𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔪𝔞𝔤𝔲𝔰

Fifteen

I walked quietly into the white room. The ground ahead of us fell into an abyss of a silver liquid, Death Potion, I realized. A chair floated above the potion, ready to submerge its victim.

I stood next to Newt as Tina was taken to the edge, "Please, please..." She sobbed, her voice getting more and more frantic.

The witch that held her pulled out her wand and placed it on Tina's temple. Tina calmed immediately, staring blankly ahead of her.

I saw her memories get pulled out of her head and thrown into the potion. Images of Tina's childhood appeared, her mother. "Time for bed," the apparition said. It drew Tina in.

"Don't that look good?" The witch said. Tina nodded and climbed onto the chair. As it lowered into the potion, the images changed. I saw me. I was walking with Tina into the Second Salemer lady's house. "Tina, wait," I whispered, tugging her sleeve, "you know this will get you in trouble..." I heard myself trail off as we saw Credence kneeling on the ground. He held his wrist as his mother stood above him, a whip in her hands.

She threw her wand out, making the whip fly out of her hands. I ran to Credence and pulled him into a hug, protecting him as Tina knocked out his mother. Afterward, Tina eventually joined me with the boy. "What's your name?" I asked him. "Credence." He whispered. Tina reached out and touched his shoulder. "It's okay." She said. He started to cry, and suddenly I was pulled away from the memory by a certain bow truckle on my wrist. I turned to Newt, who was just staring at Tina.

I felt my wrists slacken as my handcuffs unlocked. 

"Okay, let's get the good stuff out of you." The witch guarding Newt said, raising her wand to his head. He jumped backwards, holding the swooping evil in his right hand. Pickett jumped onto the witch's arm, scaring her. I spun around, taking my wand back from the wizard that was holding me and stunning him.

Newt swung the bat-like creature and released it. He uncurled its wings and flew around the room, protecting Newt and I from the rebounding spells. 

I saw a man point his wand at me as I was dueling someone else. The swooping evil flew by and grabbed his wand in his teeth, dropping it in the death potion. It sizzled, making Tina's memories morphed into the Second Salem woman. "Witch!" She cried accusingly, pointing at her. The liquid swirled and rose, threateningly, and Tina was finally realized what was going on. 

Tina stood on the chair, looking for an escape, but she was too far away from us to jump. "Mr. Scamander!" She shouted.

"Now, don't panic," Newt said, disabling the last wizard.

"What do you suggest I do instead?" Tina asked frantically. 

"Newt, the swooping evil!" I said as he continued to fly around the room.

"Yes, Tina, you're going to have to jump on it." Newt instructed.

"Are you crazy?" She said.

"Tina, listen to me," I said, "he'll catch you." 

She looked very hesitant, but the chair she was standing on was already in contact with the deadly liquid. She didn't have a choice.

"Tina, don't worry." Newt said, his hand stretched out to her. The potion was cocooning Tina slowly. The swooping evil flew next to her just in time and I shouted, "Go!" She jumped onto his back and leaped to him. Newt caught her pulled her away from the edge. He held her reassuringly and she took deep gulps of air.

I too glad that my friend was alive to be worried about how close she and Newt were. I hugged her tightly before Newt drew the swooping evil back to him. "Let's go." He said, and the three of us ran from that awful room.

As we were escaping, twisting through the halls of the building, other people had heard of our escape. Spells flew by as they tried to stop us, and Newt once again used the swooping evil to block the blasts of magic. It flew around the pillars, knocking over the men pursuing us. We ran past him again as he was hunched over a man's head, his long tongue in his ear.

"Leave his brains, come on!" Newt said, grabbing my hand.

"What is that thing?" Tina asked.

"A swooping evil." Newt replied.

"Well I love it!" She giggled, I grinned at her.

The three of us sprinted in between pillars, ducking and turning. "AH!" I screamed, bumping into someone. "Woah, hey." I opened my eyes and saw my favorite muggle.

"Oh my Merlin, you weren't obliviated, were you?" I asked him, holding him by the shoulders.

"No, Queenie here saved me." The blonde waved at me. I grinned and hugged her. "Okay, nice reunion but we've got to get out of here." I said. Queenie stared down at her hands and I saw she was holding Newt's case.

She thrusted it to us, "Get in."

The four of us, Newt, Tina, Jacob and I sat in Newt's case as Tina walked us out of the MACUSA building. I found that everyone in the case was safe and sound, except for Thomas. I found him with his feet bound. "Are you alright?" I asked him, cutting the ropes that suppressed him. He gave me a big lick and I knew he was alright. I walked him to the shack slowly and he laid by Newt and I. At one point, we heard muffled talking outside. I held Newt's hand tightly, worried we might be caught.

We heard footsteps again and felt the steady bounce of Queenie's walk. After a while, I felt her lay down the case and open it.

"All clear." We climbed out and saw that we were on a roof. "Is this our apartment building?" Tina asked. "Yes, Mrs. Esposito almost opened the case but I was able to make it 'muggle-worthy.' Very smart, I might add." Queenie grinned at Newt and he smiled back, looking at the ground.

We looked out into the horizon of New York. The sun was setting quietly. I sighed, finally able to relax a little. 

"Graves always insisted that the disturbances were caused by a beast." Tina said to Newt as they stood together.

"Then we need to catch all Newt's creatures." I told them.

"Till then, Graves will keep using them as a scapegoat." Tina said.

"There's only one still missing: Dougal my demiguise." Newt answered. I smiled, "You named him Dougal?" Newt grinned at me, "It seemed to fit."

"Well, let's find him." Tina stated.

"Slight problem, he's invisible." Newt sighed.

"Invisible?" Tina asked incredulously.

"Yes, most of the time he is, um..." Newt trailed off, almost ashamed that he would lose an invisible beast.

"How do you catch something that's invisible?" She asked.

"Well...he was a gift." Newt said, glancing back at me.

"Oh." Tina smiled at us. My face became red and I looked away from her.

Suddenly, her smile fell. "Gnarlack." She said randomly. "Pardon?" Newt asked.

"Gnarlack!" I shouted, "Tina, you're a genius!"

"What?" Newt asked, confused. "Gnarlack was an informant of ours when we were aurors." Tina explained.

"He used to trade magical creatures on the side." I explained.

"He wouldn't happen to have an interest in paw prints, would he?" Newt asked enthusiastically.

"He's interested in anything he can sell." Tina said.

Newt grinned. "Then what are we waiting for?"