Disclaimer; anything that you recognise does not belong to me.

A/N: For the International Wizarding School Championship. I used the prompts 'First Day of School/Term [Event]' and 'Newt Scamander [Main Character]'.

Word Count: 1378

Newt glanced into the next compartment, nerves seeping into his stomach as he saw kids his age talking with one another, none of them looking quite as nervous as he felt.

It was his first day; his first day at a new school with new people and new things. And well, Newt had never been that good at handling new things.

He still remembers the first time he and his family moved houses. How his father was driving down the street, everyone else sitting in the car and looking at all the houses, all of them wondering which one was theirs. It was in a muggle town, filled with suburbia and normalcy. But that didn't mean that it was normal for Newt.

The house that his parents chose wasn't even a house as it turns out, instead it a small apartment. The apartment barely fit the four of them, let alone all their belongings and most of it ended up being put into storage.

Newt can still remember the massive fit that he had that night too, which started pretty much as soon as he ended up walking inside. It was just too different, filled with too much colour and not enough space. It was nothing like his old house and nothing that he was comfortable with. Whenever he looked at the bright blue walls he was reminded just how different everything was. He ended up spending that whole first night crying and begging to just go back home where everything was familiar.

Lucky for him, they didn't stay end up staying in that house for very long. It ended up being too long of a commute for his mother, a hippogriff breeder who worked in Basingstoke, which was a long hour and a half drive away.

He never did get over his fear of change or his fear of the unknown though. Still to this very day he got nervous over the littlest things, things that he knew didn't really matter. He wouldn't eat anything that he had never eaten before or speak to people that he didn't know. He wouldn't wear clothes that he wasn't used to, he wouldn't go somewhere he hadn't been before.

His life was like a routine, it was something that was planned out constantly, he couldn't even take a step without thinking about it beforehand. Everything in his life needed to be regular and stable, something he could depend on. And as long as there were no surprises, he was happy.

That was one of the reasons he loved magical creatures so much. They were just so predictable. They didn't do anything without a reason, the things they did had a very specific purpose. Because all animals really want in life is a nice home, good food and lots of love. It was simple. And Newt loved it that way.

But, humans, well they seemed to want a hell of a lot more than that.

So, it wasn't that much of a surprise that he wasn't taking this 'new school in the middle of Scotland, miles away from home' thing very well. It was different and something that he had never experienced before.

His mind was just filled with what ifs. Pretty much all of the thoughts he had were concerns or worries because there were just so many things that could go wrong. What if no one liked him? What if he didn't make any friends? What if Hogwarts ended up being the worst experience ever? He just wasn't sure he was ready to take that risk.

Although to be honest, Newt wasn't exactly new to the idea of not being liked. In fact, he considered himself kind of an expert.

Growing up Newt didn't have many friends to hang out with or to talk to, he spent most of his time alone. And when he was with other people, he was usually just ignored altogether or an unnecessary addition to the friend group. He was never really needed.

Which he kind of understood, because he wasn't exactly the best person to be around or to hang out with. He was actually the opposite.

Because Newt was the kind of person who obsessed over things, who became easily fixated. Whether it be a favourite food or a good book, you could be sure that if he liked it, you would know about it.

Most of the time though, it was just a stage, something he got over in a couple of months. He remembered one year where he loved bicycles and riding them and the mechanics behind them, it all just fascinated him. The next year though he hated them with a passion.

But that was just a 'Newt' thing, it was something to be expected. But there was always one thing that always stuck in the back of his mind and it never left. Because animals, whether they are magical or not, were his favourite thing in the whole world.

It was even at the point where he even preferred them to other people. If given the option of hanging out with a real person his age who was most likely to just judge him or an animal who didn't care about any of that and only wanted to be loved, he knew what he would always choose.

So, it was easy to understand why they were all he could talk about or all he could focus on. But the kids his age, they didn't really understand. They thought it was weird, that it was abnormal so therefore Newt was abnormal and weird himself.

And at Hogwarts, he didn't want to be that kid, the weird one who just stood in the corner obsessing over his animals. And even though he didn't know how else to be or how else to act, he knew that he had to change. He knew he had to be someone different. So, maybe the saying 'fake it till you make it', was true after all and something he could do.

But before today, it wasn't something that bothered him that much. There was always Theseus, his older brother, or even his parents to keep him company if he needed. So, he had always had enough. But now, there wasn't really anyone that could do that, who could be there for him. And he wasn't sure how he would handle that.

At Hogwarts, he didn't want to be that kid, the weird one who just stood in the corner obsessing over his animals. He didn't want to be reduced to that person, to be that stereotype. And even though he didn't know who else to be or how else to act, he knew that he had to change, even if only a little bit. He knew that he had to be someone new, he had to be someone who could be liked. But to be honest, that didn't sound very great either.

Newt slumped down in his seat, a grimace starting to form on his face as he weighed up his options. Was it worth being himself and not being liked? Or was having friends and being someone else the best option he had? And even though, he didn't really desire to be in a fellow human's company that much, it felt like something he should.

He sighed and rubbed his temples, his thoughts much too deafening for him. They were always filled with too many worries and concerns that deep-down Newt knew weren't that rational. It was all he could think about; being liked or fitting in, even though living his weird life with weird fixations made him happy.

But, that never did exactly stop him from thinking them in the first place. And as he worried over things that he couldn't control and pondered on matters that he knew he really shouldn't, he started to feel further away from a decision than he ever had in his life.

The only thing he did know for certain though, was that this was going to be one long train trip.