The Unspeakables || N.Scamander

Unspoken Memories

He was, in short, entrancing. Out of this world mystifying.

Lila instantly felt as though she should've at least dressed nicely.

"What are you doing here on our land?" The stranger had long white locks, platinum coloured, that slipped all the way down his back in a loose braid. He stood with an air of authority that made Lila shrink in on herself. She averted her gaze to the ground as though fearing what he'd do if she dared defy his gaze, but it seemed like Newt didn't have that problem.

"You're an augur," Newt's murmur caused Lila's jaw to drop. She whipped her gaze over to him and wondered briefly whether he had gone insane. Not an impossibility at this point.

"What are you talking about?" She hissed lowly.

The man shifted on his feet, "what do you want from us?" His tone didn't waver, though she caught a glimpse of fear flashing across his face.

"We don't mean any harm," Newt held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender, "My name is Newt Scamander. I'm a Mazooloogist. This is Lila, my assistant. We're here on an expedition for my new book on magical creatures--"

"Do not lie to me, Wizard," the white-haired stranger's words sliced through the air like a knife, "I sense your lies and I smell her fear. Why are you really here?"

There was a sag in the said Wizard's shoulders. He exhaled softly, then continued, "we're here for Lila. She's...actually not from this time."

"A time traveller?"

As Newt stuttered a series through a series of excuses that sounded more like gibberish, Lila quickly took on the reigns to say, "yes. I'm from the future and somehow we can't find a way to get me back to where I belong..."

She quickly provided a summary of their adventure up till now, from the failed attempts to get into the Ministry to their visit to the Seer and the result of it all, which did not help in lightening the beautiful stranger's features. It seemed as though the more she spoke, the more his frown dipped between his brows like a storm that kept brewing.

The silence that prevailed soon after her little speech made her uncomfortable, so much so that she shifted from one foot to the other, exchanging a knowing glance with Newt, her partner in crime.

"You want me to read her future?" The Augur's voice rang out stoic and even colder that Lila shivered, drawing her coat even closer if that was possible.

"I--Yes. That is our hope, anyway." Newt stammered.

The Augur -- and Lila was still processing the fact that Augurs could shapeshift -- bristled in a steep silence that seemed to eztwnd for eternity. Lila's skin kept prickling uncomfortably, stomach twisting into nervous knots as her mind raced: what would they do if this creature rejected them?

But all thoughts went straight down the drain as the Augur turned towards the forest before looking back at them, "come with me, then."

----

The forest seemed so pliant as the Augur strode through, leaves falling to the side with a soft sigh, gleaming a vibrant green at the tips. The wind slowed down to a gentle whisper of a breeze that caressed Lila's cheek as she walked by and she felt the prickle of magic tingling her arms, her fingers, underneath her skin. Her gaze rested on Newt's back -- was it just her that thought that his shoulders seemed broader or was it just the trick of the light? -- and she wondered briefly if he was feeling the effects of magic as much as she was.

Once they reached a clearing, Lila gasped at the glowing yellow flowers in the dark as though a thousand fireflies were swaying in the wind, alighting the ground in a blanket of lights. The Augur kept on walking and so they both followed after exchanging a wary glance, and she somehow in the midst of it all found herself latching onto Newt's coat, as if holding on to him was a reassurance in itself.