《 Skip a Beat 》

Back in the saddle

"What are you doing?"

Tina peered up.

Her younger sister stood over her, hands braced on hips and head tilted to the side in question.

"Eating chocolate..." replied Tina guiltily, dropping her gaze back to the half-empty box on her lap.

Queenie smacked her lips in disapproval, watching her sister gobble down a little vanilla nougat. Adjacent to her, Nick gave a toothy grin, already munching on a peppermint.

"How many did you eat?" she asked disbelievingly, eyes popping at the small selection of chocolates left.

"It was a team effort," contributed Newt, reaching over Tina's shoulder to nick a caramel-filled swirl.

He popped it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then leaned over to swipe another caramel from the box. Unfortunately for him, Tina realised what he was doing and slapped his hand away. She then proceeded to take the last caramel swirl and snarf it down.

"No..." moaned Newt dejectedly, eyes full of longing for his precious chocolate. Tina smiled sweetly at him, smirking at his loss.

"Why do you even eat them like that?" chided Newt instead, gesturing towards her. "You're meant to enjoy chocolate, not scarf it down like a pack of wolves!"

Queenie sliced through before she could respond (which was lucky, because Tina looked like she'd be more than happy to square up for a fight on the proper tactics of consuming chocolate).

"Did you hear about J.D.V?" she asked Newt hurriedly.

"First thing I told them," answered Tina for him, waving a lazy hand towards Nick and Newt, the latter of which looked reproachfully back.

"Right," continued Queenie hastily, trying to hold their attention. "And how are the crutches going?"

"Great, thanks." Newt offered her a wonky smile, seconded by Tina.

Indeed, it had gone great. About a week ago, Nick had allowed Newt to make gentle progress onto one crutch at times. He still used both- of course, but he was almost capable of walking unaided with just one of the crutches to lean on.

"That's awesome!" chorused Queenie. "And..." she paused mid-sentence, eyeing Tina, who was scoffing another chocolate. "... Can I have one?"

This seemed to catch all three by mild surprise. They looked towards each other, then back at Queenie, then Tina spoke up.

"Sure." She held the box up to her sister, who rummaged through before selecting a chocolate.

"You wanna practise occlumency?" Queenie asked Newt, popping a hazelnut crunch into her mouth.

"Okay."

"We don't have to," the blonde witch shrugged and planted herself in the chair next to Tina's, daintily sucking the chocolate off her pointer.

"No, let's do it." He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and Nick scooted over to give him some more room, while Tina vacated the hospital floor altogether, and planted herself in an empty cushioned chair.

"Ready?"

Newt gave a single nod, inhaling sharply before bracing himself for the plunge that would drag him deep, deep into his mind... through memories so frayed he'd forgotten they ever existed.

Newt opened his eyes, puzzled. No memories cascaded before his eyes, nothing replayed before him...

With a shuddering dawning sense, he remembered that Queenie wouldn't use a spell to sift through his thoughts. She was a natural-born legilimens. Of course!