The Unspeakables || N.Scamander

Tentative Tenderness

"Merlin's beard," the gingerhead, Meilyn, gasped aloud as her eyes zeroed in on the tall, handsome man decked in a dark cloak, standing a few feet away from them, "is that Theseus Scamander? From the British Ministry?"

Theseus tipped his head in a semblance of a bow. Then, gesturing towards the two women, he said, "pardon my intrusion. I was asked to escort the two ladies to their house. We have important matters to discuss."

"Why is the British Ministry suddenly involving itself with Japan?" Malcolm's blonde eyebrow quirked up. He clearly didn't sound all impressed that Theseus had come to ruin their plans.

"I'm so sorry, pardon my bad manners," Theseus extended his hand for the icy blonde to shake, "I'm Theseus Scamander. British auror. And you must be?"

"Malcolm Malfoy, British auror working underneath Japan's Ministry," Malcolm's hand was icy cold, his grip hard when he shook Theseus's palm. He gazed at him coolly, as if assessing whether he was worth his time, "has Suzuki asked for you?"

Lila tensed. Would Theseus know who Suzuki was in the first place?

But the British auror merely smiled faintly, "yes actually. Direct orders from Suzuki himself. There's a mission involving aurors across countries, and I'm here to deliver a message."

"Then deliver it here, right now."

"I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Malfoy," Theseus pursed his lips, "the mission involves these lovely ladies here. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Theseus nudged Lila on the shoulder and though she had no idea how he'd managed to find her in such a form — she was still Milicent, after all — she quickly obliged, Celia following soon after. They were halfway across the main hall when Malcolm's voice boomed out behind them, "you better watch your back, Celia!"

"Oh I will," Celia shot back without looking at him, "but I think it's yours you should be concerned about."

And with that, they hopped onto a kayak and drifted off across the lake towards the entrance. Lila's thoughts were in disarray, flowing with a million questions that wouldn't make it past her throat for fear that this would ruin the entire plan altogether. So she kept her lips sealed until they marched out of the Ministry doors, until they were on foot and stumbling across the pavement. By then, the polyjuice potion had faded, now resulting in her wearing too-tight clothes that seemed to skim the top half of her thighs and rendering her more like a slut from the streets than anything else.

Once they were clearly out of earshot, Lila swiveled around and without warning, threw herself headfirst at Theseus.

He groaned at the impact, arms automatically winding around her, "hello to you too."

"What are you doing here?" Lila said when she drew back, scanning his face for any signs of injury, "are you alone? Why did you..." she trailed off then, as the unspoken question lingered in the air: where was Newt?

"We should talk somewhere safe," is what he answered, "come with me."

He brushed past them in the direction of central Tokyo and Lila was about to follow when a tug at her sleeve caused her to stumble.

She looked back at Celia, who had an unreadable expression on her face, "can we trust this man?"

Lila nodded, "Yeah. He was one of the guys that helped me out back in England."

"And what if he's not who you think he is?"

"Do you trust me?" Lila locked eyes with her young grandmother and suddenly, she could see the old lady in her eyes, the invisible wrinkles around her mouth. The fear.