Chapter 2
It was a wonderful day at Hogwarts.
The sun shines so brightly filtering in the winter clouds in the sky. The cold breeze of October flutters the Autumn leaves to the ground. Even the usually grumpy whomping willow is calmer than usual and lets students collecting pumpkins pass by it without causing broken bones.
Everyone is in a jolly mood and excited about the upcoming Halloween celebration. And maybe Professor Dumbledore thought so too.
So, to pair with the spookiness of the holiday, he decided that it was the best time for his third-year students to learn to face their fears and teach them about Boggarts.
Boggart is a non-being that takes the form of what frightens a person. It exists and doesn’t at the same time. It is fear itself and provokes fear at the same time.
For Leta though, her Boggart seems to not only elicit the emotion of fear. No one in the class certainly understood what it was but Newt could see the different emotions troubling her face when the Boggart changed into what she fears.
Sorrow, loss, and regret.
Before even saying the incantation to vanish the Boggart, Leta immediately stormed out of the classroom. No one in the class moved, even Professor Dumbledore could not find the right words to stop her walkout.
And so, the class continued surrounded by the awkward atmosphere. When it finished, Newt immediately left and went searching for Leta.
He found her sitting on the school grounds deep in thought staring into nothing.
But Newt is never good at consoling people, but he has a talent for making everything awkward. So, his best idea of consoling is to bring her to his favorite tree in the grounds hoping that his newfound friends from there would distract Leta from the Boggart. Leta followed him without saying a word.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Leta started when she felt Newt cautiously walking closer to her. Newt took a pause, before reaching out his hand to her. She glanced at it and hesitated, but still took it.
Newt smiles and guides Leta his favorite tree. As they got closer to it, small creatures called Bowtruckle started appearing.
"They know, or they'd hide," he said as one stick-like creature willingly walked to his hands.
"They only nest in trees with wand-quality wood, did you know that?" he asked and for a second glance at her but immediately glanced back down again.
"And they have very complex social lives, if you watch them for long enough you realize," he said and moved his hand closer to hers, allowing the small creature to cross to her hand.
Newt just observed Leta. Figuring out what she is thinking with her expressions.
“It’s fascinating how innocent they look despite being considered beasts,” Leta said looking at the interesting creature in her hand. “And here I am, the real monster among them.”
“That is true, we humans are the scariest creatures out there,” Newt commented. “But even the scariest creatures deserve to be loved don’t you think?” he said and for the first time looked directly into her eyes.