𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒔: 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒕 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓
word-count: 2k
summary: Mr. Scamander introduces you to his bowtruckle...and he may or may not be falling for you as he does.
warnings: none :)
“You have a bowtruckle in your pocket.”
Newt halts in his fiddling with the locks on his case and looks up at you through the wispy, caramel hair that’s constantly obscuring his eyes from your view. You’re perched on one of Tina and Queenie’s dining room chairs. Jacob carried it into the living room for you earlier when you all first arrived. Newt had offered you his seat on the well-worn, but plush lounge, but you had refused, stating that you can handle having a conversation without a cushion, thank you very much.
Your legs are crossed daintily at the ankles, and you lean forward as you consider Newt. Or, more specifically, Pickett, who has clambered up his shoulder to huddle shyly behind his neck. Only the creature’s eyes and the sprig on top of his head can be seen, and you smile sweetly when you make eye contact. Newt blinks at the way your perfectly curled hair flutters around your eyes like curtains in the breeze when you move. He can tell you’re curious, and realizes that you’ve never seen a bowtruckle before. The corner of his mouth turns up fondly at the thought.
“That I do,” he responds, shifting in his crouch as he finishes locking up his case.
“Why?”
Newt finds himself blinking once again at the bluntness of your question, and he tilts his head up to look at you fully. Your gaze meets his inquisitively, and he’s quick to look back down before you can see the blush spreading across his cheeks. He rolls out of his crouch with a small sigh until he’s sitting on the ground with his back against the lounge, legs spread out in front of him. “Well,” he starts, “I keep bowtruckles in my case, but Pickett has what Queenie calls ‘attachment issues.’”
You raise your eyebrows and an amused smile creeps across your face. “Attachment issues,” you repeat, encouraging him to elaborate.
Newt backtracks, eyes flicking to the ceiling as he thinks of a way to explain. He holds his hand up in front of his shoulder, encouraging Pickett to wrap his spindly limbs around his thumb and pull himself up. Once his little friend is standing comfortably on his palm, Newt runs a gentle finger over the sprout at the top of his head. “He doesn’t like his tree,” he clarifies simply.
You chuckle softly and lean forward out of your chair to get a closer look. “But aren’t bowtruckles guardians of their trees?” you ask. A pleased warmth spreads through Link’s chest at your knowledge of one of his creatures. You laugh again when he nods in confirmation. “Why doesn’t he like his tree?”
“He says the other bowtruckles bully him.” Newt shifts to cradle Pickett in both of his hands and sits up, crossing his legs. He regards you with a small smirk, green eyes twinkling with mischief. “But I have a suspicion that he’s actually just sensitive.” He whispers the last part as if it’s a secret, making you giggle and Pickett whirl around to glare adorably at his keeper.
Newt frowns right back down at him. “What?” he asks incredulously. “You and I both know it’s true.” You’re absolutely delighted when the bowtruckle blows a raspberry, and Newt rolls his eyes good-naturedly. “Again, that behavior is so beneath you, Pickett.”
You snicker and slide off of the dining chair and to the floor so you’re sitting next to Newt on one hip, with both of your legs folded on top of each other. The magizoologist flushes bright red from the tips of his ears to his chest when you settle next to him, despite you maintaining a respectable distance between the two of you. He’s glad you’re too occupied with mesmerizing Pickett to notice his current state—The little creature had shied away from you when you first moved closer, but now he’s watching in fascination as you conjure flowers about the size of the pads of Newt’s fingers out of the tip of your wand. Pickett watches them all the way as they shoot up to the ceiling only to gently float back down to the floor.
“So,” You shoot a baby blue flower across the room, causing Pickett to reel around in search of it, “Does that make you Pickett’s tree?”
Newt whips his head around to look at you with wide, green eyes. “What?” he splutters. You grin at his reaction and unthinkingly magick an array of tiny, yellow flowers to rain around Pickett. The soft petals tickle Newt’s hands when the flowers land in them, and he finds he quite likes the feeling.
“Like I said,” you continue, “bowtruckles live to guard their trees. And if Pickett is always with you…” You fix him with a teasing smile underneath your lashes, “...that makes you his tree.”
Newt gapes at you, jaw moving up and down as he tries in vain to come up with something to respond with. What does one say when a beautiful acquaintance compares you to a tree? He swallows to clear his dry mouth and mumbles: “I suppose it does.”
Your lips spread into a wide smile and you snicker giddily at the baffled expression on the magizoologist’s face. At this point, Pickett has clambered up the lapels of Newt’s white collared shirt so he’s perched on his collarbone. And while you look back at the creature, Newt finds it impossible for him to tear his gaze from you. You twirl your fingers in a “hello” to Pickett, and if his heart wasn’t already melting at that small movement, the way your nose crinkles when you smile warms him completely. Newt’s mouth twitches up once again, and this time a glint of his teeth shines through his smile.
A breathy laugh escapes from his lips when you raise your wand and resume your flower shower. You look back at him at the sound, smile dropping slightly when you see the way Mr. Scamander is looking at you.
You’ve only known him for a couple of days, but from what you’ve seen, he’s never held a significant amount of eye contact with anyone. He tends to keep his head bowed, raising his eyes only for certain amounts of necessary eye contact. This close, you can see flecks of golden-brown hidden in his forest green eyes, like the first hints of autumn that appear in September. You find yourself searching for every last one of the beautiful imperfections while he maintains stunned eye contact with you. You get to see up close as his eyes soften, beholding you as if for the first time.
Newt’s eyes flick down to your lips briefly before raising back up to yours, and your cheeks flame at the minuscule gesture. You look down at your lap in an attempt to hide your flaming cheeks and notice Newt doing the same out of the corner of your eye.
“Miss (l/n)?” Newt’s quiet, husky voice penetrates your being, and you stop tapping your knee nervously. You look back up at him through your lashes to let him know you heard him and his eyes falter from his own lap to your eyes and then back again before he smiles bashfully. “Would you like to meet the rest of my creatures?”
A soft, but still shy smile spreads across your face. “I would love to.”
A full-on grin breaks across Newt’s face and he scrambles to his feet, gently guiding Pickett up until he’s perched on his shoulder. Then, he holds out a hand to you, and you smile as you allow him to pull you to your feet. Neither of you are quick to let go of the other’s hand, and you find you quite like the feel of his worked, calloused fingers in yours.
Newt’s the one who lets go first, but it’s only to reach down and flick the locks of his battered case back open. You watch as he pries it open and lets the top end fall to the floor with a thump. He stands back up to his full height and huffs out a breath and you look at him curiously when you feel him look back at you with a subtle smile. “Ready?” he asks.
Your heart flutters, and you feel like the sudden lightness in your chest has the power to lift you off the ground. “Ready.”
~*~
Jacob steps over the Goldstein’s threshold with a relieved groan and holds the door open for Queenie. He scans the living room tiredly, and what he sees has him suddenly much more awake. His jaw drops slightly, but he schools himself enough to say, “Um…Queen?”
“Hm?” Queenie bounces clumsily into the flat after him. She catches Jacob’s shoulder to stop herself from tripping over her own two feet, and her blue eyes widen as she takes in the living room. “Oh, dear.”
“‘Oh dear?’” Jacob parrots, closing the door behind his girlfriend. “What the hell happened in here?” When the two of them and Tina had left two hours before, the Goldstein’s living room was meticulously clean, thanks to the elder of the two sisters. Now, it looks like a meadow exploded. What seems like thousands of flowers lay scattered across the carpet and the furniture, most of them concentrated around Newt’s closed case in the middle of the floor.
Queenie’s careful as she walks further into the room, for some reason doing her best not to step on the tiny blossoms. “We’re lucky Teeny got called in,” she chimes. “I’m sure she wouldn’t be happy to see this.” She snorts softly and then giggles, returning to her examination of the sitting room-turned-field. “I just don’t know why either of ‘em woulda done it.”
Jacob turns around in a slow circle, face still scrunched up comically. “Where the hell are they?”
Queenie squints when she frowns. “I don’t know.” Her eyes flick down to Newt’s case laying inconspicuously in the middle of the carpet. She grins toothily and hums at her epiphany before scurrying over to the case and kneeling in its surrounding flowers.
“Don’t tell Newt I did this,” she whispers as she points her wand at the case and mutters, “Alohomora.” The locks flip open with a satisfying click, and Jacob walks over to join Queenie in peering down into Newt’s garden shed.
Queenie then proceeds to tip the entire top half of her body over the side of the case so her torso is dangling over the edge and into the other world.
Jacob splutters and grabs hold of the back of her calves just as she starts to slide. “Jesus, Queen, what’re you doin’?” he hisses, keeping his voice down in case Newt is close to the shed.
“Whoops!” is the only explanation she gives. Jacob sighs tiredly.
“There are a lot easier ways to do this, you know. Like climbing down the ladder.”
Queenie ignores him and turns her head to the side, blonde curls swishing into her face as she does. She blows harshly to get them to fall back out of her eyes before stilling once again, blue eyes flicking around the shed as she searches the thoughts of the different creatures in Newt’s tiny world.
It doesn’t take her long to find the two of you, but one, simple word reigns supreme:
Pretty.
Queenie smiles as the warm feeling you and Newt are taken with fills her up like a balloon. She swings herself back up into the apartment, and Jacob rips his hands off of her legs to avoid being sat on. Yours and Newt’s thoughts die down until all she can feel is Jacob’s confusion and Mrs. Esposito’s frustration because apparently Janey downstairs brought another boy in without permission.
Jacob frowns when he sees the way Queenie is smiling. “What?” he asks. She huffs and shrugs, still smiling, and Jacob raises his eyebrows at her slightly-crazed state. Her bob is now more of a frizzy pom-pom look and she’s practically twitching with excitement as what she just felt whips through her head like a summer storm.
“We best not bother those two for a while,” is her only explanation.
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Changed. || Marauders - 18
A quick 3 min per chapter Marauders Era fanfic starring Faith Solace as reader × Sirius/Remus, and Minuet McGonagall (an OC of mine hehe)
Warnings: None :>
Words: 521
Faith's POV
“You’re so brave,” Faith told James with a hint of sarcasm.
“Why do you say that?” James perked up.
“Is it ‘cause he made the team in the stupidest way possible?” Remus guessed with his nose still in a book.
Faith laughed. “Or maybe it’s the letter you sent poor Evans–”
“Pfft, wait—” Remus burst out laughing. “You actually gave her that letter??”
James flushed red, “Wasn’t it a dare?”
Sirius entered the room. “Why’s Potter all red like that? Oooooh– Are we talking about Evans? I wanna join!”
“Don’t you think it’s a little early to be crushing on people? We’re only eleven for goodness sake!” (Faith)
“He can do what he wants. Isn’t that right Jamsie?” Sirius gave him a pat on the back. “Besides, it just gives us another thing to tease him about,” he smirked.
They laughed.
“So, when’s the next quidditch practice?” Remus changed the subject. “I heard quidditch season is starting soon.”
James sat a little taller as if he loved talking about him making the team. “Soon I think. They said something about wanting to meet us up for lunch first.”
“Sounds exciting.”
Sirius' POV
“How do you do it……” I was mumbling to myself like a madman. “Why are you so bold James? So charismatic–”
“You alright Sirius?” Remus approached me.
“Yeah, just……. Thinking.”
Then I remembered something.
“You went missing ‘round this time last month didn’t you? Ever plan on telling us where Professor Dumbledore took you?”
Remus paused to think.
“Sirius, Remus! Look what Peter and I found outside!!”
Solace came running over, and I caught Remus heaving a sigh of relief out of the corner of my eye… He’s definitely hiding something.
“What did you find?” Remus smiled enthusiastically at her.
Peter hurried over too, holding something small with his two hands.
“Bowtruckle,” I gasped when I saw it, it was absolutely adorable— Ehem, not that I would ever admit it……
“Yeah! It’s so cutee~”(Faith)
“But what’s it doing here in Hogwarts?” Remus made a good point.
“Where’d yall find it Pete?” I asked, having an inkling of where it might have come from.
“Near the whomping willow,” Faith and Peter said in unison.
“You thinking what I’m thinking Remus?”
“No?”
“The little guy could belong to the groundskeeper.”
“Oh–” Faith mumbled. “I never thought of that…”
I shrugged, “I mean, it’s just a hunch–”
“Who’s the groundskeeper?” Peter asked.
“You know the big tall guy with the huge beard and long hair? Yeah, him.”
“Could’ve just said Hagrid…” Faith grinned at me.
“Can’t blame me,” I smirked back. “It’s an accurate description after all.”
James' POV
“Nice to meet you, Potter. I’m Justin Anderson, captain.” He shook James’ hand then added, “Don’t you dare pull a stunt like that again or I’ll personally have you kicked from the team.”
James gulped, guess barging into tryouts did not leave the captain with a good impression.
“Hey, go easy on the kid… He’s a natural,” one of the girls next to the captain said. “He needs discipline. Let’s see how he fares on the real pitch.”
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