J. Rowling - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Newt, Tina, and Jacob sitting, Newt with his head in his hands, still in utter despair about his creatures. Finally Tina, on the verge of tears, breaks the silence.

TINA

I am so sorry about your creatures, Mr. Scamander. I truly am.

Newt remains silent.

JACOB

(sotto voce, to Tina)

Can someone please tell me what this Obscurial—Obscurius thing is? Please?

TINA

(also sotto voce)

There hasn’t been one for centuries—

NEWT

I met one in Sudan three months ago. There used to be more of them but they still exist. Before wizards went underground, when we were still being hunted by Muggles, young wizards and witches sometimes tried to suppress their magic to avoid persecution. Instead of learning to harness or to control their powers, they developed what was called an Obscurus.

TINA

(off Jacob’s confusion)

It’s an unstable, uncontrollable Dark force that busts out and—and attacks . . . and then vanishes . . .

As she talks, we see the penny dropping. An Obscurus fits everything she knows about the perpetrator of the New York attacks.

TINA

(to Newt)

Obscurials can’t survive long, can they?

NEWT

There’s no documented case of any Obscurial surviving past the age of ten. The one I met in Africa was eight when she—she was eight when she died.

JACOB

What are you telling me here—that Senator Shaw was killed by a—by a kid ?

Newt’s look says yes.

Modesty approaches the long table at which many orphan children sit hungrily eating.

MODESTY

(continuing her chant)

Modesty gathers several of the children’s leaflets from the table.

MODESTY

TIME CUT:

The children, having finished their meal, leave the table with their leaflets and head for the door.

CHASTITY

(calling after them)

Hand out your leaflets! I’ll know if you dump ’em. Tell me if you see anything suspicious.

CLOSE ON CREDENCE—he’s washing dishes, but watching the children intently.

Modesty follows the last of the children out of the church.

Modesty stands in the middle of the busy street. She throws her leaflets high into the air, watching with glee as they fall around her.

Two executioners in white coats lead a shackled Newt and Tina down to a dark basement, away from the cell.

Newt turns to look back.

NEWT

(over his shoulder)

It was good to make your acquaintance, Jacob, and I hope you get your bakery.

ANGLE ON JACOB, scared, left behind, clutching at the bars of the cell. He waves forlornly after Newt.

A small, bare room, black-walled and windowless.

Graves sits opposite Newt at an interrogation desk, a file open in front of him. Newt squints forward, a bright light shining into his eyes.

Tina stands behind, flanked by the two executioners.

GRAVES

You’re an interesting man, Mr. Scamander.

TINA

(stepping forward)

Mr. Graves—

Graves holds a finger to his lips, signaling for Tina to be silent. The gesture is patronizing, but authoritative. Tina looks kowtowed—she obeys, stepping back into the shadows.

Graves examines the file on his desk.

GRAVES

You were thrown out of Hogwarts for endangering human life—

NEWT

That was an accident!

GRAVES

—with a beast. Yet one of your teachers argued strongly against your expulsion. Now, what makes Albus Dumbledore so fond of you?

NEWT

I really couldn’t say.

GRAVES

So setting a pack of dangerous creatures loose here was just another accident, is that right?

NEWT

Why would I do it deliberately?

GRAVES

To expose wizardkind. To provoke war between the magical and non-magical worlds.

NEWT

Mass slaughter for the greater good, you mean?

GRAVES

Yes. Quite.

NEWT

I’m not one of Grindelwald’s fanatics, Mr. Graves.

A tiny change of expression tells us that Newt has scored a hit. Graves is looking more menacing.

GRAVES

I wonder what you can tell me about this, Mr. Scamander?

With a slow move of his hand, Graves raises up the Obscurus from Newt’s case. He brings it onto the desk—it is pulsing, swirling, and hissing.

CLOSE ON TINA as she stares, disbelieving.

Graves reaches a hand toward the Obscurus—he’s utterly fascinated. At his sudden close proximity, the Obscurus swirls faster, bubbling and shrinking backward.

Newt turns instinctively to Tina. Without fully realizing why, it is she whom he wants to convince.

NEWT

It’s an Obscurus—

(off her look)

But it’s not what you think. I managed to separate it from the Sudanese girl as I tried to save her—I wanted to take it home, to study it—

(off Tina’s shock)

But it cannot survive outside that box, it could not hurt anyone, Tina!

GRAVES

So it’s useless without the host?

NEWT

“Useless?” “Useless?” That is a parasitical magical force that killed a child. What on earth would you use it for?

Newt, anger finally boiling within him, stares at Graves. Tina, reacting to the atmosphere, also looks to Graves—concern and trepidation written across her face.