Falling

Pastries

The next morning Newt was awoken by Pickett sticking a twig-like finger up his nose. Still bleary from sleep he jumped and looked at the clock to see that it was nearly half an hour later than his usual wake up and feeding time. He shot out of bed and began to get dressed with the spare set of clothing he kept in the cabin. Deciding to leave his outer coat and bow tie, for now, he picked up his collection of buckets and after organising enough feed, pellets and vegetables he stepped out of the cabin and straight into his assistant.
"Mr Scamander! You're back! How was Paris?"
"Oh Hello Bunty. Paris was alright" Images of Leta and Queenie passing through the flames burned through his mind "Just a fair warning I have multiple house guests currently"
"Houseguests?"
"I know. A rare occasion for me" Newt called over his shoulder as he hurried away. The way her eyes lingered on the open top buttons of his shirt had made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

After a while, the animals were all fed and as Newt returned to check on the Nifflers before heading up to breakfast, he saw Tina coming down the stairs only to smack right into Bunty. Slipping behind the Niffler hutch he heard their disembodied voices
"Um Hello?" Tina asked curiously
"Hi" Bunty replied rather shortly "I suppose your part of Newts houseguests"
"Um yes. Who are you?"
"I'm Bunty,Newts assistant"
"Oh, well-where's Newt?"
"He's with the Nifflers" He heard a brisk movement and a slightly sleepy-looking Tina rounded the corner.
"Good Morning Tina" Newt declared as he gave one of the Nifflers a coin.
"Good Morning Newt" Tina sighed
"How did you sleep?" Newt continued as he wrestled his watch out of the adult Nifflers hands.
"It was- ok" Tina replied sounding slightly forced. Newt removed his head from the cage and looked at her questioningly
"Nightmares?"
"H-How did you know?"
"I had them too" Newt blushed and quickly locked the cage before the Nifflers could make a beeline for Tina's necklace."Would you like to talk about it?" Newt continued
"No. Not now but maybe later" Tina didn't seem so sure of her statement but Newt decided to pursue it another day. He looked at her more evaluatingly to see her eyes blazing red and her usual proper appearance was looking bedraggled. Tina opened her mouth as if to say something but deciding against it last minute, she attempted to smooth down her hair instead.
Fidgeting with a loose strand of hair her eyes lit up as a memory hit her
"Jacobs made pastries for breakfast"
"How?"Newt asked curiously. There was some stuff in there but surely not enough for pastry.
"There was some flour and stuff at the back of your cupboards"
"He must work his own kind of magic then" Newt replied offhandedly before leading the way up the stairs. He pushed open the door to be assaulted by the smell of buttery pastry. Tina must have seen his eyes widen at the smell and gave a hollow chuckle at his expression.
"It's been a while since I woke up to fresh pastries" Newt explained as they walked towards the kitchen. Tina cocked her head and Newt continued "I've lived alone since I left Hogwarts. Unless you count when I had to share a tent with a tribe when catching an Erumpent trafficker. So fresh baked Pastries were never something I strived to make"
"Why am I sharing so much?"Newt admonished himself "The last person I shared this much with..."
"You know exactly why little brother. And you know this is different to her" Theseus' voice responded immediately making Newt scowl visibly.

However, the scowl slid off his face and was replaced with a grimace of relief. At the table, almost everyone was still there, slightly damaged but not dead in that graveyard. Jacob seemed to have made multiple different configurations of strawberry jam pastry. He hoped the jam used was not the suspicious-looking jar Newt saw yesterday but Newt assumed it must be at how thickly it had been spread. Newt sat down and surveyed the table. Jacob seemed to be munching on a pastry with memories in his eyes, Theseus was dryly chewing his pastry with a blank expression on his face and Nagini seemed unsure about the sweetly smelling food and was staring at it worriedly. Tina slipped into the chair next to him and grabbed a pastry and Newt followed suit but not before giving an encouraging nod towards Nagini who took a bite and then melted into a tentative smile at the hot breakfast.

When he finally took a bite he couldn't stop his own smile appearing on his face at the somehow deliciously taste. Once he had eaten his way through two more pastries he addressed the group.
"I'm going to get some provisions today. Obviously, this house is hardly stocked for one let alone five of us so.... Any requests" There wasn't much movement until Tina stated
"Newt for the love Morgana please get some coffee" this made Newt chuckle
"Okay. Will do" Tina blushed slightly at his raised eyebrows but quickly covered her face with a pastry. Newts eyes lingered on her blushing cheeks but he did catch Theseus' voice asking Jacob dryly but with a hint of interest
"Has someone finally caught my little brothers eye?" feeling his own cheeks flare he caught Jacobs response
"Man you have no idea how much" whipping his head around Newt lifted his arm to summon his coat and bow tie and put them on immediately, determinedly avoiding everyone's gaze. However, before he could exit the door after grabbing his coin pouch he was stopped by Tina's voice asking quietly "Newt can I come with you?" There was some inner turmoil but Newt silenced the introverted side of his brain and awkwardly smiled
"Of course". She quickly got her coat and boots on before following him out of the room.
They left before hearing Jacob turn to Theseus and say
"They've fallen hard but neither wanna move. It's sort of infuriating really"
"Newton has always been stubborn"
"As has Tina from wh-what Que-e-enie said" Jacob stumbled
"Let's hope it goes better for them" Theseus sighed
"Let's hope" Jacob echoed swirling his tea