Lysander Scamander: Lost in Time

3: Erika

I opened my eyes when I heard the distant sounds of busy night traffic. I was still hugging Lily tightly. She looked around us.

"Where are we?" she asked.

Looking around our surroundings, I knew immediately, "New York." Lily followed my gaze. We were standing in front of an old-fashioned bakery, and I knew why, "Lily. We're in the past."

We were interrupted by a poof sound. We looked to our right. Lorcan, Alice, and Riley stood beside us. Lily and I wrapped them in an embrace.

"Where-?" Alice started.

"New York, 1932." I interrupted.

The girls and even Lorcan looked at me, "How did you-?" Lorcan started but cut himself off when he saw the sign on the bakery door, "Jacob and Queenie's wedding day."

Riley looked into the building, "My great great grandparents are in there?"

"Ours too." Lorcan and I said together.

I saw someone move in the back, so I grabbed everyone and pulled them into the closest alley. We leaned out very slowly when we heard the bell on the front door chime.

"Jacob and Queenie must be so relieved." Tina told somebody.

We all heard a small chuckle followed by, "How could they not? They were so infatuated with each other the moment they met."

Lorcan and I looked at each other and said together, "Nana and Papa."

The door opened again. Lally and Theseus left the building, laughing together.

"What are you two on?" Tina asked, watching them with a suppressed laugh.

Lally calmed down a little to say, "Queenie was leading Jacob away and he tripped on the stairs. It was funny when a pan fell down and narrowly missed his head."

Tina stared at Lally, "Are you drunk?"

Theseus clapped a hand on Tina's shoulder, "Now Miss Goldstein! That would be irresponsible! I'm drunk! Miss Hicks is plastered!"

Theseus and Lally left Newt and Tina standing on the sidewalk, laughing and wobbling to get to the hotel. Newt and Tina looked at each other for a minute before breaking the silence with uproars of laughter. Clearly the only two people there that were responsible drinkers.

"Tina?" Newt asked after a while.

Tina looked at him, "Yeah, Newt."

Newt looked at the floor, "Would you like me to walk you home?"

Tina smiled, "I'd like that."

They went to turn around, so our group dodged back into the shadows of our alley hiding spot. Once Newt and Tina passed the alley, we stood up and walked as carefully as we could, so as not to attract their attention to us.

Once they turned the final corner, we snuck into another alley and paid as close attention as we could. We were too far away to understand what they were saying, but I watched their movements rather closely. Tina bowed her head as she chuckled at something Newt said. Newt bowed his head in his embarrassed, blushing way. The two of them waited a few moments to look back up again.

Then, something I hadn't been expecting happened. As Tina started to move away to enter her building, Newt took her hand and tenderly kissed her knuckles. He bowed embarrassed again, but I could've sworn we all saw a hint of a hidden smile.

Tina was very clearly flustered, but happy. She stood where she was as Newt walked away, turning back a couple times to look at her. Then, he reached into his sleeve and drew, presumably, his wand, and disapparated. Tina still stood in the same place for a few more moments before heading in for the night.

The five of us stood up and watched as the lights of Tina's apartment switched on and off again. I looked at my brother and laughed light-hearted. The silence was interrupted when we heard-

"Guys!" Alice shouted.

We all turned to look at her as she crouched down and picked up a snow-covered newspaper. The pictures were moving. Reading upside-down the best I could, I read the big letters along the top, The New York Ghost. Nana had shown me an old copy of this paper before. What really made me want to throw up was when I saw a familiar face that shouldn't have been there at all.

I snatched the paper from Alice's hands and looked at it in horror, my hands shaking in fear. The headline read:

'Wizarding Disappearances'

And at the very bottom of the four moving pictures was a small picture of my little sister, looking straight into my soul - crying out to my brother and me.