OTA

[fantasticnewt]

Newt sat on a bench in the park across from the building that housed the small flat that the Ministry had provided for him. He held his suitcase on his lap, still wary about having it out of his sight for even a moment. This was a step for him, being out in the world at all. Since he had arrived here a few weeks ago from 1927, everything was simply too much. Too much noise, too much crowd, too much that was unrecognizable, unexplainable...

Sometimes he'd felt as if the world was not all that welcoming to him at the best of times, and now he felt like even more of an outsider. He was an alien here. And not only this, but the shock of going to the Ministry for help and discovering that everyone knew who he was. There was a portrait of him there. A first edition of his book under glass.

He watched a squirrel scurry up a tree. Once safely on a branch, it paused and looked over at him. He offered a little wave.

The latch on his suitcase popped open.

"Quiet down, Dougal," he said gently as he closed the clasp again. "I am not letting you out, not here. If you thought New York was a different world, you've no idea what you might encounter in this place."

The latch popped open again, almost violently this time, and Newt practically flattened himself against the case to make sure it stayed closed, then glanced up and around him frantically, as if afraid he might be caught doing something bad.

[OOC: for the deets on brand new newt, here!">

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[fantasticnewt]

"Um," said Newt, and the case actually rattled out of his lap and onto the ground.

Newt leapt to his feet, grabbing his wand from his coat pocket, and pointed it at the case. "Colloportus," he said sharply. The clasps closed harder, and it lay still.

[shannonteverius]

Shannon had leapt to his feet as well. Suitcases did not move on their own like that. "What did you just do?"

[fantasticnewt]

Newt regarded him calmly, though he did still have his wand out. "I locked it," he said. Then paused and added, "Well, locked it again."

[shannonteverius]

Shannon looked down at the suitcase - which, admittedly, now lay still - and then back at Newt. His gaze zeroed in on the wand. There was only one explanation Shannon could think of for someone to lock a suitcase without touching it. "You're a wizard," he said.

[fantasticnewt]

Newt looked a touch surprised, but then offering him a faint smile. "Well then," he said, and tucked his wand back into his coat, "that certainly makes things easier, if you know about wizards. I thought I might have to obliviate you. You're a muggle though, yes?"

[shannonteverius]

"Obliviate?" That was alarming. He would have to warn Felix about this new wizard, if the man could do things like 'obliviate' people on a whim - whatever that meant. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'muggle'. It sounds decidedly unattractive."

[fantasticnewt]

"Yes," said Newt. "Obliviate. Erase your memory. I would have felt badly about it, though."

He picked up the case again, and sat back down with it back on his lap, then glanced at the man. "Muggles. Non-wizards. You're English, shouldn't you know that?" It wasn't like they called them something else here, like they did in America.

[shannonteverius]

That did not do anything to ease Shannon's wariness. He was definitely going to tell Felix about this person.

Cautiously, he sat back down on the bench. "No, I am not a wizard, but I haven't heard the term 'muggle' before. The wizards I know don't use it." He couldn't imagine Felix using a word like 'muggle' in every day conversation.

"Are you going to tell me what made your suitcase...unlock in the first place?"

[fantasticnewt]

"Oh, I see," said Newt, nodding. He was aware that there were other sorts of wizards, ones that did not answer to the Ministry. He had always considered them rather an oddity. Interesting. Like magical creatures.

He glanced down at his suitcase. "Well," he said, "Dougal has been rather restless ever since we arrived here. I suppose he thinks he'll escape again."

[shannonteverius]

Conversation with this man was just one confusing thing after another. Shannon was afraid to ask, but he did it anyway. "Dougal?"

[fantasticnewt]

"Dougal is a demiguise," said Newt matter-of-factly. "He is classified as a level four X by the Ministry, but is really mostly harmless - a peaceful herbivore. Though it is also quite a nuisance if he escapes. He's hard to find." Pause. "Invisible, you see."

[shannonteverius]

"Right." No, Shannon didn't see, but he was good at hiding what he thought when he wanted to. He decided that the Ministry must be something like the Curia, but that was as far as he got with making sense of the information being thrown at him.

Time for a change of subject. "I don't think I've introduced myself," he said, holding a hand out to the wizard and hoping that wouldn't be a tragic mistake. "Shannon Teverius. And you are?"

[fantasticnewt]

Newt shifted the case awkwardly to his other hand, and reached out to shake. Briefly.

"Newt Scamander," he said politely. Then - "How do you know about wizards?"

[shannonteverius]

Who named their child Newt? Shannon thought. That was just cruel.

"My lover is a wizard," he said. "You may have heard of him. Felix Harrowgate."

[fantasticnewt]

Newt blinked at him. It was odd for a man to speak so openly of a lover who was another man. "Should I have?" he asked politely.

[shannonteverius]

"Perhaps not. You seem to run in different circles." both magically and socially. "Are you new to London?" he asked.

[fantasticnewt]

"... sort of," Newt admitted. He was new to this decade of London anyway.

He hesitated. "I - I don't really know anyone here. Wizard or not."

[shannonteverius]

This was the point in the conversation where Shannon was supposed to offer to introduce Newt to people, or do something else socially helpful, but Newt was not the type of person Shannon socialized with. On the other hand, Shannon felt that Newt, with his nonchalant attitude toward erasing people's memories, was dangerous. Felix needed to meet him.

Felix might also like a person like Newt. They were both wizards, and there were plenty of unusual words in Newt's vocabulary to perk Felix's interest in learning.

This could be a brilliant idea or a horrible mistake.

"I would be happy to introduce you to Felix. Why don't you..." Powers, what did they do with this man? "Join me for lunch? I can have Felix meet us at a nearby cafe." No way was Shannon bringing Newt home with him.

[fantasticnewt]

Newt hesitated visibly. As a general rule, he was wary of new people. And a new wizard who might be from a completely different school of magic worried him very much.

On the other hand, that was probably a reason why he should do this. He needed to learn as much as he could. It was the only way he would ever feel comfortable in this place. The only way he'd leave his flat.

"Okay," he said.

[shannonteverius]

Shannon excused himself to make the phone call. He stood a little away from the bench to give himself a semblance of privacy, but he was sure Newt would still be able to hear him. As the phone rang he wondered how he would warn Felix about the wizard in his invitation.

[harrowgate]

Felix picked up the phone quickly. "Hello, darling," he purred, warm and silky. "Did you miss me already?"

[shannonteverius]

Shannon smiled. "I was sure you'd be missing me," he said. "In fact, I have a present for you. A sort of mystery for you to solve."

[harrowgate]

Felix sounded intrigued immediately. "You give me the best presents. What sort of mystery? Is it under your trousers, by any chance?" Clearly, even if Felix was at work, he wasn't near anyone else.

[shannonteverius]

"Felix!" Shannon scolded. He wouldn't talk like that in a public park, but he smiled thinking of other surprises he could grant his lover later when they were home alone. "I'm calling to invite you to lunch," he said. "Your mystery is a new acquaintance I've acquired. From the looks of him, he's the bookish type, so I'm sure you'll get along famously, but he says the most unusual things! Have you ever heard of a muggle? And he seems to have the power to erase people's memories. Isn't that interesting?"

Perhaps the flirty chipper was a bit over the top, but Shannon figured Newt didn't know him well enough to notice. Felix on the other hand would recognize the warning. He was used to Shannon's daggers wrapped in charm. This was the same thing with different wrapping paper.

[harrowgate]

Felix understood perfectly, and he went silent for a few long moments. When he spoke, it was swift and clipped, delivering information first. "He's one of the Ministry wizards, like Remus and Sirius. That's their word for 'annemer.' Shannon..."

There was an audible catch and hardening to Felix's voice; he was no longer teasing. "Do you feel like you're in danger around this person? I'm leaving work now. I'll track your phone with mine, all right? But tell me, however you can, if you feel like you aren't safe."