"So I took his wand and ran off to find you all," Tegwen said looking over at Newt as her glorious story came to an end. Newt's eyes were wide as she finished telling him about the raining refrigerators, the muggle boy named Paulie and Freudrick "gently" beating the hell out of an Auror.

"I can definitely see why he was upset about that now," Newt told her. " It's a pretty bad day when you get a beating from a plant."

"A gentle beating," she corrected him.

"Ah, right, a gentle beating," he smiled. "Musn't forget the gentle part."

"Exactly," Tegwen nodded her head. "Now, I've told you about my adventures in Chaosland, so you have to tell me why you call me Twiggy."

Newt suddenly looked uncomfortable as she turned her body to face him. He shifted about in his seat, turning to look away from her. He wasn't sure how to explain it without it sounding like he had stalked her during their time at Hogwarts. He was certain that it wasn't the way to flatter a woman. 

He cleared his throat. "You used to spend a lot of time near the Forbidden Forest when we were in school....did you ever venture inside?" He asked her.

Tegwen seemed caught off guard by the question, not really seeing the relevance to the story but decided to answer anyway.

"No," she said with an embarrassed look on her face. "I'm afraid I could have used some of that bravery from Gryffindor because I could never bring myself to go inside. I always grew too scared at the last minute and backed out of it. I never was one for breaking the rules, I think that's the only reason why I made prefect."

"I don't think that's the only reason," Newt told her. "Why were you interested in going into the Forbidden Forest in the first place?"

"You're really putting me on the spot, aren't you? What does this have to do with calling me Twiggy?"

" Just answer the question," He chuckled.

She let out a sigh. " I heard that there were black roses that grew inside the Forbidden Forest, that they didn't need any light to grow. I thought it was rather fascinating and since we never went over them in Herbology, I wanted to see them for myself. Of course, I could never bring myself to actually enter the Forbidden Forest far enough to see them."

"That because they grew in the center," Newt informed her. "In the darkest part of the forest."

"Oh," she said. "Well, I did try one day to try to go a little further into the forest. But I ended up tripping and falling into a massive bush. I ended up getting stuck for quite some time. Luckily, no one was around to witness it. That would have been embarrassing, more embarrassing than me confessing all of this right now. "

She made a huffing noise. "Why do you call me Twiggy?!"

"I think on the day that you fell in the bush, you had Herbology class afterward, didn't you? It was in fourth year," Newt said looking over at her briefly.

Tegwen's eyes grew wide. "How did you...we shared that class, yes I remember, but how-"

"You ended up taking some of that bush with you to class," Newt informed her. " I walked into class and...well..you had all these twigs and leaves in your hair-"

"Oh Merlin," Tegwen let out a pitiful squeak as she hid her face into her scarf. 

"You had this one twig that just stood right up on the top of your head, like a tribal hair piece of some sort and you kept it there all class."

Tegwen lowered the scarf from her face and gave him a look. "All class! And you didn't think to tell me? I bet I walked around all day with it and...you didn't tell me!" She whacked his arm.

Newt began laughing. "No, I didn't tell you, but it was for good reason."

"What good reason? For everyone to laugh at me behind my back?"

Newt's smile faded from his face instantly. "No, those weren't my intentions at all. I just...I found it rather cute."

"Cute?" She repeated, looking bewildered at his choice of words.

"Yes," Newt said looking down at his shoes. "And I thought the longer that it stayed in your hair, the longer I had to ask you how you managed to get it all in your hair. But I wasn't able to work up..the nerve to do so. Besides, it all fell out of your hair during class, so no one else in the castle saw it."

"I-," Tegwen bit the inside of her cheek, suddenly at a complete lost for words that lasted for a few moments. "Wh...What did you mean by work up the nerve? You were nervous to talk to me?"

The woman was in shock, finding it quite hard to believe that anyone would be nervous to talk to her, especially in her younger years. The fact that the boy who grew up to be the man that handled all sorts of dangerous creatures had been nervous to talk to her was completely mind-blowing.

"I thought about talking to you a couple of times, I was always wondering what you were doing hanging around the outskirts of the forest. And I always wanted to know the song you were humming in the halls. It got caught in my head on more occasions than I like to admit."

Tegwen couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. "Well, you learned about both, didn't you? You learned the song and the reason why I spent so much time near the forest but not in it."

"Yes, just years and years later."

"Better late than never?"

"I suppose," Newt said. "But that doesn't apply to the delay in my apology to you. Too much time past where I should have taken the time to tell you I was sorry."

"You already said you were sorry, Newt. Once is enough as long as you mean it."

"It may be enough for you, but it isn't for me," he confessed. " I thought you would hate me for completely different reasons than what you told me. After all, I'm the one that pulled the sheet-"

"That was by accident, I knew that back when it happened," Tegwen said. "I knew that it wasn't your fault. I was just...just so angry about Leta getting away with everything."

"I didn't know she was going to do those awful things, Tegwen, if I did, I would have never taken the blame. I was just-"

"Protecting her, I know," Tegwen said. "You're a protector, Newt, I realized that when I saw all the creatures that you take care of. It's in your nature to protect those you care about. Obviously, Leta was your friend and you wanted to protect her...I didn't agree with it, but I realize that it's a big part of you. Perhaps...perhaps she still is and you-"

"No!" He said sternly causing her to fall silent.

 "It's not like that anymore," he continued on. "Queenie said something back when we were in the city, inside the shed...before you came in."

"Hogwash?" Tegwen said bringing a small smile to his features.

"Besides that. She said Leta was a taker and she was right. I thought Leta was my friend back in school because we had so much in common. Looking back now, I realized she prevented me from starting up any other friendships because she kept telling me how different we were, that people wouldn't understand."

"I don't think that was the case, Newt. I think plenty of people want to be friends with you because you were different," Tegwen replied quietly. "Being different isn't a bad thing."

"I understand that now, but Leta was my first friend, so I listened to her, but Queenie was right...she was just a taker and all I did was give...and I didn't get anything in return..except trouble and for you to hate me."

"It wasn't hate," Tegwen told him. " I didn't hate you...I hate her, but I was just angry with you.  If I hated you like I hated her, we wouldn't be talking like we are now."

"That's reassuring," he chuckled.

"Don't make me drop a refrigerator on you, Newt," she laughed. "We're making progress."

She gave his leg a pat before the two became distracted by Pickett using her hair to climb across and settle down on Newt's shoulder.

"Is Freud getting rather fussy?" She asked Pickett. "I think he needs some watering."

The woman rose and left the two carrying her bag with Freud.

Pickett clicked in his ear bringing Newt to look at him. "I'm working on it, Pickett!"

During the evening, Tegwen had fallen asleep early, still recovering from the lack of sleep during the adventure, while Pickett rested against her, enjoying her warmth. Newt was at the back of the boat with his suitcase at his feet. He held something in his hand as he leaned against the railing, looking over at the cold water.

In his hands was the photo he held of Leta, her picture smiling back at him, but Newt wore no smile on his face.

'I thought you were my friend, but all you did was use me. You just hurt people and here all this time I spent thinking about you, it was just a waste. You weren't a friend at all."

He dropped the frame from his hands and let it fall into the water without a second glance as he turned away and picked up his suitcase, heading to bed.