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" ― 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫.
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Ryan Selwyn wrote more than her peers, especially ever since she arrived Hogwarts since that was her only way for a proper conversation. She was used to parchments and quills, however, she still found it hard to write a letter to Newt Scamander, harder than Ryan thought it would be. Yet, it was not because she was writing it at the early hours of the morning, but because Finn stubbornly jumped on parchment, as if he also wanted to leave a message for the man, who took care of him all those years. He kept wrapping his stick-like arms around Ryan's wrist, clinging at it as she tried to complete her letter. She was already late with a response, as it had been a week since she arrived Hogwarts, and did not want to be rude by not writing to Newt for another week. So, she gently pushed Finn to side and managed to sign her letter before she put it in an envelope.
Pushing the chair back as silently as possible, Ryan stood up and extended her hand towards the table for Finn to climb on her palm. She placed the Bowtruckle safely on her top pocket and left Gryffindor common room to welcome Sunday's soft morning breeze that came through the windows. She held the letter between her hands and walked on corridors, towards Owlery, when she noticed something rather strange for her eyes. A creature with a long snout and a coat of black, fluffy fur that was staring at the shining armour – if possible, his mouth open. Ryan, frowning with curiosity, tilted her head and wondered whose the creature was, as she thought it was a pet of a student. Her answer appeared in front of her sight when Newt Scamander arrived and quietly tiptoed behind the duck-like creature to catch it in a tight hold.
"There you are. Happy now?" He uttered and held the creature upside down to shake it gently. Ryan, pushing the fact that Newt was standing in front of her, watched the incident happen in front of her eyes. She almost gaped when she saw necklaces and galleons fell from the pouch of the creature's belly.
"Sorry, Minerva, he tends to be a troublemaker," Newt said as Professor McGonagall approached him.
"It's alright, Newt," the professor replied with a smile that not all of her students saw yet. Newt used his wand to put a spell on the creature, strong enough to keep it still before he spotted Ryan, who had been standing there all this time.
"Ryan!" Newt greeted her with a grin, "how lovely to see you here."
Ryan was not sure why Newt Scamander decided to give a visit to Hogwarts, but instead of questioning him, she followed him to Professor McGonagall's office, just like how he asked her to do if she had time. Finn, also, seemed rather happy to see Newt too, not leaving his shoulder ever since the magizoologist greeted him.
"So how is everything going?" Newt asked and looked at her once they arrived at the office. Ryan, who carried parchment and quill in her pocket, reached for it but stopped when she noticed Newt already neatly placed one in front of her. Smiling a bit, she reached for the quill and scribed her answer.
It is good?
She put a question mark, not being sure if it was as good as she said and tilted her head up to look at Newt before adding another sentence to her writing.
I wrote an answer to your letter.
Ryan slowly pushed the envelope towards him, watching a genuine smile appear on his face. She waited for him to read the letter while keeping her gaze on the creature he introduced as Niffler. The black eyes of the beast stared at her, before focusing on small earrings she was wearing, which caused her to let out a silent snort.
"Interesting, isn't he?" Newt asked as he raised his head just in time to see Ryan was watching Niffler. She nodded her head to agree, which made him smile.
"A brave Gryffindor, hm?" He held the letter high to show he finished reading it. He probably understood it was a bit awkward for Ryan to write a letter, probably her first letter, but he still felt glad that she tried. As it also meant that if she had enough courage to do something she had never done before, it meant one day, she could trust her magic too.
Ryan, on the other hand, huffed silently to show she was not so sure if she was as brave as the Sorting Hat thought – but it only made Newt laughed at her.
"You might be braver than you think, Ryan," he stated. Ryan looked at him for a second before she reached for the parchment once again:
I hope so.
"Don't you want to know why I'm here?" Newt asked after a while. Surely, she was a bit curious, but it was possible for magizoologist to be there to visit Dumbledore or another professor. Then again, Ryan did not know why Professor McGonagall left after she allowed them to stay in her office, she just did what she was good at. Kept quiet.
"I'm here to be sure you are getting used to Hogwarts," Newt announced carefully and watched the confusion reach Ryan's face. "I didn't mean it in a bad way," Newt added immediately. He did not want her to think he was there to force her to use magic or check if she worthed to stay in Hogwarts. Newt just wanted to be sure he helped her before it was too late.
"Have you tried to use your wand before?"
Ryan replied his question with a nod.
"How did you feel then?" Newt whispered carefully. Biting her bottom lip, Ryan stared down before she reached to hold quill and wrote her answer.
As if I am doing something forbidden.
Newt so badly wanted to ask Ryan what her father did that caused her to fear magic that much. He felt bad for not knowing what was going on and felt bad for not finding Ryan before to help her.
"What you have isn't forbidden. It is yours," Newt said looking at her. "Everyone here will do anything to help you. No matter what happened in the past – " Newt stopped talking when he noticed for a brief second Ryan's eyes become fully white, without a pupil. He immediately reached for his wand, but fortunately, she calmed down without needing any help. None of them attempted to start a conversation for a few seconds, none of them even breathed before Ryan wrote one more thing on parchment that made Newt sigh in relief.
I will try it.