𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖙𝖜𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖊 ⋆ newt scamander

the seventh chapter

The rooftop overlooking New York would have been a beautiful sight for Cora, had she not been traumatised by the earlier events. Tina sat beside her, while Queenie and Jacob talked further back and Newt bustled around in his case.

"You're incredibly brave, Cora," Tina commented after the two women sat in silence for a while. "Not many wizards could go through what you did without going insane."

"I think I went mad a while ago, so I guess I didn't have much else to lose." Her words made Tina laugh.

"I guess so." There was another short silence, then Tina said, "Newt seemed terrified that you were going to die."

"I was terrified I was going to die, too."

"I think he has a thing for you."

"Your sister and Jacob said exactly the same thing," Cora sighed. "I'm much more concerned for my life right now, than finding love."

"I understand," Tina said, sensing Cora didn't want to talk about the topic. "I'll go talk to my sister," she added on, standing from the ledge and moving towards the other two.

Cora sat in thought for a moment. The only reason she'd been dragged into this mess was because of the niffler, and she wouldn't have found him in the jewellers if it weren't for the man who tried to steal from her shop. But the only reason she'd had to stay that much later was because she turned up late, which was because she kept slipping on the ice outside and that was because of her shoes. The only reason she'd worn those shoes was because Marvin had smashed teacups over the shoe rack, and her heels were in her bedroom. She still didn't know why he'd smashed the teacups in the first place.

"It's Marvin's fault," she murmured to herself.

"What's Marvin's fault?" Newt was beside her, and she hadn't noticed him sit down.

"I wouldn't be sitting here right now if it weren't for him," she explained. "It's a long story."

"Then, surely Marvin was a blessing?" Newt suggested. "Seeing as you would never have met any of us if it weren't for him?"

"I suppose," she sighed. Her hand was idly playing with her necklace and she noticed she was still wearing Newt's coat. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She gasped, shrugging it off and handing it back. "I hadn't noticed I was still wearing it."

"It's perfectly fine," he smiled and folded the jacket in his lap. "I think you needed it more than I did."

There was a comfortable silence between them as they took in the landscape before them, shadowed with darkness from the dying sun.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Nobody had ever asked her that before. Usually, people would tell her to keep her chin up and move on, which she'd tried to do to the best of her ability. But nobody, not one member of her family or any of her friends, had told her to let her feelings out instead of bottling them up.

A smile overtook her face, to his confusion. "His name was Oscar Moon. He was a little older than I was and a lot more beautiful. I thought I loved him back then, because he was the only boy to pay strange little homeschooled Cordelia any attention. I think I just liked the idea of a big white wedding, and what better time to have one than the middle of a war? One of those silly muggle bombs fell through the ceiling of the church and nearly everybody died, including my parents and my sister Annabelle. That's why I came to New York, everywhere I went reminded me of them all."

Her head had come to rest on Newt's shoulder as she spoke; he wasn't sure if she'd done it on purpose or it was an unconscious decision.

Unsure of what to say in the moment, and his mind clouded by her closeness, he said, "Your full name is Cordelia?"

"Don't act like it's funny. I saw on your file that your full name is Newton," she snapped in response, then began to laugh. "Newton Scamander. A peculiar name for a peculiar man, as it seems."

"Newton Artemis Fido Scamander," he corrected, a boyish grin making it's way onto his face. "My mother and father really weren't taking any chances."

"You're two lizards, a dog, and a goddess," she giggled. "How on Earth are you still alive?"

"My brother did find it hilarious growing up."

"Oh yes, the war hero," she mimicked the British Minister's tone, placing her hands on her hips in a poor imitation of the man's stature. "I think that was quite rude of him. I mean, you're a rather incredible wizard in your own right. To simply call you 'the little brother of a war hero' was very- sorry, I should be quiet," she said sheepishly when she realised how much she was talking.

Newt's cheeks were bright red and she lifted her head from her shoulder. "You weren't being-"

"Yes, I was," she argued. "I do tend to ramble on. I've been told it's something I need to fix on many occasions."

"You don't need to fix anything, Cora," he said sincerely, wishing desperately that his red cheeks would go away. It was her turn to blush as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and flattened her skirt nervously.

"Thank you," she replied softly and looked across at his face. The last rays of the sun were making red strands show in his mostly brown hair, the tousled curls moving gently in the wind. His cheeks were pink, from a mixture of the ever-present blush and the wind nipping at his skin. "Newt, has anybody ever told you that you're incredibly handsome?"

And as if her words were an incantation, the blush was summoned to his cheeks once more. "I- I don't- I suppose- um-"

"You don't have to say anything," she added on. "I just wanted to tell you."

He turned to her and opened his mouth to reply with something along the same lines as her sweet words to him, but Tina interrupted them.

"Sorry, Brits, but we can't spend long in one place. MACUSA has eyes and ears everywhere," she said. "Besides, don't we need to find your demiguise?"

"You have a demiguise?" Cora gasped, leaping into a standing position. She wiped her fingers under her eyes to get rid of any stray tears and took a deep breath. "I'm okay now, we can move."

"Are you sure?" Queenie asked, concern lacing her tone. "You seemed pretty torn-up earlier."

"No, I'm okay now," Cora reassured firmly. She didn't want to be treated like some fragile girl who might break at any moment. She wanted to be treated like Cora, and that only. "Where would one find an invisible creature in New York, Mr Scamander?" She said, turning to the taller man with an expectant look.

"Invisible?" Jacob muttered in disbelief. "How do you catch something invisible?"

"With immense difficulty," Newt half-smiled.

"Gnarlak!" Tina burst out.

"Gnarlak," Cora agreed.

"Is this some sort of... wizard-language I don't know about?" Jacob questioned, looking between the two women.

"No, Gnarlak was an informant of mine when I was an auror," Tina explained.

"He has an excellent little bar uptown, it's quite..." Tina, Queenie and Jacob gave her disapproving looks and she stopped talking. "I mean, yes. Very helpful little fellow. Has his fingers in a lot of different pies."

Newt tried to hide his smile for Cora, who's cheeks had flushed red after the embarrassment of admitting she frequented speakeasies. "He wouldn't happen to have an interest in paw prints, would he?"

"He's interested in anything he can sell," Tina said grimly.

"Well, we'd best get going," Newt said decidedly. "I'd like to bring Dougal back as soon as possible."

"Dougal," Cora echoed with a smile. She linked arms with Jacob and Newt while Tina grabbed Queenie's hand. With a sound like a whip, the five friends disappeared from the rooftop.