Newt and Tina tell Theseus every detail of their adventure, starting from Newt’s arrival in New York and ending with Grindelwald’s capture. The British auror rolls his eyes fondly when he hears how Newt’s niffler escaped, but his jaw tightens angrily when the two recount being taken to the death chamber below MACUSA.
Tina supplements the story by explaining the various interrogations they’ve since put Grindelwald under. The dark wizard has disclosed nothing though, and they’ve not managed to obtain a single lead in the search for Graves.
“Newt, what do you have to work with in your case?” Theseus asks him suddenly and Newt, confused, lists everything he has in his shed down to the last potion ingredient. “Have you got a bowl I could use to scry?”
“To scry?” Newt repeats disbelievingly. His brother had got an O in both OWL and NEWT level Divination but Newt had always privately thought he’d chosen it because it was a soft option to give him a break from all his other more advanced classes.
“Yes,” Theseus nods impatiently. “I remember the spell I had to use for the NEWT exam…if it works, it may just be what we need.”
Bewildered, Newt goes to retrieve the necessary and stands watching curiously as Theseus prepares the spell. The bowl is filled with water and Theseus waits until the last ripple has faded before speaking an unfamiliar incantation – Newt had never elected to take Divination so hasn’t a clue what is going on. He feels his eyes widen when his brother opens his collar and pulls a small silver pendant on a leather string over his head and lets it dip slightly into the water. Newt doesn’t recognise the piece of jewellery, but he notes curiously that the silver pendant is in the shape of a thunderbird.
Tina’s stares at the pendant with the air of someone trying to put two and two together and who keeps getting five. There has to be some significance to the Thunderbird, Newt thinks, but he has no idea what.
Theseus is staring hard into the bowl, barely blinking, every muscle in his body taught with tension. The seconds tick by interminably and then…
“I know where he is!”
“What?” Tina looks like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. She points to the pendant. “How did you…?”
“Details later!” Theseus says impatiently. “He needs help urgently. We need to get to his house. He’s been there all along.”
“Mr Scamander, we searched his house already,” Tina says, crestfallen and sympathetic. “Several times. We found nothing.”
“Please, Miss Goldstein, just trust me!” Theseus pleads urgently, that same difficult-to-categorise tone in his voice once more. There’s something here Newt just isn’t getting, but he’ll do whatever it takes to help his brother. He’s on his feet and ready to go at once, bringing the case with him in case his creatures can help.
“Could you side-along both of us?” he asks Tina, knowing that apparating will get them there so much faster, but someone needs to have the actual destination in mind.
“There’s no need for her to take both of us, I know where he lives,” Theseus says unexpectedly. “Can you take my brother please, Miss Goldstein? The state my head’s in, I might end up splinching him!”
Tina nods briskly and reaches out to grasp Newt’s hand. Newt feels a pleasurable warmth in his chest at the feeling of her hand in his but he sternly tells himself to focus on their current predicament of finding Graves.
He’s definitely going to invite Tina out to dinner as soon as this is all over, though.
They arrive at a smart townhouse in what seems to be a wealthier part of New York. Theseus bounds up the steps the second his feet touch the ground, opening the locks with a flick of his wand. He dashes through the house, seemingly knowing where he is going, and leaves Newt and Tina to follow in his wake.
He leads them to a small library. It’s a handsome room, full of old-leather bound books and Defense Against the Dark Arts paraphernalia. It reminds Newt of Grave’s office.
Theseus doesn’t pause to admire anything – he heads straight for the fireplace, raises his wand and speaks in a clear, firm tone: “Qui non scit quomodo exquirant ianua.”
The fireplace immediately slides back soundlessly, revealing a dark set of stairs.
“He has a shrouding room?” Tina gasps, gobsmacked. “Mercy Lewis, we were in here three times and were walking right past it!”
“A what?” Newt asks, confused.
“After some of the trials and persecution of the last century, a lot of the old wizarding families had these rooms built into their houses,” Tina explains hurriedly. “They provided a hiding place in the event of a raid by No-Majs; it wasn’t always possible to fight back without breaking the Statute of Secrecy. They’re impregnable - you can only find a shrouding room if you’ve been shown its location by the owner of the house. But how…?”
Theseus doesn’t wait around to answer her confused questions, he’s off down the stairs like the hounds of hell itself are at his heels, holding his wand aloft for light.
There’s a dimly lit chamber at the bottom of the stairs and there…Newt’s heart skips a beat…there is the bound, pallid form of Percival Graves. There’s a full beard on his face; three month’s worth of growth and he looks pallid and thin. There’s bruising around his eyes and his head is slumped forward, dejectedly, on his chest.
“Percy?” Theseus’s voice cracks and Newt watches his brother fall to his knees in front of Graves.
The MACUSA director’s head shoots up sharply, his eyes screwing up with pain and fury.
“Not him!” he croaks hoarsely. “Don’t you dare wear his face, you bastard!”
“It’s me, Percy,” Theseus says tearfully, snapping the bonds around Graves's wrists and ankles with a wave of his wand. He reaches out for the American's hands gently but Graves scrambles backwards. “Grindelwald’s been captured. It’s really me.”
“Prove it!” Graves whispers warily, looking as though he almost can’t bear to hope.
Theseus fishes out the Thunderbird pendant again. “You gave me this before I went undercover, remember?” he says tenderly, voice gentle and trembling with emotion. “You said it would keep me safe in Austria. I only just got back, I’d have been here months ago if I’d known!”
Graves’s eyes are filling with tears now and he suddenly reaches out to seize Theseus’s collar. Alarmed, Newt reaches for his wand, but to his surprise Graves pulls Theseus towards him and joins their lips in a bruising kiss. Theseus's hands reach up to cradle his face and he kisses back desperately.
Fill Part 3 - Percival/Theseus
Tina supplements the story by explaining the various interrogations they’ve since put Grindelwald under. The dark wizard has disclosed nothing though, and they’ve not managed to obtain a single lead in the search for Graves.
“Newt, what do you have to work with in your case?” Theseus asks him suddenly and Newt, confused, lists everything he has in his shed down to the last potion ingredient. “Have you got a bowl I could use to scry?”
“To scry?” Newt repeats disbelievingly. His brother had got an O in both OWL and NEWT level Divination but Newt had always privately thought he’d chosen it because it was a soft option to give him a break from all his other more advanced classes.
“Yes,” Theseus nods impatiently. “I remember the spell I had to use for the NEWT exam…if it works, it may just be what we need.”
Bewildered, Newt goes to retrieve the necessary and stands watching curiously as Theseus prepares the spell. The bowl is filled with water and Theseus waits until the last ripple has faded before speaking an unfamiliar incantation – Newt had never elected to take Divination so hasn’t a clue what is going on. He feels his eyes widen when his brother opens his collar and pulls a small silver pendant on a leather string over his head and lets it dip slightly into the water. Newt doesn’t recognise the piece of jewellery, but he notes curiously that the silver pendant is in the shape of a thunderbird.
Tina’s stares at the pendant with the air of someone trying to put two and two together and who keeps getting five. There has to be some significance to the Thunderbird, Newt thinks, but he has no idea what.
Theseus is staring hard into the bowl, barely blinking, every muscle in his body taught with tension. The seconds tick by interminably and then…
“I know where he is!”
“What?” Tina looks like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. She points to the pendant. “How did you…?”
“Details later!” Theseus says impatiently. “He needs help urgently. We need to get to his house. He’s been there all along.”
“Mr Scamander, we searched his house already,” Tina says, crestfallen and sympathetic. “Several times. We found nothing.”
“Please, Miss Goldstein, just trust me!” Theseus pleads urgently, that same difficult-to-categorise tone in his voice once more. There’s something here Newt just isn’t getting, but he’ll do whatever it takes to help his brother. He’s on his feet and ready to go at once, bringing the case with him in case his creatures can help.
“Could you side-along both of us?” he asks Tina, knowing that apparating will get them there so much faster, but someone needs to have the actual destination in mind.
“There’s no need for her to take both of us, I know where he lives,” Theseus says unexpectedly. “Can you take my brother please, Miss Goldstein? The state my head’s in, I might end up splinching him!”
Tina nods briskly and reaches out to grasp Newt’s hand. Newt feels a pleasurable warmth in his chest at the feeling of her hand in his but he sternly tells himself to focus on their current predicament of finding Graves.
He’s definitely going to invite Tina out to dinner as soon as this is all over, though.
They arrive at a smart townhouse in what seems to be a wealthier part of New York. Theseus bounds up the steps the second his feet touch the ground, opening the locks with a flick of his wand. He dashes through the house, seemingly knowing where he is going, and leaves Newt and Tina to follow in his wake.
He leads them to a small library. It’s a handsome room, full of old-leather bound books and Defense Against the Dark Arts paraphernalia. It reminds Newt of Grave’s office.
Theseus doesn’t pause to admire anything – he heads straight for the fireplace, raises his wand and speaks in a clear, firm tone: “Qui non scit quomodo exquirant ianua.”
The fireplace immediately slides back soundlessly, revealing a dark set of stairs.
“He has a shrouding room?” Tina gasps, gobsmacked. “Mercy Lewis, we were in here three times and were walking right past it!”
“A what?” Newt asks, confused.
“After some of the trials and persecution of the last century, a lot of the old wizarding families had these rooms built into their houses,” Tina explains hurriedly. “They provided a hiding place in the event of a raid by No-Majs; it wasn’t always possible to fight back without breaking the Statute of Secrecy. They’re impregnable - you can only find a shrouding room if you’ve been shown its location by the owner of the house. But how…?”
Theseus doesn’t wait around to answer her confused questions, he’s off down the stairs like the hounds of hell itself are at his heels, holding his wand aloft for light.
There’s a dimly lit chamber at the bottom of the stairs and there…Newt’s heart skips a beat…there is the bound, pallid form of Percival Graves.
There’s a full beard on his face; three month’s worth of growth and he looks pallid and thin. There’s bruising around his eyes and his head is slumped forward, dejectedly, on his chest.
“Percy?” Theseus’s voice cracks and Newt watches his brother fall to his knees in front of Graves.
The MACUSA director’s head shoots up sharply, his eyes screwing up with pain and fury.
“Not him!” he croaks hoarsely. “Don’t you dare wear his face, you bastard!”
“It’s me, Percy,” Theseus says tearfully, snapping the bonds around Graves's wrists and ankles with a wave of his wand. He reaches out for the American's hands gently but Graves scrambles backwards. “Grindelwald’s been captured. It’s really me.”
“Prove it!” Graves whispers warily, looking as though he almost can’t bear to hope.
Theseus fishes out the Thunderbird pendant again. “You gave me this before I went undercover, remember?” he says tenderly, voice gentle and trembling with emotion. “You said it would keep me safe in Austria. I only just got back, I’d have been here months ago if I’d known!”
Graves’s eyes are filling with tears now and he suddenly reaches out to seize Theseus’s collar. Alarmed, Newt reaches for his wand, but to his surprise Graves pulls Theseus towards him and joins their lips in a bruising kiss. Theseus's hands reach up to cradle his face and he kisses back desperately.
Oh.