《 Skip a Beat 》

Mooncalf Musings

There.

There it was again.

Tina had spotted it countless times now... ever since Newt had returned home a few days ago. Now she noticed it again, as he threw more pellets to his mooncalves and watched them float along with a phantom wind.

That glimmer of joy in his eyes. It was there again.

Just as it had always been, before he broke his leg.

That little gleaming spark that made him hope again, that made him himself, that made him purely Newt. It was back, and it was the most beautiful thing Tina had ever seen when she looked into those eyes.

They sat next to each other, under the moonlight of the mooncalves' rocky highland terrain in his suitcase.

Tina was stroking a young mooncalf resting its head in her lap. Newt was feeding the rest of them, his crutches discarded unceremoniously in the grass.

All of the creatures had been fed, and both of them had made a joint decision in not researching any more that day for no reason other than because it was boring. So, ultimately, they had nothing to do.

"Who's Kerry?" Tina asked him casually, breaking the silence first.

Newt had begun crumbling the pellets into little crumbs, small enough for the younger beasts to digest. He wordlessly offered her some, and Tina scooped them into her palm with a soft, "Thank you."

"You met her earlier," he answered eventually, watching her hold out her palm to the mooncalf baby sitting in her lap. It nibbled daintily at the crumbs, letting out a contented squeak.

"I know, but what else do you know about her?" she mumbled back, eyes still on the youngling, now gambolling around Tina's feet. It was so tiny that the grass easily covered its legs, causing it to plough through thick clumps of foliage like a bulldozer.

"Not a lot. I don't like her much, if I'm being honest," Newt admitted. Tina shook her head.

"Me neither. She wasn't very nice to Queenie and Leta. And Jacob."

"Hm?"

"Oh, well..." Tina looked back to face him- Newt was offering her some more crumbled pellets. Tina took them with a small smile. "... Turns out, she wouldn't allow them to view your second operation. Even though it was much shorter and we were allowed to come in last time."

As a test of sorts, she tossed the crumbs lightly into the air to see if they'd float like the full pellets. They did.

Tina's baby mooncalf bounded through the grass again, leaping up to catch the crumbs wafting in the air.

"Queen told me earlier," Tina finished.

Newt was watching her. No, not her... the mooncalf. Was he? Maybe it was her. Tina couldn't tell.

"I can't imagine why Kerry would do that..." He shook his head, stroking a fully grown mooncalf behind one ear.

Tina shrugged.

Ultimately it didn't matter, she supposed. It had been about a week, give or take, since Newt had left hospital. They weren't planning on seeing Kerry anytime soon. Perhaps never again, if it was possible. None of them were particularly fond of her.

"Occlumency?" he suggested out of the blue, handing her a full pellet this time.

Newt surveyed her as she tried her best to crush it with two fingers like he did, letting the coarse brown particles crumble into her hand. Some fell in the grass, but she had most of it.