Birds of a Feather

Head

"Hey, Newt, you look a bit down" Jacob came in to the room.

Newt was crestfallen. A crumpled picture of Tina lay on his lap. His eyes were a bit red, like he was crying.

"Newt?" Jacob called him again.

"Oh, yes Jacob" Newt realized and wiped off some salty tears still stagnated on his cheek.

"Why you cryin' bud?" Jacob sat across from him, "You can tell me, y'know?"

"Fine" Newt cleared his throat, "Tina and I courted for a few days before breaking up".

"You guys actually courted?" Jacob asked in disbelief, "That's amazing!"

"Are you listening to yourself?" Newt snapped, "We courted not courting".

"Oh, I see. Might've been a little rough for you, eh?" Jacob said, "It's alright, pal. It's all part of life".

"The thing is that she and I decided to keep our relationship a secret" Newt said, "And she uh. . she might've told Bridget about this. ."

"So?"

"I want it to be a secret! And she betrayed me!" Newt hissed.

"Then why do you have a picture of her?" Jacob asked.

"No, I was just. . throwing it away. . It's just a stupid picture, y'know?" Newt got up and pinned the picture to the lid of his case.

"So you aren't throwing it out?" Jacob asked.

"Well yes. . but actually no" Newt tried to formulate a good reason for this eccentric behavior, but he couldn't.

"Face it, Newt. You can't stop thinking about her" Jacob raised his arms, "Go on, tell her. Talk to her".

"I c-can't! We agreed on this break up!" Newt said.

"Clearly you don't know how this relationship thing works" Jacob said, "Allow me to coach you".

"If this requires a lot of work, I'm out" Newt told him.

"I'll just give you a few pointers and stuff, got it?" Jacob said, "Firstly, go talk to her. Talk about the Ministry plan! Talk about Queenie avoiding the "incident" and talk about books!"

"Okay, let's get to it" Newt said, "We have twenty minutes before the Ministry meeting".

As much as Tina was shattered by the sudden end to their relationship, that did not stop her from working on the contraption with other Aurors and bossing the mission.

Eventually, people gave in and appointed her as the interim Head of the Auror Missions in the Ministério da Mágica. Of course, she wouldn't withhold this position permanently.

"Alright, Gina, I want to get the final blueprint for documentation!"

"Alexis, can we focus on this and not about anything else?"

"Carlos, what the heck are you doing?"

"Benjamin, great to see you. The only person who seems committed to this!"

"Bilius, I want the mechanical parts ready!"

Tina's shouts could be heard a mile away. She showed no mercy to the wrongdoers and showered compliments on people who did the job well.

Soon after  long hours, they were done for the day. The final part would be the testing.

"Great work, team!" Tina said, "We are right on schedule. Please proceed to the Ministry meeting we have today".