On Leta's third day at Hogwarts, the door to a second-year classroom burst open in the middle of the hallway she was walking through, and a crowd of eager blue Cornish pixies began to scan the area for potential victims to kidnap. Immediately, they zoned in on Eliza Howell's shiny necklaces and ostentatious pink hair and grabbed her by the ears. At first, her friends Margrethe and Lilly made attempts to yank her back down by her ankles, but gave up after the chattering pixies began to screech into their own ears. Both backed off and let go of Eliza's legs, and instead used their hands to swat away and cover their ears the sounds of the pixies. By the time the pixies stopped screeching at them, Eliza was ten feet off the ground and way out of their reach.
At the time, there were no professors in the hallway. The only presence close to adult supervision was, well, Peeves, who was not about to ruin the pixies' good fun (it is often said that according to Sod's law, in the scheme of the universe, chaos never decreases...quite to the contrary, it is only known to increase, and as such one's troubles are never truly over.)
The crowd of students cheering and laughing and standing in place to watch the pixies was rather irritating to Leta, as was the hysteria generated by Eliza's cronies. A first-year next to Leta froze and then screamed, batting her arms violently as if attempting to fight off a ghost. Leta swerved around and saw the Pixie tugging on the poor girl's ear. Immediately, she drew out her wand and aimed it. "Immobulus," she muttered, carefully aiming so as not to hit the student on accident.
Behind her, Peeves cackled loudly and cried out "Oh no you don't!" Leta had only two seconds to think before she felt her arm being pushed roughly from the side. Peeves' laughter grew louder in her ear as her spell missed the pixie and hit the first-year instead, freezing them in place. "Drat!" Leta muttered, ignoring Peeves' maniacal cackling and running over to help the student. "Shoo, shoo!" She hissed at the pixie, swinging her ratty schoolbag at it threateningly. It bared its teeth at her and hissed, then flew away to join the flock airlifting Eliza towards an undeterminable location somewhere above everyone (best guess: paradise, or perhaps the Astronomy Tower).
"Mobilis!" Leta hissed, and the first-year collapsed forwards, breathing heavily. She held out her hand to help them stand up, but instead, they glared at her and scurried away. There goes another ounce of my shoddy reputation, she sighed.
By now, Eliza Howell was practically at the chandelier, and screaming for fear that she might be decapitated (or worse...crushed to pieces) by it. The pixies who sat on its crystals and swung madly from side to side were not helping either, as they grinned at her with round, black glinting eyes and mouths full of small, sharp pointy little teeth.
"Somebody, do something!" Lilly shouted loudly, while Margrethe glowered sullenly at the pixies. Leta decided to take pity on her, if only because she was already late thanks to this incident, and had nothing to lose. She aimed her wand at Eliza's shoe and attempted a summoning charm.
Eliza, who was almost out the window (whose complex latch mechanism the pixies were struggling to figure out), let out an even higher-pitched scream than the pixies' chattering as her shoe flew off and landed on the ground near Leta. Peeves cackled with glee and swooped down to seize the shoe, then began to taunt a screaming Eliza with it.
Immediately, Margrethe began to glare at Leta, as if she had committed some heinous transgression to Eliza's wellbeing, but Leta simply brushed it off. This time, she thought a bit more wisely, especially considering the fact that clothes can fly off a person without bringing the person themselves to the ground. Concentrating hard, she pointed her wand at Eliza's gaudy knapsack instead.
As she did so, she heard someone else's voice shout "Accio!" behind her.
Leta spun around, thinking it might be Peeves trying to foil her plans again. But no, it was another scrawny boy with curly brown hair and freckles, probably another first-year like her. The pixies he aimed his wand at jeered and giggled, dodging out of the way, but he made another effort and yelled "Accio! Accio daemonium Cornwallis!"
This time, the pixie who was making faces at him let out a squeal, and as if yanked by an invisible string, went flying towards the scrawny boy quite against its own will. The boy, who had already dumped out all his books and scrolls onto the floor next to him, immediately held out his empty schoolbag and caught the pixie inside of it. Before the pixie could attempt to make an escape, he closed it. The bag began to move and jerk as if the pixie did not like being in the bag, but after some time it gave up and stopped moving. Leta gazed at him, somewhat impressed, then was reminded of her original objective when Eliza, who did not like not being the center of attention for more than a few minutes, let out another scream.
Immediately, Leta pointed her wand at Eliza's knapsack and called out loudly and clearly "Accio knapsack!"
Eliza let out a loud oof! as if she had been punched in the stomach, and began to zoom backwards, pulled by the straps of her heavy knapsack, towards the floor where Leta was. Leta immediately shoved the students immediately next to her and ran out of the way. Margrethe and Lilly, on the other hand, screeched loudly and ran directly towards Eliza so as to catch her, however, they miscalculated her trajectory and ended up being part of a massive collision.
The result was rather amusing. Lilly immediately began to cry like a stuck pig, and Margrethe sat up frowning, sporting a rather red bump on her forehead from being hit by the full weight of Eliza's knapsack. Eliza Howell immediately sat up and began to holler at Leta angrily for trying to injure her, but by then Leta had already wormed her way into a different mob of students headed towards the other end of the hallway. There were some advantages to being quiet and unnoticed, and this moment was certainly one of them.
As she slipped away, however, she stole another glance behind her. There was a small empty space around the first year, who was now squaring off with the entire mob of pixies who had just lost their victim and were looking for another target to ravish away. They had apparently decided he would be a perfect replacement for Eliza. Leta also noticed that they had seized his wand, and were cackling gleefully while taunting him with it.
The circle of students backing away from the first year grew even larger until it was apparent that he was the only one standing up for himself. Nobody else wanted to get in the pixies' way and accidentally end up being spirited off as well.
It should be fine, Leta thought to herself. Another professor, or maybe even Filch will eventually get alerted by the loud noise and resolve the situation.
Besides, Eliza and the other first-year she'd saved had made it clear that her assistance was neither appreciated nor required. She made to turn around and leave when the crowd of students let out another collective gasp.
Immediately, Leta turned her head and was greeted by a vision of the first year pointing his empty hands at the pixies, shouting in a strange language. The pixies stopped for a moment, then tilted their heads, intrigued, but did not stop fluttering towards him. The boy quickly took a few steps back, still shouting confidently, but now backing away from them. The pixies stared at him, now with a resounding fascination, their beady black eyes glittering with hunger. Oh, no. Now they definitely know they want him, Leta thought. Making a split-second decision, she threw down her schoolbag loudly and yelled "HEY YOU BLUE IDIOTS!"
The pixies immediately turned around at the sound of her schoolbag hitting the floor. Leta decided to be even bolder. Grabbing Eliza's orphaned shoe from Peeves, she ignored Eliza's gasps and threw it at the pixies. They dodged it rapidly, hissing angrily. Leta seized a book from another passing student and lobbed it at the pixies carrying the boy's wand. They all let go of it and flew out of the way, howling with fury.
"Go!" Leta yelled at the first year, who immediately understood and did a nearly perfect barrel roll dive, grabbing his wand back before the pixies could. Leta then turned around and ran, hearing the collective fluttering of pixies' ears catching up with her.
Now I'm really in for it, Leta thought to herself as she shoved people aside, desperately trying to run from the pixies. They all screeched and cried loudly, causing several students to cover their ears. That little bugger better not cock up again!
Indeed, he did not, as seconds later pixies began to yelp left and right as they were Summoned and then unceremoniously stuffed into the boy's schoolbag, where they seemed to stay put by some miracle. Leta flailed and dodged to the left as one pixie with its teeth bared came particularly close to grabbing her arm, only to howl as it was Summoned away from her. Leta, who had never been particularly athletic, suddenly remembered that she had not eaten in hours and collapsed, her thin legs giving out underneath her. She panted heavily, only listening to the satisfying sounds of pixies whistling through the air behind her, headed towards an uncertain fate in a little wizard boy's schoolbag.
The crowd that had been glaring and muttering angrily about her stopped, and started staring and whispering to one another instead. Leta inhaled and exhaled slowly, exhausted from having made several risky and non-self-centric decisions that felt quite uncharacteristic and strange to her. Perhaps after this, she would go back to minding her own business and doing nothing.
After all, no good deed goes unpunished, she thought to herself, getting ready to receive no thank yous for her assistance, only reprimands from the Herbology Professor for being late.
"Are you alright?" A boy next to her asked nervously.
Leta turned around, still gasping for breath, and saw it was the same scrawny boy who had just summoned all the pixies into his schoolbag. Smiling tentatively at her, he held out a hand. Leta took it, and let him help her to her feet, although she did not lean on him much as he did not look terribly strong. "You dropped this," he added, holding out her own schoolbag (which she had forgotten about entirely) to her. Leta stared at him, wordlessly. "Thank you for doing that, by the way," he said breathlessly. "If you hadn't dropped it, I wouldn't have escaped them."
"Yeah, well..." Leta stared at his own schoolbag, which was hanging innocently from his shoulders. "Why aren't they struggling to be let out anymore?" She frowned. "Do you have some kind of bottomless bag?"
"Oh, no I don't! It would be terribly practical though, if I did. No, I happen to have some dried borage in my bag," the first-year said sheepishly. "It's not enough to make a person sleep, but it's definitely enough for something like a pixie. That's why they aren't moving anymore...wanna see? They're all sleeping," he made to unlatch the schoolbag to show her.
"No! No, it's okay, I believe you," Leta said firmly, putting her hand onto his to stop him. "You don't have to show me."
"Are you sure? They're entirely harmless now," the boy spoke, with strong conviction, however it was not enough to persuade Leta that she wanted to risk it all. "Cornish pixies are quite fascinating creatures, yet nobody even understands what they are saying. I would love to be able to communicate with them. That's why I'm studying Welsh. They're from Cornwall, so it stands to reason that they probably would've heard humans speaking it. Or Celtic."
Leta blinked. "Wait, you mean...when you were speaking that strange language to them...that was Welsh?"
The boy blushed. "Yes, I was telling them to stand their ground, but they didn't listen to me."
"I know very well what Welsh sounds like," Leta snorted. "It doesn't sound anything like what you were saying."
The boy blushed even harder. "Well, I'm just a beginner," he said embarrassed, fiddling with his collar. It must have been a habit of his, as his tie had come loose and the collar part was no longer standing straight.
"Let me," Leta said, bothered by the overall frumpyness. She quickly grabbed him by the collar, firmly pushing it to sit upright.
"Er, thank you," he murmured. "What is your name, by the way? I'm Newt."
"It doesn't matter, Leta said briskly, already furling his tie through her fingers. "You don't need to know who I am."
"Why not?" Newt asked, concerned.
"Well, we probably won't ever see each other again," Leta replied.
"But you're a first-year too, aren't you?"
"There are probably hundreds of us," Leta drawled. "The chances of us seeing each other again are fairly slim. Plus, we're not even from the same house," she added, stepping back so he could see her badge. His eyes went downwards to her lapel and immediately did a small double take, seeing the green snake curling itself menacingly on her chest. "You're a Hufflepuff, right?" Leta smirked. "Our kind don't exactly get along."
"But, that doesn't mean we can't be friends," Newt exclaimed. "Don't you want to?"
Leta stepped back and crossed her arms, covering up the snake again. "It doesn't matter what I want," she replied, "Everyone ends up disliking me sooner or later."
"LETA! WHERE IS MY SHOE? GIVE IT BACK!" Eliza screeched.
Leta grimaced. "See? You'll hate me just like her. Everyone does."
"I don't understand," Newt frowned. Then his face brightened. "Your name's Leta, is it? Leta? Thank you for saving me, Leta."
Eliza's pink hair and red, red face were coming into view. "Sorry, I have to scram." Leta immediately turned around and began to walk away briskly. However, she remembered her manners and stopped for a moment.
"Thank you for saving me too," she said quickly. "I think that makes us even, so you needn't worry about thanking me."
With that, she slithered off again, leaving the scrawny first-year boy to stare sadly at the place where she had been standing, not unlike a lost little dog.
In a moment, the memories came flooding back into her mind, overwhelming her already shocked brain that was still struggling to process the genuine, in-the-flesh presence of Newt Scamander standing before her.
I've tried how many years to contact him? Countless and countless owls. Spells, charms, even some curses. I even sent a hippogriff after him, for crying out loud. What the hell?
Leta's jaw dropped. Instantly, she took a few steps back.
This can't be right, she thought to herself. There's no way he'd be able to bounce back like this.
Something felt deeply, very wrongly off.
"Everything alright?" Newt asked, still as bright and sunny as if she'd never broken his heart.
Leta took a deep breath and brought a shaky hand to her chest, trying to still herself.
"I-I'm fine," she breathed. "H-how are you?" she blurted out dumbly.
"Brilliant, thank you for asking," Newt blinked, then blinked again, even though he had already blinked once. Leta stared at him, remembering vaguely that it was because of something to do with his body. I think it's called...a tic? She thought to herself groggily.
"I..." Leta looked down at her feet, feeling like a nervous schoolgirl. What are you DOING? You are a PROFESSIONAL! Her inner voice howled at her angrily. Stop acting like a scared little hussy and SECURE THE JOB! "Hmrgh, uh," Leta cleared her throat, "So, you're the young man who posted the job. How can I help you?" She asked, immediately putting on her best act.
Newt smiled yet again at her. "Thank you for asking! Have you read the papers I left detailing the exact responsibilities?"
"Er, no," Leta said, taken aback.
THERE WERE PAPERS?
"Well, yes, but if you didn't read them, it's no big deal," Newt said casually.
Damn you, Silverskin! Leta hissed internally. Now she was going to look like an incompetent fool. There goes my fifth X.
Newt laughed. "You needn't worry," he said gently. "I just wrote them to sound more official. It's all bollocks, really. I can explain the job to you if you want."
"Sure," Leta breathed. It's probably just a temporary affair, a day or two at most.
"It's a longterm position," Newt said brightly, "Perhaps even a year, or two..."
Two years?
"I don't have that kind of time!" Leta exclaimed loudly. "I have to, I..."
Newt stared at her curiously. "You have to do what?" He asked, not rudely. "What do you have to do that's more important than a grant-funded objective?"
He has a grant? Leta balked inwardly. For what? "Er, nothing," she said, embarrassed. "It's just, well..." What if I become Head Auror? Then I won't have time for something like this. "Nothing," she shrugged it off. "I'm at your service. What do you need my help with, sir?"
Newt grinned even wider. "I was wondering when you'd ask!"