Chapter 68: His Letter

The minute they left, the boy pounced on the letter. He didn't bother unsticking the seal so that it left no mark on the paper the way Ma had taught him, but pulled it off like a cougar attacking a piece of flesh. The words was a little bit difficult to decipher - Percy's writing was so crowded - but the opening sentences confirmed what Credence had been suspecting ever since his friend's parting words: I saw everything, Credence. Everything...

One moment of connection was all it had taken. The Obscurus had gone through Percy. He had touched every part of it in one foul swoop. Credence's hands shook as he read the letter, then read it over and over again. It had done something. He'd known that ever since he'd seen Percy's face before he'd fallen to the ground. He'd known it as he'd watched Percy's moaning form on the bed when he'd still been unconscious. The Obscurus, immortalizing everything that it had ever done and every painful memory of his childhood within its depths, latched its memories onto anyone who touched it; like an overly full glass that will spill over at the slightest tap. Something like this had happened one morning in early August, when Ravina had let her fingers enter the blackness of the Obscurus. "I saw." she had said. That was what Percy had said too, only his encounter went much, much deeper.

I was their with you the whole time. Only it only took a second. Only it was years to. I really hate Finn now for what he did. And I hate you'er Ma to because she was the one who did this to you. I think I understand evrything now. Oh yeah, speaking of Mas, my Ma keeps asking why I'm walking arownd like a tree log. But she doesn't understand. We got to do sumthing to Finn for doing this to us.

Percy Boyd

So 'everything' really did mean everything. The Obscurus had forced every memory it contained down this innocent boy's gullet.

P.S. Really, I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me. I was you're friend before anyone else was, even before the Hodges.Forget that last bit, I don't know why I wrote that. Anyhoo, if you got on with it, I can to.

The post script did little to quell Credence's guilt. He went up and down the piece of parchment until the sides became crumpled from finger marks and each sentence he could repeat from memory. It was just what he had been afraid of. Percy, that carefree boy who could make a rock want to jump up and down, who could always laugh without anything holding him back, now had to face Credence's pain. It's Finn's fault. It's Finn's fault, Credence tried to remind himself. But those last words he'd said before the Obscurus exploded haunted the heart of his mind "Help me."

He should have told Percy to run.

The Christmas dinner that afternoon was much less jolly than the morning meal. Roasted chicken Credence would have avoided in any case, but today it especially reminded him of that first conversation he'd had with Percy at the opening feast. Percy had been so appalled that Credence didn't like chicken. What kind of American wizard didn't like chicken? It was scandalous! Nothing like that would ever appall him anymore.

Most of the children who had stayed at the castle went out and had a snowball fight if they were tall enough to not get drowned in the piles of whiteness loaded on the earth. Credence stayed in and listened to faraway suits of armor singing while watching the snowflakes land one by one on player's heads. "Plan something" ... This wasn't just about him anymore. He had to make Finn pay for what he'd done to him and what he'd done to Percy. He could do it. He could make Finn writhe in agony.

What about going to school though? What about the Hodges? They trusted him.

And what good is a magical weapon if it spends its existence forgotten by the world?

He wished he could turn off his mind, wished he could actually enjoy watching Pleasant dive headlong into a snow fortress, limbs splayed in a very un-girlish fashion. But it was no use. His cauldron of ideas was already concocting something as those words from Percy's letter played themselves over and over and over again in the back of his mind. Enjoy himself for one day? What a dream. Had it been just this morning?

Abernathy walked past the fireplace on the way back to his prefect room, and noticed the Obscurial sitting behind it, on the window rim, looking outside. His face was still, completely empty. The white shirt that he wore was wrinkled and pressed in odd places. Alton paused to watch the boy move his hands up and down the fabric, squeezing it between his fists until it couldn't be compressed any longer.

Credence left the window and wandered into his dormitory. There lay the empty wand stand on his trunk, gleaming with an elegant beauty. He reached out to pick it up, then stopped. At least one thing of his was still beautiful. He couldn't ruin that too.

A/N: This chapter has a lot of implications. Some things are foreshadowed here that don't even get further explored into the next book, so if you're curious about something, be prepared for a bit of a wait. Since I didn't come up with the plot line of Percy getting scarred by the Obscurus until later in the process, I actually didn't realize this whole sharing-memories thing would had to happen until later. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but definitely learned to roll with it. Just to make things clear – because it was explained a little better in the first draft, but then I deleted that part – Percy saw all of the Obscurus' memories, not all of Credence's memories. There's definitely a difference. And once again, this was a concept that I made up myself, not anything that the Fantastic Beasts movies has confirmed or implied. In fact, the extended edition of TCOG might have disproved it, as the Obscurus flies straight through Nagini at one point, and she seems fine. But she doesn't say anything afterwards, so I'm not calling it a solid debunk. All of the typos and misspellings in Percy's letter are intentional. Please review!