Fantastic Beasts and How He Found Them

What Has Yet to Begin

Newton Scamander, or Newt as he preferred, held carefully onto his Traveling Outside or Away Documents, or more popularly known as T.O.A.D., as he made his way through the tunnels underneath Ellis Island. Hidden from the sight of muggles, the underground area is actually the true island, what is on top is only a wand-made extension of the original land.

It is said that a wizard by the name of Hoffrey Rottenheimer was fond of a particular croissant, said to be of onion or pumperknickle, and visited the shop that sold them twice daily. Yet the sudden influx of immigrants and travelers arriving to New York City each day was beginning to cause an increase of traffic to his daily croissant voyage and thus in 1892 he cast a curse to the sixth borough of New York City that processed all of the newcomers, called Ellis. The curse caused Ellis to break off from the mainland and sail into the depths of New York Harbor. It caused a media sensation and a manhunt for Hoffrey Rottenheimer. For weeks major papers such as The Harbinger Herald and even The Daily Prophet covered major conspiracies in hoping to be the first to uncover the exact reason for this major separation of land. Some believed he was a domestic terrorist, others thought he wanted to begin a war between muggles and wizards. One story even claimed it was phase one of a ritual to bring about the end of the world.

Eventually, Hoffrey Rottenheimer was found in New Prague, Minnesota attempting to purchase a kolache. Later, under the custody of the highest wizarding enforcement he admitted his struggles to purchase a croissant in a timely manner and was then escorted into a mental facility.

This still did not diminish the nightmare that government officials had to sort to clean. For months there were experts employed all throughout New York to erase the muggle's memory of the land ever being intact. Then came the hassle of having to repair the broken buildings. In doing so, they discovered that there would not be enough room to hold both muggle and wizard immigration services, so they built another piece on top of the old land.

Thus laid Newt Scamander waiting with hundreds of others from his boat. Only two out of sixteen possible lines were open, as squibs were prone to be particularly slow compared to the typical wizard. Their lack of magic severely impairs the speed of such mundane holdings that would typically take seconds to completely check with the flick of a wand. Each wizard suffered the muggle's wrath in waiting for their identification approval in order to safely enter the continent of the Americas, abiding the wizarding laws of said land.

As an effort to distract himself from the hoard of witches and wizards ahead of him, Newt kept opening a very worn piece of parchment to read as an effort to both calm and worry himself about why he is in that line in the first place. While the parchment has already seen better days, the ink was still bold and held the same vigor of surprise as the first time Newt had read it.

April 22, 1918

To Newton Salamander:

After careful consideration of an undisclosed number of candidates, Obscurus Books would like to invite you to run an independent yet exciting project in commissioning you to pen a text about the wonders of magical creatures. In doing so, you will be given a set salary in order to support your expeditions to the unknown in collecting information as part of the research in this project. Please send an owl at your earliest convenience to begin the preparations and to set off as quickly as possible.

With much pleasure on the behalf of Obscurus Books, I welcome you with open arms to the next exciting adventure of your life.

Augustus Worme

Newt had held the cuff of his emerald robe with such vitality that he did not notice how his palm had begun to sweat. Knowing it or not, Newt had known this offer would have come at some point or another in his life. It was a truth that laid in his stomach and pushed back against his spine, an annoying feeling that was surprisingly prophetic. No amount of doubt could erase what he's always known. Plus any opportunity to escape the Ministry of Magic was always a golden sight.

While he was good at his job at the Beasts Division in the Ministry, Newt felt that he was not at the capacity to fully excel at his job since it involved what he considered abuse of magical creatures. Yet his extensive knowledge of the subject is what made his superiors believe that he was the right man for the job. It still did not defer him from studying beasts and other wonders of the Earth through books outside of work, as he considers to it be a favorite pastime. Therefore Obscurus Books is really offering him the chance to enjoy his favorite hobby but as a profession.

In due time he was finally face-to-face with the squib. His tarnished copper hair and doleful expression showed no signs of amusement, as if time in an underground tunnel had consumed the personality he once had. He reached for the T.O.A.D. in a memorized fashion and opened it to read, "Newton Scamander, born 27th of July, 1897. Nationality, British and under the permission of the Ministry of Magic presented with a Wizards Without Borders pass."

Not even with a full glance did he check if the man in the black and white photograph resembled the man in front of him. Lazily, he laid the first stamp in Newt's T.O.A.D. and unenthusiastically called for the solemn witch next in line.