Chapter 10

With a whooshing sound, a teen came tumbling out of the fireplace, he skidded to a stop on his knees. Another whoosh and out from the emerald flames, in stepped an older gentleman, chuckling at the boy's expense.

"Still ended up on your knees, Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry groused as he pushed himself off the floor and dusted off the soot.

"You'll get there. Just think, after only one instruction, you no more shot out of a fireplace arse over teakettle. A few more practice and you'll be stepping out the proper way."

Harry nodded as he kept looking around the room they were in. It was a brightly lit room, with the walls covered in forest green wallpapers with numerous moving images of animals – ranging from dragons to fairies.

"Welcome to Sanctuary, Harry. This is my home, as well as the base of Eden."

"Eden, Professor?" Harry asked.

"It is what I call my animal preserve, Harry. Just out the back, there is the place where I keep and tend to the fantastic beasts I found over the years. I try to help them to rehabilitate in their natural stomping grounds when they can take care of themselves. I feel it is the most responsible, harrowing yet the most rewarding job in the world."

Harry had the bowtruckle, Pickett, on the palm of his hand chittering away. He beamed at the older man and said, "If it is anything like caring for our little mate here, Professor, I can understand your feeling."

Before the man could reply, a call came from inside the house proper.

"Newt? You took your sweet time at the Alley, didn't you?"

The owner of the voice stepped in for Harry to take a good look. A lady, to Harry's estimate, nearly the same age as Professor Scamander, stopped short at finding not one, but two individuals standing inside of the said room. She was quite pretty, and despite the touches of age, quite fit.

"Hello, love." Newt stammered, cementing Harry's notion that the woman was his wife.

"Hello, husband. I didn't know that we were expecting company." She raised a questioning eyebrow towards her husband after giving Harry a welcoming smile.

"Um, yes, you see, there were lots that happened this morning…" Newt's unease was also making Harry fidget. He was wondering if it was the right thing to do to accept Newt's apprenticeship without thinking things through.

"I bet." One corner of her lips quirked as she gave her husband an amused, yet strict glare before turning once more towards Harry. "Hello dear. My name is Porpentina Scamander, wife of this uncouth man who doesn't even have the manners of introducing us."

Harry stole a glance at the said man to find him standing there with his head hung low abashed. He took a step forward and took the lady - Mrs Scamander's proffered hand. Doubtful about whether he should shake her hand or plant a kiss on her knuckles, he chose the middle ground by gripping her hand lightly and bowing his head over their clasped hands.

"I am Harry, ma'am, Harry Potter."

His identity seemed to throw the woman a little off balance. She rapidly looked between the boy and her husband. Harry was happy to see that never did her eyes tried to seek the infernal scar on his forehead.

"Truly?" She gasped.

Newt, who finally had gathered enough courage to meet his wife's stare, gave her a brilliant smile, and with a childish exuberance, nodded his head.

"As I said, Tina, a lot happened this morning."

Tina nodded, "Well, why don't you tell me about it while we have our lunch? You are hungry, aren't you Mr Potter?"

"Er, it's just Harry, ma'am… and I don't want to be any trouble."

Tina waved his awkwardness away and placed a hand over his shoulder. "Nonsense, it is no trouble at all. Tell me, Harry, what is your favourite subject in school?"

Newt watched as his wife steered his apprentice away towards the dining room. He let out a long drawn sigh he didn't even know he was capable of. Then he followed the duo with a spring in his steps. He hoped he could get away with his deeds.

[TUP]

The lunch hour had passed peacefully at the Scamander household. The three individuals had partaken in a lively conversation mostly concentrating on Hogwarts and its offered curricula. But hidden within that questionnaire, was a careful attempt to ferreting out what little secrets could there be from the Boy Who Lived. What was wondrous, was the fact that the boy never even realized that he was spilling his beans throughout the time. Newt was once more amazed by his skilful wife who had been a decorated Auror herself.

After lunch, Newt decided that he should introduce Harry to some of his rather tame friends. Thus, they went out to the back and stood at the fenced-off portion of Eden that housed a pair of Crups and their Crup puppies. It was quite amusing to see the boy roll around in the dirt with the fork-tailed puppies jumping all over him.

"After all these years, after many candidates who begged and offered their vaults' contents to you for an apprenticeship, and after turning them all away, rudely at every similar situation – if you don't mind me saying so, you just return home one day suddenly with one apprentice tailing you. And not just any witch or wizard of the street, but the Boy Who Lived. Probably the most famous individual in Magical Britain, and perhaps the world. You don't do things by half, do you, husband dear?"

Newt chuckled as he kept his eyes on his apprentice. He nudged his wife a little with his right elbow.

"Funny, that was what I said about Harry a few hours ago."

"I would like to know why, Newt." Her voice was devoid of mirth.

Newt sighed and half turned to face his wife while keeping the enclosure within his view.

"As I said, a lot happened this morning. But most of all, I wanted… no… I needed to help that boy. It appears that Voldemort isn't dead, Tina."

Tina snorted, "I don't know what Hogwarts has been teaching her students lately, but Ilvermorny doesn't raise stupid magical."

"Oy, that was uncalled for."

Tina only shrugged, "Whatever. I always knew that Voldemort couldn't be dead. Wounded, yes, but not dead."

"How?"

"By thinking logically, how else? Even if that boy over there is the next coming of Merlin or the Four Founders, it was simply impossible for him to channel enough magical power or coherent intent at the age of fifteen months to destroy or kill or banish or simply overpower some dark wizard who was not only decades older than him but also had a wealth of magical knowledge and power to boot. Something happened that night, true, but it most definitely had happened by his parents' hands, not his."

"Yes, well," Newt rubbed his face, he couldn't refute her words, "but the bottom line on the parchment is that Voldemort is not dead, and he will be coming after him. Because according to Dumbledore, there is a prophecy at play here."

"Dumbledore?" Tina frowned. She never truly liked her husband's old professor that much.

"Yes," Newt admitted warily, well aware of his wife's opinion of his professor. "Situations concerning Harry led us to a quite lengthy meeting with the Headmaster."

"And what did the old man have to say?"

"Oh, he had plenty of things to say without saying anything meaningful. You know how he is. But what did come out during that meeting, it's incredible, Tina!"

Now she too was intrigued, "What?"

Newt smirked at his wife, "What would you say if I tell you that Harry is currently having a conversation with them?" He pointed towards the teen and the Crups.

Tina frowned, "Newt, both of us have had conversations with the Crups. With all the animals within Eden."

"No, no. Not like that." Newt scratched his head, he wondered how he would go about making her understand Harry. "What I am trying to say is, while you and I are only hearing barks, Harry is hearing words, in plain English."

"In English?" Her tone was sceptical and one of her eyebrows went up signalling her disbelief.

"It's true," Newt nodded his head fervently, "it is one of the reasons we had that meeting. Harry can understand animals. Beast speech is real, it's right in front of us, not a myth anymore!" He couldn't contain his excitement and his body shook.

Tina, still sceptical, asked, "So the boy is a beast speaker and has a dark lord after him. Is that all?" She started to wonder if that meeting catered firewhiskey or gigglewine.

"Nope," he smiled widely in reply, "there is something else, something even more incredible."

"What could be more incredible than beast speech or fighting for your life against a mad man?"

Newt sighed and lowered his head.

"Look, Tina, I understand that you don't believe me. But you will once you get to know the entire thing. It's much more than you can even imagine. I… I need to talk with Theo."

Now that had brought Tina up short, if Newt wanted to voluntarily talk with him then it was indeed quite serious.

"When you say you need to talk… do you mean…?" She couldn't resist the jab.

Newt grimaced, "Yes, and I will truly appreciate it if you write the letter to him."

Tina sighed exasperatedly, "Fine, I'll write to him. But one of these days, Newt, you will have to take up the quill and do your own parchment work."

"But they are dreadfully boring…" He started to whine but quailed as soon as he saw her glare, "Yes, I promise to do more work other than updating my books or recording my findings." He shivered as Tina's glare intensified. "I swear!" He squeaked.

Tina smiled winningly as she turned to go inside. She needed to send a letter apparently.

"Tell him to make a stop at Gringotts, we will need the Pensive for this discussion." Newt hollered from behind. Tina gave a nod as she walked back, but he wasn't finished, "Oh, and to entice him more, do tell him that Harry managed to make some silvery wisps at his very first try on casting a Patronus."

That made Tina stop in her tracks. She turned and looked at her husband incredulously.

"Wisps? Patronus? Isn't he twelve?"

Now it was Newt's turn to smile with a hint of smugness, "Thirteen, in about a week from now. I told you, dear wife, things are more incredibly unbelievable than your imagination. Or is it unbelievably incredible? Anyway, that is only scratching the surface. Do make the letter sound urgent, won't you?"

[TUP]

It took a while for Porpentina Scamander to send off the owl. The receiver preferred his isolationist lifestyle and therefore, didn't have a floo connection at his home. When she re-entered the backyard, the magically expanded space charmed to appear as a haven for as many creatures as there could be, both magical and mundane. She found her husband to be still leaning against the fence of the Crup enclosure keeping an eye on his new and only apprentice. The said apprentice, however, had stopped wrestling with the pups and was busy with, what she assumed, softly speaking to them to lull them into sleep. She was yet to grasp the idea of the child being able to beast speak, an ability only heard in myths and legends.

"Sent the message?" Newt didn't even have to look at her, he always seemed to feel her presence, she thought to herself amusedly.

"Yes, and already got an answer."

That made him turn his head.

"What?! This quick? How?"

Tina shrugged as she placed her elbows on the fence to lean, "I was in the library after sending the owl, trying to find any literature about the ability of Beast Speech. That was when I received the floo call. Apparently, he was at the Ministry for something when the owl caught up with him. He told me that he was heading for Gringotts as soon as he can and for us to expect him to dine with us."

"He doesn't need an invitation to eat with us." Newt huffed.

"I know that, but that is something the two of you are going to iron out between yourselves and will leave me absolutely out of that discussion," Tina smirked at her squirming husband. She turned her head to the enclosure but to her shock, the youth was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Harry?"

Newt also had his head on a swivel, the boy was just there only a moment ago.

"Oh no! Newt, look!" Tina pointed out.

Newt looked in the direction his wife pointed with horror. Somehow, without either of them noticing anything, Harry had gotten out of the puppy pen and had walked towards another enclosure resembling a meadow. That one housed a unicorn and her foal. Newt had rescued the mare from poachers. She was pregnant and heavily wounded when he found him. He kept them safe at Eden till the mare's wounds healed and the foal had gotten a little bigger before he let them out to the wild, he was planning on making a trip to the Forbidden Forest for that purpose.

But, Harry had gotten in that enclosure. Unicorns, by nature, were untrusting toward male humans. They prefer a woman's touch. Only the newly born foals let males venture near them. It had been a nightmare for him to make the mare relax to give birth, which would have been impossible for him to do alone if not for the help Tina provided.

"Do something, Newt! He will be gored to death!" Tina screamed to break him out of his horror-induced trance.

Newt took off running. His right hand found the exact pocket with practised ease and from it, came out the shrunken broom. Without missing a beat, he resized it and jumped on it. However, the scene before him threw him off balance and in his state of confusion, his concentration broke and he tumbled down to the ground.

Instead of charging toward Harry, Marie, the unicorn bowed to the boy and slowly walked near him. Then she gently nudged at his side, the soft nickering that came from her could be heard from the distance. The unicorn sniffed the boy's head and snorted. Then gently pushed him towards the back where stood her foal. The smaller being, whose head only came up to Harry's chest, slowly trotted forward. Harry raised a hand towards her for her to take a sniff. What happened afterwards, Newt had never seen in his entire life. All of his knowledge concerning magical beasts seemed to have failed him. The foal, which Newt had named Miranda, only about four weeks old, stood up on her hind legs with her forelegs placed on each of Harry's shoulders and her nubbed forehead, which was still to sprout the horn save the little nub, was pressed against the boy's.

It was surely a funny sight and Newt would have laughed himself silly if he was not so flabbergasted by the happenings in front of him. His eyes tried to seek his wife for support, only to find her rooted where he left her, one hand covering her mouth with her eyes trying to escape their sockets.

Harry had initially whirled his arms about as a windmill to regain his balance as a sudden weight was put against his upper body. He had to adjust his footing and grab onto the golden-coated neck of the foal to keep himself from falling on his arse.

"Bad girl! Get down!" He yelled at the creature, only for her to try and lick his face. "Yuck! No, I don't want your kisses! Get down now!"

Miranda got off the boy and stood on her four legs. But she headbutted him and sent him a few steps back.

"No, I don't have any apples on me. I could ask the Professor for some though."

A snort.

"It's not food, it's Pickett. He is a friend and definitely not food. I will introduce you to him if you behave. Are you going to behave?"

A head shake and a bit of chuffing noise later from the filly, Harry seemingly started to speak with his collar.

"Pick, could you come out for a moment, please? There is someone I want you to meet."

He tilted his head to the side he was talking to and appeared to be listening for something.

"She gave me her word that she will not try to eat you. Come on out."

Newt was still half sprawled on the ground as Tina caught up with him.

"Newt, what the hell is going on?"

That was it for the man. The absurdity of the situation finally caught up with him. On top of that, the bewildered look on his wife's face was just absolutely hilarious. He laid back on the ground staring up at the enchanted ceiling depicting the sky of a bright sunny day, he howled in laughter.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

Wiping the tears from his eyes, he slowly got up to his feet and slung an arm over the confused woman's shoulder and turned her towards the unicorn enclosure.

"Because now, my dear wife, you are experiencing the enigma that is Harry Potter. His owl mothers him but refuses to acknowledge him as her chick because she is too young to be a mother. Dumbledore's phoenix asks him for muggle sweets as a bribe. Pickett had one hell of a time flying with him. And now, a mother unicorn, all on her own, introduced him, a male, to her newborn foal and the said foal behaves as a little sister should with her big brother if what I heard from the one-sided conversation holds any water."

Harry was coming towards them as Newt explained why he was laughing his arse off. As the boy approached the gate, he stopped and raised a hand towards Miranda who was trotting after him.

"No, you are going to stay inside."

A huff.

"I don't care, Miranda, you will be staying inside or there will be no apple. Understand?"

Newt never knew that a unicorn could look petulant. But there she was standing beside the gate with her head hung low. Her mother seemingly had no care that her foal had trotted after a human and was grazing a little further away.

"Uh… Sir, Ma'am, can I have an apple?"

A sound came from the unicorn which sounded remarkably like a whine.

Harry sighed. "Make that two apples. Please?"

Tina's head kept turning between the unicorn and the young boy. Newt nudged her a little.

"Ah, sure, come with me." She sent a begging look towards her husband to come along. Obediently, Newt fell in steps with his apprentice.

"Ah, Harry? Why did you go into that enclosure?"

"She called me over to them, Professor, just as I set down the puppies for a nap."

"She called you over?" Incredulity was heavy in his voice.

"Yeah," the boy shrugged, "She said that she was watching me play with the pups. And that I have the smell of a herd elder. What is a herd elder, Professor?"

Now the man was buzzing with excitement. "I have no idea, Harry. Would you mind asking her about it? Try to get a little more information?"

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "I will ask her. But Marie was more interested in introducing Miranda to me than having a conversation. But I will try."

"Ah…" Tina tried to work her mouth to form words, "what did Miranda say to you?"

A grimace formed on Harry's face, "After our introduction, she kept bombarding me with demands. First, it was for an apple. Pretty soon, that doubled in number. And ultimately, it turned to her name."

"Her name?"

"Yeah, since her birth, her mother kept telling her that she is the most beautiful filly she has ever seen. So she wanted to know if the Professor did her beauty justice by naming her Miranda. I am to try and find the meaning of the name and if it doesn't describe her incredible beauty, then I am to find a suitable name for her. I have half a mind to call her brat just for the heck of it" He grumbled the last part to himself.

Newt was chuckling listening to Harry's rant, "It sounds to me like you have gained a little sister, Harry."

"Is this how it feels like to have a sister?" his voice was full of wonder.

Tina sucked in her breath. She suddenly became very aware of Harry's life. An orphan who grew up in an abusive environment if she read the signs right, never knowing the love of his parents, or the affection one could feel for their siblings. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Kind of like this, yes. I can say that for sure because I have a younger sister. And she was as much trouble for me when we were little. Her tantrums made me want to pull my hair off but I love her to bits despite everything. I loved her from the moment I laid my eyes on her. Trust me when I say that I like this feeling very much."

Harry gave her a shy smile, "I kind of like it too."

Tina smiled at him and patted his head, "Go, on your left, you will find the library. The third shelf on the left should have a Book of Names. Go and have a look at it. I will arrange for those apples in the meanwhile."

"Alright, ma'am." He took off excitedly.

"Newt," Tina was yet to look away from the corridor Harry just vanished into.

"Yes, dear?"

"That boy is going to teach us more than whatever we can teach him."

"My thoughts exactly."

[TUP]

A.N. - The story has two more chapters already posted at Patr30n. Search for /lamonserga.