"When in the mountains you must seek, a cure for situations bleak. A beast with horns is where you should look, to restore the life we took."

Anna tossed and turned in her bed, the second task was tomorrow and she hadn't heard if Newt had figured out the clue or not, he was resourceful so the chances were high that he had.

A sudden rustling from behind her curtains caused her to draw the blankets up over her person, a hand placed over her mouth, hearing the curtains around her bed slowly open she kept herself from screaming and quickly pretended to be sleeping, before she knew what was happening, she felt light and soon was out like sleep had never evaded her. The stranger at her bedside scooped her body up off the bed and left the Hufflepuff dormitory.

"Leta, have you seen Anna?"

"Not since yesterday in the great hall."

"I'm worried, she said she'd be here." Leta watched her friend with sympathetic eyes as he frantically looked for the brunette.

"Champions!" Newts attention was immediately on Headmaster Black. Leta patted him on the back and headed for the stands.

Hurrying to where the others stood Newt was absolutely horrified at the sight before him, there were three students, each from a corresponding school, his eyes scanned over the seemingly sleeping students and his heart almost stopped when they landed on Anna.

"Each of you have 2 hours to find the bezoar that will save your friends life." At least he'd been right in his guess, but he hadn't realized just how dire this task was, until now.

The three champions shared a look.

"Your task begins…" the Hogwarts Headmaster Paused, "Now." Each champion grabbed one of the quidditch practice brooms, heading for the mountains.

Newt had been chasing the goat for at least 15 minutes before it sprinted into one of the caves, quickly hurrying after it he'd forgotten how dangerous they could be and had slid down the icy tunnel pathway.

"Oh, come on…" his shirt had torn on of the jagged rock formations as he'd slid down, the goat looked back, only as if to mock him before bouncing off.

"No, No…I need the bezoar!" He clambered to his feet and sped off after the horned beast who only seemed to taunt him.

"Oh, that is beneath you…" the goat bleated at him and hurried off, again. The first hour was surely spent.

"All right, you leave me no choice." The goat turned to stare at him, bleating again as Newt pulled out his wand. "Locomotor mortis." The goat tried to hop away again but only fell onto its side.

"I'm dreadfully sorry about this." He knelt down by the goat, softly stroking its head, "Accio Bezoar." It was mere seconds before something brown fell out of the goat's mouth, Newt looked down at it with repulsion but quickly pocketed it before undoing the leg locker jinx and letting the goat run off again.

He looked around having no idea how to get back to the cave entrance. "Point me."

Hogwarts students watched to see if the Hufflepuff was going to resurface, many students had gone missing in the mountains, most of them quidditch players, but they all turned up eventually. As soon as Leta had found out Anna was part of the second task and had been poisoned, the Slytherin felt her heart sink, Newts heart would be broken if he failed this task, how could they come up with a task where a student's life was in this much danger?

There was a sudden crash in the quidditch pitch and all eyes looked to the body rolling across the field.

"Newt Scamander has returned with 30 minutes left to spare!" Student cheers filled the arena.

"Champions, you may now administer your Bezoars." Leta watched with frayed nerves as Newt walked towards Anna, what if this didn't cure the poison? Bezoar was only a cure for most types, not all.

As the champions stood next to their respective student Newt stared down at Anna. Her skin was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes she looked peaceful…in the worst way. Lightly touching her face he ran a finger over her lips, parting them so he could put the bezoar in her mouth, making sure it got swallowed. Then he waited.

The students from the other schools woke in a daze and Newts heart sank, had he been too late, Had he done something wrong? Sputtering came from the girl laying in front of him and he looked up, color was returning to her cheeks and he jumped forward, hugging her tightly to him.

"Anna, oh gods, I thought I'd lost you!" Startled Anna wondered who had hugged her but hearing his sobs in her shoulder calmed her panicked heart.

"I'm right here, Newt. I'm not going anywhere." She wrapped her arms around him, returning the hug.

"Promise me?" at a complete loss for words as he pulled away, she leaned her head forward to rest against his.

"I promise." Taking a leap of faith, Newt quickly closed the gap between them, placing a soft kiss on Anna's lips. The brunette was startled at his sudden forwardness but made no effort to push him away, instead, she leaned into him, kissing him back. His lips were slightly chapped, she'd guess from the frigid mountain air, but it didn't bother her, in fact, she felt butterflies, a sure fire sign of something more than friendship, or at least that's what she'd been told.

The sudden cheering from the stands snapped them out of their moment and Anna's hair turned a violent shade of pink while Newts face dusted a similar color.

"Looks like Mr. Scamander has won a prize all his own." The headmistress of Ilvermorny smiled knowingly if not a bit slyly.

Castelobruxo had come in first this time, Kain Sousa had returned within the first 45 minutes, albeit a bit worse for wear considering he'd decided to wrestle with the goat, but he'd gotten the Bezoar all the same.

Newt himself had finished in second place this time, it turned out Sarah Hale, the Ilvermorny student had attempted to cheat the event by taking one from the potions classroom to try and get ahead, she'd really been lucky they hadn't just disqualified her for this task. Esther Whiteacre had been irate when she'd found out. They'd made her surrender the one she'd taken and docked her time by one hour, giving her only one to complete the task.

"Well done students, well done. You completed your task admirably. Classes have been cancelled for tomorrow so rest well, your third and final task shall be announced at dinner tomorrow night. Also, I suggest you think of who you will be taking to the ball." Students began to disperse but Newt and Anna hung back, both a bit awkward after the sudden kiss.

"So—"

"That was—" Anna giggled, the two Hufflepuff's had a habit of cutting one another off.

"You first." Newt insisted.

"My father might just kill you."

"I hope it never comes to that." Newt now looked at the ground. "It's kind of cold out here, want to go inside?"

"That sounds like a good idea." Newt offered his hand and smiling, Anna took it, following him and the remaining throng of students back to the castle.

TA-DA, Finally a kiss! I do have a lot more planned for year 4 than I initially wanted to write, but they do take on a mind of their own as I write, and while I'm thinking about it, I've made a few errors in writing with the upcoming chapters. Theseus and newt are 9 years apart so they never would have been in school together, and Theseus was ALSO in Hufflepuff, so I will fix that when I go back and do re-write much further down the road. but for now, creative liberties have been taken.