"You're safe." Newt said softly, leaning towards the little boy who had screwed his tiny hands into fists, digging his nails in and biting his lip, and in that moment there was so much of his Percival there that Newt flinched. This was the man who wouldn't cry as he was tortured, trying not to cry even when he was terrified and defenceless.

Queenie was whimpering against Jacob's shoulder, clutching his hand, and Theseus swore.
"Shit, no wonder Perce let me turn his hair blue..." He was staring at the boy in horror. Everyone was looking towards him, and Credence who was closest gently wrapped an arm around him, rocking him. Credence had always looked after his younger siblings, and maybe that was what he was trying to do now, but the little boy tried to squirm away - and made a beeline straight to Newt.

"'s the accent." Queenie whispered to him, and Newt nodded, crouching down to the little boy.
"Hey..." he murmured. "My name's Newt, and I think you've got a little lost." He held out his arms, and the boy burrowed against his side, hiding his face against Newt's coat.
"Hi...hi Newt." The little boy mumbled. "I'm Percy."
"It's good to meet you Percy." Newt murmured. "It's okay. You must be scared..."
"Graves don't get scared." The little boy informed him, chin jutting up, trying to sound mature.
"You sound pretty scared. What do you think will happen if Pa catches you crying?" The stranger asked, and Percy flinched again, biting his lip and shaking his head in terrified silence. Newt stared up at the stranger, and saw Tina had drawn her wand, was pointing it straight at him.

Theseus did the same.
"Get the kid out of here." Theseus told his brother. "He doesn't want to see this."
Jacob frowned, looking around at them all, but it was Credence who voiced his concerns.
"What... what happened?"
"We got fucking primused." Theseus spat.

It was Queenie who explained.
"We...we got de-aged to the night when we lost our virginity." She paused, swallowing and turning to the stranger.
"What went wrong with Percival?" Credence asked, and Newt flinched.
"Nothing went wrong." The stranger answered. "Well, aside from him not being at the hotel at the time we agreed. The spell worked perfectly." As he spoke, the ropes around his wrists twisted away and he stood free, summoning his wand with one sweep of his hand. "Now, I'll be taking what's mine."
"Get him out Tadpole. We've got this." Theseus gritted through his teeth, moving to stand between this man and Percival. Newt watched as the others all moved to create a barrier between this man and Newt. Wisps of smoke were lifting off from Credence's arms, and Jacob was rolling up his sleeves.

Newt grabbed Percy, picking him up and cuddling him tight as spells started flying.
"Want to come on an adventure?"
Percy tilted his head, but seemed to be distracted, staring at Newt's coat. Newt nearly collapsed in relief when he realised that Pickett had appeared from his pocket. Percy raised his hand towards the bowtruckle, and Newt took that as his sign to move them quickly, heading to the suitcase that was behind the bed.

He tucked Percy against him as he jumped down, and heard someone else close the lid above them. He wasn't sure who, but he wondered if it might be Jacob. Jacob seemed to be handling what was happening pretty well, all things considered.

Percy looked around the shed in confusion, but Newt smiled and held out his hand for the boy to take. He could hear spells flying around above but he trusted the others, and keeping Percy safe had to be his number one priority.
"Mister?" The boy asked, and his expression had changed from frightened to confused. "What's that on your coat?"
"This? This is Pickett. He's a bowtruckle..." Gently, Newt picked Pickett up. "Now, hold out your hands for me?"

The boy did so, and Newt hissed when he saw welts across the boy's palms. "Your hands look sore."
"Made a glass break." Percy whispered. "I'm sorry Mister."
"Hey. No need to apologise." He cast a quick healing spell over the injuries, then thought and cast the same spell across the boy as a whole. The situation was terrible enough without him having to deal with bruises and goodness knows what else.
"Thank you Mister." Percy mumbled.

"It's Newt. And you're welcome. I don't like anyone being hurt."
"I won't be in trouble?"
"I promise you, you aren't going to be in any trouble. Now, with your hand all fixed up, do you want to let Pickett take a seat? I need to find him some food, and it's much too warm here to wear my coat-" Newt threw it off with an overdramatic flourish and grinned.

Percy nodded, cupping his hands together in front of him, and Newt carefully placed Pickett down.
"Pickett, this is Percy. He's my friend. Percy, Pickett."
"Hello." Percy said softly, then squeaked as Pickett waved one branch-like arm in greeting.
“Pickett’s quite fragile, so you need to be careful, okay Percy?”

Percy nodded quickly, frowning a little in concentration as he held Pickett still.
“Well done.” Newt paused, not sure if he should be quizzing the boy. For now though, the goal was to look after Percy, not interrogate him as to the identity of the stranger. He found a jar of woodlice, picking out one.

“This is Pickett’s dinner.” He explained, and held it up. Percy watched in wide eyed wonder as Pickett devoured the woodlouse. His stomach rumbled and he blushed, moving his hand before remembering to hold still.
“You hungry Percy?” Newt asked, looking through the jars until he found one full of candy. “Here.” He held out the candy. Percy paused, clearly trying to work out how to take the candy without dropping Pickett. “Put him on your shoulder. He’d like that.”

Percy obeyed, and reached for the candy once Pickett was safely in position.
“Thank you Mister Newt.” He said politely.
“Just Newt.” Newt answered, patting Percy’s hair. “Now, you want to meet some more of my creatures?”
“Pa… Pa says animals are dirty.” Percy mumbled, but there was hope in his eyes.
“It can be our secret.” Newt said quickly, then flinched at the look that crossed Percy’s face. “It’s okay.” He told the boy. “I mean, if you don’t want to see them that’s okay, but I’ve got to feed them, so you can either come with me or stay here and look after Pickett.”

Percy hesitated, and then shook his head.
“I’ll come.”
“Okay. Now, you stay with me okay?” Newt said softly. “None of these creatures want to hurt you, but some of them are scared of strangers.”
Percy nodded, one hand reaching out to grab Newt’s hand. Newt squeezed gently, guiding him towards the niffler’s nest.

The niffler looked up in curiosity, glancing between Newt and Percy.
“This is Niff.” Newt explained, and Percy waved his free hand in greeting.
“Hello Niff…”
“Niff is a niffler. Do you know anything about nifflers?” There was a pause, and the boy nodded, nibbling on his lip.
“They’re naughty, like me.” He said. “They steal and they are pests.” That hurt Newt, the knowledge that Percy was so young and was already being taught to hate creatures, to hate himself.
“They are naughty.” Newt agreed, picking Niff up from his nest and tickling him to make sure he wasn’t carrying anything sharp. “But they’re funny. And they give good cuddles.” He held Niff towards Percy, who cautiously patted him, then wrapped his arms around Niff, cuddling him to his chest.
“Niff really likes seeing all of my other creatures. Do you think you can carry him for me so I can carry the food?” Newt asked, and Percy nodded proudly. “Thank you Percy.”

There was a lot that Newt wanted to say, to reassure him, to tell him that he wasn’t bad, but this spell was only temporary and while Percy was distracted he didn’t want to draw attention to what had happened before. So he picked up the mooncalf pellets, and walked over to their meadow, tossing a handful of pellets into the air.

Percy stared wide eyed at the floating pellets, then squealed in delight as mooncalves bounded towards them, bouncing across the field and starting to gobble the pellets from the air.
“You want to feed them?” Newt asked, lowering the bucket so that Percy could grab a handful. Percy threw the food up as far as he could, then giggled as one of the mooncalves nuzzled into his hair.

Percy froze, startled at the sound he had made, cuddling Niff closer to his chest. Niff wriggled indignantly, but then seemed to realise Percy was frightened. Newt crouched to Percy’s height.
“Something wrong?” He asked, voice calm and non-judgemental.

“Children should be seen and not heard.” Percy told him softly. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay Percy.” Newt reassured the boy even as anger bubbled beneath him. “I giggle all the time. And I won’t ever be angry at you for any noise you make.” Newt thought of what Percival had told him about his family – that his parents were distant, proper, that he had been brought up to show respect. Words that clearly hid a multitude of horrors, words that had shaped Percival into the man he was today. “Do you want to see how to make Niff giggle?”

Percy nodded, and Newt lifted the niffler from his arms, showing him how to tickle its tummy. Percy did so shyly, glancing up at Newt to check he was doing it right. When Niff giggled so did Percy. It was a quiet noise, but one that was there. A sign of progress. Newt turned, and laughed when he saw that the mooncalves had managed to knock over the bucket of pellets.

Percy watched them curiously, and Newt crouched beside him.
“See, that’s Amy, she had a hurt leg but look at her now, and this is Charlie, he’s always the most confident, and that’s Bertie at the back there. He’s quite shy. Do you think you could take him a couple of pellets?”
Percy did as he was told, eyes shining with wonder.

“That was brilliant Percy…” Newt told him, enfolding the little boy in a hug. “Are you sleepy?”
“A little.” Percy paused, then reached for Newt’s hand. “Do I have to go home?” He sounded reluctant, and Newt’s heart ached.
“No.” Newt said firmly. “I promise you Percy, you don’t have to go home. Not unless you want to.”
That seemed to soothe the boy, and he held onto Newt as Newt guided him through the case, making sure he didn’t get too close to anything dangerous. He reached the occamy nest, smiling at Dougal.
“These are occamy. They’re just babies, but you can’t cuddle them okay? They bite.”

Percy nodded, eyes dark with sincerity, and Newt wanted nothing more than to cuddle the boy again.
“This is Dougal. He’s a demiguise, and he looks after things for me sometimes…” Dougal vacated his nest so that Newt could heft Percy into it. The boy wasn’t much bigger than Dougal, and curled up comfortably in the nest. Newt took out his wand, conjuring a warm blanket to wrap around his shoulders.

“I’ve just got to go upstairs for a minute alright? I’ll be back soon. Pickett and Niff are going to keep you safe, and so is Dougal, aren’t you Dougal?”
Dougal chittered his agreement, and Newt slipped away.

***

Climbing up the ladder filled him with fear, but as he stuck his head out of the case he relaxed. The stranger was lying on the floor, wrapped in ropes, his face swollen grotesquely. He was clearly unconscious. Theseus waved a hand in greeting.
“Newtwit, I got a chance to try out a few new hexes.”
“Me too.” Said Tina, who was standing over the stranger, wand pointed at him.

“How is he?” Asked Queenie, sniffling a little from where she was sat on the bed, Jacob on one side and Credence on the other. “Percival… he’s the best Occlumens I have ever met. I… I had no idea…” Credence had clearly been crying, his face damp, but he looked up at Newt hopefully.
“He’s safe.” Newt said softly. “And tomorrow, we’ll talk to him, and deal with this man.” He walked over, embracing Queenie and then Credence. Jacob nodded.
“I think.. I think me and Credence are the only ones who remember what’s going on, what happened before that spell… Tina and Theseus don’t remember meeting.”
“It’s because you’re a muggle.” Newt said softly. “It affected you differently, and thank goodness it did. Are you all alright up here? I don’t want to leave Percy on his own for too long.”
“We’re fine.” Queenie reassured him. “Go and look after Percy.”

Newt hurried back down the ladder, and swore when he saw the nundu was near the occamy basket. Cautiously he approached, then stared wide eyed. She was lying there with her eyes open and teeth bared, but facing away from Dougal’s nest.
“You… are you guarding him?” Newt asked curiously. Percival was often the one to feed the Nundu, so in a way it made sense. She inclined her head slightly.
“Thank you.” Newt walked around her, making sure he didn’t pose a threat., and saw that Percy was still where he had been left. He was deeply asleep with Niff cuddled to his chest and Pickett in his hair. Dougal was sat on top of the nest, smiling a little.
“You can’t keep him.” Newt told the creatures fondly, settling down next to the nest to watch. If Percy had a nightmare, then Newt would be there to keep him safe. As if hearing his thoughts, Percy whimpered a little, and Dougal rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder, calming him.

Newt stayed awake, just to be sure that Percy wouldn’t be afraid. He had a lot to think about.