The Cell, Eternity:

There were whole days where Iris stood in the darkness with Percival. Only she wasn't really there with him. They were alone in the same blackness, at different times, both scared and wondering what would come next.

There never was a time when Grindelwald would visit that Percival didn't fight to escape. And every time, he failed and paid for it. Iris felt herself break little by little with every beating, every punishment. But when light did reach the room, in those brief moments where Grindelwald would come to collect more hair for his Polyjuice potions, Iris saw the fire in Percival's eyes. He was still himself, still determined, and still fighting. Even after weeks in the dark- beating after beating.

During all this time, he gave Grindelwald nothing. No secrets, no intelligence. Nothing at all. Once in an interrogation, he told Grindelwald he had chosen the wrong man.

"You said it would be easy to become me. Maybe you're right. But that's a double-edged sword." Percival said, a wry smirk pulling at a cut on his lip as he looked into Grindelwald's eyes. In this moment, he seemed satisfied with himself.

"How so?" Grindelwald questioned, trying to keep his growing frustrations in check.

"Because people always protect the things they care about… and as you said, my life is my job. No family, no friends, nothing but the job. By choosing me, you have no leverage, nothing to make me talk. In the end, you grabbed the wrong man."

Grindelwald took a moment to think on Percival's statement. After a while, he sighed.

"Everyone has someone, Mr. Graves." It was more of an admission than a threat. A confession that even he, a man devoted to his own ridged principles, had not yet risen above worldly attachments. "Even if they are yours no longer, we all have someone."

Percival's jaw clenched and the ease was gone from his eyes, replaced by glinting steel. Grindelwald merely replied with a knowing twist of his lips. He needed to find Percival's someone. Without them, the DMLE Director was right, he had no leverage.

Iris watched on with sweaty palms and hitched breathing as Grindelwald left the room, plunging her and Percival into darkness once more. She wanted nothing more than to kneel by Percival's side and hold his hand. She'd never once done that before back at MACUSA. There were times when she could have but held back. Her fear seemed foolish now and she regretted all the chances she had not taken with him. The best she could do was wait there in the black void with him until the dreaded light which signaled Grindelwald's arrival filled the room again.

...

Percival came very close to escaping once. He learned how to cast simple spells with his hands tied behind his back. Iris was unaware of this until, out of nowhere, a small ball of light appeared in the palms of his bound hands. Like a star at the center of their small universe giving life to the darkness. This glow was soft and warm and it filled Iris with what felt like hope. But hope was not the right word because she knew, all of this was for nothing and that the worst was yet to come.

She watched as Percival spent days with his hands pressed flat against the magical door, trying to figure out how to open it. He had exhausted every spell he knew ten times over, working by the light of his lumos charm. Still, he did not give up. Iris stared at the light in his eyes, the fire that burned determinedly, and held onto it like a lifeline.

Some days later, Grindelwald entered the room, his Deathly Hallows pendant slung around his neck. It was carelessly dangling in plain sight. The dark wizard himself seemed out of sorts, flustered from some previous excitement. Iris could only guess it had to do with the Obscurial. Near the end, the cracks in the fake Percival Graves' fa?ade had begun to show.

Percival had noticed this as well. It was so distracting that he remained sitting on the floor and simply observed Grindelwald. His eyes caught sight of the symbol as he drew closer. They fixed on it for a long moment, studying it.

Grindelwald was the first to speak.

"I need access to the records room in the Immigration Department. How do I get it?" The dark wizard's voice seemed somewhat frayed at the edges. Something big was happening and it was clear he was losing his control over it. This seemed to give Percival some nerve.

"That's Border Authority's jurisdiction. I don't have clearance for that." Percival informed him.

"Forgive me, but I don't believe you," Grindelwald said, tired of games, as he levitated his prisoner to their feet.

"Why don't you take a trip to the 121st floor and ask them yourself?"

A smart remark like that would have normally earned Percival a sting of the cruciatus curse but Grindelwald abstained. Instead, he offered him a knowing smirk. They'd been down this road many times before. But this time would prove to be different.

"I found the photo in your desk drawer. A strange place to put something so benign as a graduation picture, I thought. Unless it held some greater meaning. I'll admit, it had me puzzled. But then I saw her. Bottom row on the left." Percival stared daggers up at Grindelwald then as the dark wizard continued to make his point. "We all have someone we care about. Even if they are ours no longer. Looks like I've finally found my leverage."

Percival grit his teeth. He was seething by the time Grindelwald was finished speaking. Any tiny edge he had on the other wizard had just been pulled out from under him.

"Leave Faeborn out of this," he growled defensively.

"I truly wanted to be a good host," Grindelwald told him. Behind those dead eyes of his swam a monster that thrashed about in unadulterated enjoyment of Percival's torment. "Even though we don't see eye-to-eye I still respect you. But, you just cannot seem to fall in line. So, decided to bring her here to ensure your cooperation."

All the color drained from Percival's face as panic dropped heavy like a brick in his stomach.

"You're lying." Was his only reply. It was the response of a man who already knew he was cornered.

Grindelwald let out a breath, clasping his hands behind his back as he looked unmoving at the bound wizard before him.

"That's your hope, I know. But tell me, when have I lied to you? She's in the room next to yours. A conversation between her and I is long overdue. You'll just have to listen in and decide for yourself."

Grindelwald released his magic hold on Percival then. He didn't even bother to watch him fall to the floor before leaving the room.

Pushing himself to his knees, Percival conjured a light and waited anxiously. It started infrequently at first, the sharp cry of a female voice dampened by the brick walls surrounding them. But it was there, as sure as anything, and the screams only grew in number and intensity.

Iris gripped the fabric of her dress in her hands, horrified when she realized the screams they were hearing was her voice. Grindelwald had recreated her voice using dark magic. She didn't even know such a thing was possible. It was all Percival needed to believe she was there, being tortured like him.

"Iris!" He yelled out in a panic as he scrambled to his feet. His voice echoed with her revolting imitation as he dashed to the concealed door and spun around so he could access it with his hands.

The determined fire in his eyes was gone- replaced by desperation as he furiously scratched spells into the brick of the door. He tried incantation after incantation, his wrists bloodied from where he was bound and his fingers bruised from so many previous attempts. Suddenly his hands stilled.

Iris watched as he took a deep breath, his brow furrowed in utter concentration, before carefully traced the symbol of the Deathly Hallows onto the door. There was a moment where time stopped for the briefest instant and then, as if it were a miracle, the door opened. Light from the other side filled the room and Percival wasted no time in running out. Iris wished desperately to tell him not to go but could do nothing but follow him.

Percival's dark eyes, wild with adrenaline, darted around the basement as he searched for Grindelwald. Hugging the back of one of the many shelves strewn about, he cautiously made his way through the room, following the sound of screams.

Peering around the corner of a shelf piled with crates, Percival saw Grindelwald standing alone in a dank corner of the basement, weaving a spell with his wand, creating the horrible screams he was hearing. Iris could see the relief wash over him as he realized Grindelwald had been lying. Suddenly, any sense of calm was replaced by panic as he was yanked to the floor by an unseen entity.

This movement caught Grindelwald's attention, and instead of acting, he merely looked on as he saw Percvial being dragged behind the storage shelf by one of his infiri. Soon they all woke up from the noise and set upon him hungrily. The rotting corpses grabbed at his limbs and greedily pulled them towards their gnashing jaws. Percival fought them off the best he could, kicking at their skulls and thrashing out of their grasp, but he was still bound. It was only a matter of time before they overtook him.

Grindelwald watched the scene with a cold nature, taking in how his infiri acted with a victim. He waited just a moment longer, letting Percival struggle to defend himself, before calling them off. Using his wand to take hold of the bound wizard, he dragged him back to his cell.

Iris could see Grindelwald's fury grow with each passing second as he marched them into the room and tossed Percival to the ground. He barely hit the floor before getting kicked in the stomach. Percival doubled-over. His groans were strangled as he willed himself not to show his pain.

"I thought a man of your intelligence would come around, but I see you will always be a blood traitor," growled Grindelwald, darkly. He had reached his limit with Percival.

With the quick and brutal callousness of a machine, Grindelwald brought his foot down on Percival's hands. Iris covered her mouth muffling the horrified cry that escaped her. She could hear the sickening crunch of bones being broken followed by Percival's anguished howl. Grindelwald was unrelenting, however, and proceeded to pull out his wand. This wasn't Percival's wand but the one Iris had seen him use on her back at MACUSA. As he held it, the wizard emanated ominous power.

"You are not worthy of your talents," Grindelwald spat in disgust. "You're not worthy to call yourself a wizard."

With an elaborate flick of his wand, Grindelwald cast the curse that would permanently wound Percival's wand hand.

Percival choked out a strangled cry- the pain of the curse too much for him to bare as it took hold. It was a pitiful animal noise that died in the darkness where Grindelwald soon left him.

Iris stood in the inky void unmoving. The blood rushing to her ears and the pounding of her heart drowned out everything else. As the storm of her shock and rage reached its peak, Iris screamed out into the blackness alongside Percival as he silently wept. Tendrils of silver fog fell all around her as she raged in her helplessness and suddenly, she was pulled from the memory. Her head jerked back violently, hitting the large chairback. Her hands knocked the shallow bowl in front of her, sending the mirror-like liquid sloshing onto the black leather blotter. Looking around her, startled by the sudden extrication, she realized she was back in Percival's office.

Wiping the thick sheen of sweat from her brow, she sat with her head bent over the desk to catch her breath. Her heart was still beating uncontrollably fast; the trauma she'd just witnessed still fresh in her mind.

With shaking hands, she smoothed out her hair and clothes, not knowing what else to do. She had to make her report. After that, she had to somehow manage to deliver it to Picquery with some shred of professionalism. Which, at the moment, seemed like an impossible task. Suddenly her eyes lit on the deskside drawer.

She yanked it open and rifled through the papers there until she found the photo Grindelwald had spoken of. She held it in her lap and watched it closely. Every student was looking at the camera, some shifting around excitedly and others, like herself standing tall and proud. The photo played in a loop, the repetitive motions blending together in a continuous manner at nauseum. She looked over at Percival's image. He swayed slightly, waiting patiently for the photo to be taken. Suddenly, he did something she had not noticed before. He looked over at her, his eyes lingering for just a moment before looking back at the camera. It was unmistakable.

Love will destroy you. That's what Grindelwald had told her. He warned her that love was a weakness, emotional attachments could be exploited. All she could think of was how Percival yelled out her name; the desperation in his voice as he rushed to save her. She found herself fighting back a sudden wave of guilt.

Taking the picture, she shoved it back in the drawer and slammed it shut.

AN: Hey there... I know this chapter was pretty heavy. I tried my best to keep the tone balanced with the rest of the story so hopefully it didn't lean too far into emo-land. Also, some of yo might be wondering where I'm taking this story since the second movie has been out for a while. Personally, I was not a fan of The Crimes of Grindelwald, but I never intended to follow the events of that film to begin with. More-or-less I have the whole story planned out and it ties heavily into the legacy of the Deathly Hallows. In the Harry Potter books, they seemed to be incredibly important to Grindelwald and I could easily see him going on a crusade to find the Hallows so he could use them to take over the wizarding world. That is mainly where my focus is going to be.