"Are you sure he's okay to spend the holidays here?" Mrs Scamander fretted, glancing around the rooms in concern, "He does get a little bit… distracted sometimes."

Albus's eyes darted over to Newt, who was eyeing his new Phoenix in interest, one hand reaching out as Fawkes nipped at him.

"I think he'll be fine." He whispered reassuringly, "Hogwarts has plenty of creatures to keep him occupied. I was thinking of taking him out to meet the Giant Squid." At the look on her face, Albus winced, "With constant supervision obviously."

"Obviously."

There was a moment of silence, before she eventually relented, moving over to Newt and kneeling down, "Be good okay? We'll come and pick you up after the Christmas holidays."

Newt nodded, still completely distracted as he glanced around the office.

"Alright…. We'll see you when we drop Theseus off." She slowly got to her feet and headed to the fireplace, glancing back at her son one more time, before stepping in and throwing down some floo powder.

"Scamander Home!"

And then she was gone.

"Alright." Albus clapped his hands together, pushing down the nerves he felt at spending some one on one time with his son, "What do you want to do first?"

Newt shrugged, eyes still on Fawkes.

"We can go and see the Giant Squid… or we have some other creatures?"

Again, Newt just shrugged, not making eye contact with Albus as the older man started to worry.

What if Newt didn't really want to spend the holidays here?

What if this was all just a big misunderstanding?

"We can just… have a wander around if you want?" He cautiously spoke up, "Show you where everything is?"

There was a moment of silence before Newt finally nodded, slowly moving to stand beside Albus, looking up at him patiently.

"Alright… let's go then."

…

Albus showed him around the majority of the school, focusing on the owlery and the Care of Magical Creatures area, where their current batch of Hippogriffs were waiting in their open enclosure.

"Wow!" Newt's eyes were wide, but Albus was pleased to see that he respectfully kept his distance.

All those books on Magical Creatures were good for something. If only the students had the same level of common sense.

"Do you want to meet them?"

Newt looked a little unsure, but nodded anyway, sticking close to Albus as the man opened up the gates and they entered the paddock.

Within seconds the Hippogriffs were staring at them.

"You know what to- " Albus stopped, watching as Newt bowed low to the ground, not looking any of them in the eye. Quickly, Albus did the same, and one by one, the Hippogriffs all started to bow.

They remained like this, until the Hippogriffs straightened up, all staring at them.

"They're really big." Newt whispered, as he slowly made his way closer, "They didn't sound as big in the books."

Albus hmmmed in agreement, getting ready to pull his son to freedom if even one Hippogriff moved the wrong way.

"How many are in the herd?" Newt then asked, "Who's the Alpha?"

"Ummm." Albus glanced around, frantically trying to count how many there were.

"Are there going to be any babies?" Newt continued, not seeming to notice that his Mother wasn't sure of the answer, curiosity overcoming him as he continued to babble in excitement.

This continued on for a few minutes, before Newt fell silent, seeming to be content with simply walking through the enclosure.

"Mama?"

"Hmmm?"

"… Am I like my Dad?"

Albus felt like his heart had stopped as he tried to comprehend what his son said.

"Mama?"

"I… why do you want to know?"

Newt shrugged, "I don't know… Mum says I'm a lot like you, but they never mention anything about my Dad."

Albus winced.

How could he explain Gellert… without mentioning his name?

"Your Father…" Albus sighed, "… He was one of my best friends and we… simply grew apart."

"But… am I like him?"

"You have his intellect…. Your Father was very smart."

Newt looked a little unsure at that, tilting his head down to the ground and refusing to look at Albus, "The teachers at school says I'm only smart about animals… not anything else."

Albus made a mental note to speak to Mrs Scamander and have her have a word with those teachers.

No child should be made to feel like they were stupid.

"Well, you are smart." Albus reassured him, "And you should never believe otherwise."

"So… I am like my Father?"

"… In all the good ways, yes."

Thankfully, Newt was too young to get the hidden meaning behind those words, brightening slightly at the praise as they continued to move through the grounds.

It seemed to be the perfect day for this.

The sky was a gorgeous blue, despite the coldness of the winter month.

The clouds were almost perfect as well.

They walked through the grounds hand in hand (after Newt grew used to the idea), watching as Frost Salamanders scurried around near the lakes' edge.

"Wow." Newt tugged gently on Albus's hand, "I've never seen one of them in the wild before, only in books."

Albus chuckled as Newt pulled at his hand, trying to pull him closer to them. "Leave them in peace Newt. Let's just watch them from afar."

There was a small pout, but Newt eventually relented, stopping his tugging as they continued on their walk.

Mentally, Albus made a mental note to keep his son away from the doxie nest he knew the game-keeper had yet to deal with yet.

Newt had probably never seen them in real life either, and Albus would like to keep it that way.

…..

Thankfully, the rest of the day passed without incident and soon it was time for bed.

"Do you know any lullabies?"

Albus paused mid-way through tucking Newt into bed, "A lullaby?"

"Mm."

"I…" Albus thought back to his own childhood, only to stop and shake his head, "… No. Not really I'm afraid."

"Oh." Newt looked a little disappointed.

Albus couldn't disappoint him.

"Lie back." He sighed, "Let me see if I can think of one."

If this was the hardest thing he had to go through as a parent, he would be so lucky.