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Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise.
The first thing that Percival saw as he woke up like almost every morning, was the peacefully sleeping face of his husband. He held him close and kissed his shoulder, jaw and neck, slowly waking him up. Newt smiled, but kept his eyes closed. He just wanted to enjoy the moment for a little longer. Finally Percival pulled back and kissed him properly. Newt smiles, before kissing him back.
Breaking apart, they simply smiled at each other. They stayed like that for a few minutes. Finally, Percival looked at the clock and saw that it was time to get up. With a groan and a last kiss to his husband's forehead, he rolled over and stood up. Walking towards the closet, he put on a clean shirt and pants, Newt following his example after a few seconds. Once they were finally dressed (they loved to distract each other), Percival gave his husband another kiss.
"Why don't you go and start on breakfast, while I try to wake up our little girl?" He offered. Newt smiled and nodded, before walking towards the kitchen. Walking inside his daughter's room, Percival smiled at seeing her peacefully sleeping in her bed, clutching her stuffed dog. He sat down on the edge of her bed and carefully brushed her hair back. Marion shifted a bit, but stayed asleep.
Percival chuckled at that, before gently putting a hand on her shoulder and shaking her. Marion wrinkled her nose and stubbornly hid her face in her pillow, not wanting to wake up yet. He softly laughed at her reaction. His daughter was very hard to wake up in the morning, wanting to stay in bed as long as possible. "Come on, sweetheart. It's time to wake up." He whispered, still softly shaking her.
The six-year old groaned. "I don' wanna, daddy." She said sleepily. Percival pouted in mock concern, going over to plan B. "Oh, dear. Don't you know what happens to children who don't want to wake up, sweetheart? They get a visit from the tickle monster!" He said, quickly starting to tickle his daughter's sides, making her shriek and laugh, shifting wildly to try and escape her father's tickling fingers. "Daddy, stop! I'm gonna pee!" Marion shouted.
Percival finally ceased his attack, smiling at her. Marion smiled back at him, letting the stuffed dog go and raising her arms towards him. Percival rolled his eyes, but lifted her up from the bed. Holding her comfortably on the hip, he looked down at her. "You do know that I can't keep carrying you like this forever, right?" He asked, while walking out of Marion's room. His question made his daughter look up at him in surprise. "Of course you can, daddy. You're strong." She said with that childlike determination in her eyes, holding tightly onto him.
Percival smiled at that and kissed the top of her head in gratitude. They arrived at the kitchen and Marion gasped in happiness, when she saw what they were having for breakfast that day. "Pancakes!" She said in a very excited tone, wiggling in her father's hold, until he finally put her back down to the ground.She immediately ran towards her seat at the table, ready for her favourite breakfast in the world.
Percival smiled and sat down next to her, after kissing Newt once more, of course. A few minutes later, Marion had already eaten several pancakes and her face was completely covered in syrup. Percival had long since stopped trying to keep her clean while eating pancakes, only cleaning her face after the fact. Newt simply smiled at his daughter and brushed her hair back to try and keep it from falling into the food.
He smiled at how far she had come with them. When they had adopted her at three years old, she had been scared of pretty much everything that moved, but with a lot of patience and love from both him and Percival, she had slowly started to trust them. After breakfast and cleaning the dishes (and Marion's face), they all descended into the case to feed the magical beasts.
Even Marion helped as best as she could, even if her fathers only let her come close to the safe and harmless animals, like the bowtruckles, the mooncalves, Dougal and the niffler.Marion absolutely loved the creatures and they loved her as well. They were very protective of her, always looking after her even more than her fathers did, if such a thing was possible. Today was a special day, as one of the diricrawls had laid eggs and those eggs were about to hatch.
Newt and Percival were running around like crazy, trying to make it as easy and comfortable as possible for the new mother and her chicks. Marion was watching them from a small distance with the niffler, laughing at her silly daddy and papa acting so weird. They were always worried about her and the creatures and she loved that. She had been so alone in the first three years of her life, so having parents who actually and truly loved her was amazing.
Her attention was pulled by a glowing insect flying past and, like any other curious six-year old, she followed it throughout the case. The insect led her to an enclosure, where she actually wasn't allowed to be, until she was a few years older. Normally, Newt closed the area off with a spell that kept her away, but he had been so busy today that he had forgotten to renew the spell. Marion wandered into the enclosure and stared in wonder at the animal within. The female nundu raised her head and stared back at her in curiosity.
The eggs had been hatched without any complications, much to the big relief of their caretakers. It wasn't until then, that they noticed that Marion had disappeared. To say that they panicked, would be the understatement of the century. They ran around the case, calling her name frantically in absolute worry and concern, until Dougal finally pointed them towards the nundu enclosure.
They ran in, only to stop abruptly and stare at what they were seeing with hanging jaws. Marion was sitting on the back of the nundu, essentially riding it like non magical people ride a horse. The nundu was walking through her enclosure at a very slow and leisure pace, seemingly making sure that Marion didn't fall off her back. Marion smiled and waved at them, as soon as she saw them.
She acted like she wasn't riding on one of the most dangerous creatures on earth. She laughed at their faces, like it was the absolute funniest joke in the entire worldBoth men had very different reactions to seeing her riding the nundu. Newt slowly got a smile of pride and awe on his race. 'Well, would you look at that. She won the trust of the nundu. That's my beautiful girl.' He thought. Percival, on the other hand, was trying very hard not to panic even more or even get a heart attack.
'Oh, Merlin's beard. She's sitting on and riding one of the most dangerous creatures in existence. Somebody get me an auror! Wait, I am an auror.' Rolling his eyes at his own stupidity, Percival flicked his wrist. His magic lifted Marion from the creature's back and made her float towards him quickly, but gently.The nundu immediately looked up at the lack of weight, but seeing that it was just her caretakers taking their "cub" back, she relaxed.
Marion giggled as her father caught her and held her tightly against him, mentally reassuring himself that she was alright. "Did you see me, daddy? Papa? I was riding the nundu!" Marion said excitedly, unaware of Percival's distress at seeing her on the back of the beast. Newt smiled at his daughter, unable to help himself from teasing his poor husband a bit more.
"Yes, we saw you. You may be the only witch to ever ride a nundu, sweetie." He said, smiling at their daughter and stroking her hair. She beamed back at him. Newt knew better than to take her from Percival's arms right now, while he was still calming himself down . Marion looked at Percival, only now seeing his unhappy face and frowned a bit. "Daddy? Are you okay?" She asked in slight worry.
Percival took a deep breath and looked down at his daughter. "Marion, please never do that again. You really scared me." He said softly, but sternly. Marion's face immediately fell. "I'm sorry, daddy." She whispered, resting her head on his shoulder and hugging him as tight as she could, feeling really guilty. She didn't mean to scare her fathers. Percival took a deep breath and buried his face in her hair.
"It's alright, sweetheart. Just don't do it again and don't run off again." He said, kissing her hair. Marion immediately shook her head. "I won't. I promise. I'm really sorry, daddy." She whispered with tears in her eyes. Finally, Percival smiled at her again and kissed the tip of her nose, hugging her tightly against his chest "It's alright, Marion. You're forgiven. Calm down, sweetheart. You're not in trouble." He said, noticing that her breaths were slowly becoming more quick and shaky.
Newt quickly joined them in the hug and rubbed Marion's back, kissing her temple. Together they comforted their upset daughter, reassuring that they loved her, that they weren't angry at her and that she wasn't in trouble for her actions. After a few minutes, Marion had finally calmed back down. They finally climbed out of the case and back into the living room.
For the rest of the day, they did nothing special. They played games and went to a park nearby, just enjoying a peaceful day together. After dinner, the three of them fed the creatures again, before Percival and Newt put Marion in bath and tucked her in.They went to bed themselves not long after Marion had fallen asleep, Percival having to go back to work again very early in the morning
He took one day in the week off to spend it with his family, even when Newt was travelling. Marion stayed with him in their home, when Newt was away and Percival loved spending time with his daughter. When they had adopted Marion, they had both decided to let her have at least some kind of stability in her life. Seraphina had been confused about his request, since no one knew that he had a family, but she had eventually granted it.
The two men looked after each other and smiled. "I love you." Newt whispered in a loving tone. Percival grinned in return. "I love you too. I love you so much." He replied in the same tone. Newt beamed at him, before snuggling closer to him and resting his head on his chest, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. After a few minutes, Percival thought him to be asleep and almost fell asleep himself, when Newt spoke up again.
"I'm still pretty sure that our daughter is the only witch to ride a nundu in history." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. Percival groaned loudly. "Please, don't remind me. I'm pretty sure that, in time, she will become just as bad as you are." He muttered. Newt chuckled at that, before shifting slightly and falling asleep. Percival gave his head one last kiss, before burying his face into his husband's curls and falling asleep himself