Unspoken // Theseus Scamander

Chapter Sixteen - Grindelwald

Word Count: 2,942 words. 

Warnings: None.

Time skip brought to you by The Crimes of Grindelwald...

The room was dark despite a small, rectangular window sat in the top left-hand corner. It was no bigger than a large bed, the entire cell and every surface of it made from stone. Water dripped from the ceiling and a shivering feeling settled over me as I entered.

"Have you come to kill me?" he asked.

The cell door open behind me, I cast a small glance back to the guard that stood outside before facing the prisoner.

"That wouldn't be very clever now, would it?" I countered.

The man had not turned his head to look at who at entered, but he did now. Gellert Grindelwald sat in the corner of the room, if you could call it as much, his knees pulled to his chest and head pressed against the wall. His eyes shone in the light from outside when he looked at me.

"A year," he muttered.

The murderer was almost unrecognisable. His hair had grown out, white as the beard on his chin, but I knew who he was. How could anyone mistake who owned those eyes and that smile?

"I've been busy," I explained, taking another step forward. I didn't want to admit that he made me afraid, that I shuddered at the thought of being closer. That all I could see when I looked at him was Graves attacking me from above.

"I heard," he replied, slyly moving to his feet. His arms and legs chained to the floor, they rattled against the stone. "The first female Auror in the Ministry for Magic. I'm so proud of you."

I shook my head in disgust, face curling. "Your pride means nothing to me."

He took a breath. "I'm sorry Natty," he apologised, and I straightened at the use of the nickname. "I didn't mean to hurt you. If I had known – "

"What?" I cut him off. "If you had known that it was me, you would have put everything else aside to save me? To protect me?" – I scoffed, feigning shock – "I forget, that's not who you are."

His smile grew. "You are very clever."

"I know manipulation when I see it."

"You cannot blame me for how horrible your life turned out," he countered, smile falling slightly.

"And yet, you seem to be at the centre of every heartbreak I've ever had."

He pulled on the chains harshly and I forced myself not to flinch, facing him with an unfazed expression. My hands behind my back, I played nervously with my fingers, picking at the skin surrounding my nails.

He laughed manically. "I see what you're trying to do. You," – he pointed at me, chains rattling – "are trying to get in my head."

"And what would I find there?" I posed.

Dropping his hand, he looked away for a moment. "A confession."

"For murder? Theft? Arson? You're going to have to be a little more specific... Gellert."

Grindelwald turned quickly. "What have I done to wrong you?"

Now he was trying into my head. "You got Credence killed. You killed Ariana, sent Anna to her death –"

"Now that," he cut me off, "is something I did not do."

"Right," I sighed. "You simply pushed her in the right direction."

He scoffed a laugh, shaking his head with his gaze on the ground. "I didn't kill you sister."

My blood boiled at his lie. "Then did you kill Ariana?"