Newt's POV
We apparated to The Blind Pig. The entrance was down a narrow alleyway.
Jeanne lead us down quietly. Her wand was at her side and ready. We came to a brick wall; it was a dead end. On the wall was a portrait of a woman in flapper attire, looking in a mirror.
Jeanne raised her hand, the eyes of the painted woman following. She knocked four times.
Feeling conscious, I magicked on a small bowtie. (Bowties are cool).
A hatched opened on the wall suddenly. The portrait's eyes darting to it. Behind it was the gaze of a suspicious guard.
~~~
We stepped inside the low-ceilinged speakeasy. Every witch and wizard criminal in New York was here, their wanted posters hanging proudly on the walls. One such poster read:
Gellert Grindlewald: Wanted for No-Maj Slayings in Europe
A glamourous goblin jazz singer crooned on a stage full of other magical musicians.
Jacob, Tina, and Queenie went over to the bar to get drinks.
Jeanne and I took a seat at a grimey round table, trying to look nonchalant. I glanced around the room quietly. Wizards with hooded and scarred faces peered over at Jeanne's wings. She didn't seem to mind. I had to remind myself that Jeanne was a regular in this place.
"Once upon a time," started Jeanne sarcastically. "I arrested half the people in here. That's probably why I'm getting all the looks. I'm kind of hard to miss with the wings and all."
"You can tell me to mind my own business . . ." I started. "But when you were tied up by that Second Salem lady . . . Did you—how do I put this?—provoke her?"
"Well, that's how I lost my job. I went for her in front of a meeting with her crazy followers. She just kept screaming at this poor boy. Credence, I believe his name was. I tried to stop her and her nonsense. But, they all had to be obliviated. I got my wand suspended, lost my job, apartment," Jeanne sighed. "But I guess oblivating only does so much. She must have remembered me somehow."
"Well—If you don't mind me asking—how'd she get you tied up?" I asked.
"I-I was . . ." A tear rolled down Jeanne's cheek.
"No, no," I started softly. "Don't cry, I should have never asked that. I'm sorry." I took her hands in mine and squeezed them gently across the table.
"I was trying to protect that boy, Credence," Jeanne said quietly. "He was just sitting on the curb in the rain. So I unveiled my wings to wrap him in my coat. I had so little, but he had so less. That horrible woman . . . She had seen what I'd done. She'd seen my wings. She came behind me so quietly with a rope, meaning to choke me. I fought back, until . . ."
I leaned in closer. "Yeah?"
"She made the children beat me."
I stared at her in disbelief. "But you didn't fight back?"
"How could I? They were children," Jeanne said quietly.
We sat in silence for an eternity. I held Jeanne's hands gently and hummed a little tune.
Jacob, Queenie, and Tina didn't dare come over. They just kept turning around on their bar stools every so often to look at us and smiling . . . Oddly. Queenie then told me something in my head and I nearly jumped out of my seat, thinking I was hearing things.
Then, the band then started up with slow song. I stood up, making my chair skid across the floor loudly, causing Jeanne to look up. I smiled. "May I have this dance?" I asked.
She smiled her soft, pretty smile and took my hand. Other wizards soon joined us. Queenie and Jacob danced next to us. Soon Tina was on her feet as well, asked my a rather sporting man who Queenie claimed, in my head, works with Tina at MACUSA.
Jeanne smiled up at me then rested her head on my shoulder. I felt my cheeks go red but I hugged her tighter.
I was never telling Jeanne that this was Queenie's idea.
A/N: Okay, so maybe I do fanart for my own stories . . . Deal with it.