This doesn't sound good, was my first thought.
My second though was, Goldstein? That's Queenie's last name! That must be her sister Tina!
She was saying, "This is Mr. Scamander. Yesterday, several beasts from his case escaped and are now running amuck around the city."
"Yesterday?" said the first voice. "And you only see fit to notify us about this now?"
"I tried, but -"
"The No-Maj senator was killed by what we believe to be an Obscurus not long ago. This could have been prevented had we known about the situation beforehand. We cannot allow this to continue. This is the second time that you have failed MACUSA, Miss Goldstein. I shall have to pull a team together to take care of the beasts. Take them away to Graves, he will decide their punishment."
"The No-Maj as well?" asked a different voice.
"Yes, all of them - Mr. Scamander, the No-Maj, and Miss Goldstein."
"What? Why?" cried Tina.
"You are every bit as guilty as Mr. Scamander, Miss Goldstein. You have run out of opportunities to prove yourself useful to MACUSA; you're latest failure is unforgivable. You must be punished more severely. Take them away."
Newt began to plead with the woman. "Wait, you can't do this!"
"I can, and I will."
I heard the sound of shuffling feet as a small group of people - perhaps three or four - approached Newt, Tina, and Jacob to take them to this person called Graves. Newt began to shout, "Please, just don't hurt the animals, they're not dangerous! Please, leave them alone, they're not dangerous! Don't hurt them, please!"
I had to do something. Suddenly enraged, I climbed the ladder out of the case. Newt and the others had already been dragged out of the room, so I was left alone facing the large group of congress members. "Wait! Don't take them!"
"Who might you be, and why should we listen to you?" asked the woman who had been speaking with Tina. From the way she was dressed, she was quite obviously the one in charge.
I was certain that the correct word was "president", but I asked just to be sure. "How should I address you?"
The question seemed to take her aback, but she quickly hid her initial surprise. "Madam President will suffice," she replied imperially.
"My name is Zarayna Bell, Madam President. I would speak, with your permission." When she nodded, I continued, "I beg you to reconsider your decision. I know Newt quite well. He is more than capable of recapturing his beasts, and as he said, none of them are very dangerous unless provoked. He's a mazoologist, you see."
"In that case, he should know how to properly control his animals," retorted the president. "We cannot have them roaming the city; the No-Majs will surely notice, if they haven't already. There is already the possibility of an Oculus to contend with, so we cannot have the added difficulty of an incompetent mazoologist and his wild beasts."
"Newt is not incompetent!" I argued, already forgetting my manners.
The president stiffened as she attempted to hide her anger at my outburst. "Be that as it may, it does not change the fact that his beasts are out and about. I'm assuming that you knew about this?"
Regaining my composure, I said, "No, Madam President. I only just learned of it a few moments ago."
She stared at me, as though trying to decide whether or not to believe me. She must have decided not to, for she said, "Send her to Graves. He'll decide what to do with her."
I wasn't sure what to feel or think. I didn't know what the penalty was for our actions, but at least I would not be separated from Newt. Or would I? Would he suffer another fate? I put it out of my mind. After all, if you worry, you suffer twice. I allowed myself to be led to this person called Graves. Perhaps I would have better luck convincing him - or her, as the case might be.
When we reached his office, I saw that he was the only one in it. Despite Newt's - and my - motto about worrying, I worried. Where was Newt? What punishment had he given him?
"One more for you, Mr. Graves," said one of the people who had led me here. "She was an accomplice of Mr. Scamander."
"An accomplice, hmm? Well, then, that's deserving of the same punishment as him - execution."
"What?" I blurted, unable to contain my shock.
"You heard me correctly, I believe. Off with you, now."
I was so shocked that I could not speak. Come on, say something! I thought. But I didn't. I allowed myself to be led to a prison cell. I saw Newt, Jacob, and Tina together in one cell. "Zarayna!" Newt called when he saw me. "Zarayna, what happened, why are you here?"
"Same as you are, Mr. Scamander. We can't have any more of you endangering our exposure to the No-Majs," replied one of my escorts as he shoved me into the cell, then left without another word.
Newt took my hands in his. "Zarayna, what did you do?" he half-whispered.
I felt ashamed. "I - tried to talk the president out of punishing you. But I couldn't. She thought I was responsible for the beasts, too, so she sent me to Graves. He has sentenced me to execution."
Newt stared in disbelief. "They can't do this to you, you had absolutely nothing to do with it! Rayn, you must escape!"
"How?" said Tina. "The cell doors are enchanted to resist any and all spells that might be used on it to escape, especially Alohamora. Believe me, I was an Auror for MACUSA, I should know."
"What exactly is MACUSA?" I asked.
"It's an acronym. It stands for the Magical Congress of the United States of America," said Tina.
"The American Ministry of Magic, basically," added Newt. "But what about Diffindo? That would work, you could just cut through it, Zarayna!"
"Newt," I said, "if Tina says it won't work, then I think I believe her. I'm sure they thought of that when they enchanted the doors. Besides, how can you even suggest that I leave you? I've spent the last year thinking you were dead, and that was painful enough. I would never be able to stand it knowing that you're dead! Don't you remember our song?"
There was a song that Newt often sang to me when our relationship become more of a romantic one. It was a composition of his own. It was short, with simple lyrics and a simple tune. The song was:
I'll always love you
I'll never leave you
I'll always be in your heart,
And you in mine.
Every day he had proved those words to be true, but now he was asking me to do something which I could not.
I could tell that my question stung him. "Of course I do. How could I forget?"
"Then how can you ask my to leave you? Besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. My wand is long gone."
Newt gave me a quizzical look. "Gone? How?"
"I tossed it. Broke it in half and burned it. After John told me you died, I wanted nothing more to do with magic, so I've been living like a Muggle ever since."
"So . . . you haven't use any magic at all for a whole year?" It was more a statement than a question.
"None at all. Why? Is that so odd, after knowing how distraught I was?"
A heartbeat passed before he said, "No. I was just . . . surprised."
I didn't fully believe him; I had the feeling that there was something that he wasn't telling me. That he was surprised I could believe; that it was the only reason for probing, I could not. I let it drop, though.
A minute or so passed before Tina broke the silence. "Could it be true, Newt? What the president said about the Obscurus? There hasn't been one in centuries, at least not in America."
Newt appeared uncomfortable with this turn in the conversation. "It is certainly possible."
"What's an Obscurus?" said Jacob and I together.
This was exactly what Newt had been trying to avoid. His reaction was so strong that it was undeniable. His expression was one of horror, and though he made a noble attempt at trying to hide it, I knew that the question had been the one that he had been dreading to be asked.
He did answer it, though. He began slowly, but sped up as he went on, obviously eager to end the conversation as soon as possible. "An Obscurus is created when someone, usually a child, tries to suppress his or her magic, mainly due to persecution. Many countries, as I'm sure you know, are still living very much in fear of magic, so witches and wizards are unwelcome. The unused energy builds up inside the host's body until it is too much for the body to hold. Very few, if any, are able to control when the Obscurus breaks loose. It drains on the life forces of its host until the host body dies. The child usually will not live past ten."
This new information was interesting. I suddenly remembered the so called gas explosion from the previous day. Could that have been cause by the Obscurus? "What does an Obscurus look like?" I wondered if I had seen it.
"Well, I have heard some say that it looks like a black wind. I . . . have seen one, and I can say that that is probably the best way of describing what it looks like."
I hadn't seen it, then. Then I gasped involuntarily. Yesterday, my "illness" had come upon me just before the "gas explosion". And earlier today, it had come again just before the mayor's son was killed by an Obscurus. Hadn't I been trying to suppress my magic for the last year? I understood why Newt had been dreading this question, why he had wondered at the fact that I hadn't used magic in so long.
"I'm the Obscurus," I whispered.
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