The Orange Field

(One-Shot)

Disclaimers: I don't own anything apart from some DVD's/books for this series.

AN: This is a short standard prompt for 'The Houses Competition" based on the first two movies/script books of Fantastic Beasts (the third one along with any subsequent ones will not be included for one obvious reason: TeamDepp!)

House: Gryffindor

Class: Herbology

Category: Standard

Prompt(s): (colour) orange/(location) Quidditch field

Word count: 1,305 according to AO3 (2.5 pages)

Summary: The Fantastic Four go out for a picnic.

A light breeze wafted through the open window, bringing in a scent of lilacs from the trees that were in full bloom. It helped keep the temperature down a little in an otherwise hot summer day. A dog barked somewhere down the road as a bee came buzzing inside.

Jacob grabbed a handkerchief to wave in the air, shooing the bee back out where it belonged. Putting it aside, he stared into the cooler bag, going over its contents one last time. He was sure that something was missing.

With a sigh, Jacob muttered the name of each item under breath. "Cans of Butterbeers. Bottle of Gigglewater. Plates. Forks. Sandwiches." There were a few other things as well, but something or other was definitely missing.

Hearing a crash, Jacob whirled around to find Dougal just disappearing. The cupboard door had been pulled off to reveal a clear container inside, sitting on the top shelf. "That's it!" Jacob put his hands out as he moved forward so he could feel the Demiguise as he went by. He pulled the long container out before kicking the door closed with his foot. He breathed in deeply with a long happy sigh. "Strudel!"

He recalled the first time he had first met Queenie. Though he never managed to say it, she already knew that his favourite thing was a strudel for dessert. He placed the thing on top of everything else in the cooler bag before zipping it closed. Dougal reappeared off to the side, eating an apple he had stolen from the cupboard.

"At least you took that instead of my strudel," Jacob said with a small laugh as he picked up the bag. Dougal's answer was finishing the apple with one more bite before cloaking himself again.

Queenie appeared in the room a few moments later. "Already to go?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah," said Jacob. "Dougal helped me remember my strudel. I had almost left it behind."

"Oh that would be a tragedy!" Queenie laughed as she grabbed Jacob's hand to drag him by side-along apparation.

They ended up on the far side of Black Lake next to Hogwarts Castle. Queenie led the way along the shoreline towards the Quidditch Pitch where Newt was already waiting with Tina. A white sheet lay over a section of the grass near the stands where it was partially shaded. Tina was already kneeling on it, pulling out wine glasses from her own bag, along with a bottle of wine.

Queenie took two of the glasses, giving one to Jacob. "Well," she held up her own glass. "Here's to another anniversary of when the four of us first met."

"All thanks to that Niffler of yours," Tina said. "I wouldn't have tried to arrest you if it weren't for that crazy animal causing havoc."

"To Nifflers," Newt said, lifting his glass for a moment before taking a sip.

Jacob placed the cooler bag in the middle of the sheet so the four of them could sit around it. He pulled his strudel out first before taking out the four plates to pass around after putting a piece of the strudel on them. "Just like that first one you made me," Jacob said through a mouthful.

"I always know exactly what you want," Queenie teased before looking at Newt. "You are sure you locked that creature away properly, right?"

"I'm never sure," Newt replied, ignoring eye rolls from the other three.

"It's a nice day today," Tina said. "Let's not spoil it by bringing up the pest."

Everyone burst out laughing for a full minute at that. Fact was, Newt's favourite Niffler really was a pest, or perhaps the word menace would be even more sufficient to describe the beast.

Jacob suddenly stopped laughing as he noticed that some of his wine had splashed out over the edge. As he reached over to pick it up for closer inspection, another drop came out of it. At the same time, the light dimmed. All looked up to see a black cloud covering the sun. Rain drops started hitting their faces.

Jacob looked at Tina. "You jinxed it!"

"Sorry," Tina pulled out her wand.

With Newt's help, a large force field sort of shield went up over the group, forming a dome. Rain fell hard for the next several minutes, but the dome deflected every last drop.

It was a large cloudburst. Sunlight could be seen around the area but the cloud seemed to cover the Quidditch field right upto the front door of the castle. Half the lake was also being splattered with the downpour. Several unicorns whinnied in disgust as they trotted out from under the shadow of the cloud to find dry sunny ground.

The rain lasted for over ten minutes, then just as suddenly as it had started, the cloud dissipated, letting the warm sun shine out once more. The rays of the sun bounced over the dome of magic covering the group in a dry bubble.

Looking outwards, everything seemed to be a deep orange. The entire field had a dark shade of orange where the grass was. Farther out, even the unicorns were like large orange shapes moving across the land. The castle looked like it was set on fire while the lake itself seemed to be several shades of orange as it reflected the surrounding scenery. It was as if they were looking through a filter.

Jacob shielded his eyes with one hand. "That sun sure is bright!"

"The magic field is enhancing it," said Newt. "One moment." He flicked his wand upwards as Tina copied his movements. The dome came down with a soft crackle.

Jacob lowered his hand. Blinking a few times, he was soon able to see clearly again. "I should bring sunglasses for everyone next time."

"Sunglasses?" Newt asked. "What are those?"

Jacob looked at each one of his magical friends in turn. "You don't know?" The three of them shook their heads. Jacob said, "They are glasses, like what some wear for reading, but with a dark tint to the lens. The tint is to block out the brightness of the sun. The Chinese invented them way back in the 12th Century, only they used some sort of smoked quartz instead of a lens. Today though, sunglasses are really quite fashionable in many places."

"Really? I think I might need to try those some time," Queenie said as she poured out some Gigglewater. She had always loved being fashionable. If anyone wanted to know the latest trends, Queenie was the 'queen' to ask about them.

"I will get some for all of us as soon as we are finished here," said Jacob, finishing up his strudel before accepting a glass of Gigglewater from Queenie. After downing half of it, he let out a short uncontrollable laugh.

"Ohh, I can't wait to try!" Queenie exclaimed before laughing quickly herself as she finished her own glass of Gigglewater.

"I can't wait to see what you look like wearing sunglasses," said Jacob.

About half an hour later, Jacob found himself inside a muggle store in London while his three magical friends tried on various sunglasses. Newt ended up poking himself in the eye with the earpiece of the first pair he had tried.

"Ow!" Newt moaned, rubbing his eye with his finger tips. He put that pair aside before looking around to try another one.

At long last, the four of them had chosen suitable sunglasses for themselves. They walked out into the street, wearing them, only to end up caught in another downpour. Of course, the tinted lens made everything extremely dark under the clouds. Grumbling at their bad luck with the weather, the four pairs of sunglasses were put away for later before the group apparated for home.

~the end