This is probably a clumsy attempt to explain how father and son reconnected and that pair of mirrors in the third movie.
Professor Dumbledore
The winter of 1930 was spent in the States with his mother, Tina, and Sera. Graves managed a short-distance Apparition from his bedroom to the dining room without being splinched. Sera managed to do a Side-along with him without him being sick when they arrived at the opera house for the Christmas charity concert. He informed Tina of his meeting Queenie in Switzerland but decided against giving her the twin of Queenie's mirror or even mentioning it. Tina was slated for a possible promotion to Head Auror. It would never do for her to be found communicating with her sister, a known member of Grindelwald's inner circle. He warned Queenie to be wary of her fellow acolytes. Queenie's position was already precarious enough. It was important that they limited any communications to the barest minimum. It would be too easy to slip up. Grindelwald was not known to be forgiving.
He also hoped that Jacob would still be there for her when she got back. Tina reported that instead of serving her himself, Jacob would call his apprentice to attend to her while he disappeared into the kitchen.
"He was badly hurt by what happened with Queenie, I think he now wants nothing to do with us," Tina said. There was no point forcing their company on the baker, so they just left him be. Tina still bought apple-stuffed paczki or cinnamon rolls fortnightly from the bakery. The good times had ended for the No-Majs and recession loomed. Small businesses like Kowalski's had a hard road ahead.
In Kama's chateau, Newt Scamander finally got round to asking Lord Percival Graves for permission to court Tina Goldstein. An annoyed Percival had tersely rebuked that it would be up to Tina to decide whether to accept Newt's suit. He would not stand in the way of her decision as she was an adult witch.
"Percy, you look tuckered out…"
"I am exhausted," Graves leaned back against the seat of Seraphina's limousine. She had bought one and hired an elf-chauffeur to make a better impression on arrival at social events instead of using Graves' old motorcar. Graves came to appreciate the extra legroom and the chance to rest in the backseat.
"It has been a while since you had to speak in public, to a hundred students." Graves had fronted the MACUSA Auror recruitment drives at Ilvermorny before the war.
"What was Professor Hicks thinking, having me give a speech for the dedication of the new medical wing?" It was the questions that popped up after the speech from the curious students that taken up most of his energy. It would be too easy to leave immediately after the ceremony instead of staying for dinner, but he could not disappoint the children and faculty.
"You have changed, Percy. I half-expected you to leave after the speech…"
"Life changes us all… Sera, back then in 1926, when did you realize I had been replaced?"
"Not until Grindelwald was unmasked, I'm afraid. Even when you had Tina and Scamander sentenced, I never thought you meant to go through with it, even with emergency protocols called…" Executions were generally held a few days after the sentence to allow the condemned to get their affairs in order.
"I never got round to apologizing to Tina or Newt about sentencing them..."
"That was Grindelwald's doing, not yours. Come on here now, I will wake you up when we reach your place." Graves found his head pillowed on Sera's lap. With a contented sigh, he closed his eye for a much-needed nap.
Miss Prince had outlived her usefulness to the Alliance. Although the sanatorium was discreetly watched by the Swiss Aurors, she did not receive any further visitors from the Alliance during her stay. Not even Queenie visited after she returned to Nurmengard. Percy was disappointed that despite Theseus' efforts to keep the information on Eva Prince's whereabouts secret, Spielman had somehow got hold of it. Perhaps their owls were being intercepted by the Ministries. Was it the Brits or the Europeans? He wished he had bought more two-way mirrors.
With Professor Dumbledore's help, they managed to find a member of the Prince family willing to take Eva and her baby in. However, it was too late for Eva. She died shortly after being delivered of a daughter. Dame Prince returned to Britain with the infant and insisted that all further information on the child be kept secret.
The enigmatic Professor Albus Dumbledore remained uncontactable.
In spring 1931, Mrs Graves handed over the last of the responsibilities as family head to her son and announced that she was retiring to the fair isle of Capri for good. Percival sent an urgent owl to Shafiq to warn the artist to get his hard-partying friends out of the villa and the place fixed up before her arrival. Newt informed them that he had brought Nagini to Albania and into the care of the witch who might be able to help her adjust to life as a snake. They had exhausted all avenues for a cure after asking the best healers in St Mungo and St Denis. The ancient blood curse was just too strong.
That summer, Percival and Tina both received an invitation from Theseus for a summer holiday in a small village in Scotland – Hogsmeade. It was the wizarding village nearest Hogwarts. They had to sail over to Bristol and catch a train up. During the journey, Percival often thought about the small mirror in his coat pocket. Queenie had last contacted him at Easter to inform him that she would be travelling with Grindelwald to Berlin. She would not carry the mirror with her during that time since she often shared rooms with another witch when traveling. There had been no news since from Queenie. Graves had obtained a copy of a German newspaper dated April 1931 showing Grindelwald leaving the German ministry a free man in the company of his acolytes, including Queenie. He thought of telling Tina, but he held his tongue. Queenie would not be able to resist communicating with her sister and that would put her in further peril.
The Hog's Head Inn. The sign of the inn named by Theseus as their meeting place did not inspire – a severed boar's head leaking blood onto a tablecloth. The windows were grimy. The place looked uninhabited. Dead weeds drooped in cracked pots beside the door. A long-mummified mouse cowered in a corner of the doorway. Everything seemed designed to turn off any casual visitors. The other inn down the road, The Three Broomsticks, looked far more promising. He was about to walk away when he heard Theseus' voice.
"Come on up, Pug."
He glanced up to see the Brit leaning out a window. The door opened to allow them in. The interior reeked of some barnyard animal. A surly barkeep directed them up the stairs to the first room on the left, where they found Theseus and a red-haired gentleman. Albus Dumbledore.
Polite greetings were exchanged. Graves was a bit disappointed. He did not know what he was expecting, but it was not this kindly schoolteacher before him. Tina did not appear overly impressed. They discussed the upcoming election for Supreme Mugwump. Even if the Americans were not fielding a candidate of their own, a fair number, including Graves, threw their support behind Santos. Albus asked about the businesses in which the Graves family were stakeholders, in particular the proposed luxury train line. Midway through the conversation, Graves felt the familiar hum of magic from the mirror. Queenie was trying to contact him. He fumbled for some excuse to leave the room, but the professor placed a restraining hand on his wrist. Graves noticed that the skin of Dumbledore's forearm was marred by welts both old and new.
"Percival, you have a secret in your pocket that has to be revealed now."
Reluctantly, Percival took out the mirror and placed it on the table.
Hello.
"This will not do at all," Dumbledore grumbled and tapped it with his wand. The mirror shimmered and they were looking at Queenie Goldstein's face. There was a stifled shriek of shock. They had a dizzying view of a room as the mirror was dropped and likely cracked. There were muffled voices before Queenie returned to the mirror.
"Teenie? Uncle Percy?" Queenie whispered. Tina glared furiously at Graves, who stoically accepted her silent rebuke.
"No names, please, Miss Goldstein," Albus warned.
"Are you alone?" And safe to talk. Percival asked. A slight nod of the head.
"I don't have long. They want me to look in on Aurelius. Grindelwald had him kill someone. He's locked up in his room for hours now and he is not letting anyone in."
"Miss Goldstein, we need to use her mirror to speak to Aurelius. The current charm on this mirror will not last long. I will teach you to transfer the original writing charm from your pocket mirror to another so it cannot be linked back to you. Are there any mirrors that only Aurelius would use?"
"He has one in his room."
"Good, you will need to touch both mirrors together with your wand. Do you still have it? Yes? Listen now, the incantation is…" The professor had Queenie repeat the incantation until he was satisfied. "This will be hard, but do not let him know of us yet. We will write when the time is right."
"Please let it be soon."
"Tina, do you wish to say anything?" The image in the mirror was fading.
"Queenie, please stay safe. I trust you," Tina blurted as the last line of communication with her sister narrowed. "Love you." The image vanished.
Love you too. Send Jacob my love. The words appeared on the glass before fading into nothingness.
"Well then, I'd need this." Albus pocketed the mirror and excused himself. He needed to have another difficult conversation with his brother. It might take weeks or even months for his brother to accept the possibility of his son being alive, or even communicating with him.
"Mister Graves, were you ever going to tell me about being in touch with Queenie?"
Tina was furious. Percival had witnessed the Auror's fury in duels and he did not fancy bearing the brunt of it. Theseus had one hand on Tina's arm, trying to coax her into hearing him out first.
"Tina, will you and Queenie be able to resist not contacting each other for weeks or even months on end? They are all watched in Nurmengard. I was hoping if she could escape, she'd get in touch…" Percival tried to explain.
"She could not leave Credence behind," Tina grudgingly acknowledged, but not without a chill in her voice. Forgiveness would not be forthcoming for a while, at least a week or more.
Albus stared at the grimy mirror behind the bar. Aberforth was nowhere in sight. He had likely gone out back to feed the goats. He tapped the pocket mirror to the bar's wall mirror and said the incantation. As an afterthought, he cast a cleaning spell on the wall mirror.
"What by Morrigan's tits are you doing? Leave my bar alone!" Aberforth was back.
"I just thought you might want to write to Aurelius," Albus indicated the newly cleaned mirror.
"For the last flipping time, she's dead, our son's dead! So let them lie in peace," Aberforth gave a snort of disdain. He grabbed a dusty rag and started attacking the countertop.
Albus could only hope that Queenie would be able to transfer the charm without being caught. It had been pure luck that he managed to get past Graves' shields during their conversation to learn about his communication with someone within Nuremengard. Had his shields been slightly stronger… Gellert had used a similar pocket mirror back in 1899. These were common souvenirs in the alpine regions of Germany and Switzerland. Albus had thrown his away after Ariana died and he failed to get a reply from Gellert. Perhaps the twin to his mirror was gathering dust in Bathild a's attic.
There was one other thing he needed. He had spoken to Theseus earlier before the Americans arrived. Theseus was still reluctant to let go of that locket with a picture of his deceased fiancée. Albus would prefer that he give it up willingly instead of resorting to coercion. Yet he could not tell Theseus everything. Lally Hicks reluctantly agreed to obtain a special wand from Ilvermorny's vaults - the coreless snakewood wand of their cofounders' squib daughter. There was no guarantee they would get it back even.
Newt had been sent into the remote interior of Asia on the trail of the rare and elusive Qilin. With the recent upheavals in the global wizarding community and the slow march of the Muggles towards another terrible war, there was talk of using the kingmaker beast to decide their next leader. Newt was to ensure the safety of any Qilin. There were whispers of other wizards asking the locals about the creature. It would never do for them to fall into unscrupulous hands, considering what he had learnt of the unfortunate Professor Millard's research. It was unthinkable.
Back in the summer of 1899, it had been unthinkable that he and Gellert would ever become bitter enemies.
Author's Notes:
I was considering whether the Scamanders would be aware of Credence's ties to Dumbledores, but it appears Newt only found out the details in the third movie. I had Theseus act as the link between the American wizards and Dumbledore in this chapter. The plans for the events of 1932 are slowing coming together on both sides of the war. Not sure if Graves should be present for any of the events in Berlin, or he would just be watching from New York with Tina. It will be very traumatic for him if he attended the banquet and runs into Grindelwald, then have Theseus arrested.
