Love is Patient

Chapter 19

Newt knelt down in front of Modesty. It had been three weeks since he and Tina had found her and Newt had just completed the necessary Muggle paperwork to legally adopt her. They were now on the corner of the street, just outside the entrance to MACUSA.

"Are you ready?" Newt asked.

"I don't understand what we have to do here. You've already adopted me. What are we doing now?"

Newt lowered his voice. "We need to confirm that you're a witch. I think you are, you think you might be, we just need to find out if you are."

"And what if I'm not?" she asked.

"Then it doesn't matter. Now, let's go. Just remember that there are going to be a lot of strange things in that building."

"I've already seen magic."

"Not on this scale. Come on."

Newt stood up. Modesty gripped his hand as they approached the building. Newt led her to one of the side doors. The guard opened it and the two of them slipped inside. Modesty gasped.

"It's so big!" she exclaimed. "The building wasn't this tall was it?"

"Not on the outside, and not in the nonmagical half, but it seems we needed more room so we expanded the building."

Modesty looked around in awe as Newt led her to the elevator. They sped down a few floors and made their way to Tina's office.

Newt rounded the corner just in time to see Tina's hand knock over an inkwell. He rushed forward, pulling out his wand, and cleaned up the spilled ink. 

"What happened?" Modesty asked.

Newt smiled down at Tina who was sleeping with her head resting on her arm. "Tina fell asleep and knocked her inkwell over."

Newt reached out and brushed Tina's hair out of her face. "Come on, Tina. Wake up." 

Tina's eyes blinked open as Newt shook her gently. She started to raise her hand to her face but Newt stopped her. 

"You might want to wash your hand's first. You knocked over the inkwell. Thankfully, I managed to clear it up before it hit any of your papers."

"Oh, thank you." Tina stood up and moved towards the door. "Do I have ink on my face?"

Newt blushed slightly. "I -- uh -- yes, a little."

"Give me a minute." Tina slipped out of the room. Newt turned to Modesty.

"You're going to have to wait here while I deal with some paperwork. Then I can take you to have your test. Alright?"

"Okay," Modesty said, nodding. 

Tina reappeared, her hands and face free of ink. She sat down and resumed working. Newt gave Modesty's hand a gentle squeeze and moved towards the door. As he left the room, he looked back and saw Tina explaining something to Modesty.

Newt smiled. I wish I'd had a friend like Tina while I was in school. Instead, I had Leta. Newt shook himself and left the room. At least Tina's my friend now. 

Newt set his quill down. The one problem with being a wizard: everything has to go through two legal systems. 

He pushed the paperwork across the table. The witch sitting there scooped the papers up and slipped them into a file which floated onto a shelf.

"Thank you," Newt said softly. The witch nodded and Newt turned to leave.