A week or so later two nervous parents and their confused baby daughter were sitting alone in a St. Mungo's waiting room.
Slightly bored, Lark kept banging her tin doll on her father's chair. Newt didn't mind; he held her on his lap and gently bounced her up and down as they waited. Tina sat beside him and impatiently fiddled with the fabric of her shirt.
The Healer's door opened and a man with a thick beard popped his head out. "If I could have a word with you two..?"
Newt and Tina got up immediately, Newt balancing Lark on his hip and heading for the Healer's office door with awkward strides. The little girl whined as her father bumped her into the office and awkwardly nudged the door shut behind him.
The Healer stood behind his desk and motioned for Newt and Tina to sit down before him. They did, glancing at eachother nervously before perching each on their assigned chair. Lark squeaked irritably and reached out for her mother, wriggling out of Newt's arms. He placed the baby in Tina's lap, scratching his palm out of stress. The office seemed to be far too silent and far too stuffy, both parents uncomfortable and worried.
"I've looked through your papers and test notes." The Healer said, finally breaking the quiet. "I understand you've done a few check-ups on Lark earlier today?"
Tina nodded. "Yes. Floor upstairs."
"Right then. I'm afraid the results are not very fortunate." The Healer rustled a few papers and waved his wand, a messily thick file floating up in his face and a pair of glasses drifting onto his nose. The man plucked the file out of the air and flipped through it, then coughed twice and tossed it on the floor. The papers flew all over, but seconds later got pulled together as if by some invisible magnet and reformed as a neat, fat case file.
"You mean that-" Newt asked, then trailed off mid-sentence out of despair.
"-Your daughter is fully deaf. Yes, that is the general result of her tests."
Tina tightened her grip on Lark until the baby yelped in pain and started crying. Newt, shaking off shock to care for his daughter, pulled her out of Tina's arms and hugged her close to his chest.
Letting out a shaky breath, Tina buried her face in her hands. She shook her head softly and then raised it again, eyes wide with a final hope. "Please, is there any chance- even the slightest –that maybe, maybe Lark might someday be able to hear..?"
"I'm very sorry." The Healer said, sounding mildly upset but calm; as though he'd dealt with this a few times already. "I doubt there is any remedy for Lark's deafness. Surely not in the Muggle world, and for now even we don't have any spell that can reverse so severe a case."
Newt swallowed a few tears, a lump building in his throat. His daughter, his beautiful singing Lark, would never hear her namesake chirp. She'd never hear the bellow of an Erumpent or the majestic flap of a Thunderbird's wings, never listen to a babbling brook or enjoy the noises of early morning. So many beautiful sounds that his precious Lark would never get to experience, and that broke his heart. And Lark gazed up at his with wet eyes and wobbling lip and confused look on her face; she didn't know why he was crying. For her, the world was naturally silent. She'd never manage to wrap her mind around the idea of hearing.
Tina's face lowered into her palms again and she started crying softly. She hated herself for it, of course; Lark was still the same wonderful child she'd always been, and her lack of hearing would never make any impact on the way Newt and Tina thought of her. But Tina couldn't help it- this whole deal, this awful message that would change Lark's life and make her seem so strange and alien in some people's eyes –Tina had been there before, experiencing this same horror from the sidelines as she had years and years ago. This had once been Queenie, discovering her gift, and Tina wept slightly as she thought of Lark having to suffer the same dreadful things as Queenie had until she'd managed to control her talent. She wouldn't wish that on a living soul, and never in her deepest dreams would she wish it on her own baby daughter.
They pulled themselves together, though, remembering where they were, and bid the Healer goodbye. He waved them off a bit forlornly, knowing their struggle. He'd seen it all before.
Newt, Tina and Lark left St. Mungo's in silence and headed home without speaking a word.
"Oh, Teenie, what's wrong?" Queenie asked as soon as Tina inched her house door open.
It was eight o'clock that night, and Tina had just hurried down the dirt road she and Newt's house bordered. It was a dusty lane embedded with occasional rocks, and rather chilly now that it was November. Usually it was frightful to go out there at night because of the cold and darkness, but Tina was desperate to talk to her sister and Queenie's and Jacob's house was ten minutes down the road. She'd rushed up to the front door, knocked and cracked it open.
Queenie waited for an answer, then glanced behind her in the middle of her cooking. Tina was peeking through the slightly open door, looking very troubled. Of course, Queenie already knew that; she could sense Tina's general distraught as soon as she'd reached the front door.
Tina bit her lip and slipped inside, letting the door shut behind her. The Kowalskis' sitting room was warm, cozy, and very buttery-colored. A flickering fire across the room gave off a different vibe from the Scamanders' one back at their house; while theirs' was distinctly rustic and woodsy, this one was very hot and cushy. Tina didn't find it any nicer than her own one at home, but the whole room was a very comforting sight after her cold walk outside.
Queenie was in the kitchen, where a few oil lamps gave off a faint and homely glow. Tina rubbed her hands together as Queenie gave her cooking pot one last stir and turned around with a smile.
"Ah, Teen! You look a right ice cube, your nose is perfectly red. Sit here to thaw out for a bit and I'll get you some hot cocoa, all right?"
Tina allowed herself to be led to one of the yellow-brown couches and sat down, staring into the crackling fire in front of her and slowly tugging off her gloves. Queenie bustled around in the kitchen for a moment and then came back with two steaming mugs of chocolatey comfort, sinking onto the sofa beside her and handing her one of the mugs.
"Here you go." She beamed, curling her feet up beneath her. "Cheer up, Teenie, I told you havin' a baby would be hard. I'm kinda fearing it myself-" she grinned widely and patted her slightly swollen stomach, "-but I'm sure it ain't that bad."
Tina gritted her teeth, reminding herself that Queenie had no way to know what had been discovered.
"Lark is deaf." She said, in a tone so low she could barely hear herself.
Queenie blinked. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I told you Lark is deaf, Queenie, what did you think I said?!"
The blonde witch quietened, eyes wide in shock.
"Oh, Teenie." She whispered. "I'm so- I should have- did you-"
Tina shook her head exhaustedly, hand tightening around the handle of her scalding china mug. She didn't have the energy to get mad anymore, or rant, or cry, or yell at the sky for taking the gift of hearing away from her baby daughter. She just slowly leaned backwards until her head met the couch rest and stayed there, staring emptily into the fireplace and trying to erase the world around her.
Queenie wouldn't let her.
"Snap out of it, Tina." She said, sympathetic but firm. Tina blinked, taken by surprise at Queenie's use of her proper name. "You can be upset but don't do this- you gotta be strong and accepting for Lark. And that starts here."
Tina let out a long breath and then nodded, head throbbing with each up and down. Tired, she said: "Fine. Fine, okay. You're right, Queenie, I just-" she gestured hopelessly, "-don't want her to suffer like you did when you were young. I still remember, Queenie, and it hurts."
"It won't be like that, honey." Queenie used the nickname she usually reserved for Jacob or others. "I promise you- Lark ain't gonna have a hard time. She's got your strength and Newt's courage. I'm tellin' you, Teenie, she's gonna be the most magical girl in all of England."