I have a Gramander Pocahontas Au, and now it's time for an Aladdin AU ?
….
Our tale starts on a dark night, where a dark man waits, with a dark purpose.
"You are late." Grindelward hissed at the young man, who rolled his eyes.
"A thousand apologies o patient one."
"You have it then?"
"The Ministry of Magic was on my back the entire time, are you sure- "
"- Did. You. Get. It?!"
The man looked almost offended, rolling his eyes and pulling half of a gorgeous, sapphire-studded diadem, "I was almost turned into stone for this."
When Grindelward reached over to grab it, the man backed away and tutted at him, "Ah, ah, ah… the payment?"
Grindelward sneered at him, wand dropping down from his sleeve as he quickly flicked it, the object playing out of the man's hand and into his own. "Don't worry…" he muttered, pulling the other half of the diadem out of his pocket, "… You will get what's coming to you."
As soon as he put the two halves together, the sapphire raven on the diadem seemed to come to life and started spinning around their heads.
"Grab my arm…" Grindelward ordered the other man, waiting until the command was followed before grabbing the diadem out of the air.
The world blurred all around them, a sickening sensation in their stomachs when everything stopped swirling around.
Their location was completely different now, an almost desert wasteland in the middle of nowhere.
When Grindelward let go of the diadem, it dived down, disappearing under the sand as the earth started to rumble. Laughing in amazement, he watched as a giant wampus's head rose up from the sand, eyes glowing gold.
"Finally…" Grindelward hissed in delight, "… year and years of searching, and I've finally found it. The Cave of Wonders…. I'm this close to finding you my love."
"Merlin's beard." The other man whispered, yelping when Grindelward grabbed his cloak and pulled him closer.
"Now remember…" the dark wizard hissed, "… Bring me the lamp! The rest of the treasure is yours, but get me that lamp!"
The man nodded eagerly, making his way over to the giant lion head, missing how a young woman suddenly appeared with a loud POP, moving to Grindelward's side.
"So, where did you dig this one up?" she asked, a slight sneer on her face.
Grindelward remained silent, watching as the other man crept up to the wampus's mouth, peering inside. Inside the mouth, something was glowing and steps formed in the sand, however, when he went to step inside, the wampus growled and rumbled, sending the man flying backwards.
"WHO DARES DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?!"
"A-Abernathy! My name is Abernathy."
"KNOW THIS. ONLY ONE MAY ENTER HERE. ONE WHOSE WORTH LIES FAR WITHIN. A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH."
Abernathy turned back to Grindelward, confusion on his face.
"Well?" Grindelward glared at him, "Go on then!"
Abernathy did as he was told… but as soon as he placed his foot on the first step, the wampus roared, and the mouth closed down on the young man, the sand covering and suffocating him as the wind swirled all around.
"NO!" Grindelward cried out in anger.
"FIND THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH!"
The wampus collapsed back into the sand, and the two halves of the diadem rolled down the small hill that had been formed.
"Another failed attempt then." Rosier summoned the two halves to her pocket with a silent Accio, "I don't know why you don't just give up on finding h- "
"- Enough." Grindelward sighed as she handed him the two halves, "Abernathy was obviously less than worthy."
"Oh, what a surprise." You could cut the sarcasm with a knife, "So, what's the next step in the plan?"
"Didn't you hear it…. We need to find this Diamond in the Rough."
…..
"GET BACK HERE!"
Newt clutched the nundu kitten to his chest, wrapping her in a cloak as he raced through the docks, his suitcase clutched in his other hand.
There were too many muggles around to apparate.
"THAT'S OURS!"
"Well, you shouldn't have been mistreating her then." Newt mumbled to himself, darting behind some boxes.
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
As the Nundu whimpered, Newt gently shushed her, spotting some stairs and racing towards them, trying not to knock into too many muggles as he grabbed another sheet from a nearby washing line, in order to cover the Nundu fully.
"You're only in trouble if you get caught." Newt whispered to the Nundu, ducking as something impacted with the wall just above his head, "Okay, I'm in trouble."
Darting into an abandoned alleyway, ignoring the panic of the Muggles all around, he apparated away to the next street over, sighing in relief at the belief that he'd managed to get away.
New York was far more interesting than he expected it to be.
Unfortunately, he glee was short-lived when he spotted a familiar ball of black fur darted around someone's ankles, nicking buckles and other shiny things as it went.
And it was heading straight for a crowd of people.
"Little bugger!" he growled, ducking down low in an attempt to keep his eye on the creature. As they got closer and closer to one of the main streets, Newt suddenly spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
Movement in a nearby alleyway… a possible creature perhaps. Moving a little bit closer, Newt couldn't help but wince in sympathy at what he saw.
Two felines, both with possible Kneazle blood in their veins, scavenging in the bins in a desperate attempt to get some food. Slowly, keeping his eyes on the poor things, he reached into his pocket and pulled out some meat that he'd bought earlier in the day, all wrapped up and originally intended as a treat for the nundu kitten when he managed to rescue her.
Oh well, he can always go again.
"Here you go…" he whispered, unwrapping the meat, leaving a bit of plastic underneath for protection against the ground as he placed it on the ground.
The felines cautiously made their way over, eagerly scoffing down the meat as Newt opened up his suitcase.
"Come on… I promise I won't hurt you, and you won't ever have to live like this. You'll always be fed."
The two cats didn't seem eager, bits of meat in their mouths as they backed away.
Knowing that forcing them would achieve nothing, Newt stood back up, suitcase closed up again as he rushed back to the main street, eyes searching for any sign of the Niffler. A large crowd had gathered, probably due to it being very close to the end of the working day.
And then he spotted the Niffler lingering near a rather extravagant looking woman. Clearly a witch if the wampus fur scarf was any indication.
Disgusting.
Why would anyone kill an innocent creature, only to wear it.
"Little monster!"
Ah… now he knew for sure where the pest was.
Newt watched in alarm as the woman managed to catch the Niffler, holding it up slightly, before tensing, clearly intending to throw him in the path of the oncoming traffic… or perhaps into a nearby sewer.
In both cases, the Niffler would probably be alright, but Newt wasn't going to take that chance. Darting forwards, narrowly avoiding getting trampled himself, he managed to grab his beloved (if rather annoying) friend just before she could throw him… her.
He wasn't quite sure yet.
"It's okay!" Newt tried to reassure the woman, holding the Niffler upside down as a few trinkets fell out, "He's a bit of a pest, but harmless really. Let me just- "
CRACK
Newt stepped back, one hand flying to his reddening cheek in shock. Even the Niffler was stunned by the woman's actions.
"Don't you dare touch me…." She sneered, "… worthless little thief." Without another word, she stormed off, leaving behind a stunned Newt, who leaned against the nearby building as the crowd just passed him by.
The Niffler snuffled at him, as if asking if Newt was alright?
Straightening up, Newt dusted himself off, before giving the Niffler a reassuring smile. "I'm okay." He whispered, carefully putting the creature back into the suitcase and quickly making his escape back to the hotel room he'd rented for the time he was going to be staying in New York.
Once in the room, he made his way into the suitcase and started to tend to his animals, ignoring the most recent letter from Theseus.
He didn't care what his brother said, he liked his life and he wouldn't do a thing to change it.
No matter what.