Forgive

Chapter Thirteen

"The man that I'm inquiring about is the Head of the British Auror Office!" Newt called out with frustration pricking at his tone. "How can you have misplaced the head of the British Auror Office!"

The official let out a long sigh and whirled around to face Newt, staring placidly at him before he spoke with a well-refined German accent. "It's our contention that since he was never in our custody, we never misplaced him."

"Sir," Lally took a step forward. "There were dozens of people there. Any one of them can corroborate-"

"And your name is?" The Ministry Official asked a bit condescendingly, looking down at the woman.

Jacob spoke before the witch could. "Let's get out of here." He muttered, giving a sharp look to the man. "He ain't gonna―" Jacob's eyes widened when he looked out the door. "Wait." He began to walk to the door, pointing at a figure with a shallow top hat on who was walking at pace down the hall beyond the door. "That's the guy! Come here, come here!"

The muggle frantically gestured for the exasperated Ministry Official, Newt, and Lally to follow him. The group quickly raced out of the room and turned the corner.

"Excuse me! Hey!"

The man ignored them as if he could not hear them at all―which was basically impossible, due to how loud Jacob was yelling.

"That's the guy." Jacob told Lally and Newt as they hurried to catch up with him. "He knows where Theseus is. Hello! Where's Theseus? That's him―he knows about Theseus."

Just as they were about to catch up with him, a sheet of glass slid down from above like a guillotine, cutting Newt, Lally, and Jacob off and losing them the only person who knew where Theseus was.

Newt, Lally, and Jacob slipped out of the German Ministry of Magic out of a side entrance, everyone except Lally having their hands in their pockets to block out of the cold.

The war had taken an obvious toll on Newt, with the deep bruises under his shadowed eyes from lack of sleep or stress, and how he looked years older than he actually was. His shoulders slumped, rubbing a smooth, almost pristine stone in his pocket that he had put there many years ago to reduce his stress and to use as a fidget toy when he needed it.

"Newt," Lally's voice snapped Newt out of his troubling thoughts, and he followed her gaze to see a familiar black, handless glove floating in midair. It waved and pointed around the corner of the building. The corners of Newt's pale lips twitched upwards into a small smile at the familiar memory. To think that five years ago, the very same glove was beckoning Newt and Ava to follow it to where it led before. To its enchanter.

Newt walked forward and grabbed the glove, examining it, before noticing a second glove, pointing to where a familiar figure was leaning against a pillar behind the building. Lally and Newt exchanged a look, glanced at a very confused Jacob, before hurrying up the steps to meet with a very tense Albus.

"Albus." Newt said, handing the professor his glove. "How's―"

"Later." Albus interrupted as he walked off without waiting for the group. "At the moment, we have more pressing matters to attend to. Theseus has been taken to Erkstag."

Newt's blood ran cold. "B-but the Erkstag shut down years ago." He stammered, hurrying forward to catch up to Albus.

Albus took off his hat calmly. "Yes, well, it's the Ministry's secret little bread-and-breakfast now." He put his gloves into his hat before pulling out a little id-like paper. "You'll need this to see him." He reached into his hat again. "And one of these."

Jacob grunted when a sudden blast of wind blew the paper out of Albus' hand and into his face. His lips pierced into a forced smile and handed the paper to Newt with a tight nod. "Mm-hmm."

Albus discarded this interaction and handed Newt one last piece of paper. "And this." He put his hat back onto his head and turned sharply to face a wall without stopping. The wall began to shimmer and shift unnaturally, but only Jacob seemed bothered by this as the group walked into the wall.

"Wait, wait, wait-!" Jacob yelped as Lally pushed him through the wall.

"I trust you're enjoying your wand, Mr. Kowalski?" Albus asked as they walked into a completely new part of Berlin. He stopped in a more concealed spot than before, not as much in the open as the previous spot was.

The muggle, who was looking around with wide eyes and a pale face, looked at him. "Me? Oh, yeah. Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore. It's a real pip."

Dumbledore took out a pocket watch from his cloak and angled it. When Newt glanced at it, his eyes widened when he saw Credence slide over the reflection inside the lid. He opened his mouth to comment when Albus continued to speak. "I advise you to keep it close―Professor Hicks."

Lally poked her head around a pillar. "Dumbledore."

"Assuming you're not otherwise engaged―and frankly, even if you are―I'd encourage you to attend tonight's Candidates' Dinner. Take Mr. Kowalski. I'm quite certain there will be an assassination attempt."

"A what?"

Albus ignored Jacob's surprised yelp and continued to speak. "Anything you can do to scotch that would be greatly appreciated.

Lally smiled. "It's my pleasure. I shall welcome the challenge. Besides, I'll have Jacob with me."

"I'm still concerned, y'know!" Jacob protested nervously, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Not to worry, Mr. Kowalski." Albus said calmly. "Professor Hicks' defensive magic is superb. Until next time." He had a smile on his face that didn't quite reach his Nordic blue eyes as he doffed his hat and began to leave.

"Such a flatterer." Lally smiled, before pausing. "Well, not really. It is superb." She added a bit immodestly.

Newt ignored her and rushed forward to try and catch up with Albus, who was waiting to cross the road. "Albus!" He called with a sense of urgency in his tone.

The man with auburn red hair looked behind him with a bushy eyebrow raised. Newt took a deep breath.

"I was just wondering..." Words failed Newt, much to his embarrassment, so he was forced to resort to mimicking holding a case. Thankfully, Dumbledore seemed to understand what Newt was asking about and smiled softly.

"Ah, yes. The case."

"Yes."

"Rest assured it's in safe hands."

Newt hesitated, considering pressing Albus for more information on his prized suitcase and home, but eventually decided against it and asking something else that was holding a great weight on his shoulders. "And...how's Ava?"

Albus' smile dropped, his expression finally meeting his eyes. "She is in distress." He said quietly. "I have barely seen her around the castle by her own will, but she is more comfortable now that she has settled in the Room of Requirement. I will tell her that you asked after her."

Newt smiled, but the worry that had been pricking at his belly for Ava since Grindelwald was cleared of his numerous crimes hadn't left or eased. If anything, it merely grew.

Okay. Please don't come after me. Life has been a jerk recently. I've been to the ER twice in the last two weeks, and Word crashed and deleted a bunch of my writing. Including Forgive. I whipped up this chapter when I saw one of my first comments asking me to update. Thanks to LyrikMuru for encouraging me to update. Comments really help my self esteem about this whole thing, so please don't be shy to drop one if you want to! Even if it's just saying hello or commenting a silly little thing, I'd love to see more of them! Again, sorry for the lack of updates, and I promise that I'll be better!