Chapter Text
You didn’t like it.
The unpleasant tingling in the tips of your fingers was urging you to move them closer to the wand, even though you could defend yourself and the mansion just as well without it. Your pulse was slightly too fast to be considered normal. You felt it in the air - the soft suggestion brought by the cool wind wrapping up in the branches of the leafless trees. The whisper of your subconscious was telling you to prepare. To observe. To feel what was to come. It has never fooled you and that’s why you had survived all those years in the battlefield, always trusting yourself and your hunches completely.
And now it was making you doubt your decision.
When Newt came to you, he looked hounded, as if someone was after him, right around the corner – you knew that look well enough to recognize it immediately. He has been your old (and slightly extraordinary) friend, one of the very few you still had, and your immediate impulse was to fight whoever was hunting him down.
He calmed you down with a weak, sad smile though, but instead asked for a somewhat different favour.
“I can’t tell you any details right now, because I’m out of time, but there is this boy - he is seriously injured and exhausted and I need to hide him somewhere, just for a few days,” Newt whispered to you, still looking over his shoulder in a dark, empty valley he choose for the meeting. “Please, I know that the spells you’ve casted over your home would stop literally MACUSA and I don’t have anyone else to ask for such a thing…”
“Who is after him, Newt?” you asked firmly, sensing what he was trying to cover with carefully selected words. You’ve interrogated far too many people not to see through it.
The tall man licked his lips nervously, in a manner that has been betraying him for years. He was nervous and agog – a rare state for a light-hearted dreamer like him. At that point you were determined that whatever his problem was, it was not a joke.
“MACUSA,” Newt whispered almost inaudibly, not able to look you straight in the eyes.
He was aware of the events and reasons that made you leave the Magical Congress and cut all the ropes tying you to it. It felt like a punch in the face and he knew you felt furious that he tried to hide it from you.
“Why would I…” you muttered through the gritted teeth but he stopped you quickly.
“For exactly the same reasons as you left MACUSA! They are wrong about this boy, believe me! They made a mistake once and they are making it again. Trust me, I beg you. They cannot find him.”
You closed your eyes, regaining your composure. The bitter, dusty memories that Newt’s words brought back to life made you wince for a moment, but it was neither a time nor a place to dig up the old wounds. It was over for you.
“Is that why you urged me to meet you in person?” you asked with a perfectly calm voice. Calm as the sea right before the storm that could shatter any fool disturbing it at the wrong time.
“Yes, I’m pretty sure MACUSA would try to track any call I made with magic. Please. This boy has no place to go. I won’t let them hurt him again.”
Newt was not lying, you saw it in his eyes. The steel gaze of someone who knew they stood no chance over the people on the other side, but would die fighting for what they believed in. Newt has always been a dreamer. And dreamers die first in the battle, with faces lightened up in their final vision.
You have seen too many buried bodies of the people dying for the better cause, the people who you couldn’t save from themselves.
But you tried. You tried every time.
You lifted your head, giving the man a steel-hard gaze.
“Bring him to the mansion. I am not promising anything, remember that. From now on, I am the one in charge. If I get even the slightest hint of…”
“I know, I know, I love you!” Newt embraced you, hugging you in awe a little too tightly for your liking, but you couldn’t help a small chuckle over the sudden change in his mood. He looked like a massive weight was removed from his shoulders.
“You’re crushing me,” you said, awkwardly patting his back with your free hand.
“I’m sorry! I promise, you won’t regret it!”
At that moment, seeing his pure happiness, your decision didn’t felt like a mistake.
But after a few hours, you couldn’t stop thinking about it. You were aware that no matter what you did, you couldn’t redeem your past. It was a pathetic thought to try and exchange one life over the dead haunting you for years. It couldn’t fix anything. Nothing had the power to change the past that drastically. And yet, there you were, trying not to make the same mistake again. Deep down, you knew it was the only thing you could do. Your conciousness would eat you alive if you left the ones in need again.
You kept looking through the window. A light rain was trickling along the glass. Where were they?
You clenched your itching hand over your walking stick. On the days like this, you could almost feel your leg shattering again.
You felt them right before they teleported in front of the gate keeping your mansion secure. Newt’s magic was well-known for you and you could easily recognize him even from the distance. You made the gate crack open with your will, breaking the guarding spell just a little so that the man could come in with this ‘boy’ of his. And a woman. He mentioned a woman. Her name was Tina and she worked for the MACUSA. You remembered her just briefly since you had exchanged maybe a few words while you still were their hound. Back in your days, she was just an assistant. She grew up. You felt old.
You muttered a swear under your breath, moving to the old wooden door to hold them open. From the hallway’s windows you could see their effort in dragging the figure bathed in way too many clothes. The path from the gate to the door was long, but pavement at least saved them from floundering in the mud. Their spell-casted umbrella dispelled in the hall.
“Is anyone following you?” you asked sharply, your subconsciousness grumbling gloomily at you.
“We’ve lost them just a minute ago, but they won’t leave us alone for long!” Newt gasped weakly, completely out of breath.
You led them to one of the many rooms in the dark, empty mansion, which you have more or less prepared for the new resident. The person they carried didn’t move when they laid it down on a bed.
“So go and let your tail find you,” you hissed, almost casting them out. “They can’t get suspicious about this place!”
“But…”
“Go. Contact me when it all calms down,” you ordered Tina who must have remembered you too, because she didn’t even question your decision. She grasped Newt’s arm, giving the boy one last look before she teleported them both out. At least she wasn’t problematic.
You were left alone with a shuddering rag. All you could see on him was black, his hair, clothes…
“Are you alive?” you asked, perfectly audible in the suddenly deafening silence. He didn’t even flinch.
If they have brought you a dead body, you would kill them on the nearest occasion. It wouldn’t make any difference – one or three bodies to deal with…
The body curled up on the bed muttered something, but remained unconscious. You sighed, already regretting your decision. How were you supposed to take care of anyone? You agreed to guard, not to bring back from the brink of death. But it was too late to change your mind after you gave Newt a promise.
You leaned your stick on the bedside table. You placed the limp body further on the bed. The boy was abnormally light and emaciated.
You didn’t want to pry too much, but had to examine his state. Under the sleeves you saw the white bandages, which you had almost missed because of how pale his skin was. It contrasted strongly with his black hair, giving him a ghost-like look, especially with his sunken cheeks and long eyelashes casting deep shadows. You made sure he wasn’t bleeding from any wound, because given his condition, it wouldn’t take much time for him to bleed out. He was weak as a newborn kitten. And cold.
You took off some of his wet clothes, most of them completely bedraggled. You smelled a slight, metallic odour of blood, but from what you’ve seen, his injuries were mostly taken care of, probably by Newt, who had to heal and patch up both himself and his creatures too, forever eager to use their claws and fangs while having fun. He didn’t have much time to stop all the bleeding, though, and some of the bruises looked very nasty. You muttered a few words about Newt’s irresponsibility and recklessness, but reached out over the boy, making magic softly flow through your fingertips. You didn’t want to interfere too much, because magic could be as helpful as dangerous.
The boy without a name was bruised and cut. You were almost sure his injuries were made by spells, you’d know those burns anywhere.
But besides them, he has also had many much older scars and bruises. You didn’t investigate it further, it wasn’t your job after all. After you healed him, you brought a thick blanket, tucking him in the best you could. With a mere look, you started a fire in the chimney on the other side of the room. There wasn’t much you could do right now besides keeping an eye on the spells guarding the mansion in case the tail following Newt and Tina found out about their stop.
The rain poured from the grey clouds. You took your stick and went out of the room, casting a spell before closing the door, that would warn you if the boy opened them. Never trust anyone, especially if your friend was too busy to give you even their name.
Newt would pay for that. Sometime later. If he didn’t get caught.
You headed to the kitchen. The soft ripple of the rain couldn’t cover the tapping accompanying you on your way, just like it didn’t for the past years. It was almost like the ghosts of your past followed you on every step you made, constantly reminding you of the things that could not be forgotten nor forgiven.
It was a long time since you did a good deed. You wouldn’t mind if it made you feel a little better, to be honest.