《 Skip a Beat 》

Back in the saddle

Newt strained his occlumency shields into place, attempting to block out something he couldn't feel. A sudden rush of respect for Tina coursed through him as he realised that she effortlessly closed off her mind to a legilimens almost every day.

Suddenly growing consciously aware that he hadn't closed his eyes again, his gaze settled on Tina and Nick, staring avidly back at him.

Newt's occlumency shields flickered.

Tina blinked again him- only once.

Was she trying to tell him something? What did a blink mean? Did it mean anything? No, obviously not! She was blinking! Secret sign language indeed- people blinked all the time.

Newt inwardly cuffed himself over the head for conjuring up such a miscellaneous thought.

"Newt!"

With a jolt, he glanced up to see Queenie's worry-lined face hovering above his. No, not worry... something else.

"I'm sorry?" he blurted lamely.

"You zoned out, Newt. You lost control."

"Oh." A wave of guilt washed over him. Had he broken off his concentration with just one thought?

Occlumency was a lot more difficult when facing a legilimens instead of a spell.

"Yeah, I know. But Grindelwald ain't gonna use a legilimency spell, Newt." She gave a sympathetic shrug. "Sorry."

"No. S- no, it's fine. You mean perfectly well, Queenie," he replied, sotto-voced and embarrassed at his lack of concentration.

The blonde witch gave him a reassuring smile. "Maybe Tina can help with keeping the shields intact. And, Nick...?"

At the mention of his name, Nick jumped up, eyes scanning her up and down as if attempting to guess what his task was.

"Oh, it's fine. I wanted to ask if you learned occlumency," she asked him, no doubt reading his mind, but trying simultaneously to keep him in the conversation loop.

Nick huffed a laugh, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Never bothered. Charlotte may be a legilimens, but it's never done anything to hurt me," he defended. Queenie gave a nod, a tiny flicker of emotion flashing in her eyes just for a moment.

Tina plonked down next to Newt and offered him a dorky grin, which he returned after a moment.

"Hi," he began awkwardly, suddenly aware of Queenie turning Nick away from them to quietly engage him in some sort of small talk.

"Hi," echoed Tina, also trying to ignore her sister's oh-so-obvious attempt at getting them to properly talk to each other.

A few seconds of discomfort passed between them, with Nick and Queenie's soft chatting in the background doing little to ease the tension.

Finally, Queenie turned around.

"Are you going to teach him occlumency or not?!"

Nick let slip a chuckle, but unfazed, Tina retaliated and defended, "Well, I can't if you're going to make it this awkward for us!"

At this, Nick burst into laughter, until he wheezed and dropped himself into a seat, doubling over in a giggling mess.

"Come on, Teen." She gestured exasperatedly towards Newt and Tina, still perched opposite each other. "Just do it. I'll sit right here if that's what you want."

With that, Queenie plonked down into the chair closest to them, neatly arranged her pleated pink skirt, and folded her hands in her lap, watching them with a complacent expression.