Invisible String [t. s]

Chase & Catch

  "Hey, Newt." Queenie's voice snapped her out of memory lane. She blinked a few times and washed a single tear that fell down her cheek. She proceeded to roll up the sleeves of her shirt up to her elbow and help Newt to peel off seeds to feed some creature. "Who is she?"

"Oh, that's no one." Newt answered and focused back on the job he was doing.

"Leta Lestrange." Amélie frowned at the name and the fact that Newt hadn't answered the question, and yet, Queenie knew the answer. "I've heard of that family. Aren't they kind of...you know..."

"Please don't read my mind." There was a silence among them all. "Sorry, I asked you not to."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You're a Legilimens." Amélie commented.

"Yes. And I can't help it. People are easiest to read when they're hurting."

"I'm not hurting." Newt said, offering a smile. "Anyway, it was a long time ago." Rosier frowned. She only knew Leta and Newt had been friends, but apparently, there had been more. She focused on her task, thinking it wasn't any of her business.

"That was a real close friendship you had at school."

"Well, neither of us really fitted in at school. So, we became quite-"

"You became real close. For years." A pause. "She was a taker. You need a giver." Newt looked at the seeds and Élie just cleared her throat. Queenie blinked when, all of the sudden, she was able to hear a third mind in the room. "Oh." She exclaimed.

"What?"

"I hadn't heard her mind...until now." Newt looked at the Auror, who simply sent him a look and he understood it was to drag the attention to her. He gave her a soft nod. "You learned Occlumency."

"Oui. Since I was very young." Amélie said.

"To keep your father away from entering your mind. He was just like me, but...bad."

"No need to comment the not so well kept secrets of my family, Miss Goldstein."

"Sorry. But, like I said before, people are easiest to read when they're hurting. And you've been hurting for a while now, because of the recent-" She closed her eyes roughly when Élie shut her mind before she could say anything.

"That's staying between us. Please." Queenie nodded with a very sad expression all over her face. "Merci."

  "What are you all talking about?" Asked Tina when she approached the party. A bright smile over her features.

"Oh, nothing. School." Newt answered quickly. Rosier looked at him and now, they were even. He had changed the subject to give her a hand. She nodded swiftly this time and he returned the gesture.

"School." The girls repeated at the unison.

"Did...did you say school?" Asked Jacob. "Is there a school? A wizardry school here in, uh, America?"

"Of course. Ilvermorny. It's only the best wizard school in the whole world." Queenie answered.

"I think you'll find that the best wizarding school in the whole world is Hogwarts." Newt said.

"Or Beauxbatons." Amélie jumped into the conversation again.

"Hogwash." Queenie said mockingly before she started singing the anthem of her school. Tina was fast in joining her while the two men sat down to listen and the other woman simply crossed her arms over her chest. The five of them had bright smiled over their lips. Amélie and Jacob looked at each other and at Newt as espectators, trying to spot the same reactions on each other. But they found something more interesting. They found Scamander looking at the eldest Goldstein sister with such amazement and love...the guy was head over heels for her. The eyes of the witch and the muggle met again, both of them smiling tenderly as they realised what their friend had in mind, and looked back at the front as the girls finished their song. They all clapped, even the creatures clapped as the sisters bowed and thanked them. "Your turn." She said, smiling brightly at the other two wizards.