Sands of Dragon Scales

Chapter 34

The group of four was now being held in the cells. Newt was sitting in one of the front corners, opposite of the cell from Tina, fretting over the well being of his creatures. Jacob was sitting on the bed, not really sure what was going on or what was about to happen next, so he sat quietly as questions buzzed around his head. Tina couldn't find the means to sit still has her hands fiddled around with anything her fingertips could reach, as she was almost in tears. Rose had stood along the barred barrier between the cells, beside Newt. She was trying her best not to worry; she had been in much more dangerous situations than this. And, of course, she was fretting over Ravi and Sweetie.

For once, she had felt like she had lived for two lifetimes. Once upon a time, she had a friend that had gone by the name Harry Potter, but the world wouldn't know that until another seventy years or so. He was always on the run from a wizard of which no one spoke his name, out of sheer and utter fear. Every year, while attending Hogwarts, she, Harry, and their friends would always find ways of getting themselves into trouble; always on the run and trying to fight off the ever expanding darkness. But she had also lived a life that was simple; one with creatures, in a country cottage home, in love with her best friend she had made friends with back in Hogwarts.

A sense of nostalgia washed over her as she felt the tension rising in the air around them. However, she couldn't pinpoint when the danger was to come; but she knew it was coming. The danger always came. Maybe that's why she was so calm; she still had the courage Harry had given her each time they faced Voldemort and his followers. Rose sighed. She missed Harry, and Hermione and Ron. And, of course, Luna, her closest friend from her future.

"I'm so sorry about your creatures, Mr. Scamander," Tina apologized, snapping Rose out of her thoughts, "I truly am." Glancing down at her friend, Rose could tell that Newt was not happy with Tina in the slightest as he remained silent. Seeing this, Rose refrained from mentioning, or making a snarky comment, about Tina using them and his creatures to previously save her job. "Can someone please tell me what this obscurial, obscurus thing is, please?" Jacob asked, genuinely curious.

The three magic folk contemplated on answering his question. Of course, Rose knew why Jacob was asking; for Newt had one in his case and, surely, he'd have answers. However, it was Tina who had spoke up first, "There hasn't been one for centuries." She had been peering out the prison bars in worry before she had turned to the Muggle. "I met one in Sudan three months ago," Newt confessed, pulling at his fingers nervously and refusing to look away from them, "There used to be more of them but they still exist. Before wizards went underground, when we were still being hunted by Muggles, young wizards and witches sometimes tried to suppress their magic to avoid persecution. Instead of learning to harness and control their powers, they developed what was called an obscurus."

In the midst of his explaining, Newt had almost come to tears; his face flushed and his voice shaky. Jacob had nodded, realizing how serious the matter was and why no one talked about it. For Rose, the topic of an obscurus became so much more real. Back in her time, the chance of there being an obscurus was a million to one; wizards no longer had to hide out of fear, only for protection to preserve their own magic within their world.

"It's an unstable dark force that bursts out an attacks," Tina clarified, "and then vanishes. Obscurials can't survive long, can they? " Her last question had been directed at Newt. "There's no documented case of an obscurial surviving past the age of ten. The one I met in Africa was eight when she..." Newt abruptly stopped his sentence, swallowing hard before continuing, "before she died." "Miss Black," Tina caught the other witch's attention, "You said you had seen the damage an obscurus could do. Have you see one before?"

Rose couldn't help but sigh, she knew she couldn't hide anything more from Newt. Though she didn't want to open up to Tina, she really didn't have a choice. "My little sister," Rose replied, void of emotion. Tina's eyes softened immediately as Newt's eyes snapped up to look at her face. "She had, not only lashed out at my father's lab assistant, but the live dragon they were to be experimenting on as well. She only had one episode before her passing a week later. She was an extreme case, being only three years old. I never saw her lash out... I was locked away. However, it wasn't the obscurus that took her," Rose admitted. "I'm so sorry," Tina whispered, her teary eyes returning.