The evening progressed slowly after dinner, allowing them the pleasure of spending it leisurely.
Queenie was all but bursting with excitement for the ceremony that was finally approaching. She beamed the entire evening, her radiant aura spilling into the space of the parlor they shared and filling it with every ounce of joy pulsing through her. Jacob was much the same. His own delight came with every glance he stole in Queenie's direction — grinning proudly whenever she spoke his name.
The only matter that threatened to sour the convivial charm of the evening was that of what the stout baker was to wear to his own nuptials. According to the contents of his suitcase, which he spread out for all to see, his current options consisted of mostly second hand suits in drab and not-so-posh earth tones. Queenie was quick to shrug at the issue, claiming matter-of-factly that all she needed was him to be at the altar. Newt, however offered an alternative, suggesting that Jacob use the suit he had worn to his brothers wedding.
"All it would need is a bit of tailoring — my mother is rather good at it," Newt had mentioned with a smile. "I'm sure she would be more than happy to help."
Queenie sprang from her chair, tossing aside the pile of garments from Jacob's case in her lap, uttering her thanks and gave Newt a quick embrace which he returned gladly.
As night began to fall, time turned into a precious commodity and what had been a leisurely evening began to feel laden with the weight of what had to be done before daybreak. Only a small number of hours remained until sun breached the horizon and each of them stole away into their own corner of Newts spacious flat to prepare for the impending dawn. Queenie locked herself away in the spare room with a plethora of ivory fabrics, laces and the like, to tend to her dress with the specific instruction not to bother her, while Jacob barricaded himself in the kitchen determined to make a beautiful wedding cake.
With her sister and soon to be brother-in-law preoccupied, Tina's heart began to flutter with the notion that she and Newt were alone once more. A spark tickled over her skin when he took her hand in his, a jolt of something she knew was more than simple enthusiasm. He said nothing as he led her to the room just beyond the parlor they'd spent the last few hours in; a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth seeing for the first time: his study. The smell of old parchment and leather hung heavily there in the dim confines of the room which Tina found herself inhaling deeply with a nostalgic smile. In a way, it reminded her of all the hours she had spent immersed in old books during her school days studying for exams. She would have been happy to stay in the cozy space reminiscing and exploring the adventures to be found in the hundreds of pages surrounding them, but Newt pulled her further into the room. Before she knew it, Tina found herself carefully scaling the narrow ladder into the magical world of his case and the shelves of books were forgotten.
An odd yet profoundly welcomed sense of coming home greeted Tina as her eyes skated over the familiar surfaces of Newts work shed and the smile on her lips pulled tighter. The thrill rushing to every part of her, pumping with every beat of her heart was something unfathomable and invigorating. Immersing herself in his world, so easily for the first time in months had her head spinning delightfully.
Dougal was the first of Newt's creatures to welcome her, tugging excitedly on the hem of Tina's pant leg as though he were an impatient toddler. She couldn't help but to chuckle.
"He seems glad to see you," Newt noted, looking pleased as he relieved himself of his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. With a wordless flick of his wand he sent his discarded garment to hang on the hook by the door.
"I'm glad to see him!" Tina grinned, giving the apelike creature a gentle pat on his head.
Dougal trilled his thanks and if Tina didn't know any better she thought she caught him smiling back at her.
"I shouldn't be long, Tina," Newt said around the wand in his mouth, wiping away a runnel of saliva with his shoulder as he spoke. He was busy loading feed into buckets from cumbersome burlap bags.
Tina fought a laugh at the sight of him, and shrugged. "I can help, just let me know what I need to do." She tossed her blazer aside with enthusiastic flair, and rolled up the sleeves of her blouse just as Newt had, ready to get to work.
The enthusiasm with which she began gathering objects, various feeds and other tools, had brought out the toothy grin Tina was so fond of seeing stretch crossed his freckled face. There was an air of admiration and disbelief twinkling in Newt's hazel green eyes as he motioned towards which enclosures were in need of refreshing, which encouraged Tina wholeheartedly. Dougal trailed along as she saw to her half of the chores, and she began to understand the companionship Newt found with his beloved creatures.
Seeing to each creature with a mirrored amount of the devotion Newt harbored was a solid hour of work, work that made Tina appreciate her above-average upper body strength considerably more. It had never occurred to her how much lifting was involved with taking care of magical creatures. Sweat and heavy lifting aside, she would do it all over again, especially if it meant she had the chance to steal a glance at Newt as he easily hefted heavy objects.
Charlie the hippogriff was the last of the menagerie to be fed. Newt held Tina's hand as they walked through the wooded enclosure, over twigs and a cushion of pine needles to find him. He was nestled in a bed of leaves and needles, looking as prim and proper as a beast could, when they finally found him. The two of them took turns bowing before they approached any further and waited until he too, bowed his head. Tina was considerably less nervous than the last time she had visited the winged creature. Charlie wasn't frightening at all once he trusted her.
The hippogriff squawked the moment he spotted the sling of dead mammals Newt wore across his body, and he stood from where he was resting.
"He's gotten so big," Tina murmured, holding out her palm for the creature to nudge.
Christmas seemed like a lifetime ago, and at the time Charlie had been so much smaller. The last time Tina had seen the creature he barely reached Newt's torso, now he stood at Newt's height, able to see eye to eye..
"Yes, no longer the runt, are you, Charlie?" Newt rubbed the beasts feathers and tossed him a portion of his meal. "Mum is very pleased with his progress, which is saying something. She's very opinionated when it comes to her 'griff's."
Tina grinned, "Well, she left him in very good hands."
Newt's glance met hers from under his fringe, his green eyes smoldered a rich emerald as they caught a beam of false sun breaking through the towering trees surrounding them. A grin pulled at the corner of his lips that made him appear both boyish and handsome; it was a look that Tina wanted to remember forever. He was on the verge of saying something, Tina could tell by the slight gape of his mouth, and her heart's rhythm increased tenfold from the anticipation. She returned the smile with the hope it would persuade him into speaking whatever he was thinking, but he never got the chance, thanks to Charlie's impatience.
The hungry creature eagerly nudged Newt with enough force to almost send him toppling backwards. Newt's nimble feet corrected the blunder before he could fall, and laughed, issuing the hippogriff a swift apology along with the rest of his supper.
"Sometimes I forget that he thinks about only his stomach," Newt said, shaking his head affectionately at the beast.
Tina grinned in reply to his comment, letting her focus fall to where her fingers gently combed through Charlie's caramel colored feathers. The atmosphere grew quiet, a peaceful sound, with only the distant braying of Newt's magical beasts to touch her ears. Newt was quiet too, but Tina could feel his eyes on her. There was amazement and a hint of intimacy in them as he watched her. Almost as though he were caught in a trance, the same trance she'd seen him watch his creatures with: one of unending compassion. There was more to it though, something akin to desire. It caused heat to build in Tina's cheeks and in her middle; she wanted to both hide from and soak in his tender glances. She felt weak and oddly empowered at the same time. Tina's mind betrayed her, leaving her without an inkling as to how she should respond. Instead, she stifled a sigh and kept her focus on the spread of feathers woven beneath her palm.
"Have you taken care of everyone?" Tina asked several moments later in an attempt to deter the amount of tension building.
"Yes," Newt blinked, the corners of his mouth ghosting into a faint frown. "All that's left is to try to convince Pickett to stay down here for a few days."
Tina breathed a skeptical sounding chuckle.
The creature in Newts' breast pocket stirred at the sound of his name, and two leafy sprouts poked out. As they began their trek back to the main area of the case, the bowtruckle seemed to be once more scolding his caretaker, and Tina guessed it had something to do with traveling via portkey again.
Whatever had the tiny creature currently vexed, it was all Tina could do to keep from smirking.
"I truly am sorry, Pickett," Newt tried to reason with him. "But I did warn you."
Pickett tutted rudely and went with surprisingly little coaxing back to the tree of bowtruckles. Newt watched the twig like creature climb to the very top of the wand wood tree as a hint of moisture gleamed in his eyes.
"He must really be angry with me…" he sighed sounding as though he just lost a dear friend.
A pang of woe bit into the pit of Tina's stomach seeing the expression on Newt's face and she longed to remedy it.
"I'm sure he'll get over it in a day or two," Tina assured him, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. "He just needs to cool off is all."
Newt nodded, the faint smile returning to his lips as he glanced her way. "I'm sure you're right. Shall we go up now?"
"Yes."
Newt set a delicate kiss on Tina's cheek, thanking her for helping with his creatures, before leading her through the clutter of his workshed, up the ladder and back into reality. Tina fought to keep from frowning, feeling the weight of the real world take hold of her once more. The interior of Newt's flat was dark and utterly void of sound.
"I think they've gone to bed," Tina said, making her way into the empty living space that connected the two rooms.
She had almost forgotten how fickle time was while she was in the magical case, what felt like a simple hour, easily could have been two or even three. The street out the large front window was vacant and black, evidence of the late hour, yet Tina felt wide awake.
"It's nearly one in the morning." Newt noted sounding surprised himself as he tucked his pocket watch back into place.
Tina's brows knit together as she mouthed the time to herself, cursing the uncouth time zones and the effect they had on inexperienced travelers.
"We should probably get some sleep then." She sighed with mild annoyance.
She was not ready to sleep. In Tina's mind she only been awake less than half of the day. Her internal clock was ready to sit and read for the rest of the evening, New York time, or work on paperwork, but mostly she wanted to spend more time with Newt in his case.
"Yes," he agreed, though he too didn't seem sold on the idea. "When navigating time zones it's best to fall into them accordingly, no matter how irritating it may be for one's internal clock."
He spoke as though he were reading from some sort of manual that she translated into his experience with the matter. While she disliked it, Tina couldn't argue his logic.
Tina husked out an annoyed breath of her defeat and made her way for the stairs with Newt in tow. The upstairs was just as silent with the only slivers of light cascading in from the window at the end of the hall to guide their way. Tina frowned somewhat, finding Jacob and Queenie's door closed with no light spilling from under the crack; discovering them awake would have provided her with a solid excuse to stray from bedtime. There were no hushed voices coming from the other side of the wooden door, just faint snores to slay Tina's last hope of prolonging the evening.
"I'll go change down the hall," Tina said upon entering their chamber, trying not to let her bitter feud with Father Time seep into her tone.
Newt nodded, sauntering over to his chest of drawers where he began lazily digging through the folded garments. Tina quickly snatched her belongings from under the side of the bed and made her way to the bathroom down the hall. The small room was rather chilly for it being the middle of summer, something she suspected had to do with the white tiles adorning the floor and half the walls. The room, like the kitchen was blessedly clean apart from Newt's straight razor left dangerously on the sink.
As she methodically stripped out of her everyday clothes her mind toyed with the notion of what it might feel like to have Newt peel her garments from her shoulders. All at once the chilly room was hot. Heat rushed to fill her cheeks and pool in her center, she felt dizzy for a moment as all the blood in her body flushed to every inch of her apart from her brain. Never had she felt something so profoundly ridiculous; she was being absurd, and she could have kicked herself on account. What power did Newt possess to render her so infatuated? Tina's heart was rapidly getting ahead of itself and her mind was struggling to keep up.
With a gruff sigh, mad at herself, she removed her simple set of cotton pajamas, while eyeing the silk nightgown she convinced herself to pack on a brazen whim. Tina had never much cared for the loose-fitting, billowy garments Queenie fancied, they always made her feel exposed, though Tina figured that was the point.
Her eyes continued to teeter from the modest set of night clothes in her hand to the unworn, eyebrow-raising garment that tempted her, still folded neatly in her case.
That would certainly catch Newt's eye, she mused, noticing it was the same lavender color he had commented on earlier.
"No," she told herself, slamming the lid of her case to end the relentless temptation. "What's that No-Mag saying about slow and steady?"
Tina redressed, continuing to give herself advice. "Be patient. Let it play out…"
Usually, Tina found talking to herself to be a sign she was either overthinking the situation or that she finally cracked. However, the pep talk seemed to steer her heart and mind into the same road for once, though she doubted the two would remain steadily on the same path for long. Her heart had always been a yearning, adventures creature, longing for excitement and maybe even love. Her mind was a far simpler beast, thriving off logic and useful data, but oh how it often plagued her innocent heart with worry. The two rarely agreed, but when they did, Tina always found peace.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I threw in Charlie from way back in the second part of this series! That was a fun little easter egg lol. Only 3 more chapters now. I can't believe we're so close to the end. The next installment of this series is coming along, a bit slower now, but I'm hoping you all won't have to wait 6 months for that one, especially seance it's not super long.
Furthermore, you can follow me on Tumblr at fandom-non-sense
That is where you can keep up with my progress, check out my favorite works by other talented authors and even find a link to keep me caffeinated so I write quicker ;).
Also HUGE thank you and shout out to my betas CuivienenGazer and katiehavok. They are the true heroes here and I owe them both so much for making these chapters readable.