Burned Into Glory

Guests

"Miss Goldstein. Mr Scamander. Welcome to our humble abode," said Grindelwald, staring across the table in the Nurmengard parlour. Beside him sat Queenie, and he said gratefully to her, "Thank you for alerting me to the presence of the Bowtruckle on Mr Scamander's person, or else we might have been dealing with some problems later on, hmm?"

Tina Goldstein opened her mouth and started to speak, but Grindelwald held up a finger to silence her, and he shook his head.

"Ah, ah, ah, Miss Goldstein. We shall speak when asked to do so. You see, the wonderful thing about an interrogation with a Legilimens present is that the guests need hardly speak at all."

"Guests," scoffed Newt Scamander quietly, and Grindelwald scowled.

"We could make you significantly more uncomfortable than we are choosing to do, Mr Scamander," he noted. "It is only due to my great affection for Queenie that you are being treated as well as you are."

"Thank you, Gellert," said Queenie softly from beside her, and he covered her hand with his on the table, watching Tina's eyes go wide with shock. Grindelwald brought Queenie's knuckles to his lips and kissed them, breathing in the warm vanilla scent of her, and he shut his eyes for a moment before putting her hand back down. Newt Scamander, who, like Tina, now looked like himself, stared away awkwardly. Tina, though, glared at her younger sister, and Grindelwald realised he needed to make quite a point of just how close he and Queenie were. He held onto Queenie's hand on the table and asked her in a soft, easy voice,

"Where did they encounter Larsen? How did they hear about the rally?"

Queenie stared from Newt to Tina and back again, and then she seemed to really be focusing on pulling out thoughts, memories, from Newt's mind. She nodded at last and said,

"Larsen found Newt in London; Tina was with him. Larsen told them about the rally in Vienna. Tina and Newt couldn't convince Theseus Scamander or the other Aurors to mount a raid on such short notice, but Tina wanted to come alone and try and get me back."

"Where is Larsen now?" asked Grindelwald, and again Tina began searching the minds of her sister and of Newt. Both of them looked very uncomfortable, with Tina even touching at her forehead, and then Queenie turned Grindelwald and said desperately,

"What the Ministry was willing to do was to grant Larsen asylum in exchange for information about you. He's being held in protective custody by British Aurors and is singing like a songbird."

Grindelwald felt a spike of concern for a moment, but he hid it. He shook his head.

"This is of little concern," he insisted. "Larsen knew hardly anything confidential. Still, I'd like to get a team to London to retrieve him as quickly as possible. Excuse me for just one moment, and we shall resume our talks."

He rose from his chair, and Queenie stood out of respect. He held her face in his hands, stared down into her wide eyes, and then bent to give her a long, slow, deep kiss. Her knees buckled a little, and she pressed her palms to his chest. She moaned softly when he searched her mouth with his tongue, and when at last he pulled away, he murmured,

"I'll be right back."

"What on Earth was that?" snapped Tina as Queenie sank back into her chair and the parlour door shut. Queenie shrugged and said very lightly,

"I am in love with him, Teenie."

Tina scoffed and spluttered a little. "Sorry; did you just try and tell me that you're in love with Gellert Grindelwald?"

Queenie felt red-hot anger flush through her, and she scowled. "And he's in love with me."

"I don't suppose that man can feel love, Queenie," protested Newt, staring at the table, and Queenie angrily demanded,