![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rakashavia http://ift.tt/2jGrltm:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hargreaves1999 said: I love following your discourse! But what happens if Newt doesn’t just get sick but dangerously sick…as in the very real possibility that Grindelwald’s youngest might die. I’d think Theseus would completely freak out but what about Grindelwald? Could it be a turning point?
Hmm. Hmmmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmm. I honestly don’t know. I imagine that Grindelwald is, by turns, furious and worried sick in his own way. He’d probably yank all of them out of the case and take the sick twin (Newt in this scenario) and get the best Healing shit that he can get his hands on to make him better.
I’d also be very frightened for Graves in this scenario because Grindelwald might turn around and blame it on him. You’re supposed to taking care of them, Director, and you let this happen to his son.
@hamelin-born What do you think?
I don’t think that Grindelwald would be capable of caring for the twins as a father at this point in time. It’s too soon; Grindelwald is still focused on them as possessions, and the rage he feels might be the rage that something other then him is exerting any kind of control over his offspring. It’s the rage of a child who is threatened with a loss of a toy; it’s the rage of a tyrant who roars you will die only when I permit it!
It’s the rage of a man who, unable to find another outlet for his fury, would turn his anger on the closest available target - namely, Graves. Who has to be scared out of his skin by now, but is still completely unprepared when Newt and Theseus launch themselves at him, basically trying to shield the bigger man with their bodies - because fuck that. They are not letting Grindelwald hurt him, he can’t hurt Percy, they will not let him kill their friend, whose care is the only reason that Newt didn’t fucking die days ago.
…it might still go badly for Graves. But it would go badly only in the sense of mundane torture, not death.
Oh yes. I think that if the twins threw themselves on Graves, Grindelwald would shoot an utterly poisonous look at him, drag them both off him, force Newt back into bed and then get to work on fixing the situation. But Graves would be left unharmed. Why? Grindelwald isn’t saying.
(This actually reminds me of a scenario that I haven’t decided whether or not it happens in this verse but there’s been a fight between the Dumbledore brothers and Grindelwald again. Both brothers are down and Albus looks up from where he’s sprawled to see Gellert standing over Aberforth in an absolute rage, wand raised. He manages to fling himself over Aberforth before Gellert can cast a spell, not saying but just covering his brother as much as he can. If he wants to hurt/kill Aberforth, he’ll have to do the same to Albus. And my mind can’t think of what happens next).
Because why not? Grindelwald isn’t letting the twins get away with this, but it would be counter-productive at the moment. He still needs them relatively in one piece, and Graves is doing an excellent job at that, current circumstances excepted. After he’s done fixing Newt, I do think that Grindelwald would torture Graves in front of the twins briefly, just to slam the point home - I do what I want, and don’t you dare tell me otherwise! But - well. After he’s calmed down a little, he’s probably slightly pleased - it’s nice to see that his boys have such an ardent friend and/or love interest. He’ll make a wonderful second-in-command for them, once all three of them have come around to his way of thinking.
Oh my heart. Oh, the parallels there, except no, not this time, Albus is not letting it happen this time, NO! And him doing what he should have done last time and throwing himself in front of his younger sibling, his last sibling, he will not let it happen. Perhaps this happens during the rescue attempt preceeding the Big Boss Battle - when Tina, Albus, Aberforth, and the rest of the crew went up against Grindelwald, and would have lost if Tina hadn’t managed to unlatch the case.
Yeah, he would do that. And then throw the three back into the case, slamming it shut. Pfft, Grindelwald, with every horrible, awful, terrible thing you have done to them, they will never join you. Keep dreaming, though.
Grindelwald can see the defiant expression on Albus’s face through that curtain of auburn hair (I headcanon him as having long hair when he’s younger) and with a wordless snarl, enchants chains around Albus, drawing them tight before yanking him up off a dazed, but still conscious Aberforth who is staring in mounting horror and dismay and telling Albus that they are leaving now, liebling, not noticing Tina recovering enough to send one last desperate spell hurtling at the now unguarded case….
And we both know what happens next. Graves and the twins explode out, and spellfire burns through the air - but we’ve talked this out before. We know how it ends - it ends with Albus Dumbledore protecting his family, it ends with the twins kicking ass, it ends with hugs and tears and Newt and Graves sharing a desperate, almost frantic ‘We’re Alive’ kiss - and then Aberforth starts enchanting portkeys left and right, because the three former captives are almost dead on their feet, and they need to get to a healer, now. They need to get behind strong wards, they need to get someplace safe -
And Hogwarts has always been one of the safest places in the world.
Headmaster Dippet is probably in shock when they start arriving in their states, but quickly takes command of the situation, getting them all to the mediwitch on hand (maybe Madame Pomfrey; we know that wizards and witches live very long lives normally) while also firecalling the Ministry and MACUSA (Seraphina breaks down privately into happy, happy tears when she’s told that Percival is alive, thank Isolt). Slughorn is helping to brew potions and pulling on his budding contacts. Healers from Saint Mungo’s are flooding in. Mama and Papa Scamander see their boys and come running at a break neck speed to just hold them and hug them and cry.
And finally, finally they are safe.
They are safe. But the ordeal of their captivity are not so easily erased; Theseus and Newt almost have a joint panic attack when the healers move to separate them. The twins refuse to let go of one another, and they drag Graves with them - for such a long time, safety meant each other, safety was NewtandSeusandPercy, the three of them, together. Mama and Papa Scamander are the first to recognize this behavior; in the end, the healers simply shove three beds together and the twins and Graves sleep in the same cuddle pile they’ve now shared for months.
The medical examinations yields the expected results - prolonged malnutrition, prolonged lack of sunlight, and every evidence of chronic stress, despair, fatigue, and worse. Graves, unsurprisingly, is worse off then the twins; even so, he’s the one to tell the (slightly edited) story through a haze of fatigue. He’s crashing quickly now; all the combatants are, and Newt and Theseus are already out like a light.
There’s an auror squad outside the door when they wake, a joint force of Ministry and MACUSA aurors standing guard. It’s more against the press then anyone else - reporters and newspapers are all but besiegeing the castle; the rescue made the headlines internationally. Everyone is talking about this, and everyone wants to speak to the heroes of the hour - a single picture of one of the combatants could make a photographer’s career.
It will die down in time. It always does. But there are owls flooding the castle with letters and well-wishes, gifts and reports and even the odd Howler or two - it’s all a bit overwhelming for three people who have been effectively shut away from the world for almost half a year.
In the end, the combatants kick everyone out, ward the room to hell and back, and then hold a meeting to get the story straight.
When they wake up to find an entire guard outside their door, see everyone they care about with them, that is probably such a huge relief. A reassurance that what happened wasn’t a dream, that they really are free. (Because what do you want to bet that one of them woke up and was terrified for a moment that it was all some kind of illusion that Grindelwald had made up just to fuck with them more?)
The twins and Graves, they really, truly just want to be left alone. Mama Scamander probably ends up being the one to put her foot down and give the mother of all scoldings to the reporters camped outside and to finally shame them all the way (her name is Ursa after all).
And, yeah, I can see them doing that. They need to be able to process this, to sort it out to themselves and to the others. So out everyone else goes.
It’s confirmation that they’re out. That they made it, and that – they don’t have to do it alone anymore. Theseus, Newt, and Percival have had only each other to rely on for so long, but now – now they have a chance to rest, to let someone else shoulder part of the burden. And burden it is, because Grindelwald is still out there, because there are unanswered questions and two separate governments who want nothing more to drag them in for a round of soft interrogation – because this is the most valuable opportunity in years, from both a propaganda and an information standpoint. Three wizards, who have been inside Nurmengard, who have been (involuntarily) in close contact with Gellert Grindelwald – think of the information they could give, on the defenses, on the man himself, his weaknesses, his strengths, his potential resources! Think of the morale coup – three wizards, who escaped hell with their souls intact, who faced the darkest wizard of their age and defied him!
…meanwhile, all said three wizards really want right now is to enjoy clean sheets, actual mattresses, and good food (what do you bet they tested everything Grindelwald gave them for potions or poisons, and even then they were hesitant in eating it?). They want to bask in the presence of family and friends, they just want – they want the world to go away for a little while.
But the world isn’t going to go away, so everyone who was involved in The Rescue, and everyone who knows The Secret, gets together for a council of war – they kick out everyone else, and they plot. And that’s when the Fidelus is proposed, and that’s when they put it into action (after Aberforth wrings that Unbreakable Vow from his brother).
I think that mama and papa Scamander are let in on The Secret as well – and they’re shocked, of course, but these are their children. They blood-adopted them; they don’t give a damn. (And Newt and Theseus never thought that their parents would reject them, but it’s still such a relief.)
In the end, the story is kept idiot-simple. They’re going to let MACUSA and the Ministry draw their own conclusions; they tell the story of how Grinddelwald kidnapped Theseus, kidnapped Newt, and tried to sway them to his cause with propaganda and psychological torture – they’re not going to offer any theories on why he did so. The various wizarding governments will assume that Grindelwald kidnapped Newt as leverage against Theseus, and that the Dark Wizard went after the older Scamander because he was trying to convert both him and Graves to his cause – it’s even true, from a certain point of view, and it would probably hold up under Veritaserum, with the Fidelus stemming the damning details.
Meanwhile, Albus, Tina, and the others will confess that they basically stumbled on the information about Grindelwald’s location and defenses by accident; there wasn’t time to inform anyway, and they had to try something, anything… Again, it’s a form of truth.
…also, Theseus is probably going to demand hazard pay for Newt. He swore his brother in as an Acting Auror, after all, and if this doesn’t meet the definition of hazardous conditions, NOTHING does.
It definitely is a moral coup for both the British and the Americans (and possibly the rest of the world as well). Look, it says. It’s possible to defy Grindelwald and survive. It’s possible to escape him and survive. He’s not unbeatable, the Scamander brothers did it, Percival Graves did it. (Grindelwald is even more unhappy when he starts hearing those whispers trickle in). It’s probably also a bit of a moral blow to Grindelwald’s followers, all things considering.
I think, once they’ve rested and put the Secret under the Fidelius Charm, that they do tell the Ministry and MACUSA everything that they can about Grindelwald’s defenses, secrets, aims, weaknesses, etc. There’s not a whole lot that they can tell. He was careful not to let them see too much after all, but the information they give is still invaluable.
Yeah, they probably did. They were paranoid that he would slip some kind of Dark potion or poison into their food, something that would slowly but surely start to twist and warp them as he wished…I don’t even want to think about it.
Of course, Ursa and Helios don’t care. These are their babies! They changed their diapers, rocked them to sleep, cuddled them when they were sick, consoled them when they were sad, celebrated their successes. It doesn’t matter a single bit who their blood parents are. It does give them some understanding, though, of why Albus had those two infants all those years ago. (What do you want to bet that they’re heartsick for Albus about that? How painful that must have been, but brave, so, so brave…)
Newt gets hazard pay. They all get hazard pay. And numerous rewards and donations for their ordeal. At this moment, they are the darlings of the majority of the Wizarding community.
I’d imagine that Graves and Theseus’ reputations skyrocket overnight – after all, they’re the aurors who defied the Dark Lord and lived. Newt’s contributions are, for the most part, overlooked; although he’s lauded for surviving the unthinkable, it’s generally assumed that his heroic brother and his auror boyfriend (and isn’t that a romantic story – the two of them finding true love in the face of torment!) did the actual fancy spellwork. …unless their respective DMLE request pensive memories from the three of them; the sight of the Scamander twins working together and managing to hold Grindlewald at bay would be – explosive.
Newt probably kept a fair amount of food on hand for feeding his animals, but humans need human food, and they couldn’t survive off of it indefinitely. …I have the sudden mental image of one of the three of them snapping at a healer passing them a potion before shamefully apologizing; it’s just – Grindelwald used to do that, hand one of them a potion and tell them to ‘drink’. It was never anything more the veritaserum, usually, but it’s – still an ingrained reflex. And no, I don’t think Gellert would ever have tried to warp them with a potion; he wanted them willing, after all, without the crutch of drugs.
Ursa and Helios probably drag out the baby books and start swapping stories with Albus – the poor, lonely man. Albus is also lowkey invited to every family celebration/occasion from then on, as if Aberforth - they take all the proper precautions, of course, but the Scamanders are essentially adopting the Dumbledore brothers, so there.
Tina probably points out that Newt could use his newfound fame/positive public image to argue for better rights/representations/publicity for creatures, and Graves offers to help him with that – it’s not going to last forever, so he might as well use it while he can. Theseus and Graves, in turn, are going to dedicate most of their own rewards/donations etc to their departments and sinking funds into preparation for the war to come – they all know, by now, that there’s going to be a war. It’s inescapable.
Newt is all too happy to let people assume that Theseus and Graves did all the work. He just wants to sink back into his life as a magizoologist and he can’t do that if he has the Ministry after him to become an Auror. (I think Theseus and Graves would maneuver things so that they didn’t have to; they don’t want anyone to try and make Newt become an Auror when he did all of that purely for survival’s sake: his, his twin’s and Graves’).
Our poor boys. Yeah, he’d want them willing, but I think that was always a paranoia there. That eventually he’d get exasperated or tired of waiting. And, ugh, why, Grindelwald, why? You already had pretty much everything you wanted to know, why the Veritaserum?
And HELL YES to the Scamanders unanimously adopting the Dumbledore brothers.
That is true that Newt could do that. And people would be more inclined to listen now.
I’m imaging all of them just rolling up their sleeves, grim faced, knowing that Grindelwald is still out there and he’s not going to stop just because the twins and Graves are out of his hands now…
That fact that Newt Scamander managed to survive a pitched battle with the darkest wizard of his day - even if they successfully imply that Graves, Theseus, and Professor Dumbledore did most of the heavy lifting - is still more then 90% of the wizarding population of the world could boast of. Although I think that if anyone suggests pressing Newt to be an Auror, Graves and Thesues will shut them down hard. …he might retain the title, but mainly as something - relatively ceremonial, perhaps? Although that’s what it looks like on a casual glance, Theseus and Graves made sure that some of the more important rights conferred by the position were ironclad; they have a fair idea of what the future is going to be like, and they want Newt to legally be allowed to use the Exceptionally Nasty Curses and fighting skills that were so painfully won.
…also, for some reason, I keep thinking that part of the ‘rewards’ they were offered was dual citizenship in Britain and the USA. (Both countries would be very happy to point at the ‘heroes’ and say ‘they’re some of our own!’)
Honestly, I don’t think it would even have occurred to Grindelwald to try anything along those lines. He was simply so assured of what he saw as his ‘inevitable’ victory it would never have crossed his mind as a viable option. And - I think that it was less about compelling them to be truthful and more about forcing them to take an unknown potion, from his hand, and drink it - knowing that it could be anything.
Albus and Aberforth might be bewildered, but - quietly happy. It’s been a while since they had anyone but each other, and - the twins. They can openly acknowledge their relationship to the twins; Newt and Theseus might initially interact with them as if the two of them were favored uncles, or something along those lines - but the Scamander twins have always had big hearts, and I don’t think it would be long until they saw themselves as having three parents. And to Albus - that would be a blessing beyond anything he could imagine.
But first, they have time to heal. And they need it - desperately.
Yes. They would definitely want Newt to have that option to use those spells. (Are they paranoid that a few of Grindelwald’s more overzealous followers might target them - especially the perceived “weak link”, Newt? Maybe just a bit.)
Yeah, I can imagine them doing that. It would definitely be a propaganda coup and would be seen as facilitating closer ties between the British and American wizarding communities.
Nah, Grindelwald probably didn’t consider it. He thought there was no way that they could possibly escape and it would only be a short time before he had Albus as well…ugh, I don’t want to think about it.
…..Grindelwald, I’ve said it before, I will say it again: You are a complete, unmitigated asshole.
I love that part with Albus and Aberforth. No, it probably wouldn’t take them long to start considering themselves as having three parents. Not all. (See, Grindelwald, this is what you could have if you weren’t such a jerk).
They so do. They really, really do. But what are the chances that they’ll be given it?
They’re paranoid with good cause, to be sure, but Grindelwald’s followers only attempted to attack the once. (They were also idiotic enough to try and attack New in his case - a lot of creatures were very, VERY violent in their defense of their Mummy.) The fact that they were defeated was not the reason that they never tried it again; it’s that Grindelwald took exception to the people who tried to attack his sons. It was bloody. Very bloody. He made an example of them, and - no one every tried it again. No one. (They mainly see it as an instance of Grindelwald going ‘these are mine to destroy, mine and no one else’s’; Theseus, when he caught wind of it, knew the real reason Grindelwald had - done that, and cold snuck into his bones.)
Well, there’s also the fact that Newt Scamander announces his engagement to two Americans somewhere down the line - granted, interest in him has mainly died down by that point in time, but it still gets some attention.
Just wait until the first time one of the twins comes to Albus in a complete panic over something inconsequential - maybe Newt babbling to his former professor about how he likes Percival and Tina and he doesn’t know what to do, Da, they’re just both so perfect! …Albus will both be overjoyed at the fact that his children trust him enough to come with him with personal matters like this, while simultaneously feeling his heart melt into a gooey pile of love and affection. Newt called him ‘Da’.
As long as they’re in Hogwarts, they’re safe. Not even Grindelwald is idiotic enough to throw himself against the wards on perhaps the most heavily (magically) fortified structure in England, but - yes. I have the mental image of the press leaking news that the twins/Graves are being removed/heading to someplace else for recovery, and Grindelwald launches a full-on attack on that location. (It was just a rumor, thanks be to Merlin - the Graves-Scamanders-Goldsteins were safe at Hogwarts the entire time.) It does, however, prompt them to start trying to figure out how to live their lives from that point on - namely, with the knowledge that a Dark Wizard wanted them. (Another reason they rush up the research on the Fidelius - from now on, the GSS will live /exclusively/ at properties under that charm.
…….That was monumentally stupid of them. Not just attacking Newt in his case (seriously, all of those animals love him, what were you all thinking?), but also attacking someone who Grindelwald has laid claim to. I imagine that he had warned his followers beforehand that he and only he was to handle the Scamander brothers, Graves, and their loved ones. It seems that some of them simply didn’t get the memo. Well, people always seem to do better with a demonstration of the consequences, don’t they? (Do you think he’d send Newt the remains? Like “This is what I will do to those who think to harm you” or something.)
You can bet that there were people following their love story avidly and are practically swooning when the Graves-Scamander-Goldstein engagement is announced.
Oh, Albus. He’s fit to burst with happiness. He could produce a million patronuses right then and there. (What do you want to bet that Aberforth gets choked up the first time one of the twins calls him Uncle?)
That probably completely and utterly terrified the Scamander twins and Graves. Because it shows that the second that they set foot out of Hogwarts (or a similarly warded place), he’s going to come after them again. Oh Merlin, he’s going to come after them again, they can’t go through that again, they just can’t. (Because I’m morbid? What were the casualty figures? How much rampant destruction did he cause on the basis of a rumor, just a hint really, that his sons and/or Graves were there?)
The research into the Fidelius Charm goes into overtime after that.
After so long being unable to defend their Mummy, a great deal of the animals would have relished the chance to be proactive in his defense. And no, he wouldn’t send Newt and the others the remains; he’d simply display them for all his followers to see and take note of, a silent (or not so silent) reminder: this is the fate of those who disobey me.
Grindelwald is probably among those following his son’s tentative romance. The gossip papers are a surprisingly good source of information, and he smiles, knife-sharp and gloating, when he learns of Newt’s engagement. His son has just given more hostages to fortune. His family is growing once again – his family. (This is very much the way he sees it. They came from him; they belong to him). And perhaps there shall be grandchildren – that would be ideal.
What do you want to bet Grindelwald sent them a congratulatory note on their engagement, formally welcoming Tina and Percival to the family? He would have put them down in the Grindelwald Family Register, if not for that pesky Fidelus (years later, facing down another Dark Lord, Grindelwald will be desperately grateful for that Fidelus – it means there is no evidence for Voldemort to find.)
I imagine that it’s Theseus who does that, actually – he’s taken to stopping in at the Hog’s Heade for a drink on a slightly more regular basis – nowadays, if he comes in at closing time, he and Aberforth have a quiet, private drink, and bemoan the general stupidity of brothers everywhere. He probably ends up calling Aberforth as ‘Uncle Abe’ – it just slips into conversation, and he would never have noticed that he did it except for the fact that Aberforth just stopped dead in his tracks.
Honestly, despite the fact that the twins and Percival are equally terrified, Graves doesn’t have quite as much a target on his back as the twins. Grindelwald is obsessed with the twins; Grave sis merely incidental. It also slams home just what their lives are going to be like after this – they refuse to live in fear, they will not live in terror of Grindelwald, but they are going to have to be so careful. …it’s actually academic at this point; neither of the three are recovered enough to be transferred to a major wizarding hospital. They’re not going anywhere for a while – and that gives them a good excuse to ransack the library.
I see it as more of a targeted strike – Grindelwald wasn’t interested in causing gratuitous damage, he just wanted to get his sons back. Meaning that – and I assume the rumors put them at a lovely seaside wizarding community or something – he simply walked into said community, making no attempt to hide his presence, and systematically bulldozed his way through every building until he was able to determine that the twins weren’t there. He killed anything that got in his way (mainly the local auror force, probably less then ten people – all woefully unprepared for a visit from a Dark Lord), ignored anything that cringed and didn’t impede his passage, and simply left when it turned out his information was incorrect. More property damage then anything else, although some people did die – the place was all but leveled to the ground.
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hamelin-born:
stylishbutdefinitelyillegal:
hargreaves1999 said: I love following your discourse! But what happens if Newt doesn’t just get sick but dangerously sick…as in the very real possibility that Grindelwald’s youngest might die. I’d think Theseus would completely freak out but what about Grindelwald? Could it be a turning point?
Hmm. Hmmmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmm. I honestly don’t know. I imagine that Grindelwald is, by turns, furious and worried sick in his own way. He’d probably yank all of them out of the case and take the sick twin (Newt in this scenario) and get the best Healing shit that he can get his hands on to make him better.
I’d also be very frightened for Graves in this scenario because Grindelwald might turn around and blame it on him. You’re supposed to taking care of them, Director, and you let this happen to his son.
@hamelin-born What do you think?
I don’t think that Grindelwald would be capable of caring for the twins as a father at this point in time. It’s too soon; Grindelwald is still focused on them as possessions, and the rage he feels might be the rage that something other then him is exerting any kind of control over his offspring. It’s the rage of a child who is threatened with a loss of a toy; it’s the rage of a tyrant who roars you will die only when I permit it!
It’s the rage of a man who, unable to find another outlet for his fury, would turn his anger on the closest available target - namely, Graves. Who has to be scared out of his skin by now, but is still completely unprepared when Newt and Theseus launch themselves at him, basically trying to shield the bigger man with their bodies - because fuck that. They are not letting Grindelwald hurt him, he can’t hurt Percy, they will not let him kill their friend, whose care is the only reason that Newt didn’t fucking die days ago.
…it might still go badly for Graves. But it would go badly only in the sense of mundane torture, not death.
Oh yes. I think that if the twins threw themselves on Graves, Grindelwald would shoot an utterly poisonous look at him, drag them both off him, force Newt back into bed and then get to work on fixing the situation. But Graves would be left unharmed. Why? Grindelwald isn’t saying.
(This actually reminds me of a scenario that I haven’t decided whether or not it happens in this verse but there’s been a fight between the Dumbledore brothers and Grindelwald again. Both brothers are down and Albus looks up from where he’s sprawled to see Gellert standing over Aberforth in an absolute rage, wand raised. He manages to fling himself over Aberforth before Gellert can cast a spell, not saying but just covering his brother as much as he can. If he wants to hurt/kill Aberforth, he’ll have to do the same to Albus. And my mind can’t think of what happens next).
Because why not? Grindelwald isn’t letting the twins get away with this, but it would be counter-productive at the moment. He still needs them relatively in one piece, and Graves is doing an excellent job at that, current circumstances excepted. After he’s done fixing Newt, I do think that Grindelwald would torture Graves in front of the twins briefly, just to slam the point home - I do what I want, and don’t you dare tell me otherwise! But - well. After he’s calmed down a little, he’s probably slightly pleased - it’s nice to see that his boys have such an ardent friend and/or love interest. He’ll make a wonderful second-in-command for them, once all three of them have come around to his way of thinking.
Oh my heart. Oh, the parallels there, except no, not this time, Albus is not letting it happen this time, NO! And him doing what he should have done last time and throwing himself in front of his younger sibling, his last sibling, he will not let it happen. Perhaps this happens during the rescue attempt preceeding the Big Boss Battle - when Tina, Albus, Aberforth, and the rest of the crew went up against Grindelwald, and would have lost if Tina hadn’t managed to unlatch the case.
Yeah, he would do that. And then throw the three back into the case, slamming it shut. Pfft, Grindelwald, with every horrible, awful, terrible thing you have done to them, they will never join you. Keep dreaming, though.
Grindelwald can see the defiant expression on Albus’s face through that curtain of auburn hair (I headcanon him as having long hair when he’s younger) and with a wordless snarl, enchants chains around Albus, drawing them tight before yanking him up off a dazed, but still conscious Aberforth who is staring in mounting horror and dismay and telling Albus that they are leaving now, liebling, not noticing Tina recovering enough to send one last desperate spell hurtling at the now unguarded case….
And we both know what happens next. Graves and the twins explode out, and spellfire burns through the air - but we’ve talked this out before. We know how it ends - it ends with Albus Dumbledore protecting his family, it ends with the twins kicking ass, it ends with hugs and tears and Newt and Graves sharing a desperate, almost frantic ‘We’re Alive’ kiss - and then Aberforth starts enchanting portkeys left and right, because the three former captives are almost dead on their feet, and they need to get to a healer, now. They need to get behind strong wards, they need to get someplace safe -
And Hogwarts has always been one of the safest places in the world.
Headmaster Dippet is probably in shock when they start arriving in their states, but quickly takes command of the situation, getting them all to the mediwitch on hand (maybe Madame Pomfrey; we know that wizards and witches live very long lives normally) while also firecalling the Ministry and MACUSA (Seraphina breaks down privately into happy, happy tears when she’s told that Percival is alive, thank Isolt). Slughorn is helping to brew potions and pulling on his budding contacts. Healers from Saint Mungo’s are flooding in. Mama and Papa Scamander see their boys and come running at a break neck speed to just hold them and hug them and cry.
And finally, finally they are safe.
They are safe. But the ordeal of their captivity are not so easily erased; Theseus and Newt almost have a joint panic attack when the healers move to separate them. The twins refuse to let go of one another, and they drag Graves with them - for such a long time, safety meant each other, safety was NewtandSeusandPercy, the three of them, together. Mama and Papa Scamander are the first to recognize this behavior; in the end, the healers simply shove three beds together and the twins and Graves sleep in the same cuddle pile they’ve now shared for months.
The medical examinations yields the expected results - prolonged malnutrition, prolonged lack of sunlight, and every evidence of chronic stress, despair, fatigue, and worse. Graves, unsurprisingly, is worse off then the twins; even so, he’s the one to tell the (slightly edited) story through a haze of fatigue. He’s crashing quickly now; all the combatants are, and Newt and Theseus are already out like a light.
There’s an auror squad outside the door when they wake, a joint force of Ministry and MACUSA aurors standing guard. It’s more against the press then anyone else - reporters and newspapers are all but besiegeing the castle; the rescue made the headlines internationally. Everyone is talking about this, and everyone wants to speak to the heroes of the hour - a single picture of one of the combatants could make a photographer’s career.
It will die down in time. It always does. But there are owls flooding the castle with letters and well-wishes, gifts and reports and even the odd Howler or two - it’s all a bit overwhelming for three people who have been effectively shut away from the world for almost half a year.
In the end, the combatants kick everyone out, ward the room to hell and back, and then hold a meeting to get the story straight.
When they wake up to find an entire guard outside their door, see everyone they care about with them, that is probably such a huge relief. A reassurance that what happened wasn’t a dream, that they really are free. (Because what do you want to bet that one of them woke up and was terrified for a moment that it was all some kind of illusion that Grindelwald had made up just to fuck with them more?)
The twins and Graves, they really, truly just want to be left alone. Mama Scamander probably ends up being the one to put her foot down and give the mother of all scoldings to the reporters camped outside and to finally shame them all the way (her name is Ursa after all).
And, yeah, I can see them doing that. They need to be able to process this, to sort it out to themselves and to the others. So out everyone else goes.
It’s confirmation that they’re out. That they made it, and that – they don’t have to do it alone anymore. Theseus, Newt, and Percival have had only each other to rely on for so long, but now – now they have a chance to rest, to let someone else shoulder part of the burden. And burden it is, because Grindelwald is still out there, because there are unanswered questions and two separate governments who want nothing more to drag them in for a round of soft interrogation – because this is the most valuable opportunity in years, from both a propaganda and an information standpoint. Three wizards, who have been inside Nurmengard, who have been (involuntarily) in close contact with Gellert Grindelwald – think of the information they could give, on the defenses, on the man himself, his weaknesses, his strengths, his potential resources! Think of the morale coup – three wizards, who escaped hell with their souls intact, who faced the darkest wizard of their age and defied him!
…meanwhile, all said three wizards really want right now is to enjoy clean sheets, actual mattresses, and good food (what do you bet they tested everything Grindelwald gave them for potions or poisons, and even then they were hesitant in eating it?). They want to bask in the presence of family and friends, they just want – they want the world to go away for a little while.
But the world isn’t going to go away, so everyone who was involved in The Rescue, and everyone who knows The Secret, gets together for a council of war – they kick out everyone else, and they plot. And that’s when the Fidelus is proposed, and that’s when they put it into action (after Aberforth wrings that Unbreakable Vow from his brother).
I think that mama and papa Scamander are let in on The Secret as well – and they’re shocked, of course, but these are their children. They blood-adopted them; they don’t give a damn. (And Newt and Theseus never thought that their parents would reject them, but it’s still such a relief.)
In the end, the story is kept idiot-simple. They’re going to let MACUSA and the Ministry draw their own conclusions; they tell the story of how Grinddelwald kidnapped Theseus, kidnapped Newt, and tried to sway them to his cause with propaganda and psychological torture – they’re not going to offer any theories on why he did so. The various wizarding governments will assume that Grindelwald kidnapped Newt as leverage against Theseus, and that the Dark Wizard went after the older Scamander because he was trying to convert both him and Graves to his cause – it’s even true, from a certain point of view, and it would probably hold up under Veritaserum, with the Fidelus stemming the damning details.
Meanwhile, Albus, Tina, and the others will confess that they basically stumbled on the information about Grindelwald’s location and defenses by accident; there wasn’t time to inform anyway, and they had to try something, anything… Again, it’s a form of truth.
…also, Theseus is probably going to demand hazard pay for Newt. He swore his brother in as an Acting Auror, after all, and if this doesn’t meet the definition of hazardous conditions, NOTHING does.
It definitely is a moral coup for both the British and the Americans (and possibly the rest of the world as well). Look, it says. It’s possible to defy Grindelwald and survive. It’s possible to escape him and survive. He’s not unbeatable, the Scamander brothers did it, Percival Graves did it. (Grindelwald is even more unhappy when he starts hearing those whispers trickle in). It’s probably also a bit of a moral blow to Grindelwald’s followers, all things considering.
I think, once they’ve rested and put the Secret under the Fidelius Charm, that they do tell the Ministry and MACUSA everything that they can about Grindelwald’s defenses, secrets, aims, weaknesses, etc. There’s not a whole lot that they can tell. He was careful not to let them see too much after all, but the information they give is still invaluable.
Yeah, they probably did. They were paranoid that he would slip some kind of Dark potion or poison into their food, something that would slowly but surely start to twist and warp them as he wished…I don’t even want to think about it.
Of course, Ursa and Helios don’t care. These are their babies! They changed their diapers, rocked them to sleep, cuddled them when they were sick, consoled them when they were sad, celebrated their successes. It doesn’t matter a single bit who their blood parents are. It does give them some understanding, though, of why Albus had those two infants all those years ago. (What do you want to bet that they’re heartsick for Albus about that? How painful that must have been, but brave, so, so brave…)
Newt gets hazard pay. They all get hazard pay. And numerous rewards and donations for their ordeal. At this moment, they are the darlings of the majority of the Wizarding community.
I’d imagine that Graves and Theseus’ reputations skyrocket overnight – after all, they’re the aurors who defied the Dark Lord and lived. Newt’s contributions are, for the most part, overlooked; although he’s lauded for surviving the unthinkable, it’s generally assumed that his heroic brother and his auror boyfriend (and isn’t that a romantic story – the two of them finding true love in the face of torment!) did the actual fancy spellwork. …unless their respective DMLE request pensive memories from the three of them; the sight of the Scamander twins working together and managing to hold Grindlewald at bay would be – explosive.
Newt probably kept a fair amount of food on hand for feeding his animals, but humans need human food, and they couldn’t survive off of it indefinitely. …I have the sudden mental image of one of the three of them snapping at a healer passing them a potion before shamefully apologizing; it’s just – Grindelwald used to do that, hand one of them a potion and tell them to ‘drink’. It was never anything more the veritaserum, usually, but it’s – still an ingrained reflex. And no, I don’t think Gellert would ever have tried to warp them with a potion; he wanted them willing, after all, without the crutch of drugs.
Ursa and Helios probably drag out the baby books and start swapping stories with Albus – the poor, lonely man. Albus is also lowkey invited to every family celebration/occasion from then on, as if Aberforth - they take all the proper precautions, of course, but the Scamanders are essentially adopting the Dumbledore brothers, so there.
Tina probably points out that Newt could use his newfound fame/positive public image to argue for better rights/representations/publicity for creatures, and Graves offers to help him with that – it’s not going to last forever, so he might as well use it while he can. Theseus and Graves, in turn, are going to dedicate most of their own rewards/donations etc to their departments and sinking funds into preparation for the war to come – they all know, by now, that there’s going to be a war. It’s inescapable.
Newt is all too happy to let people assume that Theseus and Graves did all the work. He just wants to sink back into his life as a magizoologist and he can’t do that if he has the Ministry after him to become an Auror. (I think Theseus and Graves would maneuver things so that they didn’t have to; they don’t want anyone to try and make Newt become an Auror when he did all of that purely for survival’s sake: his, his twin’s and Graves’).
Our poor boys. Yeah, he’d want them willing, but I think that was always a paranoia there. That eventually he’d get exasperated or tired of waiting. And, ugh, why, Grindelwald, why? You already had pretty much everything you wanted to know, why the Veritaserum?
And HELL YES to the Scamanders unanimously adopting the Dumbledore brothers.
That is true that Newt could do that. And people would be more inclined to listen now.
I’m imaging all of them just rolling up their sleeves, grim faced, knowing that Grindelwald is still out there and he’s not going to stop just because the twins and Graves are out of his hands now…
That fact that Newt Scamander managed to survive a pitched battle with the darkest wizard of his day - even if they successfully imply that Graves, Theseus, and Professor Dumbledore did most of the heavy lifting - is still more then 90% of the wizarding population of the world could boast of. Although I think that if anyone suggests pressing Newt to be an Auror, Graves and Thesues will shut them down hard. …he might retain the title, but mainly as something - relatively ceremonial, perhaps? Although that’s what it looks like on a casual glance, Theseus and Graves made sure that some of the more important rights conferred by the position were ironclad; they have a fair idea of what the future is going to be like, and they want Newt to legally be allowed to use the Exceptionally Nasty Curses and fighting skills that were so painfully won.
…also, for some reason, I keep thinking that part of the ‘rewards’ they were offered was dual citizenship in Britain and the USA. (Both countries would be very happy to point at the ‘heroes’ and say ‘they’re some of our own!’)
Honestly, I don’t think it would even have occurred to Grindelwald to try anything along those lines. He was simply so assured of what he saw as his ‘inevitable’ victory it would never have crossed his mind as a viable option. And - I think that it was less about compelling them to be truthful and more about forcing them to take an unknown potion, from his hand, and drink it - knowing that it could be anything.
Albus and Aberforth might be bewildered, but - quietly happy. It’s been a while since they had anyone but each other, and - the twins. They can openly acknowledge their relationship to the twins; Newt and Theseus might initially interact with them as if the two of them were favored uncles, or something along those lines - but the Scamander twins have always had big hearts, and I don’t think it would be long until they saw themselves as having three parents. And to Albus - that would be a blessing beyond anything he could imagine.
But first, they have time to heal. And they need it - desperately.
Yes. They would definitely want Newt to have that option to use those spells. (Are they paranoid that a few of Grindelwald’s more overzealous followers might target them - especially the perceived “weak link”, Newt? Maybe just a bit.)
Yeah, I can imagine them doing that. It would definitely be a propaganda coup and would be seen as facilitating closer ties between the British and American wizarding communities.
Nah, Grindelwald probably didn’t consider it. He thought there was no way that they could possibly escape and it would only be a short time before he had Albus as well…ugh, I don’t want to think about it.
…..Grindelwald, I’ve said it before, I will say it again: You are a complete, unmitigated asshole.
I love that part with Albus and Aberforth. No, it probably wouldn’t take them long to start considering themselves as having three parents. Not all. (See, Grindelwald, this is what you could have if you weren’t such a jerk).
They so do. They really, really do. But what are the chances that they’ll be given it?
They’re paranoid with good cause, to be sure, but Grindelwald’s followers only attempted to attack the once. (They were also idiotic enough to try and attack New in his case - a lot of creatures were very, VERY violent in their defense of their Mummy.) The fact that they were defeated was not the reason that they never tried it again; it’s that Grindelwald took exception to the people who tried to attack his sons. It was bloody. Very bloody. He made an example of them, and - no one every tried it again. No one. (They mainly see it as an instance of Grindelwald going ‘these are mine to destroy, mine and no one else’s’; Theseus, when he caught wind of it, knew the real reason Grindelwald had - done that, and cold snuck into his bones.)
Well, there’s also the fact that Newt Scamander announces his engagement to two Americans somewhere down the line - granted, interest in him has mainly died down by that point in time, but it still gets some attention.
Just wait until the first time one of the twins comes to Albus in a complete panic over something inconsequential - maybe Newt babbling to his former professor about how he likes Percival and Tina and he doesn’t know what to do, Da, they’re just both so perfect! …Albus will both be overjoyed at the fact that his children trust him enough to come with him with personal matters like this, while simultaneously feeling his heart melt into a gooey pile of love and affection. Newt called him ‘Da’.
As long as they’re in Hogwarts, they’re safe. Not even Grindelwald is idiotic enough to throw himself against the wards on perhaps the most heavily (magically) fortified structure in England, but - yes. I have the mental image of the press leaking news that the twins/Graves are being removed/heading to someplace else for recovery, and Grindelwald launches a full-on attack on that location. (It was just a rumor, thanks be to Merlin - the Graves-Scamanders-Goldsteins were safe at Hogwarts the entire time.) It does, however, prompt them to start trying to figure out how to live their lives from that point on - namely, with the knowledge that a Dark Wizard wanted them. (Another reason they rush up the research on the Fidelius - from now on, the GSS will live /exclusively/ at properties under that charm.
…….That was monumentally stupid of them. Not just attacking Newt in his case (seriously, all of those animals love him, what were you all thinking?), but also attacking someone who Grindelwald has laid claim to. I imagine that he had warned his followers beforehand that he and only he was to handle the Scamander brothers, Graves, and their loved ones. It seems that some of them simply didn’t get the memo. Well, people always seem to do better with a demonstration of the consequences, don’t they? (Do you think he’d send Newt the remains? Like “This is what I will do to those who think to harm you” or something.)
You can bet that there were people following their love story avidly and are practically swooning when the Graves-Scamander-Goldstein engagement is announced.
Oh, Albus. He’s fit to burst with happiness. He could produce a million patronuses right then and there. (What do you want to bet that Aberforth gets choked up the first time one of the twins calls him Uncle?)
That probably completely and utterly terrified the Scamander twins and Graves. Because it shows that the second that they set foot out of Hogwarts (or a similarly warded place), he’s going to come after them again. Oh Merlin, he’s going to come after them again, they can’t go through that again, they just can’t. (Because I’m morbid? What were the casualty figures? How much rampant destruction did he cause on the basis of a rumor, just a hint really, that his sons and/or Graves were there?)
The research into the Fidelius Charm goes into overtime after that.
After so long being unable to defend their Mummy, a great deal of the animals would have relished the chance to be proactive in his defense. And no, he wouldn’t send Newt and the others the remains; he’d simply display them for all his followers to see and take note of, a silent (or not so silent) reminder: this is the fate of those who disobey me.
Grindelwald is probably among those following his son’s tentative romance. The gossip papers are a surprisingly good source of information, and he smiles, knife-sharp and gloating, when he learns of Newt’s engagement. His son has just given more hostages to fortune. His family is growing once again – his family. (This is very much the way he sees it. They came from him; they belong to him). And perhaps there shall be grandchildren – that would be ideal.
What do you want to bet Grindelwald sent them a congratulatory note on their engagement, formally welcoming Tina and Percival to the family? He would have put them down in the Grindelwald Family Register, if not for that pesky Fidelus (years later, facing down another Dark Lord, Grindelwald will be desperately grateful for that Fidelus – it means there is no evidence for Voldemort to find.)
I imagine that it’s Theseus who does that, actually – he’s taken to stopping in at the Hog’s Heade for a drink on a slightly more regular basis – nowadays, if he comes in at closing time, he and Aberforth have a quiet, private drink, and bemoan the general stupidity of brothers everywhere. He probably ends up calling Aberforth as ‘Uncle Abe’ – it just slips into conversation, and he would never have noticed that he did it except for the fact that Aberforth just stopped dead in his tracks.
Honestly, despite the fact that the twins and Percival are equally terrified, Graves doesn’t have quite as much a target on his back as the twins. Grindelwald is obsessed with the twins; Grave sis merely incidental. It also slams home just what their lives are going to be like after this – they refuse to live in fear, they will not live in terror of Grindelwald, but they are going to have to be so careful. …it’s actually academic at this point; neither of the three are recovered enough to be transferred to a major wizarding hospital. They’re not going anywhere for a while – and that gives them a good excuse to ransack the library.
I see it as more of a targeted strike – Grindelwald wasn’t interested in causing gratuitous damage, he just wanted to get his sons back. Meaning that – and I assume the rumors put them at a lovely seaside wizarding community or something – he simply walked into said community, making no attempt to hide his presence, and systematically bulldozed his way through every building until he was able to determine that the twins weren’t there. He killed anything that got in his way (mainly the local auror force, probably less then ten people – all woefully unprepared for a visit from a Dark Lord), ignored anything that cringed and didn’t impede his passage, and simply left when it turned out his information was incorrect. More property damage then anything else, although some people did die – the place was all but leveled to the ground.
