Year Five
"Hey!" I heard Leta running down the hill towards Newt and I. I quickly let go of his hand and avoided eye contact with Leta.
"What's up guys? Sorry I was late I was with Reedley."
I scoffed and then covered it up with a cough.
"Yeah, um, it's fine, so what do you want?" Newt scratched the back of his head.
"I was just thinking we could go to Hogsmeade together, y'know." Leta popped a piece of gum in my face. I flinched before wiping her spit off of my face.
"Weren't you gonna go with Reedley?" I asked.
"Noooo, guys remember the first time we went to Hogsmeade? We had the most fun together."
"Yeah but that was before you started dating Reedley." Newt grumbled.
"So what, I can't have a boyfriend? I was supportive of you, Eve, why can't you support me? Friends do that." Leta inferred back to when I told her about my past, but this was a whole lot different.
"But, Leta, that was before you made friends that would bully us, aren't friends supposed to defend each other?" Newt scowled at Leta.
"They weren't serious, you can't take a joke?" Leta was getting kind of mad.
"Leta, I'm sorry we don't like him, it's fine if you want to be friends with them, but we just going to tolerate them making fun of us anymore." I tried to calm her down but her brows furrowed angrily at me.
"Fine then! If you're all such nerds then go to Hogsmeade on your own!" She stamped off back towards the castle.
I sighed sadly at her. She was a good friend and I wanted to spend the rest of my years at Hogwarts with her.
Newt smiled down at me. "Come on, Hogsmeade is waiting for us."
I took his hand again and we continued on our way.
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"Ok, see you tomorrow Newt." I waved at him.
We had just returned from Hogsmeade and my hands were filled with bags of treats we bought.
"Goodnight Eve!" He grinned at me and walked into the boy's room.
I skipped into my own. Pickett climbed into my hair as I flopped onto my bed, ready for some sleep.
"Today's a good day, Pickett." I said to him. He squeaked at me.
Then suddenly, he started pulling at my hair.
"Ow, Pickett, wha--" Then I saw it. A mole like creature at the foot off my bed, trying to peel one of the shiny design stickers off my shoes. I kicked it out of fright, it yelped and landed on the ground.
"Niffler?!" I whispered angrily at it. It began to run away, but I leaped off my bed and caught it in time.
"What are you doing out?!" I reached under my bed to grab my suitcase, but grabbed thin air.
"What..." My eyes widened in horror.
My bag filled with creatures is gone.
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"Newt! Newt!" I whispered and shook my friend from his bed. The niffler wrapped tightly in my arms to prevent it's escape.
"Whaa.. is it t-time for class..." He sat up groggily and was about to slump over but I shook him again.
"Newt, please! My bag is gone!" That seemed to wake him up.
"What?" He asked incredulously.
"My bag! Filled with animals is GONE!" I enunciated each word so he understood.
He shot up, grabbed my hand and sprinted out to the common room.
"We need to look for it now!" Newt and I scrambled out of the common room and into the hall. We searched everywhere all over the castle for the case and found ourselves in the dining hall.
"This place is huge, how are we gonna find it?" I collapsed in one of the chairs.
"How did you even let the case go?" Newt looked down at me.
"I-I didn't do it on purpose, I just came to my room and it was gone!" I placed my head in my hands.
"It's a case full of magical creatures, maybe you should take better care of it." He grumbled quietly, but I heard him.
"Excuse me? This is the first time this has ever happened, so clearly what I was doing wasn't wrong." The niffler started to scratched at my arms. I held him tighter.
"I'm just saying it wouldn't hurt to be more responsible, Eve." I gawked at him.
"This isn't my fault, Newt, someone must've taken it!" The niffler screeched in my arms.
"Who else could've done this Eve? The only other person that knows...is..." We both looked at each other. My arms went slack and the niffler immediately jumped out.
It ran to the middle of the dining hall and looked straight up at the ceiling. We both followed its eyes and saw two large reptilian eyes staring back down.
"Newt, its..." I kept my eyes on it and grabbed his arm.
"Just walk out, don't make a sound." He whispered back to me.
Suddenly we heard fast, loud footsteps bound into the hall.
They screeched to a stop. I looked up to see Leta, out of breath and panting, staring at the scene before her.
"Oh, oops..." Leta started to back away.
"What..." I glanced down at her hand and saw the case. MY case. Red blurred my vision and I turned to her with rage.
"You did this?" I felt so betrayed. I know we parted ways but this...
I heard a loud screech behind me. We looked up and saw an occamy eyeing all of us. It flew down from where it hid in the ceiling and slithered towards us.
We dodged it and I immediately ran for Leta and ripped the case from her hands.
"I trusted you Leta!" I screamed at her angrily.
She shoved me back. "Yea but you betrayed me!"
"Me?! You did, you made friends with those bi--"
"Eve, I need a little help!" I turned to see Newt with the giant occamy on his tail.
I was about to run to help him but Leta jumped up. "I'm coming Newt!"
I gasped and pulled her back. "Oh no you don't!"
"Let go of me!" She smacked me across the face. I gawked at her, the red in my vision suddenly taking control. I never should've let it go this far. I screwed my eyes shut and tried to control my breathing.
The sounds of the thrashing occamy and the destruction around me became a dull throb compared to the drumming of my blood in my ears.
I clutched my head and fell over.
Newt's POV
I had studied occamies in the library a few years ago, and I Knew that occamies could shrink and expand to accommodate the size of their room. I had to find something small to trap it in. I ran around dodging the occamy's body as it chased me. I ran behind a few tables and found a stray teapot lying on the floor. It must've been left over from dinner.
I grabbed it and looked around. I saw Leta and Eve still arguing when suddenly, Eve doubled over.
"Eve!" She looked to be in pain, so I ran over to her.
"Leta, what did you do?!" I helped her up and she started to cry in pain.
"I don't know Newt, she just fell over!" Leta dodged the occamy's swiping tail.
"Forget it! I need a bug, now!" I glared at her and she ran around the hall, trying to locate what I asked for.
I cradled Eve in my arms.
"Newt, you need to get the occamy back in the case." Eve squeezed out.
"No, I need to make sure you're ok."
"No, there's something I didn't...tell you about me." Eve's eyes opened, and they were yellow.
I blinked in surprise. Right when I opened my eyes, Eve wasn't there anymore. There was a large, black panther in my arms, and I jumped back in surprise.
It stood up to its full height and looked at me sadly. She stood eye level with me, and it clicked in my mind.
"Animagus."
Eve suddenly darted her eyes to the left and pounced on something. She clawed at the ground and brought it to me in her mouth.
A cockroach! I quickly took it from her and ran to the occamy's large head, which was still trying to chase Leta around the hall.
"Hey, who locked this door?" I heard a voice from the dining hall doors. The professors were trying to get in but the occamy's large body was blocking it. I had to act quick.
"Hey!" I got the large creature's attention and raised the cockroach so he could see. It stopped moving immediately and focused on the bug.
I dropped it straight in the teacup. The occamy chased and it shrunk as it dived into the teacup after the bug. When it was all in the cup, I clamped the lid over it.
The teachers burst into the room, wands out. Eve was subdued by one of them, she roared as her magical restraints kept her from moving.
Leta was taken and professor Dumbledore ran to me.
"Are you ok?" He asked, checking me.
"Y-yes." I was still shocked from the whole ordeal.
"Alright, we'll take you to the nurse's and you can tell us what happened after some rest, ok?" the professor smiled comfortingly, and I nodded, letting him lead me away.
Aftermath
I blinked as sunlight shot from the window across from me and directly into my eyeballs. I covered my eyes with my arm and groaned.
"Awake already?" I heard the nurse ask me. She pulled the curtain around my bed open and I could see I was in the hospital wing.
"I thought you'd sleep for another day, you were pretty worn out, but it's better that you woke up now."
"Why is that?" The nurse bit her lip. "Your friend Newt took the blame for the whole incident. He said he accidentally let the occamy free and that you and Leta were just trying to help contain it." My jaw dropped. He should've told them it was Leta in the first place!
"Where is he?" I sat up, ignoring my spinning head.
"He's been expelled. He is probably preparing to leave at this moment." I leaped out of my bed. I suddenly heard a small squeak below me.
"Your bowtruckle has been looking after you." The nurse pulled my suitcase from under the bed as Pickett sat on it. He leaped onto my shoulder and tangled himself in my hair. I thanked the nurse before hurrying out to see if I could catch Newt.
I stormed into the Hufflepuff common room and looked around for my friend.
"Eve?" I saw Jerry Thomas standing outside the common room door. I ran over and tackled him in a hug. "I-I thought you were still at the hospital wing." He wrapped his arms around me. "I need to find Newt. Do you know where he is?" I gripped his shoulders and looked him in the eye. "He was expelled. He must be leaving right now. You can still catch him!" I nodded and darted out, running straight for the entrance of the school.
I got there and saw that no one was there. I assumed the worst and thought that he'd already left, I felt tears in my eyes threatening to fall.
"Eve?" I turned and saw Newt standing with a cart of all his things with Professor Dumbledore next to him. I let out a sigh of pure relief and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back before letting go, his mouth open and ready to ask me questions about what had happened yesterday, but hesitated with Professor Dumbledore there. He took the hint and walked off, talking about caramel lollipops that he'd forgotten in his office.
"You're...an animagus?" I nodded. He still seemed confused so I explained.
"Um...my previous...caretaker," Newt immediately looked angry at the mention of him, "said I wasn't worth nearly as much as the creatures he owned, so he made me become one of them. Except he did something wrong, so whenever I get too emotional it also makes me turn." His jaw tightened and he sighed.
"I'm sorry I did this, I didn't want you or Leta to be blamed on." He looked down at the ground.
"But it was Leta's fault in the first place!" I exasperated, my emotions getting the best of me as I felt the tears start to come.
"You know if I blamed Leta she would've dragged you down with her." He said sadly.
I clenched my fists. "So you're just leaving me then?"
I felt his arms wrap around me in a hug and his lips met my forehead. "You'll be ok, Eve. I'll write to you too. I won't leave you." He slowly let go and stepped back. My arms fell to my sides and I gripped the handle of my suitcase. I heard Pickett whimpering on my shoulder and glanced at him, he had tears in his small eyes. I looked up to seeProfessor Dumbledore appear from nowhere and lead Newt out of the double doors. Before I could stop myself, shouted "STOP!" They both turned and I ran to them.
"Newt," I pursed my lips. "I want you to have this." I held out my case for him. His eyes widened and his mouth opened to protest but I shoved it in his arms. "I know how passionate you are about these creatures, and you can take so much better care of them than I do. Please look after them well." He stared at it as if it were made of gold and nodded slowly.
I felt Pickett tug my hair and looked at him, he was pointing at Newt. I understood what he wanted and carried him to Newt. "I think Pickett also wants to go with you." Pickett excitedly clambered onto his shoulder and planted himself there.
"Eve, this is all you have." Newt protested. I quickly shut him up. "I'll be fine, Newt. Now please just go pursue your passion." I motioned to the case. His eyes hardened determinedly. "I will." And with that, he said his goodbye and I said mine, and he turned and left with Professor Dumbledore.
The double doors slammed shut and the hall was quiet.
The tears were finally freed and fell from my eyes and I covered my mouth to hide my sobs.