Disclaimer: I don't own Rose Granger-Weasley, Newt Scamander or any other character created by J.K. Rowling. My aim is merely to entertain and play around with them a little.

Chapter twenty-nine: In which Rose loses a friend

Newly Transfigured, and with the sun that set steadily under the horizon, Rose – and Queenie – slowly made their way to the Lestranges' vault. Several people had arrived too, using a door over which sat the same raven as before. They both moved to follow, but Queenie pulled on Rose's sleeve to show her movement on their left, and the young witch followed her friend's lead.

She saw a tall, dark-haired woman of great beauty, wearing a flimsy blue dress and holding the hand of a young man walking in front of her. When he tilted his head before entering the vault, Rose recognized him.

"Queenie, that's Credence!" she hissed.

The blonde nodded and raised her wand. "Let's follow him."

They did.

Inside, it looked like any other vault. Effigies sat on walls over stone caskets, and many sculptures decorated the mausoleum. Credence had stepped inside, followed by his female friend; but neither witch focused on him when they saw who else was there, surprised to see the Obscurial too, by the looks of it.

"Jacob!"

At the sound of Queenie's voice, the lovely baker whipped around, and a wide smile split his face before she reached him and buried her head in her neck, whispering sweet nothings and many apologies.

Rose stared at them with a fond look on her male face, and kept her wand down as Credence and his companion stared at her, frightened.

"We're not here to hurt you, I promise." Credence started upon hearing her voice, feminine in that fake body, and he stepped in front of his friend protectively.

"Then why are you wearing a fake face?"

She sighed. "For the same reason as you: Grindelwald is looking for me." She pointed her wand at her face, closed her eyes and winced before uttering 'Finite'. She felt her features morph back into her usual ones, and Queenie's sigh from the other side of the room.

"I spent so much time on your face, Rosie…"

But Credence's dark eyes had widened in recognition. "I know you. You were in New-York!" He took a step back, and she raised her hands to calm him.

"I was, I was. I was with Tina, the brown-haired woman who helped you once, remember her? And my brother, he duelled against Grindelwald to help you too…"

Credence seemed unsure, but before he could decide whether to trust her or not, someone else entered the vault. A dark-skinned wizard raised his wand immediately, not letting Rose or Queenie time to realise what was happening before he Disarmed them both. Their wands flew to his free hand, but he then pointed his own at Credence.

The woman stepped in front of him, this time, and the wizard snarled at her, almost. "Out of the way! If I must kill you as well as Corvus, I shall!"

Rose stepped forward as well, trying to round this would-be murderer up. "Wait a second-"

But the man wouldn't see sense. He had the crazed look of someone desperate, but she needed to know why he was, why he was calling Credence this strange name, and why he wanted him dead.

The boy had met enough people who wanted to kill him for his entire lifetime, in her opinion…

When she'd almost succeeded in walking in front of him, though, another figure emerged from the shadows. Rose gasped when she saw Leta, clad in one of her exquisite velvet gowns, hair in disarray, wand raised and pointed at the man's back. "Stop."

"Leta," Rose whispered, but her breath caught when she saw who followed her in. Tina was dressed in her black Auror garb; and Newt was looking far too pleased for someone in this situation. "Newt," was the relieved whisper that followed. However, the wizard didn't so much as acknowledge her presence, which kind of irritated her until she realised that what was happening was rather important.

The man turned to the interruption, and Leta recognized him, for she said "Yusuf…"

"Is that really you?" the man answered, looking awestruck. "My little sister…"

They walked towards each other, pain in their eyes instead of elation at having found each other. Rose didn't understand. Leta was an only child, that's what she'd always been told… Then why was this man calling her 'little sister'?

Credence seemed to be more bent on going straight to the point, as he crept forward. "If he's your brother, who am I?" he asked in a deep, tense voice.

"I don't know," Leta answered.

"I'm tired of living with no name, no history. Just tell me my story, then you can end it."

Yusuf turned back to him. "Your story is our story. Our story," he emphasized, looking back at Leta.

"No, Yusuf," she said, looking and sounded exhausted both physically and emotionally. Rose longed to take her in her arms, in the absence of Theseus. She'd come to care so much for the petite witch, it was hard to see her so…depressed.

But Yusuf didn't hear her and brought them to another part of the vault, to start his story. "My father was Mustafa Kama, Pureblood of Senegalese descent and most accomplished. My mother, Laurena, was equally high-bred, and noted beauty. They were deeply in love." He seemed lost in his thoughts, which prompted Rose to move closer to Leta, who didn't seek her out but looked at her with a small, grateful glint in her eyes, soon swallowed by a wave of pain that hurt her friend deeply. "They knew a man, a famous man from a French Pureblood family. He desired her. Lestrange used the Imperius Curse to seduce and abduct her. I tried to prevent it, but he attacked me. It was the last time I ever saw her. She died giving birth to a little girl."

Several eyes went to Leta who tensed. Rose couldn't bear it any longer, and reached for her left hand. To her surprise, Leta clutched it hard.

"You," Yusuf said, although all had understood what he'd meant. "News of her death drove my father…insane. With his dying breath, my father charged me to seek revenge. Kill the person Lestrange loves best in the world. I thought at first it'd be easy. He had only one close relative. You," he moved closer to Leta who squeezed Rose's hand almost painfully, now. "But-"

Leta's eyes were pain, and nothing else. "Say it," she ordered.

"He never loved you," Yusuf said. "He remarried not three months after her death. He loved her no more than he had loved you. But then, his son, Corvus, was born at last, and that man, who had never known love, was filled with it. All he cared about, was little Corvus."

Credence's eyes darkened as he looked at Leta. "So this is the truth? I am Corvus Lestrange?"

"Yes," said Yusuf.

"No!" yelled Leta at the same time. She released Rose's hand to walk forward.

"Yes!" repeated Yusuf.

"No!" yelled Leta again. She started pacing; mind visibly troubled more than could be put into words. This time, she pushed Rose away when she tried to provide comfort.

"Realising that Mustafa Kama's son had sworn revenge, your father sought to hide you where I couldn't find you. He confided you to his servant, who boarded a ship for America."

"He did send all of us to America," sobbed Leta, "but-"

Yusuf interrupted her. "His servant, Irma Dugard, was a Half-Elf. Her magic was weak, and therefore left no trace I could follow. I'd only just discovered how you had escaped when I received news I'd never expected. The ship had gone down at sea. But you survived, didn't you? Somehow, someone had pulled you from the water." Yusuf's voice was now as crazed as before, and he started reciting some text Rose had never heard before. "'The son cruelly banished, despair of the daughter, return great avenger, with wings, from the water.' There," he pointed at Leta, "stands the despairing daughter, you," at Credence, "are the winged raven pulled from the water, and I, I'm the avenger of my family's ruin. I pity you, Corvus, but you must die."

Leta had had enough, and broke down in shouting "Corvus Lestrange is already dead, I killed him!" Everyone stared at her, shocked, even as she cast an 'Accio' and a heavy box fell from one of the shelves, planting itself on the floor.

Everyone approached it, and Rose walked to Yusuf first, tearing her and Queenie's wand from his hand. He looked at her for a second, but refocused on his half-sister immediately after.

When the box opened, it revealed something that looked very similar to the House of Black's family tree that Rose had seen so many times at Grimmauld Place. But instead of taking the best part of three walls, this one grew, as a seedling of a real tree.

Leta knelt before it as it expanded. "My father owned a very strange family tree. It only recorded the men." And they all saw that it was true, for only male figures appeared alongside flowers that bloomed then withered. "The women in my family were recorded as flowers. Beautiful. Separate." At the top of the tree had appeared an infant's likeness. 'Corvus Lestrange', it read, and a bloom grew next to it, closer and closer still. "My father sent me to America with Corvus. Irma was to pose as a grandmother with two grand-children. Corvus never stopped crying." She paused, tears gathering in her eyes again. "I never wanted to hurt him. I only wanted to be free of him, just for a moment."

Rose's eyes widened when she understood. Queenie did as well, for her hand flew to her mouth in horror.

"Just a single moment," Leta carried on, tears now falling freely on her cheeks. The blossom tightened around Corvus' image, and it burnt, peeling off as the story ended. Leta rose to her feet, lost in the moment and the memories.

Newt, behind her, softly said "You didn't mean to do it, Leta. So it wasn't your fault."

She softly shook her head as well, and turned to him. "Newt… You never met a monster you couldn't love."

Tina then asked "Leta? Do you know who Credence really is? Did you know, when you swapped?"

Leta shook her head. "No." That visibly displeased the boy greatly, but there wasn't anything to do for it.

They were all disturbed by the sound of stone moving, and a door opened at the back of the room. Without a word, Credence and his friend approached it, as a means to escape the situation, Rose surmised.

She reached Leta as soon as the others were distracted. "Leta," she whispered, "will you be alright?"

The dark-haired witch smiled sadly at her, taking her hand and holding it tight. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before." She looked at the door through which their companions were now going. "Theseus is here. We have to find him."

Rose nodded, but remained where she was again. "When all this is over, it's my turn to tell you my secret."

Leta chuckled darkly. "Oh, Rose… What secret do you hold that could compare with my being a murderer?"

Rose huffed. "You are not a murderer. And you cannot use the same argument as you did with Newt: I do not appreciate monsters all that much." Leta's eyes glistened with more unshed tears. "You are my friend, and I would not become friend with a bad person." She smiled encouragingly. "Come on, let's find my brothers and get out of here."

But Leta pulled her back, making Rose look down at her in surprise. "Rose, if anything happens…" She didn't let the red-head counter. "If anything happens…take care of them for me. Both of them." The intensity of her gaze held some kind of message that Rose wasn't sure she wanted to understand.

After a moment of silence, of puzzlement and of staring, Leta drew out her wand and summoned a small vial before she approached the tip of her wand to her temple, and pulled out a memory.

Rose gasped when she saw the silvery wisp.

Leta put it in the vial and corked it before handing it to Rose. "Just in case." She smiled, and went towards the door, finally ready to go join the others.

Rose followed, gripping the vial tight before placing it in her breast-pocket.

They erupted in a huge circular room which original purpose was unsure but that was currently filled to the brim with people. All around, stands, stairs, and in the middle, a large centre-like stage, waiting for the host of the rally, Grindelwald himself.

Rose and Leta entered the room and assessed the immense number of attendees before looking left and right to locate their friends. She saw Queenie and Jacob, stuck in the middle of a group of stern-looking witches; and Tina as she paced the gallery towards them.

When she reached them, she leaned in. "It's a trap."

Rose pursed her lips, nodding as she held her head down. "Undoubtedly. He wanted us here." Tina looked at her quizzically. "Credence and I. Remember his little obsession when I was in America?" The Auror nodded. "It's hasn't changed much."

Tina cursed under her breath. "You should have disguised yourself!"

"I did, when we first came in, but then Credence got suspicious and I dropped the enchantment."

Tina shot her a severe look. "Don't attract his attention. And don't seek out Newt. He's bound to get seen." With a pointed stare, she walked away.

Leta took Rose's hand and squeezed. "Grindelwald wants you?" Rose nodded grimly. "Why?"

She turned to her friend, staring hard at her. "He wants what I know. About what will happen to him and his cause."

Leta stared blankly for a moment, then a shocked expression settled on her face and she squeezed Rose's hand harder. "So…I was right!" She huffed, turning back to the buzzing room. "And Theseus told me I was being silly."

Rose snorted. "Theseus needs to stop being such an overprotective mother-hen, sometimes."

Leta sighed. "Well said."

They stood there, holding hands, lips pursed and eyes fleeting over the crowd to find the Scamander brothers. Hopefully before Grindelwald showed his face.

They had no such luck. The buzzing of conversation faded as a pale-haired, mismatched-eyed figure entered the room, and suddenly, the crowd started applauding and cheering. Rose felt anger rise in her amidst the 'Le voilà!', 'Grindelwald, bravo!' and other 'Incroyable, Grindelwald!'. She was overcome with the need to get down those stairs, and kill him.

Perhaps that was what her parents and Uncle had felt each day of the war against Voldemort…

"My brothers!" Grindelwald started when the applause had died down. "My sisters. My friends. The great gift of your applause is not for me, no. It is for yourselves. You came today because of a craving, and a knowledge that the old ways serve us no longer. You came today because you crave something new, something different. It is said that I hate 'les Non-Magiques', the Muggles, the No-Majs, the Can't-Spells."

A clamour rose around the room, insulting the community of Non-Magiques, as Grindelwald had called them. Rose seethed, her free hand gripping her wand hard enough to snap it in two.

"I do not hate them! I do not. For I do not fight out of hatred. I say the Muggles are not lesser, but other. Not worthless, but of other value. Not disposable, but of a different disposition. Magic blooms only in rare souls. It is granted to those who defy things. Oh, what a world we would make, for all of Humanity, we who live for freedom, for truth, and for love."

His speech was swaying many in the assistance, Rose could see, could feel the sense of allegiance that was spreading through the ranks of these French Purebloods. She couldn't fathom why they would listen to the silver-tongue of this man, to his false promises and words, when it was obvious that what he wanted was to effectively commit genocide.

She knew what he'd done. Or rather, what he'll do. She knew how this evolved, how it ended. She knew that, after him, another, more radical even, wizard, rose from the ashes of his beliefs to murder more innocent people Grindelwald could have dreamt of. She took a pace forward, as if to reach the stage and speak, shake sense into these people.

Leta held her back.

"The moment has come to share my vision of the future," Grindelwald continued. "A future that waits if we do not rise up and take our rightful place in the world." A female figure walked to him, and Rose gritted her teeth when she recognized that 'Vinda' woman. She handed him what looked like a hookah shaped like a skull.

Grindelwald breathed in deeply, then released the smoke that shaped itself into images that Rose recognized immediately.

She faltered, and Leta looked at her sharply. "Impossible," she breathed, watching as the smoke showed a line of Jews heading for Auschwitz, then the horror of the atomic bomb. "How could he know? How could he possibly know?"

She felt another panic attack rise, one that Leta would be unable to stop just by holding her hand. Grindelwald's next words were muffled by the noise of her own heartbeats speeding up, and her breaths became shallow and she clutched at her chest.

Leta pulled her so she faced her, and stared into her eyes, hard. "You're in a forest. You are walking alongside a stream, and birds are chirping above you. You look up, and there isn't a cloud in the sky. You bend down, and pick up a flower. You feel peaceful, and happy." She kept muttering the same things over and over, and Rose calmed down.

Theseus. He'd used the same imagery when he'd saved her from the Ministry. Had he gotten it from Leta? How many times had she had to pull him from one of his panic attacks?

Rose's breath settled, and she nodded at Leta in thanks, releasing her shirt and turning back to the gathering. Leta didn't let go of her hand, though.

A clamour had risen around them, now, as Grindelwald announced "There are Aurors here among us."

Rose's eyes darted from side to side, and she caught sight of Theseus. She heard Leta's sharp intake of breath, meaning she'd seen him too. The wave of relief that the red-head felt upon seeing him was soon shoved aside by an immense gush of fear, though. What if Grindelwald used Theseus and Newt to get to her? What if he saw either of them, and hurt them to draw her out?

Again, she made to step forward, and again, Leta pulled her back.

"He'll be alright," she whispered. Rose wished she felt as confident about it…

"Come closer, brother wizards, join us," Grindelwald taunted, and to Rose's astonishment, Aurors started slowly climbing down the stairs, posting themselves in-between ranks of visibly angered witches and wizards. Their wands were drawn, and she immediately thought it would be seen as a threat.

Grindelwald sure knew how to start a fire…

"They have killed many of my followers, that is true," he continued, as more and more people drew out their wands too. "They have sequestered me, and tortured me in New-York. They struck down their fellow witches and wizards, for the simple crime of seeking the truth, for wanting freedom. Your anger, your desire for revenge is natural."

And his words, spun with uncommon intelligence, prompted a witch to point her wand at a passing Auror who, nervous and frightened, no doubt, cast the Killing Curse.

"No!" Grindelwald shouted as all around the scene moved on to the Auror. Leta released Rose's hand to grip her wand tighter, and the red-head did the same, nodding before she moved slightly to the left, wishing to get closer to the action, and her brothers.

Grindelwald ascended the stairs towards the fallen witch, and people moved back in respect. "Take this young warrior back to her family," he uttered in fake pain after kneeling next to the body. "Disapparate. Leave. Go forth from this place and spread the word. It is not we who are violent."

All around, spectators started leaving, more and more, clearing the path, and the view, to Grindelwald.

Soon, only the Aurors, Newt's party and Credence and his friends were left, among a small group of Grindelwald's core followers.

Rose stood facing him, wand held high, glaring at him. The mismatched eyes met hers, and a nasty smirk appeared on his lips. "Miss Rose. I thought I'd felt you near. Have you enjoyed the show?"

She ran a couple of steps down, thinking she heard her name being called but ignoring it. "How do you know? How could you have shown these things?"

He tilted his head to the side. "Join me, and I will tell you. Join me, Miss Rose, and none of that will ever happen."

Tears stung in her eyes as she remembered seeing the horrors of the extermination camps. "You will not stop it from happening. You'll make it happen quicker." She knew her History. Grindelwald's meddling had helped Hitler, in a way she didn't know, to rise to power and commit his atrocities.

Still, the wizard smiled. "Join me, Miss Rose, and I promise you that none of what you've known will come to pass. Join me, and together, we can make this world a better place for you and your family." She knew he wasn't talking about Newt and Theseus.

But still she shook her head. "Over my dead body." She cast a spell at him, aware that he would block it, but willing to send the message through.

He got it, shielded himself and snarled. "So be it." Then he whirled around, conjuring a circle of bright blue flames that Rose moved away from as someone called her name once more.

She dimly recognized Tina's voice.

Vinda, Abernathy and several others from the core group crossed the flames as if they weren't there before Disapparating. Another man tried, but disintegrated in horrifying yells of pain.

Grindelwald turned to the remaining people present. "Aurors! Join me in this circle. Pledge to me your eternal allegiance, or die. Only here shall you know freedom. Only here shall you know yourself."

A tongue of flames crept up the stairs at that, and Rose watched, petrified, as it burnt and killed three people on its way.

"Play by the rules! No cheating, children!"

To Rose's shock, Credence then stepped forward, but his friend remained back, terrified out of her wits. Newt called for him, but was stopped by another tongue of fire that he thankfully shielded himself from. Credence crossed the flames, and Grindelwald embraced him.

Rose seethed, and watched as Queenie got Jacob back up the stairs and to relative safety. She searched for Tina, found her; then saw Theseus had gotten closer to his brother.

"Mr Scamander!" Grindelwald's voice resounded. "Do you think Dumbledore will mourn for you?" There was little doubt as to which Scamander he was referring to, but both brothers stared at the Dark Wizard with equal angry looks on their faces.

The fire kept creeping, and taking more and more Aurors with it.

Rose ran up the stairs and towards her brothers, blasting shields on her way to try and reach them quicker. The fire seemed bent on killing her and them, lashing out more and more violently, forcing her to focus her entire being and power into forcing it away from her.

She groaned under the effort, and almost didn't notice the velvet-clad figure that stepped in front of her.

"Grindelwald, stop!"

The fire receded at that, and the Dark Wizard turned to where Leta stood, calmly climbing down the stairs in front of Rose, who sat, petrified, on the floor, heart beating too fast and fear taking hold of her muscles.

To their right, Theseus then Newt tried to reach their lover and friend, but the fire stopped them, and Leta continued her walk, looking almost unperturbed.

"This one I believe I know," Grindelwald said in a sugary voice. "Leta Lestrange." He crossed the fire to reach her on the other side of the circle. "Despised entirely among wizards, unloved, mistreated, yet brave…so very brave." He slowly outstretched a hand to her. "Time to come home."

Rose managed to rise to her feet, horrified, once again.

Leta took the offered hand, but didn't let him pull her towards the flames.

Instead, she called, not turning, "Rose, remember your promise."

Rose, immediately knowing what this meant, stumbled on her two feet. "No, Leta, don't!" But another tongue of flames stopped her from reaching her friend.

Leta turned to the brothers, and said "I love you" before casting a curse at Grindelwald's back.

Unsurprisingly, he stopped it. She cast another one, this time at 'Vinda', who dropped the hookah and Disapparated. The hookah broke, more fire swirling around in the room.

Rose sprang to action, as did Theseus, and yelled as she battled the fire to try and reach Leta in time.

She couldn't.

With a flick of his wand – the Elder Wand – Grindelwald killed Leta Lestrange.

With a yell of anguish, Rose Disapparated back outside just as the fire was about to reach and kill her too…