summary: you’ve been assigned to help Newt Scamander save an endangered creature, as you are the only other person the ministry knew who was interested in magical creatures. you’d always admired his word and try not to essentially fangirl over him. but, you also manage to impress him with your knowledge.
warnings: uh just shy / kinda anxious y/n with typical awkward newt and typical sarcastic theseus
A/N: wrote on my laptop for once :) also this is my longest Newt fic so far and it took forever and it’s very late so i hope it’s good LMAO also also i hope you like the end. i tried leaving it a bit up to your imagination?
word count: 2.1k
When you were told you’d be working with the Newt Scamander, you tried not to freak out in front of the ministry. You knew you’d have to keep it professional and pretend he wasn’t literally your biggest inspiration. You could do it though. All you had to do was focus on the task at hand. At finding the endangered Augurey, and getting it into Newt’s case to be taken care of. Easy, right?
Oh you were so so wrong. His smile was much cuter in person and his voice was so soft. Not to mention the way he talked about the creatures and how much he genuinely cared for them. Literally the only other person you’ve met who wanted to do everything in their power to help these amazing creatures.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You were in the shed in Newt’s case with him and Theseus, whom you did not realize would also be trying to help, discussing where you needed to go and how exactly you planned to catch the creature.
“Well, Augurey’s tend to search for food when it rains heavily. So maybe we try somewhere that’s quite rainy this time of year?” You suggested and Newt nodded his head after raising his eyebrows in mild shock at your knowledge.
“She did say the ministry sent her because of her knowledge on these creatures, Newt. You can pick up your jaw off the floor,” Theseus teased his younger brother, making his face have a pink tinge to it, “anyway, they said it’s in America, correct? I say we try the Midwest. It seems to be quite rainy and awful this time of year.”
“That’s actually a great idea.” You agree and Newt nods too.
“What do they even eat? Just bugs like a regular bird?”
“Yes, and fairies.” You and Newt answered in unison, both immediately nervously laughing.
“Oh great, now there’s two of my brother. This should be interesting.” Theseus wore his famous grin, which somehow made you both want to slap him and made you want to smile at the same time.
Regaining his composure, Newt spoke, “I think we should start in Ohio. It’s been having massive amounts of rain recently, and it’s essentially in the middle of the other states we should check if it isn’t there.”
You and Theseus nodded and you all went back upstairs to begin packing up to leave.
While walking past you, Newt had accidentally brushed your hand against his own and he felt you jump, “I’m terribly sorry. I hadn’t meant to do that. I especially hadn’t meant to startle you.” He nervously looked to the ground as he rambled out an apology, which you found to be adorable.
“No, no, you didn’t startle me. I’m sorry, the reaction I had was quite odd I suppose.” You nervously laughed.
“Merlin’s beard, this is going to be one long mission.” Theseus laughed lightly and shook his head at the painfully awkward duo.
Once you had all finished packing, you apparated to your destination. When you all had to hold hands to do so, Newt looked at you in question, making sure it was okay so he didn’t startle you again. You laughed and gave him the ok.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once you arrived at your destination, Newt was immediately looking for any sign of the mournful looking bird. You could tell how important this was to him. He already was starting to seem a bit frantic and you had only just started searching.
You searched for hours, not finding a single sign of the Augurey. Newt was visibly stressed.
“Hey,” you carefully walked over to him, approaching his side from behind and slowly placing your hand on his shoulder as a comforting gesture, “it was only the first location. We’ll find him, alright?” You gave him a warm smile and he sent a small smile and a nod back.
“Maybe your love for creatures isn’t the only reason the ministry sent you.” Theseus patted you on the back, throwing you off.
“What does that mean?” To be honest, you weren’t sure how much you liked Newt’s older brother.
“Not even our mother could convince him things would be alright that quickly.”
You blushed, “I’m sure he agreed just to make me leave him alone.”
“You give him too much credit. He may be smart in some ways, but he’s not so clever when it comes to human interaction. Maybe you two just have the same energy.” He smiled but you couldn’t tell if that was meant to be a compliment or not. He walked away before you could ask anymore questions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After much convincing from both you and Thesues, Newt agreed on finding a place to rest for a day while you came up with where you’d go next.
After dinner, both brothers went to their shared room in the small hotel while you stayed seated on the couch. Newt walked over to grab his case and ask when you were heading to bed.
“Newt!” You hadn’t meant to sound so urgent.
He jumped slightly at the sudden urgency of his name coming from you, “yes, Y/N?”
“Sorry,’ you muttered, “would you actually mind leaving the case in here? I promise I won’t let anyone loose, I just…” you trailed off, not wanting to give your embarrassing reasoning.
“Oh, uh, I suppose I can. But, may I ask why?”
You quickly came up with an excuse and smiled, “I just want to check and make sure everyone is alright one more time.”
Newt may not be the best people person, but he did not believe you for a second. Yet he trusted you already somehow. He nodded before adding, “goodnight, Y/N. Please get some rest.”
You smiled in return, “goodnight Newt.”
“Let me get this straight, you let someone who is essentially a stranger keep the case with her?” Theseus asked purely in shock.
Newt nodded and scratched the back of his head.
“Are you sick? Did she put some sort of literal spell on you?”
Newt laughed softy, “no, I’m not sick and I don’t believe she used a spell.”
“So you fancy her then?” He wriggled his eyebrows and Newt turned red, which really was too easy to do.
“No, I just trust that she cares for those creatures and has no ill intentions.” He answered, looking at the ground. He really was a terrible liar.
“I’d still check in a couple hours.”
And he did. He went to the main room to see you weren’t there. But the case was. He went inside to make sure everything was alright. What he wasn’t expecting to see was you, asleep in the grass with a Mooncalf also asleep in your arms. As he got closer he realized you were surrounded by the Mooncalfs, who were all asleep. He smiles to himself while also having a million and one questions. He figured they could wait till morning. However, Newt being Newt, knocked a bucket over when he turned around too fast. He startled the Mooncalfs, which in turn startled you.
“Oh Merlin,” he mumbled, “I’m so sorry Y/N. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I didn’t mean to wake you, unfortunately I am quite clumsy, however and I-”
You cut him off laughing, “it’s alright Newt. Truly. I think they're the ones who need to be apologized to.” You pointed to the adorable creatures squinting at Newt.
“I’m deeply sorry. You know I would never purposefully disrupt your sleep.” He was sincerely apologizing to them which only made you laugh harder.
After he felt satisfied with his apology to the big-eyed creatures, he turned back to you, “might I ask how you managed to fall asleep with a bunch of Mooncalfs?”
You sighed, “I came down here because I’m terribly afraid of thunderstorms to be quite honest. And not only do creatures help me feel better, but the environment is quite safe and controlled in here.”
Newt bit back the small smile that was threatening to show. He thought it was possibly just as cute as the creatures who had just been resting all around you. Was Theseus right? He shook the thought away before asking another question, “do you happen to know why exactly they’re so drawn to you?”
“My mother used to raise them when I was young. Maybe they can sense that I have experience? Or they like my energy? Or maybe I simply remind them of you a bit.”
Newt tilted his head sightly in confusion.
“Sorry, it was a comment your brother made to me a couple of days ago. He said something along the lines of us having the same energy.” You nervously laughed again. Newt realized that he much preferred your genuine laugh.
“Well, it’s quite late. You can stay in here if you’d like. Or if you prefer to sleep on an actual bed and use a pillow instead of a rock, you’re welcome to take one of them out of the case, just as long as you lock your door. Or, of course, you could possibly talk Theseus into sleeping on the couch in your room. He really is much more caring than it seems. I suppose I could even-”
“I’ll just stay in here. Thank you though Newt. From the bottom of my heart.” There was that genuine laugh again. The one that was starting to give him butterflies in his stomach.
“Alright then. Goodnight, again.” He smiled and wished a goodnight to the Mooncalf that was back in your arms again as well.
“Goodnight Newt. Again.” You smiled widely.
The next morning, Theseus gave you a weird smile, but you decided to ignore it. Until after breakfast when Newt left the room for a moment and he hugged you. You stood, frozen in shock and confusion.
“He most certainly fancies you. You better be careful with him or you’ll have me to deal with.” He somehow sweetly threatened you slightly?
Newt walked in and didn’t even blink at the sight, “sorry. He’s a bit of a hugger and knows no boundaries really.”
You laughed at that before comparing him to an otter, then it was Newt’s turn to laugh and Theseus’ to turn red for once.
Upon further discussion, the three of you decided to follow the weather to Tennessee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After almost giving up five hours into your search for the Augurey, you spotted some quite odd ‘blades of grass’ sticking up behind a rock. You looked for Newt or even Theseus but you weren’t quite sure where they wandered off to. You slowly walked towards the rock, hoping and praying to any and all gods that you could come up with a plan. Without the case you had no clue how to catch the creature, but you had to figure something out. You couldn’t lose it.
You grabbed a handful of bugs and slowly walked around the rock and towards the sneaky creature. It looked up immediately. But, to your surprise, it didn’t try to fly or even run away. You held out the hand with the bugs in it. You hated the feeling of bugs crawling in your hand, but it really was the lesser of two evils in this case scenario. It quickly snatched some of the insects out of your hand, but you could tell it was also mindful not to accidentally bite you in the process.
You looked up to see a surprised Newt standing directly behind the creature with his case open. You looked at the remaining critters in your hand, then looked back at the case. Newt nodded. You quickly threw them into the case and the Augurey bolted in after them. Newt hurriedly closed the case and locked it back up. He looked back up at you with wide eyes.
“How did you know it would take those insects from you? How did you know it’d trust you?”
“I didn’t. I guess I just hoped it did.” You laughed as you visibly relaxed.
Newt laughed too as Theseus came over and asked what he had missed.
“Are you two sure you can’t just communicate with them at this point? I’m personally not convinced you can’t.”
“I’m certainly questioning her.” Newt pointed to you, making you laugh.
“You two are really one and the same.” Theseus shook his head as he looked between you two. He recognized that smile his brother wore when he saw it. The boy was absolutely smitten. And he didn’t have to know you well to be able to tell that you were as well. And he certainly knew this mission was not the last he would see of you two together.
// So I’m watching Fantastic Beasts 3 this coming Friday (8th April), 7pm UK time -
- if I’m seized by the urge to write out my thoughts, I’ll tag relevant posts under the tags spoilers and fantastic beasts spoilers (and use read more, where possible).
Even if the post is just incoherent screaming, it’ll be tagged 😏 also feel free to temporarily unfollow if you’re at all worried
