Fantastic Beasts: The New Arrival

8 - The Niffler (Again!)

"I was watching you at dinner." Newt said to Mr. Kowalski. Newt, Mr. Kowalski and I walked through New York's streets, headed for Central Park.

"Yeah..." Mr. Kowalski said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"People like you, don't they, Mr. Kowalski?" Newt said, curious.

"Well, I'm sure people like you too, huh?"

"No, not really." Newt said. "I annoy people." I smiled, trying not to laugh.

"I annoy people too, Newt. We annoy people together." 

Mr. Kowalski laughed. "Sounds great to me!" 

I yawned. Newt noticed, and hugged me.

"Sorry, Lia. You're supposed to be asleep. You're not supposed to be up this late. You can go to bed if you want to." I looked up at Newt. No way!

"Are you serious? And miss out all the fun? I'll be alright..." I said, yawning again. Newt let go of me, chuckling.

"Why did you decide to become a baker?" Newt asked Mr. Kowalski.

"Well, because I'm dying in that canning factory. Everyone there's dying. It just... crushes the life outta you."

"That's ironic..." I said, smiling. Mr. Kowalski and Newt looked at me, confused. I looked back, the smile fading from my face. "You don't... get it...? Oh... never mind."

"You two like canned food?" Mr. Kowalski asked.

"No."
"It's not great."

"Yeah. Me neither. That's why I want to make pastries, you know. It makes people happy."

"I love that idea." I said, smiling at the thought of fresh pastries. Mr. Kowalski smiled too.

"We're going this way." He said, guiding Newt and I away from the road.

"So, did you get your loan?" Newt asked curiously.

"No." Mr. Kowalski said, scoffing. "I ain't got no collateral. Stayed in the army too long, apparently, I don't know."

"You fought in the war?" Newt asked. Wait, what?

"Of course I fought in the war, everyone fought in the war. You didn't fight in the war?" Newt shook his head.

"I worked mostly with dragons. Ukrainian Ironbellies. Eastern Front." Huh?

"Wait, there was a war?" I asked. Newt looked at me, surprised.

"I didn't tell you?!" He exclaimed. Mr. Kowalski laughed.

"Newt..." I tugged Newt's coat. Newt looked at me, confused. I pointed out a trail of jewels, and Newt saw it.

"Niffler?" I whispered.

"Possibly." Newt replied. We followed the trail of jewels, leading to just beyond a jewellery shop. Newt stopped. What had he caught sight of? I looked at him, before stopping too. We looked at each other, Newt walked back to the jewellery shop window. I followed him, confused at first, until we both looked at Teddy, who was in the shop window, arms out, standing on one leg. I looked at Newt, who frowned at Teddy, before I looked back at the niffler. The pieces of jewellery slowly fell off Teddy's arm, and Teddy turned his head to look directly at Newt and I. We looked at each other, both raising our eyebrows at the same time, before looking back at Teddy. Teddy ran off the windowsill, out of sight. Newt raised his wand.

"Finestra!" He said. The window shattered, and I ran in.

"Best for me to catch him, I'm smaller!" I said, looking around wildly for Teddy. Teddy ran up my head, before I lost him again. I climbed onto a table, pushing a cabinet out of my way. I climbed onto the top shelves as the cabinet smashed to the floor. The shelves fell over and crushed me. Teddy climbed onto a shelf a little behind the window, and I threw the shelves off of me and ran onto the shelf too. It tipped over, onto the window. Newt and I caught eye contact, and I mouthed 'Get away from the window.' Newt and Mr. Kowalski ran backwards onto the road, as the window cracked, then smashed. Teddy and I fell to the floor, and Teddy got up immediately and ran off.

"Lia!" Newt ran over to me, concerned.

"Catch that Niffler!" I exclaimed, getting up from the floor. Newt whipped out his wand, shouting; "ACCIO!" Mr. Kowalski lifted Newt's case up to shield him and I as Teddy flew towards us, jewellery spilling out from his pouch. He flew into a window, which turned sticky and bouncy, and caught Teddy, who got immediately stuck to it. Newt, Mr. Kowalski and I ran over and Newt sighed.

"All right? Happy?" Teddy struggled to get off the sticky window. Newt pulled him off as multiple police cars turned up on the scene. "One down, two to go!" He said, shaking the rest of the jewellery out of Teddy. The police aimed guns at us, and we just looked back, Mr. Kowalski with his hands up.

"They went that way, officer." He said, pointing in a random direction.

"Hands up!" The officer said, pointing his gun at me. One of the other officers noticed Teddy, who appeared from Newt's coat.

"What the hell is that?" He asked.

"Don't ask..." I said, as Newt tucked Teddy into his coat. Mr. Kowalski gulped and pointed in the same direction as before.

"Lion..." He said, scared. Newt and I looked at it, interested. The officers pointed the guns at the lion, who roared softly. I smiled.

"It's majestic." I commented.

"You know, New York is considerably more interesting than I'd expected." Newt said, smiling too. Mr. Kowalski looked at Newt and I, concerned. Newt held onto Mr. Kowalski and I, grabbed the case off Mr. Kowalski, and apparated away.