Chapter Text
Newt knew something was wrong the moment all five of his children appeared in his office on Saturday morning. For once it was just the five of them, Lyall, Maddie, and Parker nowhere in sight, indicating that this was so deeply personal, that his oldests deemed it necessary for this to be a conversation between them and him. The fact that made him more worried was Tina hadn’t arrived with Ellie and the twins. No, his wife was not here and a part of him suspected that was just what his children wanted.
So Newt Scamander took his reading glasses off and watched his children settle into spots around the room. Joe stood near the windows, Ellie at his side holding a book that she kept tucked against her. Jack greeted the bowtruckles on the small tree in the corner of the room, an envelope in his hand. Ollie and Stella were the only two smiling at him as they lowered themselves into the chairs on the other side of the desk. None of this was good.
“Well, all five of my children are in one place again within two weeks of the last time. What do I owe the-”
Jack cut him off as he threw the envelope down on the desk before he stepped behind Stella’s chair, his hands resting on the back while his little sister leaned forward. Cocking his brow, Newt met his oldest son’s eyes. The hazel color they shared reflected back at him. “Open it.”
With a heavy sigh, Newt opened the manila envelope and pulled out the document hidden inside. Lifting his glasses up to sit on the bridge of his nose, he read the words before him and immediately paled. His gaze moved up, looking from one child to the next before he settled on Jack. “Where the hell did you get this?”
“Pete found it for us in the depths of the MACUSA records room.”
“And why-”
“Because we saw a photo that made us think Mom’s parentage was different than any of us thought.” Stella said, pointing between her and Ollie. The youngest of the Scamander boys nodded in agreement with his sister and Newt leaned back, something akin to anger and disbelief rising in him.
This time when he took them off, he threw the glasses on the desk with a thud. His hands scrubbed as his face before he leaned forward again. “You five do realize what the implication of this document being for-“
Ellie cut him off by slamming the book she held down on his desk. Eyeing it warily, Newt saw it was a photo album. “I found this while snooping at Pops’s. And before you tell me that I shouldn’t be snooping, I was technically looking for his copy of Lyall and I’d wedding photos in the cedar chest. He has a great one of him and I dancing at the reception and I wanted to make a copy for the apartment.” It was the boldest lie she’d ever told him to his face, especially when they both knew it was a lie. But Newt wasn’t given a moment to dwell on the lie because Ellie flipped open the album to a page she’d marked. One that seemed to be of her as a toddl- Wait, no. That wasn’t Ellie. That was Tina. He’d always known his daughter looked like Tina as she’d grown, but to truly see this with his own eyes made Newt shake his head, not quite believing what he was seeing. Looking closer, the next thing he saw made him look up at Ellie, eyes bulging out of his head.
“This is-”
“Yes.”
“Have you told your mother?”
“We want to talk to him first.” Joe spoke from where he stared down at the grounds around the school. The boy who Tina had always said looked so much like her father seemed to be glaring angrily at the world. “I think I speak for all five of us when I say we are not the ones who should tell Mom. And neither are you. This is his mess to clean up.”
“Joseph,” Ellie hissed. His daughter seemed to be the only one sympathetic to Elliot at the moment. Though at her core Ellie was her grandfathers’ girl, always tugging his father or Elliot’s hands expectantly at family events as a child. Hell, they’d been the ones who, along with his mother, had been invited to her and Lyall’s MACUSA hall wedding two years ago. So her immediate defense and desire to see the good in Elliot was understandable.
Something the other four Scamander siblings seemed to know and wish they could also sympathize, but at the moment they wanted answers. Newt did too. Which is how he found himself rising from his chair as Joe calmly stated, “We are not going to be the ones to break Mom’s heart.”
**********************************
Elliot knew his Saturday was about to get much worse when there was a heavy knock on his office door. He’d made it quite clear to his staff that he wasn’t to be disturbed unless it was an emergency as he decoded a new set of runes for Tina. His daughter had sent them to him with a note that she’d tried to keep this out of his hair, but well, he was the best and she needed the best. And Elliot Fontaine would do anything for his little girl. Anything.
So that was how he found himself letting out a rather annoyed, “What?” Only to be greeted with Newt sheepishly poking his head in. His son-in-law looked as if he’d just remembered Elliot’s comments and now wished he could leave, but it was too late, he was already marking his place in his journal, pushing his glasses up to rest in his hair. “How can I help you, Professor Scamander?”
“Well, Elliot,” Newt opened the door wider and he could see not the two Goldstein-Scamander children that currently attended Ilvermorny staring at the ground in the hallway outside his office. Instead all five of his oldest daughter’s children stood there refusing to meet his eyes as their father calmly said, “This isn’t a work call. This is a family meeting.”
His brows rose while he stood, moving toward the door to look for Tina. If all five of the kids were here that meant something was wrong and when he didn’t catch sight of her, Elliot started to ask, “Is Tina alrigh-”
“She’s fine.” Joe said harshly as he muscled his way into the office, beelining for the shelf on the back wall. The one that held all his pictures of his family. There were sketches he’d done of Addie when they’d been just out of Ilvermorny along with photos of them during their marriage as well as a few family shots with David and Estelle. Ones featuring Tina and Queenie as well as solo photos of his girls were scattered amongst them along with their husbands, Lally, and Theseus as well. Of course there was an over abundance of Ellie, the twins, Ollie, Stella, Ava, Danny, Noah, and Penny. Not just photos of his grandchildren either, he had their artwork decorating the walls of the room as well. But Elliot had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what photo Joe was looking for. It was the same one he’d suspected Ollie had broken into his office to show to Stella the week the twins and Ellie had been in High Pointe. As if on cue, Joe found his target and Elliot felt the air turn frigid as his grandson turned to look at him.
Betrayal was written on Joe’s face in hard lines. Before he could even try to explain, Jack was in front of him, shoving a manila envelope into his chest. Looking down, Elliot feared what was inside as Newt, Ellie, Ollie, and Stella stepped into the room, a silencing charm was casted around his office. This was about to be loud and explosive and Elliot didn’t think he’d have a family left after this. So risking a glance up, he looked at each one of his grandchildren and Newt, his eyes landed on his son-in-law first and then moved from youngest to oldest. Ollie and Stella both looked utterly confused and a little hurt while Jack and Joe both looked pissed and ready to let him know it. But his gaze met Ellie’s. His eyes locking on that brown she got from her mother. Well the brown she and Tina got from him. And he knew that they all knew.
So with a heavy heart, he opened the envelope and pulled out the adoption paperwork that Dave and Estelle had filed when he’d asked them to watch over Tina.
Instantly tears filled his eyes as he saw her name for the first time in years. Her birth name. The one he and Addie had picked out and stressed about for months before settling on it. She’d tied in Shakespeare to their little girl’s name and he’d used Ariadne’s legal first name as Tina’s middle name. Addie had groaned, but Elliot had just smiled, reminding her that had been the deal and he loved her name. Every single part of it. His girls were the lights of his life, the suns in which his earth orbited. He’d been so happy to become a father, so proud of Tina’s first steps, her first words, everything. Until it had all come crashing down.
The paper he now held just served as a reminder of what he lost and what he gave up to ensure his daughter would have the best chance in life. Something his friends had told him was a mistake, that Tina needed him. Only he’d been too fucking lost in his own grief to listen.
Ellie stepping forward shook him from his stupor. His eldest grandchild held out the book she held and Elliot realized it was the old photo album that he’d hidden at the bottom of the old cedar chest years ago. The same photo album that she’d found one night when she and the twins had stayed over. As if she’d been called to it. Ellie had bypassed everything else in that chest and found this in its hidden little corner. He’d never understood until then. Addie was forcing him to talk about his feelings even from beyond the grave. “I’ve told you to not go through the cedar chest, Ellie Bear.” His voice was thick with emotion as he tried to add some humor to the situation.
No one cracked a smile. Except Ellie who shrugged, that soft smile that reminded him of Addie tugging at her lips. “What can I say? I’m not one to listen to what I perceive to be dumb instructions.” The laugh he emitted was humorless. There was no point in trying to pretend he could breathe easy. Not when they were all staring at him the way they were. But again, Ellie drew his attention to her, opening that photo album to a picture he knew all too well.
They’d been waiting on David to send word that he and Estelle were ready for visitors. They’d let Jackson get to see his new granddaughter first while he and Addie took Tina outside to watch the snow fall. Ariadne had deemed it necessary to bring the camera out with them, the camera they’d spent too much money on and had been using to document Hanukkah the month before as well as take as many pictures as possible of their baby as she entered her terrible twos. He’d been trying to get a photo of his wife and daughter when Tina had started squirming, reaching for him and Addie had rolled her eyes, giving in.
“She wants you, Leo. It would seem our Porcupine is going to be a Daddy’s girl.”
Elliot huffed a laugh as he swept his little girl into his arms, tossing her slightly to get a giggle out of Tina. “Oh, she loves her mommy, don’t you sweet pea?” The toddler in his arms nodded as she giggled madly before he pressed a kiss to her cheek. With Tina placated for the moment, Elliot settled back to sit on the steps of their apartment building, his legs framing the toddler as she watched the snow fall from the sky. A few of their neighbors were stepping around him, offering him and Addie a greeting and waving at a smiling Tina. Once their little family was again alone, he lifted one of Tina’s hands up before calling, “Teenie, tell Mama to take our picture! You’re already so famous, I’m going to need proof that I knew you when.”
Tina didn’t understand, but she’d leaned back into him, letting him wave her hand as she called, “Mama! Piter!” Addie smiled with that loving, soft smile of hers as she angled the camera just right.
“Alright, smile for me, Porcupine! You too, Daddy!”
“Say cheese, Tina.”
“Cheese.” He laughed at her gleeful call of the word as they smiled up at the camera. Then his daughter turned in his arms, pointing at the sky. In a serious tone, Tina said, “Daddy, snow.”
“Yes, yes, Porcupine, it is snowing.”
Her finger was in his chest as she said happily, “Love snow.”
“I do love snow.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
Elliot’s smile became a little watery as he leaned forward to press a kiss to her head. Tina was giggling as he pulled away and scooped her up again. “I love you too, Teen. You and Mama both. More than all the stars.”
“And creatures in the sea.” Addie whispered as she came over, accepting the kiss their fourteen month old placed on her lips. His wife grinned before stealing Tina and asked, “Ready to go meet your cousin, Porcupine?” All his daughter did was nod and giggle and Elliot didn’t think he’d ever been more at peace than that moment.
“It's true isn’t it?” Ellie’s whispered question made him look up, again to stare into those big brown eyes. Eyes that had once looked at him like he’d hung the moon and stars, who believed in him more than almost anything. Now her eyes held some hesitancy that indicated she was just as wary as everyone else.
Stepping around her, Elliot pressed a kiss to her forehead, preparing for it to be the last time. Everyone watched him as he took the album out of her hands, flipping back a few pages, to show them the most precious photo of all in that book. Elliot set the album on his desk before moving to collapse into his chair on the other side. His grandchildren each stepped up to look at the photograph, every single one of them gasped. Newt remained at the side of the room. It wasn’t anger emanating from his son-in-law, rather confusion and hurt. Really, that was what they all seemed to be simmering in. Even the twins.
As the kids looked down at the photo, Elliot quietly said, “Porpentina Esther Fontaine was born on August 19th, 1901. Her mother, Ariadne Fontaine nee Goldstein, gave birth with one of our best friends and her sister-in-law, Estelle Goldstein, her twin brother, David Goldstein, her father, Jackson Goldstein, and myself at her side. We raised our daughter for two and a half years before my wife was killed. It wasn’t in a raid like I’ve told you. It was a vindictive plot of revenge for getting promoted over one of her former co-workers who was a corrupt official. In the aftermath, I took our daughter and we lived with David, Estelle, and their daughter for a while. My grief was more than any of us wanted to admit at the time and in an effort to give my daughter, your mother, the best life she could have, David and Estelle took her in. We agreed that I would always be her father. I wrote home as much as I could as I got called in by various governments to assist on cases involving runes transcriptions. I am not proud of what I did, but please do not think I abandoned her. Please don’t-'' His voice broke, his entire body was curling in on itself as he spoke the truth he’d tried to run from for so long. He’d abandoned his daughter so he could go work on his own grief. He’d let them adopt her when he should have been preserving Addie’s memory and-
“We know, Pops.” Joe’s voice made him look up. Joe, who had those blue eyes that they’d always told him were David’s or even came from the Scamander side of the family thanks to Nora’s blue eyes, but Elliot knew. Those were Addie’s eyes. Those clear blue eyes that had grounded him to reality so many times before stared at him as they welled with tears. “You had to do what was best for Mom. And you weren’t the best thing for her then.”
He nodded as Jack started in, his tone low, but the tears were causing his voice to waver too. “So when they asked to formally adopt her in late 1904, you agreed. Because it was never about what you needed. Because you needed your daughter back, needed that small piece of your wife back. But what Mom needed was the stability they could provide her. Even if becoming Uncle Leo broke your heart.”
His heart hammered as he nodded again, awe taking over his face. Ollie and Stella seemed to be staring at their siblings in shock as well. But Ellie came to squat at his side, her head resting on his arm. “And there isn’t a day that goes by where you don’t hate yourself for everything that happened after. David and Estelle dying so young, Mom and Aunt Queenie being shipped off to that house, not knowing how bad any of it was until they were older. Your only saving grace became that you were able to try and right some of the wrongs, you got them out of there and did what your friends had done for you. You raised them and loved them as your own. You didn’t try to replace the parents they loved and missed, but be a new one that they could lean on.” Elliot’s breath hitched at the truth they’d somehow put together. If there was ever anyone that would put it all together, it would be these five. Too curious for his own good, but he couldn’t even be mad. He was too damn proud of them. “We still love you, Pops.”
“More than all the stars in the sky.” Jack and Joe said together.
“And creatures in the sea.” Ollie and Stella whispered, speaking for the first time.
Newt rounded out the group by adding, “And maybe a bit more than that.” Leaning back in his chair again, Elliot nodded, ready to whisper it back when his son-in-law cleared his throat. “But it would seem my children have decided that their mother deserves to know. And I agree whole-heartedly. We also agree that you should be the one to tell her.”
Swallowing hard, Elliot nodded, easing himself from his chair and grabbing his coat off the back of it. As he shrugged it on, he offered them each a tentative smile. “I’ll head to the house now if that’s alright? Unless she-”
“She’s home.” Ellie said with a smirk. “Lyall, Maddie, and Park are on babysitting duty.”
Both himself and Newt arched their brows in surprise, but Joe gave them a wolfish grin. “Someone had to make sure she was home for when we convinced you to go talk to her.”
“But why-”
“It’s their punishment. For making us talk about our feelings when we told them we were fine.” Jack’s nose crinkled the same way Tina’s did when she was annoyed and Elliot fought a chuckle as he scooped up the photo album on the desk.
Ellie and Joe were rolling their eyes and began bickering with Jack about how they weren’t upset about the concern of their significant others while he slipped over to the floo. Newt gave him a nod of luck as he stepped in. At the moment felt like he was watching his own body go through the motions as he headed off to reveal the secret he’d kept hidden for over fifty years now. So with a heavy heart, he said his destination while throwing the floo powder down, hoping two things: that Tina and Addie could forgive him and that maybe one day he’d forgive himself.
**********************************
Tina looked away from her son-in-law when the floo came roaring to life. Lyall, Parker, and Maddie had been at the house most of the morning, distracting her rather unsuccessfully. But she decided to play along. Because she loved them and her children so whatever surprise was about to come her way would probably be worth it. She hoped.
The floo rumbling made her rise though, expecting to find Newt, Ellie, and the twins shaking the soot off their clothes in the living room only to see her father. “Oh, Pop! Hi! I wasn’t expecting you!”
“I know, Porcupine.” His smile was soft while his eyes were red rimmed as if he’d been crying. Her head tilted to the side in concern as he asked, “Can we talk? Alone?”
Nodding, Tina stepped back into the dining room to ask her children’s spouses to give her and her father some privacy by stepping into the basement if they wanted to wait. Only they were gone. The kitchen and dining room were empty, the mugs they’d each been drinking out of were gone too. More confusion flooded her brain, but her father moving around her to settle in a chair at the table made Tina move, settling into a seat beside him.
He refused to meet her eyes, hands covering a book he’d sat in front of him. There was a wariness to him she’d never seen before. So she reached over, her hand draped on his forearm as she asked, “Pop? What’s wrong?”
When his brown eyes met hers, Tina was relatively confident the man in front of her had aged forty years. But no, he just didn’t have that usual glint in his eye. He almost looked like he felt an immeasurable amount of guilt and that made her fear the direction of this conversation. It took him a long minute before he whispered, “What I am about to tell is something I once swore to myself I’d tell you long before now. Then I decided to take it to my grave. And I will understand whatever reaction you have to it, good or bad, I will understand, Tina.”
“Okay?”
He chuckled lightly at her confusion and Tina pouted. But she wasn’t able to stay annoyed for long, because he slid the book over to her and she saw handwriting she’d only ever seen in journals and on the underside of knicknacks placed around his apartment. Tracing the letters at the top of the album cover, Tina remained quiet, letting him decide how to proceed. “This, this is um, well, it’s yours.” Her eyes ticked up, brow arching as he nodded for her to open it. Carefully, she began turning the pages to look at the photo of him and his late wife. For several minutes, they didn’t speak. Not until she turned to a page with her baby picture in the middle of it. “Your mother and I loved you very much, Porcupine.” Tears filled her eyes as she stared down, turning to the next page to see a woman she looked so much like holding her as her baby self grinned happily at the camera.
Ariadne Goldstein. Her mother.
“We, um, we named you Porpentina because your mother had an interesting sense of humor and got inspired by Shakespeare’s use of the word porpentine and well, I tried to stop her. But she thought the name was beautiful. And she’d decided we’d call you Tina from the start.” She didn’t fight him as he tucked a piece of her hair that had fallen loose behind her ear. Instead, Tina continued to stare down at the photo of her and her mother. “Your middle name was my choice and despite your mother disagreeing, I decided on Esther. That was her legal name even though she went by Ariadne. She hated it, I loved it. And since I agreed to Porpentina, she agreed to Esther. Neither of us ever regretted it because when we held you for the first time we both knew it was perfect.”
Turning the next page, Tina saw a photo that made a warm memory flash through her. It was vague, very vague, but she knew it happened just before meeting Queenie for the first time. Remember the snow falling as they waited to hear that it was time to meet the newest member of the family. Some part of her always just assumed he’d been watching her for her parents. But a different part knew the truth. A small grin tugged at her lips as she whispered, “Daddy loves snow.”
“I do.” Her eyes flicked up again, meeting his and the truth was so painfully obvious that she hated that she’d ignored it for so long. But this was his truth to tell. His story to share. With her, with her family, with Queenie. Who would never remember a world before Tina had lived with them. Not that Tina remembered it much herself. Just little memories here and there. Early memories of asking where her daddy had gone before she’d settled into calling Uncle David her dad and being confused by the heartbreak on his face. Heartbreak that had mirrored on her own father’s face the day he’d heard it, the day he’d become resigned to something that Tina had spent years privately realizing was done for her own good. “I’m so sorry, Tina.” Tears streamed down his face as he reached over to squeeze her hands, the desperation for her to forgive him palpable. “I, I just wanted you to have the best life you could. And I had been called away to assist with a transcription and we all agreed that I needed to try and do something besides moping and trying to make sure you were safe. I thought of you every single day. When I left for that trip, when I agreed with David and Estelle this was what was best for you, when they died and I failed you then. Everyday, Tina, I have thought about you, I have loved you, and I have prayed that you know everything I have ever done has been to ensure you have the life your mother and I dreamed for you. I-”
“I know.” She whispered, squeezing his hand. He leaned away in surprise as Tina reached for her locket. The locket her mother had made clear to her and Queenie was meant for her before she passed. The locket that didn’t belong to Estelle Goldstein to begin with and that was the biggest reason she’d been so devastated when Queenie snatched it away in their fight before Paris. Because deep down, Tina had always known.
Carefully, she opened it, smiling at the photo of her, Newt, and their children at Joe and Maddie’s wedding. It had all of them in it including the newlyweds, Lyall, and Parker, much to her sons-in-law’s frustration. The other side was the old family portrait of her, Queenie, and their parents from when they were young. But what most people didn’t know was that there was a third frame. It was hidden and hard to find if you didn’t know it was there, but Tina knew how to gently move the top frame so the little picture of the family she’d once had was on display. Her father seemed to stop breathing as she whispered, “I’ve known for a long time, Daddy.”
There was a long pause as if he expected her to still be angry and to scream, but Tina had worked that anger out of herself a long time ago. She’d been so close to screaming at him about it when he’d fought to get them out of that house. Hell, the night Diane Carter had shown up at the apartment to threaten him into dropping the custody case was the night she’d almost confronted him. Because a part of her was rightfully angry that he’d given her up. Twice he’d done it. Once when her Mama died and the next when the two people who had become her parents, became her Mom and Dad, died. But he’d fought for them, he’d done everything in his power for the last forty years to make it right, he’d tried so hard. So Tina had decided that she could live with the knowledge she had. It took time for her to call him her father again, to fully give him that trust back, and even then she’d changed his title from Daddy to Pop in order to honor him and his father, but she’d still slowly made her peace with it. Because his actions weren’t done to hurt her, she’d realized at some point. Rather they were done so that she had the best shot in life.
It may have been misguided, but it was done out of love. Plus with the way he treated her, the unconditional love he’d always had for her, she knew he’d never looked at her as anything but his daughter. All he’d ever done was to try and assure her that she was loved and wanted. So Tina had forgiven him, forgiven him for so many things, because while being angry was easier, she didn’t enjoy being angry at him when he was always going to be angrier with himself. Which was why she leaned over and hugged him, squeezing as tightly as she had as a child when he’d come back from the exciting places he’d gone off to explore, a small present for her always in his pocket, because she was never far from his thoughts even when they’d been oceans apart.
“I don’t understand. When did you-”
“Diane Carter has a loud mouth.” Her mother’s sister hadn’t cared to spill any and all secrets when she’d hit Tina. There was a reason she’d resented Tina more than Queenie despite hating them both and it was because Tina “wasn’t my sister’s daughter. She and that brute adopted you because your mother got the fate she deserved and your father abandoned you, you little-”
“Porcupine,” the hard edge in his voice really only ever came out when that woman’s name was said. Her father was already halfway out of his seat when he asked, “What did she say?”
“She confirmed what I had known about my parentage for years, Dad.” He seemed to calm slightly at her words while Tina squeezed his hand, rising to stand beside him. “There’s a part of me that always knew and I just thought I was crazy, but her words made it clear I wasn’t. So what the old hag has to say about our family doesn’t matter. I was blessed to have four parents that love me and that’s what matters.”
He nodded, stepping closer to her to pull her tightly into him. Tina buried her face in his chest, letting years of tiptoeing to avoid admitting the truth wash away as she embraced her father. They stood there like that for a while, eventually the front door creaking open and closed made her look up, peeking over his shoulder to see Ellie, Jack, Joe, Ollie, Stella, and Newt standing in the kitchen. Her children each watched the scene with hope written on their faces while her husband met her eyes, worry prominent in his features. So they all knew. Now Lyall, Maddie, and Parker being at the house and conveniently being gone when Pop had arrived made sense.
“Elle Belle, Jackal, Joey, tell your spouses that they owe me an actual breakfast that they want to attend. Not one to keep me busy.” Her oldests chuckled, all nodding as she pulled away from her father. Then she raised her brows at Ollie and Stella. “You two should be at school. So should you, Mr. Scamander.”
Newt blushed slightly as he stepped forward, eyes pointed at her feet causing her to duck down into his eyesight. Tina gave him a small smile as he mumbled, “Well, I thought today might be a good reason to stage a jailbreak. It's not everyday our youngest children outsmart our oldests and uncover a family secret.”
“Hey! They didn’t outsmart us!” Jack and Ellie said in mock outrage, Joe grunting in agreement. Ollie and Stell both glared at their siblings, but Pop laughing drew everyone’s attention to him.
Her father stood there with a wide smile, appraising his grandchildren as he said, “It would be Ollie Pop and Stella Bug that figured it out. They are just like Ariadne and David, inseparably brilliant together even when they’d rather not be.” Ollie and Stella both grinned, skipping over and already begging to hear about the grandmother her father never spoke of. But now, there seemed to be a lightness to him, the ability to speak about her seemed to come much easier now that this part of their family was out in the open. “You all want to know about Grandma Addie?” Tina laughed at the name, feeling her mother’s spirit glaring at her father as he sighed dramatically, holding his hands in the air. “Oh, calm down wherever you are, Addie. Grandma is Estelle’s name from the kids and David got Grandpa.” Her children nodded, clearly happy to accept that they had four grandparents on her side. Pop looked at them, a contemplative look on his face as he asked, “So what do we think your grandmother should be called?”
Her younger four children all looked to Ellie, who was stepping back into the kitchen with Lyall, Maddie, and Parker. A niffler was being placed in her daughter’s hands by her husband and Tina knew the in-laws had taken refuge in the basement after all. The Lupins were scratching the head of their niffler who had been staying in the basement since Ted had been feeling under the weather and Newt had been keeping an eye on the little guy for them. Eventually, Joe clearing his throat made Ellie look up with an annoyed frown. “What?”
“We need a nickname for our grandmother.”
“So come up with one.”
“No, no, no,” Jack said as he took to looking at the photo album, Parker standing at his shoulder, looking as well. “You are the oldest, you have to pick.”
“I dubbed everyone else. You four can-”
“Love,” Lyall whispered, making Ellie glare at him. “You know you want to.”
Her daughter huffed, stepping forward to stand beside her and Newt, who had wrapped his arms around her. Ellie rested her head on Tina’s shoulder, Tina moving her head to kiss Ellie’s hair, as she whispered, “Gram.”
For a long moment no one spoke and then Joe’s face lit up as he nodded. “Yes! Perfect! Pops and Gram!”
The rest of her children nodded, grinning wildly while Ellie pulled away, leaning into where Lyall now stood behind her. Tina only smiled, it grew wider as her father spoke. “I think you should all know your Gram is with you. I’ve always seen her in each of you. Ellie, in your stubbornness.” Her oldest rolled her eyes, but Tina could see the smile on the young woman’s lips. “Jack, you’ve got her uncanny ability to find the good in people.” The older of the twins grinned as he stared at the album still, memorizing the photos there. “Joe, she always seemed to know when something was important whether that be a date, a choice, a person, it didn’t matter. She did. Just like you always seem to.” Joe rested his head against Maddie’s, a content smile on his lips. Then her father looked at Ollie. “And you, Oliver Jacob, you’ve got her charm. Always so smooth talking your way out of trouble and-”
“I’m sorry. He what?”
Ollie looked at her in a panic while her father chuckled and Newt merely tightened his hold on her as he pressed a kiss to her hair. But nothing else mattered as her youngest leaned into her grandfather and asked, “What about me, Pops? Am I like Gram?”
Her father took her chin, tilting Estelle’s grinning face up to his with an appraising look. “Not only do you two share a name, BUT you look so much like her. More so than your mother and Ellie. And you’ve got her heart. Which is a good one.” His finger pointed directly over Stella’s heart as Tina watched her youngest reach up and hold his hand. “So take extra good care of it.”
“Always, Pops.” Then Stella threw her arms around him, followed by a bit of a dog pile of the rest of her children. The sight made Tina’s heart melt more than it already was before there was a loud knock at the front door.
It was at that moment she’d remembered her plans for the day. Plans that included her sister.
“Come in, Queens. We’re in the kitchen!” Tina got a chirp back from Queenie before Newt let go. Sighing softly, she met her sister at the kitchen door while all her children, in-laws, and husband snuck into the living room, muttering something about getting Ollie and Stella back to school. Her father stayed stuck in the kitchen, staring at his daughters.
Tina knew he was panicking, because there was a chance Queenie wouldn’t take this news well. But if she’d taken it in stride so would her sister. Because no matter what, no matter if a blood test revealed they weren’t sisters at all and were biologically cousins, Queenie Ruth Goldstein would always be Porpentina Esther Goldstein’s baby sister. Their bond ran so much thicker than the blood and like hell was this going to be the thing that made her lose her sister again.
So carefully looping her arm through Queenie’s, Tina led her over to the table and whispered, “Pops and I have something to tell you. And I need you to not get mad.”
“Teenie, I never get mad.” A cocked brow begged to differ and Tina watched her sister huff. “Okay. So I get mad sometimes. But whatever it is, you can tell me. I do deserve the right to get upset though. Since you said I can’t.”
Rolling her eyes, Tina gestured for the photo album. But before she could say or do anything, Queenie squealed, “Oh, we are finally talking about it?” Then her sister was sitting in the chair beside her father with a grin. “Daddy, are we? Please tell me we are because I cannot keep pretending I didn’t find this years ago.” She gestured to the photo album.
Tina let her jaw drop and even their father was surprised as he asked, “How- I have had that hidden for years, Queenie Ruth. How would you-“
“FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME HIDING THINGS IN THE CEDAR CHEST IS NOT KEEPING THEM HIDDEN!” Tina had to fight the laugh at Ellie’s outburst from the living room. There was a scuffle of hushed whispers to be quiet as her children and husband undoubtedly eavesdropped to ensure nothing went wrong. But her oldest merely said, “OH LIKE THEY DON’T KNOW WE ARE IN HERE LISTENING!”
“Why don’t we go talk at my apartment?” Tina and Queenie both looked at the man who’d raised them since their teenage years. His face was heavy, like he still expected them to yell, but still he offered, “So we can talk. Just the three of us.”
**********************************
Queenie really didn’t want to make this a thing. She knew it was a thing, knew it had always been a thing, but now that everyone was on the same page, now that their father had admitted the truth that both she and Tina had discovered themselves years ago, she really didn’t understand why he wanted them to punish him.
And yet Elliot Fontaine paced in his living room while his daughters sat on that old couch where he’d once showed them just how much they meant to him. That he loved them as his own unconditionally.
Sure, Tina had always been his own, but he still could have truly abandoned her. But he didn’t. Queenie remembered the Uncle Leo of her youth, coming back with something for her and her sister, always giving Tina hers alone and there was always a quiet whisper of “Thank you Daddy” with an enthusiastic hug in the really early days. Days that Queenie could barely remember, but she did.
Her parents had never once begrudged her uncle of that small sliver of normalcy with his daughter. Never once told him he wasn’t still an essential part of her life even if she now bore the Goldstein name. But still, Uncle Leo kept his distance and over time he was referred to as an uncle by Tina too.
The first time her sister had done so, Queenie remembered the pain that had rippled through Tina. Remembered feeling the sadness from her unprotected mind when Elliot Fontaine didn’t correct her. And even if that anger and resentment didn’t flare now, Queenie knew it had been there, knew it had run very deep for a very long time. Forcing Tina to yell and scream was going to do no one any good. But sure. They could make this a thing apparently.
“Pop, can we please just let this go?”
“No,” Queenie groaned inwardly when their father stopped pacing long enough to look at Tina. “You should be pissed at me. You should be screaming at me for never telling you the truth and for not stepping up when I should have. And yes, at the house I thought we’d made out peace, but I would really, really like an explanation of why you aren’t cursing my name right now.”
“Because I did that enough when I was fifteen?” Glancing at her sister revealed Tina’s cocked brow, face a perfect replica of the old photos of Ariadne Goldstein that had littered the old apartment in their youth. How the hell none of them had never said a damn thing about her lineage before now was a fucking mystery. “Personally, Pop, I’d really like to not relive being angry at the world or at you again. I’ve known for years, I’ve let you have your space to decide what to do with the information because I know you. You didn’t hide this to hurt me. You hid this because at the end of the day you wanted to punish yourself. For not saving Mom and Dad. For not getting us sooner. For not raising me. And maybe most of all for not being able to rescue Mama.”
A little piece of her broke at Tina’s wavered use of the word ‘Mama.’ As if it was a betrayal to not refer to Estelle Goldstein as her mama. But Queenie reached over, slipping her hand into Tina’s and giving her sister strength. Because despite it all, Tina was her sister and no amount of revealed secrets about whose blood ran through their veins would change that bond forged by their youth.
Tina seemed relieved by the motion of Queenie’s hand, squeezing it tightly as she continued, “Mama wouldn’t want you to hate yourself like this, Daddy.” Another part of her heart broke when Tina called Elliot Fontaine ‘Daddy.’ And not because of memories of her own lost father or the new one she’d now gained, but because for years Tina had denied herself that relationship, for years she and Elliot both had kept to their corners, pretending like they didn’t have a closer bond. Queenie couldn’t stop the pain she felt for her father and sister at the realization of what they’d lost because of a shared stubbornness as well as guilt that may never fully dissipate.
“Tina, your mother, she-“
“She wouldn’t want us to continue pretending. The truth is out there now. And whether this was how you planned for me to find out or not, I’m not upset that we are talking about it.” Queenie watched her rise and step to the man who had taken them in when they were arguably at their lowest, the man who had always tried to do the right thing even when it cost him everything. “One day I might express all the hurt and pain I felt, that feeling of inadequacy, wondering why I wasn’t enough for you to stay.” Tears were streaming on their father’s face so Queenie stood, coming to wrap her arms around his and lean into him before she saw the tears in Tina’s eyes, but she recognized that look. Queenie Goldstein knew the determination of her sister’s face all too well as Tina forced herself to say, “But that day isn’t today. Because right now, all that matters is that you came back to us. When we needed you most, you came back to us. And so long as you keep fighting for us everyday, Daddy, I can let go of it all, because I know you love me. I know you love Queenie and I know you’d do anything for us.”
Her father’s arm slipped out of Queenie’s hold as he pulled Tina and herself in. Looking at her sister, Queenie felt a rush of relief flood her. There was a resounding sense of peace rolling from Tina. Peace that only grew with the man who held them’s words. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there earlier. That I wasn’t who I should have been earlier. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you, Porcupine. I hear what you said, I hear it. But this, this burden, this is mine to bear. Knowing you know and that you don’t hate me makes it easier. Makes me feel incredibly lucky to call such an outstanding woman my daughter. And I love you. More than all the stars.”
“And creatures in the sea.”
“And maybe more than all that.” Queenie finished the old family phrase that Tina and Newt used with their children. A smile tugged at her lips at the memories of her own mother and father whispering that to her, of her grandfather saying it as he tucked her in when he’d stayed with them, of the phrase being reintroduced when they’d moved into this very apartment with its homey feeling to it.
Tina’s hand slipped into hers while her father pressed a kiss to her head, whispering, “I hope this changes nothing for you, Queenie. Because you will always be my daughter, my baby. I hate that your parents are gone, but I’m humbled and honored I was able to repay the kindness they showed my little girl and gain a bonus daughter in the process.”
For a moment, Queenie didn’t say anything, gathering her own thoughts on everything before she met Tina’s eyes. She recognized the hopeful look in the brown orbs from some many different times in their lives. Then she looked up and saw that same hopeful expression in the matching brown eyes of Elliot Fontaine and Queenie knew her answer. “Nothing is going to change for me, Daddy.”
**********************************
By the time Tina had gotten her oldest children out of the house after she’d come home from that heartfelt talk with her father and sister, she was more than content to pass out on her couch. Unfortunately her husband had other ideas.
Newt tumbled out of the floo just as she’d propped her legs up on the couch, an apologetic expression written on his face. “I’m sorry, love. Was I interrupting?” He came to stand next to where her head rested, a loving smile plastered on his face now. So Tina sat up to let him slip beneath her, settling her head in his lap once he was seated. His hands came to tangle in her hair as she closed her eyes, one of her own hands moving to rest in front of her in his lap. After several quiet minutes, Newt whispered to her, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to go back to school?”
Contemplating for a minute, Tina realized she really, really, really didn’t want him to. So she rolled, letting herself look up at him as she lay on her back. “No. I want you to stay right here. Forever.”
“Just try and keep me away.” His hazel eyes were alight with hope and love, replacing that worry she’d seen earlier in the day when he’d arrived at the house with the kids. Maybe this news was a relief and blessing for all of them that they didn’t know they needed. Above her, Newt reached over her and grabbed the photo album she’d been flipping through with Ellie, Jack, Joe, Maddie, Parker, and Lyall that evening. Sitting up, she let her head rest on Newt’s shoulder as he opened the book to a photo of her mother holding her. She was smiling brightly from the camera to her mama then back, most likely starting to giggle because of whatever her father was doing behind the camera. “You look so much like her.”
“Mr. Scamander, is this not talking about it?”
“I’m talking about your mother. Not the situation we now find ourselves in.” Wrapping her arms around his arm, pressing a kiss to his shoulder while she hummed. Maybe she did want to talk about it. Just a little bit. Or maybe she just wanted to share the very few memories she had of her life before moving into the Goldstein apartment. “Do you remember anything about her?”
One of her hands moved to barely graze the photo, tracing the outline of her mother reverently. “I remember her smile. It’s the same as Stella’s, that crooked grin that can turn into the brightest thing in the world. And her eyes. Joe’s eyes.” Newt squeezed her a little as he hummed in understanding. When he turned the page, it was to that photo of her and her father on the snow dusted steps of their apartment building before they went to meet Queenie. “I vaguely remember this. All the neighbors were so nice as they passed us, calling out how cute I looked in my new coat.”
“You look rather adorable.” Tina turned, looking to see Newt smiling at her before pressing his lips to hers. “I never realized how much the girls looked like you when they were young. Of course I knew they did, but this-”
“It looks like Ellie with a little Stella mixed in. I know.” But her eyes were trained on her father’s handsome, grinning face. It had been a long time since she’d seen him truly smile like that, most likely only seen it in photos since her mother had passed away. “He loved us so much.” Her words were quiet, barely audible, but of course Newt heard her. He always heard her.
“He still does, love.”
“I know, but now he’s still so upset with himself, blames himself for everything.”
“And do you? Blame him for anything?”
She knew what he was doing, trying to pry the answers out of her. For once, Tina decided that she wasn’t upset with how well he knew her, how he knew she needed to talk even when she claimed she didn’t. So she found herself shaking her head. She’d meant she’d told her father earlier, she’d been so angry for so long in her youth, it wasn’t worth being angry now, because despite it all he was here and he’d chosen her. “”No. Because if I blame him for not being able to handle his guilt and pain and doing what he thought was best for me, then I have to admit that my own choices in the war, the pain and suffering our children have endured, I deserve all the blame for that.”
“Tina,” he tilted her head up, a softness creeping into his eyes. “You do blame yourself. Just like I blame myself.”
Well, shit. He had a point.
“What I mean is,” struggling to find a fitting way to explain, Tina rose, moving to pace in front of the fireplace. “What I mean is that when I was young, when I was angry because I lost my parents, that I was in that house, when I thought he just didn’t want me, I didn’t understand his motives, didn’t understand his guilt because I myself wasn’t in his shoes. Then I met you and we had Ellie and then the twins then we lost Athena, and Newt, I know, I know we cannot change what happened, I understand that, but all of a sudden there was this new hole in me, one that I felt responsible for because, what did I do wrong, why couldn’t I keep our baby alive. And while our cases are totally different, I think I really started to understand his plight, his frustration with himself at not being able to care for me when I was young the way he wished he could. And well,” she cut herself off, but Newt sat forward.
“Well what?”
“Have I ever told you how my grandmother died?”
“I don’t believe so.”
Stepping around the coffee table, Tina delicately sat on the edge of the sturdy structure as she took his hands in hers, knowing Newt was going to need to be grounded for this conversation. “She passed away in childbirth when my mother and her brother, well my adoptive father, were five.” Horror clouded Newt’s face at those words before Tina added, “And I’ve looked at my mother’s records from when she was killed. She was pregnant.”
“Mother above.” Newt whispered as he leaned forward more, pressing his forehead to hers. “So that’s why Elliot was so frantic when we told him about the emergency c-section with the twins and even more inconsolable when there was a time Walt was saying we might lose you along with Athena. It wasn’t just him losing his daughter, it was how he was losing her.”
Tina nodded, suspecting there was so much more to her father’s distress after the miscarriage and then again in her and Queenie’s later pregnancies, but this wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Instead she continued, “Pop was at my side so much during those initial days. And I’ve never told you this, but when it was bad, when we didn’t know if I was going to make it, I remember seeing a figure who kept telling me I had to go home, that my job wasn’t done, that our family needed me. Now I realize it was Mama, that she wasn’t ready to see me yet. But she promised to watch over Athena, that she’d be safe with her and Mom and Dad. They’d take care of her. Then she asked me not to hate him, to remind him that mistakes may have been made, but we can learn and grow from them. At the time I didn’t understand, but now,” glancing at the photo album, Tina let the truth settle over me. “Now, I understand. So no. I don’t blame him. My father loves me. He’s always loved me and for a while he made a difficult decision that allowed me to have two more parents that loved me until their dying breath. Do I wish we would have talked about it long before now? Yes, but I also understand that he didn’t want to hurt me again.”
“Are you upset with the kids? For forcing his hand a bit?”
Laughing, Tina grabbed the photo of their family sitting on the end table next to the couch. Each of their children grinned up at them as they stood around Lyall and Ellie at the small wedding ceremony they’d held at the Manor months after the couple eloped. When she looked at them, she saw just how much they looked like her parents, saw the traits that she’d passed on from all four of the people who had raised her. “No. I’m actually happy that they got him to talk about it. That they knew he had to be the one to tell me. Even if I knew because of cruel, cruel people in this world who didn’t care to offer the same kindness as our children. But I could never be upset with the kids for wanting to know more about our family and expecting the respect of their grandfather to tell them the truth.”
Newt squeezed her hands, smiling at her again. “So, does this mean I have to win your father’s approval again?”
The laugh that came out of her was loud and joyous and Tina didn’t think she’d ever made a noise like it as Newt pulled her into his lap. Today had been long, it had been emotional, but they’d come out of it stronger than ever. All of them had and Tina was looking forward to hanging up Elliot and Ariadne Fontaine’s portrait beside hers and Newt’s parents on the wall.
**********************************
Addie smiled softly at the sight of her daughter curled up with her husband. Those two had often had a long and winding journey to these precious moments of happiness, but every time she saw that beautiful smile, it was worth it.
Deciding it was time to give Newt and Tina their privacy, she felt herself drift out of the Manhattan home before her spirit made quick stops at each of the other family homes in New York. Ellie and Lyall had been tangled together as they danced to a record in their living room while Maddie and Joe were sitting at their table, quietly discussing their plans for the future. Jack and Parker were sitting together on their couch, Parker reading while her grandson was crossing out words on a page he was editing. Then she was in her niece’s home, seeing Queenie and her husband talking through their preparation for Thanksgiving that was the following week while their son was already sleeping soundly in his bed.
Each sight had her spirit singing and glowing brighter in the ether before she was roaming the halls of Ilvermorny, her most common home since Leo had taken a teaching position there in 1912. As she wandered toward the library, Addie wished her brother and Estelle were able to go between worlds the way she was, that they could go from the afterlife to the land of the living with ease. None of them ever understood why she could, David always suspecting that maybe her legilimency gave her this power in death. But Addie had other suspicions. Namely the love of her life still living on this side of the veil between life and death.
Forcing the errant thought from her mind, Addie stopped to lean against a shelf when she found Ollie, Stella, and their cousins. Her youngest grandchildren were quietly explaining it all to Noah and Ava. Noah Scamander was just watching in happy fascination while Ava Kowalski seemed to have the world ripped out from under her. So Addie floated over, her ghostly hand hovering over Ava’s head as she whispered, “Pops still loves you, Ava. You are his granddaughter as much as you are your grandmother and grandfather’s.” But the girl couldn’t hear her.
Estelle seemed to sense her presence though. Her granddaughter watched where she kneeled at Ava’s side as if she could see her. So with a mild amusement, Addie winked at her, seeing Stella nod slightly before turning to Ava to say, “I hope you know that this doesn’t change our relationship. Our moms are still sisters, we are still cousins, and we are still a family.”
“Is Pops still my grandfather?”
“Yes, I am.” Addie felt her breath catch. She hadn’t been expecting to find him here, hoping she’d have time to reel in her relief and excitement from today finally being the day he talked to their little girl about everything. Only here he was. That handsome face had more wrinkles on it, his hair graying beautifully. His eyes were that same soulful brown though. Those eyes, even though she was gone, waiting for him in this inbetween, those eyes always made her fall in love with him all over again. And those next words he said solidified it more. “My relationship with your mother will not change, Ava Boo.” He was kneeling on Ava’s other side as he booped her nose. “I know this news is shocking, but I’m still Pops so long as you want me to be. Just know I’m always going to love you and your brother as much as I love Ollie, Stella, and their crazy siblings. Now we all just know that Aunt Tina has always been my daughter, but it doesn’t mean your mama isn’t my daughter too. Does that make sense?”
Ava nodded and Addie watched as her husband pressed a kiss to her head, then Stella’s before moving to ruffle the boys’ hair, calling a goodnight and a reminder to get to bed soon as he left the library. Rising, Addie forced her form to follow him as he made his way through the halls, finally coming to a stop at his office doors. Following him in, she watched him head straight for the photos he kept on the shelves behind his desk. A small part of her smile at all the memories he’d amassed over the years, at all the artwork from Tina and Queenie’s children as well as their son-in-law’s brother and wife’s kids. Leo had taken those two in as his own just as her father had for him when they were young and in love.
Seeing the family he’d made after everything always made her proud. As Leo slid into his chair after grabbing her photo off the shelf. The same photo she’d purposely moved in a moment of herculean strength to make her spirit form capable of grabbing it so that Ollie or Stella would see it when they got called to his office.
“I don’t know how you did it, Addie,” he was whispering to her photo, unaware of her wrapping her arms around his shoulders and leaning her head against his. She knew he couldn’t feel it, she had tried to touch him so many times over the years to garner his attention to no avail. So Addie settled for this practiced movement that they’d both used to read over each other’s shoulders so many times when she’d been alive. “I don’t know how you got the kids to look into this, but you did. You were always better at knowing when it was time to talk than I was.”
“Oh, honey,” she murmured into his hair as she kissed his head. “You have just been so scared of losing her.”
In all honesty, she’d been trying to push Leo and Tina to talk for years, but every time she’d thought she’d gotten close all hell had broken loose and her husband and daughter had been called away to focus on their lives in front of them while Addie was rushing off to watch over whichever member of their family needed her. Life had never been ready for them to acknowledge this bond between them, but now it seemed they were. So Addie had gotten the photo to the front of the shelf and he hadn’t noticed, hadn’t realized he never moved it back after looking at it one afternoon. Then Ollie had been, well, Ollie had been a combination of a Scamander and a Goldstein, getting himself into enough trouble he’d had to wait in Leo’s office with just enough time for her to nudge him toward the wall of shelves.
“I’m happy she knows. I just wish I could have been stronger sooner. You were always the strong one.” Addie tried to wipe at his tears, but cursed as she watched him cry. “I miss you, I miss you so much.”
“I’m right here, Elliot John Fontaine,” she murmured in his ear, praying he’d hear her. “I’ll be right here until you are ready to go. I am always with you, my love.”
Leo leaned back in his chair, his hand tracing her face in the photo as he brokenly whispered, “I love you, Addie. I love you and our daughter more than any blasted star in the sky or creature in the sea.”
Moving her hand so that it rested on his, Addie put everything into squeezing it so he’d know she could hear him. His hand twisted as his fingers laced with her ghostly ones, making Addie let out a happy sob before whispering, “And I love you both more than all that.”