In a guarded section of St. Mungo, Dumbledore was in a heated debate with Barty Crouch Sr. The man was the current head of the DMLE and was in full rage at the moment. For among the mangled bodies they could put together from Felix's home. Many of his supporters and pureblood families were among them.
"Do you have any idea how bad this looks?" Barty growled.
"Yes, it shows how far his reach is within the Ministry." Dumbledore calmly stated.
"It's more than that. Among those we found, many of which I thought were hard supporters against the man." Barty basically hissed.
"This is indeed troubling, but not so far outside the realm of possibility." Dumbledore replied. "It is hard to find trustworthy people in these troubled times."
Bang!
Suddenly, the door swung open with a pair of feet hurrying in. Dressed in a Auror uniform, a man quickly appeared before the two.
"Sir, there is important news. The Dark Mark has faded greatly." The man said quickly.
"What do you mean faded?" Barty roared.
The man pulled out a photo showing the dark mark comparison like a before and after. Upon seeing the photo, while very faint, the dark mark was basically gone. Which has never happened before and is quite shocking.
"How is this possible?" Barty demanded from the man.
"We are unsure, but the running theory is the Dark Lord either fell or gravely wounded." The man reported. "Amelia Bones managed to dig out from a captured death eater that the Dark Lord went to kill Felix Grindelwald."
Silence filled the room as Barty froze, while Dumbledore felt incredibly bad. Felix has told him that Voldemort was coming for him. Yet, those he had asked to help didn't even appear until it was long over.
"You are saying a fourteen year old boy managed to do what many trained adult wizards and witches haven't for years now?"" Barty growled.
"I believe he is still only thirteen at the moment." Dumbledore tugged his beard lightly.
"Not helping, Dumbledore." Barty grumbled.
"Well, just to lighten the mood a bit." Dumbledore shrugged lightly. "The question now is, where did Voldemort go?"
--
Much like Dumbledore who was learning the news, so were the Death Eaters who weren't part of either raid. They all learned upon the dark mark fading and their leader vanishing. Among them, Bellatrix Lestrange looked at her arm as she tapped the wooden table.
"What should we do now?" Her husband in name asked.
"Naturally it's to find our Lord." Rabastan Lestrange, his brother replied.
"How do you think we should do that?" Bellatrix slammed the table in rage. "Most of our most capable are either dead, locked up or running. Since the mark faded, everyone is on edge or preparing to flee."
"We just find that brat and make him tell us what he did to our lord." Rodolphus Lestrange slapped the table like it was an obvious answer.
"Yes," Rabastan nodded in agreement.
Bellatrix: "..."
If she hasn't been beaten by Felix previously, she would probably agree with them. Now however, since she knew that he is probably stronger now. She didn't have the confidence to go nor did she want to face him again.
"Do we even know where he is?" Bellatrix stated.
The two brothers fell silent at those words for a moment. They didn't actually know where but they soon came up with a couple options.
"Since he was just attacked, he might be at St. Mungo." Rodolphus answered first.
"Yeah, since the Ministry is just attacked, there probably won't be that many Aurors around too." Rabastan nodded.
"Instead of guessing, why don't we just ask some low rank to go look?" Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"Bella, don't you want to find the lord?" Rodolphus said a bit furious at her lacking motivation.
"I do, but I would rather not step head first into a group of Aurors if I can avoid it. It won't do the Lord any good if we are thrown into Azkaban." Bellatrix argues back.
"Then stay behind. When we find out where the Lord is, he will reward us for bravely stepping forward." Rabastan sneered.
Bellatrix shook her head as she watched them leave. Then after a few minutes she pulled out the communication and shot Felix a warning message. While she doubted the two fools, but she felt it would be best if she sent a message.
"Still, where did the Dark Lord go?" Bellatrix asked herself.