With a dark wizard's rise to power, the International Confederation has assigned two aurors from the British Ministry to apprehend Gellert Grindelwald. The responsibility to protect the wizarding world and to stop an outbreak of war lay on their sho...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Ariadne sat on his couch as he made her tea. Her leg bounced up and down as she waited, her mind in overdrive. Her eyes scanned the room she was placed in. He was neat, she knew that, but this exceeded her expectations. Not a speck of dust or an item out of line. His books were perfectly aligned, in the correct order as well. Framed photos from his youth decorated the wooden table next to his bookcase. Theseus' eyes were lighter in there, they twinkled as he grinned. Large curtains covered the windows, blocking the natural light that sought to come in.
Footsteps made her head whip around to find Theseus, he was holding two mugs, handing one to Ariadne. The cup warmed up her cold hands and she spotted a familiar item on his shelf.
"You kept it," she began softly, uncertainty hidden in her voice. He followed her eyes and found the minotaur figurine that she gave him one Christmas in their youth. Ariadne had found it in a small muggle shop and the minotaur sat next to his books, covering up empty space.
"You gave it to me," Ariadne's eyes stayed on the figurine as his returned to her. Awkward silence filled the air as she hid her face in the large mug, taking a sip of her drink. "Do you have any other place to go?" he asked, breaking the quiet air, "Your house isn't safe until we check it and I would rather do it in the day than at night."
"I-" she thought for a moment. If he so desperately wanted her out he wouldn't have brought her here. Did he regret it? Was there any other place to go? She had no family, barely any friends. She kept to herself at work. The two people she willingly talked to were Barracus and Melinda. It would be weird barging into her boss' house, especially when she would be endangering his family. And was she really that close to Melinda?
"You can stay here," he interrupted calmly, sensing her unease, "I don't mind," he responded truthfully and she nodded slowly.
"I don't get it. Why would they send someone after me?" she wondered aloud, standing up. Her body couldn't rest as her mind ran along. She started pacing, energy pulsing through while her heart had picked up the pace. She needed space, but most importantly, she needed space away from Theseus.
"Grindelwald lives on fear, his power comes naturally because of the terror he reigns. You're meeting him tomorrow after all," he wanted to assure her that her anxiety was sensible. Instead his word pierced through, reminding her of his discourteous attitude towards her proposal.
"I won't back out," she shook her head, "Even if you hate the plan," her voice held bitterness but also exhaustion.
"I hate the circumstance placed around it. Why would Flint tell you that Grindelwald wanted to meet you?" she let the question linger in the air, unsure of her answer. "It's a trap."
She wanted to argue, scream at him until he understood. But she was tired, drained from her day. She wanted to curl up away from everyone and pour her heart out until she felt nothing at all. How terrifying was it? Vulnerability in front of a man who loathed her. Ariadne didn't want him to pity her either, that was the last thing she wanted from opening up.
'Maybe you both just need to talk with each other,' Melinda's words were repeating in Ariadne's head, over and over again.
"I heard whispers of my parents joining ranks with Grindelwald," her voice was small and she avoided Theseus' eyes, "It wasn't until Rosier confirmed it that I knew. Flint's not a bad person. He's controlled by family honour and if he says that Grindelwald wants to meet me, then I'm curious to know why. It could be a million different things, and maybe it's linked to my parents but if he wanted me dead, it would've happened by now," Ariadne was hugging herself, gripping her arms tightly.
"I'm sorry," she said finally, catching Theseus unaware. She stared at the carpet, feeling Theseus' gaze on her, "For everything. Merlin knows that the list is long," she let out a dry chuckle.
"What happened to us?" She was already so far away from her comfort zone, she could take a step further, the leap that maybe could heal one of many injuries in their relationship. Slowly, she moved back to the couch, her hands clutching onto the end of her seat.
"My dad threatened me," Theseus's head whipped to Ariadne, her tone were so apathetic, "He burned your letter and told me not to talk to you," it felt real saying it outloud, like it wasn't a fever dream that Ariadne had experienced. Her over controlling parents had exploited their power over her.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" His voice was soft, unnerved by her revelation. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to their youth.
"I was scared of him," Ariadne responded truthfully, "And of you."
"Of me?"
"I was walking on eggshells my whole life. I didn't want to be when I was with you."
"Still, you should of-"
"Told you, I know," she confessed, "Guess I'm sorry for that too," there was so much to unpack. The girl he once befriended and ignorantly discarded now sat next to him. Throughout the years they had shared resentful words filled with indignant feelings. But here they were, finally trying to patch things up again.
"Did they hit you," she glanced at him and smiled sadly. He turned away, almost ashamed that he didn't pick up on it. How could he have not picked up on it?
"Don't feel bad. There's nothing you could have done," she mentioned, her voice was gentle.
"I'm sorry for that prank in our last year of Hogwarts," he spoked finally. Those words meant more to Ariadne than Theseus realised.
"That was a shitty prank," she agreed, trying to bring light to this downcasted situation.
"It wasn't my idea," he uttered quickly.
She tilted her head to the side, "Why did you go through with it then?" There was no malice in her words, only curiosity.
"I wanted to fit in," he confessed, his turn to avoid her eyes, "I had met new people that year and they were so angry at you and your dorm mates," his voice became lower, ashamed of the actions he went through in his younger years.
"Me?"
"Something about his cousin, I don't really remember what started it," he shook his head. His eyebrows were furrowed together.
"Alec Norman," she started slowly. He was a Gryffindor. Popular and egotistical. He was the one Irma Crabbe and Alva Parkinson loathed the most. His golden blonde hair and smug smile was enough to hate him. Ariadne thought her dormmates were being dramatic until he humiliated her with an unsympathetic prank.
"That's him. Actually I think he was in the Prophet recently," he hastily got up, "Something about a promotion," he began searching through the boxes at the bottom of his book shelf.
"Does he work in the Ministry?" she perked up, enjoying a much lighter conversation.
"Some boring department," and Ariadne laughed. "Found it," he sat back down and she scooted closer to him. The same blonde hair she hated shone back at her as his smirked flashed through the page.
"He has a wife and kids?" she stared at Theseus, shocked as he started to laugh at her reaction.
[1263 words]
a/n
is this chapter referencing olivia rodrigo's new song, the grudge, in her new ablum that came out what 4 days ago? totally nott....
anyways, sorry it took so long. this chapter made me hit writers block like falling off a cliff.
also the minotaur figurine is inspired by the minotaur funko pop one :)
