More than a Friend (A Newtina Fanfic)

Part 19

Tina woke up the next morning and quickly got dressed. She then quietly padded to the kitchen, grabbed an apple and a croissant and put them in a small paper bag. She walked over to the coat closet, took her sleek leather coat and scarf and put them on. Then she slipped through the door, closing it with a quiet thud. Outside, during the frigid January morning, she apparated to work.

It was 6:00 AM.

The meeting would start in an hour. At 7:00 AM. It would be a big meeting, in which every single one of the aurors from the Ministry and MACUSA would attend. Even the people on foreign assignments were called in. Tina took that hour between when she got to the Ministry and when the meeting would start to work on her ever-increasing mound of paperwork. She was always on top of her work, no matter what stood in her way. She settled herself on a bench close to the door of the conference room. With a flick of her wand, a quill, an inkwell - with ink sloshing around in it - and a large stack of paperwork came zooming toward her from her small office that was on the same floor. They neatly landed next to her on the bench. The hall was quiet, apart from the scratching of her quill. No one had come yet.

An hour later, the paperwork was finished, Tina's hand was aching, and there were scores of people surrounding her. With another flick of her wand, her papers, ink and quill went zooming back to her office, narrowly missing a couple of people's hats. She stood up, joining the crowd, and stood in the back. Then the door opened, and the crowd of aurors entered the room. Tina was one of the last people to go in, so she had to stand. There wasn't even room to conjure a chair. Once everyone finished shifting around, rummaging for whatever they needed and settled down, the Minister started.

"As you all should know, we have not found and captured Grindelwald yet. The anonymous tip was untrue, but reassuring, as it should be. Grindelwald has been scared away, or something has happened that makes him not want to attack us," The Minister said. That statement infuriated Tina, and all she wanted to do at that moment was, well, she wasn't exactly sure, just stop him. To stop herself, she bit her tongue, hard, like how she would in Ilvermorny to prevent her from yelling out an answer in classes, an answer to a question everyone else didn't know the answer to. She looked over to Theseus. He was doing the same thing as her, Tina could see it in his eyes. The frustrated, irritated gaze only they shared at that moment. Everyone else seemed to not care, seemed to be under the impression that the words that had just come out of the Minister's mouth were true. And then the Minister continued along to start talking about a different subject under their concern, something about minor incidents that had happened caused by a petty thief stealing cauldrons. Tina gave Theseus a confused, slightly worried look, one that said, is this all he's going to say about Grindelwald? Is he serious? Theseus mirrored her expression, giving her a small shrug. Again, no one seemed to care that they had essentially skipped over the most pressing problem of the moment. It was quite strange and very concerning.

An hour later, Tina desperately needed coffee. She was tired of hearing about things that didn't need attention as much as Grindelwald.

And then a scream ripped through the hall, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Tina shot to her feet, at the same time as everyone else. In a matter of seconds, the aurors had filed out of the conference room, drawn their wands, and split up. Tina, Kathleen, and Theseus headed to the atrium, along with a couple of other British aurors Tina wasn't as familiar with.

They reached the atrium. And they were met with a terrifying, yet oh so familiar sight.

Grindelwald.

And the true battle began.

Spells, most likely curses, came flying after Tina, who deftly blocked them. She then shot back several spells, not any that would do any permanent damage, but spells that would leave them unable to do anything for the rest of the battle. So the Ministry could arrest them. She used mainly the Full-Body Bind Curse, also known as Petrificus Totalus. Spell after spell was cast, and it was getting tiring. Tina knew that by the next day, her elbow would be sore, but that was beside the point. She knew she had successfully taken down more than fifteen of Grindelwald's acolytes, though they never seemed to stop coming. She then reached an area of the Ministry where no one was present and stopped to relax for a couple of seconds. Once she had recovered, she sprinted back to the atrium. Right into the thick of it. Suddenly, she was surrounded by three acolytes, all hooded. Well, actually, most of the acolytes present were hooded, so you couldn't tell who was who. The first one, an acolyte with a wand of ebony wood and high heeled black boots, shot a spell at Tina, but luckily, she narrowly dodged it. The second one, an acolyte with a couple of strands of honey-blond hair peeking out of their hood, cast a bolt of plum coloured light at her. Again, her quick reflexes saved her when she cast a temporary shield spell in the nick of time. And the third auror, an auror with their robe completely covering their entire body, shot a bolt of green light at her, and Tina knew it could only be one thing. The killing curse, Avada Kedavra. The three acolytes were extremely talented, and deadly, especially together. It would be incredibly helpful to the Ministry and MACUSA if they could find out who the three were. With that in mind, she non-verbally cast Ventus, which quickly had an effect, as the three acolytes struggled to keep their robes on. As quick as a blink, two of the three acolyte's robes came off.

Vinda Rosier, looking quite annoyed.

And Queenie. Queenie, Tina's beloved little sister, staring at the floor, ashamed.

"Queenie, please, come back to me," Tina managed to choke out, suddenly pained. More so from her sudden grief and anger then physical pain, though. Her wand was still aimed at the third acolyte, who was desperately trying to keep their robe on despite to heavy wind.

"I can't, Teenie. What Grindelwald is doing is going to benefit the Wizarding community, I swear. I don't know why you're trying to stop us," Queenie pleaded. Tina, about to reply, suddenly stopped. Queenie truly believed that what she was doing was right, and there was no changing her mind. She decided to leave Queenie with one last thing, though.

"Queenie, I know I can't change your mind, but I just want to say that Jacob misses you. He still loves you, even when you left him," She said, gently. Then she turned away from her sister and focused on the acolyte she was trying to unmask. She quickly muttered the incantation to increase the force of her spell, and that did it. The robe flew off, to reveal...

Achilles Tolliver.