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

Author's Note: Next chapter comin' at you! Also, I smell trouble at the chapter title (*insert shifty-eye emoji here*)

Enjoy!

She should be working. Sophie knew she should be working, but after she got to her office and took her ring off and even went so far as to open her books, all she could do was sit in her chair and watch the Bowtruckle explore her desk. Sophie had brought in a few leaves from outside for him to munch on, but he mostly just alternated between sitting down and carving into her desk, which was something she should really stop him from doing.

Alexandra was sick. Then Penelope became sick. Both girls had the same illness. What could it be?

According to Alexandra, whom Sophie was keeping in contact with via owl, she still wasn't all that better, but not to worry about her. Alexandra's mother arrived to take care of her until she recovered.

Sophie felt like she just wanted to be home when her mother returned with the Mediwizard. There was something wrong with her baby sister, and she wanted to do everything she could to help her. It felt wrong being at work when her sister was ill with something Sophie had never even seen before. Astra promised to send an owl as soon as she knew anything, but it still wasn't enough for Sophie.

She should be doing her afternoon rounds and checking on the Chinese Fireballs, but she couldn't even bring herself to get up from her desk. Instead, she sent a house-elf with a message to tell Vasile to do the rounds in her place and just report to her with the results.

A little while later, the Bowtruckle suddenly stopped its crunching on a leaf and scrambled up Sophie's arm. She gazed down at him with a concerned look on her face as he slid into the side pocket of her blazer, but her unspoken question was answered when she heard footsteps outside her door.

There was a knock at the door, and when Sophie voiced her permission, it swung open to reveal Cristina, four folders in her hands. "Hello Miss Kingston," she greeted with a smile as she stopped in front of Sophie's desk. She held out the pile. "This is for you. It's this afternoon's report on the Chinese Fireballs."

Sophie knitted her brows together and looked up at Cristina. "I asked Andren to tell Vasile to bring me the reports."

"Yes, I know," Cristina responded, a sheepish expression crossing her face. "But Vasile isn't here, so Ana-Maria collected the information herself."

Sophie's eyes bugged out of her head. "You mean the intern Ana-Maria?!" she demanded, trying not to let her temper flare up even more than it was already threatening to. Sophie never left something as crucial as collecting the information for afternoon rounds to the interns, especially Ana-Maria, who was nearly torched once because she didn't read the instructions that declared that Cassian wasn't to be disturbed before lunchtime.

"He wasn't feeling well, so he sent an owl to say that he wasn't going to come in today," Cristina answered.

Sophie paused with her hand on the folders, and she tightened her grip, causing them to bend a bit. "What kind of illness?" she asked tightly.

Cristina shrugged. "Don't know. He didn't say." She let go of the files and backed up. "I've got to get back to the desk."

Sophie rested the folders on the desk as Cristina left the room. She chewed on a nail, a nasty habit her mother declared was not fit for a young lady, and the Bowtruckle poked his head out from her pocket. He gazed up at her, and Sophie looked down at him.

"Yes, I know something's not right," she told him, and she shook her head when she remembered that the Bowtruckle wasn't actually going to speak. "But Vasile is sick, Alexandra's sick, and so is Penelope. What is going on?"

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and the Bowtruckle immediately dipped back into her pocket. She gently patted her pocket again before turning her attention back to the door. "Enter!"

The door opened and in walked Newt, who looked a little more frantic and unkempt than usual, which was saying something. His hair stuck out in all different directions (as opposed to looking messy and sticking in one direction), and he had dark bags under his eyes that suggested he hadn't slept at all last night. He had his trusty suitcase in his hand, and he accidentally banged it against the door. He whispered a soft apology to the case that Sophie pretended not to notice as he turned his attention to her. "Good morning, Sophie," he said, but he might as well have said it to the walls because that was where he was looking. His eyes hurriedly scanned the table, desk, the corners of the room and any nook and cranny he could see. "How are you?"

Sophie eyed his disheveled appearance. "Better than you, I would assume," she responded, and he finally stopped in his searching as his eyes landed on her. "Is there something wrong, Newt?"

"No, nothing wrong," he assured her, though by the rushed tone in his voice Sophie knew he meant the complete opposite. "I just thought I left something in here the other day, but then I remembered I didn't actually step into your office when we came to get the keys to the pens of the Fireballs, but then I supposed I should check just in case-"

"Newt, Newt, Newt!" Sophie said as she stood up and walked over to him. She held her hands up and gestured for him to calm down. "Relax. Whatever you've lost I'm sure we'll find it." She rested her arms against her side. "Now. What is it that you're looking for?"

Newt's eyes once again circled the entire room before landing on Sophie. His eyes brightened as he said, "You."

Sophie's pulse skyrocketed, and her face burned. "Excuse me?" she squeaked, her heart hammering.

Quickly, however, she realized that Newt's eyes weren't on her specifically, but lower on her body-specifically, her pocket. Her eyes traveled down as well to see the Bowtruckle peeking out of her pocket, his hands gripping the lining of the pocket. The Bowtruckle smiled and chirped before launching himself out of Sophie's pocket and into Newt's outstretched hand.

Newt grinned as he raised his hand eye level. "Pickett! Thank goodness! Oh, I'm so sorry," he said to the Bowtruckle-err, Pickett. "I swear I looked away from my pocket for only a second when I realized you weren't there." At the look on Pickett's face that told Newt that he was still not impressed, Newt added, "And I've been looking all night for you."

Pickett made a noise of disapproval, and Newt gave him a look. "I said I was sorry, didn't I? Besides, it's your own fault. How many times do I have to tell you to stay inside my pocket?"

Another noise from Pickett, and Newt shook his head at him. "Don't give me that attitude. You know perfectly well what the rules are and you broke them. You cannot blame me for you getting lost when it happened because you refused to follow the rules."

Pickett blew a raspberry at Newt before turning his back on him. It even looked like the creature had crossed his arms like a toddler having a tantrum.

Newt opened his mouth to say something to Pickett when Sophie finally decided to interrupt. "Uh, Newt?" she said, and he looked up at her. She glanced down at Pickett. "Why do you have a Bowtruckle? And why does he live in your pocket? I thought Bowtruckles were native only to Southern Germany."

"Oh no, we have them in England as well," he responded. "He lives in my pocket because he refuses to live inside-" He suddenly cut himself off, as if he realized that he was about to tell Sophie something he should not be.

But Sophie pressed, because she wanted to know. "Inside where?" she asked.

"In-inside..." Newt stammered, and his eyes landed on the small plant that Sophie had beside her window. "Inside his tree!" he finished brightly, looking back over at Sophie. He calmed himself a bit at the bewildered look on her face. He cleared his throat. "He refuses to live inside his tree back in England. So he comes around with me. Part of my research."

"Oh," Sophie said, and though she wanted to press further because even she could tell that Newt wasn't telling the whole truth, she decided to leave it-for now. "Well, he was here in my office last night. He must've gotten left behind somehow and decided not to leave. I took him home last night, so he wasn't here by himself."

Newt's eyes softened at Sophie's answer, and she felt her ears redden at the look. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "Pickett-he doesn't like being alone. It was very kind of you to do so."

"Well," Sophie said, trying her best to control her blush. "I'm not just a lover of dragons, Newt. All creatures have value to me, and I couldn't leave the little guy on his own."

"It seems like Pickett likes you," Newt said enthusiastically, looking down at the Bowtruckle-who still refused to look at him. "He doesn't stay out of my pocket much in the presence of strangers. He must've taken a liking to you," he finished, looking up at Sophie. His eyes lingered on her face, and he was quiet for a few seconds longer than necessary.

Sophie gulped. "I've taken a liking to him too," she responded, though she didn't mean the Bowtruckle as much as she meant...someone else. She shook her head free of the thoughts and glanced back down at the green creature in Newt's hand. "Even if he does carve into every desk of mine that he sees."

"Yes, I've been meaning to speak to him about that," Newt answered, looking back down at Pickett. "Come on, Pickett," he pleaded, bringing his hand closer to his chest. "Look at me. Please?"

After a few seconds, Pickett peeked over his shoulder at Newt. Newt gave him a pair of what Sophie could only describe as the Muggle expression "puppy-dog eyes"-one that always worked on Sophie's father-and Pickett's annoyed expression relaxed. With a smile on his face, Newt brought his hand up to his breast pocket, and Pickett hopped right inside, snuggling down and disappearing.

Newt looked back up at Sophie and immediately wrinkled his nose in distaste. Sophie's chest tightened and her mind raced at the possibilities of what could be wrong with her face-goodness, she hoped that she didn't have ketchup or yolk on her lips-but the only thing that Newt said was, "Something's wrong."

"Excuse me?" Sophie asked, honestly confused. She eventually did raise a hand to her face.

"No, there's nothing on your face," Newt assured her, and her blood pressure turned to a normal level as she sighed and dropped her hand. "But... but there's something wrong, isn't there?"

She'd only known Newt for a few days-how could he already read her so well? Sophie opened her mouth and prepared to tell Newt not to worry about it, but at the look of the genuine concern on his face, her chest deflated and she sighed. "It's my sister," she responded, walking back over to her desk.

"You have a sister?" he asked as he sat down in the chair opposite her desk.

"Two," she confirmed, collapsing into her chair. "Astra and Penelope. I'm the oldest, Astra in the middle, and Penelope's the youngest. Anyways, Penelope was sick this morning."

"So?" Newt asked bluntly. "People get sick. I mean, I don't get sick that often, but I do know that that is an expression people use."

"Yes it is," Sophie acknowledged, though she drawled the words out as if she wasn't sure if she should actually be saying them. She shook her head and continued on. "She has this...illness. I've never seen it before nor have I ever heard of it. She's pale, and her face is green and grey and the area around her lips is orange."

Newt scrunched up his face at the image. "Ew," he said, and he quickly changed into an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, sometimes I tend to say things without really thinking about it first."

"That's alright," Sophie assured him, and Newt relaxed. "It was pretty disgusting. But the strange thing is, I saw the same symptoms in Alexandra, my best friend," she told him. "But Alexandra had those symptoms first. And now one of my employees has taken ill."

"Is it with the same disease?" Newt wondered.

"I don't know. He didn't say."

"Well, until you know for sure that it is the same disease, this might not be a real problem," Newt suggested. "One person is strange, two is a little stranger, but more than two is stranger still."

"Um, firstly, I don't think that's how the expression goes," Sophie explained lightly, and Newt made a face as if he were saying, "Ah, got it". "And secondly, this isn't just some random bout of the flu, Newt." She leaned forward on her desk. "This feels different. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it just does." She leaned even closer. "I think I need some help in figuring it out."

Newt nodded thoughtfully but didn't answer. Sophie held her hands out in a gesture that said, "Are you going to answer?", but Newt just kept staring at her. Eventually Sophie had to verbally ask, "Will you help me, Newt?"

"Oh!" Newt drawled, as if realizing just now that that was what Sophie had been asking all along. He ran a hand through his messy hair, scratching his scalp. "Ah, well, I suppose so. I'm not sure how much help I'll be to you, though."

"That's fine," Sophie answered. "Any help is better than nothing." She reached over and grabbed Newt's hand, giving it a grateful squeeze. "Thank you."

All of a sudden, someone threw her office door open, and Sophie immediately dropped Newt's hand at the action. She and Newt both turned their attention to the door, and Sophie's stomach dropped all the way to the ground when she recognized John standing in her doorway.

Oh no. Why? Of all days, why did John choose today to stop by? He didn't even like coming to the Sanctuary! He said it reminded him too much of a barn, and Sophie had had to restrain herself from retorting that it sort of was, because they held livestock.

She abruptly stood up, and Newt did the same, though he did it a bit more shakily. His hand instinctively tightened on his suitcase, and one of the latches became undone. Without looking, he reached down and secured it.

Sophie looked over at John, who seemed only to be staring at Newt. She then looked back over to Newt, who was awkwardly shuffling in place and was trying to look anywhere but John. She cleared her throat and walked over to her fiancé. "Hi," she greeted sweetly, as if she hadn't been doing anything wrong, which, technically, she hadn't been. "What are you doing here?"

"We were supposed to have dinner, remember?" he said, but he barely took his attention off of Newt.

Sophie discreetly took a step in front of John so that he was forced to look at her, and she could practically feel Newt relax behind her. "I'm sorry, I forgot. I have to get home to Penelope-she's not feeling well."

"Oh, I just came from the house," John revealed. "Your mum sent me an owl to tell me what was going on. I went to visit her, and Penelope seems better."

"Really?" Sophie brightened. "I should go home and see for myself-"

"You can still do that after dinner," he reminded her. He reached out and took one of her hands. "We've barely seen each other this week, Soph. I want to spend some time with you."

Sophie opened and closed her mouth a few times before deciding to change the subject altogether. She carefully pulled her hand back from John and turned so that she could see Newt. "Newt, this is John Williams," she introduced, purposefully leaving out John's relation to her. "John, this is Newt Scamander, the man I told you about?"

"Right," John stretched the word as he gave Newt a once-over. Newt stayed in his spot and still didn't look at John, but John held his hand out. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr Scamander."

Newt eyed John's hand before flickering his gaze up at Sophie. She discreetly nodded her head, and Newt put his hand in John's. The two men firmly shook, but Newt still avoided John's gaze as he let go and said, "Nice to meet you as well, Mr Williams."

John put his hands in his pockets and his next words made Sophie's heart stop. "How do you know my fiancée?"

Newt finally snapped his head up and looked John in the eye. "Fiancée?" he repeated, and he turned his head to look at Sophie.

It was almost like a look of devastation, and it delivered such a blow to Sophie's stomach she thought she was going to be sick. She knew the fiancée comment was an attempt by John to get ahead of Newt in Sophie's eyes, though Sophie had no idea why because she was engaged-regrettably, especially in this moment-to John, not Newt. And it wasn't exactly like Sophie was trying to hide the fact that she was engaged from Newt. She just never brought it up, especially because they hadn't really discussed their personal lives. Besides, Newt had to have figured it out when he saw the ring on her-

Sophie's eyes widened with realization, and she looked down at her bare left finger. Her heart stumbled when she remembered that she had only ever seen Newt at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, and the first thing she always did when she arrived to work was take her engagement ring off. It had just become a normal thing to her, even to the staff who worked with her, but for someone like Newt, an outsider, he'd have no idea.

She looked back up at Newt, but words still failed her. She waited a few seconds and prayed that the words came, but they didn't, and she just stood there awkwardly gaping like a fish.

Thankfully-or not so thankfully-John stepped in. "Yes, fiancée," he confirmed. "Our wedding is in a couple of weeks."

"Oh," Newt said as neutrally as possible. Sophie knew he was trying to keep his surprise in, because, well, Newt Scamander wasn't the best at trying to keep his true emotions concealed, but when he did, it was awfully awkward.

"Newt..." she started, but Newt interrupted her.

"Sorry, I just remembered, I have somewhere to be," he said, looking away from Sophie. He adjusted his coat and his case in his hand. "Nice to meet you again, Mr Williams," he told John, though he kept his attention on the spot in between Sophie and John.

Sophie waited for him to say goodbye or even just look at her, but he just awkwardly nodded his head and walked towards the middle space between them. They both stepped aside so that Newt could walk out of the office, and Sophie's chest tightened in despair as she watched his retreating back.

He was almost halfway down the hallway when she suddenly found her voice again. She stepped out of her office and chased after him. He stopped when he heard the clacking of her heels behind him, but he didn't turn around. "Newt..." she started, and she considered all of the things she could say to him next. It's not what you think. It's complicated. I can explain. Please let me explain. But none of the options seemed appropriate, especially where the two currently stood, so instead the words that came out of her mouth were, "You'll still be helping me, right?"

Newt turned slightly so that he barely glanced at Sophie. "I'm sorry, I have somewhere to be," he simply repeated, and Sophie's entire body threatened to sink into the floor. He turned around again and walked away, turning at the end of the hall and disappearing.

Everything in her wanted to call out to him. But why? And what would she say? She didn't owe him an explanation. She didn't owe Newt Scamander anything. So how come she felt like someone had stabbed her in the chest at the way he had looked at her when he found out she was actually engaged? How come, despite the fact that John was in the vicinity, did she want to run after Newt and explanation the reason why she was really marrying John?

It didn't matter to Newt. It shouldn't matter to Newt. Did it matter to Newt? Did she want it to matter to him?

"What was that about?" she heard over her shoulder, and she turned her head to glare at John. "What?" he said at the look on her face.

When she didn't respond, he asked instead, "Ready for dinner?"

TBC...

Until next time lovelies!

Please please leave reviews! They motivate me!

REVIEW RESPONSES:

untilmynextstory: Hi! That's an idea to think about as well. And thank you very much! The new movie has really kicked started my inspiration, and I've deleted some chapters and merged a few to make this story shorter and tighter so hopefully I can finish it sooner because I really want to finish it! And go for it! The world could always use a few more of those, and while I love Newtina, I also love Newt/OCs, and they're so hard to find, especially well written ones (in terms of character and story AND grammar).

WriteToEscapeReality1309: Thank you! I'm trying to be as realistic as possible for the time period, which is why it would've been scandalous. And I think they're very cute too! There's a chapter that's coming up where I'm planning for them to be very very cute and I'm so excited for it! ALSO BIG DICK ENERGY I NEVER THOUGHT OF IT LIKE THAT BUT WHERE IS THE LIE LOL.

Blackrose3107: Thanks! I'm also planning on seeing it, especially because the first time I saw it I was so distracted by picturing Sophie there and wondering what she would do LOL.

Kawaiibirdie24: Thank you! I hope so as well! Updates might be a little tricky because of my school schedule (exams are coming fast!) but I do have the next chapter prewritten so depending on if I can get chapter eight written sooner rather than later (and depending on how many reviews I receive) I'll be holding on to it for a little while.

.2018: Thank you very much!

Starangel5593: Thank you! We'll see if I do the movies with them, but like untilmynextstory suggested, I could do some one-shots or something. It all depends really.

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