Christmas was always a challenging time of year for Newt. Awkward family dinners, the chaos in the streets of London and being forced to take time away from his animals made for a difficult time of year.
This year had an added complication. Tina.
Newt had spent hours laboring over the present to get her. What do you get for a friend who deserves the world, a friend who is like no one you've ever met, a friend you would happily run into a burning building for.
Maybe she wasn't a friend exactly
Jacob had just rolled his eyes at his friend and said, "get her something from the heart."
So Newt had. He had poured his heart into making a unique box for Tina to keep her prized possessions in. He knew she had some earrings from her mother that she saved for special occasions but other than that, she was an enigma.
He'd charmed the box to only open to her voice and as he placed it on the table, next to the Christmas Tree in front of the fire, he hoped she would like it.
He stood awkwardly waiting for her to arrive, trying not to stare at his watch, reaching over now and again to reposition the box.
A squeaking sound made him look down, his Niffler had poked his head out of Newt's pocket.
"Not now you," Newt shoved him back into his pocket. He heard the door turn.
"Newt is that you?"
Newt scrambled forward, "Tina, I….er….merry Christmas." He stood and watched as Tina smiled and hung up her coat.
"This is nice," she said looking round.
"Thank you, I got you something." Newt went to pick the box up then paused and made a weak gesture at it.
Tina's eyes lit up and she smiled, "That's very thoughtful of you Newt."
She went over to the table and picked up the box up. Newt frantically tried to peer over her shoulder to try and see her reaction. "It only opens to your voice," he said.
Tina nodded and whispered to the box to open it. "Its beautiful Newt" she let out a breath, "I don't know what to say."
She set the box down and rolled up her sleeve, "Its perfect for my bracelet."
Tina placed the bracelet into the box but there was a flash of black and the box flew off the table.
"Teddy!" Newt rushed over, pushing Tina out of the way and snatched a very smug looking Niffler away from the fire.
"You know you mustn't touch things that aren't yours," Newt said soothingly, extracting Tina's bracelet from the Niffler's teeth.
"Errr Newt…the box."
Newt looked over and watched as the box he had spent hours carefully constructing was consumed by the fire. He knelt down and went to grab it but Tina took his arm.
"Its okay Newt," she said not unkindly reaching out to stroke Teddy who had now curled up by the fire, "these things happen."
"But I wanted it to be perfect," he said staring into the fire, "for you."
"And it was," she said, "it was beautiful and thoughtful and we'll both laugh about this one day."
Newt looked into Tina's eyes expecting to see the disappointment that he was used to seeing in everyone else that he cared about. He only saw kindness.
"Like salamanders," Newt muttered and Tina smiled and took his hand.
As they crouched on the floor holding hands and looking into the fire, Newt reflected that maybe Christmas time was easier than he thought.