Burned Into Glory

Alone

"Queenie. Come in." Grindelwald gestured to her as she shut the office door behind her. Queenie had been summoned to his office by floating message whilst she'd been reading books in the library with Vinda. Queenie put a hand over her still-flat belly and walked toward Grindelwald's desk. She sat slowly opposite him and asked,

"Have you heard from Gaspard Valentin about Nagini?"

"Yes... unfortunately." Grindelwald put his lips into a straight line. He shook his head. "He says there's nothing to be done. He knows of absolutely no way to prolong the inevitable, to stretch the timeline of a Maledictus. Nagini will become a snake for good in her own time, probably sooner rather than later."

Queenie shut her eyes and sighed heavily. She warned, "When she does, Gellert, Aurelius will lose his mind. He'll go full Obscurial when Nagini is gone from him. I feel it in his mind - the impending grief. The anger he'll feel when she doesn't change back for the last time. You need to be prepared for his reaction."

She opened her eyes to see Grindelwald nodding. He drummed his fingers on the desk and considered,

"I may send them to the cottage alone for a few weeks, and if she changes into a snake and doesn't change back, he'll take his Obscurus form and rampage in the mountains. I'll let him know he has my permission to take out his anger on the trees and rocks when the time comes."

Queenie's eyes burned a little. "She gave me her fertility."

"She did." Grindelwald nodded. "We'll try to take care of her in these last days of her womanhood."

Queenie sniffled a little, feeling far more emotional about Nagini than she'd ever expected to feel. She reached up and brushed away a tear as she considered what it must be like to feel one's humanity slipping away day by day... especially when one was already in love. She couldn't fathom it. She tried to picture Leopold, having seen the vision from Grindelwald's skull, and she knew that she would never have Leopold within her if it hadn't been for Nagini and her fertility.

"Please see to it that she is comfortable," Queenie murmured, and Grindelwald bowed his head kindly. He pulled an envelope from the side of his desk and slid it over to Queenie.

"Mail, for you," he said. "From England. From the Ministry of Magic."

Queenie picked up the letter and studied its unbroken seal. She flicked her eyes to Grindelwald. "You didn't open it."

He cocked one eyebrow. "It wasn't addressed to me."

"Still." Queenie was surprised that he'd waited for her to open this, and yet, he'd never shown her anything but respect. Perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised. She tore at the wax and peeled back the envelope, pulling out the parchment inside. She unfolded it and read aloud,

Dear Madam Grindelwald:

Your presence and testimony as a witness and victim is requested at the criminal trial of Albus Dumbledore in the Wizengamot.

Albus Dumbledore is being tried with the crime of Casting a Curse with the Intent of Permanent and Malicious Bodily Harm. Of course, the incident in question is the alleged Infecundum Curse he supposedly cast against you at the wedding of your sister, fellow witness Tina Scamander. Dumbledore, for what it's worth, is not contesting the idea that he cast the Curse upon you, but is protesting the idea of a sentence in Azkaban Prison.

If you should choose to come to England to testify, I can offer you complete clemency and safety on the condition that you come entirely alone and that you surrender your wand upon arrival at the Ministry until you leave our Headquarters.