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Chapter Text

Temporarily trapping himself in the Lestrange family tomb wasn’t how he had expected to spend his Saturday. He wasn’t necessarily complaining, though.

He was concealed behind one of the stone bookshelves, awaiting the arrival of a friend of his. He had something that belonged to said friend. He risked glances around the tomb, only when he heard the whispers of wind.

He heard the sound of someone apparating. He looked through a small crack in the shelf, brown hair. It was his frien— Danno.

“Oh, Matt!” He simply waves, he was more interested in going home.

“Thank you for taking care of that,” he says, gesturing towards the suitcase in Matt’s hand. Next thing he knows, Danno’s pulling out his wallet.

“Must’ve been a horrid inconvenience, my apologies. Ah, how much would you like?” He blinks for a few moments, did DANNO just call his creatures an ‘inconvenience’…? He ignores the thought, gesturing for Danno to put the money away.

“It’s free of charge,” he says. Danno frowns. “Are you sure? I’ve no shortage of money— well no I do have a shorta— whatever, being serious, take as much as you’d like.” He sighs.

“I don’t need money, your pets weren’t a bother.” Danno interjected, insisting ‘they’re not my pets.’ He rolls his eyes, “same thing, point is, I don’t need money, keep it.” Danno shrugs, putting his wallet away. “But I owe you, if you ever need anything, just give me a call.” He nods, aware of the fact that he’s not gonna ask him for shit.

“It was nice to catch up, but I’m kinda in a hurry.” Danno laughs in an awkward manner. He quirks an eyebrow.

“I’m banned from traveling internationally… I’m here illegally.” He scoffs. “So I just helped a criminal smuggle illegal magical creatures into Paris? Great.” He says dryly.

“I was a bit wary of coming here, but Dumbledore insisted, despite my pleas.” He rolls his eyes again, of course he did.

“Why’d he insist?” He asks curiously.

“Oh well, y’know about the Obscurus incident in New York last year?” He nods. “Well apparently Preston’s still alive, so he’s asked me to find him, and bring him home.” Awesome. “Despite the ministry insisting that I kill the kid.” Not awesome. He had somehow failed to notice Danno grabbing hair from his pocket, and emptying it into a small glass vial.

“What’s that for?” He tilts his head, trying to get a better view.

“Since I’m technically a wanted criminal, it’s polyjuice.” Oh, great. Just fantastic. “Of who, may I ask?” Danno looks at the vial for a second longer.

“A few different people.” He sighs in disappointment. “Joey, the Auror who goes by the stage name of ‘cdotkom’, and Jonny Razer.” He pauses, recognizing a surname.

“You said you’d leave the Razers alone after that business during your fifth year at Hogwarts.” He says.

The two got into a tiny argument, but it was cut short by both of their wands flying out their hands.

They both whipped their heads to look at who had casted that spell.

Fuck.

“I don’t know this man, Mr Brown.” Charlie doesn’t look impressed.

“You’re both under arrest,” Danno shakes his head. “I’m here under authority of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Order of Merlin, first class.”

“I’m here under administration of the Canadian, French, British, and American Ministries of Magic.” Danno clicks his tongue. I suppose that does override my reasoning.

“Do you have a permit for any of those creatures in your case, Mr Callihan?” Danno’s face contorts into something short of malice.

“You’re not having them.”

“Do you have a permit for any of the creatures in your case, Mr Callihan?” He repeats.

“Are mommy and daddy getting a divorce?” He jokes. Neither of them laugh.

“I have a permit for my Bowtruckels, my Nifflers, my Demiguise, and the Erumpet.” Charlie makes a slightly impressed smile.

“Not bad, I’ll admit. However, you’ve still exited the country of Britain illegally.” Danno debates whether or not to apparate right then and there, but he’ll need his wand. He glances over his shoulder, his wand is fairly close.

“Hear me out, can I grab my wand?” Charlie shrugs, “yeah, sure.”

“Oh wait really?” He shrugs again. Danno steps back to reach his wand, silently grateful that Charlie hadn’t arrested him yet.

“I’ll admit, you two weren’t who I was looking for.”

“Grindelwald?” Matt says.

“Yeah, he’s having a rally tonight, the ministry doesn’t know the location.” Danno raises his hand. Charlie gestures for him to speak.

“I’ll be able to figure the location out,” Danno offers. “Under one condition.” Charlie smiles, “I’m listening.”

“You convince the Ministry to lift the ban on my ability to travel internationally.” He says.

“Give me reason as to why I should do that,” the reply is expected.

“Well because I’d like to travel internationally.”

…

“Yeah that’s fair. But what about you destroying half of New York?” 

“Factually incorrect on two counts, and I fixed it.” Matt sighs, “can we get going already?” Charlie laughs.

“We’re not going anywhere!” Charlie and Danno say in sync.

“What.”

“The Lestrange family tomb is part of the puzzle! We just need someone who knows The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus by heart…” Charlie’s sentence trails off. Danno’s cracks his knuckles. “One second, let me jog my memory really quick.”

“Ah! I believe it was, ‘A son cruelly banished, Despair of the daughter, Return great avenger, With wings from the water.’ I could be mistaken.” Matt paused, the last time either of them had read that blasted book was in middle school.

The three were interrupted by footsteps coming down the staircase to the tomb.

“Didn’t expect to find you three down here.” Jonny says.

“Hey, Jonnyyyy…” Danno waves awkwardly. Jonny ignores him.

“Best be getting out of here, Bam, Anna, Alex, and friends will be here soon.” Charlie groans. “We were in the middle of an investigation.” Danno looks at the floor for a second, then clearing his throat.

“Joe’s attended the rally,” he says quietly.

“Huh?”

“He uh- y’know, he’s a not-nice guy now,” he mutters. Jonny looks at him strangely. “And how do you know this, Mr Callihan?”

“Quit with the formalities, we’ve known each other since middle school. But uh, I was there when he started his little, y’know, downward spiral.” Charlie nods, Jonny doesn’t do anything, Matt feels an awkward silence fill the air.

“Preston seeks identity,” Charlie says. Three pairs of eyes turn to look at him. “He wants to know his history, wants to know his real name, Ronny promises to tell him his name before he kills him.”

Jonny looks up the staircase, “we could always arrest them.” He says to Charlie. The other man shrugs, “it’s not inherently wrong to hear them out.” Jonny hums.

There’s a flurry of voices coming down the stairwell, and the group of four is sat listening behind a stone bookshelf. It was an argument, Ronny insisting that Preston was Corvus Lestrange, and Anna arguing against the idea.

There seemed to be others there, but he couldn’t make out any individual voices.

The argument abruptly comes to a halt, with what Matt assumed to be Ronny casting a spell.

“There’s others here.” Well shit.

He felt the wand being pointed in their direction through the stone wall. “Show yourselves.” Charlie is the first to step out, horrifically calm about the ordeal. They simply follow him, and the group is met with an abhorrent amount of people.

“Danno?” That’s Bundun, Danno was the last person he expected to see today.

“I supposed that you’d know of my presence when you heard about the wild Zouwu, and a man breaking into the ministry.” Danno’s still looking at the floor; he doesn’t like eye contact.

“I was unaware of a rouge Zouwu.” He says.

“Ah, it- it got out when Preston and Bam made their way out of the, the circus thing.”

Bundun hums and nods, turning back to the spectacle; Preston, Anna, and Ronny.

“So that’s my name?” He swallows a breath.

“My name is Corvus Lestrange?”

“Yes.” Ronny.

“No.” Anna.

“Your father— quite the sick man— sent you and your older sister out to sea,” he says, gesturing towards Anna. Danno bites his tongue, not a fan of these types of situations.

“My father, still mourning the death of my mother—who your father literally kidnapped—made me swear on my life to avenge my mother.” That’s fucked up. Why’s everyone just trauma dumping.

“He ordered me to kill the person Lestrange cared about most of all.” The hell? “I thought it’d be easy, he only had one close relative, his daughter. But—” Ronny hesitated for a moment.

“Say it.” Hey so Anna, what the fuck is going on right now!

“But he never loved you.” Danno makes a deflation sound. Unloved by the father gang join up here! He said to himself.

“And then I heard about the news of his youngest son, and all that Lestrange cared about was little Corvus.” Dude get me out of here.

“Back to the whole boat thing, he sent you and your older sister on a cruise, headed for America. Instead of going himself, he sent a half-elf named Irma, her magic was too weak, left no trace that I could follow.” Hey so Ronny, you sound insane!

“The boat sunk that night, but someone—“ he sounds angry, “pulled you from the water.” ‘With wings from the water.’ Oh.

“It all makes sense now,” he hissed. “The poem, you being an Obscurus, it grows as a dark twin, a sibling that one never had.” GET ME OUT OF HERE.

“Corvus Lestrange is already dead,” Anna says, but Ronny doesn’t seem to be done.

“No, no he’s right there, in the room.”

“He’s already dead, because I killed him.” WHAT THE FUCK?

What.

The.

FUCK.

Ronny stares for a moment.

“During that night, when the boat sunk, I swapped Corvus with another toddler on the boat.” What.

“I just wanted a moment away, I never wanted to hurt him.” Yeah she was like ten, that’s somewhat understandable.

“The other rescue boat flipped over, Corvus and the lady who thought that was her son drowned.” We… didn’t need to know that? Y’know?

Ronny turns to look at Preston, then at Anna.

“Oh. Well I suppose that does make sense, Anna had the mother with darker skin, but Preston’s skin is darker while hers is pure white.” Is… is that your only basis…?

“Check your sources next time,” Charlie almost jumps at the sound of Riggy’s voice.

There’s a small, thin book placed in the centre of the tomb, and Anna waves her wand at it.

It opens, it’s a family tree. The only ones recorded are men.

“My father’s family tree only visualised the men, the women in our family were recorded as flowers.” Now that she mentions it, Charlie notices the pretty pink and purple flowers dancing along the dead tree. The picture titled “Corvus Lestrange” is decaying, and the pink flower next to it is constricting into the wood.

There’s a weird, unusual sound. It sounds like someone dragging a large stone tablet across a glass bridge. Jonny backs up to investigate it.

“Hey, uhh… guys, looks like a doorway.” The large group rushed to the area where Jonny was.

Each of them slowly stepped through the doorway, and realisation settled in as the magical gateway shut behind them.

Danno rushed to Preston’s side— it was still his job to protect the dude— Preston simply stared, no emotion being conveyed.

“They’re purebloods,” Preston says, worriedly. “They kill the likes of us for sport.” Danno frowned.

“I’m a pureblood.” He says, Preston stares at him for a moment.

“Well then you’re surprisingly kind for someone of your status.”

Anna stayed at the top of the dome, next to a large hippogriff statue.

Charlie went to stand in the crowd, this was his only way of getting to see Grindelwald in person.

Bam also stayed at the top of the dome, situated next to a statue of a Badger.

Alex found Joe in the crowd, trying to persuade the other man into leaving. Joe insisted that they “at least listen to him.”

Bundun found a spot it the crowd, a view from which he could see Preston, Danno, Matt, and Jonny. All standing somewhat close to each other.

Riggy stood in the audience, at the very back row.

Mello, Datchia, and Red’ found three empty places, right next to each other, an average distance from the stage.

Bam looked behind him once he heard footsteps, more Aurors were appearing from the stone doorways.

Something in his gut is telling him to run, his brain is screaming at him, but his heart makes him want to stay.

It’s not a crime to listen, is it?

Chapter Text

A relatively small, shadowy figure is entering the stage through a tunnel. The crowd is chanting the man’s name, and giving him a bizarre amount of applause.

The man held his hand up, signalling the crowd to stop.

“My brothers. My sisters. My friends.” Grindelwald’s voice is quiet, but oh so very clear.

“The great gift of your applause is not for me. No! It is for yourselves.” He sounds so genuine, so honest. Well, as honest as a dark lord can be, which is surprisingly… very.

“You came here today because of a craving, and a knowledge that the old ways serve us no longer.” Uh-oh, here comes the fascism. 

“You came because you crave something new. Something different.” He’s said nothing bad so far, but wait until he starts talking about putting muggles in concentration camps.

“It is said that I hate le Non-magiques.” Danno quirks a brow. Muggles?

“The Muggle.” Ah, understood. “The No-Maj!”

“VERMIN!” Someone in the crowd yells.

“The Can’t-Spells.” We get it bro. “I do not hate them; I do not.”  Jonny feels as though that’s a lie, but he doesn’t say anything.

“For I do not fight out of hatred.” Don’t lie.  Charlie says, not audibly.

“I believe that the Muggles are not lesser, but other. Not worthless, but of other value.” Alex shrugs, it’s a valid opinion.

“Magic blooms only in rare souls.” This is true. Danno thinks, “it is granted to those who live for higher things.” Somewhat true…? He supposes.

“Oh, and what a world we could make for all humanity, we who live for truth, for freedom…” Grindelwald pauses, turning to the side of the dome that Danno is standing in. He looks somewhat in his direction. “And for love.” He doesn’t wanna think about it too much. In fact, he doesn’t wanna think about it at all.

“The moment has come, to share my vision of the future that awaits if we do not rise up, and take our rightful place in the world.” Bundun rolls his eyes, he can very well imagine what this 'vision' would contain.

One of Grindelwald’s assistants walks upon the stage, they have long, desaturated green hair, but Danno can’t see much of their face.

They’re holding a dragon skull, with a leather pipe—no, that’s dragon skin. He shudders, his opinion of Grindelwald just shifted. Significantly worse than it was prior to the scene.

Grindelwald takes the pipe in hand, breathing in what seems to be smoke from the skull. Charlie’s only reaction is a slight frown.

The man exhales, and the smoke doesn’t dissipate, instead casting an illusion over the entire dome. Bam steps back, a bit… impressed(?) by the spell.

Tanks, artillery, No-Maj soldiers with those stupid turtle shell helmets.

A rifle.

Why the FUCK are wizards being put in concentration camps.

The illusion ends with one of those mushroom clouds. A weak voice in the crowd says something along the lines of, “not another war…” Danno doesn’t wanna think about anything right now.

“THAT is what we are fighting.” Jonny doesn’t register the sentence as soon as he hears it. It takes him a moment.

“That is the enemy.” Sure buddy, keep telling yourself that. Charlie rolls his eyes. Why did I come here in the first place?

“Their arrogance!” Alex doesn’t wanna be here. Bundun looks down at his hands, avoiding eye contact with, quite literally, anything and everything.

“Their power lust.” Danno sees a small, shiny object on Grindelwald’s coat. He clutches his suitcase tightly.

“Their barbarity.” Danno wants nothing more than to leave. He wants to leave, and he wants to leave right now.

“How long will it take until they their weapons on us?” It’s a rhetorical question, Charlie knows, but he still wants to answer it.

“Do nothing when I speak of this. You must remain calm, and contain your emotions.” Danno’s fingers start to twitch.

“There are Aurors here among us.” There are people immediately throwing accusations at everyone else. People yelling, people screaming. Too loud.

“Come closer, brother wizards. Join us.” Most of the crowd turns to look at the top of the stairs. Danno doesn’t want to look, because he heard a horrifically familiar voice say “do nothing, no force.” He doesn’t want to look at the man who he knows is here.

“They have killed many of my followers, it is true.” Jonny sees a ginger woman in front of him, she’s drawing her wand.

“They confined me, and tortured me in New York.” Grindelwald sounds sick, like a child talking about a traumatic memory. The ginger lady’s face changes to a scowl, Jonny knows what she’s about to do.

“They have struck down their fellow wizards and witches, for the simple crime of seeking the truth. For wanting freedom.” Danno sees the man he was avoiding, he shouldn’t be here. Blond-ish brown hair, slightly taller than Danno. Get him out of here. Get him out of here. Get him out of here. He needs to get out of here.

“Your anger, your desire for revenge is natural.” Jonny knows who the statement is aimed at; the lady in front of him is already trying to get closer to the Aurors.

She’s covered by the crowd, only her face is visible to the Auror she’s targeting. Her wand is perfectly aimed, the target more than clear.

A green arrow of light is shot out of her wand, the moment is quick; he almost doesn’t see it.

Her movement was quick.

Just not quick enough.

The man who she had aimed the curse at had easily deflected it. It hit her instead. The curse was one of the three unforgivable ones, The Killing Curse.

The body, having instantly turned cold, and stiff, hit the ground with a hammer-hard thud. Her face is void of any emotion.

“NO!” Jonny would’ve expected a scream like that to come from someone who knew her personally, but no, it was Grindelwald.

He’s hurrying to the crowd, he’ll recognise Jonny. He pauses. He already called out the Aurors, who’s to say that he doesn’t know I’m here? The realisation is somewhat comforting.

The dark lord kneels down to the body’s level. Jonny stirs uneasily.

“Take this young warrior back to her family.” Charlie almost laughs. One of the witches next to Jonny leans down, picking up the woman’s body. He moves out of the way.

“Disapparate, leave, go forth from this place and spread the word,” Danno doesn’t wanna know what 'the word' is. “It is not we who are violent.” Oh, I mean that’s not too bad.

Large clouds of black smoke filled the air, Grindelwald’s followers were disapparating, just as he said. The clouds went in an upward spiral, the wizards and witches leaving the dome.

The Aurors don’t disapparate, why would they? It’s their job to catch Grindelwald.

“Arrest him,” the director says. Danno doesn’t think it’ll be that easy. 

As if on cue, Grindelwald rolls his wand in a circular motion, his body as well. A cerulean flame is ignited, surrounding the stage in a ring of fire.

A few Aurors attempt to escape, disapparating. They’re struck down by the extending fire, it has one purpose; kill.

More than half of the Aurors are dead, Jonny knows this won’t end well.

One of his assistants walks upon the stage, the same person who had been holding the dragon skull earlier. He grabs their arm, and they’re sent to what Bundun presumes to be Grindelwald’s base.

Charlie has an idea of what this fire does. It’ll let those loyal to him pass through, any others will be exterminated.

“Mr Callihan!” His blood runs cold. He knows Grindelwald isn’t talking to Joey.

He turns his face reluctantly, holding his suitcase so tight that his fingernails were digging into his palm.

“Do you think Dumbledore will mourn for you?”

It’s a valid question, and he’s about to answer it, but then he realises that, one: he’s about to be murdered. And two: it was rhetorical.

He expects a green arrow of light to be lunged at him, for his life to just simply end.

But, no.

The light is red. Blood red.

For about two seconds, he doesn’t feel anything. Or, no, he feels so much that his body couldn’t properly process it.

It feels like wasps.

Like wasps and fire ants have crawled up into his ears, and they’re biting and gnawing and stinging at every piece of flesh that they can possibly find.

It feels like someone’s held a knife over a fire, and has somehow managed to get into the tissue of his skin.

It feels like his atoms are being pulled apart. Pulled apart, then tripled, then pushed and pulled, then cut and twisted. As though he’s being ripped apart from the inside out.

Breathing feels like a chore.

He can’t breathe.

He’s trying to, his body won’t let him.

His hands are twitching, and shaking, and twisting.

He feels a random jolt of the most excruciating pain he’s ever felt. Then again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And Again. And Ag—

He realises that the man is using the spell as a kind of… whip?

He can breathe out.

But he can’t breathe in.

He can’t tell if he’s making any noise, his heartbeat is too loud.

He feels a small jolt in his leg, I’m trying to move. He thinks it’s funny how he doesn’t even realise his own movements.

Well, no, he realises that he thinks it’s funny.

Because he can’t think at all.

He doesn’t know how to think.

He feels like he’s laughing.

No, he’s trying to breathe.

He’s not laughing.

He hadn’t realised that he had fallen over.

He hadn’t realised how close he was to the fire.

He hears a pathetic wheezing sound. He feels ready to laugh at whoever made the sound. It was him, he made the wheezing sound.

Once again, he hears a pathetic cry. Like a child huddled into a corner, crying and whining. He realises a lot quicker this time, that it was him who was making these noises.
—

Grindelwald pauses. Someone said his name, and he likes the way they said it. They pronounced the 'wald' in his name with a certain tone, one that made it sound like 'vald'.

He turns to look at the witch, aware of the fact that she had been telling him to stop.

“Ah, now this one I believe I know.” He gets as close as he can, considering the fire in between the two. She has a simple name.

“Anna Lestrange. Severely under appreciated, extremely hated by her fellow witches and wizards.” Her eye twitches at the description. “But brave, oh so very brave.”

“Time to come home.”

She takes his hand without hesitation.

Charlie wants to punch this guy.

One, he impersonated Jonny last year, which led to one of the biggest scandals in the Wizarding World since… forever! Two, using the unforgivable curses is… well it’s in the name. But using it on an innocent makes it even worse. Three, he’s a dickhead.

He doesn’t know what to do, Anna’s left with Grindelwald, Danno’s either gonna go lunatic, or die. Part of the cruciatus curse was that the victim was always doomed, either they go insane because the pain literally makes it so they can’t think whatsoever, or they simply die due to a weak mental state.

And Danno’s mental state is anything but weak.

A perfectly formed flaming barrier is between Danno and everyone.

This isn’t fun.

Is Charlie loyal to the ministry? Yes, yes he is.

But if any of his friends told him to quit, and they were being serious, he would drop anything and everything.

He’s loyal to the Ministry of Magic.

But slightly more loyal to his friends.

He doesn’t know how to convince Grindelwald to stop. Granted, Danno’s only been suffering for about three minutes, but that’s too long.

The average wizard goes insane about five minutes into the curse. While he knows that Danno is no average wizard, he also knows that he’s not the most mentally stable wizard. He’s not mentally weak, far from it, but he’s unstable, and that’s not good in this situation. Or any situation.

He thinks that maybe he can jump over the fire, but then he recalls what happened to the Aurors who tried to leave.

All he needs to do is cast a protective charm.

But he can’t do that from this distance.

—

Just do it. There’s no harm, Preston’s planning on leaving with Grindelwald, he can tell.

Bam’s his best friend, he should go with him.

He’s not loyal to Grindelwald, never has been, never will be. But he needs to stay with Preston

If he doesn’t… he doesn’t want to think about it.

And, for the record, Grindelwald’s ideas for the Wizarding World aren’t too bad.

Preston’s already in very close proximity to the stage. Bam’s fully able to reach him.

He jumps over a flame that, suspiciously, slightly died down when he got closer to Preston.

Preston was hesitant about stepping through the fire, he had just seen countless people die to simply touching it.

Grindelwald gestures for the two of them to step in. Preston puts a foot first, grabbing onto Bam’s wrist.

He doesn’t die.

He immediately jumps down fully, pulling Bam along with him.

Neither of them die.

Grindelwald gives Preston a look, Bam isn’t sure what it is, but it looks oddly affectionate for someone like him. He turns to look at Bam, the look still on his face. Stop looking at me dude I don’t like this.

Grindelwald’s shoulders fall down, sending the two on their way.

Charlie really wants to punch this guy.

The floor suddenly starts to crack, glowing a pretty blue light.

Bricks come loose from their perfectly situated walls and floors.

Glass from the ceiling and lanterns crack, shattering as it hits the floor.

The fire still hasn’t disappeared, but Charlie has a feeling that it won’t kill him anymore.

He’s willing to risk it.

The dome is still falling apart, the ground shaking.

He puts his hand into the fire.

He’s fine. He’s not dead, his body is still intact.

He’s not sticking around here a moment longer, and it seems that everyone else has the same idea.

Mello, Datchia, and Red’ disapparate in sync.

Jonny forces Ronny to disapparate.

Riggy immediately disapparates, not making an effort to grab anything.

Bundun disapparates, taking Joe and Alex with him.

Joey seems to have realised that Charlie’s gonna take Danno, so he disapparates.

Charlie thinks it’s endearing that despite being subjected to the most painful enchantment in the entire world, Danno still refuses to let go of his suitcase.

Charlie disapparates, taking Danno with him.

Grindelwald still hasn’t left, still standing in the center of the building. The floor and ceiling is crumbling and cracking and toppling over.

He sighs, “I hate Paris.”

Everyone in this group must have the same brain, because they all decided to teleport to right outside the tomb.

The fire definitely didn’t stop, as there’s a colossal dragon made of cerulean flames, spiralling through the night sky.

Alex sighs, he wants a break.

“Quick! Put your wands into the earth, or all of Paris will be destroyed!” Half of the group turned to look at who the fuck had said that.

An old man, an alchemist. Nicholas Flamel.

“This day just gets more interesting by the second,” Charlie says, and he sounds exhausted.

Bundun almost immediately slams his wand down into the ground, the dude literally almost broke it. Everybody else follows, albeit gentler with their wands.

The wands make a rough outline, glowing gold. The outline makes a circle, encasing the dragon.

It’s making actual noises, and Jonny can bet that Danno knows what kind of dragon the flame is based on.

The dragon is being caged by the glowing gold light, slowly disintegrating.

The (fake) dragon makes a small roar of defeat, and it sounded almost real.

“Y’know, that sucked,” Bundun says. Everyone nods in agreement.

“What are we gonna do about,” Riggy snaps his fingers, looking for an answer. “That one.” He says, gesturing toward Danno.

“At least say his name, jeez.” Jonny mutters.

Riggy gives a small huff, and Alex looks confused.

“Isn’t he literally your boss?” Alex says, glaring at Riggy in a look of surprise.

“I- we- I don’t pay attention to contracts!” He insists.

“You’ve known each other since high school! He ends up on international news every other month!” Charlie yells.

“Whatever, you dirty politician.” He has a certain tone in his voice, and it’s slightly amusing.

“Ain’t you five-foot-two?” Joe says. The man addressed makes a squeak sound.

“Weren’t you locked in Azkaban for four years?” Joe clicks his tongue, purses his lips, and looks away. “That’s what I thought.” 

“Okay so what’re we gonna do about that one?”

“We could take him to the Hogwarts hospital wing.” Matt offers. Jonny clears his throat.

“Love that idea, but listen to me, really carefully.” Charlie grins, “we’re in Paris, Hogwarts is in Scotland.” Matt doesn’t reply.

“We’re. In. Paris.” Jonny repeats, “Hogwarts. Is. In. Scotland.” Matt sighs, throwing his arms up in a frustrated motion.

“Man flip you.” FLIP? FLIIIIIIIPPPPPP???

“Nah, I’d win.” Jonny says in a too-cocky tone.

“You’re not the honoured one.” A small, croaky voice says.

“Jeez, thought you’d be out longer.” Concern. Concern. Concern. Concern.

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Just get me some water.” Water isn’t a cure for… anything-?

“Nope! Hogwarts here we come!” Danno makes a noise of protest.

“WAITWAIT! Where’s Teddy?” Who?

“Who?” Danno frowns.

“My Niffler!” Ohhhh.

“Yeah I dunno,” he says. Danno scowls. Joey taps Danno’s shoulder, holding a platypus-like creature.

The small clump of fur is limping, holding a shiny object, gesturing for Danno to take it.

It’s the item that had been perfectly placed along Grindelwald’s suit.

“Oh you pilfering pest, huh?” He looks at the item in awe.

“Calling him a ‘pilfering pest’ after he did you a favour is kinda crazy.” Alex says.

“Yes well, I suppose he did do me a favour, but if he had been caught…” Danno trails off.

“Fair enough,” Alex puts his hands up in a false surrender. The group falls into a silence, none pleased with the outcome of this evening.

“So do ya’ll wanna leave o-"

“YES.” A group shout.

He looks at the group, debating how to teleport them.

“So how’re we gonna get there?” He says.

“Did you just tell us to go somewhere, with no idea on how to take us there?” Charlie asks, his voice having the slightest hint of disgust in it.

“Yup.”

“I’m gonna kill this lil’ kid.” Mello says, Jonny looks at them strangely.

“I’m almost eight years older than you.” Danno gasps.

“Holy fossil!” Danno yells.

Jonny throws his hands up to his head, making a face of disbelief.

“You’re only six years younger than me, you’re not safe.” He jokes, his voice sounding serious.

“At least I’m not twenty five.” Jonny’s soul hurts because of the number.

“Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of my crippling debt due to my gambling addiction.” He says, bragging.

“Not a flex,” Alex whispers, just loud enough for everyone else to hear.

“Oh- uhmm, I can’t hear you over the sound of you being in a crib.” Danno laughs at the insult.

“I’m old enough to pay taxes,” Danno corrects Jonny.

“No? You’re seventeen that’s not o—”

“I’M NINETEEN!”

“But if you’re nineteen- and I’m… oh my golly gee I am a fossil.” He murmurs sadly.

“Wrap it up skittle squad, we’ve gotta get going,” Datchia says, voice one-hundred-percent serious.

“I’ll be Socrates, throwing verbal rocks at these mediocrities.” Alex mutters.

“Stop the violence,” Joe puts his hand forward, a form of expression.

“Hurry up you worrywarts.” Red’ is practically screaming at them.

Charlie sighs, can I go home?

Chapter Text

Anna left with him.

Preston and Bam left with him.

Ronny almost left with him.

Two weeks, and still no leads.

Charlie sighs, the ministry has nothing on Grindelwald. No leads, no traces, no secret bases. Nothing.

On the plus side, Hogwarts has been nice. The kids are chaotic, but they’re kids, so it’s expected. He hadn’t intended on staying long, but Albus was trying so hard to convince him to become a teacher.

Truthfully, he wouldn’t mind becoming a teacher.

But the ministry would mind. His superiors weren’t exactly fans of Albus, or the headmaster. Or Hogwarts.

He had been trying out the substitute role, it fit him quite well. He hadn’t wanted to stick to teaching one subject, so Albus made it so that he would take over any class that didn’t have a teacher that day.

Datchia, Mello and Red' became tutors (and show-offs).

Jonny had already begun planning his leave, despite Albus insisting that he “was welcome to stay as long as possible.”

Alex had been watching the quidditch matches, mainly teaching new players.

Joe had already accepted Albus’ offer to become a full time teacher, but he couldn’t start until an opening arrived. He had overheard a few third-years talking about getting their potions teacher fired, in hopes that Joe would take over.

He didn’t do anything about it, the potions teacher was a jerk, they could use a change of heart.

Albus hadn’t talked to Danno all too much, the man spent most of his time in the dark forest, a place that not many were willing to step foot in. He once ran back into the castle in a hurry, pleading to Madam Pomfrey to help him heal a dying unicorn. Riggy had laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

Riggy wasn’t doing much except being a nuisance. Influencing the students, it’s been two weeks since he arrived, and the staff has already found countless amounts of graffiti all over the campus (clearly not written by the wizard who it was mentioning). Not to mention the time he got two twins to fly through the great hall on broomsticks, which resulted in a giant Chinese dragon made of fireworks flying off to god knows where, and a teacher getting kidnapped by centaurs. He’s a complete and utter nuisance.

Bundun had also accepted the offer of becoming a full time teacher, the Australian Minister of Magic sent a howler the day he got news of it.

Albus had been disappointed to hear about Bam, although Charlie could tell that something else was lingering in his mind.

So now he’s sitting at a table with the professor, talking about his employment at Hogwarts.

“I would love to hire all of you, but I do believe that some would be unwilling.” Jonny… and… nobody else!

“What class would you recommend I teach?” He’s genuinely curious, he hadn’t ever thought about teaching until two weeks ago.

“You could teach our supplementary course in apparition.” He offers.

“Well that’s just perfect.” He says, he hadn’t known that Hogwarts taught its students how to apparate.

“I’ll be honest, each of you fit perfectly for a different class. I’d love for you to teach apparition, you’re the best wizard of the modern age in the subject.” Glazing but okay!

“Im better at it, but Danno’ll always be faster at it.” Albus tilts his head.

“Really?”

“There are plenty of wizards better at apparition, but Danno does hold the world record for fastest apparition time.” Albus makes a noise of surprise.

“He didn’t take the class, so I’m surprised.” He frowns.

“Didn’t take the class? Wasn’t it technically mandatory?”

“He was notorious for not going to most classes, and he was expelled in his fifth year.” He laughs, realising something.

“You’re gonna hire someone who was expelled from your school?” He says, Albus nods.

“The headmaster is quite fond of him, he was very keen when arguing against his expulsion. But Ronny’s entitled father— who has the minister wrapped around his finger— made sure that he was expelled immediately.” He rolls his eyes.

“Not very fond of the Razers, I take it?”

“Most of them are wonderful, Jonny’s a prime example, but gods, his father is insufferable.” He laughs in agreement.

“Anyway, what would each of us teach?” He likes the idea of all his friends being teachers at the same school, not to mention the salary. Surprisingly well, when compared to his current salary. Slightly less, given the fact that he would no longer work for the ministry, but still, it’s a wonderful opportunity. The perfect amount of above average.

“You would teach apparition, I’ve already said this. You’re very talented in the subject, and you’re a great teacher.” He nods along. Albus sits there thinking for a moment.

“As much as I hate to admit it,” he says it in a joking tone. “Riggy has a certain talent when it comes to plants, so he’d teach herbology.” He laughs a bit, but quickly settles back into his normal form.

“Alex would teach our flying lessons, he’s horrifically skilled on a broom.” He nods, it makes sense as to why the man had spent so much time helping the quidditch players.

“Bundun would definitely teach history of magic, he’s a nerd in history.” He hums, muttering a small 'you have no idea' under his breath.

“Jonny… defense against the dark arts. He’s very clever in that sort of area, he meets all the criteria.” He thinks about it for a moment, and decides that, yeah, he’d teach that.

“Joe’ll teach potions, he’s always been particularly observant in the course, and I do believe that the students need a change of pace.” He recalls the amount of ingredients that Joe kept in his house, none meant for food. Only potions.

“Bam would’ve made an extraordinary teacher in transfiguration.” He says solemnly. Charlie doesn’t like the usage of the word ‘would’ve’.

“Danno would teach our care of magical creatures elective, for obvious reasons.” He smiles, one of the only places Danno steps foot in (on the campus) is the forest filled to the brim with magical creatures.

“Do you think the ministry would mind if I quit?” He asks, and Albus makes a strange face.

“You shouldn’t care about what the ministry thinks, if you want to be a teacher then be a teacher, nothing’s holding you back.” Albus says with a shrug. He hums in acknowledgment.

”I’ve worked in the ministry for only half a decade, but it feels like I’ve worked there forever, Y’know?” He’s not sure what to do.

“That’s what happens when you rise to the top so quickly.”

“I’m not really at the top,” he insists. Albus rolls his eyes.

“You’re already the head of the Canadian Auror office, and you’ve only been an actual Auror for three years.” He deadpans.

“I- whatever, go offer Danno a job or something.” He rolls his eyes sarcastically.

“I was actually gonna go talk to him after our meeting.” Crap.

“Gonna go crawling around in the dark forest?” He jokes, grinning.

“Yes, but not to worry, I’ll have you there to protect me!” He laughs for a moment, but then his neck snaps upward.

“What.”

—

Albus is wearing a long overcoat, with gloves applied for the harsh winter weather. Charlie is wearing similar attire.

Albus has Charlie carrying a lantern through the forest, the two following the trail of a friend.

A small, ugly, hairless animal scuttles through the forest, and it horrifies Charlie to the point of a shriek. He jumps back, dropping the lantern, and his head hits Albus’ shoulder, slightly disorienting him in the process.

The other man laughs at him loudly, leaning down to pick up the lantern.

“It’s only a murtlap, don’t be afraid.” His jaw gapes at the utter stupidity of the statement.

“A hairless, and quite frankly, ugly creature just jumped at me, and you expect me to not freak out!?” Albus laughs again, which earns him a slap on the back of his head.

“Ow, what was that for?” His voice is lost, because how the actual hell would Albus not know what earned him that slap?

“Whatever, c’mon, we’ve got a Magizoologist to catch!” He groans in disgust. Albus drags him by the wrist through the forest, Charlie jumping at every sound around him.

“Don’t freak out-“

“Oh Merlin no, what’re you about to say to me?” Albus slightly chuckles, not a good sign.

“Promise me you won’t freak out, genuinely.” He swallows a breath.

“First you have to tell me what you’re about to show me,” he says in a scolding manner.

Albus sighs, “we’re nearing the nest of an Acromantula.” He says. Danno’s description of the creature immediately repeats in his mind.

“Ah, they’re wonderful creatures! While yes, they do eat humans… and are cannibalistic, they’re still wonderful! They grow up to fifteen feet, and like many other species, the female spiders are noticeably larger than their male counterparts. The children of any Acromantula will obviously be smaller, but they still reach the size of carthorses! Some can even grow up to thirty feet in size, but these specimens would obviously be older than your average Acromantula. They’re capable of human speech, and verbal communication!”

His mind is not on his side today.

“Why on earth would you keep a man-eating spider on a school campus.” It’s barely a question, more of a demand of an answer.

“It wasn’t supposed to be kept here, but Salazar Slytherin kept a family of them as pets… therefore they were here before us, and we have no right to remove them.” Charlie thinks that the reason is utter nonsense, but he doesn’t say anything.

Albus carefully leads him through the next part of the forest, and Charlie can see the spiderwebs decked all over the branches and trees.

He clasps his hands over his mouth in an attempt to not make noise while passing through the nest. He can see so many spiders. So many goddamn spiders.

They’re twirling around above him, beside him, and even under his feet. He almost loses his footing.

A dark, grumpy, and terrifying voice sounds from what Charlie assumes to be a burrow. Albus is all too calm about this situation.

It asked something like “who goes there?” or something similar.

“Aragog, it’s Albus.” It has a name. Of course it does.

“Albus? Who else is with you?” The voice terrifies him, it’s gloomy, it’s scary, and it’s way too loud. What terrifies him the most is the fact that Aragog knew he was there.

“Ah, his name is Charlie, a friend of Daniel.” DANNO KNOWS THE SPIDER? OF COURSE HE DOES, EVERYBODY BUT CHARLIE KNOWS ABOUT THE GODDAMN SPIDER.

“You two are allowed to pass.” Judging by the way Aragog responded to ‘he’s a friend of Daniel’, he’s gonna assume that every creature on the goddamn planet likes this guy.

The rest of the walk through the nest is easy enough, Charlie’s still clinging a bit too close to Albus’ side.

About three minutes after leaving the nest, Charlie starts to step a little further from Albus.

“I don’t understand why you’re so scared of Aragog, he’s a wonderful guy.”

“I don’t particularly enjoy the acquaintance of an eighteen-foot long man-eating spider, but I suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinions.” He says, obviously sarcastic.

Albus shrugs, “you’re lucky he told us where Danno went, he can smell fear, Y’know?” Albus says with a laugh. Charlie immediately pales.

“They smell fear…?” Albus nods eagerly. He pauses, “how’d Danno befriend him anyway?” Albus’ eyes light up.

“During his second year, he was chased into the dark forest by a group of bullies— I made sure they were properly expelled—“ He laughs. “But, he was chased all the way to Aragog’s nest, and the bullies ran away as soon as they saw him, but Danno thought he was ‘magnificent’ so Aragog prefers him over most, if not all humans.” He hums, and notices that the two are nearing a lake.

It’s a steep slope, and they don’t see much from up on the grassy forest, so they decide to slide down.

He sprains his ankle. “Holy— mother of Merlin- AUGH!” He holds his foot up using his hand for a moment, Albus laughs at the scene.

“You think that’s funny? Oh I’ll show you funn-” He’s cut off by Albus doing a piece of wandless magic, a charm that quite literally got rid of his mouth.

It’s returned to him a few minutes later. He looks around at the lake, and once he focuses, he can hear a small voice. One that’s whispering. Both him and Albus look at each other, then they start walking in the direction of the voice, they both knew who it was.

“Now, you have to wait, I’m not releasing you in the middle of a lake, it’s far too small for you.” Danno sounds like he’s scolding one of his creatures. Albus and Charlie approach him, making themselves known, as to not startle him.

“Oh, you two. Whatever are you doing out here at this time of the day?” He sounds solemn, as if he’s not also out here.

“So, what water demon have you got in there?” Charlie asks with a grin, “we both know you don’t have a permit.” Danno laughs awkwardly, making sure his suitcase was locked.

“You’re uh- you’re not gonna arrest me, are you?” Charlie sighs, “no, I’m not gonna arrest you, I’m about to send my resignation letter to the ministry anyway.” Danno seems to perk up at that.

“Does that mea-”

“I’ll indulge in your highly illegal activities, yes.” He jokes.

“I don’t- I’m not a criminal-?” Charlie gives him a dry look.

“You carry illegal creatures in your suitcase, you smuggle them into countries illegally, and you break the law whenever it’s convenient for your creatures.” He deadpans.

“Okay, sure, but I’m not- I’m not a bad criminal.” Charlie understands what he’s saying.

“I know, I know, just tell me what water demon you’ve got in there.” Danno still seems slightly hesitant.

“Y’know just a… just your average- your average Secondary…?” Charlie laughs, convinced that he’s joking.

But then he realises that he’s being one-hundred percent serious.

“How the FUCK did you manage to get your hands on a secondary?” Danno seems a bit taken aback by his question. He’s lost in thought for a moment.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear.” He observes.

“How long have you had it?” Albus asks, and Danno just looks down at the ground.

“Far too long, I’m afraid. She should’ve been released back into the ocean a month ago, but my time in the hospital is delaying my progress.” He says.

“You’re still recovering,” Charlie reminds him.

“I know, but if she doesn’t get released into the ocean soon then she’ll start to get attached, and that’ll prove to be an issue.” He says worriedly.

“Even after you’re fully healed, the ministry says that you’re not meant to leave the campus without the supervision or permission of a Auror.” Albus says, and Danno’s eyes are still directed towards the ground.

Charlie wants to say, ‘what’s one more law broken?’ but he refrains.

“On a lighter note, how would you like to be a teacher?” Charlie almost laughs at the randomness of the question. Danno almost flinches when Albus is done speaking.

“I’m- I- wha- Sorry?”

“How would you like to be a teacher?” He asks again, a bit clearer than before.

“Maybe-? I’ve still got work to do with my book and the creatures, being a teacher might take away from that,” Danno goes into a rambling state, Charlie and Albus can barely understand what he’s saying.

“So, is it a yes or no?” Albus has a pleading look in his eyes.

“I suppose, I could make room for it.” Albus nods, and gestures for the other two to stand up.

“Would you guys mind going back to the castle? I haven’t seen you in a few days, Danno, so you better get some sleep.” He sounds like a parent scolding their child who stayed up past their bedtime. “And you, Charlie, get to work on your little- problem.” He doesn’t say anything more. Charlie nods.

Danno starts to look up at the slope, talking about how he could get Aragog to take them back to the castle, Charlie quickly protests, suggesting that they simply apparate.

Neither of them argue against it.