So let me go ahead and explain the weird sudden change I'm sure you've all spotted by now. On behalf of the request of Guest, I've included Newt's point of view, let me know if you guys think its in character or not! I didn't have a chance to do several chapters and get the hang of him or if you even want me to keep his POV going.
Enjoy and thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favourites!
"Quite the name you've got there. Must be a Brit thing, huh?" He raised a brow as he crouched down to my height. It was quite a spectacular sight for a man of his size to crouch, he'd have to be at least 2 meters tall. Not much compared to my single meter and 63 centimeters in total.
"I don't quite know what you mean." I grounded out as my eyes started to dart around for whatever I could really understand about this little campsite of theirs. My blistered hands hung loosely in my lap as I laid back against one side of the cage.
"Well, the yanks might have it too, I guess. I dunno. I just know that no one 'round Georgia's got a name like that." He surmised with some amusement. Americans. These were Americans. Bloody hell, why did it take me that long to figure that out? I'm slacking. I'm completely and utterly slacking in the intelligence department.
"Americans." I nodded to myself, not mentioning much else. Vincent seemed to smirk at me but nonetheless went back to his place near the fire. I supposed he'd felt like I'd been beaten, despite the fight I'd put up in our first little duel.
NEWT POV
In hindsight, I ought to have kept a better eye on my traveling companion. I'd been trying my best to keep it professional enough between us, despite the close quarters. I hadn't jumped up and screamed for her, I kept it slow and concise. I shouldn't have. Now she's gone and I'd be hard pressed to say that I didn't somehow feel as though it was my own fault.
I'd elected to keep the graphorn safe. To keep my creatures safe and sound and she'd paid the price for them. The guilt seemed to break into my chest, heavy enough with the quiet in our room now.
"I know you're upset." I sighed, looking at the Niffler who sat on her bed. I wasn't given much of a response outside of a growling click. He'd grown rather attached and seemed quite angry with me for her disappearance.
"Look, I had limited options, okay?" I shrugged at him, gnawing on my bottom lip rather nervously. He spared nary a glance at me, still angry. "I-I thought she could keep herself safe." I sighed again.
I heard particularly nervous squeaking coming from my coat collar, where Pickett sat. He seemed rather understanding of my difficult situation, though still worried for the welfare of Miss Maximae.
"She'll be okay, Pickett. She's quite the woman, wouldn't you agree?" I attempted to not be despondent, to bring a little positivism into the situation we'd gotten into. It wasn't as though this was the first time I'd ever been in a poor predicament but...this was the first time I'd gotten someone else into one and especially not a girl like Ara. Not even Lettie.
It was possibly odd that while in Hogwarts I'd always found the Ravenclaw Araminte Maximae fascination but had spent most of my time with Lettie. She'd been more tolerating that most of her slytherin peers, an outsider if nothing else. Ara had never been an outsider, so I'd found my time with her was limited to when she'd invite me to an odd trip or meal. I don't believe Leta was ever that fond of Ara like I was, possibly because of our interaction near Headmaster Maqourt's office.
She'd been distressed from what I'd recalled, but interested in the occamy egg I'd come to hold. I'd later had to put him back from where I'd found him after Maqourt found out I'd even had him. Too much temptation, he'd said. I blinked and heard a soft noise, reminding me that I'd still had a numerous amount of creatures to take care of, one in particular seemed to be wanting my attention though.
Pickett seemed to be a little convinced by my positive attitude, giving off the pleasant quilling noise I'd been used to with the little guy. The Niffler however...He just seemed angry with me or with the situation. Whether it was truly me or the fact that his idol and caregiver of sorts had been taken, I couldn't sincerely tell.
I nibbled on my lip slightly, pondering exactly what to do. I had two options really, keep the female Graphorn safe and sound then go look for the male tomorrow morning or to go get my companion right now. I laid down electing to prioritise the safety of my creatures rather than a woman who could easily turn me into dust and pulled the scraggly blankets over my fully clothed body.
I wanted to keep all my clothes just in case I heard her coming by or if I heard a boom that told me where she was. I heard nothing after I'd blown out the candle in between our cots. Absolutely nothing whatsoever. Usually I'd been comforted by this but...I found this silence rather stifling but empty at the same time.
There was no sound of her sighing and rolling over or any chatter at midnight. It was probably about 1 AM when I'd had enough of the silence and threw off my covers. I could set up some sort of feeding system for my creatures in case I was gone any longer than a day but I couldn't sleep with this silence. I couldn't rest peacefully knowing Ara wasn't near me.
It struck me that this thought of needing her in the room, to hear her rolling over in bed nonstop, was rather odd as I went about setting up a locomotor spell when the feeding chart dinged. Originally it'd been an annoyance, I'd thought myself to be a solitary creature with the need for only the company of my various friends in the forms of beasts.
She'd been bothersome, hanging onto everything I did, right on my heels and so knowledgeable about everything I'd said. It seemed obvious she didn't need a teacher, she needed someone to praise her for every intelligent thing she'd spoken of. Then it seemed to slowly grow, slow enough that I didn't quite realise when I'd began to enjoy the little facts she'd throw up for me or how she'd smile at my blunders, or how fond she was of all the creature's I'd introduced her too so far.
Fondness seemed to be her comfort zone, she wasn't interested in using any of them for her gain Rather she was fascinated by each creature in it's uniqueness, sometimes I wondered if I could simply watch her with the animals and see her interactions. Just to see if they were truthful, I suppose.
"Yes, yes. We're going." I sighed at the Niffler that had found his way to sit in front of me, just as scolding as before. He was a persistent little bugger. I suppose thats why he and Ara got on so well.
So far I'd kept the Niffler just behind me so he wouldn't ruin any possible tracks these vagabonds had left. He didn't care for humouring me tonight, choosing to sniff along the ground in-front of me and scamper off into the dark. I huffed in annoyance, stopping for a second as I tried to pick up on any noises he might make. He'd disappeared quite frankly.
He hadn't burrowed under ground from what I could see by the light of my wand so there must be something obscuring my view. I hesitantly raised an arm, my fingers outstretched to see if I could feel any such barrier.
This was far more difficult than I'd been expecting, crouching and stumbling along to look for any clues as to where my traveling partner and our Niffler had gone. The only hope I had if I were taken as well is that my creatures were safe at the boarding house.
I held my wand up warily, unsure as to whether or not I should really be doing this revealing charm. It was said that the targets could feel something 'swooping' over them, but hopefully this would be worth it. The intelligent and ambitious witch in her should know that I'm at least nearby, maybe that could be of some comfort? I wasn't sure.
I'd tried to comfort her when her fever was at it's highest, she kept telling me she wasn't asleep. I don't think she even knew I was there until she'd woken up or that she'd been dreaming with me trying to soothe her. I felt as though I was back at Hogwarts at some points that night, watching her move and being unable to fully interact without blushing or stumbling over myself.
A tickling sensation stopped my movements and my thoughts quickly. I looked towards what appeared to be a dark empty clearing in the trees and continued to inch forwards in a crouch. Suddenly I found myself staring at a campfire with one man sitting at it, two were in sleeping bags behind him it seemed. He must have been on watch, I spotted a large metal cage that seemed to already have been attacked from the inside.
I slithered my way into an area of dense foliage to not alarm the man whose eyes had darted in my direction but bounced back to the cage. It took me a moment to note the light blonde hair that seemed dirtied with grass stains and bits of branches. They'd kept her in a cage? My mouth dropped open of it's own accord as I took in her state. She looked a mess, a cold one that that.
They'd kept her too far away from the fire for any warmth and they'd stripped her of her outerwear, it was absolutely barbaric. She was left in her torn t-shirt, boots, and trousers. Each piece of clothing hung loosely, it was due to the fact that most of what she wore was created for a more manly frame than hers. My blood grew a bit hot, not quite boiling, at the fact that she'd been so mistreated. I hated to see anything or anyone in such a cage, it was inhumane among other things.
I felt a tugging on my pant's leg and looked down to see the Niffler clicking excitedly. I put a finger to my lips to signal we should be quiet and nodded at his enthusiasm from the fact that he'd found Ara.
"So then, Minte..." The man started, his hair hung down in a black shaggy mess 'round his ears but he seemed young enough to be in his 30s.
"Araminte." She corrected annoyed, I couldn't see her face but I knew she'd be bothered by it nonetheless.
"Yeah yeah, sorry 'bout that. Anyways, so you're telling me theres such a thing as Nifflers?" He continued, waving her annoyance away easily.
"Bloody-fuck. Yes. There are. And I want mine back." She seemed to almost snarl at the man, angry enough to kick the caging around her. Her foot made a nicely sized dent that fit in with the numerous others facing the fire.
"I don't think so. Can't give you that, till you give us where the Graphorn is." He shrugged easily, lying to her for the location of our boarding house. I felt a cold fear set in through my limbs as it seemed she could give it away. She could easily betray me and just hand over my case for her own safety as well as the Niffler's. My lips formed a tight line and my shoulders began to tense as she nodded at him.
"Right right. Fine. I'll tell you, Mikey, but you've got to come over here." She smiled cruelly. It felt as though my heart was cracking down the middle. Why had I ever trusted her? I'd left all my creatures defenseless and in a neatly packaged box to come here for her.
He stood, looking happy at the fact that he'd won this little debate that I had to guess had been going on for hours. He came close enough to hear whatever she had to say but she waved him closer still. He shimmied closer, balanced on his feet and low enough to the ground that he could have simply sat down.
"Closer." She chimed out and moved to lean against the front of her caging as my heart beat thundered in my ears. I shouldn't just be crouched here, waiting for the moment she showed her true colours, I should be running back to my creatures.
He was now pressed up against the cage looking interested but also a little uncomfortable at his angle. I didn't want to look anymore but I couldn't look away. Part of me kept telling the rest that this was a trick of my own mind, it wasn't real. She couldn't be that kind and warm and be that heartless.