Crescendo: A Fantastic Beasts Newtina Fanfiction

Chapter 47

       Newt halfheartedly scattered handfuls of pellets to a family of Murtlaps, then moved on to feed the Tebo scraps of torn meat. He watched as the ash-coloured warthog snarfed it up before handing some food to the Firecrab. He almost fed the tortoise twice, before remembering that it was still trying to finish up its first serving. The Firecrab stared at him disdainfully before returning it's attention back to its meal, slowly nipping up bits of feed.

       "Sorry," Newt muttered to the carapaced creature. "I'm not quite on my game today."

       Indeed, the Magizoologist's mind was in a whole other world, and he barely registered what he was doing. He had been distracted by Tina's strange behavior over the past few days, and he had a lurking suspicion as to what the cause was. Ever since the two of them had returned from his parents' house, it seemed as though something was gnawing away silently at Tina.

       She not only relapsed into long moments where she would become unfocused and spacey, but she was also acting differently, too. The brunette was always seeming preoccupied with something on her mind these days, and Newt thought he knew why.

       He supposed that Tina was, after all, relatively worried about her sister and Jacob. Neither of them had heard any news from the couple, and they should already be back in America by now. Newt was concerned too, and anxious to hear from them, but Tina was taking it to the next level.

       Though she never mention her misgivings, Newt could hear her pacing back and forth late and night, and when she wasn't doing that, she tossed and turned so much that he could hear the shuffling even with his bedroom door closed. Tina was extremely worried, and even fearful, to put it simply. 

       There were so many possibile consequences that could have happened to Queenie and Jacob. They could have been seen, or caught and held on trial, or even worse, Jacob could be Obliviated and Queenie could be sitting in a cold, dark cell right now. There was always the chance that they were fine, back in New York under false names, but compared to all the other horrible things that might happen, Newt knew Tina must find it hard to believe that they were all right.

       Most of all, Newt was nervous, too, and not only for Queenie and Jacob. He was afraid that Tina would leave London in pursuit of her sister, and he cringed at the selfishness of his fear. If she chose to do that, he knew that he should support her, but if he was honest with himself, every part of him screamed against the thought of her leaving to go off into danger.

       Newt sighed, chewing indecisively on his lip as he threw several fistfuls of wet feed to a large, wobbling, upright square of water, held together magically to defy gravity. Underwater creatures were swimming back and forth, bubbles issuing from their mouths. Shrakes swam along at the bottom, Lobalugs chugged forward, propelling themselves with their tentacles, and Grindylows glowered at the edges. Newt tossed in another handful of wet feed, and turned away to walk over to the Bowtruckle tree.

       His mind was still far away as he scattered woodlice to the green-insects, and he nearly forgot to visit Pickett. The feisty little Bowtruckle had a miniature tree of his own, due to his stubborn unwillingness to socialize with the other members of his species. Newt made a detour and found Pickett standing on a limb on his tree, staring impatiently at him. He was always grumpy when he was fed late, and he blew a raspberry as Newt left a small pile of jumping woodlice by him.

       "Look, I can't always be on time, alright?" Newt snapped, losing his temper. Normally, he wouldn't have, but as his mind was already muddled thinking about Tina, his patience was considerably shorter.

       Pickett gave an offended sniff, which was barely audible, and turned haughtily away, now refusing to eat his food. Newt sighed and shook his head helplessly.