Wooooo, updated faster than I thought I would. This chapter is a little longer than the last. Sorry guys, but thank you for continuing to read it all and the favourites and follows! It all gives me the drive to update faster!
I'd stared up at the ceiling for probably a good hour or two with the sounds of the Niffler humming in his sleep and Mr Scamander snoring in the bed that laid in the other side of the room. It was peaceful but I didn't feel tranquil. I felt wired for sound. Like something was about to attack me, my heart would slow but then someone would move in the room and I'd tense up like a cat on a hot roof.
My heart was pretty much just slowing and jump starting itself which was worrying by itself but I swished it under the carpet of being a little fearful. I just wasn't sure as to why I was so skittish. I'm safe. Why am I so afraid?
I rolled over in my cot, watching the faint outline of the Niffler's furry stomach rising and falling with each breath he took. He seemed fond of me. I was quite fond of him, feeling closer to protector of his. What had I done to gain his affection? I'd probably never know. Why did anyone keep me around? I was a tragic case of good intentions wrapped up with mistakes and a pretty bow.
Rolling back over to stare at the ceiling with a melancholic sigh, I tried to control my breathing. My heart beat was scaring me slightly. It'd remained quite fast for the last few minutes. I need to focus on something, something else outside of my heartbeat or how burdensome I feel right now. Whats something useful? Whats something I needed earlier but couldn't create?
The heating charm! I can focus on it. Oh, this will be great!
"Aestas." I hummed pointing my wand towards a particular boot I hadn't worn in a good while. I hesitantly leaned forward in the fireplace with little worry as to how loud I was being in my movements. I had already placed a silencing charm on my area. I was nervous to wake anyone else up with my sleeplessness and the fireplace seemed the only place big enough for me to fit an item in it. A contained explosion was quite common in my experiences.
My fingers touched the leather and immediately retracted them, it was a little too hot. Okay, it was really really hot and I might have burned myself a pinch. Time to try something else.
I pulled my wand on the shoe again, waving it in a short circling motion while I spoke. "Tepidious." I was calm, contained, and quiet in my charm. I waited a moment before laying the wand down again near my knees. It hadn't exploded, it wasn't smoking...all good signs. I leaned forwards to touch it quickly and retracted my finger again to look at the limb.
No blisters, thats lovely. I looked back to the shoe and leaned forwards, hesitantly touching it for a bit longer. It was warm, but not deathly so. I was slow to try and put it on but I figured the testing would have to move towards me actually wearing the charmed clothes. Wouldn't want to kill Scamander after he'd put so much work into making sure I didn't keel over.
I pulled the boot over and laid down with my back on the ground and my leg up in the air as I tried to slip my foot oh so carefully into it.
"Ara? What are you doing?" Mr Scamander's voice startled me, making my entire body tense up as it fought with my mind as to what to do. I swallowed and looked away from the boot halfway on my foot to the blond haired man who stood near my head with sleepy eyes.
"What are you doing?" I retorted, not moving my leg from the air.
"I think I'm watching you put on a shoe." He surmised, running a hand through his hair and looked back down at me. "Have you slept at all?" He raised a brow as he waited for my answer.
I quickly switched to pulling the shoe on again, choosing to avoid his eyes. "Nope. Not a wink." I chirped, happy enough that my foot hadn't been burned off with this charming business.
"What? What happened to your hands and arms?" His voice seemed to pick up a chord, possibly worried I'd ruined something in the room.
"Why is there soot all over your knees?" I felt a rush of air as I glanced back up to see he'd knelt down and was currently cataloging all of the burns and blister's I'd gotten from my experiments. He picked up my hand with a touch of force to flip it around so he could see my palm and fingertips. "Goodnesss, Ara." He mumbled my name.
"I just couldn't sleep and I was really cold up there so I-I just started searching." I began to nibble on my bottom lip as his face seemed to scrunch up. "I had to run through some burns, you know? I mean there weren't any explosions o-or anything else." I rambled with growing uncertainty. I wasn't sure why it'd bother him, I hadn't harmed any of his things and the Niffler hadn't woken up to follow me or get in the way or anything.
I pulled my hand back roughly, sitting up now to have some sort of dignity in this bewildering situation. I never quite felt at ease with him, his face was hard to read and he so rarely spoke I couldn't read him that way either. His lips were in a thin line as he reached forwards and wiped his thumb across my forehead. I was stuck in position as he looked at the blackened pad of his thumb and tsked.
"You really are fine with getting down the dirt." His tone was light this time, throwing me off even more when he began to smile.
"I just underestimated you with how much dirt you'd get into though." Is...is he cracking a joke? I didn't want to smile in case this was just another expression of his with no meaning or if he was making fun of me. I'd gotten quite enough of that in Ravenclaw in the first through the fifth years at Hogwarts.
"Yeah." I trailed off warily, letting a slip of a smile over one corner of my mouth. He stood and held out his hand to me, still smiling at the state I was in possibly. I didn't take his hand, still feeling a little electrified and possibly mortified that he'd found it funny.
"I'll..um. I'll be back. I ought to go wash up." I supplied awkwardly as he turned and went about getting dressed. I'd have to go shower off in the bathroom downstairs most likely. Hopefully, the big muggle guy wouldn't be in there this time. I didn't mind communal washrooms but it was a little off-putting to have a man I didn't know showering at the same time as I was.
He looked back over his shoulder as he pulled off his nightshirt and nodded at me. "Try not to have anymore injuries." He tossed the shirt lightly to the side as I found myself taking in his shoulders with curiosity. His eyes met mine again after a moment of silence on my part and I found a slightly pink tinge to his cheeks.
Okay, Ara!
Stop staring, you're making it worse now.
I'd seen naked men before but it was in a time of war and I didn't particularly focus on the details of their bodies. People were taken out so quickly that I hadn't even really remembered their faces. Now it was a little different. Now I seemed to have earned the attention and curiosity of one man I'd sought out myself for a good long while and I wasn't entirely sure as to why outside of I was a great big mess.
I walked to the washroom with nothing more than my nightgown and a single boot that I'd forgotten to take off in my hurry to leave the room. No towels no, of course not. That would be too logical. I could go back up to the room...nope. Too awkward. Okay so just wash up, and slip everything back on until you can get dressed properly.
Once I got out of my little stall and all that, I straight up ran to the room. I came rumbling into the room, scaring both the Niffler and Mr Scamander who both jumped at my arrival.
"Sorry." I breathed, giving a short wave to both of them as I held the still warmed shoe under my arm with my back pressed to the wooden door. He raised a brow but said nothing else as he snapped his case shut.
"I'll see you downstairs whenever you're ready but...um." He walked closer to me, holding both his suit case and a jar filled with something white and filmy looking. "I though this might help with your blisters." He held up the jar to me, with his eyes darting from mine to my soaking wet hair and finally deciding to look to the side of my head.
"Thanks!" I chirped, taking the jar quickly and moving towards the center of the room so he could leave. He gave me a nod and hurried out the door, shutting it smoothly behind himself. I looked at the Niffler and sighed as he scuttled closer, choosing to sit at the end of the bed with his legs hanging.
"You know it's improper to watch a lady undress, don't you?" I raised a brow, watching as he seemed shocked for a second and sort of squeaked back at me as though he was offended I'd have to tell him that.
"Well it is." I raised a brow as he seemed to huff after staring at me for a good minute and crossed his arms. We stared for a few more seconds before he apparently gave into my request and turned to face the wall, irately grunting at me as he went.
"Thank you." I called as I moved to dry off my hair near a low fire. I got a single click in return which I equated to a grumpy 'you're welcome'.
I was able to dry out my hair and plait it against the back of my head in about 30 minutes, I got dressed in five after I'd cast a the Tepidious charm over my under clothes. Surely that would keep me warm enough, right? Of course. I was heading towards the door but was waiting on the Niffler to start talking to me again.
"Come on, we've got to get going." I begged, as he seemed to just nicker and huff at me. Still annoyed I'd think he could be a peeping tom, possibly.
"Hey, hey. I have an idea." I snapped my fingers, thinking of something to get his mind off of what just happened. He looked over his shoulder at me for a second, seemingly curious about this idea I had. I took it as a sign to go on.
"So I was thinking about a name for you. Seems a bit unfair to just call you that little bugger, right?" I implored him to respond by leaving a pause. He nodded quickly, turning to face me now. Good. That meant he was interested.
"So what do you think about Ladro? Or Aurelius?" I raised a brow as he seemed to think. "Take all the time you need to think, but shall we go now?" I motioned towards the door as he seemed to ponder it even more, going so far as to put a webbed hand under his bill. He nodded at my motions and waited until I gave him an open palm to jump into, I hissed a little as he grabbed a blister.
He quickly let go, letting off some apologetic nickering as I waved him off. "Don't worry about it." I smiled, opening and locking the door behind me as I set about finding Mr Scamander. I had to assume that the Niffler was meant to go into my coat because I didn't think he'd want to stay inside my bag and he seemed uninterested in the suitcase.
"Right on time." Mr Scamander smiled faintly at me as he stood from a chair in the waiting area downstairs.
"Sorry, the little guy and I got into a bit of a tiff." I shrugged, feeling kind of bad for taking so long but at least I'd be warm this time.