Hello Fantastic Beasts readers!
So, a little backstory here: I watched Miss Julie after Fantastic Beasts and it wasn't until half of the movie had passed before I recognized Samantha Morton (Mary Lou Barebone) was playing Colin Farrell's partner. This little heartbreaking (but happy ending) idea came to me during one of my many many times of watching Fantastic Beasts :) I hope you all like it, a bit at least.
For this AU, Grindelwald does not come to America, Mary Lou is actually Credence's mother, and the obscurus inside Credence is the young man's protector when he's harmed.
Happy Reading!
"There's been reports of suspicious activity down at the old orphanage," Tina announced at the start of the meeting. She glared at their blank faces. "The old orphanage? Where the Second Salemers are? Does anybody care that this woman has gone too far and that these children are in real danger?"
Graves cleared his throat. "Crucifying those you work with is not the wisest of choices, Tina." He gave her a pointed look. "But as it happens, I am aware of this activity. So much so that I'll look into this myself."
She nodded quickly then very nearly eagerly stood as if to join him. "Then I'll assist you-"
But he stopped her. "No, no. Only me. You had a minor run-in with Mary Lou Barebone a few weeks ago, and if she is still upset about it, she could use the children as pawns and that is something I am not willing to risk."
"Of course, sir," she said, embarrassingly sitting back down.
He gave a firm nod to those around the table, stood, and promptly made his exit. Having Tina along would only complicate matters - let alone make him reveal his long-kept secret. No, he needed to handle Mary Lou Barebone alone.
He silently cursed to himself as he walked through the busy corridors of MACUSA.
He hadn't thought she'd take action so soon - it was only last night that he discovered all she had been hiding from him. He just prayed she didn't use the boy any longer.
She practically sneered at him when he stopped in the alley. Her arms were folded across her chest, staring angrily at him - the man who used to be her husband. "Finally out of the shadows, Percival. Are you quite done deceiving those muggles?" she spat, her strong Irish accent coming through.
He sheathed his wand. He knew she posed a threat to him but she was a muggle herself - the worst she could do was strangle him. But he didn't approach her. "Deceiving. You'd know much about that, wouldn't you?"
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't reply. "It's taken you long to get here. If that witch hadn't condemned me at that rally, you wouldn't be here."
Her smile was sickening to his stomach. To think at one point in his life he loved her...
"You never came back," she went on. "You even stopped sending money-"
"I stopped sending money because you said you had found someone else. You know I only came to America to find a better life for us."
She snorted in disgust.
How easily she ticked him. His own native accent wormed its way out as his temper rose. "And when I had a good-paying job, I was going to bring you here," he reminded her. "But you were impatient-"
"I had your son to think about," she interrupted. "He needed a father, and if you were never coming home, I needed to find him a replacement."
His retort died on his tongue. This was a trick, wasn't it. He'd come here to speak about toning down the riots in front of the bank not get pulled into some god-awful trick-
"It's not a trick, Percival. It's the truth. I was with child when you left."
He couldn't form words for a long moment. "Christ, Mary, you never told me about him! Why didn't you tell me? I would have returned-"
She sneered, "You wanted a life in America. You wouldn't have returned anyway."
His eyes narrowed dangerously. These years had made her bitter beyond imagination, and now she was trying to pin this all on him. Trying to make her problems- her mistakes his fault. "I would have made Ireland work, especially for our son. I can't believe you- Does he know of me?"
"What do you think?" she challenged. "Spent all his life asking where his father was. I should have told him you were dead. It would sure as hell stop the questions he asked day and night." Her upper lip suddenly curled with anger as she relived the years and years the boy spent asking about Graves.
His mouth grew into a hard line. "Have you been hurting him?" he asked darkly. It was no secret that Mary Lou Barebone abused the children at the orphanage. But to think their son received most of her anger- He shuddered.
She gave a short and bitter laugh. "What do you think, Percival? I never wanted kids. I wasn't like you. Don't think I don't know that's why you left me for her in the first place."
His jaw clenched. She was going to dig this up too, wasn't she? "I did no such thing. I-"
"Don't you deny it!"
This fight he would not win. "I came back to you. I admitted I did you wrong in so many ways, Mary. I did. It wasn't love I felt for her - it was lust, it was the passion that had burned out between us months before. For a time, she gave me what I wanted but at the end of it, you were my wife and the only woman I'd ever truly love.
"And I returned to you with a promise of finding us a better life in America."
She sneered.
He angrily ran a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply. "What is his name?"
"Credence."
It seemed when she spoke his name, he remembered a tall lanky boy trailing after her and two other girls. Credence - a name too pure for a boy who had endured a childhood with Mary as a mother. He only hoped now he wasn't too late in stopping her abuse and repairing what awful lies she could have told him.
He briskly walked the streets of New York City. He wouldn't apparate to the orphanage; she could hear him arrive and potentially savagely use the boy. His blood began to boil at the thought of her and the nerve she dared to have.
She hid herself and his son right under his nose! She put on an American accent and this whole fucking mess of a show for the rest of the world.
He was bitter in remembering he had done the same to MACUSA. He was reluctant to admit they were alike in that sense.
He came upon what was left of the old church. The sight of the door mangled and clawed had his wand sliding into his hand. He cautiously stepped inside, glancing around in the darkness. A pile of rubble sat in the center of the room. When he nudged it, searching for anything that was left from the magic that had wreaked havoc, he found her hand. He lifted away a large board and his eyes met her empty dead ones.
A sneer sat on his lips. A part of him was glad she was dead but another part of him removed all the scars age had given her and saw the young and innocent woman he had married long ago.
Then he remembered their son.
"Credence?" he called out.
He heard a faint shuffle above but when he looked, his eyes were met with nothing but shadow. He cursed under his breath - he should have confronted her sooner, demanded to know what she was doing to him. Instead he put it off and now he feared the worst for his son.
In the dull moonlight, a small tendril of smoke slowly flowed down and brushed against his pant leg. He soon realized what had caused the destruction of many of the city's buildings. His eyes searched the dark mass above him.
"Credence," he tried again, softer. "Credence, I know what you are to me. And it's alright now. It's all over."
The smoke twitched.
Graves stepped back, letting the creature within the young man resolve on its own. He watched it shrink away until only a young man curled up in the corner of the room shook. His voice went to a whisper. "Credence?"
The young man hid his face away from the other. He had dreamed years upon years of finding his father, but he never imagined it to be like this. Not after the monster inside him killed his own mother. What would his own father think of him now?
Credence sounded broken, "It was an accident. I-I- shouldn't have- Please don't arrest me-"
Graves shook his head and sheathed his wand. He knelt a few paces away from the boy so not to startle him. "No, Credence, I wouldn't think of it. This wasn't your fault. I know what she's done to you."
He looked up, his brown eyes full of question and defense. "Why haven't you come for me before? You could have seen I had changed... She told me you knew about me, but you didn't want me. So you left."
The auror's heart pulled and he sighed. "I never knew of you, Credence. Never. Had I? I would have returned to you and loved you so much more than my father did me." He inched closer, daring to sigh in relief when the boy didn't cower. "She only told me yesterday. I should've come sooner.. but I was worried she would use you against me, more than she has already. I was afraid you would be harmed. I'm sorry."
Credence's frame shivered.
Once he started school and saw tall men with the other kids, he had always asked about his father and why he didn't have one and the other kids did. And every time he would ask, she would tell him the same story - that his father never wanted kids and left when he was born. He asked time and time again, hoping the story would change, hoping that his father really did love him and would be coming home.
His questions didn't cease when they moved to America. He knew his father was in New York City, and all he wanted was to see him and- and- and ask him why he left and why he didn't love his only son. But she never let him out of her sight and when he did manage to slip away, she beat him raw when he returned.
He looked up at the strange man, his brown eyes daring to turn to fire. "I don't believe you."
"I know," Graves sighed softly. "You've gone all your life without me. You've gone all your life listening to her: the only parent you've ever known. You don't have to trust me, Credence. You don't have to believe what I say. Just know that you're my son, and I love you, and- and hear me, if I could change the past, go back in time, I would have never left you. I would have been there. I would have been a proper father to you. I would have shielded you from her abuse. I swear to you, Credence."
He choked on a sob and hid his face.
Graves moved closer and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "She and I fell out of love many years before. I admit I am not at all innocent in this. I left her for a time for another woman, but at the end of the day, that woman could not give me what your mother could." He squeezed Credence's shoulder and watched the teen slowly uncurl. "I returned to make our marriage work, but Ireland could only do so much for us. I came to America to find a better job and a better life for us. I sent money back home, ensuring she'd be alright on her own." He did the math in his head - it had been ten months after he had left: "Then one day, she wrote to me and said to stop sending money, that our marriage was done, and that I could forget about returning because she wouldn't be around to fight for it."
Credence lifted his head and Graves' hand gently cupped the back of his neck, his thumb softly padding his skin. A tear slid from the boy's eye.
"I was a fool for leaving her for another woman, and I believe as revenge, she kept you from me."
The teen sniffled.
Graves' heart hurt at the sight of the affection-deprived boy. "Not once did she tell me you existed. I am sorry, Credence."
He shook and dared to look up at the man. "...you knew nothing of me?" he asked quietly, hoping to hear it once more, finally hoping this story wouldn't change.
"Yes," he said.
The boy's shoulders shook again - a new fear suddenly in his mind. "The city- the damage- I had no control- p-please don't-" His voice wavered greatly.
Graves shook his head and interrupted his words. "No, no, it's alright. You will not be punished. I will help you. Your magic can be controlled. I promise you."
"Really?" he sniffed.
He smiled softly and gently cupped Credence's chin. "Yes."
Credence curled into his father's solid body and cried - for the first time in his life - tears of happiness.
"Yes," Graves soothed. "I can promise you that."
If any of you need more clarification, here's what happened:
Mary Lou and Graves lived in Ireland. He had a short affair with another woman but then returned to Mary Lou. Finding no suitable work in Ireland, he left for America intending on coming back to get her but their marriage fell apart even more, so he never went back. When Credence was about eight, Mary Lou came to America and started the orphanage. She never told Credence or Graves of the other and as Credence got older, Graves started to notice him but he thought nothing of it. When Tina caused a scene at the rally, he recognized her and confronted her.
In Miss Julie, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton play characters that are in a relationship... and his character becomes infatuated with Miss Julie :) That's where that part of the story came from as I couldn't resist not putting it in
This had been sitting in my documents for a good two years x) [everything I publish nowadays is at least two years old *sighhh] I finally decided what I was going to do with it and finished it. Originally, Credence wasn't going to get a happy ending, but as I continued it, a happy ending felt right :)
I hope you all liked it!