𝔞𝔫𝔦𝔪𝔞𝔤𝔲𝔰

Thirteen

"L-lion." I turned to see Jacob was indeed pointing at a lion. I choked and hid behind Newt. The policemen all turned to the large cat, and seeing our chance to escape, I grabbed Thomas, Newt, Jacob and disapparated. 

We were outside of Central Park. We were on a bridge that overlooked the frozen lake. I panted and grabbed my chest, tired of running. I should've known we weren't done yet.

I heard fast footsteps and looked up to see an ostrich running towards us. I moved to let it pass, cradling Thomas closer to me as he almost jumped out to chase it. 

"What..." I began, but then a loud noise was heard ahead of us. Newt ruffled through his suitcase and pulled out a helmet. "Here, wear this." He said, handing it to Jacob. 

"Wh-why would I wear something like this?" Jacob held it out. I saw it was a quidditch helmet.

"Because your skull is susceptible to breakage under immense force." Newt said nonchalantly. With that, he took off, running the way the ostrich had come from.

Jacob and I shared a knowing look and went after him. After running for a few minutes through Central Park, we stopped in front of the zoo. 

"Alright, if you could just pop this on," Newt said, pulling a chest armor from his case. He helped Jacob strap it on and I scoffed.

"Don't I get any protection?" I muttered, pretending to be angry. Thomas meowed in agreement, glaring at Newt.

"I'm not so worried about you, Eve. I know you can handle yourself." Newt shot me an adorable smile and continued to strap Jacob in.

"Now there's absolutely nothing for you to worry about." Newt offered. I rolled my eyes, As if that'd help.

"Has anyone ever believed you when you tell them not to worry?" Jacob asks him. 

"My philosophy is that worrying means that you have to suffer twice." Newt smiled and rushed off again. We both followed.

"Isn't it good to be worried sometimes though?" I asked, but my question was unanswered as we walked into the deserted zoo. The enclosures were completed demolished, something big had clearly stamped and rolled on everything. 

"Oh, my." I hid behind a pillar as I saw a giant erumpet in the middle of the zoo, cornering a poor hippo.

"She's in season," Newt explains, pulling out a small vial from his case. "She needs to mate."

He poured the liquids from the vial onto his wrist, smearing it on himself. 

"What're you doing then?" I asked. 

"It's erumpet musk. She goes crazy for it." Newt replied.

He hands the rest of the vial to Jacob and quietly walks forward. Once he's close enough, he sits the suitcase down on the ground and opens it. He lets out a loud squawk and stamps his foot.

"No..." I couldn't believe I was seeing this. I never got the chance to go to a Hogwarts dance with Newt but, Merlin, this makes up for it. 

I clamped my hand over my mouth as Newt performed a mating dance for the erumpet, who actually looked quite smitten. He stamped and rolled around, and she followed his movements.

The erumpet was about to roll back into the suitcase when I was pushed from behind. Something wet had hit me, causing me to fall onto Jacob. He stumbled forward but managed to catch me. We turned to see a seal, who had escaped. I glared at him. 

Thomas let out a shrill meow and I saw what had just happened. The open bottle of erumpet musk spilled onto Jacob when I bumped into him. "No please..." I ran forward, letting go of my cat and tried to rub it off of him.

"Oh Merlin what am I doing it's on me now oh my god." I rambled, turning to see the erumpet charging towards us. I screamed and ran, pulling Jacob by his coat. 

"Teleport us away like earlier!" Jacob cried.

"We can't leave Newt!" I yelled back. We crossed the frozen lake, hopping onto a rock. The erumpet fell and crashed through the ice behind us. We jumped down and ran out of the zoo. 

"Look, look!" I pointed forward. There was a hill with trees on it just ahead of us. I held Jacob and disapparated us onto the branches. Jacob cried out in surprise but clung on his branch.

The erumpet eventually caught up to us and was rolling around under us. I gripped my branch tighter. "Newt!" 

I heard Jacob let out a noise of surprise. The erumpet had pushed its horn into the tree, which began to swell and glow. It exploded, causing the tree to slowly tip forward. I stood on my branch and jumped off, trying to do a roll but managed to not-so-gracefully face plant into the snow. 

"Jacob?!" I screamed, shaking snow off my hair. "Here!" He ran up behind me but slipped forward. We were on the lake, I realized. I chased Jacob, who was uncontrollably sliding on the frictionless ground.

The erumpet followed right behind us. She only got so far before she too slipped and fell. She continued to slide towards us when I heard a loud roar.

"What---" A certain large, 6-legged mountain lion jumped in front of me. (according to Harry potter wiki, a wampus cat is basically a 6-legged mountain lion, you can look it up if you want visuals, theres a picture)

"Thomas! Help!" I cried, trying to keep my balance running on the ice. He leaped forward gracefully and bounded away from me.

"What, WHAT? You traitor!" I watched as he pulled a sliding Jacob off the lake using his teeth. 

I turned to see where the erumpet was and fell on my butt. I heard a loud crack and saw Newt had apparated behind her with his case open. It began to suck her in, despite her efforts to escape. 

I scrambled backwards as she neared me. She managed to lick my whole front before Newt finally shut the case. He was kneeling in front of me, breathing as heavily as I was. I blushed at our closeness. "You could have done that sooner." I managed, smiling at him. 

He let out a relieved laugh. I stood up and brushed the ice from my behind, catching the eye of a certain wampus. "Thomas." 

He sat with Jacob trapped at his side, his paws circling the scared man as if he were his baby. He looked away from me.

"Why didn't you save me?" The cat ignored me. I thought of back when the erumpet musk spilt on Jacob and I let him go to wipe the musk off of the man. 

"It's because I left you back there." Thomas sniffed at me defiantly.

"I'm sorry, Thomas," I said, kneeling next to him, "it was wrong of me to do such a thing. You're my best friend." I held one of his paws and rubbed small circles on them, the way I used to do when he was a cub.

"You've always stood by me, I'm very sorry I left you." I pulled his face towards me so he was looking me in the eye. I stared into his hazel ones until his shoulders drooped and he let out a sigh.

He raised his paws, Jacob hopped out of them as if he were on fire. He stood next to Newt, trying to get away from the animal as possible. I laughed and jumped into Thomas's open paws. 

He licked my head and nuzzled me. I remembered when he was younger I would do this to him. Not the licking. I saw Newt out of the corner of my eye grinning while Jacob just looked appalled. 

"Well," Newt said, turning to Jacob, "good show, Mr. Kowalski." He held his hand out for the other to shake.

Jacob faced him, staring down at the wizard's hand for a moment. He chuckled and shook his head, "Call me Jacob."