[heaven] n. scamander

i

Runes and Relationships

~~~

"Merlin's beard, Scamander, you really are terrible at Ancient Runes." 

Dylan slouched back in her chair, looking completely and utterly defeated. He was actually completely hopeless. The curly-haired boy in front of her sighed and tried again, looking at the book in his hand. 

"I. Am. Late. For... Work?" he guessed, shrugging a bit and looking at the page of runes again and attempting, yet again, his translation. 

Dylan fought back the urge to scream at him and instead just ran her hands through her brown curls. "Close enough. It's 'I'm late for school, so I ran to class.' " 

"Oh," Newt said, looking slightly disappointed in himself. "I wasn't close at all." 

It had been a few months since the start of the fifth year, in which Dylan had decided to tutor Newt Scamander in Ancient Runes because it was excruciatingly painful to watch him in that class. It was like watching a baby penguin slide around on ice before it actually knows how to walk. 

That was the only reason she'd tutor him. It definitely had nothing to do with the fact that her best friend, Cassiopeia Bell, had had her heart set on getting her and Scamander together since the second year when Newt had offered Dylan a frog he'd found in the black lake and had chased her with it because he didn't understand why she didn't want it. Cassiopeia definitely had not, under any circumstances, slipped a note in Scamander's backpack telling him to meet Dylan in the library after school for tutoring. 

Dylan definitely didn't keep going because she actually found Newt to be entertaining and the only funny person at this school. Definitely not. 

Dylan had made a new discovery today that she liked Newt's hair. The way the curls just kind of bounced on his forehead when he moved his head to write something down, or the way his brow furrowed when he was actually thinking about something. He was nothing like the rest of the boys in their year. Newt was actually very intelligent and quite interesting to have a conversation with. He was nothing like that great prat Octavius Black, walking around the school like he owned the place. All the girls seemed to have a thing for him, but he'd had his heart set on Dylan from the moment he saw her. No matter how often she shut him down, he still seemed to find ways to worm his way back into her life and onto her good side. 

That was all ending this year. Dylan was not taking any shit from anyone, and she knew just what to do to prove it. She was going to humiliate Octavius in front of everyone. First, she needed to get inside that thick skull of his, and then she'd be able to work her magic. 

For now, however, she sat and continued to struggle through Scamander's terrible situation with runes. 

"Just read through the alphabet one more time, and then do the writing assignment for today. Then you'll be all caught up for now." Dylan said, pointing at the paragraph that had the alphabet in it. 

"Wait," Newt said, grabbing onto her hand and making one of her fingers trace over a Q rune. "Is this an F?" 

Dylan smiled and shook her head. Christ, he was hopeless but he was adorable. "Let's just hit it hard tomorrow. You should get some rest and go look after your- what did you call it? Billywong? Pingpong?" 

"It's a Billywig. Its wings are attached to the top of its head and it spins really fast. It also stings." He added, as almost an afterthought. "Also, isn't a ping pong a muggle game?" 

Dylan cringed. "Remember to never bring it anywhere near me. Ever. And yes, ping pong is a game played by muggles." 

Newt smiled what Dylan liked to call his 'corner smile', because he turned his head to one side, but only one side of his mouth pulled up into a smile. 

"Well, I'm gonna go see what kind of trouble Casseopiea is getting into. Today it's probably the boy from Ravenclaw, don't you think? Malcolm? Malcolm Chang, you know him? I bet it is. She's been writing him love notes. Oh no, I don't want to walk in on more snogging." 

"I could go with you if you'd like. I could warn you if they're snogging, and then you could just not go." Newt offered. 

Dylan smiled a bit. "No, it's alright. She'll probably tell me all about it anyway, so it won't even matter if I see it or not." Dylan got up to leave, pressing down the front of her skirt. "Have a good night, Scamander." 

Newt smiled at her as she left the library. Dylan smiled even as she left, liking the way Newt always smiled at her as if he actually cared.