Burned Into Glory

Twenty-Three People

"Vinda. Larsen. I have a mission for you." Grindelwald tented his fingers together and smirked a little at the followers he'd brought together across his desk. Vinda nodded.

"For ze cause, and for you, Monsieur? Anything."

She seemed downright blissful at the idea of having been summoned into duty again, and Grindelwald knew why. As of late, Vinda had become jealous of Queenie, and with due cause. Queenie had consumed a fair bit of Grindelwald's attentions, after all, and Vinda had been left largely in the dark. But now Vinda had an important role to play. She was going to set a trap for Credence.

"I need you two to go to Hogsmeade in England," Grindelwald said. "The Maledictus Nagini is missing from her Ministry friends, which means she is with Aurelius Dumbledore. He, in turn, will be looking for an opportunity to corner Albus Dumbledore, and I believe he'll find it on the next Hogsmeade visit."

"You think the Obscurial will try to intercept Albus Dumbledore in Hogsmeade village?" asked Vinda curiously. Grindelwald nodded.

"My Legilimens saw the idea of it in his head when last he was here. A fleeting, violent image, but one that he may still be contemplating." Grindelwald nodded. "If nothing else, he and the Maledictus will go to Hogsmeade to scope out chances to target Dumbledore. They will be at Hogsmeade, Now. What I do not want is a big show wherein the Obscurial destroys all of Hogsmeade and kills half the student body. That will do nothing for our cause."

"So, what are we to do?" Asked Vinda, neatly folding her hands over her tailored skirts.

"Trap the Maledictus," said Grindelwald. "Take her two our secondary safe house in London. If my sources are correct, then where she goes, the boy will follow. He will come straight to her. When you have her at the secondary safe house, I will be there, waiting for the boy."

"And what will you do then?" asked Larsen. Grindelwald raised his pale brows and said,

"You leave that bit to me."

"This place is filthy," Queenie noted as a rat scurried by. She half-jokingly asked Grindelwald, "You couldn't have secured a tidier safe house?"

"Its cleanliness is of very little value to me just now," Grindelwald stated, sticking his hands into his pockets and staring out the dirty window. Queenie was about to cast some Scouring charms on the old London flat when Vinda, Larsen, and a passenger came Apparating into the apartment.

"Petrificus Totalus," murmured Grindelwald, and the beautiful Maledictus, Nagini, collapsed rigidly onto the floor. Like a board toppled over, the teetered and then fell. He held his hands up triumphantly and declared, "And now we wait for our Obscurial friend."

Vinda and Larsen looked at one another in concern, and Queenie tried to read their minds through the foreign languages. Finally she deciphered,

"Nagini wasn't alone, but she wasn't with Aurelius Dumbledore."

"What do you mean?" hissed Grindelwald, and Vinda admitted,

"She was with that short-haired brunette Auror we saw in Paris. We snatched her and Disapparated, but -"

"Fools!" yelled Grindelwald, but it was too late. Suddenly, into the safe house appeared Theseus Scamander, Tina Goldstein, Travers, a few other Aurors, and even Newt Scamander.

Grindelwald acted quickly. He began casting flying curses at the Aurors, who duelled him straight back. All of a sudden, Vinda Rosier collapsed and didn't get back up. Queenie whipped her wand out and found herself aiming it right at Tina.

"Don't do this, Queenie," Tina said, shaking her head, but Queenie knew where she stood. She opened her mouth to cast a Curse, but before she could, Tina had snatched at her sleeve and Disapparated.