Fantastic Beasts: Storm of the Thunderbird

Chapter 7

TW dream horror, mild gore, blood, near panic attack, past character death (Mr and Mrs Goldstein)

After returning back upstairs after Pearl's hatching, Tina felt a wave of exhaustion hit her. When was the last time she had slept? Probably in Newt's case with the Mooncalves, and who knows how many hours ago that was? With the time zones and such, she could've been awake for well over a day. She turned to Queenie.

"I'm guessing you've toured the cottage by now, do you know how the sleeping arrangements work?" She asked. Queenie nodded.

"There are four beds, and the couch also folds out into a bed." She side eyed Newt. "If Newt doesn't mind, I guess someone will have to stay in Newt's case." Tina of course didn't mind that at all, but her sister's teasing made her face turn red.

Queenie, I swear. She thought at her as hard as she could. Queenie suppressed a giggle.

"Oh, of course." Newt said, turning to Tina. "If you would like, I have an extra cot I can set up." Tina nodded.

"I'd like that." She started to feel a bit dizzy from fatigue. "Would you...could we do that now?" Newt nodded. She followed him back down the ladder. With just a wave of his wand, Newt assembled a small cot in his shack. Tina barely waited for Newt to head back up into the cottage before she laid down and fell asleep, still fully clothed and laying on top of the blankets.

Tina opened her eyes, only to find herself in the middle of a battle. What had happened? How did she miss the first part of this battle? She whipped out her wand, but before she could cast a single spell, all of the wizards around her, opponents and allies, fell to the ground, seemingly stunned. That's when she saw him. Grindelwald. She felt the icy panic closing around her throat again, but now, Grindelwald's hand was extended towards her, making a choking motion. She couldn't move, couldn't lift her wand, couldn't breathe even. She felt something pressing in around her legs and could just see in the edges of her vision that the room was flooding with blood. Grindelwald closed his hand into a fist, and Tina felt something wet covering her throat. The edges of her vision were growing dark from lack of oxygen. Pain erupted through her from her neck, and she tried to scream.

There were hands on her, shaking her frantically. She heard a scream, and realized it had come from her. Her eyes flew open, and she saw that Newt was the one shaking her. She sat up, gasping for air. The feeling of being choked was still lingering. She didn't know what to say as she met Newt's eyes. But he didn't wait for her to. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. She melted into him, tremors running through her whole body. Even with it being Newt, she absolutely hated being this vulnerable. Newt didn't say anything. He just held her until she stopped shaking and felt a lot calmer.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Newt asked quietly. Tina sat back, shaking her head.

"How long was I asleep?" She asked instead.

"Several hours." Newt responded. "I believe it's almost midnight." He stood up slowly. "I have something that I believe might help you." He began rummaging through his shelves of potions.

"Do you have any dreamless sleep?" Tina asked. Newt shook his head.

"I don't keep that around. It has strong addictive properties." He retrieved a bottle full of cobalt blue liquid. "If you take this before going to sleep, you won't have any dreams. Instead, your memories will play all night. Some memories may not be the best, but I'm certain it's better than whatever your nightmares are about." He was right. She learned fairly early in her auror training how dreamless sleep should only be taken when absolutely necessary.

"Thank you." She said simply as he handed her the potion. She pulled out the cork and took a sip. She immediately felt a wave of exhaustion hit her. Newt took the bottle and cork back from her. She didn't see what he did after that as sleep claimed her again, but she thought that she felt a hand, Newt's hand, gently pushing her hair out of her face.