A case full of love// Newt Scamander.

Chapter eight.

We were again pulled through hallways, down one particular one and into a large room with five people inside, they all stopped speaking as we entered and stared at us, making me shrink back behind Newt slightly, still holding on to his arm tightly. The women who had been speaking, and I recognised to be the women in the large photo in the lobby of the building, she looked straight at Porpentina, not even glancing me or Newt, "I made your position here quite clear, Miss Goldstein."

"Yes, Madam President, but I—" She started to explain.

"You are no longer an Auror." Madam Picquery stated, her tone clipped and cold.

"No, Madam President, but—"

"Goldstein." She warned.

"There's been a minor incident—"

"Well, this office is currently concerned with very major incidents. Get out." She dismissed.

"Yes, ma'am." Porpentina stated, her tone and face showing humiliation.

She pushed us back out of the room, dragging us back towards to the door, before we left I looked back and saw a tall man in a sharp suit watching us, his face holding some form of sympathy for her, but his face hardened when he saw me watching him, turning back to the table. We were dragged back to the lift and pushed inside, Porpentina wouldn't say anything as we went down, all the way down to the basement level, we would be here a while as we were on the top floor, I decided to break the awkward silence, "So, that was awful."

I cringed as she turned to look at me with a hard stare, Newt looked down at me with a bemused expression, Porpentina looked between us, "So, are you two a couple?"

I flushed red, and so did Newt, the tip of his nose and his cheeks flushing red, I looked to her, "No, we are best friends and have been since school."

She nodded, looking as we went through the floors, not saying anything else to us, I looked up at Newt and gave him an awkward smile, which he returned. The lift dinged and we were again being dragged through corridors, before we came to a dank small room, paper scattered everywhere, as well as typewriters working away on desks of their own. We were pulled to the very back of the room, to a space no larger than a cupboard, 'Wand Permit Office', the sign was quite low hanging and Newt had to duck under it so he didn't bash his head.

There were unopened wand permit applications scattered around the room, the desk a complete mess of paper and envelopes, we were pushed to stand in front of the desk, Porpentina went behind the desk and sat on it, a clipboard on her lap as she looked between us, "So, have you got your wand permits? All foreigner need to have them in New York."

"We made an application via post weeks ago, we never heard anything back." I replied, completely lying through my teeth.

She hummed, eyeing us suspiciously, scribbling down on the clipboard, mumbling under her breath, "Scamander Johnson. And you were both just in Equatorial Guinea?"

"Yes, we were completely a year in the field." Newt stated.

"Newt is writing a book about magical creatures, I am doing research on them."

"Like how to exterminate them?" She asked.

I scoffed under my breath, but Newt spoke before I could, "No. A guide to help people understand why we should be protecting these creatures instead of killing them. Rosaline is looking into ways of helping them when injured without having to disturb their habitats."

Before she could reply to us, there was a shout behind us, "GOLDSTEIN!"

She ducked under the desk, the short jobsworth male came storming closer to the desk, "Where is she? GOLDSTEIN!"

He stopped in front of the desk, looking at the amused looks on my and Newt's face, he looked at the desk, knowing she was hiding behind there, "Goldstein."

She popped her head up over the desk, her face holding some form of guilt, he sighed heavily, "Did you just butt in on the Investigative Team again?"

Porpentina went to defend herself, but he continued talking over her, "Where've you been?"

She went rigid, her tone awkward, "What?"

He looked over at me and Newt, looking us up and down, "Where'd she pick you up?"

"Us?" I asked, my tone as innocent as possible.

Newt quickly looked over at her, I followed his gaze, she shook her head, her expression practically radiating desperation, Newt stalls in his answer and I looked down at the floor, refusing to look at anyone. He sighed, agitated as he spoke, "Have you been tracking them Second Salemers again?"

She shook her head, "Of course not, sir."

Before he could argue, the man from before came around the corner, making the smaller man straighten up, straightening his suit, making me roll my eyes, "Afternoon, Mr. Graves, sir!"

"Afternoon, ah—Abernathy." He replied, barely looking at the smaller man.

Porpentina stepped forward eagerly, wanting him to hear her case before her left, "Mr. Graves, sir, this is Mr. Scamander, and Miss. Johnson—he has a crazy creature in that case and it got out and caused mayhem in a bank, sir."

Graves looked over at me and Newt, "Lets see the little guy."

Newt and I shared a distressed look as Porpentina placed the case on the table, we tried to protest, knowing there was more than just a Niffler to worry about in the case, we were dismissed by him and he walked over to her. She threw the lid of the case open, showing no creatures, but an assortment of pastry. I gasped lightly when I saw the contents, looking up at Newt, who had a horrified look on his face, not seeing the light smirk on Graves face as he went to walk away with a sighed, "Tina.."

As Graves walked away, I looked over at Tina, sharing a worried look with her, before looking back up at Newt, his face still horrified. Tina very quickly shut the case, grabbed it and then grabbed Newts arm, luckily I was still clutching to Newts other arm, otherwise I would have been left behind as she apparated us to the busy streets of New York.