THE SINGING. that’s what he heard first. newt has always been a light sleeper ( it seems as though his mind could just never shut down ) and the faint sound of several voices singing at this time of night pulls him from sleep quite easily, brain already afire with that insatiable curiosity.
he’d lit his wand and, with some difficulty, disentangled himself from tina’s grasp as best he could. he loved her dearly, yes —- but her grip on him at night was similar to what he imagined a squid’s to be like. he doesn’t usually have a problem with it, but it makes it all the harder to get up without waking her up as well.
poking his head out of the tent, he spotted a glow not far ahead. careful to avoid stepping on fallen branches & twigs with his bare feet ( a learned skill after years of traipsing through forests like these attempting to observe centaurs or hippogriffs ) . as he draws nearer, he quickly realizes that there is not just one glow, but MANY — and they appeared to be dancing.
& that’s when it hits —- a fairy dance. here !! he’s never been fortunate enough to see one in progress —- just the remnants of it, the fairy dust and overturned rocks littering forest floors. he stays a safe distance back, the glow from his wand just out of sight. their singing sounds like happy bell chimes, and sometimes, he thinks he can pick out the wings that flutter and beat like a hummingbird’s.
but then a terrible, terrible scream rips through the night air, and the fairies immediately scatter, their chimes becoming chaotic alarm bells at once. taking no discretion to be quiet, newt immediately runs back to the unassuming tent pitched in the small clearing ; his eyes immediately squint in the light of tina’s wand, but he’s surprised ( and a bit ashamed ) to see tears streaking her face.
❝ —–- tina, i —– you —- is everything alright ? ❞ what a stupid question, of course nothing was, not right now, anyway. he reclaims the dent in the mattress that is his side of the bed, pulling her close. ❝ …. you didn’t have another nightmare, did you ? ❞
“I did.” her voice is muffled in the chest of her boyfriend. There’s a reason that she’s best not sleeping alone. It’s such a bitter reminder of every flame that licked at her body when she stares at her hands. It’s such a bitter reminder of the torture she suffered every time she looks in the mirror. There’s a reason she doesn’t look in the mirror anymore. There’s a reason she shattered every mirror in the tent. Her hands were still bandaged from that. She could’ve taken a potion to fix them, but she refused.
“did i disturb your walk?” please say no. a part of her prays he’ll say no, the religious part of her that is. she’s wiping at her face with a sleeve, blue-grey eyes glancing up towards his face. “I...I dreamt they found us. I..I know that once Mary Lou died...” WAS MURDERED, TINA. GET IT RIGHT. “...that they disbanded but...it keeps playing over and over in my head. If the aurors hadn’t reached me in time, if they hadn’t stopped the bleeding, I would be dead and it keeps playing over and over and...” another sob, fingers clutching tightly at his shirt.
“Can we talk about something else, please? Anything else.”
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