Newt had Apparated them to the empty streets of Fifth Avenue, only blocks away from Macy's Department Store. He walked quickly up the dark and deserted sidewalk, though Mr. Kawaloski rushed past him to show him the way to their destination. Penelope kept towards the back of the group, simply because Tina was now walking beside Newt, and the pair were whispering quietly to one another.

About three blocks down, Jacob quickly crossed the street towards a large building with many windows. He stared through the window at the display with wide eyes, and it took Penelope a moment to realize that an expensive-looking purse was being moved by some invisible force.

Newt pushed past Kawolski and, with a wave of his wand, mumbled "finestra", causing the glass window to shatter before their eyes. Jacob, still not used to the wizarding world, jumped at the sudden action, though he still followed Newt as he leaped through the shattered window and into the store.

The large building was almost haunting as they group walked through it, searching for the floating purse that they had seen earlier. They found it scurrying through the Christmas department, soft grunting noises that belonged only to a Demiguise coming from the area around it.

"Right," Newt said from beside Penelope; she jumped at the sound of his voice, as she hadn't noticed that he had crouched down beside her. "Demiguises are fundamentally peaceful, although they can give a nasty nip if alerted."

Penelope's eyes widened as a silky white creature appeared behind the floating handbag, walking through the isle as if it were a customer in the busy store. It then stopped as its eyes landed on a box full of ornaments, and it began picking through them curiously.

Newt gestured towards Queenie and Jacob, who stood behind two poles in attempt to stay out of sight of the Demiguise. "You two go that way," he said, pointing to his left. "And try very hard to not be predictable."

Queenie and Jacob exchanged a confused look at his words, though they didn't argue as they slowly slid off in the direction they were told. Thankfully, the creature was still crawling amongst the shelves of ornamaents, its huge yellow eyes looking around it as if it were searching for something. Suddenly, a faint screech echoed through the silent department store, sending chills down Penelope's spine.

"Was that the Demiguise?" Tina asked from where she was crouched on the other side of Newt, her voice a mere whisper.

"No," Newt responded with a shake of his head. "But I think it might be the reason the Demiguise is here. Come on." He then grabbed Penelope's hand, pulling her alongside him as he followed the Demiguise through the empty store.

At the sound of the sudden footsteps behind it, the Demiguise stopped walking. It turned around, gazing at Newt for a moment before tilting its head as if telling him to follow it. It then continued to scurry up a flight of wooden stairs that led to the next level. The corner of Newt's lips twitched in a small, crooked smile as he stared at the creature. Then, he followed it up the stairs, Penelope and Tina following closely after him.

On the second floor, Queenie and Jacob were already there, watching as the Demiguise approached the middle of the room, the handbag hanging from its arm. Once it reached the middle of the room, it crouched low to the ground and began pulling things from the bag.

"Its sight operates on probability," Newt explained in a whisper. "So it can foresee the most likely immediate future." He then began to approach the silky white creature, keeping low to the ground so he didn't startle it. Penelope, unable to resist the curiosity she felt towards the creature, followed him.

"What's it doing?" She asked Newt when she caught up to him, watching the creature as it pulled various objects from the handbag and held them in the air.

"Its babysitting," Newt told her. "And I have a feeling I know what." He slowly walked towards the beast, crouching beside it and placing his suitcase on the ground. The Demiguise turned to look at him, snorting softly as it handed him a gold coin. Smiling, Newt took it from the creature, stuffing it in the pocket of his trench coat.

"It's babysitting that?" Tina asked suddenly, staring up at the ceiling as a humongous creature began to slither down from the rafters. Penelope immediately recognized the blue snake-like bird as the Occamy that had escaped Newt's case earlier that day. It was now much bigger, however, and she wondered why.

A cooing noise fells from Newt's lips as the creature's humongous head stopped in front of him, staring at him with huge yellow eyes. Its eyes not leaving him, the Occamy gently took a dead bug out of the hands of the Demiguise, swallowing it.

Although she felt on edge in the presence of the giant creature, Penelope couldn't help but smile in awe at the way the Demiguise was caring for the Occamy.

"Occamies grow to fill available space," Newt explained quietly, his mouth barely moving as he spoke. Penelope knew very well that he was trying his hardest not to startle the beast, as she remembered the horrible wound that it had inflicted on him earlier that day. And she knew what one this size was capable of doing.

The Occamy cooed as it lowered itself to Newt's eyelevel, leaning towards his outstretch hand. "Mummy's here," the British man whispered in attempt to calm the beast. Beside Penelope, Queenie slowly began walking towards the Occamy, her eyes filled with wonder as she gazed at it. As she took a step however, her shoe hit a stray ornament that lay on the floor, causing it to rattle and roll towards Newt and the Occamy.

The humongous beast let out a shrill cry of alarm, rising into the arm as it flapped its powerful wings. The Demiguise took off running in the opposite direction as the Occamy freaked out, leaping into Jacob's arms and holding onto him for dear life.

"Whoa, whoa," Newt attempted to calm the beast down, though it wasn't working.

Terrified, memories of the night her father was killed flashed in Penelope's mind, and she wanted to run and hide from the startled beast. Though she couldn't leave her friends behind to die. "Newt!" She screeched as the creature's whip-like tail just barely missed his head. She reached out for him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to her.

"We need an insect!" Newt screamed over the commotion, earning a bunch of confused looks. "Any kind of insect, and a teapot!"

The others ran off to find what he had asked for, though Penelope refused to leave his side. She held onto his harm tightly in attempt to keep him out of harm's way. She ducked as the Occamy's blue and green feathered wing flew above her head, though Newt wasn't as quick. He was ripped from Penelope's gripped and swooped into the air as the Occamy began to rise into the rafters.

She backed away from the creature, unsure of what to do. She could hear Newt's pleading screams as he tried to calm the Occamy now, though nothing seemed to work. The fear in his voice seemed to trigger something inside of Penelope, however, and she felt as if she were growing stronger by the second.

The next thing she knew, she was on all fours leaping towards the beast with a snarl. She had no idea what had come over her that made her act like such an animal, though she didn't stop herself as she sunk her teeth into the Occamy's flesh. The creature screeched in pain, almost drowning out Newt's exclamation of "Merlin's beard!"

Penelope continued to hold onto the creature's flesh as if her life depended on it; in reality, Newt's very well could have. She could hear commotion behind her as the others frantically tried to catch an insect.

"Teapot!" she heard Tina exclaim, and turned to see the brunette woman holding a porcelain tea pot in the air. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Penelope, which made the young woman wonder what was going on.

Penelope turned to see that Jacob was pressed against a wooden pillar by a section of the Occamy's enormous body. He held a cockroach in his hand, which had immediately caused the Occamy to stop moving. The creature's huge, unmoving yellow eyes were focused on the roach.

"Roach in teapot," Newt whispered from behind the beast's head. By now, as she sensed that the majority of the danger was over with, Penelope had let go of the creature's flesh, and was now standing on two legs once more.

Jacob nodded slowly at Tina, who held the teapot in front of her, ready to catch the roach. He stroked the feathered body of the Occamy nervously before tossing the cockroach towards Tina. The Occamy immediately followed the roach as it flew across the room, releasing its death grip on Jacob.

The teapot stretched out in front of her, Tina stumbled across the room in order to catch the roach. It all seemed to happen in slow motion- the roach landing squarely in the teapot and the Occamy shrinking size as it followed the insect inside. Newt quickly stumbled across the building, slamming a lid onto the teapot before the Occamy could escape once more. Him and Tina stared into each other's eyes for a moment, and a small smile formed on his face. This caused Penelope to frown as she felt a twinge of jealously.

"Occamies also shrink to fill the available space," Newt breathed out, followed by a short chuckle. He suddenly stood up, leaving Tina in complete shock, and turned to look at Penelope with wide eyes. It was then she realized that everyone else was staring at her, as well, as if she had just ground a second head.

"What did I do?" She asked blankly, staring between her friends in confusion. "I just tried to help."

~

[ NEWT ]

Newt stared at the young woman who stood before him, who was completely oblivious to what she had just done. He hadn't noticed that the girl was now completely naked, her clothes torn from her body when she transformed. No, he wasn't focused on that, as Mr. Kawolski was- he was focused on the pure fascination he felt towards this peculiar woman. "You are an absolute fascinating woman, Penelope Finch."

Penelope threw her hands in the air in defeat, scoffing as she looked at the blonde man. "I'm so confused. What exactly did I do?"

Newt approached her slowly, grabbing her hand when he was close enough. "You're an animagus, Penelope."

Penelope's eyes widened at his words, and she quickly shook his head. "What? There's no way- I'm a squid," she objected, her voice unusually small.

"You turned into a wolf right before our eyes, Miss Finch," Tina said slowly from her spot on the department store floor; she still held the teapot that contained the Occamy tightly in her hands.

Penelope tore her gaze from the woman and look to Newt; he could tell she was searching for an answer. "How is that possible, Newt?"

Newt looked to the ground, shuffling his feet around on the dusty floor. "It is unimaginably rare, but sometimes a squib really is magical. They just need something or someone to trigger that magic inside of them," he explained to the woman. He had this theory in the back of his mind since he had met this peculiar Miss Finch; and when she told him of the spell her mother put of her backyard that made any magical being invisible to muggles, he was almost positive his theory was correct. Penelope could see the magic.

Penelope eyes were on the floor, though she wore a small smile on her beautiful face. She slowly look up towards Newt, her blue eyes shining in the darkness. "Newt?"

"Yes?"

"When the Occamy swooped you into the air, Newt, when you were in danger, I suddenly felt stronger, as if I could take on an entire army of beasts in order to keep you safe," she explained rather sheepishly, her cheeks tinted pink. "I think you're my trigger, Newt."

~

[ thank you all so much for 1k reads !!!!! It makes me so happy to see so many people reading this story :)

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