It is confirmed WB will not be developing the Fantastic Beasts franchise further, so we will have to find our own fan theories and answers to what happened leading up that famous duel. Sort of losing track of where the characters are at at times, and the timeline. So an update – we are in the winter of 1928-9 here.

A Legend Returns

Liu Tao donned his family's ceremonial robes and strode across the icy plaza to the ceremonial temple. The youngest wizard to hold the post of Vice-Premier in the Chinese Ministry of Magic, he hailed from a long lineage of wizards and emperors. The magical community teetered on a knife-edge. Order and chaos. His assistants waited within the dim, incense-filled interior. He scattered the offerings of amber, sandalwood, and myrrh into the brazier, chanting the incantations. The smoke swirled as it rose.

War, pestilence, famine… the auguries did not bode well for the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom – the gifted children and their non-magical siblings alike. More than one folk seer had taken to the streets or the roads, wailing their ill omens. Prayers were offered to the deities, but the rebellions and wars continued unbated. Warlords fought like dogs over a bone. The Ministry was barely holding together, retreating into the depths of the vast interior. Oh, they had meddled where they could within the Statutes of Secrecy. Not enough to slow the collapse.

The chanting rose with the rhythmic ringing of bells and gongs. The wispy smoke thickened as it took shape. A deer? No, all present gasped. None had seen a living Qilin for more than a century in the kingdom. The smoke-creature was unmistakable. Several of the assisting mages fell to their knees. The smoke creature leapt up towards the skylight as Liu reached for it. The fire in the brazier went out with a whoosh. All was dark.

"Send word to the ICW," Liu Tao ordered his secretary on Apparating back to his office. "The omens have spoken. We will agree to the Walk of the Qilin." The last known sighting was in the Guilin mountains. Even so, it was a fleeting glimpse by a young witch gathering herbs for her mother. The witch would tell the tale to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, including her Little Wave. China's great interior still hid many magical creatures from wizard-kind.

Summoning his brush, ink, and paper, the Vice-Premier started on letters to his colleagues in Japan, Korea, and in Indochina. Every country will be putting forward their preliminary candidates for Supreme Mugwump. He would need all the support he could muster. The Walk of the Qilin – a pure heart. What could that possibly mean?

Oriental wizards knew the Kingmaker beast had another side. It was fierce and a healthy adult would never allow anyone with evil intent to approach. Legend held that if a chosen king should stray from the righteous path, the land would be stricken with disaster. The Qilin that bowed to him would become a demon beast, sowing disaster in its wake.

Hadn't his country suffered enough?

Winter meant slushy streets in London. Albus Dumbledore plodded through the freezing mud, thankful for the Impervious Charms on his shoes. He had volunteered to escort the students back to London for the Christmas holidays on the Hogwarts Express. He would spend the holidays in London, trying to corner an elusive quarry – Theseus Scamander. Someone has to pull that boy out of the pit he was in. Two visits to his official residence yielded nothing. The Ebony Wand gentlemen's club did not allow non-members entry and the door-elf refused to call Scamander to the door.

Newt was in India, and not expected to return until Easter. Albus Disillusioned himself and waited. Travers likely still had a tail on him, but he might be able to pass it off as a concerned mentor or family friend checking up on Theseus. Lord Scamander was highly placed enough for his son not to be fired outright. There was also the fact that Theseus was a decorated war hero who had been severely injured earlier that year. Without his parents or brother to keep an eye on him, he was prone to wallow in his loss and drink. Albus did not have to wait long before there was a fracas within the club and the troublemaker evicted.

"Go home and sleep it off, guv!" someone called from within the club as Theseus staggered to his feet. Albus quickly removed the Disillusioning Charm and went forward to help him.

They managed to Apparate to outside Theseus's apartment without splinching. Theseus had lost his keys, so Alohomora was needed to enter. Dumbledore brewed a pot of strong tea as he attempted dosing his former student with a sobriety potion. Theseus was having none of that. In the end Albus settled for sticking him under shower and turning on the cold water. That did the trick.

"What are you doing here, sir?"

"Saving you from the bottle apparently," Albus looked up to see an annoyed Theseus towelling his hair dry. "Mister Scamander, we need you sober for this war."

"You are not my professor. I am no longer a student of Hogwarts. I am not obliged to stand listening to a lecture…"

"A wasted trip on my part then. Perhaps I should have approached your brother first…"

"Leave Newt out of whatever hare-brained scheme you have!" Theseus threw a Stinging Hex which Dumbledore nonchalantly deflected with a flick of his wrist. The elder Scamander was still sore about his brother's involvement in events in New York and later Paris.

"Unfortunately, he is Britain's leading magizoologist, and we will need his expertise…"

"What do you want of me?" Theseus asked in resignation.

"First we will need you to pour out any firewhiskey and stop hanging out at the club's bar… Then we will see if we can get you back into Magical Law Enforcement…"

"More favours to be pulled? Or will Travers be indisposed?"

"Sarcasm does not become you, Mister Scamander."

The discussion dragged on for hours, fuelled by a tin of biscuits and strong tea. Albus left the former Auror close to dawn.

The mood was sombre in Nurmengard. Cousin Anton was not quite ready to openly declare his support for Grindelwald despite their best efforts. This rankled with Gellert. He stalked in the corridors in a foul mood. Vinda hovered by his side with her fawning attentions ignored. Their prisoners had been moved down to the dungeons. The healer no longer had free run of the castle grounds after their kinsman's abortive rescue attempt.

"How are you holding up, sweetie?" Queenie found Aurelius in the library. The young man looked up, startled. In the watery winter light, he seemed as frail as the consumptive Louis Prince. The Princes had remained in Italy in Zabini's villa, hoping the kinder climate would help the young wizard. That left Aurelius quite alone. He had been subdued since Munich when he had been forced to kill on their master's orders.

"F-fine, Miss Queenie…" There was enough of a waver to convince Queenie he was not all fine. He returned his eyes to his book.

"What have we here?" Queenie glanced over the open pages and flinched. The witch hunts. Gory prints of witches being burnt or tortured. She shut the book.

"Come take a stroll with me. This book is not fit for the festive season…"

"Miss Queenie, do you believe there is a Devil? And magic is his work?"

"No-Maj superstition – that bit about magic. Magic is part of us wixen."

"Why did they want to kill us then?"

"Hon, they were scared because they could not understand magic. That is why we must hide, as difficult as it is to…"

"Thou shalt not kill – Mother taught me that. And that magic is the Devil's work… If magic is a part of me, I am going to hell anyways…"

"Oh, you poor dear," Queenie felt every maternal bone in her screaming to hug the boy, but she could see how troubled and on the edge he was. Any touch might just push him over. "Look, we will not deny there is real evil in the world. Some might call it the Devil. That woman you called your mother was wrong to treat you and your sisters as she did. About what happened in Munich – it was not your fault…"

"Miss Goldstein is right, my boy…" a charming voice purred. Queenie started. Grindelwald and Vinda had entered the library unnoticed by her. "Do not let that maggot's death trouble you. He was a spy – an enemy. His kind stand in our way…" His odd eyes met Aurelius'. Queenie could not help a shiver when he laid a hand on the young man's arm. She could not move or speak. Vinda was beside her, ready to restrain her if need be.

"You do want to be free, don't you? Free to be a wizard, do magic openly? Free to reclaim your stolen birthright?"

"Yes, sir…"

"Good, we will continue your training in the courtyard…" Taking Aurelius by the hand, Grindelwald led him out of the library.

"Queenie, I know you mean well, but you mustn't confuse the boy with things he has no need of," Vinda smiled icily before spinning on her heel and following their master out. Queenie let out a breath she had not known she had been holding.

Aurelius was a weapon to be trained and honed. That was all he was to the leaders of the Alliance.

Bedivere checked Galahad's temperature. A fever. The move to the damp dungeons did him no favours. Perhaps Galahad's attempt to flirt with the witch assigned to guard their room had not gone down well. Or perhaps it was something else.

"Guard! We need a Feverfew Potion here!" the healer yelled.

"Shut it! This ain't a hotel!"

"Or will you prefer explaining to his lordship why his necromancer is dead of a fever?"

The guard grumbled but made his way down the steep stairs. MacDuff, he believed his name was. The guard thrust the potion vial through the bars a few minutes later.

"Perhaps a jug of clean water and a blanket too…"

"Don't push your luck…" Still, MacDuff turned and went to fetch the requested items.

Nepal-India border…

"A Qilin, would you believe it?" the Muggle innkeeper laughed. "He claimed he saw a Qilin coming through the pass." The man was relating an account from a tea caravan that passed through some weeks back.

Newt grinned and dug into his dumpling stew. The locals were full of tales of the wondrous and strange. The yeti haunted the highlands, terrorizing both climbers and herders alike. Demonic beings called raksashas haunted the passes after dusk. There was a lake that was said to be full of skeletons. Elephants that could perch on a man's thumb, beautiful maidens birthed from trees and vines…

It was from such tales of sightings that led Newt to new discoveries. Except the Qilin was not some figment of a traveller's tale. He had received a letter from Dumbledore requesting that he kept abreast of any such sightings in light of the ICW decision to reinstate the Walk.

How could one capture a grown Qilin? Nothing was said of how the Walk was carried out in ancient times. Did the beast just appear in a flash of lightning and thunder like the ancient Chinese legends claim? Qilin would not suffer to be approached by anyone not of a pure heart.

Author's Notes:

Delving into some Oriental folklore and traditions. The Sorting Hat sorts too early. Albus is probably a late-blooming Slytherin. Any wild beast is not just going to let a stranger stroll up to her when she is busy delivering her babies. I guess Newt probably has to turn on some charm to even get close, even if he has a pure heart or good intentions only.