Sunday night, Gellert sent a brief note asking the Lestranges to report to the Ministry Monday morning rather than to Azkaban. He said that he and Blaise had sorted the crystals and were ready for the Lestranges to do their bit. The note was intentionally vague, just in case. Bellatrix strongly approved.
These days, with Delphini's abilities so inexplicable, being paranoid was being safe and wise. Though she was curious how they'd sorted the crystals, she'd prefer waiting to find out Monday morning in person to Delphini finding out now if she'd somehow intercepted their mail. If the six crystals were their own set, or if Blaise and Gellert had managed to retrieve others from some former Saxon settlement, they'd know tomorrow morning.
"Well, Monday's going to be a drag," Rod grumbled, reading over her shoulder.
"Why don't you write Parvati and ask her to come along with us, Rabastan?" Bellatrix suggested as she passed her brother-in-law the letter. "She expressed an interest in running Shadow Ops with us, after all. This would give her a tiny taste of what she could be in for."
Rabastan grinned, lanky figure stretching like a cat before he rose. "Thanks, Bella. That's a bloody fantastic idea."
"I know," Bellatrix said with a smirk as Rabastan left the room.
"Tell her I can run Enchanted Odds for a day if she goes with you all, presuming Gellert and Blaise don't mind," Lyra shouted after Rabastan.
"Thanks," Rabastan called. "You were always my favorite niece."
"Still your only niece," Lyra sang out, but she laughed.
"You'll find the shop dull," Rodolphus warned. "I suppose you may have Winterhaven shopkeeping with you, so we don't worry ourselves over your safety while dirtying our Auras among the filthy Muggles." He shuddered, and Lyra grinned.
"Just because you remembered about Auras enough to make that comment, I will give you all Aura cleansings when you get home if you like."
They were in the library, where they'd been having after dinner drinks when Gellert's note arrived. Standing, Lyra approached the fire.
"I'll just Floo over to Malfoy Manor and let Cas know," she said.
"No you won't," Bellatrix snapped. "You still don't know if Grindelwald will allow it."
Lyra sighed. "Fine."
"Consider yourself fortunate that your father even allowed Winterhaven to accompany you," Bellatrix said tartly.
"He did that to keep me safe, not to be nice," Lyra shot back. "Not that I need to be kept safe. I have abilities of my own, if you recall."
"You do, and they are impressive, but Delphini has abilities as well, and we don't even know them all. Now stop making me tell you things that you already know."
"Very well. I was being obstinate and difficult," Lyra admitted, causing Bellatrix's jaw to drop.
Rod pretended to choke. "She's killing me," he wheezed.
"But it's because I get tired of you treating me like a child when I'm an adult," Lyra continued, ignoring their antics. "I am YOUR child, not A child. I am sorry that you missed my childhood. I'm even sorrier that you made the stupid decisions that had you serving Voldemort in the first place so that you had to give me up. But it's time to get a grip and come to terms with the fact that I'm an adult."
Rod yawned. "I'm bored now," he told Lyra.
"What he means is that no one tells us what to do," Bellatrix said, a smirk playing over her lips.
Before Lyra could retort, Rod turned to the large Acromantula crouching in the corner. "As you shan't be able to come with us tomorrow due to Muggles, I'm sending you to Azkaban to keep things in order."
"Very well," the spider rasped.
"Just have everyone practice drills, and have the goblins in charge of those and any attacks if there is trouble," Rod instructed. "Of course if the trouble gets out of hand, go to the Ministry for Aurors."
"Got it," Rhadamanthus replied.
The next morning, Parvati met them at the Ministry. They gathered in Gellert's office where the resentful looking Zabini house elf provided everyone with coffee.
"I'm so excited," Parvati said. Her face wore an eager grin as she looked from the Lestranges to Blaise and Gellert. "Thanks for letting me off work, Bosses," she added.
"Having a seer along can only help," Gellert said. "So if you have a bad feeling about any of the three places you're going to hide the crystals, don't hesitate to speak out."
Parvati nodded. "I don't usually get feelings like that, but I have a few times and they've been right, so sure...if something feels off I'll speak up."
"In such a case, just report back to us, and we'll find another place to utilize," Gellert said, his gaze sweeping from Parvati to the three Lestranges, who nodded.
"So what did you end up discovering about the crystals," Bellatrix asked.
"The three clear quartzes are linked to the three smoky quartzes as it turns out," Blaise replied. "We worked a few charms to detect connections, and those are the connected sets as we suspected. Gellert did some scrying with the clear ones, and the leather bags that Kreacher saw were the last place the crystals were before they rested in Merlin's cave. The crystals must be cleared of the last thing they saw in order to pick up new information. Gel asked Merlin how to do that, and now they're all clear and ready to work for us on this current situation. We keep the clear ones, as they show what the smokies are seeing."
"So we'll be planting the smokies among the Muggles," Bellatrix asked, and Blaise nodded. He pushed a sheet of parchment across the desk to her.
"There are three locations with directions to each plus safe Apparation points to come and go, with directions. In all three cases you shall have to walk a few blocks to get to where you need to be."
"Yes, no Apparating around the Muggles," Rod said with a curl of understandable contempt twisting his upper lip.
Something close to agreement flickered in Gellert Grindelwald's eyes before he glanced away a bit too casually. Zabini's ice blue gaze remained detached, but his expression showed no indication of sympathy for the Muggles whose feet, in their cheaply made shoes, still rested on the necks of witches and wizards.
"It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it," he said, and Bellatrix laughed. She scanned the parchment before passing it to Rodolphus, who passed it to Rabastan after glancing over it. Rabastan gave it a look, Parvati peering to read over his shoulder.
The first location was in London, the second in Washington, D.C., and the third in Oslo, Norway. Each location had an entry point to reach via Floo. Gellert pushed an envelope across the desk at them as Rabastan downed the last of his coffee and stood, parchment in hand.
"That's the Floo powder," the German said. "And finally I have invisibility cloaks for you to use for this as you did on your last mission. Bella, you and Rod under one, and Parvati and Rabastan under the other, as there are only two."
Bella's lips twitched. "Thanks. We would've sorted that out, but you saved us the trouble."
Gellert snickered.
"But why can't we Apparate if we're using the cloaks, then," Rabastan protested. "We could use silencing charms to cover the bloody sound!"
"Because SHE may have magic detectors out in those areas just as we do, and we don't wish to alert her to our activities," Gellert explained with a frown.
"Oh… Yeah, okay then," Rabastan relented with a shrug.
Finally Zabini presented Rodolphus with a wooden box. "This holds the three crystals that you are placing for us. Place each in a prominent spot in each building, where it seems the most activity goes on. Place each stone on the ceiling with a sticking charm. That keeps them out of reach, yet easily able to peer down at what is happening. Once the sticking charm is activated, the crystal shall appear to vanish because Gel and I cast disillusionment charms on the crystals that shall kick in when they are placed with the sticking charm."
Rod nodded. "Does it matter which crystal goes where?" Blaise shook his head, and Rod grinned. "Good. That keeps it easy."
"You may use the Floo in Kereston's office," Gellert said. "And be careful," he called as they left.
"Always," Rodolphus called back.
"Plus, we have our blasting rods," Rabastan added cheerfully over his shoulder. "So they better be careful of us if THEY'RE out there."
"Who are THEY," Parvati murmured curiously as they walked the few steps to Kereston's office, one door down.
"You know, THEY…" Rabastan reiterated. "Delphini or her mad dog followers."
The job was quick enough. For two of the three locations, they used the Floo to come and go. Norway was first, and the Floo led to the Ministry there. The smoky quartz for Norway was to be planted in their Muggle Ministry, which was surprisingly located close to the magical one.
The Muggles in the area felt a mix of stupid and aggressive to Bellatrix, which made them standard Muggles in her eyes. They returned to the Floo in the Norway Ministry, once again, when they'd planted the crystal successfully, going next to America.
That Floo was in a wizarding coffee shop, so of course they stopped to have a cup. The magical folk there were chatty, and elves were customers along with wizards, while a wizard and a witch worked behind the counter. Bella and Rod had chocolate raspberry coffee that was quite good. They didn't pay attention to what Rabastan and Parvati ordered, but as neither complained, Bella assumed they were satisfied.
As the four had their coffee break, they kept their ears open for anything interesting being said around them, but the conversations at nearby tables seemed standard and uninteresting. In less than half an hour, they were finished with their coffee and back to work, out among the American Muggles.
The Muggles there were no less stupid or annoying, and Bellatrix expected as much. At least the second crystal was planted quickly as well, so they got out of there in record time. For the London spot, a Muggle Night Club, they only had to walk a few blocks from the Ministry, then sneak into the closed building...as Night Clubs weren't open during the day. That was, at least, one thing that Muggles used logic for, Bellatrix thought resentfully. They certainly didn't use it for much else.
As they worked the job, no one spoke unless it was entirely necessary. Instead they kept their focus on their surroundings, constantly on the lookout for potential trouble. Bellatrix had to admit that the extra pair of eyes from Parvati was nice.
The other woman watched what everyone else was doing and easily followed in their lead. The only magic performed was a levitation charm for whoever placed the crystal on the ceiling, and the sticking charm to keep it there.
Rod placed the first and Bella the second, leaving Parvati the third. Rabastan was ever on the ready with blasting rod in hand under the invisibility cloak in case there was trouble. Whoever placed the crystal on the ceiling had to take one cloak to avoid being seen so the remaining three had to share the other.
The jostling to make that happen was always a bit awkward because if a cloak slipped a tiny bit and someone's sleeve was spotted floating in the air, there could be unnecessary talk that couldn't be risked. They managed, though, and were back at their own Ministry in under two hours.
"I kind of wish it had taken longer," Parvati said as they shed the invisibility cloaks in Gellert's office. "That was fun."
"Fun is not the word I would use," Bellatrix said disdainfully. "I need a bath from being among the Muggle filth."
"Understood," Grindelwald said, nodding. "Feel free to go home and do that."
Bellatrix smiled. A bath and lunch at home sounded grand. "Thank you."
"Who is going to watch the crystals for interesting activity," Rabastan asked.
"Blaise and I will some," Gellert said. "Aurors mostly, though, as we're usually occupied with other matters. Valdez and his wife agreed to watch frequently, and a few other trusted Aurors will take other shifts."
"Does it have to be constant," Rodolphus asked and Gellert shook his head.
"No. One can play back the information the crystals pick up. The point of watching things while they happen is for concise attacks.
"If Delphini is spotted somewhere, it won't help as much to be aware of that tomorrow. We need to know at that moment so that we can attack at once. She's bloody hard to find, so we'll get her any time we can."
Rod nodded, his smile wolfish. "Sounds ducky. Count us in, of course."
Gellert smiled back. "I wouldn't dream of fighting her without you." Turning to Rabastan he added," And speaking of fighting...we need more blasting rods. All of the Aurors want one, and, of course, they're willing to pay."
Rabastan chuckled. "I am rich, but I always aspire to be richer. As soon as I've had a bath and a bite of lunch, I'm on it, Boss."
Blaise chuckled. "A man after our own hearts. Eventually, when there is time for you to make a few spare rods, we can put them in our shop if you like. We'll raise the price quite a bit, because our shop only carries the most rare items, meaning they are always pricey and hard to find. This makes them even more sought after which is, of course, the point."
Rabastan grinned, pleased to have something he'd made being sold in Grindelwald and Zabini's shop. "Sounds ducky."