Tear-stained Face
Chapter 7
Newt then heads up to check in on Jacob who was still awake. He beckons the man down into the suitcase to show him the animals.
“So…” Jacob starts awkwardly. “The child…”
“What about them?” Newt eyes Jacob warily as he feeds the Nifflers.
“They’re jumpy,” Jacob blurts, face flushing. “And hesitant.”
“So?” Newt raised an eyebrow at the man.
“Just… wanted to make sure that they were alright…” Jacob mumbles with a shrug.
“Eli is my ward. Adopted. Came from a bad place,” Newt replies curtly.
“Oh,” Jacob averts his eyes but dares to ask one more question. “Is living in a suitcase really the best plan for raising a child?”
“I believe that is none of your business,” Newt replies coldly.
“You’re right,” Jacob nods. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Why don’t you feed the Nifflers,” Newt suggests, passing some feed to Jacob. “I’ll catch up with you in a few moments.
Jacob nods and heads off while Newt shoves his hands into his pockets with a sigh.
He had asked the same question to himself many times. Was he really giving Eli a good childhood? Constantly moving around, no stability, around dangerous creatures… But he couldn’t bear to part with them.
He found them, alone and shivering in a basement cellar because they had magically fixed a hole in their dress. They had the magical creature that Newt was looking for cradled in the palm of their hand.
Newt had thought he was doing the right thing returning the child. They must have accidentally locked themselves down there, he thought. But no, he watches as the child’s guardians thank him, slamming the door in his face, and shouting starts.
Newt apparates into the cellar later to see the same child, this time with a dirty tear-stained face and purple bruising up and down their arms, peeking out from behind their dress sleeves.
He sits on the floor of the cellar, offering her bits of fruit he had as he talked to her. She was scared, hesitant to talk. Newt startles when their eyes flash white and their body distorts. She cries in fear, shrinking away from him.
Newt knew exactly then that he needed to save that child. An obscurus in the making. She was at her tipping point and would undoubtedly explode, destroying the town and killing people before finally, ultimately killing herself.
Newt uses a confundus on the guardians, confusing them until he obliviates any sign of her ever existing. He offers her a safe place, a warm bed, and plenty of food.
She’s timid and scared of anything magical. Newt has to rent a room at an inn for a few nights while he explains that she’s not bad, magic isn’t bad, and that she’ll be alright. It takes four days for her to go into the suitcase and eight to even get near another magical creature.
Six months later and she felt comfortable enough to be around Newt while he did magic. She watched, but never attempted with him.
He caught her mimicking him without a wand one night while she was tucked up in her hammock. She had summoned a book to her. She had frozen in fear when she saw him but applauded her, praising her and telling her how wonderful she was.
Elizabeth refused to get a wand. Newt tried to take her to a wand-maker but Elizabeth panicked when she held her first wand and something exploded. Instead, Newt taught her wandless magic. It was hard and usually not taught to wizards under the age of sixteen.
Elizabeth got the hang of it at twelve. She could do basic spells and read Newt’s old schoolbooks from his time at Hogwarts. She easily picked up the Latin language and her favorite thing to do became carving runes, especially defensive and protective ones.
Runes were important to her. They gave her a sense of safety. Newt gifted her a bottomless pouch that she could put her completed runes in. She carried the soft yellow pouch on her belt loop. She had runes that erected shields, put people to sleep, unlocked doors, warded rooms, and many more. She would give a specific one to Newt whenever he had to leave for long periods of time.
Most of the time, it was to easily erect a shield. He would throw it against a wall or floor and a bubble shield would surround him.
He didn’t tell Elizabeth her rune saved him from death once.
Despite how comfortable she became with magic, that type of trauma she experienced doesn’t go away. Elizabeth will startle easily, throw tantrums at unexpected shifts in her schedule, and sometimes simply stare at a wall with a blank face.
At extreme emotions, her eyes can turn white and her figure will distort. One time, she scared Newt when black smoke trailed from her mouth and fingers.
Newt bought many books that he keeps in a small trunk he hides under a table. He found magical child-rearing books along with books about abuse, anger management, emotional attachment disorders, and PTSD in children.
Newt tried his best, but even the best make mistakes.
Elizabeth staying with Newt may not be the best thing for her, but Newt loved her and he couldn’t bear to give her up. And without a kernel of doubt, Newt knew that Elizabeth loved him too.
He only hoped that Tina would not turn him in to the authorities and take Elizabeth away. He had nowhere to send her but to his brother Theseus who doesn’t even know she exists. He supposed he could send her to Albus Dumbledore but he was unsure if the man would be able to look after her with his job.
Newt made a promise to protect, love, and cherish this broken child until he could no longer. He did not plan on breaking that promise.
