The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

The Life of Newt Scamander

The Life of Newt Scamander

Newt Scamander fell backwards, his hands releasing Sirius Black's shoulders, the werewolf upon him. Somewhere behind them, in the moonstone ceilinged room, Tina Scamander was screaming, her eyes wide with disbelief as she watched, horrified, as the wolf, who had been their friend only moments before, tore at the neck of Newt's robes with his teeth, his claws slashing across Newt's chest - drawing blood, soaking the fabric. Newt grappled his hand over himself, through each of his pockets, as the wolf tore and ripped at the robes and finally he surfaced the werewolf whistle - the very one he'd used in the forest two years prior. He raised the silver whistle to his lips and blew -- as hard as he could.

The result was instantaneous.

The wolf that was Ned Veigler shuddered at the sound, jumping back, his ears flattening to his head and he howled, crying out at the sound. Remus's wolf reacted the same way, staggering into the depth of the elevator cart. Veigler leaped over his prey and ran into the moonlit forest beyond, disturbing birds that flew up out of the trees in a flurried panic all along the way as he ran on. Newt collapsed, the whistle falling from his fingers.

The moment the whistle blow stopped, Remus was recovering and moving forward, hungered by the scent of blood, and Sirius quickly shoved Newt's body out of the cart, lunging forward to pull the lever on the cart so it would go down - the doors closing behind him as he quickly transformed. The doors of the cart closed only just in time before Remus tried to jump forward and he slammed against the doors of the cart instead, falling back...

Sirius had just finished transforming as the cart dropped into the dark tunnel - his eyes met Tina Scamander's through the glass as she looked up to see the two dogs in the elevator cart as Mr. Patra ran to get a medical kit from the wall... and the cart dipped below that level.

Remus growled, turning on Snuffles.

It's me, Remus. It's me. Come back to me.

They faced one another, pacing slowly in a round, Sirius imitating what Remus was doing, trying to keep space between them.

Alpha, Rey... Alpha. I'm your Alpha.

Remus growled.

The elevator cart came to a jolting stop on the next level down - the dragon level - and the doors opened... only just in time as Remus leaped at Snuffles, and Sirius engaged him, their legs scraping at one another, both sets of gleaming teeth bared, and the pair of them went rolling out of the cart, into the dusty habitat of the dragons. They flipped twice before Snuffles landed on his back with Remus's wolf pegging him down... but even as he pegged Sirius to the ground, the wolf shook and fell to the side, landing on the dirt, trembling harshly as the transformation reversed itself.

Sirius lay there in doggy form, exhausted, his heart still racing, staring at Remus as the wolfish features changed... back into a boy...

Upstairs, Mr. Patra had torn open Newt's robes up to reveal the slashes across his chest. "No bites," he said in relief, "Only scratches. But they're deep... Tina, in your laboratory, do you have - I need --"

She'd already drawn the tools he'd need. "I work with my husband, Mr. Patra," she said in reply to the stunned expression on the man's face as she drew exactly what he needed from the already open briefcase, the Niffler handing her the tools from within.

Quickly, Mr. Patra got to work. It was lucky that of all the places they could've been visiting, it was a lab of another magizoologist. Normally, it would've been a horrid tragedy for Newt Scamander was one of the only ones that would have known how to heal himself of the wounds, but here was Mr. Patra, a man who had learned many of the same skills as Newt Scamander, and his hands moved quickly at the work of saving the life of Newt Scamander. Tina's hands shook she stroked her husband's cheek bones gently with the backs of her fingertips, Newt's greying auburn head resting in her lap... his eyes closed...