"I'm sorry sir, but we're really not accepting any guests right now," Abernathy told the British wizard. Someone had come to visit Scamander – something he didn't expect. He was convinced that the young wizard didn't have any friends or relatives close to him, yet barely a day after he's brought in here, someone is asking to see him. He found the entire situation a bit too uneasy to take lightly.
"Oh, I'll only be a minute," Dumbledore assured him. This was nothing to him, he was confident in his abilities to get Newt out of here. The only hassle was finding where he was.
Abernathy raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. He definitely was getting a bad vibe from him. Something about the situation just didn't make sense, but he was in no place to start making accusations. "How do you know Mister Scamander?" he asked. Maybe, just maybe, he could get some useful information out of this man.
"He's a former student of mine, and he's recently been published. I was very proud of him; I always knew he had potential. Anyways, when his name popped into the system over there, I was a little worried what happened to him. I was his emergency contact, he's not very close to his family. Are you sure I cannot see him?"
Abernathy paused. "What did you say your name was again?"
"Albus Dumbledore," he smiled patiently.
A bell went off in Abernathy's head. He recognized the name – Newt had named him earlier when he was talking about the mysterious ______. He had told them that Albus Dumbledore could vouch for her. Taking a stab in the dark, Abernathy asked, "Have you ever met a ______, or met a woman named ______ who was around Mister Scamander? He was out cold when we brought him here, and he's suffering from a little amnesia, along with a vision of a woman named ______. Does the name ring a bell?"
"I can't say that it does," Dumbledore told him. "The state he's in, I'm sure he'll remember everything promptly. Do you know what it was that attacked him?"
"Sorry, that's classified," Abernathy shut Dumbledore down. MACUSA was trying everything it could to keep the stories of Apathy Syndrome from leaking out and terrifying the rest of the wizarding community – they didn't need the fear of Dementors added to that. They still had no idea why they were here, and how they got there.no way was he going to tell anything to some old teacher.
"I understand," Dumbledore nodded. "So – can I see him?"
Abernathy sighed. "I suppose it can't do any harm. Maybe you can talk some sense into him, get him to talk about anything other than ______. He won't leave that alone – he's a desperate man."
"I'll try my best," Dumbledore assured him as they started walking along the halls and going to the cells where they had Newt locked up. He knew he shouldn't be doing this, but he didn't want to turn him away. After al, he came all this way, and considerably fast. He must have paid good money to check up on Newt – they seemed close.
Newt looked up to the slightest sound that came down the hall. He kept hoping that someone would come through to let him out. He thought about trying to go to sleep, but there were too many thoughts keeping him awake. The more he focused on trying to remember, the more impossible the task began to feel. He had nothing to do and no one to turn to – he was helpless. That's why the sight of anyone would cheer him up right now – he needed someone to assure him that he wasn't losing it.
And although seeing anyone would cheer him up, he just happened to have enough luck that the person walking down the hall for was Albus Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore!" Newt stood up right away, looking through the bars of his small cell and into Dumbledore's eyes. "I've never been happier to see you."
Dumbledore gave him a knowing and patient smile. "Why is it every time I seem to run into you, you're in some kind of trouble?" he asked.
Newt's eyes widened. Maybe it was a reach in the dark, but that sentence had to mean something. Newt had a feeling Dumbledore wasn't just talking about the beast scandal at school – but what happened last time too. When he caught Newt and ______ in the headmaster's office and stunned him, allowing for the two of them to escape. "You remember her then?" Newt asked hopefully. "You know ______?"
Dumbledore sighed, looking over at Abernathy. "Do you mind if I have a word with him in private?" he asked. "I think maybe I can get through to him if I can talk to him one-on-one. Any chance you can let me in there with him?"
Abernathy crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I can let you in there, but I cannot allow you to be alone with him. I'm sorry, standard procedure."
I was afraid he'd say that, Dumbledore thought to himself. He sighed internally, he was really hoping he wouldn't have to resort to the part of his plan he was about to, but it looked like he didn't have any other choice. "Ah, of course. I'm sorry, I don't think I ever caught your name."
"Abernathy," he spoke, straightening his posture. He wanted to look professional as possible. It was getting late, and Abernathy would rather be at home than here given the chance, but he was stuck here. Given orders to "watch the prisoner." To be honest, in his current state they were more worried about him hurting himself rather than others. He didn't seem to be in his right mind. "I appreciate you're staying, and it's been a long journey. Any chance you can get us something to drink?"
Abernathy shook his head a little hesitantly. "I really can't leave you alone with him."
"I'll keep an eye on him, you have my word. I just want to talk to him, and I've come a very long way." Dumbledore tried assuring Abernathy in the nicest, most trusting voice he could muster. All he needed was just a minute or two alone with Newt.
It was getting late, and the older wizard did have a point. He came a long way, he seemed trustworthy, and his credentials seemed to fit. This wasn't the first time he'd heard Albus Dumbledore's name. Even before interviewing Newt, Abernathy had heard his name somewhere. "Alright, I'll be right back. Just... don't cause a commotion and don't tell anyone I allowed this."
"Of course," Dumbledore nodded in agreement as Abernathy walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed, Dumbledore turned his full attention onto Newt. "Listen Newt, we don't have much time, so I need you to let me talk."
"No one will tell me what has happened, and they keep telling me ______ isn't real," Newt told him, ignoring his instruction. "Please just tell me that you remember-"
"Yes, I do. I remember her, but Newt, you need to let me talk. It seems to me you've lost your memory, and I will tell you everything as far as I now, but you need to get out of here first. They're charging you for a crime you didn't commit, and as soon as you give them the information they need, they'll punish you without a trial. Now, I need your help finding out what's going on here, and I can't get that when you're in here, so follow my lead."
Newt nodded and Abernathy headed back into the room carrying two cups of coffee. The smell filled the air as he handed one to Dumbledore. Newt wasn't even paying attention because he had one thought on his mind:
______ was alive.
They had been lying to him. Tina had been lying to him, and that's the part that really caught him off guard. Tina always did what she thought was right, he knew she wouldn't lie to him without a reason. What reason was good enough to lie to him about something like this?
Bad thoughts ran through his mind.
A thud snapped Newt out of his thoughts, and he saw Abernathy fast asleep on the floor. He looked from Abernathy to Dumbledore. "What... how did you..." Newt trailed off.
"I offered him some sugar that had been doused in a sleeping draught. It does the trick. Now, let's get you out of that cell."
Dumbledore raised his wand at the lock and mumbled a spell, and the door flew open. Newt came out as fast as possible and followed Dumbledore as they began to sneak out and through the halls of the MACUSA building. It was late at night, but there were still many people hanging around since there was a crisis in motion. It took them all of ten minutes to get out of there, and the entire time dead silent. Newt had so many questions, so the second they got out of the building and out of sight, he started barraging Dumbledore with all of them.
"What happened? How do you know? Where's ______ gone?" Newt asked all at once.
Dumbledore took a deep breath. "I don't understand why you don't remember Newt, but you were hunting dementors things went wrong. You were attacked, and you and your friend Tina barely made it out with your lives."
"What about ______?" Newt asked. Dumbledore was silent. "Please tell me what happened, where's ______? I won't help you until I know what's happened to her."
Dumbledore hesitated. "My witness said that she was taken. That she was surrounded, and instead of attacking her, she was simply knocked out, unlike anything I've ever seen or heard of before. Then someone came and took her. She's alive, but I don't know if she's hurt or where she is, but I have reason to believe whoever took ______ is behind all of this."
"How can someone be behind dementor attacks?"
"That's what I intend to find out. MACUSA has been calling what has happened Apathy Syndrome, but it's something else."
Newt searched his memory, and as Dumbledore spoke about what happened, images began coming back to him. Just faint images, but he began to remember. He remembered getting attacked and Tina saving him, and he remembered ______ being attacked just before he was out cold.
"What about ______? Why didn't your witness try to help?"
"They couldn't, they're a squib. They couldn't have helped if they tried. Newt, if we find ______, we could find who did this and put this to and end. So I'll ask this: will you help me?"
Newt thought about it, but there wasn't much to think about. He would do anything to find ______. He told her he's protect her, and now she's been kidnapped and his case is gone. Whoever is doing this wanted her for whatever reason, and he will do anything to find her.
"Yes."