You'd been working for Newt for about a week already, reporting dutifully to the Ministry every day and climbing down the steps to his case to learn. You were anxious to start your first adventure, but he had insisted you needed to be trained up a bit before you could travel with him. You had begrudgingly agreed.
Newt was an excellent teacher, showing you more patience than you would have ever shown yourself. He taught you every meticulous detail about caring for his creatures, and you listened eagerly, memorizing everything from their feeding times to their favorite place to be pet. In the evenings you'd both crawl out of the case and sit in his office, drinking tea and pouring over his maps in search of your first research expedition.
It was Wednesday afternoon and you were in his shed, cleaning. You had grown tired of the mess there - of having to sort through piles of books to find the excerpt you needed, or moving plants out of the way to have table space, or having to guess your way through all the uncategorized vials and rusted tools. You had just finished alphabetizing the last shelf of books when you heard Newt clamouring down the ladder into the case.
"Autumn," he called, "I've finally figured out where we're headed." He hopped off the ladder and turned, freezing as he caught sight of the room. You watched him as he took it all in. "Merlin's beard... " he breathed, looking at you. "What have you done?"
"I've cleaned!" You said proudly, standing up straighter. "It's quite a new thing for me, actually, and I think I've done - "
"But," Newt interrupted, walking to his work table. "I had it all organized!" You stared at him.
"You're kidding, right?"
He turned to glance at you quickly. "Well…" he said, rubbing his neck, "maybe not organized…"
You hummed. "Look," you said, walking to his side and pulling open the drawer. "All your vials are here, actually labeled, and to the right are the empty ones." You gestured to the shelf above the table. "I've organized your plants by medicinal properties and severity of symptom." You turned towards the shelves behind you. "And," you said, waving at the books, "your books are categorized by beast and author." You watched him as he walked towards the books, slowly reaching his hand out and running his index finger over the spine of one of them. You smiled, realizing it was his own.
"Thank you,' he said to the book softly. It was a moment before you realized he had been talking to you.
"Of course," you said. You became suddenly aware of the dull ache in your knee and reached down to rub it gently, hissing as a pain shot through it. You looked back up to see Newt studying you.
"Sit down," he said, gesturing to the stool in the corner.
"I'm fine, really - "
"Sit," he said again, firmly. He grabbed you by the elbow and guided you to the stool.
"I'm not a child," you said, feeling a bit put out. He glanced at you, a smile tugging at his mouth.
"No," he agreed, walking to the table and taking out two vials of blue liquid. "You are a stubborn woman," he added, snipping leaves off two of his plants and grinding them in his mortar, "which is worse." You huffed at that. He poured both vials into a mug, adding the crushed plant and sprinkling a fine red powder over top. "Here," he said handing you the mug. He watched you smell it, your nose crinkling in distaste. "Drink it, it will help."
You swallowed the liquid and were immediately overcome with a coughing fit. "Newt," you managed to choke out, "this is the worst thing I have ever tasted."
Newt gave you a small smile. "I didn't say it would taste good, I said it would help." You stuck your tongue out at him and he chuckled.
"Wait a minute," you said, standing suddenly. "You were going to tell me where we're going!" He smiled at your excitement.
"Yes, well…I've been quite curious to begin studying Fire Slugs…" You grabbed his arm.
"Newt, are we going to the Amazon Rainforest?" You could hardly contain yourself. Newt was busy staring at your hand on his arm. "Newt!" You shook him, which seemed to bring him back to his previous thought.
"Ah," he said, smiling at you nervously. "Yes."
You clapped your hands together. "That's amazing! We have to celebrate!"
"Sorry," he said, glancing up at you. "Celebrate?"
"Yes!" Newt stared at you. "Come on, Newt!" You stuck out your bottom lip at him. "Please?"
"What exactly are we celebrating?" He asked, clearly enjoying having the upper hand.
"My first expedition?" You offered. "Your next, and no doubt best, adventure?" He raised a brow at you. "Our friendship?" You tried to sell it with your most convincing smile. He sighed.
"I suppose they won't have many places to celebrate in the Amazon," he conceded.
"That's the spirit!" You said, grinning. "Or, at least as close to the spirit as you're going to get, anyway." You made for the ladder. "Let's go," you said. "I know the perfect place."
Newt shook his head and followed you, noticing with some satisfaction that you weren't limping as badly as before.
You and Newt had holed yourselves up in a booth at the back of the pub, and by now you were fairly certain he had never been in a pub before. He was sitting rigidly in the booth, blue coat still on (though you'd tried to tell him he could take it off multiple times), not touching the beer you'd bought for him after he'd insisted you didn't have to. You sipped your drink and bit your lip to keep from laughing. He looked positively out of place. He caught your eye.
"What?" He asked, clenching his jaw.
"It's just," you started, breaking into a smile, "you look so uncomfortable." You hadn't meant it as an insult, and he didn't take it as one. He gave you a loose smile.
"Sorry," he said, looking down at the table. "I don't get out much."
You laughed, picking up a chip from your plate. Pushing it towards Newt, you offered him one.
"Oh, no thank you," he said. He looked down at his glass of untouched beer.
"Well, while I'd love to keep up appearances and eat something delicate, like a salad" you joked, chewing on the chip, "I'm actually very hungry. So you'll have to watch me eat." Newt smiled at that.
"I wouldn't want you to appear as anything other than you are," he said. You grinned.
"Oh, I forgot to mention," you said suddenly, "I invited my roommate to join us." At Newt's anxious look you rushed on. "She's really nice, I promise. It's just… she's my best friend and we're going to miss each other a lot, you know?" Newt's face softened.
"Not really," he said. "I don't have many friends." You looked at him, expecting to see sadness in his expression, be he seemed wholly unconcerned.
"Well," you said, biting into another chip. "You have me now, anyways." He opened his mouth to answer, but before he could you spotted Gita across the room. "Gita!" You called, waving her over.
"Why are you always the loudest person in the room?" She asked as she reached your booth, smiling.
"I have to get people to notice me somehow," you said, scooting over. "Gita, this is Mr. Newt Scamander." Gita glanced over at Newt, who was doing his best to look as friendly as possible.
"Hello, Mr. Scamander," she said. You nudged her.
"Be nice," you whispered.
"I'm always nice," she whispered back.
"Please," he said nervously. "Call me Newt."
"Ok, Newt," she said. "Are you happy to be taking my best friend away from me?"
"Gita!" You admonished as Newt let out a cough. You flashed Newt a quick smile. "Of course he's happy, who wouldn't be happy to spend time with me?" Gita rolled her eyes.
"You know," she said, addressing Newt, "she was just as bad in school. Don't let her get the best of you." You sighed, taking another sip of beer.
"Ah," Newt said, smiling. "You met at school, then?"
"Yes," Gita said solemnly. "I still think I would have been Head Girl if it wasn't for Autumn getting me into trouble during class."
"Oy!" You exclaimed, mouth full of chips. "You were every bit to blame as I was!" Gita shook her head.
"Wait," Newt said smiling, "you went to Hogwarts?" You nodded.
"Yes, and I was the picture of a perfect student, don't let Gita fool you," you said. You had a good buzz going. Gita snorted.
"How strange we were there at the same time," he mused.
"You wouldn't have known us," Gita said. "We were only in second year when you were - "
"When you left to join the Ministry," you said quickly.
"Ah," Newt said, smiling down at the table.
"Neither of us were in your house, anyway," Gita sniffed. "I was sorted into Ravenclaw."
"She's let it go to her head ever since," you added laughing. Newt chuckled at that.
"And you?" He asked you, finally taking a small sip of his beer.
"Slytherin," you said. Newt's eyes flicked to yours.
"R-really?" He said, his voice a bit higher than normal.
"Yes," you said, raising your chin. "And proud." Newt smiled sadly.
"Yes, in my experience, Slytherins typically are." You wanted to ask him what he meant, but before you could Gita laid a hand on your arm.
"I don't want to alarm you," she said, "but that wanker you used to date just walked in." You heart lurched into your throat as you followed her gaze. You saw Cyrus and his new girlfriend at the bar.
"Why me?" You asked sinking into your seat.
"Sorry," Newt asked, glancing between you and Gita, "what's happening?"
"Well," Gita said, looking at you apologetically, "let's just say Autumn doesn't have the best taste in men."
"Gita," you hissed, elbowing her.
"Ow!" She yelped. "Hurting me doesn't make it any less true!"
"We have to go," you said. Newt looked down at his still-full drink. "Don't worry, I'll buy you another beer at the next pub." Newt looked like he wanted to ask a hundred questions, but seemed to instinctively know it wasn't a good time. The three of you stood and started making your way towards the exit.
You had almost made it to the door before the sound of your name being called stopped you. So close, you thought, turning to face Cyrus.
"Autumn! I knew that was you, slinking away," he said, smiling.
"Hello Cyrus," you said cooly. "What a pleasure." Cyrus' eyes flicked to Gita.
"Gita," he greeted.
"Git," she said. Cyrus chuckled at that, looking down at the blonde girl on his arm.
"Honey, this is Autumn," he said. "She's the one who works at the Ministry." The girl on his arm smiled knowingly.
"Ah," she said, plastering a sympathetic smile on her face. She extended her hand to you.
"I, uh…" your voice wavered, and you suddenly felt a little weak in the knees. Your head buzzed, a combination of embarrassment and alcohol. "I…" You suddenly felt a jacket being draped over your shoulders.
"You left your coat in the booth," Newt said, coming to your side. "Oh," he said, looking at Cyrus. "Hello."
Cyrus' smile faltered. "Hello," he said.
"Ah," you flushed awkwardly. "Newt, this is Cyrus. Cyrus Shaw."
Newt offered the man a half-smile. "Pleasure. I'm Newton Scamander."
Cyrus' mouth opened and the blonde girl beside him looked at Newt with wide eyes. "Scamander? The famous author?"
The five of you were quiet for a moment, staring at one another. Newt spoke first.
"I'm so sorry, but we were just leaving, weren't we?" He asked, looking down at you and offering you his arm. You took it without thinking, the alcohol in your brain registering that he smelled faintly of earth and cinnamon.
"Bye," you said, waving, as Newt walked you out of the pub and onto the street. Once you were safely down the block, he turned to you.
"I'm so sorry, I hope I didn't presume incorrectly - "
He was silenced as you hugged him. The alcohol in your brain was making you woozy. "Thank you," you mumbled into his coat. You could feel his body stiff against yours, and you wondered absently if he'd ever been hugged before.
"I... " he started awkwardly. "It's no trouble."
Gita caught up to you both, breathless. "That was bloody brilliant, Newt! You should have seen his face!"
You broke apart from him, grinning and meeting his eyes. "It was brilliant. You're brilliant!" Newt blushed.
"I had my doubts about you, Scamander," Gita said, clapping him on the back, "but you have my approval."
"Oh," Newt said, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Well. That's a relief." You and Gita laughed.
"Let's go to the pub by our house," you suggested. "Nobody ever goes there." Gita wrinkled her nose.
"That's because it sucks," she said.
"Nothing sucks when you're with good company," you sang, spinning in the street. Gita laughed.
"Alright, alright," she chuckled, linking her arm with yours. You both began to walk when you stopped suddenly.
"You coming, Newt?" You called back to him. He stood for a moment, deliberating, before flashing you a real smile.
"Yes," he said. "Yes, I'm coming."