Home Again
“Have you heard from your sister recently?” Newt asked absently, removing his wand from his teeth to address his wife holding the other side of the canvas.
Tina grunted, fixing the last corner and giving it an experimental tug. “Yeah, couple of days ago,” She replied absently, pulling her own wand from her pocket and flicking it at the canvas. “Why?”
“Just wondering,” Newt scrunched his eyes up, stepping back with his hands in his pockets. “How are they?”
“I think Queenie’s pregnant again,” Tina grinned, looping her arm through Newt’s and resting her head on his shoulder. “I mean she didn’t say as much, but she said she said she’s been ill recently…”
“That does not necessarily equate pregnancy,” Newt reminded her with a smile, “Come on, we’d better get going if we want to finish this before dusk.”
Tina nodded, stepping back and raising her wand alongside his.
“Ready?” Newt asked. Tina rolled her shoulder back and nodded firmly.
Streams of blue light swirled out of their wands, striking the canvas and transforming the canvas into a desert suitable for their growing graphorns herd.
A second later, they stepped back, satisfied with their work. A slow glance round the garden, checking the spellwork of the new enclosures yielded little else to do.
“Want me to get the case or do you wanna do it?” Tina smirked, raising an eyebrow at her husband fussing over the magical barrier between their garden and their creatures. Newt glanced up, and gave her a wide grin and a nod.
Without any time wasted, Tina bounded into the house, scooped up the case and bounded straight back outside again.
“You sure it’s ready?” Newt called anxiously the second she appeared in the doorway, suitcase in arms. He was standing with his back to the door, his toes up against the edge of their veranda and surveying the open gate which led to their creatures habitats, waiting to be inhabited.
“Newt, honey, we checked every inch of the garden some dozen times already,” Tina reminded him, holding the case out with a smile. “It’s as safe as the case. Nothing can get in, or out, except us. Through that gate.”
Newt nodded thoughtfully, pushing the gate open slowly with one elbow to reveal the seemingly never ending expanse to the forest that backed the property. He stepped inside, waiting for Tina to close the gate behind her before setting the case down.
“Disillusionment charm over the entire area?” Newt checked. Tina poked the invisible barrier experimentally, feeling her finger go cold.
“Yup,” She confirmed, shaking her hand and grinning at him.
“Stop mocking me,” Newt insisted with a nervous laugh, “I know they’re safe in my case, what if they aren’t safe in the garden?”
“Newt, we got muggle-repelling charms on every inch of our land. We got disillusionment charms, we got creature repellent, we got more charms keeping the creatures in than I can shake my wand at. We got spells making this place unplottable so no-one can find our creatures, we’re keeping the five exes down in the case, and the sky is literally the limit,” Tina listed them off on her fingers. Newt grabbed her hand, pulling her to his side.
“Alright, I’m worrying too much,” Newt conceded. “Ready?”
“Are you?” Tina asked in bemusement, “They aren’t leaving Newt. They will just be in the garden where we don’t ever have to worry about them escaping. And before you ask, we got spells all around the property, not just the enclosure. Even if they get out of this place, which they won’t, they ain’t getting any further than the front of the house. Which is bad if the nifflers get free, but, they’ll be safe!”
“How do you always know what to say?” Newt asked in amazement, glancing down to his wife in wonder.
“Five years, all I’m saying,” Tina replied drily. “Newt. Open the case.”
“Yes dear,” Newt pressed a kiss to her forehead before dropping down to a crouch. He tapped the top of the case with his wand three times before knocking sharply. He waited until he heard movement in the case, before he threw it open.
He and Tina took a hasty step back as their creatures exploded out of the case in swarms of faries and doxies, grindylows in pulsing bubbles of water, hippogriffs flying out, Dougal jumping out of the case and straight into Tina’s arms, the Erumpet and the graphorns running off to their enclosures keening loudly.
Surprisingly, the three that were more hesitant about leaving their case were the three nifflers, usually the first to make their way through any crack into the real world.
“Come on you three,” Newt chuckled, crouching down next to their quivering noses. “Your tree is up here already – see?”
He pointed a short distance away, to where the tree had been transported to sit near Newt’s new potting shed. The gold was exactly where the three nifflers had left it. Bennie staid sat between Newt’s feet as the younger two took off to investigate their new case.
He turned his pleading eyes up to Newt, before looking back at the case, peering inside for a moment, sitting back and looking over at the tree before looking back up to Newt.
“I think he’s confused,” Newt smiled, reaching down to pick up his peskiest pest. “He was expecting to be outside the case when he left it, not inside it again.”
“That sentence confused me,” Tina muttered, stepping over the case to take Dougal to his hanging nest. He climbed in without complaint. “Give him a knut and he’ll be right as rain about the move. You going down to get the bowtruckles?”
“Yes, I’ll do that now,” Newt held Bennie out to her, the niffler climbing up to her shoulder eagerly, hanging onto her hair for balance. Tina walked him over to the tree as Newt disappeared into the case.
“What d’ya thing guys?” She asked them softly, passing Bennie a knut. The niffler shined it on his fur before scampering down to join the other two nifflers who were now full grown. “You like it? You’d better or daddy will mope and I’ll have to deal with it.”
She glanced over to where Newt was establishing the bowtruckle tree in the mini wand wood forest to the other side of their shed. Charlie shuffled in her pocket, poking her head out as the angry chittering of the other bowtruckles reached her. Once she saw Bennie however, she squeaked angrily, disappearing back into the pocket.
“You two have to stop this,” Tina sighed with an eye roll. Despite now having a tolerance of each other, Bennie and Charlie still had issues. She shook her head softly, before crossing to stand next to Newt.
“Dinner in the case just got a whole lot easier,” she joked, watching as he finished clasping the case and set it next to the gate. “No navigating stairs for starters!”
“No stairs,” Newt agreed, dusting his knees off as he rose to join her. “Think they like it?”
“I think,” Tina said slowly, watching as the creatures settled into their new environments with ease. “I think it feels like home now.”
“I was talking about the creatures,” Newt reminded her with a soft smile.
“Aren’t we creatures too?” Tina replied smartly.
“You are the most fantastic, and the most dangerous of all our creatures,” Newt promised her, hand resting lightly on her hip, “I’d give you a rating higher than five if I could.”
“Oh?” Tina challenged, “How high?”
“As high as you like,” Newt replied diplomatically. Tina huffed at him. “Darling I’ve seen you with a wand, I don’t fancy my chances.”
Tina laughed, a free, open, happy laugh, leaning back against Newt’s shoulder.
“Fair enough,” she conceded. “But it does feel like home now.”
“Are you saying the case felt more like home than a house with four walls and a kitchen?” Newt asked mock incredulously, “I’ve clearly had a bad influence on you.”
“You’re my home,” Tina reminded him. “And you’ve always been …. Free … in the case. You never hid from me. Not down there. So, yeah, if home is someplace you get to be yourself… now this place feels like home.”
“Softy,” Newt murmured in awe, “I don’t think I’ve told you recently that I love you.”
“Not since lunch at least,” Tina chuckled, twisting to wind her arms around his neck. “But you can tell me again if you like.”
“I love you,” Newt smiled, nuzzling Tina’s nose. “Mrs Scamander.”
“Good thing I love you too, isn’t it, Mr Scamander,” Tina giggled.
……………………………………………………….
“You aren’t going to be posted before the baby’s born, are you?” Hippolyta asked anxiously, her hand resting on the soft curve of her stomach protectively. “Theseus, I thought that you wouldn’t be sent abroad. Not as head of the MLE.”
“I may have to go to help co-ordinate efforts,” Theseus pressed at the growing pain between his eyes. “I promise not to go before the baby is born Lyta, but I can’t send aurors out there if I am not willing to go myself.”
“Yes, you can!” Hippolyta replied sharply, turning away from him in anger. “Thee. Your job is to co-ordinate all of the MLE. You can’t just abandon half of it.”
“If I go,” Theseus stepped up behind his wife, gently tugging her towards him, “I’ll be in the camp. I won’t be anywhere near the front line. I won’t be fighting, I will be co-ordinating.”
“Generals don’t get sent into battle,” Hippolyta argued. “You’ve done your bit for the war efforts Theseus. Don’t be a hero. Promise me you won’t be a hero!”
“I promise,” he said quietly, ducking his head down so he could look into his wife’s tear-filled eyes. “I promise I will not be a hero, I will make sure I come back to you. And the baby.”
Hippolyta raised her hands to his face, caressing the creases in his forehead, as he wiped away her tears. He leant forward, pressing his forehead against hers as the other hand came to rest on her bump. On their family.
“I promise,” he whispered.
……………………………………………………………..
“Hi!” Tina beamed, throwing the door open to greet her mother and father-in-law. “Welcome!”
Diana stepped inside quickly, stamping her feet on the mat to rid the late January snowfall from her boots. Perseus followed soon behind, his face creased in discomfort. He breathed a sigh of relief as Tina shut the door behind them and the wave of warmth washed over them.
“Tina, darling,” Diana removed her gloves, throwing her arms open to embrace Tina and narrowly missing her husbands jaw. Tina bent down to hug her tightly. “Where is my son?”
“He’s just checking that the temperature spells are holding up,” Tina informed them brightly, giving Perseus a quick and slightly more awkward hug. “Oh… coats… just pass them here, the stand’s a bit full right now.”
“I haven’t been here since before your uncle left it to you,” Perseus commented, glancing around the hall. “I remember the ceilings being lower…”
“We’ve changed quite a bit,” Tina informed them proudly, “Why don’t you wait in the sitting room for Theseus and Hippolyta and then we can give you a tour! Want anything to drink?”
“Do you have any elderflower press?” Diana asked. At Tina’s affirmative nod, “Then I shall have and Elderflower apple please Tina.”
“Of course Diana,” Tina turned to Perseus, waiting for him. After a beat, she informed him they had some spirits on the side in the sitting room if he wanted to go through and pour himself one. Perseus nodded thoughtfully.
“Now dear,” Diana held onto Tina’s sleeve as she made to go to the kitchen. “You and Newt are married now. You are officially a daughter of mine. You can call me mother, if you want. Or mum. Newt calls me mum.”
“Oh,” Tina floundered, her eyes widening in surprise. “Oh! Diana!”
“It’s up to you of course,” The older woman patted her daughter in laws fluffy arm. “But I would consider it an honour.”
She left Tina in the hall, turning to follow her husband into the living room. Tina was still standing there when Newt came into the hall, dusting snow out of his hair.
“It’s certainly snowing,” he informed Tina with a cheeky grin. It faded when he saw the shiny quality of Tina’s dark eyes. “Darling? Tina, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she reassured him, turning to face him and laying a hand on his chest, fiddling with the fabric of his favourite waistcoat. “Just something your mom said. About family.”
Newt nodded slowly, unsure as to what could have been said that would reduce Tina to tears. “If you’re sure,” he said slowly. Tina nodded firmly.
“Help me with the drinks?” She asked. Newt nodded, following her into the kitchen.
By the time they had bought drinks into the sitting room, Hippolyta and Theseus had arrived. Hippolyta looked pale and drawn, sitting a reasonable distance from the fire with one hand gently soothing her stomach. She hadn’t had much luck in her pregnancy. At nearly five months now, the morning sickness was dissipating, but she was still prone to dizzy spells.
Theseus was hovering behind his wife’s chair, engaged in conversation with his father as Diana fussed over Hippolyta.
“Here you go, I got you a raspberry water Hippolyta, that ok?” Tina put the pink drink on the table next to her sister-in-law. Hippolyta nodded gratefully, sipping the drink carefully. Tina patted her knee gently. “And an elderflower apple for you mom. I made a pitcher. It’s in the kitchen.”
“Thank you Tina,” Diana smiled widely at Tina, placing the drink down to gather the taller woman into a tight hug. “Thank you.”
Tina stepped back, smiling at Diana. “Something tells me Perseus won’t like Pops though,” she joked. Across the room, Newt snorted, turning away as Perseus turned slowly to Tina.
“Father will do young lady,” Perseus sniffed regally as the rest of the room dissolved into laughter. “Dad if you really must, but never, ever pops.”
“Alright pops,” Theseus guffawed, slapping his father’s shoulder. They all laughed again at the disgruntled look on Perseus’s face. It would be a joke that would take time to lose its potency, that much was becoming clear.