Gramander Oneshots

I Am Newt (Pt. 1)

Percival shuffled through the many papers littering his desk, eyes skimming over the words on each of them to see if any caught his attention, but to no avail. Fingers digging into his temples, he rubbed them in circles to try and relieve the forming migraine from sitting there for over seven hours; the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was running slow and they hadn't had anything important to deal with in over a week, leaving everyone to do routine paperwork that didn't leave much to the imagination. Lowering one arm, he grabbed the mug of coffee--his fifth one that day--and sipped the scalding liquid, not even grimacing as it burned his throat on the way down. This sight was quite humorous, for the black mug he sipped from had the words WORLD'S BEST BOSS written on the front in white font, not matching the stoic man behind them whatsoever. One of his Aurors had jokingly gifted him the mug on his birthday a few years previous and Percival first used it to invoke surprise in the Auror, and it stuck ever since then

Just as he was about to settle in going through a report one of his workers submitted earlier that morning, an urgent knock on his office door met his ears and he blew a hot breath from his mouth, putting the mug back on his desk with haste. "Come in," he permitted, loud enough for whoever was on the other side to hear. As he listened to the doorknob twist and the door swing open, he took the mess of papers and made to order them in some way, but he gave up and just stacked them randomly, already thinking of the troubles he'd have later if he needed to acquire a specific paper. Looking to see who came to visit him, he was a bit surprised to find the President walking toward his desk, but he remained in-the-element as the blue-robed woman began speaking to him. "We've received reports of a group of wildlife traffickers that I want you and your Aurors to investigate."

"Where?" He asked immediately after, eager to finally have something to do. Seraphina smiled.

"Have you really been that bored, Percival?" He only released an indignant huff, giving her a look of pure impatience. "We think they've made camp in Central Park," she further explained after a moment of silence. Percival furrowed his eyebrows at this.

"Central Park? Shouldn't we have noticed them sooner if they were in such a public area?"

"Apparently not. We only received knowledge of anything after a No-Maj reported to the police that there was a merman in the Lake." Blinking repeatedly, astonished at this information, Percival had to silently process this information for a minute.

"A... merman? In the Lake? Of Central Park?"

"Yes, I believe that's what the head of police informed me," she affirmed, folding her arms across her waist. "I trust you can fix this situation." The man flashed a smile at her at this.

"Now is there anyone else you would trust, Seraphina?" Sighing half-heartedly, she gave him a faux-tired expression.

"I suppose not. Now get to it, Director."

***

The shift from summer to autumn had begun in New York City, bringing with it cooler temperatures and a yellow tint to some of the leaves on the trees, though Percival spent no time observing these changes as he strode along a pathway that cut through the grass in Central Park. He didn't often visit the expanse of greenery, but he could appreciate it for what it was; it was something that emanated calm in a city so hectic. Percival, along with six other Aurors, were all coming upon Sheep Meadow from different angles, hoping that they would be able to surround the traffickers inconspicuously. After surveying all of the other large expanses of grass where a hideout could be built, they found nothing, which was what led them to this one.

Since all of them cast disillusionment charms on themselves, Percival was able to withdraw his wand and cast spells to detect any concealment charms without drawing the attention of the No-Majs that milled around him who were, oddly, not even glancing at the meadow. He knew that people enjoyed stopping to watch the placid sheep graze--he didn't know why; perhaps it helped in calming themselves, but he preferred other methods of doing so; ones that didn't involve watching animals eat grass--and not even one person so much as inclined their head in the direction of them. Sure enough, the spell came back positive with as many as fifty concealment charms placed all around the area and he smiled to himself, expression akin to that of a predator stalking its prey. "Got you."