Credence wakes up to feather light kisses on his cheek and down his neck, Graves’ hand combing through his short tangles of hair. Graves is laying beside him as usual, propped up in his side, smiling at him gently and with so much contentedness it makes Credence face go pink.
“Good morning,” Graves says quietly and he can hear the gravely sleepiness to his tone still.
Credence smiles shyly and rolls over so he can bury his face in Graves’ chest, which is warm and smells slightly woodsy and clean, safe. “Good morning, Mr. Graves,” Credence says, his words slightly muffled from having his face hidden against Graves.
“How are you?” he asks, and when Credence peaks at him, he’s still watching him with gentle eyes and a little smile that Credence isn’t quite used to seeing on his face yet.
“Good, thank you.”
He hums and Credence feels it rumble in his chest, where he has his ear pressed close. “Sleep well?”
Credence nods. “Mhm,” he agrees. He’s slept better and better every night since he’s been sharing a bed with Mr. Graves.
“Would you want to get up?” Graves asks and Credence whines, scooting closer.
Credence could stay cuddled up to Graves all day, perfectly peaceful. “No.”
“You can’t sleep all day,” Graves says teasingly, poking at Credence. “Come on, I have something to show you.”
“What is it?” Credence asks curiously, perking up a little.
“Get up and I’ll show you.”
He sighs but gets up anyways, sliding on his slippers that Mr. Graves bought him and turning to look at him. Graves just gestures for him to follow and so he does, all the way downstairs to the living room, where the fire is lit and all of the curtains are pulled shut.
“It’s probably a bit scared, now,” someone says from the chair and Credence nearly jumps out of his skin. When he spins around Newt is sitting there with a cup of tea in his hands, smiling.”hello again, Credence,” he says, getting up and crossing the room swiftly. He holds his hand out for Credence and he shakes it anxiously, unsure. “We didn’t get get a proper introduction before. Newt.”
Credence nods shyly and looks back at Graves who’s still standing in the doorway, just a few paces behind where Credence and Newt are standing.
“What’re you doing here?” Credence asks. Graves had said Newt had gone back to England.
“Visiting,” Newt chirps happily. Credence nods, glancing around the dark living room. “I came to see how you were doing, too.”
“I’m good,” Credence says softly.
“Well, anyways, I did bring something, I thought you might like it, it’s rather shy but he really is a very good little creature,” Newt says in a rush and Graves looks unamused as Credence looks between the two of them.
“You brought me something?”
“Yes, of course,” Newt says with a blush, ducking his head.
“Something illegal,” Graves says sharply and Credence goes wide eyed.
Newt shakes his head. “No, he’s very good,” he says with a frown. “No one will know he’s here, see that's the, uh, that’s the idea.”
“How?” Graves asks, unconvinced.
“They’re very clever. Nearly impossible to track.”
“Then how did you find one?” Credence asks suddenly and Newt smiles.
“They can choose partners and followers, and if they choose you, they’ll follow you, allow you to see and track them,” Newt explains excitedly. “You can find them easiest by their scent though, f course.”
“What is it?”
“Shadowfelis,” he says, crouching down by the couch he was sitting on earlier, peering under it.
“They’re like cats, hense the name, but they’re essentially smoke. They’re able to hold physical form too, of course. They hide in the dark though, then it’s quite nearly impossible to find them.”
“It’s for me?” Credence oggles and Newt nods. He turns to look at Graves and he shrugs and smiles finally, nodding too. Credence hasn’t ever had a pet, he’s never had another living thing to worry about before. He wants to see it, he wants to hold it and take care of it. The idea of having his own pet had never even crossed his mind before.
“Yes, I think you’ll like it- where is the little devil?”
Credence crouches down besides Newt, looking under the couch. It’s dusty and dark, much like the rest of the room. He doesn’t see anything though. “Can we turn the light on?”
Newt shakes his head and sticks an arm under the couch, feeling around. “He’s a bit shy now, they prefer the dark, and he’s not used to this place yet.”
Credence nods. He can understand that, being scared and in all new places all of a sudden.
“He was here,” Newt says, moving to check in the corner between the couch and wall.
“Why did you let it go at all?” Graves asks, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I don’t choose what they do, Mr. Graves, they’re very independent creatures, if they don’t want to be held they can simply switch to smoke matter,” Newt says, waving a hand dismissively. “Catching him in the first place is quite difficult.”
Credence stands up and takes a few steps back so he can sit in the big leather chair. Graves has his own chair besides the one Credence has claimed as his own. There’s a strangled sound the second he sits down and he leaps up, practically smacking into Graves, who moved further into the room so stand by Credence.
“Ah, there it is,” Newt says with a smile, grabbing a ball of smoke like fuzz. It spirals around his arm, like smoke coiling up, up, up. “Now, stop that,” he sighs and it does, before materializing into a more solid form, like a large ball of fur with cat ears and big white eyes, little tendrils of smoke whispering up from its body.
“That’s it?” Credence asks in disbelief, looking at it with wide eyes. As much magic as Graves has taught him (he’s getting much better) he hasn’t ever seen a creature like this, he’s only seen neatly scrawled pictures from Newts book of what the creatures from the wizarding world look like. Still, seeing them in person is very different.
“Yes, this is it,” Newt nods, holding it out towards to Credence while it grasps at Newt’s pale and freckled arm. “Would you like to hold it?”
Credence nods quickly, suddenly feeling shaky with excitement and nerves. “I can really keep it Mr. Graves?”
Graves chuckles, watching from over Credence’s shoulder. “Of course you can, just don’t let the thing get out. We don’t need another...situation.”
Newt smiles awkwardly and detangles himself from the creature, dropping it into Credence’s outstretched arms. It spins around wildly for a second, searching Credence out, bits of smoke and soot flying everywhere. Credence timidly strokes behind it’s pointed ears once it’s settled down and it grumbles happily and curls up.
“See? Perfect match,” Newt smiles. “It’ll eat coal and dust, anything it can make smoke fuel from, really.”
Graves raises an eyebrow but nods. “It can start under the bed, in that case.”
Credence hardly hears them as they keep talking, busy running his fingers through the fur, thin and not quite solid. It reminded of Credence running through morning mist. There was a distinct smell of Smoke when he holds it close but it’s not enough to bother Credence any. “I love it,” Credence says, smiling at it as it blinks up at him with wide eyes, they sparkle and shine like
Graves’ marble counters.
“Good, I’m glad,” Newt smiles both he and Graves focusing back in on him. “He was incredibly hard to keep happy, unfortunately. He wasn’t happy with the Nundu, they wouldn’t accept him into their tribe.”
Credence smiles and nods, continuing to stroke just behind the ears, making the rumbling sound to grow. “Thank you, Mr. Scamander, he’s perfect,” Credence glows, smiling widely.
Credence says his goodbyes hastily as Newt leaves a short while later and takes the tiny creature up to his an Graves’ bedroom, setting it on the bed and watching it go up in a cloud of smoke before settling down again.
“Do you like it?” Graves asks, coming in shortly after Credence.
“I love it, It’s amazing,” Credence says happily.
“Good,” He says, kissing Credence’s head quickly. Graves figures he’ll go to his deathbed without anyone knowing he had tracked Newt down to bring Credence a magical pet, and he was fine with that.