Hello everybody, hope you enjoy the story.
xoxo Leviosa
Chapter 14
Tina didn't know how much she had slept in the last days, she didn't even want to know. She hated worrying more than anything else. More than having nothing to do. She had searched through Paris with Queenie and Jacob, nobody knew anything about Leta or Newt, and she hated knowing nothing. Tina had talked to all her contacts, and she was too exhausted to look for Newt any longer. But she hated giving up. She had to find him, even if she was too tired. Tina couldn't give up, she had given up too often. Nobody in the circus had seen Leta nor Newt in the last 24 hours, and they said that some of their people were missing. Most of the artists really tried to help them find Leta and Newt, but nothing really worked. "So you are looking for whom?", the circus boss, Skender said. "Leta Lestrange, tall, long brown hair, elegant and really beautiful", Queenie said. Considering that they all had seen Leta once, on Newts picture, they were pretty proud of their description. "And the other one?" "Newt Scamander. He always wears a dark blue coat and has really messed up hair. He always carries a suitcase", Tina said. She didn't believe that this would work, but the circus boss slowly nodded. " Dark blue coat, suit case. He was here, hours ago. He asked if we had seen this Leta woman. The last time we saw here, was with Credence, but she suddenly disapparated. Credence believes that she had been kidnapped by Grindelwald, but we don't really know in which direction they went" Tinas heart stopped for a second. Credence was dead. She had seen his death, he couldn't be alive. But they were probably talking about another Credence. This couldn't be. No one survived a killing curse and it was more than impossible to survive more than ten. "Did you say Credence?", Jacob asked. He was the only one of them who could think right now. Queenie and Tina were to busy thinking about Skenders words to say something. "He'll be there in a minute", Skender said and went into the direction of about ten little tents. He came back, a black haired boy in a new suit at his side, next to the girl, Tina had seen on posters before. She was the enchanting snake girl. "Credence, do you know them? They were looking for Leta", Skender informed him. Tina couldn't speak anymore. She would never forget his face, full of pain and it reminded her of the obscurus inside him. "Tina?", he asked, as he went towards her. "Grindelwald kidnapped Leta. Mal was about to distract him, as he found Leta and disapparated with her. We couldn't do anything against it and an hour later came Newt, who said that he had heard Leta screaming. We couldn't help him either and now you are here", he said. "Credence. It's good to see you. But how did you survive? We all thought you were dead. And why are you here?", Jacob spoke out their thoughts. "It has something to do with the obscurus. Newt remembered something about it. I woke up one day and was back again. I just want to be cured, Tina. Mal saved me and brought me to the circus. This is why I am here, the circus help me to control it... until... Until Nicholas Flamel comes out of his house or I die.", he told them. The girl next to him had been silent, but began to speak now. She was wearing a dress, which looked as if it was made out of blue-green snake skin. "I'm Malena. And we will try to help you, if we can. Newt seems to know more about the obscurus than we do, so it is also helpful for us to save him" Tina finally found the voice to speak again. She could slowly process it, Credence had found a way to survive and if he could do the impossible than they would also find a way to rescue Newt and Leta. "Do you have any idea how we can search the city fast after a missing person? Is there any way? You know the city better than we do", Tina began to make a plan. "We'll, I don't know, but wouldn't it be smart if we use the dragons over there?", Jacob pointed at two red Hungarian horntails, which Tina hadn't noticed before. They were as majestic and beautiful as Newts creatures, they didn't look as if they were the slaves of humans, as if they would listen to the stupid talk of humans. These dragons were born to rule their own kingdom. Their red skin seemed to be made out of the fire in their veins and their eyes had similarities with the sun. Tina was quite impressed, but she knew that creatures didn't deserve to be judged by their fierce looks. One of these things she had learned from Newt. The only real reason why these dragons were owned by circus Arcanus was that they each had two heads, which made them look even deadlier in Tinas eyes. "Are you sure that we can ride them?" "Oh. They have not seen the city from above in a long time. I believe that they would be happy to fly a bit", Queenie said. "I don't think it's a problem. Or is it, Skender?", Jacob asked Skender. "No, it's not. They were fed shortly before you arrived, so food won't be a problem. I hope you all know how to fly a dragon. Let's start!", Skender smiled as big as a child that had gotten a new present. Tina understood why he was the boss of this circus.
It wasn't as easy to climb on the dragon as they had thought. Tina tried it a few times but always failed, until she finally did it. She had always wanted to fly, since she had been a little girl. It wasn't as comfortable as she thought it would be, but she still felt the magic of flying. Brooms were nothing compared to this. Queenie and Jacob sat behind her, and she could almost hear Jacobs happiness. Next to her, she could see Credence spreading his arms as if they were wings. This was probably the first time in his life, where he truly felt free.
"Master", she said, "Master, we followed all your instructions" Grindelwald smiled at her. "Welcome home, Vinda. How did the wizengamot react to my plan?" Vinda began to tell him the things he didn't want to hear. They didn't want to listen, only half of them really showed belief in his words. At least they were not impolite enough to imprison them. Brits were all slaves to their manners, he thought. "Did anything interesting happen? For example did anyone interrupt you or the minister?", he looked into the round of his dearest followers. "Not really, or did anyone?", Krall asked Vinda. "This Dumbledore guy. He left the court after doing so, but maybe it's important" "He left the ministry?! What did he say and what did you? Tell me everything" And they did. Corvus Lestrange was impatiently walking around, ready to tell the story what he had done in the last days. "You called Albus Dumbledore ignorant and stupid?! No wonder that he stood up and left" "I had to defend you, sir. He said that you killed children to get to your goals, which is straight up a lie" Grindelwald didn't look at Krall, while he was talking. He tried to avoid looking into the eyes of his servants, even though he couldn't see the lies in his face. They were the only people that really understood him, especially these three. They all had lost so much that the only way bringing it back was building it new. "I didn't know him, I said, and that he had no right to talk to me like that because I would never murder innocent children" He understood, Dumbledore had realized that Gellert Grindelwald would never deny knowing Albus. And even if he had not known that, he would have known that Grindelwald didn't forget Arianas death. But Krall didn't react the way he should have reacted, if he had known everything that he knew. "Master, I successfully jinxed the ministers, so none of them could find out. It didn't really work with Dumbledore, I am truly sorry to tell you" "At least you all tried. You will have to work better next time. But this is why I chose you, to be my companions. Each one of you is here for a reason" Sometimes he forgot that manipulating people was more telling them the things they wanted to here than lying to them. They all were in their own pink bubble, they all depended on him, and they didn't realize that Grindelwald could stop being nice to them any minute. But people could be controlled easier with kindness, with sugar than with salt and punishment, as long as they did what he wanted them to do.
Forever was a short word. Forever and never again. Lies, everywhere lies. Dumbledore didn't meet Grindelwald personally, in a long time. But personally couldn't hide that everything around him remembered Dumbledore of Grindelwald. Personally wasn't that Dumbledore used the deluminator to find out where Grindelwald had been, before he disapparated. No, they didn't really meet, but it felt like a strange game of hide-and-seek.
Newt didn't know how he felt about Leta. He had loved her for too long, and he couldn't see himself without all the memories of them together, but he knew that Leta was hiding something. Sure, she had been kidnapped by Grindelwald, and she had lost her voice, but that didn't explain why she was free, why Grindelwald let her go. Newt had expected at least a fight, but Grindelwald had disappeared as Newt showed up. He had been so sure that it would be a trap but the result confused him even more. What would it help Gellert Grindelwald to let her go? And Leta wasn't ready to tell him, the time when she had trusted him was over, and he wasn't sure if she would tell anyone else. But strangely, he didn't feel something. He should be angry, disappointed, confused, because Grindelwald had just not been there. He should be happy that Tina, Queenie and Jacob had found him and Leta because he had been too tired to do anything, because he had cast too much magic to even find Leta. But he felt nothing — just this strange emptiness, as if something had been taken out of his life, but he couldn't understand what it was. It had nothing to do with Tina, Queenie or Jacob, not with his creatures and not with Grindelwald.
"Newt", Credence said. "I wanted to ask you, you know more about the", he pointed at himself and then whispered: "The Obscurus. Is there a way to cure it or to long term control it? Is there a chance of me surviving all of this?" He seemed so lost here, this which was partly his and partly not his world. Credence was the same sixteen-year old boy that Newt had met before, but he seemed stronger now. The insecurity in his voice made Newt remember that Credence was carrying this destructive force inside him. "Umm... Credence, whatever happens, I will help you. I told you that I have met an Obscurial before. She died, but I could divorce the obscurus from her. A friend of mine, Albus Dumbledore, knows a lot more than I do. And we could — umm — ask Nicholas Flamel for help." "Nicholas Flamel? I thought he was ill... He hasn't shown up in Paris for years. And you would do this for me, really?" Newt asked himself if Credence was indeed half puppy and not carrying an obscurus, because he was looking at him with dog eyes. "Of course", Newt said, and he was definitely meaning it.