Always

Christmas

Scamander manor was silent in the early hours of Christmas morning as a thick blanket of snow covered the gardens in the darkness. Newt was deep in the throngs of sleep, snuggled up to Tina with his arms draped around her waist and his nose buried in her hair. He always admired the way they slotted together so perfectly in their sleep. They could fall asleep at opposite ends of the bed after a disagreement and wake up in the same arrangement, Tina's back pressed up against Newts chest and Newts head buried in her hair with their hands interlaced. All was quiet. Well, until the clock striking four was drowned out by the door to Newts room being thrown open and Theseus yelling
"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Being followed by a dull thud and a much quieter "Ow Leta". Newt was used to the over-excited wake-up call, even when the brothers were barely talking Theseus always got everyone up at an ungodly hour. Even when Newt was spending Christmas in Turkey he sent an owl that arrived at 3 o'clock in the morning. Tina however was not and went for her wand only to be restrained in Newt's arms as she lunged.
"Newt?" Tina cried with fear and surprise in her voice. Newt just pulled her in closer and buried his head further in her neck mumbling with his voice full of sleep.
"Just Theseus being a nuisance" Tina raised her head against him and sighed in astonishment
"It is four in the morning. I'm going to kill him"
"Hmph"
Newt didn't relinquish his grip and Tina slowly relaxed slightly once again until another voice, this time female, came in.
"Come on you guys! It's Christmas! Stop snuggling!- Excuse me Teenie for bringing some festive cheer-Hey! Look just sayin' you two have got about ten seconds before Helena comes down". Newt propelled himself out of bed as did Tina and they stood on opposite sides of the room looking at each other momentarily before Newt grabbed his wand off his bedside table and waved it over the room to cause Tina's hair to straighten, her case to hide under the bed and her slippers to attach to her feet. Just as Tina was readjusting them his mother walked in and declared
"Oh good, I see Theseus has gotten you all up"
"Yep" Tina chuckled uncomfortably
"Well, let's get downstairs then!" She then ran down the hallway and took the steps at what sounded like two at a time.
"That was a close one" Tina commented as she straightened her pyjamas
"Pssh.See ya downstairs" Queenie giggled before skipping off. Newt shook his head at everyone's antics and answered her previous comment.
"It was rather wasn't it"
"It's too early for our siblings to be that excited"
"You would think so wouldn't you" Newt murmured ruefully before asking "Downstairs?"
"Let's go!"

They padded down the stairs in their woollen socks and walked into the heavily decorated living room where under the tree large stacks of presents sat.
"Ah, here they are!" Helena bellowed, making Nagini and Henry (who were seated closest to her) visibly wince. Nagini was, as usual, sat cross-legged on the floor and everyone else was perched on various chairs. Jacob and Queenie had taken the love seat and Helena and Henry had taken the sofa. The armchairs were where Theseus and Leta were sat leaving Newt and Tina the space directly beside the tree. They sat down gently and the moment they were seated Theseus cried
"You're on present duty then Newton" Rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, partially to wind up his brother and partially because it was four am, he started to pluck the piles of presents off the table. Newt ended up with a neat pile of six presents. For some unknown reason, he had one-off Leta and Theseus then one-off Theseus only.
"Shall we take it in turns then?" Leta asked looking at the first present in excitement.
"Yes and you can go first darling" Helena called and everyone turned to watch as Leta opened the present from Theseus first. It was a flashy but elegant gold necklace and after there was a fair amount of kissing Theseus tore open the gift from Leta and exclaimed in delight about some auror knickknack. Newt had zero clue what it was but from Tinas gasp of excitement, he assumed it was good. Nagini went next and she almost fainted with excitement as she unwrapped a hand-knitted scarf from his mother made of a dark blue and silver yarn. Queenie and Jacob opened their gifts from each other next and Queenie squealed in delight at some pearl earrings and Jacob admired a self-cleaning apron with a large grin on his face. His parents didn't appear to be opening their's yet so it left just Newt and Tina. They had split up in Diagon alley a week ago and Newt had been silently terrified about her reaction to it. He had combed the brightly coloured shopfronts for the perfect gift but none of them was Tina. The jewellery was too flashy and the dresses all had too much glitter. Then he had been struck with an idea that he was now wishing he had avoided and gone with a normal diamond necklace. Not even starting to open his gift from her he watched as she unpeeled his rather messily wrapped gift and then held the jewellery box in the palm of her hand. She glanced curiously at Newt and he murmured
"Open it"