𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐘⟶ Newt Scamander

Look Both Ways Before You Cross Twiggy

Newt left the shed, leaving Queenie, Tina, and Jacob behind, he had a pep in his step, thinking that Tegwen had already left the case, but as he came upon the steps, he found the woman at the bottom of them crying. Her arms were propped up on the last step and she was crying into them. Her body heaved with each sob as she was curled up into a tight ball, with her legs tucked beneath her. Newt's body slouched as the guilt weighed heavy on him, he didn't expect her to walk right in after he and Queenie had just gone through nearly the same thing, but he was able to figure out more information that he wasn't aware of beforehand.

He thought Tegwen's anger came from him pulling the sheet off and releasing the mist that nearly killed her. He didn't think to factor anything else in because he already felt terrible enough for what he had accidently done. But he had learned that she had been angry with him for completely different reasons. She was angry with him for allowing himself to take the fall for Leta's actions.  Because he had taken the blame, Leta was allowed to remain at Hogwarts as he had planned, but what he didn't plan on was Leta making Tegwen's life a nightmare.

The way Tegwen had broken down before him certainly showed that the woman carried such large amounts of pain with her, even though plenty of time had passed since the incident.  The anger she exhibited just saying Leta's name would be incredibly hard to fake, and he couldn't figure out a reason as to why Tegwen would make something up. He remembered the night and he remembered what Leta had done. She had led Tegwen willingly towards the cauldron, knowing the dangers that were being contained. 

If he hadn't intervened, Tegwen might have actually met her death before anyone showed up. Yet, in Newt's young mind, he could only focus on his friend getting in trouble. He and Leta had been friends since his first year as she was the first person to talk to him. Leta didn't get along with other students and Newt mainly kept to himself because he was so wrapped up in his own interests. When Leta showed an interest in the beast as well, he was overly thrilled to share his knowledge with someone. 

However, it led to him just finding friendship in Leta. During his later years, he attempted to branch out to other students that he thought were like him, one of them being Tegwen Gittins, but Leta claimed that she didn't want their friendship to expand, she was sure that people wouldn't like her. Newt was finally putting the pieces together, it wasn't that people didn't like Leta, it was Leta who didn't like other people, specifically Tegwen. 

If he had known that him taking the blame would have caused so many more problems for Tegwen, he would have never done it. He had no idea as he fell out of contact with her once he was expelled. It was a couple of years after his expulsion that Dumbledore had invited him back to the school to complete his schooling. By that time, Tegwen had graduated and no one knew where the woman went. He definitely thought against approaching the woman's parents, knowing he was probably at the top of their hit list. 

He had no clue as to what happened to Tegwen, thinking she simply moved on with her life and was doing great things somewhere. Which was why he was so surprised to see the woman in New York that afternoon. It was easy to recognize her because she hadn't changed drastically over the years. Sure, she was taller and of course, blossomed into a woman, she still kept the same mannerisms from their school years. Avoiding eye contact, talking to herself under her breath thinking that no one could hear her, her moments of pure clumsiness and she still hummed the same songs. 

No, Tegwen Gittins was still the same person just hiding under a great deal of pain. Pain that he had caused with his stupid actions as he thought of the wrong person in the situation. He didn't think of himself and he hadn't thought of Tegwen.

Reaching her side finally, Newt lowered himself to her side and went to reach out his hand to touch her shoulder.