Tina and Newt jumped as someone started pounding on their door. They had been sitting in their living room, reading silently, when the banging started. They glanced at each other then Tina slowly pulled out her wand and made her way to the door.
"Open up!" the man on the other side of the door demanded.
Tina opened the door and seven of her co-workers flooded into the room.
Thomas Conrad, the most powerful Auror in the group, pointed his wand at her and declared, "Porpentina Scamander, you are under arrest for assisting in the escape of Gellert Grindelwald."
"What?" Tina and Newt exclaimed in unison.
"Please hand over your wand," Conrad commanded.
"You can't arrest her," Newt insisted. He had gotten to his feet and had his own wand raised. "She's innocent. She hasn't done anything."
Conrad kept his wand pointed at Tina's chest as he turned to face Newt. "That may be so but there is strong evidence pointing towards her, I'm sorry, Scamander, but she has to come with us."
Greer and McGee had their wands pointed at Newt and they kept their wands pointed at him as he crossed the room to his wife. He gently rested his free hand on her shoulder. She reached up and gave it a squeeze.
Tina kept her eyes on Conrad as she slowly began to turn towards Newt. When he didn't react, she faced her husband and threw her arms around his neck.
"Everything's going to be fine," she whispered, more to herself. "Everything'll be okay. We both know I'm innocent. MACUSA won't do anything without concrete evidence and there isn't any because I'm innocent."
"But, Tina," he whimpered. "That time - that December - they tried to kill you. You were innocent, you hadn't done anything wrong but they accused you of - of working with me to - to expose the wizarding world and tried to k-kill you without any proof."
"No, Newt, no. That wasn't MACUSA. MACUSA doesn't work like that. That was Grindelwald, remember? Graves ordered us to be executed and you revealed him to be Grindelwald." Tina took his face in both hands and brushed his tears away. "I love you," she murmured before pressing a kiss to his lips. "Everything'll be fine. I'll be fine."
Newt nodded slightly and she kissed him again before turning back to the Aurors. Without saying anything, she handed her wand to Conrad who slipped it into his pocket. Reed and Jackson grabbed her firmly by the arms and dragged her out of her house. They escorted her to an out of the way corner and Disapparated.
Tina was shoved into a cell in the depths of MACUSA. She backed into a corner and, as soon as the Aurors had vanished, she sunk to the ground, pulled her knees up to her face, and let herself cry. She had tried to sound confident when telling Newt that everything would be alright but she wasn't so sure it would be. She had been in trouble with MACUSA before but that time she had only lost her job, she hadn't been put in jail. This time, she had been. On top of that, she hadn't even done anything this time.
What kind of 'evidence' could they have against me?
Newt tightened his grip on his wand as he watched the Aurors drag Tina out of the house. Conrad approached him.
"Scamander," he said cautiously. "Your wife will be fine. Many of us know she's innocent and we'll be doing everything we can to help her."
"Thank you," Newt said coldly.
"I understand how you must feel and I'd understand if you didn't want to go to work tomorrow but we're gonna need you to come. President Piquery needs to speak with you."
"I don't want to speak to her," Newt said through gritted teeth.
Conrad nodded. "I know, but I'm sure you'll change your mind once you've heard what she has to say."
Newt wasn't able to sleep that night. He tossed and turned for hours in a restless sleep. Eventually, he gave up. He needed Tina. He had grown used to having her curled up against him. He missed her warmth.
Realizing he wasn't going to fall asleep, he climbed out of bed and made his way down into his case. He busied himself with preparing the food for his creatures. When he had finished doing that, he had gone back up and sat at his desk, trying to distract himself with his work. Eventually, he fell asleep, dreaming of the execution chamber they had been in barely one year before.
When he woke up in the morning, he slowly fed his creatures. He made himself some breakfast but couldn't bring himself to eat it. Since he was already late for work, he pulled on his blue coat and wrapped his scarf around his neck. He grabbed his case and left, quickly making his way to MACUSA.
Newt reached the office he shared with Tina and dropped into the chair behind his desk. He stared at his wife's desk and ran his fingers through his hair, letting out a long sigh.
"How am I supposed to get anything done today?" he muttered.
Newt shook his head and tried to start getting some work done. About half an hour later, Conrad appeared in the doorway.
"The President's ready to see you now."
Newt nodded. He quickly put his things away then grabbed his case and followed the Auror out of the room. Conrad quickly led him up to President Piquery's office. Newt had only been there twice before. The first time had been just over a year ago when he had convinced her to give Tina her job back. The second time had been just after he had married Tina, nearly three months ago, when he had been offered a job working alongside his new wife.
Newt nervously fidgetted with the handle of his case.
"Please, take a seat," Piquery said.
Newt obeyed and glanced at the people in the room. Conrad stood off to one side. President Piquery sat behind her desk, studying him carefully. Behind her stood Rufus Hardin, another Auror.
"First of all, Scamander," Piquery started. "I want you to know that all three of us believe your wife is innocent."
Newt looked at her in surprise. "You do?"
She nodded. "Yes. I've known Tina for many years and I don't believe she would follow Grindelwald for any reason. Even though she once attacked a No-maj, she didn't do it to expose the wizarding world, she did it to protect a child. Besides, she got her job back for helping to catch Grindelwald. Even if she was working for him, she's too smart to risk losing her job by helping him escape."
Suddenly angry, Newt demanded, "If you think she's innocent, then why did you arrest her?"
"Because there is enough evidence for us to be required to arrest her," Hardin offered. "How much of it is real is still to be determined. Unfortunately, one of the people pushing for her arrest is one of the most powerful wizards in the country, and by powerful I mean rich."
"John Clayton?" Newt guessed.
"Yes."
Newt frowned. "But what does he have against her?"
"We suspect that he's afraid of what might happen to him if she became the Director of Magical Security," Hardin said.
Newt looked between the two of them. "What?" he managed.
Piquery spoke. "Clayton has ways of finding out what's happening in MACUSA and your wife had been requesting an investigation on him. She believed he was involved in the accident four months ago; the one that nearly exposed the wizarding community. We also suspect he didn't want her investigating the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Phillip O'Neal which would have been easy if she became the Director of Magical Security."
"But why would Clayton assume Tina would replace O'Neal as the Director of Magical Security?" Newt asked, a bemused expression on his face.
"Because she was going to," Picquery replied.
Newt started. "She never told me."
"She didn't know," Hardin said. "She's by far the best Auror there is. Unfortunately, he built up a case against her before the decision could be officially made. I was forced to take the position and I'm not particularly happy about it."
"What case does he have against her?" Newt asked.
"O'Neal died shortly before Grindelwald's escape. Clayton claims she killed him so she could have his position because that would make it easier for her to help Grindelwald escape if she was in charge of keeping him locked up."
Newt frowned. "But he escaped before she was promoted."
"Yes, and we pointed that out," Hardin said. "Clayton said that she must have thought someone was onto her so she had to act sooner than planned."
"But how could anyone believe Tina killed O'Neal?" Newt demanded.
"She was at his house that day and was seen in his office later that afternoon," Picquery said. "Now, we know the reason for this was that she had to pick up some documents and had offered to take something back to his office but it will be hard to prove."
"What are you going to do?" Newt asked nervously.
"We will be doing everything we can to clear her name but we believe it would be best if she was out of the country or even off the continent," Piquery replied. "We need to find a way for her to escape, but it needs to look as though she's escaping alone."
"What?" Newt said. "What are you suggesting?"
"Would it be possible for you to come up with an excuse to go to England?"
"I - I'm supposed to go to England for a book signing. I leave in two days." He paused. "I never told Tina but I had bought her a ticket as well. I meant to surprise her."
"That's good," Picquery said, letting out a relieved sigh.
"It is?" Newt raised his eyebrows, unsure of what she was saying.
"Yes, she'll be able to leave the country legally."
"But won't they notice that? I mean, it will be suspicious enough when I leave the country."
"We'll be able to keep anyone from finding anything out," Hardin said. "Also, we'll give you her wand so she'll have that but we won't report it as missing until after you've gone. Then it'll look like she's still in the country, even after she's gone."
Conrad came forward and handed Newt Tina's wand. He took it carefully, running his fingers along the smooth wood of the handle before slipping it into his pocket.
"But how is she supposed to get away from MACUSA?" he asked.
"We're still not sure," Hardin admitted.
Conrad spoke up. "I think I've got a plan."