The Locket

st. mungos

Tina slowly drifted into consciousness. She could hear so much and feel so much that she couldn't hear or feel anything at all. The ringing in her ears slowly faded into the drone of familiar voices. She hurt everywhere, oh Merlin, she had never felt such universal pain--it came from everywhere and nowhere in particular. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to exist. She tried to open her eyes, but a blinding light pierced her vision and she quickly shut them and turned her face into whatever it was that she could feel next to her. It was soft, and it hurt her face. Her nose hurt. She could smell something, something familiar--the scent of earth and herbs, of gardens and flowers; the scent of crackling log fires and crisp, clean air; the scent of medicine and spices; the scent of home. She knew that smell. It was the smell of Newt. His voice floated through her subconscious now, saying her name. Tina? Tina? She nuzzled her nose further into his shirt, even though it hurt. It was too bright. She clutched at the back of his shirt, and pain shot through every one of her fingers. She let out a whimper and Newt's voice came again, clearer now. 

"Hey, shh, Tina. You'll be alright. I've got you. You'll be alright." 

Why is it that when someone tries to assure you of something that they don't quite believe themselves, they say it twice? Once to you, once to themselves? You'll be alright, Tina. She'll be alright, Newt. 

Another indistinct voice murmured something and Newt's voice came again, much closer now, with his hand pushing at her hair. "Tina, do you think you would be okay if I apparated with you? I don't want to risk hurting you, but we need to get you to a hospital, okay? Do you trust me?"

He felt a slight incline of her head against his chest. "Alright, I'm going to set you down, okay?" He slowly lowered Tina and himself to the ground, keeping her in his lap. Tina cracked her eyes open to look up at him, Theseus and Jacob's faces wavering above him. Newt stroked her cheek. "It's alright, you can keep your eyes closed. Just rest." He looked up at his brother. "Ready?"

Theseus nodded, taking Jacob's arm. "St. Mungos?"

Newt nodded, shifting Tina in his arms and glancing down at her anxiously.

It only took a few seconds to apparate, but they were some of the most agonizing seconds Tina had ever lived through. When they materialized outside the old abandoned department shop that hid the hospital she was screaming into Newt's shirt. He quickly ran his eyes over her body in search of fresh injury. A few of her old wounds had reopened, but otherwise she hadn't suffered any more harm.

"Oh, jeez," Jacob said, turning on his heel and pushing his hand over his face in panic. "Is she okay?"

Newt nodded, holding the back of Tina's head against his chest and rocking her gently. "Shhhhh, you're alright, it's alright, Tina, we've just got to get you inside, okay?"

Her grip on the back of his shirt slowly loosened and then she fell back with her eyes shut.

"Oh Merlin," Theseus said, "is she--?"

Newt cradled her carefully and pressed his fingers to her neck. "She's just lost consciousness." He gathered her up and stood. "Let's get her off the street."

Theseus spoke to the dummy in the shop window, then took a very confused Jacob by the arm and ushered him through the glass. Newt followed with Tina, their surroundings shifting from the bleak, dirty, abandoned storefront to the crisp clean familiar whiteness of a hospital. 

A few glances were made at Tina and soon a stretcher was brought and the four of them were ushered away to a small screening room. 

"What's her name?" a healer asked while a few others began surveying Tina's injuries. 

"Porpentina Goldstein," Newt said, and the healers all looked at him. "The American auror?" asked the one with the clipboard. Newt nodded. Everyone in the room sobered, understanding the nature of the situation. 

"Has she been unconscious this whole time?"

Newt's face twitched as he glanced down at Tina. "No, she was awake for about...ten or twenty minutes? After I apparated with her she lost consciousness again."

The healer nodded and pursed her lips. "Are you family?" she asked after a moment, "any of you?" 

They all shook their heads. 

"Does she have any family we can contact?"

"Only her sister, Queenie," Newt said, "and she's--" he paused, and Theseus finished for him, "she joined Grindelwald." 

There was a solemn moment of silence, then the healer sighed and looked up. "Normally we only let family back with patients while they're being treated, but with a situation this serious--" she looked down at Tina and shook her head sadly. "Which of you is the closest to her?"

Theseus and Jacob immediately looked at Newt, who looked rather muddled for a moment before saying, "I suppose that's me." 

"Right, now. You two--" she nodded at Theseus and Jacob "--are going to have to wait outside, in the lobby. Once she's treated and settled in to a room you can come see her." She turned back to Newt. "Are you her boyfriend?"

"No," said Newt plainly, not surprised, or embarrassed, or recoiling, but simply as a stated fact. The healer nodded and smiled knowingly.