Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them...Continued.

26: Not A Normal Day at Work

NEWT
    "Well, we'd better get going," Queenie said to Jacob, kissing his cheek and wiping her flour-covered hands on his apron. "I have work, and I have to take Newt to the wand permit office to do some business. Foreigners and stuff; it's boring work, really." She waved cheerfully. Newt raised his hand in farewell.
    They walked onto the street, the cold stinging their faces slightly.
"All right, this'll do," Queenie said, grabbing his arm and leading him down an alleyway before Disapparating. They appeared right in front of MACUSA,  and walked right into the busy flow of people.
"Morning, Goldstein!" Said a voice behind them. Queenie made a face of disgust, masked it with a smile, and turned around.
"Good morning, Mr. Abernathy," she said sweetly. Newt didn't know how she did it; masked her emotions of other people's thoughts as quickly as she saw them. If he was a Legillimens, he'd probably walk around with a scowl on his face all day.
"Heading to the office?" He asked her. Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned to Newt. "Hey...haven't I met you before? You're that English fella, right?"
"Yes, sir," Newt said. He really didn't feel like dealing with him.
"We have to re-register his wand in America," Queenie said. "Since he's come for a visit."
"Ah. Well, welcome back, Mr. Scamander," Abernathy said, mispronouncing his name. It was supposed to be polite, and Newt smiled slightly, but he was hoping he would go away soon.
"We'd better get going," Queenie said, taking Newt gently by the shoulder and pointing him toward an elevator. They escaped, leaving Mr. Abernathy to talk to the wand-polishing house elf.
"He's all right," Queenie said. "A bit of a creep, but..."
"Yes, he makes me uncomfortable," Newt said quietly as the lift plunged downward.
"All right, come on," Queenie said when they stopped. "Just follow me and try not to get lost."
   Seemed like good advice to Newt. He followed Queenie through the maze of cubicles and managed not to get lost. Whenever they got to Queenie's desk, however, a woman was already sitting behind it. She wore a dark purple peacoat, a black hat over her dark hair, and an anxious expression.
"Cara?" Queenie asked, looking the woman over. Then she said suddenly, fear dripping from her voice, "You don't think they took her, do you?"
"Wait, what?" Newt asked. "Who? Tina? The President?" Newt didn't know any other American women, and he hated being in the dark while Queenie knew all the answers.
"The President and Mr. Caussy have been acting weird lately. I saw them go into Tina's office, and they haven't come out. The office is empty," the Auror explained. "I'm afraid to inform any superiors, because they may be imposters."
"Good call," Queenie said, though she looked worried out of her mind.
"But these people took Tina?" Newt said. "Is the President anywhere to be seen? Mr. Caussy? Are they just gone?" He didn't undertstand how they could be so calm, yet whenever Newt was in a rage, he only seemed slightly agitated.
"I'm fairly sure, yes," Cara said. "There's a few places they could have taken her. The prison cells of course, but that would be too open, too obvious. There's also the execution chambers in the basement, or they could have taken her somewhere...away."
    The way Cara said 'away', Newt assumed she meant that they killed her. In his mind, that was not a possibility. He refused to believe it. It took more than a couple of enemy wizards to bring down Tina Goldstein.
"All right, well, let's check the prison cells," he said. "Then the basement. And if we don't find her..." He stopped himself. They would find her.
"I'm glad I've been suspicious lately. Otherwise, I might notta noticed them going into her office. C'mon," Cara said, grabbing them both by the shoulders and leading them away.
    Newt's mind worked at twenty miles a second as they speed-walked through MACUSA, trying not to look like they were on a rescue mission.

   Finally, they arrived at the cells at which Newt, Tina and Jacob were held last time he was in America. Of course, they were empty. Newt cursed mentally.
"All right, the basement's next," he said. His voice sounded hoarse. Queenie squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, but she let go quickly. Although she sometimes bugged him, Newt was grateful that Queenie tried not to make him uncomfortable with too much physical contact or making fun of his shyness like Leta always did.
Meet my eyes. It's so weird that you can't just meet my eyes. She would say. Queenie never did that. Tina would never dream of it...
He walked faster down the dimly lit corridor, his gait more and more determined and fierce with every step. Newt would find Tina if it was the last thing he did. There was no way such a good person, any person, and especially Tina, would be kidnapped if Newt had anything to say about it.
    Now that he thought about it, Newt didn't have much to say to the kidnappers, except maybe a few well placed jinxes and a curse or two. Mostly, he planned on doing more than talking.
"Here we are," Cara said. She gestured down the hall. "There's six rooms. I'll check one and two, Queenie, check three and four, and you-" she pointed at Newt. "Check five  and six."
   Newt strode the length of the hall as fast as he could, reaching five and straining his ears to hear something from inside. The door was locked, but he heard nothing inside.
"Alohomora," he said. Of course, nothing happened. The room was empty, anyway. It didn't matter. He moved on to six, turned the knob, and opened the door. Lighting his wand, he saw that it was empty.
   Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream rang out from room five, followed by the sound of a punch, then silence.
    Newt ran as fast as his long legs would carry him to number five.
"Diffindo!" He shouted. The door exploded, and he ran in, flanked by Queenie and Cara.
     Tina was tied to a chair, ropes restraining her, keeping her unconscious form from slumping over. A man stood in front of her, his fist lowering, and a woman glowered at him in the corner. They jumped and started casting jinxes in the rescuers direction, narrowly missing Newt, stunning Queenie, and going over Cara's back as she rolled. She stunned the woman, leaving the man to Newt.
"Expelliarmus! Stupefy!" Newt said, unbinding and picking up Tina, whose nose was bleeding, as Cara revived Queenie with magic.
"Bind them, leave them!" Cara commanded. "We need back-up! Lock the door behind you and take their wands."
   Newt summoned their wands fo his pockets, wrapped them both with ropes. Just as he was about to leave, he kicked the man in the face, feeling the crunch under his boot.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to hit women?" Newt asked, surveying the man with disgust, and  readjusting Tina in his arms as he left, locking the door behind him.
Okay, guys; I'm on a cruise in the Caribbean, so I won't have service for a week. Hope I satisfied you in knowing Tina's okay! Love from Luna Page.