In Her Darkest Hour ✞ Theseus Scamander

xxiii

Vaughan hummed quietly to himself as he sat on the floor of Orla's living room. Surrounding him was his sister, Newt and Theseus Scamander. The latter of which didn't bail on his promise to join the secret meetings held in the comfort of Orla's home, he had finished work early and brought Vaughan and his brother along with him, after all, he had a load of evidence to bring with to the table.

Orla became nervous by the second, she was leant forward on her sofa, her right leg bouncing with nerves as she anticipated the arrival of her four comrades. Newt placed his hand on her knee, adding little weight to help her hide her worries. "It'll be okay," he whispered softly. Orla tried her best to give him an encouraging smile, but even Newt could see past her deception.

Theseus looked at his watch, it was five o'clock. Any minute and they should be here.

"They show up at five minutes past, on the dot, each day," Orla informed him. Her voice was shaking, she coughed to clear her throat, but all three men in that room with her knew it wouldn't do the trick.

"What are you so worried about?" Theseus asked her. His voice was calm. Soft. Full of understanding and concern at the same time. Orla hated how he could express all of his emotions in one tone of voice. She also hated how she knew him so well.

"Theseus," Vaughan intervened, "perhaps Newt didn't get the chance to explain, or if he did, I'm sure as hell you brushed it over. But, Orla came around quicker than one of the others. Orla is worried about how Charlie will feel about all this."

"Charlie is a smart boy," Theseus proclaimed, "irrational at times, but still level-headed. He may not like the idea of me being here at first, but he'll come around to it pretty quickly."

Orla didn't get the opportunity to say anything before the door opened. Theseus looked at his watch and went back to Orla. "You were right," he mouthed to her. A smug expression landed on Orla's face and Theseus rolled his eyes. He hated that about her. Her smug confidence. Not because it was a bad thing, but because it looked good on her.

The four sat around the coffee table all turned to look at the entrance way. One by one, Charlie, Theo, Astrix and Robbie came into view, each one of them plastered with different reactions. Theo was puzzled, Robbie had his gob hanging open, Charlie was unsurprisingly angry and Astrix, well Astrix had the biggest grin Orla had ever seen, like a Cheshire cat.

Charlie went to say something, but Orla spoke over him, "I spoke with Theseus earlier today, we have come to a mutual conclusion that Newt was correct in pairing him with our search." Orla looked at Charlie, hoping that her demeanour would appeal to him, "from what Theseus and I discussed earlier, it appears that he is much further into this hunt for Carrow than we are. We need his help, Charlie, he's our best shot of justice."

She wasn't trying to reason with the other three, just Charlie. But, Astrix, Theo and Robbie nodded their heads as they gathered around the coffee table. Everyone kept their eyes on Charlie, wondering what he would do or say next.

"How can you be so sure that he won't compromise us to Travers? Or Andrew for that matter?" Charlie sighed. Orla looked at him, and it must have rubbed him the right way as he reluctantly nodded his head and took the seat next to Orla. "One wrong move from Theseus and this is through."

"I can assure you, I won't be making any wrong moves, Charlie," Theseus asserted.

"I was talking about myself."

Orla gripped Charlie's hand and brought it up to her mouth, she kissed it softly, reassuringly and gently thanked him against the back of his hand.

Theseus watched closely, giving them a minute to allow Charlie to cool off. He knew this was a tense situation for them both, and it was the least he could give them. Charlie murmured his thanks to both Orla and Theseus, and ushered for the latter to begin.