Sorry for the wait! Again, writer's block, family, work etc. etc. I'm hoping to finish this story before TCOG comes out, however, so please don't lose faith in me! xD

Percival had called the entire circus backstage just a mere hour later, waiting patiently for them to shuffle in; they all took notice of the new man immediately, curious and whispering to each other. Newt could only smile weakly, eyes involuntarily scanning the crowd – and then he saw her, standing beside her sister and looking at Percival expectantly; he felt his heart skip a beat in his chest at the sight.

"Alright," Graves began, looking around at all of them with a gleam in his eyes. "You've had a great rehearsal, everyone, and you should be very proud. You finished just in time too, because our new apprentice has arrived; everyone, this is Newton Scamander."

"Just Newt is fine," He added quickly, trying not to go red.

As the acts all eyed him up, the older man continued talking. "Mr Scamander knows a great deal about animals, including some of the wilder ones; I was rather impressed by his knowledge when I talked with him last night, and I think he'll add something excellent to our show. You're all to be nice to him," He added jokingly, and some of them smirked. "Make sure he feels at home with us and all that – he's part of our family now."

The dark-skinned woman in the turban who he had seen singing during the shows stepped forwards, smiling somewhat warily with a glance towards the ring-master. "Of course. Welcome to the circus, Mr Scamander – if you're anything like Percy claims you are, then we're more than happy to have you."

"Oh. Erm…" Nervously, Newt extended his hand. "Right, thank you."

The woman seemed surprised at this, hesitating before placing her hand in his; a few of the other circus acts murmured as they shook hands, looking around at each other curiously. "You're something, Mr Scamander," The woman decided, the corners of her mouth turning up into a smile. "I think you'll fit right in."

Percival clapped his hands together and looked at everyone meaningfully. "Alright, we'll have time for the pleasantries later – right now, I want to polish a few things. Sera, you want to go over your new number?"

"Sure," She said, smiling at him; Newt noticed that the ring-master's cheeks went only slightly pink, giving her a smile of his own.

"Great. Everyone, you've got ten minutes to get some food and all that – and that doesn't mean heading to O' Malley's for a quick drink," He added, casting a knowing glance at a tattooed man. "We're all a part of the number, so everyone needs to be sober."

Newt couldn't help but feel slightly dazed as the circus dispersed, each of the acts retreating to their own areas to freshen up. It didn't escape his notice that a few were still casting glances at him, intrigued and clearly wanting to ask him questions, and he couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that they were too occupied to do so for now.

"Don't worry, you'll be sitting on the side-lines for this rehearsal," Percival assured him suddenly, starting to make his way to his office; the younger man hurried to follow. "We don't have any animals just yet, and even if we did there'd be no way of getting them trained enough for tonight's show, but it shouldn't be too long. For now, you'll just be watching the show, making suggestions and all that."

"Ah. Right."

"You'll come to enjoy the circus life," Graves said, bemused as he held his office door open. "You'll see. They all might look intimidating at first glance, but we're a big family – everyone here will accept you with open arms, so long as you do the same. Now, as for this afternoon's rehearsals, you'll be in the stands and giving feedback to everyone; don't be afraid to be tough on them."

Newt swallowed. "Tough?"

"We can't have them getting lazy," The older man chuckled, going over to his desk and picking up what looked like a cane. "When they get lazy, they stop trying – and we can't have that! Even if it's something small, tell them anyway: it'll push them to do better."

"I don't know if I can be…critical," Newt said unsurely. "I wouldn't want to offend anyone or make them angry-"

"Hogwash," Graves interrupted easily, shaking his head in amusement. "Trust me, Mr Scamander, they enjoy criticism far more than being told they're perfect – it shows you're paying close attention to everything they do. Everyone in our show strives to be the best they can, to make the most of their time in the limelight each night: you'll be helping them, I promise. Now then," He announced, tucking the cane under his arm. "We've got a rehearsal to run. Just pay attention to everything, and you'll be fine."

The younger man wasn't so sure that this was the case, and he felt a thrill of panic run through him.

What on Earth have I gotten myself into?

Sitting in the stands and watching the circus rehearse was rather strange and surreal, Newt found; they all made it look so easy, the way they moved around the ring, their smiles professional and even somewhat sincere. It was obvious that they all enjoyed what they were doing, every one of them, and the young man couldn't help but stare in awe.

Seraphina had been the first to practice her act, a beautiful upbeat song that left all of them entranced. None were more entranced than Mr Graves, however, and he seemed more than thrilled when the singer sent him a smile and a wink; Newt wondered if there was something to that, the looks and glances. It would have certainly made sense.

The Goldstein Sisters performed again shortly after, calling down to the troupe below for advice on how to improve their tricks. Newt tried not to stare too long at Tina, worried she would think him strange, but she barely glanced his way, too focused on her craft. Queenie, however, seemed to have no problem in smiling at him, her beautiful face open and friendly; he could only smile back uncomfortably, feeling terribly self conscious of himself.

After they'd finished their rehearsal and the bearded lady took to the spotlight, the sisters appeared from backstage and made their way over to the stands to sit with the others. Tina looked warily at everyone else, trying to determine the best place to sit; Queenie, however, beamed as took her sister by the arm and marched her towards the front row where Newt was sitting.

"Hi, Mr Scamander!"

"Queenie!" Tina hissed half-heartedly under her breath, looking mortified.

Newt felt his face grow warm as they came closer. "Oh, erm, hello… You were both wonderful, by the way," He added hurriedly.

The blonde smiled even wider. "Thank you, Mr Scamander! Say, do you mind if we call you Newt? Much more friendly that way, I think!"

"Err...yes, of course."

"Swell!" She pushed her sister to sit next to him before taking the next seat along. "Tina and I are real excited to have you in our circus, Newt; we can't wait to see you train some animals! I really like ponies, even if Percy's more eager for lions - there's something so quaint about ponies; don't you think?"

Newt, overwhelmed, could only nod.

"What do you think, Teen?" Queenie prompted, nudging her sister.

Tina looked like she'd rather be anywhere else than between the two of them, her cheeks dusting pink. "I...yeah. Sure."

"So, Newt, you really like our act, huh? I heard Percy and Sera talking about how much you enjoy it."

"It's...fantastic," Newt said honestly. "Really. You're both very good at it."

"It's mostly Tina," Queenie insisted, and her sister seemed to shrink into her seat. "She's the brains behind the whole thing - when we were little, she was the one who got us into it. I only enjoyed it so much because of her!"

Newt couldn't help but glance at Tina, somewhat curiously. "Oh? Well...you should be proud of yourself, T- Miss Goldstein," He managed. "It's truly very enchanting to watch."

"Queenie's just being modest," Tina said uneasily. "She's the one everyone comes to see, not me."

"I wouldn't say everyone," Newt mused before he could stop himself.

She looked at him, surprised by this; overcome by sudden embarrassment, he ducked his head and averted his gaze to the ring to watch the bearded lady finish her number. Queenie, on the other hand, was more than thrilled.

"See, Teen? I told you, you just gotta be more confident in yourself is all!" She sat back in her seat happily, watching her sister and the new assistant as they shyly exchanged small awkward smiles before looking away from each other.

Oh, there was definitely something there, Queenie decided to herself triumphantly, even if the two of them were too slow to see it yet. They just needed a little push, that was all.

And Queenie was more than willing to be the one to give it, if necessary.

The show that night went off without a hitch; Newt watched everyone from behind the curtain, unable to disguise or dismiss his interest, and occasionally gazed over at the crowd. The audience members were just as excited and pleased by the circus, cheering and hollering as each act came and performed. The biggest cheers seemed to go to Percival's opening number and the trapeze act – unsurprising, Newt supposed, for he was just as entranced.

"How were we?" Queenie breathed as she and Tina returned backstage, both of them looking flustered but alive.

"Wonderful," Newt said sincerely. "Really, very…erm…well done."

Queenie smiled widely. "Aw, you're a sweetheart. C'mon, Teen," She hummed, turning to her sister. "Gotta get changed for the final number."

He made a point of avoiding looking at Tina's bare legs as she and her sister returned to their private section of backstage, trying not to go red in the face but failing miserably. He was certain that Queenie winked at him knowingly before she disappeared, much to his chagrin.

By the time the show finished, the crowd were bordering on wild; all of the performers lined up to take a final bow before the lights went down and they returned backstage. Graves briefly praised all of them before taking Seraphina by the hand and bringing her back out so that they could say goodbye to the audience members. Newt found himself at a loss of what to do – perhaps he should go and say goodbye to the audience too? No, he decided suddenly, that would seem strange: no one had seen him, after all, for he had not been a part of the show. The performers were getting changed, so it seemed inappropriate to bother them just now.

Just as he was pondering on this, a hand tapped his shoulder; when he turned, he found himself face-to-face with Winston, one of the heavily-tattooed men from the show. The other man grinned at him. "You drink, Newt?"

"Drink? Um, not usually, but I do enjoy the occasional drink I suppose…"

"Great!" He clapped the British man on the back. "You can come out with us to O' Malley's, celebrate you joining us officially!"

"Oh, that's really not-…"

But his words fell on deaf ears. "I'll let everyone know – make sure we're all there for it, gotta welcome you properly!"

Winston was gone before Newt could find a way out of it, much to his dismay; he could already hear the tattooed man telling everyone to come for drinks, people cheering happily. There was no wriggling out of this one now.

Despite himself, however, he couldn't help but hope ever so slightly that she would be there too.

"We went out last night for drinks," Tina huffed, though she allowed her sister to drag her down the street by her arm. "I'm tired – I wanna sleep."

"Oh, stop complaining," Queenie chided cheerfully. "It's to welcome Newt properly to the circus; it'd be rude to not turn up! Besides, I think you two hit it off real well earlier – maybe you could talk a little to him?"

Tina made a noise of disagreement. "We didn't…hit it off," She insisted stiffly. "Why would you even think…you're being silly, Queenie."

"I know you, Teenie," The blonde scoffed happily. "You like him, I know you do; he's kinda cute, right? Not my type, but…"

"I don't think…he's not…" The taller woman trailed off, frowning as they approached the door to the bar. "It wouldn't matter anyway. Let's just get this outta the way so I can go back to the circus and sleep."

The rest of the circus were already there, laughing and drinking jovially; a few other patrons were there tonight, probably those who had been in the audience for the show, looking only somewhat bemused by the rowdy group. Queenie immediately marched up to the bar with her sister by her side and smiled at O' Malley brightly. "Six shots of whiskey and a martini, please!"

"Six?" Tina hissed in disbelief; her head was already pounding at the thought.

Queenie pretended not to hear her, glancing around the bar with interest; her gaze fell on a stout gentleman on a stool nearby. He had been watching them, she realized, and he hurriedly looked away when her eyes fell on him.

Huh, she thought absent-mindedly, he's real cute.

Without hesitating, she moved closer and started to speak to him. "Hi there!"

The man seemed to do a double take, looking around to see if she was talking to anyone else; finally, he cleared his throat and grinned shyly. "Hey."

"Were you at the show?" Queenie asked pleasantly as Tina watched in dismay. When he nodded, she beamed. "I thought so! We see so many people when we're up in the air, but something 'bout you looked kinda familiar. Did you enjoy it?"

"Oh, yeah," He agreed genuinely; there was no malice or pity in his voice whatsoever. "Last time I went to the circus was with my Grandma when I was a kid – seeing the show brought all those memories back, 'specially your trapeze act. I always liked the trapeze ones best."

Tina coughed, giving her sister's arm a small tug. "Queenie…"

But her sister didn't seem to hear her, laughing good-naturedly at what the man had said. "You're a real charmer, ain't you? Bet you say that to all the girls…"

"No, it's true," He insisted enthusiastically. "It's like watching birds fly, you know? I was watching, and the whole time all I could think was that you could've fallen – but you didn't. Graceful and weightless, like a bird…like it all came natural."

Queenie's cheeks tinged pink, her smile soft now. "You're awful nice… I'm Queenie."

"Queenie…that's a pretty name," The man said, somewhat awed. "Jacob, Jacob Kowalski."

Tina looked away from them, rather exasperated; she didn't need to be a mind-reader to know that her younger sister was completely taken with this gentleman. She looked at the drinks on the side of the bar, forgotten by the blonde, and sighed; of course she was left alone now, just when she'd been dragged to the bar against her will.

Scanning the crowds at the bar, she tried to find Percival – he'd understand if she complained of a headache and fatigue, and she'd be able to go to bed. Before she could find her mentor, however, a familiar mop of reddish-bronze curls caught her eye; she was admittedly surprised to see Newt sitting by himself, nursing a drink and looking just as awkward as she felt.

Fine, she thought irritably as she took the martini from the bar and made her way over, I'll talk to him – just so Queenie will leave me alone. Not that she'll notice, though, talking to that fella like she is…

"This seat taken?"

Newt glanced up, alarmed at being spoken to, and swallowed at the sight of her. "Erm, no. No, it's not taken."

"Great," She sighed, sitting down opposite him and placing her drink on the table. "So, you're not enjoying this either, huh?"

A wry smile broke out on his face. "Afraid not. I don't do public outings or celebrations, at least not well – I wasn't really given a choice though."

"I know how that feels," Tina muttered, glancing back over at Queenie and the Kowalski man; the blonde was now listening intently to something he was saying, eyes bright and full of wonder.

"It's not that I'm ungrateful," Newt explained quietly. "It's just…well, I think I would have preferred something a little more private and with a lot less drinking."

"Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the circus doesn't work like that," She said, smirking slightly. "Rowdy talk and drinking are pretty much everyone's favourite things to do 'round here."

Newt chuckled. "Yes, I supposed so. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but…but you don't seem like the type to behave that way, however. I hope that's not too forward of me to assume…"

"No, that's true," Tina admitted, taking a sip of her drink. "I prefer staying in, getting some sleep and all that, you know? I'm not exactly great at all this social stuff."

"I know the feeling," He agreed, and he sighed under his breath. "My brother does so well at all the parties and events, chatting everyone up, and I can barely get two words out before I embarrass myself."

"You have a brother?" She asked, surprised.

He nodded uncomfortably. "Yes. Theseus is…not really like me at all. I suppose that's why everyone likes him so much – he's quite popular with everyone."

"Queenie's the same," Tina muttered; her sister was now giggling at Jacob Kowalski, who was grinning at her as if he'd never seen someone so lovely in his life.

A long moment of silence fell between them, neither sure of what to say; finally, Newt cleared his throat and managed to raise his eyes to look at her. "So, Miss Goldstein-"

"Just 'Tina' is fine."

"Tina," He corrected. "How did you get into this business, if you don't mind me asking?"

There was no judgement in his tone, no derision, so she shrugged. "Well…I liked climbing and jumping off of stuff when I was little, liked jumping out of trees especially, and I guess I never grew out of it." A small smile formed on her face. "It's kinda like flying – for a split second, you're in the air with nothing to hold you up or stop you…it's like you're a bird or something."

"How wonderful," Newt breathed, and he looked rather intrigued – it took her aback slightly to see him so interested. "To be free and fly through the air…I can imagine why you'd love it so much."

"Yeah – I got Queenie hooked on it too," She mused. "Where I went, she followed, so… We met Percival before he started this circus up, and we saw other people doing aerial acts; we took up training as soon as he'd let us."

He grinned, somewhat shyly, at her. "Your parents must be proud that their daughters are such wonderful trapeze artists."

And just like that, the absent-minded smile was wiped from her face. "We don't… They're dead," She said brittlely, immediately putting her guard back up. "They died when we were kids."

"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry," Newt apologized quickly. "Really, I…I shouldn't have said-"

"It's fine," Tina interrupted. "You didn't know."

"No, I didn't. I truly am sorry," He said sincerely. "To lose your parents so young…I can't even imagine how the two of you must have felt."

She cleared her throat and avoided his eye. "I don't wanna talk about it," She stated sharply, and she stood up from her seat. "I gotta go; got a show tomorrow, so I should sleep."

"Of course. Well, why don't I walk you back?" Newt asked quickly, nearly knocking the table in his haste.

"I know where the building is," She huffed, trying not to roll her eyes.

"Of course, but it's dark out," He insisted. "You never know who's out on the streets around this time of night… It would make me feel more assured if I knew you weren't walking about on your own."

Tina eyed him, raising her brow as she pulled her coat around herself tighter; after a moment of deliberation, she sighed. "Fine, if it'll make you feel better than I guess you can walk back with me."

She didn't want to admit it, but she did feel a little safer taking his offer – given the disdain people had shown for the circus in the past, it was nerve-wracking to walk around in the dark alone. At least with Newt with her, she wouldn't have to deal with any hecklers alone.

That was the only reason, of course – otherwise, she thought, she would not have taken him up on his offer. Absolutely not.

While Jacob had gone to track down the barman to get them more drinks, Queenie sat on her stool and beamed to herself; he was a sweet fella, she'd found out, one of the nicest she'd met. He had seen the show that evening and loved it from start to finish – he'd gone to so many circuses with his grandmother as a boy, and theirs was the only one he'd seen that gave him that same feeling when he watched. He was a complete gentleman too, complimenting her and telling her about his bakery; he owned one locally, he'd told her, and he loved making pastries for people because he wanted to make them smile.

Her heart had swelled at that particular remark, and she found herself already taken with him.

As she waited, someone nudged her with their elbow to catch her attention; when she turned, she found herself face-to-face with Graves. She smiled at him warmly. "Hiya, Percy! Everything going okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine." He smirked a little, gesturing over to the exit of the bar. "I think Tina's getting on well with the new apprentice."

Queenie laughed quietly when she looked over; Newt was holding the door open for her sister, smiling bashfully and talking to her in a low voice – it seemed that they were leaving together. "I knew it! Teen can't hide anything from me!"

Percival merely raised his whisky in a mock-toast and chuckled lowly. "Indeed. I say we make sure they're alone for half an hour before we all leave – give them some time to get to know each other."

"You know," Queenie hummed as Jacob made his way back over, a gleam in her eyes. "I was thinking the exact same thing, Percy."

Reviews are greatly appreciated! :)

I'm sorry for the wait, but I've been SWAMPED by university and work – also my laptop charger broke so I had to order a new one, and then I had other laptop issues…so yeah. But here's the new chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed it! :D