Saving F.

Chapter 6

Demiguises were interesting creatures, and interesting creatures usually attract the attention of wizards for all the wrong reasons.

In the case of Demiguises, it was their ability to become invisible that made them an unfortunate target for the unquenchable greed of wizards. Ages ago, hunters had become quite obsessed with them, knowing that invisibility cloaks were a good means to earn Galleons. Therefore they pursued and captured Demiguises and used their long, silky hair to make cloaks and other garments for the wizard or witch who would pay more. And although those garments didn't last forever, people who couldn't perform concealment charms still bought them, so after a while the numbers of the creatures began to decrease alarmingly.

Although there was no proof of it, Newt had formed a theory that it was the danger of extinction itself that had caused Demiguises to acquire a new ability which saved their species. They became capable of foreseeing the near future, and acted accordingly, so catching them turned into an arduous task which required thorough knowledge and a good deal of unpredictability. Eventually, the hunting of Demiguises had come to a stop, and hardly anyone bothered to learn about the new nature of those creatures. Newt, however, was one of the very few who cared, and he was lucky enough to succeed in finding the Demiguise which he later called Dougal.

Even though Dougal's disposition was not particularly excellent, Newt had found it engaging to observe him closely. He had learned many new things in the process, even the small details regarding Dougal's behavior and habits. But one of the most important things he had noticed was that Dougal shed and regrew his hair normally, but in a rate higher than that of human beings. Newt had spent days after days collecting the strands of hair which fell from the Demiguise, then he began to examine them. He discovered that they had lost most of their properties, mainly that of invisibility, and at that moment he wondered if a reverse process would be possible. After several experiments, he managed to make the hairs invisible again by regularly drenching them in a mixture of salt water and Flobberworm mucus. 

When Newt had obtained enough strands of hair, he weaved a cloak for himself, without having any real intention to use it, but keeping it just in case he needed to. And the time had finally come; inside a toilet stall of an Egyptian Auror Station, he had brought out the Cloak and threw it over himself. It barely fit him, but he thought that if he didn't move too fast, there wouldn't be a problem because of that.

Newt opened the door of the stall and prepared to go out. At that moment, an Auror came in and shuffled towards the sinks to wash his hands. Newt stood still behind him, careful to produce no noise, and looked in the mirror to see no reflection of himself. He waited for the oblivious Auror to finish and leave before he made any movement at all.

It wasn't as easy as Newt thought it would be to make it through the Auror Station to the outside, where Farida was waiting for him. Even without his suitcase, for he had to leave it with Farida, the place was crowded enough to make him exceedingly careful not to brush against people as he passed. He averted that to a considerable degree, but at the exit, a man bumped into him. Luckily, though, the man didn't linger on it much; it seemed from the way he frowned at the exit door and the shrug he gave afterwards, that he thought he had walked into it.

When Newt was finally out, he saw Farida standing by herself away from the gate and across the street, the suitcase held tightly in her right hand. He approached her and whispered, "Farida, I'm back."

"All right," she said in a low voice, staring at the ground to avoid raising the suspicion of the pedestrians in the street. "Now we have to wait for her to get out." She fell silent for a second, then added with a tinge of worry, "Newt, you know that breaking into a Ministry official's office could get you in trouble, right? Are you sure this is going to work?"