(A/N : This is a relatively long chapter and there's drama in it, so please...brace yourselves. Thank you and good day)
"She's pregnant?"
Tina couldn't believe her ears. Her younger sister was pregnant with a baby? This was huge news. And Tina couldn't believe that she was the first person to receive the news.
"Yes" the Healer informed, "However, she's both infected with food poisoning and being pregnant with a baby, so she'd need some extra care. Don't worry, we're conducting a few tests and giving her some medications. She'll be good to go home by the end of this day".
The Healer left to take care of Queenie. Tina looked at Newt, completely bewildered.
"How--? What--?" she was speechless.
"You're going to become an aunt!" Newt exclaimed, enveloping her into a bear hug, "Oh Tina, I'm so proud of you!"
"How are we going to tell Jacob?" Tina said, "I mean, he's pretty excited about the bakery. He's now going to be burdened with the responsibility!"
"How about--" Newt painted a picture, using words, "--a nice dinner? We'll invite everyone to it and break out the good news. Jacob will be thrilled, I'm sure".
"And we break out the good wine" Tina added, knowingly, "I'm pretty sure there's going to be tears".
The Healer emerged from the hospital room, "You can meet your sister now"- he informed Tina and left to test some samples.
"Congratulations, Queenie!" Tina couldn't stop hugging her sister, "You're going to be a mom! How amazing is that?"
"Yeah" Queenie coughed, "Pretty amazing"- she sniffed - "How are we going to tell Jacob? He was pretty excited about the new bakery. He'd hate to see that he'd have to take care of me and not going through with his plans. And what about me? I'm gonna need severe mental care to become a mom! I'm just not ready yet!".
"I'm sure Jacob will be so happy" Newt smiled, "Y'know, this is quite similar to the time when one of my Occamies hatched. It was a delightful moment. Once you hold the little one in your hands, you forget about everything. But the whole time, leading up to that moment seems like a neverending loop".
"Newt" Tina gave him a disgruntled look, "With all due respect to your Occamy hatch, this isn't the same" - she turned to her sister - "But Newt has a point. The whole time is going to be hard, but the results will be splendid. You're going to be an awesome mom, Queenie. No other kid will be loved more".
"Aww, thanks Teen" Queenie sighed, knowing that she can count for emotional support,"These nine months will be very hard, but I'm going to enjoy every single moment".
"Alright!" Tina clapped her hands, "How does a good dinner sound? We can invite family and friends and break out the good news. And. . . to spice things up, a nice bottle of wine and some butterbeer to go around".
"That sounds lovely" Queenie agreed, "I just can't wait!"
"I love you Queenie" Tina hugged her sister.
"I love you too" Queenie returned the hug back.
"And I love you two!" Newt pulled in both the sisters for a threesome hug, "We're so proud of you, Queenie!"
"Mm" Theseus looked at the letter.
"What happened?" Anna asked, "Something new?"
"Well" Theseus folded the letter, "My friend, Queenie is pregnant and we're invited to a nice dinner in their house. My brother invited me and told me that I could get some friends from work to accompany me too".
"That sounds wonderful" Anna couldn't wait to meet Newt, for she had already decided that Theseus was going to take her, "Who are you going to take?"
"Well, I don't know" Theseus said, "I'm not close with anyone here, except the Minister. Perhaps I can take you, if you're free? And I can introduce you to the family"
"Oh I'd be honored. Thank you" Anna smiled.
"And I was wondering if Dakota could come as well" Theseus said, "It'd get us a chance to know each other better. I'm severely lacking friends, ha".
"Are you kidding? Dakota's the party girl!" Anna said, grinning widely, "She'd be happy to come! I'll check her schedule if she's doing gigs tonight. If not, she'd be very happy to come! Anyways, what's the attire?"
"Casual and dressy, I guess? I don't know a lot about attires" Theseus shrugged, "I'm looking forward to the food more than ever".
The party was huge, the least to say. Everyone were invited. Albus Dumbledore and Credence showed up. Of course, Credence was told to disguise himself and pose as Albus's protege under a new name - Atlas Hogwood, due to privacy reasons and the fact that he was a "felon".
Jacob was also invited, but he didn't know that his wife was pregnant. He was told that this was a nice party to celebrate a new beginning and a life of freedom and happiness. This was one of those rare moments when people could actually keep a secret, because nobody uttered a word to Jacob about Queenie's pregnancy.
Dakota and Anna were introduced as Theseus's work friends. Dakota wore the same attire, she usually wears - a leather jacket, a white shirt, leather pants and boots. She wasn't a "party girl" as coined by Anna. She was more of that "one person who never talks and stays for the wine and food".
Dakota went to get some more wine in her glass when Theseus joined her for the same. Both of them drained half the bottle and stuffed their faces with those saltine crackers kept alongside.
"Nice party, Scamander" Dakota said, "Beats today's gig in the wizard pub, where we get a handful of Galleons".
"Thanks" Theseus said, "I mean, it wasn't all me. My brother and all of our friends helped too. Plus, I'd love to take credit for the wine. I mean, Tina was quite confused before, but not anymore when she asked me for my wine recommendations".
"Wow" Dakota turned to him, "You are so humble for a small-minded person, who's without a frontal lobe in their brain".
Dakota grinned when she saw Theseus quite speechless. She turned away from him to get some more food.
Meanwhile the other Fernsby sister was quite involved in the conversation than trying to run away from one. Anna was so into Newt that anyone could point out that she had a huge schoolgirl crush on him.
"Perhaps you can show me around your menagerie. I absolutely loved your book" Anna smiled.
"Oh thank you" Newt said, "It's wonderful having fans like this" - Newt was oblivious to the fact to the tone of Anna's voice.
"So, Newt, are you courting someone?" Anna asked, "I mean, you're a celebrity! It would be a crisis if a person like you hadn't found someone special already".
"Oh, in fact, I am" Newt said, "Her name is Tina and she's a splendid Auror and a wonderful person. She's been honored for her work and she's one of the Aurors to capture Grindelwald in New York and in Rio. Plus, she's wonderful with wizardry. I mean, to think of it, she has mastered every complex spell in the book, ever! And also, she's strikingly pretty and overall, she's such a caring person, a giver, if you will".
"That's wonderful" Anna could feel her insides light up. Who was this Tina? She took another sip of her drink.
"Yeah, she's wonderful" Newt said, "I could talk about her all day. But you just can't let her in the kitchen. You should've seen when she tried to bake a cake. I was happy that she didn't completely burn the house".
"I, for one, am an excellent cook" Anna bragged, "I mean, why didn't you call me for help? I had an amazing meatloaf recipe that you'd have liked to be an addition in today's dinner".
"That's great" Newt said, "You should talk to Jacob. He's always struggling with meatloaf often".
"Anyways. . " Anna decided this was going to be a bit of work.
"You are Theseus's coworker? How is he handling it?" Newt asked, "I just want to make sure that he's in a comfortable workspace after everything that happened. He lost his wife and he broke up with his girlfriend. Things are really bad for him in the relationship sphere".
"Oh we're doing fine. When he gets to work, he's a great person. Plus, I'm naturally friendly and I always make sure that he is okay before work starts" Anna said, "And I have a lot of free time to spare, so he can talk to me as a friend".
"That's great. I'm happy Theseus has a good friend like you, Miss Fernsby" Newt said.
"Oh, please, call me Anna" Anna smiled, "I have a lot of expertise with the whole "relationship" domain. Take a look at my sister, Dakota. She's a bundle of emotions and everyday, I comfort her, telling her that I'm there for her".
"Wonderful" Newt said, "It's hard to find caring people during these times. I'm very happy that you're able to connect with my brother. He wouldn't talk to any of us, but I'm glad he confided in you".
"It's dance time!" Tina cried out, "We usually top off every bash with a good old fashioned dance! Plus, dinner will be served a bit later than usual, so there's that".
"Play Frank Sinatra!" Credence sent a request.
"We're doing popular ones, Cre-- I mean, Atlas" Queenie stepped in, "So no jazzy stuff".
"Excuse me?" Credence piped up, but Albus shut him down with a, "Come on Atlas. Let's help with the dinner".
"How about Paper Doll by the Mills Brothers? It's a slow-dancing song and quite sappy, but it's a wonderful one. Jacob and I danced together to this song in our wedding" Queenie said. She pulled out the vinyl and played the song.
"Tina?" Newt asked, "Would you like to dance?"
"I'm sorry, Newt" Tina said, "I'm needed at the kitchen. Credence and Albus are helping me with the desserts. Maybe later?"
"Okay" Newt felt bummed out. Tina planted a kiss on his cheek, just for good measure and retreated back to the kitchen.
"Pick your partners and let's get this dance started!" Queenie yelled. She twirled to the music, her hands on Jacob's shoulder. She felt this urge to spill out the secret, but she just had to wait for a bit.
"Dakota?" Theseus asked, "Would you like to ---?"
"Dancing is for sappy people" Dakota answered, "I mean, I understand the situation, but this kinda sucks"
"Yes it sucks" Theseus nodded, agreeing with her, "Sappy people-- quite dramatic and slow"
Dakota rolled her eyes, "Are you always this flustered around people? Or is it just me?"
"Umm" Theseus scratched his head.
"Come on" she grinned, "Let's get some more wine. I think we're going to need a lot of it to get through the night".
"Newt!" Anna called out, "It's such a pity that Tina had to leave to the kitchen".
"Yeah" Newt said, "It's been a while since I've danced".
"Would you like to dance?" Anna asked, "It's a beautiful night for dancing!"
"Oh, I'm flattered but--"
"Come on Newt!" Queenie yelled from across the floor, "Live a little! It's such a great time for dancing!"
"Oh okay" Newt agreed. He accompanied Anna to the dance floor and they swayed to the music. It was relatively slow and steady, but Newt danced anyway. All he did was move his feet forwards and backwards and occasionally had to twirl Anna.
The song eventually ended. Everyone broke into a thunderous applause. Dakota and Theseus emptied their drinks to applaud.
"Jacob, honey, I have something to say--" Queenie began, but she was cut off by Anna.
"This has been a great party" Anna said, "But I'm so flattered and honored to have danced with the famous Newt Scamander!"
"Here it comes" Dakota warned Theseus, "We'll need more wine, Theseus".
"What, why?" Theseus completely ignored the fact that Dakota called him by his first name.
"And I'm so much infatuated with Newt! I know it's quite cliched to proclaim your love for someone you've just met, but, as they say, life's too short!" Anna said. Next to her, Newt was bewildered. He didn't realize that he was caught onto something off guard.
And Anna pressed a gentle kiss onto Newt's lips, which turned into a full thirty second kiss. Newt couldn't escape, nor could he push her away. It would be too inappropriate.
Things turned into a hurricane when Tina emerged with a platter of desserts. "Hey everyone, here's --" and abruptly dropped the whole thing when she saw Newt and Anna kissing.
"We worked so hard on this" Credence muttered to Dumbledore, pointing at the destroyed treats.
"Newt?" Tina didn't scream, nor did she throw a tantrum. She felt disappointed and crushed.
"Tina--" Newt gasped for air, "I can explain".
"You've explained everything, Mr Scamander" Tina said. She turned to the others, "I need to go to the shop to fetch some festoons, because boy, this party needs some more spice"- she glared at Newt and Anna- " I won't be long". With that, Tina left the apartment.
Theseus and Dakota sipped their wines simultaneously. Dakota was far more embarrassed than her sister. She knew that Anna would do this multiple times to try people to date her, especially if she had a crush so uncontrollable to handle. She lowered her head, feeling the whole blame placed upon her.
"I'm sorry" she muttered to Theseus, "My sister--"
"Dakota, it's not your fault" Theseus assured her.
"It is" Dakota said, "I haven't stopped her from doing this. I just let it happen. I knew this was coming and I didn't stop it".
"Dakota--"
"I'm sorry I let you down, Scamander" Dakota said, "This won't happen again, I promise".
"This isn't your fault"
"I'm sorry, I can't stay any longer. See you at work, Scamander" Dakota placed her glass and rushed out of the party faster than lightning.
"I guess this isn't a good time, but--"Queenie began, "But I'm pregnant, Jacob!"
A/N : Hey! This is a new milestone because I just uploaded two days in a row! *opens a butterbeer bottle* Let's paar-taay!
Just kidding. I told you guys that Anna was upto no good. I actually didn't tell you that, but Anna has OLD or Obsessive Love Disorder. Yes, it's a thing, go look it up. it causes a person to be extremely infatuated with someone and things get ugly in the process.
Plus, Alma, the chapter title, is a name of a child and it usually means "feeds one's soul" and "lift's their spirit", which makes more sense because Queenie is pregnant and she's quite happy about it.
Anyways, thank you so much for reading! This was a LOOONNNNG chapter, compared to the ones I write because the word count exceeded 2000 and well...
Stay safe y'all! Have fun and wash your hands, y'know the drill!
Thank you again for reading and have a great day!
A_Quibbler