Soulmate AUs Day Twenty-Five

Prompt: Your soulmate mark is only half complete and it completes itself when you spend time with your soulmate.

Optional Prompts:

1. (Object) Diamond (5 bonus points)

2. (colour) lemon yellow

3. (Word) Frantic

Returning

Newt frowned at the letter in his hand. MACUSA was requesting his assistance in what they thought were spate of animal attacks. Judging by the description, they were right about it being a creature. He absently rubbed at his mark, the outline of a Niffler's Luck, not yet filled out with the customary gold of the leaves and sparkling diamond fruits, adorned upon his inner wrist and forearm. He wasn't sure if he truly wanted to return to New York, not after he'd learnt that Tina had found her soulmate, and would no longer be looking at him with that sweet sort of hope in her eyes.

He read the letter again. Muggles with deep gashes across their upper body, vicious bite marks, and rumours of enormous birds. Congress thought it might be Frank, but to Newt, it sounded like a scared and injured hippogriff. With a sigh, he penned first his reply to MACUSA, then a second letter to the British Ministry, requesting a portkey to New York.

It was summer, and thus swelteringly hot when he arrived in America. He barely landed the portkey, and immediately doubled checked that his case was locked.

Someone cleared their throat. Newt spun, drawing his wand. There stood Percival Graves – or somebody wearing his face.

"I'm the real Percival Graves, you know," Graves drawled. "But feel free to cast any spells you deem necessary, as I understand your caution."

Newt narrowed his eyes, but stowed his wand. "If you were Grindelwald, you'd have contingencies in place, and it wouldn't matter. Frankly, I doubt he'd try the same thing twice. I'm Newt Scamander, by the way."

They shook hands, and Graves seemed pleased by Newt's decision.

"Come along then. We've much to do, and some sort of beast to stow away in your suitcase, and that's all without letting Seraphina know."

Newt arched a brow. "The President doesn't know I'm here?"

Graves grinned. "She explicitly informed me never to let you back into the country. Unfortunately, I seemed to have lost the memo."

"Really," Newt said, glancing sideways at his co-conspirator. "It seems we better crack on then."

It was a hippogriff, Newt was pleased to discover, as they were easy to deal with, if you knew how. After earning the creature's respect with a bow and some kind words, he ushered her into his suitcase. Graves had a smug expression upon his face, as he'd been the one to calm the beast.

"Like you knew what to do with it," Newt murmured, with a wry smile. Graves grinned, and winked.

"Of course. But it wouldn't do to show my entire team up, would it?"

Said Aurors had been frantically running around in circles, attempting to capture the hippogriff without hurting it, as per Graves' order.

Newt wondered how anybody that knew Graves could have mistaken Grindelwald's poor impersonation for the real thing. He wisely chose not to voice that thought.

"On a more serious note – thank you," Graves said quietly, looking the most solemn Newt had seen him. "Not just for today."

Newt nodded. "It was my pleasure."

A more mischievous gleam appeared in his eye, and he took both of Newt's hands in his own.

"What ever would I do without you, my fearless warrior, my daring – oh." Percival cut himself off to stare at Newt's soulmark in shock.

Newt was staring at it too. There was a lemon yellow tint to the leaves, that, in time, would darken to a rich gold. The branches swayed with an invisible wind. Newt looked up from the mark, and into Graves' eyes.

"It was blank, yesterday," he said, his voice sounding distant to his ears.

Suddenly Graves was scrambling at his vest, and nearly tore open his shirt. On his chest was a preening hippogriff, its feathers beginning to fill out in deep shades of grey and navy blue.

"Oh," Graves said again, and carefully touched his mark as if it would disappear. "Oh."

Newt blinked, coming back to himself, and couldn't fight his grin. "I nearly didn't come," he said breathlessly. "I'm so glad that I did."

"My darling Scamander, I'm glad that you did as well," Graves' smile was roguish, and Newt wanted to kiss it off his face. "Perhaps, you might even deign to stay?"

"You'll never get rid of me," Newt promised, and Graves' smile grew impossibly wider.