Safe in Your Arms

Chapter 3

Newt set the table with the food he and Jacob had managed to prepare. Looking up, he saw Tina and Nagini enter the room. He took a seat at the round table and was pleasantly surprised when Tina took the seat next to him, leaving Jacob and Nagini to sit across from them. 

Nobody spoke during breakfast and when it was over, Nagini went back up to her room. Jacob and Tina followed Newt down into the basement. He began feeding all his creatures, working quickly to try to distract himself from the events of the days before. He hadn't thought about what had happened when he was showing Tina the creatures in his basement but now that he was working silently, the thoughts were flooding his mind.

Jacob had taken a seat in a corner and was sitting with his elbows resting on his knees. He was staring forward, a vacant expression on his face. Newt realized that it might be best to just leave him alone. He was hurt and Newt wouldn't know what to say to him.

Newt wasn't sure where Tina had gone but, when he went to feed the Augurey, he saw her sitting on the landing up to its nest. She sat motionless, staring out across the basement. Deciding not to bother her, he raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled. The large bird flew down from its nest and he fed it. 

He made his way back up to his room to grab some supplies. When he came back down the stairs he heard the front door open. Bunty appeared in the room.

"Hello, Bunty," Newt said.

"Newt!" she exclaimed, blushing slightly. "I didn't know you were back."

"Uh -- yes. I got back yesterday . . . evening."

"You weren't in Paris for very long. Why did you need to go?"

Newt shuffled his feet. "I needed to find someone. I managed to find her rather quickly so I was able to get back quickly."

He turned and made his way back to the basement. Bunty followed close behind him.

"I've got a few friends staying in the house," he informed her. "It may be best to keep your distance. All three of them lost someone just two days ago. I think they'd like to be alone."

They had reached the basement and Newt was busy dealing with a Mooncalf.

"Who's that?" Bunty asked, an icy hint to her voice.

Newt looked up to see what she was talking about. She was looking up towards the Augurey's nest where Tina was sitting.

"Uh -- that's Tina Goldstein. She's an Auror from New York. She's the one I was looking for in Paris."

"When is she going back to New York?"

Newt shrugged. He continued working as he spoke. "I don't know. I think it would be emotionally painful for her. She's always lived with her sister but now her sister is gone so it would hurt her to stay in her apartment alone." 

"How did her sister die?"

"Oh, she's not dead," Newt said quickly, realizing that his statement had sounded that way. "She's still alive but she-- Well, she joined Grindelwald."

"Oh," Bunty said apologetically. She moved to help Newt with the Mooncalf. "Who else is staying here?"

"Jacob Kowalski," Newt replied, pointing to where Jacob was sitting. "He's a Muggle who was engaged to Tina's sister, Queenie. He's also kind of the reason she joined Grindelwald."

"What? How?"

Newt ran his hand over the Mooncalf's head then moved over to the Niffler's cage. "She joined Grindelwald because he's convinced her that he wants a world where Muggles and magical people live together. She thinks that he'd make it possible for her to marry Jacob."