Newt was panting as he put the last habitat into place. It had taken a little bit of coaxing and several days of careful planning once the creatures were put into stasis temporarily, but they were almost done.
He could feel the magic kicking in as the enlarged habitats began to slowly adjust to compensate for the new territory.
As Melody had pointed out, his original set up was like a box of puzzle pieces that had been laid out in a hodge-podge manner and were only putting a great strain on his magic and on the spacial charms in the case.
Now though... there was a noticable difference, and when they released the creatures from their stasis, he watched as they all migrated to areas that suited their needs without him having to do a thing. It was very clear that they were quite happy with the new arrangement. The Nundu, for example was far less tense and was happy sunning himself on a nice rock.
The amphibious creatures were happily swimming in their redesigned water areas... Newt had to admit, he never would have thought of an ocean that could go over the edge and recollect to be reused again.
Melody had called it a 'fun water-feature'. The fact that it was literally deep enough to go swimming in and dive down to see actual corals was simply breathtaking.
He would be more amazed if the ICW didn't give him a mastery for this amount of work.
However the highlight of all the hard work they had put into it was the expression on Melody's face when he revealed the newly refurbished 'shack', which was now the size of a proper house.
"What is this?" she asked.
"I took my shack and turned it into a proper home. I don't know why it never occurred to me to do it sooner. It has several bedrooms, two full baths, a sauna, and several empty rooms to redecorate as the need arises. As well as a proper potions lab which has easy access to the remaining greenhouse. I also included a door that would allow us to enter any of the habitats within moments, rather than having to traipse across the ecosystem to feed the animals," said Newt proudly. "Though I had to install markers for the door to latch onto."
Melody looked at the house with an odd expression in her eyes.
"I know you've been hurt before, and that you're not fully ready to deal with magicals. At least not large groups of them. However you should have a place where you can relax and be yourself without having to revert to your dragon form," said Newt.
He didn't try to approach her. This was a key point in helping her to recover, and only she could make that first step. It wouldn't help much if he forced her to make it.
Seeing her walk into the house was one of the most rewarding moments in his life.
And for a moment he thought he would end up sleeping alone, as he had gotten very used to cuddling with a dragon. However Melody flopped down on the newly transfigured bed and curled right up next to him with a happy sigh.
It wouldn't be until he was passing by one of the bathrooms that he discovered she had already taken initiatively and turned one of the empty rooms with one of the larger windows into a fully stocked library. There were bookshelves and even helpful plaques that told anyone who entered what each shelf contained...and as he watched, the plaques changed languages reading the same thing. Further investigation revealed a 'book' that would allow one to retrieve anything the user wanted to read by subject or just general content.
Newt idly wished he had this sort of set-up back when he was a student...it would have made studying much easier.
Melody was sticking very close to Newt as they wandered towards the port. This was the first time since he found her that she had opted to walk around in her true form, rather than as a small dragon around his neck.
It was somewhat pleasant, being able to walk with a very attractive young woman on his arm. The looks he kept getting were quite amusing, not that he particularly cared for them.
As they wandered through town (the ship wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow morning) Newt noticed the way Melody looked at certain pieces of clothing.
Considering she had mostly been wearing transfigured outfits, and hadn't really packed any clothes in the odd pocket space she had created (it was a surprisingly easy thing to make and access), Newt decided to pick up a few things for her on the sly. Meanwhile Melody was off to pick up some food for the travel, since it meant she wouldn't have to do any hunting later.
Newt happily surrendered all cooking to her, as his own attempts were sub-par at best and inedible at the worst. He could brew a potion just fine, but actually cooking something was beyond his skills. Melody, however, was an artist.
Newt had just finished purchasing the outfits he thought would suit Melody, or had caught her interest while they had passed by the stalls when he heard a commotion happening.
"What's going on?" he asked.
An American sailor had an amused expression on his face.
"A pretty dame is beating up some hooligans who tried to get fresh with her, from what I'm hearing," he replied.
Newt had a sinking feeling in his stomach, and started making his way towards the center of the fight. He could hear at least three men swearing, and the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
Fearing the worst, Newt managed to push through to see what was going on.
He was worried Melody had gotten into a fight and was being attacked by brutes.
His worries proved to be misplaced. He clearly should have been more concerned for the men.
Melody looked pissed, and there was a distinct fire in her eyes that said volumes of how angry she was. Considering the bruise on her left arm, he could make an educated guess what happened.
He would have to get the full story from her later, but right now he was more concerned about whether or not this would set her back in her recovery. He had only just gotten her to agree to wander around in human form in a crowded port.
Before Newt could push his way to Melody's side, she did a sweeping kick before punching one of the brutes so hard that he crashed into the two others.
Considering the muggle aurors had arrived, Melody settled for glaring rather than follow up.
"What's going on here?"
"Beggin' yer parden officer..." said the stall owner. "But the young miss here was buyin' food when these three decided to take a fancy to her. She made it clear she wasn't interested when that man over there tried to grab her...and she defended herself with more skill than I've ever seen in a dame."
"Is this true?" demanded the officer.
Several other stall owners were quick to agree...mostly because Melody had been a very polite customer who bought quite a bit of food and supplies using actual gold coins, whereas the men were just local hooligans that had caused no end of trouble.
The fact they got their ass handed to them by a woman, who looked like she could barely lift even one of them, was a sight they enjoyed greatly.
Newt was quick to make his way towards Melody.
"Are you alright?" he asked with concern.
"I really hate it when people decide they have a right to grab me like that," she scowled. "It's called 'personal space' for a bloody reason."
Her scowl deepened when she realized her dress now had bloodstains on it from where she hit the hooligans so hard that their few remaining teeth had been knocked out and splattered on her.
"If you be needing a place to change in private there's a closet with a curtain nearby," said the woman who had spoken up for her earlier.
"Thank you. Bloodstains are a pain to get out, even if they are well deserved," Melody replied with relief.
Newt had a sudden thought, and promptly pulled out something he had bought earlier.
"Here," he replied, handing her one of the packages. He planned to put the rest in his case once he had a moment to do so.
Seeing the confusion on her face, she accepted it and went to change out of her dress.
Magic would see it cleaned, but she couldn't very well use it in front of so many mundanes, as she called them.
The expression on her face when she exited was something that amused Newt greatly.
"I hope I got your size correct," he admitted sheepishly.
Melody blushed rather prettily, a stark contrast to the fury she had on her face from earlier.
Considering they still had time before they hit the boat, Newt held out his arm in a gentlemanly manner. He wanted to try out the local foods and he felt she needed a reason to forget the unpleasantness of earlier.
He had to admit, the new dress was not only colorful, but suited her well. It brought out the green in her eyes.
It only occurred to him later that this would qualify as their first official date.
Melody was on the deck of the ship, wearing one of the dresses Newt had bought for her, along with a shawl.
"Where are we heading next?" she asked.
"China, mostly so I can get away from the African continent for a while. That plus I heard a rumor about the Chinese dragon sanctuaries operating differently from the European ones I've been to."
"They would, the dragon is considered a symbol for the Emperor, just as the Asian varient of the phoenix is the symbol for the Empress," she replied. "Asian view dragons as sacred, from the Chinese, the Japanese... even the Koreans have more legends about 'good' dragons than the English do!"
Newt looked fascinated. He was also more than a little relieved Melody had come out of her shell.
Melody noticed the look he was giving her, and smiled. It made his heart skip a beat a little.
He had never really felt this way around Leta Lestrange, which perhaps should have been a clue.
"Relax Newt... I'm not going to return to my skittish behavior. At least not without something major happening."
"What caused that?" asked Newt.
Melody had a sour expression on her face.
"Imagine that every time you stepped foot outside your warded house, which you never told anyone the address or how to find it, and stepped among others that everyone and their grandmother tried to shove their expectations of how to live your life on you. As if your own opinion never matters and never would. Then imagine your best friends and the closest thing you have left of family trying to pressure you into a direction you most certainly don't care for and being less than subtle about you 'settling down', as if that was the only therapy you needed to deal with large amounts of trauma. Like having children when you are still trying to learn how to cope on your own terms is the 'best' solution," said Melody.
Newt grimaced. It sounded like quite the headache. Sure, his family had all but dragged him into interacting with them to deal with memories from the war, but from the sound of things Melody's had attempted to shove her into a box without regard for her feelings or aspirations.
If that happened every time, it was no wonder she became somewhat skittish and refused to go near anyone with wands. Anyone with the animal form of a massive dragon would be less than content with a desk job and a sedentary life.
Melody was made for adventure and seeing new things, not being stuck as a house wife, or being bound by ridiculous rules.
"Besides...there's no way they'll be able to track me now!" said Melody with glee. She paused. "Well, except maybe Luna. She might be able to do it. But I highly doubt she would bring anyone else with her."
Luna was an odd platypus like that, and if anyone could track her down it would be her. Not that Melody minded. Luna had been the one to suggest she do something 'drastic' to keep the Wrackspurts far away from her, considering they practically infested nearly everyone else to the point they couldn't see the damage they were doing.
Not that anyone paid attention to the fact Melody was being crushed by their expectactions. Only Luna had bothered to step back and notice, and she was the only person who had been very supported of her.
"Luna?" repeated Newt.
"Luna Lovegood. A bit odd and she has a bit of the Sight in her, but a good and loyal friend. You would like her...she loves creatures and is the sort of person who would befriend a thestral herd simply because she could and she found them cute," said Melody with amusement.
Newt brightened at that. Thestrals were really given a poor reputation because of the requirements needed to see them. They were rather friendly creatures who he found rather charming once he realized what he was looking at. Quite useful too, if you could tame one.
"Have you ever read the Quibbler?" asked Melody hopefully.
"I've heard of it, but I've never read it," said Newt. "Theseus really didn't have much to say of it other than it's filled with muggle conspiracy theories."
"Theseus?"
"My older brother," said Newt. "What of you? Do you have an older siblings?"
Melody winced.
"There's no way I'm going into my recent family history without a pensieve and a lot of alcohol involved, with the agreement not to be bothered for a few days."
Newt didn't particularly like the implications of that.
"Were they blood purists?" he asked delicately. He was vaguely aware of the rising movement of pure bloods who seemed to believe that only pure bloods deserved rights and that half-bloods were barely acceptable so long as they were magically raised from an older established line.
Melody snorted derisively.
"My father was a pure blood who married a muggleborn. They were murdered by a blood purist before I was two, and I was sent to live with my less than pleased muggle aunt who wanted nothing to do with magic in the least and was very jealous of her younger sister," said Melody bluntly, without a hint of shame. "So if you're asking me if I believe in that crock that blood matters, you're wasting my time."
Newt winced at that. He had the feeling he would be better off switching the subject to something less painful.
"What was your favorite subject?"
"Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid might not have been the best choice for a teacher, but there was no doubting he genuinely loved any he came across...even if his first lesson was on Hippogryffs of all things," admitted Melody with amusement. "Then again, as a half-giant he had far less to fear from the 'misunderstood beasties' than his students did. He thought it was appropriate to raise an Acromantula next to a school of all things."
Newt titled his head.
"What's an Acromantula?" he asked.
"Take the biggest spider you can think of, then engorge it to roughly the same size as a half-grown Cerberus with enough intelligence that it can speak the human tongue," said Melody dryly.
Newt stared at her.
"And your professor thought it was appropriate to raise one near a school?"
"In all fairness, he was still a student at the time. Even if he did get expelled for it, though not for the reasons you would think," said Melody.
"I'm almost afraid to ask."
"He was caught by another student with it, and since there had been a series of attacks on the rest they immediately assumed it was Hagrid's pet that caused the trouble...despite the fact there were absolutely no bite marks on the only victim to die from the creature and the fact it later turned out to be a basilisk that some idiot set loose because he was a purist who wanted to rid the school of muggleborns," said Melody in disgust. "They expelled him purely because they wanted the whole thing to go away without any proper investigation on whether the spider in question was really the culprit. Of course it later turned out that the student who caught Hagrid with the spider was in fact the one responsible for the attacks in the first place."
Newt blinked.
"Where was this?"
Because this sort of thing sounded exactly like the bad press he wanted to change when it came to his creatures.
Melody smiled at him.
"You mean you honestly haven't figured it out, despite the fact you've been borrowing books from my library?" she asked, laughing.
Newt was confused by that.
"What do you mean?"
"Next time you pick up one of the muggle books on science, look a little closer to where the publishing date is," she replied.
"Publishing date?" repeated Newt.
"Muggles print the year to indicate when the book was published and released on the front pages, often with a description of what the book is roughly about in the case of the fiction novels," she replied.
Newt pulled out one of the books he had borrowed from Melody's personal library, which was a fiction novel called "Acorna the Unicorn Girl".
He ignored where his bookmark was to look closer at the front pages. There, in tiny print was the publishing page...where it said "copyrighted in 1997".
Newt had to re-read the print three times before his eyes believed it.
"Nineteen ninety-seven?" he repeated in shock.
Melody leaned against the railing with eyes glinting in amusement.
"I assume you are aware of what a 'time-turner' is, yes?" she asked.
Newt nodded.
"I was attempting to use mine to avoid a confrontation with someone who took poorly to the fact I put an end to a hypocritical fool that claimed to be a blood purist but just wanted to burn everything to the ground regardless of the cost. My time turner was hit with a spell I don't particularly care to know the origin of, and for some reason it caused the hourglass to break mid-turn and spill time sand all over me. Next thing I know I wake up in Africa with absolutely no idea where I am, and since I didn't feel like dealing with any of the Ministries I turned into Maleficent. I was only there for four days before you showed up," she replied.
"Maleficent?" said Newt amused.
"My father had a little gang he called the 'Marauders', and almost all of them had illegal animagi forms. So they created nicknames for their animal sides as code, and it became tradition. Considering mine, one of my friends thought it amusing to name me Maleficent after the sorceress that turned into a dragon and put a princess to sleep via a cursed spindle."
Newt actually knew that story, though not the details.
Though now he had more questions than answers.