Obscure Occurrences |C. BAREBONE|

☛ Forty-Seven ☚

• August, 1927 •

Night descended Père Lachaise cemetery and cast a daunting pall over the wizards gathered. They all had one question circulating their minds:

Who is Credence Barebone?

Meanwhile, Nagini was marking Jacob Kowalski, the Muggle Genevieve had met in New York and didn't think to help the maledictus as she snapped her fangs toward the dark-skinned man. He was trying to get a clean shot and Credence and ultimately, kill the boy as he stood protected by the dark witch.

Genevieve was boiling with an anger which manifested into a darkness that light choked on. She was haunting. But beautiful in the image as she stood against the stranger, her wand drawn with the killing curse tingling upon her tongue. She wasn't scared to use it, it was her right.

"Move back!-" the man spat at Nagini, "- Out of the way! If I must kill you as well as Corvus, I shall!" He continued to bark with an venom. The three had no idea who Corvus was. But, they concluded that he must've been important if there was a death threat hanging above his head.

And soon enough, from the shadows a graceful woman came with her wand brandished against the man. Strangely enough, Genevieve noticed how alike the two appeared. Both with their dark complexion and mysterious features... They both hid a secret in those black orbs. Much like Credence as his body buzzed from behind Genevieve. She could feel him shake in fear as he clutched her hand tighter and tighter.

"Stop!" The woman exclaimed, her voice ricocheting through the Mausoleum.

By now, the man was in a daunting standoff with the woman.

She walked forward slowly, her steps calculated and determined as she approached the man. If they could all peek into the man's mind they would see his beautiful mother: stricken still as the imperious curse was cast upon her. Yet still... She was mesmerising.

"Yusuf?" The woman questioned in uncertainty as the maledictus, witch and Obscurus watched on from the shadows.

"Is that really you? My little sister?" The man asked solemnly.

In this moment, the familiar figures of Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein entered with haste before exchanging looks. Through these purposeful gazes, Tina saw her cousin with her eyes dark and troubled. She nearly ran to the girl despite disliking her very much. After Genevieve's disappearance Queenie was never the same and the Auror wouldn't begin to admit the same. But Genevieve wasn't the same person as before. She was different... Haunted.

"So he's you brother? Who am I?" Credence pondered loudly, allowing his voice to echo as he asked the tanned woman.

"I don't know..." she sighed sadly. She truly pitied the boy.

"I'm tired of living with no name and no history. Just tell me my story - then you can end it" Credence secretly begged.

"Your story is out story...-" Yusuf spoke before gesturing his sister, "- Our story"

"No Yusuf-".

"My Father was Mustafa Kama, a pureblood of Sénégalese descent and most accomplished... My mother Laurena was equally high-bred - a noted beauty-" he added in nostalgia, "- they were deeply in love...".

Yusuf then paused, his heart in pain as he remembered.

"They knew a man of great influence, from a famous French pureblood family... He desired her-".

"- Lestrange used the Imperious Curse to seduce and abduct her-" he announced as he sifted through horrible recollection. The woman seemed to be ignorant this story
-despite being a relative- and appeared like any other in the mausoleum. They did not know what to expect from the man as he continued to tell his story.

"- That was the last time I ever saw her-" Yusuf sighed painfully, "- She died, giving birth to a little girl... You" he directed toward his sister who's eyes were glazed over with thick tears. They came tumbling in guilt-filled waves and actually managed to move the dark witch as she buried herself under Credence's arm. She knew this story was setting the boy on edge yet she still managed to calm him (much to Tina's notice).

"The news of her death drive my Father insane. With his dying breath, my Father charged me to seek revenge. Kill the person Lestrange loves best in the world... I thought at first it would be easy... He had only one close relative... You. But-".

"Say it..." his sister managed to whisper. And with a regretful and heavy sigh Yusuf announced:

"He never loved you-".

"- He remarried not three months after her death. He loved her no more than he had loved you... But then...-" Yusuf flickered his eyes to Credence and Genevieve, "- His son, Corvus, was born at last. And that man who had never known love was filled with it. All he cared about was little Corvus".

"So... This is the truth-" Credence choked out through a suppressed cry, "- I am Corvus Lestrange".

"Yes" Yusuf announced but his sister, on the other hand, said:

"No".

Genevieve could feel Credence flickering his eyes from one to another in confusion. He didn't know what to think, he didn't know who he was and he continued to fall deeper in his false identity as Yusuf turned to his sister in pure uncertainty.

What had she known that he didn't.

And with a breath, Leta confessed Corvus Lestrange to be dead and that she -in fact- had killed the baby.

"My Father sent me to America, along with Corvus. And Irma was to pose as a grandmother with two grandchildren-"

"I could remember little Corvus crying... And he just never stopped...-" Yusuf's daughter said exasperated, "- I never wanted to hurt him. I only wanted to be free of him. Just for a moment; a single moment.  But then the ship began to sink. Before I knew it Irma had snatched the baby from my arms and swept us away amongst the confusion-".

"- While Irma and I were in one boat. Little Corvus was in his, alone with a strange as a wave suddenly approached. It overturned the life boat Corvus was in... Some from the boat did burst from the water. But the woman did not-" she confessed, before adding: "- so neither did Corvus".

Genevieve wrapped her arms further around Credence, her limbs nearly choking him as she attempted to provide comfort. Yet Credence still vibrates with a sorrow and loss. What had he done wrong to deserve such a fate?

"You didn't mean to do it, Leta-" Newt spoke up to diffuse the her guilt, "- So it wasn't your fault".

"Oh, Newt-" Leta cooed, her voice patronising as she turned to the wizard in blue, "- you never met a monster you couldn't love".

In the few seconds between silence and noise, Newt and Leta exchanged a look that spoke in undiluted nostalgia. It reminded Genevieve of when she was reunited with Credence, how he gazed at her as if they had met only the day before.

"Leta, do you know who Credence really is?-" Tina asked, pulling forward the biting question from everyone's bellies, "- Did you know, when you swapped them?".

And with a pause, so long and haunting, Leta said:

"No".

Credence held Genevieve too tight then, making her break away from under his arm in silenced pain. In a way, he had to thank the witch for defying fate and letting him live, yet she had still taken everything. He could've had a family; a life that wasn't torn apart to allow him to become freak he was.

But before his Obscurus could erupt from his body, freeing tendrils of black and red. An opening suddenly appeared in the wall of the Lestrange mausoleum. And from it, arose the hum and rumble of the vast crowd beneath their feet. It was a room like the coliseum, packed full of pureblood wizards who came to hear Gellert Grindlewald speak.

This, marked the exposition of Credence's awakening.