Cycles of Sun

In the end, Hippolyta slipped out before the dawn, leaving the adults standing in the doorway, crowded together for comfort. It hurt to watch her go. She'd turned away sharply, her carpet bag in one finely gloved hand, a fanciful hat on her stiff curls and an even stiffer lace cloak keeping the cold away. Her shoulders had gone back, her chin had gone up. She hadn't looked back. Newt wasn't sure his sister would have been able to leave if she'd looked back.

"She'll be ok," Tina repeated to herself under her breath as they closed the door, as if repeating it made it true, that they weren't wading into the unknown and murky criminal underworld. "She'll be ok..."

"I'm er...gonna go put the kettle on the fire," Jacob said hesitantly, edging his way out of the room and towards the kitchen, "The babies'll all be wanting their momma's soon so, we should get some tea while we can..."

"Yeah," Queenie said, a faraway look in her eye. The friendship that had sprung up between Queenie and Hippolyta had been as unexpected as snow in August, but it had become a real friendship nevertheless. Both were used to people looking over them, Queenie because of her gift, Hippolyta because she preferred to watch and strategize from the side-lines before making her move. Chess games between the two were incredible. She shook her head, clearing out the concern, or at least the loudest concern. She made to follow Jacob, to seek comfort from his steady presence, when she remembered something and turned back. "Hey, you guys? Happy anniversary... I know you don't want to think about it now, but maybe we oughta."

Tina gave her sister a pointed mental jab, watching her sad smile in that tired face. And as Queenie turned away, she wondered when they had started to feel older, when life wasn't quite so much a game, and more of a fight.

"Is it really awful of me to be upset that Hippolyta chose today to leave?" Tina asked Newt's collar, having tucked themselves together, just breathing deeply and talking quietly. "I know that we ain't got no problem with her anymore, that we're all getting along just fine, but she coulda left any other day... and she chose out anniversary."

Newt was silent for a beat, his heart clenching as Tina put into words the frustration that had plagued his sleep the night before. That little niggling upset that Hippolyta had chosen to be selfish on what should have been a day celebrating their spontaneous wedding a year prior. How much had changed since then? How much could change in the next year?

"No," he said finally, "I think we can be a little annoyed at her poor timing, but I do not for a second believe it was done with any malicious intent. She hasn't been thinking straight recently."

"Newt," Tina spoke quietly, "Did we do the right thing? Letting her go..."

"Tina, darling," Newt kissed her forehead and released her slightly, "If I've learnt anything in my life, it is that I have no right to tell someone what they can or can't do. Hippolyta wished to leave, she felt it was necessary for Helena as well as Theseus. We could no more have stopped her than stopped the rain falling in winter."

Tina nodded, she knew this, she did. But her job was to protect people, not send them into more danger with only a code-quill and a notebook. Hippolyta was smart, she would stay out of trouble. And she had a reason not to treat this like a suicide mission, a reason that was just waking up, and threatening to wake up her foster brother and cousins.

"I'll go get Helena," Newt said firmly, "You go and make tea and maybe feed the creatures?"

"Nah," Tina slipped out of grip, down the corridor to their kitchen as Newt began to climb the stairs, "We'll take em both in to the creatures, mightas well get Helly and Corv used to them, right?"

"Quite right," Newt smiled softly, climbing the stairs to little Helena Scamander, who didn't know that her mother was gone, that her aunt and uncle would be fostering her for the foreseeable future, that no-one knew what the future held.

....................................................................................

Two hours later and the Scamander children were dresses and ready for the case, Helena making use of her still exciting skill of sitting unaided and turning her head sharply to catch all movement in the kitchen.

"You sure you don't want us to take your three out with us?" Tina asked, lifting Corvin to her hip and ruffling Helena's hair, the little girl giggling in delight.

"Don't you dare," Queenie said firmly, handing Aurie another block of cheese to gnaw at. "I want time with my family too you know. Go on, take your kids out to the kids with fur will ya? I need some peace up here!"

She said it jokingly, but the bags under Queenie's eyes spoke the truth of her exhaustion, how much energy she was expending not listening to the hurt pouring out of the people around her. That, plus newborns, and her nights were more fitful now than when she'd been pregnant with twins. Tina laughed like she was supposed to, Newt scooping up Helena and not responding, not knowing the right way to approach this. Jacob turned back to the stovetop, milk warming over the magical flame. He didn't know how much he helped.

In the case, things were quiet in that busy way where quiet meant graphorns keening, nundu's roaring, direcrawls popping and grindylows bubbling. It was their kind of quiet, one that made their muscles relax and their breath come a little easier. Their house was chaos, but this, this was their home. Their air smelt of dung and musk and animals, and the sky was really canvas, but their little huts stood side by side, a veranda looking out over the expanse of Case, and it was simply home.

Tina spread a blanket down, a thick blanket charmed to keep the dust away from little lungs. Helena squealed excitedly as she was set in the middle, her little hands patting Corvin propped beside her, his dark eyes wide as his foster-sister. Moments later, a little black blur appeared at the corner of the blanket, a little hesitant to approach.

"Hey Hardy," Tina called softly, "Where's your sister and Bennie at, hey? They're usually the first ones here when we've got the babies on the floor..."

Hardy looked up at her, understanding what she said for all he pretended not to. He crept forward a little more. He was endlessly fascinated by the infants, but where Bennie and Laurel would swarm them and allow their hair to be pulled and present them with gifts, Hardy was significantly more cautious of these mewling, helpless pups. Newt chuckled and pushed himself up, his shirtsleeves already folded up to his elbows, scars bared for all to see.

"I'll go start the larger creatures feeding," he said softly, "Trade the babies in half an hour?"

"Come back when you need me," Tina told him, supporting Corvin's back, and watching as the other two nifflers darted out with stomach's full. "I think they'll be well entertained."

"Well, the direcrawls are coming, so Helena will be happy, even if Corvin can't quite work out what's going on," Newt said confidently, the direcrawl fletchlings indeed coming to investigate the strange featherless creatures.

"See you in a bit," Tina smiled, some of the creases in her face letting up, even if only for a few blessed hours where the war didn't exist, and all that mattered was their family having fun. "Now, Helly, Corvin, these are called nifflers, daddy's had Bennie for a long, long time now, and we rescued Laurel and Hardy a little over a year ago, before Daddy and I were married. Now, nifflers are super tricky, cuz they love shiny things, and they're good at sneakin' to get em - when I first met daddy, it was in a bank in New York with buildings that touch the sky, and daddy's niffler escaped..."

Newt headed towards the graphorns to check on the health of their flock, eager to find a suitable rehabilitation for the growing family, but simultaneously not wanting to send them where they might not be safe. All the while, he listened to his wife's storytelling, sometimes informative and sometimes not, and the story of how they first met in New York with a bank, and a niffler.

.......................................................................................................

Their infants gave them an excuse to turn down the ministry New Year's ball invitation this year, others weren't so lucky. Tina's friends descended on the house on New Years Eve, spouses and offspring in tow, eager to meet the newish babies and chatter excitedly about all the news since they had last spoken (just before Tina's labour, as a matter of fact. But letters were a fair consolation).

"I'm writing the Anniversary piece for the Prophet," Hetty suddenly announced, her mouth full of apple pie. "Sweet Merlin, Jacob this pie is truly excellent!"

"Aw, thanks Henrietta," Jacob beamed, as he always did when his baking was praised (especially when praised by the magically minded). "Hey, Queens and I gone be opening up a bakery out in Bristol, we're gone hook it up to the floor and everything for magical deliveries. A proper blend of Mag and No-Maj. Queen's idea," He twinkled at his wife on the other side of the room. Queenie giggled at whatever was in his thoughts.

"No, honey," Queenie patted his cheek gently, "You're running the bakery, I'm running the magic side from the safety of this kitchen. We've got too many little ones to have around a workin' bakery. When we only had Aurie she could play in the flour all she wanted. But three?"

"And twins are a handful," Elladora piped up from where she was separating her own two and putting the two boys in opposite corners. "Tthey either love each other or hate each other, there is absolutely no in-between."

"Well," Hetty scraped her bowl clean and put it on the side with a Hetty-like flourish. "I, for one, will be putting in an order when you're set up! Send me an order form and I'll make sure you've both got the business!"

Elladora and Louisana echoed similar sentiments. Queenie thanked them gracefully. Tina was watching the men crowded in the garden, Newt getting along with the other husbands fairly well, even if he did look a little startled at some of the things said.

"I think I said it earlier," Hetty said brightly, calling Tina's attention back to the room. "But then I got distracted by the thought of an entire bakery worth of Kowalski baked goods, so I'll try and hold a thought for more than a sentence -"

"For once?" Elladora asked innocently, Hetty agreed absently before her brain caught up. Her eyes narrowed at her friend, but made a point of continuining with her point.

"I'll be writing your first anniversary piece. As one of your best friends, is there anything you want me to add, or not add?" Hetty hurried to add, "I promise I'm not scoping for a quote, I just want to make sure you like the piece. You've all been through so much this year, and I don't want this to add to anything."

Tina felt a wave of love for these women, these hardworking, wonderful women who had decided to make her their friend, and stood strong between them and the world. People who had liked her for her, not for her association to Newt.

"Whatever you feel is appropriate Hetty," Tina said, "I trust you."

"That's awfully dangerous," Louisiana said.

"She is a journalist!" Elladora finished, neither barb meant honestly, but delivered with such perfect timing that even Hetty had to laugh rather than pretend to be offended.

When the families had left with warm hugs and promises of friendship to deliver the children to caretakers and themselves to the ball, Newt found Tina on the veranda of their garden, looking out at the grey sky. Newt slid up beside her, leaning against her side as she leant against his, perfectly balanced.

"You know what?" She said quietly, "We may have had some bad things happen this year, but it's actually been pretty good. As far as first year wed goes, we did pretty good."

In the house, Corvin was happily snoozing, Queenie was singing softly, Jacob baking, Aurie dancing, Helena giggling and the twins were staring in amazement at sheer bubbles floating around their heads. Their family was a lot bigger now than it had been a year ago, it was missing some people, but it was just as it was meant to be. And at the end of the day, they were still there, still fighting, still fierce and still protecting. They would be for years to come, but this new years was for them. For them all. They could hope for a better year, but the war hung heavy and they were practical if nothing else.

"May I have this dance, Mrs Scamander," Newt whispered to Tina.

"There's no music," she giggled. A moment later, the strains of a familiar jazz tune filtered through the open window, and Tina thanked Queenie silently. Newt raised an eyebrow, bowing gallantly and holding out his hand.

"May I have this dance, Mrs Scamander," he repeated.

"You may, Mr Scamander," Tina placed her hand in his, and they swayed together, always together, as another year ended, and a new one began.