- Text Size +
Arrival at Hogwarts


NEWT'S STORY CONTINUES...


Newt Scamander stood in the clearing, alone, staring at the sweep of Ned Veigler’s footsteps in the snow where he’d turned in place and disapparated.

“Merlin.” He turned in his spot. “Merlin. Merrrrr-lin.” He ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up at odd angles.

“Mr. Newt?” called a tiny voice and Newt drew a deep breath. Bradley. He hurried to the case and climbed back down, anxious. Tina was still laying still and pale, her hand hanging over the edge of the table, where Newt had left it when he’d scrambled after Ned Veigler, and Bradley was sitting up in the chair, looking around blearily. “Mr. Newt?”

“I’m - I’m here, right here,” he called.

Bradley looked up. “Mr. Newt, I don’t feel good.”

Newt frowned, his eyebrows coming together, “So sorry.”

“Mr. Newt… I had a funny dream.”

“I know, Bradley, but --” he paused. There were footsteps crunching through the snow. He looked up over the briefcase nervously, his fingers clutching the case, about to slam it shut -- and the footsteps got louder and louder and then ‘round the corner came Rubeus Hagrid.

Newt’s eyes widened. “Hagrid! Rubeus Hagrid! Good - good fellow, thank Merlin -- oh thank Merlin.” Newt waved his arms about.

Hagrid looked surprised to see Newt Scamander. He had a hammer and a large bit of wood tucked under one arm. “Mr. Scamander, sir?” he asked in surprise, “That you? ‘Magine runnin’ in’ter you here!” He smiled merrily… until he came a bit closer and got a better look at the state of Newt and then his eyes beaded up in concern and he dropped the wood to the ground and hurried over, shoving the hammer into a loop in his belt. “Are yeh alrigh’ Mr. Scamander, sir?” he asked and he hurried forward to help.

Newt shook his head, “No, no Hagrid, we, we uh, we’ve had - we’ve had a bit of an - an adventure. A terrible adventure. Teeny’s hurt, she’s hurt, and I can’t - I can’t fix it. I just can’t do it. Mr. Hagrid, I need help.”

“I can help yeh, sir! O’course!” he offered, “Jus’ tell me what ter be doin’ and I’ll do it straight away, sir!!”

“Can you get us to the castle? Quick as - as could be?” Newt pleaded.

“Yeh know I can,” Hagrid nodded firmly.

“I have - there’s children, too - some of the children Mr. Greyback stole. I have them. And there’s a boy who’s been - been bit by a wolf and -- please, just hurry and get us to Poppy.”

Hagrid nodded quickly and hurried for the case as Newt flung himself in and drew the lid closed behind himself. Hagrid caught the case up, pressing it to his chest and, abandoning his project there at the Shack, he turned and he ran through the streets of Hogsmeade. “S’cuse me, s’cuse me,” he called as he moved through the people that crowded the streets. “‘Mergency situation, s’cuse me - got ter get ter Hogwarts, s’cuse me -- keeper of the keys comin’ through!”




Inside the case, Newt rushed to get Tina’s things as Bradley sat on the chair beside her, staring up at Newt as he ran to and fro. Great tears filled Bradley’s eyes. “Mr. Newt,” he begged. “I - I don’t feel good, sir.”

Newt opened the cabinet and withdrew a small bottle of bright pink potion. “This will settle your, uh, your belly,” he said, handing it to the boy.

Bradley looked at it, then up at Newt. “I dreamt I was a dog, Mr. Newt.”

Newt froze, midway through shoving some of Tina’s clothes into a bag. He stared at the floor for a moment, unsure what to say. He turned around. “Little one…” he looked at the boy and their eyes met and when Newt tried to look away Bradley ducked to keep their eyes met. Newt sighed and his teeth rested on his lower lip. “I - I don’t know how to - to explain it. I’m not - not good at these things, really.”

Bradley’s little lips quivered and he looked down, “Okay.”

Newt looked at Tina, then back at Bradley. “Teeny will - will be better at it, and… and I promise as soon as she’s better, she’ll, she’ll explain. We’ll explain everything.”

Bradley nodded.

Newt shifted his weight from foot to foot… he wanted to say something better, something to make Bradley feel better, but he didn’t know what to say. He put a hand on Bradley’s shoulder for a moment, then that felt too awkward, and he turned to Tina, clutching her hand again, leaning onto the edge of the table to stare at the side of her face. She was paling… and he was out of sanguine, out of the blood… thank Merlin they had to be nearly to Hogwarts by now…

And as though on cue, there was a knock on the roof of the case and he looked up and the briefcase opened up and there was the face of Albus Dumbledore and Rubeus Hagrid, both staring down with wide eyes. “Mr. Scamander,” called Dumbledore in concern, his beard hanging over the edge of the case, “What’s happened?”

“It’s Tina, it’s my Tina,” Newt cried out and forgetting all else, he clutched Tina up in his arms, “It’s my Tina, Dumbledore! My Tina!!” his voice shook with panic and he hurriedly carried her to the ladder, “Please! It’s my Tina!”

Dumbledore’s eyes widened when he saw the bandages wrapped over his chest and as Newt emerged from the case, Dumbledore steadied him. Behind Dumbledore was McGonagall and she gasped when she saw Tina’s body, and Newt nearly tipped forward, but Dumbledore caught onto them quickly and McGonagall did, too.

They were in the parlor just off the Great Hall, where Hagrid had pulled Dumbledore and McGonagall away from the Yule Ball to show them what had happened. And it was with urgency that Dumbledore and McGonagall hurried to carry Tina between them to the stairs, Newt hurrying behind them, his heart in his throat as he followed after them, “I promised I wouldn’t leave her - promised… My Tina… I swore I wouldn’t leave her...” And he ran after them to the stairs leading up through the castle.

Hagrid stood by the case for a long moment, staring after them, worrying his cap between his hands. Suddenly he heard crying and he turned toward the case… leaning close. “Hullo in there?” he called and he peered through. There was little Bradley, hands covering his eyes. “S’cuse me, are yeh alrigh’ then?” he called gently.

Bradley looked up at the giant face filling the opening of the case.

“I don’ really fit through here, but if yeh want ter climb out here, I’ll be happy ter get yer some food from the ball… Heard there’s some mighty good peppermint bark and hot chocolate in there… an’ some gingerbread… Yeh like gingerbread, don’t yer?”

Bradley nodded.

“Well then, yeh come on out and we’ll get yer some… with cream?”

Bradley wiped his eyes with his wrist and he carefully climbed up the ladder and Hagrid smiled gently as he came out of the case. He put his hand on the boy’s back, leading him along, “There yeh be…” Suddenly another boy’s head popped out of the case. “Wait’er mo’ there’s mo’ of yeh?” he looked surprised.

“There’s loads more of us, sir,” said Quirinus Quirrell.

“Well come along, the lot of yeh, I’m sure there’s plenty o’ gingerbread ter be goin’ around…” And before he knew it thirty-seven children had climbed out of the case and he stared with wide eyes about at them all, clustered about the room, very crowded in indeed. He looked the case over, “Jus’ how big is that thing?” he murmured in dismay.




Upstairs, Dumbledore and McGonagall carried Tina Scamander through the doors of Madam Pomfrey’s ward. Chill air flurried in through the doors as they burst open and they bustled in through the darkness. Poppy came rushing from her quarters at the sound of their arrival. Newt hurried ahead, his nerves gotten the best of him. “Bring - bring her here… I’m sorry to bother - I can’t do it myself… just, uh, just please. I - I told her I wouldn’t leave her. Please.” He was shaking uncontrollably as Poppy came out, her jaw dropping at the sight of Tina and the anxiousness of Newt.

“Mr. Scamander!”

Newt looked up and there was Sirius Black, laying in a bed beside Remus Lupin, whose nose glistened pink in the moonlight coming through the windows over the ward.

Had it really been nearly twenty-four hours since it had all begun?

“So sorry… Didn’t mean to wake you,” Newt stammered. He turned back to Tina, his eyes moving to Madam Pomfrey. “Poppy… Poppy, it was a werewolf. A werewolf.” He hissed the words under his breath so that Remus and Sirius wouldn’t overhear, and she turned down the bed sheets for Dumbledore and McGonagall to slide Tina into the bed. Pomfrey nodded quickly and turned hurriedly toward her medicine cabinet. “I tried sewing her up,” Newt was muttering to Minerva now, “I tried… But I - I was so worried, I uh, I - was shaking and --” He looked apologetically to Minerva.

“I fully understand, Mr. Scamander,” she said thickly, patting his arm. “You know I do, sir.”

“Minnie,” called Poppy.

Minerva hurried to Pomfrey.

Lumos,” Dumbledore said, waving his wand about the lanterns around the bed.

Newt sank into the chair beside the bed, shrugging off his blood stained jacket, rocking himself nervously… McGonagall returned, handing a cup to him, steaming tea rose up from the cup, the scent of lavender and peppermint winding it’s way into Newt’s nose. “Drink this, Mr. Scamander, it will help,” McGonagall whispered, resting her hands on his shoulders and Newt’s shoulders tightened comfortingly.

Dumbledore was talking to the boys and he drew the curtain ‘round them as Madam Pomfrey came over with her healing kit. Newt clutched Tina’s hand to his cheek, tears pouring over her fingers as he held her palm to him, the tea cup floating in the air beside him untouched. He rocked and rocked… “Please help her, Poppy. Please.”

Madam Pomfrey was leaning over Tina and she opened the kit and drew out a needle. “I will do my best, Newt,” she promised calmly. “You’ll be needing to lean back, though. I need space.” She nodded firmly and Newt sat back, releasing his hand from Tina’s and he closed his eyes. “Drink your tea, sir,” she implored.

Newt nodded, taking the cup from the air, the glass shivering against the saucer as he held it. His heart ached terribly as he watched Poppy do her work, using her wand to guide the needle through Tina’s skin, stitching her back together, mixing a potion carefully, and she tilted Tina’s head up, gently pouring it over her lips.

“My fault,” muttered Newt quietly, “My fault. Should’ve insisted I - I stay out of the case, not her… should’ve…”

Dumbledore pushed back the curtain and stood at the foot of the bed as Pomfrey gently brushed the hair from Tina’s forehead. He clutched the footboard of the bed, “Mr. Scamander,” he requested, “What happened?”

Newt looked up.

“We… we were given a lead - a lead by the Prewetts, and - and we went to find - to find clocks… to find Mopsus… and… it all went so, uh, so wrong. We never found Mopsus or any of his clocks.” Newt shook his head and stared at Tina. “Could feel him, his presence was quite heavy on the area… quite thick… but we - we got a bit… bit distracted. We found the boy. He found us rather. Running. Running from Greyback. Then, uh, then there was Greyback and his - his associate, and they - they were talking and - there were other children. Thirty-seven of the children Druella Black and, and Greyback have kidnapped. And -- Mr. Dumbledore, sir, you - you know how Teeny is… She collects children as I collect creatures… if there’s a child in trouble, Teeny’s got to be there for them… and… and so we went. We went with Bradley - the boy - and the children --”

McGonagall looked hopeful. “Mr. Scamander,” he said, “Did… did you say that you saved those children?” Her eyes gleamed.

“Yes, M-Minnie,” Newt stammered. “All thirty-seven. In my case. Plus Bradley…” He lit up suddenly, his eyes widened. “My briefcase! The - the children! Oh! Bradley! The - the bite. The bite. He’ll be needing fresh bandages and pain medicine as well… Where’s my - my briefcase?”

“In the parlor downstairs. I shall send for Hagrid to bring it up straight away fro you, Mr. Scamander,” Dumbledore said.

Newt nodded anxiously.

“What happened to Mrs. Scamander, Newt?” Dumbledore pressed.

He looked up. “We got the, the children in the uh, the case and I was tending them, helping them… some of them were, were, uh, in pretty - bad shape. And so I was helping them. Teeny was going to - to carry us out to disapparate away… but then Ned Veigler -- he was in wolf form… and - and I suppose she couldn’t - couldn’t leave him behind. She went back for him and - and --” Newt waved his palm at the gash on her chest. “And he bit my Bradley. I mean… the - the boy.”

McGonagall looked horrified. “A child?”

“Yes.”

“And where is Ned Veigler now?” Dumbledore requested.

Newt shook his head, “I don’t know, Mr. Dumbledore. I don’t - don’t know.”