Dear Tommy,

I know it might be confusing to you and I wish beyond anything to explain it to you but I can't.

Not because I don't want to but because I will get into a great deal of trouble if I wrote about it and my letter was intercepted.

I promise I will explain everything to you once you return home from the war. To ease your worries, Polly and Ada know the truth and they've come to accept it.

I will warn you that it might seem impossible, but it is the truth.

Hoping you will give me a chance and continue to write until your return home.

All my love, always and forever,

Romy x

"Do you think they'll come and arrest you?" Ada asked a pleasant smile on her face as she thought about what the Ministry would do if they found out what I'd done.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ada," Polly snapped, rubbing her hand over Rudy's head. She named the Jarveyd. I was more than surprised when Polly grew attached to them. She's named the slightly bigger one Rudy, because he was always swearing, mainly at Ada, and the smaller, slightly darker one she'd named Havoc because he was always breaking things.

"Fuck. Fuck off, Ada," Rudy exclaimed, curling around Polly's shoulder as Havoc settled in his brother's place.

"Rudy, mind your language," Polly scolded, running her hand over his back.

This was weird. She had a way with them that made them behave. I think Newt would be interested in seeing it.

"While I'd love to stay and chat about it, I need to be getting off to work," I said, rising from my seat and bending down to press a kiss on Thomas' head as he drank from his bottle and he sat in Ada's lap. "I'll see you later, Little Bird."

I often wondered if trouble followed my family, or if it was a Weasley trait.

Uncle Ron always found himself in trouble because of Papa Harry, but I had to wonder if Weasley's were naturally drawn to it too. After all, Uncle George had opened a joke shop with Uncle Fred. Wasn't that proof enough that we were magnets for trouble?

In this case, though, it wasn't trouble that was following me. Rather it was me running into the face of danger.

"Absolutely not!" Polly snapped, her arms folded as she glared at me as I packed my little black bag.

"I wasn't asking you, Polly, I was telling you." I was not going to stick around and have this conversation with her while Phineas and Newt needed my help.

"You'll get yourself killed!" she cried grabbing hold of my arm and pulling me to a stop. "You have a son to think about. You can't be selfish!"

"I don't have a choice, Polly."

"What do you mean?"

"The Ministry found out that I'm living with Muggles and that you know about magic. They threatened to wipe your memories and have me moved if I didn't help them find Phineas and Newt," I told her, wiping at my tears. "They said they'd take Thomas-J away from me. I can't let that happen, Polly."

"Oh, sweetheart." She wrapped me in her arms, pressing a kiss to my head as I hugged her back.

"I've made a will. I hope you don't mind that I've made you beneficiary if anything happens to me. You'll look after Thomas-J won't you?"

"You know I will, love. He won't even know you're gone."

"I meant if anything happens to me, Polly. You'll keep him, right? Look after him?"

"You know I will, but nothing's going to happen to you," she said, a strong forceful tone to her voice as she looked at me sternly.

"You're like a mother to me, Polly. You know that, right?"

"I know, sweetheart."

Being on the front lines was not what I expected. There was more of a magical interference than I expected. Certain areas of the battlefield had been burned away and left scorch marks that could only be caused by magic. I could also feel it in the air.

"You're not a normal witch are you?" Demitri Strange, the wizard that had been placed as my protection said as he watched me look around at the battlefield.

"You're the fine one to talk, Strange," I told him, hinting that I knew his secret. "Are you planning on telling the Ministry you're an animagus?"

"How do you know?" he asked, his eyes expressing the shock he was feeling.

"You said it yourself, I'm not a normal witch. We want to go that way?" I told him, pointing to the right as my eyes caught sight of the medical tent.

"You sure?" I knew why he was asking. We'd been moving through France for the last two weeks and hadn't found Phineas or Newt yet.

"Yes, I asked a Thestral to take me to Phineas. I'm not sure if it will work, they usually take you to a place you want to go so I thought I'd give it a go," I muttered, following after the black skeleton form of the Thestral.

"Are you telling me we've been following a Thestral for two weeks?" he grumbled, obviously not happy with my news.

"Thestral's are remarkably intelligent creatures, Demitri, I could believe they're smarter than most Muggles and possibly you." I smiled at him to know I was teasing as we walked over to the medical tent.

"You can see them, then? How?"

"I'm a Muggle nurse, Demitri, and we're in the middle of a war. Why do you think I can see them?"

He snorted at my reply, scratching his head as he took the lead and went up to the lead doctor to ask about Phineas.

I let my eyes trail over the men in the beds, some of them moaning in pain while others lay silent. I didn't like the feeling medical tents left me with. There was too much death here and it pricked at my skin.

A tugging in my stomach had me taking steps towards one of the beds at the back of the tent and I gasped, falling to my knees as I recognised Phineas' face under the scrapes and his messy hair.

"Phin," I whispered, brushing my fingers over his face as I discreetly pulled my wand out. Mumbling a quick healing charm, I breathed a sigh of relief when Phineas blinked and turned his head to look at me.

"Romy?" he whispered, his hand reaching out and touching my face.

"Oh, Phin. I've been so worried. We've been looking for you for two weeks," I told him. Pressing a kiss to his hand as I gave him a watery smile.

"We? Did Newt come and get you?"

Oh. He didn't know.

"We don't know where Newt is, Phin. The Ministry called me into help because of the high NEWTS I got, plus they found out that the Shelby's are Muggles. They used them against me to come and find you and Newt. You've been missing for a month," I told him, glancing over to Demitri as he watched from the opening of the tent. "Can you remember what happened?"

"Newt was luring the Dementors away and was going to send them back to Azkaban, but one of those Muggle bombs went off. I hit my head and then passed out. Is he not here then?"

"Not that we know of. I only managed to find you with the help of the Thestrals," I admitted, receiving a smile from him.

"Newt's right, you should work with us," he mumbled, resting his head on his pillow as he closed his eyes. "You think he's still alive?"

"His name's not in the Book of Death yet, so that's something I guess," I muttered, shrugging at Phineas gave me a look of annoyance. "I'm being optimistic, Phineas."

"Any idea on how we can find him?"

"I was hoping the Thestral would lead us," I said meekly, shrugging because I had no clue how we were going to find him. I'd improvised enough within the last two weeks trying to find Phineas.

"How's Thomas-J?" Phineas asked, nodding to the locket I had around my neck. How did he know I kept a picture of Thomas-J in my locket? I'd only gotten it just before leaving for France. I wanted to carry him with me.

"How did you know?" I asked, my hand clasping the locket in my hand. I'd engraved the same rune symbols Pops had given me on my ruin necklace in hopes it would offer more protection.

"You're a mother, Romy. You were going to have a picture of your son around your neck," he whispered, nudging my fingers away and opening up the clasp. He smiled as he looked at the two tiny photographs inside. One was of Thomas-J smiling brightly at the camera as we called to him and the other was a photograph of me holding him up to my face, pressing a kiss to his nose. "He's gotten big."

"He's already walking," I told him, hiding the locket under my dress. I was slightly paranoid that something would happen to it. "What if I miss his first words?"

"Is it any different from when you're working, Romy? You miss out on time with him then. I don't think it matters as long as you don't miss out on his first birthday," he said, pushing himself up so he could swing his legs over the bed.

"Should you be doing that, Phineas?" I asked cautiously as I helped him stand. "This doesn't seem like a good idea."

"I feel fine, your healing charm has done wonders."

"I think I've found Newt," Demitri said as he came over, an excited look on his face.

According to the information Demitri got, Newt was being held captive by some French officers.

I was a little confused.

Weren't the French meant to be our allies?

How could they possibly think Newt was anything but British?

He was a dork - no offence to him, but he didn't exactly shout 'Betraying my country' did he?

"Trust it to be Newt that gets held captive for being a dork," I muttered, following Phineas as he ordered the few soldiers that had taken us to where Newt was kept.

Apparently, it had made its way around that Phineas had helped enforce the tanks for the war and we were being treated like royalty. I wasn't lying to Tommy when I said Phineas had helped outfit the army.

It was his way to shove his finger up to his father. Help out the Muggles as much as he could.

"Well, what can I say? He does have that look about him," Phin said, dipping his head at the French Officer hanging around the outside of the tent.

"What look?" I asked, curious about what theory Phineas had come up with.

"Untrustworthy."

"What? You think our Newt's untrustworthy?" I was not able to keep my laughter in. I gained a few disapproving looks from the soldiers. I guess they had a ban on laughter.

"I don't think he's untrustworthy. I'm just saying he has that look about him," Phineas argued, shrugging his shoulders as we were led to an underground bunker where they'd been keeping Newt.

Phineas rested his hand on my shoulder as the French me came rushing at us, guns pointed at me. I could see Phineas and Demitri growing startled at their behaviour before it hit me. They couldn't speak French.

Why was it news to me that Phineas couldn't speak French? Didn't most pureblood families know French?

"You are expecting us," I told the men in French, pushing Phineas' hand from my shoulder as I approached them with my hands up. "Agent Black and Strange." I nodded back to the clueless wizards at the mention of their names. "We've come after the Englishman you have tied up."

"You are a woman," one of the men replied, sneering his nose up at me.

"Well spotted you, moron," I spat, crossing my arms as I glared at him. "I'm a nurse. I've come to heal him because I doubt you've left him unharmed. Let us see him."

"You don't give me orders, girl," he fired back, taking a step towards me in a threatening way. I raised my eyebrows up at him as I leaned on one hip, looking from his head to toes. Yeah, I wasn't impressed. He seemed to flatter as he didn't get the reaction from me he wanted.

"Stop being a pratt and open the door."

"Let her through, Pierre," a voice said from behind us. I turned, surprised to see a vaguely familiar face. I don't know how it was familiar, I'd never seen this man before.

"You're a British Captain," I muttered, stepping back as he stepped closer, his tall build towering over me.

"That's right, love. You got it fucking right," he said, giving me a half-smirk as he waved me towards the door. I noted the way he drawled out his words as if he had all day to speak.

"You're a bit ..." I hesitated as I followed after him. I wasn't wanting to insult him, but he wasn't what I expected of a Captain. "You're not what I expected of a Captain," I finished bumping into his back as he stopped at my words.

"Is that right, love?"

"Look, I'm not being disrespectful or anything but can you please let me get to my friend?" I snapped, huffing out in annoyance as he looked at me over his shoulder.

The Captain laughed and stepped to the side, his hand running through his beard as I moved toward Newt who was tied to a chair.

"Newt," I muttered running to him and dropping on my knees as I cupped his face in my hands. "Hey, hey, Newt." He mumbled something as his head tilted up and a small smile came to his lips. "You're safe now. We're going to take you home." I turned to Phineas and Demitri catching their slightly amused looks on their faces. "Phin, come help Newt out of this place."

"Come on then, you," Phineas said, helping Newt to his feet as he guided him out of the room.

I rose to my feet, glancing down at the blood splatter on the floor knowing that the blood belonged to Newt.

"Did you do it to him?" I asked, not needing to turn to the Captain for him to know I was talking to him.

"Well you see, love, that's not your fucking business," he taunted stepping behind me, his bulky presence hovering behind me.

"Don't make me laugh," I spat, turning to face him. I was aware that we were alone in the room. Where had Demitir gone? Why hadn't I realised he left? "He's a British Agent. Do you know what damage you could have caused this war by taking him?"

"You fucking what? Huh, you what?" He asked his presence, seeming to grow as his anger did.

"You don't intimidate me. Just because you're bigger than me doesn't mean you can scare me into a corner and I'll give you whatever you want!" I didn't know how long I could live in this world with women being treated worse than the ground men walked on?

"You got guts for a witch, yeah."

I froze at his words, stumbling back as I gazed up at him with wide eyes. He knew.

How the fuck did he know?

"Now, see, what I don't fucking understand is why they let a woman like you come out on the fucking front lines." I paused, taking a step back as he looked me over. "I got ideas, yeah. You speak French and you got this fucking thing about you. My guess is there's Veela blood in you. Am I fucking right?"

I bit my lip, averting my eyes from his as he stepped closer. I wasn't scared of him. I wasn't. My eyes watered as he came to a stop in front of me, his chest pressed up against mine. I flinched as his hand came out and pulled on the chain around my neck. I slapped at his hand as he fiddled with the locket, flipping it open.

"Your friends are waiting, love." The locket dropped against my chest, the heavy metal beating along with my erratic heartbeat.

I stared at him unsure as he nodded towards the door and I hesitantly walked towards it, keeping him in my sight as I left him in the room. My hand grasped my locket as I dashed up the stairs while my other hand wiped away my tears.

There was something about him, something that lurked under his skin that rubbed me the wrong way.

"Phineas," I called sighing in relief as he gathered me in his arms. "That man, the Captain, he knew—"

"He's a squib, love. He knows about us. It's why he questioned Newt."

"He didn't question him, Phineas! Look at him! That's torture whether you're going to admit it or not," I snapped, pushing away from him and going over to help support Newt. "I'm ready to go home now."