“Newt! Slow down!” Theseus shouted at his brother, but he just laughed and skated even further away from him. "Newt!” Theseus yelled again, going after him. He was annoyed but also smiling.
The idea of going ice skating literally came out of nowhere. Neither of the brothers has been going out much these days, not since the snowstorm that’s been around for the last two days. But when it stopped suddenly and the sun came out again, they realized they were actually bored of being stuck inside, and so here they were. Why exactly they went to the frozen lake, and how did it happen they just happened to have their skates with them, Theseus wasn’t sure himself.
Anyway, that led to this particular situation, with Newt a few feet in front of him, smiling and laughing. And it felt good, really good. Sitting at home always made him restless and longing to go out again, and really, Theseus wasn’t blaming him. Especially given his brother’s special interests.
Suddenly something white jumped on the lake, right before Newt.
“Newt! Watch out!” Theseus yelled, trying to get to his brother. The boy tried to stop but he lost his balance instead. If Theseus hadn’t managed to catch him he would’ve fallen, but instead, he lost his own balance too. They desperately tried to catch each other while regain their footing. In the end, they fell into a pile of snow, Theseus first, Newt right on him. They laid there for a solid minute, catching their breaths.
“Are you all right?“ Theseus asked, looking at Newt through half closed eyes.
"Yes,” he nodded. “And you?”
“I’ll live,” Theseus said with a smile. This was when he noticed Newt was staring at something on the other side of the lake. He reckoned that it had to have been the thing that caused all of this ruckus.
Newt automatically got up and started to skate towards it.
"Newt!” Theseus hissed. “Where are you going? You don’t know what it is!”
But, as usual, his brother ignored him in response. Seeing that nothing is going to stop him, Theseus had no choice but to get back on the ice and follow Newt, just in case something happened. He really wished nothing would, though.
As they both neared the thing, they started noticing it was not a “thing” after all, but rather an animal, now stuck in the snow. From what Theseus could see it looked like a white cat, but with a tail that looked like it belonged to a lion. So it was a kneazle. Who knew, maybe it even was the same one whose imprints Newt and he found a little while ago.
Seeing the animal struggling, Newt quickly rushed to help it, but Theseus stopped him in his track.
“Newt, it’s a wild animal. You don’t know if it won’t attack you, “ he tried to reason, but the boy just shook his hand off of his shoulder.
"It’s a kneazle, ‘Seus. It won’t attack me,” he replied, stubbornly.
Theseus managed to stifle the urge to roll his eyes. Newt could see an angry dragon and still try to approach it, telling everyone around that it was fine, and that it certainly wouldn’t attack him. But Theseus knew better, and he was well aware that an argument would do absolutely nothing; it could make Newt angry or sad, but not stop him. Instead, he let him get closer to the kneazle and watched attentively.
He heard Newt’s gentle whisper. “Hey, what happened, kitty? Wait, calm down, I’ll help you,” he said, catching the animal’s back and pulling it out of the snow, dropping it as soon as it was freed.
The kneazle shook it’s head few times, getting rid of the snow in its fur, and turned to look at Newt, now smiling proudly.
"See? All better now,” he said. The kneazle started to slowly approach him.
Theseus wearily observed the animal, fearing it would attack his little brother, and getting ready to intervene. But he had nothing to worry about, as it turned out; instead of jumping at Newt’s throat, the creature lightly poked Newt’s hand, clearly giving him a hint that it wants to be pet. The boy didn’t have to be told this twice. With a laugh, he turned to Theseus, both shocked and relieved.
"See? Told you it won’t attack me” he said, getting up.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Newtty,” Theseus said, ruffling his hair. Newt frowned. "But we need to go now. It’s getting late.”
That much was true. In the meantime, the sky was starting to turn darker, and the air grew colder. After being soaked from their nap in the snow, the boys felt that especially well. Newt nodded, turning around and weaving at the kneazle.
“Goodbye!” he said before he followed Theseus.
They haven’t made more than five steps before the cat-like creature appeared right in front of them, meowing. Newt looked at it, confused, while Theseus sighed. Somewhere in his head the pieces of information he learned at school lingered. What did professor Kettleburn say?
“Oh… Newt, I think it wants to come along with us,” he said finally. Newt turned to him, surprised.
“Why?”
“Because that’s its nature. When they like a wizard, they stay with him,” he explained, sighing.
Their parents are seriously going to kill them if they bring a kneazle into the house. But one look on his brother’s excited face made the bitter thoughts disappear in an instant. Newt just looked so happy, that maybe they would manage to convince their parents to keep it. Who could say no to those eyes, after all?
”You think mum and dad will let us?” he said, crouching before the kneazle. The animal walked to him and let him pick it up.
“I don’t know. Maybe if we’ll ask really nicely…” Theseus wondered but stopped abruptly when he noticed Newt’s mouth fell wide open. “What?” he asked, confused.
“You said we,” he replied.
Theseus furrowed his brows. "Yes, of course. Did you think I’d just leave you with this kneazle by yourself?” he said, still confused.
Newt was beaming now. "Really?”
“Really, Newtty, why are you so…” he started but the words never left his mouth, when he felt Newt hug him. Surprised, he slowly raised his hands to hug his brother back.
“Thank you, 'Seus!” Newt said happily, quickly letting his brother go. Theseus smiled.
“No problem, little one.”