6: Nothing to fear

Newt was more often with Diantha and the others than usually, of course all of them knew the true source of it. "Newt, is everything alright?" Diantha asked, it was unusual for him to be around them so much. He was in his fourth year, he had very important exams and studies to attend to. "Yes, sho-should something be wrong?" – "That is what I asked"Diantha pouted. Her cousin was acting very odd around her. "Newt, I am not-" but Thalia immediatly grabbed Newt´s arm and pushed him away. "I need to go and fish something from class room, please accompany me" she pulled him away from Diantha before she would say something that she might deeply regret.

"B-but, I need-" but Thalia did not give him any space and by now more likely dragged him away from his cousin. "Oh boy" Mirian sighed worried. "He does know that there is nothing between us right?" Diantha pouted. "I remember someone who pouted like this last week because her cousin could only see Miss Lestrange before him, now he shows how much he cares and you are bothered? Get your stuff together Scamander" Mirian scolded.

"Hello there" Vincent suprised the two girls. "Oh hello there Vincent!" Diantha said excited. "I am sorry for bothering you, but I wanted to talk with you" – "About what?" – "Reconsidering, to accept this" he placed a rose in her hand. "Oh that, Vincent listen-" – "Oh look what we got here" they got interrupted. Diantha´s face immediatly changed to an annoyed expression when she found it was the pest of a Malfoy from her house. "Orion" she said disgusted. "First you hang with that pathetic Hufflepuff and now you hang with this loser of a Gryffindor?!" – "YOU! WHO ARE YOU CALLING PATHETIC?!" Mirian immediatly grabbed her by the elbow, avoiding conflict.

"Oh look we made her angry" he teased, he wa about her hight, and was a pure blood from the Malfoy family. He had short platinum hair and dark eyes, it was a familiar trait from the Malfoy family. "You pest" she hissed, as she was being pulled down by Mirian. "Seriosly now, Gryffindor? From all your stupid friends-" – "Why do you even care so much with who she goes along?" Mirian asked confused. "Huh?" – "Exactly, she is nothing to you" – "She comes from a good family, her eldest cousin is a good warrior" – "AND A TERRIBLE PERSON LIKE YOU!" Diantha yelled, frustrated by it. "That is why you are weak like your-" but Vincent immeiatly pulled his wand against the throath of the pureblood. "I think that is enough and let us leave it here, won´t we?"

Malfoy immediatly pulled away and turned their back on the small group. "For the love of Merlin, what a pest" Mirian growled, letting got of Diantha. "Are you two related by any kind?" the boy asked. "Not really, we are classmates" Mirian rolled her eyes. "Oh yes why would a boy care with who you get along" the Ravenclaw walked away, leaving the two by their own. "Mirian-wait!" – "It is fine Diantha, we can be friends if you wish, but please accept this" he handed her the rose that he had given at first. "Ehm, I can live with being friends" she smiled softly. He was a nice boy, and she was sure that all of them would get along well. "Besides, our group really needs a Gryffindor" – "Oh is that so?"

Newt followed Thalia through the corridors and saw that her destination would be the class where they got their mystical creatures classes. "Why are you taking me here?" – "Look, who I put here" she pointed to the Occamy, who sat in his nest, looking at them. "Oh, I cannot believe" he forgot his problems with Diantha at the moment, as he concentrated only on the Occamy. "Professor Kettleburn lets me keep him here. I explained the situation to him and he fell sorry for the little thing" – "Little, mind your words, you are aware of what he can do" Newt grabbed the Occamy who looked peaceful, unless someone would pat him."Now he is little though, you can come and see him anytime you want too, I warned Professor Kettleburn, he is very fond of you" she explained. Newt slowly placed him back in his nest. "We should go now, he needs his rest" she nodded, but immediatly pulled on his sleeve, blocking him from moving. "Thalia? W-w-what is?" he asked nervous.

She pulled something out of her pocket, he was suprised she could his that in there. "I never really got you anything, minding that you gave me Severus" – "I gave him because I did not want him to spend alone-I mean I didn´t want you to be alone- TO spend christmas alone!" he said oddly. He was definitly different than Diantha, less confident, or maybe he was just odd to begin with. "And I did not spend that christmas alone, did I?" Newt smiled, one of those rare ones, he seemed always to we worrying with something. "Here you go" she handed a box of chocolates.

Newt was quite suprised at this. "I got it in Hogsmeade, I think you might like them" – "How?" – "That is my secret to bare" she sushed him down. "Your secrets often get you or my cousin in trouble" she remembered the whole dark forest incident, but this time it was different. "Newt they are chocolates not some deadly Hippogriff" – "Hippogriffs are not deadly!" he defended. "That is hardly the point Newt" she crossed her arms before her chest.

"I know you might have recieved chocolates already, but see it as a belated christmas present." Thalia laughed at her ridiculous choice of words. "I haven´t" he answered honestly, that was weird, was Leta not approaching him or anything? "So I am grateful, thank you for giving me you-I MEAN THEM, oh-" – "It is fine Newt, enjoy them" she laughed. Thalia had to return to her wizard friends, who might be worried of where she was. "Thalia?" he called her. "Thank you, I did not meant-" Thalia nodded.

She knew that his intention was never to hurt his cousin, he did not trust most of the Hogwarts wizards. Diantha had enough problems in the past about boys and girls that had betrayed her, or lost her trust due to unfortunate situations with Muggles, he did want to avoid that at any cost. "She understands" Thalia said, pulling on his cloak, bringing it into a decent shape.

"I need to go, thank you for the chocolates though, i am sure I will appreciate them" – "Just do not overdo it" she warned, not wanting him to be sick any time soon. He pushed his head against hers. "Thank you" he whispere soflty before he got out of the was mortified, that was absolutly the closest she had been to Newt and this was all just messing with her head.

The next morning Newt found his cousin early to rise for a change, he had hoped he could catch her before anyone. "Diantha" – "Oh Newt good morning" she yawned, still half asleep. "Any reason for you to be up?" – "I need to do something for class" Newt give her quite a suspicious look. "What?" – "What do you have to do at this hour?" – "Never mind that, what are you doing here?" – "I wanted too appologize for the behaviour I had with your friend" Dianth sighed in relieve, he was quick to forget. "Oh i do not think we are friends? Maybe? It is fine Newt, this whole holiday is stupid" Newt gave her a small smile. "Yes, I suppose so"

"What were you doing either way?" He touched the subject again. "You are not letting it go, are you?" – "I can hardly walk away knowing that my cousin did something, or didn´t..." – "FINE!" she sighed annoyed. "I told Thalia I finished our assignment, but i didn´t because I fell asleep, so in order not to get scold by her, I am going to make the assignment in two hours!" – "That is a horrible plan" Newt admitted. "However, If you accept, I will assist you on this" the older wizard agreed.. "Oh Newt, I knew you loved me enough to help me through this!" he grabbed on his sleeve. "I just do not want Thalia to be dragged into this again" she knew it. "Why does nobody pity me?"

They walked silently through the halls, it was not exactly forbidden to be out at this hour, but if an teacher came to ask them what they were doing here, it might be quite catastrofic. "So cousin" Diantha started in her most maleficent voice. "Did you got treats?" she asked curious. "Treats?" he was obviously confused. "Yes, you know did someone offer you something for this holiday?" – "Oh.. Yes upon agreement I gave som- I mean Thalia gave- oh ehm offered me something because of her gift- I mean of the gift I had offered" Diantha had to be honest and had not understood a thing of what her cousin was mumbling. "Bloody hell, what?!" she asked.

"Never mind that" he sighed in relieve. "No, I did understand Thalia and gifts, what is this about?" – "N-nothing" he quickly whispered as he opened the door to library. "Newt, you cannot give me that. You cannot start about Thalia and leave it unfinished!" Diantha said desperate. "When we finish this you can ask me- I- You can ask her myself, I mean yourself" he quickly trapped on his words. "I do not get it why you get so nervous!" – "You are pushing on me, you know how I react when people do that" he said almost offended.

Just before the first class call at 09.00 she finished her assignment, she finally sat down in her chair in relieve. "There you go, before you come to late" he whispered gently, handling her the paper. "Thanks Newtie" she kissed him on his cheek before ran away to her class, in order to give this in time. He saw her leave and smiled, touching slightly his cheek, she was so much trouble, in all his life, he remembered how much trouble he would be in with his brother, regarding her, but he would not have want it otherwise.

In class Diantha met Thalia and handed over the assignment to the professor. "What is that?" Mirian asked, sitting next to Thalia who had not the slightest idea what it could possible be. The two starred their friend down until she sat down. Only when she felt eyes on her, she dared to look. "What?" she asked startled. "What were you giving the professor?" Mirian asked straight. "Our assignment" – "Our?" Mirian asked confused. "Oh that one, I had completly forget about that" Thalia bothered to tell. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FORGOT?" Diantha raised her voice. "Mind your voice?" Thalia answered annoyed.

"I thought you had a backup plan when I would not be able to finish it!" – "Not really, I forgot due to the other assignments, and I guess I trusted you that you would be able to do this, and you did! Good job!" she praised Diantha´s effort. At first she was very happy, Thalia praised anyone and now she had her respect, after almost half of her life when she knew her. "You are being totally honest?" Mirian teased her friend. "Of course I am, she did what I could not, of course, I have to thank Newton later" – "Why is that?" – "Obviously he helped her, what other reason was she out of bed four hours before class?" Diantha started to whimper. "Oh Thalia why are you so meeeaaaannn! YOU KNEW?!" – "Of course I knew, what am I a morron?!"

During the lunch break Thalia meant to thank Newt for his help on their assignment, in truth she really had forgotten about it, but he was occupied with Leta Lestrange, as he always was, she quickly turned to the girls near the table, even Vincent sat there. "I am glad it is almost weekend" Vincent mumbled when Thalia sat next to her friends. "Unlikely for you Vincent, to complain about school." – "All this exams and assignment, it is too much, I do not even recall which month it is" – "It is 10th of April, good morning Vincent" Mirian mentioned. "Do I have not an exam tomorrow?" Diantha laughed. "You should be worried, next year you will be like this too" – "No Riri, Thalia will be like that, I will be just patting her, that she will be fine" Thalia rolled her eyes. "When ever-" – "You remember the muggle school? You were always stressing out, and we were not even in the same classes" her face changed into a bright red from her words, she remembered alright.

"Oh look who it is" Vincent whispered, finding Orion entrance. "Our best friend" Thalia said ironically, sadly he was in their house. "Rather you than me" The gryffindor said. "I think he can be cute now and then" Diantha mentioned, finishing her last bite. "You cannot be serious, how is that cute?" her admirer asked offended. "Oh please Vincent, it is nothing personal" – "How is it nothing personal!" – "He is right, you rejected him two months ago, to now calling that cute" Mirian scolded. "I never said I like him, I just said he is cute. Now excuse me, I need to speak with my cousin, he has too much alone time with that witch!" she took off, leaving the rest of her group quite suprised. "She does know that calling her a with is not insulting her?" the only male at their group whispered.

Mirian immediatly nodded. "Too often, however I agreed with her, she is not to be trusted, but what can we do? He is so fond of her" – "So is he of you all" – "He is Diantha´s friend, he is just nice to us. Newt Scamander is a nice guy" Thalia tried to convince the Gryffindor. "Yes a very nice guy, especially to you" – "What is that supposed to mean?" – "Oh Thalia, don´t be so dense. You are three years younger than him, he often looks at you, as I am not blind, and the Occamy, all of us know of it except his cousin, that is beyong just being nice" for once Vincent raised his voice. He was still upset of Diantha´s actions, but rather than that Thalia was just being ridiculous. "Their family-" – "Have been a good friend of yours? So have the Malfoy´s and I haven´t seen you acting nice to that rat" – "Don´t insult the rats please" Mirian defended.

"Vincent, you are rather on your toes" – "She called him cute" he whispered sadly. "Oh Vincent you are breaking my heart" Thalia patted on his head, even him being slightly two years older than them. "I need sleep" Vincent said of them needed it, they have studied day and night, and there were still some good three months until the big summer break.

Diantha sat down, next to Leta, facing her favorite cousin. "Hello favorite cousin" – "What is it?" he asked worried, whenever she used favorite, something dangerous was coming up. "Can I speak with you alone please?" – "Ehm, but, well- We shouldn´t-" – "It is fine Newt" Leta said. "It is clear that your friends do not like me"she stood up. "That is not true-Leta-" – "Good she understands" Diantha brought more fire to the table, and in an instance she dissapeared. "That was clearly not nice" – "Newt, she is trouble, her family is known to be envolved in Dark magic" – "Thalia is one of the best students in this school regarding Dark magic" – "Are you comparing my Thalia to that?!" she raised her voice offened. "N-no not-" he sighed and breathed heavily. Facing an angry Diantha, was rather a hard thing to do. "If Thalia is well, why can she not be too?"

Diantha was defeated in this, but Lestrange had always a fame for being well strange. And she reather not risk her cousin with it. "What did you want to talk about?" he changed the subject, as this was clearly not going anywhere. "Nothing really" – "What?" – "I miss your company, mostly you are around Leta, and I miss you, we all do." – "Diantha... I do not know-" – "And Vincent is losing it, the conversation at that table is being a bother, so what magical creatures did you find lately?!" Newt laughed. "being a third year can be hard" – "You are one, and you are not looking to have troubles" – "Are we all the same Diantha?" – "No, but-" – "Than why are you putting us all in the same drawer?" she sighed, he was right. Vincent was nothing like Newt. He looked calm but in truth Vincent was a complete different person than she had expected, but that made her so happy to be his friend. "Do you want to fee the hyppogriffs?" he asked the company of his cousin. "Please, I need to be among animals and creatures" she followed her cousin out of the hall.