Always

Snowballs

Queenie's nose was quite frankly spouting blood, so much that any spells wouldn't work, Nagini had fainted and Pickett was protesting loudly at the cold. It must have been quite a scene to witness but not even Tina knew how they had gotten here.

The idea to go on a 'fun' family winter walk had been broached at breakfast between the musings of the daily prophet and fresh pastries thanks to Jacob. The baker was working part-time most days but that day had been one of his few full days off. However, that hadn't stopped him each morning, while Newt and Tina were feeding the creatures their breakfast, baking a fresh batch of pastries for the human members of the household. These went down with astronomical success with his parents rarely having pastries and Leta eating over double her usual portion. They were laughing over the Prophets Muggle style astrology page when Helena had taken a sip of tea and asked
"Why don't we go on a winter walk as a family? We used to do them all the time when the boys were small. Well we walked, Theseus went at a root march and Newton always got distracted by the birds-"
"It's easier to see them during winter there is less foliage to obscure them" Newt replied indignantly but with a hint of humour as he chewed the last of his bacon.
"Don't talk with your mouthful dear" Newt swallowed audibly then muttered
"Sorry Mum" Theseus looked at his brother's plight with delight evident on his face before Helena continued
"And you Theseus, elbows off the table. You're the oldest. Set a good example" It was clear Theseus was resisting an eye roll and Tina was suppressing a laugh at the two grown men being mollified by their mother. A quick glance at Queenie's face caused her to have to bury the rising laughter in her pumpkin juice (a British wizarding treat that she was becoming more and more fond of.) Newt shot her a perplexed look and Tina was forced to fight even harder to stop the juice shooting out her nose.
"Sorry. Sorry" Tina giggled after she swallowed
"A walk sounds wonderful Helena" There was a beat then Jacob spoke up
"I like a nice walk. Used to walk 'round Central Park after work. Bit of nature after that hell of a factory" his statement was responded to by several nods
"It's my livelihood so I've always had quite a love for it"
"Well, you've seen the world!" Queenie partially as a question and partially as a statement.
He hesitated for a second then said slightly tightly
"I have indeed"
"Aw Newt that thought was so cute but sickly" Queenie suddenly piped up. Newt just looked at her in exasperation then stood up.
"Shall we get ready?" Jacob and Nagini leapt up in eagerness and Theseus stood up, helped Leta up before all but running to put his boots on. Everyone chuckled then moved into the hallway to suit up.

Tina laced up her trusty auror boots before slipping on her equally hard-wearing leather coat and finally, the deep blue scarf Nagini had knitted her for Christmas. It had been quite a surprise to witness the extent of her knitting capabilities but apparently, she had found some wool and needles left lying around from the costume department then taught herself creating perfect knitted articles for each person, now all being put on by each person. Newt had his usual outfit plus his Hufflepuff scarf and was bouncing on his heels in excitement.
Trust him to get so adorably excited about a walk
It wasn't long until the family were ready for a walk in the snow and they stepped out to the crisp winter air leaving Mitsy with instructions to keep a pot of hot chocolate on standby. They walked past the Hippogriff stables in amiable silence and as they entered the forest they struck up a light-hearted conversation.
"This time next year they'll be a little baby with us" Helena commented almost absent-mindedly
"Yeah with little knitted booties and hats" Queenie continued "I love little baby booties"
"They are rather adorable" Leta murmured moving her gloved hand to rest on her stomach.
"I can remember Newton and me having matching knitted hats from Grandma Prewitt and us being very upset when neither of us could fit in them anymore" Theseus added making Newt mumble
"Merlin's Beard I forgot about that." Tina was suddenly struck with a memory of pink mittens and cocoa after ice skating. Her currently blue gloved hands were tucked into Newts mittens and she squeezed his hand for comfort before speaking quietly with the memories flitting between her eyes.
"We had pink mittens that our Ma made us. I still wore mine until way past them fitting with some rather poorly done extension charms" As she said it she felt her squeeze be reciprocated through the layers of wool and Queenie place a hand on her arm that was not currently rubbing against Newts new coat.
"I remember begging you to take the mittens and expand them so they looked really out of whack. I still have them somewhere, still lookin' slightly out of whack"
"We never could bring ourselves to fix 'em could we?"Tina chuckled, causing her breath to come out in puffy clouds out of her mouth.
"Nah, the crookedness makes them more special"
"Definitely."
"There's a true logic in that-" Newt began and Tina turned to look at his freckled face that was starting to turn a rosy colour from the cold "It's quite often the things bringing imperfections and the mistakes that make things perfect"
"Yeah, where's the fun in perfection?" Jacob called from the other side of Queenie. Tina's mind moved backwards a year to the suspicious Englishman in the bank. The two days after their meeting were hardly perfect but it certainly made the event infinitely memorable. Besides if the Niffler hadn't escaped and Grindelwald hadn't decided to try and use a teenage boy as an unbeatable weapon she wouldn't be a Ministry auror walking with her new family through an English forest.