The first sign that anything was out of the ordinary was when the wall to his new New York hotel room exploded.

Newt Scamander had been in America for less than perhaps five hours when he'd entered the bathroom for a quick wash – and to inspect the sink for any stray Wrackspurts or some such creatures – only to be rudely interrupted by the impossibly loud crash he'd long-since come to associate with half a building falling apart after befriending half of Gryffindor house.

Squeezing his eyes shut and counting to four – never five, three wasn't long enough but five was just a bit too long to count – as if this would help him in the slightest, Newt half-spun to the door and yanked it open, not as surprised as he really should have been to see the entire bedroom of his once sparsely furnished but efficiently clean hotel room was now gone.

"Oh dear," he managed to huff before a loud banging erupted from the front entrance, muffled shouting and cursing from the poor Muggle who ran the building a bit hard to hear over the sound of sirens and screams that came from the street directly below where the window should be. "Not good."

The American Ministry of Magic – er, the Magical Congress, as it were – would most likely be here soon, if they were somewhat more efficient than the British Ministry.

He didn't have time for this.

Taking a deep breath that in no way helped calm him down or made him feel better, Newt darted forward, picking his way across crumbled bricks and bits of wood to stoop and grab hold of his travelling case, which was all but vibrating with furious hisses and startled squawking.

"No, no, no," he muttered, fishing his wand out one-handed while the other shook from the strain of keeping his 'house-guests' under control. "You know you're not allowed out when we're in another country! Don't make this into a fuss!"

Of course, his scolding went unheeded, and Newt was forced to Apparate when he heard the telltale turn of a key in the front door lock.

Oh, what a disaster.

He would be arrested for sure. It was his hotel room, taken under his name in the register; even if he went back and erased the ledger now, the Congress almost certainly would be aware of a foreign wizard entering their country by now.

He was doomed. And it wasn't even his fault this time!

Or-

Well-

Wait. Was it?

He had about half a second to think about it before his feet hit the ground again, the twisting yank in his gut that came from Apparating lessening as he realized where he was; Miss Porpentina's apartment. The lovely woman had offered him a place to stay the night. He'd had no intention of taking up her kind offer, but with his former accommodations preoccupied by the exploded wall…

He dropped to the bed, a horrible certainty settling into his gut even as he placed the case across his knees and released the clasps, popping the lid open to survey his collection and instantly dropping it closed again, feeling sick.

A flurry of footsteps made his head snap up, hand falling once again to grasp at his wand, but it was only Porpentina, still looking poised and pristine when she'd clearly run up from somewhere.

She didn't seem at all shocked to see him there.

She just looked him up and down, eyes falling once again to his case as it had when they'd first met not even hours ago. She nodded at it.

"It was opened?" she asked, though she clearly didn't need to.

He tried not to cringe. "Just a smidge," he admitted.

Yep. Today wasn't going so well.

A/N: This is short and stupid but I needed to get something out because I'M LOSING MY MIND but I'm staying calm until after exams are over XD
~Persephone