Late 1931

She sat on the Drawing Room sofa with Corvus, her left hand on top his right hand which was resting on his right knee. She sensed that although Corvus no longer harboured blind hatred for the man sipping his opposite them, he didn't trust him or have much of a high opinion of him. If Dumbledore was to be respected for only one thing, it would have to be the (rumoured) extensive magical power that had earnt him the accolade of 'The Great'. Corvus didn't even seem to respect that, which was worrying when she considered how powerful he once was.

"As I was saying, Miss Goldstein has been convicted of aiding a dangerous escapee criminal," Dumbledore stated regretfully. "I'm afraid MACUSA are much stricter with their sentences than the British and French authorities; she's been sentenced to five years."

She frowned. Queenie deserved punishment but there was something to be said about how she stood up to Grindelwald and his lieutenant in the end. As an American national, she was punished by her country's judicial system but it hardly seemed fair that a French wizard who technically committed the same crime got away without consequence. She was grateful that no one had any proof against Corvus, owing to his obscure role in Grindelwald's inner circle, but Queenie's sentence was too harsh.

"Could I do anything for her?" she found herself asking. "She's Tina's sister. And I think Jacob's been waiting for her all these years. I know she turned herself in but couldn't I testify in her favour?"

"Not after she's already been convicted. Besides, you would have to reveal your own"—he gestured to both her and Corvus—"involvement with Grindelwald to explain why you know what you know."

Involvement. She despised being referred to as being involved with Grindelwald in any sort of sense especially given what he had tried to do to her last month. Next to her, Corvus shifted uncomfortably. He clearly didn't want to be exposed as a former acolyte of Grindelwald's any more than she wanted to be associated with the Dark wizard. If she had to sacrifice either Corvus (and, by extension, herself) or Queenie to save the other, her choice was obvious.

"I see," she conceded with a defeated sigh, giving Dumbledore a polite smile. "If you do happen across an alternative way for me to help her, please do tell me."

"Of course," Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling. She blinked, a little startled by the display. "Now, I considered requesting this of you via a letter but I thought it'd be better to ask you in person."

She exchanged an apprehensive look with Corvus, wondering what Dumbledore wanted. The last thing he had wanted from her was for her to break Grindelwald's influence over Corvus. She had somewhat succeeded, though Grindelwald certainly ended up contributing to his own failure to keep Corvus' loyalty, she wasn't so sure that her success was down to her hard work rather than a stroke of luck because she happened to be someone Corvus loved. "Please, go ahead."

"Will the two of you join our movement against Grindelwald?"

Glancing at Corvus, she saw him nod reassuringly, silently encouraging her to answer first. She inhaled deeply, thinking about how to respond. In all honesty, she had already made her mind up weeks ago. Growing up, she had always taken her peaceful and quiet life for granted, always wishing that there was more going on in her life than learning Korean, English and French from her mother and doing chores. Even after learning what she was, instead of accepting that living a solitary life in the forest was the best course of action for someone like her, she'd wanted to integrate herself into society. Only after the novelty wore off and she experienced racism and xenophobia did she realise that the grass was not greener on the other side but, by then, she had already stupidly spent all of her 'inheritance' and was forced to seek out work to survive. Eventually, she'd ended up walking into prison—Le Cirque Arcanus—all on her own and was never able to return to the forest she'd spent her first twelve years in.

"I won't," she answered quietly, squeezing Corvus' hand to draw strength from him. Sure enough, a comforting warmth rushed through her body. She briefly looked into his eyes before redirecting her attention to Dumbledore who seemed disappointed. "I don't have very many days left as a person. I want to spend this last year or so of my life in peace. Well, relative peace." Dumbledore nodded. "I'm still very much against Grindelwald," she reaffirmed, just in case Dumbledore got the wrong idea. "I will help you in any way I can, but not in a full time, official capacity."

Dumbledore seemed to respect her wishes and nodded once more. He looked to the man sitting next to her. "And how about you, Mister Barebone?" She scowled before Corvus did. Dumbledore was anything but stupid; he had to know that Corvus did not like to be reminded of his abusive adoptive mother. What did he get out of intentionally upsetting Corvus?

"It's Monsieur Lestrange," Corvus corrected, his voice tight. If Dumbledore was trying to alienate Corvus, then he had succeeded. She didn't usually like him referring to himself as Corvus Lestrange but this time, she was almost proud of him. "And it's a no from me."

She turned to him so fast she almost got whiplash. "Corvus? Don't you want to fight Grindelwald?"

"Fighting Grindelwald can wait but spending time with you cannot," he explained, lightly caressing her face with his left hand. Even the sensation of Dumbledore's eyes burning into her skull couldn't stop her from leaning into his touch. "I'll make him pay for what he's done to you and to me but for now, I'll stay at home with you. I already wasted so much time running around for one corrupt wizard."

The implication was not lost on her. Corvus really did not trust Dumbledore one bit and the latter's behaviour towards the former didn't exactly look good. Still, Dumbledore wasn't the one who wanted innocent Non-Magique dead or enslaved.

"Corvus, please reconsider," she urged softly, reaching up for the hand on her face and placing hers on top. Her other hand was still resting on his other hand on his knee. "I'll be fine here, at home, with Dot."

He shook his head, gently removing his hand from her face and turning back to Dumbledore. "You can use this house as a safe house. Even Grindelwald can't get in here. But that's all I'll do until..." he paused, releasing a shaky breath. She felt her eyes sting. She knew he was thinking about the inevitable. "Until I'm no longer needed at home."

Turning away from both men, she let a stray tear roll down her cheek. If only. If only she was a normal woman.

.:. QK .:.

"I wouldn't be too offended if I were you," Newt said, fiddling with Pickett. "Dumbledore's like this with everyone."

She refrained from rolling her eyes, irritated. She had just spent the last few minutes telling Newt and Tina about how Dumbledore had taken a dig at Corvus for no reason at all. However, Newt was not taking the issue very seriously and Tina only offered a sympathetic look.

"Corvus is different from everyone!" she practically hissed, peering past Newt's shoulder to make sure Corvus was still out of earshot. She spotted him on the other side of the Dining Hall with Dot. "He probably thinks Dumbledore's targetting him, attacking him. I don't think he'd be wrong."

"Have you asked him how he feels about what happened?" Tina questioned not unkindly.

"No," she begrudgingly admitted. Tina had a point. She was merely guessing at this point, no matter how well she could read Corvus without having to speak. "But I know he felt uncomfortable and that he doesn't like being called by his adoptive name in general."

"Mrs Barebone was a nasty piece of work," Tina confirmed, her face dead serious.

"I know," she responded, her gaze drifting across the room until it landed on a portrait of a blonde Lestrange woman. She suddenly remembered Queenie and her eyes flew back to Tina. "I'm sorry about Queenie."

"Don't be," Newt piped up, startling both women. His eyes flickered between the two of them, his friend staring at him in disgust and his wife giving him a death glare. "I meant that Queenie was grateful to you for helping her attend our wedding," he added after seemingly realising his mistake.

She smiled sadly. "Still... although she wouldn't have stopped Grindelwald from tainting me that night, she told Corvus the truth about his so-called identity when she didn't have to. She helped me give him the push he so desperately needed to break free of Grindelwald's lies."

"How has he been holding up?" Tina asked, her eyes soft.

"How one feels when they've had not one but two identities ripped away from them," she replied somberly, catching a glimpse of Corvus brooding in an armchair before quickly looking back at Tina. "I worry about what'll happen to him... afterwards. He might close in on and isolate himself to such an extent that Grindelwald will easily be able to manipulate him again."

"Nothing will happen to you," Newt said, shaking his head, but he sounded unconvincing to her ears. "We'll find a way for you to overcome the curse."

She laughed heartlessly—there was no way to overcome the curse. They both knew that. Tina placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," she began gently. "As strange as it sounds, I've felt responsible for Credence ever since I first saw that woman abusing him. I'll be there for him."

She wanted to believe her, she really did, but Tina was a married woman with her own life. A full-time Auror, she wouldn't be able to spare time to check up on a friend in France, especially once the children started coming along. She didn't expect her to, either. That was a job for a wife. However, finding Corvus a pure-blood wife who didn't support Grindelwald was going to be difficult in the current political climate. She smiled weakly at her two friends before pinching the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on.

Who would be there for Corvus when she was gone?