'Engorgio.'

Tina was helping Newt prepare a new enclosure in his basement. He was taking a couple of Hippogriffs from his mother's estate, and they needed a large space with sufficient forest, mountain and lake habitat. The forest habitat involved a lot of tall trees, hence a lot of Engorgement Charms on saplings that Newt had acquired from the Bowtruckle habitat.

'Tina, can I ask you something?' Newt's voice caught her by surprise. They had been working in such a peaceful silence that Newt's interruption almost seemed intrusive. But his voice was so melodic that it made her heart sing to hear it, so she didn't mind the intrusion at all.

'Yes, go on.'

'Queenie told me about Achilles Tolliver.'

Oh. Tina sighed. She'd known this conversation had to happen. 'Well, I read that magazine, the one Queenie showed you. I was...a little upset, and Queenie heard everything. She encouraged me to move on, so I agreed to go out with Achilles a few times. But it ended when I left for Paris.'

'Right.' Newt levitated a sapling into its place in the ground. 'Engorgio.'

'Newt, I've been meaning to ask you something too,' Tina said.

'What is it?'

'Why did you go to Paris?'

At least it was an easy question. 'Well, to find you. I found the postcard you sent Queenie. Jacob wanted to find her, so he came with me.'

Something tightened in Tina's chest and she felt her throat constrict a little, as if she was going to cry. She took a deep breath, and was pleased to find that the feeling subsided. 'You had a travel ban - Theseus told me. You broke the law. I thought Dumbledore had asked you.' Tina was surprised at how soft her voice had become.

'Dumbledore did ask me. Accio.' Newt Summoned another sapling as he spoke. 'But I know better than to do whatever Dumbledore says. Well, until I realised you were in Paris.'

Tina nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak without bursting into tears. She'd suspected as much when she'd asked the question, based on what Jacob had told her, but she wanted to be sure. Getting her heart broken once was painful enough; Tina was determined to be more careful this time around.

Luckily, Newt was distracted by a stray Bowtruckle on the sapling he was trying to plant for the Hoppogriff enclosure. 'Absolutely not,' he chided the creature. 'Look, this is just a sapling and you've got a whole selection of full-grown wand tree in your own home.'

The Bowtruckle blew a raspberry at him. Newt sighed and stood up. 'I'm just going to drop this little fellow back where he belongs.'

Tina nodded again, only half turning towards him so she could compose herself. By Morrigan, what had he done to her? Sure, he came to Paris to find her, but what did that mean? Was he wanting to join her in the search for Credence? Or to explain the magazine article? Or because he lo-

'Bugger!' Newt's yelp interrupted her thoughts. 'Tina! Can you come hear for a minute?'

Tina leapt to her feet and dashed into the Bowtruckle enclosure. Newt seemed to be balancing on a tall branch of one of the wand trees, whilst a cheeky Bowtruckle on a lower branch played with his wand. Tina had to fight hard not to laugh.

'They tricked me,' he said sheepishly. 'Can you...?'

'Accio!' Tina Summoned Newt's wand from the Bowtruckle's fingers and tossed it up towards him. Newt caught it and levitated himself down from the tree.

'Thanks.'

Tina chuckled. 'Any time.'