Corvus kept his hand on the seam and waited. Grigori and Sigibert came back first with their teams and a string of bound Unspeakables in their underwear. Hammers rested on shoulders. Once they were in the hub, he nodded once and stepped through.
Speed slid into place. Agility woke in his joints. Bloodsight rose like a lens. The door closed behind him with a soft thud. Out in the hub, the ring began its slow turn as the other two doors were closed at the same moment.
In here, the air felt wrong. Time Room, the world that usually crawled when he moved, now ticked a notch faster than it should. The room pressed back. A fog blurred the far walls and cut sight to twenty paces.
He did not waste a cast. Shadowstep took him three short moves along the wall. Another step put him behind a bank of brass frames that ticked without hands. The next jump set him beside a long desk with three hooded figures leaning over a runic board. Their wands tracked small arcs over a lattice of glass beads and silver wire. Bubbles swelled and shrank across a slate to the left, each labelled with a simple glyph.
They had not noticed him yet. They could not keep this pace. He let the hammer fill his hand. One flat blow to the first knee. One chop to the second elbow. A short cut into the third shoulder. Wands fell. Robes, made to drink hexes and curses, failed when there was none. He took their wands and robes and dropped them into the pouch.
Memory Mapping followed fast; they gave without a fight. This was not Legilimency. He started to process.
Time lattice, drag fields seeded as bubbles to slow targets inside a fixed zone. Fog to hide seams. A control array manages all of the setup. Orders from a council that did not stand in the rooms at all. Six elders, not of the Ministry, nor the ICW. Another Order of the Phoenix, of sorts.
He shuffled through the memories the way one turns the pages of a book. The Council of Druids was there before even the Wizards' Council. The Ministry was born in 1707. Records of the Wizarding Council stretched back to 1269 under one of its notable chiefs, Barberus Bragge. Burdock Muldoon, a century later. Names that sat like stones. Avalon whispered at the edges. Merlin was listed as a member in their minds. Even Ekrizdis was marked as a banished member for profaning life. The trail ran into the present with clean lines. Life, Memory, Soul. Three departments taken as private ground by a circle that answered to no one in over a millennium.
He shelved the information and breathed once. Always the same song with humans, magical or not. Leave them in a position of power long enough, and they start to think of themselves as gods. He felt bad about the term Druid. Corrupted Druids, or better, 'Dark Druids.' Yes, better call them Dark Druids. "You picked the wrong century," he murmured.
The board in front of him showed bubbles as small lights with numbers under them. One held two signatures. Arcturus and Vinda. Seven to one. The fog came off a secondary grid nested under the main. He traced the memories he got and started to dismantle the traps.
First, he cut the fog. A simple draw across two anchor runes, and the haze fell away in strips until the ceiling showed. The walls came back sharp. Sound sharpened with them.
Second, he cracked the bubble field. He did not burst it. He bled it. A line drawn at the seam to reduce the drag in steps so bones and minds did not lurch. The glyphs stepped from seven to five to three to one.
The bubble near the west wall thinned like glass under steam. Arcturus and Vinda stood inside it, both mid turn, both alert. When the field dropped, Vinda's gaze found him at once. Arcturus checked the room, then the desk, then the three naked bodies at his feet.
He kept it simple. "We are in the Time Room," he said. "You two were trapped in a time array that slowed you." Before they could start to ask or say anything, he continued. "There is a Council behind the department. Old, very old. Druidic in nature. They have twelve in their ruling council. Six of the elders, who are not on site. With these three who were responsible for managing the traps here, we have neutralised fifty four of them. There is another link to these controls." Corvus motioned to the desk with arrays.
Vinda came to the desk and read the board with a single pass. "Control from here and from a higher chain." She glanced at the brass frames. "You cut the fog first."
He nodded. "Fog hid the seams. The board let me bleed the field without snapping it. No whiplash."
Arcturus looked at the three on the floor. "How many rooms are there still?"
"Eleven cleared before this," Corvus answered.
He swept the board clear with a small charm and pulled the main control crystals. He put them in a mokeskin pouch and sealed the mouth. Then he levitated the three on the floor and dragged them towards the door as Vinda and Arcturus followed. He dropped the Dark Druids there and started to search the room. there were many shelves and workbenches. He was looking for time turners.
On one of the benches, he noticed the golden sand in an hourglass; next to it stood multiple time turners. the smallest one was looking similar to the one the Granger girl got in the movies; the other four were getting slightly larger. Even the last one was still smaller than a palm. Corvis concluded they had to travel back for longer than five hours. The memories of the Dark Druids confirm it. The largest time turner would allow him to return twenty four hours. Exactly what he needs.
He pocketed them all and returned to Arcturus and Vinda. "Uncle Grigori and Sigibert are in the hub with their elites," he said.
Arcturus was still contemplating this newly discovered Council. "How old?" he asked.
"As old as the legends they pretend to keep. These three are members of their council. From what I can see in their minds," He motioned to the three. "Merlin was theirs once. Ekrizdis was theirs until they threw him out. They stayed hidden after 1707 under the Department of Mysteries and never said a word."
Vinda's eyes went cold. "I wonder," She started and locked her gaze with Corvus. "When were you planning to tell me about your talent in Legilimency. Why do I not know about my heir's abilities? I could've called for your 'expertise' to make my work easier on some occasions." She sighed. "We need to end this Druidic Council. We do not have time for rivalry at this point in our plans. Maybe in future to have fun. But definitely not now."
Arcturus nodded and looked to the door. "The hub."
"Ladies first," Corvus said and motioned for Vinda. Arcturus followed. Corvus came last and shut the room behind them.
--
Croaker stood over the control ring with five elders at his sides. Their faces under hoods. Their badges read Time, Space, Death, Soul, Creation, and Chaos. They were the Druid council of Avalon. They transferred souls and memories of each elder since they figured out how to do it.
He checked the velvet tray in his hand. Six portkeys lay there, dull and heavy, portkeys of the other six. This room was linked to the hub. There was no entry or any other door. No floo, no corridor. Without a portkey, there was no way in. The six they had sent to the hub rooms had left them here to make sure no invader could trail them back.
"We hold," he said. The elders nodded once. Calm on the surface. Lines tight at the mouth. The Druid Council had survived founders, councils, and ministries. Avalon was their word for the realm. They would not let a handful of extremist to end their rule.
-
The hub turned when Corvus closed the Time Room behind him. He came out last. Vinda stepped to the left and took the centre. Arcturus took the right. The doors completed their rotation and settled.
Over two dozen dark druids lay in their undergarments against the far wall under coma curses. Krafft and Volkov elites kept watch with hammers low and wands ready.
"Status," Arcturus asked without raising his voice.
"Six left," Corvus said. "Not in the rooms. Control is elsewhere. For this site, we are done."
He drew Vinda, Arcturus, Sigibert, and Grigori close and spoke in a low tone. "Council of Druids is old. They ride the department through the men they dress as Unspeakables."
Vinda listened and watched the doors. "How do we reach them?"
"They use portkeys between hub and control room," Corvus answered. "Find the string, and we pull them in. If not, we make them come out."
Sigibert gave a short nod. "You have a plan."
"I have," Corvus said. "It needs time."
He turned to Sigibert. "I need you to go back to Berlin tonight. Start to investigate your ministry to see if there is a similar formation. You check for hidden chains like this one. Use your own hands. Do not trust anything or anyone. If you find robes with similar weaves, you know what to do."
Sigibert smiled without humour. "Consider it done."
Corvus faced Grigori. "We need to do the same for Moscow. If you find a council that thinks it sits above everything else, try to figure out its organisation first."
Grigori's eyes stayed sharp. "We can do that."
Corvus looked to Vinda. "France is no different. I need you to use your connections within their ministry."
Vinda inclined her head. "You will have confirmation by the week's end."
Arcturus watched them agree and felt the weight shift without a word spoken. Sigibert was old blood, and still he listened. Grigori was a stubborn wolf, and still, he took the order. Pride moved in Arcturus' chest and settled. The boy did not play at command. He carried it as if it were his nature.
He kept the next thought private. Grindelwald... Only four Acolytes were in Nurmengard. The rest are already here, other than the deceased. They would all choose soon enough. He had already chosen. He would not set Corvus aside, not for Gellert, not for anyone or anything. He wondered though, who else might stay when the time comes. Or will there be time for such a decision? How will Gellert react to this new formation?
"Extraction," Corvus said to the hall at large. "We accomplished what we came for. Leave them where they are, I have a use for them." He motioned to the druids. Take the Robes to your enchanters for analysis and replication." He took some of the control crystals and handed them to Grigori, Vinda, Arcturus and Sigibert. "Control crystals need to be examined as well. If there is a way to the control room, they will have an answer."
Orders moved. Krafft and Volkov elites started to file out. The Hub became silent after a while. Only the old guard was lingering.
Vinda came back to his shoulder. "Clearly, you have something in mind. Do you need help?"
"I'll see what can be extracted from them," Corvus motioned to the druids. "I'll locate the room and plan for the next move. We need to break their hold and strip their path."
"You are going to conduct a ritual," she concluded.
He simply nodded as an answer.
Arcturus looked to the stacked bodies. "You have what you need."
They left after a while. Corvus turned his gaze towards the bodies and to the centre of the Hub. It was large enough, and it had already been long enough that he had not conducted his favourite ritual.