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Chapter 09: Fallen Angel

You do it all for my own protection
You make me feel like I'll be okay
Still I have so many questions
How do you stay so strong?
How did you hide it all for so long?
How can I take the pain away?
How can I save
A fallen angel in the dark
~Three Days Grace, Fallen Angel~

~Hogwarts, 13th July 1943, Friday~

-She could have been your diamond-, he thought to himself.

Because, just like Slughorn, Dumbledore too was collecting diamonds. But instead of shiny and polished ones, he went for those who were thrown away, deformed and dirty.

Because those were the ones that he could hold onto with nothing but guilt.

The fireplace lit up and illuminated the darkened office of the headmaster in Hogwarts in a mysterious green light. Two figures stepped out, a woman in a long leather jacket and short hair and a man with a suitcase, a little green plant behind his ear. Spencer-Moon had to look twice in order to see that the twig was indeed a magical creature.

"Mr. Minister, Professor Dippet and Slughorn, may I introduce Miss Tina Goldstein and Mister Newton Scamander."

Both the American woman and the British men looked rather awkward, standing in the middle of a meeting with soot in their hair.

"Mister Scamander! Long time no see!", Professor Slughorn exclaimed and stood up to welcome his former student. "How is your expedition going, my boy?"

Newt put on a full-face grin and reached out to take the hand of the potions professor. "Very well, Sir, I have been able to-"

"Albus, tell me why we were waiting for an American Auror and a Magizoologist", said the Minister of Magic urgently. His face turned a darker shade of red, a typical sign of his lack of patience at the very moment.

"Mister Spencer-Moon, I have called Mister Scamander because he is an expert when it comes to magical creatures. Grindelwald is using a boy, a host of a very powerful Obscurial, as a weapon to spread terror wherever he went. He had put our friends in the USA into an unbelievably great catastrophe and environment of fear, both for the magical and for the muggle inhabitants. Now, he is on the way to Great Britain. In order to stop Grindelwald, we must destroy his weapon: the Obscurial."

Newt looked agitated, he was twitching during Dumbledore's explanation towards the most influential man in Great Britain.

"Sir, if I may chime in-", he started nervously while raising a finger in the air like he would when he was still at school.

Every eye in the room laid on him, both living and painted.

"The Obscurial is pure dark magic, it is the purest form of evil." He stopped and thought about what to say next, or rather how to say the next things in the best way possible. "There is no known way to destroy this evil singularity but to destroy its host at the same time."

"Then we kill the boy first."

Newt looked outraged, his brows tightly in a knot. "He is just a boy! And his name is Credence, you better say his name if you want him dead." He let his eyes wander around the office.

"He suffered from torture, neglect and was forced to hide his magic for so long that his magic morphed into this... this creature. Credence did nothing wrong in his life, yet you want to..." Newt's voice broke. What if he could have gotten the help he needed? What would have happened if Theseus didn't help him when he was young and afraid? Would he too have become an Obscurial?

He looked at his favorite professor, who had guided him through his tough years at Hogwarts, and hoped that at least he could understand him. Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat. With a wink of his wand, the iridescent glowing orb that he mistakenly thought was a chandelier sank right in front of Newt Scamander. With utter fascination and interest, he looked at the softly pulsing ball of magic.