Hi there!

I wrote this for NaNoWriMo last year and figured someone might like it (since it's the sort of fic I wanted to read but couldn't find; so I just write one myself). Don't know if I will continue this though... ._.

Leave Reviews and all that if you want me to continue it! There is more, just not very polished.

To the fic!

You'd think that if the Director of Magical security disappeared something would have been affacted . More discord, less order, more no-maj witnesses. Anything! But walking down the busy streets of New York it was like he hadn't been gone at all. Which might have been for the better. Just imagining the head ache from arriving to a metropolis in chaos made him abandon all those thoughts . He had to be grateful that his imposter hadn't messed anything up. Or messed anything up more than he'd already had. But MACUSA was handling it fairly well. He had grown tired of the apologies and fruit baskets from employes had sent to apologize over the face that they had not been able to tell the difference between Grindlewald and himself .

He guessed if he was to give the European any props it would be for his astounding performance. Hey, if the dark lord deal didn't work out he could always settle for becoming an actor.

He had to subtly shake his head.

He was doing that again. Becoming unfocused. To let his mind wander and forget about the things around him. He had hardly noticed the newsies running around, the cars driving past; leaving clouds of bitter smelling clouds of fumes that always reminded him of the war . He wasn't even annoyed at the many no-majs around him that kept shuffling against his shoulder. If he didn't watch himself he could get hit by a car. Or kidnapped again.

There, right there, he did it again .

It was a habit he had developed while inprisoned in Grindewald's cupboard. He had had nothing else to do, so it wasn't really his fault. All he had had was four walls, a ceiling that smelled of mold and a cold floor. His skill in wandless magic had been rendered useless with magical chackles that disabled all sorts of magical powers . All in all, it had been boring.

He had missed out on so much while being gone. Beasts running amock in his city, and an obacurial ransacking and ruining buildings.

He sighed internally at the reminder of the ordeal. It was because of the obscurial's existense that Grindelwald had impersonated him in the first place . And even if it had been several weeks since MACUSA had imprisoned the obscurial - a young male he had been told - he still felt aggravated when thinking about what problems it had caused . They were lucky they had magic to repair everything. He did not want to guess the number of digits on the property damage if they hadn't.

But it was all in the past now, wasn't it? he thought. The boy was harmless after the confrontation with the MACUSA agents at the subway station . He was now being handled by another department; underage magic use.

Though this case was something extra since the boy had tecnically been legally of age when he commited the offences, but also lacked such a control over his magic - or his obscurus - that it could be classified as accidental use of magic . Just like the ones any magical child experienced in their early years. He didn't know what age the boy had been reverted to, and to be honest he doubted anyone at the Underage Magic Use knew either . The massive energy drainage and magical power exposed to the young man during that final confrontation made it hard to even try and track it . But he had heard small talk about him being at least younger than twelve, since he didn't have the mollars for it, but nothing else .

He realized it was time to cross the street. Normally he would merely have appareted over. But his magical powers were still a little out of it to use such powerful spells for trivial things like crossing the street, so he had to walk to work . He tried to think that it was better for his health to get some fresh air. But the cars and vents around him told him otherwise.

He walked up the steps of the bank, briskly heading towards the side door no one used to the left of the larger revolving doors, except wizards and witches of course . He recieved a nod from the guard, the nod being a beat too late to be absolutely confident. He sighed internally , second time that morning. Somehow everyone kept acting flustered around him now for not realizing Grindlewald had impersonated him . It was frustrating because he actually did not blame them in the slighest. As stated, Grindlewald was an excellent actor and that could not be held against them.

Maybe more regulated security routines would have helped, but he digressed.

To try and establish his point he returned the nod and went through the revolvning doors, entering the MACUSA headquarters to start his day as Director of Magical security.

As soon as he set foot within the hallway of MACUSA he could feel his magical battery raise a few notches by the atmosphere alone. He walked passed the Salem trial monument, rest in peace brethren, and the ceiling disappeared above his head to rise into a church like dome; so high that you could distinguish a thin mist on the top levels, as well as the shapes of various birds delivering messages for their masters and mistresses.

He glanced up on the dangermeter in the middle of the adjoining staircases and noted that nothing exciting had happened since yesterday. The dials had shifted from Unexplained activity to High alert the night that Grindelwald had been found and arrested. Or, now he was giving MACUSA too much credit, Grindelwald had practically revealed himself that time in the subway. He supposed that was the sole good thing from his kidnapping, that the most powerful dark wizard in the world had been captured. That and they had found an obscurus.

An obscurus currently residing in this very building.

Damn it, he was doing it again.

He made his way over to the elevators, gracefully avoiding bumping into anyone. It was a morning rush in the foyer. The other employees tended to move out of the way because of his high ranking and their own fear of causing the Director to have a bad morning, but most of the time they were too busy reading over documents or memos for meetings to look where they were going. He didn't blame them, he had been the same ten years back when he was merely an auror. He stepped inside the invention with three other aurors and a secretary, all greeting him with a 'Good morning, sir', which he returned. and together they ascended to the Magical Security department.

Arriving to his office he thought about whether he should give his secretary some vacation. He had tried explaining to her that he held no grudge about her not realizing she had been greeting and keeping Grindelwald up to date every day, but she didn't seem to get it. Instead she worked herself like a horse and she still wouldn't look him in the eye unless he indicated that he found it annoying. Which he did with a clearing of his throat.

She could really use it, but he doubted she would want to go.

He shrugged internally. Christmas was around the corner, if she wasn't rested up after that he'd apparete her himself to the nearest skiing lodge.

He shrugged of his jacket, hanging it on the hanger by the door together with his scarf, and headed towards his desk.

As if on que the witch appeared in the doorway, the usual clipboard in hand.

"Good morning, sir", she greeted. Either she was pretending to read something over, or she was actually doing a good job.

"Good morning, miss Tocker", he told her and sat down behind his desk. With a wave of his hand his briefcase opened and documents and files he had read over last night fluttered out, neatly stacking themselves on the table in piles sorted by their relevance.

"So, the carpenters will arrive during your nine thirty meeting to fix the door", she said and subtly gestured for the door with her hand.

"I'll be sitting outside as always, but I'd feel safer if you set a enchantments so that no one uninvited comes in."

Ah, that door. He didn't know what had been more surprising: coming back to find out that Grindelwald had taken his identity, or that a muggle had managed to kick down , as he had been informed, his magically warded door to his office. It could have been that Grindelwald hadn't bothered with maintaining the enchantments properly, but it was impressive even still.

"Sounds like a good idea", he nodded.

"Anything else?", he asked her.

She read up a few aurors that wanted his opinion on certain cases and upcoming meetings for the next few days; which he all nodded at. Still with her keeping her eyes glued on the clipboard. Then she left.

"Thank you, miss Tocker", he called after her as she made a bow and walked back to sit by the desk outside in the hall. It wasn't right outside his door, but she could keep an eye on it from the position further down the hall.

That done he sat down by his desk and started looking through relevant material for the meeting starting in less than an hour, bringing down books and other files from a cupboard with a few waves of his hands. He had gone over it last evening, but he wanted to be prepared, as always.

When he felt like he had everything prepared and fresh in his mind he raised his hand to return the files and books to their correct places while packing the essential documents in his briefcase, but nothing happened.

They didn't move an inch.

He gave a curt sighed and let his hand fall to his side.

Wandless magic had become such a habit of his that he sometimes forgot to bring it out when performing such trivial spells as Leviosa; but it seemed like trying to levitate twenty objects simultaneously in different directions was too hard on his magical capabilities. He branded his wand from his pocket and waved it in the air, saying the spell under his breath just to avoid further embarrassment in case a silent one wouldn't have worked.

Luckily it did. He raised the wand once more to cast the enchantment so that he'd know if anyone uninvited went in. It was going to be a little trickier with the doorframe being wide open, because he'd be notified every time a carpenter brushed the barrier. But he could live with that until his door was installed.

Seeing that everything was done he left the office, gave Miss Tocker a nod, and took the elevator to the 67th floor where the meeting was.

He knew when the carpenters came. And he knew when they took down the old door and replaced it with the new one. The carpenters probably knew he knew, if they weren't incredibly low level wizards. The sensation he had every time a living thing crossed the thin barrier in the door frame was similar to the shills one got when your siblings brushes the tip of their fingers up your neck, or when you got into a warm bath after a long walk in the forest in the winter. I ran up his spin and tingle behind his ears for a few seconds before disappearing into the air.

Luckily he was so used to monitoring enchantments, so it was a minor nuisance during the meeting. He reported the major instances and statistics, which were all on the way to more positive numbers now that Grindelwald was arrested which had set his followers on a lost and confused standstill, which came as a happy surprise to everyone at the table.

Only Picquery had given him the usual nod. She was the only one that didn't toe around the elephant in the room and treated him like before. Perhaps slightly more grateful about his loyalty and competence than before.

Then he discussed and argued about counteracts and the resources the arours needed. Right about then he had another sensation.

Something more... prickly .

He let the voice of the Minister of Security fade away while he let his focus switch to his office and the enchantment lingering there. It had been a greater power that had entered. No elf. But he couldn't be sure it was human either.

He must have scowled, because Picquery gave him an inquiring look. He made a move with his eyebrows to signal that something was up, he just didn't know if it was serious or not. She lifted her own eyebrows just a fraction to indicate that he was free to leave if he needed, which he responded to by shrugging because just then he felt the carpenters again.

The carpenters were just packing up when he came back. Tocker was sitting by her desk, idly scribbling down reports and unfolding rat memos that climbed onto her desk top and unfolded with a wave of her wand.

"How was the meeting, sir?", she asked politely. It was usually followed by some sort of instructions for reports or gathering new references and reports.

He replied that it went well, and went to his office. He nodded at the carpenders, who asked him if he liked his new door, and after giving it an inspection said that he did indeed like it. The wood was so newly polished and unblemished that he could easily distinguish his reflection in the dark wood. If it hadn't been for the emplated MACUSA logo he probably could have been able to style his hair.

And when he realized he was doing it again he took out his wand and waved it before the door while muttering a few spells to synchronize it with his magical aura. He would save the enchantments and protections for when he left for the evening.

Seeing that done he went inside to research about an interesting topic that had arose during the discussions. If he didn't have what he was looking for he'd send Nancy to fetch it in the archives. He would do that, then go for lunch. And after that was another meeting he was to attend. He had a smooth work day in front of him.

Or so he thought when he pushed down the doorknob, started opening the door

and heard a gasp from within the room.

And suddenly he remembered. He hadn't noticed that strange force ever leaving the room.

He put his shoulder against the door and with his wand still in his hand burst into his office, wand ready to freeze whatever intruder that had dared to walk into his office! Again. Though he did not see anyone at first. He spun both ways, but it was still empty. With a few strides, with his wand ready, he came around the desk; but no one was hiding there.

He scowled.

Homenum revelio, he cast wordlessly.

There was another gasp and he sounds around to see the magical marker indicating a human presence by the door. It took him a moment but then he saw them.

It was behind the hanger, and he should have felt silly that he hadn't checked it from the start; but it was another feeling that surpassed silliness.

Complete and utter surprise.

Behind the hanger, was a boy. A young, pale boy in a simple button down and black slacks. And a scared boy by the look of terror in his eyes.

And no wonder, Graves was pointing a wand in his face. He quickly lowered it.

"Ah...", he gawked at the lack of a better word.

The boy didn't say anything. Just stood there, visibly trembling. Graves decided it would be the best strategy to try and assure him that he wasn't going to hurt him, he was clinging to Graves jacket hanging on the hanger, hiding his blushing face behind it. He pocketed his wand.

"Hi there little guy", he tried in the most coaxing way possible.

"What's your name?", Graves asked.

There was a mumble. A quiet voice drifting his way from behind the hanger.

"Credence..."

" Credence ..."

He recognized that name. Perhaps he had heard it in passing during some coffee break, conference or cocktail party, but it meant the boy knew someone working there. Finding his parents wouldn't be that difficult.

"So, what were you doing in my office, Credence?", he then asked.

The boy blushed.

"I... I wanted to meet Mr Gr...", he stopped himself,"...the real Mr Graves."

For a moment he was even more confused. Then it hit him all at once.

"You're the obscurial", he blurped out.

My, had his time in solitary confinement ruined his self control.

The MACUSA investigators must either have been blind or incredibly unexposed to children, because the obscurial must have been closer to six years of age than ten with those huge eyes and short limbs.

The boy looked troubled all of a sudden.

"And Grindelwald tricked you, while looking like me ", he continued.

Credence seemed to think it over, then nodded.

Graves had read the reports and summary of the situation between Grindelwald and the boy. How he had manipulated him, made him trust him. All to use him to the dark wizard's own gain.

"You do realize that wasn't me, right?", he said.

Credence looked away. Guilty?

"I know, sir...", he said.

"Then why did you come here?", he wondered.

The boy opened his mouth to answer, but right then Tocker appeared in the doorway. Probably alarmed from seeing Graves tackling open his own door. She had her own wand raised as well, but as she wasn't trained in any sort of combat she looked more terrified than terrifying .

"Sir, are you alright?!"

Another witch and a wizard appeared behind her. Wands raised in a more intimidating manner.

He waved for them to calm down. Still Credence looked scared again. And according to what Graves knew about Obscurials and Obscurus: scaring them was not good. The witch that had joined his secretary in the door meet eyes with the boy. Then she looked between him and Graves. Then back at Credence.

"Oh dear!", she said.

"You're not supposed to be here...!", she said. Then she held out her hand for the boy, making a hither motion. To Grave's surprise the boy obeyed and stepped forward to take her hand.

She then looked at the Minister of Magical Security.

"I'm sorry sir, we'll keep better track of him next time!"

"Yes, do that", he replied. He didn't have anything against Credence personally, but he didn't want an Obscurial running around MACUSA breaking into guarded offices without a second care.

"Yes sir...!", she said, then she walked out of the room, Credence stumbling behind her on his short legs he probably wasn't very used to. Graves saw how he turned his head to catch a last glance at him before rounding the doorway.

And with that the scene ended.

Nancy returned to her desk.

The wizard continued down the hall.

Percival Graves continued with his day.

-Days later-

"Madam President, I ask you to forgive my bluntness; but what the hell did you just suggest...?!"

The woman didn't react to his tone like he might have wanted. Or no, he didn't want her to react, he just wanted her to understand that her proposal was ridiculous.

"It's rather simple Percival. We want you to take custody of the boy, it isn't complicated."

"' Isn't complicated' my ass! What good would that do?", he asked. He was standing in front of her desk, she was sitting behind it. He had been called to her office first thing in the morning and had had no idea what she was going to adress. It had been three days since his encounter with the Obscurial, and never in his wildest dreams had he imagined to be asked this.

"We concluded that since he is de-aged we should use this opportunity to let him develop and use his powers, rather than repressing them like the first time around. The Obscurus is already weakened, or that's what our observations have shown."

"And what does that have to do with me?", he demanded.

"Your the best candidate of course! You outrank all your peers, myself excluded, in magical abilities and discipline", she explained, and he deadpanned at her remark about her outranking him. Even if he normally would have been flattered by hearing her say it.

"You'd be the perfect teacher for him."

"You do realize I have the same face as his betrayer? He would either run away, avoid me, but either way he'd detest me and NOT trust me with anything!"

She gave him a look he didn't recognize.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong Percival. He seems to trust you more than anyone here", she said. She was being smug he realized.

"Based on what? I talked with him for two minutes..."

"That's two minutes more conversation than anyone have gotten out of him."

When she saw his confusion she added:"He's been bordering to mute, only answering in yes and noes."

Yes, he was a little shocked of the reaction he had brought on the boy, and maybe a little flattered, but the fact that Grindelwald had used his face to deceive the boy remained.

He shook his head.

"I can't do it. It's immoral", he told her.

"I don't really care, and neither does the senate, or the congress", she said. Then a scroll fluttered down before her, unrolled itself and she started reading it, as if he had left the room and wasn't still trying to establish his rights as a wizard in a free country.

"When did this vote take place?", he wondered.

She shrugged.

"It hasn't been officially done, but I'm scheduling a meeting this friday."

Sometimes he wondered why he voted for her. Then he remembered it was because she promised good politics after the war. He groaned internally.

"I don't have the time to care for a child", he said, clinging onto the last argument.

She didn't look up from her scroll.

"And I've prompted you to take time off to heal. It adds up rather nicely doesn't it? You can work from home, rest up, get your routines back in order; and contribute to the safety of the country by securing the Obscurial."

"How am I supposed to ' get my routines back together if I'm having a child moving in with me, involuntarily...?", he chidded.

She looked up sharply at that.

"Graves, if you're so unwilling to do this could you please suggest a better idea."

He opened his mouth to reply, but had to clam it closed again as he realized that he, in fact, didn't have a better idea.

She gave him a sort of I told you so nod.

"The preparations have already been set in motion. I suggest you get your apartment ready for your charge."

He was close to snap at her, but contained himself. He'd just have to prove this arrangement wasn't going to work. But for that he needed evidence. And a better idea for what was to happen to the boy.

"Ma'am", he said, without giving her and absolute yes or no, and walked out of her office.