A/n: With this chapter, I send my regards to my readers in Australia. I hope you're safe. I hope you have a place to call home. And I hope that in some way reading this story brings you some joy in the hardest of times. That is why I write: to bring joy to others who—even in the most dire of circumstances—can find time to cheer up with a story. - H. V. Hart
Jeanne's POV As we walked to the cliff face, there stood a strange looking man in a raincoat. He held a staff and next to him sat a bucket.
"Who's that?" Jacob asked.
"He's the only way I could leave the country without documentation," Newt explained.
"You don't suffer from motion sickness, do you?" I asked Jacob.
"I don't do well on boats, no," the muggle responded.
I looked to Newt. "He'll be fine," he assured me.
"Leaves in one minute," the stranger said. "Fifty galleons."
"No, we said thirty," Newt reasoned.
"Yeah well, you're going to France. That's thirty. Plus twenty more to keep me from saying, 'I saw Newt Scamander leaving the country.' Price of fame, pal," the man grinned cynically.
I had to resist the urge to punch him square in the jaw.
Newt reached in his pocket and reluctantly offered up fifty galleons.
"Ten seconds," the man said, counting the money.
The rusty bucket at the man's feet began to wobble and kick.
Newt took my hand, then Jacob's, and stared down into the empty bucket as it spun this was and that.
I spun Amelia in her sling to my front and held onto her bottom with my free hand.
The man continued his countdown. "Three, two, one."
Newt stepped his foot down into the bucket and in an instant, we were gone.
~~~
Now on the bustling streets of Paris, Newt began to lead us to the magical statue that was the French equivalent of the brick portal to Diagon Alley.
I moved Amy in her sling once more around to straddle my back to allow me to keep my balance.
As we reached a statue of the woman with her flowing dress, a guard stood in front.
Newt quickly uttered a spell making the guard disoriented. He pulled Jacob through the concrete base of the statue and into the French wizarding world.
The streets within were much less busy.
Newt ran and set his case down in the middle of the brick road.
I smirked. I loved it when he got this excited.
Newt uttered a spell then blew gold from the end of his wand. The magical dust expelled outwards, fluttering to land on the ground.
"Accio Niffler," he then pointed to the case. The Niffler popped out and sat "innocently" on top of the closed case. "Hey, get to looking," Newt ordered.
The creature jumped off and scurried along the gold trails.
Memories and footsteps of people from the previous night's events began to emerge.
Newt shoved the tip of his wand into the pavement and a new picture appeared. "That's a Kappa . . . A Japanese water demon."
A ghostly silhouette in heels clicked along the golden footstep path.
"Tina?" I questioned.
Newt followed the ghostly figure, finding that the Niffler has continued sniffing even after Tina's silhouette had disappeared. The creature stopped moving and began smelling a spot of something on the ground.
Newt crouched down and tasted it with his fingers. He then resorted to licking the pavement in broad daylight.
"And . . . we're licking the dirt now," Jacob mumbled.
Merlin, I loved that man, but boy could Newt make a fool of himself.
The Niffler chattered.
Newt held his wand to his ear and listened to last night's events.
"Revelio," I now uttered a spell of my own.
A new, enormous ghostly image appeared. Huge golden paw prints appeared underneath the beast.
"Newt, what made those?" Jacob asked, worried.
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"That is a Zouwu," Newt breathed in amazement. "A Chinese creature. They are incredibly fast and incredibly powerful. They can travel a thousand miles in a day and this one, this one could take you from one part of Paris to the next in a single leap."
