Grimmauld Place was not a particularly conspicuous location, and it still retained quite a few of the Black family's old protective measures, which made it an obvious choice for the new headquarters.
It was Headmaster Phineas Black, hanging on the wall, who clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"It is a fine enough place, but whether it can stand against that Dark Lord's magic is another matter."
"It will be protected no less thoroughly than Hogwarts, Phineas," Dumbledore assured him.
In the wizarding world, there was hardly any reassurance more convincing than that.
Once Phineas had smacked his lips and fallen silent, Dumbledore turned to Mrs. Weasley.
"The most important issue right now is the Ministry's attitude. You may not know this yet, but Fudge has refused to stand with us. In fact, he has put himself in opposition to us."
"He joined the Death Eaters?!" Sirius asked at once, startled.
"No, he has not that much courage," Dumbledore said with a soft laugh.
The moment everyone thought of Fudge's timid, evasive nature, they could not help laughing too, and the heavy mood in the room eased quite a bit.
Mrs. Weasley, however, caught the concern in Dumbledore's words.
"Then how are we supposed to deal with the Ministry? During the last war, Moody and the Aurors at least helped us. But now..."
"The Aurors will stand with us too," Dumbledore said, looking at Tver with a mix of amusement and helplessness. "Won't they, Tver?"
He really had worried about this the night before. After all, if the Minister of Magic insisted on standing against them, the Order of the Phoenix would not get very far in anything it tried to do.
But after returning to the Headmaster's office, he had suddenly recalled the promise Tver had made to him, along with the Ministry plans Tver had been laying all along, plans Dumbledore had never quite been able to read through.
Whatever Tver's motives were, one fact remained beyond even Dumbledore's ability to deny or interfere with. Tver had control of quite a few key departments in the Ministry.
And for the first time, Dumbledore had felt a genuine sense of ease. Aside from a few small blind spots caused by people who had not lived through the last war, Tver had already thought of everything for him, and even solved it.
"Barring any accidents, Scrimgeour will officially retire this summer, and Dawlish will replace him as Head of the Auror Office."
Tver had originally meant to keep Marvolio hidden a little longer and use the chance to let him gather more dirt on the unsavory errands Fudge, or the other Aurors, had ordered him to handle.
But he had not expected Fudge to be so impatient. Last night, he had already tried to have Barty Jr. killed so he could use it to attack Barty.
So now, there was no harm in saying it outright.
Aside from Snape, who had witnessed Fudge and Marvolio's break last night, everyone else stared at him in shock.
Scrimgeour's retirement was not impossible information to dig up.
But the final choice of successor was usually known only to officials who had the authority to influence Ministry appointments.
"Tver has, well, done quite a bit of work inside the Ministry," Dumbledore explained, his tone complicated. "He has good relations with people in positions like the Department of International Magical Cooperation, the Deputy Minister, and others."
Even now, Dumbledore did not know whether he ought to feel relieved that Tver had prepared so far in advance, or worried that Tver had prepared this much.
To put it bluntly, if Tver overthrew Fudge and took the position of Minister of Magic for himself, Dumbledore would not be the least bit surprised.
The others nodded in sudden understanding.
Given Tver's background, they had assumed it was his grandfather's old network inside the Ministry helping them along.
"Just look at you. You seem like an ordinary professor, but you're actually the invisible Minister of Magic hiding inside the Ministry. Completely different from a certain other professor."
Sirius slung an arm around Tver in excitement. Even though he was clearly saying it just to mock Snape, to Tver's ears, it still sounded a little off.
"The Invisible Minister? That really is a good description," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"But Molly, I still hope you can have Arthur start paying attention to the lower-ranking staff at the Ministry, and win over as many people as possible who are willing to believe us..."
"Um, let me say something first," Tver cut in suddenly. "Barty and Dawlish are already investigating Voldemort's movements. It will not be long before Barty announces it publicly in his capacity as Deputy Minister."
"But will Fudge allow him to do that?"
That approach would obviously be very useful to them, but Dumbledore was more worried that provoking Fudge would only force them to waste energy dealing with him as well.
"Of course Fudge won't allow it. But the Ministry of Magic is not a place where Fudge alone gets the final say." Tver sounded completely confident, with no concern at all about standing out too much.
After all, the one doing this was Barty Crouch. What did it have to do with him, a mere little professor?
Dumbledore fell into thought for a moment, then quickly looked up again.
He understood what Tver meant.
"In that case, after Barty makes his move, Arthur can start observing the lower-ranking staff at the Ministry and make me a list of those willing to believe Voldemort has returned."
"But no matter what, the Ministry must deal with Ministry affairs. We will not interfere, and we cannot allow them to interfere with our actions either."
"I understand," Mrs. Weasley agreed at once.
"Lastly..." Dumbledore turned to Snape, his expression grave and hesitant.
"Severus, I need you to carry out the same task as last time. But this time, Voldemort is even more unhinged, and the danger you will face..."
"I think I understood that long ago," Snape said calmly, as if he were only being asked to go for a walk.
"No need to worry," Sirius said with a touch of stiff pride, picking up on the unusual tone in the room. "If you are really afraid, you can ask me for help!"
"I am afraid," Snape replied, utterly ungrateful. "Afraid that if you knew what I was about to do, you'd wet yourself."
"You...!"
"Then I'll leave it to you. And to all of you as well."
Dumbledore ignored the two men's "friendly exchange" and looked around at everyone with quiet relief.
This time, apart from facing an even more dangerous Voldemort, everything else was far better than it had been before.
That was also why he had no desire to pursue Tver's elaborate plans, plans that were almost excessive when used merely against Voldemort.
But there was one person from whom he absolutely needed an explanation.
"Not you, however," he said, turning toward Grindelwald, who had sat there silently the entire time, watching the whole thing like a play. "I need an explanation from you. An explanation for why you have been searching Europe for followers."
Everyone froze for a moment and turned to look at the old man who had been sitting there all this time as Tver's teacher.
They had assumed he was simply a powerful old wizard, but judging by Dumbledore's words, there was clearly more to it than they knew.
"Ahem. Well, my teacher was doing it to stop wizards from other European countries from being stirred up into joining the Death Eaters."
And also, incidentally, into joining his own side...
Seeing the anger on Dumbledore's face, Tver hurried to explain.
"They're all old wizards. Their actual power inside their Ministries may not be that great, but they have a lot of prestige. You can't expect them to fight, but they are still very effective when it comes to stopping Voldemort from inciting younger people."
He went on pointedly, which was also his way of telling Dumbledore that even if his teacher had gathered his old followers again, it was impossible for him to cause the same upheaval in the wizarding world as before.
That was precisely why Dumbledore was willing to discuss it openly.
After all, his limits had been crossed again and again. It was only natural that he should have some temper left.
"What exactly are you afraid of? Or have you really grown so old that even these people frighten you now?"
Grindelwald finally spoke, and in doing so completely shattered the friendly atmosphere Tver had worked so hard to maintain.
"Well, it certainly looks that way," he said, sweeping a contemptuous glance over Dumbledore. "Why not simply retire? What use is a sack of old bones now?"
Tver was instantly dumbfounded.
He had laid everything out the previous night precisely so Dumbledore would keep carrying the burden and keep shining.
And now his teacher had stabbed him in the back the very next day?
"No matter how old I am, I can still crush every one of your schemes with ease," Dumbledore shot back without the slightest intention of giving way.
"If you truly want to see the day I retire, then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, because there is still no one in the wizarding world who can take my place!"
Tver's bafflement instantly turned into delight.
So that was it. His teacher had only been provoking him on purpose.
As expected of his teacher. Even his skill at manipulating hearts was better than Dumbledore's.
"Then what are you afraid of?" Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Grindelwald stopped pressing quite so hard.
"As I recall, the last time Voldemort ran wild across Europe, the Ministries in various countries were not able to respond effectively either, were they?"
Madam Maxime nodded in agreement at once.
No one should imagine that Voldemort's ambition would stop at Britain. He had stayed there only because Dumbledore was there.
The moment Dumbledore fell, it would only be a matter of time before the rest of Europe did as well.
"So what I intend to do is build a European line of defense that will contain Voldemort," Grindelwald said, spreading his hands with complete composure.
"Or do you care only about British wizards?"
Dumbledore could not answer that.
So even though there was still more hidden beneath Grindelwald's words, he had no way to keep pressing him.
Damn it, his tongue was still just as infuriating as ever.
"I will be watching your actions closely. But be careful. Do not make any unnecessary moves."
This time Tver had learned his lesson and did not provoke Dumbledore again, in case he ended up taking the backlash for it.
"And you, Tver!" Dumbledore suddenly turned on him.
"This time, you will serve as the hub and provide everyone with the support they need!"
Tver: "[・_・?]"