Bad Romance

Chapter 122

Chapter 122: I Am the Champion!

Bellatrix was just opening her mouth to ask where Wulfric was so she could get more details on Delphini's demise when a very strange and very loud sound distracted everyone. They all turned to see the White House shaking then slowly crashing down. Bellatrix's mouth opened in silent horror. Regi and Kreacher were in there with a sleeping Kereston who Gellert had been so intent on keeping safe! Delphini's followers were in there, but they should still be knocked out, so what could be happening to cause the building to come down?

"Make it stop," Bellatrix screamed at Gellert. "Get your Aurors to make it stop! Regi and Kreacher are in there!"

Gods, Regi and Kreacher! All feelings of victory were forgotten in the face of such a devastating loss.

"The elves would be better at that and most of them are gone," Gellert snapped in frustration as he stared in horror at the falling building.

"I'll go get them out," Loughness said.

Gellert looked doubtful as another part of the building crashed. The look in Loughness's eyes was one of desperate fear for his parents. Bellatrix wondered if sending him in to likely get killed as well was what Regulus or Kreacher would want.

"They're vampires. Hopefully they will be alright," she said, having no idea if such was the case. They'd certainly have more of a chance than the little Minister. In all honesty, she spoke the words as much to reassure herself as she did to reassure Loughness.

"Kereston is in there, and she isn't a bloody vampire," Loughness shouted over the sound of rumbling as the building continued to fall.

The look of anguish on Loughness's face as he spoke was no surprise. He'd always had a huge Kereston fixation, swearing he'd marry her someday. The fact that she was twenty years or so older than he didn't phase him in the least as she still looked eighteen due to a bond with Kreacher, who as a vampire, never aged.

"You don't even know where they are, kid," Rabastan said. "You weren't in there with us, if you recall."

"Well, tell me!" Loughness shouted at him.

"No!" The call came from Albus Dumbledore. What with all the sounds of demolishment around them, the cracks of he and the rest Apparating back had gone unnoticed.

"It's Morgana causing the building to fall," he said. "It isn't intended to be stopped. She sent me to get Kereston, Kreacher, and Regulus out before she began her work. They are safe at 12 Grimmauld."

Bellatrix sagged in relief, exchanging a happy look with Rodolphus and Loughness as Albus continued.

"Well, she didn't exactly know they were in there, but she told me what she was about to do, and why, so we would not stop the process. She knew I would object so she spoke directly to me. I told her to hold off long enough for me to get them out and she did."

"She knew you would object, why," Bellatrix asked. Her gaze was still fixed on the building. It had nearly toppled completely and was now mostly rubble.

"She wanted all of Delphini's followers inside to die. She said no one left inside was innocent. She felt that if they were left alive, they would cause more trouble."

"All the Muggle politicians," Romeo Valdez exclaimed in shock. He'd come up to join Grindelwald as Albus was speaking, likely to ask instructions as to if anything should be done about the current state of things with the Muggle building.

"Many of them already cleared out when the rioting began outside," Albus said. "I suppose everyone left inside was guilty. Certainly everyone in that room that we first entered." He looked stricken, and Bellatrix wondered if he ever believed someone was worthy of death.