#the whole part where dumbledore was explaining his blood oath with gellert theseus was just like

[starkcontrasts]

something abt theseus scamander in the new fantastic beast movie showing up just to look good, visibly judge both dumbledore and dumbledore's taste in men, be the Super Official Liaison™ so they could get in to the election party without questions asked, get damseled then saved by his baby brother, prove he'd make a lovely dad and that he does in fact have at least a bit of newt's affinity for animals just. yeah. love that for king

[beastlyimagines]

A/N: WARNING! Spoilers ahead for The Crimes of Grindelwald. Do not read if you haven’t already seen the movie. This will be a continuation of the Grindelwald sister imagine.

“I’m starting to think someone had it out for me the day I became friends with you.” You weakly joked to Newt, leaning against both Scamander brothers as you all made your way towards Hogwarts.

“Trouble tends to follow my little brother wherever he goes.” Theseus responded, speaking for the first time since everyone left Paris. “He’s kept our whole family on their toes for his entire life.”

You tried to laugh in response, but ended up groaning slightly in pain. Both Scamander brothers shot you worried looks, as well as your American friends.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Newt asked, tightening his arm around you as you leaned more heavily against him.

“Let’s just say my brother doesn’t hold back with his spellwork.” You replied before remembering who you were with.

“Wait, brother?” Tina spoke up, sounding beyond confused.

“Bugger.” You mumbled under your breath, causing Newt to chuckle slightly.

After your confrontation with Albus a few months ago, you had told Newt everything. About being Gellert Grindelwald’s sister, about how you knew Albus, about the fight between the three of you, about how you fled to America. You were almost certain that Newt would hate you for being related to the monster that was your brother. But Newt was understanding and accepting. Nothing changed between the two of you, if anything you became even closer.

You both had agreed to keep the knowledge of who you were a secret, knowing how serious the repercussions of that knowledge could be now that Gellert was wandering Britain freely again. If Gellert ever found you, it would be either join him, or be killed. And the both of you knew that the first wasn’t even an option for you.

Albus and you had remained in contact since then, growing closer than you had when you were younger. You could tell there was something growing between the two of you, but you were almost afraid to find out what. There was a part of you that had yet to let go of your past anger and hurt towards Albus. You knew in your heart that he was no longer that same 18 year old, yet your brain wouldn’t allow you to fully trust him yet. Especially with his constant refusal to join the fight against Grindelwald. You didn’t understand. Until you did.

You went with Newt to Paris of course, refusing to let your friend take on Grindelwald on his own. You stuck by Newt’s side through it all, meeting Leta along the way and eventually Yusuf and Nagini too. Having previously met Theseus on your return to Britain with Newt months ago, the man had simply greeted you with one of his famous hugs.

Watching your brother speak to the wizards and witches had made you sick to your stomach. Seeing how he masterly manipulated the crowd was awful to watch, especially when you saw both Queenie and Credence fall victim to it.

Your mistake had been when you stood so strongly against him. Angry over losing Queenie, you retaliated against his fiendfyre. Theseus held Newt back as you stared into your brothers eyes, hatred bubbling in you like you had never experienced before.

“Who are you?” You remember him asking, watching as some familiarity flickered behind his eyes. You knew then that he would stop at nothing to find out the answer to his question. Cursing yourself, you had almost been grateful for the distraction that was Leta Lestrange.

Almost grateful, until she ended up getting herself killed. Her death tore through the Scamander brothers, but they didn’t have time to react before the fiendfyre spiraled out of control. Newt quickly grabbed you and Theseus, before Apparating to the edge of the cemetery.

After the group of wizards and witches stopped the fiendfyre from destroying Paris, you moved away from the grieving brothers towards the limping niffler. Picking him up gingerly, you quickly took the vial that you had sent him after.

As soon as you saw your brother wearing it earlier on in the night, you’d immediately recognized it. You’d seen your brother and Albus with it back at Aunt Bathilda’s house. You’d been quickly brushed away when you asked what it was, but now feeling the power and wards radiating off of it.. you had an inkling of what it could be.

“What is that?” Newt asked, joining your side as you leant heavily against the wall.

“I’m not sure..” You trailed off, shakily running a hand through your hair. Your body felt weak and achy all of a sudden, the magic used to hold off your brothers finally catching up to you. “But I think we had better go see Albus.”

Which brought you to where you were now, watching said man crossing the entrance way of Hogwarts and walking towards the group of you.

“Newt and I need to have a word with Professor Dumbledore.” You told the group, ignoring Tina’s question for the time being. You knew she wouldn’t let it go forever though.

Nodding, Newt repositioned his arm to hold you tighter as you both moved away from Theseus, and towards the Hogwarts Professor.

When the three of you met in the middle, Albus took a moment to survey the two of you, before his eyes settled on Newt.

“Is it true? About Leta?” He asked, his voice soft.

“Yes.” Newt responded, voice choked with suppressed emotion. You squeezed the hand that was settled by your waist, knowing how upset the man must be right now.

“I’m so sorry.” Albus responded, his voice growing somber, eyes losing their twinkle for the moment.

“Albus.” You spoke up finally, fiddling with the vial hidden in your pocket. Albus took his troubled eyes away from Newt’s, and then locked on yours. “I have something that I think belongs to you.” With Albus and Newt’s attention on you, you pulled the vial from your pocket and held it out to view. Albus looked stunned, while Newt looked contemplative. After seconds spent in silence, your friend spoke up.

“It’s a blood pact, isn’t it?” Newt asked, to which Albus merely nodded in response. “You swore an oath not to fight each other.” He guessed.

“How in the name of Merlin did you manage to get this?” The professor asked, reaching out to take the vial. You merely pulled the niffler from your coat, a mischievous smile on your face as you glanced a Newt.

“My brother doesn’t seem to understand the nature of the things that he considers simple. He never has.” You told the man in front of you.

“Can you destroy it?” Newt asked as Albus continued to examine it.

“Maybe.” He responded, holding his arms out and gesturing for Theseus to remove the guard from around it. “Maybe.” He spoke again. Taking the blood pact into his hands and storing it away in one of his many coat pockets. “Would you both like a cup of tea?”

“I’ll have some milk.” Newt joked, a smile lighting up his face. “Hide the teaspoons.” He teasingly warned, taking his niffler back from you. “I don’t know whether to be angry at you for using my niffler to steal from the darkest wizard in history, or proud that you thought of it.”

“Well I have been working with you for over a year, I’m bound to pick up some of your tricks. Or did you already forget how you used the swooping evil in New York?” You teased, bumping his shoulder as the two of you walked alongside Albus towards the castle.

“That was different!” Newt defended, playing right along with you.

“No it wasn’t!”

“Yes it was!”

“You’re only saying that because this time I was the one who thought of it!”

“While I do enjoy watching the two of you go back an forth like this, can someone explain to me why you’re leaning against Newt like that?” Albus interrupted, watching you closely from the other side of Newt.

“Grindelwald used an immense amount of fiendfyre tonight and y/n here thought it was a good idea to try and hold it off by herself.” Newt told him, causing two sets of eye to narrow at him for two different reasons.

“Might I suggest moving our little tea party to the infirmary then?” Albus suggested, changing the direction in which they all had been heading.

“I’m fine Albus.” You muttered, but neither man listened. After being dragged to the infirmary and being forced into a bed by the healer there, you were forced to drink a couple different potions to replenish your magical core. After downing the last one, which suspiciously tasted like dreamless sleep, you found yourself cursing mentally as you drifted nearly immediately into a deep sleep.

You woke hours later to a darkened hospital wing, groggy yet feeling fully restored after the past weeks events. Yawning slightly, you went to stretch your arms and legs out, only to freeze when you realized someone had a grasp on your left hand.

Glancing in that direction, you realized that Albus must have joined you after you had fallen asleep for he was knocked out in a chair pulled next to your bedside. You took a moment to admire the man beside you, taking in his calm features. There was no denying that he had grown into a ridiculously handsome man, and there was no doubt that you weren’t attracted to him. But the man was still 4 years your senior, and an extremely powerful wizard; one highly regarded by most of Britain. You were just an American Auror who had been running away from her childhood since you were 14. You had no chance with him.

So caught up in your thoughts, you didn’t even realize it when Albus woke up. He watched you for a few seconds, before clearing his throat and startling you. Your eyes jumped up to his, widening when you realized he had caught you staring at him.

“Good morning.” Albus spoke, voice soft in the early morning hours. Neither of you realized that his hand was still holding onto yours.

“Was it really necessary to drug me?” You asked, voice a little hoarse from sleep.

“It wasn’t me that gave you the potions.”

“Sure, just like you didn’t interfere in Paris. Not you actually doing it, but still your idea.” You replied sarcastically, though your tone bordered on teasing. Albus, however, seemed to take it to heart.

“You know I would have gone myself if I could. It was torture watching you go off to fight him again knowing that I could do nothing.” There was a hint of anger and pain in his voice, which needless to say shocked you greatly.

“We’ll work on the blood pact Albus, we’ll fix it. And then you’ll be free to take my brother down.” You reassured him, making sure to maintain eye contact so he knew you were sincere. “But until then I’m going to be there making life as hard as possible for him. We all know it’s gotta be you to stop him in the end, but Newt and I will block him in every way that we can.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t.” Albus whispered, voice carrying a tense note to it.

“What, why?” You asked, sitting up in bed. Albus’ hand stayed in yours, but you decided to ignore it for the time being.

“I don’t want you putting yourself in danger any more than you have already.”

“Albus, I can take care of myself.” You responded, staring at the man in front of you with a tinge of annoyance. “I’m not 14 anymore.”

“Oh I know. Merlin I know.” He laughed, running a hand through his beard nervously. “But in the end, it doesn’t stop me from worrying about you.” His eyes were unfocused, as if reliving some type of memory. “No, no. I’ll probably never stop worrying about you now.”

“Why?” You demanded, making his eyes snap back to focus. His gaze settled on yours once more, blue eyes sparkling with a tenderness you had never seen before.

“Because I already was foolish enough to let you slip through my fingers when I was 18. I don’t plan on letting it happen again.” The way he said it made it sound indefinite.

“I don’t understand.”

“Even then y/n, even when my selfish mind was wrapped up in your brothers fantasies, I knew there was something special about you.” He said, eyes staring into yours as if he could see right into your soul. “But like a foolish young boy, I didn’t realize just how special you were until you had disappeared from my life.” His tone sounded desperate now, and he was suddenly holding both of your hands in his. “And when I saw you again after over two decades, when I saw how you had grown into a beautiful and strong witch, I knew that I couldn’t let it happen again.”

“I still don’t-“

“Can you forgive me y/n? Can you forgive me for seeking what I thought was what I wanted? When all that I ever needed was right there in front of me in a stubborn 14 year olds body? Can you forgive me for not seeing how stupid I was back then?”

“I already-“

“And more importantly, can you look past all of my flaws? Can you learn to love me in time like I’ve loved you all along? Because I don’t think I could take it if you walked out of my life now.”

Now you were stunned. Did Albus just say he loved you? He couldn’t possibly mean it in the way you hoped, right? “Albus, I-“

“I’ll never stop trying to make you happy. I’ll take care of you for as long as you’ll let me. And I’ll never stop loving you.” By now your breath had been stolen from your lungs, heart fluttering as you registered his words. It’s all you had ever wanted to hear from the wizard, you could hardly believe it was actually happening. “I’m yours, if you’ll let me be.”

The devotion in his voice nearly made you lose it, but you shook yourself out of it. No words were really coming to your jumbled mind at the moment, but you settled for two simple words.

“Of course.”

“Really?” He asked, straightening up in disbelief. Finally finding your words, you straightened up with him and smiled warmly.

“Albus, I was smitten with you when I was 14. A handsome 18 year old that was kind and paid attention to me? It was every girls dream.” You mock swooned, causing the nervous man in front of you to relax and laugh slightly. “And then when I saw you again as a man, a very attractive one might I add, I felt my crush form all over again. It was impossible for me not to fall for you again.”

“Thank Merlin.” Albus muttered, before suddenly leaning forward and catching your lips in a quick and sweet kiss that you instantly melted into. You felt lightheaded and dizzy as you kissed him back, but your body felt as if you had just consumed an entire gallon of butterbeer. You felt so warm and content.

“Aberforth is going to kill me when he finds out.” You teased, a bright smile on your face as you pulled away.

“Why?” Albus chuckled, thumb tracing your cheek tenderly as he watched you.

“I think he’s under the assumption that I’m still a part of his anti-albus club. We formed it at Hogwarts when I was 16. He’ll be so disappointed that I’ve left him all alone in his crusade.”

Albus broke out into unabashed laughter, eyes closing as he threw his head back. After a few moments, he calmed down a bit and looked back at you with mischievousness in his eyes.

“Well we’ll just have to keep it a secret from poor old Aberforth for now, won’t we? Don’t think his heart could possibly stand the betrayal.”

“It’ll be worse than that time your mom banned Aberforth from the farm for 2 weeks for getting a D in Divination.”

“Maybe I’ll buy him a goat before we break the news to him, think he’d like that?”

“Albus! You are not buying your brother a goat!”

“But he loved them as a kid, I think he could do with a goat. Do you think he’d train it to wait tables at the bar?”

“Merlin, you’re ridiculous!”

“Maybe I’ll buy him a whole staff of goats. He’d definitely get more customers.”

“Albus Percival!”

[habitatforhufflepuffs]

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Opinions

If it isn’t obvious already, spoilers for Crimes of Grindelwald ahead. Also I apologize for how longwinded this is. I just started typing and before I knew it, I had a novel. Bare with me. 

First off, I would just like to say that I absolutely loved the movie, like LOVED. I don’t think it’s possible for me to watch a movie that takes place in the wizarding world and not love it. 

That being said, I had a few issues, minor ones though. I’ve been seeing a lot of reviews floating around where people are complaining about the fact that the entire movie felt like a set up for another sequel, whereas the first one felt like an actual standalone movie, but like, of course it did??? The first one set up the universe this franchise is going to take place in so obviously it’s a full story. The second one is now setting up the overarching plot that’s going to take place over the next four movies so like obviously a lot of it is going to be exposition of characters and isn’t going to conclude the storyline seeing as each movie isn’t taking place one a year like the HP movies did. 

If I had one actual complaint, it would be that there was A LOT going on at once. Which like, I get it because there’s so many characters to introduce that are going to be important moving forward. It was just a lot of new characters introduced in a short period of time that needed backstories and explaining all at once. As well as, what, like four separate plots happening all at once that all merged together by the end of the movie? Which like yeah I get it, it was just a lot to follow. I did go on to read the screenplay of the movie that just came out, and it was a bit easier to follow than the actual movie, so I 10/10 would recommend reading that. Especially the scene where they’re in the Lestrange family mausoleum, and maybe it was just me but I found the screenplay a little easier to follow what was going on than the actual movie which is weird?? Maybe the movie will be easier second watch through. 

I wasn’t a huge fan of the whole Credence is Leta Lestrange’s long lost brother?? Just kidding no he’s not?? But wait who is he then?? scene because like it was a lot to follow all at once trying to understand who the shit was related and how. Especially considering you’ve got 3 siblings from 3 different sets of parents & then you find out there’s a fourth child that was switched with one of them??? Which again, read the screenplay, it’s easier to follow when you can read full names and go at a slower pace and everything. 

As for the plot twist/cliffhanger at the end, I’m very interested to see where that goes moving forward. I’ve seen many people that think Grindelwald was lying to Credence to gain his trust seeing as he was obviously lying in saying Dumbledore wanted him dead. But I don’t really think that’s the case. Solely because I can’t see them doing the whole “Credence is Leta Lestrange’s brother, psych,” thing only to then turn around and then go, “Credence is Albus Dumbledore’s brother, psych,” immediately following. It would just be kind of ridiculous to have Credence’s parentage revealed only for it to be a red herring twice. 

I’ve also seen a lot of people trying to explain how it wasn’t possible for Credence to be Dumbledore’s brother. I will also say now that after a minimal amount of googling, it 100% is possible, if he’s his half brother only. In this movie (as confirmed by the screenplay), Credence was born in 1901 and was being transported to America in this year. We know Dumbledore’s mother died in 1899, and was killed by Ariana, therefore he can’t be her son. But it’s unknown what year his father died in, just that it was after 1890 in Azkaban. Now, obviously it’s kind of a weird thought but it’s 100% possible that somehow Dumbledore’s father Percival sired another child after he was imprisoned in Azkaban via another woman and that that child is Credence. How Grindelwald knows about this, I have no idea. Especially considering that not much time passes between FB1 and FB2, and he was in custody at MACUSA between the two movies. As well as how Credence ended up in America and Leta ended up back in Britain I’m not exactly sure. But it is completely possible. 

That being said, a bunch of people have pointed out that how is it possible that Dumbledore had another brother that has somehow never been mentioned before now, even though HP takes place after FB obviously. If I had to guess, and it breaks my heart to say this, I’m assuming Credence doesn’t survive the FB franchise because if he died, and Aberforth didn’t know of his existence, then it would make sense why he’s never been mentioned. Dumbledore wasn’t exactly open about Ariana, so it would (plausibly) make sense that Credence was never mentioned. Kinda weird, but still plausible. 

One thing I’ve seen EXCESSIVE amounts of complaining about is the McGonagall cameo. Which like, yeah I get it, it breaks canon. But there’s TONS of people that aren’t aware of McGonagall’s backstory seeing as it wasn’t in the HP books, and even if it were, there was a HELL of a lot of information from the books that never made it to the movies (I’m looking at you, Peeves). So like, just let it go and leave it be??? If you’re gonna be nitpicky about canon you could also argue that they made James & Lily way older than they should’ve been in the movies & technically McGonagall would’ve been 46 the night that they died, but in the movies when she’s at the Dursley’s with Dumbledore she looks WAY older than that. So like, just think of the Pottermore information as part of the book universe and the FB movies as part of the movie universe??? 

Also there was a lot of people I saw that were pissed off that they didn’t make it clear enough that Dumbledore was gay, and that were mad that the story didn’t put enough focus on his feelings toward Grindelwald, which I’m sorry I have to call complete bullshit on. This is only the second instalment of a five movie series and Dumbledore & Grindelwald didn’t even share any scenes together. What did you want?? Dumbledore to cover himself in glitter and strip of his shirt to reveal a tattoo that says I love Gellert???? The Mirror of Erised scene alone couldn’t have made it any clearer that Dumbledore is gay and was in love with Grindelwald. The look of pain on his face alone every time he said he couldn’t make a move against Grindelwald made it VERY CLEAR that there were feelings involved. Also, “we were more than brothers.” What the fuck else could that have meant???? They took a goddamn blood oath that they wouldn’t fight each other. There’s still three movies to go in delving further into their relationship, obviously we’re not going to get the whole story in the second movie. So to all of the people saying it wasn’t clear enough, fuck off. 

As far as the movie as a whole, I LOVED IT. Even if it did have too many plot lines happening at once, I still absolutely loved it. The new characters they introduced were fantastic (I’m kind of in love with Theseus). The new creatures they introduced were FANTASTIC. (somebody buy me a kelpie, and also, BABY NIFFLERS!!!!!). Jude Law was an absolutely perfect Dumbledore. Even Johnny Depp as Grindelwald was super unsettling and did a great job. The opening sequence of Grindelwald breaking out of captivity with the Thestral carriage and the final sequence with Grindelwald’s blue magic against everyone else’s fire were phenomenal. And as much as some people didn’t like the ending, I personally love that Credence and Queenie ended up on Grindelwald’s side (and it makes complete sense why to me too) and I’m super excited to see where that goes from here on out. I loved that everyone lost someone in one way or another too. (Newt & Theseus lost Leta, and Jacob & Tina lost Queenie and Nagini lost Credence to Grindelwald) Everyone’s split on different sides and it definitely sets emotional stakes for everybody moving forward. 

I loved how merciless Grindelwald was too & how powerful they made him. Like he’s chained up in prison and being transported by like twelve aurors and still manages to escape??? finds a baby in the house he took over??? who gives a shit, kill the baby??? he’s goddamn fighting off like ten fully trained wizards at once in the final sequence of the movie BY HIMSELF and is winning until the IMMORTAL BEING that’s 500+ years old shows up, and we’re only in the second movie of five. The final battle sequence in HP was a conclusion of 8 movies & Voldemort’s struggling to fight against one seventeen year old wizard that never even finished school??? Grindelwald is badass as hell. (also, a villain that vapes projections of the future, what more could u want??)

Also, the nostalgia that hit me like a fucking truck when they first panned over Hogwarts and Hedwig’s theme kicked in???? Also young Newt??? Also Leta Lestrange is sick as hell, and I’m not convinced she’s dead yet. 

Basically I’m super into Theseus and Dumbledamn, and I need 2020 to come faster, right now. If anyone wants to scream with me, please shoot me an ask, I need someone to rant to. None of my friends share my excessive HP obsession. Also, I kind of want an entire movie of just Newt taking care of his creatures tbh. 

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.