Jacob and the Goldstein sisters had been somewhat bemused to find themselves side-along apparated out of the Leaky Cauldron and into the upper chamber of the House of Lords. Even though the Americans did not know the function it fulfilled in government, the setting, even deserted, was extremely impressive. The dark wood and cavernous room somehow managed to echo their movements despite the plush blue and gold carpeting. Newt hurried them out of the grand chamber. In a small room off an upstairs corridor, a log set in a large fireplace burst into flame as they entered the room.
"It's enchanted," Newt said, since everyone looked a little apprehensive. "It won't hurt you in the slightest."
Indeed, Newt stepped right up into the flames, and held out his hand for Tina. She gingerly joined him. Queenie followed her sister until only Jacob stood, looking very uncomfortable on the faded but once glorious carpet, halfway between the door and the fire. He looked like he was considering taking his chances in muggle London.
"Please, Jacob, just trust me," Newt said soothingly. "It won't hurt you either, and then we'll all link arms, and the transport can take effect."
Jacob reluctantly took Newt's offered hand and they all linked arms, forming a close square with Queenie facing Newt. Newt was crunched and crowded by his case and his friends, but finally managed to get his wand free and exclaim, "Donecio!"
A flash of green engulfed them, and the next thing any of them saw was streaks of bluish light coming through the tighly drawn shades of a small room. Newt let go of Tina and Jacob and stowed his wand. He stepped out of the fireplace and as he did wall sconces filled with candles flared to life.
"Is this your house?" Tina asked, looking decidedly unimpressed. The dust hung heavy off of some old sheet-covered furniture, and some rickety stools were pulled up to a decaying wooden bar on the far side of the room. Newt laughed nervously.
"No. It's the old member's room of the village pub. At some point in the distant past, a Scamander must have built them a new one so we could use this one without any trouble."
Newt nodded back at the fireplace they'd come through, which was carved from stone in the shape of two dragons facing outward, their mouths smiling wide to show rows of sharp teeth. Their tails curled up and around to form the mantle of the fireplace.
"Usually we apparate to the gates from here," he said, moving to a door beside the bar, half-hidden by a moldering tapestry covered in fleur-de-lis and swords, "but I thought you all might like to see the village."
Newt swung open the door, and Tina, followed closely by Jacob and Queenie, stepped blinking into the midday sun. Tina looked around, confused, at the quaint thatched roofs and the wattle and daub of the walls.
"Are we—is this now?" she asked.
Just then, a motor car beeped its horn, and they all stepped back from the roadway for it to pass. Several men from the pub left from the main entrance, above which was a very worn sign proclaiming it "The Dancing Pig." They were dressed for work in the fields, but in modern attire nonetheless.
"Good day, sir," said one of them politely to Newt. "Back from your travels at last?"
"Oh, um, yes. Just returned" Newt reached back in his mind for the appropriate name. "Good day to you Mister Combley."
The farmers looked curiously at the others, nodded amongst themselves and headed back down the lane to their work.
"Wait—were those wizards?" Jacob asked incredibly.
"Just simple farmers," Newt said, trying to hurry them all along. The village was picturesque, but Newt had somehow forgotten that as well as the charming tumbledown architecture and well-maintained stone walls there were people to navigate as well. With a legilimens among their number, meeting the wrong townsperson could be dangerous indeed.
"Well, that's the village," Newt said, holding out his arm for them to apparate with him.
Tina crossed her arms over her chest.
"I thought we were going to walk," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," said Queenie, challengingly.
Newt blew out a breath. "Very well then," he said, setting a brisk pace. "Come along then. It's a bit of a walk."
It was not actually far as the crow flew, but Newt was unwilling for them to walk past the post-office with its eagle-eyed postmistress or the school with its small flock of curious children, so he marched them all down the dusty lane the farmers had used. It was a narrow track, certainly not wide enough for two lane traffic, and flanked by low stone walls capped on both sides by tall hedgerows. Once they'd gone round a curve and could no longer see the village square behind them, Newt abruptly turned off and climbed a small section of wall. He disappeared through a gap in the hedge.
"Well, come on," he said impatiently. It would be best to get them all off the road and into the woods as quickly as possible. And then out of the woods, since the forest had its own perils.
"Okay, okay," said Queenie, scrambling up with Jacob's help. Newt steeled his heart to her difficulty. He had not advised her to wear such impractical shoes, and she was a witch, after all. It would be the work of a moment to transfigure them into something more suitable to the terrain.
"Well, that's the first clear thought I've got from you in days," said Queenie snippily, her high heels melting into thick-soled climbing boots. Jacob rolled his eyes dramatically. Tina laughed a little, and Newt smiled over his shoulder at her, grateful for the small break in the tension. This was going to be very uncomfortable, and most likely painful, but it wouldn't help anyone if Newt alienated his friends. They were the reason he was back here, after all. He needed to listen to them, and communicate what he could, even if he didn't want to.
They emerged into a hayfield, long since harvested. A few bales were still standing guard at the edges of the field, waiting to be taken in for winter fodder. Newt looked around, and seeing it was all suitably deserted, dug in his pocket for a small silver flute. He blew a few shrill notes, and was rewarded by the sight of two hippogriffs swooping down on them from some low cloud cover. The tawny one Newt knew well, but he'd never seen the silver and black one before. She was slightly smaller, but had a sharp well-formed beak, and piercing golden eyes. She landed shoulder to shoulder with the tawny.
Newt grinned.
"This is Corwin and his lovely lady who I have not yet met. Please stay back until I can introduce you." He motioned all the humans to take a step backward.
Newt set his case down and performed an elaborate courtly bow. The tawny bowed back deeply. Newt waited until the female bobbed her head, and then he rushed forward to wrap his arms around Corwin.
"Who's the loveliest hippogriff in the whole world?" Newt crooned. Corwin huffed in embarrassment, but Newt knew him well enough to know he was pleased by the attention. Corwin nodded toward the female.
"Ah yes, I can see that Mother has been hard at work finding a suitable mate for the pride of the flock."
Newt again bowed deeply at the smaller hipporgriff. She inclined her head and advanced on him, showing him the gold filigree chain around her neck. It was far too delicate to be functional as reins, but it bore a rectangular charm, upon which the name "Silvana" was engraved.
"Pleased to meet you Silvana. Mother must have had to sell off half the herd of winged horses to get anywhere near you. But you know how she favors the hippogriffs."
Corwin and Silvana bobbed their heads in pleased acknowledgment of their superiority in the eyes of their mistress.
"Please allow me to introduce my companions. This is Queenie, and Jacob."
Following Newt's jerk of the head and the hand gesture behind his back they awkwardly performed a version of his bow.
Corwin and Silvana must have been feeling charitable, because they bowed back.
"And this is Tina," Newt felt somewhat embarrassed, but if he were being completely honest, he was more concerned with Corwin's opinion of his wife than many of his other family members. Tina bowed, not trying for any flourishes, but sincere all the same.
Newt needn't have worried. The hippogriffs both bowed back deeply. Then Corwin stretched out his wings and gave a shriek that alarmed Jacob, who had only interacted with the injured hippogriff in Newt's case. The tawny beast hopped forward and butted Newt with his head affectionately.
Newt beamed. He knew Tina was the witch for him, but he'd been somewhat concerned that her injury would alarm the hippogriffs the way it had apparently troubled Ethel the Erumpent. It was gratifying to see Corwin so approving. Silvana stepped up to Tina and elegantly bowed again, offering her a wing to mount. Newt hurried over to help her up.
"Queenie, why don't you sit behind Tina since Silvana is offering, and Jacob and I will go with Corwin. Two humans should be alright for a short flight. I promise, this is the absolute best way to see the scenery."
Corwin huffed in amusement as Jacob rigidly seated himself behind Newt.
"Y-you're sure this is safe?" he asked Newt under his breath. Newt reflected that it certainly would be safer if he were not using one of his hands to clutch the case in his lap, but he couldn't say that to Jacob.
"Chin up, Jacob. You don't want to insult Corwin do you?"
"No, no way. I definitely do not want to do that—" he was cut off as Corwin started forward, spread his wings, and leapt into the sky.
Silvana followed, giving a joyous shriek.
The hippogriffs circled up and around, gaining altitude. Now the fields were turning to patchwork squares on the quilt of countryside blanketing the wilds of the Lake District. Newt turned his head and shouted to Jacob.
"This is some of the last undeveloped land in England. There are higher peaks in Scotland, just to the north," Newt pointed off to their left. "But Scaffel Pike is the highest in England." The rocky crag rising above the cresting hills below looked impressive in the cold December air. "There are countless small lakes, and over twenty that are substantial. Some of them are quite deep—some deep enough to house some very interesting magical creatures!"
Jacob didn't give any indication of hearing Newt, so he decided to wait to tell the story of the crab he'd caught on holiday and enchanted to be able to live in the freshwater of the lakes. Last anyone had seen of it it had grown to nearly two meters in width and it had begun to venture onto land in search of food. Newt hoped his parents hadn't done anything rash.
The crystal blue of the lakes was vivid, even though the day was cold and slightly grey. The deciduous trees had lost their leaves and the migratory birds were all long gone. Still, seeing it from up here Newt felt something he hadn't before, a sense of nostalgia for his childhood. Before he'd entered Hogwarts, he'd been free to roam around the fells and lakes as he'd pleased. As long as he'd done his chores he could take off, often with Corwin by his side. Newt had been magically mucking stalls since he could hold a wand—there were some uses of underage magic grandfathered in by the new laws. If the family had a vocation, even very young children were expected to train for it.
Too soon, Corwin was circling lower, and the house came into sight. It was a looming bulk of a building in the Elizabethan style, with so many towers and gables that the roofline was daunting to look at, never mind repair.
"Whaaat is that?" Jacob was finally surprised into speech (of a sort) at the sight of the house.
Newt sighed. Corwin and Silvana had descended close enough for him to see every slate tiled roof, garden, stable and potting shed that made up the sprawl of his childhood home. It probably did look impressive to outsiders.
The hippogriffs landed in tidy unison on the expansive front lawn, a feature that all the Scamanders rather despised, but that the gardener felt very deeply was essential to meeting expectations of the house by the villagers and neighbors. Newt sprang from Corwin's back and helped Queenie and Tina dismount while Jacob gingerly slid off of Corwin's side, stumbling slightly as he met the ground. Newt hefted his case, then thought better of it and handed it to Jacob.
Queenie and Tina were staring at the house, mouths open and eyes wide. Jacob was looking backward at the hippogriffs returning to their stable.
Newt wrung his hands.
"Please just wait outside for a few minutes. You could probably follow the hippogriffs to the stable—no, better not until I've announced you. I know it's cold, so Queenie, if you wouldn't mind performing a warming charm for the others, I'll go inside and see what we can expect. Maybe the groundskeeper's cottage is empty? The summerhouse by the lake?"
Newt devolved into mutters as he considered the possibilities that might keep them as sheltered as possible from the rest of the family, until he noticed that his friends were no longer focused on the house, but on something else over his shoulder. Newt turned around slowly where he stood.
A stately woman, tall and fit, with graying blond hair visible under her black riding helmet, stood behind him in jodhpurs, boots, and a crimson coat, tapping her unusually long wand like a riding crop against her leg. Tap, tap, tap went the wand. She raised an elegant brow.
"Hello Mummy," said Newt.
Gloriana Scamander said nothing, but stood tight-lipped, surveying the group on her lawn. She turned on her heel.
"Come along. I need to put up my tack, then I'll join you and your guests in the drawing room."
Newt's mouth dropped open to object—he wanted to speak with her privately—but then he realized how futile his objections would be and merely said,
"Yes, Mother."
She strode away in the direction of the tackroom and Newt was left to gesture nervously at his friends. When finally they were following him up the gravel drive toward the house. Although it had looked familiar from the air, as they drew closer Newt joined his friends in their overwhelm at the huge facade and how it dwarfed them as they approached.
The red sandstone of the building stood out starkly against the pale gray of the sky and the brown lawn to either side of the drive. Two tall towers flanked the huge front door. Several more echoed down either side of the building, breaking up the bulk.
"This—you call this a house?" Jacob asked.
"It looks more like a—" Queenie hesitated.
"A castle," Tina finished for her. "You grew up here?"
Newt ducked his head.
"Yes—and you're not wrong exactly. The house has never been a fortress, that is, it's never been under attack. At least, not in its present form. But you'll see—we don't use the entire house. It's really much less impressive inside."
They reached the stairs that lead up to the wide pointed arch of the doorway. The heavy dark wooden door, studded with dull metal, creaked open to admit them.
Newt held out his hand to Tina, and she just barely brushed his palm with her fingertips. Her eyes were still wide, trying to take in all the sights around her. Newt stayed perfectly still until he had her attention. Queenie and Jacob stopped two stairs below Tina and looked around up at the parapets, back at the stables, barely visible across the lawn, down the drive in the direction they came to where one could make out a huge wrought iron gate set in a high stone wall that stretched off into the woods on either side of the lawn.
"Tina," Newt said, once her eyes found his face. "I know it all looks very grand. And there's a reason for all that. But we really are just— people. You'll see. If it's hard it's not going to be because of the grounds or the hall—it's because of the people. So stay on guard, and please follow my lead. We don't need to tell them everything right away, alright?"
Tina looked troubled, but she nodded.
Newt lead them through the high entry hall which contained a grand stair leading up to the second story. There were huge portraits on the walls. Queenie walked up to one, a portly man with a red handlebar mustache in full military dress complete with sash and medals.
"They're still!" she said. "Are all these nomaj paintings?"
The man with the mustache winked at her, but then the portrait returned to stillness.
"Some of them were painted by muggles, yes," said Newt. "But as you can see they seem to have gained a little wizarding character from hanging in the house so long. We have regular portraits in the family gallery, but it's kept separate from this front part of the house."
Newt led them past a library, a dining room, two sitting rooms and a kitchen. There was a small pointed arch door set into the wall, half-covered with a tapestry of a knight confronting a dragon with an undersized sword. Newt pulled this back far enough to open the door with his wand. He motioned the others to go through the door ahead of him. Even the ladies had to duck their heads down to get through the door, which Newt closed securely after he'd stepped through.
"Ah. That's better," he said. "As you can see, this is the family's part of the house."
Here in the back of the house the tapestries moved in the wizarding fashion, retelling the stories woven into their ancient threads. The dark wood paneled walls were the same as in the other parts of the house, but here they were covered with tapestries, ancient shields bearing the Scamander coat of arms, two dragons back to back, tails entwined, breathing fire. This was superimposed over a red cross on a white background. Newt saw it and shuddered, remembering how vital it wall that he keep his thoughts shielded from Queenie.
He hurried them past some huge potted feather ferns that rustled musically as they approached. Tall glass window let in light from the back of the house, and they walked through this room, a conservatory with a grand piano and several enchanted instruments that perked up and let out a few hopeful arpeggios as they walked by.
When they reached the door of the drawing room, Newt stopped, turning to the others. "Now, please let me do the talking. And Queenie—don't you dare read any of their minds. I'm serious. They don't know what you are—it wouldn't be fair."
Queenie frowned at him but gave him a little nod of the head. Tina and Jacob looked at each other doubtfully, and Newt's heart sunk. He wanted to appear confident, but there was something about returning to one's childhood home after years away that seemed to require a return to the feelings of adolescence. That was the last thing Newt needed—he'd quite happily put that time and all those feelings in the past where they belonged.
Newt screwed up his courage and opened the wide wooden door. He was disappointed, but not surprised, to see the family already assembled before him.
Gloriana sat stiffly on the white sofa in a tweed skirt suit, and Salsify lounged on the arm of the sofa in a day dress and the clunky boots she'd stolen from his outgrown things to do her chores in. She raised her ginger brows under her flaming mane of hair and grinned at him shortly before returning her face to vaguely amused blankness. Theseus sat in an armchair to their mother's right, his fingers steepled in his lap in an annoying echo of the Minister of Magic. Which had copied which, Newt wondered? Theseus smirked at Newt, his perfect blond hair barely touched by red highlights fell in fashionable waves that stopped just above his chin. When he caught sight of Tina though, his eyes widened and then narrowed speculatively.
Lastly, George Sibelius Scamander, actual head of household, whatever the Ministry believed, was leaning against the mantelpiece, watching his second son carefully. He looked well, standing there in work trousers and an intricately knitted jumper rather than the crisp suit that he'd mainly worn throughout Newt's early adulthood. George's hair was as bright as Salsify's, and he smiled tentatively at Newt and his friends. A wave of guilt swept through Newt reminding him of his harsh words on their last meeting. But he hadn't changed his mind. Theseus may have worn the suit now—and Newt couldn't help but agree that the change in roles seemed to suit both father and brother well—but he couldn't help the feeling that Theseus as Lord Warden so soon was a mistake.
Gloriana cleared her throat and looked at Newt meaningfully. He gulped and ushered his friends into the center of the large room.
"Mother, Father," he said, leaving out the siblings for the time being, "These are my friends from New York. This is Jacob Kowalski and Queenie—also Kowalski," he had just barely caught himself and so hurried on, "and this," Newt stopped and went back to where Tina was standing slightly behind her sister, taking her by the hand and drawing her out in front of his family.
"This is Tina, my wife."
Salsify overbalanced and fell off the arm of the sofa, landing ungracefully in a heap on the floor. Newt was glad to see that she was still as childlike as he'd remembered.
Theseus raised his eyebrows.
"So it's true," he said.
George stopped leaning and stood rigidly, the smile dropped off his face. He stared nervously between Newt and Gloriana.
Newt's mother leaned back slightly, as though rocked by a strong wind. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then repeated, "Your wife?"
She looked at Tina. "When did this marriage take place?"
Tina was pale and breathing a little unevenly, so Newt stepped in.
"A few months ago—but—"
His mother glared at him. "I was speaking to your guest, Newton."
"Yes—but you see—"
A slight flicker in her eyes finally did him in.
"So—Tina, Mr. And Mrs. Kowalski, please sit down." Gloriana waved her wand, and the blue velvet sofa behind them advanced, knocking into the backs of Jacob's knees and sending him tumbling backward in surprise.
"Mother, please!" Newt protested. "Jacob is a muggle!"
"Oh is he?" she sounded as thought this had taken her a little off-guard. "But the others certainly aren't."
"No, Tina is an—was an—auror for MACUSA," Newt said. "And her sister Queenie also worked there."
"Hmm," said Gloriana.
"MACUSA, eh?" said Theseus, recovering from his surprise. "Then perhaps you and I know some of the same people. Let's see, I used to be in correspondence with Mr. Percival Graves, but his replacement, Mr. Abernathy, has been even more of a close correspondent, wanting advice on how we handle certain matters."
Could anyone sound more pompous if they tried? Newt rolled his eyes. Theseus caught it and sneered at him.
"We know those two," said Queenie, answering for Tina who was looking less and less well by the second. Queenie's eyes darted over to Newt, then to Gloriana on the white sofa across from them. That look did not bode well.
"Queenie, don't—" Newt whispered quickly.
"What's this?" Gloriana Scamander rose from her seat in shock. "Which of you would presume—?"
She was looking hard at Tina, and Newt couldn't help it, he couldn't let her be blamed.
"Queenie is a legilimens—a natural. She can't help it! She doesn't usually even mean to—"
It was as though a bomb had gone off. Salsify ran out the french doors that opened onto the porch and took off to the right. George's eyes grew wide and he quickly opened the door on the far side of the fireplace and went out. Gloriana glared at Theseus.
"What—I can stay—I'm the Lord Warden you know, I've passed my occlumency training years ago."
"Exactly," hissed his mother. "Years ago and with a trained legilimens to boot. You get out of here immediately or I'll write a report to the Minister myself—and the King, don't think I won't."
Theseus' lips pressed as tight as Gloriana's but he rose and left the room with only a deep glare at Newt. As he walked out past them he said just loud enough to be audible, "Home ten minutes and already causing six kinds of trouble for the family. Only you, little brother…"
After the door was shut behind him, Gloriana spoke.
"All right Newt, you wanted to explain. Tell me exactly why I should not turn Mrs. Kowalski out immediately."
"She doesn't mean it—she's never developed much control," Newt said. "It's a rare gift, but apparently so rare in America that almost no one there realizes what she is. She was advised at Ilvermorny to keep it to herself, but they were never able to engage a specialist to help her."
"That is not how we do things here, Mrs. Kowalski," said Gloriana, disapprovingly. "I am a trained legilimens of a sort myself. Though my specialty is in animals, it makes me very sensitive to mental intrusion. I'm certain you haven't got this far in life without realizing that using your gift indiscriminately is a serious breech of respect and decency."
"I never hurt anybody!" said Queenie. "I'd never use things I hear against someone!"
Newt sighed. He'd tried to tell Queenie telling strangers she was a good person wasn't sufficient to excuse her intrusions. This went double for people with legitimate secrets, but she apparently hadn't believed him. That, or, as he had come to suspect, she had never gained adequate control of her gift to turn it off when it was appropriate.
"That is not good enough. Whatever your intentions you could be manipulated, or tortured for information. And it's not as if you were very subtle in your efforts—any others with legillimency training would feel you coming at them a mile away. Is Ilvermorny really so inferior that they graduated a student unable to control her gifts? What did they do with you for exams?"
Queenie was red in the face, and looked like she was trying not to shout. "I took my exams, just like everybody else," she gritted out.
"But how did they know you weren't cheating?"
"I might be able to hear the others, but I didn't know which ones were right," she said defensively.
Gloriana tapped her foot.
"This is insupportable. The headmaster will be getting an owl from me in the morning."
Queenie seemed to have glued her mouth shut by force of will and sunk down on the sofa in misery. Jacob looked torn between his desire to comfort Queenie, his terror of Gloriana, and his strong streak of common sense which had long ago told him that Queenie's skill set was a difficult one to possess out in the open.
"Mother really!" Newt couldn't stand to see his friends so ill treated, even if he could see his mother's point of view as well. "Queenie and Tina have made the best of a very difficult situation. They lost their parents to Dragon Pox when they were young, and their aunt paid their school fees but was completely useless as a guardian otherwise. They've both done their best."
Gloriana rounded on Newt.
"And you! You couldn't have spared a second to send an owl telling us you were back in the country? Couldn't have spared a moment 'a few months ago' to tell us you'd married a witch you'd just met?"
"I've known Tina for over two years," Newt said.
Gloriana stared.
"And you said nothing when we last saw you?"
"You were only interested in discussing family business, if I recall," Newt said.
Gloriana flinched. She looked away, and Newt was unnerved to see tears glint in the corner of her eyes. She sniffed and rose from the sofa, turning away for a moment to regain her composure. When she turned back she flicked her wand and a little ball of yellow-green light spun off the end of it.
"Mr and Mrs. Kowalski may use the gamekeeper's cabin until we can work out other accommodation. I'm afraid you will have to fend for yourselves though. Our housekeeper and her daughter, who acts as housemaid, are both away visiting Mrs. Simmons' dying mother. It couldn't have come at a less convenient time."
The ball of light had been hovering and bobbing in the air in front of Gloriana while she spoke.
"Mr and Mrs. Kowalski, please follow the ball to the cabin. Someone will be with you shortly to discuss meals and any needs you might have. I would like a moment with my son and," she swallowed quickly, her left eyebrow raised, "my daughter-in-law."
Queenie gave Newt a very concerned look, and Jacob looked very unhappy.
"The light will show to where to go, and I'll send your luggage as soon as I have a moment," Newt encouraged.
Queenie looked like she wanted to protest, since Tina was very pale, but Jacob said, "All right, but please bring Tina if she needs anything, ok?"
They got up and followed the light out of the room. When the door shut behind them, Gloriana sighed and sat back down.
"I apologize," she said, turning to Tina, "I don't mean to make your sister uncomfortable but this is no place for a legilimens to arrive unannounced. Newt has been inexcusably lacking in proper etiquette."
She sighed, and summoned the drinks cart, which rolled toward them.
"I'd offer you tea, but as I've said, Simmons and Katie are gone for the immediate future, and I had no time to prepare anything. I think I'm going to have a brandy. Please help yourself if you'd like anything, Tina."
As she spoke, a large glass filled itself from a decanter full of a gold liquid.
"Mother! It's the middle of the afternoon!" Newt said. Tina would not usually be put off by this behavior, but if she was hovering somewhere in the realm of innocent schoolgirl it might be shocking.
Gloriana looked at him wryly.
"And I think I've had enough disturbing news to warrant a glass or two, thank you."
She took a sip, and sighed. She turned again to Tina.
"Newt mentioned that you are an auror. That's quite an achievement for someone your age. How long have you worked for MACUSA?"
"Mother, you can't—"
Gloriana gave Newt another quelling look and despite his absolute intention to say something anyway, he found himself looking to Tina to see what she would answer. It was not ideal, but he couldn't help secretly wonder if the uncomfortable situation would work, and help reconnect her memories. If Slughorn had been able to jolt Tina to lucidity with the mere mention of his mother, would the lady herself be able to produce even more remarkable results?
Tina took a shuddering breath, and straightened.
"I—don't know."
Gloriana looked unimpressed.
"You don't know. Is it not true then?"
"Mother, it's true," said Newt. "It's not so much that she doesn't know, as that she can't remember. That's why we're here."
He was disappointed, yet, but he wasn't going to let Tina be bullied any longer. Knowing it would help his case immensely with his mother, Newt dug in his pockets for the duplicates he had made of the files he'd given to the Minister. He couldn't trust Fawley not to lose or spill tea on them, so it seemed best to have some insurance.
Newt stepped over and passed her the entire thick file. After a second, he added one further thing that had been in the top pocket of his suit jacket. It was a picture that Queenie had had done on their wedding day. It hadn't been in the church as it would have been had they been in Britain. President Picquery had taken a moment to do the short ceremony herself, and though it really hadn't been much—Jacob hadn't even been able to be there because it was in the MACUSA building—but in the photo Newt and Tina were so giddy, smiling and laughing. The Newt in the picture picked Tina up and spun her around, beaming. He hadn't shown the picture to Tina, thinking it might make her uncomfortable. In truth, it would make him uncomfortable for her to see such an intimate moment that she no longer shared with him. But the photograph would go a long way toward explaining things to Mother. He laid it on top of the folder.
Gloriana picked it up, looking between the happy couple in the photograph and the two pale, tired people before her.
"What happened?" she asked sharply.
Newt gestured to the files in her hands, which she opened and began to page through. Newt paced over to the far wall where the windows let out on the side of the yard that the family used. He could see Salsify standing behind a giant holly bush trying to see through the window to where they were. He waved at her, and she ducked behind the bush. She must have realized what a pitiful move that was, because she sheepishly got up and waved back. She gestured for him to come out, but he held up one finger. She'd have to wait until all this was sorted.
Gloriana inhaled sharply. She must have got to the page with the photographs of Tina's injuries.
"This—this is horrible," she said. "You poor child. I'm so sorry."
When Newt spun around, he was very surprised to see that his mother had set aside the folder and was sitting beside Tina on the blue sofa, holding her hand.
"Th—thank you," Tina started, sounding a little hoarse. "I know Newt's been trying to find a cure—he found this plant, and a potions expert at the hospital, but not knowing where we're gonna be or what's gonna happen has been really hard," she let out a little sob.
This was too much for Gloriana, whose strictness covered a vast well of empathy for all creatures in need, and she hugged Tina tightly.
Newt was about to protest—he didn't want to make Tina uncomfortable, but before his eyes Tina wrapped her arms around the older woman as the sobs wracked her body. She cried for a very long time, and all Newt could do was stand there like an idiot while his mother soothed her and rubbed her back like she was a baby hippogriff with a broken wing. Like she had done for him when at five years old he'd tried to match Corwin's newfound powers of flight without a broomstick and had jumped off the roof of the stable.
"I don't—" Tina was stuttering, trying to speak through the fat tears that splashed her face. "I don't even know why I got hurt. What was I doing there? They say he found me, but why? Why was I alone?"
Newt felt wrung out. He walked over and knelt in front of the sofa where Tina and Gloriana sat.
"I'm not entirely sure. We've been over a little of this before—but I suppose you don't remember it. You'd learned something about a missing muggle journalist, and though I'd asked you to wait, for some reason you left before I could reach you. I had to try four different location spells before I got a lock on you. It was horrible. I was terrified that I was too late. But thankfully your injuries were easily mended—all except your memory, of course."
Tina quieted.
"And so," Gloriana said, "you came here in hopes that St. Mungo's could do something?"
"I had found something in my travels that seemed promising. A magical herb that grows beneath the nest of a creature whose venom produces forgetfulness."
"A natural antidote?" These existed more frequently than people realized, but it would be amazing to find a pair for something so major as memory.
"I don't know! We met with Professor Slughorn on Saturday at St. Mungo's, but he could only tell us he'd see us again in a fortnight."
"On Saturday?" asked Gloriana. "And since then?"
"We've been staying at the Leaky Cauldron."
"I see."
"Mother," Newt sighed. "You know I didn't leave here on the best of terms last time. And when I learned that Theseus was staying here—" He shuddered.
Gloriana rolled her eyes. "You two could complement one another so well, you know. But instead of cooperation, all we've ever gotten from either of you is rancor." She brushed the topic away with a gesture and continued. "Well, what changed?"
"Changed?" asked Newt
"Why did you come here, since you've made it so clear you didn't want to?"
Tina bit her lip. "Why—?" she began.
Newt stopped trying to formulate a passable answer for his mother and turned to his wife.
"Yes?" he encouraged.
Her brow furrowed, and she pulled back a little on the sofa from both his and Gloriana. He didn't like the way she seemed to be having trouble focusing on his face.
"Why didn't you tell your family that you and I got married?"
Newt closed his eyes. This was not a question he wanted to answer, not with his mother sitting there, ready to be wounded by whatever he said. He hurried to minimize the situation.
"Well, Tina, it all happened very quickly, you know. I was planning to travel to South America, and you had just finished a major case at work. And it all, well, everything just sort of led to it and—"
Newt shut up, because with every word he uttered Tina was becoming more and more agitated. Tears were rolling down her cheeks again, and her breathing was getting uneven.
"Tina, please! What is it?" he cried.
She covered her face.
"You wouldn't tell them—we got married real fast—it was all about the baby then, wasn't it?"
"What? No!" Newt tried to lean toward her. He needed to straighten this out once and for all.
"Baby."
The word was cold, and not even very loud. But the intensity of it was enough to break through Tina's upset. She edged away from the other woman on the sofa as Gloriana's face had once again stiffened into a blank mask.
"Newton. Explain."
Newt sprang up and away from his mother. He tore at his hair. Tina was gasping and when she removed her hands from her eyes they were very unfocused.
"This is all going wrong!" Newt walked over to the mantel and rested his head against the cold marble, closing his eyes for a bare moment. It was enough to prioritize. He strode over to Tina, and pulled her up from the sofa, finally at long last wrapping his arms around her as he'd wanted to do so desperately for months now.
"Remember what Jane Whatsit said, Tina? The midwife? She told us that you were eleven and a half weeks on. We were married on September the eighth. I've told you before, but you can look at our marriage license if that would help to keep it straight. Today is Monday, December 12, 1928. That gives us twenty-four days in between getting married and your attack."
Tina had been standing very still, red in the face with her eyes on his. She now very tentatively moved her arms to his back. Then she blushed even more fiercely.
She dashed the tears away from her eyes.
"Twenty-four," she said shortly, trying to get herself under control. Tina never liked to make a scene, even when she felt it necessary. "Okay."
Newt didn't want to make her uncomfortable, and he could tell that he already was somewhat, but he gave into his needs and hugged her tight for a moment. It felt like hugging Tina, which was to say it felt absolutely perfect. It also gave him the opportunity to whisper in her ear, "Neither one of us had any practical experience whatsoever with any of this before we were married. Please don't worry."
He pulled back. She'd gone from scarlet to maroon, but her tears had stopped. They both turned at the sound of a cleared throat on the sofa. Newt stood as uncomfortably straight as Tina in response.
"Baby," Gloriana repeated. She was obviously trying very hard to stay elegantly neutral, but her usual propriety had already been bent and broken to pieces by all the completely off the wall revelations of the past half hour. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Gloriana was nothing like the mask of nobility that she put on as the lady of the manor.
Newt tried to get it out straight, to give it all the proper weight considering how much it had scared them all to learn of it, and how uncertain their future was because of it. But when he spoke, maybe due to the endorphins from finally hugging Tina, maybe because of the vulnerable note in his mother's voice, he couldn't keep himself from smiling.
"Yes. We found that out at St. Mungo's too—Tina and I are going to have a baby. She was checked out by an experienced midwife, and there was no damage to the baby during her attack. We hadn't known then—it was too early I suppose."
Newt waited for his mother's response, grinning like an idiot when he glanced out of the corner of his eyes and caught a pleased smile on Tina's face.
It was Gloriana's turn to get up and pace the room. She walked back and forth for a moment or two, then returned to where her glass of Brandy had been sitting on the drinks cart and drank the whole thing down without stopping. She winced a bit and shook her head.
"All right," she said to herself, a get-it-together pep-talk that Newt suspected Gloriana gave to herself silently in most circumstances. "Newt and his injured auror are having a baby, but are—and were—properly married."
"Yes," Newt hastened to confirm this, "you can see in the photograph—President Seraphina Picquery of MACUSA performed the ceremony herself."
Gloriana nodded slowly. "Hardly the Archbishop of Canterbury, but it could be much worse." She continued pacing, and Newt surreptitiously stepped back beside Tina, reaching his hand out slightly toward her. He was incredibly pleased when he felt Tina's long fingers tentatively tangle with his. It was going to be okay.
"Have you anywhere else to go?" asked Gloriana suddenly. "Any other options you haven't explored yet?"
"Um, no," said Newt.
"Excellent," said Gloriana. "Then I'll put Tina upstairs, and we shall all see to her care. We've got plenty of space, plenty of fresh air, food, easy access to London, and in a few months I have two Aetherion mares who will be ready to foal in case she needs some idea of how it's done. Why on earth didn't you come right away?" Gloriana was clearly not expecting an answer.
Newt raised his eyebrows at Tina and mouthed, "I wonder why."
"None of that, Newton. Now please get Tina settled in the Rose Room. You can have your old room."
He made a face and gently released Tina's hand as he strode toward his mother.
"Really, I was hoping we could stay in the Gamekeeper's cabin with Queenie and Jacob. Tina will want to be close to her sister."
"Oh that's right, the natural," said his mother, grimacing as she remembered the situation with Queenie. "And how have you fared, keeping company with a natural legilimens all this time? I don't recall you attending particularly closely to Ashley's occlumency lessons."
"I've learned," Newt said. "Don't look at me like that—I'm secure enough to make Queenie quite cross with me. Unfortunately she has always been told to keep her abilities a secret, so she's never really learned any of the etiquette we read about in school."
"She will have to learn, if she wants to stay. And that husband of hers, the muggle. Is he just planning to wait around here with her indefinitely?"
"Jacob owns a bakery in New York that he'll need to get back to eventually," Newt said. "He's incredible—it's been written up in all the muggle papers."
"A bakery?" Gloriana turned on her heel to face Newt. "Can he do other types of cooking?"
"I'm sure he can, though generally he does the pastries and Queenie does most of the main courses. Together though, they are amazing. Muggle hard work and magical technique can get quite a lot accomplished in the kitchen."
Gloriana's eyes gleamed. "Really? Then my prayers have been answered! I have a proposition for your friends. Theseus neglected to check with me before inviting several of his friends from the Ministry here for the Christmas holiday. If he had, I would have told him that Simmons and Katie are with their dying relative who seems to be taking her time about it—I'm sorry, that was uncharitable—but it's left us completely upended. I can barely do a souffle, and George isn't much better. Your sister likes making jellies for some reason, but I've never seen her come up with anything else. We can't exist on jellies alone throughout the entire Christmas season."
Newt crossed his arms. "So suddenly you're thrilled to have a legilimens to stay, so long as she cooks and cleans for you?"
"No cleaning! I can manage some charms for most of that, and well, the rest of us will just have to pull together on that front. I mean, we do have magic for heaven's sake. But I'm afraid no amount of magic is going to give me a place to start with a Christmas goose."
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
"If Mrs. Kowalski is willing to learn, I will teach her what I can, and then once I have an idea of her needs I can engage a tutor for her. Surely she'll want to learn more about legilimency. And if she agrees to stay away from George and Salsify until we're all more comfortable with one another, I am more than willing to apologize for any slights. And pay her and her husband for the chef duties."
"Let me ask for you," Newt said. "I'll see what they say. Jacob has left his bakery in good hands for the moment, but it is of course up to him when he feels he needs to return to it."
"Excellent. But not right away. Tina looks like she could use some time to rest. If there's anything you need dear, please don't hesitate to ask," she finished, looking at Tina in a bit of bewildered wonder. Things had moved very fast indeed.