Imaginary || Newt Scamander x Reader

5

Newt and ______ followed Tina into the dining room, where she laid her case on top of the table and began to open it. She hesitated for a moment. "These files are supposed to be authorized eyes only. You guys can't say a word about this, not to anyone." The two of them nodded, and she opened the case, pulling out files in a manila folder. Opening the files, she began to lay out pieces of paper on the table.

"What I have here are some eyewitness sketches. Of course, we've obliviated every Muggle in the area of the attacks as a precaution, so all we have are the words of a few wizards. The descriptions always seem to vary, but they all have one thing in common: a black cloak."

Newt looked at the papers, beginning to analyze each and every one of them. Some of them were described in a black cloak, some were black shadows, some looked like tattered black clothing. The descriptions never seemed to match up, but they all kept a black coverup as a common theme, perhaps not quite a cloak. As he started to pick up the drawings and look for miniscule details, he tuned out the rest of the world, including what Tina and ______ talked about next.

"So, you said these were attacking people. Strictly wizards, or are they targeting Muggles too?"

Tina drew in a breath, choosing her words carefully. "They're attacking no-majs and wizards born from no-majs, it seems."

______ bit her lip. "How exactly are they attacking these people?"

"They're being infected with something we've been calling Apathy Syndrome," Tina began to explain. "We've never seen anything like it over here in the States. People begin to walk around and exist like empty shells. No emotions, no memory, no sense of self. The people who've been attacked won't even speak to us to tell us what happened, they just... are silent. They're alive, but something feels like it's died inside them. We have to rely on people around the scene, which is probably why the sketches aren't very consistent. Everyone's just so panicked, no one knows what to do."

"Is there anyone at all who's survived an attack?"

Tina shook her head. "No, not yet." As soon as Tina told her that, she could see some worry begin to bubble up in ______'s eyes. Tina immediately knew why. Of course that information would worry her. She's a no-maj. "Hey, don't worry. Now that we have Newt, an actual beast expert, I'm sure we'll figure out that this thing is in no time. And once we figure that out, we can get rid of it."

"I hope so..." ______ trailed off, looking over at Newt, who was now flipping through pages of his beast manual. She walked over to him, standing by his side and looking over at the pages. "Find anything yet, Newt?"

Newt looked over at ______. "I think so. I mean, the only consistent thing here is that they're all covered in some dark cloak or clothes, right?"

"Right," ______ said, and Tina came over to the two of them, getting on the other side of Newt, ready to listen to what he had to say.

"Alright, so in some of these drawings the figure is larger. In some it's smaller. The thing is, I don't the fact that it varies appearances is just an unreliable witness thing. I think I might know what's attacking people."

"Well, what is it?" Tina asked. "How can we stop it?"

"I believe it's a Lethifold. They're dark creatures who attack muggles and wizards alike, and they're incredibly rare and known for their cloak-like appearance. They also vary in size, they're larger if they just digested a victim and smaller if they haven't attacked anyone yet. Like I said though, they're incredibly rare. That's probably why you've never had one over here. They usually stick to tropical climates."

"Alright, so what is this one doing in New York?"

"No idea. Maybe someone brought one over somehow and hoped for something like this to happen."

"Can they be stopped?"

"Quite easily if you're a wizard. You can conjure up a Patronus and it scares them right off."

"What if you're a Muggle?" ______ asked, worry clear in her voice.

Newt turned to her. "As long as you're by my side," he began. "You won't have to worry about that." His voice was serious, his tone unwavering. The last time ______ heard Newt use a tone so protective was back when...

Well, back at the castle, all those months ago. Back with Maverick.

She gave him a smile. "Alright. I'm trusting you, Scamander."

"Don't worry," he told her, leaning over and kissing her gently on the forehead. "I'll keep you safe."

Tina cleared her throat, getting the attention of the affectionate couple. "So, how do we find this thing?"

"We should probably start first thing in the morning," Newt told her. "These things hunt at night, so it'll be dangerous to go out now. We don't know how many are out there, and we need to make a plan. We can't go out there without a plan."

Tina was taken aback. Just a few months ago, Newt was out in the streets of New York looking for his beasts without stopping to make a plan. The only thing on his mind was getting all his creatures back, he wasn't above lying to Tina to get out there and look for them. So, what's changed?

Just one thing she could think of: ______. He had her to look out for now, and bringing a no-maj into a situation like this one wasn't very safe. So of course he was going to be looking out for her.

"Alright," Tina said, putting her hands on her hips. "First thing tomorrow morning we'll go looking for it. We should probably take an early night then, that way we can wake up bright and early to start looking."

"Have you two eaten?" Queenie asked from the other room, the first time she's spoken up since the two girls got home. She had stayed quiet for a while. Tina was the one who knew all about what was going on, so she let her do all the talking.

"I'm not very hungry," ______ spoke, standing a little closer to Newt. She was still thinking about this creature. Why was it only attacking muggles and muggle-born wizards? Are they being controlled? It had to be the only solution, creatures don't just naturally target people like that. But, who would do that?

She shuddered, her hand moving over to her arm and feeling the scar that had been left on her all those months ago. Muggle.

Queenie read her mind by habit and didn't press dinner any further. "Alright. What about you, Newt? Are you hungry?"

"Not really," Newt told her, looking over at ______. He knew something was wrong. "I think I'm just going to turn in for the night. I'm guessing we're staying in the same room I stayed in last time?"

Queenie nodded. "Just let me know if you need anything, honey," she told him in a reassuring voice. Right now, newt wasn't very easy to read. He had so many things running through his head, Queenie got lost trying to look into it.

Newt nodded, taking ______'s hand and leading her down the hall. Tina looked over at Queenie. "Did you sense anything weird about the way they were acting?" she asked.

Queenie nodded. "Something happened a while ago. Remember when we took care of ______? And remember... remember what she had written on her arm?"

Tina shuddered thinking about it. During the time she and Queenie were looking after ______, they noticed an injury on her arm that read muggle. When they asked Newt about it, he avoided the questions and didn't want to talk about it. Queenie tried prying, but Newt could tell and told her not to. He was so deadly serious, Queenie decided against it. To this day, they still don't know what caused that mark. "How could I forget?" Tina asked.

"Well, it keeps bothering ______. I think this whole case is just bringing back memories the both of them would rather forget."

Tina looked over to the hall Newt and ______ disappeared down. What happened six months ago that made them both like this? What really caused all that pain back then?