Eight

Tina was still softly laughing as she and Newt walked away from the mooncalves' enclosure. "They're so adorable and playful!"

Newt was smiling as he led her – by the hand – through the case. "Yes, you could call them that. They are actually intensely shy creatures, but I've found that this herd, when someone brings food, will immediately lose that timidity. But they are the most beautiful when they dance."

Tina raised an eyebrow at him. "They dance?"

Newt nodded. "On their hind legs in the moonlight in isolated areas. I believe that they do this as a prelude to mating. It's quite a…um…a fascinating experience to watch them dancing…"

Newt's ears and Tina's cheeks colored at the mention of the word 'mating,' even as their fingers unconsciously laced together.

"It can also be a profitable experience," Newt continued somewhat abruptly, his tone a notch higher in volume. "If a witness collects the silver dung left behind before the sun rises and spreads it upon magical herb and flower beds, the plants will grow very fast and become extremely strong."

Tina held back a chuckle. Only Newt could talk about dung of any kind and not make her squirm.

Since the mooncalves had been their last enclosure to visit, Newt led Tina to his shed. His case had not gotten any new additions since she had last seen him, since Newt had remained in England since his return from New York City six months ago.

Once inside the little structure, Tina's eyes couldn't help but scan the interior for one thing in particular: a photograph. Though she only had Queenie's word to go by, Tina was pretty sure that she would know it when she saw it. She had come to learn that, as a plain-looking woman, she was very good at seeing what she lacked in other women who were beautiful. However, she saw no photographs in the shed, and she couldn't deny that her heart felt lighter at this. He could have hidden it before he came down, the treacherous voice in her mind whispered, and she gave a sharp shake of her head to get rid of it.

Newt noticed none of this, thankfully, and led her over to his desk. Tina let out a low whistle at the state of it: the surface was piled with scribbled parchment pages and sketches.

"Yes," said Newt heavily, rubbing the back of his neck. "As you can see, I am…well, certainly not lacking in material for the book. The trouble is that the type of book that Mr. Worme commissioned me to write is an, uh…authoritative compendium."

Tina raised an eyebrow at him. "Authoritative, I understand, but could you define 'compendium' for me?"

Newt smiled. "I asked him that when he first proposed the idea to me. According to him, it is 'a collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject' which, in this case, means magical beasts."

Tina looked back down at the stacks of parchment. "And clearly, it is the word 'concise' that you're having trouble with."

"Absolutely." Newt gave a frustrated sigh as he looked at the stacks on his desk. "Tina, there's just so much I want to tell! About every single one of these creatures! I know that I'm not meant to write more than a few paragraphs about each of them, but once I start, it's like I can't stop. I don't want to leave anything out or somehow…misrepresent them, even if it's the last thing I want to do…"

Moved by his insecurities, Tina didn't hesitate to reach out and take his hand in hers again. Thankfully, she let her heart do the talking.

"Newt, you could never misrepresent them or not do them justice. Nobody on this earth admires them or wants justice for them more than you. You've already succeeded more than you know."

Confusion flickered in Newt's eyes. "How?"

"Me, Queenie and Jacob. My sister and I lived our whole lives knowing practically nothing about them, and Jacob knew nothing about magic at all. Then you brought us down here, and we saw these creatures through your eyes. Do that with this book."

Tina paused, wanting to explain this in a way that he could understand. It came to her when her eyes landed on a particular sketch that lay atop one of the piles on his desk. The right explanation came to her.

"Remember when we went to look for Dougal in the department store, and we found out that he was babysitting a baby occamy that had been missed. The first time I saw them both, I was a little frightened, but I was also intrigued. You were there, completely calm, explaining about them both. How Dougal's foresight works, how an occamy can occupy both big and small spaces…I saw them through your eyes. When I did, the fear went away but the fascination remained…and I wanted to know more."

As she recalled that experience, she saw Newt listening with rapt attention. His own grip on her hand tightened, and his expression was similar to the expression on his face when she'd told him six months ago how much she would like him to deliver her copy of his book in person.

"That's how you should make your readers feel, Newt, especially if you want them to see these creatures the way that you do. Introduce them to your readers, but make them want to learn more."

She finished, and silence followed when Newt didn't speak. Feeling awkward after giving him advice for his book (especially since he hadn't explicitly asked for it), she shrugged to feign nonchalance but failed spectacularly as she said, "Well…that's just my opinion…"

The expression on his face filling with even more warmth, Newt gently tugged her closer to him using their joined hands. But before her dearest wish could be fulfilled – for really, why else would he bring her this close to him? – when both were stopped by the sound of panicked squeaks coming from the breast-pocket of Tina's dark-purple blouse. Tina abruptly stepped back, letting her hand drop from Newt's. "Oh, sorry, Pickett!"

Newt then pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. "Goodness, Tina! It's nearly ten o'clock! I promised that I wouldn't keep you up late the night before your big meeting."

Tina felt her heart and spirit come back down to earth, as if weighed down by cinder blocks. "Oh, yeah…I had almost forgotten about that." In fact, she had completely forgotten about it from the moment Newt had kissed her in that phone booth. But she certainly remembered now, and she fought to keep her breathing regular and calm.

Newt must have noticed because he stepped closer to her again and stroked her hair the same way that he had done six months ago. This certainly helped to divert her attention back to him.

He gave her a small smile. "You have nothing to worry about, Tina," he said softly.

She let out one breathless chuckle before she replied. "Only that I will make my employers, government and country look like we are completely incapable of holding the most dangerous dark wizard of our time."

"No," he said firmly. "One thing I have come to learn about you is that you are as serious and passionate about your work as I am about mine. As nervous as you may be, when the moment comes, you'll rise to the occasion."

Tina lowered her head; like Newt, she was not someone who was used to accepting praise. "I make mistakes, too, Newt. When you met me, I had been seriously demoted at work."

He lifted her gaze up to meet his when he lifted her chin up with his finger. "Because you acted on a correct instinct, Tina. You saw a vulnerable young man being beaten with a belt by the person who is supposed to take care of him, and you did what any decent person would do. And you wouldn't be here now if your president and superiors didn't have complete confidence in your ability to represent your employers, your government, and your country exceptionally."

Tina blinked away the sudden tears that came to her eyes, and took the hand that Newt was using to lift her chin in her own. She held his gaze as she said, "Thank you. I would hug you right now, but I don't want Pickett to be crushed."

The little bowtruckle made a few appreciative chirps, while Newt looked quite frustrated by this predicament. Huffing a sigh, Newt grabbed his coat from where he'd hung it up in the shed, put it on, and then held out his hands to Pickett. "Come on, Pickett. I'm afraid that we have to leave now."

Pickett moaned outwardly (as Tina moaned inwardly) while he was transferred from Tina's breast pocket to one of the lower pockets of Newt's coat rather than the breast pocket. Newt and Tina then climbed up the steep staircase and out of the case. After Newt securely latched it and took the case up in his hand, he slowly walked to the door of Tina's room.

After he'd opened it, Newt turned to face Tina. Thankfully, Newt broke the loaded silence by saying what Tina had been silently begging for him to say.

"My family dinner tomorrow night is scheduled for 7:00 PM, but it shouldn't take more than two hours. I know that you have to go back to New York early Sunday morning, but…could I please come here afterwards? Even if just for a little while?"

"Of course!" Tina immediately replied. "We can go down into the case again, or just stay here and talk, or…I don't care, just see you again. I'll be right here."

A relieved smile spread across Newt's face. "Good. Wonderful. And, Tina, you will be just fine tomorrow. More than just fine, actually, so please don't worry."

Tina chuckled. "Because worrying means you suffer twice, right?"

The tips of Newt's ears colored as he heard himself quoted back to him. "Exactly."

"I'll try to remember that, and I'll just be glad when it's over."

Newt nodded. "Well…"

"Well…" Tina repeated somewhat breathlessly.

The 'good-night' moment had come. Tina wanted to move closer to him, but her feet seemed weighed to the floor. The same seemed to be true for Newt, but only for a few seconds."

"Goodnight, then," he said, in an odd voice with an odd nod. He then turned on his heel, walked out the door, and closed it behind him.

Once she was alone again, Tina let out a shaky exhale of breath, feeling disappointment swell up in her throat. But after a minute, she resolutely swallowed it. She remembered their departure at the docks, and the abrupt way that he had taken leave of her then. She really shouldn't be surprised – even if she couldn't help but feel really disappointed – and anyway, she would see him tomorrow…

So, blinking back the tears that had come to her eyes, Tina shook her head harshly and turned to her suitcase. As she was pulling out the folder of documents that she needed to review for the conference tomorrow, there was a rapid knocking at her door. Her heart beginning to lift and pound again, Tina put the folder down on her bed, rushed to the door and opened it.

There stood Newt, with a new gleam in his eyes. "So sorry, Tina, but I forgot something."

Not expecting to hear that, and not thinking what he could have forgotten since his case was still in his hand, Tina replied, "What did you forget?"

"Lovely."

Tina's brows furrowed in confusion. "Pardon me?"

"When you came downstairs into the Leaky Cauldron, and Paulie was giving me all of these suggestions to describe how you looked, I couldn't say anything because I was speechless. But I can say the word now: Lovely. You are lovely, always."

The tears came back to Tina's eyes. No man had ever called her anything more than "not so bad-looking" before. Courage filled her: she stepped forward, cupped his cheek with her hand, leaned forward and kissed his lips. She meant it to be a brief kiss – she didn't want to make him uncomfortable – but Newt had other ideas. The minute their lips touched, Newt had dropped his case, wrapped both of his arms around her, and held her to him as he deepened the kiss.

Thank goodness that Pickett was in a lower pocket rather than the breast pocket of Newt's coat, or he would have been crushed. Even when the kiss ended, Newt and Tina held each other, just savoring the feeling of being so close to each other. Finally, knowing that it had to be done, both lifted their heads and leaned back to look at each other.

"Tomorrow," Newt said in a husky voice. His eyes were so captivating.

Tina nodded. "Tomorrow," she breathed.

Slowly, they let go of each other and stepped back. Newt bent down, picked up his case, and gave Tina one last, warm smile before turning and walking down the hall. Pickett poked his head out, waved, and squeaked his goodbye as Newt walked away. Tina giggled, waved after them, and finally shut the door of her room.

When looking back on that moment in her long life, Tina would always be convinced that her feet never touched the floor from that moment until she had gotten into bed, a big and goofy smile remaining even after she fell asleep.