Chapter 3. Time to sleep if we can.
Tired feet and half-asleep bodies were dragged up the steps of a townhouse a little after 1 am, into the terribly small flat Newt Scamander owned. "There is food in the kitchen, just through there if you would like any. Tina, would you mind helping me build some rooms for everyone?" Newt asked as they all took off their coats and stood in the small living room. The walls were white, crumbling plaster and the old carpet that must have been on the floor had been removed to reveal old Georgian floorboards. A plain single bed slept in the corner, under the window that looked out onto the cobbled street, that in turn looked back into the flat. The lit fireplace offered some much-needed warmth to the sofa that sat in front. Through an archway that was carved into the wall lay a round dining table with three chairs around it and the leftovers of a meal. Past the dining room was a pantry and a pathetic kitchen that looked like it served no use but to offer someone a laugh.
"Of course," she muttered, well past tired. They transfigured two rooms, one for Kama and Jacob and another for Tina and Nagini. Nobody went to get any food, instead, they all gave a little goodnight before retreating into their own personal hell, leaving just Tina and Newt.
"What do you think of Nagini?" Tina asked, settling down on Newt's single couch whilst he heated the kettle on the stove as a muggle would.
"She's a maladictus, so I find her interesting as anyone would. But I mainly feel sorry for her. She doesn't even know who we are, but she's stuck with us and just followed. Like a lost puppy, I guess." the kettle started to whistle and he flicked his wand towards it to shut it up and pour him a cuppa. One for Tina too. He lounged back next to her and passed her the boiling liquid in the little teacup.
"Hmm, she does give that impression. I hope from now on though, we can look after her and protect her." Tina replied, sipping her tea slowly and drawing her legs up on to the sofa.
"As much as this is going to be difficult, I think we will be able to also find a lot of joy in it. Even if we don't win against him, he can never remove our happiness. We'll create memories with each other, and hold them tight. By doing that, by having our humanity, we win anyway." Newt told her, watching her as she watched him. "I'm sorry about Queenie. I'd say more, but I don't think anything I say will make it better."
"It's alright, it hasn't truly hit me yet. It will, and when it does it will hit like a bullet. But I'll find a way of dealing with it. I feel horrible saying it, but I've already lost people. It's almost become normal now. I haven't spoken to Queenie in a few months. That postcard you told me about was the first communication we had in six months. I'm also sorry about Leta."
"I'm thinking the same. I'm hurt by what happened to Leta. But we hadn't spoken for years except for a few words here and there. I'll grieve, eventually, but it seems wrong." He told her. She had moved her legs onto his and he was rubbing the skin on her ankle.
"I was given the impression that you two were close. Queenie told me that you had a photograph of her in your hut when we first met."
"We were close. And I did have a photograph of her. But it was all complicated. I was expelled from school when I was seventeen. I was in my second to last year of Hogwarts. Leta and I had found a Jarvey and she set it loose around the school. Naturally, I took the blame. Normally Leta would have shared the blame, but we had been having more arguments around that time and she didn't say anything. Leta was my only friend and I thought that by having the photograph, it would prompt me to fix our friendship. We never did." He finished his story by downing the rest of his tea and set the teacup aside with a deep sigh. Tina did the same.
"I couldn't imagine that. I am still in contact with my old friends. There was only ever four of us, but we became friends on the basis of loss. We had all lost someone and were to only ones in our years what had no home to go to at Christmas or summer. They are all over America, and we don't see each other often, but we write all the time. I'm truly sorry that you never had that." She fiddled with her fingernails subconsciously as she spoke.
"I'm imagining a very studious little Tina in my mind, teacher's pet. Very different to me." Newt mused to her.
"Oh God no!" she chuckled, watching Newt raise his eyebrows in shock. "Nah, I was good with the teachers, but I broke some rules. Still, do I think."
"No, really?" he watched her with a fond admiration and interest, nothing she'd had before.
"Oh yeah. Let me think," She rested her arm on the back of the couch and placed her pale face onto her open palm. "We used to climb up on to the highest turret that overlooked the mountain valley, and we could jump down and see who could get as close to the bottom as possible before disapparating back to the top."
"No! That sounds horrifying!" He looked genuinely terrified which set Tina off giggling again.
"Yup, very dangerous too. I don't know how none of us died. We would get splinched every so offered but it was never anything serious." she told him, a reminiscent look in her eyes as she smiled.
"That will be why you are so good at disapparating. What would you do during the summer?" he kept quiet for his new roommates through the new doors, but loud enough for her to ponder at his question and try to pull up some memories.
"Hmm. Have you ever heard of those secret festivals? The ones in America?"
"The illegal ones? With all the crazy music and crazy people?" He leaned forward, not believing what he was hearing. Surely she was about to lie and tell him that she had to shut loads of them down.
"Yeah, once we turned sixteen, we were allowed to leave school grounds during holidays. We lied and said that Oliver's grandparents came for us all and travelled all over the place going to those festivals. It was me, Ebba, Oliver and Harrison. I know I don't seem like a very fun person, too serious and all, but I can have fun."
"Yes, you are serious, but I never doubted that you never have fun. Although I'm surprised that law-abiding Tina Goldstein went around doing illegal things. That's normally me."
"I did and I do not regret it. One of my friends went into photography and filmmaking within our world, so there are little films about our time galavanting. Also, play the guitar." she chuckled, getting sleeper by the minute.
"You can tell me in the morning, come here," Newt whispered after she yawned, holding out his hand for her. She took it and eventually was snuggled into his chest and fell asleep rather quickly. Newt didn't sleep as quickly and took the time to analyse her relaxed face before succumbing to sleep himself. Propriety be damned.
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Florence felt like her whole spine had become one long stone over the long hours that she had slept. She mustered a quiet and tired groan and wriggled her hips slightly to loosen them up before she got up. She stopped when a hand moved to rest on her right hip and a deep sign rattled around the top of her head like a halo. Her eyes snapped open and her first sight was a creased shirt collar. Moving her forested eyes up, she spotted dark curls falling over the forehead of the only man she had ever loved. Trailing her eyes down his freckled face, she caught is own swamp-like eyes.
"Morning." he greeted in a deeper than usual voice caused by lack of use from sleep. He closed his eyes again and planted a kiss to her head in the hope that it would grow roots down into her heart. She buried her face into his chest and moaned again at her mistake, shuffling once more. Shuffling to get comfy eh Flo? She thought to herself. It was a mistake to continue lying down on Theseus but she indulged just this once. Death had given her a patronising pant on the head last night and she wanted to shake it off. She continued to shuffle to reclaim the feeling in her legs and relieve the stiffness in her spine but another hand stopped her at her hips.
"Continue doing that and I'm going to get hard a lot quicker than I already am," Theseus mumbled with his eyes closed.
"Jesus Christ." Florence moaned into his chest, feeling something hard between her legs.
"Wouldn't moan wither love. Unless you really want to."He whispered in her ear.
"We are not having sex, Thesus. We stopped years ago." Florence firmly said, pulling herself up, accidentally straddling Thesus before leaping off into the kitchen behind his head.
"Right, sorry." He breathed, sounding disappointed before sitting up and covering his lap with the cushion at the end of his feet. He looked around her flat, observing all the changes that had occurred. It was a simple rectangle, the living area being closest to the door, the kitchen/dining room further down and a double bed behind a screen next to it. The walls were now a deep burgundy and old bookshelves littered the walls and other piles of books were all over the floor. The kitchen was how it was before and so was the bed from what he could see through the screen.
"I'm sorry Theseus, but I can't. Everything has gone to shit and you've just left Jane, we are not that low". Her voice had lapped into a deeper Irish than last night due to the sleep. "Tea?" she asked, changing the subject.