Burned Into Glory

Come Back To Us

"What is this place?" Queenie looked around the elegant townhome in which they'd landed from Calais, and Grindelwald said rather proudly,

"This is my London safe house. It is mine; I put the wards on it myself. Here. Wear this, and you'll be able to Apparate straight inside." He walked over to a mahogany side table where there were a few ceramic pendants on chains, and when he handed one to Queenie, she studied it curiously. It had a symbol upon it - a triangle sliced down the middle with a line, through which a circle cut. She put on the necklace, and she asked,

"Where do we begin, sir?"

"I need you to go out alone, since you require less disguise than I do," he informed her. "Start with Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley and listen to the minds there."

"You want me to see if anyone has seen the boy?" Queenie asked, but Grindelwald shook his head.

"No; he'll be hiding in the shadows like he always does. But that Maledictus from the Circus in Paris... Nagini... he was quite attached to her. She came back here with Dumbledore and the rest, I suspect. If Credence - Aurelius - finds Nagini, he'll stay with her, and if we can find that Maledictus, we'll find our Obscurial."

"So you want me to see if anyone's been thinking about a pretty young woman who turns into a snake," Queenie said sceptically. She sighed. "It's a long shot, but I'll try, sir."

"We must try what we've got, to begin with," he told her. "Go poke around the minds for a bit, then come report to me what you've observed."

Queenie Disapparated, coming to straight into Diagon Alley. After all, she wasn't too familiar with their entry procedure through their pub, and it was easy enough to appear straight into the street. She did startle a nearby woman with her shopping, and Queenie apologised rather profusely, but then she realised her accent was obvious, and she shut up quickly. She began walking very slowly, putting out feelers of Legilimency and letting down the mute sensation she so often threw up to protect herself. The result was cacophony.

I can't believe that lying, cheating scoundrel has buggered yet another...

No idea how the blazes we're meant to pay this month's rent. Thirty Galleons for children's robes. Absurd!

Oh, it's far too early for that shop to have Christmas decorations in the window. Lunatics.

Wonder if I'll ever get to see Mum again. They say that after you die, you go to some sort of...

"Queenie? Is that you?"

She froze. She pulled back her feelers and put up her muting as best she could, and then she turned slowly to see Tina and Newt, hand-in-hand, walking behind her down Diagon Alley.

Queenie almost reached for her wand, expecting a duel for some reason. But Tina put her hands up in a show of surrender, and Newt just looked utterly shocked. Queenie took a few steps backward and shook her head quickly.

"Queenie?" Tina's voice cracked, like she was starting to cry, and she moved toward Queenie with her hands up. Suddenly Queenie felt like a rat in a corner, and on impulse, she Disapparated. But just as she did, Tina grabbed her black wool robe and held fast, and she came with by Side-Along. Queenie and Tina came to in some random street of Muggle London, in what appeared to be a run-down part of the city. Queenie stumbled backward and shook her head again.

"Don't you dare try to arrest me," she warned. "He'll come after me if you do."

Tina looked heartbroken at that. "I don't want to arrest you, Queenie. I want you to come back to us."