Hi all!
Sorry for the giant span in time between updates! But, I'm here now?
Also, sorry Guest (the one from Sept. 21st)! There's only ever been 19 chapters since I last posted though I'm sort of flattered that you'd noticed my story earlier in the summer and came back to it. :)
Alsoalso, this will follow the movies mainly just for the same villain, places, and some people. Ironically, I've discovered that the film actually only covers two days...yes. The entire first film starts and ends in two days! I was a little thrown by that considering that Tina and Newt seem to be seriously crushing on each other and to be fair, there's a lot that happens in those two days, but! That does feel a little rushed for anything romantic with such an awkward guy.
As its only 2 days, I'm imagining that the movie will be covered within 5-10 chapters.
The Niffler had continued to sound rather unhappy and impatient with us as the witch led Newt and I to wherever their headquarters was. I'd tried opening it to let him out, or at least talk to him but I'd gotten only a single snap undone before the case had been whisked out of my hands by the MACUSA woman.
I stared at all the glamour that accompanied their government's main building when we got here. I was surprised at the sheer amount of work put into it at a cosmetic level and at the number of people in here. It reminded me a little of St Mungo's but in a more political fashion with the giant clock looking contraption whose hands pointed towards an orange block that read "Severe: Unexplained Activity," spooky.
What was really spooky was the gigantic portrait of an olive toned woman with a serious look despite the white blonde curls around her face. She stood imposingly above everyone, watching all the activity with her hands clasped on her stomach in an elegant fashion. She'd had rings on every finger, and purple nail polish to match the outlandish headdress she had atop her head. A large gold plaque read out the words: Madam President Seraphina Picquery.
"Who are they?" I pointed at the statues on top of columns, not recognising any of the individuals who all stood imposingly with their wands drawn in various duelling positions. There was a lot going on in the room statue-wise, including a few women in pilgrim-like attire and a small girl whose expression reflected terror back at me. Merlin, this was a depressing place.
"Don't worry about them, alright?" Well, shite, shame on me for making conversation then. I raised my brows and muttered an obscenity under my breath as Newt and I followed the woman up the stairs.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when a disgruntled Goblin spoke up out of no where, "where to?" The goblin sat on a stool, eyeing us all with derision as he adjusted his glasses back up his rather large nose.
"Major Investigation Department." The agent nodded at the Goblin, not paying him much mind.
He looked rather surprised though, "I thought you was-"
"Major Investigation Department! I got a Section 3A!" The irate witch snapped, nodding at the Goblin roughly while we all attempted to fit inside the metal cage. At least I wasn't the only one getting shouted at?
My gaze wavered between the witch who wouldn't make eye contact with me and the goblin who shrugged off her tone. He remained seated and used a long clawed stick to reach an elevator button above his head. Something was off here, I wasn't sure what just yet but there was definitely something wrong. I pursed my lips as the elevator began to descend with a metal creak.
No one said anything during the ride nor when we got off of it in a chaotic huddle. The stupid witch kept nudging us along down empty hallways with nothing but dim lighting under we came upon a rather foreboding black door. So this was definitely a government building, which meant she hadn't just taken us somewhere to kill us, but nonetheless I still shared a nervous look with Newt.
He hadn't said much of anything on our way here, and I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. He was often quiet when it was just us but we did have a third party that kept sticking her nose into everything.
"Now don't say a word unless I give the say so." I eyed the witch's wand when she'd pulled it out and waved it over the handle, opening the door through which all of us went through.
"Right." I mumbled haughtily while Newt and I followed her down yet another bloody hallway.
Finally we came to a large room that thankfully appeared to be very official looking despite all of the Gothic panelling and ornate golden columns. The walls were lined with wooden cabinets whose drawers were likely filled with past investigation files.
In the centre of the room there was a large meeting table surrounded by wooden chairs around which several imposing and unhappy people stood near. I blinked at the woman who I'd recognized as the Madam President from her giant portrait in the lobby.
"I made your position here quite clear, Miss Goldstein." She sounded like she'd been angry but years of being in politics gave her the ability to contain her anger, unlike me.
Ah hah. Miss Goldstein was a bit of a pest to her bosses, and maybe she'd even have to let us go. You know, out of all the MACUSA employees to be arrested by, I think that Goldstein was the best. No one took her very seriously it seemed, which meant no one took the people she arrested very seriously.
"Yes, Madam President, but I—" Goldstein shifted on her feet, appearing rather bashful as she was cut off.
"You are no longer an Auror." Madam President was tetchy, good. Means we'd get out of here easier.
"No, Madam President, but—" She tried again, but didn't get very far. "Goldstein," her boss was short with her but somehow she thought it best to try yet again. "There's been a minor incident—"
"Well, this office is currently concerned with very major incidents. Get out." I supposed that we'd been officially dismissed and I turned on my heel to exit the room with a bit of bounce in my step.
"Yes ma'am." Goldstein had lost all of her superiors attention except one, apparently. When I looked over my shoulder for Newt, I saw a man whose face was bruised and scratched stare at her with sympathy in his eyes.
We'd followed the slightly embarrassed witch down another set of hallways until we came upon a place that was the wand permit office. It'd appeared to be only slightly larger than a cupboard with piles of unopened wand applications.
Our guide stopped behind a desk, removing her coat and hat. I supposed that she was trying to regain what was lost of her authority in front of us by busying herself with paper at her desk.
"So, you guys got your wand permits? All foreigners have to have them in New York." Is she serious right now? I glanced at Newt as my mouth fell open slightly to find him rather bemused looking.
"I made a postal application for both of us weeks ago." I'm about 90% sure that Newt was lying through his teeth right now, but I wasn't about to tell her the truth.
I hated paperwork with a fiery passion so I just nodded along with him when she'd glanced up at us with a suspicious look, "Scamander..." Her head tilted slightly. "And you were just in Equatorial Guinea?"
"We were." I spoke up this time, attempting to sound confident enough to calm her doubts.
"We've just completed a year in the field. I'm writing a book about magical creatures." Newt gave her an explanation which was more truthful than I was particularly comfortable with.
"Both of you? What are ya?" She leaned back in her seat, "husband and wife team out in the wild?"
She was scoffing at us and while I wasn't very fond of her tone right now, I panicked a bit over the idea of us being married. "No! Uh, no marriage here."
I laughed, "just two friends, well just a student," I pointed at myself, "and teacher." I turned my finger to Newt who was watching me with a furrowed brow.
His eyes told me that he was upset with the depiction I'd given Goldstein, but I didn't know what else to do. It'd take her ages to find an application in this but finding a marriage record couldn't take much more than asking someone for a copy of it over the phone. We didn't wear any rings and we had incredibly different last names.
"Who are you then?" She snorted, eyeing only me with suspicion now.
"Ara Maximae." I nodded slowly, wondering if it'd been a better plan to just call myself his wife. Seemed like me speaking up just roused more suspicions in her head.
"So, this book..." her eyes drifted between us, "is it like—an extermination guide?" Her brow raised and I stood a little taller at that, mildly offended.
"No. A guide to help people understand why we should be protecting these creatures instead of killing them." Newt's tone stayed rather neutral, and I focused on that in an attempt not to look him in the eye right this second.
"Tina?" Everyone's head turned to stare at the newcomer inside Goldstein's tiny office. He was the same bloke from the investigations room, the one with all the cuts and bruises.
"Mr. Graves, sir, this is Mr. Scamander—he has a crazy creature in that case and it got out and caused mayhem in a bank, sir." She was excited to see this Mr Graves, which didn't give me the best feeling in the world. I was hoping that she'd get tired of trying to hold onto Newt and I but now that he was here, she might actually get to arrest us. Damn it.
Graves stared at Newt before his eyes turned to me and I swallowed as he nodded, "let's see the little guy."
I took a step forwards as Goldstein hauled up the case from where she'd left it on the ground and slammed it theatrically onto her desk. A sudden onslaught of angry and panicked clicking came from within, making me reach out towards it in worry.
"Uh-" Newt spoke up suddenly, sounding nervous, but it didn't matter much as Graves waved a dismissive hand at him. Goldstein threw open the lid as I reached her desk, I tried to prepare myself for the sounds of multiple irate creatures from the aghast look at it's contents.
"Wha-" My brow furrowed at the sudden silence that quickly turned into a scene of panicked chaos as I spotted a black furry creature launch itself towards Goldstein and her boss.
"HELP!" Goldstein was shrieking and attempting to smack my Niffler off of her, "HE'S GOT A RABID RAT IN THERE!" I couldn't stand the vaguely amusing sight of the once confident witch freaking out for very long, out of fear that she might actually hurt him or that he'd bite her.
"Oh, Merlin." I mumbled, going around the desk in a mad dash to grab up the Niffler, "hold still. Just bloody-HOLD STILL!" I started out rather calm but she kept backing up from me as Aurelius continued to try to scratch her and snap at her fingers when she tried to grab him.
After the second time I'd tried and failed to grab him when she'd fallen backwards, "AURELIUS!" I stamped my foot out of frustration. "IF YOU DON'T STOP IT RIGHT THIS BLOODY INSTANT, I-" I sucked in a deep breath to continue my shouting, "I'LL MAKE SURE NEWT NEVER LETS YOU OUT OF THAT CASE AGAIN!"
With Goldstein sprawled in a nervous mess on the floor and her superior Graves watching from over the desk, the Niffler came to a clumsy stop on her stomach. His head peeked out from under her shirt with a few angry clicks that seemed to tell me 'she deserved it, she shouldn't have scared me.'
"That may be true, but." I crouched down, feeling a little embarrassed at having an audience to scold my Niffler. "We can't just go about trying to bite people's noses off." I lowered my voice but maintained the scolding tone I'd taken on as Aurelius came out from under her shirt to cross his tiny arms.
"What is she doing?" I glanced at Graves who whispered to Newt with a look of confusion, "she's talking to him. What else?" Newt raised a brow before he focused back on us. A wave of embarrassment ran through me as I was reminded once again that it wasn't just Newt and I any more. We truly were back in polite society, and I was quickly becoming the crazy animal lady.
"What's in your fur?" My mouth dropped open again as I took in the sight, forgetting the on-lookers for a moment. The Niffler was covered in fecking powered sugar and there were bits of crumbs mixed with jam matted into his black fur. He clicked at me, in a lazy manner that wasn't reminiscent of someone who was the least bit sorry.
"Ah." I gasped out of pure disbelief that he'd gotten up to this much under Newt's supervision, "you're in so much trouble. You know sweets aren't good for you!" I began shaking my head with a tight angry smile, as I huffed. I was attempting to ignore the look of terror on Goldstein's face while she stared at us with wide eyes.
I heard Newt muttering behind me, "wait 'till you hear what he did at the bank." My eye began to twitch when I stopped myself from snatching the little shite up and giving him a proper scolding without the extra company.
"Come here." I pursed my lips into a thin line while lowering my hand to the floor. The Niffler got up but paused, glancing at me and the walls, as though he was considering just making a run for it.
"You take one step, Aurelius. Just one. I dare you." I hissed, clenching my jaw as my thinly veiled threat reached his ears.
His head slowly turned and his beady little eyes stared at me for a moment in thought before he gave me another click. The click was soft as though he was agreeing that it was in his best interest to just accept the amount of trouble he was in as he scurried down her hip and leg before I offered my hand for him to sit in.
"Good." I stood back up, moving away from Goldstein as Graves offered her a hand to help her up. Raising my hand to my shoulder, I waited for him to be secure in the crook of my neck before letting out a deep sigh. "We'll talk later."
I heard a quiet chuckle behind me and recognised it right away, "that includes you, Newt." I turned my head slightly, narrowing my eyes at the freckled man with some might. His chuckles stopped quickly and for once, he actually looked rather nervous which I relished in.