Written for The Houses Competition & Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

House Hufflepuff

Houses

Category: Short

Prompt: Newt Scamander

Word count: 1437

Hogwarts

Subject: History of Muggles

Task: 3b-Write about someone looking for direction in their life.

Beta: Dark Angel of Sorrow Returns

Canon is bent a little bit to allow this story to exist. Information on newts found on the Britannica website

He was exceptionally proud of his name; he had chosen it himself after he had discovered his passion—with the way he had discovered it, there was no question as to what his new name would be. He would always remember that day; it had been the day when everything had fallen into place. The day he had finally figured out what he wanted to do with his life.

Charlie had been occupying himself with a book when the lizard had dropped onto the page he was reading. He had stared at it for a while and it stared back at him. Eventually he ventured to say, "Hello."

The lizard blinked and said nothing. Not that Charlie really expected it to. As far as he was aware, there weren't any species of lizard that were capable of speaking English—or at all. Deciding that he didn't mind the company of the lizard, he placed the book down and gestured towards the flat surface of the desk explaining, "I can't very well keep reading if you're on my book. You can stay, just not on my book." The creature moved to the desk where it lay quite happily and Charlie continued to read.

He would occasionally glance over at the lizard and every time he did so, his curiosity increased until he could take it no more. He closed the book softly, said, "Stay here," to the lizard and went into the library in search of an encyclopedia of creatures. He found with relative ease and quickly made his way back to his room.

The lizard was still there and he smiled at it, "Right then, let's find out what you are."

He flipped through the many pages until he came upon the section on lizards. With eager eyes, he scanned the pictures and information only to sit back a few minutes later when he could find nothing that matched his visitor. He blew out a great gust of air as he fiddled with the pages and considered the lizard. It blinked at him once before scurrying over to the book and started nudging at the pages.

Confused but willing to go along with the lizard for the moment—it was a good distraction to the rest of his life where he had no idea what he was doing—he turned the pages over until the lizard stopped nudging. Charlie looked at the page and then looked at the lizard, who seemed to jerk its head towards the page. He shrugged and started reading.

Newt

AMPHIBIAN

Newt (family Salamandridae), generic name used to describe several partially terrestrial salamanders. The family is divided informally into newts and "true salamanders" (that is, all non-newt species within Salamandridae regardless of genus). Since there is little distinction between the two groups, this article considers the family as a whole.

Charlie looked over at the lizard—newt—and quickly apologised for assuming it was a lizard. The newt blinked at him and nudged the book again. Charlie took the hint and kept reading.

Salamandrids range from moderately slender to robust-bodied forms. All have well-developed limbs and tails. They are usually less than 20cm (8 inches) in total length and many are less that cm (4 inches). Newts have rough skin and the skin of many salamanders is rugose (wrinkled).

Charlie was fascinated by the information he found on the page, a whole new world was opening up to him and he wanted to dive straight in as far as he could, learn everything there was to learn. He grinned at his new friend and it seemed to grin back; then he flipped back to the very beginning of the encyclopedia and started reading.

"Charlie! Dinner's ready!" Charlie looked up from the book and saw that during the time he had been reading, the rest of the day had gone by and it was now night time. He blinked and glanced around his room, reacquainting himself with a reality that wasn't filled with fascinating creatures. He heard his mother call again, "Charlie?"

"Coming!" Closing the encyclopedia with exaggerated care, Charlie hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Charlie took a deep breath and looked around his now mostly barren room. This was it, the moment his entire life had been leading up to. There wasn't really any option, he had finally found his dream and he was going to follow it, he would follow it until the end of the world and then a bit further.

For so long, he had been listing in the water with no wind to fill his sails and now the wind was gusting; his sails billowing and filling and he was ready to set sail. He remembered those days of nothing, he had tried to fill them with books and drinking tea. They had been incredibly boring and his family always asked him what he planned to do with his life.

"So, Charlie, any idea what you'll be doing tomorrow?" his mother had asked as they sat around the dinner table.

Charlie coughed as a pea went down the wrong way at the sudden question. Once he had recovered—with no one offering to help—he said, "Well, I thought I might keep researching? I mean, I have a fascinating book to keep me occupied. I'll just keep reading that and, you know, maybe some inspiration will strike me."

His mother hummed but let it go and instead turned to his brother. "How is Auror training going dear?"

Charlie zoned out of the conversation then, it wasn't anything interesting to him. He had no desire to hear how his brother had succeeded at a duel or managed to apprehend a criminal in a training exercise. He let his mind drift as he wondered what he was going to do. Every time his mother asked what he would be the next day, he knew she was asking if he had finally decided on a path.

The sad thing was, he never had. He had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, he had never found anything that he would be happy doing for the rest of his life. He knew that he didn't have to find that one thing straight off, but the wanted to, He didn't want to invest several years into something that would only cause him stress and never return any pleasure.

So he would continue to read and hopefully he would find something that was exciting to him that he would be able to pursue with happiness.

"This is really it, isn't it?" Charlie asked quietly to the newt that was still with him. It nodded at him and he grinned. This was it, he had found what he had been looking for. He drew in a deep breath and then leapt out of the window he had been perched on and started walking. Behind him, his room was empty of all but the least important things and a note. The house was dark and was swallowed by the night as he moved forward.

He wouldn't be returning, there was nothing in that house for him. His mother was always more focused on his brother and said brother was always talking about Auror things that didn't interest Charlie in any shape or form. As he continued to walk he felt lighter, no longer would he have to endure the heavy expectations of his family to do well. This was a brand-new chapter in his life and Charlie Scamander was free.

He frowned as he thought that. Charlie wasn't a very good name for what he wanted to do. He wanted to study creatures of all types, and a name like Charlie just didn't fit. He glanced down at his friend who was on his shoulder and asked, "What do you reckon?"

The newt blinked steadily at him, as if the answer was obvious and Charlie was just too blind to see it. Charlie hit himself in the face as it hit him, "Of course! Why else would it be you who showed me this instead of a hippogriff? Newt! It's a perfect name!"

The newt nodded gravely, and Newt grinned. A new life, a new direction to follow and a new name. Just then, he passed through the Scamander residence wards and he felt the magic let him go. Pulling out the broom from the suitcase that held all his belongings with an extension charm, he mounted it and set off. Newt Scamander and his newt were ready for adventure and by golly were they going to find it.