Traces

Newt Scamander

“I’m sure she’ll be finished soon, Pickett,” Newt tried to say consolingly to his bowtruckle friend as he cast another tempus, and was not surprised to see that only seven whole minutes had passed since his last one.

“What is taking Tina so long..” he grumbled a little to himself as he felt Pickett climbing into one of his coat pockets again. 

He had probably gotten tired from all the waiting and rightfully so. 

According to Tina her work should have ended long ago, but it seemed like she was running quite late for some reason. 

He had left his case at home, but Pickett had of course managed to sneak out with him. 

Although, he was probably regretting that decision now.

Their friend group had been supposed to visit the botanical garden together today as soon as Jacob and Tina had wrapped up their work day which was supposed to be finished almost two hours ago.

Queenie and Jacob had probably realized they wouldn’t be turning up by now.

Still..

“Better send an owl to let them know we won’t be coming,” Newt mumbled before hastily scribbling down a message on a piece of some parchment paper he found in his coat pocket. 

He quickly tied the message to one of the ministry owl’s before casting a disillusionment charm on both the owl and the paper. 

He then found some owl knibbles in another pocket which he offered to the owl before sending him off, the sight of the owl spreading his wings and soaring out through the sky making him smile a little in contentment.

Newt didn’t blame Tina for being busy with his visit being so last minute and all. Besides, watching the busy Woolworth building itself was entertaining enough.

It was different from the ministry, that was for sure, but just as or perhaps even more entertaining. At least he didn’t have to worry about running into an overly worried Theseus here.

Newt knew that his brother had his best interests at heart, but even he had his limits with Newt’s unluckiness, especially in front of his ministry colleagues. 

He sat still for a moment before deciding to walk around a little. As interesting as the MACUSA headquarters were, he was still growing restless and bored from sitting still.

He had taken to chat with the house elf manning the wand polishing machine when he first saw her.

An elderly lady was walking slowly with what seemed like a heavy box filled with objects, her face scrunched up a little as she was in pain.

As much as Newt was shy he still liked to think that he could offer a helping hand to those in need which is why he not too long after his observation made his way over to her.

“Excuse me, do you need some help with that?” He offered politely as he bent his knees a little as in an attempt to gain eye contact with her.

The old lady looked a bit surprised, but the expression on her face quickly turned into a grateful one as she quietly handed the box over to Newt who took it with ease.

“Thank you, my dear,” the lady croaked out, stopping up a little to have a better look at Newt. 

Her eyes were glassy, almost milk like, but still looked very kind.

“No problem. Which way are you going?” Newt asked.

“To the department of mysteries, please.” She started to move towards one of the lifts and Newt dutifully trailed after her.

“Pardon, an old lady’s curiosity for asking, but you’re not from around here, are you?”

Newt smiled sheepishly at her in answer, shrugging his shoulders a little.

“That obvious, huh? I’m from England, so yes. You’re right about that.”

The old lady hummed a little.

“Are you here on vacation then? Or business?”

Newt contemplated a little before deciding to answer. 

The old lady seemed nice enough and despite Theseus’s numerous attempts at teaching him the concept of stranger danger, he was sure that having a conversation with a ministry worker wouldn’t hurt too much. 

It wasn’t like he would give away any crucial information anyways. It was simply just a friendly chat.

What was the worst that could happen?

“I guess a bit of both. I’m here to visit friends and to do a little research for a book.”

“Not to visit a significant other then?” The old lady raised a gray eyebrow at him, clasping her hands behind her back before leaning a bit closer to him while her eyes scrutinized him. 

“Oh, no. I don’t have one..” 

Newt flushed a little as he readjusted the box in his hands. 

Somehow this old lady reminded him a little of his grandma back across the pond with the way she was being curious, well-meaning, but also a bit intense. 

“But you’re so handsome too.” The old lady chuckled a little as if sensing Newt’s embarrassment. 

Luckily, the elevator chose that moment to arrive at their destination, and Newt could finally breathe out a little in relief for having more space around him again. 

The insides of the elevator had started to turn stuffy and the warm weather outside hadn’t exactly helped with that.

He nodded a thanks towards the elf that operated the lift before turning around to follow the old lady again who was once again watching him with a smile.

“And polite. Really, it’s a wonder you haven’t been snatched up already.” 

“You’re too kind,” Newt answered back, shaking his head a little in amusement at the old lady’s antics. 

He had in fact thought about finding himself someone for a while now. 

Theseus had after all started dating again, and Jacob and Queenie had each other and Newt would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that he didn’t want that as well.

Unfortunately for him, he was considered by many to be a bit awkward, a little chaotic and all over the place. 

His confidence in dating was therefore a bit lacking to put it mildly.

The old lady smiled at him a bit knowingly as they moved to stand in front of the door leading into the department of mysteries. 

“No worries. I think I have someone in mind for you. A perfect match, I’ll say as you both will benefit richly from each other.”

“Oh, there’s no need. I have too much going on at the moment. Really, it’s fine-” Newt started to say. 

He wasn’t too sure if he wanted to spend the remainder of his vacation mulling over a failed blind date. 

Besides, he had plans with his friends as well.

Although the old lady in front of him clearly had other ideas.

“Nonsense.” She interrupted him. 

“Think of this as a thanks for helping an old lady out, “ she then continued to say as she stared into Newt’s eyes.

Newt felt a wave of dizziness come over him and blinked a little in confusion as he tried to collect himself.

“H-huh?” 

For a moment he could have sworn that the old lady’s eyes had swirled a little around, which was a description that didn’t really make sense for him, but also the only way he could really  describe what he had just seen.

“Good luck, Newt. This will be quite an adventure for you, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.” 

When Newt came back to senses again, he was alone and in front of the door leading to the department of law. 

“Strange,” he thought. 

He could have sworn he had been somewhere else for a moment.

Newt shook his head out of his thoughts. 

He must have been more tired than he thought. 

Probably, because of the time change. 

But he still couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had forgotten something important. He just didn’t know what it was. 

----------

Claude Otton

“Thanks for visiting our store,” Claude smiled as the customer left his shop, clutching their new set of quills excitedly.

The hour before closing time was always the least busiest, but occasionally a customer or two would pop up at the last minute to buy something.

The elderly man tapped his finger on the counter as he contemplated closing the store a little earlier that day. 

His mind had been all over the place ever since that day he had laid his eyes on the scary client he had traded the mysterious package with.

Even Sophie had noticed that he had not been acting like his usual self, hesitantly asking if the debt collectors had been at his throat again, although he had kept reassuring her that the debt had been cleared and that he was simply just a little tired.

He quickly came to terms with that he wouldn’t be able to do anything else productive for the day and decided to give in to his desires and to close up the shop early.

He had research to do. 

The first step would be to try one of his old connections from the curse breakers, or perhaps the department of mysteries if he lucked out? 

He could then try to owl some of his other old connections from the law department, or maybe even some local scholars? 

There was this issue of obtaining the right books which was not going to be easy seeing as the scissors most likely was a dark artifact, or that was at least his working theory.

The right thing would probably be to notify the ministry, but then there would be all these questions about how he had come to be in a situation like this in the first place. 

Although to be fair, that came with a whole nother different set of risks too.

He shuddered as he felt the prickling feeling on his neck start up again for a brief moment before settling down again, making his shoulders slump down in relief.

Over the last couple of days he had felt like being watched every time he was tending to his store at different intervals.

Although, he knew that most likely that couldn’t be the case since he had never caught anyone suspicious in the act so maybe he was just being a bit paranoid.

He shook his head a bit stubbornly. 

No, he had to research this a little on his own first then he would decide on what to do next. 

He sighed as he owled the last of the letters, letting Thomas, his barn owl nip a little at his fingers before sending him off.

He slumped down a little on the counter as he tried thinking through the plan again. 

He felt being watched again, but when he turned to look up there was not a thing out of place both in his store or outside of it.

“Maybe, I should have just contacted the ministry afterall..” he thought, as an anxious feeling started to pool in his stomach again.

He startled as the bell above his door started chiming.

“We’re clos-,” the sentence died in his throat as he noticed that the shop was still empty and the door locked. 

“What the…” 

The bell continued slowly ringing above him as he made his way over in puzzlement to inspect it. 

It seemed to slow down again, but Claude still found it to be freaky. 

The bell hadn’t worked in days, and now all of a sudden it did and to add to the top of it, randomly too?

Too odd.

He managed to not trip over his own feet as he made his way over to the counter again, his mind made up for good now. 

He quickly grabbed a piece of parchment as he began to scrabble down a message on it furiously, trying not to let his fingers shake too much as he willed himself to stay brave.

Claude then whistled over the next door shop neighbor's owl over so that he could send his letter quickly. 

He had no time to wait for Thomas now and the owl post was hopefully the least inconspicuous way to send a message without alerting anyone that could be potentially watching him.

The shopowner didn’t know if he was actually being watched or not, or if he had a trace on him somehow, but he found it safe to stick to habits.

He did, after all, borrow other store owls from time to time.

“Hey, Snow.” 

The snowwhite owl looked at him a bit curiously, probably wondering why he hadn’t used Thomas earlier on to send his letter. 

“Thomas is out on other business now, and I forgot to give this to him before he left. I therefore need you to take this straight to the auror office in the ministry.”

Snow stuck out his foot and Claude was just about to tie the letter to his leg when everything went wrong.

Claude could only gasp and try not to jump in surprise as his entrance bell started ringing furiously, this time louder and quicker with seemingly no interest to stop.

He felt his heart drop in fear at the sound and Snow must have felt the same as she bolted out of the shop window quickly.

“No, wait…” Claude raised his wand in panic as he heard the sound of people apparating in nearby. 

“Perhaps, there was still time to make a firecall?,” he thought to himself desperately, trying to remember the incantation for making one again, but it didn’t matter. 

Because Claude Otton could not move. 

He found himself too scared for that.

It was like all of limbs had stopped working and he could only stand frozen as he heard the footsteps come closer and closer towards him.

“No..” his voice turned into a whisper and he whimpered as a man kicked in his door with a loud splintering noise.

The sight was frightening because Claude Otton recognized the triangle symbol that was embroidered on some of the wizards' cloaks. 

“Grindelwald,” he gasped as several dark clad wizards made their way in, disarming him quickly before tying him down with a bodybinding spell.

“Hello, Mister Otton. Can’t say it’s nice to meet you again, but at the same time I’m not exactly surprised,” a familiar voice belonging to a dark haired man drawled, making the elderly man’s gaze shift up to look at the figure in front of him.

He felt his heartbeat pick up even more in fear as he looked at the scorpion pin was looking at Claude almost a bit mockingly, and somehow that was the last thing the 74 year old man remembered before everything went dark.