AmberdeenGirl17: I actually thought of her being a redhead then thought maybe it'd be strange? I don't know! Thank you for impatiently waiting, however. x)
LOUDER-N-PROUDER: I hope you do! I just got out of exams in time to fly back over to Europe which is where I get to write for now. Its stressful but you can do it! (If you've not already taken all your exams by now.)
Guest/ Witch of Evil/ Ryohei S/ AFangirlLife/ LoveFiction2017/ D.D: i'm glad you guys enjoyed it! Heres the next one x)
Muckalup The Wolf: I'm glad it makes you feel like you're there! Half of my story is the reader's own imagination, I think.
The pair will be moving to another country soon for about two new creatures (rather a considered a colony at this point in 1921), care to take a guess?
We'd been going through the motions of hiking up hills again, in search of the other Graphorn I was assuming. Newt had been silent the entire time, only sparing me a glance when he thought I might need some help overcoming a particularly rocky path. I couldn't tell if he was doing it because he cared or if I was a particularly troublesome burden for him.
I tripped slightly, on the tip of my own shoe in the dawn's early light. I closed my eyes and attempted to turn slightly so that the Niffler avoided most of the damage, rather that my back would take the hit of each sharp rock.
I didn't ever really hit the floor though, instead I heard a sharp "Oh!", and felt nothing outside of a jerk near my shoulders. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times as I realised I'd somehow landed in Newt's legs, they were boney feeling but not nearly as painful as the rocks would have been.
"Um. Sorry!" I sat up quickly as I apologized realising how much of a burden I must actually be. I couldn't be trusted with the Niffler, I kept almost trying to kill him in the situations I got myself into. I went silent as I tried to go up in the path above him, so if I fell he wouldn't have to turn around to stop me from hurting his creature in my pocket, or tearing up his jacket.
"Do I annoy you?" Newt spoke up with some curious insistence, stopping me in my tracks as I turned to look back at him. His face was tight looking, with his lips formed into a thin line and his brows were crinkled together. He looked...nervous?
"No." I furrowed my brow, a little puzzled with the reasons for his question. "Do I annoy you?" I slipped my hands into his spacious pockets so he wouldn't have to see my nervous tendencies. His eyes darted to my hands and quickly looked back up to my eyes.
"Not at all. I...I find you refreshing." He finished slowly, looking away from my eyes to the ground. I spun back around and began walking again with a small smile, just for me. He'd actually looked me in the eyes for a little while.
"What does refreshing mean?" I wondered out-loud, quirking a brow at the name. I'd been called odd, out-spoken, and all together strange at times for my love of creatures but...refreshing was a first.
"Um. We-" He started before I shushed him and ducked down with my hand stuck out behind me to signal he should as well. I could see the light of a fire, and from it, three men. How was it that everywhere I went, these men found me. I felt like if I went to the loo, they'd be there as well somehow.
"What is it?" Newt whispered hotly behind me as I heard the subtle crunching of the ground as he came closer and closer.
"I-I think it's the same men as before." I cautioned him, trying to keep him back with my hand. I felt his chest against it, the wrinkled material of his shirt and collar rubbed against my hand as he came to a stop behind me.
"Do you see the Graphorn?" He questioned quietly as it seemed possible for him. I pursed my lips as I attempted to raise my head higher so I could see over the hill in-front of us to the three men on the other side.
"No. But...I think they're looking for something?" I tilted my head to the side as I watched one man crouch and lower his torch to the ground then stand. What could they possibly be looking for? I saw another crouch down and shouted something that the wind took away with each blow, I had to assume they were either looking for me or for the Graphorn. Tracks would usually be the only way to find either one of us considering they didn't have their wands anymore.
"Stay back here and hold him." I commanded with more confidence than I truly felt but I wanted to make sure these creatures with us weren't harmed. So, I handed the Niffler back to Newt with a heavy heart. He was unhappy but it had to be done and he seemed to understand that, no matter how fussy he was being.
"...or India for that bloody invisible thing. This just seemed the easiest!" The shorter of the similar looking men, Mikey I want to say was arguing profusely with the tallest, Vince. I was surprised at how well Vince seemed to be taking the disrespect until he punched Mikey square in the nose.
"Well, it ain't. Is it now? We've lost our wands and the stupid horse thing." Vincent swore, loud enough for me to hear the whole sentence over the wind. I was posed just behind a rock that seemed to cover my entire body, allowing me to bend in with the dark left while the sun rose. I was trying my best not to step on the tails of Newt's coat but it was difficult as I became more and more unbalanced.
"Should have just gone after that damn demiguise thing." Terry groaned loudly, I peeked over the rock to watch him sit down with his head in his hands.
"It was just a fancy monkey, though." Mikey spoke up, disagreeing I felt.
"Fancy enough to have a 2,000 dollar price on it's coat." Vincent growled, smacking Mikey on the back of his head roughly. I pursed my lips in a tighter line than before, a little upset with how roughly he treated his men. Still, for such a price on a Demiguise's pelt, it meant their client was relatively powerful enough to afford it the taxes and fines that came with hunting a protected species.
If that was the price of a demiguise, I had to wonder what the price was on a Graphorn considering they were thought to be nearly extinct. A single mating pair was reported in existence and I had a feeling we had the female half of the pair. The other was still being hunted, we needed to get him to safety but how when we couldn't find him?
"Look, theres the damn tracks again. We'll just follow it." Vincent ordered happily, turning to move towards a bit of unseen writing in the ground to lead them towards the Graphorn. I huffed to myself as they seemed to continue on, following their own path. Once I was sure they were gone, I waved in the direction I thought Newt was in and waited for a second.
Worry began to creep up on me when I saw no movement from their direction, where was my teacher and the Niffler? Where was my Newt? I bit my lip as I started to move towards the darkness that I thought held them.
"Ara?" I jumped close to a meter off the ground when I heard a soft voice whisper my name behind me.
"Merlin, Newt!" I gasped, holding a hand to my chest out of the fright. He looked decently apologetic until I huffed, then it seemed as though it was almost funny to him.
"Sorry. I uh. I was just trying to keep an eye on you and all." A crooked smile, popped up on the side of his mouth as he shrugged his remorse off for the amusement. I was surprised he'd been able to look at my eyes for such a time until he began looking at my mouth. It was better than to the left of my head or something, I guess.
"Thats sweet." I snorted unattractively and punched his shoulder as I leaned forwards to stand. It hit me right after I'd done it, that it was kinda...weird. Who does that? I felt awkward and out of place near him right now so I elected to speed walk after I'd grabbed the Niffler back from him.
We'd ended up crouched closely together behind a set of trees in front of the watering hole we'd spotted the first Graphorn at. I held my purse near my feet with how crunched we were into a small space so we wouldn't be found.
Newt had concocted a soft holding place for the Graphorn, he'd had perfected his technique ages ago and suggested he cast it when we'd gotten a little bored with these men. It didn't take long for them to settle down into a waiting game, so we did as well. Luckily, we were closer to the water than they were but I wasn't sure what that'd mean exactly when the Graphorn finally came 'round.
This was all temporary and I had to remind myself of that at time, especially when Newt and I were this close. He kept trying to shift to give me more space but it was often that he'd wind up almost knocking me over which required even more contact. It was at this point that I was so glad the sun had only just risen and he couldn't see the blush that encompassed my entire face and neck at this point.
"Do...do you find me weird? I-I mean do you find this weird. This situation." Newt whispered softly into my hair and ear. It tickled slightly but I was determined not to react anymore strangely than I already had.
"No. I..." I pursed my lips, unsure as to how to go about this. That I wasn't this awkward because I didn't like it, rather that I was this awkward because I did and I didn't want him to feel as awkward as I did at the moment. I didn't want him to hate me for this odd flight of fancy I'd taken.
"I...I admire you." I finished in a lame whisper as he remained silent for my internal debate. I felt a bit like a creep, enjoying almost every bit of attention he'd give me at this point but I wasn't sure when it'd started.
"I think I like that." He trailed off, like his sentence wasn't entirely done as he mulled it over in his head. I nodded warily, that was a good sign. Right? Probably. I heard stomping and paused what I was going to say, hoping that we'd heard the Graphorn's hooves before the other group had.
"Give me your bag, please." Newt was urgent now, our odd little conversation was entirely forgotten with the only worry being getting the male Graphorn to safety. I handed it over to him easily as he leapt out with the bag at the ready. I followed suit but with my wand poised to let off a curse or something to keep us safe while we did our duty.
"You two again?!" Vincent yelled out angrily as Newt attempted to coax the Graphorn into my bag.
"Looks like it." I yelled back, throwing up a defensive boundary near him and his associates.
"You know it's illegal to steal another wizard's wand Miss Maximae?!" The second tallest, Terry yelled as me as I pushed him back using my barrier. They were separating, trying to get us from three sides rather than one. I refused to go down at this point, I'd already let my guard down once and found out exactly where it'd gotten me.
"Did you know it's illegal to hunt an endangered animal?" I barked with little guilt as how to their wands went missing. The smallest, Mikey I think, he got too close and it scared me.
"Flipenedo!" I spoke the spell with little regard as to how hard I'd wound up flipping him backwards continuously. He wound up hitting the patches of trees Newt and I had just jumped out of with enough force to not get back up again.
"We've got a job to here, thats all." Terry scoffed loudly, as my eyes darted back between him and his boss to his right.
"So do we." I declared as I took one more glance back to see Scamander successfully scoop up the Graphorn with a gentle hastiness. Vincent took a step too close, forcing my brain to spout out the first spell I could think of to get him to stop coming near me.
"Awendap eft wansaeliga neatu" The Celtic impediment spell worked enough that he could not even open his mouth anymore than he already had. It was a homebrew, an attempt to reconnect with my roots and it seemed to have worked.
I spun to Terry and watched as he froze in place as well, seemingly uninterested in coming any closer than he already had. Instead he raised his hands in some kind of surrender and back away from us. I took a few steps back as well, with my wand ready to fire off anything else at the last man standing of his camp but he didn't. So, I grabbed Scamander's hand again and handed my wand to the Niffler in my pocket before I took off running again with Newt close behind me.