Newt Imagines (The Maze Runner)

Trials of Love Potions

Harry Potter AU

You don't know that you have ever felt stillness so poignantly as this before. You can practically feel it hanging in the air, suspended along with motes of dust in the thick beams of light coming in from the windows, eddying around pairs and trios of students in your golden common room. No one is lonely, no one is abandoned, but they are quiet in the way that makes everyone feel all the more close to each other. It is marvelous.

It's not that you're usually desperate for peace of mind in your house, far from it. Hufflepuff is the rare gathering of people in which you can have both serenity and connections, close friends and alone time when you need it. It does well for you, and you for it.

Your contemplation does not go unnoticed, and by your side, a blond boy most agreeable by your standards looks up from his book to glance at you quizzically. "Everything alright, love?"

You nod, still keeping your gaze fixed somewhere in the vague middle of the room. "Everything is perfectly alright. That's the best part of this."

Newt hums in agreement, pressing a bookmark in between the pages of a Herbology textbook and shutting the covers with a distinct thunk. "It's a very peaceful day, isn't it?"

"Very peaceful," you repeat, "that's been rare recently."

Newt chuckles. "If you're referring to our friends, I'm going to have to agree. I don't think they've been able to go a full day without getting into trouble in months. Perhaps even years."

Your laugh is interrupted by the sound of a voice coming from behind you. "I do hope you say that in genuine admiration, Newt, or we're going to be hurt. We didn't go to all the trouble of showing up here just to have you insult us."

You and Newt turn around in unison to see a pair of boys grinning at you, having just emerged from the shadows of the common room. Normally, you'd be delighted to see your friends, but the fact remains that this is the Hufflepuff common room, and neither Minho nor Thomas are in your house.

Minho, a proud Slytherin, is the one who just chastised Newt. Thomas, by contrast, tends to be a little quieter, although he's still grinning at Minho's comment. You're not entirely surprised to see him here, either; Thomas is a Gryffindor in every sense of the word, and he's constantly prone to scouting out restricted areas in the hopes of figuring out some new addendum to the castle that nobody else has even heard about, let alone discovered before him.

You arch a brow at the sight of them. "And how'd you get in now? No one would ever let you in our common room after you set that fire a few days ago."

Minho waves a hand dismissively at your reproach. "Tell your fellow Hufflepuffs not to worry, the flames were barely a foot high. I think everyone would do well with a good bonfire, they're very fun. Anyway, we didn't need one of your friends to let us in, Thomas here found us a secret passage."

Newt groans. "Isn't that the third one this month? You've got to stop stumbling upon these things, it's very tiresome for those of us who like our privacy."

"Maybe you should stop living in a castle with this many secret passages," Thomas counters, "it's not my fault they're so easy to find."

Minho claps his friend on the shoulder. "Ah, Thomas is just being modest. The guy's got an uncanny sense of direction, I tell you. You could Obliviate him and stick him in the middle of a labyrinth, and he could still find his way out without a care in the world."

You frown. "That's a very specific scenario, Minho. Are you planning on doing that any time soon?"

Minho shrugs liberally. "You never know. Things come up."