Hermione nodded as she looked at the utterly bewildered Credence.
Just what she expected from the Flash-ptooey, Dumbledore's nephew. He could really take a beating.
Anyone else would have spent months in the hospital after all that, but this guy had slept for a bit and was already up and about again.
They pushed open the apartment door and filed inside.
Compared with when they had left, their group now had an extra young man with hunched shoulders and timid eyes.
Credence stood awkwardly in the living room, not knowing what to do with himself.
He still wasn't used to interacting naturally with other people.
Jacob, a veteran of the First World War, walked over, patted his arm, then sat him down in a chair and pressed a cup of hot coffee into his hands.
"Have a drink, buddy. This stuff settles your nerves. Take it from someone who's been on the battlefield."
Jacob took a huge gulp himself.
The day's events had been so extraordinary that he still found them hard to believe.
He knew absolutely nothing about magic, but when it came to adapting to his surroundings, he was probably the best of anyone there, apart from Hermione.
The room fell quiet for a while before Thena spoke first.
"We need to talk about him."
Thena looked at Credence.
"He's an Obscurial, and an adult one at that. You all know what that means. The best thing to do is still to hand him over to the authorities."
Although she had probably lost her job, the habits she had developed over so many years as an Auror hadn't changed.
Newt stopped stroking his Bowtruckle.
He turned around. His eyes, which usually avoided meeting anyone's gaze, now looked straight at Thena.
"Thena, you saw for yourself how they