The rest of the week had been busy for Newt. He had gone to all of his classes and had continued to eat his meals with Jacob. More often than not, Queenie had joined them, chatting to them endlessly. Jacob seemed to be quite taken with her and she seemed to be equally as interested in him, so Newt didn't have to participate in conversation all too often. Which he was glad about.

Sometimes, Tina joined them. Not of her own free will, if he gauged her expression correctly but she was there. And whenever the four of them shared a meal, Queenie and Jacob talked and laughed loudly while Tina and Newt ate their meals silently, glancing at each other occasionally.

On one of those occasions, Newt had made up his mind and had asked her if she would be willing to help him with wandless magic. The classes he had already taken at Hogwarts were relatively easy and he didn't have to study for them too much but wandless magic was a lot harder than he had anticipated. He needed help and since he didn't really know anyone else at school yet, he took his chances by asking her. Technically, she had already agreed when Queenie had made her say she would help him a few days earlier but he wanted to make sure she really wouldn't mind by asking her again.

She had looked at him for a few seconds expressionlessly before agreeing tentatively. Queenie had been ecstatic, grinning widely and talking about how Newt and Tina would surely get along great if they only got to know each other a little better. Newt wasn't so sure about that but he didn't really know Tina all that well yet.

Newt and Tina met up at the library that Friday evening for their first tutoring lesson.

The two of them had made their way to the library after dinner, not having said much to each other while they had eaten. Newt was just grateful she decided to help him at all so he tried not to get on her nerves by talking.

Tina led him to a far off corner of the library where some talking wouldn't disturb other students and sat down at a small table. Newt followed her, sat down as well and looked at her clasped fingers. He knew she was watching him, what he didn't know was what she was hoping to find. Or what she wanted him to do or say.

"Um, I'm really grateful that you're trying to help me Tina." he murmured.

"You already said that. You don't need to keep repeating yourself."

Newt winced. "Okay. What should we start with?"

"Look at me."

Newt's muscles tensed and his gaze swept over her face, landing on a bookcase he could see next to her left ear.

Tina groaned. "You keep doing that. And I can't figure out if you're just really uncomfortable with people and don't know a thing about social interaction or if you're hiding something."

He didn't know what to do. Nobody had ever called him out on his shortcomings so bluntly and direct. Was she bothered by this? What did she think he was hiding?

When he didn't say anything for a few minutes Tina sighed. "Newt, I'm sorry. You asked me to help you and I will try to do so. Relax a little and let's get started, okay?"

He could see that she was trying to smile at him but she failed miserably.

Not knowing how to handle this situation and almost sure Tina didn't actually want to help him, he pushed his chair back and was almost standing when she stood up and grabbed his arm gently.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to insult you in any way. I'm just trying to figure you out and I'm failing. I don't like it." Tina said, looking at him softly.

"I'm sorry." That always seemed to be the best thing to say in any situation.

She laughed. "What are you sorry for? It's my problem. And even if you are hiding something, I will find out soon enough."

Newt's thoughts strayed to Pickett, who was slumbering happily in his breast pocket but he managed to keep himself from making any outward motion towards the Bowtruckle.

Would she tell on him if she found out about Pick? He didn't know and he didn't want to find out. A rare streak of annoyance ran through Newt. Who was she to be talking to him like that? He had done nothing wrong, at least he didn't think he had and she was accusing him of hiding things while flat out insulting his social abilities. He was aware of his shortcomings, he didn't need a stranger pointing them out to him.

For the first time since they've known each other, Newt looked into her eyes. Well, 'looking' was too weak a word, he glared at her.

"I don't know what your problem is, but if you didn't want to help me, you could have just said so. We could have saved a lot of time and I could have avoided being insulted by you. Thank you for your time, Miss Goldstein, but I think I'll be leaving now." Newt said quietly, still glaring at her, stood up and left.

Tina's eyes had widened during his speech and she sat with her mouth open for a few seconds before her brain registered his words. He was already halfway out of the library when she jumped up and ran after him. "Newt!"

"Shh!" the librarian hissed at her when she ran past her desk. Tina looked at her apologetically for a moment but said nothing, still pursuing the Brit.

She caught up to him just outside of the library doors and grabbed his arm, trying to stop him. He shook her off and continued walking quickly.

"Newt, I'm sorry!"

"I don't want to hear it Miss Goldstein."

Tina huffed, but continued to follow him. "Could you stay still for one moment so I can apologize?"

Newt turned his head for a second, staring straight at her. "No."

Tina rolled her eyes. "Now you're just being childish."

Newt didn't answer.

Tina quickened her pace until she was walking next to him. "You can't run away from me forever."

"Watch me."

She followed him for another few minutes, not saying anything. She hoped he would calm down a little if she didn't antagonize him any further. A few students looked at them curiously when they almost ran past them but nobody tried to stop them.

Newt suddenly stopped at a door not far from her own room, waved his hands until it opened and was about to shut the door in her face when her foot stopped him from closing the door.

"Huh. So you can do it." She mumbled.

Newt was starting to get a headache. "What are you talking about? Wait, never mind. I don't want to know. Get your foot out of my door and leave me alone."

"Not before you let me apologize properly."

"I don't think so. And I don't think I would even understand what you're doing, you know, cause of my limited understanding of social interactions."

Tina rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean it like that. I wasn't implying you were dumb or incapable of anything."

"Well, it sounded like it. Would you kindly remove your foot from my door now? I'm tired."

"It's not even eight yet."

Newt raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to bed early. It's been a busy week."

"Oh come on, this will only take a minute. Let me in and let me apologize. I don't like all the other students listening in." She motioned at a handful of students slowly walking past them, trying to look uninterested but failing miserably. She was sure she had seen one student walk by three times since they had stopped at Newt's room.

"As you pointed out so eloquently just a minute ago, it's after seven. What would the students think if I let you into my room at this time of day without supervision?"

Tina rolled her eyes again. "Oh, fuck off, and let me in for a second."

"Now you're cussing at me? Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"

Tina reeled back, eyes wide and mouth open, looking like she had been slapped. Before Newt could think about what he might have said to make her react like that, Tina clenched her hands into fists and looked at him furiously.

"If you don't want my apology, fine, you won't get it, Mr. Scamander." She hissed, turned around and stormed off.

Newt gaped after her, not knowing what had just happened. Scowling after her anyway, because she had insulted him first, he slammed the door shut loudly, hoping she had heard.

Tina stormed into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She was about to grab her pillow to scream into it when she noticed her sister sitting on her sofa with a book in her hand, staring at her worriedly.

"Are you alright Teenie?"

"What are you doing here?" Tina grumbled and sat down on her bed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Queenie closed her book and put it away, giving her sister her full attention. "I was waiting for you. I wanted to know how your session with Newt went."

Tina snorted. "What do you think?" she hissed, gritting her teeth.

"Why are you so angry? Did he say something?"

Tina pressed her lips together tightly, not saying anything. She had slammed up her occlumency shields as soon as she had noticed Queenie in the room, not wanting her to know what had been said.

"Come on Teenie, what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Leave me alone please."

Queenie snorted. "You know I won't do that. You're upset and I want to know why."

"I'm not upset." Tina hissed, not understanding why her sister couldn't just leave her alone for once.

Queenie looked at her skeptically. "Clearly."

"What do you want Queenie? Don't you have your own room?"

The younger sister scowled. "I do. And I share it with four girls I can't stand and you know that. Why are you trying to push me away?"

"I'm not! I just want to be left alone for once! Can't you understand that?"

Queenie blinked. "Okay. I'm going to find Newt then. Maybe he will tell me what happened."

Tina's angry eyes turned to her sister. "No. You're not going to find anyone."

"Then tell me what happened."

The brunette continued to scowl but she knew her sister would never leave this alone. Tina tried to hold on to her anger but after thinking about things for a second, she knew Newt didn't mean it like that. He didn't know his comment would hurt her so badly. He was still a prick for not letting her apologize properly.

Tina sighed. "We had a fight."

"About wandless magic?"

Tina snorted. "We didn't even get to that. I said some things, he got angry and left the library, I followed him, trying to apologize but he wouldn't let me. When we reached his room he wanted to slam the door in my face, which is, hello, rude, and then he said something that hurt me and then I was angry and stormed off."

Queenie's eyebrows had risen during her sister's retelling. "A few more details would be appreciated Teenie. I can't help you if I don't know what you two said to each other."

Tina huffed but relaxed slightly, lying down on her back and staring at the ceiling. She didn't want to look at Queenie, already knowing that she would see disappointment on her sister's face. She had handled the situation with Newt pretty badly if she thought about it for a second.

"We went to the library to start the tutoring session. He was being awkward, like he always is and didn't know what to do with himself when we sat down. So he thanked me again for helping him out. He wasn't looking at me, he was doing this thing again where he kind off gives you attention but not really. I hate that."

Queenie chuckled. "I know, I noticed. But don't take it personally, I don't think he has looked anybody in the eyes since he arrived here."

"Oh he can do it if you make him angry enough."

The blonde sighed. "What did you do Teenie?"

Tina tried to fight the embarrassing blush trying to manifest on her cheeks but lost. "I told him that I didn't know if he was just really bad at social interactions or if he was hiding something."

Queenie groaned. "Why did you do that? I'm pretty sure he knows that conversations don't come to him as easily as they do to others. I'm sure he was embarrassed when you pointed it out to him. Why did you do that?"

The brunette groaned. "I don't know. I just want to figure him out. He's not talking about himself at all. He only ever listens when we're eating together and almost never starts a conversation. Why?"

"I think he's just shy."

"Yes, but we know nothing about him!"

"We've known him for a week, why would we?"

"If I don't know anything about him, how am I supposed to protect you?"

"You don't need to protect me."

"Yes I do!"

Queenie sighed. "You don't Teenie. I'm old enough to take care of myself now. I'm not that little girl anymore who couldn't help but cry all the time."

"Then why are you being so reckless? You're going to be in danger if people find out about your abilities."

The younger sister snorted. "You keep telling me that. What's the worst that could happen? They recruit me for the ministry and I have to work for them as soon as I leave school. That's not so bad."

"Not so bad? Do you know what you would have to do for them? Whose thoughts you would have to read? And do you really think they're going to let you go anywhere with all those secrets in your head? Or things you will undoubtedly overhear in the ministry? They will never let you go. You won't have a normal live, you'll live in a prison. Even if it has nice things in it. You'll never be free."

Queenie didn't know what to say. She knew her sister was worried about people finding out about her but she didn't know what exactly she had been worried about. Now she knew. She had never thought about it like that. She had assumed that working for the ministry would entail some paper-pushing desk job and maybe the occasional consultation with her special abilities. She hadn't thought about secrets or confidential information.

Tina looked at her sister's pale face and took her hand in hers. "Do you finally understand why I want you to be so careful? Why I want you to be careful when you chose new friends? You have no idea if Newt and Jacob will tell on you if they find out. They probably wouldn't do it on purpose but accidents happen all the time. I can't take that risk. You're the only one I have left and I can't lose you."

Queenie nodded and hugged her sister. Tina had scared her. But maybe it was for the best. But she still wanted friends. "Why haven't you told me about this before?"

Tina sighed, hugging her sister a little tighter. "I didn't want to scare you. You're still a child."

"I'm 15!"

"That doesn't make you an adult."

Queenie pouted. "I disagree."

"I know."

"I'm still going to continue my friendship with Newt and Jacob."

"I know."

"But I promise you that I'll be more careful from now on, okay?"

Tina sighed relieved. "Thank you."

Newt went to breakfast early the next morning. He didn't want to run into his 'friends'. Could he call them his friends? He didn't know. He thought Jacob was a nice guy and he could see himself becoming friends with him but he didn't know if the other boy even wanted to become his friend.

As for Queenie and Tina, well. Queenie was nice. A little loud but overall a friendly person. He didn't know why she was so interested in him and sought him out so often but he didn't really mind.

Tina. He thought she was nice as well. Quiet, like himself but sure of what she was doing. He thought she probably didn't mean anything rude by what she had said yesterday evening but it still hurt. He knew that he wasn't good at anything that had to do with social interactions, he just didn't know what he was supposed to do when things didn't go the way he expected them to go. And he did have something to hide. Namely the small green Bowtruckle currently hiding in his breast pocket. So she had not been wrong with anything she had said. That didn't mean he had wanted to hear it.

Newt sighed after he had finished his breakfast. It doesn't matter anymore. She probably won't talk to me again after storming off the way she did. I wonder what I said to make her so angry, Newt mused as he made his way out of the front doors of Ilvermorny for the first time since arriving there.

He was met with the bright rays of the sun shining through a canopy of tall trees surrounding the tall gates of the school. There were trees as far as he could see, some tall ones, some smaller, younger ones but all of them stood proud and strong. He immediately felt comforted by the nature around him. There were no people around so he felt safe enough to let Pickett out of his pocket. The small Bowtruckle chirped excitedly as he made his way up to Newt's shoulder, watching his surroundings with interest.

There were pathways leading from the front doors around the sides of the school. He assumed they led to some kind of gardens or greenhouses. He wanted to check them out but for now, the tall trees called out to him. Students in their seventh year were allowed to explore the forest around the school during the day if they wanted to. He had asked the Headmistress about it when he had seen her at dinner two days ago. She had warned him about the wildlife and had told him to be careful, but he had just smiled and thanked her for her time.

As soon as he couldn't be seen from the school anymore, he breathed in deeply and relaxed considerably. He had been tense the whole week, scared of people finding out about Pickett and just the normal awkward tension that came with being the new student.

He wandered around the woods for maybe half an hour, just enjoying the peace and quiet. He met some animals along the way, some non-magical ones like deer and rabbits, but also some magical creatures like Kneazles and Gnomes. He could swear he had seen a small Horned Serpent slithering through the underbrush but he hadn't been fast enough to confirm it.

Pickett enjoyed himself as well, chirping excitedly whenever he saw a magical tree. Newt settled down under one of those to let his small green friend explore it and to give himself a break a while later. The Bowtruckle climbed on the tree quickly and explored every branch and knothole. He never strayed far though, always keeping Newt in his sight.

Newt stretched himself out, closing his eyes and enjoying the sun warming his legs. He was exhausted. Learning wandless magic as quickly as possible and trying to make new friends along the way was very tiring and he had looked forward to this break since his second day. It wasn't that he didn't like this school, there were some things he enjoyed greatly, like his own room for example but he did miss Hogwarts with it's creaking direction-changing staircases and mostly friendly ghosts floating through the hallways, always searching for new students to startle.

He got lost in his thoughts for a while but nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a distressed cry not far from his current position. He got up and looked around, trying to find the animal or creature who was in distress. Not even thinking about the possible dangers, Newt grabbed Pickett and went in search of the possibly hurt animal. When he heard the sound again, he changed directions and walked a few steps until he arrived at a small cliff. It wasn't very deep, just about four meters, but if one fell down there accidentally, they could still hurt themselves.

Newt looked around until he found a bright brown, almost copper set of feathers lying down near the cliff. The bird, Newt couldn't see what kind of bird it was yet, but the feathers were a sure sign about the breed, hadn't fallen down the cliff but something seemed to be wrong because it wasn't moving correctly.

Crouching down until his hands could touch the ground, Newt slowly made his way over to the distressed bird. The bird didn't notice him until Newt was only a meter away, but as soon as it did, its screeching got louder and it tried to get away.

"Shh, I won't hurt you." Newt said quietly, trying to calm the angry bird down. Now that he had gotten a good look at it, he was surprised to see that it was a Thunderbird. It couldn't be older than a few month, it was only as big as a large dog. It's feathers were a bright brown, almost copper color with white patches around the eyes and belly. Newt could swear some of it's feathers shimmered golden when the sun hit them just right. One of the bird's wings stood at an awkward angle and one of it's legs seemed to be injured as well, judging by the limping motions the Thunderbird made as it tried to get away.

"Shh, I'm not a threat, please calm down. I'm only trying to help you." Newt continued to mumble, hoping that the constant soothing sounds would calm the bird down. Newt didn't move from his position for about twenty minutes, waiting for the Thunderbird to calm down enough so he could approach it.

The bird seemed to be exhausted and couldn't continue it's protests any longer. It went quiet and sat down after a while, folding it's hurt wing under it's body in such a way that Newt couldn't see it anymore. Newt waited for another few minutes until he slowly approached it. His sore muscles were protesting from the awkward position he had to hold for almost half an hour but he didn't pay it any mind. All of his thoughts were focused on the injured Thunderbird.

"Hello, I'm Newt. Aren't you a magnificent creature." Newt mumbled as he carefully scratched the Thunderbird's neck. "What happened to you? You hurt your wing and leg, huh? That must hurt a lot. Can I take a look at it? I promise I won't hurt you."

As if the Thunderbird had understood Newt's words, it carefully unfolded its injured wing from under it's belly. "There you go." Newt mumbled as he carefully took the wing in his hands. He moved it around slowly, trying not to jostle it too much. Newt wasn't a doctor and he hadn't ever treated any kind of injuries to wings before but he was almost sure that at least one the bones in the wing was broken. "It looks like a clean break to me. But I'm not a doctor so I am not sure. I think just keeping it still until it heals on it's own should be enough. I'm sorry but I'm not really good enough with healing magic to just knit it back together."

Newt got his wand out of his pocket and transfigured a stick he had found nearby into a sling. He carefully slipped the sling around the Thunderbird's neck and shoulder and secured it tightly. The Thunderbird screeched loudly in protest but Newt's soothing murmurs and calm behavior calmed it down again quickly. After petting the Thunderbird for a moment, Newt coaxed it to let him look at it's leg. Nothing seemed to be broken but Newt suspected a heavy strain.

"Well" he patted the Thunderbird's neck affectionately, "your leg should heal on it's own. Just try and stay still for a while okay?"

The Thunderbird looked at him for a moment and sat down again, making itself as small as possible. It let out a small whimper. "You're hungry. I'll try and find something for you, alright?" Newt said and stood up, patting his trousers, trying to get rid of the dirt stains.

He went in search of some small rodents and came back with two rats. The Thunderbird gratefully accepted the food and gulped them down quickly. Newt sat down next to the bird when it was done eating. Newt spent the next few hours relaxing at the Thunderbird's side, both of them enjoying the peace and quiet.

"You really are a beautiful creature." Newt said after a while as he looked at the shimmering feathers of his companion. "Do you have a name?"

The Thunderbird kept it's eyes closed, enjoying the last rays of the sun before it vanished behind a mountain. The corner of the cliff Newt and the Thunderbird were occupying was swept into darkness very quickly and Newt glanced worriedly in the direction of the school.

He sighed. "I have to go now. I'm not allowed to stay in the forest after dark, I think I'm already cutting it close. But I'll come back tomorrow, okay? I don't think you will be able to hunt with your wing and leg so I'm going to bring you something to eat until you can hunt again."

The Thunderbird clicked some sounds in Newt's direction which the boy took as consent.

Newt scratched the Thunderbird's neck one last time, got up and hurried in the direction of Ilvermorny. He hoped nobody would notice his lateness.