Passing Stars || A Newt Scamander Imagine
Pairing: Newt Scamander x Reader (Gender + House Neutral)
Summary: It's your third year at Hogwarts, and you can't help but notice the cute guy in Creature Care. So, what's your next move?
A teeny, tiny disclaimer! I don't... know how imagines work... so apologies if this seems like a self-indulgent fic because well, at this point it is. But I'm open to writing anything (that's reasonable, of course) so please don't be afraid to request something! I'd love to go as in detail with your request as I did with this little story, perhaps even more in-depth! It's pretty much up to you :) Now, Enjoy!
You were never a fan of the way they presented people’s houses. They were loud, obnoxious, and worst of all, embarrassing. You dreaded watching people getting sorted into houses, the lackluster applause when someone was sorted into Slytherin, and the unparalleled favoritism when someone was sorted into Griffindor. You were judged from the very start, based on a title.
It’s your third year at Hogwarts, one you were dreading. You never made many friends during your prior years, and it didn’t feel like this year was any different. Aside from the casual friends you’d made in classes like Charms, Potions, and Astronomy, there wasn’t much to look forward to in terms of interaction.
That was before you walked into your “Care of Magical Creatures” class.
Professor Kettleburn stood in a clearing, surrounded by a strew of familiar faces. Faces that would probably stare at you with a blank look if you called them out by name. Which you could. You just don’t feel like getting stared at.
You were outside of the Forbidden Forest, a little too close for comfort. Your eyes watched the shadows in the forest, flickering as the wind moved the branches. It was eerie, as if something was looking back at you. You watched the forest for a while longer, settling down onto the grass like some of your peers. The professor had yet to acknowledge anyone, as he watched a separate spot of the forest. Times like this were when you wished you remembered to pack a watch, rather than leaving it on the corner of your bedstand back home.
Your fingers picked at the dirt in front of you, glad that your uniform consisted of mainly dark colors so they wouldn’t be too badly stained. The grass rustled a couple of feet from you as another student sat in the grass. You watched them out of the corner of your eye, curiosity lingering in the back of your mind.
His hair ran over his eyes, a jumble of messy brown locks atop his head. His face was covered in freckles that made random patterns along his face. His eyes darted towards you for a second before he straightened and resumed watching the forest. You smiled, his frightened nature endearing in a way.
You scooted over, your socks picking up random dirt along the way. You paid it no mind, stopping once you sat next to your target.
“Isn’t the forest mysterious?” You spoke, startling him once more. You laughed, quickly covered by a cough. He nodded meekly, seeming to curl in on himself. You waited a few more seconds before realizing he wouldn’t speak unless you prompted it.
“Newt, right? Newt,” You pause, trying to remember his last name. Yet with each passing second of awkward stuttering, you slowly stop talking and swallow harshly. You clench a fist, groaning internally at what a fool you are to forget someone’s last name, right to their face.
“Scamander.” You look at Newt, his face a bright red. You light up, happy to get a response. “Scamander! That’s- It was on the tip of my tongue, I tell you,” You chuckle, rapping your knuckles on your sides.
“I’m (y/n). (y/n) (l/n),” You watched him smile, looking at you once more and darting his eyes away. The wind blew past the both of you, people’s voices rising around you. You turned around with an eyebrow raised. People were talking amongst themselves, at a considerable distance from you and Newt, may you add. They were all staring at the Professor intermittently, who’s now produced a notebook and is furiously scribbling into it.
You turned back around, clicking your tongue. “So… why are you taking this class?
Newt nodded slowly, shrugging. You watched him, waiting for a reply. He stared at the ground for a little too long for comfort, but you held onto the hope for a response. Your gaze drifted back to the chatter behind you, everyone’s conversations coming with relative ease. Well, of course, they’ve known each other for the better part of two years at this point. They had good social skills, skills you had yet to acquire. It’s no wonder that Newt would barely talk to-
“I l-like magical creatures. They’re f…fascinating.” Newt stuttered his way through the sentence, all while keeping his face a beet-red as he stared at the ground. You laughed, bumping your shoulders together.
“Well, to each his own. I just picked this class cause in all fairness, who wants to take muggle studies?” You shudder in mock horror, pulling your knees to your chest as the wind delivers a chill down your spine. Newt laughed softly, his deathlike grip on his robes loosened, perhaps a sign that he was warming up to you.
He opened his mouth before he was interrupted by a book slamming. You turned around to find Professor Kettleburn staring at the class, his finger on his lip. “Everyone, stay completely still.” You froze, the wind ruffling your tie in the breeze. Your eyes followed Kettleburn as he jumped into a series of random, jerky movements. His hair flipped around, whilst his robes hung off of his shoulders, falling faster with each action. You caught a glance at a mess of greens in Kettleburn’s non-human hand as he extended it into the empty clearing.
Everyone seemed to be on the edge of their seats, leaning in to see what he could be feeding. People gasped once they saw Kettleburn’s metal fingers pried apart. A small grey creature revealed itself from thin air, its eyes fixated on the food in front of it. You look back to Newt, whose eyes were open wide in amazement.
You smiled, turning back to watch Kettleburn swoop the creature into his arms, cradling it like a baby as it ate. He turned to the class, a broad smile on his face. “Now, can anyone tell me what the name of this creature is?”
Immediately, you saw Newt’s hand raise. No one else bothered, too fixated on the strange animal in front of them.
“Ah, yes, Mr. Scamander?”
“It’s a Demiguise! Ah- Sir,” He corrected himself quickly, looking back at the ground once more. You felt some kids around you bristle, someone coughed ‘Nerd’ somewhere to your left. You shot the area a dirty look, but the professor paid them no attention.
“Correct, Mr. Scamander! This, my students, is the rare Demiguise. It is highly reveled in many communities, mainly for its fur and ability for precognitive sight, or as you all know it, predicting the future.” He smiled, the ecstatic grin on his face looking menacing with the odd mustache he wore.
“Fur?” You mumbled, tilting your head in confusion.
“They can make invisibility cloaks. Or- so I’ve r-read.” Newt whispered behind you, coughing to cover the sound of his stuttering. You turned around to smile at him, leaning in slightly.
“So you’ve read?” You whispered back, raising an eyebrow in slight amusement. Newt flushed even harder than he had already been prior and began to pull at his tie.
“I told you, I- Uh, I really like m-magical creatures.”
He smiled at you, and you smiled back. Maybe, you’d have a friend this year.
Class ended relatively quick, maybe too quick for your liking.
Newt lingered awkwardly, a brown satchel hung on his waist that seemed to have come out of thin air. You got to your feet, brushing off the dead grass on your uniform.
“What’s your next class?’ You inquired, walking to the nearest entrance to the school side by side with Newt. He shuffled a crumpled paper out of his robe pocket, pausing to smooth it out on his leg.
“Um, I think- I have Charms n-next. Yeah.” Newt smiled, pursing his lips into a tight line. You glanced at your schedule, frowning slightly.
“I’ve got Herbology next,” You paused before the both of you walked inside Hogwarts. “You mind if I compare our schedules?’ You held a hand out and stepped aside to give other people room to walk through the doors. Newt seemed slightly worried, his hand shook as he handed the schedule to you. You took note of it but moved on to comparing the two papers.
A glance over revealed the two of you shared multiple classes.
“Hey!” You looked up, smiling. “We’ve got Defense Against The Dark Arts, Potions, and Astronomy together! How about that?”
Newt looked slightly shocked, stunned even, but smiled nonetheless. “That’s- great!” He stuck his hands in his pocket, rocking back and forth. You folded the papers back up, handing his schedule back. He nodded, heading inside. Some small talk later and you parted ways, the moving stairs taking the green-eyed boy from your sights.
You sighed, heading to Herbology. At least you had a couple of things to look forward to today.
Lunch rolled around faster than expected, with you getting out of Transfiguration fairly unharmed. Your robes, sadly, couldn’t say the same. Charred on the edges due to the unfortunate mishap that was the Draconifors Spell. You couldn't understand the appeal of creating a bunch of little dragons that wanted to eat your fingers. And, burn your clothes.
You made it to the mess hall, the familiarity of sitting alone was trickling back slowly, but surely. Your eyes wandered around, before catching onto a familiar head of messy curls. Your mouth curls upwards into a coy smile. Newt, who seemed to have a sixth sense of sorts, raised his head to catch your gaze. He smiled quickly before turning back down to his food.
You slinked up behind him, dropping onto the bench next to him. You got a couple of looks from the people around you but ignored them.
“Hey! How was Charms?” Newt seemed startled that you even bothered to sit with him, much less talk to him. He shrugged, picking at his half-eaten food.
“It was decent. We uh- learned about the Cheering Charm.” You tilted your head, and as you did, Newt flicked his wand at you, muttering under his breath. You were suddenly overcome by an urge to cheer, and well, that’s exactly what you did. You got to your feet, hooting and hollering like a madman. Your eyes widened, mortification rolling over you in waves. And yet, you couldn’t stop your cheering. Everyone’s eyes turned to you in confusion, as well as some professors who had just walked into the mess hall.
As soon as the urge faded, you shut up promptly and sat back down. Your face was flushed, a tremble running through your legs despite having sat down already. You turned to Newt, an expression of shock across your face. He was smiling to himself but quickly turned serious.
“Sorry, I- I thought it would be easier to s-show rather than tell,” Newt mumbled, his quirky half smile on his face. You couldn’t stay too mad toward your new friend.
“Nah, it’s cool. Just… never do it again,” You bumped his shoulder and laughed, then reached for the nearest plate full of food. His eyes watched as ash fluttered between your shoulders, falling onto the table. Newt raised an eyebrow, as he realized your fingers were scratched and bruised.
“I- What happened there?” He pointed, his fingers brushing against yours. You both straightened at the touch and you prayed to all the gods out there that your face wasn’t a bright red.
“Oh, you know. Transfiguration and uh, mini-dragons.” You wiggled your eyebrows, taking a bite out of your lunch.
Newt nodded along as if mini-dragons weren’t out of the ordinary for him. “You know, (y/n), I’ve got some band-aids somewhere. I could… give you some. If you wanted,” He coughed, rubbing his forearm.
“I’d love that, Newt!” You exclaimed cheerfully, as Newt began to ruffle through his bag. He produced a few spare bandaids, with little designs on a few. You pulled them closer to you, realizing they weren’t designs, rather, they were drawings of magical creatures. A little crude and simplistic but they were recognizable nonetheless.
“My mom, uh, she drew these. Just something to get me through my day and stuff. That one’s my favorite,” Newt pointed to a drawing of a Bowtruckle, a creature you’ve only seen in books. Your smile widens discreetly as Newt fidgets with the band-aid. It was kinda adorable watching Newt gush over creatures, even if he’d only done it a couple of times with you. Still cute nonetheless.
At this point Newt is watching you, his lips parted with a slight airiness to him. You say to him, “Is there something on my face?” while gesturing to your mouth. He shakes his head, tapping the table.
“Which one do you… want?” You look at the doodled on band-aids, before looking back at Newt.
“Whichever one you think looks best,” You say, hoping he chooses something nice. He does, in fact, and picks up the Bowtruckle one. He holds it out, expecting you to take it, but you instead wave your fingers around.
“You don’t expect me to put it on, do you? I’m so clearly eating!” You gasp in fake outrage, while your plate goes mostly untouched. Newt turned red, mumbling an apology as he grabbed your hand hurriedly. He jumped as if realizing how fast he grabbed your hand, but kept a firm grip on you as he applied the band-aid. The bandaid goes over your fingers like a little ring you could look at all day. You make a mental note to treasure the band-aid forever.
Newt finishes wrapping it, his hands lingering on yours for a few seconds. You almost sigh once he takes them back and places them in his lap. He’s really too nice to you.
You realized that most of the students around you are filtering out slowly. Your eyes look around the room, and it seems as if the next class is starting, really soon in fact. Newt caught onto it as well, and the pair of you start cleaning up.
“Don’t we have the next couple of periods together?” You handed Newt the rest of his bandaids, his hands soft compared with yours.
“Um, mostly. I’ve got a free period while you have History of Magic,” You pause, your eyebrows raised as Newt waited for you to get up.
“I- uh, got a look at your schedule earlier.” He offered up, smiling as you both walked towards Potions.
“Aw, well, don’t get too happy. You’ve still gotta see this face for two more classes,” You gesture to yourself, smiling, and in turn, almost run into a wall. Newt holds back a small laugh before straightening up. You grumble, pushing him softly.
Potions passed by without a hitch, especially since Newt is your partner. The both of you made a good pair, aside from when you tripped over air and almost knocked Newt down as well. He laughed it off but you still felt guilty.
He walked you to your History of Magic classroom, as you coaxed him to ramble about his other classes. You learned some more about Newt on that walk, a happy feeling bubbling to your chest as he divulged more to you. You learned that his brother’s name was Theseus and that he loved the color green. You learned that you weren’t his first friend at Hogwarts but had already made it onto his list of tolerable people. You scoffed at that, proclaiming that you’d make it onto a better list in due time. Newt assured you that it looked like it was heading that way. You spent the rest of the walk in awkward silence, wishing each other goodbye as you reached your class.
History of Magic couldn’t have gone by slower, especially with your teacher’s mundane voice. You breathed a sigh of relief as your class was dismissed. You sped out the door, realizing you and Newt had never set a plan as to where you would meet. Luckily that problem was solved as soon as it appeared.
Newt sat next to your class doorway, sleeping against the cool stone wall. You walked back to him, standing in front of him. You nudged his leg, prompting him to wake up, his eyes wide open in fear. It quickly faded as he looked up at you, worry replaced with a shy smile.
“Hey silly, you didn’t have to wait here.”
“I had the period off. Thought I’d- wait. Didn’t have anything else to do so, um-,” Newt picked at his fingers, awkwardness threatening to seem back into the conversation.
“I- That was really sweet of you Newt. Honestly,” You offered him a hand, and he took it graciously. You hoisted him up and helped him pick his stuff off the ground.
“Ah, thanks (y/n),” The pair of you headed down to Defense Against The Dark Arts together, joking around.
As it turns out, Newt is really good at Defense Against The Dark Arts. Like, to an almost unfunny degree. You watched him in class, amazed as he completed task after task without a hitch. As he began to pack his things up, you leaned in to whisper, “Holy crap. When were you going to reveal you were an actual god at this?”
He just laughed you off, pulling at his tie.
“I- I’m not a god. It just makes. Sense,” You nodded along as if you understood what he meant.
After class, you hung around for a little to finish writing some notes. Newt had been the only one to write comprehensible notes between the two of you, and you’d promised yourself you weren’t going to fail Charms as badly as you did last year.
“You think we could just… skip Astronomy?” Newt mumbled as you scribbled down words. You looked up, dumbfounded, pausing your writing to give Newt a wide-eyed stare.
“Did you just ask to- skip class? Who are you? And what have you done to Newt?” You point a finger at him accusingly, his face turning a bright red.
“I-! I just don’t like Astronomy that much. It’s- It’s not my cup of tea,” You still couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Out of all the classes, the one about space, space, is the one your new friend doesn’t like.
“Newt, you’re killing me here,” You groan, shoving your notes into a bag. Then the two of you proceed to haul ass to Astronomy.
The next couple of weeks went swimmingly, much to your delight. Your grades are up in classes, and you’ve grown considerably close to a certain green-eyed boy. You spent nearly every day together, he helped you with Defense Against The Dark Arts and Creature Care, and you kept him from jumping off the nearest tower because of Astronomy. Which was pretty easy, Newt just didn’t have the attention span to sit and stare at “dots in the sky,” as he so lovingly put it.
You found yourself drawn to him regardless. There was truly something about him. Maybe it was the way he’d laugh at your poorly constructed jokes, Maybe it was the way he’d cheer up when you sat next to him, his smile making the sun pale in comparison. Or maybe it was the way your fingers would brush against his, and he’d jump as if he’d seen a ghost, only to realize it was just you. Then he’d push his hand closer to yours, right until your hands were side by side.
There was a warm feeling in the pit of your stomach that you couldn’t explain, and it grew hotter when Newt was near. How you longed to chase that fiery feeling, put his lips against your own, hand in your hand.
But perhaps it would just be your little fantasy, nothing more.
You sat criss-cross on the stone floor of the Astronomy “classroom”. It was just a secluded area on a castle tower, without any kind of roof. There, your class would learn about stars while the late autumn winds pulled at your robes, tangling your ties. Newt was next to you, mirroring your seating position. His knees touched yours but neither of you felt like moving. The Astronomy professor was wrapping up class right about then, explaining your homework for the night. You leaned into Newt, his soft hair tickling your nose as you did.
“Hey, Newt,” You whispered, taking your fingers and walking them down your leg. He hummed back in response, his eyes flickering to your fingers as they moved about.
“You wanna do something fun later?”
He gave you a side eye, a tired expression on his face. A couple of weeks with you, and you showed him just exactly what “fun” meant to you.
“If this fun activity involves sneaking out again, I think I’m going to pass (y/n).”
You groan, flopping your head onto his shoulder. You felt him tense underneath you, a sign that he was trying his hardest not to give into you.
“But I’ve got to show you something. Please? Pretty please?” You nudged him, causing him to exhale loudly. He brushed you off, an amused look on his face. “Alright. But if we get caught, you’re taking the blame,” He smiled his lopsided grin, pushing you playfully.
“Why, of course,” You shot back, an even bigger grin on your face.
Sneaking out after curfew was like second nature to you and Newt at this point. He’d been dragged along with you too many times to count that he’d picked up on your little tricks. The two of you tip-toed around the castle, Newt following you blindly as you still hadn’t explained where you were going.
“(y/n), you seriously can’t do this to me! Come on, where are we going?” He begged, making sure to keep his voice down. You kept quiet though, his pleas falling on deaf ears.
The two of you eventually reached your destination, the Astronomy tower. You turned back to Newt, whose face had fallen as he realized where the two of you were.
“Are you kidding me? (y/n), if this is your idea of a joke-” You stopped his ranting by grabbing his wrist and pulling him onto the floor. He tumbled awkwardly, and you winced, whispering an apology.
“Alright, I know you hate stars but, I’m a big fan of second chances. And you, my good sir, are the proud owner of a second chance tonight.” You pat the ground next to you as you lay down on the cold stone. The two of you had changed out of your uniforms, wearing casual sleeping clothes. The weather was nice tonight, with +a warm breeze blowing around the two of you.
Newt laid down next to you, his uninterested eyes panning across the vast sky.
“All I see is a whole lot of sky. Not really anything worth getting in trouble for.”
You scoffed, rolling your eyes. You and Newt were a couple of inches apart, yet you prayed he couldn’t feel the heat radiating off of you in waves.
“I wanted to show you this constellation. It uh- it kinda reminded me of us,” Newt stayed quiet as he watched you lift your wand. You recited a spell you had memorized just a few hours prior, and to your surprise, it worked. A glowing light emitted from your wand, silky strands of white floated over your heads and arranged themselves in a pattern.
“See, the spell is supposed to show you a constellation. It shapes it out so everyone can see it,” You whispered, the dull light shining across your face.
Soon, it stopped in your desired form. Newt coughed uneasily, rubbing his nose.
“Uh, what’s it supposed to be?”
“It’s Andromeda and Perseus. They’re part of an old Greek myth,” You murmured, your eyes entranced by the figure above you.
“He saved her from a sea monster, you know. She was supposed to be a human sacrifice to the monster, but he came in and saved her, and her people. They got married soon after, and had a girl.”
“Cassiopeia,” Newt muttered, his voice soft and quiet. You turned your head over to him, and he did the same.
“What? I’m quite brushed up on Greek Mythology, I’ll have you know. Still doesn’t explain why you dragged me out here though,” He trailed off, a hard look in his eyes.
“Well, I just thought it was … romantic. Something for us to look at together, or something,” You shut your eyes in embarrassment, your attempt at woo-ing Newt going a little awry.
All you heard for the next few minutes was the wind, slowly dying down, and Newt’s slow, even breathing.
You peaked an eye, wondering if your friend had fallen asleep. He hadn’t, rather, he was looking up at the sky. The spell had worn off, leaving the two of you in darkness, the only light coming from the night sky.
“I don’t think that was very romantic, (y/n). You pretty much gave me a history lesson,” A light airiness was in Newt’s voice as he mock scolded you. He lifted a hand, pointing to a cluster of stars.
“There. That’s romantic. Those stars make a little heart. You should’ve shown me that instead,” Your face flushed, as you followed Newt’s line of sight. You shifted closer to him, your eyes struggling to find the simple shape.
“Newt, I don’t-,” You paused, feeling his warm hand enclose your own. You stopped speaking, your heart beating loudly in your ears. Your hand felt warm inside of Newt’s, safe. The two of you fit like puzzle pieces, finishing that grand picture. Your world spun, everything slowing and suddenly feeling right. This felt right. Newt felt right.
“(y/n), are you still having trouble finding it?” Newt’s voice was barely louder than a whisper, but it echoed in your skull.
“No, Newt. I think I found it. And you’re right, it’s much more romantic,” He smiled, squeezing your hand. And you smiled back, because it felt right.
yousharknotpass
2087
ellievsbear
vaporwave
gracieabrams
blakekathryn
