Chapter 18: The Uncertain Future

Tina knocked on the black door on Theseus' office at the British Ministry of Magic in London.

She had disapparated directly from that warehouse, leaving the leader of the group lying there after she crushed his wand with her hands.

She didn't kill him since his memories and any other information he might have about Grindelwald and his group would be useful in MACUSA's battle against him. It might even help them in catching him.

 That's why she contacted the rest of the Aurors and left him helpless without anybody to find him lest he found enought strength to disapparate back to where he came from. Who knows, maybe Grindelwald himself…

CREAK

The door opened and Tina entered the room.

Looking around, she noticed that Theseus was sitting on a small couch next to the desk and Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk.

She was confused by the downcast and somewhat terrified faces both of them had and thought, 'Why does it look like they've seen the end of the world?'

However, she couldn't care less about it at the moment. She needed answers. Answers to questions she wanted urgently. So, without bothering to greet any of them, she walked toward them and asked seriously while crossing her arms, "What do any of you know about The One Who Was Born In Darkness?"

Dumbledore and Theseus looked away from her, not saying anything.

"What is it?", Tina looked at Dumbledore, who was now covering his forehead with his hand.

Her gaze moved to her brother in law who was sighing repeatedly like an old man, "What is it? Come on! Say something!"

However, Theseus kept his mouth shut and stared at his fingers.

Tina exhaled slowly. Her temper rising up, she stared at Dumbledore who was deliberately ignoring her and said, "I've been dealing with Grindelwald's servants for a long time. I just came back from dealing with them a couple of minutes ago and I heard them speaking this title as if it was a holy verse. This is the first time I've heard this name and I want to know why the guy was saying that this person was going to cover the world in darkness. Again."

Seeing that Dumbledore refused to say anything back, she shouted angrily, "I was almost killed. KILLED! SO FUCKING SAY SOMETHING!!!!"

In all of the years she had known Dumbledore, she had never even thought about raising her voice in front of him. Out of respect. Right now, she didn't care.

Finally, Dumbledore sighed and revealed, "We went to the Hall of Prophecy. We found.. we found..."

Dumbledore paused, exhaled out slowly and continued, "We found an orb. Under it, there was an inscription that said: For The One Who Was Born In Darkness and The One Who Was Born In Light. You know who the latter is…"

Instantly, Tina's anger was replaced by first confusion, then shock and finally realization of what that meant. Her breathing increased rapidly and her body began shaking. She coudln't stand straight.

She felt as if she couldn't feel her legs anymore and almost fell until a pair of hands grabbed her waist.

Those hands. She could recognise these hands anywhere.

"Newt! Hold me, hold me, hold me. Please!." She clung onto him and pleaded.

"You're with me. Always.", Newt whispered in her ear as he tried to calm her down.

But, sensing the tears staining his shirt, he took one of his hands of her waist and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

He looked at Dumbledore, then at Theseus.

"What is going on?", He asked, confused.

Dumbledore sighed deeply. At the same moment the door opened again and Jacob, Queenie, Aberforth and Aurelius entered the office.

Seeing her sister's state, Queenie ran over to her and tried to calm her down.

"Something has been going on. The dark wizards have gone on a frenzy in recently. Unfortunately enough for you, I think it is about damn time the rest of us need some answers.", Aberforth looked at his brother, upset.

Dumbledore looked back at him and then at the rest of the group gathered in the office and said, "I think the time for a new meeting of the 1st Order of Phoenix has come."

Everybody nodded in agreement.

Aberforth just sighed dramatically. With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore made a few more cushioned chairs come into the room in a circle and everybody sat down.

After placing several enchantments around them, Dumbledore started telling them about what he and Theseus had encountered in the Hall of Prophecies...

10 Minutes Later

Everybody now looked nauseated. Even Aberforth, whose face had become identical to his brother's.

Nobody spoke anything for a few minutes until Jacob, who was broke the silence by saying, "But… nobody knows about this. How is it possible?".

Suppressing another sigh, Dumbledore smiled dully and clarified, "No ordinary person knows about this. This is a well kept top secret between Ministry members and now, we would assume, Grindelwald and his most trusted followers."

Jacob looked down and mumbled to himself, "We're going to die. All of us. Over a stupid war."

"Don't say that, honey. Everything's... going to be alright.", Queenie smiled at her husband, despite what she had just heard and tried to provide him comfort.

Jacob wished he could nod now, but he couldn't stop himself from saying, "We are all going to die. We are all going to die."

Queenie could do nothing but put her head on Jacob's shoulder.

"We will die… if we don't use our only option.", Aurelius said slowly, making everybody turn their heads to look at him.

After the events that unfolded at the elections, Aberforth took him to their house and cared for him as his son. They had a heart to heart talk where Aberforth explained to him the reasons why he did what he did. At first, Aurelius was resentful and bitter against his father but gradually over time, seeing the love and care Aberforth gave him and also the genuine remorse he had for his actions made Aurelius forgive him. Now, he was happy since he had an actual home and people he could call family. He wasn't just a no name person. He wasn't a nobody any more. He was Aurelius Dumbledore.

However, he could never ever forgive the person that used him and then threw him away like trash. He was filled with hatred for Grindelwald.

"Which is?", Dumbledore was the first to ask.

" I think you have secretly known this for a while. It's Annie. She is the only person that can help us in this war."

Newt looked at Jacob and asked,

"Then…where is she?"