WHO: Credence Barebone Potter WHEN: 1 January WHERE: The Potter residence. SUMMARY: It's the eve of a birthday and a new year for Credence which means reflection time. WARNINGS: Credence introspection, so Crimes of Grindelwald stuff, family stuff. Nothing too intense.
In the corner of the room, there was a 1920s phonograph, and next to it the records to play on it, and Credence was fond of it. He'd sometimes pull things out when he wanted to hear things that were familiar. It wasn't home, exactly because home was definitely here with the Potters. With Albus, Helena, and Luna. These were family and he loved being here in a way he'd never been able to enjoy his house in New York.
Tonight though, the phonograph sat quiet as the mellow strains of Cigarettes After Sex filled the room. The volume was low, because the hour was late, even though with the soundproofing charms that Charlie had shown him, he wasn't worried about disturbing the others. He wasn't quite certain what appealed about this particular group - perhaps the name alone was enough to spark that feeling of rebelling against everything his Ma would have approved of.
He'd managed that so completely, hadn't he? Magic, a wand, a family where magic was completely accepted and expected, a boyfriend, and yes, Cigarettes After Sex, even if he'd never, exactly done that and he was pretty certain that it'd probably not be a thing he'd enjoy.
Of course he'd manage that at home too. Credence frowned slightly, his gaze on the window and the moonlight outside.
Perhaps he shouldn't have watched the film. He'd gotten no memory updates, so in theory, it could be something that never happened in his timeline. He had no confirmation of it.
His gaze moved from the moon to Cináed, his phoenix, because that was the one potential confirmation. Cináed had merely dropped into his hands, almost literally, and he hadn't even known what he was finding initially. Now the bird, who had gone through his rebirth by fire and whose plumage was gorgeous - reds and oranges and blacks - turned his head to look at Credence.
He seemed smart - or maybe wise was the right word for it. Like he knew more than he could ever say, and possibly he did - after all he'd lived how many lives?
Credence didn't particularly feel wise and he didn't know what to think. The film had put questions in his head about who he was, and what would happen to him at home. And from where he was sitting right at this particular moment, it had left him only with more questions than answers.
"Am I a Dumbledore?" He asked Cináed, quietly. "You won't know will you?" Unless he did. Granted the phoenix hadn't really shown up when he was in need. But it had shown up. And maybe some of the same questions at home were still relevant here. On the other hand, Albus had adopted him, so he was a Potter here in every way that mattered, so maybe what was at home didn't matter at all - maybe, he supposed, if he ever got memories of it, then it would matter more?
After all, living some thing would be different than watching it unfold as if it were to someone else, wouldn't it? And sure, he could maybe see why he had made the choices he made. But here, from this moment, he rather hoped that he didn't get those memories. He didn't want to have to know why.
Truthfully, Dumbledore, or Barebone, or Potter, here he had become someone who felt like his own. He felt like such a different person than he had when he'd arrived here. He understood the Obscurus better, the way that it moved with him, and the darkness that could be unleashed there. But he also understood magic better. He understood family better, and what it meant to take care of family in a way that wasn't possessive and possessing, and that was a lot.
And tomorrow, he was going to ask his Boyfriend to teach him how to drive, and that'd be something new too. He grinned, pulled a deep breath in and stretched. He could feel the Obscurus there too, sort of half awake, and he reached for his wand, conjuring a flame to put on the candle. The magic, now that he'd figured out how to do it, seemed to sort of soothe the symbiotic presence.
"Good night, Cináed, tomorrow I'll be twenty-two, and I guess a 20s boy once again huh?"