2nd year
Eloise grumbled to herself as she walked into the library, her care of Magical Creatures textbook tucked under her arm. She had light blonde hair that fell in soft waved just below her shoulders, almond shaped hazel green eyes, a fair complexion, full soft pink lips, a button nose, and a heart shaped face with high cheekbones.
Eloise had been skimping on her care of magical creature's class and it was starting to bite her in the butt. She just didn't see the importance of it compared to her Charms, potions, and transfiguration classes to name a few, they were what she needed for her dream career.
Her Professor for the class had taken it upon himself to assign her a tutor for the class to get her back up to snuff as he put it. Looking outside at the beautiful clear sky made her stomach sink even further. It would have been a perfect day for quidditch practice, to feel that crisp air against her face while speeding on a broom would be so much better than the stale air of the library.
It was a very rare occurrence that a girl should make the quidditch team, but Eloise had been determined and battled it out with three others to gain her position as a chaser on the Hufflepuff team. With her small size and penitent for speed they had tried to get her to become the team seeker, which failed miserable due to her short attention span. She just couldn't concentrate on looking for the snitch before her mind wondered and it passed her by without her notice.
There had been quite a few against women in quidditch, but it wasn't going to stop her. Even though she had proven herself her second year by scoring the winning goal against Slytherin, there were still those who thought it was distasteful and un-ladylike. It may not have been for the House Cup, but it was still pretty impressive to her.
Most of her family had been horrified that her father, Balthazar Wulf, allowed her to join such a barbaric sport, but her father had always been indulgent with her. Her mother was not in the picture as it was and he always wanted to make up for her lack of one in any way he could so she was a bit on the spoiled side.
Plopping down at one of the tables she let her legs dangle over one of the arm rest and her back leaned against the other with a conjured up pillow between her back and armrest for comfort. She pulled out her supplies setting it out on the table and leaned her cheek on her hand waiting for her tutor to show up. Eloise's fellow quidditch players who were on the field at that very moment couldn't have been more sympathetic, especially considering who her tutor was going to be.
Looking over to the side at the sound of hurried footsteps accompanied by the noise maker bumping into a few people alerted her to her tutor's upcoming presence. Setting his books down on the table next to her was none other than Newt Scamander, a hermit like fellow Hufflepuff who preferred animals to people.
He smiled nervously at her though he wouldn't look directly at her, his mouth opening and closing a few times while shuffling form foot to foot. He tried to gather his words, not wanting to look like an idiot in front of her. Eloise raised an eyebrow at him waiting for him to say or do something, but soon gave up.
"Maybe you should take a seat first?" Eloise offered with a raised eyebrow.
"Right." He hastily took the offered seat and held out his hand. "I'm Newt Scamander."
"Eloise Bae-Wulf." Eloise said while shaking his hand. "So how is this going to work?"
"Well I thought…perhaps…we could meet here in the evenings sometime…or other…" Newt proposed weakly, stumbling over his words.
"Tuesdays and Thursdays." Eloise crossed her arms leaning back in her chair.
"Oh, um I guess that that would be fine." Newt nodded quickly while Eloise raised an eyebrow at him again, how he was just letting her take control even though he was the tutor. "Would you like to start now or…?"
"Now's fine." Eloise nodded turned in her seat resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. "What's first?"
"Uh…the uh…the Professor wanted me to start with…uh…" He shuffled through his notes, some of them spilling on the ground which he hastily gathered back up. "…the niffler?"
"Right, what about him?" Eloise asked tilting her head to one side.
"Well he, I mean to say, they like…." Newt went on and the more he talked about the creature the more courage he seemed to gain.
Eloise watched as he picked through his notes holding them up for her as well as leafing through some of the books he had brought with him. Eloise felt her mouth twitch into a smile as he ranted on, his eyes lighting up like a kid on Christmas.
To her surprise she found herself actually enjoying what he was talking about as well. The professor usually made it all sound so boring and everything was too dangerous to go near, so what was the point of teaching the subject. Newt had different views though, he proposed that the animals were safer than they seemed.
"Oi, this loser bothering you sweetie." Donald, a Gryffindor, asked with a smirk as he walked up to the table.
"He's helping me with school work, do you mind." Eloise waved him off while Newt looked down nervously gripping his notes only for the others two boys, brothers in fact, Jack and Jake, to grab them from his hands.
"Wait, don't touch those, please." Newt made to grab for them, but they held them out of reach, Donald standing in his way keeping Newt back. By this time Eloise was on her feet and a glare was fixed to her face.
"It's nothing but chicken scratch." Jake laughed crumpling them up and tossing them to the ground.
"Looks like garbage to me." Jack tore the ones in his hands letting them join the rest on the ground.
"Oops, accidents will happen." Donald laughed as Newt scrambled to grab them only for the boys to stomp on them almost stepping on Newt's hands.
"Oi, bonehead!" Eloise inserted herself between the trio and Newt, her brogue thickening in her anger. "How about you taken' a hike."
"Only if you come with me doll." Donald smirked leaning in close.
"Not if you were the last…" Eloise eyed him up and down in disgust. "…thing on the face of the planet."
"Don't be that way…" Donald stopped short when he felt the tip of Eloise's wand against his stomach. It was fourteen inches made of black oak wood and with a Dragon Heartstring core. It was the color of polished black oak wood, the hilt of the wand was engraved with a Celtic shield knot, and the pummel was a rounded smooth lightening blue opal stone. "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me." Eloise growled with narrowed eyes. Another thing Eloise was known for around school was for her excellent dueling skills. Needless to say Donald, Jack, and Jake were not in the mood to test how good she was and left with dark looks. She smirked after them before kneeling down and helping Newt with his notes. "Sorry about that." Eloise offered as she straightened out the pages before handing them back to Newt. "They're real jerks."
"It's fine." He mumbled, eyeing some of the ruined pages with a sad frown.
"No its not, these look like they took a lot of time." Eloise eyed the extensive notes. "You must really like animals."
"They're…they're not like…" He trailed off, embarrassed.
"Like people." Eloise finished for him gaining a small nod. Eloise held out her hands for his notes. "May I?" Hesitantly he handed them to her watching as she carefully laid them out putting them together like puzzle pieces. Eloise then drew her wand and waved it slowly over the papers. 'Conrigo.' The papers mended themselves back together and Eloise stacked them back up nice and neatly with another wave of her wand. "There we go. Good as new."
"Thank you." Newt beamed as he took them back up.
"Not a problem." Eloise smiled back.
-0-
Eloise set down in the great hall with some of her fellow quidditch players talking quite loudly to be heard of the rest of the school. She rolled her eyes as Devin once again regaled them with the story of the time he took a bludger to the gut, but still managed to grab the golden snitch. Looking over to Jenn and Chris, their beaters, she could see them mouthing along with the story, knowing their captains story by heart.
"Oi, come off it!" Devin snapped when he caught them causing them all to laugh. Eloise looked up to see Newt shuffling toward the end of the table away from the others.
"Hey Newt!" Eloise called out gaining his attention, she waved him over to the free seat next to her. He glanced nervously to her friends, but they were engrossed in another conversation, not really paying attention. Newt looked back to her and she gave him her best pleading face, which he gave into taking the seat next to her. "For a second there I thought you were going to ignore me."
"I wasn't, I just…" He shrugged nervously. "Are you sure your friends won't mind?"
"I'm sure." Eloise assured him with a bright smile. "I wanted to thank you, since you've been helping me I've really improved."
"It was nothing, really…I just….." Newt ducked his head.
"Newt, take the compliment." Eloise rolled her eyes.
"Thank you Ellie." Newt smiled a bit, Eloise surprised at the nickname he had bestowed upon her.
"Hey! You're that animal kid right?" Devin took notice of Newt, who looked slightly alarmed as the others turned to him.
"I…uh…" Newt stumbled, as his eyes darted around.
"Please excuse him Newt, Devin took one too many bludgers to the head and it seems to have knocked out his manners." Eloise shot him a look and he had the decency to look sheepish about it.
"Sorry, I just mean you like animals right?" Devin rephrased his question.
"Yeah, I suppose I do." Newt admitted cautiously, not making eye contact.
"Well what's the deal with Hippogriffs, I mean, what's with all the bowing?" Devin asked. Newt glanced over to Eloise who smiled encouragingly and he slowly started to explain about the impressive creatures.
"I didn't know your mom was a hippogriff breeder that must have been fun to grow up around." Eloise commented as they made their way back to the Hufflepuff common room.
"I think it's why I like animals so much, there is so much more to them than what we see." Newt grinned in excitement.
"A lot of them are dangerous though." Eloise commented.
"I don't think that's true." Newt frowned. "I just don't think we understand them."
"How so?" Eloise asked.
"Well…we barely understand them and we're so afraid of them that we seem to attack before we try to understand them." Newt told her. "I want to understand them and help others understand them."
"You're off to a great start." Eloise commented.
"I am?" He looked over to her.
"I feel that because of you I don't see them as just animals anymore, they're more than that. They're not something that we need to fear, but something we should respect, learn about, and take care of." Eloise shrugged looking over to Newt doing a double take when he saw his large smile, one of the biggest ones she had seen on him. "What?"
"Nothing…" Newt shook his head quickly before ducking into the common room with Eloise, wishing each other a good night before they went up to their rooms.
-0-
"Come on!" Eloise smiled as she pulled Newt along by his hand, a broom clutched in her other.
"I'm not so sure about this Ellie." Newt stumbled as he tried to keep pace with her, his free hand also holding a broom.
"Oh come on Newt, flying is the greatest, you just need practice." Eloise smiled back at him as they made their way onto the field stopping in the center. Newt glanced around at the three rings towering high above them on either side of the field. "Now put your broom on the ground and stand next to it."
"Ellie…." Newt tried once again as he placed the broom on the ground.
"It'll be fine Newt, I promise." Eloise assured him as she placed her broom on the ground as well. "Now we'll start right from the beginning. Place your hand over the broom." Newt did so shifting nervously from foot to foot. "Now say up."
"Up." Newt said and while Eloise's went straight into her hand, Newt's smacked him in the head causing him to stumble back.
"Oh! Are you ok?" Eloise asked as he pressed his hand to his forehead.
"Fine." He mumbled before trying again and again, but finally managing to get his broom to fly into his hand.
"Ok, now mount the broom." Eloise told him, watching as he hesitantly did so. "We'll kick off together on the count of three, ready?"
"No." Newt shook his head as he gripped the broom so tight his knuckled were white.
"One…two…three!" Eloise kicked off lightly hovering as Newt joined her, his broom jerking slightly. "There you go, nothing to it."
"Right…nothing to it." He stuttered out, yelping when he nearly fell off.
"You're doing great Newt, now just lean forward a bit." Eloise urged him and slowly Newt did so moving forward, a smile forming on his face. Suddenly his broom raced forward, Newt shouting in fright as it went shooting up into the air. "NEWT!"
Eloise gave chase following the sporadic movements he made zipping through the air. His broom dropped into a nose dive and Eloise could see him slipping off of his broom. She really put on the speed, but was too late. Newt slipped straight off the broom when it suddenly jerked up and was plummeting toward the earth.
"Arresto Momentum!" Eloise whipped out her wand casting the spell over Newt slowing his fall, but he still hit the ground pretty hard. She jumped from her broom racing over to him, turning him over onto his back alarmed to see the cut on his forehead and the odd angle of his wrist. "Newt, I'm so sorry, I'll…" Newt bit back a groan as Eloise helped him set up, stiffening when she heard laughing off to the side of the pitch. "You!"
"Looks like someone had a bit of a tumble." Donald laughed along with Jack and Jake.
"Wonder how that happened?" Jack smirked proudly, wand in hand.
"You could have killed him!" Eloise roared, snapping to her feet.
"Like that would be a loss." Jake rolled his eyes. Newt's head fell, his eyes staring intently at the ground and his shoulders slumped. That was enough to snap Eloise, all of her self-control gone in an instant.
"AVIS!" Eloise called out and with a swirl of her wand a flock of large angry black birds flew at the three boys, and combined with a biting jinx had them off and running all the way back to school. Eloise turned back to Newt with a look of deep concern. She kneeled down helping him up allowing him to lean on her as they made their way back to the castle. "Don't listen to them Newt, they're morons."
"But…" Newt started with a despondent sigh.
"But nothing." Eloise cut him off sharply, her face only softening when she saw how truly upset he was. "Newt, you are such a great person that sometimes I don't understand how you don't see that."
Newt looked to her in surprise, his brows shooting up.
"You…you really think that?" He asked haltingly.
"Of course, you're my best friend." Eloise said surprising Newt even further.
"You mean I don't annoy you? I have been known to annoy people quite frequently. They find me to be a bit… eccentric if you will." Newt frowned.
"You never annoy me Newt." Eloise replied right away.
"But…why? Why are you my…friend?" Newt asked, worrying that maybe it was out of pity.
"Because I like how you look at the world, how you talk about animals, and you're just a lot of fun to be around." Eloise told him earnestly making his lips twitch into a small smile.
The rest of the walk to the medical wing was spent in silence. Eloise was fretting over his injuries and Newt was turning her words over in his head. The Head nurse dropped what she was doing as soon as she saw then come in, taking charge of Newt, and setting him on one of the beds. Eloise stayed for as long as she was allowed before the Nurse shooed her out at curfew, Eloise promising to come back the next day.
-0-
Newt and Eloise sat on the floor in the common room before a warm fire with maps laid out before them. Newt pointed to different places telling her of the magical creatures found there. He was almost flying off the handle as he explained about the various rare creatures, pointing out things and facts excitedly, telling Eloise with happy eyes showing how excited he was about his passion. Slowly he came to a stop, his ears turning red as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"What's wrong?" Eloise smiled widely at him as he comes to a stop.
"I didn't mean to rattle on like that." He mumbled, avoiding eye contact, a usual defense of his when he was nervous.
"I don't mind, I rather like hearing about it all, plus you listen to me when I go on my history rants." Eloise pointed out. It was nice to have someone that listened to her interests without getting bored or complaining.
"Well you make it all sound so interesting." Newt shrugged leaning back against the couch.
"You do the same when you talk of animals." Eloise said sitting next to him.
"Maybe…maybe we can travel together." Newt looked away from her, his hand picking at the rug. "There are many areas of historical importance that coincide with magical animal habitats."
"I'd like that." Eloise smiled, bumping his shoulder with hers getting him to look over to her.
"Really?" He smiled hopefully.
"Really." Eloise nodded firmly.
-0-
Eloise and Newt sat in the compartment of the Hogwarts train on the way back to platform 9 ¾, the second year now complete. With them were some of Eloise's friends, but Newt had never really connected with them beyond acquaintances so he was mostly focused on his book, the latest in Magizoology.
"Newt? Newt!" Eloise rolled her eyes taking his book from him getting his attention.
"Hey!" He pouted.
"I was trying to tell you we're about to come into the station you numpty." Eloise teased him with a playful smile handing him back his book.
"Oh really, already?" Newt glanced around at the others gathering their things.
"Come on Newt." Eloise laughed as they got their things, the train pulling into the station soon after. Eloise waved after her friends who had gone ahead to their own families, Eloise walking through the crowd with Newt in search of theirs. "Oh before I forget…again." Eloise reached into her pocket pulling out a piece of paper handing it to Newt. "Write me while we on break, ok?"
"Ok." Newt beamed, he had in truth been a bit afraid that over summer they'd grow apart.
"Eloise!" A deep voice called out.
Eloise turned with a bright smile to a man with long salt and pepper hair pulled back into a low ponytail that matched his neatly trimmed full beard. He had chocolate brown eyes like his daughters, stood tall, was lean, and held a cane which he leaned on. He wore a black suit, a dark red undershirt, a black vest, and black shoes. In his right ear hung a black crystal earring. She ran over to the man wrapping him in a tight hug as he chuckled warmly hugging her back.
"Hello papa." Eloise smiled then looked over to Newt who stood nervously, unsure of what to do. "Papa, this is Newt Scamander, my friend I was telling you about, Newt, this is my father Balthazar."
"Nice to meet you young man." Balthazar held out his hand, which Newt took noting the strength of the hand shake and attempting to match it having read it was important for first impressions.
"You as well sir." Newt nodded.
"Eloise tells me that you've been helping her with her studies, I wanted to thank you." Balthazar smiled.
"It was nothing really, she didn't need much help." Newt ducked his head.
"Modesty, that is a rare trait in young men today, better keep this one close Eloise." Her father said teasingly.
"Papa." Eloise rolled her eyes while Newt blushed, but then he perked up upon hearing his name being called.
"Newt, there you are! Mother and father are waiting for us." Theseus ran up to them.
"Sorry." Newt said grabbing his things with a frown.
"Hello Eloise." Theseus smiled.
"Hey Theseus." Eloise replied as Newt seemed to shrink back.
"You must be Eloise's father, Mr. Wulf, I'm Theseus Scamander." Theseus shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you lad." Balthazar nodded.
"How's your shoulder Theseus?" Eloise asked with a smile.
"You mean after you rammed into it on the field?" Theseus asked with a smile of his own as he rubbed his shoulder.
"You were in my wing span and I was not about to let you gain another steal from us." Eloise crossed her arms.
"Well you succeeded, just don't think it's going to be as easy next year." Theseus replied.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Eloise nodded.
"Come on Newt, it was nice to meet you Mr. Brightwood." Theseus said.
"You as well." Balthazar replied as Theseus pulled Newt along, Eloise waving to him as they disappeared into the crowd. "He seems a nice lad."
"He is." Eloise smiled fondly as her father eyed her in amusement before he wrapped his arm around her and leading her out of the platform.
