Newt's Assistant: A Newt Scamander FanFic

Chapter Four

There he was in the flesh. Newt Scamander at her door, sheepishly smiling while running his hand through his mess of hair. He looked like he had been through hell and back as he stepped into her flat. He was missing his blue jacket and only had on his white shirt and suspenders. Eleanor thought he looked devilishly handsome all disheveled.

"I er- I got your note from the man at the Leaky Cauldron. I figured I just stop by because I left you with Dougal. I was going to take him back to my flat. I'm so sorry I ran away like that and left him with you. I've been in such a tizzy these last hours trying to find my case. I still haven't found it and I'm beginning to think it's gone for good," Newt rambled, but stopped when Eleanor held up her hand to stop him.

"Stop right there Newt. I'm so sorry, I wish I had a way to reach you. Dougal is fine. In fact, all of your creatures are fine." Eleanor said as she led him into her living room and pointed to the case. Newt stood there, mouth open in disbelief. He had been out all night trying to locate this thing.

"How did you?" Newt started and turned to face Eleanor, still in disbelief that his case was safe and right in front of him. He let out a stunned laugh and Eleanor motioned for him to take a seat while summoning some tea cups into their hands. She explained everything that happened with Niffler at Madam Malkins and how she waited for him, but she felt uncomfortable being at the Leaky Cauldron so late. He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair for the millionth time. 

"Did you open it? The case?" He asked and nodded to the case. Eleanor nodded. 

"Did you go in?" Eleanor nodded again and Newt stared at her and raised his eyebrows as if he were waiting for her to say something about it.

"I- well it was really Dougal that led me to do it. I guess he thought you wouldn't be back for a while so he showed me how to get down and where all the feed was for them-" Eleanor started and Newt's eyes came out from behind his hands.

"Their feed? You mean to tell me you fed them?" Newt asked almost in a whisper. Eleanor nodded.

"Well, yeah, of course I did. They need to eat just as much as we do. Besides, it was easy once I found all of the journals for each of them. They really are incredible, Newt. Your drawings are extraordinary." Eleanor smiled at Newt and reached for his hand. He flinched slightly at her touch, but let her hold his hand. 

"T-Thank you," Newt stuttered and used his other hand to rub the back of his neck. "Do you mind if I go down there real quick? Just to check them out."

"Do you mind if I come along?" Eleanor asked. Newt shook his head and opened his case. 

"Ladies first," Newt said while motioning for Eleanor to go down. She did just like before and looked around at the all too familiar shed she stood in not too long ago. It had such a cozy, warm feeling to it, she thought. Newt stepped down from the ladder and walked over to his work bench. He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and pinned it to his board and walked towards the erumpent enclosure and quickly came back in. Walking over to the other side, he grabbed two baby bottles and handed one to Eleanor.

"Thank you for caring for my creatures, Eleanor. There's just one you missed out on that doesn't have any instructions. It's called a Marmite." Newt said leading her to a dark area of the field that she missed and held out a new creature Eleanor had never seen or even heard of before. 

"This is a Marmite. It's really a cross between a dust mite and squid and has a transparent, bio-luminescent body and long trailing tentacles. These tentacles can reach up to ten feet in young specimens, and presumably become even longer in adults." Newt informed her while carrying another and bottle feeding it. Eleanore copied what he was doing.

"Young Marmite are unable to feed themselves and need to be bottle fed when in captivity," Newt mentioned and put the creature back and took Eleanor's as well.

"I'm sorry I missed this Newt, I feel terrible." Eleanor stated while walking back towards the shack with him.

"Please don't, Eleanor. Really, you've been so helpful and did an incredible job with them. I can already see some of them enjoy your company," he said as he brushed her hair to the side revealing a bowtruckle that was hidden in her sweater. "Hello there Pickett."

"Oh, I forgot he climbed onto me earlier. He didn't want to go back onto that tree." Eleanor said while trying to reach for Pickett. He scooted further back into her sweater so she couldn't reach him.

"He erm, has some attachment issues. He had a cold last winter and now he never leaves my side," Newt chuckled. "The others accuse me of favoritism all the time because of it."

"Gee I wonder why," Eleanor laughed. She stopped trying to grab him and just let him be. 

"My old home used to have a Wiggen Tree in the back with bowtruckles. Mom always told me to stay away because she didn't want me to have my eyeballs gouged out. I used to sneak back there a lot. My favorite was named Penelope."

"Did you know about most of these creatures already?" Newt asked. He wanted to learn more about this curious girl and how she learned to care for all of them. She seemed to be so understanding and it was rare Newt ran into somebody who shared his same views. 

"Yes most them actually. All but the Marmite. Again, my mom read me stories about them and told me about her personal experiences with them. She used to travel around the world looking for endangered species to help restore their habitats. She actually helped bring back Diricawls if you remember how they almost went extinct." Eleanor continued. "Anyways, she wrote books upon books that never got published. I'm not sure she wanted to share what she knew with the world, but I think she was scared what people would think of her."

"People aren't very understanding of creatures that can kill us," Newt began. "What they don't understand is that we are the reasons they do such things. We are the ones that provoke them. It's in their nature and they can't help what they eat and such."

"You're exactly right. Maybe one day, I'll get to publish her books for the world. I'm just not ready yet. I like having them to myself," Eleanor smiled shyly at Newt as they entered the shack and Newt sat down on a stool. He summoned an identical one next to him and motioned for Eleanor to take a seat.

"Where is she now?" Newt asked. His head fell knowing he might already know the answer, but was being a little nosy.

"Her and my dad passed my last year at school. Dragon Pox." Eleanor replied. They were silent for a few minutes before Eleanor stood up. 

"It must be morning by now. We've been up all night," Eleanor said as she stretched, yawned and climbed up the ladder. Newt was on her tail and they were back in her living room.

"Newt you can crash here if you're too tired to apparate back to your place. I don't want you getting splinched if you try," Eleanor said to Newt. She secretly didn't want him to leave because that meant she might never see him again.

"Please, I don't want to cause you any more trouble than I have," Newt said while gathering his stuff. Eleanor frowned.

"Newt really, it isn't any trouble at all. Look," She said as she waved her wand and the couch turned into a nice twin sized bed with fresh sheets. "Doesn't that look comfortable?"

"Actually," Newt sighed and dropped his belongings back on the floor. He stretched and sat on the bed. "As long as you don't mind Eleanor. I really appreciate this."

"No worries, truly. Bathroom is down the hall to the left. My room is the door right after if you need anything." Eleanor wished him a goodnight even though it was practically 5am and made her way to her bedroom. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.