Title: Warmth

Fandom: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Rating: G

Author Notes: Sick Days Official on Tumblr is having a week-long party and I decided to join in.
Prompt: Warmth. Suggestions: Cuddling in front of a fire, hot chocolate, warm soup, fever, huddling up against another person for warmth, warm clothes, big fluffy blankets, maybe the character can’t seem to get warm.

Warmth

Even wrapping his scarf around and around and around, Newt was still cold. April was supposed to be warm, but there were rumors of ice and snowstorms hitting. And a steamer sounded like it should have been warm, but the wind on the open sea was cold and strong. But he hadn't been truly warm a moment since leaving London. Huddled on a cot, hugging his legs to his chest with both arms, burying his face in his knees, he shivered with cold.

He supposed the crossing wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't come down ill very nearly right away. Fairly certain it was nothing but a cold in the head, Newt knew there was nothing to be done but rest and wait it out. Patience and time were two things he had in abundance. Warmth, however, not so much. His nose streamed. His throat burned. His teeth chattered. And no matter how he tried to be tough against it all, the fact remained that he felt miserable.

He'd had it. This cold was intolerable, and he if he didn't have to put up with it, he wasn't going to. Newt got up and went for his case. He unsnapped the closings and threw the top open.

The first thing he saw when he climbed down into the case were the unicorns in the field, running at full gallop, wind in their white manes, magically simulated sun glinting off their horns. It was a majestic sight to be sure. When he'd found the heard, they'd been pushed out of their forest and without food. Emaciated, he'd had to feed two a liquid diet by bottle until they could eat on their own again. New hated the idea of letting any of his beasties go, but as long as they were well and as long as they were safe, he knew inevitable goodbyes were all just a part of this.

It was warmer in here than in his room on the ship, but he still shivered a little. He'd always been the sort to catch a chill easily, and once he had, shaking it was difficult. He leaned against a large boulder to steady himself. “hhihhh...” Newt pulled a large handkerchief from his back pocket and shook out out dramatically before pressing it to his face. “hihhhh Ihhh... Ihhhpttshhhphhhh!” There was a startled snort from the other side of the boulder, and Newt winced. That would be the Reggie, the knarl. “Excuse me!” he called out to it.

There were plenty more where that came from. Once his nose got going, there was no stopping it until it was done. “eh-hihhhhh! Hihh! Hihhhhptishphhhhh! Oh!” He felt something brush his leg and looked down to see the pinkish blur of a murtlap scampering past, toward the pond, and he was glad he hadn't stepped on it by accident. “ihhhh-HIHptshhhh! Hih-IH-PTschhphhhhh! Eh-hihh... ehhhhhh... eh EH EHHTShphhhhhhh!” The tickle finally backed off, allowing him time to wipe his nose dry and get his bearings. His work shed wasn't too far away, and there was a warm coat in there that might help. He was sure to have an extra hanky or two in there as well. One never knew when one might be allergic to a creature, and it was best to be prepared.

He checked in on some of the beasties on his way, throwing a pair of fish to the graphorns and refilling the trough of grains for the mooncalf. The shed was in a bit of disarray, and he didn't need more than one guess as to where to lay the blame, as all his shiniest tools were piled up in the middle of the work table. But his coat was there and, thanks to a perpetual warming spell, it felt wonderful when he pulled it on over what he'd already been wearing. It didn't do the trick of completely warming him, but it was certainly an improvement. Small steps. Today was all about small steps.

Newt walked around, petting any of the beasties that came up to him and checking from afar on others that wanted to keep their distance at the moment. When he got to the bowtruckles' tree, all of them raced along the trunk or dropped from branches to greet him. “Hullo Finn.” He stroked its tiny little chest with the tip of his finger. “And hullo Poppy.” He reached out his finger to her, and felt the tiny tickle of limbs brushing his skin. He greeted them all, realizing that he was one short. Looking around, he spotted Pickett stretched out on a low branch, its leaf-like head dropping. Instantly, Newt was worried and went up on his toes for a closer look.

Pickett shook and bent a little, making a tiny coughing sound. “Oh, what's this?” The tiny bowtruckle squeaked and coughed again. “Got yourself a little cold?” It nodded its head. “That's me as well, I'm afraid. I should be able to keep you warm at least.” He scooped Pickett up and deposited him in his breast pocket. He felt the little guy settle in, snuggling against his chest. If only there were a pocket large enough for Newt to climb into like that, he'd be all set.

Though, now that he thought of it, he might have the next best thing. He headed over to the occamy nest, the silver eggs all nestled right where they were supposed to be. He didn't see Dougal anywhere about, but that wasn't much of a surprise. He knew the demiguise was probably close, watching over the nest so the niffler wouldn't get too near and disrupt the brood. There were magical preventatives in place as well, but it gave Dougal something to do, so Newt didn't mind.

Newt settled down next to the nest, the base of which was magically charmed to heat at exactly the right temperature for the eggs. He leaned against it, resting his head on the straw.

This. This was it at last. Wonderful warmth spread throughout his body. Not just from the heater, of course, but from being surrounded by the animals he cared for. This was what he'd been after all day. He wiped at his nose with his handkerchief and was just about to close his eyes when he heard a squelchy popping sound.

One of the diricawls appeared just in front of him then, an instant later, it was on the ground. Another one came out of nowhere to join the first, and then the two others took up momentary places on his shoulders, heavy, digging in with their claws, until they too vanished and reappeared behind him, from the sound of it. None of them stayed put for more than a second, popping and hopping around. Newt couldn't help but laugh. They were making a game out of it, circling but moving at random, seeing if he could keep up with them. On a normal day, he might stand a chance. But today all he could do was laugh. “Oh, well done, you lot!”

A diricawl squawked back at him with delight, waving his small wings before it relocated on his head for a second. Newt continued to laugh. But a bit of poetry came to mind, and he hurried to write it down before he forgot. He pulled out his wand and summoned a quill and ink well from his shed. And when he reached into his pocket for his notebook, he found Pickett already helping lift it up to him.

“Thank you very much,” he said. “Now try to get some rest.”

Pickett obediently closed his eyes and sunk back down into Newt's pocket.

As a magizoologist, normally he was all about science and observations. He'd been through more notebooks in this past year than in all his years before that combined, taking notes on the creatures he encountered. But every so often other things popped into his journal. One couldn't help but be inspired from time to time. These wouldn’t make them into the book, but he didn’t want to lose the thoughts either. At the bottom of a nearly filled page, he scribbled down:

Do you recall the diricawl,

Its feathers teal and white

It disappears and reappears

Appearing to take flight

The moment he was finished, he whipped his handkerchief back into place. “ihhh Hihshhiphhhhh!” He shook from the force of the sneeze. He felt Pickett stir in his pocket and then poke at him in a ticklish sort of way. “Sniff! All right. All right. I get the hint. Naptime for both of us.” He rested his head back upon edge of the nest and closed his eyes.

PROMPT:

14: Warmth
Suggestions: Cuddling in front of a fire, hot chocolate, warm soup, fever, huddling up against another person for warmth, warm clothes, big fluffy blankets, maybe the character can’t seem to get warm.
(If you’re using cold as an contrastive structure, just try to make the focus more on the getting warm/warmth after it passes.)