A/N Thanks for the feedback lovelies :) I've gone meandering a bit with this one...procrastinating with the thesis yet again.

Chapter 3

A flash in the night

A flash of green. Newt hit the ground beside Tina hard. In death, his eyes were frozen open, staring into hers but devoid of the warm soul that'd been looking out from them moments before. Tina gave a strangled gasp of horror and scrambled onto her knees beside his body.

"NO! Newt!" her breath caught in the back of her throat as she grasped at his chest, fingers balling the fabric of his coat. Hot tears streamed down her face and acid raced through her heart. "Newt!"

She heard tutting from behind and spun to face the person responsible. Queenie lowered her wand, her face stony and devoid of emotion. Beside her, Grindelwald was smirking and shaking his head at Tina.

"He had his chance," Grindelwald said. He raised an eyebrow. "What about you Miss Goldstein? Will you join our noble cause?"

"How could you?! You're a monster!" Tina yelled, the pain in her heart cracking her voice. "I'll never join you!"

Her eyes darted to her little sister, her oldest and dearest friend and partner in crime. Queenie, the light to her darkness and the one who chose to see joy at every chance she got. She looked at Tina now with a chilly anger and the older sister felt her breath catch in her throat. "Queenie, please," she started, "This is not where you belong! Don't do this."

"You wouldn't fight for me,"Queenie said coldly, shaking her head. "Mister Grindelwald will. You are not my sister." She turned to look to the dark wizard beside her.

"Indeed. Pity," Grindelwald muttered. He put an arm around the blonde's waist and smiled down at her. "You know what to do, my dear."

Queenie returned his smug smile, adoration in her eyes, then turned back to Tina. She raised her wand and ice water ran through the Auror's veins.

"No! Queenie, please! Don't! You're not a–" Tina's plea was cut off as lightning burst from her sister's wand and hit her square in the chest. A thousand volts ran through her, searing her body from the inside. Her chest muscles seized and Tina found herself gasping in agony, unable to make a sound. The pain intensified and Tina fell back to the ground besides Newt's body. How had it all gone so horribly wrong? Queenie had chosen Grindelwald over her. She'd murdered Newt, the only man to stir Tina's heart, on Grindelwald's command without hesitation and now she was going to kill her sister too. Tears flowed from Tina's eyes. Queenie! Please! So great was her grief that she would have been sobbing if she'd been able to breathe. As it was, she lay gasping on the ground, pain coursing through her as her vision narrowed to a pinprick. Oh Queenie…

Tina bolted upright in bed, gasping for air. Aftershocks of grief and pain rippled through her as she took in the room around her. Realising that it'd been a dream, she shut her eyes in silent relief and was unsurprised to find her lashes wet with real tears. She fell back onto the pillow, breathing heavily and waited for her heart to stop racing. It was still dark in the room and she turned to her right to find Queenie's bed empty. A jolt of panic raced through her. Maybe it had all been a dream? Maybe she'd only dreamed that Queenie had saved them from Grindelwald in the Tuileries Garden; maybe her little sister was actually still hiding somewhere with that fanatical psychopath. Tina's eyes darted around the moonlit room as she tried to recall how she'd gotten into bed that night. Her eyes fell on two mugs on the dressing table and relief washed over her. It wasn't a dream! Queenie had come home. They'd eluded Grindelwald and Rosier. Newt had brought her cocoa...and they'd finally talked about their feelings for each other! Tina sighed with relief. It was all okay. They were safe.

With a small smile, Tina looked down and found that she was still fully dressed in the previous evening's clothes. The redness of her injured hand was finally fading, though some of the larger scars were still dark and raised. She glanced at the clock on the dresser: 03:06 am. She recalled sitting with Newt on the sofa as he read to her a few hours earlier. He'd known just what to do to calm her nervous mind and the last thing Tina could remember was nestling her head on his shoulder, finally beginning to relax. After a rough night, hearing that Newt cared for her and then finally feeling his lips on hers had left Tina dizzy with joy and relief. Still largely oblivious to his effect on her, Newt had ascribed the feeling to the stress of the night and had insisted she try to get some rest. His suggestion that he read to distract her had obviously worked because she couldn't recall falling asleep and had no idea how she'd gotten into bed. Or where Newt was now.

Equally concerned by Queenie's absence, Tina swung her legs over the side of the bed and was surprised to have them land on top of Newt's brown case. Well, that answered one question. Now, she thought, where on earth is Queenie? Tina rose, intending to look for her sister, but froze when a shadow fell across the window behind her. A moment later, the glass shattered inwards and the lamp on the bedside table exploded in a spray of porcelain shards. Her Auror instincts kicked in immediately and Tina threw up a shield and dove behind the empty bed just in time to avoid a blast of white light. It hit the side of Queenie's bed hard, flipping it up onto its other side. The impact sent it skidding into Tina, who was pushed back into the corner of the room. Around her, the protective charms placed on the house began to shriek at the intruders.

Newt was deep asleep in the hammock in his case's shed, he'd wanted to stay with Tina but didn't feel right occupying Queenie's bed and thus, had brought his case upstairs and settled in at her bedside. It felt as thought he'd barely been asleep when high-pitched shrieking and crashes from above shook him awake. He immediately rolled from the hammock and scrambled for his wand. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled the swooping evil's cocoon from its hanging home above his potions bench. When he reached the top of the stairs, he eased the case's lid open a crack and found the room around him in disarray. Directly in front of him, at the foot of Tina's bed, stood a thin, dark-haired man that he didn't recognise. To Newt's right, Queenie's bed had been flipped up onto its side and it was now a few feet away wedged across the corner of the room. There was a second man a several metres back from it, near the wardrobe. He was dark-skinned and solid, his head shaved and his mouth snarling as he fired a jinx over the bed. He was forced to dive back towards the bedroom door as his spell was deflected back at him. Newt recognised the triangular symbol of the Deathly Hallows embroidered in silver on the sleeve of the man's coat. Grindelwald's people. Damn it.

Newt sprang from the case, flinging the swooping evil at the solid man beside the wardrobe.

"Stupefy!" His spell hit home and the thin man in front of him dropped. Beside him, there was a flash of brilliant blue and green as the swooping evil took the shorter man down.

"Allons!" There was a shriek from Newt's left and the force of a steam train hit him in the side, sending him flying across the room and into the wardrobe. Pain roared through his right side and his head connected with one of the doors as he slammed into it, shards of wood flying. Newt slid to the ground a metre away from the solid man, blinking as he tried to reorient himself. Damn it, he thought, more than two of them then.

"Everte statum!" Tina snapped up from behind the overturned bed. With her attention on Newt, Rosier had no time to block. The spell hit her dead on and the French witch was hurled backwards in a vertical spin. She hit the ceiling with a sickening crack, skidded along it and then slid down the wall beside the window. She smashed into the floor and lay there, unmoving. Newt blinked at Tina. There was blood down the side of her face and fury in her eyes. Her jaw clenched as she watched the other woman go down. Satisfied that she would not be getting up, Tina's face softened and she rushed to Newt.

"Newt! Are you hurt?" she cried, falling to the ground beside him. Noticing its master on the floor, the swooping evil abandoned its prey and flew over, settling on her shoulder as she crouched over Newt. If its closeness bothered her, she didn't show it, her attention fully on Newt.

"Tina, you're...magnificent," he gasped, wonder in his eyes and his mouth open in shocked smile.

She scoffed. "And you've clearly hit your head, Mr Scamander." And suddenly, there she was again, the same modest Tina, so different from the fierce witch who'd taken Rosier down moments before.

"You're bleeding," he lightly touched the side of her head. Up close, he could see the blood was flowing from a cut at her hairline.

"Just a messy scrape," she sloughed the comment off. "Are you okay?"

The bedroom door burst open and Theseus entered, clad in pajamas but wand ready, with Queenie close behind him. Seeing the scene before him, he spun to Queenie but before he could say anything, she nodded.

"I'll get them!"

Queenie spun and ran from the room. Noting the prone bodies, Theseus turned his attention to Newt and Tina.

"What happened?!" he crouched down to help Tina pull Newt to his feet. The magizoologist winced and wobbled unsteadily so Tina guided him sideways to sit on the overturned bed. Once settled, he held up his hand to the swooping evil, which was still peering at him from Tina's shoulder.

"Come on then, you," he called it. With a brief lick of the bloody side of Tina's face, the creature spun back into its cocoon in Newt's hand.

"They came in through the window," Tina said to Theseus. She crouched down in front of Newt and scanned his face. "Newt? You don't look good," she said, followed by a muttered, "Lumos minima." The tip of her wand glowed faintly and she held it in front of Newt.

"I better to check your head. Hold still and follow my wand." She scanned his face and carefully moved the wand from side to side in front of his eyes.

"I'm fine Tina," he said, putting his hand on hers to lower her wand. "I've had worse scrapes. This is just a headache. I'm sure it'll fade soon."

"Are you hurt?" Theseus asked Tina. She shook her head.

"I was awake," she explained, "I got outta the way in time."

"Was it just these two?" Theseus gestured to the two men on the floor.

"No, that French woman is–" Tina spun to look for Rosier but found the floor where she'd landed empty. "...here. Sassafras! How in hades did she get away?!" she swore.

"Never mind, we've still got these two," Theseus said. "We'll see what they have to say for themselves."

Just then, two other Aurors entered the room. Vial was a lean Frenchman with brown hair and a casual stride that belied his immense skill as a dueller. He was followed closely by Jones, a Welsh member of Theseus's department at the British Ministry of Magic with a black beard that'd make a dwarf jealous. When they'd finished in the gardens, the Head Auror had asked them to remain at the house through the night, just in case, and they'd been asleep in the sitting room until the wards had begun shrieking and Queenie came rushing downstairs to fetch them.

"More of Grindelwald's fanatics?" Jones asked, looking down at the solid man unconscious at Theseus's feet.

Theseus nodded, "This was a bold move, even for them."

Vial noticed the tall man blinking off Newt's stupefaction and hurried to haul him to his feet, giving him a good jostle on the way up. Theseus trained his wand on the man, his face cold.

"Why are you here?" He demanded.

The man gave a barking laugh and raised an eyebrow at the Head Auror. Really? You're actually expect me to answer?

"They're here for me," Queenie's voice came from the doorway and their eyes darted to her. She stood in an oversize cotton pajama set, obviously on loan from Jacob, who was at her shoulder with concern etched across his face. "I know too much," Queenie continued, "Grindelwald doesn't leave loose ends. Only I wasn't sharing with Teen tonight, so they busted into the wrong room."

The thin man's eyes widened in shock at hearing his thoughts spoken aloud. He was clearly important enough to have been given this task but had not been told about Queenie's legilimency. He'd only a little occlumency training; Rosier obviously hadn't expected to encounter any resistance and he cursed her lack for foresight now as he scrambled to mask his thoughts. Tina saw an opportunity and seized it.

"How did you know where to find us?" she demanded, her eyes darting to meet Queenie's. He sister looked back, understanding.

The man glared at her and said nothing, trying to clear his head of the answers that automatically came to mind. A few moments later, Queenie spoke up. "They've been watching the house since the tomb. There's a mole in the Ministry keeping tabs on you," her eyes darted to Theseus.

"What?! Who is it?" Theseus's face had paled in fury. The man remained stony-faced. Behind him, Queenie frowned.

"He doesn't know," she said. She sensed the man's panic as he attempted to throw up mental defences. They were weak, like cheap clap-board that she could easily smash through. She felt a stab of sadness; this was beginning to feel familiar.

"Tell me where Grindelwald is!" Theseus demanded.

Queenie felt fear rise in the man – fear of Theseus, yes, but more than anything, fear of what Grindelwald would do to him if he gave them more information. She caught a brief glimpse of the Champ du Mars in his mind before the man managed to cobble together enough mental nonsense to mask his thoughts from her. If she wanted more information, she was going to have to push for it.

"He's not sure...maybe the Champ du Mars or somewhere around there?" she frowned, prodding at his defences. In front of her, the man had started to sweat with effort. "He's figuring out how to keep me out of his head."

"Well if you're so powerful that you can disable Grindelwald, then surely you can do this?" Theseus asked with annoyance. "Tell me where Grindelwald is."

"No, it'll hurt him," Queenie said. "I won't do it."

Theseus gaped at her and Queenie's heart wrenched. This is not happening, she thought frantically.

"Really?!" Theseus started, "Even after what he's done? After they've burst in here and nearly killed Newt and Tina-"

"I can't," Queenie whispered. "Not again."

Theseus opened his mouth to respond but was quietened by Tina's hand on his arm.

"Theseus, this is not how we work," she said firmly, an apology in her eyes. "I know it's tempting but Queenie's already given us more than we would have had without her."

"And pushing her makes us no better than Grindelwald," Newt intoned from his position on the overturned bed.

Theseus sighed in frustration, looking between them, and dropped his head in agreement. He turned to Vial and Jones. "Take them to the Ministry gentlemen. I was follow," he instructed.

As the two Aurors removed the men, one walking with Vial's wand at his neck and the other still unconscious and levitated out by Jones, Queenie crossed the room to Tina with Jacob close behind her. The baker gave the Auror's and their quarry a wide berth.

Theseus sighed and turned to Queenie. "My apologies, Ms Goldstein. I forgot myself," he said. "It has been a challenging week and I appreciate your assistance."

"I understand," Queenie said, "And I'm sorry I couldn't get more information for you. This week...when I was with Grindelwald...he used me, made me hurt people. One of your Aurors...Thompson, I think his name was. He pretended to be loyal to get on the inside but Grindelwald found out, because of me. And then...even after I'd got everything outta him, Grindelwald just wanted me to hurt him. To punish him for trying to lie about joining up. Doing it...made me sick. I won't do it again."

"Oh Queenie," Tina said sadly, "I'm so sorry."

Jacob put a protective arm around the blonde witch and kissed her shoulder. "We won't ask none 'o that of you Queenie," he said with a meaningful glare at Theseus.

"No...certainly not," Theseus agreed. "We are not the monsters. Thank you for reminding me of that."

"But if you give him something to soften him a little, to distract him so he can't concentrate, then I can try again to get what you need," Queenie said to Theseus with a small smile. "I do want to help."

He smiled and nodded, "Thank you. Your willingness to be of assistance will certainly make it easier for us to plead your case to the council tomorrow." He paused and looked to Tina, "In fact, if Grindelwald now sees Queenie for the potential threat she is, we need to get her somewhere safer. We should depart for the Ministry immediately. I doubt they will come back tonight...they'll probably be too busy vacating their current address."

Tina nodded her agreement and placed a hand on Queenie's arm. "We won't let him hurt you," she said firmly to her sister and Queenie knew that she meant it.

Theseus crossed to the broken window and pointed his wand, "Speculus reparo." Behind him, Jacob gasped as the shattered glass on the floor returned to its frame. Theseus turned to Tina, "I'm going to go ahead. I'll send Barker to accompany you to the Ministry." He turned to Queenie and Jacob, "I realise it's early and we've all had very little sleep, but you'll be safest inside the Ministry for now. Gather what you need and let Tina escort you." He focussed on Jacob. "You may, of course, accompany Ms Goldstein, Mr Kowalski. Here in Europe, we are not as backwards as our American brothers."

Queenie gave him a small smile and a nod, "Thank you, Mr Scamander."

Theseus looked at his little brother, still seated on the bed, "I think it'll be best if you accompany them Newt."

"Of course," Newt nodded. His eyes caught Tina's and he gave a small smile.

Finally, Theseus looked to Tina, casting his eyes down over her shirt, which was stained with blood that had run down her face. "Get cleaned up. I'll make sure there is coffee when you arrive. It's going to be a long day."

Tina looked down at her shirt and sighed. Not another one.

With that, Theseus departed and the four were left alone in the ruins of the girls' bedroom.

Jacob let out a breath. He pursed his lips and nodded with grudging acceptance, "Well, it was great while it lasted. All five hours of it."

Newt barked a laugh and immediately winced as pain tore through his right side. Tina noticed and frowned in concern. "Newt… you're not okay," She said, eyes scanning for injuries.

"He got hit with a repulsion spell and smashed into the wardrobe," Queenie said to Jacob in explanation, pointing to the shattered armoire.

"Yeowch!" Jacob winced, "You know, my grandfather cracked a rib once. Said it was the worst pain he'd ever had. But you've got a spell or something that can fix him right?"

Tina frowned at Newt, placing a gentle hand on his side. He winced and she pulled it back quickly. "Sorry," she said guiltily. She pointed his wand at his right side, "Episkey."

Newt felt a flash of heat in his ribs; there was a muffled crack and the pain was gone, "Thank you Tina." He grasped her hand and touched the side of her face. "Now..." he held up his wand and swept it over the blood that was starting to dry down the side of her face. "Tergeo," he said softly. It vanished with a wisp of red smoke, leaving her skin clean and bright. She gave him a smile.

"Geez, magic is never gonna get old for me," Jacob said, wonder across his face. Beside him, Queenie giggled.

"I hope not," she said with a wink and a grin. She and Jacob shared a mischievous look.

"We should get moving to the Ministry," Tina said with an apologetic face. "Before they get any more ideas or that awful woman comes back with reinforcements." she explained.

Queenie caught her image in Tina's mind and frowned. "Vinda?" Queenie asked, "Rosier was here again?"

Newt nodded. "You know her?"

"She took me to Grindelwald when I got lost in the city," Queenie explained with a small shrug.

"I doubt she'll be back soon," Newt said. He looked at Tina. "You injured her quite seriously Tina. It's a wonder she managed to apparate out."

"She hurt you," Tina said. "I hope the harpy got splinched on her way out." Newt caught a brief glimpse of the fury he'd seen in her eyes earlier and felt a flush of heat go through him. How was it that she cared for him? This fiercely protective, humble, brilliant and beautiful woman. How had he ever caught her eye?

Across from him, Queenie could hear Tina vowing to annihilate the next person to hurt the magizoologist and she smiled. The wonders of cocoa, she thought to herself. She turned to Jacob and took his hand, "Lets get ready, honey." She led him towards the door, then paused and looked back at her sister, "Meet you downstairs?"

Tina nodded and Queenie exited, leaving Newt and Tina alone in the ruined bedroom. Newt bit his lip, still figuring out how to navigate the new intimacy between them.

"You were brilliant just now, Tina. I've never seen that spell performed so powerfully before," he said, squeezing her hand.

"Well, I did sleep very well for a couple hours," she said with a small smile, "thanks to you." She sighed heavily. "We should go," she said, resigned to a long day ahead.

Newt didn't let go of her hand. "Tina...why were you awake?"

"Nightmare. Tonight's the first time I've been grateful for one," she chuckled woodenly. "Have you been sleeping in your case this whole time?"

Newt cast his eyes down, caught out. "It's comfortable. And I can keep an eye on the nifflers. I didn't bring anyone else except Cerberus and Pickett, so the case is relatively quiet."

"Cerberus?" Tina frowned.

"The swooping evil," Newt said, holding out the cocoon to her.

"He's a real life-saver," Tina said, gently running a finger down a spiky green side. The cocoon shivered but remained tightly wound.

"He seems to have taken a liking to you," Newt smiled at her. "Or perhaps that was just the blood."

"Whatever it was, I love him even more now ," her smile faded a little. "Keep him close today?"

Newt nodded and she sighed. On a whim, he pulled her towards him and kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest. Newt wasn't used to touching other people this much, even though he was more than happy interacting with his creatures, but Tina was different. As she'd slept against him earlier, he'd found that he liked having her near. It felt as natural as carrying Dougal or brushing the mooncalves and Newt hoped that they'd have time to continue exploring their new-found intimacy.