Thorns and Roses ❦ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ❦ Newtina

Chapter Twenty

 The force of apparition knocked Credence back, and it took a few seconds for him to register his head slamming into the wall of the hut wasn't an aftershock of his travels. Gripping onto the collar of his shirt was Grindelwald, a snarl on his face as the boy continued to hyperventilate and struggled to maintain control of the obscurus threatening to explode outwards. His emotions were running high and images of Newt, Tina, and the entire debacle at the ministry continued to run through his mind. The only thing Credence was able to decipher was how confused he was. Why was Tina trying to coax him back to her when she was readily armed with Newt when she was supposed to protect him? Why had she not tried to kill him at once when she was with Newt? And why, oh why, did Grindelwald look so angry with him?

His final question was answered with a slap across his face that brought him back to the dank, musty reality he faced, Grindelwald breathing hot air into his face. "You idiot!" Grindelwald growled into the boy's face. "Why didn't you kill them when you had the chance? You made the move of a woman, of a coward!" Steam nearly emerged from Grindelwald's ears, and Credence cowered into the wall. His eyes searched the room, anywhere but the eyes of the man whom he'd disappointed. His eyes landed on Rosier. She was positioned behind Grindelwald, dusting off her clothing and pretending not to notice Grindelwald's remarks toward her sex. She was flustered, her cheeks flushed and breathing rapid. Sporadic shudders showed she was still getting over the side effects of the polyjuice potion she'd downed earlier in the day.

Grindelwald did not take Credence's avoidance lightly. Followed by a second slap to the face, he yelled, "Keep your eyes here, boy! I am not finished with you yet." Grabbing Credence by the back of his hair, Grindelwald twisted him around and threw the frail boy onto a cot. "You showed less bravery than that Goldstein girl." Grindelwald spat at the reference of Tina. He got close to Credence's face once more. "She would've had the guts to do it," he whispered, his cracked and yellow teeth shining. "Given the choice, she wouldn't have hesitated. You'd be dead, like all the others her and Newt Scamander have killed."

Credence, despite his best efforts to actively listen, struggled to keep up with what Grindelwald was saying. Wasn't Tina good, one of his saviors? He knew Grindelwald had a particular grudge against her, for whatever reason, but she was one of the only people who'd truly cared for him. He'd vowed to protect her from Grindelwald's harm. Credence slowly asked, "What do you mean... she's killed? I thought it was only Newt!"

Rosier shot a look at Grindelwald, something Credence couldn't understand in his wrecked state. Grindelwald scowled at her, and they had a silent conversation, exchanging looks. Grindelwald turned his focus back to Credence, and it was as if he was an entirely different person. His demeanor was calm, melancholy even. He frowned and made a "tsk" noise, shaking his head ever-so slightly. "Oh, my poor boy," Grindelwald said in a soft tone. "I should've realized you didn't know. That Goldstein girl is a killer."

Dread filled Credence's entire body, from his head to his toes. Tina, a killer? There was no possible way. Not with the kindness she'd shown him, the only kindness he'd ever known. There was goodness in Tina's heart, not cold-blooded hate. Grindelwald must've sensed the emotions that filled Credence, because he continued, "She was never your friend, Credence... you were only another experiment for her and Scamander's wicked doings."

Credence's eyes welled up with tears. He couldn't believe Tina would do such a thing, nevertheless be capable of committing such terrible acts. "That can't be true," He muttered, his voice wavering. His arm reached out, searching for something to hold him up, but his hand met the cold, hard wall and his body slid to the floor. He began rocking back and forth on his knees, trying his best to calm down. "She wouldn't do anything wicked."

Rosier's brow was furrowed and she shook her head. She cast a hand across Grindelwald, bravely, given his explosive state, and stalked toward Credence. "Oh, Credence," She cooed, her accent thick. "How wrong you are. You think someone like Newt Scamander would work with a kind being?" She tsk'd and shook her head, sitting next to him on the cot and snaking an arm around his shoulders. "No, not at all. In fact... Tina is more evil than Newt. Certainly more dangerous. After all, who do you think volunteered to work for Graves, to hunt obscurials?"

"That isn't true. That can't be true!" Credence protested yet again, and Rosier stood up with a shake of her head, defeated.

"He's probably in shock. This was a tiring day for him," Rosier said to Grindelwald, whose scowl was ever-present. He watched Credence with a hatred unlike anything Credence had ever seen, even from Mary Lou, who'd accused him of witchcraft and tried to beat him to a pulp. Grindelwald had already attempted to do so on multiple occasions. A scab on Credence's elbow began to ache and he willed himself to ignore it. Now wasn't the time for him to reflect on Grindelwald's anger. Rosier walked toward Grindelwald and muttered, "We shall discuss the day's events later. Credence is upset, we do not want the obscurial to come out, no? Let the boy rest. We will create another plan once he is asleep."

Sleep did not find Credence. The hut was cold, and he shivered in his cot, though it came to a moment when he realized his shivering was from fear, not the cold. Fear of someone... but it wasn't Tina. Newt, he was terrified of, but never Tina. He didn't believe anything Rosier and Grindelwald had said about her, they must've mixed her up with someone. Perhaps her sister, Queenie, the one who reads minds. Credence realized the one person he was terrified of had the most power over him: Grindelwald.

Credence's eyes opened wide, facing the wall as slowly, his mind began turning. Grindelwald somehow knew who he was. Grindelwald knew things about Credence he didn't know about himself... Grindelwald forced Credence to learn spells... the things Grindelwald had been saying to him... how angry Grindelwald got whenever Credence didn't succeed. Memories played in his mind as Credence's chest began to heave. He caught the black tendrils spiraling out of his hands before they could do any damage, and when he heard Rosier and Grindelwald speak, he kept his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep.

He had to know if everything he was thinking of was true. Had he been played as a fool? Was Grindelwald truly trying to help him, or was it all a ploy? And why did that name sound so familiar...

"What're we going to do with the boy?" Rosier whispered. Credence heard her shuffling around the hut. "He doesn't believe anything we say about Tina. If we can't convince him... she's a crucial part to us taking over the ministry."

Grindelwald slammed a fist onto a table, and Credence fought the urge to flinch. He faked a snore for good measure. "No! He will learn! I'll curse him, if I have to, but he will join us! Newt Scamander must die after everything he did. He's close with Dumbledore. They all must die. Credence is the key."

The key? The key to what? And why did Rosier say Tina was crucial to taking over the ministry? Were his worries true, was she truly a kind being, had Rosier and Grindelwald been feeding him lies to get him to do their dirty work? He thought back to the ministry, how he had been instructed to kill, how Tina had distracted him. He had had a sinking feeling the whole morning that what he was doing was wrong. What if that feeling was right?

"We can't hold him for much longer. One day, he's going to find out the truth. Our mission needs to be finished before he does, so we can rid of him. He's dangerous to us, too, Gellert."

"Don't call me that. You haven't earned it. And if the boy does find out, well... then the boy must die. He's so daft, he won't know what he's done until he's on his deathbed."

Credence was shaking. He couldn't believe it. He had been conned.

"After all, he doesn't even know that I was Percival Graves."