Hufflepuff blanket
It took them around a week to reach London, and each day was filled with Newt slowly teaching Credence about his creatures. As time melted past, Credence began to speak a little more often; his eyes grew slightly less sad and in time he gained just a little confidence. Though Newt couldn't claim to have entirely convinced the boy to trust him, Credence had formed a lifelong bond with Dougal. True to his character, Dougal had refused to accept defeat in looking after Credence and Newt often tasked him with taking food to him or checking that he was alright. At first Credence politely kept his distance from the creature, but when he woke from dark dreams and found little blue eyes staring sympathetically at him (and when on such nights Dougal refused to let go of his hand until Newt awoke) he eventually came to find comfort in the beast and see it as a friend. Sometimes he even spoke to it, only quietly and when he thought Newt wasn't listening.
He would tell Dougal about his dreams, about Mr Graves and how betrayed he felt and how useless. Of course the Demiguise didn't understand most of what he said, but it somehow didn't matter - it was a way to admit the thoughts without feeling embarrassed or pathetic. He often caught Newt smiling as Credence and Dougal entered a room, Dougal wrapped around his shoulders. It was a sad smile somehow, like it hurt him to look at them, but he pleased him at the same time.
Once, he caught Newt whisper to Dougal as he was putting the creature to bed. "You might just be the only friend he's ever had," he smiled down at it with an almost teary pride. "You have no idea what that means to him, that kind of warmth. But you give it anyway." Then his eyes did the thing that he did when he was thinking "you truly are remarkable" at one of his beasts (Credence recognized that well enough by now).
And so they docked in London, better friends than they had been but still a little wary of each other. "You'll have to forgive me" Newt said as they stepped off the boat "my flat is a little bit of a mess. I wasn't expecting visitors." The idea that Newt even had a flat was an odd one to Credence, it had long since been clear to him that he considered the case as his home.
Credence had been right to be sceptical because the little flat in London was anything but homely. It was a pretty enough room, small and filled with oak furniture and curios from foreign lands. On the wall there was a poster that depicted some men on broomsticks, zooming around the room - "The Chudley Cannons."
"The best quidditch team in the world... Though you wouldn't know it." Newt explained when he saw Credence marveling at it. It was true that Credence had a lot of questions about the picture but that didn't answer any of them. On the bed and across the door of the wardrobe there were a series of black and yellow scarves and hats, in addition to a blanket of the same colours that looked hand knitted. On the desk there were a number of notebooks with dark velvet covers, a crimson candle burnt almost down to the wick, and a collection of empty tea cups beside a lot of quills. Newt glanced briefly at the picture there, which was of a young man that might have once been Newt and a girl with long dark hair. He grimaced and set whatever thought he was having aside.
Although the room was vibrant, and infinitely interesting, it clearly did not belong to the man stood in front of Credence. There was no sign of any beast or beast habitat and the posters on every wall had all the suggestions of the home of a man not yet out of his teens. "I moved here when I first left school. I thought I wanted to stay in London." His eyes half closed the way they did when he was trying not to give time to a depressing thought.
Credence instinctively reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, the way Newt had done for him so many times. The apprehensive smile newt gave him in return could have lit up even this dismal little room "we won't be here long." He told himself as much as Credence, "just until I can drop off my book."
Newt spent most of his time in London dashing off to meetings and leaving Credence alone to stare at his poster covered walls. Occasionally Newt would leave the case behind or at least Dougal or Pickett to keep him company, but sometimes he was left alone. He hated those days more than anything else. Whenever Newt returned from a day like that, he would apologise several times and make Credence a cup of tea (the English made tea very different from Americans’) and they would sit on cold nights underneath Newts Hufflepuff blanket.