Acquiring the two aspiring students definitely had its ups and downs. The extra help was of course good and passing down their knowledge was certainly gratifying, but as with most good things there came a few troubles. They were both very curious about their chosen vocations and sometimes they got into things they should not have.
"Not in Korean, you're supposed to say it in Cantonese!" Eloise called after Etta who was being whisked away on a nimbus cloud.
An enchanter had made it some time ago when his village was going through a drought. It expanded and produced the rain it needed then proceeded to go off on its own after gaining a consciousness. It had decided it could do so much more than providing for the just one village and proceeded to cause massive flooding in its attempts to help. The enchanter had managed to subdue it in a sacred urn and hide it away.
The enchanter had inscribed the story of the cloud onto the urn as a warning, but a foolish witch saw it as an opportunity to control the weather. Of course as soon as the cloud was free it went about raining where ever it could nearly causing another great flood if it hadn't been for Eloise capturing it once again in its urn, but Etta was a very curious girl and had opened the urn for a peek.
Now the poor girl was clinging to the cloud and was soaking wet from the rain. Eloise was just counting her lucky stars that its creator only wanted the rain and had forgone lightning.
"I don't know Cantonese!" Etta screamed.
"Well that's going to be your next lesson." Eloise called out as she took out her wand and started to chant in Cantonese while moving it in swirling motion coupled with a few sharp slicing movements. The cloud started to get sluggish, its grey coloring becoming lighter as it descended. "Etta, jump now!"
"But..." Etta glanced over to the side of the cloud.
"Do it now Etta or you'll be sucked back into the urn as well!" Eloise warned as she sat the urn down on a nearby work table then took the lid out of her pocket holding it ready in her free hand.
Etta took the warning to heart and threw herself off of the cloud to the ground. She landed on a pile of tapestries that Eloise had been cataloging, coughing from the dust as she sat up. Eloise then started to move her wand in a circular motion as fast as she could, continuing to chant in Cantonese until a wind tunnel formed around the cloud.
Eloise brought the tail of the wind tunnel down to the lip if the urn with her wand sucking the cloud straight in. She placed the lid over the opening having to force it down as water gurgled up and out of the urn soaking her clothes. Finally she was able to press the lid down all the way causing it to seal shut once again.
She heard Etta coming up behind her, feet splashing in the water as Eloise took the urn in hand. Eloise turned to face Etta who was looking rather sheepish. The curse breaker turned on her heal shoving the urn into the apprentice's hands.
"I'm sorry." Etta hung her head.
"I know, but you know the rules." Eloise put her fists on her hips. "You're not supposed to touch anything without my permission."
"I just thought that maybe I could tame it." Etta tried. "It would be such a great help for farming."
"Not even its creator could do that." Eloise shook her head. "Now I want you to get a mop and clean this up."
"But I know a great drying spell, I could just..." Etta lifted her wand, but Eloise placed her hand over hers lowering it.
"Sorry Etta, this is a learning experience." Eloise flicked her own wand conjuring up a mop and a bucket along with a pile of towels. Etta frowned darkly at the muggle tools. "And don't think I'm being hard on you, this is exactly how my father trained me. I once shattered an ancient statue and had to glue it all back together. Took me days to find all the pieces and get them all back together in the right way, but i learned never to touch without permission again."
"Ok." Etta said despondently.
"Don't look so sad. When you're a full blown curse breaker one day you can apply the same rules to your apprentice." Eloise assured her gaining a small smile from the girl as she got to work on the mess.
Eloise shook her head as she headed out of her case to see how Newt was doing with Bunty. Looking around the various habitats that now took up the expanded basement of their home. Newt had expanded since their forced containment within the boundaries of England. She glanced down at her feet feeling a small tug and saw what most muggles would mistake for a brown and white ferret at first glance, this however was an Offo.
Offo's had a few characteristics that set it apart from a ferret. They had horns on their heads that were very good indicators of what they were feeling, much like mood rings, and beneath their fur were scales that matched the color and pattern of their fur.
Reaching down her hand she allowed the creature to run up her arm and settle on her shoulders under her hair where it nuzzled against her neck.
"Hello Bean, where mum at?" Eloise scratched the top of his head right between his horns making him purr.
Eloise moved carefully over the rolling plains that soon turned to grassy hills and then she was using stepping stones to get over a small river where golden scaled Sunbeam trout were swimming upstream. Such trout where highly prized for their golden scales and nearly extinct because of it.
She remembered when she and Newt went to a market and she had spotted a beautiful necklace made up of the scales, not that she had known what it was made of at the time. She had picked it up in interest, the owner commenting on her good eye. When she had looked to Newt to see what he thought of it his face was flushed and an anger in his eyes she only saw for one reason, a creature had been harmed.
Newt had demanded to know where he had gotten the golden scaled necklace from the salesman, but of course he refused any knowledge of the item being made of Sunbeam scales. With a little encouragement from Eloise with the help of a tampered Rememberall they had been able to glean enough information to get a lead. They had spent the rest of their time in the fishing village tracking down the poachers and shutting down their activities permanently.
"No, no, no, don't..." Eloise heard Newt call out. "Oh dear."
Eloise came upon an amusing scene of Newt covered in Mooncalves food on the ground as the little dears were crowding around him going for the food. Bunty was red faced from where she had clearly tripped in her rush to get to the Mooncalves for their feeding.
"Oh I wish I had a camera." Eloise giggled with a hand over her mouth.
"I'm so sorry." Bunty rushed over trying to help, but nearly trampling Newt along with the Mooncalves.
Newt was finally able to clamber to his feet brushing off what little food was left on his clothes and hair. Bunty once again tried to help, but Newt politely assured her that she did not need to help brush him off.
"You just need to be a bit more careful, Mooncalves really do love when its time to eat." Newt cautioned her. "You just need to take it slow."
"Yes Mr. Scamander." Bunty nodded.
"Just finish up with the feedings and that'll be all for today." Newt said.
"Got it." Bunty nodded going on her way as Eloise walked up to Newt brushing off the last of the food from his shoulder.
"You to huh?" Newt noticed her wrinkled clothing from the drying spell.
"Little mishap with the nimbus cloud." Eloise nodded as Newt rested his hands on her hips bringing her closer and she laid her hands on his shoulders. "It is nice though, they are both great students and fast learners."
"Yes, it seems professor Dumbledore was right." Newt bent down so his forehead was resting against Eloise's.
"But let's not tell him that." Eloise sighed.
"Of course not." Newt slowly brushed his lips against Eloise who pressed back softly, neither rushing the lingering kiss, just enjoying being close to one another. The kiss started to grow in passion and would have continued were it not for the wistful sigh of Bunty who had stumbled upon them. The two sprung apart looking like their faces had been painted red.
"Oh, sorry, I just...well I was checking on the niffler and, well...I think she's gone into labor?" Bunty said uncertainly and just like that Newt and Eloise were off like a shot toward the nifflers habitat.
They came up to the nifflers nest where they could hear the small creature voicing its discomfort. They had made a birthing area that was more secure and away from the other creatures. It consisted of a rounded wooden sphere about the side of a beach ball with a wide opening for easier access for them to help when the time came.
It was nestled into the trunk of a tree next to Newt's shack with various spells to keep other creatures away. Newt had colored the inside bright shining gold and lined with treasure along with the music box that Eloise had given him. The music was softly playing as it cast about its bright colors.
Newt peered inside spotting the niffler burrowed down in soft sparkling cloths that Eloise had gotten for the center of its nest. Gently he reached in petting the top of the nifflers head while using his other hand to rub her stomach to see how far along she was.
"Any moment now." Newt's voice was a combination of excitement and worry.
"I brought some more cloths, warm water, a small warm blanket, and your medical bag." Bunty ran up to them, Eloise taking the items gratefully.
"Bunty, I'll need you to keep the others calm for a time. Births tend to excite them." Newt said gently laying the warm blanket around the niffler.
"Alright." Bunty nodded.
"Grab Etta to help you out, tell her she can just use a drying spell on the rest of the room." Eloise told Bunty.
"Got it." Bunty went off to do so.
"Thank you Bunty." Eloise called after her before coming up to Newt's side with the supplies.
Newt quickly washed his hands as did Eloise before wrapping their hand in a spell that kept their hands sterile. There wasn't much to birthing baby nifflers, just soothing the mother, making sure there were no complications, and providing a safe environment for the babies when they arrived.
The niffler reached out grabbing onto Newt's finger as he helped her through the birth. Eloise watched in fascination as Newt worked in his element. Three baby nifflers came out and Newt tucked each one in with their mother who cleaned them off holding them close as they began to feed.
"Oh…they're so sweet." Eloise said softly as Newt finished tending to them. He stepped back to give niffler some room as they watched the new family.
"Two boys and two girls." Newt said proudly as he wrapped his arm around Eloise's waist holding her close to his side. "They'll need names."
"I think Pumpkin and Pumpernickel for those two." Eloise said with a smile.
"And I think Persimmon and Pistachio for the others." Newt leaned down pressing a kiss to her cheek.
"If we keep this up we may run out of names one day." Eloise commented.
"Can't have our children running around without names." Newt chuckled then his face flushed when he realized what he had said.
He went to try and cover it up, but his voice got caught in his throat when he found himself caught in Eloise's gaze. The way she smiled up at him had his heart beating fast and his whole body warming up. He reached up pressing his hand to her cheek as his other hand wrapped around her bringing her closer. Her hands slid up his chest to wrap around his neck as she stood on her tip toes. Their lips brushed softly before going in for a real kiss that had their blood racing.
Slowly they pulled apart with a few gentle pecks before Eloise rested her cheek on his chest and he lay his cheek on the top of her head running his free hand through her hair. Together while holding each other close they watched the niffler gently taking care of its children, making sure they were safe before falling asleep.