Eleanor woke up around 3am to a shivering Newt holding onto her with his legs entangled into hers. She grabbed his hand and it was like ice; she felt up his arm and was shocked that his whole body was absolute ice cold. She sat up and gave him a nudge.
"Newt, darling, please wake up," Eleanor said while gently rubbing his arm and caressing his face. His eyes fluttered open and he winced while trying to sit up. His lips were purple and he was a sickly pale color.
"What's going on? Are you sick?" Eleanor asked sweetly while pushing back his hair. He couldn't seem to get words out. She climbed out of bed and he tried to follow her, but his joints weren't doing what he wanted them to do. He lost his balance and began to fall out of the loft.
"Arresto momentum," Eleanor pointed her wand to Newt to stop him from colliding with the floor. Newt laid on his back and groaned. Eleanor walked over and sat next to him to hold his hand. She helped him sit up and noticed something in his pajama pocket. She reached over and slipped her hand in and pulled out the two frost salamanders that Newt had grabbed earlier from the cave.
"Newt? Are you serious right now?" Eleanor said to him annoyed as she held the salamanders in the palm of her hand.
"You gave yourself frostbite over keeping these guys in your pocket?" She said and rolled her eyes at him. She waved her wand towards an empty cupboard and opened it up. She had transfigured it into a small snowy cave and placed the salamanders into it. Closing the door, she walked back over to Newt and summoned a few blankets and nice warm cup of tea.
"Focillo," Eleanor muttered and a warm glow came from her wand to help warm Newt up. He took a few sips of his tea and Eleanor could see his color come back into his face. They were leaned up against the wall with blankets over them. Newt finished his tea and rested his head on Eleanor's shoulder.
"Thank you," He whispered and Eleanor squeezed his hand. She made the teacup vanish and helped him up and back into bed. Following him up the ladder, Eleanor turned the lights out and snuggled up to a much warmer Newt. They were facing each other, limbs tangled up, with Newt's head laying on Eleanor's chest.
They were soon sleeping soundlessly, that was until they awoke to a loud clanging noise. Newt shot up and so did Eleanor realizing that they had overslept. He jumped out of bed and realized the noise was coming from their tent above. They must have slept way too late. Eleanor got up to change and grabbed some food for the beasts and ran out to feed them quickly.
"Just feeding the creatures! Be up in a jiffy!" Newt yelled up to whoever was up there clanging pots and pans. He switched his pajamas for blue trousers, a white button up, and fastened on his suspenders. He rolled up his sleeves and quickly caught up with Eleanor to finish breakfast for the creatures.
"We need to eat something too. We have a long day ahead of us." Eleanor said and handed her bucket to Newt and went back into the shack to whip up some porridge for them. They ate quickly, grabbed their cloaks and ran to catch up with the group that was about leave them behind.
"Good morning sleepy heads. Late start this morning?" Samuel said while patting Newt on the back. He grinned and Newt sheepishly turned a new shade of pink.
"Sorry everyone," Eleanor started. "Our niffler was being a little fussy this morning and wouldn't eat his breakfast."
Eleanor let out an awkward laugh, but the others seemed to believe them. Nora laughed at least.
"What kinds of creatures do you have down there?" Henry asked and the rest of the conversation was history because once you get Newt talking about his creatures, it's impossible for him to stop. Samuel was right, this was a lot further than yesterdays adventure, but they made it. Samuel stopped in front of huge mountain of ice. He turned to the group and backed slowly into the ice and disappeared.
"Is that?" Eleanor started and Newt nodded.
"Incredible. Nothing will ever find them in here." Newt said as he and Eleanor entered into the hidden cave. It was much larger and even more pretty than the one they were in yesterday. They got to work and began releasing the salamanders into their new habitat. Satisfied with their work, James took out a flask and took a big swig.
"To us!" He yelled and passed the flask to Samuel, then to Nora, Henry, and Newt. Newt made a funny face as he swallowed whatever was in that flask and handed it to Eleanor. She took a swig and swallowed. Fire whiskey. It warmed her from the inside out and made her cheeks burn and flushed. She handed the flask back to James and he took another gulp before putting it back in his pack.
"Alright everyone, our work here is done. Let's head back to camp and get everything put together. Our portkey leaves tomorrow for London at 9am." Samuel announced to the group and lead everyone out of the cave. Eleanor took one last look at what they did and smiled to herself. The salamanders looked like they were all so content and she had the happiest feeling buzzing around inside her. This is what she wanted to do, this is what she was born to do. Newt took her hand and they made their way back to the camp.
Newt and Eleanor were well behind the others, chatting about different creatures and encounters Newt has had in his past. Eleanor was fascinated by his stories and clung onto every word he told her.
"So I guess that's how I got Dougal." Newt finished telling Eleanor as they got into view of the camp. Everyone else was already back, but they weren't in a rush. They truly enjoyed each other's company.
"That's genius Newt. I never knew that." Eleanor said. She was learning so much from Newt and he was even learning things from her.
"El? When we get back, would you maybe want to join me out on a date?" Newt asked surprisingly confident. Eleanor gave a show stopping smile.
"I would love that so much." She answered. "Do we have another adventure lined up when we get back?"
"I have to meet with Dumbledore when we get back. I'd like for you to come along if you're okay with that." He answered.
"Again, I'd love that. Will we be going to Hogwarts?" She asked and he nodded. She got a little giddy and smiled at him. She hadn't been back since she graduated and was very excited to see her favorite professor.
"One more question for you El," Newt continued.
"What's that?" She said.
"What do you want to name our new salamanders?" Newt asked.
"Newt, why did you take them?" Eleanor asked while trying to think of fun names for them.
"Breeding purposes to be honest. Their colony was diminishing greatly and I can't even imagine what the other colonies that are dying out look like. I figured if I could at least get a small colony started, we could come back and place them in a different part of the continent to start regrowth within the next two years." He said. Eleanor thought he was so brilliant, she would've never have thought to do that.
"I think we should name them Pongo and Perdita." Eleanor said.
"I like that," Newt said. They were coming up to the camp and everyone was drinking out of flasks.
"Looks like we're celebrating tonight," Eleanor said to Newt and walked over to the group. They were immediately given flasks and told to drink up. Music was playing and the sun melted away over the horizon. They were all having a great time, but all great things must come to an end. Samuel bid everyone a goodnight and headed to his tent and was soon followed by Nora.
James and Henry were still dancing and drinking away to Swanee by Al Jolson. Newt held out his hand to Eleanor.
"Care to dance?" He asked. He was rubbish at dancing, but he saw the way Eleanor could move when she was feeding the animals. He knew she loved dancing so of course she took his hand. They began with a simple swing dance and Newt surprised himself by being able to keep up with Eleanor. He twirled her around and lifted her off of the ground and the song came to an end. James and Henry had seemed to go back to their tents.
"Thank you for the dance. I never get to dance with a partner," Eleanor said.
"You're welcome, sorry if I was a bit rusty. I haven't properly danced like that before," Newt replied and it was true. He wasn't much of a dancer, but he would most certainly learn if it meant he could keep dancing with Eleanor.
"You are a lovely dancer, Newton." She said back to him and stood on her tiptoes to place a gentle, warm kiss on the corner of his mouth. She went to turn away to go back to the tent when Newt grabbed her wrist and spun her back around into his arms and kissed her properly. He had no idea where all this confidence came from, perhaps the firewhiskey.
Out of breath and somewhat flustered, he lead her back to their tent and got into their pajamas. Eleanor was stumbling around quite a bit and being more clumsy than usual. Newt thought it was hysterical and had to stop her a few times from feeding the creatures the wrong things.
"Eleanor, my dear, you are giving Dougal a calycanthus flower. He will love you forever, but he will also not sleep for three days." He chuckled as she face palmed and stumbled back to the shack. It took them twice as long to feed everyone, but Newt was so entertained with Eleanor he didn't even mind.
"Ouch!" Newt heard Eleanor yelp and turned around to see what had happened.
"It's fine Newt. I'm sorry. It was my fault, I spooked him a wee bit." Eleanor said while holding onto a bloody finger.
"Oh dear," Newt said while looking at the guilty murtlap who had now just realized who he had bitten. He whined at Eleanor and bumped her leg with his snout and she knelt down to feed him his food.
"El, come one. We gotta get that cleaned out." He said as he took her back into the shack.