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Fantastic Tales of Maggick (and Other Adventures)
by: Janelle Borbank
'for those that need a touch of Maggick'
Newt x OC
Chapter Nine
Janelle
I was feeling good today.
We had left Africa after another week of travelling and headed directly north. Initially I had my concerns about travelling back towards Europe, but Newt had seemed relatively at ease with the idea. I had a feeling the wizard had a magical ace up his sleeve that he was just itching to drop. Not to mention the promise of returning to visit our friends down south in a few months. This was enough to keep me in high spirits as we travelled north once again.
Things seemed to have shifted between Newt and I as well. It was much more companionable travelling than simply Magizoologist and Assistant like it had been up until that point. I was curious what had changed, but with Newt being such a soft and nervous character I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and moved on from it.
With next to no idea where we were going, I had opted to just go with it and enjoy the time we had. While travelling through northern Africa we came across an injured baby runespoor and took the poor thing in. Of course Newt and I were nurturing her back to health as well.
Speaking of health, the hippogriff was doing much better now. Newt had dubbed him Ralph, and I was getting worried that we were too attached to him. He was feral, and deserved to live his life in the wild. Yet as I stood on the edge of the desert and watched Newt gently pet the head of said hippogriff, a softness took over me while I watched.
He really was gifted with his creatures…
I spent most of my days just caring for the beasts, much like today, when I was incapable of travelling with Newt. A lot of the issues were when Newt came through wizard settlements. I stuck out like a sore thumb for a lot of it, and while Newt had said I would be fine, my gawking was likely going to get us caught one day. So most times I stayed in the case. Sure, I didn't see a lot, but it wasn't like I was lonely or worried. Sometimes I would travel outside the case and Newt would be inside, especially through muggle transportations.
We had a good system, but today we had gone to Ireland and rented a hotel room, but we were both wandering about the case. I wandered by the Occamy nest and checked them over. They looked up at me as I cleaned up their nest and chirped. While they learned to defend themselves from a young age, they had also learned to trust Newt and I to muss up their nests and clean them.
They were by no means pets, and still reacted to petting with a bite, but they were content with allowing us to care for them and seemed to enjoy our company in return.
I turned to see Newt walking back from checking over Ralph and bit my lip. In the three months I had been with Newt, I hadn't seen him release a single beast. Sometimes I wondered if he was trying to make his own private zoo.
The man took crazy cat lady to a whole new level.
"Ralph seems to be almost healed," Newt informed me as he approached. I nodded before picking up my buckets and making my way back to the house. "He can fly for several minutes now, which is much better than I ever thought he would be."
"Will he ever be well enough to release?" I asked while dropping the buckets under a tap and filling them with water. Newt followed me to here, dropping two more buckets beside me.
"Not for the wild. But my mum breeds Hippogriffs and has a sanctuary for them. I think she wouldn't be too far against having another addition." Newt said evenly. I almost balked at the fact that he had spoken of his family. Not once did he ever really get into it with me. I glanced at him, brushing my hair from my face just in time to see him look away from me.
"Is that why you became a Magizoologist? Because of her?" I asked. Newt smiled and gave a weak shrug as I finished filling the buckets.
"Something like that, though she and dad never approved." Newt admitted. I grinned, he really was a little rebel.
"Do you have any siblings?" I asked, turning off the tap and picking up a brush. It was high time to give the buckets a good scrubbing. Newt paused for a moment, seeming to think over something while I turned to walk away.
"One," he admitted while following me, "one older brother."
A small family, nice and quaint. It was the way I liked it too. There was a silence as I began to water a few plants and wash up troughs around the area. While Newt had told me he could easily magically clean them, I insisted that the muggle way might take longer, but it would be something for me to do during the day.
To my surprise, Newt too had picked up a brush and helped me clean the feed tubs and water troughs in the erumpent pen. The big girl cooed at us as she stared with amusement. I smiled at the sound. Seems she was taking to me too.
"And what of your family?" Newt asked quickly, almost like he had just worked up the nerve. It wouldn't have surprised me at all honestly. The question itself though made me frown.
"I don't think I do. Have any siblings I mean." I said quietly. Newt was staring at me, but still brushing his feed tub. I could faintly see him out of the corner of my eye as I focused on scrubbing my tub. When he didn't push, I felt like I wanted to open up to him more.
"I was left on my aunt and uncle's doorstep when I was a child. I don't remember anything before that day to be honest." I said while continuing. When I finished my work I looked up to see Newt staring at me. Blatantly staring directly at me without looking away, without moving. It sent a chill through me, and I realized why I wasn't bothered when he didn't look at me.
His gaze was positively piercing.
Not in the conventional sense. He wasn't scary when he looked at you, but rather it was like he was looking into your soul. Like he could see something you were trying to hide, and suddenly I felt squeamish. Yet I stared back at him, even raised a brow.
Newt lowered his gaze, but from the look on his face I knew there were thousands of thoughts flowing like a river through his mind.
"I'm sorry."
He said it so softly I almost didn't hear it.
"It's no big deal Newt," I insisted before leaning back and forcefully smiling at him. "It is what it is."
Newt glanced at me through his hair, contemplation on his face. He smiled then and kept working. We continued to work for several hours before calling it a night, personal talk long out the window as we swapped to information about different creatures. Newt had been slowly teaching me new things that he knew, like how to hold a baby runespoor without it biting you. Or that erumpents were ticklish on their tails.
By the end I was exhausted, but so very satisfied.
While I had planned to use the hotel's water, I did choose to hose off in the case first. Possibly pop down to the local pub for a drink as well. I was itching for a cheap liquor, something to bring back that nostalgia of my almost college years.
I rinsed off my arms and wiped my face of any mud on it before turning off the tap and looking for Newt to let him know of my plans. The man was negotiating with the resident demiguise, Dugal, to come back to his nest for the night. Dugal enjoyed tending to the occamy nest, but he also had the habit of over decorating. Sometimes he even stole shiny objects from Norman, our niffler, and that caused some serious fights.
"Newt, I was thinking of heading to the pub for a night cap. Are you wanting to come too?" I asked, half turned and ready to leave. Newt looked from the demiguise to me, then paused and looked down.
"No, I don't believe I will, but I'm not so sure about you going out by yourself." Newt admitted quickly. I tilted my head, the ghost of a smile slipping onto my lips.
"There's no need to worry Newt, I'm just going for a quick drink. And I'll be back within an hour." I assured him. Newt paused, before stiffly nodding to me. I had a feeling he still wasn't too keen on the idea.
While Newt had forgotten about me occasionally when we travelled, he was by all means a perfect gentleman. Not to mention very careful on how he treated me. Always quick to assure all my needs were met, and not afraid to go out of his way to make sure they were. He was trying very hard to treat me well, and as such I took it upon myself to not be insulted when he worried. Newt was just being a good friend, and I appreciated that he cared enough to concern himself, even when I found it unnecessary.
"I won't be long, I promise." I assured before walking off to my room for some clothing. After picking out my nicest dress, I stuffed it in a back pack, along with grooming supplies, and made my way up and out of the case. I proceeded to spend the next hour grooming myself in the bathroom, humming 'Let It Be' as I did my best to cleanse the filth I had just been rolling in. When I emerged from the bathroom I had nothing but the dampness in my hair as proof that I had showered.
I looked in the full length mirror, humming and hawing about what needed fixing. My stockings were clean and smoothly pressed to my legs, my low heeled black shoes were polished and shiny. My dress was a lovely boat neck cut, and the soft blue fabric hung loosely over my frame. I dried my hair as best as I could with a towel, letting the natural curls take control. A small bit of mascara and I was ready to go. Granted I wasn't going very far. Just down to the pub across the street for a pint and then returning. I wasn't expecting much, just a drunk man or two. Nothing I couldn't handle.
When I turned to leave, I found myself glancing back at the case. Maybe I should assure Newt I was going to be fine. He would be busy with his creatures though, no doubt fussing over Ralph.
I left the hotel room without another word and wandered down to the pub. It was quiet, with only a handful of patrons. I only got a few odd looks when I ordered a pint, but was otherwise left alone. Well, sort of.
"Didn't expect to see you, looking so cheery and all." A voice said, coming from a man as he parked himself next to me. No one but the bartender was around us. Other patrons had been nestled in the nooks and corners of the bar, but no one stood between me and this man.
And I knew this man.
I stared for a long second, trying to figure out how I knew him, before it finally sunk in.
From the cut up lip to the shaggy locks of brown hair and the scarred eyebrow in between. I was looking upon the man who started it all, one I hadn't seen in many months. My grip on my drink tightened considerably as I watched the man who ruined my life casually order a drink.
"You going to attack me?" I asked lowly. Maybe I should've taken Newt's advice and just stayed at the hotel. Fil looked over to me, gave me a once over, and snorted before looking ahead. I felt insulted, ready to snap.
"With all these Muggles?" He asked. Fil stopped at the bartender brought him his pint before walking away. "Not really my style."
"Then say your piece and leave." I said quickly. My eyes glanced around the room. We really were alone…..
"Relax, I didn't come to attack you or anything. I actually came to apologize." Fil said before taking a sip of his drink. I stared at him for a long while. Just stared without making a sound. Then a strange emotion took over me, one that was highly inappropriate for the situation. It pooled in my belly until it was forced from my lips.
I laughed.
Not the cute giggle I pried in public, but a laugh that told the irony of the situation. The complete sarcasm that was rich in this dark laugh must've been evident, as Fil even smirked a bit.
"Yeah, that's about what I expected." He muttered before sipping his drink again. I stopped laughing suddenly and glared at him.
"You can take that apology and shove it." I said before looking away to the front of the bar. My outburst had the bartender glancing at me, but otherwise he didn't say anything.
"You know, I'm surprised that Scamander let you out of his sight. Guy practically follows you like a puppy." Fil said casually. I felt a coldness drop into my belly at the mention of Newt, but before I could say anything Fil was already looking at me again. "You've got a real hand in training the untameables Love."
"I'm not your Love." I snapped. Fil chuckled before shaking his head.
"No, you are most certainly something else." He said nonchalantly. I took a breath to gather myself before speaking again.
"Is that all you came here to do or is there a punchline I'm missing?" I asked while training my eyes on his hands. Where was his wand? And how quickly could he get to it?
"Nope, just came here to apologize and have a drink," he said before dropping his glass onto the counter. "Though I've got to admit, you are definitely a breath of fresh air."
"Oh yeah?" I asked, guarded and waiting for the punchline. Fil hummed in agreement.
"Do you have any idea how boring it is when no one knows what a bloody cellphone is?"
Well that caught me off guard. I raised a brow for a moment, wondering how he even knew what a cellphone was.
"Newt told me most wizards don't know all muggle inventions. How would you- I mean I can't imagine many witches and wizards having a good chin wag…" I trailed off, feeling uncomfortable. Fil nodded.
"Yeah, most magical people wouldn't, but my parents were Muggles you see." Fil explained before grabbing up his drink and taking another swig.
Wait- muggle?
"What do you mean? That non-magic folk- but I thought….." This was bloody confusing. What on Earth was I supposed to say?
"Did that punk not teach you anything? Bloody hell, I thought you would've been neck deep into the facts by now." Fil said with amusement. I leaned away, feeling uncomfortable with his stare.
"I stay away as much as I can, since we are…. Well….." I paused as something occurred to me. "Why are you here? No I mean how are you here? Why did they let you go?" I asked, and almost regretted it. Fil shrugged it off.
"Didn't have a cell for me. Does it matter?" He asked. I stared at him, long and hard. The more I looked at him the more I noticed fresh scars adorning his face. He looked gaunt compared to last time. With a tattered suit and fresh marks on his hands.
Fil had seen rough times, even I could see that. Maybe he deserved them, maybe he deserved this and so much more. Yet the more I looked at him, the more I realized he was just as guarded around me as I was with him. Maybe it was poor reasoning, but I had to do something.
"I really is awful that no one knows what a cellphone is."
He looked at me from the corner of his eye a hint of a smile pulling at his lips. It dropped in an instant, but I had seen it for sure.
"Tell me about it, and not a Starbucks for miles," Fil said under his breath. I raised a brow at him. "What? I like my cup of joe as much as the next bloke."
I crossed my arms, leaning back in my seat.
"Obviously not if you drank coffee at Starbucks. Who in their right mind does that?" Fil rolled his eyes at me, grinning.
"Please, Princess, don't act so high and mighty." Fil said. A ghost of a smile appeared on my face, but the moment I realized it was there I dropped it in an instant. I looked down for a moment, wondering how this whole thing could've been different. Wishing it was. Before I could let my thoughts get any more forgiving I took my pint and started to chug it. I mean no breaths, inhale, being a savage chugging it. When I put it down and wiped my lips I noticed Fil looking at me weirdly. I turned to the bartender and flagged him down.
"I'll need another pint. This guy will too. On me." I said, forking over the money Newt had given me a while ago payment. Part of me felt bad spending it, but that guilt didn't last long.
I turned to Fil and kept talking to him. He told me some things about the wizarding world that Newt never mentioned. He explained Hogwarts to me, the housing system, how he went to school with Dumbledore as his Headmaster. We talked about muggle things like computers and TV's, Iphones and movies we would never see.
It started as a means to vent, things I didn't realize had been pent up were spewing forth. A relief was felt on my shoulders when it dawned on me that I finally had someone to talk to about these things. Someone who understood and had experienced what I had experienced. He understood, and he felt my pain. I don't know why, but little by little, I was beginning to forgive him.
"That guy really never told you about Hogwarts?" Fil asked, lounging in his chair now with his tie undone. I shook my head, keeping myself upright on the bar. What a pair we must've made, both of us looking inebriated on a Tuesday night. Thankfully I didn't have a day job.
"Nothing! I mean, he told me he went to Hogwarts, but that's about it." I said. Was I pouting? Why was I pouting? Newt was allowed to choose what he told me. Guess it would've been nice to hear about.
"What a prat." Fil dragged out the words before drinking his pint again. I sighed.
"Well, I am a muggle, so I mean, I guess he's technically not allowed to tell me." I said, circling the rim of my pint with my finger. Fil snorted before slapping his drink onto the bar top.
"What? Where did you get that idea?" Fil asked. I frowned before motioning to the place around us.
"I'm fairly certain I'm wanted in the UK, have I skipped over this?" Fil nodded for me to go on. "Oh, well I escaped with Newt's suitcase and we fled the country for a while."
Fil cocked a brow at me, but then he grinned.
"Look at you, breaking laws left and right." He said while raising his glass. I met him half way and they clinked together loudly. "To law breakers."
"Cheers." I said before we both tipped our glasses back and drank the rest of our pints. When I slapped mine down again I started to feel quite dizzy. Maybe that pint was a bad idea, especially when I hadn't drank in such a long time. Fil looked like he was still good to go. Granted he was quite a bit bigger than me, along with having far more muscles.
"Muggles and Wizards can coexist Love, they can even marry inside the UK…." Fil said while smirking at me. I leaned my head against the bar, feeling a bit nauseous. "But enough of that, we should get you back to Blondie."
I snapped up quickly to point a finger at Fil, but my balance was off and I needed to lean against the bar again.
"Don't don't make fun of Newt. He's-He's… Awesome. Just….. Awesome." I said before going to curl up on the bar again. Fil chuckled before standing up.
"Seriously Love, let's get you home." Fil said as he touched my arm. However he removed his arm suddenly.
"I can take care of her from here." A familiar voice said. I lifted my head to see Newt and Fil staring at each other. A smile stretched across my lips as I tried to stand. I stumbled, but managed to stay upright. Newt looked down at me, his eyes rather intense.
Man he had pretty eyes.
"Are you alright Janelle?" Newt asked In a soft voice. Fil rolled his eyes.
"She's drunk, not a child." Fil commented. I held a finger to Fil's lips before grinning. Without further adieu I launched forward and hugged Fil aggressively.
"Thanks," I said before dropping my arms and backing away from Fil. He gave me am odd look but otherwise hadn't moved. I turned to leave, but turned back to him. "Oh, and I don't think you're bad. I forgive you, drinking buddy."
Fil smiled a bit before moving some hair out of my face. I grinned before spinning to look at Newt. He furrowed his brows but looked down at me like he was carefully checking over every part of me.
"Let's go back." I said, starting to stumble to the door. I turned back to wave at Fil, but almost fell over. Newt caught me in time, but as soon as I was righted he let go of me and kept his distance. Like always, distance. It was starting to drive me nuts.
We made it back to the hotel, and into the case -although I think I did fall down the stairs, with Newt catching me- but as we did I ran to Newt's bedroom door and blocked the way. He looked at me, confused.
"What are you doing?" Newt asked. I pointed at him, frowning.
"Talking. We need- well I want to talk to you. About- about wizards." I said. Newt looked down at the ground for a moment.
"Janelle I… I think we should discuss this later. You are intoxicated and are talking a lot louder than normal." Newt said firmly. Was I talking loud? I hardly noticed.
"Why didn't you tell me muggles can know about wizards?" I asked. Newt looked up to me for a moment, surprise on his face. I'd hit a nerve.
"Who told you-"
"Fil told me a lot. He told me about Hogwarts, the sorting ceremony, he told me about Diagon Alley, getting his first wand. He told me about Wizarding laws. Newt why didn't you tell me any of these things?" I asked, feeling hurt that someone else had told me more than my currently closest friend.
"Because I-" Newt cut himself off. I waited, and waited, probably hours I waited, but nothing came out of his mouth and it made me so mad!
"Muggles can marry wizards! Why didn't you tell me that? Why didn't you tell me we can coexist?" I asked, but he looked up at me then, and I felt like I had hit a nerve. His face drained of emotion, of shyness. Instead he just stared at me.
"You are drunk, Janelle. Please go to bed." Newt said quietly. I narrowed my eyes at him, a frown on my face.
"Do I mean so little to you, that you can't even share with me what your world's like? I've been here for months and I only got that you have one brother out of you this morning!" I snapped.
"And you haven't told me anything except 'it is what it is'." Newt countered. I shut my mouth at that, not having a good comeback. I bit my lip then and crossed my arms. Dammit I was angry!
"Because I don't know. I don't remember them. I don't remember what ringtone I had on my phone. I don't even remember the face of my last boyfriend, and that was only a few months ago. So yeah, it is what it is."
I didn't slow down as I sprinted to my room, slammed the door, and buried my face into the pillows. Despite the sorrow, the alcohol did the trick, and after only a few minutes of crying I was drifting off peacefully to dreamland.
AYYYYY Look at who updated?!
Honestly though, it's been an awful summer. I don't mean to try and drag on anything but life is really finding a way to ruin everything. It was going really great last I updated. Long story short: I had to put writing on hold for a while to make ends meet in Real Life. I've also felt a little off my game, so if this chapter feels a bit like a rom com, that's because I've binge watched New Girl and Buffy for the past three days and the mood is ruining my writing.
So Newt and Jay had their first fight! And Fil is back! He's going to be playing a rather important role in the story as well. I always pictured Jay and Fil at the bar since the start, but I gotta admit the ending was a bit off. Granted it can't always be sunshine and rainbows for our main characters. I think fighting is actually really important in any relationship. It shows passion, and that you care. It's also insanely hard to write Newt fighting. You have no idea how many times I changed the dialogue because it didn't feel right. Hopefully I kept him in character. I might read this tomorrow and scrap it, who knows...
So is there any beast in particular you guys would like our duo to see before the movie? I'm thinking 10 more chapters tops, maybe less at this rate. Please review, it honestly does help me in figuring out what the Hell I'm doing right or wrong. Also, as I said, I'm not English, I'm Canadian, so I'm terrible at English slang. Please dont shoot me.
Cheers!
Iland Girl