Disclaimer: I do not own "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" in any way, shape, or form! I only own my OC, "Sophia Millicent Kingston" and the plot of this story!

Author's Note: Hey! Here's the next chapter!

Enjoy!

The delicious smell of roast chicken was what greeted Sophie when she walked through the door, and for the briefest second, she was glad that she had decided to come home early enough to share dinner with her family.

That feeling immediately disappeared as her mother came into the front hallway. She shook her head at Sophie. "You're not wearing that blouse I got you!"

It was a hideous blouse; very old lady. When Sophie saw it, she snuck it out of the house and into the donation bin for a local homeless shelter. "I couldn't find it this morning," she lied swiftly as she took off her shoes.

Thea shook her head again. "Dinner will be ready shortly," she told her. "Go wash up."

Sophie hung her coat in the closet and then made her way up the stairs of their two level home. The house itself wasn't that big; the kitchen and the dining room were one big room, and you could walk right into the living room when you walked into the house. Astra and Penelope shared a room, and because she was the oldest, Sophie got her own. All three rooms were cramped together, with only one bathroom for the four of them to use. Mornings were never fun.

Penelope was in Sophie's room, going through her closet. She turned when the door opened, and Sophie was hit again with the shock of the resemblance between Penelope and their mother. The same brown eyes, the same sandy brown hair, the same nose shape. Sophie blinked before shaking her head. "What are you doing in here?" she asked, though her question had more exhaustion in it than bite.

"My friends and I are going to the cinema tomorrow," she answered. "And I wanted to see if you had anything nice to wear. None of my clothes seem right."

She set her bag down on the ground and eyed her sister. "Why? Who's going?"

Penelope blushed and looked away. "Just a few of us..."

Based on her answer, Sophie knew that in attendance would be a boy, and a boy that Penelope fancied at that. Taking pity on her 16 year old sister, Sophie said, "You can wear my purple blouse; it'll go nicely with your beige skirt."

Penelope glowed up as she reached into the closet and pulled out said blouse. "Thank you so much, Sophie!" she squealed. She gave her sister a hug and then ran back to her room.

Sophie shook her head at her as she made her way to the bathroom. She washed her hands and splashed some water on her face, trying to wake up a little. She had been up since 7 am, and she had more work to look forward to tonight. The latest she would be going to bed would be 11 pm.

She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen to see if her mum needed any help. To her surprise, when she walked into the kitchen, her 21 year old sister Astra was helping their mum, pouring the boiled vegetables into a serving bowl and preparing some bread.

While Sophie took after their father and Penelope took after their mother, Astra ended up as a mixture of both. She had their father's blond hair, like Sophie, but their mother's brown eyes, like Penelope. She was short, like their mother, but had broad shoulders, like their father. When she was younger, Sophie thought that Astra would eventually end up looking like only one of their parents, but her looks carried into adulthood; she was a perfect blend of Matthew Kingston and Thea Welland.

Astra looked up and grinned when she saw Sophie. "Sophie! Wonderful! Can you grab the butter and put it onto the table with the bread?"

Lately, Astra had been helping their mum more and more with the domestic things, such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping for groceries, which made Sophie suspect that her relationship with her former Navy boyfriend was leading to somewhere serious.

Sophie merely nodded and grabbed what she had been asked to do. She set the items down on the table, and she had just walked back into the kitchen when Thea asked, "Will John be joining us tonight?"

Sophie shook her head, and on the inside she was gladly shouting "no". On the outside, however, she simply answered, "No. He has to work."

"That man is working so hard for you, you know that?" Thea nodded her head dreamily, as if she were the one marrying John and not Sophie. "You got lucky, Sophie."

Lucky wasn't the word that Sophie would use. She gave a tight lipped smile before filling a jug with water and setting it down on the table.

Dinner was a quiet affair, with their mother carrying most of the conversation, prattling on about this and that. There wasn't really much of an awkward silence; Thea could talk about anything and everything, and it was a welcome relief when dinner was over.

Thea went to her bedroom to lie down for a bit, because she had been tired that day from work, and Penelope had schoolwork to do, which left Sophie and Astra to clean the dishes and the kitchen.

"How was work today?" Astra inquired as she washed the dishes and handed them to Sophie. They could've done it using magic, but Matthew had discouraged it, saying that they couldn't use magic to get them out of everything. Plus, it was a mutual time that the sisters could spend catching up.

She shrugged as she tried the plate off. "It was fine. A man came in today, said he was doing research for a book he's been writing. He wants to make use of the sanctuary's facilities."

"Who?" Astra went on.

"Newt Scamander," she answered as she put the glass away into the cupboard.

"That name sounds familiar," Astra thought aloud as she turned off the taps.

"His brother is Theseus Scamander," Sophie supplied as she grabbed the dishtowel to put into the laundry, tossing it over her shoulder.

"Right!" her sister nodded as she leaned against the sink. "Is he as handsome as they say?"

"Very," Sophie found herself blurting. Once she started, the words wouldn't stop. "He's blond, and he's got the most amazing pair of green eyes. Newt Scamander's certainly a looker."

"No, I meant Theseus," Astra corrected, and Sophie felt her ears turn pink.

"Oh," she muttered, and she cleared her throat. "Theseus wasn't there. It was just Newt."

"Oh," Astra said, seemingly disappointed. She shrugged. "I'm sure Mr Scamander is just as good looking, though I haven't really heard of him." She tilted her head to the side. "Didn't he go to Hogwarts at the same time as us? I mean, I was only first year, but weren't you two in the same year?"

Sophie couldn't place it, either. She felt like she remembered Newt Scamander, albeit a much younger version of him, wandering the halls and in the same classes as her. They both shared a love of magical creatures, that much Sophie remembered. She could almost see him in her classes, but he was always in the background. At the same time, Sophie was always wrapped up with her own friends to really notice anything else going on around her, much less Newt Scamander, who always preferred to blend into the background.

She shook her head free of the thoughts. "I don't remember that well," she said as she pushed away from the counter. "I should go. I have some work to do."

"Me too," Astra sighed. Astra was a herbologist, and she had her own shop in their little town. It was a Muggle store, but those who had magic could see the magical elements of it, and then Astra would specifically cater to them in a magical way. She even went and taught a few guest lectures at Durmstrang Institute, the wizarding school stationed in Norway. It was quite far away, but Astra enjoyed the trip. The one thing that she disliked about it was their immense interest in the Dark Arts. If she guest lectured, she always made sure that she wasn't there for very long.

The two sisters bid each other a good night and went to their separate rooms. As Sophie walked into her empty bedroom, she was thankful once again that she got her own bedroom. Then again, it was Sophie that contributed most to the mortage of the house, so she saw that it was only fair that she got her own room.

She began working, but shortly in, she realized that work would be hard that night, because she couldn't stop thinking about Newt Scamander. His blond hair, his green eyes, the awkward way he wouldn't meet her gaze as they spoke. And then her mind drifted to when his suitcase had moved on its own not once, but twice. What could he possibly be hiding in there?

Sophie shook her head free of the thoughts and forced herself to focus. She got a couple hours worth of work done when she decided that that would be enough for tonight. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and changed into her comfiest pair of pajamas before sliding into bed, exhausted. She welcomed sleep, but she couldn't stop thinking about Mr Scamander, even as she drifted off.

The next morning, Sophie was out of the house early in the morning. She made herself some eggs and coffee, and then left before anybody else in the house could wake up.

She was at work by 9 am, and she welcomed the feeling as she walked in through the doors. At home she may not like the persona that she had to put on for her mother, but at the sanctuary, she could be whoever she wanted to be. It didn't matter who she was because here, Sophie was in her element.

She went straight to her office and settled in, draping her coat across her chair and pulling her papers out of her bag and onto her desk. Sophie froze mid set up as she looked down at her engagement ring, the diamond glowing in the light from the room.

She took it off and tossed it back into the drawer that she had the day before. If she was going to be herself here, she couldn't have the ring on her finger.

The next few hours passed blissfully, with Sophie doing her daily round of check ups with all the Chinese Fireball dragons. They all seemed to be the same, but Felix's health was still getting lower and lower. Sophie decided to go with Vasile's suggestion and changed Felix's food back to cattle and hoped that he would show signs of improvement.

"Hey girlie," Sophie heard as she walked down the hall, and she grinned when she saw her best friend, Alexandra Funar catching up to her. The wings of the Chinese Fireballs and the Romanian Longhorns were right next to each other, which was a good thing for the friends, because it meant that they could see each other a lot. Alexandra was a tall woman, with striking brown eyes and dark hair. She was fluent in Romanian, but she spoke English with Sophie, which she was proficient enough in. Her accent wasn't even that bad. "How are you this morning?"

"Good," she responded as they passed someone wheeling a cart of pig carcasses to the feeding area of the Swedish Short-Snouts. "And yourself? How was your date last night?"

"Most gorgeous man I have ever laid eyes on," Alexandra confirmed. "But most boring person alive. I mean, I thought that you were boring when we first met, but this man spent an hour talking about the difference between dragon heartstring cored wands and phoenix feathered cored wands."

Sophie couldn't help but grin when Alexandra called her boring. To anybody who met the pair, they wouldn't have guessed that the girls were best friends: Alexandra was a promiscuous woman, looking for a new man every night and drinking her days away. Sophie was a shy woman, engaged to only one man and hardly ever going out. The one thing that the two shared in common at first was their love for dragons, and it was when the two had to work together once that Alexandra suggested that the two go out for a drink together (to an underground bar, no less). They'd been best friends ever since.

"I take it you're not going to see him again?" Sophie wondered.

To her surprise, Alexandra shook her head. "The man is amazing in bed. I would be a fool not to make a second date."

Sophie snickered as they came to her office, and she was surprised to see Newt Scamander standing at her office door, looking uncomfortable as he held tightly onto the handle of his suitcase. "Newt?" she said.

He looked up at the mention of his name, and he instantly relaxed when he saw her. "Sophie, good morning," he greeted with a nod.

Sophie and Alexandra came to a stop in front of Newt. She nodded at her friend. "This is my best friend, Alexandra Funar, that I mentioned," she introduced to Newt, and the two shook hands as Sophie continued. "Alexandra, this is Newt Scamander." She turned to the man. "What are you doing here? Have you been standing there long?"

Newt shook his head. "Not very long. The secretary said that you weren't in, but I just said that I would wait for you to come back, which was maybe an hour ago..."

An hour? Why didn't he just leave? Sophie ignored the questions that she wanted to ask and instead asked, "What can I help you with?"

"Oh!" he exclaimed, as if he just remembered why he had come to see Sophie. "I was hoping to start my research today, and I was wondering if you could help me."

Sophie was a little surprised. She hadn't imagined that Newt would take her up on her offer so quick, but she imagined that he was a busy man and couldn't stay here for very long. The sooner he got to work, the better. She nodded. "Of course, Newt," she said, and she looked over to Alexandra.

Alexandra nodded. "I should get going, anyways. Ana, who works with the Hungarian Horntails, asked for some help today with Robert."

Robert was their most dangerous Hungarian Horntail. He had been captured off the coast of Ireland, and then transferred to the sanctuary where they could contain and properly take care of him (and in the process, the Muggles and Wizards that lived in Ireland). "I'll see you later."

The raven haired girl nodded and waved. "It was nice to meet you, Mr Scamander," she told him as she retreated.

"You as well, Miss Funar," he responded, and he turned back to Sophie.

The two stood there awkwardly for a second before Sophie gestured to behind her, the direction that she had just come from. "Shall we?"

He nodded, and the two of them began their descent down the hallway. "You're in luck; I just came from my afternoon rounds, so the results are still new."

"That's good," he said, and Sophie pretended not to notice the mild shaking that his suitcase was doing.

She came to a stop in front of the pens for the Chinese Fireballs. "Welcome to the Chinese Fireballs of the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary," she introduced as she opened the doors that led to the pens. On the other side of the pens were the doors that led into them; the room that Sophie and Newt had walked into was more of an observatory.

The Romanian Dragon Sanctuary held five Chinese Fireballs. There were three pens that were 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide. The tallest Chinese Fireball they had was 23 feet, which was around the average height for Chinese Fireballs, but the reason that the pens were so big was so that they had room.

Unlike other dragons, they were more tolerant of their own kind. As a result, they were able to group together some of them. Cassian and Magnus shared one, Fiona and Haldra shared one, and Felix got his own, because he wasn't as tolerant as the other males. The reason they separated the males and the females was because they didn't want them mating.

"And you oversee all of them?" he asked as they walked in. There was a large, glass, fireproof window that separate them from the dragons, so they were right up to the window. The males were resting, their large scarlet and smooth scaled wings covering themselves as they slept, and the females appeared to be conversing, though Sophie couldn't say for sure. Felix was eating, always choosing to do so whenever he thought that people weren't around. Sophie thought that it was because he didn't want to share his food, and he thought if others were around he'd have to. She mentally crossed her fingers that the diet switch had worked and that his health would improve; he still looked a little sluggish to her.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Though Felix is my favourite. I was there when he hatched from his egg-it was my first real project to do on my own. The other four were already here when I arrived."

Newt nodded thoughtfully. "And what has their behaviour been?"

"Tolerant," Sophie answered. "We don't tend to put them all together, mainly because we don't have the room but also because if there are too many of them in one space they get agitated."

"Does Felix spend a lot of time on his own?" Newt continued, looking over at the lone dragon as he feasted. "Is his behaviour different because of it?"

She shook her head. "No. He prefers to be by himself. We tried putting him in with Cassian and Magnus a few times but he got very territorial. We also tried putting him in with Fiona and Haldra, but as two females versus one male, they easily dominated him and therefore, he doesn't like being in the same pen as them either. We bring him in stimulants, such as performing tricks for him with our magic, and he responds positively to them."

Newt nodded again, and it looked like he was tucking the information away for later. Sophie didn't see any notebooks out for him to write down the information. "Can we go into the pens?"

"Later," Sophie responded as they left the observatory room. "After lunch is their resting time."

"I see," Newt said as the two stepped out and into the hall. "Thank you very much for your help, Sophie."

Sophie noted the finality of his words. "Do you help with anything else?" she asked, a little disappointed that he was going to leave already.

"I have other things I must attend to," he told her. "But I will return tomorrow, if that is all right."

"Yes!" Sophie said, a little too quickly, and she forced herself to calm down. "That would be fine. I'm here during the week, anyways."

"Then I hope you have a lovely day, Sophie," he said warmly, and Sophie found herself blushing.

She forced the feeling down as he walked away, the two of them waving as he did so. But no matter what she did, she found herself in high spirits as she returned to her office, glad that she saw Newt today and that she would be seeing him tomorrow.

Her happiness was short lived, because when she got to her office, the first thing she noticed was the Barn owl by her window and the letter that was on her desk.

The first thing that she did was pay the owl, and she shut the window as it flew out. She opened the letter and groaned when she realized who it was from.

Dinner reservations at Mihai's. I'll see you there at 8.

-John

She had forgotten that she had made dinner plans with her fiance, and she slouched as she sat down in her chair. She threw the letter to the side and decided to bury her head in her work and hoped that time would pass slowly for the rest of the day.

TBC...

Thank you for all of the love! The first couple of chapters are setting up character, but the plot starts in chapter 4!

Until next time!

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