when things go wrong | harry potter

Chapter Two

"Newton! Someone's here to see you!" someone called up the stairs.

Arabella opened the wooden door to a ten year-old boy standing at the door holding pieces of parchment and an old quill. He had a face full of freckles and he had shaggy blonde hair partly covering his eyes. He was tall and lanky for his age but still looked fairly young. His name was Alfred Thompson, but was more commonly known as Al.

"Hello, Mrs Scamander. Is Newt here?" Al asked.

"I uh...check upstairs in his bedroom." Arabella said hesitantly.

Al nodded and ran up the creaky wooden stairs and pushed open Newt's door that was already slightly ajar.

"Newt?"

"Oh, good! You're here!" Newt said enthusiastically, standing up with a small egg in his hand. "When did you get here?"

"Few minutes ago..." Al said. "What's that?"

"Highly technical, you wouldn't understand." He said, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about? I'm one of the best students in our muggle class!" Al chuckled nervously. "Seriously, what have you got there?"

"...dragon egg."

"A dragon egg?!"

"Well, at least I think it is." Newt said and picked up his magnifying glass. "It has the same patterns on it that I would suspect an English Emphibna to have..."

"You've got to get rid of that, Newt! It's dangerous!"

"What do you know about dragons, Al?" Newt shot back.

"I know that they're dangerous!" 

Newt looked at him with mixed feelings of anger and sadness.

"What if they weren't?"

"Don't be a moron, Newt." Al rolled his eyes.

"No, listen to me!" Newt said frustratedly. "Dragons may just be much simpler creatures than we originally thought, y'know?"

Silence ensued in which Newt looked right into Al's eyes, not averting his gaze for a second. 

"I believe you."

"Really?"

"Do me a favour, though?"

"What is it?" Newt smiled.

"Get rid of that bloody egg!"