Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

  Chapter 118- Regroup.

  "What the hell is she doing here!? She is a wanted criminal!" I shout, looking at Madam Patricia Rakepick in shock. It is true the woman is stunning, especially for a woman past her fifties with bright red hair, deep blue eyes and pale skin, but it is because of her morally ambiguous and criminal past that I am shellshocked as she is known for being daring, malevolent and dangerously competent with dark magic. She killed a kid, for peat's sake. Not only that, but she is commanding, enigmatic, and calculating, able to take people to follow her, though she's not easy to impress and always plays the long game. Long story short, she's manipulative and evil.

  She interacted with Lockhart before, testing him out and then decided he wasn't worth anything. Obviously, the original Gilderoy didn't see it like that, but looking back at his memories, I see it like that. She was curious but sceptical about him, presumably having heard of his 'heroic' escapades, but she sensed something didn't add up; not being worth her time, she cut off communication. The next thing Lockhart hears about is her killing some brown kid in Hogwarts, and she hasn't been seen since until now.

  "Stop it," Rika demanded, putting her hand firmly on my good hand, which was beginning to lift my wand and point it at Madam Rakepick, but Rika slammed it onto the table. I look at her in confusion, but she then shakes her head and then goes back to casting spells on my wrist. Hey, now that I think about it, I actually can't feel that wrist right now. She must have used a spell on it that is like an anaesthetic; she is good, I didn't even notice. In fact, she's halfway done healing it already. No, Gilderoy, don't be distracted by the holy healing; focus back on the murder lady.

  "Okay, can somebody explain to me why that wanted criminal is here? The lady that killed her own student and fled?" I ask, looking around at the various members of the Dark Force Defence League before glaring at Madam Rakepick, who just looks back at me amusedly. I ain't no saint, that's for sure, but you don't kill a kid. You can kick and smash down their sandcastles all you want, but you can't kill them. That is something I can't just ignore, especially after being a teacher myself. I may have hated it, but it had its highs, and there were moments I enjoyed.

  "Please calm down, Mr Lockhart. I assure you there is a reasonable explanation, and you do not have to attack Madam Rakepick." Someone says to me, and when I look around the room to see who it is, I find it to be someone I haven't ever met before, and someone I didn't even notice was in the room. There, behind Madam Rakepick, is a young man standing, a dark robe covering him. I don't know how I missed him as he was standing compared to everybody else, but somehow I did. A stealth expert?

  "Who are you?" I ask, giving him a once over and assessing his danger. He was able to stay hidden from me, so he very well could have exceptional skill as an assassin. Having just dealt with one of those recently, I am a bit on edge. The young man has brown skin, is of average height, has black hair that goes to his shoulders and has a pair of glasses that sit on his nose, which is a bit pronounced. I stare at him, feeling like I have seen him before, searching my memory, but all I can surmise is that I may have seen him on the front of a newspaper.

  "I am Rowan Khanna, the student Madam Rakepick is wanted for murdering." The young man says, revealing himself to be a murder victim, but that clearly isn't true because he is standing alive and breathing in front of me. I can't help but let my jaw drop a little as I look between the young man and Madam Rakepick, unable to believe what I am hearing. I remember this kid on the front of the newspaper three years ago, struck dead by the killing curse. He's older now, around twenty-one, if my math is correct, but it is him, and there is no doubt about it.

  "Why?" There is no 'why what' needed as everybody knows what I am asking, and Madam Rakepick is the one who explains. "I have been working to infiltrate a clandestine magical organisation seeking to control powerful magical artefacts and reshape the wizarding world through fear and domination. This organisation operates in the shadows, recruiting talented witches and wizards who share their ideology of power, secrecy, and control. Unlike Voldemort's Death Eaters, who you are probably more familiar with, this organisation is not centred around blood purity, but rather the accumulation of magical power through any means possible." She starts.

  "The organisation goes by the name R, and I had been recruited into it for a couple of years. They knew I was a member of The Dark Force Defence League that was working against them and wanted someone on the inside, and they approached me because of my more brutal and ruthless methods. However, even after years, I didn't advance, and I needed to make a big move if I wanted to dive deeper. So I went to Hogwarts and investigated the cursed vault, and to really sell my commitment, I even 'murdered' a student. Young Rowan here has been bravely aiding us and hiding his existence." I look at her, and then I voice something that seems stupid in retrospect.

  "Why did no one tell me about any of this?" I ask, looking around at all of the other people who just look at me like I am stupid. "You are an honourary member, Gilderoy. And even then, you were only made so because we needed the publicity to get some funding, and that is the extent of your relationship with us. This is the first time we have had contact with you outside of social meetings, and that is only because of the urgency you expressed in your letter. And even then, it is only because Arun expressed the severity of this meeting that we came, and the other members not here ignored that anyway." Rika says before pushing my hand back towards me.

  I flinch, expecting pain, and then I remember she had removed the feeling from my hand, but then I moved it around and realised the feeling was back, and it was all healed up. She does good work. "Right. You are right; my apologies. I haven't done anything for you all to answer the call I sent out, and yet you came anyway. I appreciate that. In fact, I am sure you will all be glad you came too because the matter I have to discuss is of dire consequences to the entire world." I make sure to express the seriousness of the matter at hand as well as apologise to make sure none of them are going to refuse my coming request.

  "Apologising? Hm, you really are a changed man, Gilderoy. The last time we met, you thought you were Merlin's gift to earth and refused to think you were wrong, and you would never in a million years apologise. Whatever has happened must have really shaken you up if you are actually acting like a normal person." I ponder on what to reply to the statement, but then I just decide to ignore it. "First of all, I would like to thank you all for showing up. Now, I was recently in Italy and-"I am cut off my Madam Rakepick.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "If you would wait a moment before explaining, Gilderoy. We are waiting on someone else to show up; once they do, we will all listen to your troubles." She says, and it is clear to me that she is the de facto leader in the room. That kind of makes sense, given how much she's given up in the pursuit of battling dark forces; she's not the Snape kind of spy, as she was never on the dark side. Whether she is still the leader when all the members are together, I can't say, but she's definitely an influential member of the Dark Force Defence League.

  I pause and then decide to patiently wait, looking around at the others. After a few moments of waiting and Cassandra noisily sipping on her tea as if to purposely drive up the awkwardness, I speak again. "So, Madam Rakepick. How is your mission going? I- I mean, if it's okay to ask you about it? I would like to know more about this R, I've not heard of them before." I say, feeling very off-kilter from being in a room where people don't care at all for my fame or reputation.

  Madam Rakepick chuckles beautifully. "It's quite alright, Gilderoy. I don't mind. And I should think it is quite normal that you haven't heard of them, they are a secretive organisation. Now, where to start when it comes to R?" She brings a finger to her chin as she looks up at the ceiling and reclines in her chair, and then, with a sigh, she leans forward and settles in to talk about the mysterious organisation.

  "How long have they existed? I don't know. How many members do they have? I don't know. Who is their leader? I don't know. It is a mysterious organisation, and they keep things on a need-to-know basis, and currently, given my current position, I don't need to know that much. A pain, I know, but infiltration is a slow process." The other members shake their heads, and I get the feeling that a few of them are not on board with her undercover plan, but what's done is done.

  "Might I ask, what do you know?" I query, and again, she seems to sigh exhaustedly. "To be honest, not a lot. The factions of R stay to themselves, handling things. It's all separated, so if one faction goes down, the rest of the organisation will not be affected or exposed. The only way to find out more is to rise higher in the ranks, which is what I am trying to do. Once I reach the point where I know all the factions, we can take them down." I nod my head in understanding.

  "So it's like a Hydra, with many different heads that act separately. Even if you cut off one, the others can keep on functioning. And that is why you need to get high enough that you can cut off all the heads off at once. A tremendous task, I do not envy you." At least it isn't a situation where you cut off one head and two more take its place like Marvel Hydra, but still, that is annoying and I don't want to get involved.

  "Indeed, which is why we can get all the help we can get. Rowan here has gotten very good at being invisible since he went into hiding, and I have him searching out many avenues for progression. But that is enough; it's time for you to tell your story." Madam Rakepick says, gesturing behind me. I turn around to see who it is. And, of course, it's fucking Albus Percival Eulfric Brian Dumbledore. This motherfucker has his fingers in too many goddamn pies.

  "Professor Dumbledore, I didn't expect to see you here," I say, standing up to greet him. I notice the others do the same, and it is to be expected. This is the most powerful and good man in the entire wizarding world, seen as the kind grandfather for a lot of them as he taught them. This man was respected whether you were on his side or if you were against him because he was powerful and old.

  "Yes, I didn't expect to see you quite so soon after you finished teaching at Hogwarts. I must say, it's good to see you again. I understand you have run into trouble since leaving the school?" Dumbledore asks, casually taking a seat at the table and resting his hands on it, looking at me with a smile.

  "Indeed I have. I must apologise, but, how is it that you are here? I don't believe I sent you a letter." This old man hardly ever leaves Britain, but here he is out of the blue, somehow coming and showing up when I need help. I didn't ask him for help, I came to the Dark Force Defence League to get assistance, but somehow this man, an old codger, found out and turned up.

  "Well, as an old man who wants the best for the world, I keep an eye on many things. Of course, due to my age and my position, I can't attend to all of those things. Which is why I am glad people like the members of the Dark Force Defence League are out there dealing with those things, and I like to keep a connection to them if they ever need advice or help. It just so happens that I was in the process of catching up with Madam Rakepick when she received the summons to this meeting, and I was intrigued when I found out you were the one requesting aid." He smiles benevolently.

  I nod my head in understanding, but inside I kind of want to throttle him because he has many stupid ass schemes in the works. The fact he just admitted to having a meeting with Madam Rakepick means he knew all along that she faked her crime and that she never killed Rowan Khanna. In fact, given what I know and his little deal with Snape and his plan for Harry to sacrifice himself later on, I am ninety-nine percent sure that Dumbledore came up with the plan for Madam Rakepick in the first place. He really is all about the greater good, even if people get hurt or messed up in the short term.

  "Very well, then I shall begin with how I came upon this problem. It started on an Italian beach, where I saw the most beautiful woman-"From there, I explained everything that happened without missing a bit of detail because, really, I hadn't done anything wrong for once, so I could be one hundred percent truthful. I told them about the old man, about the Lunar Heart, about Luca 'The Tear' Bellini, who tried to assassinate me but killed the old man and then the book I received. Then I got to the monastery, and I tried to explain in depth the terror that Lucian D'Arcana was, who seemed to be so fast that it was like he was teleporting.

  Through it all, they listened, though some of them snorted and smiled derisively, probably thinking they could handle it better themselves. Looking at you, Veruca. But most listened intently, with Dumbledore having a serious face on as he took in what I said. Then, I got them caught up to how I got here and opened the floor to them. "I see; this is indeed quite serious." Dumbledore gave his feedback first.

  "Indeed, it is why I spent so much effort on making sure the rest of you attended. This is a matter of dire consequences if the Lunar Heart does, in fact, function like we are being led to believe." Arun explains his Prophecy that the world could go to shit soon, popping back into everyone's minds.

  "Oh please, you have good intuition, Arun. But prophecies and divination are foolish. You have just been lucky so far." Cassandra says, and for once, I see a bit of seriousness in her; I guess she very much doesn't like divination. However, I know Prophecy is real from the actual Harry Potter books. So when Arun says the consequences are dire, I believe him as he seems a lot more competent than Professor Trelawny. The Lunar Heart is dangerous.

  "I believe Prophecy and divination are mysterious and hard to grasp magic for most people, but Mr Jha seems to have wrangled it better than most. We should approach the matter with all seriousness." Dumbledore says, to which the rest of the members quickly agree, eager to follow his lead. I guess it takes a lot of balls to go against the man, and in that regard, I can be proud to say that I am far ahead of these people.

  "Right, I agree one hundred percent with you, Professor Dumbledore. We cannot let such a serious matter go on without intervening. Though I doubt the Lunar Heart is as dangerous as stated, I do believe it is an artefact that should not be in untrustworthy hands." Veruca Buckthorn-Snyde says, being the brown noser she is as she still remembers this man being her professor as well.

  "This artefact does indeed pose a threat, as does this Lucian D'Arcana. And I do believe I have a solution that might be advantageous to both of us, Gilderoy. Madam Rakepick smiles enigmatically at me. Given what I know about this woman, I get the feeling this might be more advantageous for her.

  Still, I need all the help I can get.

  My writing speed has slowed down some, and that is because I have access to games again. I’ve been playing GTA IV, and it’s as good as I remember. Nostalgia kicking in.

  Upcoming Chapters:

  Hero: Chapter 119- The Next Leader.

  Super: Chapter 121- Untrustworthy.

  Legendary: Chapter 123- The Red-Headed Gophers.

  Galactic: Chapter 127- Battle of The Bridge.

  Mythic: Chapter 130- Get Him To The Three Broomsticks.

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  That is all for now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I will see you in the next one!

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