What brings you here?
NEWT is desperately trying to spot his Niffler.
NEWT
Same as you.
JACOB
You’re here to get a loan to open up a bakery?
NEWT
(looking around – preoccupied)
Yes.
JACOB
What are the odds of that? Well, may the best man win, I guess.
NEWT spots the Niffler, which is now stealing coins from someone’s bag.
JACOB holds out his hand, but NEWT is off.
NEWT
Excuse me.
NEWT darts away. In his place on the bench lies a large silver egg.
JACOB
Hey, mister… hey, mister!
NEWT doesn’t hear; he is too engaged in hunting the Niffler.
JACOB picks up the egg just as the door into the BANK MANAGER’S office opens, and a SECRETARY looks out.
JACOB
Hey, fella!
SECRETARY
Mr Kowalski, Mr Bingley will see you now.
Pocketing the egg, JACOB heads towards the office, steeling himself.
JACOB
(sotto voce)
Okay… okay.
ANGLE ON NEWT, surreptitiously pursuing the Niffler as it moves through the bank. He finally spots it removing a glittering buckle from a lady’s shoe before scurrying onwards, eager for more shiny objects.
As NEWT watches, helpless, the Niffler jumps lithely between cases and into bags, snatching and pilfering.
SCENE 9
JACOB is facing the imposing and impeccably suited MR BINGLEY. BINGLEY is examining JACOB’S business proposal for a bakery.
An uncomfortable silence. The sound of a ticking clock and BINGLEY murmuring.
JACOB looks down at his pocket – the egg has started to vibrate.
BINGLEY
You are currently working… in a canning factory?
JACOB
That’s the best I can do – I only got back in ’24.
BINGLEY
Got back?
JACOB
From Europe, sir. Yeah – I was part of the Expeditionary Forces there— JACOB is clearly nervous, miming a digging action to the words ‘Expeditionary Forces’, in the vain hope that a joke might help his cause.
SCENE 10
We cut back to NEWT in the bank – in seeking the Niffler he has ended up waiting in line for a bank teller. He cranes his neck, peering towards the bag of a lady at the front of the line. TINA watches him from behind a pillar.
ANGLE ON coins spilling from underneath a bench.
ANGLE ON NEWT, who hears the coins and turns to see small paws hastily gathering them up.
ANGLE ON the Niffler sitting under the bench looking fat and smug. Not yet satisfied, its attention is caught by the shiny tag hanging around the neck of a small dog. The Niffler moves slowly, cheekily, forwards – little paw outstretched to grab the tag. The dog snarls and barks.
NEWT starts forwards and dives under the bench – the Niffler runs, scuttling over the bank counter screens and out of NEWT’S reach.
SCENE 11
JACOB opens his case with great pride. Inside is displayed a selection of his home-made pastries.
JACOB (O.S.)
All right.
BINGLEY
Mr Kowalski—
JACOB
– you gotta try the paczki, okay, it’s my grandmother’s recipe, the orange zest – just—
JACOB holds out a paczki. BINGLEY is not distracted.
BINGLEY
Mr Kowalski, what do you propose to offer the bank as collateral?
JACOB
Collateral?
BINGLEY
Collateral.
JACOB gestures hopefully towards his pastries.
BINGLEY
There are machines now that can produce hundreds of doughnuts an hour—
JACOB
I know, I know, but they’re nothing like what I can do—
BINGLEY
The bank must be protected, Mr Kowalski. Good day to you.
BINGLEY dismissively rings a bell on his desk.
SCENE 12
The Niffler sits on a trolley covered in money bags, which it greedily empties into its pouch. As NEWT watches through the security bars, aghast, a guard pushes the trolley away down a corridor.
SCENE 13
JACOB, downcast, exits BINGLEY’S office. His bulging pocket vibrates. Alarmed, he pulls out the egg and looks around.
ANGLE ON the Niffler, still sitting on the trolley, which is now being pushed into an elevator.
ANGLE ON JACOB, who sees NEWT in the distance.
JACOB
Hey, Mr English guy! I think your egg is hatching.
NEWT looks hurriedly between JACOB and the shutting elevator doors before making a decision: he points his wand at JACOB. JACOB and the egg are pulled magically across the bank atrium towards NEWT. In a split second, they Disapparate.
TINA stares, incredulous, from behind a pillar.
SCENE 14
NEWT