Newt dragged himself across the cold, dirty forest floor. He wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather in Germany mountains. He was hurt and shaking badly, on arm was broken due to a certain curse Grindelwald inflicted upon him. Newt could feel blood dripping from a cut on his cheek and a few on his arms from the thorns.
A creature howled in the distance, but Newt didn't listen. All he could really wrap his mind around was that his friends were in immediate danger, and he needed to warn them.
The cold wind rustled the trees beside him, the leaves on the forest floor shifted slightly. Newt leaned heavily against a particularly large pine tree next to him, sliding down to its roots. He was breathing heavily, his heart pounding in his chest, and his headache was dangerously pounding against his mind.
Thankfully the moonlight was dim and the trees where thick, so he wouldn't be easy to spot. Newt retreaded to his mind, his un-injured hand clutching the soft dirt. He felt waves of soft magic in the earth, which gave him hope. To his left, Newt could hear the soft trickling of water and could hear the crickets call out to one another. It was almost peaceful.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a large female wolf stepped into view. Her fur was grey and white and her eyes piercingly blue. Her ears twitched slightly as she watched the young wizard gaze at her wearily. Her footfalls were light and graceful, her blue eyes seemed to sparkle kindly in the moonlight. Newt held up his un-injured hand to her, the wolf stepped cautiously across the tree roots and sniffed Newt's hand. She seemed to think that he was safe to be around, and she suddenly nuzzled her nose deep in his hand. Newt smiled through his haze of pain.
"Hey there girl…" He whispered, brushing his hand along her soft fur. The wolf curled down by his side, a blanket of warmth and comfort. Newt sat there for as long as he dared, but soon he heard rushing steps and people talking. Newt groaned inwardly, starting to haul himself up. The wolf seemed to understand what was happening and tried to help him up. The wolf reached Newt's waist when he was standing fully.
Limping forward as quickly as he could, Newt raced in the forest, the wolf closely by his side. There was a shout behind him, he must have been spotted! A red spell hit a tree behind him, and more voices would be heard. Spells shot out again, they were trying to stun him. Newt stopped and turned around, pushing his hand out and along with it a spell that momentarily stunned his pursuers. He may have not had his wand, but Newt had a few tricks up his sleeves. It must have worked, because the spells stopped, allowing Newt to race a few more yards.
Newt tripped on a root and fell to the ground, accidentally re-hurting his injured arm in an attempt to not faceplant. Newt cried out in pain, his breath making a small cloud in the air. Clutching his arm, Newt stood up, the wolf whined a little bit, nudging Newt, encouraging him to get up. Using the wolf's body for support Newt stood up.
A slight breeze in the wind. The rustling of leaves. Nothing else except their own breaths. Everything was eerily quiet.
"Newt, Newt…What shall I do with you?" sighed a voice from the left. Newt clenched his jaw, turning and finding Grindelwald standing there, his wand raised. The wolf also turned, her hackles raised, teeth bared, she was growling softly. "Find a pet, did we?" Gellert asked, taking a few steps forward.
"More like she found me." Newt answered, cautiously side-stepping in front of the wolf. Grindelwald laughed. Newt heard a few twigs snapping behind him, and risked glancing around; more acolytes were creating a circle surrounding them. Newt's heart was pounding, and he was running on pure adrenaline. "What happens now?" he asked.
Gellert was now barely ten feet away. "For one, your in for a punishment, to remind you of who you're fighting against. You're a strong lad, Newt, but I can see that you're tired. How you will survive this is beyond me." Grindelwald still had his wand raised, and the acolytes had now completely closed off all possible escape. Newt could Apparte again, but he didn't want to risk killing himself by doing that, because, unfortunately, Grindelwald was right. Newt was exhausted.
"Get him."
One of the acolytes Krafft, stepped quickly forward, a frown on his face. He seemed a little fearful to approach the wolf, who was now growling and, in a pouncing, like position. Krafft stopped, glancing at Grindelwald. Grindelwald cocked an eyebrow, his mis-matched eyes flashing angerly. Reaching out, Krafft gabbed Newt's arm roughly. A terrible mistake on his side. The wolf found that grabbing her companion's arm was unjust and pounced at the man who committed the crime. Her teeth were flashing, her claws scratching. Krafft cried out in pain as the wolf drew blood on his arm. Another acolyte stepped forward, Carrow, and started to shoot a spell at the wolf. Newt threw himself in front of the wolf, shielding her from harm. The spell hit Newt's back, and he slumped forward on the ground, unconscious. The wolf quit attacking and lay down, licking the young wizards face, whimpering slightly.
"Quiet!" Yelled Grindelwald, shooting sparks into the air. "That's enough." He stared into Carrows eyes. Carrow mumbled an apology, looking at the ground. "Get him back to the Castle," he paused for a moment, thinking, then said, "Bring the wolf for company."
Earlier that day: Mont St. Michel, France.
Theseus walked down the wide, stone streets of the large city-like place. Muggle tourists crowded the well-lit streets. A chilly wind blew through the air, and leaves of gold and red danced across the road. Theseus shivered just slightly, pulling the collar of his coat up a little. Lally was walking next to him and noticed, smiled. Theseus looked at her, raising a brow, question in hie eyes. Lally waved it off. Theseus was surprised to feel a bit of fluttering in his stomach, and suddenly he felt a little uncomfortable. A small amount of blush rose to his cheeks, and he looked ahead again. It was almost normal and peaceful. But Newt wasn't there, so Theseus didn't stop to enjoy it.
Behind the pair, Tina walked with Jacob and Queenie, who was whispering excitedly. Tina was only half listening; she was more focused on looking around. There were a lot of signs of old magic, but not signs of new. No-Maj's were everywhere, looking at things, buying things, or just sitting around. That's when Tina stopped, seeing a flash of red-brown curly hair. Newt? She thought, slipping away from the group and following the man.
Dumbledore had also noticed this and followed Tina. Could he hope, just a little? They both followed the man into a dim, dusty alley way. Dumbledore pulled out his want muttering, "Lumos" His wand lit up. The man seemed to have disappeared. Dumbledore knelt to the ground, looking at where the man had last stood. "Dang it." He stood up, looking for Tina. He found her struggling in the arms of a stranger, who had a wand to her neck. It was Abernathy.
"Stop moving, Tina, or else." He growled. Tina stopped moving, weary of the wand pointed at her.
"Now, now. Let's not go to drastic measures just yet." Albus spoke calmly, but his heart was racing. Of course this was a trap! Why didn't that cross his mind? What about the others? He needed to warn them. Yelling in his mind for Queenie to hopefully hear, Dumbledore kept talking. "What do you need, Abernathy?"
"Boss wants you all dead, that's what I'm here for." He answered lightly, although Albus could see sorrow in his eyes as he said it.
"You don't want them dead, do you?" he asked, softly.
"Never said that did I?"
"You didn't have to; your eyes already did."
"Enough idle talk! Let's just get this over with." Abernathy growled.
"How are you going to take down two people? You're all by yourself." Dumbledore asked.
"Never said I was alone either, did I?" At this remark Abernathy smiled dangerously.
Suddenly, witches and wizards dropped from the roofs above, wands pointed. Albus, acting quickly, projected a powerful shield charm around himself, also disarming Abernathy in the process. He grabbed Tina's hand and wand, turning on the spot. They both Apparated out off the alley way and into the sunlit street.
The sun was starting to slowly descend, and the air was getting cooler. The streets were a lot less crowded as Muggles headed home. Not letting go of Tina's hand, Albus ran down the stone street and towards stairs. Racing up, they ran towards a two-story white building, which was starting to light up. Albus stopped running, and changed to a brisk walk, still holding his wand. Tapping the white concrete wall two times with his wand, then tracing an A shape with two lines through it. The building suddenly seemed to shiver and change. Tina looked around and found that they had entered the magical part of Mont St. Michel. Witches and wizards were walking home holding bags of groceries, or other such things. Entering the building through a door, Albus walked to the desk, Tina following quickly.
Tina stood, looking around while Dumbledore talked to the lady behind the desk. The floors and ceiling were made of a soft wood color, and wooden poles were supporting the rickety building. Windows wrapped most of the room, but the curtains were drawn, and only soft lanterns lit the room. There were tables and chairs with red and white checkered tablecloths. There was also a bar with ten tall chairs, the bartender was cleaning out some clear glasses with a wet rag. Around the corner, Tina could see a spiraling staircase, and the restrooms.
It was very quiet, except for the occasional clinking of glass. Albus finally finished talking to the witch, and turned to Tina, holding some keys. He smiled grimly at Tina, beckoning her to follow him up the stairs.
"I got us two rooms. They have two beds each. I'm thinking that Jacob, Theseus, and I will have one room, and you, Queenie, Lally and Bunty could share the other. Sound good?" He explained as they reached door number 5 and 6. Tina nodded, exhaustion finally catching up.
"How do the others know where we are?" Asked Tina, yawning.
"Right after I noticed Abernathy caught you, I called out to Queenie and told her to meet here. We both had discussed this alternate plan should anything happen." He paused, "Although, I must admit, I didn't expect to be ambushed."
For a few minutes they both sat quietly in room number 5, each retreated into their own minds. There was suddenly a soft knock at the door, and Albus got up and opened it. Queenie stood there, wet and cold, with the rest of the group behind.
"Teenie! Oh, thank Merlin you're both okay!" she cried, hugging Tina tightly. Tina grumbled slightly at being hugged by her wet sister but relaxed a little. Albus waved his wand, and everyone was dry and warm.
"Come in, come in." he said, ushering everyone into the medium sized room. The weary group stumbled in, collapsing on either a chair or bed.
"Albus what happened?" asked Theseus. Then Dumbledore went on to explain all that had taken place, finishing with, "What happened to you lot?"
"Well, Queenie here," Lally spoke up, "She told us that you were being attacked, and that we needed to get here. Unfortunately, some wizards decided to show up and mess with things."
"We were attacked as well. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and I was able to disarm a few before running. Lally stopped at an Owlery and found the bird that had sent that message." Theseus said.
"She was able to trace that owl to Giethoorn, Netherlands." Finished Jacob.
"Looks like we know where were going next." Sighed Albus.
"Hey, isn't that Yusuf Kama guy there?" Asked Jacob.
Bunty nodded, "Yes, he's working on a case there." Lally looked curiously over to Bunty, who blushed slightly. "Sorry, I just keep in touch with a lot of people." She muttered. Albus smiled. He noticed that Bunty still clutched Newt's old, well-loved case full of magical creatures.
"We should probably check on Newt's friends," he said thoughtfully.
Bunty gasped, quickly putting down the case and unlatching it, "Shoot! How could I forget all about you?" she asked angerly, walking down the ladder. Jacob suddenly laughed happily, his eyes lighting up in fond memories.
"Me 'n that case have been through a lot! It's the only reason I even know 'bout magic." He said smiling. "I'd like to see what Newt's done with the place." He added thoughtfully, getting up and going down the case, Queenie closely following.
In the end everyone went down and looked about in awe at the habitats full of magical creatures. Bunty was busy feeding Mooncalves.
Dumbledore looked around in Newt's little shack, spying tons of books, drawings, papers, and potions. Picking up a book, Albus thumbed through it. He was amazed at the amount of knowledge was put into the small books, the real-life sketches and intelligence. He saw Newt had poured love into finding and learning about the creatures, treating them not like a lower life being, but as in equal. Family. Dumbledore found another book, with dates, names, places and diagnoses. The first one written down was Bowtruckle: Pickett. Found in a tree outside of Hogwarts Castle. Diagnoses; very clingy.
Putting down the book, Albus looked at the creatures and found many rare, endangered (and not to mention, illegal.) The magic there seemed so abundant and plentiful, pure too. It was so peaceful there.
Finally, Bunty finished feeding and taking care of the animals, and ushered everyone out. She then shut and latched the case securely. The boys headed off to bed in the other room. Lally sleeping on the same bed as Bunty, who felt slightly uncomfortable, and Tina slept with Queenie, which was fine because they were sisters and had done this multiple times. In the boy's room, Jacob slept on one bed, and Theseus slept on the other. Dumbledore ended up on a soft armchair, because he insisted that Theseus take the bed, and because Theseus needed a lot more sleep.
The rain poured outside, and it was freezing. But inside it was warm and comfortable. Theseus fell asleep wishing he could see his brother one last time to tell him just how much he loved him.
