Everything in the movie appears so compressed. I am imagining the events took place over two to three days. So we are at the start of a new day with Newt and Tina infiltrating the French ministry and Grindelwald reaching out to Credence.

A New Day

In the early morning light, Credence felt slightly wicked as he stole some seed from the market for their little nestling. Mother would have beat him and tell him he'd burn in Hell for that. But he was going to burn for having magic anyway, wasn't he? Mother had fed, clothed, and sheltered him well into adulthood, but he had flown the nest now that she was dead.

He was sorry about Chastity dying and poor little Modesty. He had not meant to hurt them. He hoped Modesty was doing well. Perhaps the hospital could find her real family, wherever they had gone off to. He knew he would find his… Perhaps…

Tina dreamt. A fire-breathing dragon. A golden-haired princess that looked like Queenie. She was a knight fighting the dragon like in the storybooks her No-Maj born grandmother read to her when she was very young. Credence dressed in wizard's robes holding an ancient-looking box. A thunderbird rising overhead, or was it a phoenix?

Coffee. She awoke to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. There was a café across the street. The sun had long risen. She felt stiff all over. Kama was still asleep, his breathing easier now. Jacob was sprawled in the other armchair, snoring. No sign of Newt, but his case was placed between the chairs. The Lestranges. Credence. Suddenly she knew where she must look. Tina decided it was time for her to leave.

"Tina?" Great timing, Newt.

She was not up to conversation with him, yet. With a hastily murmured farewell, she hurried out. Her stomach growled. She stopped at the café for a croissant to go. A mistake perhaps. It gave Newt enough time to catch up with her…

In the dining room, Queenie glanced over at her host. Grindelwald had not slept well. There were dark shadows under his eyes even as he smiled and played host. His shields were all up. As were Vinda's. The last woman at the table was Carrow. Queenie peeked into her mind when their eyes met, a burning jealousy of the newcomer's place beside Grindelwald. This woman would not be an ally. Queenie glared at Abernathy, who was positively leering at her. She never liked him, even back at MACUSA's Wand Permits. He was always 'accidentally' brushing up against her in the filing room.

The other wizards present were Nagel, Krall and Krafft… She studied them over the rim of her coffee cup. Their thoughts about her were very similar to those her looks inspired in most men meeting her for the first time, perhaps differing only in the degree of lewdness they could stoop to. Men… She had grown used to encountering those thoughts. If they tried anything, she could still hold her own. With a smirk, Krall shot her a very nasty image that made even her gasp.

"Krall, leave now," Grindelwald ordered sternly. Muttering under his breath, Krall pushed his chair back stood up, his half-eaten breakfast forgotten. Despite herself, Queenie gave her host a grateful smile. He regarded her calmly through his dark and blue eyes. A handsome man, Queenie had to admit. The mismatched eyes only seem to emphasize… she tore her gaze away, blushing furiously.

After finishing his coffee, Grindelwald took his leave as well. The remaining acolytes did not linger. One by one, they Disapparated. The breakfast things were quickly vanished to the kitchen.

"We do hope you will join us later for the rally," Vinda winked at Queenie before she Disapparated.

Alone, Queenie looked at the card Vinda had left on the table. Lestrange Mausoleum, Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

Boyo, you not done yet… Gonna get darker, gonna be dying…

He was a young boy again. In that awful room surrounded by the dead and dying. He could not see Alice anywhere. Hadn't she been lying strangled to death on the couch? He could not see anything beyond the arc of firelight from the fireplace. The massive tiger he had transfigured from the tiger-skin rug was sitting on its haunches calmly before him, not rampaging through the building.

A flash of lightning and a far-off rumble of thunder. The skin stretched and slid back. Now Le Barone squatted before him, wearing the skin over his shoulders like a cape. His deceased mentor slung the tiger-skin over the boy's torn clothes. He placed a bloodstained hand on the boy's head and pointed his cane at the fire.

Crossroads, boyo… we of shadows must stay in shadow. Cannot go alone. Never alone.

The bloodstains on the carpet were moving, reshaping into arcane symbols. The flames exploded about them with a roar. Galahad awoke with a start.

"Bee, what happened while I was out?" Galahad groaned. He felt hungover and dizzy. The healer lifted his head from where he had been half-dozing on the neighbouring sarcophagus.

"Let's see… You got drunk and told me about the time you were in the boathouse at Ilvery with Percy. He ticked you off and you Stunned him so hard, he had a concussion."

"What?"

That had been one of the most embarrassing moments of his school life. He always liked Percival. His was the first friendly face he saw after what seemed like forever in that miserable ward. In his fifth year, he had developed a huge crush on Percy. He had invited the prefect to the boathouse where he confessed his feelings. Percy did not feel the same way. He had tried to persuade the other teen with some tricks he had learnt back at that bordello. Percy was having done of that. Heated words were exchanged. Percy got Stunned. Galahad left the boathouse in a huff, leaving Bedivere to find an out-cold Percy there after being tipped off by the den of garter snakes who lived underneath. Nights were still cold in early April. Leaving Percy overnight in the unheated shack would end very badly.

"I didn't," Galahad's head cleared. "Your nosey snakes did. Who has my knife?"

"Gal, you are in no state for any major feats of magic. That goes for dark magic as well," Bedivere protested.

"Where. Is. My. Knife?"

"Fine, we had Pelly keep it safe. It is probably back at the hotel…"

"Pelly would have blown it up by now… Is he still trying to improve Floo powder?" Galahad straightened his clothes, adjusted his collar pins and accio-ed his boater and cane over. "Let's leave this old boneyard."

"Gal. This is yours, I believe…" Bedivere took out a card much like that Queenie found on the table. Lucia the cottonmouth nipped at the card curiously. "We found it in your pocket. You going to that rally?"

"We are, Bee. Need to tell the crew." Galahad considered his options and then raised his cane.

"Expecto Patronus!" A ghostly pale tiger swirled out of the end of his cane and bounded off.

"Gal, what did we just say about magic feats?" the healer chided as the blond fell against him limply.

"Shut up and get us out of here. Some breakfast will be good…"

Tina knew this was a crazy idea. Impersonating an Auror, accessing the French Ministry of Magic under false pretences, stunning said Auror and tying him up… But they were out of options and short of time. Such an operation would have a detailed plan made over many hours, not clobbered together in under ten minutes in an alley. Someone would come across Newt's brother eventually. If Theseus did not free himself first.

Newt's Polyjuice potion wore off too soon, triggering alarms. They appeared to have made it past the archivist, who barely seemed to notice the alarms. A stroke of luck, perhaps. Then the real Mademoiselle Lestrange decided to visit the Records Room as well.

They hid behind the record towers, hearts pounding. Surely the archivist would be raising the alarm now. Newt was panicking. Where was Pickett? The Bowtruckle had been in his coat pocket earlier. Now it was empty. Tina met Newt's eyes. Someone was approaching. The pulse of a spell. To their horror, the towers turned.

"Hello, Newt…" Leta. Tina met the girl whose picture she had replaced in Newt's suitcase for the first time. How awkward. A shamefaced Pickett clambered back into Newt's pocket.

Under other circumstances, Tina might have liked Leta, but given her shared history with Newt… Tina was sure that compared to the perfectly coifed and immaculately turned-out Leta, she must look like an alley-cat. Her hair was all askew, her nose too big, her teeth uneven…

However, there was little time for Tina to go into a comparison against Newt's future sister-in-law. The click of heels and low growling. The archivist was back with the Matagots.

Family was overrated in Grindelwald's opinion. However, if that was what they needed to win Credence over so be it. He had seen sensed that longing in the boy, the faltering uncertainty when he was promised the truth about his family. That was the lure. Like a fisherman, he would reel him in with little crumbs of promises. The young woman with him was not essential, but he would prefer not to harm her. There was no telling how Credence would react if his guess about the pair were right. He would prefer to coax her into his fold as well, but she was an unknown circus performer. He needed someone to investigate her background further.

"Guten tag, Vater"

Grindelwald smiled at the skull sitting on the table. At least his father was of some use to him in death. He would have preferred to use Mutti's instead, but Vater had her cremated and her ashes scattered to the waters of the Danube instead of transporting her remains to her family crypt in Alsace like she requested in her will. There was no gravestone for Mutti for her son to mourn her at. His memories of Mutti were faded, just like memories of childhood innocence long lost.

The hookah had rightfully been his to inherit, if Vater had not willed it to a distant uncle. It was child's play stealing the relic from the senile old wizard during the Great War. The old man was dying anyway and would not miss it. He just needed a new skull for it. For that he broke into the Grindelwald family crypt.

1898 was a memorable year. Gellert had risen both in his magical skills and garnered the respect and fear of many of his peers in Durmstrang. He was top in his cohort, but that was not enough for his father. Vater's will had been a shock. His father had deigned to allow him to retain the family name and seat, but the rest of the family's properties and collection of magical artefacts were to be distributed among distant relatives. His son was left with the crumbling family manor and a pittance to survive on. His fees at Durmstrang would have been paid up to his graduation.

Vater had threatened to disown him numerous times and to adopt their Muggleborn butler as his heir. Gellert hated Gruber. The butler brought young maids up to the manor for his father and arranged for them to leave once the master tired of them. Gruber had expected a generous bequest. Instead, Gerwyn Grindelwald had played his servant out as well. There was nothing for him. A generous portion of the Grindelwald fortune was converted to Muggle currency and bequeathed to a Muggle cousin of Gruber's for some obscure debt of honour owed by a far-off Grindelwald ancestor.

Gellert had been furious when he found out. He could not do anything to his distant relatives – all grown and powerful wixen, but a Muggle… He went over to the town's beerhall. The family could not believe their good fortune and were celebrating with their neighbours. There had been rat poison in the kitchen cabinet. He added a generous dose to a few of the beer kegs. He had been so mad at Vater for cheating him of what was rightfully his.

The news reached him when he was preparing to return to school after the funeral. Thirty dead, more badly sickened. Gellert Imperio-ed Gruber, had him write out a confession before shooting himself with Vater's antique pistol. He then hurried off to the train station and was well on his way before the Muggle police came knocking on the door. When questioned in Berlin, he was able to feign ignorance. He got back to Durmstrang in time for the new term. Shortly after Yule, he was expelled.

He had returned home to an empty manor. His distant relations had shut the place up on his behalf while he was in school. The butler was dead amidst great scandal, many of the Muggle servants had died in the poisoning, and the few remaining servants were let go. He managed alone for a while with only his visions and the dusty tomes in the library for company before deciding to throw himself on the mercy of whichever relative would have him. That was when his visions led him to Godric's Hollow and Albus.

He could not understand why Albus had allowed his family to hold him back. Aberforth could have dropped out to continue looking after their sister so Albus could achieve great things worthy of him. He was hopeless in school anyway. Yet it was the Dumbledores who had unwittingly provided him with a possible weapon. You should have joined me Albus… We will see our vision come to fruition.

Enough dwelling on the past. There was a show to put on.

Author's Notes:

Some background into that skull hookah Girndelwald was with him for the second movie. It looked like a Beinhaus skull. In some parts of Austria, graves are reused. The earlier occupant's bones are moved to the charnel-house. The skulls would be decorated and marked with the name of the deceased.

The dysfunctional Grindelwald family. Gellert does not understand familial love and loyalty. His serial philandering father and his mother hated each other. His first murders were almost childish in motivation and method. A Muggle-style poisoning over being cut out of a will. Then he starts planning how to cover his tracks. This is before his expulsion from Durmstrang.