Traces

Percival Graves

Percival Graves was no stranger to having a bad day by now.

He couldn’t in fact even remember the last time when he had felt like his life had been going in a somewhat remotely good direction.

Although, that may have had to do with the fact that he was a ghost at the moment and could not do anything else but watch his imposter start to wreck down everything that he had worked his entire career for.

Worst part of it all was that people didn’t even seem to notice that anything was wrong. 

Sure he had seen a few of his senior aurors frown a little at his actions from time to time, but that had been about it.

He had been so confused when he had eventually found himself awake again with not much recollection of what had happened.

The room he had awoken in had been empty and had contained the most obscene torture instruments Percival had ever seen in his career as an auror, but that hadn’t been what had made him realize that something was wrong.

No.

That had been the fact that he could now pass through things. 

“Does this mean I’m dead?,” he had thought, as he had tried yet again to call forward his magic.

Nothing had happened and despite the fact that it didn’t surprise him it still didn’t save him from the despair that had hit him afterwards.

To add on top of it people couldn’t see, hear or feel him either. 

He eventually found himself floating around in the MACUSA headquarters while trying to think of a way to alert someone when he had been met with the last face he had expected to see.

Because in front of him was no one else but him conversing with the madam president, Piqquery, Seraphina, his friend and also direct superior. 

The rage that had filled him felt indestructible, but alas there was nothing he could do but watch as no one realized that fake Percival was not the real him.

Eventually, he found himself starting to come to terms with his situation. There was nothing he could do after all.

He couldn’t tell how much time had passed either. Maybe days, weeks or months. 

The only thing he knew was that time felt weird to him. 

Good thing was that he had gotten around to spy a little on the fake Percival.

Bad thing was that he couldn’t alert anyone of his plans, whatever that was. 

Because Percival knew one thing and that was that his imposter was up to no good.

“Soul magic.” read the title of one of the many books that was covering Percival’s former workspace, alongside some of the freshly approved bills supporting a stricter exclusion of muggle born wizards.

The rest of his office looked luckily or should he say unluckily the same. Not that anyone probably would have noticed though.

He had been in the process of trying to will the Soul magic book open when he had first felt it.

A pull, a weak one that was getting stronger.

He felt himself sigh in exhaustion as he made to follow the weird connection, with his luck it would probably be no good, but he couldn’t fight it either and therefore had no other choice but to pursue it.

He passed through Senior aurors Pillai and Yowie who were nose deep into a robbery case of some kind, and went all the way into the corridor outside their department when he saw him.

And most importantly of all, he saw him back.

The man looked a bit frozen up as he stared at him, his mouth a bit agape at the sight in front of him.

Could it be?

Percival felt his heart quicken in beat as he tried to slowly move closer, the pull eventually settling down and humming in content as he stood in front of the stranger.

There was something distinctly familiar with his curly hair and tall height. 

And it took a moment for Percy to realize that the man in front of him was no one else but Newton Artemis Fido Scamander, or Newt as he had written on the front cover of his best-selling book on beast discoveries.

“Can.. you see me?”

Percival paused for a moment as he hesitantly waved a little at the man in front of him, Newt growing possibly even paler at the action, his hazel colored eyes still wide in shock.

“Hear me?” Percival’s voice grew a little loud in desperation. 

The man seemed to come alive again at that, his eyes squinting a little in disbelief as he took in the sight of ghost Percival.

“Director Graves? H-how?”

Percival felt himself almost crying in relief at the sound of the small voice answering him.

Words could not describe the happiness he felt at that moment, or the hope that had surged forwards.

----------

Queenie Goldstein

When Queenie first had laid plans for what activities to do during Newt’s visit, communicating with the dead hadn’t been one of them.

“So let me get this straight,” her sister, Teen, said as she pinched her eyebrows a little, almost like she had a headache and she most likely did have one, if Queenie knew her right.

“The director is dead, and now haunting MACUSA as a ghost. Oh, and the director I’ve been working with for quite possibly the last few days or even weeks is an imposter?”

They were currently seated together in one of the small interrogation rooms in MACUSA, Tina having firecalled her sister in minutes after what she thought had been a psychotic breakdown on Newt’s part.

“Yeah, that sums about it,” Newt said as he turned to look to his side where ghost Graves most likely was standing.

“Although, we don’t know for sure whether or not the director is dead,”

Queenie could hear the many thoughts swirling around her sister’s mind, confusion and disbelief being the main theme of most of them. 

She definitely could relate to some of them, that was for sure.

Queenie herself couldn’t really hear the director’s thoughts, but she had seen Newt’s mind and knew that he was not making this up.

Lucky for them she had the ability to do that. If not they may just not have believed him.

She loved Newt and trusted him. 

He was like a little brother for her and Tina, but being all of a sudden able to communicate with a ghost and find out that they were standing in the middle of the evil scheme of whoever had turned the director into a ghost seemed a bit too wild for her to believe without proof.

She knew that ghosts were common occurrences and Ilvermoory have had their fair share of them, but the director’s predicament was still something she had never encountered before.

“He could still be alive. Maybe he’s just cursed?” Newt said thoughtfully when Queenie sent him a bit of a pitiful look. 

Leave it to Newt to care for someone’s feelings when things most likely weren’t good. He was hopeful like that. 

Although, decidedly a bit naive as well.

He tilted his head slightly to his side as if he was listening to someone, before huffing out a snort.

“With all due respect, director. I like to keep my mind open until we have the facts. Yes, I know of your accomplishments and that you are the director, but-” Newt stilled a little as ghost Percival probably said something back to him, making Newt’s expression fall a little.

“How about we discuss the matter of the fake director first and then talk about the rest later?” Queenie suggested as Newt turned his head to look at her as she had probably interrupted the director’s ranting.

She couldn’t imagine the stress the other man must be going through at the moment. 

Although, she was definitely curious on other matters as well, such as why Newt was able to interact with him and not anyone else.

“That’s a wise idea. Problem is, though. How do we go about it?”

“What about a distraction, Teen? Gather the strongest aurors in the main hall for something and serve up something that makes the director reveal his true identity? You can probably revelio him in the chaos?” 

Queenie knew her suggestion wasn’t perfect. 

There were many risks and holes to the plan, especially the one where they had to prepare the aurors for confrontation without actually telling them what was going on because that could possibly lead to fake Graves getting informed of their suspicions and acting out on it. 

They did not know after all if the imposter had allies within the ministry, and most importantly of all, they did not know who the imposter was at all.

Although, from what Newt had recounted to them, they had a pretty good guess that they were connected to Grindelwald somehow.

“Director Graves says that we should at least try to inform Piqquery?”

“Madam president?” Tina’s face scrunched itself up for a moment at the suggestion.

“We don’t have hard proof..” Tina’s voice reluctantly trailed off into an almost whisper-like voice.

“Okay, but then our best bet will be to summon people we think we can trust to the main hall, serve up a distraction and then prove to the others that he is a fake before casting revelio on him. We’ll just have to hope the aurors can react fast enough.” 

Newt once again was facing his left side as he was talking, and judging by the look on his face Queenie could tell that the director had reluctantly agreed.

“Hopefully, the president will be able to catch on as well,” Tina stared thoughtfully at the wall while probably thinking about all the ways the plan could go wrong.

But alas it was the best they could come up for now with what little time and resources they had.

Queenie just hoped things wouldn’t turn out too chaotic, but something in her gut told her that it would.

“Okay, so I'll summon the president to the main hall where I know the fake director takes his breaks, Queenie you get the aurors and Newt..” Tina looked at him a bit funnily as her voice trailed off a little before picking it up again. 

“You’ll have to come up with a plan to bust fake Percival. It would be best if you could say something that would make him focus on you and not everything else that’s going on around him.”

“B-but, how?” Newt stammered a little. “What could I possibly do to distract him and out him at the same time?” 

His gaze moved a little back and forth as he was talking, and Queenie assumed it meant that the director was pacing a little.

She didn’t blame him. It seemed like quite an impossible task after all.

Newt perked up a little, tilting his head a little as he listened attentively to what Graves said to him, or that’s at least what Queenie assumed was happening.

Newt’s thoughts told her that the director had suggested to him that he had to make the imposter believe Newt knew the real director well, and by doing that distract him from his surroundings.

It was perfect really, except for the details which were yet to be discussed.

“Wait, you want me to do what?!” Newt exclaimed, looking a bit bewildered for a moment.

And Queenie couldn’t help but smirk a little as she read what the director had suggested to her friend. 

“That actually may work, director,” She said as she patted Newt gleefully on his shoulder a couple of times.

The situation was grave, but if everything went well they would hopefully be able to laugh afterwards about what was about to happen next.

----------

Seraphina Piqquery

Seraphina Piqquery had seen a lot during her eight years as the president of the American ministry of magic, also known as MACUSA.

She had seen her fair share of different people and therefore had her own system of categorizing them, call it a precaution if you will. 

The job as the president was never intended to be easy after all.

Seraphina’s system however was not perfect, something the recent couple of two weeks had shown her. 

The threat of Grindelwald had been rising and it showed. 

Everyone had been swamped with work and investigations, and perhaps that’s why she hadn’t thought so much about it when the patterns she had made for different people’s behavior had started to crumble.

Even her friend, Percival had been out of it. Approving one or two bills he otherwise never would have supported and being colder than usual. 

It was almost like he was a different person, but Seraphina didn’t think much of it as she was busy with so much else. 

She knew Percival had a lot on his plate as well, and probably had his own reasons for doing what he did. Still, a tiny little voice in the back of her mind wouldn’t stay quiet. 

But Seraphina wasn’t the president without a reason. 

She knew that a breakage in pattern didn’t necessarily mean something and without concrete proof she couldn’t act without it going against MACUSA’s principles which probably would bring a mess of unnecessary stress in the darker times they were finding themselves in.

That is probably why she let herself get convinced so easily to follow Auror Goldstein’s plan.

“Listen, madam president. I know you’re not going to believe me because I have no proof, but something is wrong with Percival. Now, if you follow me I can give you that proof. In a totally legal way, of course! ”

She could see that the woman was nervous, but from what information she had collected on the auror she had a pretty good feeling that Goldstein’s goodwill could work in her favor somehow.

So, when Auror Goldstein mentioned that she wanted to give her proof that something was wrong with her friend she easily obeyed her as she had a feeling she was about to gain an answer to what was finally wrong with her friend and colleague.

Percival had sure enough answered all of her control questions well enough, but something was amiss and if going along with Goldstein’s antics was what would settle that anxious and small voice of hers in the back of her mind then so be it.

“Right this way everyone! Although, we have to be quiet. The director doesn’t know that his husband has planned this surprise.” An out of breath voice sounded from the corridor around the corner of theirs alongside a dozen sets of footsteps following it.

Piqquery sent a glance at Goldstein with a raised eyebrow to which Tina just nodded in answer to.

“Just have your wand ready, just in case,” She responded before mumbling to herself, “We should be able to trust the president at least, right?”

They finally made their way to the main hall to see the director looking up from his steaming hot mug of coffee which he always liked to take during his break.

At least that habit hadn’t changed.

“Madam President? Goldstein? And you guys? What’s going on?”

Seraphina could see the way Percival tensed a little, but he quickly relaxed as soon as the sound of confetti poppers went off.

“Happy wedding anniversary, director Graves!” The blond haired woman with the slightly out of breath voice said, looking excited as a chorus of other well wishes was thrown at her friend. 

Interesting.

“Happy anniversary indeed, director,” Seraphina said, falling into the role easily. She somehow had an idea where this was going.

The director, or if she could still call him that, looked a bit confused for a brief moment, but changed his expression quickly to a small smile that looked a bit strained.

Piqquery clutched her wand even harder as she tried to discreetly raise it while the director was distracted.

This was not a reaction her friend would have had.

Seconds continued to pass as if the man in front of her tried to figure out whether or not this was a prank, only saved if Piqquery could use that word by the youngest Scamander making his appearance and really Piqquery should have known that chaos would always be around whenever he was close by. 

It was almost like a golden rule of some kind.

He was dressed in a silky dark blue shirt with silver threads around the edges, a Graves family crest color Seraphina noted, and some simple black slacks. 

He looked a bit nervous and ran a hand through his curls before shyly stepping up beside the man of the hour.

“What, cat got your tongue or something?” Scamander asked, and for a split moment Seraphina could see that his hand was trembling a little. 

Although, he could probably play it off as being nervous for whether or not his “husband” had liked the surprise.

He seemed contemplating for a moment as the director took in his appearance with the still small strained smile on his face before he leaned in to place a soft kiss on the director’s cheek. 

“Happy anniversary,” The magizoologist said to the man before adding “dear” to the end of it as an afterthought.

“I’ve been worried because you haven’t been home in a while. I know you’re busy and all, but I miss you.” Newt’s face turned a little red as looked him in the eye and added quietly, “And I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing your wampus again.”

And honestly Seraphina did not want to know what that last part was about, what she was interested in figuring out was why Graves seemed to come alive like clockwork at that.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Her friend’s voice purred out in an unfamiliar way as he moved to grab the waist of the younger Scamander before planting a kiss on his head, Newt blushing ever so slightly at that too.

“I’ve been busy, you know my line of work,” he said as he took a step back from Newt again. 

“This was a nice surprise though,” he said and Seraphina had seen enough.

MACUSA had strict policies on collecting personal information belonging to their personnel for security reasons and Seraphina knew for sure that the real Percival Graves was not married to Newt Scamander.

In fact he wasn’t married at all.

“Petrificus Totallus,” Almost two decades of being in the ministry was what made it possible for Seraphina to successfully cast the spell in time. 

That, and the fact that the imposter had been distracted with his “husband”. 

“What’s the meaning of this, madam president?” She could hear the alarmed voices of the aurors around her, but luckily auror Goldstein beat her to it.

“Revelio.”

Gasps could be heard around the hall, but Piqquery remained calm. She could deal with the emotions afterwards.

"Hello, Grindelwald,” she said quietly as she watched the wild ice blue eyes stare at her, waving her hand at the other aurors to act as she stared back at him.

She could feel her stomach twisting slightly, but like she had said emotions could come afterwards. 

For now she had an internationally wanted evil dark lord on her hands to deal with it.