~ Control ~ {Credence Barebone}

~ Start Over ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter Five~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Scamander and I are leaving today, but he said that he had something important to do first, so I was sitting alone in Tina and Queenie's room, fiddling with my tie (it was a habit I have unsuccessfully tried to shake).

Someone knocked. "Come in."

"Hey, sweetie." It was Queenie. "Thought you might like some cocoa." She sat down next to me on the bed.

I took the cup from her, the warmness of it feeling nice against my cold hands. "Thank you."

"Are you excited to be going to Europe?"

"Yes, really." I've never been out of America. I've never even been out of New York, so going to Europe was a huge thing for me. It's also a chance for me to start over, to become a completely different person. It felt quite amazing and quite scary.

"What do you think of Mr. Scamander?"

"He's..." I struggled to find words to describe him. He was...sort of a bird. In a good way. It felt weird to say that, though. "He's really nice," I said instead, "And not because he wants something, just, well, because he's nice." I think that's what makes me trust him so much. He doesn't want anything from me, I think that he just wants to help me. And, to be frank, he does kind of seem a little off, but not really in a bad way. More of a "socially awkward" kind of way.

Huh, I guess we have that in common.

Well, at least sort of. Mr. Scamander's awkwardness has a sort of odd charm to it. Mine is just, well, awkward.

"So you like him?"

I nodded, taking a sip of cocoa. It was the kind of sweet I rarely ever had before coming here. The kind I got when I snuck off after getting my tiny allowance. Those usually came in the form of chocolate bars (I always got one for Modesty, too, but never for Chastity because I knew she would tell Ma on me), which still didn't compare to the wonderful taste of the beverage.

She smiled lightly.

"Oh, speak of the devil. He's back."

I didn't hear the door, so I'm not sure how she knew that. I decided not to question it.

She walked out, closing the door softly behind her. A minute later, I heard two voices quietly talking outside it.

"That's nice, what you did," Queenie said.

"I'm sorry; what did I do?" The voice did, in fact, belong to Mr. Scamander.

"For Jacob." I heard that name being thrown about the last couple of days, but I never asked who it was.

"Oh, yeah. I guess it was. Is Credence here? The boat leaves in an hour." My face flushed when I heard him say my name. I couldn't understand it, I guess something inside me just...stirred.

There was tapping on the door. "Are you leaving right away?" She asked.

It was quiet for a moment. "Can you see if Tina can meet us there? I would—I would like to say goodbye to her."

"I'll tell her. He's in here." More tapping on the door. This time, it opened before I had a chance to say anything.

"Hello," Mr. Scamander greeted, "are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, of course." I scrambled off of the bed, quickly finishing up the hot chocolate.

Ready as I'll ever be, I guess.

Tina did end up meeting us at the dock.

She smiled at us. She had a really nice smile; so nice it almost made me regret leaving her to go to another country.

Almost.

She walked with us until we were in front of our boat (wow, those things were really huge this close up!). She wrapped me in a hug. "Stay safe, Credence," she pleaded.

"I'll try," I promised.

She let me go, turning her attention on Mr. Scamander. "I wanted to thank you, Newt. If it wasn't for all the nice things you said about me I wouldn't be back on the investigative team."

"Well...I can't think of anyone I'd rather have investigating me."

I cocked my head at the...interesting choice of words.

"Try not to need any investigating for a while."

"I will. I've got a wizard to train..." Oh shit, that's me!!! I'm the wizard!!!! "Besides," he continued, "I have to deliver my manuscript."

Honestly, I was kind of zoned out at this point. All I could hear was "I'm a wizard! I'm a wizard!" over and over in my head.

My brain could be stupid like that, sometimes.

I was brought back when I heard my name.

"I'm sorry?" I said without thinking.

"We should get going," 

I nodded, shifting my gaze to Tina. "Um..thank you...for...how you helped me." I could feel tears start to well up. I quickly whipped them away before they had a chance to fall. Meanwhile, the back of my mind was still reminding me of my magical qualities.

She smiled sweetly, touching my shoulder affectionately. I was really going to miss her.

Mr. Scamander looked over his shoulder to where the ship was docked, a sad smile on his face. Then he started to walk away. I looked between him and Tina, and jogged to catch up with him. But then he walked back to her, said something to her I couldn't quite catch, but seemingly made her happy, and then walked away again.

"So...when we get to London...?" I started, but stopped when I didn't know how to finish.

"Well, I need to turn in my manuscript first, then we have to get you a wand."

I twiddled my thumbs. "Um, about what you said the other day...about having someone else train me...I think that you—I mean that I would be more comfortable if you just taught me yourself." I cringed at my words, and hoped that he wouldn't notice.

"Oh...okay." Was all he said. We were on the ramp to the boat now, people surrounding us. I tried to act like it didn't make me uncomfortable.

"So...you will?"

He nodded. "Yeah, if that's what you want."

I smiled, my face growing hot.

The boat shifted. "It appears that we'll be leaving soon." Mr. Scamander announced.

I guess there's no turning back now.

Hey. Finally a new chapter, I know.

Just a preempted thanks for 300 reads, considering the story's at 299 reads right now. :)

Okay, that's actually kind of it lmao

Thanks for reading

~All_The_Single_Hades  ❤️