Unlikely Companions

Chapter 16 Brotherly Love

There was no sign of Grindelwald in the forest when they returned. Credence and Newt retraced their steps from where they had disappeared, to the clearing where Mathilda had dueled Grindelwald.

There was a strange calmness over the surroundings of the clearing, as if something was waiting for things to return to normality before reappearing.

"This place gives me the chills," Queenie said. "Are you sure it's around here, Credence?"

"Yes," he said.

"It has to be," Tina said. "We can all feel that, right? It's a Dark Wizard's mark – there's something odd in the environment."

No one could deny it, the clearing seemed haunted. The leaves barely rustled in the wind, the animals were all hidden, and the trees seemed darker and more menacing. But after a few minutes, it was obvious that there was nobody there.

"He must have taken her," Credence said. "She can't be dead because then it wouldn't make sense for him to keep her... Right? She has to be alive."

"He could have done something with her body," Newt said. "He could have hidden it, or he could have guessed that we'd come to find her –"

"What a cruel man!" Queenie wailed. "If he's truly around here, waiting to show his ugly face, I hope he comes out – I'll kill him myself."

A sudden crack startled them. Newt and Tina were quickly standing up, wands in hand, waiting for whatever had made that sound. Queenie, slowly, moved to stand close to Credence.

"Hold your charms," a man yelled. "I'm a friend, not a foe."

"Who is out there?" Newt asked.

The man appeared in the clearing, looking as someone who had definitely seen better days.

He was young, not even twenty, judging by his clean face and boyish features. His clothes were torn slightly, and covered in patches of dirt and dry blood. His hair was floating messily around his head, almost creating a puff of inky black curls that seemed too wild to be easily managed. He had a terrified expression in his eyes, as if he had seen death itself.

"My name is Phineas Burke," he said. "I assume you must be Newt Scamander, along with the Goldstein sisters?"

"We are," Newt said.

"B-Burke?" Queenie asked. "Like –?"

"Yes," he said, cutting her off. "I need help, my sister, she –"

"Mathilda!" Credence yelled. "Where are you?"

A low groan coming from the bushes put them in movement, but no one was faster than Phineas, who had returned with the badly injured woman supported by one of his arms.

"Oh!" Tina said, running immediately next to her to help her stand up better.

Mathilda was alive, but barely. She was miraculously still conscious, breathing heavily, bleeding from a horrible gash on her shoulder, and pale as freshly fallen snow.

"What happened?" Tina asked.

"You tell me," Phineas said. "I have a watch that tells me where my family is, and it showed that my sister was in mortal danger. I thought of her and apparated, finding her in front of a maniac who was about to murder her."

"You saved her," Newt said, shocked.

"I shouldn't have," he said, squaring his jaw. "If Mother finds out –"

"She'll only find out if you tell her, Phineas," Mathilda rasped. "I thank you for saving me."

"You are lucky, sister. You were disowned from our Noble House, and we were told not to find you again because you have betrayed your blood –"

"You and Reggie have never been fond of rules..."

"Neither have you," he said. "That's why I came."

Mathilda nodded weakly, thinking, until a small smile took over her mouth.

"I couldn't say goodbye to either of you before Uncle Cygnus burned my name from the family tree," she said. "Tell Reggie I love him, and know that I love you just as much, Phineas."

"I know, Tilda," he said. "Good luck."

"Will I see you again?" she asked.

"I don't know. Maybe when Reggie learns to apparate."

Mathilda's smile widened by a fraction of a second, and then her brother was gone, disappearing as fast as he had appeared.

"I'll get her inside the suitcase," Newt said, overcome by emotion. "Take us and leave after that, so we can properly care for her."

Credence, unable to believe anything that had happened in the past few hours, simply nodded while the Goldstein sisters waited, and then took his upper arms to leave behind the clearing.