We Got Lots Of History

Prisoner's Escape

The Europian Auror Offices were on edge from the day that Grindelwald had been arrested. Each and every one of them send their best Aurors to guard him, to interrogate him and yet a whole month had passes and Cassie felt that they were back on square one.

She missed Graham greatly, her life seemed more bleak as the minutes passed. It wasn't like her friends didn't try to cheer her up. If anything they were doing everything in their power to bring a smile on her face. But to no avail. She was trying desperately to be more happy, she knew that her current state  might hurt her baby. The one whose existence she learned just a week ago as she read Graham's journal. Somehow he had known before she had even noticed the change that was happening on and in her. Theseus was being his usual supportive self and seemed to be overjoyed at the prospect of becoming a father. One late night he whispered when she pretended to be asleep in his arms the he secretly wished they were expecting a girl.

Suddenly everything was too much for her to handle. Maybe it was the hormones that affected her, her friend's loss, or maybe she was just not meant to be happy.

Minerva was on cloud nine, seemingly floating with happiness as her best friend coursed fine through the first trimester and entered the second one unharmed. She was showing yet, which Cass considered an advantage, she simply looked bloated or that she had eaten too much. Thomas and Newt were in charge of the nursery decorations with Theseus's guidance. Everyone was doing something to welcome that little bean into their world.

Expect from her.

She could bring herself to do anything. Her mind was haunted. It was as if she was losing Graham in front of her eyes second after second. Her hands were still raw from the many times she had scrubbed them clean trying to wash his blood of her hands, the blood Theseus had cleaned that very night from her hands, from her clothes, from their carpet and their walls. Maybe she needed a change of scenery, to move out from this house into another. They had discussed as much and even though the idea of turning over a new leaf tangled in her still heart, she didn't want to depart from a house that was filled with fond memories of her, her husband and their friends.

She went to work, Theseus visited her and every time he looked at her with the same hopeful eyes, because maybe that would be the day his loving wife will show a sliver of happiness. She never visited Grindelwald, despite his constant fire messages, the ones that would dissappear the moment she read them and were just blank pieces of papers for others.

He wanted to see her.

She wanted to see him rot in hell. Or in prison. Whichever was more possible to be true. Yet she had never been an optimist. She knew that would not be possible. He had escaped once, he could do it again. Possibly that was the reason why she hadn't visited him despite his persistent attempts to persuade her othwise. Because that was a leverage. He would escape until he saw her, boast in his triumph of breaking her slowly piece by piece until she was unrecognizable even to herself. If she visited him the  there would be nothing holding him back.

Zugzwang.

His voice echoed the chess term in her head in circles and she could picture his sinister smile or a prideful smirk as he looked back at her knowing that he would win, one way or the other. Because she was cornered about to be check mated and there would be only two options. To give up or to go down fighting. Only thing was that she was too stubborn to give up. Her mother always claimed that her stubbornness and her nerve would lead her to her inevitable death one day sooner and maybe she was right.

Because now she was breaking down one magical defense after the other as she walked calmly in the dark cold halls of her husband's office as the blaring alarms of a break in echoed through the whole ministrty, knowing that her actions would affect him negatively. But she couldn't stop, she had to know. The questions were eating her up and his persistence had been wearing her down. She could handle an angry and stressed Theseus, but she couldn't live like this anymore.

True to that fact in about thirty meters away from his holding cell, Aurors led by Theseus rounded the corner and saw her, sharply turning and running towards her. Theseus yelled her name and begged her not to enter the room claiming that she didn't have to do this, she had suffered enough from him and he had been right because that was the reason behind her actions. The freezing steel door eventually separated them, yet she could feel the spells he unleashed on the door, his fists hitting the wall.

She closed her eyes and drew a calming breath before she met the mismatched eyes that haunted her. He was a mess. Dressed in scraps of clothing and his hair longer and tangled around the nape of his neck. He smiled and gestured towards the chair opposite of him, inviting her to sit. Giving in to his allution of his control she did, it was better for her if he thought that he had the upper hand, he would slip more easily.

"I have been waiting for you." He said as he looked her over, focusing in her growing stomach. "Congratulations are in order, I presume. I said as much to your husband, but I do not know if he told you about me regards."

"What do you want?"

"That is a bit rude. Don't you think as well my dear?" He waited for a short minute waiting for her answer, but her silence and stoic face was all he was given. He sighed, defeated. "You know, I always hoped you wouldn't be so noble, so honorable. I could have you by my side, as my daughter, ready to teach you everything, to let you inherit my world. The one we could have made together. I hate fighting with you as much as I enjoy it. You are a capable opponent. You have left me stranded more times that you could possibly think. We could have been unstoppable. You and me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because our time is running out. Because I hope that you would change your mind and join me. Because if I had a child, I would have wanted it to be like you. Smart, cunning, strategic and strong. All traits of a Ravenclaw or maybe traits fron your Greek ancestry." At that moment a loud bang sounded and the door flew from its hinges and fell down as Aurors filled the room, ready for their command to attack. Theseus approached her from the back grabbing her shoulders and hauling her up. "Someone seems to be in trouble." He said while chuckling.

"What time? What time is running out?" She asked desperately as she tried to fight off Theseus's strong arms.

"You are about to see my dear. It was a pleasure to see you again. I promise you, this shall not be the last time we will see each other. After all, we have unfinished business." How he had timed it that perfectly to the end of her days she wouldn't know. Because the next thing that happened was a terribly white flash that blinded everyone in the room and the next second that she regained her vision she was greeted with the most terrible thing she could possibly see. All the Aurors except from her and Theseus face down on the floor with unfeeling eyes and blood treacling from them. And Grindelwald was once again gone, he had disappeared from one second to the other into thin air.