Unspoken // Theseus Scamander

Chapter Fifteen - Return

Word Count: 1,969 words. 

Warnings: None. 

I sat outside the President's office. There was some sort of meeting underway with the American Auror division and I had been quite please to see that Tina was invited inside. I wasn't entirely sure where Newt had wandered off to, the younger man having disappeared soon after Grindelwald's unmasking and Credences'...

I shook my head of sombre thoughts as Tina came out, the other Auror's in toe. She smiled before approaching me. "She wants to see you."

I nodded along, standing up and taking a deep breath. "On a scale of one to ten, how scary can this woman get?"

Goldstein laughed lightly. "She's not going to get scary," – she paused, leaning closer and dropping the volume of her voice – "but if I had to answer, I'd say about a seven."

"A seven," I repeated, taking a step towards the open door. "I can handle a seven."

The door closed by itself behind me, and I turned towards the large desk. "Good afternoon Madame President."

She smiled at me, settling my nerves slightly. "Please sit, we have some things to discuss."

I nodded, sitting in the chair across from her. I crossed my legs delicately and straightened my spine.

"To begin, I believe I must extend MACUSA's sincerest apologies."

I froze. For Credence? No, it couldn't be for him. Other than Newt, no one had any idea how we were connected. It surely wasn't to offer condolences for his... I didn't finish my thought.

"Whatever for Madame President?" I posed with a forced smile.

"For not being able to spot the difference in Percival Graves," she explained. That smile that I had forced to my face fell and I let my back drop against the chair.

Images of his attack in the interrogation room drifted across my memory but I shook them away. "I am suspicious of almost everyone I meet Madame President," I told her. "It is in my nature to seek out the bad in people."

She nodded. "Regardless, I apologise for any... harm that may have come to you."

I could still feel him. The grip of his hand on my hair, the pain that had coursed through me as he hit me again.

"Any harm that befell me only helped to lead to his discovery. I hold the grudge only against the man himself."

The woman smiled. "I do not wish to keep you any longer than I must. There are simply a few documents you must sign. Your witness statements."

"Of course." The quicker I got out of America the better.

"As you would assume, the British Ministry is waiting for you to arrive home. I shouldn't tell you this, but I believe they plan to offer you a full-time Aurors position once you return to work."

It should have been a happy moment. After all, it was a moment that I had been waiting on for almost two decades. I left Hogwarts to be an Auror, and now I had the chance to do just that. And yet, it felt hollow. The new position that they were planning to grant me. I should be... happier.

"I only ask that you consider it," the President continued. However, I could also tell that it was the second half of a longer sentence.

"I'm sorry," I apologised. "What was it that you said?"

The woman took a deep breath. "I would like to offer you a place in the American Auror's Division."

I was shocked, shaking my head in disbelief. "Madame President – "