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Dougal’s first encounter with Newt was, understandably, not a surprise.
The demiguise saw him coming for him. That awkward looking kid, fresh out of Hogwarts, excited because he was free now to save all the creatures he could find. His rescue wasn’t that spectacular though, he was the pet of a weird old lady obsessed with divination even if she didn’t have the talent for it. However, Dougal, as he was named after, was grateful. He saw it, in that little flash of blue light, that Newt Scamander would be a caretaker, a friend even, not an owner.
So when the case stopped being a project but a reality, and other creatures came along, Dougal became his partner in action. It was in the demiguise’s nature to be kind to others, but Newt’s enthusiasm was infectious. Occamies, nifflers and bowtruckles, all of them trusted him as if he was one of their own. It was a beautiful sight. Dougal could only see the future, not the past, but he was smart and realized that it was the first time his friend felt comfortable with the ones around him.
However, not matter how much he wished it, a human was a human and certain interaction with them was needed. Dougal didn’t mean just light chatting or work exchanges like the ones he had when he was in the war. Human beings needed connections: friendship or (hopefully) the love of a mate. Sadly, it seemed like Newt had stopped trying to find those things. The closest thing he had to it was that framed photo of a girl from his past. Dougal tried to see if she was in Newt’s immediate future, but to no avail. The Girl with Flowers was part of his friend’s past, not future.
Then, the trip to New York came along. What an experience that was! Dougal wasn’t the most curious creature in the case and his escape was justifiable (those wicked occamies!) but he enjoyed his time outside. He had a lollipop but mostly he did some research on human creatures’ behavior. He made some interesting findings, like how much some humans liked to take care of their fur. Sharp hairstyles for men and curls and objects in women’s hair. Also they were loud, oh Merlin, so loud. He also found that humans were, as he thought, social creatures. They moved in packs; however, the nature of said pack varied. Some were made based on work, some in friendship and some, the smallest ones, in love. So, humans liked to find mates for life. Sometimes it didn’t work (he saw a couple fighting in a coffee shop) but they longed for it. That feeling made Dougal feel sad. Did Newt longed for that when he saw the Girl with Flowers?
Thanks to their divination skills, demiguises knew for sure when they would find their mate so the thought of his beloved friend never finding one was heartbreaking.
So Newt was coming to get him. It was about time! The funny thing was that he wasn’t alone. Three humans were with him. Chubby One, Blonde One and Blue One.
-So, Demiguises are fundamentally peaceful, but they can give a nasty nip if provoked…
If he could, Dougal would have frown. The nip was once - and it was when Newt tried to make him to take a bath without knowing his kind could take care of that by themselves, thank you very much.
Newt gave some more instructions and the fun began. Nevertheless something unexpected happened. Of all the visions he could have had that moment, he saw a few interesting ones related to his friend and Blue One.
“Could it be that he and her…?” Dougal thought hopeful. Sadly, he wouldn’t give that some more thought until much, much later when after all the chaos was over and the Wicked Occamy was back to the case and Blonde One and Blue One were singing!
Humans were so weird; a few moments ago they were trying to catch a creature, and now they were singing. He wasn’t complaining though. Newt, his always-awkward pal wasn’t just smiling at the sound, he was intently watching Blue One. Another vision, she was singing again but to them while doing feeding rounds. Interesting, very interesting.
Newt was sad. He could tell, even the Niffler asked him if Newt had lost a shiny one or something. He said that yes, he lost a shiny one. It was easier to explain to his air headed friend this way. Also, it wasn’t that far from the truth. They were on a boat back to England, which was great. Newt finished his book and people would know how to handle creatures like them. Sadly, that meant too that he left behind his new pack and Blue One.
-I am okay, Dougal- he said while working on his manuscript, just a few hours until they would arrive in England. -You don’t have to worry.-
“I do worry,” he thought.
-They were just nice people who took care of me while I was in New York. Took care? Funny, usually I’m the one doing that job.-
“Don’t you think that means something?”
-I would love to call them my friends and I think Jacob actually is, was, but it’s more complicated than that…-
He looked at the Girl with Flowers.
-I guess at least I will know what they are doing these days. Tina promised to write.-
“Tina? Oh, Blue One!”
Newt smiled, and unexpectedly put the frame inside his desk drawer.
-Yeah. Funny how things work out,- he said, before going back to work.
Dougal always knew when a letter would arrive so he would try to help Newt to finish his chores sooner. Newt started to notice this pattern, but said nothing. Actually, he seemed grateful for the help.
-Oh, so Jacob is remembering!- he told Dougal while reading. -So I guess I still have a friend, unless he decides the memories related to me are sad or awful.-
“You should give yourself more credit.”
-I know, I know. I am joking, you see. Sometimes I try.-
“You are in such a good mood…”
As if he could actually hear that last part, he blushed a little and kept telling him what was in the letter.
-Tina says she is doing fine at MACUSA, and that the original Graves is back to work, even if he IS a little twitchy understandably. Also she tells me about her everyday life in New York. She asked around if there were plans of bringing my book to the USA, but most of them didn’t know what she was talking about. I should tell her not to bother in my next letter, but first I have to finish this up…-
Dougal took his hand, before reaching for his quill and looking at him.
“Do it now.”
-But…I should finish this today. It is on schedule.-
“Write.her.back.now,”
-Ok, ok. If you insist.-
“Shiny one is back?” the Niffler asked him, poking his head outside his hideout.
“See for yourself” Dougal replied. Yeah, Blue One, Tina was back. It’d been some crazy days lately; they even ended up in France somehow… and even if this time they didn’t leave the case, the action was brought inside when Newt returned with a whole bunch of new creatures. Dougal welcomed them but they didn’t communicate too much. Some just said they had another owner before, a crazy young lady named Leta. Dougal’s heart sank, so Newt saw Girl with Flowers outside! That meant bad news. However there he was, a bit battered but okay and next to Blue One.
-I am sorry for what happened,- he heard Newt say. -I never thought she would do that. She used to love creatures just like me but… I shouldn’t have trusted her.-
-Don’t say that, Newt,- Blue One replied. -If someone is to blame it’s her. She misused the… affection you feel for her for her own gain. That is such a vile thing to do. Anyway, you fixed it all at the end, and now you have new creatures that need your help. She might even need your help when she realizes the damage she is doing, someday…-
Blue One sounded so sad, like she was resigned to something.
-You’re wrong,- Newt interrupted, startling her. -I felt. I don’t feel. That is an important detail. A very important detail I need you to know. People change… and feelings change, too. Tina, this last week I’ve noticed something while spending time together. Real time, not just catching creatures. It was a weird discovery. Wonderful but unexpected. I…-
“My friend, get to the point. She’s looking worried!”
Just as Dougal was thinking that, a flash of blue light came. Somehow Blue One ended all his babbling and they did what humans do to show the other might have mate potential.
“Kissing is such a weird concept,” Dougal thought, and was amused as Tina tried to make Newt stop talking for a second.
Demiguises, when they finally find their mate, just spend time together and hopefully have pups. It is pretty easy. Humans, on the other hand, are more complicated than that. As nifflers who present their shiny objects to one another, humans have a courtship stage. However, as Dougal is observing, this stage varies to short as Blonde One with Chubby One to painfully slow like with Newt and Blue One.
Kissing was still on the table and they spent a lot of time together, but the relationship seemed stalled in his eyes. Blonde One was already expecting pups! He really wanted Blue One to expect too, so he could take care of them. Unfortunately, the loaded glances and hand touches were leading nowhere close to that.
“He has to give her a shiny,” the niffler explained to him.
“You think shinies are the solution for everything,” Dougal replied, as they watched Newt hugging Blue One from behind and whispering something in her ear.
“Trust me on this. Some male humans give a shiny to a female, she wears it on her finger for a while, they have a weird ritual and then they have pups.”
“If that’s the case, why doesn’t Blonde have a shiny if she is expecting pups?”
“It doesn’t have to be in that order but it is the common thing. Also, for some reason she can’t have the ritual yet, I heard. Anyway, trust me in this one. You want them to have pups, make him put a shiny on her finger.”
Dougal took a look at them, she was giggling now.
“If you want, I can tell you a secret but it will cost you.”
The Niffler wasn’t the smartest fellow, but when he offered this kind of deal, usually for a shiny price, he was serious.
“Ok, deal. What do you want?”
“Occamy eggshells. The ones I have are getting old.”
“Just one. Otherwise, the Mother will get mad…”
“Deal!”
“So what do you know?”
“Newt already has a shiny for his mate. He put a spell on it so I can’t find it, but I sense it. He’s had it for a long time, but I have no idea why he hasn’t given it to her.”
Dougal paused for a while and then the flash of blue light appeared. Oh, this was going to be fun!
“If I tell you where the shiny is and I give you another egg shell… would you steal it?”
“Wait, are you letting me steal? You’ve been so strict about it before!”
“It won’t be for real, so don’t get too excited. I just want her to see the ring. You have to run with it in front of her. That’s all.”
“You are so weird, how will that even help?”
“Once she sees it and he has to explain, you’ll realize it will help just enough”
Everything happened so fast from there. The ritual (or ceremony, as they called it) took place just a month after the little trick he pulled that day with the Niffler’s help. He didn’t understand much about human customs, but it was such a lovely sight to see Newt showing others that he finally found his mate.
Humans were much more elaborate; they dressed differently and they had witnesses to make this new bond official. He was surprised to hear Blonde One saying that this, by some standards, was a very small affair - but that being in the case felt just right for people like Newt and Blue One. At the end, it didn’t matter; his friend was finally finding his place in the world.
It was explained later that day that since both of them were “married”, they would spend some time alone in another place. Even if it was a bit sad to be left behind, most of the creatures understood. When it came to mating, humans were extremely private, even more so than creatures. Pickett, on the other hand, was highly offended. As a very young bowtruckle, combined with the weird concept of a tree he associated to Newt’s persona, he just couldn’t understand why Newt would need to spend time alone with another human.
Dougal thought it was time to have a talk with the young one… but it ended up being a very awkward, and his freaked-out mood didn’t let him comprehend the abstract example of the snidgets and billywigs.
By the end of the day, the demiguise gave up and decided that was the job for the couple once they came back.
So it happened. Blue One didn’t know yet, but he hadn’t only seen it in a blue flash but also noticed a few changes. Like female demiguises, from the moment they were expecting, human women started to smell different in a good way. He noticed that with Blonde One a year ago, so now he was extremely excited about the news. However, it was difficult news to communicate without using human language. Also, he suspected it was something humans liked to find out for themselves, especially since Newt and Blue One had been trying without much success for the last three months.
It was kind of sad to see them at the end of each month, realizing that there was no pup coming. They’d even started to think a few days ago that maybe they wouldn’t be able to have one. After all it took for Newt to find his pack and his mate, it would be just too sad for them not to be able to have pups. He knew they would find happiness at the end no matter what, but it would be such a hard thing to process.
That’s why Dougal was so giddy and anxious lately. He wanted to the symptoms to start to show so they wouldn’t have to worry anymore. To his annoyance, Blue One took a long while to start to feel weird and look much paler… and even then they didn’t realize something was amiss. Apparently Blonde One and Chubby One just moved to England with their pup for some reason, so they were all worried all the time, especially Blue One.
It was when she was helping to feed one of the new hippogriffs, and the mere sight of the large chunks of meat made her gag, that the suspicions started. Still, it took them a few days till they dared to think that pregnancy was a possibility.
-Teenie, you have to go to the healer,- said Blonde One one day while visiting the case with her pup, a baby boy named Joel. -You have all the symptoms and… well, you are my sister and I love you, but you look awful!-
-I know, I know,- she said while presenting a Puffskein to her little nephew. -But what if I’m not pregnant? Last time was so hard on us, Queenie. We really thought we were expecting but it was just wishful thinking.-
-Look at it this way: you feel sick, so you are going to the healer. It might be a baby… or it might be something else. In either case you need to let them check you out. Newt has the same doubts but he is more worried for you than scared. Do it for him.-
Blue One frowned and by the smile on her sister’s face, she knew she’d won this round.
By the next day when Newt came down to the case, he was nervous and mumbling to himself. Some creatures were worried about this behavior they hadn’t seen in such a long time. Thankfully, Dougal was kind enough to explain to them that he just got some very good news and he just needed some time to process it.
Finally, he would have another pup to take care of!
During the last nine months, a lot of things had changed for the Scamander family. Not only was a new pup on the way, but also the case was going to stop being their home. It wasn’t a bad thing actually, since Newt decided everything was getting too small for his human family - and the creatures as well.
Dougal helped quite a bit, showing him where each habitat should be in the large piece of land they settled on. He even dared to indicate where Newt’s own habitat should be, to which he smiled and agreed. Yes, next to the lake and the huge sycamore tree provided a great view.
This new project took a while to be pulled together. Lots of spells and protection charms were needed. The next house was pretty far away, but Dorset (as the place was called) had a Muggle population so precautions had to be made. As was expected, those details (the construction of Newt’s habitat and magical barriers) were made by specialized people or Newt or Blue One herself, so Dougal took charge of communicating the news to the creatures. Everyone was happy to have a lot more space but they would still miss the case.
Dougal heard that the case would still be operative since it would be the place where new creatures would be recovering or adapting before being moved outside. They were happy with that, but the demiguise knew they would soon forget their previous home once they saw what was expecting them.
Just as planned, the new place was finished before autumn started and Blue One’s ninth month. There was still little details here and there, but they all were glad things were finally settling in.
However as Dougal knew, unexpected things happened, even for someone who could see the future most of the time.
Healers were called suddenly one night, and they could hear Blue One crying out in pain inside her den. The female graphorn explained it was a common thing during labor to experience pain, but still everyone was worried. Even Pickett, who still had a love-hate relationship with Blue One.
It was a long night but by sunrise, just a few minutes before the cries stopped, Dougal could see the pup inside his head. It was wrinkly and crying, but wonderful.
His parents took him in their arms with care and smiled, as he hadn’t seen them before. They gave him a human name, of course, but from now on the pup would be Tiny One to Dougal, and he swore that even when he wasn’t tiny anymore (as human pups grow so much and so fast), he would always take care of him. Just as he had with the other creatures and the pup’s own father long before.
-So this is a bowtruckle. You have to be careful with them, they can be very moody,- Newt explained to his son, once he was old enough to go outside and interact with the creatures to some degree. Newt would have done it from the moment he was born, but Tina (and the rest of people around him) decided that six months would be a reasonable time to wait for that. However, Edward Scamander had already made the acquaintance of some puffskeins, a kneazle, and of course Dougal - who took his baby sitter role very seriously.
-I am aware of that,- Tina said with the baby boy sitting in her lap, remembering fondly how Pickett could act when his favorite tree was busy. -Do you like the bowtruckle, sweetie? Look at him.-
Edward was cooing happily as one of the older bowtruckles inspected the human pup with curiosity. Newt picked him as Ed’s first interaction with his kind, since the bad temper usually mellowed with the years. Pickett liked Ed, but he was too stubborn to admit it yet.
-Do you think the day meeting the bowtruckles will be too much for Ed, or we could try meeting the fairies later as well?-
-Honey, he will have the rest of his life to meet all your creatures!- Tina replied with a smile. -Baby steps remember? After all, he is a baby and he can’t even take steps yet.-
-I know, I know, but I never thought I would…Well, I never thought I would have a pup to share all of this with. Merlin, I never even dreamt I’d have a mate to share all this!-
-‘Pup’? ‘Mate’? Are we creatures too, Mr. Scamander?-
Newt laughed awkwardly. How great was it that he could use that kind of vocabulary and she wasn’t even mad?
-I’ve never talked to you about this, but the reason why my interactions with creatures are so good is because they see me as close to one of their kind. For them, I am some weird specimen of human who takes care of them like Dougal does. I know some might get offended but I don’t mind. Humans are animals too, so that’s not a negative thing.-
-So that means that I am accepted as your mate and Ed as your pup? We’re your pack then?-
-In a way, yes. Does it bother you?-
Tina gave it some thought before replying, while kissing Ed’s reddish brown curls.
-I don’t think so. It’s actually kind of cute they feel you belong somewhere. Humans spend so much time trying to find their place, even if they don’t admit it. The fact that such instinctive creatures gave us their approval means a lot. Doesn´t it?-
Dougal sat next to Ed, sensing he would feel a bit left out when his parents would start kissing in a few seconds. Tiny One’s black eyes lit up when he saw his favorite playmate appear, and started to giggle excitedly.
One day, not very far away, Dougal knew he would find his own mate. He expected he would look as happy as Newt then. Friendship, love and family were such beautiful things, no matter what kind of creature you were.