Newt Scamander always considered himself a pacifist.
But not today.
Today he would cast aside his morals to do what needed to be done.
Even if it cost him his soul.
Grindelwald was a monster, a man who deserved everything that was coming to him.
No punishment, no curse, no torment could make up for the harm he caused, or the life he had taken.
For the future of the world, Grindelwald would pay.
Tina begged and pleaded with him, trying to make him see reason. “Please, Newt. You can’t do this. He’s too powerful. How can you risk your life over something like this? Have you gone completely insane?”
“He took everything from me,” Newt cried. “The one thing that gave my life meaning, and he ripped it away from me. Drowned at the bottom of the ocean. I bet Grindelwald was smiling the whole time.”
“Newt-”
“Goodbye, Tina. If I die, I’ll die the hero. If I come back, I’ll live on as the villain.”
Newt tried his best not to cry, but the tears flowed regardless.
He knew it was a stupid plan. He only wanted to say goodbye one last time.
Even if he came back, nothing would ever be the same again.
Grindelwald’s followers gathered around in a stadium hidden deep underground. Newt couldn’t teleport inside, the arena was covered in too many protective spells.
He had to get in the old-fashioned way.
The guards already looked suspicious of him. “I don’t recognize you,” he said in a gravelly voice. “What’s the password?”
Newt smiled at the man and adjusted the cuff of his jacket.
“Swooping Evil,” Newt replied.
“That’s not even close-” the guard tried to stay.
An enormous blue and green creature, both reptilian and insect-like at the same time, soared onto the man’s head and knocked him out cold in half a second.
Before the other man could reach for his wand and start a counterattack, Newt whispered a spell. “Obliviate.”
The Swooping Evil flew back into Newt’s jacket, safely tucked away.
One guard was out cold and the other had his memory of the last few minutes erased.
Perfect.
Newt strode into the room, where a hundred of Grindelwald’s fanatics, wizards and witches from all over the world, gathered around, listening to his every word.
“I have seen the future!” Grindelwald exclaimed, addressing the crowd with the confidence of a professional actor. “It is a world where the Muggles and their accursed technology have all but rendered us obsolete. With their weapons of mass destruction and their hunger for power, they will wipe Wizard-kind from the face of the Earth. But we can fight back. Before it’s too late. We can reclaim our rightful place at the top of the world.”
Before Grindelwald could even finish what he was saying, Newt hooted and hollered, raising his hands above his head and clapping so fast he must have looked insane.
Looking a bit shocked but taking it in stride, Grindelwald slicked back his stark white hair and took a step forward. “I admire your spirit. What’s your name, son?”
Newt stifled a gag. “I’m surprised you don’t recognize me. Has it been that long already?”
He stepped onto the stage and circled Grindelwald like a vulture. Some of the other wizards looked on with caution, but Grindelwald quickly calmed them down with only a gesture.
“Ah, yes. I remember now. Newt, was it? I remember our little…Skirmish. If you could even call it that. But that’s all water under the bridge. If you’re here to support my cause, I welcome you with open arms.”
Newt gently placed his briefcase on the ground.
“You’ve taken everything from me, Grindelwald,” Newt said. “But I doubt you care.”
Grindelwald stepped back and raised an eyebrow.
“I admit I’ve done many things in the past, but they were all necessary sacrifices for the greater good. For the glory of Wizard Kind. Isn’t that what matters most in the end?”
“Is that what you told yourself when you threw him to his death?” Newt sobbed. “When he drowned at the bottom of the ocean, scared and alone?”
The crowd went silent, and, for the first time, Grindelwald lost his composure, but he mostly looked confused.
“Drowning? I think I would remember drowning someone.”
“It was during your prison break,” Newt growled. “I bet you don’t even know his name.”
“This grows tiresome. Guards.” Grindelwald said.
“Avada Keda-”
“Expelliarmus.”
Newt’s wand went flying across the floor, leaving him helpless as Grindelwald loomed over him, eyes cold and remorseless.
“I’ve killed a lot of people in my time, Newt. And your death is about to be added to my long list of crimes. But I really must ask. Who’s this person you so desperately risked your life for? Your father? Your brother? Your lover?”
“H-his name was…his name was…” Newt stammered.
“Oh, forget it. Avada-” Grindelwald shouted.
Newt clicked his fingers together and the Swooping Evil knocked the man off his feet before he could finish the spell.
Then, right on cue, Newt’s briefcase snapped open, and hundreds of beasts from every corner of the world descended on the man at once.
Dragons, basilisks, unicorns, and an angry phoenix pecked, stomped, and bit him until he was crying for mercy.
But Newt was fresh out of mercy.
As the creatures dragged Grindelwald kicking and screaming into Newt’s briefcase, the stunned crowd could only look on with horror.
None of them dared to attack after witnessing their savior get devoured by an army of a thousand beasts.
“I spent twenty years of my life traveling the world to find a Double-Bearded Golden Volcano Lizard, and he throws it to his death. The last of its kind. Can you believe it? Greater good, my foot.”
He was going on a tirade, practically frothing at the mouth.
“You hear me, Wizarding World? This is why you don’t mess with a magi-zoologist. The next time you drive a magic species to extinction I’m coming for you. I don’t care if you’re the most powerful wizard in the world. I’m coming for you! Let’s hear it, folks. Animal rights. Animal rights.”
By that point, though, the crowd had already run away screaming.
Of course, no one believed a crazy zookeeper with a briefcase could have killed one of the deadliest wizards to ever live, eclipsed only by the Dark Lord himself.
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore humbly took credit for Newt’s achievement, his legendary duel with Grindelwald earning him fame and fortune for a lifetime, jumpstarting his career at Hogwarts.
But those who witnessed Grindelwald’s horrific demise never forgot.
And the rumor of the mad zookeeper, Newt Scamander, spread far and wide.
He was a legend, a nightmare, a fabled ghost that haunted the dreams of children.
Dumbledore was feared by most.
And the Dark Lord was feared by many more.
Yet even the Dark Lord himself would not throw a lizard out a window.
Lest a rabid magi-zoologist stuff him into his briefcase.