Christmas was finally upon them and Newt had plans to show Anna something special over the holiday. In fact, he knew exactly what he was going to show her.

"Newt, tell me where we're going." He'd insisted she wear a blindfold as soon as they'd left the great hall.

"Somewhere I think you'll love." They were descending stairs and judging by the direction they were heading for the Hufflepuff dorms. She giggled.

"Newt, please tell me where we're going?" the reddish haired boy said nothing until she heard him mutter the password to the Hufflepuff common room and then their matching footfall going up the left staircase.

"we're here." He took the blindfold off and all she saw was his Hogwarts trunk.

"You wanted to show me your school trunk?" newt awkwardly smiled "No, see, it-it's what's inside."

"You want to show me your…clothes?" he just kept his sideways smile as he opened the trunk, leading her to look inside, surprise couldn't even cover her expression.

"It's…bigger on the inside." His grin only grew as he stepped into the trunk and onto a ladder, a hand popping out a few seconds later to usher her in.

"Come on!" stepping onto the ladder she thought she had her footing…until she didn't. A loud screech filled the space as she slid down the ladder, a pair of arms catching her before she hit the floor.

"Terribly sorry about that." His eyes were downcast again, "I'll have to make that safer…" Anna's hair was a very bright shade of pink as she peered out from the curtain of hair to look at him before taking in the expanse of the room they were now in.

"Pink…?" he wondered what this color meant, it wasn't a common occurrence, neither realized his hands were still at her waist.

"Your trunk…it's quite magnificent." He still wore his dopey smile, his eyes trailing to where her eyes were looking before a light dusting of red colored his cheeks.

"T-terribly sorry, that was very f-forward of me." He quickly placed his arms back at his sides, Anna giggled, a sound he had grown to love, even in their short amount of time together.

"S-So…yo-you enchanted your trunk?"

"It gives me somewhere quite to go when I need to think."

"I suppose the library is a bit distracting, what with all the older students thinking it's a great place to snog." Newts face dusted red again.

"You'd almost think they'd never seen a person of the opposite gender before." This comment earned her an almost undignified snort.

"Th-That's quite good." She sat cross legged on the floor of the small room and watched him "So, you really hide out in here?"

"Only when I need to think, a lot of the time I'm mulling about the common room."

"I usually hide out by the boat house, no one ever bothers me there." He noticed her hair change from pink to black, that was another one for the books.

"It's not exactly nice to be out there right now, snow and all."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right, but it's the only place I can go where they leave me alone." His mind wandered back to September when they'd first met.

"Well, you're always welcome here."

"Newton! Are you encouraging me to sneak into the boys dorms?" she gave him a teasing look as she leaned forward and wiggled her eyebrows in a goofy manner.

"O-Oh n-no, that's not what I…I mean Yes that's kind of…" Anna laughed as his cheeks tinged pink with an embarrassed blush.

"I'm only messing, I'd like that. It can be like our own hide away."

It was finally the end of their second year and students were boarding the Hogwarts express.

"Sit with me for the ride back?"

"Gladly."

"Looks boys, it's the salamander and his cricket." The unusual pair of friend shared a look and she changed her face to look like a cricket, even imitating the chirps they made, this earned both a terrified and disgusted look from the older Slytherins.

"She's such a freak!"

"I think the term you're looking for is metamorphmagus." Her face returned to normal and Newt was almost doubled over with silent laughter.

"That was…marvelous!" she hooked her arm in his and led them onto the train.

"So you're parents are muggle doctors?"

"Yeah, they are always on call though so I rarely see them, and when I do they scrutinize me. Something about Magic not being scientifically proven, needless to say when my letter arrived they both nearly keeled over."

"That sounds horrid."

"I ignore them, I love having magic, but it does become taxing to hide it when family visits for holidays."

"We use magic for practically everything at my home, I can't imagine living without it. M-Maybe you could come visit?"

"You want me to come see your home?" the idea was strange to her, she'd be staying at a boy's home, her mother would have a conniption…or maybe just not notice.

"Tell you what, I'll come visit you over the summer months, if—" he was curious what her request would be "You promise to write to me up until I do." It was a simple request.

"I find summer to be boring at home, promise you'll write?" catching the hopeful glint in her eye Newt smiled "All right, I'll write to you until you come visit." Anna was beaming and He watched as the familiar shade of yellow returned to her hair.

As the train pulled out of the station the two Hufflepuffs watched their school fade into the distance.

They had arrived back at Kings Cross station, Anna's dual colored eyes scanning the crowds for her parents.

"Oh…maybe they couldn't get on the platform?" but they'd been able her first year.

"Hey, we can walk through together, see if they're on the other side." He gave her a reassuring look as his parents walked over.

"So, this must be the famous Anna, Newt's rambled about you in all of his letters." Her hair faded to a bright pink and her eyes found the ground.

"You're a metamorphmagus?" Anna wanted to crawl in a hole under the woman's gaze.

"Newts little girlfriend here has been quite the topic around school, they've nicknamed her cricket." A new voice joined the group, Anna's brown and green orbs looked at him with confusion.
"Oh, terribly sorry, where are my manners. Anna this is Theseus, my older brother."

"Oh…the prefect?" she brushed his mention of her unwanted nickname under the rug and held out her hand.

"S-Sorry, My name's Anna, Anna Carrio."

"Yes, I've heard" she noted he was incredibly…"Conceited" Theseus looked down at the girl with disgust and Newt had to keep himself from laughing again.

"So, Anna, what do your parents do?" the petite girl managed to lug her trunk onto a trolley and they headed for the 9 ¾ pillar "Oh, they're muggle doctors."

"A muggle born, and with your ability as well, fascinating."

"Yes well…they're n-not fond of me." She felt herself retreating back into her shell "W-well…more so n-not fond of my magic… th-they say it's n-not scientifically sound."

"Well, that is why it's called magic, dear." Newt watched some joy return to his friend's eyes at his mothers words, she'd always been good at keeping people's spirits up.

"Th-thank you Missus Scamander."

"And thank you for being my son's first friend, he speaks so highly of you." Red dusted the boys cheeks but Anna just smiled "He saved me you know…if he hadn't been passing by at the right moment…" she trailed off as their eyes met

"What?" Theseus suddenly seemed very interested in the conversation.

"They were—they were going to drown her. S-said they'd sh-show her where her k-kind truly belonged."

'Did you happen to catch the names of these students, Anna?" Her eyes looked to the older brother then once more to the floor "O-Oh, No, I'm a-afraid not…sorry." Newt hated to watch her retreat like this.

They passed through and back into the main station where Anna proceeded to seek out her parents, finally finding them by platform 6.

"Thank you for keeping me company, Newt."

"Anna Bell" her face dusted red at her father's nickname "Dad…not here!" The Scamander family watched with intrigue

"So, you're the young man who took care of our little Anna?" it was her mother that upset her, she had put on fake water works "Oh, when we'd heard what those older kids did to our little Anna…we almost pulled her out of school and brought her home." Anna scoffed under her breath her hair turning a fiery red.

"Oh, well it's a good thing you didn't, terrible things happen to magical children who have their magic repressed."

'Obscurials…' the words echoed in newts mind, he wouldn't know what to do if such a fate befell his friend.

"Oh, Mum, dad, Newts invited me to visit for part of the summer…can I go?" her words were hopeful as her father eyed the family before nodding.

"Of course, anyone who can draw our little Anna out of her shell this much is fine in my book." He clapped a rather large hand on Newts shoulder.

"I'll see you soon, Newt."