More than a Friend (A Newtina Fanfic)

Part 5

It was Tina's first day going to her new assignment. She woke up early as always to feed the creatures with Newt, but Newt told her he didn't want her to be late so she didn't help feed the zouwu, which was time-consuming. She wore a crisp white button-down shirt and navy blue slacks, and her worn leather shoes. Normally, if she was just a British woman working at the Ministry, she would have to wear a skirt, a dress, or wizarding robes, but they allowed her to wear what she would normally wear given the nature of this assignment. After feeding the creatures, she went upstairs, grabbed a warm buttery croissant and an apple, and said a quick see you later to everyone. Quickly, she pulled on her black trench coat. She would have stayed to eat breakfast but today she had to be early.

She stood in front of Theseus along with a group of other aurors. He was telling them what their assignment was going to be. They were standing in the spacious atrium in the Ministry. She scanned the people in her group. Some she recognized, some she didn't. It was predominantly men, just like in New York. One figure had his hat pulled lower over his face, so she couldn't see his face. She dismissed it as a strange British auror, nothing to worry over.

Their assignment for today was relatively simple, but not exciting. They were going to study paperwork and data to try to find where Grindelwald would strike next. They would also start enchanting landmarks and places of importance from spells, in case Grindelwald decided to target them. Theseus led them to a large conference room, where a disgruntled house elf was cleaning up some owl pellets that had fallen on the floor. Why do they use owls here? They're really messy, Tina thought. She took a seat next to the other only woman auror in the group. She introduced herself as Isa Evans, a British auror. She showed herself as very confident, maybe in her early twenties, so she must have been pretty new to this. She wore a similar leather trench coat, everyone did, but her's was a dark green. Underneath was a pretty black dress, fitted at the top, but easy enough to walk and run in. She had bright blue eyes, but not nearly as excited and passionate as Newt's. Why was she comparing Isa's eyes to Newt's? Isa also had long, silky blond hair she had obviously spent a lot of time on. She had a sort of haughty air to her like the "popular" girls at Illvermorny. Tina never was a popular girl, though. She was the girl who was determined to prove wrong everyone that told her she couldn't do something. She didn't have many friends because she had to take care of Queenie. She didn't care how she looked or what other people thought of her. That trait continued with her for the rest of her schooling. It's the reason she was there in that seat. Being a popular girl would have never helped her in her life.
Theseus passed out piles of paper out to everyone, and a pen, and told them to check over each other's work when they were done. Tina had always been good at Arithmancy, and Defence Against the Dark Arts, so this was a breeze for her. What she really wanted to do was get out into the field and do some real magic.

She had finished as fast as she could after checking it over twice and looked around to see if anyone would trade papers. The only person was, of course, Isa.

"By the way, American, I'm absolutely sure I got all of the numbers right. I aced Arithmancy in Hogwarts. Don't even bother trying, you don't need to." Isa said, haughtily. Her eyes stared at Tina like daggers. Tina started to dislike her.

"Ms Evans, my name is Porpentina Goldstein, and I really would like you to refer to me like that. Ms Goldstein, if you will. And I will see if you have gotten these correct. Best not to be so cocky, it could put you in a bad situation." Tina replied. Isa pursed her lips and turned away. They began their work. Aha! She was too cocky after all. Tina had found a mistake in the calculations. She corrected it. While Isa did do very well, she made four mistakes, mistakes that could have cost lives.

Isa handed back Tina's work.

"You did perfectly," Isa said with a smirk.

"And you made four mistakes in these papers. You shouldn't get ahead of yourself. Don't rush to finish. Double-check your work. Those are the three rules of Arithmancy at Ilvermorny. I'm sure they are at Hogwarts too." Tina smiled back. By now, all of the other aurors had finished their work and were looking at the conversation with interest. Theseus came up to the front of the table, now that everyone had finished.

"Ms Goldstein is right. Those are the three rules of Arithmancy. You need to remember your schooling, aurors, not just use it as a way for people to hire you and then forget it. I hope you all have done that. We will begin our real work tomorrow." Theseus herded them out of the room. Isa glared at Tina before apparating away. She needs to learn how the auror world works. No one is going to hold her hand anymore, Tina thought. She apparated away, peering at the strange auror one last time before disappearing.

She walked into the apartment and slipped off her shoes and coat. It was already eight o'clock, and it had been a long day, Suddenly, Nagini came rushing towards her.

"Tina! Tina! Finally, you're back! We thought you'd never come!" Nagini pulled Tina to the dining table. On the table was a meal with her favourite foods. Hot dogs with mustard and roasted carrots and broccoli. For dessert, there was an apple tart.

"What's all this for?" Tina asked, surprised.

"Well, you didn't want to celebrate on Saturday so we're celebrating now!" Nagini exclaimed.

"Well, it's really nothing, just a new assignment, but I do love these foods so let's eat. I'm sorry for making you wait," Tina said. They sat down and dug in.

When they were all full, they sat down in the living room. They all had something to do, Nagini had the Daily Prophet, Jacob had his recipe book, Tina had A History of Magic, and Newt was writing more in his notebook about creatures. Tina lit a fire with her wand, and Newt summoned blankets for everyone. Jacob and Nagini took the armchairs, while Tina and Newt sat together on the loveseat.

At some point later in the evening, Tina was overwhelmed with exhaustion, because it had been such a long day. Jacob and Nagini had already gone to their rooms, claiming they were tired. (That was the truth, they were tired, though there may have been more to it.) She slowly rested her head on Newt's shoulder and closed her eyes. It felt nice, just being with him.

Newt felt her head on his shoulder. Being careful not to bump his arm into her, he brought his arm up to stroke her head, like his mother used to do when he was little to help him fall asleep. He didn't know why he was doing it, it just felt right.

He didn't know how long they were there, but eventually, he gently picked her up and brought her to her bedroom, being careful not to wake Nagini. He mouthed a soft goodnight and closed the door.

That night, all he could dream about was Tina.