army then?" A witch with a heavy Russian accent asked from one corner. This comment set of a round of debate in the group as people argued over whether this was a sign of worse things to come.

"We will remain vigilant, and we will find him," Dumbledore said finally from the center of the group. "With our numbers it is only a matter of time. He seeks support, that has not changed. He will reveal himself somewhere."

"Even when he does, how will we get the message to the rest safely and quickly? Owls are easily intercepted. It may not be safe to use floo powder. Portkeys are generally monitored. There's always a risk of interference in any form of communication, even in person. He used polyjuice potion to infiltrate MACUSA," a witch from the United States spoke next. The group went quiet.

"What about the Patronus charm?" Zia said finally. Dumbledore nodded as he studied her shrewdly. It was how the Order of the Phoenix members had communicated, and she wondered if he knew she was using that knowledge to help them now. "If we can find a way to get messages through Patronuses...I'm not sure that could be duplicated."

"The Patronus charm is difficult magic. High level. Can you even create a Patronus?" a man from somewhere in South America spoke next. Zia looked down. She had never tried to create a Patronus before. She had no idea if she could do it or not.

"Can anybody here create a Patronus?" another wizard asked. Dumbledore lifted one eyebrow and several hands raised. "Besides Dumbledore. And the other professors. I mean normal people."

"Why don't we take some time to teach everyone, and if not enough people are able to produce one we can scrap the idea?" one of the teachers, who had a French accent and taught at Beauxbatons, proposed.

"I propose a vote. All in favor of taking a couple days to see whether or not we can get enough people able to produce a Patronus to utilize them?" the US witch, Zia was almost positive she was an auror, asked in a firm voice.

"Americans and their obsession with voting," the Russian wizard grumbled under his breath, but he still raised his hand to support the motion. It was a majority. The discussion turned more businesslike after the first vote. Roles were divided up based on location and skill level of those in attendance. Plans were made. A lot of it hinged on the ability to get messages back and forth safely.

Zia knew that the Patronuses could work, that they did at some point decades in the future, but she had no idea how. She could only hope that Dumbledore would be able to figure it out. The best she could do would be to learn from whatever teacher she was grouped with and produce one.

The first day they practiced, she didn't even produce mist. Several of the others in her practice group managed it, but the majority of them were like her. She tried not to feel discouraged, after all it wasn't as if Harry got it the first time either. Still, she wanted to feel like she was progressing somehow. Getting closer to a way to find her son. The whole purpose of getting everyone here was to find Grindelwald. To find Tom.

She stayed up late that night, practicing. The second day they practiced, several more of them produced mist. Some of them produced more mist than others. She was still unable to produce anything. By the fifth day several members of her group had produced animal shaped patronuses. One person's was a mongoose. Someone else's was a fox. A leopard. A housecat. Regulus had managed to produce a bat.

She had nothing.

On the sixth day, Dumbledore pulled her aside before the training started. They went into the kitchen, where there was nobody but Pozey. He motioned for her to sit at the table then sat back and appraised her, his fingers steepled together atop the table.

"I heard from Mr. Black that you are the only remaining student in your class who is unable to produce any kind of patronus," he observed. He pulled his wand out and conjured up a plate of cookies. Then he pushed it towards her. "Why might that be?"

"I don't know," Zia took a cookie and broke pieces of it off without eating any of them. "I'm trying. I'm working hard. It just...isn't working."

"What sort of memories have you been using to try to conjure it?"

"Whatever I can think of."

"I see."

He let her pick the cookie apart in silence for several minutes before he spoke.

"What is your happiest memory, Zia?" he leaned forward and looked intently at her. He tapped his long fingers on the table slowly as he kept his eyes on hers.

"I don't know. Every time I try to think of one...they all...all of my happiest memories have people I've lost in them. My parents. Mary and Charlie. Tom. He's gone, and I can't find him. Lost like the rest," Zia kept her eyes on the crumbs of the cookie, fighting the stinging pricking feeling at the corners of her eyes. She'd already cried so much. She didn't want to lose her composure again.

"It's impossible to truly lose someone. We can always find them in everyone they touched. Whether they're there in memories, or in something more concrete like the way we speak or think, certain things we do...they're still here. You carry all of those people with you, Zia. They're never far." Dumbledore pushed the plate of cookies towards her again. Tears spilled down her cheeks when she realized what he'd done.

They were Mary's special recipe gingerbread cookies. The recipe she and Tom had spent an entire afternoon learning in the Dawkins' kitchen. The recipe she'd taught to Pozey, since they were Tom's favorite. She reached out and picked up a gingerbread woman holding hands with a gingerbread child. Pozey had decorated the cookies to look like Mary and Tom. Zia looked at all the other cookies, and saw that there were little decorated versions of Charlie, Regulus, Riddle Sr, Dumbledore, and Newt on the plate too. The only one missing was herself.

She back at the cookie she'd crushed.

In front of her eyes, the pieces pulled back together to form the whole cookie once more. It was her. She looked back up and realized that Dumbledore's wand was out. He nodded once at her. She pulled her own wand out.

"Your happiest memory, Zia." She closed her eyes and focused. The cookie clutched in one hand, she raised her wand.

"Expecto Patronum!"

She opened her eyes just in time to watch a massive shape spring from the tip of her wand, sliver and glowing in the dimmed light of the kitchen. It pranced around the room, tossing its horned head, sending its mane rippling back. An enormous pair of wings stretched out, then settled at its sides. She wasn't sure if it was a flying horse or a unicorn.

"I wonder if Newt may be able to identify what your Patronus is," Dumbledore said as it reared up once, then faded away.

"Now all we have to do is figure out how to communicate with them," she said, staring at the place where her Patronus had just been. "Then I can help."

"I believe I have some ideas regarding that."