Author's Note: I had to fix a bit of the timeline as I completely missed something in the screenplay! But not much really changed.
Chapter 1- Shot in the Dark
She was going to miss that Newt Scamander. He had made her smile in a way that she hadn't smiled in a long time. He made her feel appreciated.
And they had only had three days together.
Newt was already set to take a ship back to England in just a few days and Tina was already beginning to miss him terribly. But she had a job to do first. So much had happened in the past few days that her mind was a clutter, but according to her legilimesn sister Queenie, Newt was at the forefront of her thoughts.
Followed closely by her missing boss, Percival Graves. It had been a tremendous shock to find out that the Director of Magical Security had been taken over by Gellert Grindelwald himself.
A question remained: was Graves dead?
Tina didn't want to think about it. She didn't want her boss to be dead. He had been her boss for six years and she hadn't noticed it wasn't him. How long had Grindelwald been posing as Graves?
It did, however, warm her heart to know that it was, in fact, not Graves who had sentenced her to death. At the time, she hadn't had a lot of opportunity to process the fact that Graves had so carelessly and casually sent her to die, but it was a heartbreaking fact.
Now she knew it wasn't him.
And she felt she owed it to him to find him. He had to still be alive. Out there somewhere, probably injured or unconscious. Grindelwald wouldn't have killed him, would he?
She was an Auror again, thankfully. Tina had hated her time in the Wand Permit Office. It was just too boring. When Picquery gave Tina her job back, she also gave her a heavy task.
"Find Graves. Whether it's just his body or if he's alive, it is our duty to bring him home. Carneirus and Potter will help you, while Limus runs the office until we know one way or the other, then promotions will be done," Picquery said.
Tina nodded. She wondered why Picquery chose her to run the small team over Carneirus, who was the Chief Auror, but Tina knew better than to question the decision. She was lucky to have her job back.
Just one day after Grindelwald was arrested, Tina returned to Macusa to get started on the tough task. The trio had been given a small conference room near the Auror's office to use. Mark Carneirus and Evangeline Potter were heard at work already, looking through everything they had taken off of Grindelwald after he was arrested.
"What do we have?" Tina asked, pulling her hat and coat off.
"Not much. Nothing that gives us a clue about what happened to Graves," Evangeline said.
Tina took her seat, a deep frown settling on her face. "We'll go through his office first and then go to his house."
"What about talking to Grindelwald?" Carneirus asked.
"If you want to try, go for it, but I know he's not going to give us anything useful. Grindelwald is too smart for that," Tina replied, her fingers reaching out for the wand that lay in the middle of the table.
She had seen Graves' wand in action so many times over the last six years. He was aggressive, some said, with his wand, but Tina thought he had a beautiful swing. He was always so calm and controlled when he worked.
The 15-inch wand was ebony and sleek. She could feel the magic pulsing inside when her fingertips touched the wood.
"Dumb enough to get caught, though, huh?" Carneirus said.
Tina pulled her fingers back, balling hand into a fist. "The obscurial is gone, he has no need to keep his cover," she said simply, a hint of sadness in her voice. Credence was a good boy. He didn't deserve what happened to him.
If only someone had loved him as all children deserve.
"Maybe he'd slip up and tell us what happened to Graves," Evangeline said hopefully.
"Again, you can try if you want," Tina said. "But don't expect anything but lies and games." She tore her eyes away from the wand. "I don't think Graves is dead."
Evangeline and Carneirus exchanged a quick look and then looked at her with mild pity. They thought he was dead.
Tina's heart sank.
"Grindelwald needed him," she explained, her voice small.
"It would help if we knew how long he was pretending to be Graves," Carneirus offered. "If it's only been a couple of weeks then maybe, but if it's been months…" he trailed off.
"He's been off for a while, I think," Evangeline said. "Remember All Hallow's Eve?"
Tina frowned. "He did dress up a little, didn't he?" she said as she remembered. It wasn't much, but it was more than Graves had ever done. Even Picquery was surprised. She said the last time he had dressed up on the holiday was at Ilvermorny.
"He called me son the week before that," Carneirus added. "He's never called me son."
That was around the time Tina had been demoted to the Wand Permit Office. After she was demoted and took her things down to her new desk, tears streaming down her face, Graves visited her. He calmed her down and when he left, he wiped the tears from her face with his bare hand. It had shocked her.
Thinking about it, Tina's heart sank further. What if that kind gesture hadn't been Graves? What if it had been Grindelwald?
"How are we supposed to know what was development and what was Grindelwald?" she suddenly questioned, a growing anger in her chest. "How are we supposed to know what was him growing as a person?"
Evangeline and Carneirus were quiet, not having the answer.
Tina sighed. "Carneirus, go talk to him. Be careful," she warned. "Do not make the mistake of thinking you're smarter than him. Just see what he's willing to give up. Do not be alone with him," she ordered.
Carneirus nodded and stood up from the desk. "I get it, boss lady. Walk a line, test him. That's all."
For the first time since Newt got on the ship, Tina smiled. Boss lady. She kind of liked that.
He left the room, leaving the two women alone.
"Evangeline, go over everything here again. Make sure you check everything for any kind of charm. Maybe he's hidden something," Tina ordered the woman.
She nodded. "What about you?"
"I'm going to check out his office. Maybe Grindelwald kept something in the desk," Tina said as she pushed up from the chair.
"Got it. Be careful, like you said, Grindelwald is smart. He might have wards," Evangelina said.
Tina nodded before turning to leave the room. Shutting the door behind her, Tina took a deep breath. She walked down the hallway, passing the large Auror's office before coming to Graves' office. Her hand wavered over the doorknob. The last time she had been in his office, she was being demoted.
Tina knew she had messed up by attacking Mary Lou Barebones, but she couldn't stand to see Credence hurt. The young man didn't deserve the wicked woman's anger. She had been expecting to be fired when Graves called her into his office, but he stared at her with a kind understanding that she hadn't expected from the older man. If she wasn't mistaken, his voice cracked just the tiniest bit when he informed her she was demoted.
Maybe it had been Graves.
She prayed it was Graves.
With another deep breath, Tina turned the doorknob and entered the office. It was still in the clean state that Graves had always kept it. Tina shut the door behind her and slowly made her way to the desk.
Adorned with just a couple of books, a small version of the MACUSA Magical Threat Exposure Clock, a lamp, ink well and quill, and a small brown box.
Tina walked around the desk, her fingers lightly running over the smooth desk. She had stood before the desk on many times, discussing reports and cases, and sometimes being reprimanded for not following the rules.
Her heart ached as she lowered herself into Graves' chair. She could feel him there, like he was standing behind her, tsking quietly at her impertinence to sit in his chair. Tina hadn't realized how much she had missed her old boss.
Placing her hands on the desk in front of her, palms down, Tina closed her eyes. In these quiet moments, she could feel the magic around her. It wrapped around her like a familiar cloak, covering her in warm and familiarity.
She smiled.
She opened her eyes again and looked down at the three drawers on his desk. Trying the handles on each of them, Tina wasn't surprised to find them all locked. She pulled out her wand and tried the basic unlocking spells. Again, she wasn't surprised that none of the spells worked.
Tina thought carefully. She was an Auror. She knew almost every unlocking spell there was. Grindelwald was a smart man, he wouldn't use just any spell. Tina also knew there was a chance she only had a few chances to try spells before the whole thing would explode in her face. Maybe she only had one chance.
It was a shot in the dark, but Tina took a breath and tried the most elegant spell she could think of. She closed her eyes, grimacing as she waited for something to happen.
Click.
Tina slowly opened her eyes.
It worked!
Tina started with the middle drawer, rummaging through the mess. It didn't seem much like Graves to leave a messy drawer, so she assumed it was Grindelwald's doing. She pulled out a key ring with several keys on it. Some looked normal, but a few of the keys looked odd and unlike most keys Tina had ever seen before.
She set the keys on top of the desk and moved on to the right drawer. She pulled out several notebooks and thumbed through the top one. It was written in a language she didn't recognize and Tina knew immediately it wasn't Graves' handwriting.
Her heart beat picked up as she realized she could be holding something important. Tina set the books down on the desk and moved on to the final drawer.
The drawer was almost completely empty except for an oval shaped mirror with an elegant silver floral design. Tina pulled it out and looked into it.
Her heat skipped a beat when she realized she was staring at an unconscious Graves.
"Percival!" she cried out, jumping to her feet, clutching the mirror tightly in her hands.
The man's face twitched causing Tina to almost drop the mirror.
Could he hear her? What was this? Tina smiled in relief. Had she found Graves? Was he actually alive?
And then his face was gone and she was staring at her own shocked face.
"No, wait! Percival, come back!" she yelled at the mirror, but to no avail. It showed her nothing but her own reflection.
She stared for a second before she realized she had to get to work. Graves was alive and time was possibly running out for him. Tina rushed from the room, being careful to shut the door and lock it remembering that there were still important things in the office. She sprinted down the hallway.
Tina knew exactly who could help her.
