~ Control ~ {Credence Barebone}

~ I Don't Know Why ~

I took a moment to assess them. Alexander was wearing a plum overcoat and matching bow tie over a white-collared shirt and black pants. The girl, whom I haven't yet learned the name of, was wearing a black cardigan over a shirt of the same color and style of her counterpart. Her bottoms were covered by the counter.

I realized that I hadn't said anything yet. I stared down at my shoes, but no words found me.

"Are you looking for anything specific?" Alexander Landers asked me, ignoring his (presumably) sister. I was glad that he had spoken so I didn't have to.

Well, I suppose I did still have to, just now I knew what to say. "Um, not really." I didn't want to admit that I hadn't brought any money with me. "I'm just...looking around, I guess."

He nodded. "Well if you need anything, just let me or Helen know."

I walked up and down the aisles, sometimes running my fingers on the spine of a book that looked interesting. Occasionally I would shoot a quick glance at the two store owners. Occasionally, Alexander would catch me looking at him and smile. Occasionally, my stomach turned and my face blazed. I brushed it off as me simply being uncomfortable around new people, though something prodded the back of my mind, claiming it was something more.

I ignored that prodding.

After I had browsed every shelf, I found myself not wanting to leave. I felt a little bad that I wasn't buying anything.

"Hey."

I jumped slightly. Alexander had snuck up behind me.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he apologized, a light frown on his face. His eyes scanned my body, for reasons unknown. "Did you find anything?"

I suppose there was no use in hiding it now. "Yeah, but I...kind of didn't bring any money." I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jacket, staring down at the wooden floor.

He laughed softly. I wasn't sure what was funny about what I said. "That's alright. You can always come back."

"Well, yeah, I would hope so."

Up close it was easier to see his features. You could see that his face was dotted with freckles a few shades darker than his skin. You could see that his gray eyes seemed to have specks of blue and silver in them. You could see the end of what looked like a scar peeking up from under his shirt. And that his hair wasn't black, but a very dark brown. He was a little taller than me, but not so much as to where I couldn't look straight forward and meet his eyes.

Not that I'm one for direct eye-contact. It freaked me out a fair bit. But I had to admit, his eyes were kind of...well, eye-capturing.

He laughed again, as if he could hear my inner monologue and found it hilarious. "I never caught your name."

"Oh! Um, it's Credence. Barebone." It was times like this where I wished I knew what last name I was born with. I remember one time where Tina had looked through the documents of newborn wizards and witches in the American wizardry government but, as I had suspected, Credence wasn't the first name I was born with either, which made the task next to impossible. I had told her it was fine and I didn't really need to know and that I was fine keeping Barebone as my last name, but that was a lie, told to save her from stress. In truth, I wanted to know everything about my biological family. What they were like. What they did for a living. If I looked more like my mom or my dad—or maybe more like a distant relative. I wanted to know if both my parents had been magical and, if so, I wanted to know whether either of them had struggled casting spells or if that was just a me-problem. Though sometimes I think that knowing who they were would hurt more than not knowing, since they were gone...

"Credence. I like that," Alexander decided, his voice dragging me back to reality.

"Thanks. It's...Latin..., I think." I took up Latin for a short while before, because spells are typically in Latin and I thought knowing the language would help me with my spell casting. I gave it up when I realized it didn't.

"Sounds like it."

It was silent and awkward for a moment before he spoke again, "Well, I'll let you leave now. I hope to see you again, Credence Barebone." Maybe I was imagining things, but I could've sworn that he winked at me.

"Oh, yeah...I'll probably be back...Alexander Landers." His name felt weird when I said it. Maybe it was because of my very-obvious New York accent.

I started to walk away. Before I got to the door, though, he called out, "Hey! You dropped...this..." In his hand he held my wand. He was examining it, likely wondering what the hell I was doing with a black stick in my pocket.

"Oh, thank you!" I rushed over to him and grabbed the wand, shoving it back into my pocket and leaving before he had a chance to ask what it was.

Well, that almost went well.

~

Later that night, after I had returned home, I opened a spell book, and started casting.

"Lumos," I spoke softly, as to not wake up Newt in the other room. My wand lit up the room. Finally, something I could get right. "Nox." The light went out.

I took solace in the few spells I could cast. They were always the most simple ones, but they always reassured me.

Every once in a while, Alexander and Helen would pop into my mind, distracting me from my studies. I promised myself that I would go back to the store sometime soon, and actually bring money.

I don't know why, but I want to see them again. Perhaps it was the rush of meeting someone new. Was that a real thing? I mean, they both seemed like nice people, even if Alexander was a little...forward, I guess.

I tried the spell that had failed this morning. Surprisingly, it worked. I smiled to myself.

Maybe I did have magic in me, after all.

Honestly hour: this chapter has been done for weeks, but I just didn't feel like titling and finding a gif for it oops.

But hey, here it is :)

A little explanation on the four year time skip: I felt like 18 year old Credence who has barely been introduced into the magic world wasn't really right for my plans with the story so...yeah

Writing this, I've realized that almost every chapter has been named after an Imagine Dragons song, and honestly I'm okay with that.

Also, has anyone seen the trailer for fb 2? I'm a little on the fence about it because Johnny Depp is pretty gross but,,,,also Credence is my son so,,,,,,,

Also the whole thing about not actually giving us the gay rep with dumbledore kind of made me lose hope for a cannon mlm Credence (even though I'm 99% the obscures was supposed to be a metaphor for the oppression of the LGBTQ+ community, but what do I know? I'm just a lowly queer thirsty for representation)

((Also Ezra Miller is Not Straight and it would be nice to have a Not Straight actor play a Not Straight character))

(((I've used the word "also" to start a paragraph 3 times in a row and I feel like that really shows my writing skills off the page)))

Anyway, thank you for reading!!!!

~All_The_Single_Hades ❤️