As promised, here's the update! See? I can actually uphold my promises-sorta.
This is for those that reviewed last chapter!
MsCulture: Aw! Thank you so very much for reading! I have to apologise for the prolonged lack of relationshipness between them and I swear there's a good reason. Mainly it's that I want to have them get together after a bit of jealousy, but I haven't spotted the proper place to do that in. I'm thinking that the Blind Pig might be a good one?
So, I'm a bit of an animal lover myself. Particularly dogs and horses? Of course with those, I've figured out that they do indeed have their own little personality quirks which is where I get the inspiration for the creatures personality moments!
Ironically, I actually layout the story in this manner because I absolutely hate it when writers stick everything together in one gigantic paragraph. It feels like theres just to much happening for my eyes to comprehend. Thank you ever so much for being understanding! I made sure to read this chapter twice, adding in little things as I went so you guys would get a longer chapter.
TheWonderfulShoe: I imagined that Queenie's difficulty with accents is probably just like our ability to struggle to understand someone when they have an accent. But the more they talk (or think, in Newt's case), the more you start to understand them.
Ara was definitely far too distracted to notice what was happening! As you'll see in this one, she has a tendency to tune just about everything else out when she's doing something for curiosity's sake.
They're breaking out :) I just got carried away with Newt's POV and felt like it'd required two! As for his sleepiness...well. You'll see!
Ivana blackmouth: Thank you for your understanding! I just wanted to let you know that next chapter will have your occamy in it. :)
chlorose99: LOL. I'm sorry. I'm a cruel author. I do love the idea of a cheeky Newt that's slowly pushing the boundaries to see just how far she'll let him go, but don't worry. You'll get a bit more of that next chapter, and I'm betting you'll absolutely love what I'll do with The Blind Pig scene. :)
GreyMoonHuntress: Aurelius is totally a daddy's boy-like 200%. Newt, on the other hand, I've definitely made him a little more cheeky than we got to see in the movies! Mainly because he shows he has a sense of humour, it's just a little twisted. He also seems to only show it when he feels completely comfortable, which I feel like he would be when he's covered by a blanket and it's just Ara, y'know?
Natsuko457: You'll see if he's asleep or not below! I did have a bunch of fun with it though. I almost made it R-rated cheekiness, but I chopped that at the last second because it felt a bit forced.
najamuzen: Right? When I first started this story and thought about her fighting in the war, I was like 'Yeah. Of course she'd fight in it, it's Ara!' but then I had to map out how she'd do it, why she choose specifically to do it, and how she got away with it! Hence, le beard was born.
Guest 4: Yeaaaaah. They do suck at the relationship thing. I sort of did that to myself, to be fair. Ara had to be just a little awkward to fully appreciate the range of Newt's awkwardness. But when you take two awkward people that really like each other and stick them in a shed together, they tend to be a wee bit shy. If it helps, there's going to be a chapter that will hopefully be just as explosive as how long it's taken us to get there.
There are literally no points for them to sit down and discuss it, are there? That's craazy. I wonder how that happened? (cue me whistling whilst looking completely innocent)
Jacob, the poor man. I've accidentally turned him into the unlovable oaf! Course the pervertedness was already there, he leered at Queenie and never Tina, which I've taken as he's got a thing for blondes. Ergo, he leers at Ara too. Sorry, Jacob but you did it to yourself.
As for Newt being a teensy bit possessive, I suppose you could see it like that. Could also just be him testing the boundaries. Or, he's just feeling a little lonely. I'll never tell! Literally. I'll never tell because there aren't any spots where they can talk about it. MUWAHAHAHA.
So, after skimming the story up till now-she never told him about her fighting in the war. He suspected she'd been traumatised, but didn't want to push her for an answer. I'm thinking it's because he's a little awkward and a little shy since they didn't know each other very well at the time. Considering how empathetic he appears to be in the movies, I'm assuming he won't be angry but will likely make himself available should she ever feel like letting it all out to someone.
I'm taking on your Crimes of Grindelwald questions at the very end of this chapter just in case there's a reader that's going along, and hasn't seen it yet.
Bored411/guest 17/firemadein789/acetwolf94/LoveFiction2019/KaylaWilton: I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter and again, huge thank you for your patience. I made sure to double this chapter out so it'll be far longer than the last one was! I hope you guys like this one just as much. :)
If you didn't review, please enjoy this chapter!
A knock sounded off at the doors as they slowly opened, and for once I was thankful when Goldstein peeked in at us. "I thought you all might like a hot drink?"
Kowalski nodded excitedly, his eyes wide and entirely focused on the tray that Goldstein brought in with her. Three mugs that appeared to be a random selection of cups they'd accumulated over the years were spaced out in an odd little triangle on the tray. I wasn't sure as to what they were full of, but it was definitely hot considering the steam that rose over each cup.
"Alright," she mumbled as she closed the door behind her with her heel while balancing the tray of cups in her hands.
I took in her nightwear-if it could even be called that-while she padded into the room. Faded blue stripes covered her top and legs that ended in slippers that looked to be well past their expiration date. Though, even with all of that, I felt the frumpy looking pyjamas oddly suited her-not in bad way, per-say. They just...looked homey.
I watched quietly when Kowalski took his mug from her tray. "Thank you," he nodded, sounding genuinely grateful that she'd do such a thing for him.
It took me a second of eyeing the pair, just silently watching when she gave him a small smile and he happily sipped his drink. She'd already turned towards me and began shuffling over before my inner-sense of logic told me I should probably move-and maybe not be so bloody creepy with all my staring.
I dropped my book into my lap in a hurry, feeling a little bad when it hit both Newt's head and hand at once. He'd definitely noticed the smack considering his hand gripped my hip a little tighter. I didn't allow myself to actually stop and apologise though, if I focused too long on his face's position that close to my hips, I'd wind up blushing for the rest of this evening.
Instead, I just focused on making space. With a quick, jerky sweep of my arm, I pushed back a tower of books on the night-table next to me right as she came over to Newt and I's cot.
"Here you go." She wasn't as friendly with me, it seemed. She smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes, which was rather fair with all things considered.
"Thanks." I almost smiled at her but stopped myself just short, carefully taking the glass she'd handed me off of her tray.
I'm not entirely sure as to the decorum one was meant to have with their prisoners, but I was about 80% certain that serving them hot cocoa wasn't on the list. Is there a list? No, probably not. That'd be silly.
"Hey, Mr. Scamander-" Kowalski cheered, holding his mug up to Newt.
He was just as still as he'd been before I dropped a book on his head, breathing evenly. "Look, cocoa!" He shook his cup a little, trying to tempt my companion as though Newt could see through the covers.
He slowly retracted his cup back to sip it once more and I gave Kowalski a small smile of pity before turning my gaze up to Goldstein's. She obviously understood that he wasn't asleep-at least he wasn't supposed to be. But, either-way, I wasn't about to correct her. It'd probably take another few hours for us to discuss it all before she tried to haul us off to face their government again.
"Mhm." She tucked the tray under her arm, holding out another mug that stirred itself while she glared at Newt's form under the covers. I pursed my lips, feeling a teensy bit annoyed at her sour disposition, but focused on setting my mug on the table. It sat with a soft tap before I reached out to take his whilst avoiding her eyes the entire time.
"Thanks again," I mumbled, uninterested in staring her down from this height. Cripes, the woman's got a good glare on her. I almost wanted to her ask for tips.
"I'm sure he'll drink his in the morning." I grasped the new mug and wrapped my hands around it, feeling the pleasantly warm cup in my hands as she sighed.
I didn't know why I was trying to ease any negative feelings she might have for my companion, I mean what was the point? She was troublesome...but she did give us cocoa and, as far as I could tell, hadn't poisoned us just yet. Plus, isn't it always a good idea to make friends with your prison's guards? Wouldn't that mean that they'd take it easy on you?
"Toilet's down the hall to the right." Goldstein nodded at us, turning around and heading back out the door with a bit of a stomp. Testy.
"Thanks..." Kowalski murmured as the doors opened and he leaned over a little, peering out of them, "very much." It didn't take a genius to know what he was leering at on the other side considering how quickly Goldstein shut the door behind her.
I ignored the fact that he was obviously attempting to catch a look at Queenie in her nightwear with only a hint of disbelief at his perverted actions. I sipped Newt's cup and sighed to myself in satisfaction at it's taste while watching Goldstein's back until she'd closed them. I do like cocoa, you know-I wasn't a heartless monster.
It felt safest to simply wait a few minutes in silence, drinking my cocoa until I felt like the flat had gone entirely silent. So, I did exactly that. Waiting and sipping my cocoa whilst trying my best to ignore the sensation of Newt's hand wrapped around my hip.
I think, maybe, a total of 15 minutes had passed by the time I figured out I was tipping an empty cup towards my mouth. Instead of continuing to suck on air, I turned a little, sitting the cup quietly onto the table beside me. Now, I wasn't sure what to do-I mean I knew, but I didn't know what the etiquette was when getting out of bed whilst having someone touching you.
I took in a deep breath and released it before deciding I'd simply have to let gravity take control. I underestimated how hard the Goldstein's floor was when I let my body relax, bracing myself as I promptly slipped off the side of the bed.
I landed with a soft thud, and tried to stand confidently. "You okay?" Kowalski was quick, nearly out of bed when I'd stood up fully.
"Yes, yes." I nodded at him for a second.
I'd been dealing with all of his incessant chatter because I'd been worried that he'd feel the need to say something. Perhaps shout it, though it wasn't as though he knew what shouting was. The bloke seemed to shout whilst just making regular conversation, and if he did feel the need-he'd give us away to the Goldstein's who were less than a few metres away. What was the saying? Keep your friends close, but your potential enemies closer? Close enough.
"I'm fi-" I opened my mouth to quell his worries, dusting my front off in an attempt to at-least appear like I'd meant to do that, "ah!" A short gasp was all I could muster when Newt jumped up out of the bed.
I took a full step back out of fright as Newt seemingly paid me little mind while he simply stepped off to grab his case from the foot of the bed. My hand was over my heart, while I forced a single breath out of my nose out of annoyance.
His eyes were neither red nor bleary and he wasn't bothering to even glance at me while he plopped his case in between the two cots. Alright, the cheeky bastard hadn't been asleep at all while he groped me.
I didn't glance at Kowalski as Newt opened the case and motioned for me to go first. I pursed my lips, letting my hand fall away from my chest with the building need to smack Newt's shoulder out of pure exasperation. But, instead of opening my mouth to rag on him, I just took a step over and focused on getting into the bloody case.
It didn't take me long to shimmy down the ladder, and I didn't miss a step which was rare seeing as how difficult the ladder was to smoothly manoeuvre down. It took me maybe a few seconds of silently applauding myself before I set about checking the feeding chart to see who'd eaten and who needed to be fed.
We'd agreed that Newt was tasked with healing the muggle while I fed everyone and noted who was missing. After a short glance at the chart I realised that the mooncalves, Graphorns, a hippogriff, and Frank hadn't eaten since breakfast, almost 12 hours ago.
"Where's the meat?" I snappily posed my question to the legs of Newt letting my eyes trail up his figure. I'd been expecting him to be farther down by now. He seemed to have his hand out of the case still? That was odd.
He glanced back down at me, "um. One moment, Ara." His attention was drawn back up to the top of the ladder, "come on!"
Newt was obviously impatient with Kowalski's slow movements, making me smirk a little when he clambered down the stairs and darted over to a cupboard near the tropical gear we'd used in India. Is it bad that I sort of enjoyed him being bothered right now? He had left me all hot and bothered for the last hour or so. It was only fair, right?
He'd opened it's doors, and began digging through the standing cupboard. It's extendable charm often proved to be more of an annoyance as he never organised anything, despite my many complaints. But, I was rather thankful for the chaos now, showed him.
I heard the ladder groaning, and turned away from Newt to spot Kowalski's feet while he jumped up and down, muttering something I couldn't hear. I pursed my lips, wondering if he'd gotten stuck by any chance.
I'd decided to wave my wand without giving it much thought, intent on pulling him down from the case's lid. Unfortunately I hadn't focused on just pulling him down from the case's down, and felt a little bad when he'd come crashing down onto the shed's floor.
"Sorry about that." I mumbled my apology sheepishly at the disoriented man, stepping around his legs in an effort to feel like there was more space in here. I wasn't used to being in the shed with more than two people, not even Dumbledore had come in when he'd dropped by in Equatorial Guinea.
Kowalski didn't appear to have heard me, standing up with a low groan. I watched him as he peered at Newt's tired looking typewriter next to his pile of manuscripts as well as the medieval bestiary on Newt's desk with curious eyes. A swollen hand reached torwards the typewriter's keys, as though it's owner wanted to push one of the buttons.
"I wouldn't touch that, " I sighed my warning as I went around him. A wave of my wand helped piece together some of the potted herbs that had fallen and shattered before directing them back onto their shelf above Newt's desk.
I heard Newt's low grunt as he hauled out a slab of beef from the cupboard. The wood creaked under the meat's weight while I practically snubbed Newt, my gaze solely on the meat as I walked by him.
"Here you are," he called my attention as he set it on his workbench with a huff, but I wasn't willing to give it to him just yet.
I focused instead on finding all the smaller instruments and vials that Kowalski had knocked down before directing them back to their rightful places around the shed with a few waves of my wand.
"Ara," Newt tried again and I elected to respond this time.
"Thanks." I was short, ignoring the fact that I could feel Newt's eyes staring a hole into my backside. I slipped my wand back into it's holster on my hip before turning, ignoring his gaze still.
Newt appeared to have understood what I was doing and moved around me, gathering vials from his medicine chest to start putting together a concoction for the Muggle. Sardonically, I considered that one positive aspect of Newt and I's companionship was that we'd developed the ability to smoothly move around each other in the shed.
"What's that for?" Kowalski lingered over my shoulder and I pursed my lips, shifting away from him at the feeling of his breath going down my neck.
"It's to feed Frank, a hippogriff, and the Graphorns," I answered, paying him only half my mind.
I was more interested in figuring out how to cut up bits and pieces of the beef Newt had dropped off. It needed to be evenly divided between Frank, the hippogriff, and the Graphorns.
They'd recently had a foal which meant that the female needed a bit more as the foal wasn't eating solids yet and relied on her. But Frank's diet was supplemented by grubs, which he loved. The hippogriff didn't eat as much in it's older years, so it'd get the smallest portion.
"That's...good." Kowalski muttered behind me, which made me smile a little. I supposed he wasn't dealing so well with magic now and the vindictive part of me was happy to have some company in my personal misery. Though I did hope he'd get over it soon, erratic Muggles were difficult to talk to.
"Will you sit down?" Newt was mumbling, sounding annoyed with Kowalski who seemed to respond by dropping down onto a crate. Hah. Now he's genuinely bothered. Take that, ya cheeky bastard.
"Ah, that's definitely the Murtlap. Ara, come over here." I glanced behind me, to see Newt waving me towards him and the Muggle. I mutely shuffled around the Muggle who appeared to be sitting on a crate of Mooncalf Pellets and raised a brow, wondering why I'd been beckoned over.
"Take a good look, you're unlikely to get the chance to study another bite on a Muggle." He nodded towards Kowalski and I obeyed out of sheer curiosity since it was true that I'd likely never see another. Honestly, I'd been holding back from analysing Kowalski as I didn't want to make him feel like a lab experiment.
Leaning closer to his neck, I peered at two small cuts on the side of his neck that were inflamed. The skin was swollen and protruded upwards around the teeth marks as though it'd already gotten seriously infected.
"Have you had any trouble remembering things that happened a long time ago?" I posed my question to the Muggle in an effort to distract him while gently pulling his stained collar away from one of the wounds. They'd scabbed over but still looked incredibly angry against his pale neck.
"Uh a little. Not much though." Kowalski mumbled, possibly uncomfortable with my proximity as I pulled away.
"Is that recent?" I posed my question with little emotion.
"No?" He didn't sound incredibly sure when I eyed him, but he wasn't even looking at me.
I didn't respond to Kowalski's answer, following his gaze behind me all the way up to Newt. He was glancing between me and the Muggle whilst applying a little too much force into making a poultice at his workstation. I raised a brow, considering the angry grinding noise that the mortar was emitting.
"He had trouble remembering things prior to 1920, thought it might be from the Murtlap." I mentioned it offhandedly to Newt who nodded at me, leaning over to make a note of that on a piece of parchment before he continued his ministrations. Maybe he was actually a lot more annoyed than I'd thought?
"You must be particularly susceptible. See, you're a Muggle. So our physiologies are subtly different." I turned away from Kowalski who frowned at me while Newt explained some of his reactions. I reached over Newt and grabbed the meat cleaver near one of the carcasses we'd dried out yesterday to store in the cupboard.
I let myself take in a deep calming breath before allowing myself to unleash all the anger and annoyance I'd felt in the last 24 hours. Feeling slightly like a depraved mad man, I raised the cleaver above my head, and felt a rush of excitement run through me.
I wielded the cleaver without a single bit of mercy, bashing it nosily against the meat. I swung it repeatedly with a modest grin until I'd decided that enough bones and tissue had been broken up so I could pull it apart with little trouble.
After dropping the cleaver beside me on the table with a loud bang, I pulled my wand out to divvy up the meat. While I might be known to be a little unorthodox at times, touching raw meat disgusted me. I'd dropped the Graphorn's pieces into a bucket nearby when I realised it'd gone entirely silent behind me. Well...the silence might be my fault.
I pursed my lips realising that my violent smashing of the meat might not have been the most lady-like thing I could do with it. I comforted myself with the fact that I'd only done it with such vigour because Newt was entirely used to me-not because I was mad.
"She gets a bit excited when she feeds the carnivorous creatures." Newt commented lowly as I glanced behind my shoulder to see him smiling softly at me with his hand outstretched towards the Muggle, a few pills in his palm.
"I can tell. Remind me not to make 'er angry with that thing." Kowalski appeared to be a mixture of terrified and mildly impressed as he fumbled in trying to take the pills from Newt's hand.
"Sorry." I mumbled for the Muggle's sake before I turned back around to the remaining meat, charming it to move itself accordingly to each bucket I had use of.
"Oh I wouldn't worry, Ara's propensity for violence is solely magical based. She's never been one to use an archaic tool like the cleaver." Newt shook his head, apparently picking up on the Muggle's disposition.
As I magically cleaned the table's surface-since it wasn't as though Newt would-I considered that Newt was actually rather correct in his observations of me. Interesting. Perhaps he paid more attention to things outside of his creatures than I'd previously thought. He was just full of surprises today, wasn't he?
"Pardon." I mumbled, going around Kowalski who had seemingly stood up while I'd been unleashing my inner nutter. I still needed to grab the Mooncalf pellets before I'd go out to check in on all the habitats and feed those who hadn't been fed already by Newt's system.
"What you got there?"
I picked my head up as I pulled on a bag of pellets to see if Kowalski was speaking to me. When I saw his back, I let out a small breath of relief. He wasn't, which meant I could simply continue my ministrations of pulling the bag away from the others. Hopefully I wouldn't cause the pile to tumble down atop me...that'd be embarrassing.
"Well, this—the locals call "Swooping Evil"—not the friendliest of names." I paused, still gripping the corner of one bag while a wave of dread washed over me at the sound of it's name.
"It's quite an agile fellow." Newt appeared to be explaining the one creature he was far more fond of than I was, despite it's own affections for me. I glanced around Kowalski's frame to see it was still in it's cocoon. Oh, thank goodness.
I turned my focus back to the teetering tower of feed. I hated the bloody thing and I wasn't about to be in here if it was out of it's cocoon. There wasn't enough space in here for me to be able to crawl out the door in time.
"I've been studying him. And I am pretty sure his venom could be quite useful if properly diluted. Just to remove bad memories, you know." I mean...I was sure his venom was useful but-
"NEWT!" I squealed as I heard a high pitched howl and the flapping of that bloody thing's wings right as Kowalski shuffled back from it, knocking into me. I stood up, pushing the muggle to the side as I glowered at my companion's stupid idea of a joke.
"Every time." He grinned at me, as I struggled to form words to yell at him. "You-you! Just-argh!"
I came about one octave away from growling at him as I pointed an accusatory finger but found I couldn't actually think of something to shout for once. It wasn't as though this was the first time he'd surprised me with his Swooping Evil, in fact it wasn't even the third time.
"This the sixth time you scared me with that bloody thing." I groaned, going back to opening the bag of pellets as I'd honestly lost my enthusiasm to scold him.
"But he li-" Newt began as I cut him off, waving a hand dismissively while I scooped up pellets with a cup. "Yes, I know!" I threw the pellets into the bucket with a good measure of force.
"He likes me. What he likes is his next ruddy meal; this is small space, you know." I grumbled, dropping the cup back into the bag before aggressively zipping it shut and stomping past the vaguely traumatised Muggle in my midst.
"One of these days he's going to reach me." I mumbled, dropping the bucket onto the floor next to the other three and yanking my wand in a motion that vaguely resembled a wave and a flick.
"We'll see whose laughing then, eh?" I glared at Newt over my shoulder who raised a brow as though he were entirely innocent.
"Me. I'll be the one laughin' when I come back to haunt you for the next 100 years." I gave myself a hearty nod after I'd finished my muttering and opened the shed's door.
"Probably shouldn't let him loose in here," Newt uttered behind me as I all but bloody thundered out the door.
I stopped in the doorway, scowling over my shoulder at Kowalski who was still just as traumatised looking and Newt's sorry-I-scared-you face that he always had when he played that particular prank on me.
"Well, come on then!" I scoffed, nodding towards the habitats behind me.
"Can't exactly feed anyone in here, now can we?" I raised a brow, turning my scowl from Newt to Kowalski who nodded quickly, stumbling to get out of the door when I took a step back from it. For a short second, I was genuinely worried that he'd take the bloody door frame out with him if he tripped.
EDITED AS OF FEB. 21, 2019: So I just realised, upon rereading this, that hey! There's a whole month between February and April! Yeah, it's called March. Hit me after randomly remembering the phrase "April showers bring May flowers," (don't ask, I have a lot of thoughts right before I go to bed.)
So! My update goal for March is: March 16th, 2019.
The following chapter's goal is April 4th, 2019.
Happy super early birthday, you-know-who! :)
Spoiler alert!
Spoilers for Crimes of Grindelwald!
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If you seriously keep reading, it's your own fault, okay?
Guest 4:
Alright, lets get down into this, shall we?
So, I'm most likely doing a sequel. If there's reviewers that want it, and especially if there's anyone at all like you still reading by the time we finish this story, I'll be doing a sequel. Reviews/my own imagination literally fuel my writing, and I've got plenty of imagination to go around. In fact, this will likely be the very first multi-chaptered story that I'll have ever finished.
Ara will likely be a teensy bit jealous by then. Especially if Leta pulls all of those half-arsed 'romantic but not willing to date you' moves. You know which ones I'm talking about. But, of course as I've set it up to date, Newt's got a bit of a one-track mind romantically so far. So, if/when they do all wind up in the same room, I'm thinking that there will be about a second of Newt's nostalgia right before Ara is the source of his happiness yet again.
With that in mind, there will most definitely be some sort-of tension! I haven't decided if it'll be Leta is jealous or if Newt's jealous, or if Ara will be jealous. There will probably be a bit of mix to all three in various chapters. But, of course Ara's going to be smug throughout most of that. ;)
With Newt's assistant, that's a bit more difficult to nail down. I like the idea of him having an assistant because of two big reasons.
One, Ara would quickly lose interest in accompanying him to all of his book related events. She'd never wanted to be a writer and the book was more of Newt's thing anyway as he was the one journaling everything down while she's trying to live in the moment.
Two, he'd need the help simply because I can see Ara doing more of the travelling as she likely wouldn't be banned from it after this whole fiasco.
Why? Mainly because Ara's history at the Ministry would be far more digestible in a politicians mind and she's far better at getting what she wants from people than Newt is. Her parents died due to a curse, her professors were all very fond of her when she basically lived at Hogwarts for a few years, she fought in the war, she was an exemplary student, etc. She's got a clean record and warm character references, basically.
Plus, she's the ideal person to have travelling on a 'Ministry Business' passport when compared to the weird brother of a war hero that has a fascination with creatures and constantly gets into trouble. So, essentially-I have no idea just yet! She may only be a part-time assistant, but there's likely going to be an assistant.
As for Credence, they're definitely going to meet in the next two chapters. Next chapter is focused on being in the case and all that jazz, and the chapter after is chasing down creatures. But, I'm thinking she'd get less of a maternal feeling, and more of a 'hey, I'm an orphan too. I had to deal with awful people because of that so let me help you learn how to deal.' That way, she'd take on more an 'affectionate mentor' position. One that he could turn to because she understands rather than trying to be his new mum like Tina wanted to be.