03 | the intimidating glare of percival graves

IT ONLY TOOK a few moments for Newt to recollect himself, and by then, Dorothy was more than ready to leave. She helped bring him up, giving him a slight nod before the two began to walk down the alley and into the streets, just like where the no-maj had left.

As they walked, they began to pass another woman, one who Dorothy swore was familiar, but didn't have the time to examine since she was on the other side of Newt from where the woman was. Then, the woman grabbed Newt's elbow and he quickly grabbed onto Dorothy before they Disapparated to cramped, brick alleyway.

Dorothy could hear sirens of the police in the background when she asked incredulously, "Tina?"

"Who are you?" she asked, ignoring Dorothy's calling of her name, her eyes trained on Newt as she waited for an answer.

"I'm sorry?" Newt didn't meet Tina's eyes as he asked his own question, looking onto the alleyway instead of letting his gaze reach the two ladies.

"Who are you?" Tina asked again, this time more impatient. Dorothy tried to grab Tina away from him, but since she lacked the proper body strength, it was no use to Tina's. With a huff, she crossed her arms and waited for Newt to answer.

"Newt Scamander," for a moment his eyes went to the pouting Dorothy.

"The one I told you about," Dorothy supplied, still sulking, "Dumbledore asked me to babysit for money."

"And you are?" Newt asked, flickering his eyes to the tall, brunette woman in front of him.

"What's that thing in your case?" Tina dodged the question, instead looking at the leather case in which Newt was holding.

"That's my Niffler," he supplied, but it did not ease the confusion of the two ladies. As far as they knew, Nifflers did not exist, or at least, they had never heard of them before. Then Newt pointed to the mustard stain above Tina's lip, "Er, you've got something on your -"

"Why in the name of Deliverance Dane did you let that thing loose?" Tina asked, once again dodging something that Newt was going to say.

"I didn't mean to - he's incorrigible, you see, anything shiny, he's all over the place -" Newt tried to explain, but it was lost to Tina. Dorothy, on the other hand, was hanging onto every word, trying to understand the mischievous creature she had seen before.

"You didn't mean to?"

Newt opened his mouth before closing, thinking of the best words to use before deciding to go with a plain, "No."

"You could not have chosen a worse time to let that creature loose! We're in the middle of a situation here! I'm taking you in," Tina said, but only Dorothy could begin to understand what she was saying.

"Tina," Dorothy tried, "I don't think you need to do that. I can take care of him myself."

But her plead was ignored when Newt asked, "You're taking me where?"

Dorothy rolled her eyes as Tina got out of her ID card that had her picture and an American eagle, showing the word MACUSA on it.

"Magical Congress of the United States of America," Tina supplied, showing where she worked and where they were going.

Newt looked visibly nervous at this, and his words showed it as well, "So, you work for MACUSA? What are you, some kind of investigator?"

Dorothy saw the way Tina hesitated, and she knew why. The Goldstein girl was no longer an 'investigator', losing it to Mary Lou when she harmed the no-maj and then wiped her memory. "Uh-huh," Tina let out finally.

Then, Tina put her badge back into her coat, "Can you please tell me you took care of the no-maj?"

"The what?"

"The no-maj! No-magic - the non-wizard!" Tina said irritably, seeing as she had seen enough of this foreign wizard.

"Oh, sorry," Newt apologized to Tina, even though he had no reason to, "We call them muggles."

Now, Tina was worried by this. "You wiped his memory, right? The no-maj with the case?"

"Um..." Newt tried to think of a way out of the situation, looking at Dorothy, who took it from there.

"Well...he tried, and the no-maj knocked him over the head with his case and ran...it was kind of forgotten after that," Dorothy supplied guiltily, "I'm sorry, Tina."

"That's a Section 3A, Dorothy...and Mr. Scamander. I'm taking the two of you in," Tina said with sadness when she looked at her friend.

With her mouth agape, Dorothy began to plead again, "Tina, please! Don't do it!"

But it was too late. Tina had grabbed the both of them and Disapparated to the head of MACUSA, a place that Dorothy had always dreaded.

Upon reaching the outside of the building, Tina grabbed tightly onto the two criminals, which caused a bruise to form on the arm of Dorothy seeing as she wasn't the strongest girl in the world.

They hurried into the building as Tina said, "Come on."

"Er - sorry, but I do have things to do, actually," Newt interrupted, not stopping his pace though.

"Me too," Dorothy added, "You know that Diana and Margaret are here."

"Well, you two will have to rearrange them!" Tina said, forcibly dragging them into the building, causing a gasp to leave Dorothy at the harshness of her grip.

"What are you doing in New York anyway?" Tina asked Newt, looking over to him for a second before turning back to the front.

"I can to buy a birthday present," Newt responded, shifting his eyes at Dorothy, who furrowed her eyebrows because it didn't sound like the truth at all.

It seemed that Tina as well was confused. "Couldn't you have done that in London?"

Finally, they reached the building, after spending much time maneuvering through the traffic that New York brought. Many people were going in and out of the revolving door so they had to wait for a second before they could pass through it.

"No, there's only one breeder of Appaloosa Puffskeins in the world and he lives in New York, so no..."

Dorothy sent a look to him, making sure that Tina didn't see it. If there was one thing that the strawberry blonde knew about her friend, it was that any look apparently had a hidden meaning behind it. And well, she would be correct with this one, seeing as she only looked at the British man because she thought he was lying.

They stopped in front a guard. "I got a Section 3A," Tina told him and the guard opened the door.

The three of them continued to walk for a while, going to the place that Tina used to work at before the Goldstein woman said, "Hey. By the way, we closed that guy down a year ago. We don't allow the breeding of magical creatures in New York."

Dorothy rolled her eyes, "At least not anymore...or legally."

The comment earned a squeeze to her arm by an annoyed Tina, causing Dorothy to pout because of the slight pain brought on by the already tight grip.

Reaching the elevator, the three got in and Tina looked at the goblin who worked the thing. "Hey, Goldstein," the goblin greeted Tina.

"Hey, Red." Tina said back before telling him where to go, "Major Investigation Department."

"I thought you was -"

"Major Investigation Department!" Tina told him again, this time more sternly, making sure that Newt didn't know anything else. "I got a Section 3A."

Red sent Tina one last look before extending his claw and pushed the button that was above his head. Dorothy let out a sigh, saying a little prayer as she looked up because this could potentially lead her to life in prison.

Stepping off the elevator, Tina led them through the dark corridors of MACUSA, and the girl let out a little sigh and gave herself a silent pep talk. In any other situation, Dorothy would have told her something encouraging, but her friend was trying to send her to a life in prison, and she didn't feel like encouraging that.

Then, Dorothy heard Madame President of MACUSA speaking, but didn't know what she was saying. Going into their vision, the three of them looked around to see many people gathered in the area, and Dorothy immediately shrunk.

"I made your position here quite clear, Miss Goldstein," Madame President said angrily to Tina, and the other girl shrunk as well.

"Yes, Madame President, but I -" Tina tried to talk to her, but was cut off.

"You are no longer an Auror," and the truth was out. Newt threw her a look that Tina didn't notice.

"No, Madame President, but -"

"Goldstein," the president said more sternly this time, and Dorothy really wanted to run away and never return.

"There's been a minor incident -" Tina tried to tell her again, but once again was left hanging.

"Well, this office is currently concerned with very major incidents." Madame President said without sympathy for the girl, "Get out."

Humiliated, Tina bowed her head, "Yes, ma'am."

And then, the three of them were pushed out. Tina stayed with her head down as she led them back to the elevator, and Newt continued to look at the girl in wonder. Dorothy never attempted to have a conversation because she didn't feel like being snapped at by Tina.

The elevator dinged and then they were on another floor. Tina continued to hold Newt, but had let go of Dorothy, showing a little sign of being sorry. They walked to a small, dingy corner of the room that had a sign saying WAND PERMIT OFFICE.

Tina finally let go of Newt as well as she went behind her desk. She took off her coat and hat, busying herself with papers so that she didn't have to look at her friend and Newt.

"So, you got your wand permit?" Tina asked Newt, "All foreigners have to have them in New York."

"I made a postal application weeks ago," Newt clearly lied, and Dorothy bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing.

Tina sat down on the desk and scribbled something on a clipboard, "Scamander..."

Then, she looked up with a look of skepticism, "And you were just in Equatorial Guinea?"

"I've just completed a year in the field," Newt explained, "I'm writing a book about magical creatures."

"Like - an extermination guide?"

It was Tina who asked the question, and Newt shot her a look of offense. "No. A guide to help people understand why we should be protecting these creatures instead of killing them."

"That's nice," Dorothy complimented the British man, who had a slight blush from it, "What's the title?"

Then, before Newt could reply, there was a, "GOLDSTEIN! Where is she? Where is she? GOLDSTEIN!"

Tina then ducked behind her desk as an attempt to hide from the person who called her name. The man, her boss, walked up to the desk and immediately knew where she was hidden.

"Goldstein!" he called again, and Tina guiltily stood up from behind the desk, "Did you just butt in on the Investigative Team again?"

Tina was about to say something, but he continued, "Where've you been?"

"What...?" Tina shifted looking at Dorothy for help, but out of spite, the strawberry blonde looked away.

Then, Tina's boss turned to the both of them, "Where'd she pick the two of you up?"

"Me?" Newt pointed to himself. Then, the British man looked over to Tina, who shook her head and sent him a look of desperation.

"Have you been tracking them Second Salamers again?" the boss said, more agitated this time by the lack of information he was given.

Tina shook her head, "Of course not, sir."

But before Tina's boss could continue to badger her, Pervical Graves turned the corner, and her bossed cowered at the sight of him, but so did Dorothy. Though she would never admit it, Graves had always scared Dorothy a little bit, he did have an intimidating look to him, which could make anyone confess to any crime - not that Dorothy was a criminal or anything.

"Afternoon, Mr. Graves, sir!" Tina's boss greeted Graves, who sent him a nod in return.

"Afternoon, ah - Abernathy." Graves said back, but only out of politeness.

Then, Tina took a step forward. "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."

Graves then sent a look to Dorothy, which caused the girl to cower even more. "And why is she here?"

"Oh, yes, Miss James helped him," Tina said quickly, "She, uh, didn't stop him when he let out the creature in the first place..."

Tina tried to look at Dorothy, but the strawberry blonde made sure to ignore her. She knew that Tina was sorry, that she just wanted to be an Auror again, but they both knew that those words weren't the truth, and now she was going to spend the rest of her life in a cell, wasting away before they decided to kill her.

Graves then turned his attention back to Tina, who stared bravely back at him. "Let's see the little guy again."

Dorothy sucked in a breath as she stood watching Tina bring the case out of Newt's hand. New tried to speak out, to defend himself or his creature, but Graves saw this and sent him one of his famous looks, and he immediately shut his mouth.

Dorothy didn't blame him, though, he could make anyone shut their mouth.

Tina placed the case on her desk, and very delicately opened the latches before opening it and staring at the contents. Really, the three of them were very surprised by what they saw, while the two others were annoyed that they spent this time listening to Tina speak when none of what she said was true.

It was a case full of pastries - the no-maj's case, not his. Dorothy, involuntarily, let out a breath of relief. She couldn't help herself, this was good for her and bad for her friend. It was selfish, but Dorothy did not want to spend her life in a cell, she wanted to spend it at 237 Grive Street.

Graves smirked slightly, but Dorothy was sure she was the only one who saw it because it was gone as soon it appeared, leaving her wondering why he would even be smirking about this in the first place.

"Tina..." he said, sadly, but now Dorothy wasn't sure if he was sad or not, but she was leaning on the not side.

Walking away, it left Tina, Newt, and Dorothy alone to look at each other. Abernathy, too, walked away and Dorothy finally looked at Tina in sympathy. While she was safe, Tina was in deeper water than before, and she couldn't help but feel it was her fault as well.

While if Tina had been praised and she would be imprisoned, at least it would have meant that her friend would have had a good life. Her and Queenie could have gotten a newer - better - apartment and Diana wouldn't have to make trips to her anymore. Everything might have been fine for her friends, and Dorothy herself would have been imprisoned.

And Dorothy let out one last sigh before she had her way to Tina, bringing the woman into a hug because she still felt guilty about the whole ordeal. For a while, the two of them stayed there while Newt looked awkwardly at them, and it was alright.

•••

dedicated to expectoremus because I love your books. like 'stain' literally made me cry.

question of the day,
hogwarts house?

answer of the day,
proud hufflepuff