Jeanne grabbed me by the hand and pulled me to hide between the rows. The shelves around us began floating as someone had summoned them. We hopped on the back of a shelve, floating along with it as others around us rearranged.
"Records moved to Lestrange family tomb at Père Lachaise," a voice read. They had accessed the Lestrange file.
A pause. Then, a spell was uttered and the bookshelf we were on began turning around.
"Hello, Newt," said Leta Lestrange, holding the envelope from her file.
"Hello, Leta," I said awkwardly, still clinging to the side of the shelf.
"Hi," Jeanne mumbled.
The librarian rounded the corner slowly, flanked by three cat-like creatures prowling at her sides.
"Matagot," Jeanne and I realized.
"They won't hurt you unless—"
"Stupefy!" Leta yelled.
One cat split into three.
"Unless you attack them," I finished.
"Leta!" Jeanne called, taking the woman's arm and pulling her onto the bookcase just as it began moving.
The Matagots were chasing all of us now as we ran through the shifting shelves.
I threw my case down, the latches flipping open. "Into the case! Go!"
We disappeared within.
I ran through the many environments until I reached the Zouwu. Quickly, I mounted him and we burst through the lid of the case.
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The Zouwu flung the Matagots around like play-things. I deflected their bites off of my side with the now-closed leather case.
"Ascendio!" I yelled. In an instant, the shelves lifted us up to the second floor.
With a mighty roar, the Zouwu opened a portal and we jumped through, landing in a cemetery. Now out of the Ministry, the Matagots turned into regular-sized cats and rather docile as well.
"Well done, well done," I praised the large beast. It put a heavy paw around my body
Jeanne and Leta emerged from the case.
As the Zouwu got a little rough with play for my liking, Jeanne produced a furry little bobble on a stick and shook it, catching the beast's attention with a bell. The Zouwu released me and disappeared back inside the open case.
Jeanne breathed out a sigh of relief and hugged me tightly.
"That was close," I mumbled into her shoulder.
"Too close," she said, kissing my cheek.
As we pulled away, I realized Leta stood awkwardly at the side of the case.
"Right, erm," I spoke up. "Let's go."
Leta entered the Lestrange Tomb first. It was a large, white marble building with walled-in coffins. The monument was rather grand compared to the rest of Père Lachaise and was very well kept.
The sound of hushed voices pricked my ears.
Leta rounded a corner, wand drawn. "Stop!" she ordered.
I realized the man in front of her was the same one we had pulled the parasite from. Behind him stood Creedence and another woman.
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"Is that really you?" said the man. "My little sister?"
"So if he's your brother," Creedence began, stepping towards Leta, "then who am I?"
"I don't know," Leta said honestly.
"I'm tired of living with no name, no history . . . just help me in my story, then you can end it," Creedence said to the man.
"Your story is our story," the stranger said to Creedence. "Our story," he repeated to Leta.
"No, Yusuf," Leta said.
Yusef exited the space. Jeanne and I silently followed, watching his story unfold.
"My father," Yusef began, "was Mustafa kama, pureblood, and most accomplished. My mother, Lorena, was equally high-blood and noted beauty. They were deeply in love. They knew a man of great influence from a famous French pureblood family. He desired her. Lestrange used the Imperious curse to seduce and abduct her. I tried to prevent it but he attacked me. It was the last time I ever saw her . . . She died giving birth to a little girl. You," Yusef turned to Leta. "The news of her death drove my father insane. With his dying breath, my father charged me to seek revenge. Kill the person Lestrange loves best in the world. I thought at first it'd be easy. He had only one close relative, you. But—"
"Say it," Leta ordered.
"But he never loved you," Yusef said. "He remarried not three months after her death. He loved her no more than he'd loved you. But then his son, Corvus, was born at last. And that man, who'd never known love, was filled with it. All he cared about was little Corvus."
"So this is the truth?" Creedence began. "I am Corvus Lestrange?"
"Yes," Yusef answered.
"No." Leta protested. "No!"
"Realizing that Mustafa Kama's son has sworn revenge, your father sought to hide you where I couldn't find you. So, he confided in his servant who boarded a ship for America. His servant, who was a half-elf, her magic was weak, therefore left no trace I could follow. I'd only just discovered how you had escaped when I received news I never expected . . . The ship had gone down at sea, but you survived, didn't you?"
Creedence's face was blank in deep thought.
"Somehow, someone had pulled you from the water. There stands the despairing daughter," Yusef pointed to Leta. "You are the winged raven returned from the sea. But I, I, am the avenger of my family's ruin."
Creedence's face was turning distraught.
"I pity you, Corvus," Yusef finished. "But you must die," he said, raising his wand.
