The Second Salem [Book One]

Chapter 2

"You're cold."

Credence glanced up at the man- Mr Graves- and shook his head.

Never complain.

"You're shaking. Here, take this." Graves handed him a blanket. "Now come on."

He raised his hand and Credence flinched.

"I'm sorry. I won't hurt you I promise." He placed the hand on Credence's shoulder before walking him over to a couch in front of a fireplace.

"Sit."

Credence obliged silently, sinking down to sit on the worn fabric. Graves strolled round the couch, waving a hand at the empty fireplace before sitting down next to the boy, staring at him and smirking slightly as he watched Credence's eyes light up in amazement as a fire suddenly sprung to life.

"Does your hand still hurt?" Graves asked gently, after a moment of silence.

Credence shook his head.

"You are allowed to speak you know."

"Ma always said that children should be seen, not heard."

"Your mother lies, Credence. She lies about a lot of things. Anyway, you're hardly a child. How old are you?"

"24, sir."

"Precisely."

"Mr Graves, sir, could I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why were you watching me, back at the Woolworth building?"

"I've had my eye on you for the past week. Ever since last Tuesday, when your mother held one of her meetings. I was told to keep an eye on it, so I did. I watched as you and those other two girls gave out leaflets. The girls seemed obliging but you... You looked miserable."

"Ma doesn't beat my sisters."

"Why?"

"Chastity and Modesty aren't Satan's spawn."

Graves raised his eyebrows. "That's what your mother calls us, is it?" He sighed when Credence nodded in response. "That's a bit melodramatic if you asked me."

Credence contemplated whether he should say anything else, before his curiosity got the better of him and the words he had been holding back came tumbling out of his mouth.

"Ma says that witchcraft is evil."

"I gathered that."

"Is she right?"

There was a beat as Graves sat there in silence, contemplating his response before leaning forward. "The simple answer would be no, of course not. Look at how you have suffered under the hand of mortality and simplicity and yet were cured by the hand which wields magic. But... There are few who are evil among us. Those who use their gift to wreak mayhem. The same way that No-Majes both help and harm one another."

"What's a No-Maj?" Credence asked, confused.

"A person with no magic, somebody like your mother and sisters. The British call them Muggles."

"Who are these bad witches? What have they done?"

"There is a man..." Graves started, cautiously. "Many fear him, both No-Maj and Magic alike... We know him as our most wanted, No-Majes know him as the stuff of legend, stories spoken on school playgrounds, and the like. His name is Gellert Grindelwald." He exaggerated each syllable of the name.

Credence shuddered, scared of what a man like that would be capable of.

Graves moved closer to him before continuing.

"He wants No-Majes to serve wizards like me, he believes that we shouldn't stay in hiding, that we are... Better. He's wrong, of course." Graves amended, glancing into Credence's eyes for a second, before focusing his gaze back onto his mouth. "He wants magic to be known and believed, that's why we have to keep an eye out for things which could cause our world to be revealed-"

"Like Ma?"

"- Hence me watching the meeting. We have reason to believe that he is after the Deathly Hallows, although no one knows if they actually exist or not."

"What are the Deathly Hallows?"

"They are part of our own legend, but I doubt that you need to know about them."

"Please." Credence murmured.

Graves sighed. "A wand, more powerful than any other, a stone that has the ability to bring back the dead and a cloak of invisibility."

Credence hung on to every word, mesmerised.

"Legend says, although unlikely, that Death himself presented the Hallows to three brothers, after they had managed to survive where all else had died."

Credence shivered again. Graves was sat right next to him by this point, after moving cautiously towards him bit by bit while telling him the story.

"What would a man like Grindelwald be able to do with these Deathly Hallows?"

"Terrible things, Credence. Many would die." Graves muttered.

"Tell me more... Please." Credence begged, just as a yawn escaped his mouth.

Graves smiled tenderly.

"No, my dear boy, you need to sleep. What time would you like me to wake you?"

"You would allow me to sleep here tonight?"

"Of course, I wouldn't let you freeze to death outside now, would I?"

Credence hesitated.

"Ma wants me back in the morning... I'm supposed to have found a place for tomorrow's meeting..."

"Don't worry about that, tell her to do it outside the Woolworth building again, I'll be able to keep an eye on you there. I'll wake you at sunrise."

They stayed there together in silence for a while, both staring into the flames of the slowly dying fire before Graves finally glanced over at Credence and saw that he had fallen asleep. He smiled to himself.

- - - - -

He sat there for hours, listening to Credence's breath, staring at the flickering light of the fire.

The boy was beautiful, he knew that.

But still young.

Still innocent.

And yet still in need of his help.

Graves started at a pressure on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw that Credence had fallen in his sleep and was now resting his head there. Graves placed a soft kiss onto his dark hair and took a deep breath in through his nose.

He sat there for hours still, not moving through fear of waking the boy next to him. Later, again, Credence fell in his sleep.

This time with his head on the older man's lap.

Graves smiled softly, staring into his face.

An hour before sunrise, he, himself, fell asleep too.