The Goldstein's apartment was neither mystical nor elusive, contrary to their peculiar introduction. There were comfortable furnishings, crisp curtains, tasteful rugs that complimented the wallpaper, a grouchy landlady who despised Jacob's presence but cooed over Newt, and the fresh smell of tea roses and orange blossoms - a perfume, surely, for it was too late in the year for such dainty florals.

Newt's eyes flew wide as he took in the polished table laden with piping hot rolls, a tureen of vermicelli soup, carrots sauteed in butter, tender green beans, crispy roast chicken, a mound of fluffy potatoes with dribblet gravy, a perfect, artisan apple strudel, and creamy, frothy cocoa. Promptly the young child hauled himself into a chair and wound a napkin around his neck, waiting impatiently for the adults to sit down.

Huh. The kid must have learned proper table manners from somewhere.

"So, Tina's your sister?" Jacob asked a few minutes later, as he marched his way through the main course and several cups of strong black coffee. "Did she make this?"

"Queenie's the cook," the dark-haired sister admitted readily.

"But Tina kept it warm," Queenie said hastily. She averted her eyes at her sister's sharp look.

Chewing ponderously, Jacob tucked away that thought. It was oddly convenient that the food was fresh and piping hot despite Queenie's excursion to the park.

Sighing, Queenie put down her fork. "We may as well tell him," she told her sister.

"Wait? Tell me what?" Jacob needed another cup of coffee before they launched any more surprises on him. Newt had already filled up his tolerance level for one day.

"Better drink up, honey," Queenie said lightly, filling his cup without being asked.

Brilliantly intuitive, Jacob thought, taking an appreciative sip of the dark beverage that had yet to cool, despite half an hour of dinner conversation.

"Oh, I'm not all that," Queenie said bashfully, bracing her chin on one hand. "But it's sweet that you think so."

Jacob spluttered and almost choked on his coffee. "I'm sorry, did I say - "

"Queenie reads minds," Tina explained shortly.

This time he did drop his teacup. Bumbling for a napkin as coffee sloshed over his plate, Jacob uttered an apology -

And fell dead still as Queenie flicked out a dainty black reed, whereupon the dark spill vanished without a trace. Taking advantage of the adults' distraction, Newt took his opportunity to dump his carrots back into the serving dish.

"Want more taters," he insisted.

"You - you're witches," Jacob stammered. "You're really witches! So this magic stuff Newt was talking about is all real?"

"Of course it's real, honey!" Queenie said. "You're not afraid of it, though."

"What? No, of course not," Jacob said, although he was admittedly shaken. "I just thought… I thought this was stuff that storybook writers made up."

"All stories come from somewhere," Tina said. Of the two sisters, she seemed to have an agenda for her revelation, and she honed right to the point. "Mister Kowalski, I appreciate what you've done to take care of Mister Scamander's brother…."

"Anyone would've done it in my place," Jacob said awkwardly.

"But as I'm sure you can see, it's better for him to stay with his own kind," Tina finished practically.

"Wait… was that even up for debate?" Jacob asked. "Of course he needs to go back to his family. I've been waiting for news on his brother this whole time."

"What I mean, Mister Kowalski," Tina clarified, "Is that we haven't been able to get in contact with Theseus Scamander."

Taking a long moment to fold his napkin and lay it over the table, Jacob asserted, "So you knew that this was Theseus' kid brother."

"I suspected it was," Tina confirmed. "He stopped in New York a few weeks ago to discuss the recent muggle attacks with President Picquery. As soon as I saw Newt leave with the Barebones, I reported directly to Mister Graves - he's the Director of Magical Security, and head of M.A.C.U.S.A.'s law enforcement. He said he would make a formal inquiry and told me not to interfere."

"After a week passed without any attempted contact with England, Tina and I decided to take the case into our own hands," Queenie said. "We just couldn't leave him with that horrible woman any longer."

"Only, when we went looking for Newt, we discovered he had already left the night before," Tina explained further. "We didn't know where he went, until Queenie spotted him this afternoon. With you."

"You really had no idea that he was a wizard," Queenie marvelled, while Tina finally picked up on Newt's wheedling and spooned more potatoes and gravy onto his plate.

"He didn't do any magic spells or nothing," Jacob argued.

"Most wizards and witches don't learn to control their magic until they begin school," Tina said. "For the most part, their magic is exhibited in accidental mishaps."

"Although he hasn't really done anything unusual," Queenie noted thoughtfully. "He must be a late bloomer."

"He talks a lot about animals," Jacob said. "Dragons and nifflers and thunderbirds, for a few."

"How curious," Queenie said, watching the little blue coat dig his spoon into his mashed potatoes and swirl them around until they resembled a lop-eared dog. "He could be a magizoologist if his brother wasn't so set on making him an auror."

"Queenie, stop," Tina warned. "It's none of our business."

"Auror? Magizoo…what is that?" Jacob piped in.

"Aurors are highly skilled wizards who defend against the dark arts and other threats," Queenie explained. "A magizoologist is like your zoologists, only they study magical beasts."

"Right…." Leaning back, Jacob shook his head. "This is all a bit much for me. What does it all have to do with Newt?"

"Oh. We did get sidetracked," Queenie apologized, glancing at her sister.

"Mister Kowalski," Tina said, "We don't know when we'll be able to contact Newt's brother. All of the floos are under M.A.C.U.S.A.'s surveillance, and my security clearance was revoked after… a similar incident involving No-Maj's."

"Non-Magical people," Queenie stated before Jacob could ask. "They're not supposed to know we exist."

"Even inviting you here and explaining the situation is an intolerable security breach," Tina said. "Unfortunately, we will have to obliviate you after this is over."

His skin crawling, Jacob repeated slowly, "Obliviate me?"

"It's just a simple erasing of memories of magic," Queenie said reassuringly. "It's for our own protection - with the numbers of No-Maj's versus sorcerers, we're in as much danger as some of your endangered species."

Newt stopped in the middle of patting his potatoes into a small mountain with his palms, and listened motionlessly.

"I can't let you do that," Jacob said, chuckling nervously. "Look, I didn't even know about this stuff. You invited me here. You're saying now that you're gonna take the kid and I won't even remember he was around?"

The sisters exchanged an uncomfortable glance.

"He really is quite fond of him," Queenie argued.

"We can't make exceptions," Tina stated. The firm set in her mouth said she wouldn't bank further discussion.

Putting on a delicate pout, Queenie folded her arms. "You can't convince Newt to stay here on his own."

"What do you mean? Of course he'll stay," Tina said.

"No, m'not!" Newt refuted, slapping his palm into the mountain and splattering potatoes onto his sleeves.

"Newt, don't do that at the table!" Jacob said instinctively.

Wretched hazel eyes turned on him with accusation. "I'm not going away! I wanna stay with you."

"There's not much choice, kiddo," Tina said calmingly. "He's a No-Maj. You need to stay with other wizards."

"What, you think I can't take care of him?" Jacob protested.

"I told you, it's a security breach," Tina repeated, frustration edging her tone. "Besides, how are you going to contact Theseus? You don't even know who he is!"

"Well, yeah, but…." Somehow Jacob had just figured that if the kid was in New York City, his brother couldn't be that far behind.

Tired of being ignored, Newt flipped his plate across the table. "I'm goin' home!" he shouted, simultaneous with Jacob's tart order of, "Newt, the food war ends right now or Pudsey is sitting in the corner when we get home!" and Tina's exclamation of, "Newt Scamander!"

Queenie giggled. "You'd better watch out, Newt," she warned the five-year-old. "He really does mean to put Pudsey in the corner."

Which would mean that Newt had to sit in the corner, because Pudsey would cry if he was left there alone. And the child hated staring at a blank wall more than any other punishment.

"Sorry," he mumbled, smearing his gucky hands on his napkin. Quickly he looked at Jacob for redemption. "M'really, really sorry."

"It's fine, kiddo," Jacob said distractedly. "Just don't do it again.

Tina looked to Queenie beseechingly. "He can't stay with a No-Maj."

"It wouldn't be all the time," Queenie proposed. "He needs somewhere to stay while Jacob's at work. We could look after him and then he can go home with Jacob in the evening. You'll both stay for supper every night, won't you?"

Dazed, Jacob looked rapidly between the two sisters. "I thought you were going to obliviate me."

"We couldn't possibly do that now," Queenie said, staring intently at Newt. "He doesn't trust very easily; we can't take him away from his guardian."

"Beg pardon?" Tina deadpanned.

"Oh, Teenie," Queenie fussed. "What does it matter if one little No-Maj knows about us? He won't tell anyone, and besides, Newt feels safe with him. If we take him away from Jacob he'll only run away."

"Or throw a tantrum," Jacob muttered, blotting a few potato splotches from the table.

"I can't believe you're suggesting this!" Tina said. "Do you know what Mister Graves would say if he knew a No-Maj was harboring Theseus Scamander's brother?"

Queenie shrugged, her nose twitching in smug defiance. "It's not like he's done anything to help."

"He's already revoked my licence!" Tina exclaimed. "This could warrant imprisonment, or worse, we could be exiled! Even executed!"

"But he's just one No-Maj," Queenie wheedled.

Huffing, Tina flung her hands into the air. "One No-Maj is all it takes to expose the entire wizarding world!"

"Whoah!" Jacob called, trying to ease the tension. "Nobody's exposing anything. I wouldn't tell anyone about all of this." Nobody in the neighborhood would believe him, anyways.

"It's okay, sweetie," Queenie reassured him. "You'd never hurt a fly… even if you fought in the war." The statement sounded like a vague admonishment. Jacob bristled, but Queenie had already turned to her sister. "It's only until we can contact someone from the Ministry. Newt can stay with us in the morning and return with Jacob after his shift."

"And if an auror finds him in either place, we're through," Tina said wearily.

Queenie fell silent. At length she posed, "That does leave one to wonder why he was left with the Barebone woman in the first place."

Slapping her napkin against the table, Tina gathered a handful of empty plates. "I don't want to talk about it further." She stalked into the kitchen and dumped the plates into a basin of sudsy water, where a sponge began to scrub them with independent fervor.

"What does that mean?" Jacob wondered. Aurors, obliviation, exposure… it was spinning a bewildering tangle.

Newt looked up at Queenie with his best adamant charm. "Goin' with Jacob tonight."

"Is that the plan?" Jacob asked as he stood apprehensively, scratching behind his ear. "She seemed upset."

"That's just Tina's way of accepting something she doesn't like," Queenie said. She crouched beside Newt and touched her wand tip to his hair, removing crusts of dried mashed potatoes. "Sweetie, do you want to go home with Jacob every night, and stay here while he's busy? He has to work, you see, and you'll be awfully bored if he leaves you at home alone."

"I'll stay with Bill," Newt declared.

Queenie laughed. "Oh, honey. Bill is very busy, too. He's got patients to tend and he's rarely home."

"Did you just pluck that out of my head?" Jacob wondered.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Queenie said uncertainly. "You're just so expressive when you think of your friends…."

"No, it's fine. That was… kinda amazing," Jacob admitted.

Smiling softly, Queenie looked down at Newt again. "What do you think, Newt? Want to stay in a magic house for a few days until we find your brother?"

Anxiously Newt slid out of the chair and sidled up to Jacob, clutching the leg of his trousers. "I don't wanna go away," he whimpered.

"Whoah, relax, kid," Jacob hushed. "It's just for a few hours each day. I'll be gone anyways, remember? This way you have someone to take care of you and keep you out of trouble, and I'll be back before you know I'm gone." A sudden worry niggled his mind and he turned to Queenie. "You won't sneak away with him, will you?"

Jacob wasn't so sure he believed that, but it was a charming sentiment. Breathing deeply, he patted Newt's small shoulder. "Ready to go home, then?"

Reaching up, Newt tugged on Jacob's coat until he bent down. Wordlessly the boy wrapped his arms around Jacob's neck and drew up his legs, forcing the man to carry him. Jacob cleared his throat uncomfortably, swallowing a sudden lump.

"Guess that's a yes."

"Pudsey's lonely," Newt bemoaned, as if that was a perfect excuse for his clinginess.

"Yeah, bet he is. C'mon, kid. Let's go home."

The cab ride lulled Newt to sleep, his head craned bonelessly against Jacob's shoulder. Relaxing as the route was for the kid, Jacob wondered how he would budget for cab fees, even for a short period of time. He decided to think about it in the morning. It would be difficult enough to convince Newt to pack his little suitcase and behave nicely for strangers for the entire day.

"One battle at a time," Jacob murmured.

He paid the cab driver, awkwardly digging into the opposite pocket as he held Newt against his shoulder. Up the creaking staircase he climbed. Standing in the doorway of his cramped apartment, Jacob surveyed it with silent dismay. It was plain and poorly lit, hardly a comparison it to the Goldstein's apartment. There wasn't much of a home for Newt to come back to.

Maybe he does need to stay with his own kind.

Sighing, Jacob closed the door behind him and turned the key, shifting Newt to warn him that he was setting him down soon. "We need to get you into your jammies, kid."

Newt mumbled something about bowtruckles and tucked his face into Jacob's neck. Huffing lightly, Jacob turned around to settle the five-year-old into his favorite chair.

He stared into the dark, startled eyes of Credence Barebone, and softly cursed.