More time jumps. This is more behind the scenes for the Berlin candidates' dinner and the Qilin resurrection. Might be a tad disjointed.

Windstorm

Tina frowned as she took in the closed bakery. It was well past Jacob's opening time. A slightly bewildered Albert had arrived shortly after she did. He had just got back from his sick mother's. Jacob's apprentice had no idea where his mentor had vanished off to. Mister Kowalski had not informed him of any plans to take the day off. Perhaps he was sick? The concerned young man called out to the apartment above the store. The lights were out.

Tina suggested that Albert return home first. Perhaps Mister Kowalski had a family emergency? Once the young man left, the Auror slipped into the building. The flour bin was uncovered, as if ready for the day. Flour covered the kitchen worktable. Jacob's apron hung on a hook. Upstairs, she recognized Jacob's trunk beside his bed. He had left in a hurry. But why?

Something was afoot. She felt uneasy. An owl from Newt had come in for her the night before. It was a postcard showing the Scottish Highlands. A brief note informing her he was well and sending his love. A far cry from the lengthy letters he indulged in. Newt had been in a hurry too, not checking that the Quick-dry spell had taken on the ink before sending off the bird.

Lally had sent her apologies over the Floo, cancelling their weekly tea. Some conference in Germany she had to attend. The candidates' dinner was to be held in Berlin. Tina kicked herself. She should have volunteered to head there, but MACUSA was not sending any of theirs to the dinner. The Brazilians would provide the security detail for Santos. There were whispers that Anton Vogel would exonerate Grindelwald, possibly even endorse him as a candidate. Goodness knew how the dark wizard managed to redeem himself in the eyes of so many powerful wix.

"Professor Silverfoot?" Tina looked up from her lunch in surprise as her former professor sat down beside her in the Muggle diner. She had been ordered to lunch out after the Director decided she was working too hard and needed a few hours' break away from the office.

Silverfoot was not alone. It was unusual for the DADA professor to leave Mount Greylock. With her was Jenny and Pellinore Graves. With his mahogany-dark colouring and grimy overalls, Pellinore attracted a good many stares in the predominately white middle-class neighbourhood. He gave as good as he got, holding his head high and calling for a coffee in with an accent that would not shame a French aristocrat. Jenny looked as if she had stepped off an Amish buggy in her old-fashioned homespun. Silverfoot looked the most at home in the No-Maj diner in her slate-grey suit. Most probably thought her male.

"Grindelwald is making his move. With luck, one of our brothers will return…" Jenny placed the copy of the New York Ghost on the counter.

"Stay put, Tina. Perhaps your baker will fetch your sister home…" Pelly added.

Silverfoot nodded. "It is the Council's wish that you do not interfere."

"What Council? Who are they to decide?" Tina retorted.

"Then what do you intend to do?" her professor asked.

"I-I don't know…"

"Then wait and pray. They will need you on their return…" Silverfoot took a sip of the coffee that she had ordered and grimaced. "Filthy drink…" she muttered in annoyance before emptying a portion of her brandy flask's contents into the cup.

"So I am to die and soon," Galahad cackled. His magic was starting to dip again, much to Grindelwald's annoyance. This time he had requested the use of blood magic by Severine Prince to strengthen the necromancer's core. This necessitated Bedivere and Madame Prince to work together. Severine was displeased. Blood magic should not be worked by an expectant wix. Especially if it tended to the darker aspects. Of course, Grindelwald's Greater Good took precedence over the child in her womb.

"You can draw the runes. I will take care of the rest," Bedivere rubbed his face. He was tired. Severine nodded and complied, dipping her fingers into the bowl of fresh blood willingly donated by several acolytes of magical lineage for three generations. She deftly sketched the runes on Galahad's skin before retreating from the cell. The dangerous part of the ritual was to follow.

"Bee, before you start, a gift for you and a curse," Galahad whispered hoarsely.

He felt under his pillow and drew out a tiny object which he dropped into Bedivere's palm.

"Necromancer's bones. May they aid you. Go to La Llorona once you are free of here. Call her back from the in-between with your knowledge and power. This is the geas I place on you, brother."

Bedivere looked down. A shrivelled fingertip. It was then that he saw that Galahad was missing the tip of his left pinkie. He had glamoured his marred hand all this while.

"Another thing…" Galahad picked up the knife from Bedivere's healer's kit, which the healer had left on the cot beside him. He sliced open his palm and allowed the blood to flow over the blade. He angled it over an empty vial to allow the blood to drip down. He waited until it was half-filled before spelling the wound close. He stoppered the vial of blood.

"A little bit of insurance to get you past the wards. You all forget, Grindelwald's my half-brother by blood. If the blood-witch values her daughter, she will aid you. Now, let the healing ritual begin."

With a heavy heart, Bedivere started the chanting and watched the bloody runes glow. He knew this was the last healing ritual he would carry out for Galahad.

Yusuf Kama occluded, but he knew he was no match for a born legilimens. He had felt the pull as his memory was tugged away by the dark wizard and dispersed. All that remained was an emptiness of something that had once been. A shadow of a memory. Of someone loved. His mother? A sister? Maybe the memory would return. For now, he was bereft. He clutched at the locket about his neck the clasp bent shut.

"We have met before, in Paris…" The blond legilimens. She sat down next to him on the settee.

"You have been to New York City. Do you have news of him and my sister?" Queenie ventured warily. Time was running out. She needed to leave for the dinner soon with Vinda and Grindelwald.

"They're well, madame," Yusuf replied. He could not tell her openly. His eyes met hers and he gingerly allowed his shields down. Pushing forward a past memory of meeting Tina in Central Park. The barest glimpse of Jacob on the train to Berlin with a shot of gigglewater in his hand.

"Thank you," she breathed and dabbed away a tear from the corner of her eye. She kissed him on the cheek before leaving. He was thankful he knew nothing more of Dumbledore's plans.

The locket popped open in his palm. An olive-skinned young woman smiled at him. A name. Leta. His sister. Yusuf frowned. Grindelwald had drawn out and dispersed his memories of her earlier. How? Why? He did not quite understand it. Was it the locket? A safeguard against Grindelwald turning him to his cause? Whatever it was, Yusuf Kama was thankful for it. He reverently closed the locket and spelled it shut. He was not going to fall for the dark wizard's pretty lies.

Aurelius was shaken. He had confronted his uncle – his sworn enemy, yet…

"I'm so sorry…" Was that pity in those blue eyes?

He was weak compared to Albus Dumbledore. A rookie mage. Without even him realizing it, he had walked into his opponent's trap. Dumbledore could have left him there in the mirror-world to perish. Lord Grindelwald would have done that. There was no use for mercy in pursuit of the Greater Good.

"Aurelius, will you be joining us?" Queenie's voice called for outside his room.

"S-sorry… N-not feeling well…"

The parasite in him had been gnawing fiercer than ever before since his return from China. Some days he was too weak to even leave his bed. His phoenix had returned and was perched at the foot of his bed - smouldering and singing softly.

"I'll have them send up a tray…" Good, Grindelwald did not require his presence at dinner.

He had spoken through the mirror again with his unseen friend after his return. A confession that left him reeling. A home. A promise. An unseen father. Too many things he wanted to ask but dared not.

He scratched the bird under its chin, watching the ashy smudges come and go on his skin.

The Prince baby was not doing well. Once more they had appealed to Grindelwald to allow them to leave. Only to be ignored. Severine's condition had deteriorated after she was called on to cast the blood runes about the resurrecting pool. Necromancy was a perversion of the natural order of birth and death. The male Princes exchanged looks. They had to leave with or without Grindelwald's permission. There was no better time to act.

"We need a healer, an ally… Bedivere Graves." It was young Louis who broached the topic none dared to broach openly.

"Will he help us?" Benoit asked.

"I will ask him… if need be, an Unbreakable Vow…" Alois murmured as he transformed into his mouse form. All the easier to slip past the guard and steal keys. His nephew scooped him up into his pocket and walked out.

Bedivere waited in his cell. His kit was packed. He was still wandless, but this time he had a goal, a purpose. He chuckled darkly – trust Galahad to use a patient's wellbeing to bully him into action. It smarted knowing he was leaving his brother of heart to certain death. He ran his magic over the wards in the walls, check them again. With the fresh blood Galahad had offered, he had secretly drawn runes over the wards and glamoured them to match the stone. All he needed now was a blood mage, or a wand to activate his counter-wards and allow his escape.

He looked up when the cell door creaked open. Alois Prince. That'd do.

"I do not suppose Madame Severine is with you, Monsieur? If not, your wand s'il vous plait."

Evil deeds… Yusuf Kama had to leave the confines of the castle despite the foul weather outside. He had run into the haunted-eyed Obscurial loitering outside the entrance leading to the dungeons. The atmosphere reminded him too much of his father's eventual madness. The necromancer's hut in the bayou of the deep south. It was suffocating. He spied Queenie twisting her silk handkerchief in her hand and peering out of the parlour windows into the darkness beyond. Other acolytes were gathered in small groups or singly throughout the castle. Only a trusted few would be allowed to witness the dark rite.

A pure beast, a mere infant, was slain. Now Grindelwald would reanimate the corpse, turning it into a zombie for his purposes.

The castle itself seemed to shudder. Was it the magic wrought? He could not be sure.

"I wish you the best, but you'd likely rue this day. Magic will shout your humiliation to the masses. Good luck, brother."

Galahad been defiant to the end. Grindelwald had not expected any less of him. The bones of the dead necromancer and his living apprentice were cast into the pool to be dissolved and activate the runes. Carefully, he took the corpse from Vinda and stepped into the liquid. He breathed a sigh of relief when it did not dissolve him as well. There were too many things that could go wrong.

The corpse was starting to rot now the Stasis Spell was lifted. He stifled his revulsion at the boneless feel of the creature in his hands. He chanted and cast the spell to turn the Qilin into his puppet. The air thickened such that it was almost suffocating. The castle itself shivered as if in horror at blasphemy committed.

"After you, ma'am…" Bedivere nodded as Severine gave him a wan smile. They were exiting the castle via the fireplace in their suite which he and Benoit had overridden the protections around. A truce had been declared. Severine's main concern was her children – the one comatose in New Orleans and the one weakly nestled in her womb. They had only a short time to affect their escape before the castle's wards recovered. Louis and his wife squeezed into the Floo. They only had enough powder for two trips. Bedivere was to follow. The older Prince wizards had decided to remain, knowing full well their lives were forfeit if their part in his escape was discovered.

"Folkestone Manor, Clemenswoth!" Bedivere shut his eyes as the Floo activated. Not a moment too soon. He felt the wards snap back behind him sealing off the castle from the Floo.

The Prince brothers turned to face each other.

"Well, brother, shall we?" Alois asked as he threw open the window. He Summoned two brooms.

"Let us away," Benoit grinned wildly as he straddled one broom. His brother hopped on the other. Together, they plunged into the storm.

Author's Notes:

I hoped I got the sequence right.