The Second Salem [Book One]

Chapter 5

Credence woke up. His whole body ached and was covered in a thick layer of cold sweat.

He had had a dream. A bad one.

He remembers the streets of New York, and a hall. And a man.

That man.

The one that had called him a freak.

The blood in his veins burned at the very thought of him.

He remembers screaming.

But also satisfaction.

And then nothing.

- - - - -

"Goldstein what were you thinking?" Graves hissed into the woman's ear as he dragged her outside of the Woolworth building.

"I'm sorry Mr Graves, I did try to tell someone about the wizard but no one would listen to me."

"That's because you're not an Auror, Goldstein, it's not in your job description. Where have you been keeping this man and his pet No-Maj anyway?" He said, glancing back over to the two of them (what were they called...? Scamander and Kowalski!), who were stood a couple of feet away.

Tina bit her bottom lip, wondering whether to tell him the truth. "At my house."

Graves froze in horror at the words. "So you mean to tell me, that mere hours after you made it very clear to me and Credence that you couldn't have any men in your home, you went and allowed two potentially dangerous strangers into your home, one of which is now a criminal under investigation? But not only that- this is a man who has a creature known to have killed a No-Maj last night."

"... Yep. But you don't know for sure that it was his Obscurus, do you? He was innocent of that crime, I can assure you."

"Unbelievable."

"I'm sorry-" Tina started but was then cut off as Graves stormed off, pushing her to the side.

"I have more important things to do than dealing with you, Tina!" He called back over his shoulder without a second glance at the woman.

- - - - -

Credence inspected every child he came across that day. Every child his mother fed, every child he saw as he was handing out leaflets.

He was looking for any sign, any sign at all, that would give them away as the one that Graves wanted.

He thought about it every second of the day, how Graves had trusted him for such an important task. It warmed his insides and made his situation slightly more bearable.

- - - - -

Graves was making his way to see Credence again, as they had done every night since they had met, when he suddenly felt a presence in the street with him that had been deserted up until that point.

He paused and looked around for a second, slipping his wand out of his belt.

"Lumos." He muttered, lighting up the dark street around him slightly.

Just then a huge figure walked into his sight, although his face was still hidden in shadow, Graves could see that this man also had a wand out. Graves held his wand up, ready to defend himself if necessary when the man in front of him suddenly spoke.

"It's taken me a while to find you, Percival Graves."

It wasn't a voice that Graves recognised, and so he remained silent.

"Well not that long, a couple of hours, really. You see... Ever since that No-Maj was brutally killed I decided to look into it myself. An Obscurus did it. Isn't that right, Mr Graves?"

Again Graves didn't answer.

"And then I heard that you'd been looking into it as well, and had gotten further than others to finding this... Source of immense power. So I'm afraid Mr Graves..." He started, stepping into Graves' view just enough for his face to be seen. "... I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me." He finished with a malevolent smile, grinning as he saw realisation dawn on the other man's face.

Graves' eyes widened in horror as he looked at the man and finally realised who was stood in front of him.

Grindelwald.

"Petrificus Totalus!" He shouted, the spell shooting out of the end of his wand.

Grindelwald laughed menacingly and he easily parried the attack.

Graves sent out a succession of spells one after the other, and again Grindelwald just blocked them before calling out a spell of his own, one that even Graves had never heard of before.

"Sectumsempra!"

Graves fell to the ground as he felt his skin tear apart in multiple places.

"I wouldn't move around too much if I were you." Grindelwald said, walking forward into Graves' line of sight. "It could cause excess amount of blood loss." He grinned.

- - - - -

The first time Graves hadn't turned up, Credence had waited for hours. He had been beaten badly by his mother for that but he didn't care. He was just confused.

The second and third time Credence had waited for the same amount of time and had again been beaten. And again, he didn't care about that. He was just worried.

He knew that Graves was a very important man, who probably had a lot of work to do.

But Credence felt worried in case he had gotten hurt.

On the fourth night, he waited for about two hours, before an overwhelming feeling of dread and jealously overtook him.

What if Graves had found the child already, by himself?

What if Graves no longer needed Credence?

What if Graves no longer wanted Credence?

What if the child was more important to Graves and needed his help more than Credence did, so Graves had just forgotten about him?

Credence waited for an hour on the fifth night. His hands and arms were bloody and covered in scars. It had been a long time since Graves had last healed his cuts and so his mother had to use places other than his hands to beat him.

He kicked the wall in frustration. He then kicked it again and again and soon found himself unleashing all of his anger out on the wall. He then started punching it as well.

How could Graves do this to him?

Why would he do this to him?

He collapsed against the wall, tears silently flowing down his cheeks. Just then he heard something to his right. He turned his head-

"Mr Graves?"

"Credence."