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“Mercy Lewis. This is crazy.” one of the Aurors exclaims among his stunned colleagues.
Tina Goldstein, head Auror of MACUSA, murmurs darkly under her breath, "my sentiments exactly." A quick tour of her latest crime scene confirms her suspicion– this is real bad. Just as she is mentally drafting a long to-do list, her colleague Kep taps her on the shoulder: “Hey boss? I think we need your English guy here. Ain’t no one can handle this but him.”
Tina answers absent-mindedly:” Don’t we have a beast division in MACUSA?”
Kep raises an unimpressed eyebrow:” Seriously? That old fool Tanner probably know less ‘bout creatures than you do.”
That Tina has to agree. And considering the circumstances, she swiftly decides:” All right, I’ll send word to the Ministry.” Her heart definitely does not skip a happy beat for the prospect of seeing her English guy, as Kep puts it.
Two days later at five in the morning, an unassuming plate shimmers and vomits a very dizzy British magizoologist, warmly greeted by his favorite Auror.
“Hello Newt.” Tina smiles her Newt-only smile while suppressing a yawn.
Newt automatically reaches out to Tina’s waist: “Morning my love.” Tina can’t help but run her fingers through his messier-than-usual hair. Oh, she has missed him.
“The ministry didn’t say much. Care to brief me instead of messing up my hair, Auror Goldstein? ”
“Well then, care to join me for breakfast, Mr. Scamandar? Work breakfast of course.” Tina replies teasingly.
Newt plants a light kiss on her temple and says: “That would be my honor.”
When Tina giggles, Newt simply grins before spinning them to disapparation.
They land in a familiar alley with a tainted picture of a dragon hanging on the wall. A knock and they enter their favorite magical dim sum house, which, as Newt claims, has a decent pot of tea. A nod from Mrs. Leung, the petite owner of the house, confirms that their usuals will be served, and Tina wastes no time getting to work.
“Two days ago, we ambushed one of the largest trafficking rings based in New York.” Tina pushes a thin file across the table, “Got our hands on their ship, and arrested these guys.”
Tina points to a picture of three sea-hardened men, and Newt nods before flipping the page. He freezes and stammers: “Is that…”
Tina nods grimly: “Yeah. That’s exactly why we need you here. Many of these creatures are quite exotic. We haven’t the faintest clue what to do.”
“How many creatures?” Newt furrows his brow in worry, and Tina mirrors his expression: “About thirty. There are two hippogriffs, four nifflers, and a thuderbird. The rest we can’t recognize with certainty. There is a ‘cargo list’ we found, but it’s encrypted. The traffickers know little about the creatures. Just following orders, they say. ”
Newt slowly nods, “I will do my best to take care of them.”
Tina smiles before sniffing her tea: “Any idea what’s in it this time?”
“Herbs of some sort. Mrs. Leung is quite creative.” Newt gulps down the warm liquid, and they fall into a companionable silence, each occupied with tea and food.
When Newt finally looks up from his plate (the food is really quite good), Tina is gnawing her lower lip, brows furrowed. Noticing Newt’s glances, Tina sighs and says: “I have a bad feeling about this Newt. Some of the creatures… well, they don’t seem right.”
“I haven’t seen many trafficked animals, but you told me about Frank. You said even chained, he’s quite spirited, though not in an obvious way. As soon as you came along to rescue, his spirit sort of rekindles. But these creatures seem… off, numb even when we opened up their cages. Like their minds are elsewhere.” Tina toys with her cup mindlessly, not quite looking at Newt: “I could be wrong though. It’s a gut feeling. Everyone else thinks the creatures are just mal-nourished and shock is all. ”
Newt gently squeezes her hand, meeting her worried eyes: “We will find out. ”
The pair are walking down a narrow path leading to an ordinary-looking ship when a voice calls from the stairs leading to the entryway of the ship: “You must be Mr. Scamandar!” Tina rolls her eyes and yells back: “Your boss is right here, Kep, don’t ya see me?” Newt flashes an amused smile: “So that’s Kep.”
The trustworthy yet “unbelievably annoying” colleague of Tina erases his naughty smile and slips into Auror mode when leading Tina and Newt inside the ship:” Nothing unusual boss. The creatures are okay. Pretty quiet. Dunno if that’s good or bad though.”
“Probably bad,” Newt murmurs as soon as he steps into the main compartment where all the trafficked creatures are kept. The silence is not a comfortable one. It’s unnatural and suffocating. Very unlike the many rescue sites he has witnessed. He turns to Tina: “You are right Tina. Something’s off with them.”
Tina nods gravely and gives Newt a quick tour of all the creatures, now unchained but divided by magical wards the Aurors have set up. Newt looks at each of them with empathy and sadness. Such beautiful creatures, but their spirit seem gone. The only good thing that comes out of their rather depressing tour is Newt recognizes most of the creatures and therefore feels confident taking care of them properly. A list of creatures and a list of necessities are drafted, and Newt gets to work, trying to establish trust with the poor creatures. Tina follows him just like in his suitcase, doing what she can.
A few hours later, Kep finds the pair deep inside the ship: “Boss? You’re needed in the office. The cargo list is cracked. Si sends a Patronus saying you gotta take a look.”
Tina drops a bucket of meat on the ground and turns to Newt: “You gonna be alright if I leave for a bit?”
Newt disentangles her fidgeting fingers:” Of course love. Go, you might have new clues.”
When Tina hesitates, Newt adds with a fierceness she remembered hearing on the rooftop when he told her he will save Credence: “I will find out what’s wrong with them. I will help them.”
Kep is still stunned by her boss being called love, and can’t shut up about it on their way back to MACUSA.
Tina gets to work the moment her colleagues hand her the newly deciphered cargo list. Turns out the cargo list is an understatement of the century. It is a detailed log of buying and selling and a complete account book. With a flick of her wand, every creature and buyer is projected on a wall, and some of her colleagues draw a stunned breath when seeing some of the renowned wizards among the buyers.
As Tina flips through the account book, her frown deepens. Strange. Everything else is so meticulously detailed, but this item documented as “weed” seems uncharacteristically vague. Are they doing drug business on the side? Tina wonders. She starts cataloging all information in chronological order, looking for any indication of what this mysterious weed is.
Just when she is buried neck-deep in a pile of papers and notes, a shining thunderbird Patronus dashes to her desk.
Newt.
She almost knocks over her coffee mug when an instinct of panic takes over. Then the Patronus speaks in a familiar voice: “Don’t panic Tina. I’m alright. I found out what was wrong with the creatures. Can you come over? ”
The moment Tina steps inside the ship, Newt exclaims excitedly: “I found out!” Even when her mind is almost completely occupied with work, Tina can’t help but notice the glint in his eyes. I love him like this, Tina thinks.
“You see, the creatures are behaving like people under the imperious curse, but not quite. I thought about spells, and it turns out…” Newt is leading Tina to a hidden corner when something clicks in the back of her mind.
“It’s potion.”
Newt looks at her in surprise: “How do you know?”
“They keep buying something called ‘weed’ in large quantities.” Tina explains, “They buy it regularly. That gotta be what they use to make the creatures… like this… so they can better control them. requires fewer men to keep them in check as well.”
She adds with clear disgust: “How cruel.”
Newt gestures to an empty cupboard and a half-empty vile: “This is probably the ‘weed’. I don’t exactly know what it is, but I have a couple of guesses.”
Tina examines the amber liquid carefully: “Potion is not really my strong suit. The weed is all brought somewhere in America though. Could be something native.”
Newt begins pacing while murmuring “weed” as if the name rings a bell. Tina can’t help him. Her knowledge of plants is fairly limited, even when her fella is an expert in all plants and animals.
“Jimsonweed!” New suddenly exclaims, “this is it! It’s a plant that causes coma and hallucination. They might have twisted the effect with some magic, but the hallucination is there. That’s why the creatures seem off. They are probably hallucinating…”
“How do you know there is hallucination?” Tina eyes the vile and Newt with suspicion. Newt’s excited babble about the effect of jimsonweed comes to a rapid halt, and he looks sheepish staring at his shoes.
Tina has seen this look before. So he tested it on himself. “Newton Scamander, did you drink this vile of unknown potion? ”
Newt’s eyes widened as he says defensively: “No! I just… well… I sniffed it.”
Tina is at a loss for words. This is so Newt, therefore very reckless and she is very very mad at him for always trying out on himself. But now it’s not the time for a lecture on safety precautions in crime scenes (hell she can go on for an hour). Now it’s time for saving these poor creatures.
Before she can voice her question though, Newt speaks: “Now that I know the ingredient. I can make an antidote. Might need a few things though. ” When Tina doesn’t respond, he quickly adds: “Please don’t be mad at me. I know it’s safe because the creatures are not severely harmed by any means.”
Tina sighs and counters gently: “You know I always worry.”
Newt brushes a lock of loose hair behind her ear, the familiar gesture sending a slight shiver along her spine. When those mesmerizing green eyes stare into hers, Tina fails at suppressing a smile. His eyes say everything, and of course, he is forgiven.
Days pass by in a blur of creature saving (for Newt) and criminal catching (for Tina). When all the creatures are nourished back to health thanks to Newt’s antidote, it is time for Tina’s least favorite part of her job–paperwork.
“I hate paperwork.” Tina groans, looking desperately at her (many) unfiled reports.
Newt, who has made himself part of the Auror office over the past few days, opens his mouth but is cut off by a mock-stern glance from Tina, "Nope I know you wanna help. But Newt, I've seen your paperwork skills..." Tina shakes her head dramatically.
Newt suppresses an amused smile, "You know me too well, my love, should I be concerned?"
“There’s actually something I don’t know.” Tina says thoughtfully, “how did you know it’s potion, not spells?”
“Well… you gave the idea.” Newt replies with a grin, while Tina puts down her quill, too eager for a distraction from her paperwork, “Remember the day I got here, we had tea at Mrs. Leung’s? The first time we went there, she gave us a weird-tasting pot of tea. You almost choked, and you sniff your tea before drinking ever since. ”
“Are you accusing me of giving you the idea of sniffing potentially dangerous unknown potions?” Tina raises an eyebrow, while Newt hastily clarifies: “No that’s all on me. But you did remind me that herbs are just as powerful as spells, and, well, we are right of course. ”
Tina smiles: “We should thank Mrs. Leung and her tea.”
“Indeed.” Newt nods, “how about tomorrow? Tea for breakfast?” His expectant eyes meet hers, and the sheer adoration in those eyes reminds her of Queenie’s wedding day when those same eyes took her silhouette in the snow. It takes all her will not to kiss him right in the middle of the Auror office, so she replies instead: “It sounds like a wonderful idea.”