Chapter Five

5.3K 181 15
                                    

Eleanor woke up and looked at the clock beside her bed. 1PM it read and she slapped her hand to her forehead. She hoped Newt was still here as she got changed into new clothes and went out to the living room. 

Sure enough, Newt was sitting on her couch with his nose in a book while sipping some tea. He stood up when he noticed Eleanor standing in the doorway. She noticed the book he was reading was from her shelf.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you," Newt started, but Eleanor waved it away and went to grab herself a cup of tea.

"No worries Newt. My mom was a brilliant writer." She replied and grinned while coming back in.

"This is your moms book?"He asked looking over the cover. "Your mom is Florence Baker?" 

Eleanor nodded her head and laughed to herself. Newt again was astonished at not being able to put two and two together.

"No wonder these creatures adore you, Eleanor. It's in your genes. Your mum was a brilliant witch, I studied a lot of her research these past few years. She's been everywhere that I want to be," Newt said while flipping through the pages. An idea flashed into Newt's mind, but he kept it to himself. He didn't want to frighten her by being too forward. He just thought how amazing it would be for them to work together side by side.

"I feel as if you two would have gotten along very well. She would have loved to meet you." Eleanor said while blowing on her tea. "Please feel free to browse. Everything on the top left shelf are her books."

"Thank you, truly. These are all so informative." Newt said while walking over to the shelves.

"Newt?" Eleanor started. He hummed to let her know he was listening. "Where do you plan on traveling next?"

"My next trip? I'm traveling to meet an old friend in Antarctica. He informed me recently that there have been some disturbances to a frost salamander colony on one the glaciers. You see if we let these salamanders diminish, there could be some serious problems with global warming in our future." He stated while still looking through the books on the shelves.

"Do you know what's causing them to disappear?" Eleanor asked curiously. She crossed her legs and leaned into them intently.

"Most likely poachers, but I won't know until I get there." Newt replied while settling for a book about Zouwus.

"Newt?" Eleanor asked again.

"Hm?" He replied.

"Do you um... Would you mind a travel buddy? I have been looking for work the last week and I can't seem to even land a job at the ice cream parlor." Eleanor asked him shyly while playing with her tea cup. She looked up at him and he was looking back at her with a curious face.

"You would want to travel with me all the way to Antarctica to save salamanders?" Newt asked it as though she said it to be a joke.

"Not just any salamanders, Newt. They're frost salamanders and we wouldn't want to risk our future generations to have to deal with global warming because we failed our duties." Eleanor said with a grin.

Newt shook his head in disbelief. Is this woman even real, he thought. He saw them together, saving creature after creature, as a team. He stopped himself from getting lost in those thoughts.

"Eleanor I would be delighted to have you join in on my mission. I can't promise the pay is any good though." He said while looking at the floor.

"Forget the pay, we will make it work." Eleanor replied. She suddenly had the best idea she's had in her lifetime and ran next to Newt and began collecting all of her mothers books.

"What are you doing Eleanor?" Newt asked confused at what was going on. She grabbed the book that he was reading and ran into the kitchen. He really wanted to read every little thing Florence Baker had put into those books so he went in after her.

"Newt grab your case. We're going to the Ministry." Eleanor said while grabbing her jacket and throwing the books into a bag.

All put together, the two of them linked arms with no questions asked and apparated outside of the Ministry and began walking in.

"Eleanor, I really don't want to be here. It's my day off." Newt whined, but she dragged him alongside her and up to the beast division department. 

"I would like to speak with Mr. Augustus Worme please," Eleanor said to the lady at the front desk. She nodded and pointed to sit in the waiting lobby across the room. They did as they were told and Eleanor turned to Newt.

"I'm going to publish her books Newt." She grinned. "We're going to need the income and these are going to sell like hot cakes, I promise. Everyone has been asking me when either she was going to publish them and when she passed, when I was going to release them to the public."

"Eleanor that's wonderful and I'm so happy you're finally doing it, but this isn't because of me, right? I don't want you to do this if you don't want to." Newt said giving her a nervous look. 

"I've thought about doing it for a while, but never had any motivation to actually do it. I'm ready," She said and just as she did, Augustus Worme walked out towards them.

"Newt Scamander, I didn't expect to see you here on your day off," Augustus said smugly while turning to Eleanor.

"Miss Eleanor Baker, lovely to see you again. It's been so long, you grew up so much. You look like your mother." He said and took her hand in his and gave it a gentle shake.

"Thank you Mr. Worme, it's nice to see you too." Eleanor said while giving him a warm smile. She knew too much about this man than she cares to admit because of her mother. Augustus was a publisher for Obscurus Books; the same man that has commissioned Newt to write his book. He had been trying to get Eleanor to release her mothers books the last year and a half and prior was constantly harassing her mother.

"What brings you here Miss Baker?" Augustus asked her while also eyeing Newt.

"Mr. Worme, I've decided to publish my mothers books and I need your help." She replied. His eyes lit up at those words and he let out a loud chuckle, beamed at her, and held out his hand.

"My dear, you already have yourself a deal and I don't even want to read them. I know they are just fantastic. Do you have them with you?" He asked. Eleanor nodded and slumped the bag off her shoulder and handed them to him. 

"How much do you think they'll sell for and how much will I make from them?" Eleanor asked him trying not to sound too greedy, but wanted to make sure he understood she knew the worth of those books.

"Let's see here dear... Miss Baker, you will never have to worry about money for the rest of your life if these sell like I think they are. We will list them at five galleons each seeing as these could be a requirement for textbooks next year at Hogwarts." Augustus said. "I'll have these being printed by tomorrow morning and your first deposit of sales will be in your Gringotts vault next week on Tuesday and every Tuesday after that. Deal?"

"Deal." Eleanor shook his hand and smiled at Newt with hopes of a future with a man she just met.

Newt's Assistant: A Newt Scamander FanFicWhere stories live. Discover now