Chapter Text
Seeing Newt Scamander in one of the most infamous criminal underground bars in New York was the last thing Percival and Tina expected when they went on mission. Rumour had it there was a big trade going down. The rumour had reached no-mage authorities so MACUSA expected muggle children to be involved in the trade, together with a number of magical creatures. Come to think of it, Percival should have expected Newt to have caught wind of it. He had spoken to him only a handful of times since they caught Grindelwald, but he regularly heard from Tina that Newt cared very much for magical creatures.
"Not the Scamander I expected to see," Tina said. They had both been waiting for Theseus Scamander to arrive. On this case they had a tight connection to most wizarding communities in the world, and especially the UK. Theseus was sent to them and expected to arrive right about now. Percival wondered if he knew about Newt being here.
"Should we say hi?" Tina wondered.
Percival frowned. "Maybe he's waiting for Theseus."
"Are you sure that's not Theseus?" Tina asked. The Scamander brothers were identical twins, though both had enough difference in mannerism to make it easy to tell them apart most days. Well, sometimes. The twins had each other's mannerisms down to a tee and was able to fool most anyone.
"Theseus doesn't have a blue coat."
"Fair point."
Newt had discovered them, that much was clear by the quick glance in their direction. There was no other reaction however, as he walked off to a woman sitting alone in a corner. The woman was familiar to Percival. Anita Haggins had been in with them for questioning many times for suspicious activity connected to both the magical and the muggle worlds. Her connections kept her well off the map most of the time and still there were no one who knew what exactly she was involved with.
Haggins looked bored when Newt sat down opposite her.
"Scamander," she greeted with an arrogant twitch of her nose.
"I'm not here for you," Newt clarified, though Percival struggled to understand how the Brit could be after anyone in the first place. Except for a few mishaps with escaped creatures he was harmless. "I know of your smuggling of hippogriffs and muggle children, but that's not what I'm here for today."
Newt offered a tight-lipped smile when she looked non-threatened. Percival and Tina exchanged looks. How did Newt know that? MACUSA and muggle police had barely been able to scratch the surface of her real name.
"You want the location," she said. She sighed and dropped a sugarcube in her tea. Suddenly she oozed more confidence, and Percival noticed how overdone and fake her earlier confidence was. "What do I get for it?"
"Your life."
She did not take him seriously, that much was clear. Newt looked about as threatening as a kitten. Haggins grabbed her throat suddenly, looked like she was being choked by invisible hands. She clawed at her chest, her eyes so pleadingly desperate Percival felt almost bad for her. As sudden as it started, it stopped.
"It's in Hell's Kitchen, by the docks. Please, let me go," she begged.
Newt stood up and straightened his back, looking harmless as ever. "Turn over the children to muggle authorities and we might not have to have this conversation again."
"What?" she asked, again more confident. Looked like whatever Newt did could not waver the passion she had for what gave her income. "Who do you take me for?"
"Someone who would rather deal with muggle authorities than with me."
Haggins started looking around the bar now and Percival realized the entire bar had been quiet for the duration of their conversation. Many looked at her with pity and some gave her warning looks. One man with two missing fingers avoided looking at them altogether.
Her eyes narrowed. "Fine."
She proceeded to apparate out of there and Newt walked over to Tina and Percival, his steps confident and light at the same time. Everyone dutifully turned back to their own conversations, but Percival noticed they were watching Newt in the corner of their eyes, as if he might harm them.
"Hi Tina," Newt said, offering her a smile. The two of them had been a thing for many years now, but it seemed neither was ready to pop the question. "Hello, Mr Graves."
"Mr Scamander, what was that?" Percival asked.
Newt looked in the direction of the empty table and was about ready to explain, but a new wizard entered the bar. Theseus Scamander, of course, twenty minutes later than he was supposed to. He, unlike Tina and Percival, looked unsurprised to find Newt there.
"Newt," he said, grinning at Newt.
"Theseus," Newt greeted, looking just as happy to see him.
"I trust you got the information you needed?"
"She gave it up quiet willingly, actually."
"Oh, no illegal activities needed?"
"Maybe a tiny one."
"Newt."
"A technique I learned from Nepalese wizards. Magic-blocking. No damage done, however I do hope for her sake that she stops her nasty business before tomorrow morning."
Percival was dumbfounded by the conversation. While he generally expected these kinds of topics amongst his employees - with less use of the words "illegal activities" of course - he did not expect it to fall so natural between the Scamander brothers.
Tina coughed. "So, while we appreciate you obtaining the location, Newt, you are still a civilian and we must ask you to let us take it from here."
Percival noted Theseus barely being able to contain a smile at that, but Newt spoke before it could become more obvious. "Of course, Tina. I will not involve myself in MACUSA business."
He wished he was able to read the look on the Scamander brothers' faces.
-
In retrospect Newt should have warned them more, though he knew Theseus would not blame him. A lot of creatures were in danger and he wanted to save them as quickly as possible. He had his case with him, shrunken a bit on the outside to more easily carry it with him, but ready to take the creatures he needed to save.
He knew annoyingly little of what creatures were involved in the trade, but he was ready for whatever it was. His recent travels stocked him with what he needed to take care of most creatures, even the ones not too common in the western part of the world. One never could be too prepared after all.
As Newt came closer to the location he felt out for Theseus' magic, happy to discover he had not closed himself off. MACUSA was close by then, and Newt had after all made a promise not to involve himself with them. The magical creatures and the Ministry, however, he had made no promises of.
He was about to check out one of the warehouses by the docks when he noticed a spark of spirit magic close by, possibly coming from one of the containers. Quickly sending out feelers for more wizards he stalked off to the closest container. No wizards close-by, but there was definitely a creature inside the container. Strong wards came off it, protected by what felt like old South American magic.
Newt put his hand on the entrance to the container and concentrated on making waves to work against the wards. It was easier said than done, especially considering the circumstances, but finally he felt a click in his mind. The wards were down.
He tried opening it as quietly as possible, putting on a silencing charm when that proved too difficult. Newt almost dropped his case when he caught eye of what was inside. A kitsune. An actual, live kitsune.
He had only seen one in his life, during an expedition to a remote mountain village in Japan. This one was obviously more injured, one of her many tails seemingly broken. She growled at him, pawing at the ground in a threatening manner. Newt put his case carefully down. "Don't be scared," he said, kept his voice calm and kind. What he said was not as important as the tone of his voice as he said it.
He opened the case and let her watch it. Dougal poked his head out. Him and Pickett were the two he allowed in the main room before he locked the door. Magical creatures often reacted more nicely to each other than to other wizards after a long time in captivity.
While the kitsune was distracted he unlocked the chains and made them disappear with a simple flick of his wand. The kitsune stared at him, surprised at this progression. She took a hesitant step towards Newt and promptly sat down
Dougal made sounds that might have indicated come with me, but the kitsune was far too interested in Newt now. He held out a hand so she could smell it.
"See, I'm harmless," he said, offering a toothless smile. "Can I look at your tails?"
She glanced at her tails and then jumped into the suitcase before he could do anything. Newt gave Dougal a stern look. "Look after her until I'm out of here, alright?"
He closed his case and put a protection charm on it in case the smugglers caught him before he could rescue more. He shrunk it some more to fit it in his jacket pocket and stepped out of the container. He felt no immediate signals that gave off other magical creatures, but there had to be more than only a kitsune there for the event to be so hush-hush.
He decided to apparate to the closest building to get his bearings. He landed in the basement and instantly regretted it when a dozen wands were pointed at him.
-
Theseus was suspiciously quiet when they entered the warehouse, to the point where Percival almost thought he and his brother had switched places. Of course he was a professional at what he did, one of the best damned aurors Percival knew, but Theseus was also known across the sea as someone who talked. Someone who flaunted their arrogance so clearly the criminals started acting out of irrationality and accidently blew their own operation. It was one of the reasons, other than his fighting skill, Percival wanted him on this mission.
Theseus was not acting like he usually would. His steps were confident as always and his wand was ready, but he spoke no words.
Tina was the one who brought Percival out of his thoughts. She had stepped further into the warehouse. "Where is everyone?" she wondered out loud.
Before Percival could do his own observations, a door slammed open, three people running out. Most peculiar was the fact that pieces of their clothing were on fire, and one of them had a hand missing. Percival's magic reacted before he could stop himself. He extinguished the fire. Tina bound them up with glowing chains, ensuring that they could not escape.
"Where are the others?" Percival questioned. "What happened?"
"Blue Coat," the one of the three with the missing hand cried. "Fucking Blue Coat."
Theseus grinned at this, though Percival did not see how a possible third threat could be a good thing now.
"We need to contact the others," Tina said. "If there's a third threat-"
"No no," Theseus said. "No need, I assure you. Anyone these mobsters are scared of is a friend of ours."
Percival wanted to protest that, but he had no time. Someone was coming down the hallway screaming, and why did that voice sound familiar?
"How dare you harm them - these poor creatures have no properties we can take and use, and even if they did, skinning them was not the right course of action!"
Through the door came first a man, levitating and clearly in pain. Behind him was none other than Newt, looking more frightening than Percival had ever seen him.
"Newt?" Tina squeaked, expressing exactly how confused and powerless Percival felt at the moment. He really should not have been surprised at how unsurprised Theseus was.
Newt dropped the man to the floor, his wand still threateningly pointed at him. The three still held together by Tina's magic tried to cower away, but they did not come far in their binds. Newt raised his other hand and made a fist, a crazed look in his eyes. Percival did not expect it to do anything - even the most skilled wizards struggled with wandless magic. The three men started coughing, acting similar to what Haggins had only hours before. It was not before the one with the missing hand passed out someone tried to stop Newt from doing more damage. Theseus, of course.
"Newton," he snapped. Newt let his hand drop to his side, but did not take his eyes off the three men.
"The rest are down the hall."
"Ne-"
"Alive, Thee. Badly injured, but alive. The baku is dead."
Theseus gave him a pointed look. He did not question what a baku was, though Percival had never before heard of such a thing. "The baku was all that was there?"
"There are a couple of children in a backroom over there." Newt pointed to a door by a couple of shelves. "Other than that, no."
"Are you sure?"
"Extremely. My methods worked quite well. Nothing illegal, I assure you, Mr Graves."
Percival's eyes narrowed now that he finally had been addressed. "Mr Scamander, I thought we agreed that you would not be here."
"I agreed to not involve myself with MACUSA, which I have not until this point. Now, I have something to take care of, so until next time."
Newt gave Tina and Theseus both smiles, and a polite nod to Percival. Then he proceeded to apparate out of there.
Tina turned to Theseus. "Should we be arresting him?"
"He probably took a few creatures before he found the baku," Theseus said. "Let's pretend he was never here, that's what the Ministry tends to do."
Percival could not help but think that the Ministry had rather questionable methods.