Now, how did Nagini end up in Albania and hanging out with Tom?

Strained Ties and Missteps

Newt had received a reply from a fellow magizoologist in Brazil concerning his queries on blood maledictions and snakes. There was no direct portkey route there. He would need to stop over in New York before making his way down south. His agent at Obscurus Books was also getting impatient. It was great reluctance that Newt embarked on his journey to the States. He would need a place to stay in New York, perhaps Tina might be able to house his suitcase for a night or two. His brother was still wallowing in his grief and seeking solace too often in the bottle. Getting Theseus' new house back on the market was a start, as was leaving Theseus to mind his home, and Nagini, during his absence.

Nagini was amendable to the suggestion after being assured that Theseus would not be able to enter her room unless she wished it so. Bunty would come in during the day to help mind the animals and Loppy would be around. There was talk that the Ministry might allow his brother to return to work soon, in the field if he could prove himself ready.

The Floo connection was always dodgy when it came to international calls. His colleague in Castelobruxo mentioned something about natives turning into giant snakes and living happy lives. He could not make out the details in between the crackles of the flames. Of course, his colleague had to be one who did not trust owl post due to the belief that the ICW was tracking and capturing unicorns and qilins for nefarious reasons.

On a blustery March morning in 1928, Newt Scamander stepped off an ocean liner, breezed through No-Maj customs and into the arms of a dark-haired witch with the jewelled eyes of a salamander.

"Newt…"

"Tina…"

"Don't look now, but I think Teddy's out…"

"Come back here, you imp!" Newt reluctantly disentangled his arms from Tina to retrieve the furry little escapee who was heading after a passing marching band decked out in golden braid and gleaming brass instruments.

It was the weekend and Tina was off duty. They went to Central Park where they observed a small colony of jackalopes. Lunch was at a small café by the river. Tina sneaked the suitcase and Newt past her dragon of a landlady and served dinner from a hamper they bought. Queenie was the cook of the house. Tina considered herself lucky if she could assemble a grilled cheese sandwich without burning it. They had an enjoyable evening in his suitcase with the mooncalves before they retired for the night.

Tina was awoken by an owl pecking urgently at her window. A telegram from London for Newt.

"Whassup?" Newt rubbed his eyes blearily when Tina shook him awake. She grimly handed him the telegram. Nagini had escaped his apartment after transforming into a snake. None of the other residents were injured apart from his brother, who had been in the living room when she transformed. He had been sent to St Mungo's with a concussion and multiple fractures. The Scamanders' containment wards had failed.

They went to the nearest secure international Floo call centre as soon it was open the next day, grabbing a quick coffee and bagels for their breakfast en route. Bunty replied from Newt's place. His parents were at St Mungo's waiting for their eldest son to merge from a magically induced coma. The healers expect a full recovery. Bunty and Loppy had tried to find Nagini to no avail. The DMLE office also sent Aurors to canvas the neighbourhood for the escaped maledictus.

"I am not sure what they were arguing about. Loppy and I were feeding the kelpie in downstairs," Bunty explained. "They got along fine before."

"Oh, I think your brother mentioned something about Credence… was that the young man…"

Theseus, you fool… Newt had an idea what their argument was likely about. There had been rumours in the Ministry about various powerful wixen falling under Grindelwald's spell, from as far afield as Asia, Africa, and the Americas. There were whispers of a young man who was a favoured protégé. The few descriptions the Ministry had suggested he was the lost youth Newt had tried so hard to save. If Nagini knew, she would go seek him out… if only to draw him away from the Dark Wizard.

She knew she had to find Credence. She could not wait for another to do it in her stead. Nagini smiled wryly as she rode the train northwards. She had boarded the train among the chaos of students returning from their holidays. Perhaps they believed her a teacher. Once in Hogsmeade, she would be able to make the journey to the coast possibly further on a hippogriff, or broomstick. If need be, she would swim the North Sea as a snake. They would watch the southern port of Dover expecting her to cross back into France. She had spent nights studying the maps of the Continent and Britain. There was a circus circuit in Germany she had been taken on for a few years before Skender brought the show to the States and new audiences in the aftermath of the Great War.

Part of her was horrified by what she had done. She had not meant to hurt Newt's brother. Theseus had been drinking at dinner, not exactly falling drunk, but enough for his tongue to be unguarded and his reflexes slowed. He had tried to cast a shield spell to contain her, but she was quicker and threw him against the fireplace. She had been in a blind fury. They would have kept her ignorant of Credence's whereabouts. Theseus hit the stone fireplace with a sickening crack. There had been blood. She could smell it before she left the scene. She had wanted to bite, to kill. It scared her. She was a danger as a snake. If only…

They would run away to the end of the Earth, just the two of them. No one would be in danger from their curses.

Grindelwald had relented in the end, assigning tutors to his protégé for Charms and Transfiguration. No one liked having the dining room floor of the castle turn into a bucking slide to the dungeons when Aurelius tried transfiguring his glass of pumpkin juice into a cup of coffee. The boy's magical core was ridiculously strong and dangerously unpredictable. Galahad was disappointed he was not assigned to teach the lad due to his lack of functional magic. Bedivere had his hands full dealing with his patients, especially with Aurelius' magic often going awry. A quarrel over the bathroom in the morning saw Abernathy thrown bodily across the hall when the youth's magic lashed out.

"Do not get too comfortable, Bee," Galahad admonished from his bed. Every few weeks, there were new faces as old ones were dispatched on missions or punished. Grindelwald had caught a spy once – the servant of a trusted ally from Scandinavia. It did not end well for both.

"Have you ever met Japanese wizards before? I swear the little lady with white hair's part Veela or similar," Bedivere mused. Grindelwald was in the courtyard greeting a group of Japanese wixen clad in their traditional garb. Their leader wore a topknot and the garb of a samurai, complete with swords at his waist. A pretty, white-haired witch in an elaborate kimono clung on his arm. A pair of twin guard wizards and a page completed the party. The party were quickly ushered indoors. Perhaps they would stay on as guests. Perhaps they would move on.

"I grow bored, Bee. Perhaps I should teach Aurelius runes…"

"Your runework was a disaster, Gal. Remember Thunderbird Tower in Fourth Year?"

"Yeah, sealed the tower tighter than a drum. The Birds needed to lodge with the Pucks for a month before the headmaster got the wards down. What's to say that wasn't my intent?"

"If you try any runework, I will dismantle them where I find them."

"Then help me, Bee… I need your magic." Galahad waved his hand at the fire and recited a spell. Nothing. With a sigh, the healer repeated the spell to make the fire burn higher.

"What is the news out there, Bee? Have you spoken to the Senora?"

"Alas, Dona Severina is not willing to make my acquaintance, or Queenie's for that matter." Miss Goldstein had earned herself a black mark in Severina's books by a careless remark about a previous marriage back in the States and her current uncles by marriage. It was an ill-kept secret in the castle that Louis Prince's wife spent more time in his uncles' bedchambers than his. And that the young husband tolerated it.

"What of Lucia?"

"Still too bloody cold for her… At this rate, we might need to wait until May to send word out," Bedivere patted his serpent as she slithered over the mantelpiece and hung over the fire to better warm herself. She had not eaten for while due to the torpor caused by the cold.

Severine was not pleased when Alois slipped into bed next to her to whisper the news into her ear. Alois Prince was a secret animagus. No one had thought anything odd about a mouse scrambling about the fortress. It also meant he could slip into locked rooms to gather nuggets of information – like Grindelwald's plans for them.

The witch gave the animagus a shove to remove him from her bed without rousing her husband. The bones of a necromancer and the magical core of his apprentice. Galahad Graves must live. She strode over to her reticule and yanked out a small gold disc. With an incantation, she sliced her forearm and allowed the blood to drip on the disc.

In distant Ilvermorny, a former paramour felt his medallion burn against his skin and excused himself from his classroom. He hastened to his office and cast the medallion into a bowl of water. The image reflected was the face of his ex-lover.

"Severina, darling… you look well."

"Salvatore. I need your help…"

"Is it Lenora? The boys are doing well… topped their class…" Severine clucked her tongue. She had birthed warriors and expected no less from their sons. Her daughter had promise once, as a warrior and a mother of future warriors. There was always that spider-silk thread of hope for her recovery.

"I need you to find and bring me the bones of the necromancer known as Le Barone." A sharp intake of breath.

"He was laid to rest at sea, so they say in the South."

"I doubt it. Send me news when they are found," Severine replied curtly as Alois healed her bleeding arm with a spell. Benoit had sneaked into the room as well and was hovering by the door, the third in their little triad. Louis slept on blissfully. His uncles were canny enough to know when to defer to the more experienced witch.

Keeper of the Keys Eulalie Hicks was restless. Ilvermorny felt wrong. She had discussed some new Charm theories with Nicolas Flamel and Albus Dumbledore through their book. Madam Flamel had also joined in the discussion. The academic discourse had done little to keep her mind off things. Dumbledore had made it worse by asking her if she felt anything amiss.

Tension was high in the staffroom. Since they returned from their little sojourn down south, Headmistress Delance and Professor Silverfoot had been at odds with each other. The uneasiness seeped down into the rank and file. The Divination Tutor and Transfiguration Master had a full-on wizard's duel in the courtyard at dawn. Accusations of being part of Grindelwald's Alliance were bandied about and this irked many. Even the generally mild Arithmancy Master Salvatore Cortez had been snappish. The wizard applied for leave during term, something unheard of. Ilvermorny was not a hotbed for terrorist activity! Then the Law Master had to kick off a debate on whether the Alliance constituted a terrorist organization. There was some grudging sympathy for the lifting of the Statutes of Secrecy and the end of the strict segregation of the No-Maj and Wizard populations.

She had heard from Tina the havoc wrought by the Dark Wizard on innocents, how he brought good wixen down and corrupted them with his lies. Would she waver as Tina's sister did? A multicoloured tapestry – the many splendored beauty that is life. She had learned this at her grandma's knee.

Black, white and everything in between. Magic, No-Maj, squib… Breathe in, and out. Playing baseball with Cousin Stanley in the empty lot. Standing beside Aunt Mildred in the choir. Eating Uncle Reuben's pastrami sandwiches. Watching her neighbour Madam Peony in her impossibly tiny shoes work her intricate embroidery… We are all but a thread in the larger tapestry of life. Interwoven, interconnected as one.

Feeling more centred, Lally Hicks stepped into the staffroom where a full-blown shouting match was in progress. Thankfully, it was just about No-Maj born students spending their summers with their families and if they should be allowed to carry wands for their own protection in the current climate.

"You know the Black Creek Graves will provide them with illegal wands all the same. Jenny Graves has a ranch in Oregon. Between her and Galahad, they would have much of the States covered. She could have been a wandmaker if she were properly apprenticed. They say she was Violetta Beauvais' great-niece."

"Oh pish! Wands were never a tradition in the Americas before the colonials. Most wixen should be capable of casting without one if they are worth their moccasins."

"Excusez moi, Wand use is required to graduate from…"

Lally Hicks took her mug of cocoa from the side table and grabbed a snickerdoodle cookie from the tray. Her eyes met Silverfoot's across the room. The DADA professor was spiking her cocoa from a silver flask, an amused smile on her thin lips. She was wearing her duelling garb of lightweight shirt and breeches. No dragonhide armour. Silverfoot sacrificed protection for speed and agility.

Author's Notes:

Sorry if this slow going and there is no sign of any Gellert-Albus interactions here. Well, I guess there is at least a faction of the readers hoping for a fast-forward to that café scene, possibly with more than just that little exchange in the movie.