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Newt had known something was wrong as soon as he saw Percival Graves. That was not the man he had known for the better part of a decade. Percival had always been a little distant when at work, came with the job, but he had never, never , been overly cold to Newt. Certainly never cold enough to sentence him to death. He had only come to say a quick hello and lunch with Perc but it hadn’t gone according to plan.
Newt quickly let his Swooping Evil trail behind him as he busted out and stormed to the main entryway, where he knew there was an event held every other month that Perc had to go to. The crowds parted as they saw an irate wizard with a creature trailing close to his left. With a flick of his wrist, Newt’s case came to him and he opened it up. HIs Nundu and his Swooping Evil made a circle as they prowled to trap ‘Percival’ and Newt in while keeping others out. Newts coat flared and his eyes flashed as he stared down the fake.
“You,” Newt boomed as he stared this poser down. The look of shock on this foreign-but-not face only served to further Newt’s anger, how dare someone try to look innocent for crimes they know they committed. “Where is he?”
“I have no idea who you’re looking for,”
“Don’t play coy, we both know that I know you are not him ,” Newt said, his voice cold and soft. His hatred burned like frostbite or a Dementors breath. He could tell ‘Percival’ was about to try to make him look crazy, he didn’t care. He used the distraction his words caused and tossed wandless, wordless Revelio’s at the fake, hurling them like he let his Swooping Evil out. Eventually, one stuck and he watched as ‘Percival’s’ hair faded, root to tip, to white. His skin lost color and when he blinked, to heterochromatic eyes gazed at him.
“Grindelwald, where is he?” New asked again, not flinching when he realized just who stood in front of him. Grindelwald seemed a little surprised by this but he just smirked.
“Now, that would be telling,” Grindelwald said, sliding his wand out of its holster. Newt just howled before sending spell after spell, all wandless and most wordless.
He erected wards around them with his wand, there was only so much he could do wandless. He distantly noticed the Aurors around were strengthening the wards and he slid his wand back into its holster. He had learned magic around the world and his wand was always at risk when around creatures so he had learned wandless magic as much as he could to help let him keep his wand safe. He finished rolling up his sleeves and whistling sharply at his case. The troublemaking Niffler climbed out and looked at Newt with his head cocked to the side.
“Wait,” was all Newt said to the little creature as he turned his attention back to the man in front of him.
Another low growl form Newt was all the warning Grindelwald had before Newt started hurling magic at him. Sparks flew as curses and jinxes and unknown magic flew from Newt to Grindelwald. Newt kept it wandless and traded between joke spells and serious curses to keep Grindelwald on his toes. Newt kept moving, apperating around the circle and occasionally landing a physical blow to the wizard. Not to say it wasn’t hard, Newt had to keep moving to keep from the dark magic being hurled at him. His animals were safe, all of them out of the case were magic-resistant and so he wasn’t super worried about them.
Grindelwald was getting pissed, he could tell, going all out but his wand motions were flamboyant and overly dramatic, giving Newt more openings to land a hit. Newt had learned to be fast in both the war with his dragons and his adventures, he moved as quick and silent as possible, causing as much damage as possible before leaving. At one point he had to use a part of the floor as a shield before hurling parts of it back at Grindelwald. He could see the Aurors giving him new looks, seeing him as the firey-eyed, protective, powerful man that he was. They finally saw him for the dragon-riding war veteran and quick-footed creature lover he hid. Complex spells he learned in Asia and Rome were being hurled at his opponent and at one point he threw a ball of pure magic at the man.
Scratches littered his arms and his shirt had torn at one point but he didn’t bother looking at them. He let everything he had learned from his creatures bleed into his fight, graceful and deadly, quick and sure, never staying still and making at hard as possible to catch him. Grindelwald was good, but he hadn’t learned ancient magic from old cities in Egypt or had to impress a Nundu to like him. He had traveled, sure, but not to learn without an ulterior motive. Newt traveled to learn and help creatures, not to further an army or spread a cause.
He fought hard, there was a wild look in his eyes that, though he would never admit it, scared Grindelwald, it put him on his wrong foot. The only person who had ever really given him a challenge in dueling was Dumbledore but this lanky magizoologist was giving at hard as he had and he wasn’t backing down. His rage burned in his eyes like those of a dragon and he moved more than any opponent he had was wont to do. Most wizards stood still, but this one knew the dangers of doing so and could apparate silently, something few wizards could do, much less without a wand. This wizard was not what he had thought and he didn’t know what to do, he was tiering, no wizard had made him duel for more than a few minutes and this one had kept him constantly moving and using magic for upwards of an hour.
Newt could see Grindelwald slowing and his reaction time lengthening. He could tell it was almost over but he drew it out, made Grindelwald drip with sweat and keep moving until he looked like he might fall over. With one final jelly-legs jinx, Grindelwald fell and Newt signaled his Swooping Evil to keep watch as he brought out one of the Occamies to act as a living chain to keep Grindelwald held. Newt crouched down to the Niffler.
“Now, go, find him ,” Newt whispered, and he was off. He crawled all over the dark wizard, digging through pockets and nosing in lapels before he found what he was looking for and brought it back to Newt.
Newt took the little cigarette case and gave it a look before setting it on the ground and pulling his wand out of his holster and casting every spell he knew to take curses off of it. When he was sure it was clean, he picked it up and reached in to give his hand to the tiny looking Perc at the bottom. Slowly he felt Perc grab his hand and he pulled his husband out of the prison.
“Newt,” Perc said before collapsing into his arms. Newt just pecked his forehead and soothed him, all signs of the fierce dueler gone as he held the love of his life and lowered them both to their knees. After the shaking and sobbing died down, Newt turned to the crowd they had amassed, people who had heard and flooed in form around the world and the ones who had stayed for the fight of the century. Newt spotted his brother in the crowed but focused instead on calling for a healer for the man in his arms. That seemed to snap everyone to attention as somebody came forward to help the ghost of a man into the healer’s wing, Newt still holding his hand.
Percival would heal and Newt would worry and they would be ok. Grindelwald would have a trial in America while being guarded by Newt's animals and sentenced to death for his crimes and Newt would be proclaimed a hero while he finished his manuscript and sent it to his publishers. Theseus would scold his brother on fighting a dark wizard by himself but would end it with crying while hugging his brother while Newt awkwardly patted his back. People who had been fired under Grindelwald were reinstated but Percival Graves gracefully left and joined Newt on his expeditions. All in all, it could have been worse.