Tina leapt up and braced herself against the table. Above their heads, the chandeliers shook and dangled and piles of fruit rolled and bounced onto the floor. Wizards and witches all around them darted and ducked to try and get to safety or out of the way of the rush. Curtains were drawn over the windows, so Tina couldn't look outside to see if the disturbance was local or general, and then she had to wonder if it was mundane or magical.

She looked up, to see that Newt had fallen to the floor—no, he was creeping along the floor with an ear down and his coat dragging behind him. "What are you doing?" she asked, her question almost a plead with him to get up off the floor before someone stepped on his hands or head, or tripped over him and hurt themselves.

Newt ignored her, and only continued to listen to the ground, leaving Tina to try and stand guard over him so he could complete his—whatever he was doing down there.

The rumbling had come on quickly, and though it felt like several minutes of chaos, the rumbling had come and gone in less than one. Wizards and witches who had pushed themselves into corners and door frames and the cellar began to shake off the fright and come back to their knocked-about meals and their personal belongings. Tina wrenched her hands off the table and helped Newt off the ground. The enchanted necklace she wore burned hot, paging her to come in to the office. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have to go back to work." She pulled out her coat slip and handed it to the host, then started fishing around in her wallet. "Here's his business card."

"Whose?" He took it, but looked to her for the answer.

"Mr. Kowalski. Queenie reintroduced herself last spring. She'll be at Congress now, but he'll let you stay. He won't remember you, of course, and don't do anything...suspicious or magical while you're there, okay?" The host returned with her overcoat and she pulled it and her hat on, then her gloves, and shoved her wallet and put it in her pocket before buttoning the outside.

"Oh, right, yes."

"Newt?"

"Yes?"

She had only just remembered that perhaps he hadn't gotten the chance to change his galleons to New Wizarding Dollars. "Do you have any NWD?"

"Oh course, I had them exchanged weeks ago."

"We'll have dinner. Either at mine or at Mr. Kowalski's."

"Of course. It'll be nice to see him again. I wasn't expecting to get the chance." He raised the card like a toast, then picked up his suit case and turned to leave. When Tina saw that he was planning to go, she disapparated and reappeared seconds later just outside the Congress building.

The Major Investigations Department was already abuzz with sightings, reports, picture evidence, collected memories, and more when Tina arrived, and stood around the main table with Madam President.

"Goldstein," she addressed the auror, "you're late."

"I'm here now, Madam President."

"Do you have any current case you're working on?"

"No, Madam President," she replied. She was in the middle of a write-up, but she could do that any time, or have her secretary do it if push came to shove.

"Good, I want you on the investigative team for the recent earthquakes."

"I was just down there—were there more?"

"Quite a few more. Manhattan is not prone to earthquakes and we need to know what's causing them." She gestured to three other witches in a side office, pouring over photographs, maps, and time tables.

"Of course, Madam President." Tina turned to join the three, and draped her coat over her chair. The map showed all the locations where there had been earth quakes in the last two days. "What have we got?"

Melinda Mayer pushed a reference book towards Tina. It was open to a passage about magical quakes. "Not much—we've started less than an hour ago, but this is the best we've got." The passage read:

Magical Earthquakes, sometimes referred to as Spontaneous Quakes, are similar to, yet different from, normal earthquakes. Normal earthquakes are formed when the plates of the Earth's crust move sufficiently to cause trauma on the surface, moving the land masses from several inches to several feet, or more. Magical Earthquakes, on the other hand, often have the same result as a normal earthquake, though they manifest differently. The similarities end with the shaking of the ground, and at first glance, the two are identical. The causes of a Magical Earthquake may be; human manifestation, the act of a Beast, or a dire unbalance in the magical auras in a region.

Magical unbalance is the most common of these, but differs by region. Some regions of great tension between wizarding communities will have a great amount of preexisting trauma. Any slight unbalance of the magical communities which exist in such a precarious situation are particularly susceptible to the Magical Earthquakes. This kind of unbalance is most common in the case of migratory wizarding communities which leave one land which is used to their magic and move to another one, which has been previously used to another kind of magic. In these extreme situations, the earth itself becomes a sponge to the excess magical energy and shifts itself to accommodate.

The second most common is of human manifestation. There are recorded instances (45) (46) (47) which document the use of a singular or a few wizards' magic in order to create disturbance in a region. This is most often done before a dark witch or wizard comes into a town or region of No-Majs to take control. This disorienting tactic can be used to paint the witch or wizard as a savior to be trusted or a dictator to be feared.

Finally, there are few creatures which tunnel and can create sufficient movement to cause a temporary earthquake. Such things are only common where there are no humans, magical or otherwise.

Tina put down the book. "I suppose the best plan of action is to start interviewing eye witnesses and questioning suspects." She reached for her coat. "Anyone with me?"

"I'll get a camera," replied Mayer. They left Dingle and Spawling, who waved them off, to their maps.