Stories of Our Life [Volume 1]

19: Salamander Eyes

This was strange—at least, to Newt, it was.

They had just arrived at Hogwarts, just a mere few hours after the horrifying event that took place at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, and now they were inside one of the classrooms of Hogwarts, sitting and having tea. To be honest, this was the last thing Newt had in mind to do.

They were only a few now, about seven or eight, Newt didn't know. They sat together in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, sipping from their cups of tea. Nobody spoke in the first few minutes they've been there. Nobody moved, really. Some sat there, stares empty and faces blank, especially Theseus and Jacob; both had just lost the loves of their lives to Grindelwald—one did so on her own will.

(Newt considers himself somewhat lucky to not lose his)

Travers and a few of the aurors who survived were silent, too. None of them bothered to even touch their cups and just kept to themselves. The horror and terror from what had just happened earlier were still evident on their faces.

Nagini, the poor girl, sat shaking in one corner of the room. Newt pitied her. She had just her only friend who pushed her away when she had tried to protect him and keep him from doing the wrong thing.

The conversation only struck up when Dumbledore returned to the room. The first one to speak was Travers, asking angrily about what Dumbledore (and the rest of them) should do n(and the rest of them) should do now and that he should've listened to him in the first place. Theseus entered the conversation much later, so did Jacob, on the mention of Leta and Queenie. Then, Newt was pulled in the conversation for reasons he didn't really care about.

As the argument continued, Newt noticed that something was missing.

Or rather, someone was missing.

Newt took a look around the room. He looked at everyone to make sure they weren't missing someone. There was Theseus, Jacob, Dumbledore, Travers and his Aurors, and Nagini. Nicolas Flamel went home before they got to Hogwarts. Hmm, we seem to be complete, he thought. But why do I have this feeling that someone is missing?

Newt contemplated over this once more, confused about why he was feeling this. He thought about this so deeply that he didn't notice Jacob nudging him.

"Hey! Newt! You okay?"

Newt shook himself out of his thoughts and looked around the room. The others were still arguing, Nagini was still sitting in a corner alone, and Jacob was looking at him worriedly. Newt nodded his response and sat up properly. He took a sip from his tea.

"You okay, pal?" Jacob asked. "You seem dazed."

Newt tried to smile despite his tired state but only managed to grimace. "No, no...I'm fine. Thank you, Jacob."

Jacob cast him a weird look before nodding and proceeded to take a small bite from his biscuit. Newt sighed and went back to contemplating who might be missing from the room when he felt a small weight on his lap. Newt looked down and saw his niffler, injured. Newt chuckled softly and picked him up and observed him for injuries to attend to later in his case.

He had burns all over him. It was such a miracle he managed to steal that vial from Grindelwald without the wizard noticing and come back alive and in one piece. Newt stroked his head affectionately. "You little bugger," he said to it softly, "you are so unbelievable sometimes." The niffler made a sound that somewhat sounded like a soft purr, making Newt smile. "Still, you managed to be the hero of the day. That vial you stole might be a big piece of information we can use to move against Grindelwald," he added.

A slight glimmer from the niffler's pocket caught Newt's eye. Placing the niffler down, Newt reached into its pocket. Realizing what his caretaker was about to do, tried to escape from his grasp. Newt groaned under his breath as he tried to reach into the niffler's pocket. "Hold still you..." Newt grunted as he struggled to keep the niffler from escaping.