______ followed Newt in, gasping as soon as she laid eyes upon what was beyond the door.

There were all sorts of creatures just in her view right now. There were two creatures (who kind of looked like large beetles) pushing things around, something flying past her head, and a little out of her point of view, she thought she saw a nest of some sort. Even though she was only seeing what was possibly the smallest portion of the case, her eyes widened, trying to soak it all in like she would never see it again. In a small portion, she thought she might not. Why was she being shown all this? Was she allowed to see all this? Largely, what was happening? It was like it all happened so fast that she had no idea where she was or what was happening.

All she knew is that it made her happy.

Newt looked over at ______ and smiled. She seemed so interested in everything, looking all around her like she was running out of time. Like she had to take it all in, right then, right there. "It's not going anywhere," he found himself saying without thinking about it.

"What?" ______ asked, turning and looking at Newt.

"Oh, uh..." Newt trailed off, not really knowing why he said anything at all. He let his eyes fall down from hers, though subconsciously he wanted to keep looking into them, and looked at her lips again. "You just seemed to be very invested in staring at everything. Don't hurt yourself staring too hard," he tried to joke lightly.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," ______ told him. "I've just... I've never seen anything like this. Wow, just wow."

"Ah, well, you certainly act better than some Muggles to do magic."

"Muggles?"

"Muggles," Newt began to explain. "Non-wizards. That's what we call them, at least in Britain."

"Oh," ______ said. She turned away from Newt and back to the scenery before her. She couldn't help but notice what looked like an empty dessert habitat. It was set up so nicely, as if it expecting something, or like something had been there before. "I hope you don't mind my asking," she began. "But what's that empty habitat for?"

Newt followed where her eyes led to and saw where Frank, his Thunderbird, once was. "That was for a very special beast," he told her, looking at the habitat with a small, slightly sad, smile forming on his face. "He was the reason I came here, to America. I was setting him free, back to Arizona where he belonged. I found him chained up in another country."

______ looked at Newt, recognizing the look on his face. "Do you miss him?" she asked suddenly.

"Of course I miss him," Newt said after a moment, answering it like it was the easiest question on the Earth. To him, it was. He held all of his beasts close to him, and if even one disappeared, he would be devastated. He knew he had to release Frank eventually, and he knew he would be happier, so it helped him be at ease a little more about him leaving. If he lost anyone else though, one that might not be able to take care of itself, or one that might be in danger, he wouldn't dream of ever releasing them. That's why he couldn't leave ______. Pickett seemed very attached to her. He couldn't just leave the Bowtruckle with her and be on his merry way. It had nothing to do with ______, and everything to do with Pickett. He feared for him. If Pickett were to ever get lost, get separated from ______, or get stolen, he could get involved in some kind of illegal beast trade. It wasn't uncommon, and Bowtruckles were popular for their ability to pick locks. No way would he ever risk that, not for Pickett. Pickett was his secret favorite. So he had to stay with ______, for Pickett. Just until he could get him off of her.

Why was he so attached to her anyways?

Newt snapped out of his thoughts and back into his situation. "He's a lot happier now though, I know he is. He's free, and he's where he's meant to be."

The pause Newt took didn't worry ______. She had been watching his face the entire time. It wasn't a sad silence, and though he showed traces of sadness, he wasn't too sad about losing the beast. His pause seemed to have a more thoughtful reason behind it, and she thought that maybe Newt didn't know that he had been smiling. What had he been thinking about? "It's sweet you think all that," ______ spoke, not realizing she was saying what she was thinking out loud.

Newt looked at her, making eye contact for a moment before looking down to her lips again. "You think so?" He asked, unaware of the faintest hint of a blush rushing to his cheeks. To be fair, ______ didn't notice either, and she was staring right at him.

"I do," she continued. "You put them before yourself, whether that be releasing them so they can live a happier life, or not even getting upset when they claw up your arm," she nodded towards the bandaged arm. "Those are just the things I've noticed, I'm sure you do loads more."

"Well, I do it for them. Did you know in the wizarding world, people actually think these beasts should be exterminated?" He asked her, almost like he was about to go into a rant. "For example, they think that they're should be some kind of guide of how to get rid of Bowtruckles to get easier wand wood. Killing them for wands! There was someone I met, who as soon as I told her I was writing a book on these fantastic beasts, assumed it was going to be an extermination guide! We should be helping these creatures, not killing them."

______ couldn't help but smile. "Sorry," she apologized before Newt could even realize what she was apologizing for. "I'm not smiling at extermination. I'm smiling at your passion. It just adds to my point further, you're very sweet."

Newt chuckled slightly and turned away from her, the blush deepening only slightly, still unbeknownst to him, but ______ thought she might have seen some color go to his face. "Anyways," he began. "We should probably feed these guys."

______ followed Newt around his grand suitcase, helping distribute food and marveling at everything that was inside the case. Her favorites included helping bottle-feed one beast and throwing some kind of floating food to some more. Newt let her help with everything, he loved telling her about all the beasts he was showing her, and she loved listening to him. He spoke with some passion, and he'd get into small rants sometimes, and she'd just stand there, watching him with a smile on her face. It was so interesting to her, she wanted to know more with everything he said. It made feeding crawl by slower than either of them expected, and the final place they went was near a Bowtruckle tree.

Newt stopped in front of the tree, turning to ______. "This is where the rest of them are," he told her. "On top of Pickett, there's Titus, Finn, Jeremy, Marlow and Tom. This is the branch of Bowtruckles, that's what you call them when they're in groups." Newt continued to educate her.

______ lifted up her arm and looked down her sleeve again, where she last saw Pickett. Not seeing him, she felt around her jacket for a moment before finding he had resigned into hiding in her inside pocket. She carefully took him out, and he was standing on her hand. "You don't want to go back to the others?" She asked him.

"He's been that way ever since he had a cold," Newt told her. "He needed some body heat, so I carried him around, but now he won't go back on the tree. He thinks the others are going to bully him."

"Poor little guy," ______ said, watching as Pickett crawled up her arm and resigned himself back into her pocket.

"He really doesn't seem to want to leave you," Newt began, looking at her. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't just leave him here with you. That's nothing against you, of course, but I'm just worried for him." Newt thought what he was going to say next very carefully. What he said next was going to determine how everything was going to play out, and it was very important.

"So, erm," he began, taking one moment longer as he had her attention. "I was wondering if I could... stay with you for a while. Under the circumstances, I can't just leave Pickett. He's a troublemaker. Just until I can get him off of you without being attacked, a week at the most. I promise. Then I'll be out of your hair."

______ thought for a moment, and the hesitation slightly frightened Newt. After a moment that felt like an eternity, she began to slowly nod. "I understand. I wouldn't want to see you get separated from any of these guys, especially after seeing how much you care about all of them."

"Thank you!" Newt cried out, his voice earlier than it had been before and slightly scaring ______. "Oh, sorry," Newt said after seeing her reaction. "I was just worried you'd kick me out or something."

"Why would I do that?" ______ asked him. Newt only shrugged. She continued. "Well, as long as you're staying her, I suppose you can use my spare bedroom. Follow me," she told him, but then realizing they were still in the case and she hadn't quite learned her way around yet, stopped him her tracks.

Newt chuckled. "I'll show us out of here, then you can show me to that room."

"Right," she said, blushing as slight as he did before. She followed Newt as they returned to the room they had first started in, and followed as they went up the wooden ladder.

As soon as they were out, Newt turned and locked the case, picking it up. ______ couldn't help but look at the case in wonder for a moment. "It's amazing how an entire... existence can fit into one case. Entire lives."

Newt looked down at his case, shrugging and looking back at her. "Just a simple expansion charm," he brushed it off.

"Maybe to you, but not to me," she told him. "Maybe it's a Muggle thing."

"There's a lot of Muggle things that don't make sense to some wizards too," Newt told her. "There's an entire department where I work trying to find out what Muggle culture is like."

"Seriously?" ______ laughed. "I never thought we would be so complex. Wait, so you work at a magical workplace? There's such a thing?"

"Yes, the Ministry of Magic. They handle the wizard community in England. There's an American equivalent too."

"Wow," ______ said, amazed. "Just wow." After being in her own head for a second, picturing wizard culture, she shook her head out of the clouds and went back to what they were doing. "Anyways, follow me. This way."

She led him into a spare bedroom, directly across from her bedroom. Opening the door, she walked in, followed by Newt. The bedroom consisted only of a small bedside table and a twin bed, neat, like no one had ever been in there. Like no one ever visited. "I know it's not much," she began. "But it's what I have. The bed isn't too bad, and you can put your stuff on the bedside table. Bathroom's down the hall, on your left."

Newt set his suitcase down, turning towards ______. "Thank you," he told her. "Sorry for the inconvenience, I promise I'll find out a way to get Pickett out of your hair."

"It's fine," she reassured her. "This has all been so interesting. Just, don't try to rush anything."

Newt paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, what was that last part?"

"Oh!" ______ exclaimed, realizing how the last part must have sounded. She blushed only slightly, but Newt noticed it anyways. He lost eye contact with her again and looked back to her lips. She continued. "I mean, don't try to rush a solution for Pickett. I don't want you getting hurt again."

"Ah, right," he said. Neither of them noticed it, but there was a small hint of disappointment in Newt's voice. He didn't know he put it there, and even if he did, he wouldn't be entirely sure why. Was he expecting something else? If so, what?

Maybe he secretly wanted to hear a different reason.

Something along the lines of "Well, I enjoy your presence, Mister Scamander."