AN:
Etta Daring you are a genius and the only one as far as I know that has gotten that. With Grindelwald sounding a lot like Grendel I thought it would be a nice touch. I always loved the story of Beowulf when I was growing up.
I hope this message gets to you!
-0-
Newt was going through the morning post separating what was for himself and what was for Eloise on the kitchen table while Eloise finished up breakfast. She set down a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast on the table before waving her wand causing a pitcher to fill their glasses with milk. With another wave some jelly and butter settled down on the table.
"Anything for me?" Eloise spread some jelly on her toast before taking a nibble.
"A few requests for your expertise on some curse cases." Newt held out some letters which she took and started to go through. "And we have a letter for both of us."
"Really? Who from?" Eloise set her letters aside planning on going through them later.
"Professor Dumbledore." Newt turned the letter over and tore it open.
"Really?!" Eloise looked up in interest. "What's it say?"
"He's heard about our not being allowed to leave the country and sends his condolences." Newt scanned the letter, his brows raising up. "But he has a request for us, apparently he has two recently graduated students that he thinks would be good apprentices for us."
"Apprentices?" Eloise arched her brow. "I don't remember saying we needed apprentices."
"Nor do I." Newt mumbled thoughtfully as he ate his eggs. Eloise nibbled on some bacon as she hummed resting his chin in her hand. "Do you think that maybe we should?"
"I don't know…it would be nice to pass on knowledge to like-minded people, especially the next generation." Eloise tapped her fingers on the table top. "What do you think?"
"It could be interesting." Newt sipped his milk. "We could meet with him and at least her him out."
"Did he mention their names?" Eloise asked.
"Bunty Yeates is an aspiring Magizoologist and Etta Daring is set on being a curse breaker." Newt informed her before handing her the letter for her to look over.
"They sound pleasant." Eloise commented. "Says here he wants us to have tea and meet them…" Eloise scanned the letter, her brows raising. "…today. Doesn't waste time does he?"
"Nope." Newt shook his head. "Shall I write back that we accept?"
"Why not? Just don't say accept right away, don't want to get roped into anything." Eloise cautioned him.
"To right." Newt stood up moving to the living room desk where a quill, some paper, and ink sat.
Eloise moved about the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast unaware of Newt glancing up at her from his letter taking note of how domestic their lives had become. Picking out this home with her, taking care of his creature's together, spending evenings reading about different legends she had encountered as a curse breaker, and just being together like a family.
'All that's missing is the ring.' Newt mused to himself, then stopped short realizing what he had just thought.
"Newt? You ok sweetie?" Eloise noticed how he was staring at nothing seemingly in shock when she came in with a cup of tea for him.
"Fine…" Newt recovered quickly, his cheeks flushing as he took the tea with a thankful nod. "Just finishing up the letter."
"Alright." Eloise pecked him on the cheek before she went about her business, Newt returning his attention to the letter.
It wasn't that he was against the idea of marrying Eloise one day, he'd just never thought about it so…bluntly before. It was always a sort of passing fancy, a daydream for the future, but the more the thought on it the more he was certain that he was ready for the future to be soon.
-0-
Eloise wore a blue blouse with a darker blue plaid skirt with golden rod accents that reached down just past her shins, a darker blue thick belt around her upper waist over her blouse, a knee length plaid cloak that matched her skirt, a pair of stockings, a pair of blue heels, a pair of dark blue gloves that came up to her elbows with the billowing sleeves of her blouse tucked into them, a strand of blue beads with matching earrings, and a blue fedora that had a darker blue ribbon around it with a golden brown griffin feather that she had got during Luis's molting season.
Newt wore a dark maroon pair of slacks, a tan vest over a white shirt, a maroon bow tie, his work boots, his peacock blue overcoat, and his hufflepuff scarf. He held Eloise's hand in the crook of his arm covering her hand with his free hand as they walked down the street toward the Leaky Cauldron.
The pub was nestled between a record store and a Muggle bookshop that Eloise was planning on checking out later. Eloise had a thing for books whether they were muggle or magical. Newt opened the door for Eloise to step inside before following her in. The interior was dark and shabby, with a bar and a number of tables in the shadows of the corners.
In stark contrast to the grubby downstairs of the pub, there were some unexpectedly pleasant rooms upstairs that Newt and Eloise had taken advantage of when they were looking for a permanent home. Those rooms were reached by way of a handsome wooden staircase, and contained comfortable beds, highly polished oak furniture, and a crackling fire which was always burning in the grate to welcome the visitor to their lodgings.
Beneath the stairs leading to the second floor, was a second set of stairs leading to the basement which was unlocked for unknown reasons. The latter come out on the right wall where two sitting areas containing red couch and chairs were nestled in each corner on this side. The front wall had a stage with red curtains in front of a lowered viewing area. The back wall was blank, but the left wall had another red sitting area, and a bar.
They spotted Dumbledore near the fireplace at a good sized table wearing a tan sweater vest over a white dress shirt, red bowtie, tan slacks, brown shoes, and his velvet jacket was hanging behind his chair.
"Newt, Eloise, it's good to see you." Dumbledore smiled with a twinkle in his eyes that screamed that he was up to something. Eloise was often reminded of a chess player when she saw that twinkle, like he was about to make a move that was one step closer to winning the game. "Please have a seat."
"It's good to see you as well Professor." Newt greeted and Eloise nodded her own greeting as Dumbledore waved the server over.
"What can I get you?" The server asked before taking their orders and setting off to fill them with a wave of his wand.
"So I understand that you have some students you'd like for us to take on professor." Eloise cut to the chase as they ate their meal.
"Ah yes…" Dumbledore nodded. "They are both promising in their respective fields."
"But professor, we're not staying here long, as soon as we are able we'll be leaving again and I don't know if we will be capable of taking on students." Newt wrapped his hands around his mug of warm tea, tapping his fingers along the sides.
"As I understand it you might be here for quite some time." Dumbledore said gently, his eyes softening. "The ministry has turned you down once again I'm told."
"Do you know everything? I swear half the time in school you seemed to know what we were thinking before we were thinking it." Eloise frowned, sending him a wry look and he replied with a charming smile, but the twinkle in his eyes dimmed a bit before he formed his next sentence.
"The incident in New York seems to have put quite a block on your plans." He starred down at the table for a moment.
"Yes, well, at least a dangerous criminal is now off the streets." Newt commented and Eloise hummed in agreement, neither of them noticing the brief flash of guilt and pain in Dumbledore's eyes.
"I am sorry for what you are going through, but your time here could be well spent." Dumbledore offered. Newt and Eloise looked to each other before looking back to Dumbledore having come to a silent agreement.
"We'll give it a go." Newt said.
"But no promises." Eloise added.
"A chance is all I ask for." Dumbledore smiled and proceeded to make plans for them to meet their potential future students.
-0-
Eloise moved through her case looking from book to book as she tried to locate a book on enchanted tea sets. Apparently one of her compatriots had gotten their hands on a tea pot that when poured into one of its cups turned the tea into a love potion. It was made all the worse that it was found in a popular tea room so it had affected a lot of customers. Then to add to it after a while those affected became increasingly obsessive to the point of paranoia then violence.
The only way to alleviate the spell was to find out about the tea set which was an antique bone china set that was painted with pink cherry blossoms, until then all those infected were put into quarantine for their own safety. She glanced to where the tea set was resting on her desk taking in its delicate unassuming features before turning back to her books.
Finding the one she needed she set it on her desk and started to flip through the pages comparing the tea set to the many she found in the book. She was just finishing up her findings and getting prepared to seal her envelope to send to Saint Mungo's Hospital, the local magically inclined hospital where the patients were being held, when she was struck by an idea. Slipping her findings into her purse she grabbed her coat and ran into Newt's case straight to his shack.
"Is what you're doing important or can it wait?" Eloise asked as she burst in startling Newt who was at his desk.
"Uh…no, just re-writing some information." Newt blinked at her. "Did you need something love?"
"Grab your hat and coat, I'm taking you out." Eloise grinned, practically bouncing in place.
"Really? Where are we going?" Newt asked standing up from his desk and taking his jacket from the back of his chair.
"It's a surprise." Eloise placed her green cloche hat that matched the green jacket she was wearing. Eloise straightened the knee length blazer like coat over her loose white button up blouse that tucked into a pair of black high wasted slacks and a pair of green low heel t-strap heels. Newt already had on his usual peacock blue jacket wearing it over a brown vest, dark bow tie, white dress shirt, grey slacks, a pair of brown work boots, and his Hufflepuff scarf hanging loose around his neck. "But I do have to drop off this information first."
"Alright." Newt held out his arm and Eloise smiled tucking the letter away in her pocket before taking his arm.
They apperated to St. Mungos first, Eloise leading Newt through the hospital to the Healers offices on the upper floors. After asking for some directions from a passing nurse they headed the rest of the way to Phineas's office knocking on the oaken door.
"Come in." They heard Phineas call out and they came into a good sized office to see Phineas sitting down at his desk going over a stack of papers and making notes as he went. He looked up his face splitting into a large smile. "Eloise, Newt! Good to see you."
"Hello Phin." Eloise smiled as he got up from his desk walking up to them grabbing Eloise up in a tight hug and shaking Newt's hand.
"It's great to see you both. Were you able to find anything else out on the tea set? So far we've only been able to keep them sedated, barely that is. This curse really likes to fight back." Phineas commented running a hand through his hair.
"With what you were able to give me about their symptoms I was able to come up with a few counter curses that should take care of it. They're very involved though, and take some time to get through." Eloise laid out her findings for Phineas to look over.
"Shouldn't be a problem." Phineas snapped his fingers causing five pieces of paper to float up, a quill for each at the ready. He rattled off his orders for each RN then with a wave of his wand they turned into paper planes and were off out of the office. "Thanks for your help Eloise."
"Not a problem." Eloise assured him.
"And Newt, the memory serum you gave me, we were able to refine it and it's doing wonders for our more traumatic cases." Phineas clapped Newt on the shoulder. "In fact I'm taking it to Paris to share with the hospital there if that's ok with you."
"That's wonderful, I'm glad to hear it's doing so well." Newt said happily.
"I wish you both could come with me." Phineas lamented.
"So do we." Eloise pouted.
"They can't keep you trapped forever." Phineas said positively. "Maybe I could write a prescription for a sea voyage, Doctors orders."
"I don't think they'll believe you." Newt smiled sadly. "At least they let us travel around Britain still."
"Small favors that they are." Eloise frowned. "By the way, you may want to avoid Loch Ness for the foreseeable future."
"Do I want to know why?" Phineas raised a brow gesturing for them to take a seat on the couch while he took one of his arm chairs.
"Think the ability to blend into the environment like a chameleon combined with the looks of Brachionsarus, but with fins instead of legs or feet." Eloise smiled as Newt wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. "We named one of them Nessy."
"One of them?" Phineas echoed.
"It was quite interesting really." Newt said with that speacial look in his eyes he always got when talking about a creature. "The locals call them the Loch Ness monster because they only think there's one, there's actually quite a bit more. They have this uncanny ability to blend in with the lake bottom, but when they come up to the surface they are more easily seen."
"But certainly that lake cannot support that many creatures of that size." Phineas pointed out.
"It doesn't need to, they live off of sunlight." Newt grinned. "And as for the size of the lake it's actually much bigger than most know. The Loch Ness creatures are burrowing types and are very adept at keeping their tunnels hidden, they have a whole network under the lake and surrounding lands."
"Unfortunately the land was starting to give way to all the tunnels, that's why we went, we had to go into them and re-enforce them." Eloise said. "But before we could do that Newt had to earn their trust, which he did quite brilliantly."
"It must have been gorgeous down there." Phineas said in wonder.
"Oh it was." Newt nodded as a paper plane came into the room landing in Phineas's hand.
"Seems I'm needed elsewhere." Phineas sighed. "Before I leave on my trip we must get together again, I enjoy hearing about your adventures."
"Anytime, just give us a ring." Eloise said as they followed Phineas out of his office saying one more farewell before going their separate ways.
-0-
It was a beautiful forest made up of strange twisting trees that seemed to reach out in all directions that matched the twisting path they were on. They walked along the gravel trail that cut through the woods, taking a turn from the main trail onto a smaller seemingly overgrown trail.
Eloise smiled as she and Newt made their way through the Forest. All she would tell him was that she had somewhere she wanted him to see, a place she had discovered during her travels. The deeper they went the trees became thicker along with the rest of the vegetation around them until they came to a grove. In the middle of the grove were stones placed in a way that made a sort of maze pattern.
"What is this?" Newt asked looking to Eloise.
"A sort of doorway." Eloise nodded with a bit of a frown. "Have you ever seen one before?"
"Not that I recall." Newt shook his head. "Should I have?"
"I first came across them in Germany, they were used to hide enemy bases, one wrong step and you'd never get out." Eloise recalled having spent much of her time cracking said rock labyrinths, it was almost like being a cryptanalysis. "You walk along the path laid out by the stones, one path never like the other. If you came to a dead end you fell into an Oubliette, a dark pit, a dungeon with no doors."
"Did you ever…?" Newt asked hesitantly and Eloise held up three fingers indicating the three times she had been trapped in an Oubliette. Newt took hold of her hand pulling her into a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he held her close. They both had their share of dark memories from the war and the scars to prove them.
"But I can promise you that this is nothing like those." Eloise smiled up at him resting her hands on his chest
"I should hope not." Newt smiled down at him and Eloise felt her cheeks go red as he looked into her eyes. He pressed a lingering kiss to her lips before reluctantly letting her go. He had been doing that a lot, stealing kisses and holding her close whenever he could. He had even taken her on some wonderful dates and now it was her turn to take him somewhere.
"Shall we then?" Newt asked offering her his arm.
"We shall." Eloise looped her arm through his and together they stepped into the maze, their path instantly lighting up a soft blue.
"You see, it shows you the way as long as you are a wizard, witch, or have a special charm given to those outside the wizarding community. Anyone else that traverses the maze simply walks between the stones without getting anywhere really." Eloise explained. "But once placed they can never be removed or you'd never be able to get out or into whatever it was a doorway to."
"Interesting." Newt commented as they came to the end of the maze where the air in front of them seemed to ripple like water. Eloise grinned at him before pulling him into the ripple which was the opening of a large glamour. Newt looked up seeing that they were in some sort of large area covered by a magical dome that kept out unwanted guests.
"Welcome to the Xanadu Market." Eloise gestured grandly to the stone entrance that displayed the name in bright floating golden letters, flags from every nation and magical community flanking the entrance.
Passing the gate following along a red brick road was one of the largest magical markets in the world, the path lined on each side with various outside vendors as well as building spanning architectural cultures and times. Norse, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, Grecian, Spanish, French, Brazilian, Russian, American, and many more were apparent in the architecture of individual stores, representing what they were selling inside.
"Amazing." Newt gazed around himself.
"It is." Eloise agreed. "Diagon Alley is good for the more common things like school supplies and such, but this…" Eloise gestured around them. "You'll find everything from every culture, civilization, or nation in this market. There are only five other places on earth that can boast this kind of diversity. Not to mention they have a fabulous theme park and this place includes muggle things as well."
"Oh, look at that." Newt pulled her over to a booth filled with exotic plants, the proprietor was an elderly Hindu man with large brown eyes and an almost blinding smile surrounded by an impressive white beard that stood out against his tanned skin.
"Good day to you both. How can I help you?" He asked kindly.
Eloise watched as Newt talked with the man about which rare plants would benefit certain animals best. The man was more than happy to share his knowledge with Newt though he did not know much of animals he knew a lot about plants.
Next she led him to a woman who sold tapestries then onto a man with vases of every kind for a multitude of uses beyond holding flowers. Every new shop that went to had something more interesting than the last. They soon came to the part of the market that had some carnival rides that were muggle inventions, but had become a big hit at the market place.
Newt had been quite taken with the carousel that depicted various magical creatures. Eloise talked him into taking a ride with her on it. Eloise got on what looked like a green and brown buck with tree like antlers bursting with pink flowers. Newt took the white kitsune complete with nine tails and red markings next to her. The animals, charmed with magic, acted much like their live counterparts. They pawed the ground, let out their calls, and would even nuzzle riders as the passed by, enjoying a good scratch as well. Newt smiled softly at the sight of Eloise laughing next to him, the ride causing her hair to blow in the wind.
"Come on Newt!" Eloise grinned pulling him toward the large rattling roller coaster as soon as they left the carousel.
"Eloise, I'm not sure this is a good idea." Newt paled as the sight of the wooden monstrosity.
"Oh it's perfectly safe, it's a muggle invention called a rollercoaster." Eloise said in excitement.
They were locked into their seats, Eloise glad that they had gotten the front row. Newt on the other hand was so pale that his freckles were practically glowing against his skin. They pulled out of the terminal and started up the man made hill of tracks. Eloise took his hand into hers, trying not to wince at his grip, when the cart reached the peek. They paused for a moment able to see for miles around them at the height they were at.
"Merlin's Beard." Newt nearly screamed as they fell forward going up and down and up and down again, sure he had left his stomach behind.
Eloise raised her hands along with the one that was gripping his into the air with an excited laugh. As soon as it came to a stop Newt stumbled out followed by Eloise who put her arm through his to steady him.
"Are you alright?" Eloise giggled.
"I am never doing that again." Newt breathed out.
"How about just one more ride?" Eloise led him away from the rollercoaster.
"I don't know…." Newt looked queasy.
"I promise this one you'll like." Eloise said stopping in front of a sigh that read Tunnel of Love. Newt blushed at the sight of this one, the swan boats letting out gentle coos as they carried passengers into a heart shaped tunnel. "They say it's quite romantic."
To this ride Newt had no objections as they boarded one of the swans that gently glided through the water into the heart shaped tunnel. More than one lingering kiss was shared as the magically made romantic wonders surrounded them along with gentle lilting music.