Balls might seem pleasant when hearing of them.
Wizards and witches all dressed up in nice clothing. Delicious food. Music. Sophisticated conversations.
While this might be true to an extent the actual event was mostly just waiting.
Waiting for the actual night to arrive.
Waiting for your acquaintances to arrive so that you would have someone actually interesting to talk with.
Waiting to be let into the dining hall.
Then a lot of more waiting for the food to be brought in.
Graves knew, because he had been to quite a few. Fundraising dinners, inaugurations, anniversaries, among other things. Not all of them balls, but the distinctions was blurry.
But once the city bells had toiled and the fireworks had died out Director Graves did not waste a minute more to get out of there.
A sharp crack echoed across West 24th street, momentarily disturbing the otherwise tranquil mid winter night.
Moments later Director Graves stepped out of an alleyway. He made sure to look twice just in case any nomajs were walking by. Because despite it being in the middle of the night, the night in question tended to bring more people, wizards alike nomajs, onto the streets.
New Years Eve. Or, New Years Day morning as it was now.
The auror pulled his scarf closer (he hadn't realized the air would be quite so crisp when he disapparated from the Woolworth building) and quickly made his way east to the brownstone building halfway down the street.
He had to look twice at the address, as the building looked quite different at night than during the daytime, and climbed the stairs. Then he knocked on the door, and while he waited tapped his toes against the paved staircase to rid of the snow underneath his soles.
The door was opened by the nomaj landlady.
She was wearing a bathrobe over her pyjamas. Her hair in curlers.
She did not look amused.
"Good evening, ma'am", the wizard greeted.
Her wrinkly face contorted in scrutinization.
"It's in the middle of the night", she told him.
She made no move to get out of the way and let him inside.
He felt a tinge of frustration at this. Had he endured hours and hours of formalities and speeches and the bad company of aurors getting more and more drunk just for this Nomaj to stand in his way?
"I am aware, ma'am", he replied.
She opened her mouth to tell him something else, probably something obvious, when she was interrupted by a call from within the building.
"Mr Graves!"
As the nomaj turned her head he managed to lean in through the doorway and see Queenie standing at the top of the staircase.
She came down the stairs, and Percival briefly touched the doorway to prevent the warm air from slipping out as Queenie was only in her pyjamas.
"I thought you weren't supposed to come around here 'til morning!", she said.
"I managed to get away, but I was afraid you'd already be asleep", he told her in good humour.
Queenie then turned to the nomaj, still smiling brilliantly.
"Miss Esposito, this is just Credence's father", she explained.
Percival had to blink. It did make sense for Queenie to introduce him as Credence's father; the nomaj would no doubt be more curious otherwise. But he realized it was the first time he had heard it out loud.
The nomaj actually stepped away from the door upon hearing this. But she didn't go away completely, and lingered in her own doorway. Dark eyes glued at the auror.
"Oh, Tina and were just getting ready to go to bed. And then I heard...", she stopped herself, glancing at the nomaj.
"Sorry", Percival said.
"Oh, it's fine", she assured.
"Of course you wanted to know how things went." She said it, as if his occlumency had slipped up.
"Is he?", he glanced up the stairs where she had come from.
"He's asleep. He had to wake up for the fireworks, he was really excited for those", she told him.
Her eyes lit up suddenly.
"Oh! And I let him play with our old porcelain doll. He was so sweet! I've had it on my wardrobe for years and years, so you have to let him take it with you home tomorrow", she said.
"He's too shy to ask, he thinks you won't like that he plays with dolls", she told him.
Percival was hardly surprised. He had already noticed Credence's preference to imaginative games compared to physical ones. He almost never ran around or climbed on things, even when Gilda had tried to make him join the bouncing on the sitting room sofas back at the manor. Instead he mostly sat with his bear.
Sometimes, when Percival managed to look up without the boy noticing, he could hear how Credence was whispering under his breath as he made his bear, Major, nod or shake his head in dialogue. If Credence did notice Percival fondly observing his little games he would zip his lips and blush ever so gently.
What did surprise him was that Credence thought he would be upset that he wanted to play with a doll. Sure, it wouldn't have been Percival's choice as a child, maybe, but there wasn't really much of a difference between a stuffed bear and a human doll.
"I don't see a problem", he told her.
The witch looked very pleased.
"Mr Graves?", someone said from above them.
The two looked up to see Tina peek out of the doorway.
"I thought I heard people talking", she said and came down the stairs to join them.
"Is something going on? Change of plans?", she wondered, referring to the sleepover arrangement. She had a more hushed voice, and Percival realized his and Queenie's voices must have carried all the way up to the second floor for Tina to come investigate. And with the sleeping child upstairs there was another reason to mind their tone of voice.
"No, I'm just dropping by for a report", Percival replied, his own voice following hers into a quieter one.
The other auror smirked knowingly.
"Things are great on this end. How have the evening been for the Director?", she wondered.
"Drab", he answered.
Queenie giggled.
"And your speech?"
"Served its purpose, Picquery said."
Picquery had not let Graves off on skipping the New Year's Eve dinner at MACUSA; especially after he had left her on her own for the Yule Ball. He needed to be there to show everyone that he was up and running after the events with Grindelwald, she said.
It had been a short speech. His task had been to remind of Grindelwald's ruthlessness, but also to show how the light side, and MACUSA especially, stayed strong and would continue to in the following year despite the changing trends in the ideological stage across the globe.
The fact that they had Grindelwald locked up in the MACUSA prison section underlined this quite nicely; even if it had meant more security meetings for him.
"By the way, sir", Tina suddenly said, as if remembering something.
"Do you read to him at all?"
There was no doubt of the subtle accusation in her voice.
"Er… How do you mean...?", he asked carefully.
"Before bed", she told him.
He had to think for a second before answering.
"Well, he reads to himself mostly...", he said. And he immediately knew he had answered incorrectly.
"We read together sometimes...!", he tried justifying. Credence would sit in his lap with an old text book or something of the like and ask for him to explain certain words or terms. Or sometimes just ponder over pictures of things he had never seen before.
The witch wouldn't have any of it, however.
"It's important for developing children to be read to…!", she snapped. Still somehow managing to keep her voice down.
"He loved having a bedtime story…!"
"You said we have a Beedle book laying around", she said, now turning to Queenie.
The blonde sister nodded. Then the two of them turned back to him, seeming to dare him to disagree.
"I-I'll do my best to get it into our routine...", he stammered.
The two sisters nodded in unison.
Then Queenie suddenly turned, a gentle oh on her lips. Tina and Graves followed her gaze, and on the top of the staircase was Credence. He was rubbing his eyes.
"Hi, darling", Tina called.
"Mr Percival?", Credence said, sleepiness making his speech ever so mumbly.
"Yeah, I'm right here", Graves replied.
Credence blinked in surprise, and started making his way down the stairs.
Percival forced himself to wait in the doorway. He felt the nomaj's stare on him, and he had a feeling that if his toe as much as graced the doorframe the woman would chase him down the street. And probably sick some nomaj policemen at the three of them for breaking The Mann act.
But he did. For every step Credence sleepily climbed down he waited.
And it was first when he had scooped up Credence into his arms that he realized that this was what he had waited all evening for. This. The feeling of holding this small, warm bundle in his arms.
He kissed him on the ear, then the Director had to pause for a second as he noticed that Credence smelled different. Undoubtedly an effect from Credence having his bath at the Goldstein's.
"Hi, bub", he greeted.
"Did we wake you up?"
Credence nodded, but didn't seem to mind this fact.
"Is it time to go home?", Credence mumbled.
"No, my boy, I'm just checking in. I'll come back and get you in the morning, remember?"
"So it's not morning yet?", the boy wondered.
All three adults chuckled at his question. The nomaj continued to stare from her doorway.
"No, it's in the middle of the night", Tina told him and reached out to stroke him over the back.
Credence frowned a little in sleepy consideration. Then yawned.
"No wonder I'm so tired…", he murmured. Then he rested his head against Percival's shoulder.
"Aw, he's already asleep", Queenie cooed after only a few seconds, no doubt sensing Credence's consciousness drifting off into dreams.
Percival glanced to the doormat. He wouldn't be able to bring the boy to bed himself.
Tina seemed to sense the problem, however.
"I'll take him", Tina offered.
Once again the nomaj's gaze prickled him in the side of the head, but he managed to hand over the sleeping child to the auror without crossing the threshold. Once in her arms she smiled. Her eyes not leaving his sleeping face as she turned and started heading back to the apartment.
He recognized that look. And as much as he wanted to spend all day with Credence tomorrow he figured there wouldn't be any harm in sharing.
"Should I take a lie in tomorrow?", he asked Queenie.
"Sounds like a plan", she said and winked at him.
For anyone who hasn't read This side of Paradise: the Mann act (as it was used back in the 20's) was a law that made it punishable for an unmarried man and woman to share hotel rooms and stuff. It was to prevent prostitution and human trafficking; but it also happened that consenting adults were punished for sexual behavior.