Grindelwald is being mean again to the family of one of his many victims and Albus calls him out for it. Whatever happened to the real Head Auror Percival Graves?
1957
15th April 1957, Connecticut
To Mr Grindelwald
My name is Falconer Graves-Boots. I am writing on my mother's behalf as to the whereabouts of my Uncle Percy, better known as Percival Graves. I know it has been quite a while since his disappearance, but my mother is now ready for some answers. Is he still alive as of 1926? And if yes, where is he? Or if he is indeed deceased, please kindly advise as to where we may his remains for reburial in the family crypt. I would have written sooner but MACUSA had some legal issues with the Austrian Ministry that precluded us writing to you without some serious background checks. Great-grandma Lucille, the family's only known dark arts practitioner just shuffled off the mortal coil at age 110, so we got their approval to write. Though dark arts practitioner might be putting it too harshly – I think most of us might have fantasized about Crucio-ing a love rival at some point, she just did it at her debutant ball at eighteen more than almost a century back in front of an audience.
As a wizard, may I appeal to your honour as a fellow wizard to provide us with the answers we seek. Please also find enclosed a photo of my uncle taken in 1920 at his last known visit to my grandparents'.
Yours sincerely
Falconer Graves-Boots
Summer 1957
Dear Mr Graves-Boots
If I have a sickle every time someone asks me about the whereabouts of their relatives and friends, I will be bribing my way to the Bahamas long ago. I would not have been able to recall dear Percival had it not been for your photo. Let's see – your uncle Percy was a snappy dresser, a stickler for rules and as stubborn as a mule. It was a temptation at times not to transfigure him into a mule and send him off to work in a mine out west. We had a rather invigorating exchange of ideas in that cosy upstairs room of a nice coffeehouse in New York's Little Italy (and the occasional nightcap at his place) before our friendship went south. Something to do about his job, naturally. Well, I can respect him for that.
As much as I would love telling you your Uncle Percy joined some New-Age commune or was bartending in the Caribbean as of winter 1926, or that he bought into my vision of the Greater Good and has been on the run since 1945, I will be honest about his fate as I rather respected him as a wizard. It was a pity he was Director of MACUSA's Magical Law Enforcement. Our little argument became a full-blown duel on the Hudson River and though your uncle gave a decent account of himself as a duellist, he was not quite good enough. I will strongly advise against retrieving his remains at this point. One will doubt they will even be recognizable as human after 30 years in the waters of the Hudson. The fish, worms, and the No-Maj pollution… Or maybe I just scrambled his brains, broke his magic, and shucked him off into one of your fancy American mental institutes for No-Majs. Do you believe he will survive 30 years in one?
A pity that. He was a fine specimen of a man. Rather enjoyed his company and conversation. Too bad he cannot be swayed into joining my Alliance.
Yours sincerely
Grindelwald
P.S. Do say hi to dear Percy for me if you do find him. The Hudson can be cold even in summer, so I hear.
21st June 1957
Dear Grindelwald
Has anyone ever told you how much of a creep you are? We just had the current matriarch of the Graves clan storm into MACUSA's New York office demanding an explanation as to what exactly happened to her grandson who has been listed as Missing in Action for the last 30 years. A pity you did not get killed in that duel. Dumbledore's too nice. I am sure Professor Dumbledore will hear of this from the Ministry sooner if not later. How dare you do that to him? An asylum? I would not even trust a cockroach to St Dymphna's, much less to those No-Maj mental institutes. Graves once told me that was the last place he wanted to end up after we had to visit a former Auror in St Dymphna's. You have a damn funny way of showing him respect.
The only upside of this is the Graves-Boots clan seem to be making sizeable charitable donations to mental asylums (both No-Maj and St Dymphna's) in the States and pushing for more humane treatment of patients. They mostly live on top of their ivory tower upstate, rarely descending to mingle with us average folk. It was quite something when the high and mighty gents and ladies turn up in force dressed in their top hats and crinolines. Do you have any idea of the paperwork and exemptions we must process for No-Maj-Magical interactions of that scale? And I thought getting clearance from MACUSA for the Kowalski wedding was a nightmare.
Wait a sec... You sly bastard, Director Graves has been in the river all this while, hasn't he?
Porpentina Esther Scamander nee Goldstein
Director of No-Maj Relations
30th June 1957
Dear Gellert
What in the name of Merlin are you up to? I know committing someone to extended torture is not your style (Aurelius notwithstanding, you always had it in for poor Aberforth). I suppose our Head Auror has been in the river by December 1926 if not earlier. Can you at least have the decency to apologize nicely or show some remorse instead of hinting at all manner of unpleasant fates that might have befallen their kinsman? I suppose this is where I will have to apologize to the entire Graves-Boots clan and inform them to hold a memorial ceremony by the river if they wish.
Thoroughly annoyed
Albus Dumbledore
Fall 1957
Dear Albus
My, my, I do believe someone is jealous. I confess we had a thing going on with me incognito in that coffeehouse. Percy did love his coffee after all. Who would have thought those barista classes in Venice would have come into such good use? An intellectual is not quite what one would expect of an Auror. I mean, how many Aurors can discuss the works of Goethe and Kafka with you, not to mention the philosophy of Nietzsche and Freud's theories? Ach, I have fond memories of that little outing to the opera for Wagner's Parsifal and Lohengrin the following week. Most Aurors tend to be staid, unimaginative beings with a distinct lack of soul.
I also enjoyed those sessions sparring in the gym in the French neighbourhood. I mean actual sparring as in graceful exchanges of kicks and punches savate-style, not whatever clumsy wrestling happened back in your bedroom that summer. Dear Percy even offered me the spare room in his apartment when I told him my landlord was giving me the boot.
You might have liked him too. Alas it was not meant to be. All good things had to come to an end as when he finally caught onto who I am and tried to arrest me. Regrettable, no?
Gellert Grindelwald
P.S. You are cute when jealous
Author's Notes:
R.I.P Graves.