Sydney, Australia 1928
A muggle girl on her way home from a late night serving shift walked into the train station. She noted a lady with shoulder length brown hair and a slightly nervous expression walking behind her as she turned down a tunnel to the platform. The only sound in the tunnel was their combined foot steps. As the muggle was nearing the end of the tunnel the ladies footsteps stopped, the girl turned and the tunnel behind her was empty. As she stood there in confusion the train arrived and she hurried to catch it immediately forgetting about the incident and the lady.
Tina Goldstein walked through the train station tunnel and walked into the wall below a "keep left" sign and stepped into an almost abandoned wizard train station. And stood over by a wall to wait for her train to the Australian Ministry. The wizarding school there, Apaneroo, was having issues finding and keeping a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Newt Scamander having been signed on as their Care of Magical Creatures professor a few months back suggested Tina for the position. Tina approached the young receptionist, "G'Day Ma'am!"
"Hello, I'm here to speak with the head of the education department," Tina smiledwhen she felt someone tap her shoulder, with a small yelp she jumped and turned.
The man standing behind her had short dark hair and a wide smile, "If I were a snake I woulda bit ya, put'er there, I'm Professor Chartreuse, head of Apaneroo, you must be Porpentina."
"Tina Goldstein, I didn't know you would be here," Tina shook his hand an smiled.
"Newt had mentioned that you might be a bit frightened by some of the creatures you'll encounter as you approach the school so I thought I would escourt you since he's in class," Professor Chartreuse turned and started to lead Tina, "Are you okay with a portkey that's a creature?"
"You put a portkey spell on a magical creature?" Tina tilted her head to the side.
"No just a muggle creature," the professor answered as he held open a door for Tina.
"Oh okay," Tina stepped into a beautiful rainforest enclosure, the ceiling stretched higher than the tall trees and all around was peoples office windows and an unnatural soft breeze flowed through the trees and into the windows some offices had open, Tina's maroon flower patterned summer dress fluttered around her mid calves.
"Hold out your hand, and don't panic, okay?" Professor Chartreuse instructed doing the same.
Tina watched in horror as a spider bigger than the Dean's hand landed on it and one got closer and closer to hers. All of a sudden she apparated to an actual forest, the spider jumped off her and Professor Chartreuse's hand's and crawled away into the forest. Tina let out the breath she was holding, "Oh great heavens, Professor next time I'm going to need a touch more of a warning than 'don't panic'."
"Sorry, it's always a bit of a shock to non Australians," the Professor began to lead Tina down a dirt path soon turned to stone, "Newt took it better than anyone I've ever seen, I'm very impressed with him."
"He is a great wizard, very knowledgable, I was certain he would be a fantastic teacher," Tina smiled fondly.
Professor Chartreuse stopped walking and smirked, "Funny, he said the same thing about you, almost word for word," he continued to the doors of the school gate which opened before them.
There was a very large open space with trees, winding paths, and plenty of benches and stone tables for student to study at. Tina felt slightly nervous but brushed away the anxious feeling that all the students were judging her. Professor Chartreuse led Tina around the school showing her the main areas and explaing how the room numbers worked, then they headed to her classroom where an envelope with student scheduling, her duties as a teacher, an outline of the curriculum prewritten for her, along with the student handbook and disciplinary actions, "Thank you very much Professor Chartreuse, it was a pleasure to meet you."
"And you as well Professor Goldstein, I will introduce you to the students at dinner, I'll leave you to explore and unpack as you wish till then, let me know if you need anything," they shook hands once more and the head of school left.
"You can do this Tina," she whispered to herself. She paced back and forth for a few minutes, taking everything in because it just now started to feel real when she noticed a gathering of students on the lawn, they were all seated in a half circle around Newt who was seated on the ground under a huge tree, he was smiling and answering students questions one by one as they raised their hands. Tina went back to her desk and picked up the schedule, Professor Scamander did not currently have a class so what was he doing? Tina looked back out to notice a few more students walk over and Newt gestured for them to sit and they joined them. Tina looked down at her clothing debating whether to change into some teaching robes or not, she glanced back our and noticed Newts navy blue robes with dark red accents and decided she should.
She left her class room and headed towards the teaching dormitory which were abandoned due to all the other professors having duties either with students or planning for their next lesson. Her door had her name carved into a plaque in gold script, she opened it to reveal a cozy room with a curtained off sleeping area, a sitting area, a desk with a book shelf and a side kitchenette. Everything in the room was plain with navy decor and red accents, her teaching robes were the same as Newt's hung up in an open wardrobe, her travel bags were just inside the door and the only other thing she noticed was a piece of paper on the floor she had almost stepped on, she bent to pick it up.
Dear Tina,
Welcome to Apaneroo, I'm so happy to become your coworker. I would be pleased if you were free an hour before dinner to take a walk with me we could meet by my classroom, but if you're too busy I very much understand and I'll see you at dinner.
My best,
Newt Scamander
Tina smiled as she walked back to the window, Newt was now laughing as a few students began dancing oddly. The clock tower chimed the hour and Tina checked her wall clock, it was an hour till dinner, Newt go up and slowly started making his way back towards the school, a few students trailed after him while the majority dispersed their own directions. Tina's eyes got wide and she gasped, with a wave of her wand her drapes closed, her travel bags began to unpack themselves, and she quickly changed into her teaching robes, after a quick check of her hair in the mirror Tina opened her door and headed towards where she knew Newts classroom was.
Newt was talking to a last handful of students with one hand on the door nob to his classroom when he saw Tina walk around the corner and pause, "You've all brought up some excellent questions and I'll be sure to answer them all in class tomorrow, now you should be off to wash up for dinner, you'll want to make a good first impression on your new teacher."
The students said their goodbyes and made it down the hall away from Tina, who made her way to Newt watched his students round the corner before turning to her, and shyly said, "Hello, Professor Goldstein, you look very nice."
"Thank you, Professor Scamander, did you fancy a walk?" Tina smiled.
"Yes, I would, could I show you some of the creatures your students and I have been working with?" Newt peered at Tina through his bangs with his head bent.
"I would be honored, please lead the way," with that they fell into step and Newt began rambling about magical creatures and Tina watched him with a smile.
Welcome to my new story, I hope you enjoyed, let me know your thoughts in the comments!
