A/N: Written for Frumpologist's Wheel of Doom! She spins the wheel and we write based on the prompts she gives us. All drabble length. My spin this time around was Newt Scamander, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank + "Nothing hurts like the truth."
No beta, just Grammarly, all mistakes are mine. If you liked this (or hated it) let me know about it in a review! I made a manip for this, you can find it on my Tumblr at crochetawayhpff.
Summary: Willy's first day at her apprenticeship with the famous Newt Scamander leads to a wonderous world hidden inside of an innocuous briefcase.
Pairing: Gen
Rating: G
Warnings: N/A
The Briefcase
"Double-barrelled last name, eh?" Was the first thing, Newt Scamander, her new Magizoologist master said to her. Newt Scamander! She squealed in her mind. Even as young as he was, he was renowned throughout the wizarding world as the best Magizoologist in the world. And he had accepted her as an apprentice! Little old Willy Grubbly-Plank. She couldn't quite believe it.
"Uh, yes, sir," she said with a sharp nod. "Very British," she chuckled lightly and was pleased to see his eyes crinkled in amusement.
"Quite." He nodded. "Well then, where shall we start you?" He rubbed his hands together, looking around his office.
The question sounded rhetorical, so she kept her mouth shut, but couldn't quite keep the excitement from her eyes. New Scamander worked with the rarest creatures in the world, and he'd discovered a few species as well. He was a legend, she couldn't wait to begin.
"Let's go through the case and the feeding schedules and we'll go from there," he said with a nod.
"The case, sir?" Willy asked.
"Ah, yes, you wouldn't know. I've developed a bit of a secret, as it were. Easiest to just show you, I suppose," he gestured for her to follow him as he crossed the small room to a small briefcase lying on the floor. "It doesn't have to stay in any particular position. I've put the appropriate gravity and stabilization charms on it."
Willy nodded but had no idea what he was talking about. She stared at the slightly, grubby briefcase. Written on top was a quote, she bent slightly and squinted to read it, "Nothing hurts like the truth," she muttered out loud as he bent down and flicked open the clasps.
Newt offered a slight chuckle. "A true, but harsh sentiment I learned as a young man. Embarrassing to have embossed on my case, but by then I had already begun with the extension charms. Follow me, Miss Grubbly-Plank," he gestured with a wave and stepped into the briefcase.
"Er, you can call me Willy," she said as she realized the briefcase had a set of stairs leading from it into the floor. She followed him and found herself descending into a truly cavernous room. She couldn't see the end of it and the stairs seemed to go on forever as she followed Newt.
"Mr Scamander?" she asked breathlessly as he stopped beside a tree that seemed to grow right from the bottom and held out a hand to an occamy who was sitting there.
"Newt, please," he said, turning to give her a faint smile. "If you're Willy, then I am Newt."
"Right, N-Newt," she said giving him a tremulous smile. "What is this place?"
"This is my briefcase," Newt said, a glimmer of pride in his voice as he gestured ahead of him. Every biome or habitat she had ever heard of seemed to be represented in the large space. She spotted a frozen tundra, a desert, and a rainforest as the nearest, but there were others, further away.
"You mean, we're inside, your briefcase?" she asked, feeling faint. This was… this was the most amazing magic she had ever seen in her life. She had never been one to take magic for granted, had always been a little in awe of what it could do. But this? This was… she sighed. It was only her first day of her apprenticeship and already she hoped it would never end.
Newt nodded and led her along. "Yes, you see there were too many creatures that needed homes. Too many who needed safe places to live. And too many I wanted to study without being stuck in one place for too long. So I had the idea of creating an extension to my briefcase. It started small, but as you can see," he gestured vaguely, "it's grown a bit."
"A bit," Willy repeated, still awestruck at everything before her. "This is… is this what you meant by secret?"
"Ah, yes, well, the Ministry, you see," he rubbed the back of his head in a gesture that was so boyish, it had Willy blinking. Newt was at least thirty years her senior, but occasionally, she saw flashes of a younger man in him. "They wouldn't be too keen to know I've created something like this. It was in your contract not to mention proprietary practices, this is what I meant."
"I see," she said. "Does that mean you wouldn't be sharing these practices?" She had never wanted something as badly as she wanted a briefcase of her own one day.
"We'll see," he said. "Let's just see how the first day goes, shall we?"
She offered him a smile and a nod. He was right, of course, no use getting ahead of herself.
~Fin~
