See How It Shines

by strangest_thoughts

Summary:

"The plan was simple: get in, grab Rosier and whatever other followers they could find, and get out. What they hadn’t expected was to discover that their spy had been found out and subsequently had the Imperius Curse placed upon him, leading them right into a trap."

Following the events in Paris, the American and British Auror offices team up to infiltrate Nurmengard castle. However - things are not exactly as they seem. Theseus, Tina, and some other Aurors are captured, and things go very, very wrong. Tina could not have imagined a worse outcome.

Notes:

Heyyy so this is my first time ever writing anything on here, so let me know what you think in the comments! I'll be updating this soon (I hope). Please note - this will not be a happy story. Like, at all. You've been warned :)

Gonna aim for 3 or 4 chapters.

Chapter 1

The mission was ruined. Their attempt at infiltrating Grindelwald’s hideout had failed miserably, Tina thought as she sprinted through the halls of Nurmengard castle, Theseus close behind her.

 

A small team of British and American Aurors had planned to infiltrate the castle quietly, and based on their intel on Grindelwald’s movements and schedules, it should have been fairly easy. The plan was simple: get in, grab Rosier and whatever other followers they could find, and get out. What they hadn’t expected was to discover that their spy had been found out and subsequently had the Imperius Curse placed upon him, leading them right into a trap.

 

Exhaustion and fear were finally catching up to her – two of their fellow Aurors had been killed, and out of the remaining team, only Tina and Theseus seemed to have avoided capture. The few times she had looked back, she’d seen her team slowly disappearing; either stunned or bound lying on the floor.

 

At least she still had Theseus. The head of the Auror office in London was not to be messed with. She’d seen how powerful and smart he was, and despite her initial impression of him, she’d warmed up to him slowly. Theseus was as close to Newt as she could get, considering his travel ban and all.

 

Tina’s footsteps echoed through the hall. But… only hers. Where was Theseus? For now, she had to get out, no matter the cost. They needed backup, as much help as they could get.

 

Right as she faced forwards again, a large wooden door slammed shut. Tina collided with the door. Falling, she turned around, wand at the ready –

 

But no one was there.

 

Tina slowly pushed herself to her feet, looking down the hall she had just come from. She held her breath, listening for anything that could tell her what was going on. And then she heard it – a slow clacking of footsteps, coming around the corner.

 

Her pursuer would be here any second now. Turning towards the door again, she muttered a series of spells in an attempt to unlock the door. It didn’t budge. She’d have to use more force.

 

Tina took a few steps back, preparing herself for the loud blast that would follow. “Bombarda,” she whispered, and as the red curse connected with the door, she braced herself-

 

And nothing happened. The door remained undamaged, unmoving. She let out a grunt of frustration.

 

“Goldstein.”

 

Tina froze as a shiver ran down her spine. The last time she had heard that voice, she’d lost her sister in Paris. Queenie had left with Grindelwald, and losing Queenie had ripped a piece of Tina’s heart out. She missed her sister terribly.

 

“Tina,” the voice called, in a sing-song, playful manner. Such irony, Tina thought.

 

Suddenly, Tina spun around to face Grindelwald, casting a stunning spell at him as she turned.

 

Grindelwald blocked her spell with the flick of his wrist. Tina cursed to herself, then fired several spells at him in quick succession. He, being a more experienced duellist, easily blocked each of her attempts. She paused, and saw as a smile spread across his face. He was enjoying this. All this was just a game to him, she realised. She wasn’t getting out.

 

She looked around, noticing how alone they were. Theseus? Where the hell was Theseus? Tina hoped for the best – the best in this case being Theseus being captured, but alive.

 

She would have to get out of this mess herself. Grindelwald started taking steps towards her, when something occurred to Tina. Perhaps Queenie was in the castle somewhere. Whether she was helping Grindelwald or not, it didn’t matter to her now. Tina shouted in her mind, as loud as she could muster, while her eyes flicked around the ceiling, wondering where Queenie could be.

 

“I’ll bet you’re trying to get through to your sister. Am I right?” Grindelwald asked. He was getting closer.

 

Tina tried to hide that that was exactly what she had been trying to do. She shrugged, attempting to come off as nonchalant and calm, when she in actuality was very, very afraid.

 

“Of course not. I was just looking to see where you could have hidden the other Aurors,” Tina lied. Grindelwald did not look impressed by the weak lie.

 

“Now now, no need to lie to me. I sent Queenie out of the castle. She’s on a little trip with some of my friends,” Grindelwald said as he grinned. Tina took a few stumbling steps back until she reached the closed door that had blocked her one exit.

 

“You’d better not have hurt her, or I swear I will-“

 

“Why would I hurt Queenie? She’s here of her own free will. In fact, she’s out helping convince some very… opposed wizards and witches to join our cause. Of course, I had to send her away on the off chance you showed up. You never know what will sway someone,” Grindelwald continued.

 

So Queenie wasn’t here. Tina considered her options. She could stay here and fight the powerful wizard in front of her, hoping to get to the other prisoners. She could apparate out, get backup, and return well-prepared to get the others out.

 

Tina mentally prepared to apparate. There was little chance of her winning a duel against Grindelwald, so getting backup was the right choice.

 

“Though… all she needed to join me was a bit of convincing about marrying her filthy muggle. Why would she leave now, just for her sister?”

 

The question caught Tina off guard just as she was about to apparate. She paused briefly, taken aback by the doubt she suddenly felt about her sister.

 

That moment was all it took. Tina’s wand was ripped from her grip and flew down the hall, rolling to a stop against a far away wall. She looked down at her empty hand, then back up at Grindelwald who was now one step from her.

 

“Lost something?” Grindelwald asked sarcastically, lifting his wand slowly as he leaned in.

 

Tina knew the terror must be glaringly obvious in her eyes. She tried to squirm away, but Grindelwald roughly shoved his wand into the side of her neck. The threat was clear. Tina let out a soft whimper, and Grindelwald’s smiling eyes shone with malice.

 

“Please let me go,” Tina whispered, trying to pull on her magic to apparate out, but without her wand the task seemed impossible.

 

“Silence!” Grindelwald grunted. “We’re going to visit Mr Scamander in a moment, so if you’ll be so kind as to join me…” he trailed off, turning around and gesturing for Tina to following.

 

Tina stayed put against the door, tears welling in her dark eyes.

 

Grindelwald continued down the hall. He almost seemed glad she wasn’t following him. Wait – that couldn’t be a good sign. Maybe she should just-

 

A strong magical force roughly pulled Tina forward, and she staggered further forward to avoid falling flat on her face. She heard a chuckle from ahead of her.

 

Tina considered the situation. Grindelwald would likely just tug on her again, so she hung her head low as she followed him down the hall. As they turned the corner, she saw something familiar out of the corner of her eye.

 

Her wand! If she could just manage to grab it, she could stun Grindelwald and get the hell out of Nurmengard…

 

She dove down to her right, reaching her arm out as far as she could toward the wand on the floor. Her fingers were almost at the handle when she saw a burst of red light.

 

The pain was excruciating. Every fibre of her being felt like it was burning and screaming, or was it her? Tina was screaming. Her entire body was shaking, her back arching, her vision fading at the edges. She heard echoes down the hall, her own screams taunting her as the sounds returned to her ears. Tina felt her limbs slam into the ground as if trying to get away from the pain she was feeling, but there was no escape. Her body twitched viciously, her head slamming into the floor, and she felt a stream of warm blood run down her temple toward the floor.

 

She heard a loud chorus of laughter as more people entered the hallway. The pain receded suddenly, and Tina could do nothing to control the tears pouring from her eyes, mixing with the blood dripping down the side of her face. She again reached desperately to where her wand was laying, but saw it was now in the hands of a man standing near Grindelwald. She let out a small whimper, having lost any form of defence against the acolytes swarming her. Tina was learning the true meaning of fear as more eyes fell on her.

 

Two men grabbed her by the arms, lifting her and dragging her forward. She shouted for Theseus, for her fellow Aurors, for anyone who would listen. She clawed pitifully at those carrying her, but her arms felt weak.

 

“Grindelwald! Release us!” Tina shouted with all her remaining strength, but knew it would lead to nothing, no help.

 

Surprisingly, he turned back to look at Tina. He rolled his eyes in frustration, and with a brief flick of his wand, another burst of red hit Tina, and her head lolled to the side as she fell straight into unconsciousness.

Chapter 2

Summary:

Theseus wakes up in a great hall, tired and disoriented.

Notes:

That was a fast update. My mind was floating with random ideas. It'll probably be longer than I originally planned as I have many unfortunate events lined up for our dear Tina.
Note: I made up some character names just so I don't have to randomly refer to them by appearance or something.
The chapters might seem long, but I just find that a lot of the fics I've read with similar premises don't go into a lot of detail about the events and characters' thoughts, so I'm sorry if that's not your style. It's a bit of a slow build at times.

Theseus woke up on a floor. As his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, he took in his surroundings – he found himself in a large room, sort of like the Great Hall at Hogwarts, just a bit smaller. And much less cosy.

 

Where was he? Theseus couldn’t quite put his finger on how he’d gotten here, or where ‘here’ even was. Instinctively, he reached for his wand in his jacket pocket, but discovered it was empty.

 

There went that chance of lighting up the room and getting some answers.

 

Theseus pushed himself from the floor into a sitting against the wall beside him, trying not to sway from a sudden hit of dizziness. Memories of the events prior to his unconscious state flooded back.

 

The mission. Nurmengard. The Aurors. The unexpected arrival of Grindelwald. The ambush. The chase. Tina getting away.

 

Tina! She was probably already on her way back to Nurmengard with a full army of Aurors. He could already imagine the stubborn look on her face that would force any doubtful Aurors into submission to join her rescue mission. Theseus chuckled softly at the thought.

 

He had seen her get around the corner of the labyrinth of halls they’d been running through, right as a stunning spell collided with his back. As he’d passed out, he had only heard one pair of footsteps behind him, likely the one who had cast the spell and had brought him to whatever room he was in now.

 

Feeling thankful that they had run out of pursuers by the time he’d gotten hit, Theseus looked around the room, hoping to see some of his colleagues nearby. Of course, not hoping they’d been captured alongside him, but hoping that if they’d been captured too that they’d still be alive.

 

Near him, he saw the shape of two bodies lying on the floor near him. Theseus squinted in the semi-darkness, hoping to see any indication of movement. Sure enough, both of their chests rose ever so slightly. He breathed out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding his breath.

 

His fellow prisoners had short hair and seemed to be men – likely Aurors from MACUSA. In any case, Theseus couldn’t recognise them from afar, especially with little light.

 

“Ah, you’re awake! Which one is it you are?” he heard a voice ask from a far away dark corner of the hall.

 

Theseus had heard the voice before, but his foggy mind couldn’t quite place it.

 

A pair of heels started clacking as the unknown speaker started walking towards him. Heels? Of course. Rosier.

 

Theseus pushed himself from the floor, leaning heavily on the wall to maintain an upright position.

 

“Mr Scamander. Of course. You put up a good fight, gave us a good chase. Alas, here you are,” Rosier said, smirking. “Of course, our great leader was hoping to also get a hold of your little brother. Tell me, why is he not here today?”

 

“Travel ban,” Theseus said plainly. He eyed Rosier, determined that she was close enough now. He lunged forward, hands reaching forward hoping to knock the vile woman over. Right as his fingers grazed her face, a strong force slammed him back against the wall, his arms spread.

 

“Nice try. I appreciate the enthusiasm. That will only make your time here much more fun,” Rosier purred.

 

Theseus tried to wrench himself free from the wall, but the invisible force kept him there, pushing on his arms, his legs, his chest. It was difficult to breathe.

 

“Where are the others?” Theseus managed to ask, gasping for air.

 

“Your little colleagues? The cells. You know, Grindelwald built this as a prison, but I find it to be a castle worthy of a king,” Rosier responded.

 

Theseus let out a weak sigh of relief. At least they hadn’t all been killed.

 

“Ah. Here comes our king,” Rosier said, turning towards the doors.

 

The doors at the end of the great hall opened with a great bang, the doors slamming against the wall. Rosier shifted her attention to the group of people trickling into the room, releasing Theseus from the wall.

 

Sinking down the wall, he drew deep breaths of air, trying to refill his empty lungs. He coughed a couple times, drawing the attention of some of Grindelwald’s followers. It didn’t seem like Grindelwald himself was in the room… yet.

 

“Wake the others. It’s almost time for the fun to begin,” he heard a man command from the small group now getting closer. Theseus started to feel claustrophobic despite the height of the ceiling. The presence of these witches and wizards was unsettling, and his lack of awareness of their intentions scared him.

 

Two bursts of blue light briefly blinded him. He heard grunts from the other two incapacitated Aurors as they regained consciousness, also clearly confused by their current surroundings.

 

“Is Tina here?” the Auror closest to Theseus whispered, clearly nervous about the potential danger Tina also could be in.

 

“I don’t think so. She was running ahead of me, I think she got away,” Theseus whispered. The other Auror nodded subtly, a brief flicker of relief passing his features.

 

The Auror’s eyes wandered to the group of followers standing against the opposite wall. It was dark, and difficult to identify the different people, despite their research on their suspects prior to the failed infiltration.

 

“What are you whispering about?” one of the men asked loudly.

 

“We weren’t whispering. Maybe you need to get your ears checked,” the American Auror quipped, chuckling to himself.

 

A sudden burst of red shot from the direction of the man who had asked the question, and suddenly the Auror next to Theseus fell from his sitting position. Groans and grunts could be heard echoing through the room as the Auror lay on the ground, writhing, and clearly in pain. Likely not the Cruciatus Curse, but some other wretched hex or curse.

 

“Collier. What did I tell you about touching our guests?” a loud voice stated calmly from the wide open doors. It was a rhetorical question, and the Auror fell silent again, looking at Theseus for help.

 

Theseus carefully scooted towards him, trying to avoid making noise, and briefly investigated the man’s body. No visible wounds, so the previous pain was likely not due to an injury. That was a relief.

 

Theseus shifted his attention from the Auror to the door, where the familiar voice had come from. Grindelwald stood in the doorframe.

 

As the man took a step in, the torches in the entire room lit up at once, surprising Theseus. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted.

 

Grindelwald paced from the end of the large hall towards the middle where the group of Aurors sat opposite the group of acolytes on the opposing wall.

 

“Mr Scamander. How nice to see you again. How’s Leta doing? Oh wait…” Grindelwald trailed off, his eyes gleaming maliciously.

 

Theseus sat in shock for a moment, his mind drifting to the last time he had seen Leta as she had sacrificed herself for them all. Sadness overwhelmed him, but he reflexively pushed it away and glared at Grindelwald, refusing to speak or interact with him.

 

“Mr Waylon. It’s been a while. How’s MACUSA been since I left? Did you ever find Mr Graves?” Grindelwald continued, taunting the Auror beside Theseus.

 

Waylon. That was his name! They’d only briefly been introduced but the name was familiar.

 

Waylon remained silent, clearly trying to keep himself composed.

 

“And you over there, you must be new at the office. Let me introduce myself,” Grindelwald said as he walked to the last Auror, bending down to be at eye level. “What’s your name?”

 

The man answered: “Evan Nelson”. Smart, Theseus thought. Might as well give Grindelwald what he wants to avoid any further issues or torture.

 

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Gellert, and I think we are going to have a great time. Tell me, what do you think of Ms Goldstein?” Grindelwald said.

 

“She’s clearly clever. She got away, and you will be in trouble once she’s back,” Nelson responded, trying to sound confident.

 

Careful, Nelson, Theseus thought. Don’t get too close to a taunt.

 

“Indeed. She’s been a thorn in my side since the day I met her in New York. That’ll change soon, though.”

 

Theseus looked between Nelson and Grindelwald questioningly. Grindelwald was smirking, and Nelson looked confused.

 

“But she’s not here. You can’t do anything anymore,” Nelson responded.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

Theseus’ stomach dropped. Tina hadn’t gotten away. She’d just gotten the farthest of them all.

 

Another man that Theseus recognised entered the room. He had been in Paris too – an American man. His wand was pointed behind him, seemingly pulling on something from the hall.

 

“Abernathy. Let’s show these Aurors our biggest guest of honour,” Grindelwald continued.

 

Theseus leaned further in the direction of the door to see what he knew would be coming through the door. Or more accurately, who.

 

An unconscious Tina was being dragged along the ground by an invisible force, her long leather jacket covered in scrapes from the solid rock floor. Theseus could make out some blood on her face.

 

“Oh, Abernathy, don’t treat her that way. She is after all the most special of our new friends,” Grindelwald said, as he pulled out his wand.

 

Tina’s limp body levitated off the ground in the doorway and was lifted to the centre of the room, close to Theseus, but not within reach. Her arms hung limply in the air and her head lolled to the side. Her eyes were closed.

 

Grindelwand carefully lowered his wand, Tina’s body following the path onto the floor.

 

The moment her body made contact with the cold stone, her dark eyes shot open.

 

“Theseus,” she whispered, fear filling her eyes. “Help me.”

Chapter 3

Summary:

Theseus can't help Tina, and can only look on as Grindelwald begins his torment.

Theseus locked eyes with Tina. Dread set in. Theseus had never seen Tina look hopeless, not like this. Something was wrong – she knew something he didn’t.

 

“What did you do to her?” Theseus demanded, shouting at Grindelwald.

 

Grindelwald turned his head towards Theseus. “Ah. Scamander speaks,” he stated plainly.

 

Grindelwald turned back around to his followers, now done performing for the Aurors.

 

“My dearest friends. It seems I have not yet introduced our entertainment today. As you all know, I spent some time within the higher ranks of MACUSA. During my time as the dearly departed Auror Mr Graves, this stupid girl continued to be a nuisance to me,” Grindelwald said, gesturing towards Tina, still laying on her back.

 

At the mention of Mr Graves, Theseus saw Tina’s eyes flicker to Waylon, the subtle interaction between them confirming what the two American Aurors had already known deep down. They were never going to find Graves.

 

“Though, funnily enough, for a moment she did seem to be on our side. The correct side. Her little attack on a muggle had me questioning her loyalties.”

 

There was some muttering in the crowd as they shared their confusion with each other.

 

“Alas, I was wrong. Tina ,” he emphasised her name with disgust, “was just weak. Too emotional. Simply helping who she thought was also a muggle. Of course, he turned out to be so much more than that. Our dear Aurelius.”

 

Theseus looked at Tina questioningly. He hadn’t heard that name before.

 

“Credence,” she said simply, her voice sounding tired.

 

“Quiet!” Grindelwald snapped. Tina’s head turned towards the sound, and Theseus saw Grindelwald raise his wand toward her. “Don’t forget what we discussed earlier, Goldstein.”

 

Tina shuddered. Theseus almost didn’t want to know what that meant. How long had he been unconscious if Tina and Grindelwald had managed to have a whole conversation?

 

“Unfortunately, he too could not be here with us today. Tina at some point seemed to have an odd, special bond with him, but trust me, that has since been broken.”

 

Grindelwald briefly turned to face Tina. “Your sister has confirmed this for me.”

 

Theseus saw Tina swallow, trying to hide her emotions, but her eyes gave her away. Grindelwald chuckled. Theseus knew how much Queenie’s betrayal had hurt Tina. He assumed she had already tried to reach out to her sister through her thoughts, but it must not have worked.

 

“I’ve prepared a little show for you, my dearest friends. Tina here will be… performing … for you today,” Grindelwald continued, pausing for dramatic effect, “She will be getting exactly what she deserves.”

 

A few of Grindelwald’s followers chuckled, others smiled maliciously. Theseus felt afraid. Not so much afraid for his own well-being, but for Tina’s. He was glad it was only him stuck here. He couldn’t bear the thought of Newt having to see this too.

 

Theseus felt he was regaining some energy; the drowsiness was finally starting to wear off. If only he could get his hands on a wand… he knew he couldn’t fight them all, but if he could send a Patronus to the Ministry, or to Dumbledore, maybe they would have a chance. Theseus knew they would die here otherwise.

 

“Vinda. Please move our other guests. They might get in the way,” he heard Grindelwald saying, pulling him out of his thoughts.

 

Theseus felt himself being yanked from the wall he was leaning against and thrown far, all the way to the perpendicular wall. His head slammed into the stone, and disorientation and pain overwhelmed him.

 

Waylon and Nelson got a similar treatment. Waylon managed to avoid hitting the wall with his head, and he scrambled forward, attempting to run towards Tina. Theseus wasn’t quite sure what Waylon was hoping to achieve, especially considering none of them had a wand at their disposal.

 

Tina had managed to push herself up, and she now sat up, looking at her friends with apologetic eyes. Theseus tried to shoot her a comforting look.

 

“Such rude behaviour,” Grindelwald said. He lifted his hand, and Waylon went flying back. His arms were forced behind his back, and he landed on his knees, stuck in place. “Very interesting that you never stood up for Tina when she was demoted. I’m glad you’ve made up.”

 

Waylon glared at Grindelwald, and was about to snap something back at him when Tina shook her head at him. Waylon closed his mouth and looked down at the floor instead.

 

“Alright, Tina. You’re free to talk again, if you wish,” Grindelwald said as he kneeled to be at eye-level with Tina.

 

Tina continued looking in the direction of her friends, trying to ignore Grindelwald.

 

Grindelwald stroked Tina’s face, and Tina froze. He ran his hand through her short hair and fringe softly, and then without warning, grabbed her hair with his fist and forced her face towards him.

 

Still holding Tina’s hair, Grindelwald leaned in and whispered something into her ear. Theseus couldn’t make out what he was saying, but when Grindelwald pulled away from her, she looked up into his eyes. He smirked and stood up again to face Theseus and the other two Aurors.

 

Tina’s head hung low, and she kept her eyes fixed on the floor. Theseus couldn’t quite make out her expression as her hair covered parts of her face, but he detected shame.

 

“I told you to stand up, Tina,” Grindelwald almost purred.

 

Defeated, she pushed herself to her feet on shaking legs, almost losing her balance. After a moment of positioning herself so she wouldn’t lose her balance and tip over, she looked carefully to her side at Grindelwald.

 

“I won’t choose,” Tina said sternly. Theseus thought she seemed more confident than when she was on the floor. Perhaps it was an illusion, perhaps not. She seemed certain in whatever decision she had made.

 

“Tiiiiiina,” Grindelwald said in a sing-song manner, “remember.” She shook her head in response.

 

Grindelwald nodded at Rosier, and she marched up to stand beside Tina, placing one hand on her waist and holding her wand at Tina’s throat with the other. She tried to shift her head away from Rosier’s wand, but the wand was just pushed further into her neck.

 

Tina looked to the ceiling, eyes growing shinier as she started to tear up. She remained quiet.

 

Theseus knew her silent protest would be in vain. Whatever Grindelwald had told her would eventually force her to make her ‘decision’.

 

Rosier whispered words Theseus couldn’t hear, and Tina closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, bracing herself for something.

 

Tina’s entire body began to shake violently. Her head snapped backwards and Theseus could hear what sounded like a soft whine. She was trying to remain quiet.

 

Her silence did not last long as her voice turned into pained sobs. Tina’s legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed, her body still seizing. Her arms lay at her sides, her legs slightly apart. Her jacket was snagged on Rosier’s arm, who quickly brushed the jacket off and took a step back from Tina.

 

Tina’s limbs were thrashing wildly, and her head moved rapidly from side to side. Her messy fringe stuck to her forehead from the mixture of blood and sweat on her face covering her face. Rosier kicked Tina so she instead lay on her side, now facing Theseus. The witch wanted to show him exactly what Tina was feeling, and one side of her mouth curled into a twisted smile. Theseus was afraid of what he’d see if he looked at the other witches and wizards behind her, so he shifted his gaze back to Tina.

 

Theseus couldn’t look into Tina’s eyes - not that he didn’t want to, but he simply couldn’t. Her eyes were flickering all over the place, focussing on nothing, and then shutting as she let out a gut-wrenching scream. It seemed to last forever.

 

That was the last straw for Theseus. He crawled forward quickly, but ran into an invisible wall. He got onto his knees, slamming the barrier with all his strength but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get through. 

 

“Tina!” he yelled, but she didn’t seem to notice him at all. Nelson scrambled forward, but he too collided with the barrier.

 

“Stop this!” Nelson screamed.

 

Tina remained on the floor, twitching viciously. Her eyes had rolled back into her head, and practically only the whites of her eyes were visible as her eyelids flickered. Theseus noticed a small trail of foam falling from her mouth, dripping on the ground in front of her. Another violent twitch flipped her onto her back again, but she stopped moving as Rosier flicked her wand.

 

Grindelwald kneeled down next to Tina. “Well done, Goldstein. Though you still have to choose.”

 

Tina looked so weak. “No,” she said softly but sternly.

 

“Very well. I will help you choose instead. How about Mr Scamander?”

 

Tina lifted her head slightly, looking away from Grindelwald. “Not him,” she said quietly, tears in her eyes.

 

“Perfect. It’ll be one of the other two,” Grindelwald exclaimed. 

 

He lifted Tina to her feet, holding her shoulder with one hand so she wouldn’t topple over again. With his other hand, he gripped Tina’s jaw tightly and twisted her face in the direction of Abernathy, who had now made his way over to the Aurors. He passed through the barrier easily.

 

“Which. One.”

 

Tina closed her eyes, and a tear ran down her cheek. “Waylon,” she whispered softly, almost impossible to hear from afar.

 

Waylon looked from Abernathy to Tina, his expression a combination of confusion and fear. He was released from the spell holding his arms in place, but before he could reach out to stop Abernathy, the wizard standing above him whispered a spell.

 

Waylon fell backwards, as blood started gushing from a deep wound at his throat. He let out a gurgling noise as he collapsed. 

 

Theseus crawled to the bleeding man as fast as he could and quickly placed a hand over the wound. If this didn’t get treated fast, the man would bleed out. 

 

“You told me that you would just hurt him, not kill him! Please,” Tina cried, “please stop this. Please. This isn’t what I meant.” Theseus looked back at Tina and Grindelwald, following her voice. Tina looked like she was trying to pull away from Grindelwald, but he held her firmly in place. He heard Waylon gurgle again, choking on his own blood.

 

“I never specified how badly I’d hurt him, you naive girl. But of course, I am a kind man. I will not let him die,” Grindelwald responded, letting go of Tina’s face. Theseus looked at the pair of them, confused. “Just know that this was your doing.”

 

Tina looked down at the ground, ashamed. Theseus didn’t fully understand what was happening, but he knew that Tina was not at fault. Grindelwald must have threatened her earlier, else she would never hurt anyone. This Theseus knew for a fact.

 

Grindelwald nodded in the direction of Abernathy, who commanded Theseus to move away from Waylon. When he didn’t comply, he was shoved away with magic.

 

Abernathy carefully pointed his wand at Waylon, who had now fallen unconscious, likely from the blood loss and stress of the entire situation. He slowly moved the wand across his throat, and the wound sealed itself. Waylon remained pale, but his breathing sounded better as his airway was cleared of blood.

 

“I’m sorry,” Tina said sadly, not to anyone in particular. “I’m so, so sorry.”

 

“Now, Tina, don’t be sorry. After all, now it’s really your turn. Perhaps if you’d followed my instructions earlier, you could have avoided Vinda’s hex. But there will be no avoiding this,” Grindelwald said. He let go of Tina, who stumbled forward. She ran to Theseus and the others, but was also unable to cross the barrier.

 

Theseus reached towards her, trying to give some comfort. Their hands managed to touch, but neither could move their fingers further through the barrier. Theseus hoped it was enough to help Tina, even the tiniest bit. Up close, she looked unwell - her face was pale and sweaty, and Theseus could see where her tears had run down through the blood on her face. He felt guilty that she was the one going through this. He would take her place if he could, but he also knew that she would never allow it.

 

“You have to help me. Please. I’m scared,” she whispered to Theseus.

 

“What is he planning?” Theseus asked.

 

She closed her eyes and shook her head, avoiding the question. She knew the answer, but didn’t want to share.

 

“What can I do?” he asked.

 

She slowly looked up at him and drew in a shuddering breath. “Nothing,” she said, her voice hollow. Tina looked so tired, and her pleas for help were just an expression of her fear. She knew what was happening, and all she wanted was comfort and safety.

 

Tina looked over her shoulder towards the audience and pulled her hand away from Theseus’.

 

“Now, who wants a go?” Grindelwald asked.

Notes:

I'm so sorry Tina (it's only going to get worse)

Also: the POV's aren't going to be switching back and forth between Tina and Theseus equally per chapter - the next one will also be from Theseus' POV. It just depends on the content of the chapter

Chapter 4

Summary:

The attention turns back to a very afraid Tina.

Notes:

Warning: a lot of blood but no outright gore.

Feel free to let me know in the comments if you’re still enjoying the story :)

Tina didn’t know what to do. She was so, so afraid. She could do nothing but go along with everything at this point because she knew what the consequences would be otherwise. 

 

She broke her eye contact with Theseus and turned back toward her tormentor. Or, as it would likely turn into within the next few minutes, tormentors . 

 

“Now, who wants a go?”

 

Tina told herself that this was necessary, that she knew Grindelwald would follow through with his threat from earlier, however long ago that was. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed since she’d been captured, or since their… conversation.

 

She thought back to it. How she’d woken up in a room, sitting on a chair, and had not even been bound. How she’d sat in the dark for what had felt like hours and how her mind had spiralled. How she’d felt when Grindelwald finally entered the room.

 

“You, Tina, will remain silent while I explain what’s going to happen now. You will remain silent while I explain what the consequences will be if you do not comply. You will do exactly what I say,” Grindelwald said.

 

Grindelwald didn’t explicitly say what he was going to do, but he said enough to make her stomach turn. Tina would be given instructions, and she would have to follow through. If she did not, Grindelwald told her that he would teach her what ‘suffering’ really meant.

 

But the worst threat was what made her promise to do as he said. Grindelwald had purposely sent Queenie on a mission with a follower who knew nothing of their plan. If Tina did not comply, Grindelwald would kill Queenie when she returned - but not before putting her through every bit of torture that Tina would endure. 

 

At first, Tina thought this was an empty threat, as Queenie was a valuable asset to Grindelwald’s army. However, when Grindelwald brought up Newt, she knew that he was serious.

 

At that, she had screamed and shouted at him, having forgotten the command to remain silent. With a flick of his wrist, Grindelwald flung her against the wall and she crashed to the ground. She barely had time to stop her fall with her arms, and she groaned as she felt her body slam onto the cold stone.

 

Tina tried desperately to get up, but Grindelwald was suddenly right beside her and lifted her by the collar of her shirt with both hands and threw her onto the table.

 

Tina scrambled to get down from the table, but before she could get away, Grindelwald leaped onto the table and pinned her down. Her legs were held firmly in place by Grindelwald’s legs, and one of her arms was firmly pushed against the table beside her head. Grindelwald’s other hand was flat on the table, dangerously close to her face.

 

She thrashed desperately, trying to get him off of her, but it was in vain. She clawed at his face with her free hand, but he simply moved his upper body and head away from her.

 

He started to lean in close, and Tina moved her hand to his face, pushing with all her strength to get him away from her. She could feel her blood pounding in her ears.

 

She put up a good fight, but Grindelwald eventually grabbed her wrist with his free hand and slammed it on the table.

 

He leaned in closer, his mouth now at her ear.

 

“By the end of this, you are going to wish you were dead.”

 

Tina momentarily went slack. Whether it was from fear or disbelief, she did not know. She knew she wasn’t ready to die, but she also knew that neither Queenie nor Newt deserved to either.

 

She knew she would do whatever it took to keep them safe.

 

At that brief show of what he thought was weakness, Grindelwald released her arms and quickly pulled his wand from his sleeve.

 

“I trust you understand me now. I will see you soon, dear Tina.” 

 

She let out a light whimper. The last thing she saw before a bright burst of light was Grindelwald above her, smiling maniacally. 

 

Tina shuddered at the memory, but tried to put on a brave face again as she pushed it away. 

 

She heard muttering coming from the group of dark wizards, and she took the opportunity to turn back to Theseus one last time. She hadn’t meant to make him feel guilty for being unable to help her - she’d just had a moment of realisation that things were about to get worse.

 

“Theseus, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-” she said.

 

“Tina, I-” Theseus said at the same time.

 

She giggled lightly. The Scamander brothers were much more similar to each other than they cared to admit.

 

“You don’t have to do what they say, don’t listen to them,” Theseus said quietly.

 

Tina looked at him with sad eyes. “I’m sorry. I do, or they’ll kill us. All of us.”

 

Theseus looked like he understood. He had probably anticipated that such a threat had been made. Tina just didn’t want to bring up the other two that had been a part of it. Oh how she missed Queenie, her dear sister. And Newt…

 

Before she could finish that thought, she was again ripped back towards Grindelwald and the others. Her jacket scraped the floor as she slid on her back like a ragdoll, and she was briefly lifted from the ground so she landed on her knees.

 

The group quickly surrounded her, forming a circle around her. She could barely see Theseus through their line.

 

Tina looked around and saw Abernathy. He sneered at her.

 

“What did I ever do to you, Abernathy?” she asked.

 

“Oh, nothing in particular. You were more of a pest when I was at MACUSA. I wish we would have managed to get you even further down the ranks after your little scandal,” he responded.

 

“Is that really all? You’re here to hurt me and others you used to know because we were, what, annoying? I thought you were better than this, Abernathy,” Tina said.

 

For a moment, what looked like a flicker of doubt passed Abernathy’s face, but it was quickly replaced by anger.

 

“You cannot speak to me this way!” he all but shouted at her, as he drew out his wand. Some of the other wizards nearby looked amused, but Tina couldn’t tell if they were amused by her or by his reaction. Well, at least she was complying with the command of ‘providing entertainment’, as Grindelwald had put it so graciously earlier.

 

“Abernathy. Put away your wand. We didn’t decide on you,” Rosier said from another part of the circle. Tina turned around to face her, confused. Tina had assumed everyone would just start attacking her in some way.

 

Abernathy put away his wand, still furious. He turned to look at a relatively young-looking man instead, as did Rosier.

 

Grindelwald, who had been looking on, amused, stepped forward towards Tina. “Some of the wizards and witches here, this man included, tend to dabble in… experimental magic.” His eyes gleamed at the last part of that sentence.

 

“He will be testing out something new here. You, Tina, will practically be making history!” Grindelwald explained.

 

Tina’s eyes flickered between Grindelwald and the young man, questioningly. Though she assumed it would be quite a nasty spell, perhaps it wouldn’t be awful. After all, if it hadn’t really been tested, maybe it would be relatively alright…

 

“Adrian. Whenever you’re ready,” Grindelwald said dramatically, gesturing at Tina with an outstretched arm.

 

Tina took a deep breath, bracing herself for… what, exactly?

 

She looked at the man, Adrian, she supposed, with eyes full of fear. “Please, you don’t have to do this,” Tina pleaded. God, she could practically still call him a boy, he was so young.

 

Adrian ignored her, and muttered some spell she had never heard before.

 

There was no light, no spark, nothing to indicate a spell had been cast. “Huh,” she said, confused but slightly relieved.

 

Tina looked back to Adrian, who stood quite still, almost in anticipation of something. Then, he looked down at the floor beneath her.

 

Underneath her legs and knees, blood began to spread in a small puddle on the floor. It was odd - Tina felt no wounds on her legs, and running her hands over her body, she was unable to find a possible source. And yet, it was probably coming from her somehow.

 

At first, it almost felt comfortable. Tina became aware of everything in her body and she felt a strange sense of calm. 

 

Without warning, the pain began. It started slowly, and Tina couldn’t place where the pain was originating from. She couldn’t really describe it either - it was somehow everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 

 

Tina felt something warm and wet touch her hands that were resting on the floor. She lifted them up to look at her palms, and they were dripping red. She looked down and saw that the puddle of blood had spread further, much further. Some of it was already close to touching someone’s foot. 

 

Inspecting her clothes, Tina saw that splotches of red had started to blossom all over her body. It felt warm and wet, and very odd.

 

Suddenly, everything inside her twisted. A sense of hollowness overwhelmed her, and every part of her body felt like it was being ripped apart.

 

Tina lost almost all awareness of her surroundings - all she felt was pain, and a roaring emptiness. She had somehow ended up on the floor, and she felt herself coughing, but knew that she wasn’t getting out whatever it was her body was trying to expel. 

 

There was some kind of noise, a loud voice… it sounded so familiar. But Tina couldn’t place it. Tina could barely think. Her mind was racing, grasping at fleeting thoughts while something was wrong with her body. Something was wrong with her blood. And something was very wrong with her.

—

Theseus couldn’t really see what was going on in the middle of the great hall. Grindelwald and his followers had surrounded Tina, and Theseus could hear small parts of their conversation. He could make out the words ‘experimental magic’, which sent a chill down his spine.

 

That never tended to end well.

 

From what he could make out, Tina seemed alright for now. Her back was to him, but she seemed uninjured.

 

That was, until she collapsed - her back arched and she fell to the floor with a heavy thud. A coughing fit overtook her, and as she lay on her back, Theseus could see what looked like droplets of red flying from her mouth with each cough.

 

There was blood on the floor. Not the blood that she had coughed up, but a much larger pool. As Tina began to writhe in pain, her arms flailing, she started to leave prints of blood on the ground that had still been untouched by the pool of blood.

 

Her body twisted and turned, and as she rolled onto her side, back once again to Theseus, Tina curled in on herself.

 

Briefly, the spasms stopped and her body seemed to relax, but the short moment of calm was violently interrupted by a blood-curdling scream.

 

The sound was loud and piercing, almost animalistic in its raw desperation. It seemed to last forever, but as it faded out, it was replaced by another cough. The cough sounded wet, likely still from Tina’s body trying to get rid of the blood that must be filling her lungs.

 

Another scream. Another pause. Another vicious spasm as her whole body shook. Another scream. Theseus felt so ill.

 

The cycle continued, and at some point, the man who had cursed her lifted Tina’s body off the ground. As she levitated, blood dripped from her in a disturbing rhythm.

 

The man walked up to her, circling her as if to inspect his work. He didn’t seem to care about avoiding the blood spreading on the floor, and his boots left dark footsteps on the stone floor as he continued to walk.

 

At this point, Tina could barely scream. Instead, Theseus heard quiet sobs and whimpers every once in a while. 

 

Theseus looked to Grindelwald. He looked like he was impressed by what was happening to Tina. He looked at the man standing in the blood and said “well done, Adrian.”

 

“Do you think we should show our friends over there?” Grindelwald continued.

 

The small audience laughed as they nodded. Grindelwald lowered Tina to the ground again, and slid rapidly across the floor toward Theseus, leaving a dark trail of red in her path.

 

Tina’s body collided with the barrier, stopping her movement abruptly so she ended up on her side.

 

Theseus and Nelson scrambled to get to her, but were again stopped by the barrier. Theseus looked down and saw that Tina’s blood was spreading onto their side of the invisible wall, taunting them as they could do nothing to help.

 

Tina’s breathing was hitched and shallow, and sounded wet from blood still coating her throat. A small trail of blood still ran from her mouth, and Theseus could see two dried streams of blood that had run down her face from her nose.

 

“End the spell! Let us help her! Please!” Nelson screamed.

 

“Very well. You asked nicely. Finite ,” Grindelwald said, and the barrier suddenly fell. Tina’s breathing calmed, and her body stopped jerking around.

 

The two Aurors quickly crawled to her. It was an awful sight. From afar, Theseus had been able to trick himself into believing she was somewhat alright. Up close, her body told a different story.

 

Theseus couldn’t remember exactly what clothes she had worn when they left for her mission, but he knew she had a white blouse on. It was no longer white - it was a deep dark red, and as he touched her shoulders to move her to assess for wounds, his hands came back wet and sticky. She was fully soaked in her own blood. Her hair was messy from having thrashed around so much on the flood, and it hung in lumps held together by what was likely her blood.

 

“Nelson, get her jacket off!” Theseus instructed, as he lifted Tina to make it easier to remove the scraped jacket that was coated in blood on the inside.

 

So the blood was somehow coming from her. Despite wanting to respect her decency, he needed to find the wound that was causing all this. He carefully unbuttoned her blouse, but as he turned her around, there were no wounds anywhere. He used his sleeve to wipe some blood off her torso and back, but her skin was unharmed.

 

He’d never seen magic such as this. It was cruel, it was dangerous, and Theseus wanted to scream in anger.

 

Theseus lay her down again, and was about to shake her shoulders to wake her when he saw that she was already looking at him. He had desperately hoped that she had been unconscious, at least to some extent through all of this, but she seemed fully aware of her surroundings now. He lifted her head into his lap so she wouldn’t have to continue laying on the cold stone floor.

 

Tina’s mouth moved soundlessly, as if she was trying to speak. She looked so weak, and Theseus now more than ever wished he had his wand so he could try anything at all to help her. He had never felt this useless before.

 

“I’m so sorry, Tina,” Theseus whispered.

 

Tina blinked hard, acknowledging his apology. Theseus didn’t know how she could ever forgive him, but she had. 

 

She shivered. Theseus hadn’t thought of how cold she must be, and he carefully removed his jacket and wrapped her in it. He was amazed that she was still conscious with the immense amount of blood loss, but Theseus suspected that it had somehow been woven into Adrian’s cruel spell.

 

Tina tried to speak again, this time achieving a mumble, but it was unintelligible. Theseus was almost thankful he couldn’t understand her. He looked down at Tina apologetically, and he could see that she knew that he didn’t understand her. She sighed sadly and turned her head to the side.

 

“The show is over for today, dear friends.”

 

Theseus looked back at Grindelwald and saw that some of the wizards were approaching the Aurors. They pulled Tina away from him, and he was grabbed firmly by two men. He fought to get out of their grip, but eventually gave in as the four of them were dragged out of the room and into another long, winding hallway.

Notes:

Ok, we ended up with 2 POVs and a much longer chapter than originally planned. Oh well

Also I made up a spell bc I’m an awful person

Chapter 5

Summary:

The Aurors get a bit of rest and Tina starts to feel a bit better.

Notes:

A little bit of calm before some more storm. Let me know what you think!

Theseus was rather surprised when they reached their destination. He had expected an empty, cold cell, but was instead thrown into a small room with a bed, table, and chair. There was even a small window bringing in some fresh air. He wondered if this was because they didn’t have cells, or if they somehow were getting special treatment. None of the other Aurors were here, in any case.

 

Theseus looked around at the others who had been dropped on the floor with him. Waylon was still unconscious, and Nelson already seemed to be checking on him. That left Tina to Theseus.

 

He crawled over to her. On the trip to the room, their captors must have gotten rid of the coat that he had wrapped her in earlier. Inspecting her, he found that her skin was showing again, and she looked terribly cold. Out of shame, he avoided looking at her face - he selfishly didn’t want to see her sad eyes.

 

She needed to be cleaned up somehow; the blood and grime covering her wouldn’t do her any good.

 

Theseus heard a creak from the door, and a washcloth and basin were carefully pushed through a hatch in the door. Apparently Grindelwald had the same idea as him.

 

Theseus dropped the cloth in the basin, and carefully removed Tina’s already unbuttoned blouse. As he lifted her upper body up, her head lolled backwards and she didn’t seem to be able to force herself to lift her head normally. 

 

He still avoided eye contact, now slightly more out of awkwardness than shame. Theseus set about cleaning her torso as fast as possible so he could cover her as quickly as possible to make her comfortable again.

 

When she was somewhat cleaned up, he looked at the drenched blouse and briefly considered what to do now. Tina couldn’t exactly wear the shirt again, she’d just get too cold again. He looked to where Nelson was checking Waylon’s pulse and inspecting the nicely healed wound.

 

“Nelson. I need your coat,” Theseus said.

 

“Why?” Nelson asked, turning around. His eyes flickered briefly to Tina. “Oh.”

 

He removed his coat and threw it to Theseus, careful to avoid it touching any blood on the floor. He now sat in a dress shirt and waistcoat, so he wouldn’t really be needing it. Nelson looked at the washbasin expectantly, and Theseus pushed it over to Nelson, who promptly started cleaning Waylon, who was significantly less dirty than Tina.

 

Theseus wrapped Tina in the coat, and now finally looked at her face. He hadn’t thought to clean her face - his focus had been to get her warm again. Now that he thought of it, he hadn’t taken her drenched trousers into consideration. That would have to wait for now. They could always wrap her in the blanket from the bed.

 

She was already watching him with her dark eyes, and looked incredibly tired. It was a miracle she was still awake.

 

Tina had been crying, but seemed to have stopped now. Perhaps out of exhaustion, perhaps because she had run out of tears. Streaks from tears running from her eyes to her hairline had cleared a small amount of blood from her temples.

 

“Theseus.” Her eyelids fluttered briefly as she used all her remaining energy to utter his name. It was almost so quiet he could have mistaken it for a gush of wind, had it not been for her mouth moving ever so slightly.

 

“Tina,” Theseus responded. He now felt tears rushing to his eyes too - he had somehow suppressed them earlier because of the pure adrenaline from the entire situation.

 

“I’m so sorry Tina. I should have intervened, I should have talked to them, I should have done… well, anything.”

 

Tina shook her head, her eyes welling with tears again. “It’s okay,” she mouthed, no sound coming from her this time.

 

“How? How is this alright? They tortured you, brutally- your blood is everywhere. I don’t know what curse that man placed on you, but once I get my hands on him…” he trailed off. “I couldn’t do anything.”

 

Tina’s mouth moved again. Unable to hear her, he moved his ear closer to the ground.

 

“You’re helping now,” she repeated softly.

 

“Barely. Oh, yes, and I’m sorry about this,” Theseus said, as he gestured towards the coat she was now wearing. “And your trousers… well, I didn’t want to make you more uncomfortable.”

 

The corner of Tina’s mouth twitched slightly into a small, grateful smile. Her eyes moved to the bed beside her.

 

Oh, of course, Theseus thought. The bed. How had he forgotten about the fact that they’d been given that small luxury?

 

“Nelson. I’m going to lay Tina on the bed. I’ll hand you the extra blanket here in a moment, then you can try to make Waylon comfortable over there,” Theseus said. Nelson nodded.

 

Theseus carefully placed his arms under Tina’s torso and knees and lifted her. She felt so light - of course, she was already thin naturally, but her weight now seemed unusually low. He couldn’t quite tell how much blood she had lost from how far away he had been sitting, but it had clearly been a lot. Thankfully, it hadn’t been enough to kill her. Theseus didn’t think her body could have handled much more of the curse.

 

When he laid Tina on the bed, a sense of calm seemed to pass over her. The softness of the mattress and pillow must have given her a sense of safety. She moved her head to the other side, and he saw that her hair left a trail of red on the white pillow beneath her. Another pang of guilt ran through Theseus.

 

Tina closed her eyes, and it seemed like she fell asleep quickly. In any case, her breathing had slowed and she looked peaceful. 

 

Theseus covered her with the thicker blanket on the bed, wrapping her tight so she would remain as warm as possible. He grabbed the other blanket and walked over to Nelson.

 

“Here you go.” Theseus handed him the folded up blanket, which Nelson placed under Waylon’s head carefully. 

 

“Thank you,” Nelson said.

 

“How is he?”

 

“He’s alright, I think. His pulse seems strong, but he will probably remain unconscious for a while. That’s probably better, anyways,” Nelson responded.

 

“Yeah,” Theseus said, nodding as he sat down against the wall near Nelson.

 

“Do you think we’ll get out of here?” Nelson asked. The Auror was still young, but he seemed to see the reality of the situation and did not sound hopeful as he asked the question.

 

“If we can get our hands on a wand, we can send a Patronus back to the Ministry of Magic. They’re the closest, so they will probably be able to get here fastest,” Theseus explained, trying to give Nelson some hope. “We can’t fight our way out of here with just a wand, so we have to play it smart.”

 

Nelson nodded as he finished up cleaning Waylon’s chest with the washcloth. The water in the basin was now fully red.

 

Theseus noticed how thirsty he was at this point. Unfortunately, the water was undrinkable, so they would just have to hope that they would be brought food and water at some point.

 

Theseus leaned his head back against the wall, exhaustion finally overtaking him. 

 

“Nelson. I’m going to get some sleep. Wake me when you can’t stay awake any longer, and I’ll take watch.”

 

Theseus closed his eyes, and within moments he fell asleep.

 

—

 

A couple of hours had passed by the time Nelson woke him up. Feeling slightly rejuvenated, he told Nelson to get some sleep too. Nelson got up to sit on the chair, crossed his arms on the table, and rested his head on his hands.

 

Theseus got up and noticed a slight cramp in his neck. Sitting against the wall turned out not to be an ideal sleeping position.

 

He got up and walked over to Tina. Some colour had returned to her lips and cheeks, and as she was lying in the same position as before, he assumed she had remained asleep. Thankfully, he thought. 

 

There was not much Theseus could do now. The half baked plan would be difficult to carry out, and where would he get a wand? He would practically have to physically fight to wrestle a wand from someone. He wondered where his own was. 

 

He paced back and forth in the small room. It almost seemed peaceful as everyone breathed calmly. Waylon stirred slightly in his sleep, which was a good sign - it indicated he was still reachable. Hopefully he would regain consciousness soon. 

 

After a while, he heard footsteps in the hallway coming towards their room. The door opened slowly, but before Theseus could make a move towards it to attempt escape, a force threw him against the wall, holding him there.

 

A woman he had not seen previously came in with a tray of warm soup of some sort, bread, and water. A surprisingly hearty meal, with enough for all four of them. She placed it on the table near Nelson’s head, but he seemed to be in deep slumber and did not react. 

 

Theseus looked at her, trying to convey a thankful expression, but she scowled at him and left immediately. The moment the door shut and the lock turned, the spell holding him in place was lifted and he fell to the floor. 

 

The loud thud of his fall was apparently enough to wake Nelson, or perhaps it was the refreshing smell of food. Theseus felt his stomach growl - the stress he had been feeling had suppressed his hunger. 

 

Nelson moved to take his portion and started wolfing down the bread, dipping it in the soup and avoiding spilling any of it. 

 

Theseus walked over to Waylon. He crouched down and shook Waylon’s shoulders, who groggily opened his eyes. 

 

“Waylon! You’re awake!” Nelson exclaimed happily from his seat at the table. 

 

Waylon groaned in response. Theseus lifted him into a sitting position. 

 

“We got some food. I’ll bring you some, stay here,” Theseus commanded as he went to pick up a bowl and some bread. He placed it beside Waylon, careful not to spill anything. 

 

After Waylon began to eat, Theseus paused to consider what to do with Tina. She seemed so peaceful in her sleep… perhaps he should let her rest. 

 

But no. She was cold and unwell, and a warm meal would do her some good. He walked over to stand beside the bed, about to rouse her when Waylon interrupted. 

 

“What happened to her?”

 

Theseus and Nelson exchanged glances, wondering whether they should answer him now or wait until later. Perhaps they should mention it now, just so Tina wouldn’t have to think about it again. 

 

Before Theseus could answer, Nelson responded. 

 

“Some form of experimental magic. We don’t know what it was but… she was in so much pain. And she lost a lot of blood. More than you, probably,” Nelson explained. Neither Theseus nor Nelson wanted to go into more detail. 

 

“I’m going to wake her up,” Theseus informed the others. 

 

He took a deep breath and carefully shook Tina by the shoulder. When she did not react, he grabbed both shoulders and shook her a bit harder. 

 

She began to stir and blinked a couple times. Then, Tina screamed and sat up, scrambling across the bed to get away from Theseus. It didn’t seem like she recognised him or had fully seen him as her eyes flickered all over the room, checking for danger. 

 

Tina crawled back too far and fell off the other side of the bed, where she curled up against the wall, sitting with her knees to her chest as she looked around again with fearful eyes. 

 

Theseus walked over to her carefully and sat down in front of her slowly, trying not to make any sudden moves. 

 

Eventually Tina properly perceived Theseus and she seemed to calm a bit. She was pale again, but that was likely from the shock. 

 

“Tina, it’s alright. It’s just us. Look - Theseus, Nelson and Waylon. We’re safe in here,” Theseus informed her. 

 

“We have some food. You need to eat. Hold on, let me get it,” Theseus said, getting up and heading to the table. 

 

Tina nodded and answered Theseus. “Alright.”

 

Before he had fully stood up, Tina groaned as if in pain, and her head suddenly snapped back, her eyes wide. She let go of her knees and she slammed her palms onto the wall behind her as if she were trying to stop falling. 

 

It was in vain - Tina fell sideways and her back arched and twisted. She bared her teeth, trying to silence herself, but a combination of groans and whimpers escaped her mouth. 

 

Tina’s arms started thrashing around and her legs kicked. Her arms were hitting the ground hard, and Theseus gestured to Nelson.

 

“Nelson! Get over here! Hold her legs!”

 

Nelson scurried over, grabbing Tina’s ankles and doing his best to hold them in place while Theseus did the same to Tina’s wrists. 

 

“The curse must have after-effects. I haven’t seen this kind of thing before,” Theseus said to Nelson and Waylon, who was sitting across the room looking on in horror. 

 

“I’m going to kill that man when I get my hands on him,” Waylon muttered quietly. 

 

After a minute or two, Tina’s body relaxed again. Theseus let go of her wrists and went to sit beside her head. He lightly stroked her cheek, trying to provide a small sense of comfort. 

 

Tina’s eyes moved normally again, and as she looked at Theseus, her eyes lit up with the smallest smile on her lips. 

 

“I’m sorry. Yes, I’ll have some food,” Tina said, trying to get up. Surprisingly, she managed to get on both her feet and walked over to the table.

 

“Why on earth would you apologise, Tina? This isn’t your fault. It’s not your fault the curse is still affecting you,” Nelson said, frustrated.

 

Tina shrugged as she sat down in the chair and reached for a bowl. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to make things worse for you all than it already is.”

 

“Worse for us? We’re barely hurt!” Nelson exclaimed.

 

Tina raised an eyebrow, looking in Waylon’s direction.

 

“Okay, well, almost all of us then,” Nelson admitted.

 

Tina turned back to the food on the table and brought a big spoonful to her lips. “Mmmm,” she said in delight as she sipped the soup.

 

Theseus looked at her, pleased that she seemed to be alright again. He guessed the curse just flared up instead, and didn’t have long-lasting effects after a fit.

 

“Tina, how are you feeling?” Theseus asked.

 

“Never better,” she said with a chuckle, and continued to sip her soup.

 

Theseus glared at her.

 

“Sorry. I’m alright now, I’m feeling much better than when we were…” she trailed off, and looked down. “I feel less weak than earlier.” She inspected her trousers, noticing the unusual dry texture of the blood-darkened material. 

 

Tina’s eyes trailed to the corner where Theseus had thrown her blouse earlier. She saw the stained red shirt and her eye twitched ever so slightly. Theseus saw her move her hand towards her hair absentmindedly to tuck it behind her ear, and he felt a pang of guilt again as she discovered how knotted and dirty her hair was.

 

Tina put her hand down again quickly and tried to play it off as if she hadn’t noticed anything different about her hair.

 

“It seemed like you lost a lot of blood. What did he do to you, the man who cast his spell?” Theseus asked.

 

Tina shrugged. “All I know is that his name was Adrian. They sort of… elected him. I couldn’t get away.”

 

“It looked brutal, Tina,” Nelson said, his voice sad. “I thought you were going to die.”

 

“Well, I still might,” she said. “I can’t avoid what’s coming.”

 

“What’s coming?” Theseus chimed in.

 

She froze, realising she had said more than she had intended. “I can’t… you don’t- I’ll tell you what to do before they come back.”

 

“Let me take your place, at least. Please, I need to be able to help,” Nelson said.

 

“No,” Tina said, turning away from them. “They’ll kill Queenie and N-” she stopped herself.

 

Theseus knew what she meant. Grindelwald would take away the two people she cared most for in the world. Theseus admired her - she was brave for being willing to go through so much for other people. He just desperately hoped that Grindelwald wouldn’t manage to break her.

 

“It’s alright. Eat your soup, Tina,” Theseus said as he grabbed his own bowl.

 

–

 

After the food had been eaten, Tina went back to sleep. The three men decided to take turns taking watch, with Waylon taking the first shift.

 

Hours passed without incidence. At some point, everyone was awake again, seemingly having gotten enough rest. 

 

They sat in silence at first, but conversations broke out every once in a while. Even laughter could be heard at times.

 

Theseus, sitting nearest the door, suddenly signalled to the group. He heard footsteps coming down the hall, and he still hadn’t gotten an answer from Tina about what was going to happen. He hurried over to the side of the bed.

 

“Tina. Tell me what is going to happen,” he said quietly.

 

“Just… do what they say. They might give you a wand. If they do, I’ll cause a distraction and you can send a Patronus,” she whispered back.

 

“What do you mean, they might give me a wand?”

 

“Promise me you’ll do what they say. You know they’ll kill Queenie and Newt. And the rest of our team, for that matter.”

 

“What are they going to do?”

 

“Do what they say, no matter what,” Tina said finally with tears in her eyes, right as the door slammed open and Rosier marched in.

Chapter 6

Summary:

Tina, Theseus, and the Aurors are brought back to the Great Hall and meet Grindelwald again.

Notes:

Took a bit longer than expected - life got very busy for a moment. Hope you enjoy (it's rough out here for our girl Tina)

The four Aurors stood up at the sound of the door opening. Nelson and Waylon stood near the wall, and Theseus and Tina stood next to each other beside the bed, unintentionally a united front. Rosier entered the room gracefully, and Theseus got a look at a couple other people standing outside the door. 

 

“This won’t do,” Rosier said as soon as she saw Tina, still half covered in her own blood. With a flick of her wand, Tina’s clothes and hair were cleaned up, the blood stains seemingly just evaporating.  

 

She looked perfectly put together again, any signs of her previous torment gone. Well, almost gone, Theseus thought, as he noted the terrified expression on her face.

 

Rosier looked at Tina expectantly. “Are you not grateful, Goldstein?”

 

Tina looked down, averting Rosier’s gaze. Receiving no response from Tina, she held her arm out and pointed her wand directly at Nelson. Theseus saw Tina’s eyes flicker up briefly as she too picked up on the threat. 

 

“Thank you,” Tina whispered, looking down at the floor again. 

 

“You’re very welcome,” Rosier said, as she waved her wand past the other three in the room. 

 

Theseus and the others visibly flinched, expecting pain, or at least discomfort, but instead they found that their clothes, too, had been cleaned. 

 

Theseus looked at Tina’s blouse laying in the corner. It had also been cleaned of any blood stains. He reached out to grab it but was met with Rosier’s wand close to his face. 

 

Rosier tutted at him. “Not so fast, Scamander,” she said with a smirk. 

 

“I just wanted to give Tina her shirt back. You know, for some decency,” Theseus explained. 

 

“Hm. Very well,” Rosier said as she removed her wand. Theseus bent down and snatched the shirt quickly, bringing it back to Tina warily. 

 

Tina shot him a tiny grateful smile as she turned around to face the wall. She removed the jacket and carefully put her white blouse on again. When she turned back to face the door, she was blushing, clearly embarrassed. 

 

Theseus went to hand the jacket back to Nelson, but he shook his head and Theseus instead draped the jacket over Tina’s slightly shaking shoulders. Whether she was shaking from the cold or in fear, Theseus did not know. 

 

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned onto his shoulder ever so slightly. Theseus looked at Rosier and saw her grinning at the two of them, a malicious glint in her eyes. He wondered what that meant.

 

Rosier glanced around the room, checking whether everyone was in a good state. Waylon looked quite well again, and since Nelson was uninjured, he was physically fine, but was scared.

 

“Time to go, Aurors,” Rosier said, as she walked out the room. The four of them complied, exited the room and were immediately surrounded by a group of wizards ready to escort them. 

 

Theseus scanned the faces of the men. Tina did the same, and then suddenly recoiled, trying to get away from Theseus who still had his arm around her. She scrambled to try to get back into the room, but he figured that action would have consequences so he instead held on to her firmly. Tina whimpered quietly as she tried to push herself towards the wall and away from one of Grindelwald’s followers, who she had kept her eyes on throughout.

 

Theseus followed her gaze and realised she was looking at a young man. It suddenly hit him - this must be Adrian. Nelson must have gotten the same idea, as he lunged towards the man and managed to punch him in the jaw.

 

Two men grabbed Nelson and forced his arms behind his back before he could land another blow on Adrian. That’s a shame, Theseus thought. The man deserved so much worse.

 

“Stop resisting, you idiot,” one of the men gripping Nelson’s arms said as he pushed him forwards.

 

Tina, still firmly under Theseus’ arm, was shaking and breathing quickly. Her eyes remained locked on Adrian’s face, who tilted his head curiously, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Adrian took a step toward Tina, but Theseus reached out his arm to stop the man getting any closer.

 

The moment Adrian took his step, Tina flinched and shrieked shortly. She pressed herself against the wall even further, turning her head away and shutting her eyes tightly. Theseus felt her shoulders shake slightly as she started to cry silently.

 

Adrian raised a hand, and another man ripped Theseus away from Tina. His curse on Tina must have given him some authority over the other followers.

 

Theseus could do nothing as Adrian stepped closer to Tina. He gripped her face with one hand, tilting her head back and forth, as if inspecting her. Tina remained still, petrified, her eyes still closed.

 

“Did the curse continue after we ended it?” Adrian asked her. 

 

“Goldstein. Open your eyes,” he commanded when she did not respond.

 

Tina carefully opened her eyes to look at Adrian, and a tear ran down her cheek. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out. Her lower lip quivered, and she looked up at the ceiling. 

 

“Answer me,” Adrian said.

 

She remained silent, too scared to speak.

 

Adrian drew his wand and drove it into her stomach. “Answer me,” he repeated.

 

Tina shivered, but nodded and looked back down at him angrily.

 

Adrian paused and looked like he was thinking about her answer. He smiled at Tina and nodded as if to say ‘thank you’ and he turned away from her. He glanced at Rosier who had watched the entire interaction with intrigue.

 

Theseus twisted furiously to get away from the man holding him, and he was surprisingly let go. He hurried over to Tina, again placing an arm around her shoulders protectively. Up close, now saw what Adrian had been checking for - the tiniest trickly of blood had started to run from her nose again. Theseus used his sleeve to quickly wipe it away.

 

“You monster!” Nelson shouted from ahead of them as they started walking down the hallway again. 

 

Rosier just laughed as she turned back to walk forwards.

 

Someone shoved Theseus in Rosier’s direction, so he and Tina started to move as well.

 

Theseus knew it would not be helpful to ask Tina how she was doing. They both already knew the answer and remained silent instead. He rubbed her arm comfortingly, but Tina didn’t seem to notice. She was looking ahead, but her eyes seemed unfocused.

 

Nelson continued to shout angrily at the wizards around him, but everyone else walked in silence and he was ignored. Eventually he gave up, but continued to struggle against the ones escorting him down the hall.

 

Theseus had realised throughout their stay in Nurmengard that Nelson was so protective of Tina not because he thought she needed protecting, but because he looked up to her. She was a skilled and intelligent witch, with a kind and just heart, and Nelson seemed to be learning those qualities himself.

 

After a bit of a walk they eventually reached the great hall again, but this time there was a table in the room as well. It seemed like Grindelwald and his followers had had their evening meal there, and the table just hadn’t been cleared away. Some goblets were still scattered around the table, some still half full of wine.

 

The Aurors were shoved to the ground again, and this time their hands were bound behind their back, held together by magic. Theseus looked around their end of the hall and spotted a couple of other Aurors, some from the Ministry and some from MACUSA. Thankfully, they looked relatively uninjured. 

 

One of his British colleagues looked at him questioningly, trying to find out more information about their current predicament. Theseus was about to respond but found that no sound came from his mouth. It must have been a silencing charm - Grindelwald either wanted quiet or he didn’t want an exchange of information between the group.

 

Theseus sighed and looked toward the table where Grindelwald was sitting. He glared at him, but Grindelwald ignored him and focused on Tina instead.

 

When Theseus turned his head, he saw that Tina still was in a daze - she seemed unfocused, though she would sometimes briefly glance in Adrian’s direction.

 

Since she wasn’t that far away from him, Theseus scooted over to her on his knees, careful not to tip over with his hands behind his back. He nudged her gently with his shoulder, and she surprisingly turned to face him.

 

Tina’s nose had continued to bleed quite heavily, as two streams of blood ran from her nose past her mouth and dripped onto the ground. Theseus drew in a sharp breath; he hadn’t noticed that she had continued to bleed from her nose since her interaction with Adrian in the hallway.

 

She looked so sad. Her eyes were shining, and the tears building up were reflecting the lights around the room. 

 

Grindelwald clapped twice, and anyone who had been having quiet discussions turned their attention to him, as did Tina. 

 

“Friends,” he began, speaking to his followers, some of whom were sitting at the table, while others stood around the room. “Welcome back. Today our entertainment will continue. Let’s give a round of applause to our guest of honour, Tina Goldstein!”

 

Their ‘audience’ clapped. Theseus felt absolutely disgusted. 

 

Grindelwald now turned to the group of Aurors. “As you can see, all your colleagues have been brought here as well for this demonstration. I hope you’re happy to see each other.” 

 

Nelson stared at Grindelwald in anger. 

 

“Ah, of course. You can’t speak. My sincerest apologies. Finite Incantatem ,” he said. 

 

Nelson again started shouting insults at Grindelwald as loudly as he could. Theseus thought he was going to get himself killed if he continued like this. 

 

“My my, you’re certainly a spirited one,” Grindelwald said and flicked his wand. Nelson was silenced again. 

 

Theseus whispered quietly to test whether he could still speak, and he indeed could. He figured that only Nelson had been silenced. 

 

“What’s going on?” one of the American Aurors asked. 

 

“Well, Tina proved herself to be a great source of entertainment yesterday, so we have decided that she will continue today,” Grindelwald answered. 

 

The Auror looked at Tina and noticed the blood on her face, and seemed to draw a conclusion about the events of the previous day. As he was the one closest to Tina, he was the only one who could properly see her face, and he passed the message on to the other Aurors beside him quietly. 

 

Their reactions were a combination of rage, concern, and confusion. Some of them struggled in their invisible binds, others looked towards Tina to try to give her some comfort.

 

Tina didn’t notice the Aurors - her eyes were locked on Grindelwald, watching his every move.

 

Grindelwald raised his hand, and Theseus felt himself slide across the floor towards the table. He looked around in confusion, expecting the other Aurors to have been brought as well, but he was alone now. Theseus was released from the magical bind and he stood up.

 

“Scamander. I trust your brother is doing well. It’s a shame he couldn’t be here, that would have made this much more interesting. I suppose you will have to do. In the end, it’ll be the same,” Grindelwald said.

 

Theseus was confused. He remembered Tina had said to just do what Grindelwald said, but he hadn’t exactly received instructions as of yet.

 

“She didn’t tell you. Interesting,” Grindelwald continued. “Interesting indeed. I wonder if it was to spare your feelings, or if she still believes it won’t happen.”

 

Theseus could imagine he looked even more confused at this point. He looked back at Tina, who was now watching them both. She looked almost apologetic.

 

He turned back to face Grindelwald, who was reaching a hand out to one of his followers. A man walked up to him and placed a wand in Grindelwald’s hand.

 

Theseus looked at him in shock. The wand was then placed in front of him on the table, and he finally recognised it - it was his own.

 

“Take it. And don’t even try to do anything, it’s been enchanted to not hurt any of us,” Grindelwald sneered.

 

Theseus turned back to look at Tina - he wanted to inform her that he had indeed been given a wand, and that their plan, which had seemed outrageous and impossible, had suddenly become a possibility.

 

Rosier was lifting Tina to her feet, and she placed a wand in Tina’s hand.

 

Theseus grabbed his wand. Well, he thought, I guess we are doing this, as he saw Tina give him the slightest nod.

 

The moment Rosier let go of the wand, Tina cast spell after spell, trying to disarm, stun, or injure Rosier or any other nearby followers. It was in vain - each time she aimed at anyone, the spell would fizzle out.

 

Laughter erupted from the group at her hopeless attempts at escape, and all the focus was on Tina. This was the chance she had given him, and he turned away from Grindelwald, muttered a brief message and carefully sent his Patronus to both Newt and the Ministry, hoping either of them would receive it. Since Tina’s offensive spells didn’t seem to work, he could only pray that the Patronus Charm would work.

 

After some more attempts to ensure that Theseus had had enough time, she finally lowered her wand. They exchanged glances, confirming that Theseus had succeeded.

 

Grindelwald started applauding slowly. “I somehow expected more from you, Tina. I would have expected you to know that it wouldn’t be that easy,” he said.

 

“I was just making sure. You never know if one of your foolish loyalists forgot to enchant my wand,” she answered him. Bold move, Theseus thought.

 

He tutted. “I don’t appreciate your attitude, Goldstein. Perhaps we can fix that. Come over here to us, next to Theseus.”

 

Tina crossed her arms and walked towards the table slowly. Rosier followed close behind her, wand in hand and pointed in Tina’s direction.

 

“Tina. Goldstein. Which do you actually prefer?” Grindelwald asked.

 

“Neither when it’s from your mouth,” Tina responded.

 

Theseus couldn’t help but smile a little. He was still proud of her small rebellion.

 

“Tina it is. That is on a bit more of a personal level, I would say. We are getting to know each other quite well after all,” Grindelwald said.

 

Grindelwald turned his attention back to Theseus.

 

“I will now tell you what is going to happen. Previously, it has been one of us responsible for hurting Tina and some of the others present. This will now change.”

 

Theseus looked in Tina’s direction questioningly, but she avoided his gaze.

 

“You have been given your wand. You may have guessed by now what you must do,” Grindelwald continued, and Theseus looked back at him.

 

No no no, this couldn’t be happening, Theseus thought. He knew what Grindelwald wanted him to do, but he couldn’t hurt Tina. Tina seemed to have slightly come to terms with it, but Newt would never forgive him. Perhaps the American Aurors wouldn’t either.

 

Theseus now understood why Tina had not told him earlier what would happen the next time they would be brought back to Grindelwald. He was now very, very grateful for her decision.

 

“Tina. You too have your wand. You may defend yourself however you wish. Consider this a duel, the two of you,” Grindelwald said.

 

Theseus shook his head. Absolutely not. He would take whatever consequences for himself, however much torture it would be.

 

“Walk. Take your positions, duellists.”

 

Theseus again looked at Tina, but she still refused to make eye contact as she turned around defeatedly and started to walk to one side of the designated area.

 

Grindelwald looked directly at Theseus. “Walk,” he commanded again.

 

Theseus held his ground and continued to stare Grindelwald down.

 

Grindelwald sighed, and at the flick of his wrist Theseus was flung across the room to opposite Tina. He stood up and saw that Tina finally looked at him again. She used her sleeve to wipe away the blood around her nose, and her white blouse now again was stained red in places. Theseus shuddered at the memory of the previous day.

 

“Bow. You will be duelling, well, sort of, so I expect some manners from the two of you.”

 

Tina complied, as if just trying to get everything out of the way so the day could be over. Theseus did not want it to start, so he refused.

 

Tina rose again from her bow, and simply shook her head at him. “Bow,” she said quietly.

 

Rosier, who was still standing near Tina, grinned maliciously at Tina’s hopelessness. Theseus waited a few moments longer, but decided to listen to her and lowered his chest and head in a formal bow.

 

Theseus looked toward the Aurors looking at him from the wall beside him, all of them with a concerned expression covering their face. They could do nothing to help, and they knew that.

 

Tina and Theseus looked at each other in anticipation. Neither of them made any moves to attack, and Grindelwald grew impatient.

 

“Adrian, let’s give them some motivation,” Grindelwald said. Adrian walked toward one of the Aurors and held out his wand. 

 

Nelson, who had seen everything that had happened the previous day, tried to shout at Grindelwald, but being silenced only managed to shuffle around on the ground angrily.

 

Tina gave in. “Fine, fine! Don’t hurt him, please, Adrian,” she pleaded.

 

“Scamander, please begin,” Grindelwald said in a charming tone.

 

Theseus looked between from the Auror, to Grindelwald, and finally to Tina. She gave him the slightest nod. Her wand was lowered, and her eyes looked so tired.

 

Theseus was conflicted. Tina wanted him to do this in order to protect a colleague.

 

He slowly lifted his wand. He could see Tina swallow, and already felt the guilt growing in his stomach.

 

In short succession he cast a pain diminishing spell followed by a hex known to cause extreme cold for the target, but would leave a target undamaged. Theseus thought perhaps something along these lines would suffice, and that perhaps the protective spell would go unnoticed.

 

The invisible hex hit Tina, and she fell to her knees, her arms wrapped tightly around her as she shivered, but she didn’t not seem to be in pain. Her skin grew more pale than before, and her lips started to lose colour.

 

Theseus looked around at Grindelwald and his followers. None of them looked impressed, and Grindelwald was shaking his head.

 

“You and I both know that won’t do, Scamander,” Grindelwald said in an amused tone. “Cold is not the same as pain.”

 

A chill ran down Theseus’ spine. He didn’t know what to do. Well, in all honesty he did, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t use the Cruciatus Curse.

 

Through his work as an Auror, he’d come across a variety of dark spells and knew of some of their effects. Some caused mild pain, others were a bit more severe. Theseus decided to use a slightly more severe spell, since he knew Grindelwald would be expecting something along that line. Plus, he had already cast a spell to decrease any pain Tina would feel.

 

Theseus pointed his wand at Tina again, who had regained some colour and was no longer shivering. She made no effort to get up, and did not raise her wand in defense.

 

Why was she making this so easy for him? It felt awful to attack a friend this way, especially when he knew she was practically sacrificing herself to keep the others unhurt.

 

Theseus pressed his lips together tightly and looked away from Tina as he flicked his wand. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see what he had done to her.

 

He could hear Tina breathing heavily as she tried to hide the pain from the others around her. He heard the sound of a wand hitting the floor. She kept panting, and when Theseus heard a loud sob, he turned back to look at her.

 

She had lifted one of her sleeves, and he could see white scarring spreading across her forearm. It didn’t look like a burn mark - more like the spread of tree branches continuing to grow, now reaching where her sleeve had been pulled up. Each time the scar expanded a little more, Theseus could hear a muffled sob.

 

Tina’s arm was shaking, and the other hand held her scarred wrist tightly. Her wand had rolled a small distance away from her when she must have dropped it. She tried to keep her mouth closed, but it built up inside of her and she eventually let out a small cry.

 

“Finite,” Theseus whispered, and Tina let out a deep breath of relief. He couldn’t stand it anymore.

 

He heard a slow clap coming from the audience. “Bravo,” Grindelwald said. “That’s more like it.”

 

Grindelwald stood up and walked toward Tina, who was scrambling to stand up and get away from him. Before she was able to get away, he grabbed the scarred wrist and inspected it, turning her arm around. He ran his fingers along her forearm and Tina shivered.

 

“Interesting choice. Though, this should have had her screaming on the ground,” Grindelwald concluded. Tina looked at him, concerned, but she pieced it together and her look changed to gratitude.

 

Damn it, Theseus thought. He knew the hex. Theseus had hoped he could get away with it, but Grindelwald had figured him out.

 

“Good try with the protective charm. However, that will not be happening again,” Grindelwald said as he used his wand to lift the charm from Tina.

 

Grindelwald backed away from Tina again, and this time leaned against the table. He was closer to them now, but both Theseus and Tina moved a step away from him. 

 

“Scamander. Think. You know what I’m expecting,” Grindelwald said impatiently.

 

Tina and Theseus exchanged glances. Theseus could feel tears coming to his eyes - they both knew what had to be done, but were both too afraid.

 

It seemed they had hesitated a moment too long when Grindelwald shouted “Adrian. Kill the man.”

 

Before Adrian could move to act on the command, Tina shouted. “No! Theseus will do it. He’ll do it.”

 

Adrian backed away, and Theseus looked at Tina, practically pleading - he couldn’t do it.

 

As if she could read his mind, she responded. “Yes, you can. Do it,” she said loudly so all the Aurors could hear, but her voice was shaky. Tina wanted them to know that this was not Theseus’ fault. He was amazed at how much she continued to emphasise that point. The guilt grew even more.

 

Theseus lifted his wand as he looked at Tina. He blinked a few times, and the tears that had been building up finally ran from his eyes. 

 

Tina’s lower lip quivered as she braced herself. She looked up to the ceiling before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

 

“Crucio,” Theseus whispered.

 

A bolt of red shot towards Tina, and time seemed to slow as he waited to hear her scream.

 

But nothing happened.

 

Grindelwald laughed loudly. “It seems you did not pay attention in class, Scamander. A curse requires intention, and the want to hurt someone. You’re weak. Now try again,” he all but shouted.

 

“Crucio,” Theseus repeated.

 

Tina gasped in pain as her body briefly shook from the impact, but nothing else happened.

 

“You’re not taking this seriously. Adrian, go,” Grindelwald said.

 

Before either Theseus or Tina could interject, the room lit up with a flash of green light and one of the imprisoned Aurors collapsed.

 

“Matthews! Matthews! Wake up!” one of the British Aurors shouted.

 

“No!” Theseus exclaimed, as he ran towards the body on the ground. Being the only one able to move, he pressed his fingers to Matthews’ neck, but could not find a heartbeat.

 

“You killed him! You monster!” the same British Auror shouted.

 

“Lack of action has consequences,” Grindelwald said and shrugged.

 

Theseus stood up and ran towards Grindelwald, willing to physically fight him since he wasn’t able to through magic.

 

Grindelwald just chuckled and pushed him aside with an invisible force. Theseus found himself back in his ‘duelling’ position.

 

“Now you know what will happen. I will not hesitate again,” Grindelwald stated plainly.

 

Theseus looked back at Tina. She stood unarmed, her wand still on the ground, and as her eyes welled up with tears, she slowly nodded. Theseus looked at her apologetically, and she closed her eyes again.

 

Theseus, too, closed his eyes and focused. He had to want to hurt Tina, but he truly didn’t. He instead channelled all his thoughts into the thought of pain, ignoring any thoughts about Tina.

 

He raised his wand, opened his eyes, and before he let himself process who he was looking at, he simply said “Crucio.”

 

A bright burst of red erupted from his wand and a crackle of the curse travelling through the air echoed through the quiet hall. Theseus saw the spell collide with his friend.

 

Almost directly on impact, Tina screamed, and Theseus felt his heart sink. The curse had been successful - perhaps too successful.

 

Tina managed to stay upright for a few moments before another scream tore from her throat and she fell backwards. She made no attempt to catch herself to dampen the fall, and her head crashed into the hard floor. 

 

Rosier practically cackled from behind Tina. Theseus felt a wave of disgust at the notion that anyone could find suffering like this entertaining. Others joined in laughing, but even the choir of laughter couldn’t cover the sounds coming from Tina.

 

Theseus could hear the fabric of Nelson’s jacket that she was wearing scratch along the ground as her arms slid across the ground. He saw scratches appear on her leather shoes as her feet kicked in response to the pain that seemed to be everywhere. He himself had never experienced the Cruciatus Curse, so he couldn’t even imagine what Tina was feeling now.

 

The skin on Tina’s hands was growing red from the friction between the skin and the ground, and small specks of blood appeared in places along her palms. The sleeve of her shirt was also rising again, and he saw the scars he had left there with the previous hex. He wanted to vomit.

 

Theseus realised that he was only looking at little details. He didn’t want to see the bigger picture of what he had done to her. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to look at her properly and started to walk slowly towards her.

 

Tina was writhing on the floor, her head bent backwards as she screamed. Her upper body flinched from side to side, flinging her arms around with it. In the moments where she lay on her back, her hands would slam into the ground, as if begging the ground to end the torment.

 

She managed to curl in on herself as she lay on her side, and for a brief moment of peace, she was quiet. He could hear her taking a deep breath, and the audience around her stood silently in anticipation. The calm was abruptly interrupted by a heart-wrenching wail filled with pain and despair, and she violently rolled onto her back again. Her legs kicked and kicked, and eventually Tina had twisted herself around so her head was now closest to Theseus.

 

Theseus wished she had remained facing away from him. He felt ashamed of the thought, but he was disgusted by himself and did not want to see what he had done. But now, as Tina’s head arched back in his direction, he could see her face move as she screamed. He could see the tears running from her eyes and the faint smear of blood on the ground from where she had hit her head when she collapsed.

 

Sounds grew fuzzy for Theseus, and the sounds of screams and laughter grew muffled in his ears. An overwhelming wave of shame overtook him, and the edges of his vision blurred as rage built in his core. He knew he would kill Grindelwald the moment he had the chance, damn their mission’s orders.

 

He turned to face Grindelwald, who was watching Tina delightedly. He took a step towards Grindelwald when he suddenly turned to face Theseus questioningly.

 

Theseus noticed a change in the muffled noises he heard - the sounds had generally faded. He looked towards Tina and saw that her eyes were locked on him and her mouth was moving, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying.

 

He pushed down the shame and the rage, and his mind cleared again. Before he could ask her to repeat herself, a mixture of a sob and a scream echoed through the room as Tina’s eyes briefly shut tightly. Upon opening them again, her lips started to quiver and she shakily spoke.

 

“Theseus. Please. No more. Plea-” Tina begged, but was cut off by another scream and her head slammed to the side. She tried to lift a hand to her head, but her muscles spasmed and her arm remained raised, frozen in place as her body continued to writhe on the floor.

 

Theseus didn’t know what to do. He could end the curse, though he hadn’t received permission to do so, or he could let it continue until Grindelwald was satisfied.

 

He looked at Grindelwald, who answered his unspoken question.

 

“Don’t stop.”

 

Don’t stop . The words echoed in Theseus’ head. If he stopped, he risked the murder of another colleague. If he didn’t, he risked never being forgiven by Tina (and likely Newt as well).

 

Tina’s scream faded out and she looked at him again as she managed to lower her arm.

 

“Please stop. I beg you. Or kill me. I can’t do this… I can’t-”

 

Her pleading was cut off by a gurgling sound in her throat, and she rolled onto her back again. Tina’s entire body started to shake as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

 

Theseus rushed towards her and got down onto his knees. His wand landed on the floor as he dropped it, not focused on anything but Tina at that moment.

 

“Tina, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I can’t. He’ll kill more of us - he’ll kill you!” Theseus shouted, but she didn’t seem to be able to hear him. In any case, she didn’t respond.

 

Tina had finally stopped screaming, but she continued to shake. Theseus saw her mouth moving, perhaps as if to speak, but when her lips parted, foam started to run out of the corner of her mouth and down the side of her face. Up close, he also now saw wounds from each time her head had hit the floor, and bruises were starting to form around her temple.

 

All of a sudden, Tina convulsed viciously, and foam splattered from her mouth. At this point Theseus knew - he had to end this. Tina wouldn’t survive at this rate. 

 

Theseus got to his feet and grabbed his wand. He looked at the Aurors, then at Grindelwald, and finally aimed the wand at Tina as he whispered “Finite.”

 

Tina’s body went limp for a moment, before she turned to her side to cough, clearing her airway and mouth. She slowly pushed herself to an upright position, avoiding looking anyone in the eye. She almost looked embarrassed as she wiped away spit and foam around her mouth.

 

Grindelwald walked to Tina. “You shouldn’t have done that. I’m impressed, you’ve managed to make it worse for yourself just now,” he said menacingly.

 

Theseus looked confused, and for once, so did Tina. This probably had not been explained by Grindelwald earlier, and a chill ran down his spine. How it could possibly get worse, Theseus did not quite know.

 

“You should have listened to me, Scamander,” Grindelwald said. He turned his attention back to Tina. “Now, he won’t be able to listen to you anymore, Tina. But don’t worry, he won’t kill you, you will just wish he would,” he said as he kicked Tina in the stomach.

 

She coughed as she fell down, but her arms caught her and she pushed herself up, trying to get to Theseus as Grindelwald started walking towards him. 

 

Tina managed to stand up fully by the time Grindelwald had gotten to him, and Theseus looked at her in fear. Despite all he had just put her through, she gave him a small smile for comfort, neither of them knowing what Theseus was preparing for.

 

Theseus saw Grindelwald raise his wand at him out of the corner of his eyes, but he kept his eyes locked on Tina. 

 

“Imperio.”

Notes:

This ended up longer than expected! I had to split it into two parts (I haven't started writing the next part yet but oh well). Let me know what you think :)

Chapter 7

Summary:

Theseus is under the Imperius Curse, and Tina has to fight to remain safe.

Notes:

New chapter alert, let me know what you think! I did not really read through all of it so my bad if there’s mistakes

“Imperio.”

 

The moment Tina heard Grindelwald utter the spell, her heart sank. He was right - she had unknowingly made everything worse for herself. She should have kept her mouth shut. She felt like she somehow should have known.

 

Theseus’ face went from confused to worried to scared, but as the spell hit him, his face turned expressionless. He looked like a puppet - Grindelwald’s puppet. Tina looked at Grindelwald in defeat, and he grinned. 

 

“Scamander. You want to hurt Tina. You will not kill her, even if she begs. You will not stop until I say you may,” Grindelwald said to Theseus.

 

Tina looked on in horror as Theseus drew his wand.

 

“Theseus, stop, don’t listen to him,” Tina said in vain.

 

Her eyes flickered between Theseus’ face and his wand, which he was slowly lifting pointed directly at her.

 

“Theseus! Please don’t do this,” she stuttered, taking a careful step back.

 

From the wall beside her, she heard other Aurors shouting for mercy. Mercy for Tina. They all knew what the Imperius Curse could do to a person, and what that person could do to others.

 

Realisation finally hit Tina. Now the proper duel would begin. Before this, she had just taken what was coming, but now Theseus could no longer be convinced to stop, and eventually she might need to defend herself.

 

She needed her wand. Tina quickly glanced to the ground where her wand was and was about to make a dive for it when Grindelwald gave his order.

 

“Begin.”

 

“Run!” one of the British Aurors shouted from behind her. Angela Weathers, that was her name. A kind woman. And a clever one.

 

Tina followed her advice. She ran as fast as she could toward the crowd of Grindelwald’s followers, using them as a human shield. Any offensive spells would not work on them, so as long as she managed to hide, she would be safe.

 

Near the front stood Abernathy, who she without thinking flung to the ground to get into the group. She moved between them, bending down each time Theseus tried to attack.

 

From behind her, she heard Rosier scoff, almost sounding impressed at Tina’s plan. An ironic small victory.

 

It was working. She heard Theseus cast spell after spell, but none hit her as they fizzled out the moment they got near any of the others that surrounded her. They turned to her in amusement, looking down at her as she crouched by their feet.

 

Unfortunately, the strategy was not effective for very long. The group eventually spread out, leaving a clear path between Theseus and Tina again.

 

Tina looked at Theseus, trying to communicate with him soundlessly, but his eyes were empty as he looked into hers. This was hopeless, she thought.

 

Theseus’ mouth moved as he cast another spell, but Tina quickly ducked and rolled under the large table. She glanced at her wand laying on the floor, now too far away to reach. Damn it.

 

Tina knew she would not be able to get to it without getting attacked by Theseus first. She needed to get someone else’s.

 

She looked around under the table - she couldn’t spot Grindelwald’s boots, so he must still be standing. No chance she could get ahold of his wand then.

 

Tina heard commotion from Grindelwald’s followers behind her, and she crawled further under the table to get out of their reach.

 

It was unsuccessful. She felt two hands grab her ankle and she was yanked out from under the table. Tina kicked to get away so she could get up and run, but she was quickly flipped onto her back. Abernathy grabbed her coat collar with both hands and angrily lifted her until she was standing too. He turned her around, one hand gripping her hair, the other holding her arm so she was now fully facing Theseus again. 

 

That was Abernathy’s mistake - she carefully slipped her hand into his pocket, snatched his wand and slid it into her sleeve. 

 

Despite now having a weapon, Tina was very vulnerable. She didn’t want to give herself away. Plus, she probably could use this wand against Grindelwald, assuming it wasn’t also enchanted. Tina didn’t see why it would be.

 

Abernathy pushed Tina forward as Theseus cast another spell at her. It hit her square in the chest and a strong jolt of electricity ran through her entire body. She could feel all her muscles clench - her hands closed into fists, her face twitched, and her upper body curled in on itself.

 

Every part of her body hurt. Her skin stung, her brain felt like it was on fire, her heart was pounding… and yet it still wasn’t as bad as earlier. She could get through this.

 

As the effect wore off ever so slightly, Tina twisted her head to look at Theseus only to see him lift his arm above his head and bring it down fast, sending another jolt of electricity through her body. 

 

This time, she couldn’t force herself to remain upright. Her legs gave out and her knees slammed into the floor painfully. Tina grimaced as she brought her hands to her head. Every cell in her brain felt like it was on fire, and her vision started turning black when she was hit with another bolt from Theseus. She could hear that she wasn’t screaming - perhaps her muscles wouldn’t allow it. She did hear pained groans though, in harmony with a chorus of chatter and chuckles amongst Grindelwald’s followers.

 

Tina couldn’t keep her balance any longer, and she tipped over onto her side, curled into a small ball. At times, she felt her body spasm, but she would quickly bring her legs to her chest again, either in search or comfort or as a result of the spell. She wasn’t fully sure herself. 

 

After another vicious bolt coursed through her body, she could hear sounds of disgust coming from the wizards and witches surrounding her. She wondered what had happened, but at the same time, she did not care anymore. Her mind was on fire, and that was the only thing consuming her thoughts at this point.

 

Tina desperately wanted it to be over. And suddenly it was. Her muscles finally loosened, and she rolled onto her back involuntarily when she couldn’t manage to keep herself in her curled up position.

 

She noticed a strange taste in her mouth. It was acidic, and her throat stung. On her cheek, she felt something wet, and upon turning her head to the side where she had previously been facing, she saw vomit.

 

Apparently her throwing up had been enough to disgust her audience. The overwhelming pain and her screams was entertaining to them, but they couldn’t handle a bit of bile? Ironic, she thought.

 

Tina wiped her cheek with her sleeve. The white blouse was now stained with blood and bile, leaving a disgusting pattern around the cuffs of the shirt. Her other sleeve was still carefully hiding the wand that she had somehow managed to keep safe.

 

If she could get outside the castle, she could apparate out of there - she assumed that all apparition had been blocked within the castle to avoid escape attempts such as this one. She glanced at the other end of the hall where two doors were wide open. If she could get to the doors, she could hide; a disillusionment charm could go a long way when used properly.

 

Tina got onto all fours, breathing heavily as her head was still pounding, though she noticed that the pain was finally fading. 

 

She turned her head to Grindelwald who was standing right behind Theseus, who was still staring blankly ahead. Grindelwald looked proud of him.

 

This seemed to be a pause in the attack. She carefully slid the wand out of her sleeve, still out of sight, and pushed herself to her feet.

 

Tina went into a full sprint, or, what would be considered a sprint for the state her body was in now. She ran towards the door, but looked over her shoulder to ensure she wouldn’t be ambushed on her way. To her surprise, everyone remained standing and did not move to stop her, but she did see Theseus cast a spell.

 

Lifting the concealed wand, she produced a shield behind her, successfully blocking whatever spell had been thrown at her. 

 

At that, people did look around in shock and confusion. Some looked at the ground to where Tina’s own wand was lying, and Abernathy was desperately patting himself down looking for his wand. He looked at her furiously when the realisation hit him. Tina heard him swear and break into a run behind her, and she turned and shouted “Stupefy!” It hit him, and he fell to the ground unconscious. She smiled to herself as she turned her head to focus on her goal again.

 

Tina reached the open door and entered a long corridor. She continued in a sprint, hoping there would be a turn where she would be able to take a break to cast a disillusionment charm. No luck.

 

She would have to take the risk of doing it in the middle of the hallway. If someone were to enter through the door to the great hall, any movement by her while under the charm would be noticeable. And without a place to hide, it was risky.

 

Tina had no choice. As she ran, she cast the charm and hoped that anyone following her would be too focused on running to notice her.

 

Strangely, she heard no quick footsteps of potential pursuers behind her. Only her own boots were clacking against the stone softly. 

 

Exhaustion finally caught up to her. Sprinting had cost her almost all her energy, and her weakened body needed a break. Tina also had no idea where in the castle she was, and thus did not know how much energy she would need for the rest of the search for the exit. 

 

She paused and leaned against the wall. Though her breathing was fast, she tried to be as quiet as possible, listening for anyone following her.

 

Focusing on the sounds around her, she heard faint, slow steps coming down the corridor. A shiver ran down her spine at the deja vu - Tina recognised the footsteps.

 

She pushed herself against the wall and held her breath. She vowed not to breathe again until Grindelwald was gone, no matter how long it would take.

 

Tina silently lifted the wand to point it down the hall where Grindelwald was coming from. At any sign that he saw her, she’d do what had to be done for the survival of all the Aurors. And her own survival, of course.

 

In the torchlight, she finally saw Grindelwald approaching slowly. He seemed focused on the end of the corridor. Thank God, Tina thought. He hadn’t seen her.

 

Grindelwald was only a few steps away now. He would pass her at any moment, and once his back was to her, she would have the element of surprise. All she had to do was knock him unconscious, and she could make a run for it again. As long as she didn’t alarm any of his followers, she could get out unnoticed.

 

He was right in front of Tina. She could feel she was running out of air. She would not be able to remain silent until he was gone - she would have to go for the attack soon.

 

Her eyes were fixed on Grindelwald. Abruptly, he halted. 

 

Tina knew at that moment that she had messed up. Of course she should have attacked earlier, she thought. She had one chance, and she had lost it. Her stomach sank as Grindelwald turned to face her.

 

She acted quickly, lifting her wand to stun him, but he shielded himself using his wand. With his other hand, he ripped Abernathy’s wand from her grasp before she could attack again. At the loss of the wand, the disillusionment charm fully fell and Grindelwald could now see her easily. In particular, her terrified expression.

 

Grindelwald threw the wand down the hall, and it rolled out of sight in the dim light. Tina looked at it hopelessly and drew in a shuddering breath. She looked back up at Grindelwald with wide eyes slowly filling with tears, making her vision go blurry. Unfortunately, she could still make out his malicious smile.

 

“You’re such fun, Tina. Full of surprises,” Grindelwald taunted. “Your friends in there were practically cheering for you. Fortunately, they will still have some fun - you’ll continue to entertain today. Though, I don’t know if they consider it as fun as we do. Let’s go back to them, we can make a grand entrance together.”

 

Tina ducked sideways to get away from Grindelwald who was slowly leaning in, and tried to make a run for it. Before she could make it two steps away, he grabbed the back of her collar and yanked her back against the wall. His free hand gripped her neck and he started to apply some pressure. 

 

“You are nothing but a pest, Tina. Continue to defy me and I will follow through with my promise. I wonder when Queenie will be returning…”

 

Grindelwald released her, but the pressure remained. He lifted his hand as if his hand was still wrapped around her throat, and Tina felt herself slide up the wall. 

 

She couldn’t breathe, the force around her neck was so strong. Tina tried to claw at her throat to get rid of what felt like a hand holding her up, but there was nothing there. She tried to cough, but no air could get in or out and she instead made hollow choking noises. 

 

On instinct, her legs kicked in desperation, trying to get her body away from the force. When she consciously realised it wasn’t working, she tried to aim for Grindelwald instead, but he simply took a step to the side, still holding his hand up.

 

Tina saw his hand closing into a fist, and she felt the invisible hand around her neck squeeze even harder. She clawed at her throat again, this time with more force, but only ended up leaving deep scratches from her nails that she dug into her own skin.

 

She started to see black dots spread across her vision, and her movements weakened. She tried to command her leg to kick at Grindelwald, but it ended up being a pathetic twitch of her foot instead.

 

Tina and Grindelwald locked eyes, his squinting from disgusting widespread joy across his face, Tina’s squinting from the tears that were building up from the lack of oxygen. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, all she managed was to mouthe a simple plea: “Please. I’m sorry.”

 

He released his grip on her and she slid to the ground. Tina tried to take a deep breath of air to fill her empty lungs, but she spiralled into a vicious coughing fit. As she lay there against the wall, coughing and coughing, she saw Abernathy scutter past Grindelwald in shame as he went to retrieve his wand further down the hall.

 

Grindelwald squatted in front of Tina and grabbed her cursed wrist. He wrenched her fist open and pushed a wand into her hand.

 

“If you want a wand, use your own. I’ve done you the favour of returning yours to you,” Grindelwald grumbled. He stood up again and began to walk down the corridor back to where they had come from.

 

Tina knew he wanted her to follow him, but she was still struggling to breathe properly again. She closed her eyes. She would just lie on the ground a bit longer, that wouldn’t be so bad…

 

A voice brought her out of her daze. “Goldstein. You embarrassed me. You’ll come to regret that,” Abernathy said. He must have gotten his wand back.

 

Tina smiled at the news of his embarrassment. She opened her eyes and saw the hatred practically pouring out of Abernathy’s glare, and her smile quickly faltered. It was likely best not to taunt him.

 

“Get up. We’re going back,” Abernathy ordered, and she complied defeatedly. 

 

As Tina got up onto her shaky legs, Abernathy grabbed her hair from behind, forcing head upwards, and pushed his wand hard into her neck. The wand dug into the newly forming bruises, and Tina breathed in sharply in surprise at the sudden pain.

 

During the long walk back to the great hall, they both remained silent. Abernathy was seething with anger, and Tina had given up fighting back. She was, however, impressed with the distance she had made during her failed escape.

 

When they reached the door to the hall, Abernathy stopped. “Grindelwald asked for a grand entrance, and he’s going to get what he wants,” he said as he removed the wand from her throat. 

 

Tina took a step back from the man, but he pointed his wand at her again. With surprising speed, he thrust the wand toward the door, and Tina felt herself being lifted off her feet and forced into the large room.

 

She was flung through the air, soaring above Grindelwald’s followers. At the flick of Abernathy’s wand, she was forcefully ripped to the ground and slid a short distance until she finally stopped on her stomach. She lost her grip on her wand and it rolled away. If she crawled quickly, she would be able to get to it. She groaned in annoyance - how did it keep getting away from her?

 

When she tried to push herself up, Tina felt a sharp pain in her side. She couldn’t place where it was, perhaps her shoulder or her ribs, but it didn’t matter - before she could move towards her wand or locate the pain, she heard Theseus utter a word she’d hoped never to hear from him again.

 

“Crucio.”

 

Before her body could even register the pain, Tina shrieked.

 

“No!” she yelled, her voice apologetic as she prayed someone would listen.

 

It was too late. The red light hit her chest and the overwhelming pain set in as it poured through her body.

 

Tina’s mind went blank and all thoughts became blurred and drifted away. There was only one focus - escape from the inescapable pain.

 

It was almost indescribable. It felt like everything all at once. It was a raging fire throughout her body, and at the same time a never ending cold. It was the piercing of a thousand knives, and it was every organ in her body twisting. And it was everywhere.

 

She tried to crawl away from Theseus, though she knew it would not change anything. She just wanted to get away from this place, these people, even Theseus. She felt guilty for thinking it, but her mind could barely handle it anymore.

 

One arm in front of the other. Pushing with one leg. An interruption as her entire body spasmed, forcing her to twist onto her back.

 

Her new position made it difficult to make any progress. Each time Tina tried to turn, the already all-consuming pain would flare up even further in a way Tina hadn’t thought was possible. She lay on the floor, looking to the ceiling as she felt all hope leave her. Her eyelids kept fluttering as she tried to focus on a single point above her, just so she could keep some link to reality.

 

She slammed her palms into the ground, again and again, the only way she could try to communicate - to apologise, to ask for mercy, to plead for forgiveness. She tried to beg, but her voice wasn’t working; all she could do was scream, anything to expel some of the agony. 

 

Tina’s throat got hoarse, and her screaming eventually turned into pitiful sobs. Each sob shook her chest, and she could taste salt from the sweat on her upper lip. She knew she needed to focus - she needed to get to her wand. 

 

No matter the amount of pain, she had to turn herself around. Without being able to crawl, there was no chance of reaching her one weapon.

 

Tina dug deep inside herself to find any tiny bit of hope and strength that might be left in her. Her hand reached out as if grasping that small sense of her old self - the strong, clever witch that she had been before this. She was ashamed of how weak she had become. 

 

With one strong push, she managed to roll onto her stomach again, crying out as she did so. The pain flared up again and her limbs shook involuntarily. She gagged as nausea overwhelmed her, but she had made it. 

 

Tina began to crawl along the ground on her stomach. The progress was slow, but it was progress nevertheless. Every movement of her arms was agony, unsupported by her legs that were no longer responding to any commands. With her head turned to the side, she got a small look at Grindelwald’s followers. Some had squatted near her as if to get a closer look at her current state.

 

How had these cruel people not tired of this? And why wasn’t Theseus (and by extension Grindelwald, she supposed) letting up on the curse? Wouldn’t it be more ‘fun’ to change it?

 

Tina was practically wishing for anything but the Cruciatus Curse at this point. She would take any other type of torture - just… not this. 

 

The wand was almost in reach; she could almost touch it with her fingertips. She whimpered from another sudden burst of seemingly never-ending pain as she stretched her arm to get a hold on it. Some spit ran from her slightly open mouth, but she was too tired to care. She heard some of the men near her snicker.

 

Theseus had been vicious in his continued casting of the curse, and even though Tina knew it wasn’t really him, it still stung to hear the spell being uttered by him repeatedly. He was just a puppet, but he was a puppet she knew well.

 

Her fingertips touched something solid. She had finally reached her wand, and she rolled it towards her with a small move of her fingers. Once it was securely under her palm, she grasped it with a tiny sense of victory.

 

Using her other hand, she pushed her upper body up ever so slightly to twist toward Theseus. Right as he was about to release a new attack, Tina cast a protective shield. The spell bounced off the shield and all of a sudden, the pain ended.

 

She sighed in relief. She was free. And she was going to do anything to avoid this torture again. Even if it meant hurting Theseus. 

 

The wizards near her got up and backed away again, as if they were ready for the next phase of a performance.

 

Knowing Theseus would probably attack again at any moment, she shouted cast Stupefy before he had the chance to make a new move.

 

Theseus went flying backwards, and she saw him land on the ground, unconscious.

 

Tina rolled onto her back, panting. She was exhausted and tears flowed freely from her eyes as she looked at the ceiling in order to ignore Grindelwald and his followers. Her shoulder ached from her crash earlier, but she did not care much - she was glad that this was the small amount of pain she was feeling.

 

Near her, she heard Rosier clap as she walked toward her. A shiver ran down Tina’s spine, not knowing what to expect. 

 

“Very well done, Goldstein. I’m impressed, I had bet on you taking longer to attack him back,” Rosier as she leaned down toward Tina. “Perhaps you’re not as good of a person as you think.”

 

Tina swallowed. Maybe Rosier was right - if she truly was kind and a righteous person, she would never attack a friend like that. She hadn’t even injured him, he was just unconscious, but she still felt some guilt. Rosier smirked. She had successfully managed to place doubt in Tina’s mind.

 

What a bizarre thought. She shook it off. Of course she was allowed to defend herself right now, it wasn’t really Theseus after all. 

 

She looked to the Aurors to see whether they agreed with Rosier. When she looked into Nelson’s eyes, he gave her a reassuring glance. The others did the same. Thank God.

 

Tina looked back at Rosier and scowled, trying to show that she wouldn’t let her win. Rosier shrugged in response and squatted down beside her.

 

Tina turned her head away from Rosier and pushed herself up with shaky arms so she now kneeled on the floor.

 

“How can you live with yourself?” Tina whispered, her voice barely discernible. 

 

Rosier just chuckled and reached out a hand towards Tina’s face. She flinched, but Rosier followed her movement and slowly stroked her face. Tina looked into Rosier’s icy eyes, frozen in fear.

 

Strangely, Rosier didn’t do anything to her. She ran her hand through Tina’s hair, and when she pulled her hand away, she looked at her fingers slightly covered in blood. Tina hadn’t even noticed she’d been bleeding, but her head had hit the floor earlier. In any case, there wasn’t much blood.

 

Rosier smiled, and then grabbed Tina’s shirt. She wiped the blood off her fingers, leaving a reminder for her - she still wasn’t safe, and probably wouldn’t be for a while. 

 

Tina felt a wave of anger alongside her terror. When she wasn’t being tortured for entertainment, she was being taunted. Trying to catch Rosier off-guard, she moved her elbow swiftly towards the witch’s stomach, but the weak state of her body made her sluggish and Rosier easily grabbed her arm.

 

“Will you never learn?” Rosier sneered as she ripped up Tina’s sleeve and drew out her wand. 

 

Before Tina could protest, Rosier dug her wand into the centre of the scar on her forearm. She groaned as a white-hot pain ran through the tendrils of the scar, which turned into a short, hoarse scream as she felt the branches of the scar grow and spread again. Tina squirmed to get her arm out but Rosier’s grip was firm, and she dropped her wand again. This time she had learned her lesson and instantly snatched it with her free hand.

 

“Vinda. Come now, it isn’t your place,” Abernathy said, and pulled on Rosier’s shoulder. She huffed and stood up, dropping Tina’s wrist angrily.

 

Tina’s arm felt like it was burning, but when she inspected it, it was just the odd, branched scarring again.

 

As Rosier stepped away, the burning sensation just turned into a light sting, and Tina sighed in relief.

 

Across the room, she noticed that Grindelwald had walked over to the unconscious Theseus. He moved his hand above Theseus’ body, who then jolted awake and sat up.

 

Theseus looked over at Tina, confused. He was back! 

 

“Tina, what’s going on?” was all he managed to say before Grindelwald again uttered his curse.

 

Damn it. 

 

This time, Grindelwald gave Theseus a slightly different command.

 

“You hate Tina. Do what you want with her, but make sure she knows it,” Grindelwald said loudly, clearly wanting Tina to know.

 

Tina looked to the Aurors, fear glinting in her eyes as she did so. There were no longer any attempts at a comforting look back at her - they too looked very worried. Even the spirited but silenced Nelson seemed to have given up trying to convince any of Grindelwald’s followers to stop.

 

She saw Theseus’ expression change. Before, it had been a neutral, blank stare at her. Now, she saw pure rage and hatred as he looked at her. 

 

Tina saw Theseus charge up to cast a spell at her, but she quickly stood up in time to block it. Even though she hadn’t thought it possible, Theseus looked even more infuriated at the failed attempt. 

 

She knew she needed to get rid of his wand. He was far too dangerous with it, and even if one of Grindelwald’s followers returned it to him, she would keep fighting him for as long as possible.

 

Tina needed to act quickly. She shouted: “Expelliarmus!” as Theseus cast an unspoken spell, and they collided midair. The crackling of the two bolts took over all other sounds, and Tina held onto her wand with both hands, not willing to lose this battle. 

 

She could see that Theseus was pushing forward with a lot of strength as well, and the point at which their spells collided started moving towards Tina. He was much less exhausted than she was, so he definitely had the upper hand. 

 

As his spell got too close to her, Tina made the decision to dodge the spell, and she dropped herself to the ground and rolled away and ended up near the table. 

 

Those few moments gave Theseus the opportunity to get closer to her. He was a few steps away when Tina decided to attack. 

 

“Expelliarmus!” she shouted from the floor, and his wand went flying from his grasp. He watched it soar through the air, landing behind the crowd watching them. 

 

Theseus turned back to Tina, and he smiled cruelly. Her blood ran cold - she had never seen him look like this before, and had never imagined he would even be able to look so monstrous. 

 

Tina prepared herself to run again, not from the castle but just from the unrecognisable Theseus in front of her. She was no longer keeping track of where anyone else was, so she didn’t realise that she made a mistake when she grabbed the table to push herself onto her feet until it was too late. One of Grindelwald’s followers was standing right by the edge of the table, and as she placed her hand holding her wand on the table to lift herself, the man grabbed it and tried to wrestle it from her.

 

All of Tina’s focus now shifted to the man holding her wand and who still wasn’t letting go, and Theseus took that opportunity to sneak up behind her. Tina jumped in surprise as he grabbed her hair from behind and pulled her from the man who was now holding her wand with a smile, wrapping his arm around her stomach so her back was leaning up against Theseus. 

 

Theseus ripped her hair so her head was pulled back towards him, and she cried out at the sudden movement. He leaned in so his mouth was right at her ear.

 

“You deserved everything that you got. And you deserve so much worse,” Theseus hissed. The words cut deep, but Tina clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, knowing it wasn’t true.

 

“You know it’s true, Tina.” He practically spat her name in disgust.

 

Theseus suddenly shifted the both of them to face a different direction. When she opened her eyes, she realised they were now facing the Aurors.

 

“Look at them. See how none of them have helped you. They know that you deserve this too. They were so pleased when I finally was given a wand today,” Theseus continued.

 

The colleagues in front of them shook their head and exclaimed a variety of explanations that she didn’t deserve this. But then again, none of them beside the silenced Nelson had actively stepped in to offer to take Tina’s place. Her face scrunched up in sadness, and a tear ran down her face.

 

Theseus twisted her around again, this time to face Grindelwald. “Of course, you know how Grindelwald feels about you. About how you’re a disappointment to wizardkind.”

 

Grindelwald grinned and stepped toward the two of them. Tina flinched, and then twisted to try to escape Theseus’ arms, but he merely yanked her head back again, and she gave up. There was no use trying to escape at this point, she knew she wouldn’t be able to. Why did she keep trying? Was it even worth it?

 

“Queenie has let me in on a little secret, Tina,” Grindelwald said.

 

“Don’t you dare talk about my sister, you snake,” Tina spoke before he could continue.

 

“Shut up!” Theseus hissed angrily into her ear.

 

“I did actually tell her about what I planned to do once you arrived to try to ambush my friends and me here in Nurmengard. And she was glad. In fact, she encouraged me to bring Scamander here into the fun. Queenie is looking forward to seeing you again after all this is said and done,” Grindelwald continued.

 

No. That couldn’t be true. Sure, Queenie may have deserted them and joined the opposing force, but no matter what, she would never want her sister hurt, not like this. Right?

 

Tina felt her chest shake as she stifled a sob. Theseus loosened his grip on her hair as he chuckled, and Tina saw an opportunity.

 

She lifted her leg and kicked Theseus’ knee as hard as she could, and he shouted in surprise and pain as he let go of her. She twisted and with as much force as she could, she smashed her elbow into his face.

 

Theseus staggered back, lifting a hand to his eye where she had hit him. He looked up at her, his face nothing but rage, and he unexpectedly ran right at her instead of checking his knee like she had assumed he would.

 

He again reached for her head, and this time grabbed her hair with both hands. He momentarily held her face and brought it close to his. Tina knew that Theseus wanted her to look into his eyes so he could continue to express the hatred he’d been instructed to show, but Tina averted his gaze. He huffed in anger and used both hands to smash her head into the table.

 

Tina saw stars as he lifted her up again. She looked around, unable to focus on anything and unable to react before she felt her temple collide with the table again, this time on the edge. Pain radiated from one side of her face, and her vision blackened for a moment. She lost her balance, and as she fell to the ground, she caught a glimpse of something reflective lying on the table.

 

Theseus let go of her as she fell, so she had nothing to stop her fall and the back of her head crashed into the stone floor. She groaned and lifted her hand to her head to inspect her wounds, and as she ran her fingers through her hair, it felt wet and sticky. 

 

Tina’s eyes were still not properly focusing, but she saw red curls lean down into her field of vision.

 

“Adrian, how about you have a go?” Theseus said. Tina whimpered; he knew how afraid she was of Adrian, and now this non-Theseus was using it against her. And it was working.

 

He stood back up, and Tina, wanting to do anything to avoid Adrian, swiped Theseus’ legs with her foot. He fell to the ground, roaring in anger. Tina turned to crawl away from Theseus, but he grabbed her ankle. Strangely he remained on his knees, and reached onto the table with his other hand.

 

In his hand he now held a dagger. Tina couldn’t quite remember if it had been on the table the entire time, or if one of the others had placed it there throughout their entire fight.

 

Tina kicked and tried to push herself away again, but Theseus climbed onto her, pinning her legs down with his own legs. His free hand held both her wrists above her head, and no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t wrestle herself free.

 

Theseus paused, and Tina heard Grindelwald take steps towards the pair on the floor. She kept her eyes locked on Theseus and the knife, though.

 

The footsteps stopped very close to the two of them, and Theseus moved again. He brought the knife down close to her face, and she could see that it was covered in something odd - it looked like an oily, black substance. She guessed it was a strange potion of some kind. In any case, she didn’t recognise it.

 

Theseus pressed the knife into her forehead and added some pressure, leaving a small cut which started pouring blood. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, refusing to make a sound.

 

He grunted in frustration, and moved the knife to her shoulder instead. He pushed down again, and this time dragged the knife down her arm, drawing blood as he moved the knife slowly, trying to drag out Tina’s suffering.

 

She cried out loudly and felt blood pouring from her upper arm. He hadn’t hit any major vessels, that much she could feel, but her sleeve felt heavy and now clung to her arm. She kicked her legs, trying to get Theseus off, but he was too strong for her. He pushed the knife into her arm a little bit harder as a result, and she let out a sob.

 

He finally removed the knife by the time he had reached her elbow. Tina turned her head to the side to check her arm, and her cheek hit the ground. The floor was covered in blood that had run from her veins, and she turned her head away quickly as she felt the wet, warm liquid touch her face. She whimpered as she remembered how she had seen her blood pool from Adrian’s curse.

 

Tina looked back at Theseus and followed his arm down to see where he had now placed the knife, ready to threaten her again. 

 

It was hovering right above her stomach.

 

“Please, Theseus, please don’t,” she cried as tears ran freely now. She shook her head, pleading, and could feel the blood from her arm now getting stuck in her hair.

 

Without warning, he plunged the knife into her gut, smiling as he did so. Tina’s back arched as she screamed, and she felt warm breath on her cheek as Theseus leaned in, practically savouring her sounds of despair. It was a different kind of hurt - it was localised, but she felt it affect the rest of her body ever so slowly. And what hurt the most was that it was Theseus who had done it.

 

As she kept yelling, in pain and begging to be released, Theseus let go of her arms. Tina tried to lift them to fight him off, but she felt so weak and all she could do was lay them at her side, spread out. 

 

Through tear-filled eyes, Tina saw Grindelwald lift his wand to Theseus. She was confused, but before she had time to consider his action further, Theseus grabbed a hold of the knife again that was still stuck in her torso.

 

With a sudden move of his wrist, he twisted the knife, and Tina screamed again. This time, the scream didn’t last long, as she felt her body weakening even more as blood poured from the wound at an alarming rate. Her breath hastened, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to get enough air to support her brain. In a daze, she realised it was odd that she was still conscious. Whatever poison was covering the knife was doing something unusual to her.

 

As she focused on her hearing again, she heard Grindelwald cast “Finite” at Theseus, lifting the curse. 

 

Tina looked up at Theseus through blurry tears, but instead of a hate-fueled expression, she saw confusion in his eye. He looked at her, and then down at his hand that was still holding the knife.

 

“Tina?” he asked, despair in his voice. “Did I do this?”

 

Tina didn’t respond. She couldn’t answer him. He let go of the knife and scrambled to get off her. 

 

From a few steps away, she heard Grindelwald answer. “Yes.”

Notes:

I’m so sorry Tina and Theseus. Only one or two more chapters planned, it depends on how much the story expands in my head. To be fair at the start I mentioned it would only be 3 or 4 chapters so who knows. I hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 8

Summary:

Theseus is no longer bewitched and has to come to terms with what he's done.

Notes:

I'm still relatively new to this, so I think I have to put in a warning here? Let me know if this actually counts as a necessary warning...

Warning: very mild gore (?)

Theseus’ heart sank as he looked down at the knife in his hand. Blood was pouring from below Tina’s ribcage, and the ground was slowly turning more and more red.

 

Even though he knew the answer, Theseus had to ask.

 

“Tina? Did I do this?”

 

When he looked back to her bloodied face, waiting for an answer, he saw her simply staring at him. Tina’s lip was quivering, but she didn’t respond. 

 

He had to get away, get away from what he had done. Theseus let go of the knife and got off Tina hurriedly. He crawled backwards towards the other Aurors.

 

“Yes.” Theseus could hear the smile in his voice.

 

Theseus turned his head to the side and threw up. He coughed and felt the burn in his throat from the bile. The confirmation had made him ill - how could he have done this?

 

Logically, he knew that he couldn’t control himself under the Imperius Curse. But Tina was still his friend, why would his instincts to keep her safe just be overrun? 

 

Theseus’ eyes filled with tears. He wasn’t aware of what had happened while he was under the curse, but Tina did not look well. And it was his doing. 

 

He noticed a dull ache in his knee - at least Tina must have fought back to some extent. Theseus wished she had managed to injure him more just so his guilt would not be as all consuming as it was now. 

 

Tina had turned her head to look at him. Her eyes looked tired, but she didn’t seem angry at him. There was a glint of something else in her eyes, but he couldn’t quite place it.

 

One side of Tina’s face was covered in red. Blood had run from a cut on her forehead, likely from a wound made by the same knife still buried in her gut. Her hair was also sticky and red - she must have somehow gotten a head injury. He hoped that wasn’t also his fault.

 

Tina’s breaths started becoming shorter and more hitched, and she turned to face the ceiling again. The fight in her seemed gone. Above her, Grindelwald stood with a wide grin on his face. He looked at Theseus.

 

“Don’t you want to see what you’ve done? What you’ve done to your friend?” Grindelwald asked.

 

Knowing it was a rhetorical question, Theseus got up from the ground. When he blinked, he felt a tear run down his face. He wiped it away quickly with his hand, but he knew Grindelwald had seen it. Theseus kept his eyes on him.

 

He heard Tina cough, followed by a whimper as the movement shifted the knife. Theseus felt his heart break even further.

 

Grindelwald chuckled, shifting his gaze from Theseus to Tina.

 

“Oh, Scamander, you may want to hurry. It seems Tina is not doing too well,” he said, and Rosier chuckled.

 

Theseus looked down to see what the concern was about, and upon noticing, he rushed down to Tina. Blood was now trickling from her mouth, likely the cause of her cough. The knife must have hit her lung - the wound needed to be healed, and fast.

 

“Give me my wand,” Theseus pleaded to Grindelwald as he stood up again. “Please, she’ll choke!”

 

Grindelwald moved towards the table and leaned against it, crossing his arms. He was a spectator again.

 

Beside him, a man handed Rosier a wand. He recognised it as Tina’s, and realised that the man must have taken it from her. He had taken away her one source of defense. Theseus felt fury growing in his stomach - Tina hadn’t stood a chance with everyone against her.

 

Rosier walked over to Tina and Theseus. When he thought she was within reach, he reached his arm out to try and grab Tina’s wand, but she moved it quickly away from him. He swung at her face, trying to get the wand from her, but she dodged him easily.

 

“That wasn’t very nice,” Rosier said.

 

“Indeed,” Grindelwald said from behind her. “Vinda, why don’t you help heal Tina?”

 

Rosier’s mouth curled into a cruel smile, and she kneeled down beside Tina. Theseus made a move to try to push her away from Tina, but found that he was frozen in place. He yelled in frustration.

 

Rosier ignored him. She leaned over Tina to look directly into her eyes and placed her hand on the knife.

 

Tina’s eyes shifted from Rosier to the blade, and back to Rosier again, and she lifted her arms. Theseus could tell she was going to try to fight off Rosier, but her movements were slow and weak and Rosier easily pushed away Tina’s arms. They fell limply at her sides again.

 

“Please,” Tina whispered, shaking her head. Her talking led to a cough, and specks of blood landed on Rosier’s face. Rosier used her free hand to angrily wipe her face, and she scowled at Tina.

 

Without warning, she twisted the knife. Tina let out a loud sob, too weak to scream. Theseus could see the tears pouring from her eyes alongside the blood trickling from her lips. 

 

“Rosier! Heal her!” Theseus shouted desperately. 

 

Rosier looked to Grindelwald, who nodded in approval. 

 

Rosier adjusted her grip on the knife and started to slowly tug at it. Tina moaned in pain as her eyes started to close, and her legs twitched in response to the movement of the knife.

 

“No, Tina, look at me,” Rosier commanded. When Tina did not respond, she flicked her cheek, and Tina’s eyes fluttered open again. Theseus was surprised she was still awake at this point; she should have passed out long ago.

 

Once Tina’s eyes focused on Rosier’s, she pulled on the knife again, excruciatingly slowly. Tina whimpered, her lips quivering, but she continued to stare at Rosier. It seemed to be taking all her energy, but she followed Rosier’s instruction.

 

Theseus looked down at the wound. Tina’s white shirt was now dirty again, an angry red stain still spreading from her abdomen. Rosier fully removed the knife and threw it to the ground beside her.

 

The red pool beneath Tina started expanding rapidly, the knife no longer obstructing blood flow. Tina’s breathing changed - it turned more shallow, and her eyelids started to flutter.

 

Rosier now let Tina break eye contact and instead drew out her wand. She made no move to cover the wound and press down on it to stop the blood flow, instead she simply lifted up Tina’s shirt to place her wand beside the wound.

 

Theseus heard her mutter some incantation, and the bleeding seemed to slow. Tina moaned again, and he could see her neck strain as she turned her head away from Rosier. He saw red marks that were forming bruises he hadn’t noticed before - it looked like she had been held by the throat and strangled. Theseus felt nauseous again; what else had he done to her? He looked down at his hands, hoping he wasn’t responsible.

 

Tina continued to groan on the floor. Whatever Rosier was doing either wasn’t very effective, or she was purposefully doing a bad job.

 

“Give me my wand. Let me do it,” he begged.

 

Rosier tilted her head toward him and nodded. She stood up and handed him his wand.

 

Theseus was released from whatever spell had held him in place, and he dropped to his knees beside Tina.

 

“This might hurt, but it’ll be fast. I promise,” Theseus explained to Tina. He couldn’t tell whether she was listening or not.

 

He held both his hands above the wound and muttered a spell. The wound sealed almost instantly, and Tina’s body spasmed in response. He cursed to himself, but decided that it had been necessary. There was no need to drag out the pain.

 

Theseus noticed the wound on Tina’s arm. He had been so focused on the imminent threat that he hadn’t noticed the long gash in her arm, likely left by the same knife. Left by him. He felt sick.

 

Thankfully, the wound wasn’t deep. As he moved his hand above it, it sealed easily, and Tina didn’t seem to respond.

 

Theseus leaned back and turned to face Rosier who was now standing beside Grindelwald.

 

“You are disgusting. You’re monsters,” Theseus snarled. Grindelwald merely chuckled in response, amused.

 

Theseus turned back to Tina, frustrated. He needed to check how she was feeling, and see if he had missed anything.

 

He moved towards her head and gently tapped her face, drawing her attention back from wherever her mind may have wandered off to. Once her eyes focused and he glimpsed recognition in her eyes, she yelped and rolled to get away from him. As she scurried away, she left a smear of blood on the ground from what still clung to her clothes.

 

“Tina, it’s me. It’s Theseus,” he tried to explain. “I’m not bewitched any longer.”

 

Tina stifled a sob, her face a pure expression of fear. She was scared of him.

 

“It’s me.”

 

At the sound of his voice, she flinched lightly and lowered her head, as if anticipating an attack.

 

“Tina?” Theseus asked warily as he made a careful move toward her.

 

She looked up at him with hopeless eyes. She didn’t believe him. He moved to sit beside her and gently placed an arm around her shoulder.

 

Tina’s body was tense, but she didn’t try to get away from him. After a moment when she realised he wasn’t hurting her, she leaned against him and rested her head on his shoulder. Her body shook as she cried silently against him.

 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered softly.

 

Theseus looked at Grindelwald furiously. He had since moved to sit in a chair by the table again, like a king waiting for something to happen. But what?

 

Theseus turned his head towards the Aurors. Most looked relieved at the fact that Tina seemed better. He caught a glimpse of anger on an American Auror’s face, and he couldn’t quite tell whether it was directed at Grindelwald and his followers, or at him. Either way, the anger was valid. Theseus deserved it after what he had done.

 

For some minutes, Theseus and Tina sat together in peace. Grindelwald’s followers remained where they stood, but quiet conversations broke out amongst them. Theseus couldn’t make out what they were saying.

 

He heard Tina whisper something so quietly he could barely hear it. He leaned his head closer to her.

 

“Water.” A single word sentence was all she could muster.

 

Theseus lifted her head off his shoulder and turned towards the table. He summoned one of the empty goblets and quickly filled it with water with a single tap of his wand.

 

The moment it was full, Tina grabbed it and drank. Once it was empty, she held it out again, and he refilled it. She took a sip from it, glanced at the metal of the cup, and then poured some onto her face. She scrubbed aggressively at her forehead and cheek, trying to clear off the grime and blood caking the one side of her face. Theseus realised she must have seen her reflection in the goblet.

 

She didn’t want to be reminded of her situation. Of what she had just been put through, of where they were, and of what might happen. Guilt twisted in his gut again.

 

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. 

 

Tina stopped rubbing her face. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

 

“No, it isn’t. Nothing is okay,” Theseus said desperately. “I did this.”

 

“You didn’t mean to.”

 

“It still happened. Please don’t hate me.”

 

Tina paused. “I don’t hate you,” she whispered.

 

Theseus heard a man snicker near them. Someone had been listening in on their conversation.

 

Tina turned her attention to the man and finally noticed that everyone seemed to be waiting for something. She looked thoughtful for a second, and then her eyes widened in realisation. 

 

“What?” Theseus asked.

 

Tina didn’t respond, but instead lifted her shirt again to look at the wound.

 

The veins around the scar looked dark - too dark. It spread around her back and some of her stomach. She dropped the shirt and went to look at her arm, practically ripping the sleeve in her hurry.

 

The same pattern was visible around the scar from the knife on her arm.

 

Tina grabbed the goblet and looked into her reflection. She tried to rub away blood around the scar on her forehead, and sure enough, the veins on the side of her forehead had the same dark colour. 

 

“What is it?”

 

“The poison.  Did you get rid of the poison?”

 

Theseus looked at her questioningly. He didn’t understand. “What poison?”

 

Tina glanced behind him, where he knew the knife was lying. She realised he didn’t know what she was talking about, and reached out her hand. He handed her her wand.

 

She turned the wand on herself and whispered a chain of spells. He recognised some of them as counterhexes and countercurses, as well as others associated with potions. She was trying everything… so she didn’t know what was wrong with her either.

 

It seemed to be in vain. There was no change in the colour of the veins on her forehead, and it kept spreading. 

 

Tina huffed in frustration and passed the wand back to Theseus. “You try,” she said. 

 

Theseus accepted the wand and did the same as her, casting a string of spells in the hopes that something would work. It seemed to have no effect, and he could see the blackening vein pattern continue to spread, now nearing her eye. 

 

Out of nowhere, Tina collapsed. Her limbs went limp, but she remained alert. Her eyes flickered around in panic, and he noticed something abnormal about one of her eyes. 

 

The veins in her eye began to turn black, and as it reached her iris, the brown of her eyes turned jet black. Tina groaned and lifted a hand to her eye, rubbing at it, confused. 

 

“Your eye…” Theseus began, but he trailed off when he noticed something dark run out of her nose. 

 

Tina was bleeding black blood. She must have seen the shift in his gaze, and she brought a finger to her nostril. When she moved her hand away to inspect it, her expression turned to horror. 

 

Theseus turned to the Aurors. “She’s bleeding black! Does anyone know the poison?”

 

The Aurors exchanged glances as they thought, and suddenly one of them spoke.

 

“Yes! I might know. The counter spell is-“

 

His answer was cut short at the flick of Grindelwald’s wand. 

 

“Clever man. But you don’t need to know, Scamander. In fact, bring all our guests back to their rooms, the show is over for them today,” Grindelwald commanded. 

 

Theseus felt two pairs of hands grab his shoulders and he was ripped up from the ground, away from Tina. They didn’t even bother to take the wand from him, and he looked at it in frustration, knowing it was useless. 

 

“No!” Nelson shouted. He must have finally been released of the silencing charm. 

 

Theseus kicked and fought to get away from the men holding him, but it was of no use. He realised that no one was moving to drag Tina out, and panic set in.

 

“Tina!” he shouted. She turned to look at him, her expression blank. Theseus didn’t know what to make of that, and continued to call her name. She continued to stare at him, and shrugged in acceptance.

 

As Theseus was pulled through the doorway, the last thing he saw was Tina’s body begin to convulse.

 

—

 

It took several hours before Theseus saw Tina again. He sat for what felt like days waiting with Nelson and Waylon in the same room they’d stayed in overnight, all of them hoping to see Tina returned to them.

 

When they had been brought back, Theseus had made use of the wand and refilled the cups on the table with water, and they all drank greedily, not having realised how thirsty they were.

 

They had discussed where the other Aurors had been kept - it seemed they were being held in the same corridor, just closer to the main hall. The topic of discussion had again shifted to the possibility of escape, and Theseus confirmed that he had indeed been able to send a Patronus. They kept talking, discussing anything but Tina.

 

Waylon and Nelson knew that Theseus was ashamed of what had transpired, and they thankfully did not bring up the horrifying events of the day. 

 

By the time the door finally opened again, the conversation had already died down long ago. A pair of hands pushed Tina into the room and shut the door. She barely managed to catch herself before she landed on her stomach, knocking the air out of her. She coughed.

 

“Tina!” Nelson exclaimed, happy to see her again.

 

She did not move in response to the sudden sound, and her face was still not visible to Theseus. He could see that she was conscious - her shoulders shook lightly as she cried quietly.

 

Theseus decided to bring her water. He assumed she hadn’t been given a drink after the Aurors had been removed from the hall, so he quickly filled a cup and brought it around to her.

 

“Tina, I’ve brought you some water. You must be thirsty.”

 

Again, she did not respond. He carefully placed the cup beside him and decided he’d help her drink if she was too weak herself.

 

Theseus turned her body around, noticing the thinning and scraped fabric along her back. He looked at her face to gauge her mental state and was horrified at what he saw.

 

Tina’s eyes were unfocused, as if she were daydreaming - it almost looked peaceful, except for the glint of tears that still ran down her cheeks. Her eyes shone, and at the same time they were dull. However, something else was wrong. The eye closest to the poisoned wound was darkening, as if the black of her once-brown irises was spreading slowly across the white of her eye. Along her forehead, the veins were less discernible than when he had last seen her. Perhaps her body was breaking it down.

 

From her nose, Theseus could follow two lines of black blood down past her mouth and down her chin. It seemed to be slowly drying, so it must only have stopped bleeding very recently.

 

Theseus snapped his fingers in Tina’s line of sight, but other than a slight twitch in the corner of her eye, she did not respond. He decided he’d just give her the water himself.

 

He carefully lifted her head and leaned it against his crossed legs. Theseus pulled down Tina’s chin to open her mouth and carefully poured water past her lips. She reflexively swallowed, and he kept pouring.

 

Suddenly, she seemed to snap back to reality - the cold water must have woken her up from her strange trance. She looked at Theseus and shrieked, and with a burst of energy tried to crawl away, but ended up with her back against the wall. She whimpered as she brought her legs close to her body and wrapped her arms around them.

 

Nelson stepped in. “Tina, he’s no longer bewitched, remember? Theseus won’t hurt you,” he explained carefully.

 

Tina glanced around, and her eyes fixated on her wand lying on the floor where Theseus had laid it down earlier.

 

“Look, he doesn’t have the wand. I’ll take it over here for safekeeping, then it can’t hurt you,” he said as he grabbed the wand and retreated.

 

Theseus nodded desperately, and he saw her shoulders sink in relief. At that moment, her body briefly convulsed and she toppled sideways. It only lasted a few seconds, but the three Aurors looked on in a panic and confusion.

 

Tina quickly came to her senses and sat up again. “It’s wearing off. They cast the spell to counter the effects, but it’ll take a moment,” she explained, her voice hoarse.

 

Theseus was relieved. At least she was improving - he didn’t know what he could have done to help if she had still been too strongly under the poison’s influence.

 

“What happened just now?” Waylon inquired from across the room.

 

“Well. It hasn’t completely worn off. It somehow also poisoned my mind. It attacks me when I think of even the smallest happy thing, like you, Theseus, no longer being cursed, or about Queenie or Ne-”

 

Tina’s sentence cut off as she again convulsed, this time more violently than before. Theseus quickly lifted her up onto the bed so she wouldn’t continue to bruise herself with each spasm, though her elbow did manage to hit him quite hard as he did so.

 

Theseus exchanged glances with Waylon and Nelson as they waited for the fit to pass again. He had to hold her ankles down when she almost fell off the bed because of her kicking legs.

 

After a few moments she came to, and continued where she had left off. They looked at her with concern.

 

“Don’t worry, it’ll fade soon. I could barely move, and I couldn’t fall asleep… I was awake for all of it, all of it, all of it,” she repeated as she trailed off. Her eyes seemed to glaze over again, as if she was trying to distance herself from the memories. He didn’t even want to imagine what had happened after he had left.

 

Theseus decided she needed to get some rest, and quickly. He took the wand from Nelson and refilled the cup, which he managed to get her to drink on her own. Theseus grabbed the blanket under Tina’s feet and draped it over her, and she rolled onto her side.

 

“Get some sleep, Tina,” he said.

 

—

 

It took a while before Theseus heard the breath patterns of sleep coming from Tina, but when he heard it, a weight lifted off his shoulders.

 

The Aurors had sat in silence as they had waited for her to fall asleep, and when Theseus turned to face Nelson, he saw that he was inspecting the door.

 

“I think it’s locked,” Nelson said with a hushed voice.

 

“Obviously,” Waylon responded.

 

“I know that. But what I’m saying is - I don’t think it’s enchanted. I think they forgot to enchant the lock,” Nelson said.

 

It dawned on Theseus and Waylon what he meant; they had a wand, and all they needed was Alohamora and they would be out. Grindelwald’s followers had finally tripped up.

 

“We can’t go yet. Tina’s not strong enough,” Theseus explained.

 

“I know. But we’re almost free. It’s almost over,” Nelson whispered with a sigh of relief.

Notes:

Idk how I feel about this chapter. I haven't really double checked it but I don't like it that much... oh well. Only 1 or 2 more chapters left to go!

Chapter 9

Summary:

The four Aurors attempt an escape when they realise the door is unlocked.

Notes:

I did not double-check this so I'm sorry if there's some continuity errors or whatnot :)

Even though she saw Theseus being dragged from the room, Tina still had felt a small hint of hope - at least the other Aurors would be safe again. Out of nowhere, everything hurt and her body seized violently on the floor in response. As her mind drifted to focus only on the pain and fear, the attack subsided.

 

“When you feel happiness, or even dare think about it, this will happen again,” Rosier explained, before she was dragged to the table and lifted onto it.

 

There she lay for what felt like forever, and Grindelwald’s followers barely took note of her anymore as they broke into conversation and shuffled around the room. Tina tried to lift herself to roll down from the hard wood, but discovered that she couldn’t make her body move. All she could do was shift her head around wildly, eyes flickering, searching for an explanation or some other unlikely way to get free.

 

She locked eyes with Grindelwald, and he smiled at her cruelly. She looked at him questioningly, feeling too weak to form a sentence. Grindelwald merely chuckled and took a sip of wine as he instead started talking to one of his followers.

 

She was ignored for the longest time, and her mind began to wander. When her thoughts turned to Queenie and all the good memories they’d had together, Tina let out a horrifying scream again as her back arched and her legs kicked involuntarily. Tears ran from her eyes down the lines on her contorted face.

 

The pain faded again, and her body returned to being limp and unresponsive to her commands. When her focus shifted back to the here and now, she heard laughter from clusters of people standing around the table, but they quickly returned to their conversations.

 

Tina focused on anything but positive thoughts, and eventually exhaustion caught up to her. Her eyes drifted shut, and her mind turned hazy as she began to doze off.

 

Right before she reached sleep, she was forced back to reality with another explosion of pain, and she felt herself being thrown from the table. Her body came to a halt on the ground, but the moment after she stopped, she felt her body get ripped away by some unknown force and she slid across the floor.

 

As she moved, Tina scanned the wizards and witches in the room, but none were pointing a wand. On the next shove from the force, she realised it was coming from her. The poison must have been attacking her magic, manipulating it into turning against her.

 

She slammed into a wall, but the pain from it was dull in comparison to what she had been through during the last hours. After a pause, two wizards, having realised that the effect was over, dragged her back to her position on the table.

 

Tina allowed her mind to turn blank as she fell into a daze. Her thoughts were hazy, and though she felt tired, she stopped herself from falling into unconsciousness.

 

After lying on the table for an hour, her mind scattered and unfocused, she realised that some members of the audience had taken seats around the table alongside Grindelwald, greedily drinking wine from their goblets too. She could vaguely hear cheerful discussion and laughter, but this time it was not aimed at her. Tina had just become decoration for them.

 

“You may do as you please,” Grindelwald’s voice said to the others, breaking through the haze of her mind. 

 

The numbness of her mind was replaced by absolute dread.

 

—

 

After some time, Tina woke up again, disoriented. It took a couple of moments for her to recognise her surroundings once she sat up. Her eyes scanned the room, and she noticed Theseus sitting on the floor beside the bed.

 

She was happy to see him. At that thought, she instantly froze in panic, awaiting another overwhelming wave of pain, but nothing came besides a slight tingle. The potion must finally have worn off.

 

“Theseus?” she said softly, her voice hoarse. She coughed to clear her throat. “Theseus?”

 

His head moved at that, and the corner of his mouth twitched into the tiniest smile. He looked relieved.

 

“What happened, Tina?” Theseus inquired.

 

Tina’s eyes widened as unwanted memories overwhelmed her. Cruel words whispered into her ear, hands grabbing her body, tears running down her face, nails digging into her skin, wands pushed against her neck, her body shaking, out of her control, everything out of her control…

 

She stifled a sob and saw Theseus look away, ashamed of having asked. It wasn’t his fault - he couldn’t have known.

 

Nelson had been looking at the two of them during their discussion, and he looked at Theseus questioningly. 

 

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he turned back to face her.

 

“Oh, marvellous,” she said jokingly. No one laughed. “I’m alright, I can move again,” Tina added, hurriedly.

 

To demonstrate, she pushed herself from the bed onto shaky legs and managed to turn around, only losing her balance a bit. She was satisfied. “Can I borrow my wand?” she asked, voice wavering a little.

 

Theseus handed it to her, and she moved it along her body, cleaning her clothes and her skin. She wanted no reminders. None. Tina just needed to be clean.

 

The blood in her mouth, spilling out onto her cheek. A man grabbing her face, running his fingers through the blood. Dirt on his face as he leaned in close, much too close.

 

Tina took a shaky breath, pushing the memory away. She handed the wand back to Theseus, and she moved her hands along her body as she checked for more grime or blood. She hadn’t managed to get rid of everything, she discovered. She found patches of dried blood along her neck and on the side of her face, but it was definitely better than before. Eventually her hands reached her head, and she started running her hands through her hair aggressively, trying to get rid of knots using only her fingers. Tina huffed in frustration and sat down again, but continued to run her hands through her hair obsessively.

 

The man gripping her hair, forcing her to face him, his breath disgusting and warm as he whispered threats into her ear, his lips accidentally grazing her cheek.

 

“Do you think…” Nelson trailed off, looking at Theseus. Tina knew that he was referring to her, so she looked at Nelson, awaiting an explanation. He looked concerned, so she put her hands down in her lap again, though the urge to fix everything was still there.

 

“What?” she asked.

 

Theseus and Nelson exchanged glances. “We think the door is unlocked,” Nelson explained.

 

“Why on earth haven’t you left yet then?” she demanded.

 

“We weren’t going to leave you,” Nelson continued.

 

Tina stood up and turned away in frustration, rubbing her eyes with her palms. “You idiots,” she mumbled. “You should have gone, you could’ve gotten out.”

 

“You were unconscious,” Nelson said apologetically.

 

She understood where they were coming from. In truth, had the roles been reversed, she would have stayed too. But that didn’t mean it was the correct or smart decision.

 

Composing herself, Tina turned around again, trying to plaster on a confident expression. “I’m not unconscious anymore.”

 

Silently, she begged and begged for unconsciousness to take her, but it wouldn’t. And aloud, she begged and begged for the people at the table to get away from her, to get off of her. Her faint whispers landed on deaf ears.

 

“Let’s go,” Tina said. The three others hesitated, but got up from where they each were sitting. Theseus went to unlock the door, and miraculously, it opened. He let out a sigh of relief.

 

The four Aurors headed into the now dark hallway, moving as silently as possible.

 

“I’ll get the other Aurors out on the way, they should be somewhere nearby,” Theseus whispered.

 

Tina was exhausted already, and it had only been a few minutes. Her muscles felt too weak, and she collapsed on the floor, only just managing to stop her head hitting the wall on the way down. She felt two pairs of hands grab her arms to lift her.

 

Two pairs of hands grabbing her, throwing her into a chair. Grindelwald’s eyes right in front of her own, his mouth spitting twisted, false versions of memories with Queenie. Hopelessness, rage, panic.

 

Tina shrieked at their unexpected touch. The other Aurors looked at her with wide eyes, all of them listening for signs of Grindelwald’s followers.

 

“I’m sorry,” Tina whispered, her voice shaky.

 

Theseus gave her a comforting nod. After a minute of silence, they decided they hadn’t been heard and continued down the hall, Tina hanging off of Nelson and Waylon’s shoulders for support. 

 

“I think they brought the others around this corner. Wait here, I’ll get them out,” Theseus said as he turned the corner before Tina could protest. She wanted her friend nearby - she wanted comfort.

 

After a few dreadfully long minutes, Theseus returned with two of the British Aurors, each of them holding wands. Tina looked at Theseus questioningly.

 

“The wands were in a room opposite their cells. Honestly, our room was quite nice in comparison,” Theseus whispered with a small smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Waylon, Nelson, and Tina’s wands and handed them over.

 

The British Aurors behind Theseus exchanged concerned glances, their eyes quickly flickering to Tina.

 

“What?” she asked. No response. “What?” she repeated impatiently.

 

“We think Queenie is back.”

 

Tina’s eyes widened and she felt dizzy for a moment. Theseus looked at her hesitantly, but she averted his gaze. Why had Queenie not come for her? She would definitely have figured out what had transpired by now. Tina just hoped she wasn’t in danger - who knew what Grindelwald was willing to do, even to one of his own followers. It hurt Tina to refer to Queenie that way, but at this point it was the unfortunate truth.

 

She felt a tug on her arm and realised that the others had started moving again. She had been so lost in thought at the news of Queenie’s return.

 

From ahead of her, she heard muttering between the three British Aurors. “Maybe not all the wands are enchanted, we can fight back.”

 

“We don’t know that. We have to stick to defense for now.”

 

“Yeah, let’s just focus on getting out of here quickly and quietly. If your Patronus got through, the Ministry should have arrived by now. They’ll be waiting outside, they won’t risk a battle either.”

 

Tina stopped paying attention after that. All she wanted was to get her sister and get the hell out of the castle.

 

The group continued down more winding pathways. One of the British Aurors had cast a spell that let his wand guide them in the correct direction, so they were making pretty good progress. Throughout their walk, Tina felt herself gain some more strength and was now relying less on having to lean on Waylon and Nelson.

 

They turned a corner and saw a large door - their way out. The doors were pushed open by the Aurors ahead of her and cold, fresh air filled their lungs. It was refreshing, and the sun looked beautiful as it was setting over the mountains.

 

As they started to walk outside, Tina heard the faint clacking of shoes behind her. This time, though, it didn’t sound like Grindelwald. She turned around and to her surprise, Queenie was standing just a few metres away.

 

“I heard your thoughts, trying to get out of here,” Queenie said. “You sounded desperate.”

 

“Queenie.” Tina breathed in sharply, and relief flooded her face. She stepped forward towards Queenie, about to run to embrace her, when she noticed a stern look on Queenie’s face. There had only been a brief, almost unnoticeable flicker of a loving and caring expression, but it had now been wiped away. Tina looked at her, confused.

 

“Queenie, come with us, we can leave! You’ll be forgiven.”

 

No response.

 

“Jacob misses you.” At that, Queenie’s eye twitched slightly, and she looked down at the floor, composing herself.

 

“I won’t. Gellert told me that you would try to take me away from here. He’s fighting for a good cause, and I believe in it too,” Queenie said.

 

Tina had hoped it would be nice to hear Queenie’s voice. But it wasn’t. Her tone was more flat than usual, like a mixture of sadness and anger had covered her own voice. And more importantly, why wasn’t Queenie acknowledging Tina’s captivity?

 

“But he…” Tina couldn’t quite find the words to finish her sentence.

 

From behind Tina, Theseus spoke. “You’re a Legilimens, right? Haven’t you seen what was in the minds of your ‘friends’? Haven’t you seen Tina’s mind?” He sounded angry.

 

“Yes. But memories can be tricky. They’re exaggerated, more extreme. They’re unreliable.”

 

“But surely you saw what they did to her?” Theseus paused. “What… I did to her?”

 

“Gellert told me what happened. It was necessary. Just join our cause! Can’t you see we’re just fighting for freedom to be who we are without hiding?”

 

Tina was in shock. Queenie was completely wrapped around Grindelwald’s finger - she looked sincere as she spoke. She truly believed what she was saying.

 

Behind Queenie, Tina saw the Aurors who had taken a different route through the castle come around the corner, wands raised. Tina looked at them and shook her head. “Don’t attack!”

 

Theseus gestured for them to move, and they ran towards the exit past Queenie, who remained still. 

 

Tina looked at her desperately. She missed her sister, surely Queenie missed her too? 

 

A brief expression of sadness crossed Queenie’s face. She must have heard Tina’s thoughts. Come with us , Tina tried to channel as loudly as she could in her mind. 

 

Queenie shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said as she raised her wand to her throat. 

 

“They’re down here in the courtyard!” Queenie shouted, her voice turned up in volume by the wand. 

 

Tina’s eyes turned watery as she stared at Queenie in disbelief. After a moment, she realised they needed to get the hell out. “Run!” she shouted with all her strength as she turned to run into the courtyard. 

 

Tina barely made it a few strides before she heard commotion. She heard spells being shouted and saw bright flashes of light in the dim light outside. 

 

At the far end of the courtyard, she saw a new group of Aurors - the British Ministry must have gotten their message! They fought the large group of Grindelwald’s followers that had appeared outside. Perhaps those loyal to Grindelwald were able to Apparate. 

 

Tina looked to Theseus and nodded at him, as if to say goodbye as she was about to Apparate out. She thought of London, but nothing happened. She was stuck here in the courtyard. Damn it , she thought. Her wand must still be enchanted. Theseus looked like he was in the same situation.

 

They needed to get to another Auror. Unfortunately, they were mostly on the other side of the courtyard. Tina’s heart sank - she still felt weak, and she might not be able to run. Perhaps if they snuck around along the edges of the battle?

 

Theseus grabbed her hand, thinking the same thing as he pulled her sideways. They took quiet, careful steps and managed to make good progress along half the distance of the courtyard. The battle seemed to be calming down as several of Grindelwald’s followers had been apprehended, and Tina paused, trying to catch her breath.

 

She looked around and saw Queenie standing in the doorway, unharmed and simply observing the chaos. The figure of a man suddenly joined her, his light hair catching the moonlight. Grindelwald had finally arrived. 

 

Tina looked at Theseus, her eyes shining with terror. He squeezed her hand in comfort, but it did not help as she saw Queenie lift her hand to point at the two of them. 

 

“Run!” Theseus whispered, the fear he was feeling now clear in his voice.

 

They did not hesitate as they broke into a sprint. The other Aurors had noticed that Grindelwald had appeared and had started focussing their attacks on him, but the skilled wizard was deflecting them all. As Tina looked back, she saw that he was walking slowly in their direction. 

 

A burst of light hit them from the side. One of the wizards no longer fighting Aurors cast a spell that sent them flying, and they smashed into a column made of stone. Theseus and Tina slid down the wall, struggling to breathe from the sudden collision that had knocked the air out of their lungs. 

 

Grindelwald had almost reached them, Queenie following close behind. Tina lifted her wand, casting spell after spell, though they all fizzled out before they could hit Grindelwald. She swore under her breath.

 

“Queenie, please,” Tina said as her eyes filled with tears. Queenie tilted her head.

 

“Just join us, Tina,” she said.

 

She must be enchanted , Tina thought.

 

“I’m not,” Queenie said. “If I was, I wouldn’t be able to read your thoughts.”

 

Tina’s heart sank. Grindelwald had convinced her fully, and Tina realised she wouldn’t be able to get Queenie to leave the castle with her.

 

Theseus looked at her sadly, but determined. They needed to get out, now. He pushed himself up and grabbed Tina, pulling her away from Grindelwald and Queenie. The pair did not make it far.

 

A burst of red light behind them was the only warning they got before Theseus crashed to the ground, screaming. As he fell, he dragged Tina down with him and she slammed against the stone. Blood started to run from her nose.

 

Beside her, Theseus was twisting and writhing. She heard a deep, long groan come from him.

 

“Waylon!” Tina shouted, trying to get the Auror’s attention. His wand seemed to be working normally - several of Grindelwald’s followers were spread across the courtyard, unconscious. He could get them out.

 

He ran towards Theseus and Tina, but suddenly went flying backwards when Grindelwald sent a spell his way. Once Grindelwald’s attention had shifted, Theseus had stopped screaming beside her. She was flooded with relief.

 

“Not so fast,” Grindelwald said with a smile. 

 

“What are you going to do, Grindelwald? You can’t exactly torture me here in front of Queenie, she’d never forgive you. You’d lose your precious Legilimens,” Tina taunted.

 

“Are you sure?” he answered and looked between the two sisters. Queenie made no attempt to stop him as he lifted his wand towards Tina. 

 

The betrayal was like the twist of a knife in her stomach, and she wanted to throw up. How could her sister allow this? How could she believe the foul man? How did she believe that Tina would join them if this was their supposed attempt at getting her to switch sides? That must have been a lie they told Queenie - they definitely had not been captured and imprisoned for that purpose. If only she could get her to see-

 

Before she could continue that thought, she heard Grindelwald speak again. “ Crucio .”

 

Tina didn’t even have time to brace herself before pain was everywhere. It was pooling into her mind too, now. She screamed, unable to escape once again. Alongside the pain, though, there was rage. At Grindelwald, and although she didn’t want to admit it, at Queenie too. 

 

Through teary eyes she saw a flicker of hurt, or perhaps doubt, cross Queenie’s face, but she composed herself quickly.

 

Tina’s hand shot out to grab Theseus’ arm, her eyes pleading as her scream turned into a sob. She wanted to get away more than anything. She heard Theseus cast a spell, sending sparks toward the sky, signalling that they needed help. 

 

Tina started to convulse, but her nails kept digging into Theseus’ skin. Despite her foggy mind, she managed to make out Queenie speaking.

 

“That’s enough, I think, Gellert,” Queenie said in a hushed tone as she placed a hand on Grindelwald’s shoulder. 

 

The pain ceased suddenly, and Tina’s limbs went slack at the immediate stop, releasing Theseus from her grip.

 

“I hope you appreciate your sister, Tina,” Grindelwald said smugly.

 

She scowled at him, and as she pushed herself up, Theseus grabbed her hand again and they began to run toward a pair of Aurors moving towards them. Tina heard spells being cast at them by Grindelwald’s followers, but they managed to shield themselves, grateful for the one thing their wands were still useful for.

 

Strangely, Grindelwald wasn’t following them. Was he really letting them get away?

 

A spell passed through their protective barriers, and Theseus tripped and crashed to the floor.

 

“Tina, run!” he shouted at her.

 

Tina did not listen to him as she ran back to him, pulling him across the ground. She looked at the quickly approaching Aurors, eyes wide and desperate. One of them grabbed Tina’s arm, the other held on to Theseus as they prepared to Apparate.

 

Just as they were leaving the courtyard, there was a burst of bright green, accompanied by Grindelwald’s surprisingly calm voice.

“ Avada Kedavra. ”

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next one will be the last, this time for certain :)
I'm sorry if some of Queenie's behaviour seems OOC, but this is the way I imagined her having been 'brainwashed' by Grindelwald throughout her time with him in Nurmengard. I don't see how else she could go along with all his actions in the movies

Chapter 10

Summary:

Nelson finds himself safe in the Ministry, and slowly but surely his fellow Aurors return.

Notes:

Final chapter you guys! I'm sad it's over but also idk how the story could have progressed any longer.

Nelson had been waiting for what felt like hours in the British Ministry, though it was probably more like a few minutes. He had been one of the first to get out - a British Auror had grabbed him and apparated out with him, but Nelson wanted to stay and fight. When he found himself in the Ministry, he was furious. He felt like he had betrayed his friends still stuck in the castle.

 

Once he had arrived, he saw a man who looked a lot like Theseus Scamander sitting nearby on the ground checking on unconscious Aurors who had also been transported here from Nurmengard.

 

“Scamander?” Nelson asked.

 

The man looked up questioningly. “Yes?”

 

“Are you Theseus’ brother?”

 

“Yes. Newt. The Ministry got Theseus’ Patronus and I was asked to wait here,” he answered. Of course, Newt, that was his name. Tina had mentioned him only a day or two ago in the castle. “Why do you ask?”

 

“You just look a lot like him,” Nelson responded.

 

“You’ve seen Theseus? Where is he?” Newt asked.

 

Nelson paused. He didn’t know whether he should mention Tina or not. “He was with me, we got separated just a few minutes ago.”

 

Newt breathed a sigh of relief. So he was alive. “Have you seen… um… Miss Goldstein?”

 

Nelson swallowed. “Yes.”

 

“Where is she? Is she alive?”

 

“She’s…” he trailed off. Newt’s face molded into worry. “Last time I saw Tina she was alright.” Nelson decided not to mention their encounter with Queenie and how hurt she had looked. Newt sat back down, looking relieved. 

 

They heard a cough, and Newt scuttered over to assist a British Auror who had seemingly just woken up. She looked at him in confusion. “Theseus?”

 

“No, sorry to disappoint,” Newt said with a smile. The Auror looked around in a panic, confused. 

 

“No, no, no, Grindelwald attacked him. Is he here? Is he alright?” she said, breaking into a cough as the panic in her voice rose.

 

Newt and Nelson looked at each other, exchanging worried glances. “No, we think he’s still in Nurmengard.”

 

“Oh no.” She stood up and started pacing around the room, crossing her arms in front of her.

 

Nelson was about to stand up to comfort her when he heard the familiar sound of someone apparating. Another British Auror landed on the ground, holding on tightly to an unconscious man. “Waylon!” Nelson shouted as he rushed over.

 

“Keep an eye on him, I have to go back,” the British Auror explained as he apparated out.

 

Waylon was unconscious on the floor. He was bleeding from a deep wound on his shoulder, and Nelson motioned for Newt to come over. “He’s bleeding, can you help him?”

 

Newt nodded and got to work. Small talk with Theseus while stuck in their small room in the castle meant that he had heard all about Newt, including how good he had become at healing magic as a result of his care for magical creatures.

 

“What happened to his neck?” Newt asked after a few minutes, gesturing at the scar. Nelson didn’t want to explain, and it turned out he didn’t have to.

 

The Aurors in the room heard the sound of Apparition again, this time accompanied by a thud as four people hit the ground. One of the Aurors landed standing up, almost losing his balance as he realised the three others were dragging him down. He let go and stumbled backwards, his eyes wide with panic.

 

“Richards!” Newt called, recognising the British Auror. The man’s eyes shifted between one of the bodies on the floor and Newt.

 

“Scamander,” he said, his voice dripping with worry. “Stay over there!”

 

Nelson, knowing the command wasn’t directed at him, hurried over to the others. The first one he saw was Theseus - his face and clothes were covered in dirt. He groaned quietly as he shifted his head, taking in his surroundings. Nelson let out a breath he didn’t realise he had been holding.

 

Beside him, the British Auror that had brought Waylon to the Ministry was holding onto Theseus’ arm and scrambling to get up. He looked uninjured, and like Richards, he looked panicked. 

 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered so only Nelson could hear him. “I don’t know who he hit.” Nelson blinked, and a chill ran down his spine.

 

Nelson looked at the last body on the ground. He noticed Tina’s hand on Theseus’ forearm, simply lying there motionless. “Tina?”

 

At that, Newt turned to Nelson, his eyes hopeful. He really did care about her, perhaps he even loved her. Nelson noticed tears in Newt’s eyes as he smiled ever so slightly. 

 

Nelson turned back to Tina’s hand, trying to ignore Newt’s happiness. His gaze moved up Tina’s arm, past her chest that didn’t seem to be moving, up to her face, still half covered in blood. Again.

 

He crawled over closer to her and lightly tapped her cheek. “Tina?” he whispered again, his voice wavering.

 

All of a sudden, Theseus sat up, noticing the room he found himself in. He saw Newt across the room with the still unconscious Waylon. “Theseus!” he exclaimed, relief in his voice.

 

Theseus ignored him and got onto his knees to look at Tina too. His eyes widened, and he looked up to Nelson, who subtly shook his head. Theseus fell backwards, his hands instinctively catching him, and Nelson heard a muffled sob.

 

Tina was not moving. There was no small rise or fall of her chest, no hint of a heartbeat in the arteries on her neck. No move of her open eyes, staring blankly. Nelson leaned forward, trying to listen for a breath. It was in vain, and he knew it. He just didn’t want to believe it.

 

“Theseus? What’s wrong with Tina?” Newt asked, his voice no longer hopeful. Theseus didn’t respond; he simply stared into space, in shock.

 

“I thought he missed. I thought we were fast enough,” Theseus said quietly.

 

Theseus’ words confirmed what Nelson had already known but didn’t want to admit.

 

“She dragged me… I told her to run.” Newt started to move towards them as Theseus spoke. “She saved me. It’s my fault.”

 

At the sight of Tina, Newt fell to his knees, his face scrunched up in confusion and sorrow. “Tina? Tina, listen to me. Wake up!” he begged as he shook her shoulders.

 

Nelson moved out of Newt’s way - he knew he needed to be here with her. “Tina, please,” he whispered as tears ran down his face.

 

“When we were in the courtyard, right before we got out… the fear in her eyes, it had gone out in an instant. I thought it was because we were free, I thought…” Theseus trailed off.

 

Newt was gently caressing Tina’s cheek now as he cried. He seemed to be ignoring the blood - he was focussed on Tina. Nelson wished there was something he could do, anything at all. He stood up and slammed his fists into the wall in frustration, angry at himself, at MACUSA, at Theseus, at Queenie, at everyone. But especially Grindelwald. If he ever got his hands on him, he would make him pay, damn the law.

 

“It was all for nothing… everything she did… it was for nothing.”

 

The room fell silent for a moment. The air felt heavy with sorrow, and the crackling of several people apparating into the room surprised Nelson. Some had brought the other Aurors who had been captured, others had apparated alone.

 

“Let me go back to the castle!” Nelson demanded as he marched towards one of the British Aurors.

 

“No, I can’t let you do that,” came the response.

 

“We need to get Grindelwald! He killed Tina! Let me go back!”

 

The Auror hesitated, eyes shifting to where Newt was cradling Tina. “It doesn’t matter. Grindelwald’s gone.”

 

Nelson stepped back, shocked. “How? How did you manage to mess up a rescue mission this much?”

 

“We weren’t there for Grindelwald. We were there for you and the other Aurors.”

 

“What about Queenie? Is she with you? You must have taken prisoners.” Newt looked up at Nelson, confused. “Queenie was with Grindelwald, did you at least get her?” Nelson shouted.

 

“No, we believe she left with him.”

 

“She let him kill her sister! And she’s still with him?” At this point, Nelson had given up trying to convince the Auror to let him return. He was just trying not to explode with rage.

 

Another Auror answered him. “I was close to them. She… I don’t think she knew that Tina was hit, she looked really confused.”

 

Theseus snapped out of his daze. “She was right there. She knew. Queenie was right there, and she didn’t even say goodbye.”

 

“I never got to say goodbye,” Newt whispered.

 

Nelson, not knowing what to say, looked back at Tina’s empty eyes. She almost looked peaceful. He hoped she somehow could hear them, hear Newt’s words that must have meant everything to her. “I loved her, and I never told her.”

 

“I think she knew,” Theseus said as he started to walk over to Newt. He crouched down beside him and put an arm over his shoulders, pulling him into a sideways hug. Nelson looked on with tears in his eyes.

 

“Tina never got to say goodbye.”

Notes:

WOW I suck at writing endings. That was difficult