Disclaimer: I don't own Rose Granger-Weasley, Newt Scamander or any other character created by J.K. Rowling. My aim is merely to entertain and play around with them a little.

Chapter forty: In which the gang falls into a trap

The decision to leave Brazil for Mexico City was made in a matter of seconds. Time was of the essence, now, because Grindelwald was still eluding them and now, he had Nagini. Despite everything, the girl had become precious to the gang, and Rose counted her as important, even if she wasn't a friend. Yet.

She and Tina gathered all of the gang's things back at the hotel before joining Newt and Theseus back at the Brazilian Ministry. When they arrived, they were surprised to see Joao carrying his own shrunken bag, and in heavy discussion with Theseus.

"Joao?" Rose asked, unsure as to what she had to understand from the situation. "Are you…coming with us?"

He turned to her, a small smile forming on his lips upon seeing her. "Yes, I am. Your brother and I believe that we cannot lose any more time. When we arrive in Mexico, there'll be no time to report to their Ministry, which can also be infiltrated. Mister Newt will track Credence's magic again, and I'll be your translator if you need it. I speak Spanish too and," he added with a serious look on his face, "I'm a Caçador. You may need more fighters."

Rose felt a lump form in her throat. She didn't want anyone to get so involved in this that they would get hurt. Plus, she had a strong suspicion that he coming with them had less to do with a sense of duty than the unwillingness to let her go.

So she gently drew him away by the arm, away from the others and their tendency to eavesdrop. She ignored Theseus' suspicious look and Tina's knowing one, and jumped into the fray. "Joao… Are you coming only because of me?"

He furrowed his brow. "I…do not understand what you mean, Miss Rose."

"Are you coming to Mexico with us because I am going too?" She clarified, lips pursed. "Are you coming only because you feel like I should be close to you?"

His dark eyes flashed, and he pursed his lips too. Surprisingly, though, his tone when he answered was devoid of any criticism, self-importance or possessiveness. "Of course I am coming because you are going too! I do not want you to be hurt or harmed, and two Aurors is too few to protect you from someone like Grindelwald and his men." He sighed. "If you preferred I did not come…"

Rose's eyes widened. On an impulse, she grabbed his hand. "No, that's not what I meant!"

"Miss Rose," he interrupted, glancing down at their suddenly joined hands, "I do not believe that I can win your heart. I do not want to leave Brazil and my family behind, and you would not want to leave your England and your family either. But," he added, squeezing her fingers gently, "that doesn't mean that I cannot care about you and protect you from harm."

She was stunned into silence. Truly. For the first time in forever, she had met the type of guy that every woman dreamt of meeting and falling in love with. He was the stellar opposite of those pretentious self-righteous misogynistic pigs that she had dated time and time again back home. And despite all that, she had to fall for another…

Gasping through her surprise, she had to tell him, breathily, "You're a really good man, Joao Santos…"

He smiled again, chuckling a bit as he winked. "My mother raised me well…"

She chuckled back, and they went to join the others again, the incident over, but a pleasant flutter remaining in Rose's chest.

Merlin…gentlemen really did exist after all…

The Portkey the Brazilian Ministry had managed to conjure for them took them to the city-centre of wizarding Mexico. Apparently a common Apparition and Portkey point, it was surrounded by merchants hailing them as soon as they appeared, trying to sell one product or other. Joao, using a harsh tone and Spanish words, pulled them all out of the crowding sellers, and into a quieter street.

"I hate Mexico," he hissed, making Tina laugh. "What?"

"So far," the American said with a smirk, "I don't see much difference with your Rio." Joao sent her a hard glance, but it was all in good humour.

Rose added her own jab to the mix. "Actually, it's less stifling here, much more agreeable heat-wise."

"Not you too," Joao fake-moaned.

Theseus was shaking his head, obviously torn between smiling at their antics and the seriousness of the situation. Newt, had already disappeared into his case, no doubt to retrieve another wisp of Obscurial magic.

After five long minutes, though, he still hadn't reappeared, and Tina started fidgeting. "Don't you think we ought to go and see if he's alright?" she asked.

Rose exchanged a look with Theseus. Both knew from experience that Newt never needed any help with his creatures, let alone the Obscurial he'd managed to capture. To disturb him down there would most probably be counterproductive.

However, there was no stopping a worried maybe-girlfriend, and Tina had jumped off the ladder quicker than either of them could have said 'Stop'.

Joao chuckled at that, pointing at the case with a grin. "She has it bad, hasn't she?"

Theseus glared at him, as if mocking his brother's future wife – although, technically, he didn't know she was – was offending him personally.

Rose, on the other hand, nodded with a fond smile. "They've been circling each other for a while now. They're cute."

"They are," the Auror confirmed. "I don't know either of them very well, but they are."

"I'm sure one day you'll be cute with someone too, Joao," she said with a gentle smile that he returned fondly.

"Hopefully, not as cute. I still want to be taken seriously."

She snorted, and noticed that Theseus had frozen, staring at her blankly as if she'd said something of importance. She held his gaze, but couldn't decipher anything in their grey-green hues, and soon decided to watch her brother and Tina climb the ladder back up, both sporting an adorable set of blushes.

"Ah," she teased, "I see how it is…"

Newt ignored her, but Tina jabbed her in the ribs. "Shut up," she muttered, and Rose laughed. Ah, young love…

Newt, practical as ever, soon cast the same spell he had in Rio on this new wisp of Obscurial magic. Unlike in Rio, though, they followed it immediately, walking and running on occasion through strange streets none knew through a city that was foreign to all. Over ponds and streams they went, further and further still from the city centre, until the wisp promptly vanished within the wards of a tiny house standing in a suburb of the capital.

"Where are we?" hissed Theseus, turning to Joao who shrugged.

"I don't know. I've never gone out of the centre before."

Tina then cast a Location spell, and announced "We're in Tlàhuac, whatever that means. Muggle Mexico."

"As usual," Rose growled. "I bet you anything that the former owners of this house are now dead."

Theseus looked back at Joao, his wand held firmly in his grip. "How long before the Mexican Ministry can intervene?"

"Considering we have not gone to them first, maybe an hour. I'd need to go there and explain. They might not follow me straight up." Theseus gritted his teeth. "We knew this might happen if we tracked them down immediately. We can take them down, if we act intelligently."

"You don't know them. You've never faced him," the older Auror said. All the bravado he'd displayed in Brazil seemed to have vanished, as if he was sensing the proximity of the man who had taken his beloved from him.

"Theseus," Tina said, a serious look on her face, "so far, we know that he has Credence, Abernathy and Rosier with him. No one else. And I doubt a house this size," she pointed at the crooked façade, "could host any more of his kind."

Newt nodded. "Credence is not a threat if we can talk some sense into him. Which leaves only the three others."

Tina nodded back. "I'll take care of Abernathy." Rose's head snapped towards her at that, but her friend ignored her.

"I'll take Rosier," she said, the same gritty edge in her voice.

"And Grindelwald-"

"-is ours," ended Newt. He was staring right ahead, refusing to meet with brother's gaze, but there was no discussing this with him: his mind was made up. And it was a sane strategy anyway.

Joao's expression was more serious than it had ever been since they had met him. He eyed the quartet as if assessing their strengths, and nodded gravely. "I'll go wherever I'm needed."

"Protect Rose, if you please," Theseus said, again avoiding looking at the person he was talking to. "All we need to do now, it to take these wards down."

"Let's spread out, then," Tina said. "There's enough greenery around this place to prod without being seen."

"Disillusionment," Rose still said, and all the others concurred, casting the spell over themselves before they spread into two groups: the girls went right, the boys, left.

The wards around the house were powerful, and had no doubt been cast by Grindelwald himself. Tina was very displeased by her inability to either find exactly what they were or how to dismantle them. She was no curse-breaker, but she still was an Auror, and they were normally quite good at breaking wards.

Rose was prodding the shield herself, trying to find a crack, a weak spot, rather than how to take down the entire dome of it in one go. She had no idea how to do that anyway…

They'd reached the back of the house – a dead garden with a broken down wooden slide and an old palm tree – when she saw a flicker in the gold of the shield. Finally, was seemed like a shimmer, a weak spot!

She was turning to tell Tina she'd found it when a cold hand closed around her arm. Before she could even scream, the hand had pulled her through the flicker and the wards, and into the protection of the house.

Unsurprisingly, it was Rosier who'd caught her. The malicious and purely villainous smile she sent her wasn't a surprise, either. What was a surprise, however, was the Stunning spell swiftly cast at her from the porch. She didn't have time to see who had cast it.

She was out in less than a heartbeat…