Chapter Text
Newt did the last button on his coat and looked over at Tina, who was finishing putting on her own. He smiled, remembering her striding toward him when they first met, her in that long gray coat, and he in his long blue coat. How fierce she had looked then, in her anger. How completely opposite she looked now.
Tina glanced over at him. "What?" she asked, fixing the collar so it was purposely upturned in that peculiar way.
"Nothing," Newt assured her quickly, opening the door for Tina to step out. He followed behind, locking the door. "Just.. Remembering us wearing these same coats in New York."
"Yeah," Tina agreed, giving him a sideways smile. "Good memories."
"Like storing Pickett in my pocket, getting me out of those chains," he recalled.
Tina stopped and looked at him with a strange smile on her face. "You call that a good memory, us almost about to die?"
Newt shrugged. "Well, we didn't, did we?"
Tina rolled her eyes good-naturedly and bumped him with her shoulder. "You're a curious one, Newt."
They Apparated to the outskirts of London, where the rally was rumored to have been held. Tina looked around the narrow alley they were in in frustration. "How are we supposed to find any clues if we have no idea where the rally was held?"
Newt cleared his throat. Tina cocked her head curiously. "What is it?" she asked.
"Well," he explained, shifting his feet, "I could use a tracking spell to lead us to where the rally was held. I could probably even find one to lead us to Lawrence himself, but that would be quite tricky, since we don't have anything of his to track him with."
Tina stared at him for a moment. Newt shifted again under her scrutiny, wondering exactly what she was thinking, when a grin slowly spread across her face. "Newt, that's genius! How on earth do people in the Ministry not do this all the time? How have I never done this?
Newt shrugged, feeling a grin spread across his face too. "I guess they just don't think about it. I'm used to tracking animals, so I've become comfortable with the spell."
Tina laughed lightly, turning around slowly. "So, are you just going to track the rally?"
Newt nodded, already calculating exactly what he would need to do. He carefully raised his wand, sweeping it in an elaborate arc through the air, whispering, "Semitar!"
A glittering gold substance whistled out of his wand, tracing a path in front of Newt and Tina. It led out of the alley, turning right and leading them, hopefully, to the place the rally had been held. Newt wasn't sure if it would work entirely properly, since he had nothing physical to link to the rally, but magic was about intent as well.
"Mercy Lewis," Tina breathed, watching gold sparks crackle on the trail. "That's incredible, Newt!"
Newt felt a rush of joy at Tina's awe. Her wondrous smile seemed to light up the alley even more than the golden light. "So, are you ready to do some investigating, Tina?"
Tina smirked. "Aren't I always?"
They followed the sparkling trail, both alone in their thoughts for a few moments. Newt remembered what he had been talking about when he and Tina left his house. "So, Tina, about when we were about to be executed…"
Tina turned her head, a thoughtful look on her face. "What about it?"
"Well… I was just thinking about… you know, Credence." Newt watched Tina's face fall. Her eyes drifted to her moving feet and she bit her lip.
"What about Credence?" she asked, a bitter edge creeping into her tone.
"Well, Grindelwald was asking about him," Newt said slowly, trying not to upset Tina even further.
Tina stopped in her tracks, her eyes darkening. "Why on earth would he need to ask about him? He's dead. He died. What else would he need to know, Newt?"
Newt hesitantly placed his hand on Tina's arm in an attempt to try and placate her. "I know, Tina. I just- wanted to let you know what he asked about. He- he also asked a lot about you, though."
Tina, who was staring at Newt's hand on her arm, jerked her head up. "Why would he be asking about me?"
"I don't know," answered Newt quietly, shrugging. "He was asking about how much you had interacted with Credence and how much you knew about him, things like that."
Breathing in deeply, Tina began walking again faster, as if trying to outpace her thoughts. "What would Grindelwald, the most powerful wizard in the world, need with me? I'm just an Auror. And just because I talked to Credence and helped him, doesn't mean I-"
She sighed heavily. She turned to Newt, a despondent look in her dark eyes. "I wish I could've helped him more, Newt," she murmured. "It's half my fault he's dead."
Newt gripped her arms, turning her to face him. Merlin, how had he never noticed what beautiful eyes she had? They reminded him of something, he just wasn't sure. His lips grew dry as he stared at her.
Ducking his head under her alarmed gaze, he said in a low tone, "No, Tina. It's not your fault that he died. Don't say things like that. It was all Grindelwald's and the other Aurors' fault, you were talking to him and trying to help."
Tina blinked multiple times, breathing deeply. "I guess so," she whispered. Smiling sadly, she ducked her head slightly, so as to look him in the eye. "Thanks, Newt."
Both of them stood in the middle of the sidewalk, not saying a word. Newt felt an ache deep in his chest. He longed to wrap Tina in his arms and hug all her troubles away, like a good friend would do. But he just couldn't make himself do it.
Suddenly, Tina jumped, gasping sharply. "Newt, look!" she whispered, pointing.
Newt followed the direction of her finger to a glittering, golden humanoid shape. It was a male, with a fedora and a fancy suit and shoes. He had golden dreadlocks and was striding purposefully in the direction Newt and Tina had been walking in.
"Lawrence," breathed Newt. "The tracking spell found him." His heart clenched. This was the torturer of innocent creatures, the man who had hurt Cal, and in doing so, had hurt Newt too.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tina's hand drift toward his but linger in the air, instead clenching into a fist. She narrowed her eyes. "Let's get him."
Tina followed Newt into a courtyard filled with tall white columns. She bit her lip anxiously, watching the apparition of Lawrence approaching one of the columns. Beside her, Newt watched quietly, his breath coming in measured, deep inhales and exhales. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, wondering how, even though he must be incredibly mad at Lawrence, he maintained such a cool composure. If she was mad, she definitely wouldn't be that calm.
Lawrence casually pulled out his wand and tapped it in an intricate gesture on the column he stood in front of. Golden sparks snapped in the air as the golden apparition-column dissolved. After Lawrence stepped through to the rally, Tina presumed, the column reformed. All the golden sparks disappeared, leaving only Newt and Tina staring at a circle of columns.
Tina broke the silence. "So, I can go try tapping that column now, right? Because I think I remember completely the pattern he tapped."
Newt looked impressed. "You remember that whole thing?"
Tina shrugged bashfully. "Well, yeah. I've had to memorize lots of quick codes and patterns as an Auror. It's a good skill to have."
Newt nodded slowly. "Well, I suppose if you think you remember it correctly, it's worth a shot."
They walked over to the column, their heels' clicks on the ground the only sound in the fading daylight. Tina closed her eyes and raised her wand. She saw, in her mind's eye, Lawrence tapping and waving his wand and did the same thing to the column in front of her. She finished quickly, but was afraid to open her eyes in case she had failed.
Newt inhaled sharply. "Tina. Tina, you did it!"
Tina's eyes flew open. Sure enough, the column was dissolving in front of her. Newt grabbed her hand and a warm chill ran down her spine. "We should go, in case it closes," he explained, pulling her through the column with him.
"Whoa," they breathed in unison, their hands still around each others' as they stared at the rally arena in awe.
It was an open auditorium, with rows of stone seats and hollows in the walls set at intervals around the room. Inside the hollows were statues of wizards, magical creatures, and satirized No-Majs. Tina clenched her jaw at the obvious wizardly planning of this room. How superior did they think they were?
"Merlin," Newt whispered, his fingers tensing in hers.
Acutely aware of the warm feel of his fingers wrapped around hers, Tina exhaled. "Yeah," she whispered. "It's kind of sick."
Newt shook his head and turned to her. "I guess we should investigate this place then, right?"
Tina blinked. "Yeah, we should," she said, nodding as authoritatively as she could.
Newt dropped his hand from hers and started walking around. Tina, after clenching her fist a couple of times absentmindedly, did the same. She started searching in the stone rows to see if she could find anything noteworthy.
As Newt was searching on the other side of the room, Tina was left alone with her thoughts. Merlin, Newt had been holding her hand. She realized it may have just been because he was pulling her through the column before it closed. But her brain kept nagging: What if it wasn't just because of that? What if he really did want to hold my hand?
She remembered the time when she and Newt had been about to be executed. How they had raced through the corridors, hearts pounding with adrenaline, chests heaving with exertion, and hands tingling, warm in each others'. Their hands had fallen away when they approached Queenie and Jacob and, Tina mused, it was proof of how stressful those days had been that Queenie had never mentioned it afterwards.
Too lost in thought to realize it at first, Tina realized she was staring at a piece of paper, torn and faded. It read:
Gellert Grindelwald
Muggles, No-Majs,
They've all had their turn
Help the wizards take our rightful place
You know what to do
"Newt!" Tina called, waving the paper in the air.
Newt turned and cocked his head. "You found something?"
Tina nodded. "I'll show you this at home," she said, shivering slightly. "We should get out of here."