This is probably the final chapter for this fic. No idea when Tina and Newt tied the knot, but I do not want it to happen during or after WWII.
Three Weddings
On a quiet December morning in 1932, a pair of high society wixen slipped into the Woolworths Building to register their marriage with the Magical Congress and then slipped out just as quietly. Seraphina took off in her very recognizable limo for a drive upstate towards the Graves family mansion while Percival Apparated to their Manhattan apartment from the back-alley Apparition point.
He had Tina help him practise Apparating to a quiet side alley near the Kowalski bakery. He was now confident enough he could pull it off later even without Tina or Sera around and without splinching. Tina would be busy helping Queenie as her maid of honour. Percival read through the outline of the marriage ceremony and the various blessings as per tradition. The wizard who oversaw their ceremony earlier had stumbled over the part of the blessing that mentioned 'bountiful offspring'. No wonder too, with both parties long having given up hope of having children of their own. Jacob and Queenie were both young and healthy enough to have children, magical or otherwise.
Seraphina had volunteered to lead any nosey reporters on a merry chase upstate. There was always a spy or two in MACUSA ready to tip off the reporters. They wanted to keep Queenie's wedding low-key and out of the public eye. MACUSA leadership had insisted on it. He doubted they would be happy to find the entire New York Ghost office camped out outside the bakery. They had cast some protective wards and Disillusionments over the bakery to guard against accidental magic and nosey neighbours. Newt Scamander was the best man, and the ring-bearer was a bowtruckle. At least it was not the Niffler. The little thief had attempted to make off with Graves' pocket watch more than once. He never found his garnet cuff link since the last time Newt visited.
There was another No-Maj present in the wedding party – the baker's apprentice. For a moment former Director Graves considered if this was a violation of their agreement with MACUSA. Then Percival Graves just shrugged and smiled, accepting one of the dainty pastries recommended by the young man. Jacob would need all the help and support he could get to get through the ceremony. The poor man was all a-fluster and a walking bundle of nerves. Lally Hicks was sharing a joke with Newt's assistant even as the bride made some last-minute adjustments to her gown.
Glancing out the shop window, he thought he caught a glimpse of a bearded red-haired professor watching from outside. However, Dumbledore was gone when the ceremony was over. Somehow Percival managed to get through the ceremony without stumbling over the words and he never felt prouder than when he pronounced the happy couple man and wife, or witch and husband as Lally jested. Queenie was now Queenie Kowalski, though she would retain her maiden name Goldstein on most documents as far as MACUSA was concerned.
"How did it go?" Seraphina was already back and waiting for him when Percival Apparated back to their apartment in Manhattan. She put the book she had been reading on the bedside table.
"No reporters. No gate-crashing neighbours. Too many shots of gigglewater," Percival hung up his coat and scarf with a wave of his wand. "I thought I saw Dumbledore, but he did not join the party."
"I do hope he stays away. We had to lead those reporters halfway to Wyoming before they gave up." Their marriage would be splashed over the front pages despite their efforts at secrecy, which should distract everyone else in the States from the Kowalskis.
"So where to for our honeymoon?"
"Santorini, Greece. Now go take a bath and come join me in bed. We have an airship to catch in the morning." It would be after the Repeal of Rappaport's Law in 1965 that the Kowalskis got their official marriage certificate from MACUSA.
Dining out was always a bit of a trial given his physical limitations. If it were a No-Maj restaurant, he always had to request his meat pre-cut to smaller pieces since he could not use a fork and knife simultaneously. Seraphina was making some jest about the opera they had watched the other day at the Met.
The chill crept up on him as a waiter cleared his soup bowl away, replacing it with the main course. He glanced up. Abernathy. His waiter was Abernathy. He froze. The restaurant had gone deathly silent. All the muted conversations and music were gone. Before him, where a smiling Sera had been sitting a moment before, was the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald, nonchalantly slicing his sirloin steak.
"Is the filet mignon not to your liking Graves?" Mismatched eyes smirked at him. Graves screamed in horror.
"Percy, wake up!"
Graves awoke to find himself drenched in sweat, on the bed he shared with his bride. Santorini. They had dinner at the local taverna, danced on the beach and perhaps had too much wine. Seraphina was by his side. She hugged him before accio-ing over a glass of water for him.
"You're safe. It's only a nightmare," she reassured him.
"Will we truly be safe?" Grindelwald had gotten away, even as his followers were being rounded up globally. Perhaps even now, they were lurking in the shadows, biding their time.
"Percy, Tina and her Aurors are working on tracking down any remaining supporters in MACUSA and the States. I believe your friend Theseus is doing the same in Great Britain. The Germanic States probably got the worst of it with their ideas of magical and pureblood supremacy."
On reflection, Graves supposed he could have just as easily fallen for that spiel when he was younger and before he met Jacob Kowalski and other No-Majs. He allowed Sera to drape a blanket over his shoulders.
"You do know that Henry O'Brien is calling for a repeal of Rappaport's Law, do you?"
"Henry O'Brien? Big whiskers, rides a threstal? I heard he is a bit radical…"
"Well, his support base has been growing, but I doubt he has enough clout to fully repeal it, not for another decade or two. He might be running for MACUSA president in few more years…"
It was 1935 before Percival walked Tina down the aisle in a small chapel in a bucolic corner of Britain.
After a purge of the MACUSA Auror core of any remaining Grindelwald sympathizers, the MACUSA leadership sought to soothe the ruffled feathers of the wizarding elite by reinforcing the existing laws, in particular Rappaport's. There was a huge scandal over wizards and their No-Maj spouses, legally married abroad, suddenly being declared illegal. Most were living together for decades and had a mix of magical and non-magical children. Many disgusted mixed families simply packed up their cauldrons and moved north or south. Long established businesses catering to the wizarding community suddenly shut down. Ilvermorny's university town lodged a protest when they lost almost their entire Quidditch team, their local school supplies store, Quidditch outfitter, and the local teashop within a week of the new regulations.
Jacob and Queenie both managed to dodge the short-lived crackdown by keeping a low profile. Moreover, Kowalski's baked goods were a favourite in MACUSA's Auror pantry and no one wanted their favourite baker leaving town. Head Auror Tina was reassigned to Britain as a liaison officer after proving too vocal about the new directives. Shouldn't they be going after Grindelwald's remaining support base instead of hassling honest hardworking wizards and witches over their No-Maj partners? At least the new Head Auror – Ronnie Lopez – turned out to be as sensible as her predecessor. The crackdown on No-Maj fraternization frizzled out and everyone got back to the business of countering Grindelwald's propaganda they best they could. There was still the occasional pocket of trouble Stateside that needed to be dealt with.
For some reason, the American liaison officer ended up sharing an office with the Beasts Department's special consultant – Newt Scamander. Things just picked up from there. A proposal quickly followed, one that became the talk of the British ministry because a Niffler ran off with the ring before Newt could get it on Tina's finger. The couple had to pursue the furry thief across five levels of the ministry and collared it before it got into the Mysteries department. It was MACUSA's loss when Theseus Scamander deftly poached their liaison officer out from under them into his Auror department within two months of the engagement.
There were other changes. Percival's mother quietly remarried, to the artist Aslan Shafiq. Kama slipped quietly back into the shadows of high society. They learnt from Newt that the Obscurial Aurelius Dumbledore had lived out his remaining days with his father in quiet corner of Scotland. As for Nagini, they lost contact after the witch charged to be her caretaker died suddenly. Newt wanted to go to Albania, but he could not get his request to travel approved after some diplomatic incident involving a Qilin and the Chinese ministry. He still had a young Qilin living in his basement on grounds the beast was still too young to survive in the wild without a mother. Newt hoped to release the creature once he was certain it would survive. He did not want the Qilin to spend the rest of her years in a golden cage in the Chinese ministry's lobby.
It was a pity neither Jacob nor Queenie could attend Tina and Newt's big day, not with their first child on the way. They sent along a huge basket of Kowalski's best-selling pastries with a freshness spell to keep them freshly baked for the couple. Graves managed to obtain an international portkey. He had recovered enough to travel using portkey without being sick.
Tina was in the guesthouse with her maid of honour, Lally Hicks, making the final adjustments to her gown. Percival and Seraphina admired the old chapel with its stained-glass windows. Some of the panels had been replaced with scenes from wizarding lore – Merlin and Morgana duelled over the eastern nave. Queen Maeve stirred her cauldron in the window on the right of the door.
"Lovely place, isn't it?" Theseus grinned. "Passed down from a Muggle ancestor. Has anyone seen the groom? He is not in his suitcase."
"He's in the woods behind the chapel. Thought he heard some critter in distress," Seraphina replied. There was a crashing sound, followed by angry bellowing. Newt Scamander shot out from the trees on his broom with an angry hippogriff in hot pursuit. A sparks spell convinced the cranky beast to return to his herd.
"I was just trying to help… A quick spell to fix his wing…"
"Newt, it's your big day. Old Winston can wait," Theseus pulled a leaf out of his brother's hair. "Now let's get ready so old Pug here can walk Tina down the aisle."
Tina was uncharacteristically teary when she met him outside the chapel doors. Lally tiptoed and peered through the stained-glass of Queen Maeve's panel, waiting for the signal to march in.
"I cannot believe this is happening," Tina blurted. She looked stunningly unlike her usual self with her ivory gown trailing behind her and matching gloves.
"Well, it is," Percival gently used his handkerchief to brush away a tear from her cheek.
"I wish my parents and Queenie were here."
"Me too, Tina. Would you allow me the honour of walking you down the aisle in your father's stead?"
"The honour will be mine, Uncle Percy." Tina slipped her gloved hand into the crook of his elbow.
"Places, everyone," Lally called out. She hastened to pick up Tina's train as the music started. The ceremony went off without a hitch. Newt even managed to sneak off after the vows to treat his injured hippogriff.
It was only midway through the dancing that followed the ceremony that Percival noticed Sera was no longer chatting with Lally by the punchbowl. She was speaking with Albus Dumbledore on the porch. He had not noticed the professor among the guests at the ceremony.
"Is it too much to ask that you leave us be? He's already given so much. I do not know what you have planned to deal with Grindelwald but leave us out of it…" Sera's words drifted on the breeze.
"Sera," Percival placed his hand on her shoulder. He nodded to Dumbledore in greeting. "Good evening, professor."
"A pleasant evening, isn't it?" Albus started. "If only there would be many more such evenings to look forward to. There is war in the air, and not only in the wizarding world. I do hope not to call on you and yours again for help, but when the time comes…"
"We'll see, Professor. Now, I believe I owe my wife a dance…" Percival replied tersely. He had seen the signs himself during his travels in recent months minding his European business interests.
"I do hope someone would be more honest about it," Sera huffed even as her husband offered her a drink once they re-joined the party. "Really, one would think him in politics!"
"I suppose they can get political in academia too. Sera, let us enjoy the rest of the evening," Percival smiled and whirled her onto the dance floor to join the others. Lally was dancing with Theseus. Tina had transfigured the skirt of her gown short to dance with Newt. The parents of the groom were dancing in a slow, possibly drunken waltz despite the swing music. Other guests danced, drank and chatted around them. For now, they had this little quiet corner of happiness.
Author's Notes:
This is just before the World War II broke out in Europe, but the signs are already there. I have Tina make her move to Britain and be closer to Newt. Sera and Percy are not exactly thrilled by Dumbledore's attitude, but they are not going to let it ruin their evening. The pair will decline to help him unless they find it necessary – Albus will likely have to manoeuvre them into that position if he needs to.