An Unbreakable Bond

1 - A Curious Case

By the age of 11, Persephone Scamander had probably spent more time inside her father's case than she had in the rest of the world.

She was born in England, while her family were on vacation. The "vacation" was mainly so that her father could take time to discover new species of fantastic beasts. When she was first born, her mother had insisted that she be kept away from her father's creatures, in case they should react badly to her presence and attack her. Although her father argued that his creatures were not dangerous, her mother's word was final and her father was made to promise not to take her into his case with him until she was at least 5 years old.

Naturally, as soon as her mother's back was turned, Persephone's father introduced her to all his magical creatures.

She spent the first 5 years of her life waiting until her mother was either asleep or out of the house. Then, she would run to find her father, if he hadn't already found her first, and she would race him to the case, leaping inside with childish delight. Persephone's older brother, Benjamin, never showed such an interest in their father's creatures, preferring the company of books containing spells and potions, which is why it filled her father with utter joy to see his daughter gazing in awe at all the fantastic beasts inside his case.

When she was 1, her father would carry her on his shoulders as he fed his creatures. From the age of 2 she would toddle around after him, pointing at the animals. When she was 3, he began to let her feed them, as they had come to trust her, as they did her father. When she was 4, the beasts would let her get close enough to stroke them and she spent hours on end listening to her father tell stories of how and where he found each creature.

When she was 5, her mother told her she could finally meet her father's creatures and Persephone and her father simply smiled at each other and played along.

Her mother led Persephone to her father's case and the little girl pretended to have never seen the battered brown case in her life. To her credit, she was a talented little actress and her mother believed her innocent routine. However, the creatures were not such good actors and many rushed over to greet her, as they always had done.

"They seem to recognise our daughter," said Tina, throwing her husband a disapproving glare.

"Can't imagine why" laughed Newt, scooping Persephone up onto his shoulders and running between the enclosures.

"Hey!" Tina couldn't help but giggle as she ran after them. Turning the corner, she found them sat on a rock, feeding a cluster of mooncalves. "We made an agreement, Newt. You weren't to bring her in here until she turned five."

"They're not hurting her." And they weren't. The little mooncalves were all gathered around her eagerly, their massive eyes lighting up when she stroked them.

"Newt."

"Tina," Newt replied, mocking her serious tone of voice.

She looked at her daughter, who was giggling with delight, sat next to her husband on the rock, surrounded by mooncalves and knew she couldn't be mad at him. "Okay fine, I'm not mad at you. But this was supposed to be an incredible birthday present and now, it's just normal life for her."

"I've already thought about that, don't worry." Newt lifted Persephone back onto his shoulders and took his wife's hand, leading them back through the creatures and out of his case. From under his bed, he pulled out another case. This case, while similar to his own in it's design, was brand new, the brown leather unscratched and with Persephone's name engraved in golden writing.

"This is for you," he said placing it in front of his daughter. Unfortunately for Tina, Persephone knew instantly what it was, and before she could stop her, the little girl had jumped inside.