Those Days [Newtina]

Chapter 8: Portus

The next day was Christmas Eve.

The four of them spent the day together in Diagon Alley, having travelled to London via portkey early in the morning.

Tina and Queenie had only ever been to Diagon Alley once, when they were very young. Newt had mentioned that they celebrated all kinds of festivals there, and said that he'd be happy to take them for a visit.

He had told Jacob that Muggles weren't normally able to see it, but he made an exception for him and cast a spell so the wonderful Alley was able to be appreciated by all four of them.

They arrived in Diagon Alley just before midday and wandered in and out of stores for hours.

Queenie pointed out a copy of Newt's book standing on a handsome golden stand in the window of Flourish and Blotts, and the shopkeeper, noticing them (Newt in particular, she suspected) milling around outside, invited the four of them inside.

Queenie's thoughts were proven correct when the shopkeeper meekly asked Newt if he'd sign a copy of his book, for his daughter, apparently.

Newt obliged, blushing slightly, and scribbled out his name on the yellow parchment.

The four stopped at Quality Quidditch Supplies, though the girls had never played the sport before.

Newt had, a couple times when he was at school, though he decided he didn't like it as much when someone had hexed his broom and sent it crashing into the Ravenclaw tower in the middle of a match.

Jacob thought that Quidditch sounded brilliant, and almost bought an elegant broomstick until Tina pointed out that he had no money and didn't even know how to play Quidditch.

The sheer look on his face couldn't stop the three of them from laughing wildly for a long while.

Eventually, they settled down at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and enjoyed obnoxiously flavoured ice cream.

Jacob and Newt both tried Chocolate Chilli on a dare from Queenie and Tina, and spat it out on their first bite, which sent the Goldstein sisters into hysterics.

Newt and Jacob got back at them, not an hour later, by sneaking some exploding whizz poppers into Queenie's purse and Tina's hat, which they sheepishly admitted that they deserved.

Tina was wandering around Magical Menagerie (a wizarding pet store, according to the sign outside) an hour later, when she saw a list of people who had adopted animals from there.

Tina found herself languidly scanning the list when she did a double take.

She pulled Queenie into the store and jabbed her finger at the list.

"Queenie... Newt bought something from here!"

Queenie looked over at her sister.

"This must be where he bought his new animal!" She whispered excitedly.

Tina glanced around quickly. Newt and Jacob were both looking at extravagant quills in the Amanuensis Quills, the shop next door.

Queenie followed her gaze.

"We could ask someone about it," Tina thought aloud.

"Let's take a look around and see if we can spot anything that Newt would buy," Queenie suggested.

"Then we can ask someone. They probably don't like people poking their noses into their business."

Tina nodded. She scoured the aisles of cages, cases and habitats for something that would take his fancy.

Owls, cats, frogs, doves, ferrets... there were a lot of animals that no-majs would recognise.

There were also a large variety of animals that they wouldn't.

Pygmy Puffs, Jarveys, Fwoopers, Streelers, Nifflers...

Tina didn't think that Newt would adopt any of those. He already had a lot of those.

Sighing, she turned to leave.

She made it halfway out of the door before Queenie squealed her name excitedly.

Tina gingerly stepped back into the shop.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Newt watching her through the window, but he turned around again and busied himself with admiring a coloured owl feather quill.

"Tina! Look at this cat!" Whispered Queenie.

She was pointing to a tiny black kitten with eyes of crushing blue, sitting patiently in a cage lined with pink cloth.

"Look at its name!" Said Queenie, reaching out a hand to stroke the sweet little creature on the head.

Tina glanced down at the Kitten's name tag.

Artemis.

Tina looked back up at her sister.

"That's a nice name..." she began, not understanding how that was as important as Queenie portrayed it.

Queenie frowned.

"Artemis. Ring a bell?"

Tina felt clueless. She stared at the kitten helplessly.

"Artemis is Newt's middle name!"

Tina snapped her gaze back at her sister.

"Really?" She couldn't help but break into a grin.

"I saw his no-maj passport. Artemis means Goddess of the Moon," said Queenie, and she burst out laughing.

Tina had to admit, it sounded a little odd.

At that moment, Newt entered the little store to find Queenie laughing herself silly and Tina with her hand to her mouth, giggling as he and Jacob walked in.

Jacob raised an eyebrow.

Queenie gestured vaguely to the cat in between chuckles.

He squinted his eyes to see the collar.

"Artemis means Goddess of the Moon," explained Tina, trying to avoid Newt's confused look.

As Newt stepped closer to read the name tag, the little kitten shrieked and lashed out a paw at him.

Newt yelped and stumbled backwards, tripping over a chair and landing on a pile of newspapers, which flew into the air and landed in a messy pile at Jacob's feet, except for one, which drifted gracefully onto Newt's head, covering his eyes.

Newt sneezed and gingerly lifted the newspaper off his eyes.

"Yep," He wheezed with slight amusement.

"It does."    

*whEeze*

Yay! Another Christmas chapter! I randomly made them travel to London, which I think I may have jumped into a little too fast :/ but let me know your thoughts anyways.

Mysterious animal will appear in the next chapters (but as Newt said, he's settled down a bit more...) I've read a lot of good theories (some of which are actually correct)... keep 'em coming!

About le title: Portus is a spell that turns an object into a portkey. Since there was a portkey used in this chapter, I thought it would be appropriate. Also, I can't find any more Christmas-y spells TwT

Vote and comment <33 love you guys!

(also, 400 view WHAT HOW)