AS TEGWEN GITTINS SLIPPED ON HER SHOES, the Hogwarts Castle was quiet. The last hour before curfew had passed and the newly made Ravenclaw prefect was preparing for her first nightly rounds alone. She had to admit to herself that she was rather excited; after several weeks of shadowing an older prefect to learn more about her responsibilities, it was her turn to make sure she got the job done. Of course, there wasn't much to her prefect duties, mainly making sure that no students were out past curfew and seeing to everything being in order before she retired for the evening.
It wasn't so much the responsibilities that left her jittery, but the title itself. Over the summer when she had received the letter congratulating her, paired with her very own prefect's badge, Tegwen didn't know what to make of it. She questioned why the school staff thought a soft-spoken girl would be fit for such a position? Not to mention, she didn't carry the influential popularity that some of her peers seemed naturally born with the way they carried themselves through the corridors of the school, so why her?
Although upon her arrival at the castle that term, Tegwen didn't find herself arguing her new status, hoping it would be a fresh start to bettering herself. She never found herself in trouble, mostly because she tended to mind her own business. Perhaps she could have a good influence on other students, new and old.
Once her shoes were on and her prefect badge was fitted to her robes, Tegwen made her way out of the girls' dormitories of the Ravenclaw Tower. With everyone tucked away in their beds or enjoying a peaceful evening in the Common Room, she was able to slip through unnoticed. Hurrying down the steps, she couldn't hold back the large smile that formed on her face as she truly set out on her own.
The castle was practically hers to explore, however, it was rather quiet.
Filling the silence, Tegwen decided to hum a tune that her father had taught her when she was very young. All the while, making sure to keep an eye out for Peeves because the poltergeist loved causing trouble for everyone, prefects included. Occasionally, she would steal a glance out one of the windows, watching the light dusting of snow cover the grounds. A surge of giddiness filled her chest, knowing that Christmas was just around the corner.
She was definitely looking forward to going home and spending time with her fathers, telling them everything she had learned since the start of term. With Christmas on her mind, her humming quickly took on that of a Christmas carol. However, her early start to the festivities came to a sudden end when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her.
Whipping around, Tegwen quickly caught sight of one of her fellow classmates, Newt Scamander attempting to sneak down a corridor undetected. The Hufflepuff was completely unaware that he was being watched from down the way until she called out to him.
"Newt?"
He jumped, nearly a foot in the air before he turned around to face her. Once he realised he had been caught, he started to adjust his robes to hide his flustered state. His cheeks continued to turn a darker shade of red, highlighting his already red hair.
"Oh, um, fancy seeing you here, er..." He appeared to struggle with coming up with her name on the spot. "Uh..."
"Tegwen," she informed him as she walked over. "What are you doing out here, Newt? It's past curfew, you know."
"Well, I, uh, I fancied a bit of an evening stroll," he told her in a small voice, attempting to offer her a smile.
Tegwen sighed before looking around to make sure they were alone. "You know all the prefects in this castle would get you in trouble if they caught you."
"Are you one of them?"
Leave it to Newt to strike her with a question that they both knew the answer to. When Tegwen had accepted the title of prefect, it had never been a problem to scold other students because the older prefects took it upon themselves to do so or they would just inform one of the professors. But now that it was placed on her shoulders, Tegwen couldn't bring herself to rat out another student.
She was so used to keeping her head low and staying out of other people's matters that she would feel all too uncomfortable going to one of the professors with Newt's name.
"No," Tegwen answered, "no, I'm not."
Almost immediately, the corner of Newt's lips curled upwards in a grin as he looked relieved that he wasn't going to get into trouble that evening.
"Just head back to your dorms, " she advised quietly, " before you get caught by someone else."
"Will do," he nodded his head and placed his hands together, " thank you, Twiggy."
"It's Tegwen," She said softly as the boy already left before she could correct him face to face.
Despite her encounter with Newt, the rest of the evening remained quiet. She was fully prepared to head back to the Ravenclaw Tower and head to bed when she heard a loud crash come from one of the classrooms. Turning around, Tegwen hoped that it was Peeves, but there was no sign of him and no one else came rushing onto the scene to investigate, leaving it on her.
"Fantastic," she muttered under her breath before she headed down the corridor in the direction of the noise. It turned out to be the Charms classroom as she got closer, and Tegwen had to admit, she was confused to find another peer of hers out past curfew.
Leta Lestrange came into view, a Slytherin girl, who had quite the reputation around the castle. Whether she was getting into trouble with the professors or the centre of plenty of gossips, her name got around plenty. Tegwen had a couple of classes with her, but usually, Leta kept to herself, sitting in the back of the classroom and Tegwen never actively sought out anyone, far too shy to do so.
But she did know one thing and that was that Leta was good friends with Newt, so what were the odds that the two of them were out of their dorms on the same night for completely separate reasons?
It certainly didn't smell like a coincidence.
Reaching the doorway, Tegwen's hands gripped the doorframe nervously, she knew she had to do something.
"You're out past curfew!"
In those moments, she felt like a broken record but truth be told, Tegwen didn't know what to say besides state the obvious. Similar to Newt's earlier reaction, Leta jumped before spinning around and looking directly at her. All the while, she seemed to be covering up something with a sheet.
"What have you got there?" Tegwen pointed in the direction of whatever was moving under the sheet.
"Nothing," Leta replied quickly, " I have special permission to be in here."
"Special permission from who?" Tegwen asked. "None of the professors announced to the prefects to excuse any students out of bed tonight."
If Leta was willing to tell her the truth, Tegwen would be more prone to allowing her to get away with it just as she had done with Newt. But instead, it appeared as though Leta felt threatened by her peer as she narrowed her eyes in Tegwen's direction. Whatever was under the sheet started to thrash violently and Tegwen could hear what sounded like muffled grunts and talking.
"Do you want to see it then?"
"See what exactly?"
Leta offered no explanation and while Tegwen remained cautious, curiosity had gotten the best of her at the moment as she grew closer. She wanted to see what was under the sheet, but just as she took another step closer they were interrupted.
"Leta! No!"
The two girls turned their heads to see Newt standing in the doorway. He appeared slightly winded, carrying something in his hands that he placed down before making his way over.
"Tegwen," Newt called to her, " come out of there. That doesn't concern you."
The poor prefect had no idea what she had stumbled upon or what the two were up to, and she wasn't sure if she felt comfortable with just walking away. She was annoyed that Newt hadn't listened to her earlier as he obviously hadn't made his way back to the Hufflepuff dorms.
"Come on, Newt," Leta told him, " she just wants to see, don't you, Tegwen?"
Stupidly, Tegwen nodded her head, but from that moment on, she would regret her answer. Newt had warned Leta not to go through with it but it was too late; Leta pulled back the sheet and to her surprise, she came face to face with a jarvey.
In appearance alone, the jarvey was nothing more than an overgrown ferret, however, it was so much more than that once it opened its mouth.
"What are you looking at?!" the creature snapped at her face. "Nice teeth you got there, are you going to grow into them any time soon?"
Tegwen found herself in a state of shock as the jarvey continued to throw insult after insult in her face. Her lips parted as she attempted to defend her appearance, but before she could do anything, it seemed the jarvey took her gaping expression as an insult and went to lunge at her. Leta attempted to hold onto the jarvey but it managed to slink out of her grip and launched itself at Tegwen.
She screamed as the jarvey hit her face, causing her to back up quickly and try to get the creature off of her. Newt went to assist her, but he was knocked aside as Tegwen lashed out violently as the jarvey bit her on the nose. It scratched the sides of her face and continued to keep biting her until she fell back. Unfortunately, whatever Newt had carried into the classroom, had cushioned her fall.
Everything happened so fast.
The jarvey had been knocked off her face by what felt like a strong wind mixed with a mist. But she was only able to find relief for a second when her skin started to burn. She cried out in alarm, feeling as though her face was being ripped off along with the skin on her neck and her arms. Tegwen couldn't figure out what was happening the only thing her mind seemed to register was the pain.
Her screams grew louder and Leta and Newt had no idea what to do. They turned to each other, grabbing their wands, able to at the very least stun the jarvey but what could they do for Tegwen? Thankfully, Tegwen's cries attracted the attention that would save her life. At that point, she couldn't even open her eyes to see who had come to her rescue.
"HELP ME!" she cried. "PLEASE, HELP ME!"
Voices filled her ears but Tegwen couldn't understand what they were saying. A foul smell burned her nostrils and her heart skipped a beat wondering if it was actually the smell of her skin being burnt off. She was sure that she was in the process of dying at that very moment as the pain began to subside.
A sense of numbness washed over her and everything began to fade, from the noise to the light of the room, surrounding her in silence and darkness. Tegwen realised there was nothing she could do but prepare herself to face death.
***
THE DUNGEONS OF WIZENGAMOT WERE COLD, allowing Newt Scamander to see his breath as he stood still and quiet during his trial. His eyes had trailed to the floor at one point and all he could do was stare at his shoes, as the members of the court debated on whether he would be expelled from Hogwarts or not. To his left, his Transfiguration professor, Albus Dumbledore remained at his side, after giving his testimony. He claimed that Newt would never want to bring harm to another student on purpose and believed that Newt wasn't fully to blame for the accident.
It was his way of encouraging Newt to confess to everything that happened that night with Tegwen Gittins, but Newt stuck to the same story. He betrayed himself in the sense of remaining loyal to his friendship with Leta, vowing to protect her name. He was willing to accept the guilt and consequences that would come protecting his first friend.
Yet, the worst part for Newt was not facing expulsion, but being able to still hear the fresh cries of Tegwen, echoing through his mind. He could still vividly recall the state of her body before the arrival of the professors that saved her.
She had nearly died that night and Wizangamot was not in the forgiving mood over such a situation. If Newt was not going to drop another name, he would take on the full blame of bringing in a jarvey onto the school grounds, and nearly killing Tegwen with his experiment that had covered her skin.
At barely fifteen years of age, Newt stood before the highest court of law in the wizarding world, wanting to cry over everything that had happened and over what was about to happen. He refused to look up, even when he was being addressed, knowing he would only be met with harsh glares.
"Do you have anything to say before we proceed, Mr Scamander?" one of the wizards called out to him.
Newt knew he could apologize a million times, but the person that needed to hear the apology wasn't in the room and she probably didn't want to hear it from him anyways. The last he heard, Tegwen Gittins was spending Christmas with her family, resting in St. Mungo's.
"No, Sir," he answered, his voice still cracking towards the end. "I don't have anything left to say."
He could hear Dumbledore sigh in disappointment next to him, all hope that Newt would end up telling the whole truth had vanished.
"Very well," the man said before turning the floor over to a witch that rose to her feet.
"In regards to this hearing, Mr Scamander, you endangered the life of a fellow student and therefore you will be expelled from Hogwarts."
Her tone was stern and final, leaving no room for arguing, even if Newt wanted to try.
But he didn't, in his mind, the punishment was fair for what had happened. Some would have argued that it wasn't fair since he hadn't committed the actions against Tegwen. However, it was fitting in the sense that he had stupidly taken the blame.
As he felt Professor Dumbledore's hand rest upon his shoulder, he realized that Leta hadn't even thought to stop him from taking the blame. She hadn't put up any sort of fight and as he stood there, with the exception of the presence of his professor, Newt realized, he stood alone.
A/N: Originally, when I wrote this story the first time, I changed things around to fit, and at the time, Crimes of Grindelwald hadn't been released so there was little to go on when it came to Leta. I decided to add in more to help it fit into the canon storyline of Fantastic Beasts without changing too much.