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

30: Letters

QUEENIE
     After she walked back home alone, late that night, Queenie found a memory in her sleeping sister's mind that almost made her jump up and down and squeal. They had kissed. It was about time.
    Since they were both asleep, and she'd promised Tina to stay out of thier business, Queenie decided she wouldn't mention it. She fell asleep on that happy note, staying in her own dreams for once.
     The next morning, however, the atmosphere was not so happy. Waking up after everyone else did, she rubbed her eyes and made her way to the kitchen.
"Good-" she yawned and stretched. "-morning."
"Morning," Newt said distractedly, poring over a letter that he had just plucked from the owl seconds before Queenie walked in. Theseus never wrote to him. As he read, Newt's teeth gritted. He ran a hand through his hair, the lines of anger and betrayal on his face making him look like he aged ten years.
"He isn't really going to marry her?" Queenie asked, horrified. Newt met her eyes, his mouth set into a thin line, and nodded ever so slightly.
"Wait, what?" Tina asked. "What's wrong?"
"My brother," Newt said bitterly. "Theseus. Lately....he and Leta Lestrange have become quite close. He's proposed to her, and she said yes. No wonder she did. He's the me I never could be. It doesn't matter. He never liked me anyway--he's probably only doing it to get under my skin."
"But...you let go of her a long time ago?" Tina said, unsure of why he was so angry if Leta meant nothing. "Right?"
   Newt's anger melted away all at once, like polyjuice potion wearing off. "Yes. Theseus and Leta flirted with each other in school occasionally; I probably should have seen it coming. We've all let go of our okd ghosts. It's all right. I should be happy for Theseus. I'm sure he's happy for me." There was an edge of doubt to his voice, but it was very well hidden.
"I'm sure he is," Tina said reassuringly, continuing her dishes. "He may even be jealous--I would be."
"Theseus was never the jealous type," Newt smiled at Tina. "But yes, he's probably happy for me. I hear Fantastic Beasts is selling pretty well. Flourish and Blotts sent me a letter a few days ago while I was still on the ship requesting to print more copies."
"That's great!" Queenie said enthusiastically. "Soon you'll more widely known than any magizooligist there's ever been!"
Newt laughed again. "Yes, I suppose s-"
A bright, fire-colored phoenix knocked its claw in the window. Newt and Tina stared as Queenie hurried over and took the letter from it, but it didn't fly off. It stepped in through the window, flew across the room, and perched on the chair opposite Newt, waiting patiently for his reply.
"It's for Newt." Queenie passed it to him, with an air of awe."From....Albus Dumbledore?"
"This may be urgent." Newt quickly opened the envelope. His face immediately darkened."Oh. That's not good.
"What is it? Can I see?" Tina asked, coming around behind him to read over his shoulder.
   Newt nodded. Queenie watched from across the table.
     Dear Newt,
I'm sure you've heard by now that some of Grindelwald's followers have infiltrated MACUSA, especially if you know an Auror and a wand permit worker who work in that very building. MACUSA never revealed where exactly they were keeping Grindelwald to the public, so as not to give his followers a lead to break him out, but it turns out they were keeping him in one of the high security cells in MACUSA that are also used for executions.
"Were keeping?" Queenie asked Newt.  He only kept reading.
Yesterday I recieved word that they sneaked Grindelwald out of his cell, replaced him with another person, who shortly was escaped. (I got the letter by phoenix, which, amazingly, only took a few hours to deliver from New York to Britain.) I'm not sure if you know this, but by now MACUSA is in a state of emergency. They've initiated the necessary veritiserum sweep of the staff, and I'm sure imprisoned and interrogated all the rogues. They might even have found where Percival Graves and the other hostages have been hidden. I wouldn't know; they haven't updated me that far yet. Since you know some people who work there, I was wondering if you could let me know as soon as you do? It would be much appreciated.
     As far as I can imagine, Grindelwald will be wanting to flee America and come back to Europe. I'm not sure where, but I'm sure you can gather that information from any number of his rogues. It is of utmost urgency that you follow him and try to subdue him once more, lest he wreak even more havock than he did in New York. If you have any friends in America (you told me Tina Goldstein is an Auror; she'd be perfect for the job) that you can trust to bring with you as an extra help in capturing him again, I strongly suggest you do so. At any rate, first find out where he's fleeing to, then follow him with utmost haste. I will leave for London as soon as I send this; maybe he will dock here in a few day's time.
    I trust you and your friends to stay safe (or at least alive) in this time of grim peril.
Yours most sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore.
   Newt set the letter on the table slowly, gingerly, as if it may explode. He felt this was the beginning of a very long and hard journey. Tina's eyes were wide, a few tears brewing. She forced herself to stop. This was a time to be ready, not a time to cry.
   I trust you. Dumbledore had said. Queenie could tell he'd not only meant he trusted them to stay safe; he trusted them to save the wizarding world from sure destruction.
"We should go to MACUSA and gather information about Grindelwald," Tina said, tucking her wand into her pocket and striding to her room to gey dressed.
"I suppose you're both coming?" Newt looked over at Queenie questioningly.
"Duh," Queenie smiled. "Tina's not the only one who can fight. I don't know what I'm going to say to Jacob, though..." The thought made her a bit sad, and a bit weary. If he had been reluctant to let her go and fight in America, what would he say if she had to leave to go fight in Europe? He knew what it was like to fight on the front lines. The death, the bullets flying everywhere, not knowing their target until they hit them. Fighting with wands was just as bad, maybe worse; wands never ran out of ammunition, and some curses were worse than the biggest calliber guns.
"I'm sure he'll understand," said Newt, but he doubted himself. "He might want to tag along."
"That's what scares me the most," Queenie said, but she was unsure. What scared her the most was that she might have to let go of him; break things off with him to get him to stay safe.
"We'll be all right," Newt said confidently. He believed it whole-heartedly, and that made Queenie respect him more than ever.
"Yeah," Queenie smiled. "We will be. Now, get dressed and ready. Like Teen said, we should go to MACUSA and-"
"Newt!" Tina said, coming out of her room fully dressed. "You should take inventory of your beasts. Make sure they're all there while Queenie and I go to MACUSA."
"That shouldn't take long," Newt said. "What should I do if I finish before you come home? Could I be of any help there?"
"Probably not," said Tina apologetically. "Get all packed up. We shouldn't be long, either."
"You can wait for us at Jacob's," Queenie said. "The bakery. We'll meet you there. And...no. I'll tell him. Thank you, though."
    She smiled sadly at Newt as she changed her clothes with magic, following Tina as she strode out of the door, who, of course, was completely focused on the mission at hand.