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

19: Before I Wake

TINA
      While reading Newt's book, Tina heard a crash and a scream from his room.
"Newt?" She screamed.
    She threw the book down and pulled her wand out on impulse, running back. She threw the door open, and found, to her horror, Newt lying, passed out and bleeding, on the floor. Almost dropping her wand, Tina rushed to his side.
"Newt!" She said frantically. The burns were worse than he let on. Bandages, almost half-way removed, lay soiled on the floor. The angry red burned flesh bled and oozed in a few places. Tina could feel the heat radiating from the wounds; she could smell the infection. Gritting her teeth, she took her wand and raised him into the air. Newt floated, suspended as though sleeping, in midair while Tina removed the rest of the bandages carefully.
"Oh, man," Tina said softly when they were all gone, revealing burns from most of his back to the top of his left arm, bleeding and oozing. After examining the burns, she gazed at his unconcious face. "You're tougher than you let on, huh, Mr. Scamander?" Brushing some hair out of his eyes, she set to work. She rinsed his back with a gentle stream of water from the tip of her wand, creating a puddle of bloody water under him on the floor. Vanishing it, Tina went to the bathroom and pulled out a big glass bottle of rubbing alcohol.
"Good thing you're unconscious," Tina said, brushing more hair from his face."This is gonna burn more than the dragon did, I'm sure." She poured it on a small area of skin at a time, blotting it up with a towel. By the time she was done, the nauseating smell of infection was gone, replaced by the strong scent of the alcohol and the subtle smell of peppermint and pine trees.
"Hmm," Tina said to herself and the floating Newt. "This is the ointment." She washed the bandages with magic and set them to the side as she scooped some of the ointment up on her fingers. After smearing it across a small area of burned flesh, she could feel the temperature of his skin go down. She rubbed it over the rest of his back and arm gently, then wrapped the clean bandages back around him. Pulling back the covers of one of the beds, she lowered Newt carefully down and covered him up. He slept on, his face pale. Tina held her hand to his forehead, which was burning, too. A fever from the infection.
    Tina had noticed Newt looked pale and tired as they ate, and that he seemed a little uncomfortable and shivery; but it didn't occur to her that he had a fever. She brushed his hair out of his closed eyes, conjured a cold rag to lay across his forehead, and left to make some hot tea for when he woke up. Speaking of waking up....Queenie had been sleeping an awfully long time.
"Queenie!" Tina said loudly before opening the door to her sister's room. "Time to get--" she opened to door and stopped mid-sentence when she saw that her room was empty.
"Queenie never came home last night." Tina talked to herself as she rummaged through the cabinets. She often talked to herself when she was alone and lost in thought. "Peppermint tea...yes...that's fine..."
    As the water heated up, Tina went back to check on Newt. He lay, breathing heavily and shivering under the thin blanket. Conjuring another blanket and a chair, she sat next to him and studied his face. It was fair, but covered with an unbelievable amount of freckles, like his back, his arms, and presumably all his skin. He had short, light eyelashes, and his eyebrows were light brown, too. Newt's face looked...different when he was sleeping. It was relaxed and not shy or lost in thought as it usually was; but not any less kind. One of the few things that had come naturally to Tina in her Auror training was observing facial expressions and people's demeanors. The first time she laid eyes on Newt Scamander, he definitely looked suspicious. Now,  as she stared into his sleeping face, he just looked sweet, and kind of cute, even though she would never admit it. Tina ran her hands through his hair on impulse, which was a good and satisfying decision; it was soft and thick. She left her hand there, rubbing his scalp for a while, until the water boiled, the tea kettle whistling. She left to go make the tea, a bit disappointed that she had to leave.