THESEUS
(pulling him in for a hug)
C’mere.
NEWT doesn’t reciprocate but doesn’t fight him off either.
THESEUS
(in NEWT’S ear)
They’re watching you.
SCENE 21
INT. MINISTRY OF MAGIC, HEARING ROOM—AFTERNOON
GRIMMSON is sitting in what was NEWT’S seat, facing the committee.
GRIMMSON
Well, gentlemen. I assume this means I have the job.
SCENE 22
EXT. SKYLINE OF UPMARKET QUARTER OF PARIS—AFTERNOON
Establishing shot.
SCENE 23
EXT. ELEGANT STREET OF 19TH-CENTURY PARISIAN HOUSES—AFTERNOON
GRINDELWALD and ACOLYTES stand in the street. GRINDELWALD points his cane at a particularly fine house.
A clatter announces the arrival of a horse-drawn hearse.
NAGEL, KRALL, CARROW, ABERNATHY, KRAFFT, ROSIER (female), and MACDUFF approach the front door. KRALL opens it with his wand. The ACOLYTES enter.
PARISIAN MAN (O.S.)
Chérie?
PARISIAN WOMAN (O.S.)
(worried)
Qui est là?
GRINDELWALD looks around the street, calm, waiting, tapping on the pavement with his cane.
We see a green flash—the Killing Curse. The door reopens. Two black coffins exit. GRINDELWALD watches as NAGEL and KRAFFT load the coffins onto the carriage.
SCENE 24
INT. GRINDELWALD’S HIDEOUT, DRAWING ROOM—AFTERNOON
GRINDELWALD surveys the elegant clutter left by the haut bourgeois family he has just murdered.
GRINDELWALD
Yes. This will be suitable after a thorough cleanse.
(to NAGEL)
I want you to go to the circus now. Give my note to Credence, begin his journey.
NAGEL nods and leaves.
ROSIER
When we’ve won, they’ll flee cities in the millions. They’ve had their time.
GRINDELWALD
We don’t say such things out loud. We want only freedom. Freedom to be ourselves.
ROSIER
To annihilate non-wizards.
GRINDELWALD
Not all of them. Not all. We’re not merciless. The beast of burden will always be necessary.
We hear the sound of a child close at hand.
SCENE 25
INT. GRINDELWALD’S HIDEOUT, NURSERY—AFTERNOON
GRINDELWALD enters. A small child looks up, puzzled. GRINDELWALD contemplates him for a moment, then nods at CARROW and turns to leave.
We see another green flash as GRINDELWALD closes the door.
SCENE 26
EXT. LONDON BACK STREET—EVENING
NEWT Apparates and walks on briskly beneath an increasingly stormy sky. Seconds later, STEBBINS, an Auror, Apparates some yards behind him. They have been playing this game for an hour. NEWT turns a corner into a darker alleyway, peers back around the corner, and points his wand back at STEBBINS.
NEWT
(sotto voce)
Ventus.
STEBBINS is immediately caught in a hurricane for one. To the confusion and amusement of passing Muggles, his hat flies away, he is almost knocked off his feet, and cannot proceed.
Smiling slightly, NEWT withdraws his head, still leaning against the wall of the dark alleyway, to find a single black glove hanging in the air in front of him. He looks at it, expressionless. It gives a little wave, then points into the far distance. NEWT looks to where it is pointing. High on the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a tiny human figure raises its arm.
NEWT looks back at the glove, which makes as though to shake hands. NEWT takes it, and he and the glove Disapparate—
SCENE 27
EXT. DOME OF ST. PAUL’S—EVENING
—Apparating beside a dandyesque forty-five-year-old wizard with graying auburn hair and beard. NEWT hands back his glove.
NEWT
Dumbledore.
(amused)
Were the less conspicuous rooftops full, then?
DUMBLEDORE
(looking out over city)
I do enjoy a view. Nebulus.
A swirling fog descends over London.
They Disapparate.
SCENE 28
EXT. TRAFALGAR SQUARE—EVENING
DUMBLEDORE and NEWT Apparate and walk on past the great stone Landseer lions. The darkening sky is becoming increasingly ominous. A flock of pigeons rises into the air at their approach.
DUMBLEDORE
How was it?
NEWT
They’re still convinced that you sent me to New York.
DUMBLEDORE
You told them I didn’t?
NEWT
Yes. Even though you did.
A beat. DUMBLEDORE inscrutable, NEWT wanting answers.
NEWT
You told me where to find that trafficked Thunderbird, Dumbledore. You knew that I would take him home and you knew I’d have to take him through a Muggle port.
DUMBLEDORE
Well, I’ve always felt an affinity with the great magical birds. There’s a story in my family that a phoenix will come to any Dumbledore who is in desperate need. They say my great-great-grandfather had one, but that it took flight when he died, never to return.
NEWT
With all due respect, I don’t believe for a minute that’s why you told me about the Thunderbird.
A noise behind them. The silhouette of a man appears out of shadows. They Disapparate—
SCENE 29
EXT. VICTORIA BUS STATION—EVENING
Footsteps nearby. Both ready their wands, but the footsteps die away. They walk on.
DUMBLEDORE
Credence is in Paris, Newt. He’s trying to trace his real family. I take it you’ve heard the rumors about who he really is?
NEWT
No.
DUMBLEDORE and NEWT board a stationary bus.
DUMBLEDORE
The purebloods think he’s the last of an important French line, a baby whom everyone thought lost . . .
A look between them. NEWT is astonished.
NEWT
Not Leta’s brother?
DUMBLEDORE
That’s what they’re whispering. Pureblood or not, I know this: An Obscurus grows in the absence of love as a dark twin, an only friend. If Credence has a real brother or sister out there who can take its place, he might yet be saved.
(beat)
Wherever Credence is in Paris, he’s either in danger or a danger to others. We may not know who he is yet, but he needs to be found. And I rather hoped you might be the one to find him.
DUMBLEDORE conjures NICOLAS FLAMEL’S card from thin air and offers it to NEWT, who eyes it with suspicion.
NEWT
What’s that?
DUMBLEDORE
It’s an address of a very old acquaintance of mine. A safe house in Paris, reinforced with enchantments.
NEWT
Safe house? Why would I need a safe house in Paris?
DUMBLEDORE
One hopes you won’t, but should things at some point go terribly wrong, it’s good to have a place to go. You know, for a cup of tea.
NEWT
No, no, no—absolutely not.
SCENE 30
EXT. LAMBETH BRIDGE—NIGHT
They Apparate onto a bridge.
NEWT
I’m banned from international travel, Dumbledore. If I leave the country, they will put me in Azkaban and throw away the key.
DUMBLEDORE stops.
DUMBLEDORE
Do you know why I admire you, Newt? More, perhaps, than any man I know?
(off NEWT’S surprise)
You don’t seek power or popularity. You simply ask, is the thing right in itself? If it is, then I must do it, no matter the cost.
He walks on.
NEWT
That’s all very well, Dumbledore, but, forgive me for asking, why ca
n’t you go?
They stop.
DUMBLEDORE
I can’t move against Grindelwald. It has to be you.
(beat)
Well, I don’t blame you, in your shoes I’d probably refuse too. It’s late. Good evening, Newt.
DUMBLEDORE Disapparates.
NEWT
Oh c’mon!
DUMBLEDORE’S empty glove reappears and tucks the business card bearing the address of the safe house into NEWT’S top pocket.
NEWT
(exasperated)
Dumbledore.
SCENE 31
EXT. NEWT’S STREET—NIGHT
Establishing shot: a street of ordinary yellow brick Victorian houses. First specks of rain. NEWT walks swiftly up the front steps but pauses just outside the front door. The light in his sitting room is flashing on and off.
SCENE 32
INT. NEWT’S HOUSE—NIGHT
NEWT opens the front door cautiously. Inside, a baby Niffler is swinging from the brass cord of a table lamp, causing the light to flicker on and off. The baby Niffler succeeds in stealing the brass cord before spotting NEWT. It scampers away, knocking all manner of objects to the floor.
NEWT spots a second baby Niffler sitting on a set of weighing scales, pinned down by gold-colored weights it is clearly attempting to steal.
As the first baby makes it to the dining table, NEWT lightly drops a saucepan on top of it, which continues moving across the table. NEWT tosses an apple into the opposite weighing scale, sending the baby Niffler flying into the air. NEWT catches both baby Nifflers as they fall, then tucks them into his pockets.
Satisfied, NEWT heads toward the door to his basement but turns at the last moment to see a third escaped baby Niffler climbing onto a bottle of champagne on the counter. With a sense of inevitability, the champagne bottle pops and the baby Niffler zooms toward NEWT on top of the cork, soaring past him and down the stairs to the basement.
SCENE 33
INT. NEWT’S BASEMENT MENAGERIE—MOMENTS LATER—NIGHT
A gigantic hospital for magical creatures.
NEWT
Bunty! Bunty! Bunty, the baby Nifflers are loose again!
(to the Nifflers)
Oi! Oh.
BUNTY, NEWT’S assistant, hurries into view. She is a plain girl, crazy about creatures, hopelessly in love with NEWT. She peels off the Nifflers with freshly bandaged fingers.
She tempts the last baby Niffler—the champagne cork rider—with a gold necklace, then tucks all three into a nest full of sparkling objects.
NEWT
Well done.
BUNTY
I’m so sorry, Newt, they must have picked the lock while I was cleaning out the Augureys—
NEWT
Not to worry.
NEWT and BUNTY walk together among the enclosures.
BUNTY
Hmm . . . I’ve fed nearly everyone, Pinky’s had his nose drops, and—
NEWT
—And Elsie?
BUNTY
Elsie’s droppings are nearly normal again.
NEWT
Wonderful. You can clock off now—
(seeing her fingers)
I told you to leave the Kelpie to me.
BUNTY
That wound needs more ointment—
NEWT
I don’t want you losing fingers over it.
NEWT marches toward a patch of black water, BUNTY trotting in his wake, awash with emotion at his concern for her.
NEWT
Seriously, you go home now, Bunty. You must be exhausted.
BUNTY
You know the Kelpie’s easier with two.
They approach the water. NEWT unhooks a bridle hanging beside the pond.
BUNTY
(hopeful)
Perhaps you should take off your shirt?
NEWT
(oblivious)
Don’t worry, I’ll dry off quickly enough.
NEWT smiles and jumps backward into the water. The Kelpie erupts: a gigantic, semi-spectral horse intent on drowning NEWT, who grabs it around the neck and manages to scramble onto its back as it thrashes.
The Kelpie dives, taking NEWT with it. BUNTY waits, frightened.
WHOOSH—NEWT bursts back out of the water and the Kelpie is bridled. Now docile, it shakes its mane. BUNTY transfixed by the sight of NEWT in his wet shirt.
NEWT
Someone needed to let off some steam. Ointment, Bunty?
She hands it over. Still mounted, NEWT applies ointment to a wound on the Kelpie’s neck.
NEWT
Bite Bunty again and there’ll be trouble, mister.
As he dismounts, there is a crash from overhead. Both he and BUNTY look up.
BUNTY
(scared)
What was that?
NEWT
I don’t know. But I want you to go home now, Bunty.
BUNTY
Shall I call the Ministry?
NEWT
No, I want you to go home. Please.
SCENE 34
INT. NEWT’S STAIRCASE—A MINUTE LATER—NIGHT
NEWT climbs the stairs to his living quarters, wand drawn, curious and expecting the worst. He pushes open the door.
SCENE 35
INT. NEWT’S SITTING ROOM—NIGHT
A spartan bachelor residence. NEWT’S real life is in the basement.
JACOB KOWALSKI and QUEENIE GOLDSTEIN stand in the middle of the room, suitcases beside them, QUEENIE nervous and excited, JACOB unfocused and over-merry, possibly drunk. He is holding the remaining pieces of NEWT’S vase, which he has just broken.
QUEENIE
If you could just give it to me . . . Just give it to me, sweetie. Just give it to me.
(whispering)
If you could just give this to me, sweetheart. Oh!
JACOB
(looking at NEWT)
He doesn’t care. Hold it.
NEWT
St—
JACOB
(bellows)
HEY! NEWT! Get over here, you maniac.
He flings his arms around a delighted but awkward NEWT.
QUEENIE
We hope you don’t mind, Newt? We let ourselves in—it’s raining out there—cats and dogs! London’s cold!
NEWT
(to JACOB)
But you were supposed to have been Obliviated!
JACOB
I know!
NEWT
So . . . But . . .
JACOB
It didn’t work, pal. I mean, you said it, the potion only erases bad memories. I didn’t have any. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I had some weird ones. But this angel . . . this angel over here, she filled me in on all the bad parts, and here we are, I guess, huh?
NEWT
(overjoyed)
This is wonderful!
He looks around, sure that TINA is here too.
NEWT
Is . . .Tina? Tina?
QUEENIE
Oh it’s just us, honey. Me and Jacob.
NEWT
Oh.
QUEENIE
(uncomfortable)
Why don’t I make us some dinner, huh?
JACOB
Yes!
SCENE 36
INT. NEWT’S SITTING ROOM—FIVE MINUTES LATER—NIGHT
The threesome sit at a table bearing NEWT’S mismatched crockery, the atmosphere tainted by TINA’S absence. QUEENIE’S case lies open on the sofa.
QUEENIE
Tina and I aren’t talking.
NEWT
Why?
JACOB’S POV—pink and hazy, as though happily drunk.
QUEENIE
Oh well, you know, she found out about Jacob and I seeing each other and she didn’t like it, ’cause of the “law.”
(miming quotation marks)
Not allowed to date No-Majs, not allowed to marry them. Blah, blah, blah. Well, she was all in a tizzy anyway, ’cause of you.
NEWT
> Me?
QUEENIE
Yeah, you, Newt. It was in Spellbound. Here—I brought it for you—
She points her wand at her suitcase. A celebrity magazine zooms to her: Spellbound: Celebrity Secrets and Spell Tips of the Stars! On the cover, an idealized NEWT and an improbably beaming Niffler. BEAST TAMER NEWT TO WED!
QUEENIE opens the magazine. THESEUS, LETA, NEWT, and BUNTY stand side by side at his book launch.
QUEENIE
(showing him)
“Newt Scamander with fiancée, Leta Lestrange; brother, Theseus; and unknown woman.”
NEWT
No. Theseus is marrying Leta, not me.
QUEENIE
Oh! Oh dear . . . well, see, Teen read that, and she started dating someone else. He’s an Auror. His name’s Achilles Tolliver.
A silence. Then NEWT starts to notice JACOB’S state: Eating sloppily, he hums to himself, then tries to drink the salt. QUEENIE takes it and puts his glass in his hand, trying to cover.
QUEENIE
Anyway . . . We’re real excited to be here, Newt. This is a—well, it’s a special trip for us. You see, Jacob and I, we’re getting married.
She shows him her engagement ring. JACOB tries to toast the moment and pours beer all over his ear.
JACOB
I’m marrying Jacob!
Now sure he knows what’s going on, NEWT glares at QUEENIE.
NEWT (V.O.)
(speaking telepathically)
You’ve enchanted him, haven’t you?
QUEENIE
(reading his mind)
What? I have not.
NEWT
Will you stop reading my mind?
(speaking telepathically)
Queenie, you’ve brought him here against his will.
QUEENIE
Oh, that is an outrageous accusation. Look at him. He’s just happy. He’s so happy!
NEWT
(drawing his wand)
Then you won’t mind if I—
QUEENIE jumps up and tries to shield JACOB from him.
QUEENIE
Please don’t!
NEWT
Queenie, you’ve got nothing to fear if he wants to get married. We can just lift the enchantment and he can tell us himself.
Several painful moments pass. At last she moves aside.
JACOB
What you got there? Whatchu gonna do? Whatchu gonna do with that, Mr. Scamander?
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Page 2
