Chapter 268: Traces
Surrounded by a dozen or so magical creatures, Newt carefully drew a few worn, yellowed letters from an inner pocket, the last correspondence he'd exchanged with Nagini.
Time had slipped by, the ink had faded, and only the faintest trace of a scent, barely perceptible, still clung to the paper.
The little creatures crowded close, each committing the particulars of that scent to memory in their own way.
A moment later, they darted off into the surrounding forest, the search underway.
Once the magical creatures had scattered, Newt picked a direction guided by instinct and began his own search.
His command of magic was formidable in its own right, and when it came to reading animal tracks, his instincts were far keener than most people's.
As for his deep understanding of magical creatures' habits and his ability to put that knowledge to use, Newt stood in a class of his own.
These furry, scaly companions of his had pulled off countless remarkable feats over the years. Setting aside their work as bodyguards and escorts, a Bowtruckle had once helped him pick a lock to break out of a cell; a Swooping Evil and a Zouwu had carried him flying across the sky…
There'd even been a Niffler that had once stolen a certain someone's token of affection for him, a theft that had gone on to change the whole course of events.
Another three or four days passed, and the magical creatures had searched several nearby stretches of forest, yet still no solid word had come back.
Newt wasn't in any hurry. Retirement hadn't left him with much, but it had certainly left him with plenty of time.
He strode through the cold, rugged woodland with none of the sluggishness one might expect of an older man; if anything, his pace could be called brisk.
Aurelius had sent him a special gift not long ago: a potion Leonardo had brewed, called Vitality Renewed.
After taking it, both Newt and his wife Tina had noticed their bodies feeling markedly lighter.
In their younger years, the two of them had made quite the pair: one an Auror for MACUSA, forever locked in contests with Dark wizards, the other travelling the world dealing with dangerous magical creatures and standing up to unscrupulous poachers. Together, they'd lived through the wizarding war against Grindelwald and his Acolytes firsthand.
Over the years, that had inevitably left behind a few lingering ailments that neither healing magic nor ordinary potions could quite root out.
And yet, remarkably, a single bottle of Leonardo's potion had cured them.
Newt even felt he'd genuinely grown "younger" by a few years, his stamina and energy restored to what they'd once been, able to stay up through several nights running just to look after the magical creatures.
Vitality Renewed. The name suited it perfectly.
Newt's mind had drifted for a moment, recalling how, in his last exchange of letters with Leonardo a few days before, the boy had mentioned taking part in an alchemy competition at Beauxbatons. Newt wasn't unfamiliar with Beauxbatons himself; he'd been there a few times in his younger years, investigating the local magical creatures…
Suddenly, he felt a few tugs at his trouser leg.
Newt looked down and saw the pure black Niffler gazing up at him, its beady eyes glinting faintly.
He understood the little creature's meaning at once: something had been found, and it needed him to follow.
"Well done."
Newt praised it quietly, and pulled a sapphire from his pocket at once, one he'd set aside beforehand, not especially valuable but plenty shiny.
The Niffler took it eagerly, tucking it away with the utmost care into the pouch on its belly, giving it a couple of pats with its little paw to make sure it was settled, before turning and setting off ahead, nose pressed to the ground, leading the way.
Guided by the Niffler, Newt made his way through a tangle of undergrowth and came out into a clearing where snow lay mixed with a thick layer of dead leaves.
"Is this the spot?"
The Niffler nodded firmly, its little paw pointing at a patch of ground.
Newt didn't hesitate any longer. He raised his wand.
"Appare Vestigium."
A soft crack sounded, and a fine shower of golden magical dust burst from the wand's tip, spreading rapidly outward, covering the ground for a dozen or so feet in every direction.
Within the reach of the golden dust, the ground beneath began to show marks of varying depth and shape, tracks left behind by all manner of animals moving through recently: the claw-prints of birds, the clover-shaped marks of small creatures, a tangled, overlapping mess of them.
Newt crouched down, searching carefully through the overlapping marks, his eyes sweeping across them, trying to find the winding, sinuous impression a snake would leave as it moved.
The Niffler, having just been rewarded, seemed especially eager, its little nose practically pressed to the ground as it sniffed here and scratched there.
Suddenly, it stopped at a spot near a tree root where the snow lay thinner, let out a short cry, then jumped up and waved its little paws hard in Newt's direction.
Newt strode over quickly, planted himself at the spot the Niffler had pointed out, and flicked his wand once more.
"Revelio."
A brighter burst of light flared from the wand's tip, and the golden dust drifting around them seemed to answer some silent call, rushing together to a single point, then surging upward and gathering like a film playing in reverse, until at last it formed a faintly wavering, translucent image hanging in the air.
A massive serpent, its scales a deep, inky green, was slowly making its way across the ground.
Its movements carried the particular ease and eerie stillness of a cold-blooded creature. In the triangular head, those cold, slit-pupiled eyes held not the faintest trace of human reason or feeling, only the rawest, purest wildness, and an indifferent wariness toward everything around it.
Newt recognised it in a single glance.
Nagini.