Percival is back at work and outwardly he seems fine, still the strict and stoic boss everyone knows. Newt returns to New York and while he's waiting for Tina at MACUSA to be properly introduced to Percival, the Niffler or Pickett runs off to some secluded area. It's while Newt is scrambling after his runaway friend that he happens to hear someone quietly crying. To Newt's shock, and then deep concern, when he finds the source of the weeping it is none other than Percival, the real Percival.

Newt being his empathetic self asks Percival what's wrong and comes closer. Percival wants to pull himself together, but he just can't. So, with tears still streaming down his face, he reveals to Newt that just that morning, while he was going through his house, he finally found either his missing house elf or his beloved pet long dead and decayed. Turns out Grindelwald in his infinite cruelty had locked the elf or animal away and let the poor thing starve to death. Percival says he buried his friend in the garden just hours earlier with a heart made of stone, and he had come to work just fine only now he just can't stop seeing the state of his friend and falling apart. Newt can't bare to see such pain and simply throws himself around Percival in a rib bending hug. Somewhere along the way the Niffler or Pickett comes and joins in, offering Percival comfort. It's when he sees Percival tenderly shower some affection back at the Niffler or Pickett that he falls head over heels and also introduced himself to the real Percival Graves.