the inventor ➝ fantastic beasts

SIX - THE CASE

"I can't believe how calm you are about this," Jacob pants as we catch our breath inside the Macy's. 

I shrug. "I've seen weirder."

But I probably haven't actually seen anything weirder than a group of people coaxing an gigantic snake bird... thing to shrink into a teapot with an insect. 

Now I think about it - what the hell happened in there?

Jacob is less than calm. His eyes are wide, and he's breathing deeply, but his mouth is turned up in wonder. I don't blame him. If I was a no-maj discovering the wizarding world for the first time, I would be smiling too.

"Right, let's put them back, then. And yes, Tina, that is that last of them, I promise," Newt says to Tina, who had opened her mouth to speak.

"Put them back where?" I ask. "What, do you have an enclosure for those things somewhere?" I gesture to the blue snake bird and the silver, long haired creature who is holding Jacob's hand.

Jacob scoffs, grinning to himself.

"Is that funny, Mr Kowalski?" I ask, raising an eyebrow, my voice dangerous. His smile drops immediately, and he swallows, looking to the ground.

"In a way, yes, I do," Newt answers me. Then, he crouches down and places his case on the floor. He looks back up at me. "But look - I need you to trust me."

"Why?" I ask sceptically.

He presses his lips together, letting out a breath of air through his nose. "Just - just follow me, if you would."

I fold my arms, waiting. Where is he going with this?

Then, suddenly, he unlocks the case, and flips the lid open. It stays up in a way that I can't quite see the contents. With a quick glance up at me and a mischievous grin, he straightens up, and steps into the case. At first, I nearly laugh. But when he continues into the case, and starts to disappear into it, my grin fades.

Newt is climbing down stairs into his case. 

"Woah." I can't stop myself.

"Right?" Jacob says, almost as if he can't believe it himself. He's clearly seen this before. The girls don't seem entirely shocked either.

Newt keeps going. It looks as if he's going to hit his head on the inner edge of the case, but in moments, he's gone.

The grin springs back onto my face, and I circle the case to get round to the front. I shake my head as I descend into it, and I can't hold back the look of wonder that graces my face as I see the inside of Newt's magical suitcase.

It seems to be a small, modest wooden shed. The ceiling is low enough to touch if you stand on your tiptoes. Shelves cover the walls, each packed tightly with potion bottles, tools, plants, books; a cauldron sits on the desk that juts out in the centre of the shelves, going around the whole shed. Some knives and syringes hang on the walls, along with torches, lamps, and pictures in frames. I can see that under it, more books are piled up haphazardly, along with all different kinds of shoes. 

It's messy and cluttered, sure - but at the same time, kind of fascinating. The corner of my mouth jerks up as I turn around slowly, examining it all as closely as I can. When I glance over at Newt, my smile widening, I see he's taken off his bright blue coat, only wearing his white shirt and waistcoat. He's collecting several bottles, sacks, and other tools and shoving them into a brown bag slung over his shoulder. 

"What's all that for?" I ask Newt as Jacob, Tina and Queenie come in after me with the creatures, and he doesn't answer, grinning at me over his shoulder. As an afterthought, he reaches out and offers to take my coat. I shrug it off along with my scarf and hand it to him, and he hangs it up along with his. The others take off their own coats and bustle about as if they're completely at home.