JK's characters aren't mine.
Betas are beautiful magnificent beings.
CHAPTER FIVE
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Newt and Tina stood outside of the feast hall talking with Sahale and a few people from the amphitheatre battle. Newt was animatedly describing the similarities between their spirit bond and the tribe of animagi he had met in New Guinea when a bell tolled low from inside the hall and their group migrated to find their seats at one of the long tables inside.
"This is just like Hogwarts, Tina! They have the tables set up just like the houses and, oh look, they even have a space like where our teachers would have sat," Newt excitedly described the setting of a place that had been his home for many years. "It even reminds me of the enchanted ceiling but I can't quite see what is producing the light," Newt said as he strained his eyes to try and define the shape of the lights weaving back and forth through the rafters.
"Those are fairies," Chogan said, "We allow them a safe place to live and they provide us with the light we need in the hall. Good pest control, too."
Newt brought his wand up and cast a charm magnifying his sight to properly view the creatures flitting above. Tina leaned in, practically cheek to cheek with Newt, to look through the small area of magnification coming from the tip of his wand. Newt noticed how close she had gotten and nestled in tighter, placing his hand on one shoulder and resting his chin on the other. With the aid of his charm, they could now see the small human-like creatures whizzing back and forth, collecting moths and beetles that were attracted to the soft glow of their iridescent wings. All along the beams, the fairies had built miniature houses that melded with the wooden supports. Some of the fairies were dancing in circles or swinging from thin string that hung beneath their homes.
"Oh, wow," Tina exclaimed, "They're gorgeous." She suddenly noticed her propinquity to Newt and settled quickly back in her seat blushing a deep shade of red. Mika noticed their awkward interaction and chuckled at Tina's nerves.
Chogan and Sahale waved at their mother who was preparing their feast with a much taller woman at the far end of the hall. Pules gave an exuberant wave back to her sons then continued to portion food onto wooden plates.
"Ituha, these here are ready," Pules told the other woman, gesturing to a row of dishes.
Ituha touched each plate causing vines to grow out of the bottom and walk, as if the food were balanced on legs, to the place setting of every patron in the hall. Once the vines had retracted back into the plates, the fairies above fervently descended on the tables, moving so quickly that they blurred any vision of the meal in front of them.
"Oh my!" Tina leaned backwards in surprise, using her hands to force her body away from the commotion on top of the table.
"They like to cut our food. Someone tried to eat a piece of potato that was too big a few months ago and they've been doing this ever since." Hassun explained to the newcomers.
"Just keep your hands out of the way or you're liable to lose a finger," Sahale chuckled as Tina wrenched her hands back.
"What a marvelous display of care!" Newt said as he watched the creatures with admiration.
Once the fairies had deemed the meal safe, everyone in the hall set in to enjoy the feast that was lovingly prepared for them. It was a brilliant array of smoked meats like the fish they had seen curing that morning and whole quail complete with the eggs hard boiled and placed in a circle around the serving plates. There were numerous steaming vats of stews, Tina and Newt particularly enjoyed a dish made of vegetables that Pules had collected from her garden that very morning. The hungry patrons began to get their fill and settled into a rhythm of light-hearted conversation.
"So what brought you to our village today?" Machk asked while leaning across the table to make eye contact, absent mindedly chewing on the end of a quail bone.
"We found some strange markings in a cave about 15 miles from here that matched up with a few of the tattoos on Sahale's arm. While researching native languages in town, we saw him enter the Stag's saloon and had to go ask him what they meant. Oh - we never actually discussed it, did we?" Newt said as he reached into his case to grab his notebook. Right before he was to close the lid, Dougal pushed his way out to crawl up Newt's arm and perched on his back looking around at all the new faces, he went invisible with fear. "Dougal, these are our new friends, now be a good lad and climb on back while Mummy finishes some research." Dougal became visible and took another glance around the strange room. The demiguise turned to nod at Newt and retreated back into the case. Some of the people at the table craned their necks to see where the strange creature had come from and disappeared to.
"That was Dougal. He is a Demiguise who had lost his home to a rather destructive rock slide so I took him in to live with me." Newt casually explained like it was commonplace to be in possession of such an interesting being while he flipped through his journal. "Ah, here we go," Newt opened the journal to the page with the cave markings and spread the book out in the center of the table.
"These were arced around the cave's entrance only visible once inside." Tina added and flicked her wand to bring the markings from the page to float above the table in hopes that everyone could see.
"They are very similar to our binding marks, a few differences here and there," Rowtag said and plucked the floating symbols from the air, bringing them closer to his arm to the corresponding tattoo.
"There was a word written as well," Newt said and flipped a few pages in his journal, "here it is. It was written in blood, I don't know if I'm pronouncing this right, erm, kotuhpu."
A wave of pure magical energy shot over the feast hall, halting all movement and conversation. The fairies seemed to freeze in midair, their wing light dimming from the cold rush of power. Eluwilussit addressed the outsiders directly. "Where did you find this cave?" He calmly demanded of the intimidated travelers.
"A-about 15 miles from here, two valleys away. My mentor and I spent the night there when he went missing and I woke up to that word written on the cave wall. What does it mean?" Tina asked fearfully.
"Hungry." Eluwilussit slowly stood from his chair and began to address the entire hall. "The Wendigo has awakened and is desperate to feed." He tapped his staff three times on the floor and swirls of colors and light flowed out of the murky green crystal that topped it.
Eluwilussit's voice grew louder to envelope the space, "When our ancestors first walked this land, we shared territory with a creature the epitome of evil."
The swirls of colors began to show a scene of ancient people surrounding a hoofed, bipedal creature. A giant set of antlers adorned the beast's head that appeared to be a skull, pieces of flesh dripped as if it were melting from it's jaw.
"The Wendigo was made of rotting hatred and fed on human flesh. It stole our ancestors from their beds as they slept."
The colors swirled again to form the beast ripping through a small room and approaching a sleeping form. Elongated talons reached out from the end of the Wendigo's lithe fingers and gripped tightly around the now screaming body as it ran out to disappear into the night.
"Achak and Angeni were among the survivors and opened the deep connection to our magic in order to allow the binding with our spirit."
The projection changed again to show a ceremony with fire, chanting, and dance. One of the women dropped to the ground as wings erupted painfully from her back, her screams drowned out by the congratulatory shouts of her peers. A man disappeared in a cloud of smoke that rushed out over the people and around the flames to fall into the form of a man once more on the opposite side.
"Only then were our people able to fight back and trap the wendigo where it has since rested for centuries."
The colors swirled above, depicting the Wendigo lashing wildly at the steadily encroaching people morphing back into their human forms. The Wendigo retreated into the depths of the cavern while the villagers joined hands and sent a surge of magic towards the cave, sealing the beast inside with a final bright light before the colors were abruptly drained from the air back into the crystal on Eluwilussit's staff.
The entire hall turned to face Tina at the realization that she and her mentor had set this horrible creature loose from it's prison. "Now it has awakened and will begin to feed on the nearest group of humans. Your township, I believe, falls directly in the Wendigo's path."
"I-I need some air," Tina stammered as she ran from the hall, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"Thank you for the magnificent feast," Newt gave a courteous bow. "Hassun, you were brilliant this afternoon." Newt grasped the young man's hand in a firm handshake. "Your magic is amazing. I believe Tina needs to rest and process all this new information so we will retire for the night. Sahale, may we call upon you tomorrow?" Sahale nodded in response. "Thank you all, again, for this excellent evening and allowing us to your home." Newt bowed towards Eluwilussit and Winema, collected his case, and headed into the night air in search of Tina.
Newt followed the sound of quiet sobbing to find Tina huddled on the third row down in the amphitheatre, hugging her knees to her chest. He sat down on the row behind her and began rubbing large circles on her back.
"It's all my fault," Tina managed to choke out between sobs.
"There there, love. You couldn't have known. You never even saw the beast in there." Newt attempted to comfort Tina and began to pat her shoulder with his other hand.
"I just wish I had chosen any other cave, then we wouldn't be in this mess and Elias would still - would still be-" Tina lost control of her emotions as the grief of loss weighed down on her in a crushing despair one would expect to be brought on by a dementor. Newt stood up, removed his coat, and draped it over Tina's shoulders. He plucked a leaf from a bone and transfigured it into a handkerchief. Newt grasped Tina by both elbows and gently stood her up. He used the handkerchief to wipe her cheeks then turned it over to Tina so she could blow her nose.
"Come on now, love. We'll get you a cuppa and into bed." Newt stared into her bloodshot eyes and received a hesitant nod in response. He hugged her tightly, placed a kiss on top of her head, and turned on the spot with a CRACK to apparate them back to the cottage that Tina had begun to call home.
oOoOoOoOo
The door opened and Newt guided Tina in to lay her down gently on the sofa. Newt grabbed the throw that was draped on the back of the sofa and tucked it around Tina.
"There you go, love. I'll have your brew made in a jiffy, it'll dry up those tears." Newt excitedly leapt up and walked over to the kitchenette, humming as he searched for a kettle and mugs.
"Why do you call me that?" Tina leaned up on her elbows to be able to see Newt.
"What? Love?" Newt rubbed at the back of his neck and looked at the floor. "I guess it's because my mum said it when I was upset. She would make me tea as well. It always made me feel better." Newt shrugged then turned back to his preparations to hide his embarrassment.
Newt added a tea bag to each mug right before the kettle whistled. He poured the boiling water in each mug before topping them off with milk. Newt flicked his wand, causing two spoons to float into the mugs and begin stirring. The spoons began to lift the bags from the steaming mugs but stopped to squeeze the last bit of tea out before levitating them into the trash. Newt added three sugar cubes to each mug and the spoons began to stir again as he brought the mugs over to the sofa.
"Thank you, Newt. You've always been so nice, even when I was trying to arrest you." Tina smiled and took a sip of her tea.
"I can't help it. Hufflepuff." Newt shrugged his shoulders and smiled back. "You rest now, I've got a few books on binding magic in my study that I'm going to comb over and I'll see you in the morning. Good night." He placed a chaste kiss on Tina's cheek and hurried over to his case. Right before he disappeared into the floor he flicked his wand to levitate his mug down with him and shit shut the lid. Tina blushed and lightly touched the spot where Newt's lips had grazed her cheek. She pulled the blanket up higher and smiled into her mug, finishing the tea before settling into a deep sleep.
