Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them...Continued.

7: Testing

QUEENIE
"Maybe I should just stop questioning it," Queenie sighed, after yet another night of appearing in Newt's dreams.
"No, don't accept it. Then I would have to accept that I'll never just have a normal deam ever again,"Newt said. Queenie laughed, conjuring a fountain to add to the garden they had been making. Yesterday they had made a castle to pass the time; today, it was a garden.
Queenie had taught Newt how to control his dreams, which was one of the first things she learned how to do as a Legillimens. You could do anything you wanted, make anything you wanted, be anything you wanted. All you had to do was learn how to control it, which was easy once you got the hang of it.
"I really like those," Newt said, nodding to some flowers she had just made. "What are they?"
"I don't know," Queenie said, unconcerned."Just something I thought of."
"Well, all right then," Newt said. He conjured a ten foot tall statue of gold, that glinted in the sun. It took a second for Queenie to see what the statue was; a large golden egg.
"I don't know," Newt said."Popped into my head."
"You are an interesting man, Newt," Queenie said, making another life-size gold statue, this one the shape of a horse.
"To tell you the truth," Newt said, setting up a wicker table and chairs. "I get that a lot."
"Yeah, I see that," Queenie said, sitting down. "Ya know, I taught Tina how to control her dreams, too." Newt wondered what her dreams were like. "Most the time they're about school days and being head of the Auror office and stuff. Lately..." trying to decide whether he could be trusted or not, Queenie scanned Newt, who was a few feet away creating a rose bush maze. He thought of his school days with Leta, but pushed those memories away. Then he imagined Tina as head of the Auror office. She was standing in her grey coat, her face strong and important; she was sitting behind a desk, doing paperwork; she was dueling with criminals, barely being missed by curses, but nailing each one she aimed. She fit the job perfectly. No one deserved it more.
"Lately she's been dreaming about you,"Queenie said, deciding Newt deserved to be told, if that was really how highly he thought of Tina. He was confused at first, but then he smiled.
"Really?" He said. "Can you make people appear in a dream?"
"Only a figment of the imagination," Queenie said. "We can't bring Tina in here. Not the real Tina, anyway." She conjured Tina, which still felt weird, but of course you could tell it wasn't real. Sort of like a painting; never the same as the living. Newt smiled for a second, holding his arms out, but then frowned and stepped back. Queenie retreated into the bush maze, watching through the branches as she controlled Fake Tina.
"It's fake," he said quietly. Fake Tina smiled.
"I'm just a dream. But I can do whatever you want me to," she winked. "All you have to do is ask."
"What do you mean by that?," Newt said, examining Fake Tina curiously.
"Oh, ya know," Fake Tina stroked his face and shrugged her jacket off. "Whatever you want."
"Are you flirting with me?" Newt asked incredulously.
"Call it what you will," she said sweetly."Whadya say?" She leaned toward him, but he backed away.
"No. I barely know the real Tina. And even if I did know her very well, I'd have to be way more than her friend to want her like that."
"What? You don't like her?" Fake Tina pouted.
"Of course I do. She's--she's amazing. But I don't want her to that extent. The farthest my thoughts on the matter have gone have been kissing her on the cheek," Newt said, pausing. "But Merlin knows that will never happen. Maybe that's why my thoughts haven't gone farther."
Queenie detected wistfulness.
"Oh, come on," Fake Tina said alluringly. "Just one kiss."
"No! Stop this,"Newt said, looking away from her. "You aren't even real. Why have we been arguing? This is stupid. Really, it is. And where has Queenie gone? Queenie!"
"Here I am," Queenie said, walking around the bushes. Fake Tina dissolved into the air with a poof of silver dust.
"What was that about? Why was she like that?" Newt asked angrily. "Real Tina would never have done any of that."
"Dream people don't do anything of their own accord," Queenie said. "Someone has to be directing them." She looked at him, and let that sink in. He looked up at her, his eyes full of stifled anger.
"Why do you do these things to me?" Newt asked quietly, full of rage. "Why do you meddle with my mind so much? Invade my privacy? To mess with me? Is it for fun? Because I don't find it funny!"
"Of course it isn't for fun," Queenie said gently. "It was a test. I was making sure of your intentions with Tina."
"I don't have any intentions," Newt snarled. "I live in England. Last I checked, you live in America. We wouldn't be able to see each other! The idea is absurd."
"But you don't think that," Queenie said. "You still have hope. You are just saying what's logical, not what's hopeful, and I think we should all have hope."
"Yes, but-" Newt began hotly, but he stopped, collecting himself, calming down. "Yes. Maybe we should. And maybe. . .maybe I do hope that I'll get to know Tina well enough to be with her. But please don't do that anymore."
"I won't need to," Queenie said, watching his anger melt away to be replaced by weariness.
"Oh. All right then," Newt said, rubbing his eyes.
"I have a question," Queenie said carefully.
"Yes?" Newt asked, sitting down and conjuring tea.
"Teen and I are putting together a presentation for the marriage of No-majs and wizards. We're going to show it to Picquerey, and hopefully she'll consider changing the law," Queenie explained.
"That's great!" Newt's face lit up. "But. . .what's the question?"
"I need to know why it's good for Britian," Queenie said. "Well of course I know why it's good, stupid, but how to explain to the president....?"
"Oh. Of course," Newt said. "All right. Give me a moment to think...and try not to, you know, read in?"
"I'll try, but you know how hard it is," Queenie warned him. He nodded and looked off, lost in thoughts that Queenie kept away from (for the most part) for about a minute. Finally, Newt spoke up.
"All right. I found a way to explain it to the president," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Though there have been past animosities between the American wizards and non-magical residents, the Muggles are no longer as suspicious as they once were. The majority of American Muggles (no-matches?) look upon magic and witchcraft as impossible and insane. Those who are 'superstitious' enough to believe there are still witches among us are barely believed by the rest. Therefore, the time for change is now.
Love and friendship are things that are beyond government control. Both are necessary, so of course there is no point in banning them. There are undoubtedly many wizards and American Muggles that have fallen in love, or at least grew to be close friends. We may not be the same on paper, but at the end of the day, our blood is still pumped by our hearts and our thoughts are still concieved by our brains. Isn't that what should matter? We are all human, we all love, and it shouldn't matter who we love, or why we love them, we just do. Anyone who tries to stop that is a fool." Newt finished, looking slightly happy with himself for having thought of that.
"Newt, that was fantastic!" Queenie said. "I'll have to have a copy of something like that. Can you send one to me?"
"Oh, yes, of course," Newt said. He added, to himself, "Leta used to be good at speeches...." Then he pushed those thoughts aside.
"Maybe you could talk to her...?"Queenie suggested gently.
"No," He caught her eye. "I don't know where she lives, or even where she works."
"You work at the Ministry of Magic," Queenie pointed out."You could look her up."
"To be honest," Newt said briskly. "I really don't know that I want to, Queenie. Thank you, though, for the suggestion."
"Maybe it would help you get over her," she said.
"I am over her," Newt said. Queenie smiled wistfully at him, hoping that he would find her and talk to her. Maybe give her a good description of the wonderful witch he had met in America. Queenie faded away, leaving Newt to his dreams.