Chapter Text
Today was a disaster. It started too early for Graves´s liking, with news about Grindelwald killing two dozens of No-Majs in Russia. It was just another bad news after a week full of stressful incidents and long shifts and Graves was secretly grateful when the briefing with Madam President ended in time for a late lunch. His hopes were crushed before he could even leave the Woolworth Building.
When they told him that the Goldstein girl, the Auror one (his one) attacked a No-Maj, he didn´t believe his ears at first.
It seemed that today could still turn even worse.
Graves strode down the halls of MACUSA, trying to focus on not blowing up every single light which he passed. On his trail, persistent as ever, was the very reason of his foul mood.
“I couldn´t just stand there, watching,” Tina – no, Miss Goldstein – insisted. “Please, I did what was right, this demoting is not-”
“Enough,” he hissed under his breath, keeping his voice purposely low, despite he wanted nothing more than shout his frustration out. Goldstein, one of the most promising Aurors at his department decided that attacking a No-Maj woman in public was a perfect way how to make his day more interesting.
As if his life was boring without that. Grindelwald´s attacks in Europe were more and more frequent and Graves knew of Dark Wizard´s sympathizers gaining numbers here in States too. The incidents were few in numbers so far, but they were getting more violent every time. Graves secretly feared the moment when the dark wizards would start attacking No-Majs like their bleached idol, but he never quite expected his trusted subordinate to outrun them. Since Tina Goldstein joined the Magical Security, she was always eager to prove herself as skilled Auror and she did the best to protect people. Graves knew why she snapped today, but with everything else going on, he couldn´t stop himself from feeling a slightly betrayed by Tina causing him troubles (and getting demoted), when he needed the reliable Aurors the most.
Okay, maybe was feeling slightly betrayed.
Graves marched to his office, his frown dark enough to scare away any Auror who would want to vouch for Goldstein. His hands were clenched into fists in the pockets of his coat and once the door closed behind them, Graves slowly exhaled, willing himself to calm down.
Tina silently followed her boss to his office, her expression desperate. After everything she did to become an Auror, she just blows her career away by a single mistake. But what she did was right! Why no one seems to understand it?
“Please, sir, I was just trying to help-“
And that was the last drop.
“Are you even listening to yourself?!” He yelled, twisting around to face the startled witch. “It´s all I, I, I. I thought it was a right thing to do, I don’t want to be suspended, I only wanted to help- well, if you wanted to help, you shouldn´t have attacked a crazy witch-hating No-Maj in public!”
Tina opened her mouth to defend herself, but Graves silenced her with a glare. She never saw him losing his composure before and standing face to face with angry Director Graves wasn´t exactly Tina´s career plan.
“And you chose perfect timing too,” Graves continued. “With Grindelwald´s actions indicating that he might head to States soon, you, a skilled Auror, decides that working at Wands permit would be more fun than protecting this damned city!”
“I didn´t want to be suspended,” Tina said. “Please, don´t kick me from Magical Security, sir, I-” A lamp exploded on Graves´s table and Tina flinched.
“Well, if you only care about your Auror career,” Graves said dangerously quietly, “maybe I should kick you from Magical security.”
“I didn´t do it for career! You have no idea how that terrible woman is threating her children!” Tina exclaimed. “And Credence was getting the worst of it, I-”
“And it´s about you again,” Graves interrupted her, glaring. “Serving your punishment at Wands permit may teach you what discipline is, Miss Goldstein. And now, leave my office. Please.”
Tina took a shaky breathe and turned around. She couldn´t believe that she was actually getting demoted from being Auror. If her parents were still alive, they would be so ashamed of her. But she wasn´t ready to give up yet.
Swallowing she turned back to Mister Graves.
“Could you at least watch out for the boy?” she said hesitantly. “I mean Credence, sir. He really needs help.”
“What No-Majs do to each other is problem of their police, Miss Goldstein. Not a work for Aurors.”
“But-“
The lights above their heads flickered and Tina quickly closed her mouth. Angry Mister Graves wasn´t someone she wanted to argue with, but she felt that Credence deserved all help she could offer. Even if it meant begging an apparently pissed-off Auror to overstep laws.
“Don´t let anything happen to him, sir,” she said, unable to look him in the eyes and see the disappointment in them. “Please.”
“Out of my office. Now!”
Sighing, Tina turned on her heel and left Graves to stare holes into the door which she closed behind herself.
Graves shook his head and went to sit at the table. Goldstein should be glad that No-Majs´ memories were successfully erased, instead of thinking about getting even more involved in their affairs. It wasn´t like Graves didn´t care for No-Maj children, he simply thought that No-Maj police could take care about them even without magic. His eyes fell on the pile of European newspapers, full of mentions of Grindelwald´s attacks. He had no time to worry about some No-Majs when the threat of Dark wizard moving to States was becoming more and more solid.
With Tina gone, the amount of work to do didn´t shrink, so Graves spent most of the next week in his office. He barely had time to go home to get a few hours of sleep and clean clothes before heading right back, trying not to miss Tina´s energy and sharp mind too much. Occasionally, he caught himself wondering if he couldn´t secretly sneak some reports to Wand permit office for Tina to fill them for him, but he always just shook the thoughts off with a sight.
But maybe he could check on the witch-hunters, just to make sure that the obliviating left no residual memories. It was lunch break (recently one of Graves´s least favourite times of day) and there were no urgent matters, so Graves grabbed his coat and left the office, hoping to get as much of fresh air as it was possible in New York.
The Second Salemers seemed to be early-lunchers, because when Graves reached their usual meeting spot, children were already pouring out of the church, handing out leaflets while Mary Lou had a passionate speech about the evils of modern witchcraft.
Graves stopped for a moment to listen to her, wondering why anyone would pay attention to something to far-fetched. After a minute, he silently thanked Merlin that there were no Second Salemers around in the areas attacked by Grindelwald, or the Dark wizard would be already using them to spread fear among No-Majs.
After the speech, Graves moved to the other side of the road to observe children from distance. He didn´t want to get involved, but Tina´s pleas stood out in his mind and he decided that checking if Credence-kid was doing fine wouldn´t harm anyone.
It wasn´t hard to notice Credence. He was older than other Mary Lou´s kids, dark haired and shyly looking to ground as if believing that when he doesn´t look at other people, they wouldn´t look at him either.
Graves tilted his head to side. Boy looked alive enough for him to just leave, but something in Credence´s slouching posture triggered Graves´s Auror instincts. When the boy moved down the street in an attempt to give his leaflets out, Graves silently followed.
Credence tried to offer the leaflets to people passing him by, but the most simply ignored him. He wouldn´t mind, he never liked the attention, but if he failed, Ma would punish him so he tried anyway. When a hand reached out for one of his leaflets, he flinched in surprise.
“May I?”
“Ye-yes, sir.”
Gentleman in expensively looking suit and a nice, dark coat took a leaflet and studied it. Credence remembered Ma telling him to explain their cause to anyone who might seem interested, but he couldn´t bring himself to speak of witches to this man. He would just make a fool of himself, he was sure about it.
“Are you all right?” the mister in nice coat asked suddenly, startling Credence out of his thoughts. “You look pale.”
“I-I´m fine, sir.”
The mister in nice coat stopped reading the leaflet and eyed Credence instead. “Are you sure?” he asked, slightly tilting his head to side. Credence could feel his ears turning pink from heat, unused to this level of attention.
“Yes, sir.”
He dared a quick glance at the other man. Most of people didn´t care if he was all right or not and Credence didn´t know what to think of this man. The only person who ever showed some care was Miss Tina and Miss Tina wouldn´t see him again because she got in troubles for attacking his Ma and she was probably angry with Credence because he caused her troubles.
Bowing his head as low as he could, Credence took a tentative step back. He didn´t want to cause troubles to anyone else.
Suddenly, a drop of water hit his cheek. Credence´s shoulders fell. He didn´t like rain. It was cold and wet and he still had a lot of leaflets to give out. The mister in nice coat looked up, frowning at the gray sky. He reached for his pocket but then seemed to change his mind and let his hand fall by his side with a sigh, as if he just realized that his pocket wasn´t big enough for an umbrella.
“You should go home, boy,” he told Credence. “You´d get soaked in this rain.”
Credence shook his head. “I have to give out the leaflets,” he said quietly. Looking at his feet, Credence didn´t see Graves´s eyebrows jumping up at hearing that.
Considering the pros and cons, Graves looked at the leaflet in his hand again. He should be going back to his (dry) office and do something useful but he didn´t want to leave Credence here, trying to follow his Ma´s orders and failing miserably, because seriously, who was even interested in this ridiculous leaflets? Something about the shy, pale boy made Graves´s hard Auror core soften with pity.
“This looks quite interesting, could you tell me more about it?” he heard himself saying aloud. Credence looked almost as surprised as Graves himself, hearing it. “Maybe we could go somewhere for a lunch,” Graves continued, unsure what was he getting himself into. “And you´ll tell me more about these Second Salemers, boy. All right?”