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First Year

Hogwarts Express

He had not always loved Leta Lestrange. In the beginning, Newton Scamander barely even noticed her.

Newt's mother, her shoulders still covered in the downy feathers of the new born hippogriff at home, kissed his forehead goodbye the day Newt boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time.

"I packed you a sandwich," his mother said. "Now don't be nervous. Hogwarts is where you meet friends who will be with you your whole life. All First Years get lost in the castle, so explore this year while you have an excuse. Your father and I will write to you, and you can always go to your brother, Theseus, for help."

Theseus had already given their mother a cheerful goodbye kiss and had disappeared onto the train by the time Newt had stopped gawking in awe of the red shiny paint. Gathering his new trunk and wrapping an arm around Mittens's cage, Newt stepped for the first time onto the Hogwarts Express, waved goodbye to his mom, and started his way down the crowded train to find his brother. His heart ran wild in his chest, as excitement and fear of dropping Mittens mixed and mingled together. The kitten made an unhappy noise from her cage in Newt's arm.

"Just a moment, Mitts," Newt said, softly. "Then I will let you out."

Theseus poked his head out from one of the compartments. He had already dressed into his Gryffindor robes.

"Thought I heard you," Theseus said. "Need some help?"

Newt nodded, and Theseus took the new unscratched truck and lifted it easily up into the storage bin of the compartment. Newt peered around at Theseus's friends. There were many of them. Theseus had always been popular. A girl who had been pulling out her Ravenclaw robes frowned at him.

"You want your First Year brother to join with us?"

A boy with a Slytherin scarf whacked her shoulder. "Don't be rude."

At the same time, Theseus responded, "Of course. Newt, this is everyone. Everyone, this is Newt."

Newt took a seat in a open spot at the corner, Mittens's cage in his lap. Theseus's friends had already moved onto a new topic. Theseus sat across from him, and leaned forward. Whispering, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to find some other First Years? Start making friends before we get to school?"

Newt nervously played with Mittens's cage and shook his head. He couldn't meet his brother's steady gaze. Theseus had always been brave and outspoken, ready to make friends with strangers.

"Okay then," Theseus said brightly. "You can let her out now, by the way."

Newt immediately let his cat out of the cage. Mittens, a small black cat with white paws, stretched and roamed around the compartment before returning to Newt's lap and curling up to take a nap.

That was when the compartment door swung open, and Newt saw Leta Lestrange for the first time. Dressed in First Year robes, her dark skin glowing and her black hair pulled over a shoulder, she froze in the doorway.

"Just looking for a place to sit," she said, already backing out of the doorway. "Sorry."

The older students didn't pay her any mind, and Newt returned his attention to Mittens.

September

The boys in his dormitory did not like him. Newt blamed himself. He had let his nerves get the best of him the first week of school and he hadn't been able to change their opinion of him since. Sick with excitement and nerves, Newt hadn't been able to get himself to talk that first night in the common room while his Hufflepuff house members greeted and hugged one another, and then in the dormitory he had half hidden himself behind the cozy yellow curtains than hung around his bed, only joining into the conversation once to ramble about a secret passage way Theseus had mentioned until he looked up to see the odd looks on the other boys' faces, and trailed off.

Darren Mullen, the boy who had the bed closest to Newt's, had smiled kindly before returning the conversation to the topic it had been at before Newt had started rambling.

Mittens purred in his lap as the other boys bonded.

In classes, Darren was kind enough to make a point to sit by Newt, as if trying to keep him included, but he always ended up talking to the other Hufflepuffs in the classroom. Eventually, Darren stopped trying to force Newt into the group dynamic.

"He is annoying," whispered Sophia, a pretty and well liked First Year who Darren admired. She hadn't realized Newt was walking behind her, and Newt's face burned red when he realized she was talking about him. "He can't look me in the eye when he is talking and it creeps me out. What is he looking at?"

"I think he is just shy," Darren whispered back.

"Shy?" Sophia huffed. "He random goes off about different types of eggshells or feathers."

"Maybe he should have been in Ravenclaw? Doesn't mean he is annoying," Darren said.

"Please, the Ravenclaw students don't like him either."

"Only because he outsmarted Gwen Edwards in Transfiguration last week and stole her praise from Professor Dumbledore. We have more points than Ravenclaw at the moment because of him."

Despite Darren defending Newt, Darren stopped trying to include him in the group after talking with Sophia. Newt then developed a bad habit of turning red every time he could feel Sophia looking at him. One day he caught her whispering about him in the common room, and he fled to finish his work somewhere else.

"It's just your nerves."

Newt looked up from where he had been sitting alone in the library, his homework out in front of him. The girl from the train, Leta Lestrange, was standing in front of his table. He glanced back down at his open books. Mittens was circling around his ankles and purring.

"Everyone gets nervous," Leta continued, seemingly un-phased by Newt's inability to hold her gaze for long. "You just let it run through you a little too long. The trick is to not let it settle."

She turned to leave, clearly satisfied that she had made her point.

"How can I do that?" Newt asked. Leta turned back around the face him again. "Not let it settle, I mean."

Leta struggled. "Guess it would depend on what is making you nervous."

And with that, Leta strolled away, her green Slytherin robes gliding behind her.

October

Newt started spending meals at the Gryffindor table, sitting beside his brother. The Ravenclaw girl who had been on the train, Stacy Lee, was Theseus's new girlfriend, and she scowled at Newt during the Halloween feast when Theseus left the table to search for sugar pumpkins.

"Do you really have to sit with us every day," Stacy asked, a forced kindness in her voice. "I would appreciate it if I could have one meal alone with my boyfriend before the end of the year." Then she muttered to herself. "It's annoying."

Newt stopped sitting at the Gryffindor table after that, and changed the subject when Theseus found him on the moving staircases weeks later asking if something was wrong.

November

Hufflepuffs shared Flying period with the Slytherins – a recent change, as there had been an incident between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors the week before - and it snowed for the first time for the year that morning. Professor Smith had just been explaining how to keep your balance and your speed on an eighty degree turn when one of the students yelled out with excitement about the snow. The rest of the class was gone within seconds, as most students jumped off their brooms to play with the snow. Newt stayed on his broom, studying how his classmates affected one another. One person would start catching snowflakes with their tongue, and then it would ripple through the class until everyone was doing the same. Then another person would try gathering enough snow to make a snowball, and that would ripple through the class, too.

Leta Lestrange was suddenly by his side, steady on her own broom.

"What are you watching?" she asked.

"The pattern," Newt said, then pointed to a Slytherin boy who had started to roll on the lightly frosted ground. "Look."

Sure enough, within moments everyone was rolling on the ground. Professor Smith looked tired and stopped trying to regain the attention of the class.

Leta laughed, and Newt blinked, finally looking over at her. She had a nice laugh, one that was both airy and rich.

"You're funny," she said. "And right, they are like echoes of each other's actions."

"Echoes or lemmings," Newt said, and when Leta frowned at him he added, "Lemmings are little rodents that are known for fallowing one another off cliffs."

"Lemmings," Leta said, as if trying the word in her mouth. "Little lemmings."

December

"Are you going home over winter break?" Leta asked.

"Yeah," Newt answered absentmindedly, still staring up at the ceiling of the Great Hall that showed the snowing sky. "My mum says the young hippogriff is starting to learn to fly."

"Oh, okay," Leta said. "Sounds good."

Leta had been joining Newt during meals at the Hufflepuff table for about a month, and Newt couldn't help but think that he was starting to know her well enough to know when she said things she didn't mean.

"Aren't you going home?" Newt asked.

Leta shrugged. "Don't know, my family hasn't said anything."

According to rumor, the Lestrange family was, well, strange. Darren had turned to Newt one night in the dormitory to warn him to be careful, hanging out with a Lestrange girl. Newt had shrugged in return. He was starting to feel comfortable around Leta. Almost like she was a friend.

"Maybe they haven't said anything because they assumed you are coming home," Newt offered.

Mittens jumped into the empty seat next to Newt, and Leta reached over the table to scratch the cat behind her ear.

"Maybe," Leta said.

A shadow pasted over Newt, and he looked behind himself to find Sophia frowning at him.

"Please get your cat away from the food," she said, before continuing down the table to where most of the First Year Hufflepuff girls sat.

Leta picked up a bread roll and threw it at Sophia's retreating back. The bread roll missed.

"Don't do that," Newt said.

Leta winked. "Do what?"

January

Theseus once again helped Newt carry his trunk onto the Hogwarts Express. Winter break was over; it was time to return to school.

"Want to join my compartment?" Theseus asked.

The thought of being stuck in a small space with Stacy, Theseus's current girlfriend, curled Newt's stomach.

"I'd said I'd meet a friend," Newt said.

Theseus's face brightened, obviously happy at Newt admitting that he had a friend.

Leta sat alone in a compartment near the back of the train. When Newt opened the door to step inside, she looked up from her book, blinked at him, and then sprang to give him a very tight hug. Newt's face burned, although he didn't know why.

"I'm so happy to see a happy face," said Leta. "There were not many happy faces that were actually happy at home."

Finally, Leta let go, and they sat down. Newt let Mitts out of her cage to roam around the compartment.

"What happened at home?"

Leta rolled her eyes. "Apparently, there was a false rumor that someone in the family was going to marry a Half-blood. It ruined Mum and Dad's moods the whole break, even though the rumor wasn't true. How was the newly flying hippogriff–"

The compartment door suddenly opened, and Theseus appeared at the doorway.

"Newt, did Stacy ever say something rude to you?"

Newt had a hard time meeting his brother's gaze, his face felt warm once again.

February

The older Hufflepuff girls had a sudden interest in being friendly with Newt in the common room once the news that Theseus Scamander had broken up with his girlfriend because she was rude to his little brother became common knowledge. Newt had to admit, it was nice to have housemates greet him in the morning. One of the Fifth Year girls even chased after him in the hallway to return a dropped quill one afternoon when Newt was walking with Theseus.

"It's Newton, right?" the girl asked, handing over the quill.

Newt nodded. "Newt. Thank you."

The girl shrugged. "No problem." She smiled prettily at Theseus, turned, and left.

"Wow, being related with me really put you on the map," Theseus said. "You're welcome."

Theseus was always joking about his status. It was, Newt considered, one of the things that made him popular: his non-caring if he was popular. Between Theseus's not caring if people liked him or not, and between Leta's not caring if people liked her family or not, Newt was beginning to understand what it meant to settle his nerves. People seemed to like people who didn't care whether or not you liked them, and even if that wasn't true, at the very least you wouldn't worry about it. It was better not to worry. Being nervous had never helped Newt in the past.

With his broom over his shoulder, Theseus led Newt out of the castle and towards the Quidditch Pitch. It was Theseus's second year playing as a Beater for the Gryffindor team, and Newt liked to watch the team practice. The Gryffindor team captain, a Seventh Year named Kwame Karey, didn't care that a "little Hufflepuff punk" was watching practice because Kwame believed that "the Hufflepuff team couldn't beat us even if they did know our plays."

Newt would have never told on his brother's team, anyway. Kwame's strategies were never spoken outside of practice. At least not by Newt or not by Newt's knowledge.

"Speaking of girls," Theseus said, as they neared the Quidditch Pitch, "You are still young enough that you consider them gross, right?"

"You can keep all your fans to yourself, if that is what you are worried about," Newt replied.

Theseus laughed. "But what about the Lestrange girl, just friends? Or is it a crush."

"Just friends."

"Thank Merlin," Theseus muttered, then added when he saw the look on Newt's face, "Not because she is a Lestrange, but because I think I might die the day my little brother starts walking down the hallways hand-in-hand with a girl."

"You and Stacy used to hold hands all the time."

"Don't remind me," Theseus groaned. "I can't believe it took me months to notice she was mean."

"Well, you were put in Gryffindor," Newt said. "Brave, not bright."

Theseus punched him hard in the shoulder.

April

Leta's laugh was light and carefree.

"These are so weird! I love them."

Newt smiled to himself, watching her through his overgrown hair as she took another bit of the chocolate Easter egg. His mom had sent both him and Theseus chocolate eggs, and Newt had pasted one over his breakfast plate towards Leta's without thinking twice. It wasn't until Leta had frozen and looked at him suspiciously that Newt had guessed that her family had never sent her an Easter egg.

"Take another," Newt said. Leta reached over and took two more, stuffing them into her bag.

"Mum says chocolate makes your magic weak, but these are so good that I don't care," Leta said, her mouth full.

"Chocolate doesn't affect you magic. Although I did hear Professor Dumbledore tell a Six Year in the hallway that it helps you feel better after being near a Dementor."

Leta arched a questioning eyebrow. "I doubt a piece of food, even one as good as this, could make you feel better after you around a Dementor. You shouldn't believe everything Dumbledore says."

May

Mittens's did not want to get into her cage.

"Come on, Mitts, you'll make me late for the train," Newt said, trying to reach to where the black cat had crawled under his bed. "It's time to go home now. Come on."

Darren knocked on the dormitory door to get Newt's attention. "What's the holdup mate? Don't want to be late."

Darren had referred to Newt as "mate" before, and it took Newt by surprise every time, considered the two barely spoke to each other on a day to day basic.

"It's Mitts, she doesn't like her cage."

Darren sighed and jogged over. Together, they were able to corner Mittens, and Newt carefully put her in her cage.

"Thanks," Newt said.

By then Darren was panting and sweaty. "No problem. Nice to have a workout before sitting on a train all day."

Newt nodded. Together, the two boys left the dormitory.

"Can I ask you something?" Darren asked, as they walked through the castle.

"Yes."

"Are the Lestranges really, you know, strange?"

Newt shrugged. "Don't know. I've only ever met Leta. She isn't strange."

They walked in silence for a while. They left the castle, walked across the grounds, and were in line to board the Hogwarts Express before Darren spoke again.

"Hey Newt, from one Hufflepuff to another, don't let your loyalty to your friends keep you from seeing who your friends really are."

"Leta isn't strange."

Darren placed a hand on Newt's shoulder. "Maybe."