Their Life

Chasing Grindelwald Part 4

Tina stared out the window of the train, watching the countryside flick by. She shifted uncomfortably. Four days earlier, she had woken up in a hospital, her whole body aching. The Healer had said she would be sore for a few days but she was beginning to wonder how long a "few days" was. Every muscle in her body ached, every part of her, down to every bone in her body. She found herself shifting constantly, trying, and failing, to find a position that didn't cause a significant amount of discomfort.

The motion of the train wasn't helping either. Every time she found a relatively comfortable position, the train would give a jolt.

Still, it's better than Apparating.

Most of the Aurors were taking the train back to New York. The only ones who weren't were those who hadn't been hurt in Grindelwald's attack and those whom the Healers had deemed well enough to Apparate a long distance the multiple times it would take to reach New York in one piece. Tina had not been one of them. She hated being told what she could and could not do and she resented not being strong enough to do something.

Theseus, who hadn't been injured as badly as Tina, had healed quickly enough to be given permission to Apparate but he had chosen to take the train. Tina wasn't exactly sure why she felt the way she did, but she was glad he was there. Currently, he was asleep in the chair across from hers, his back leaning against the side of the train and his feet up on the seat beside his. 

The train gave a particularly violent jolt, shaking Theseus awake. The man ran his hands through his sleep-mussed hair, smoothing it back to its usual neatness.

Tina turned back to the window, running her thumb along the edge of her book. She knew Theseus was studying her.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked presently.

A smile danced on her lips. "I'm thinking about N--" She caught herself and quickly corrected her mistake. "About my fiancé." Tina felt a shiver of joy when she used that word.

Newt Scamander is my fiancé, she thought happily, but her face fell slightly. And I haven't seen him in two months.

"You miss him." It wasn't a question.

Tina nodded. "Very much." She glanced down at the cover of her book. Slowly, she ran her finger over Newt's name, written in gold on the blue cover.

"That book," he said. "You really enjoy it, don't you?"

Tina laughed involuntarily. "Yes, I do. I love reading about all the creatures and I've filled it with so many notes about so many things." She ran her thumb along the pages of the book, letting them flip past one by one. Many of them were dog-eared, the top corner folded over to mark the page. However, there was one page whose bottom corner was folded. She found this page quickly and traced the words in the margin with a finger. "My fiancé even proposed to me in this book."

Theseus raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes," Tina laughed. She leaned back and closed her eyes, letting herself remember the day. She told Theseus the story. However, she kept it vague, never mentioning his name, not even sharing exactly what was written but she remembered what had happened perfectly.

Tina's quill scratched across the page of the book, leaving behind a cramped note about an Occamy. As she wrote, Newt came over and sat on the edge of her seat. She shifted over, giving him more room to sit. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and watched as she wrote. Presently, he reached out and shakily took the quill from her hand. She glanced up at him but something about his expression kept her from asking what he was doing. He looked nervous and his hand was still shaking slightly. She waited a moment until he began to write.