Chapter 2
Newt felt a crowd closing in on them as they reformed. He heard a gaggle of familiar voices. Dumbledore. Jacob. Theseus. Leta. They’d gotten out then. He found his own voice. “Tina! Someone look after Tina! Geroff me, Thes, just look after Tina, she’s hurt!” As much as he didn’t want to let go, he relinquished her to the pair of arms tugging her away for medical assistance. He got up to follow but was stopped by Queenie’s shrieks. He whirled around, and saw red blooming across Credence’s white shirt, where a silver knife was sticking out from his chest. Credence was shaking madly.
“We need another healer here! Right away!” Newt bellowed. Queenie was already working on him, holding one of the wands she’s taken from the manor and muttering incantations as she waved it over Credence. A healer joined Queenie. They worked together. The knife was removed and the wound began to knit itself. Credence went limp.
“Is he…?”
“No,” said the healer, “but he’s lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to a bed, and keep someone by his side until he stabilizes. And we may need to transfer him to the hospital, as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Queenie volunteered.
“I can if you’d rather be with your sister,” replied Newt. He desperately wanted to stay by Tina’s side, but knew her sister had more of a right to be there than he did.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Queenie grinned, “I do want to be with Teenie, but I think you should go to her first. And remember what I said down in the cellar about what we’d do if we got out.” She winked and then disappeared around the corner after Credence.
Newt went off in the direction he’d seen Tina carried.
Tina was propped up on pillows and wearing a clean robe. Though weak and extremely sore, she was otherwise physically unharmed. “Oh, hey Newt!” she smiled brightly when she saw him standing shyly in the doorway. She gestured for him to sit in the chair next to her bed.
Newt shuffled over and sat down. He stared at her hand, wanting to take it in his own, but not sure if he should. Tina decided for him, by grasping his hand herself. They sat that way for a few minutes. Newt began to caress her hand with his thumb. He was thinking about what Queenie had said down in the cellar. Now was as good a time as any…
“Tina, there’s something I want to-”
“I think I know Newt,” Tina smiled shyly at him and squeezed his hand.
“When they took you back there...” he shuddered, “when they took you, they seemed to know something about us that I’d hardly dared to believe myself, and I think it’s time I went ahead and made my feelings on the matter clear.”
Tina straightened up. She was smiling so widely she felt her face might burst. “Yes,” she breathed.
“I-I want you to know,” Newt plodded on, “I’ve been hoping for quite some time now that we might at some point be something more than friends. I don’t want to pressure you right now, not while you’re recovering, but down in the cellar, I did promise your sister- and really myself, if we’re being honest-that if we got out alive, I’d stop beating around the bush and hopefully start a, perhaps a courtship, if you’re amenable.”
Tina stopped breathing momentarily. This moment had finally come. Inside, she was jumping and screaming yes a thousand times. But she couldn’t work her throat to say it. Instead, she threw her arms around his neck and drew him close to her.
Awkward though the position was, Newt was elated. “I’ll take that as a yes then?” he whispered in her ear, drawing his own arms around her waist.
“You begged to go in my place,” she told him, “I heard you. I heard you yelling my name.”
“I couldn’t bear-” he stopped himself. Was it too soon? No, if he was laying it all out now, he was going to say it all, “I love you, Tina. I love you so very much. I would take the Cruciatus a hundred times for you and I wish I’d done more to have been taken in your stead. Forgive me for not-”
“I love you too! And there is nothing to forgive Newt,” Tina drew him even closer, hardly daring to believe this was happening, “I’m trained to take it, better me than anyone else. Anyway, when you offered yourself up, I suddenly realized-”
She was cut off mid sentence because his lips were on hers. They embraced tightly, lips sliding tenderly against each other, trying to say everything they’d meant to say for months. They broke apart, only for Newt to cup her cheek lovingly and for Tina to run her fingers through his wild mop of hair. They gazed adoringly into each other’s eyes and kissed again.
“About time!”
They quickly jumped apart and wheeled around to see an absolutely ecstatic Queenie. “Oh, don’t mind me,” she squealed, “I do want to see you Teenie, but I’ll let you and Newt have your moment now that you’ve finally gotten around to it.” She winked.
“Oh, and Credence is gonna be alright,” she informed them, “they did have to transport him to the hospital, but he’s going to live. When you’re up for it Teen, we should go visit him to thank him. Graves is being attended to here, Theseus has brought him up to date on what’s gone on since he went missing. He wants to see us, Teen. And I think he’ll be wanting to meet you properly, Newt.”
Tina pushed herself up and out of bed. Newt caught her around the waist as she wobbled.
“Perhaps you’d better rest more,” he said concernedly.
“No, best way to recover is to get up and walk around a bit,” she insisted, “just, let me hold onto you for now, I’m kinda unsteady.” Newt certainly couldn’t object to holding Tina.
They walked around the room together until Tina felt more steady, stealing plenty of kisses along the way. Now that they’d discovered their mutual feelings, they were keen to make up for lost time. There was still a lot to be done. They had to talk to Graves. And then to Dumbledore and Flamel. There were still some unfinished parts of their mission to attend to, with plenty of danger ahead. But at least one thing was certain, and both Newt and Tina were content to finally know it.