Love is Patient

Chapter 23

Newt set the final bucket of feed down. He walked back to his shed and started organizing his workbench. His gaze wandered up to a shelf where a stack of papers sat. Reaching up, Newt pulled the stack off the shelf and began sorting the papers into two piles. When he finished, he picked up the larger stack, straightened the papers, and set them off to one side. He moved to pick up the smaller stack, but he froze, his hands hovering over the papers.

He stared at the papers in front of him. They had given him so much pain when he had received them. He had meant to just throw them in a drawer and forget about them, but as he stood looking at them, he knew he wanted them gone.

Newt felt something brush against his arm. Turning, he found Tina standing next to him, looking worried.

"You're rather quiet," he said, managing a smile.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

Newt nodded in response. 

"Are you sure?"

"It's nothing," Newt murmured. He wasn't lying, the letters meant nothing to him.

Tina had seen the papers and picked them up. She glanced through each of them before turning to Newt. "What are you going to do with these?"

"I want to burn them," he said slowly.

"Do you?" Tina asked. She handed him the papers. "Go on then."

Newt set down all the papers except the top one. This he crumpled into a ball and set on fire. 

He did the same to the rest of the stack and, as the watched the final paper burn, he felt a certain relief as he saw the words 'Leta Lestrange' be engulfed by the flames.

When the last sign of the papers was gone, Newt reached for the second stack and handed it to Tina.

"These are yours," he said shyly. "I had never meant for you to see them, but seeing as you've already read them, there's no reason not to let you keep them."

Tina flipped through the papers. "Thank you, Newt."

"You're welcome," Newt smiled. "What did you come down here for?"

Tina shrugged. "Queenie's teasing me and I came to find you."

"Did you want something?"

"No," Tina replied. "Do I need a reason to want to find you?"

"I suppose not."

Tina slipped her hand into Newt's and they left his shed. They crossed to Featherstorm's shed and sat on the grass in front of it. Featherstorm stood in the shed, preening her feathers.

"I was thinking," Newt said presently. "It's not good for her to be alone. I really ought to leave her here when we go home. My mother can take care of her and she can stay with the other Hippogriffs, but I know I'd miss her. What do you think?"

Tina was silent for a minute. "I'd really miss her if she were to stay here," she started. "I suppose it would be best though, wouldn't it. And we can always come and visit her. I'm sure your mother would love that."

Newt felt slightly embarrassed by the last sentence. Tina had a point. He knew his mother loved it when he came to visit.

"You have a wonderful family, Newt. Even Theseus is nice enough when he's not teasing. I don't understand why you don't visit them more."

Newt looked down at his hands, one of them was still holding Tina's.

"I had a hard time when I was in school. Life at school was bad. Life at home wasn't any better. This place brings back so many bad memories. That's why I don't like coming here. I don't want to be reminded of everything that happened," he said slowly.