Chapter 1:
The girl by the window in the navy coat with her black curls just peeking out of the bottom of her matching navy and cream hat looked worried. Her gloves, which would normally have been resting in her lap, were being wrung through her hands as if it was her goal to rip them to shreds before the train came to its final stop in New York's Pennsylvania Station. It was odd to see a young woman of her age, and obvious social status, to be traveling by train alone. Over her head, placed there by the porter when she boarded, was a trunk with a number of slightly eccentric stamps. The most curious was that of a great bird with celtic knots running through its outstretched wings.
"End of the line, Pennsylvania Station. Last stop, folks," the conductor called, causing the girl to startle and begin to fidget. She pulled on her gloves and smoothed down her jacket, her delicate fingers touching at her hat and hair to make sure both were still in place. As the train came to a stop in the station, the other passengers in the car stood and began gathering up their own things.
"Help you with your trunk, Miss?" a young man a few seats away asked.
"Oh yes, thank you," she replied and watched as he braced himself to life the no doubt heavy piece of luggage, only to find it rather light and nearly overbalancing as he took the trunk down.
"Don't know my own strength," he joked as he handled the trunk with ease down the aisle. He jumped onto the platform and set the trunk down before turning and offering her his hand.
"Thank you, you've been too kind," she said politely.
"It was my pleasure, Miss…"
"Graves."
"Miss Graves, I'm Jack Collins. Maybe we'll see each other around."
"Maybe, although New York is a very big city."
Jack Collins winked at her, the cheekiness, before touching his fingers to his cap and wandering off.
Guinevere Graves smiled just a bit before she looked around to be sure nobody was watching and hefted the trunk as if it weighed nothing. She stepped into a nearby alcove, out of sight of the other passengers on the platform, and reached into her coat, pulling out a slender stick. The stick was carved with swirling bands like hundreds of tiny, overlapping feathers that culminated in an elegant bird's head on the pommel. The wood of her wand was worn smooth from her hand and her fingers found their natural grooves as she brandished it at the trunk. With a tiny flick, the trunk shrank until it fit in the palm of her hand. She pocketed the tiny trunk and took another glance around to make sure nobody had seen anything before slipping out of the alcove and back into the sea of passengers as it flooded up the stairs and dispersed onto the streets of New York City.
Guinevere Graves smiled and took a deep breath, savoring the familiar hustle and bustle of her city. She'd missed this out in the seclusion of Ilvermorny, the magical boarding school where she'd spent the last several months. Ilvermorny was wonderful, but it was built for its remote location, perched on the tallest peak of Mount Greylock and shrouded in a magical fog that never lifted. That just wasn't Gwen Graves' preference.
But she wasn't just coming home for a change of scenery. In truth, she was rather concerned. It had been months since her brother's last letter, and although his job certainly kept him busy, it just wasn't like him to not send anything. So her first stop was going to be to her brother's apartment, once she found an Apparation point.
"Excuse me!"
A second later she was nearly thrown to the ground by a man pushing his way through the crowd, a battered leather suitcase ramming her in the shin.
"Sorry, I'm so sorry, I—Gwen?"
Gwen looked up from her bruised leg, surprised to see a familiar face.
"Tina? What are you—who's that?" Gwen demanded, gesturing towards the wizard in the blue coat who was still pushing through the crowd.
"That—"
"Oh, hello Gwen! I thought I heard you!" Tina's bubbly sister, Queenie, appeared just behind her, along with a rather portly, wheezing no-maj, or all things! What on Earth was going on?
"Oh, no time to explain right now, best you come with us," Queenie said, looping her arm in Gwen's and suddenly she was part of their group, weaving through the no-majs after the incredibly rude wizard in the blue coat, who kept looking in every direction except right in front of him.
"Tina, where are we going?" Gwen asked.
"I'm really no sure," Tina seemed reluctant to admit.
"Then who is that?" Gwen gestured towards the wizard they were following.
"Oh, that's Mr. Scamander," Queenie replied. "Yes, he's a little odd," she agreed to Gwen's unspoken assessment.
"This way," he called in a very British accent before stepping out into the middle of the street, heedless of the cabs that honked at him. Gwen, Tina, Queenie, and the no-maj followed him into an apartment building where they proceeded up all seven flights of stairs before coming out on the roof. Gwen was just stepping out the door when Mr. Scamander flicked open his suitcase and swept it through the air like a leather butterfly net, scooping up some sort of small, blue creature.
"Got her," Mr. Scamander declared, snapping the lid closed and turning on them with a proud grin. That was when he noticed their extra.
"Who are you?"
"This is Mr. Graves' sister, Gwen," Queenie explained. "Gwen, this is—"
"New Scamander, magizoologist," Mr. Scamander said, nodding. "Your brother sentenced me to death just an hour ago, so forgive me if I don't shake your hand."
Gwen stuttered, shocked at the blasé revelation. "My—my brother did what?"
"Tina too," Mr. Scamander added.
Gwen turned on her friend who suddenly couldn't seem to make eye contact with anyone.
"What—is—going—on—here?"
"Maybe we should talk about this back at our place," Queenie suggested, pulling out her wand. She turned to the no-maj beside her. "You ready, honey?"
He looked at her outstretched hand and swallowed hard before grabbing it. Tina took Gwen's and the five of them Apparated to Tina and Queenie's apartment.
No sooner did Gwen find her feet once more on the ground did she turn on the Goldstein sisters.
"Alright, I want to know everything right now, starting with why you're chasing a foreign magizoologist with a no-maj, in direct violation of the law!"
As the tale came out, Gwen almost couldn't believe her ears. Tina told her about seeing Mr. Scamander at the bank and the proceeding chase after his niffler ("What's a niffler?") that ended in not only an un-Obliviated no-maj ("Jacob Kowalski, Miss.") but a suitcase full of dangerous ("They're not dangerous.") magical creatures lost in New York City.
"I didn't mean to open it," Mr. Kowalski insisted. "It just sort of sprung open and this thing—"
"A murtlap," Mr. Scamander corrected.
"—murtlap, bit me! And something else—"
"The erumpent."
"—destroyed the whole street!"
"Yes, but we've caught that, and would've probably retrieved Dougal too if it wasn't for Miss Goldstein's intervention."
Everyone looked at Tina who winced. "I thought, with something running loose in the city, it was better to hand the suitcase over to MACUSA."
"Something is running loose in the city?"
"Yes, and it killed a no-maj politician."
"And Mr. Graves, your brother, decided Miss Goldstein and I were trying to deliberately breach the Statute of Secrecy by purposefully releasing a creature in the hopes of revealing the magical world to the muggles, and sentenced us to death."
Gwen turned to Tina, who nodded confirmation.
"But that's—he wouldn't just—"
Gwen was struggling to try to figure out why. Why would Percival, her protective, but exceedingly fair-minded, brother sentence the woman who was quite possibly her closest friend, to death?
"He wouldn't do that," Gwen declared at last.
"I was there. He most certainly did," Mr. Scamander retorted.
Gwen rounded on the magizoologist, eyes blazing. "Now listen here, Mr. Scamander," she growled, punctuating her words with a jab of her finger to his chest. "My brother may be strict and over-protective, but he is also fair. That's why he's Director of Magical Security. And I'm telling you now, he would not sentence a foreign national and a MACUSA Auror to death without a full criminal trial before the Grand Court. He—would—not—do—that."
The wizard cringed away until he was practically pinned against the wall.
"It's alright," Queenie jumped in, pulling Gwen away. "You're right. We believe you, Gwennie. Promise."
Gwen found herself wrapped up in Queenie's arms, fighting back tears, which was ridiculous because it wasn't like she was the one with a death sentence and all of MACUSA after her. But not getting any letters and then coming back to find something like this, it just confirmed what Gwen had feared when she made the decision to skip out on the end of her term and come back early.
"I need to talk to him," she declared at last. "Something is wrong, and I need to talk to him to find out why."
"That may not be a good idea," Mr. Scamander said quietly.
"Why not?"
He frowned and Queenie gasped over Gwen's head.
"He said that?"
Gwen looked up, worriedly. "Said what?"
Mr. Scamander sighed. "When we were in the interrogation room, Director Graves found an Obscurus in my case. It's not dangerous. I came across one in my travels, and although it killed the child, I was able to separate the Obscurus itself and keep it contained within a shield. He was very interested in it, but when I explained that it couldn't survive outside the shield, he seemed…disappointed. His exact words were 'So it's useless without the host'."
Mr. Scamander looked Gwen in the eye for the first time since they'd been introduced.
"A parasitical, magical force that killed a child should not be used for anything, except for study in how to prevent it. Whatever you believe your brother to be, I fear his motives are not so noble anymore. If you go, you shouldn't go alone."
Gwen didn't know what to make of any of it, but one thing was certain. She needed to talk to her brother. It seemed her nervousness had been warranted. She took a deep breath.
"Alright. Tina?"
Tina had been fairly quiet after she'd told her part of the story. She looked up at Gwen with just a glimmer of hope.
"I know the other Aurors are probably after you now, but you know my brother probably the best of anyone else here. I trust you. Will you come with me?"
Slowly, Tina nodded.
"I'll come too," Queenie added. "Your brother usually has his Occlumency shields up, but maybe I can hear a little bit."
"If you're going, then I'm going," the no-maj declared.
Mr. Scamander sighed. "Might as well make a group outing of it. But we can't exactly waltz into his office at MACUSA right now."
Gwen got an idea and suddenly reached into her pocket for her trunk, expanding it and rifling through its contents.
"We're not going to walk in," Gwen declared as her hand closed around the item she was looking for. She held up a slim, gold bracelet that she rarely wore for one reason.
"We're going to Portkey right into his office."
"Isn't that the bracelet Mr. Graves gave you for your 15th birthday?" Tina asked.
"Yes. It also happens to be an unregistered Portkey. Percival follows the rules, except when it comes to protecting me. It will take us right into his office with the right password. Meant to be a quick escape if I ever found myself…well let's just say Percival was concerned for my safety when he became Director of Magical Security."
Mr. Scamander eyed the bracelet and nodded approval. "That should work."
"You all should be Disillusioned when we go. It won't fool him for long, but maybe long enough for me to get him talking."
"What's Disillusioned?" Mr. Kowalski asked.
"It's a spell that causes the target to take on the properties off—"
"Invisible," Tina explained simply. "We're gonna make you invisible."
"Wow!" Mr. Kowalski breathed, with all the wonder and excitement of a no-maj wizard child on his first day at Ilvermorny. "Is it gonna hurt?"
"Not at all." Tina took out her wand and tapped him briskly on the head.
"Ow! I thought you said—whoa that feels weird."
Mr. Kowalski shivered as the spell trickled down his body causing it to take on the color of the wall and floor behind him. When it was done, Gwen could see a faint ripple, but only when he waved his hands in front of his face.
"This is crazy!"
"It's better you don't move too much," Gwen told him. "Movement tends to disrupt it."
"Oh, sorry," came the reply with a nervous shuffle.
Tina, Queenie, and Mr. Scamander Disillusioned themselves as well and they all gathered around, each grabbing a part of the bracelet.
"Okay, on three. One, two, three, Elaine!"
Gwen felt the familiar jerk just behind her navel as the Portkey whisked them off and dropped them right in the middle of Percival Graves' office. To their relief, he wasn't in, but a moment later they could hear footsteps coming down the hall and Gwen recognized her brother's deep voice.
"Thank you, Hernandez," he said as Tina, Queenie, Mr. Scamander, and Mr. Kowalski scattered. Gwen was left standing in the middle of the office when the door opened and she caught the confused and suspicious expression that shouldn't have been on her brother's face.
"How did you get in here?" he demanded.
Gwen held up the bracelet. "You gave me a Portkey, remember?"
But something was definitely off because Gwen could see quite clearly that he didn't remember. Still, he made a big show of "remembering" as he moved around his desk.
"Of course, is there something wrong?"
Gwen crossed her arms, giving her "brother" a glare, but really, she was placing her hand on her wand.
"That remains to be seen. How about you explain why I haven't received a single letter from you in almost two months?"
The Graves in front of her gestured around him. "If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a crisis here. A no-maj politician was killed by a beast, set loose by a wizard and witch who are at large right now."
Gwen snigged, as if his words meant nothing. "You didn't stop when you had that werewolf outbreak back in '23."
"That was an entirely different matter."
"You're right, it was. Petrificus Totalus!"
He blocked her spell with the speed borne of a practiced duelist, but he hadn't been expecting a silent hex from Tina, who'd wedged herself between the wall and the bookshelf in the corner. She and the others banished their Disillusionments as Gwen moved around the desk, careful to keep her wand on the prone form.
"I don't know who you are," Gwen growled, "but you are not my brother. And there wasn't a werewolf outbreak in '23 because my brother and Tina caught the guy before he could make others."
"Let's see who the imposter is," Mr. Scamander murmured. "Revelio."
Gwen watched in growing horror as her brother's black hair faded to a blonde, almost white, shade and his face morphed, becoming rounder and older. The man who stared up at her after the changes finished, Gwen did not recognize. But Mr. Scamander and Tina sure did.
"Gellert Grindelwald," Mr. Scamander said, keeping his wand trained on the wizard.
"Queenie, go alert Hernandez and President Picquery," Tina ordered.
"Come on, honey," Queenie took Mr. Kowalski's wrist and led him out the door. Tina, Mr. Scamander, and Gwen never looked away from Grindelwald, though Gwen could feel a knot welling up in her throat. Grindelwald must've been impersonating her brother for at least two months now. Who knew where he could be, or even if he was still alive! He could've been dead for months now, and she hadn't even known.
"He most likely had to keep the real Graves nearby," Mr. Scamander murmured "Alive too, if he was going to keep harvesting for the Polyjuice Potion."
The door burst open and MACUSA Aurors flooded the room, followed by President Picquery, who looked at the three and down at the petrified Grindelwald.
"Mr. Scamander, Miss Goldstein, it appears we owe you an apology."
The Aurors set about disarming Grindelwald before cancelling the petrification only after his hands were spelled and bound.
"Mr. Grindelwald," President Picquery said. "Where is the real Percival Graves?"
Grindelwald just sneered. "Do you think your prison will hold me?"
"We'll do our best. Get him out of here."
The Aurors hauled him away and Gwen watched, stunned as they took the only person who knew where her brother was.
"What about Percival?"
President Picquery sighed. "I'm sorry we didn't recognize the imposter. I'll put a team of my best Aurors out to find him. You have my word, Gwen. In fact, Miss Goldstein, you're wasted in the Wand Permit Office. You'll be leading the search. Report to Hernandez tomorrow."
"Y-yes ma'am, thank you."
"And is it safe to say all of your creatures have been found, Mr. Scamander?"
"All but one still, Madame President."
"Well see that it is found and returned to that case. The International Confederation will want solid answers soon, and I need to make sure what we're dealing with is not one of your creatures."
"Of course, Madame."
She left and the five of them stood uncertainly in the Director of Magical Security's office.
"What's the last one we need to find?" Tina asked.
"Dougal, my demiguise."
"A demiguise?" Gwen groaned.
"You know what that is?"
"Percival liked them when we were kids. You had to go lose an invisible creature in New York City?"
"It's invisible?" Tina choked. "But how do you even catch an invisible—"
"With a great deal of difficulty."
"Right, then I guess we better get started. I know a guy who might be able to help. But Gwen, I don't think Mr. Graves would want you going."
Gwen scoffed. "Of course I'm going! Like what Percival wanted has ever stopped me before! Where are we going?"