Hey ! Sorry it's been a while. A lot going in my life so not enough time to write. I hope you'll enjoy !

Chapter 13 - Conversation with a Centaur.

Since that little event Tina accidently witnessed, she felt rather down and avoided Newt like Dragonpox. Her next lesson was soon but she didn't felt like having it though. She also tried to hide her turmoil from her sister but in that state it was useless for she was utterly unable to lock her mind. Consequently the blond girl eventually learned what was saddening her sister. As she expected her to be, she became mad at both Newt and Leta.

"What a cheek !" She cried out.

"It's my fault Queenie." Tina simply stated, trying to sound indifferent, "it's nothing really, just a misunderstanding."

"Of course not ! You took the blame for him last time with that Niffler and this is how he is thanking you ?! And Leta ! I thought we were friend !" She added with a high pitch voice, clearly upset.

"He's just here to give me private lessons, nothing more. I was the one being stupid enough to thing we could be friend. I'll just resume my lesson as if nothing happened."

"But - "

"I'm okay with that Queenie, really." She made a forced smile to reassure her sister, only half convincing. "Do your homework, I have to ask him the Murtlap's tentacle for the potion."

She left the fountain yard where they were currently sitting without waiting for an answer from her sister who watched her with worried eyes. She found him some moments later near the Forbidden Forest, apparently busy studying what seemed to be horse prints on the dirt. He didn't noticed her approach as she came from behind.

"N - Mr Scamander, what are you doing ?" She made him jump with surprise.

"Oh, Tina, good timing." He told her as he didn't heard her calling him by his last name, oblivious to the fact their relationship just happened to take a great step back. "Come here, tell me what you see."

He waited for her, still crouching on the floor but eventually turned around as she didn't moved an inch. She averted her gaze as their eyes met, looking troubled. She thought bitterly he didn't even looked concerned about her or anything.

"Mr Scamander," This time he caught it clearly and he slightly tilted his head in confusion as a consequence, "Would you mind giving me the Murtlap's tentacle please ? I need it so I can practice preparing the potion."

She waited patiently for him to comply. He blinked then awkwardly stood up and approached in a rush.

"Yes, uh, sorry." He said, not quite looking at her all of a sudden, "Talking about that, uh, I was - I was wondering if you'll agree to hum... Well to give me some of the tentacle ?" He glanced at her hopefully and expectantly. "See, I - I'd like to have a look on them, if I may." He added.

She watched him blankly, feeling once again empty. She considered refusing, telling herself it would be a good revenge, but she finally agreed for it wasn't his fault if she imagined things. Mr Graves wouldn't approve her doing that anyway.

"Sure." She simply replied instead, earning a shy smile from the boy and she forced herself to return it. "Is it okay if it's just a copy though ? I'd like to keep the original for the brewing."

"Of course but, I'm not really good at multiplying charm."

"Leave it to me."

He handed her the bottle containing the red tentacles. She took it and put it on the floor before aiming at it with her wand, looking confident.

"Geminio."

With a flick of her wand, the bottle produced several copy of itself and its contents in a tinkle, the original impossible to recognize. Fortunately, Tina had memorized its spot and retrieve it straight away. She pointed her wand toward the original bottle again and used a color changing spell to distinguish them.

"Well, that's clever." He complimented her. "Do - Do you want to study them with me ? I mean, after our lesson."

"It's okay Mr Scamander, I don't want to bother you more than needed." Newt opened his mouth to refute her statement, now fully aware something was off. "Besides," She added before he could said anything, "I have to gather the other ingredient and, since the next one should be easy to find, I won't need your help this time."

"Oh. Well, if it's what you want, I'm okay with it I suppose." He felt disappointed though he couldn't really say why. He thought that maybe he wanted to work with her after all, she was indeed clever, handy and meticulous. Really, he could have used her help actually, or that was the reason he found to explain why he was so miffed by the fact she refused to do so. Nothing more. "Okay, so uh. Today I shall teach you some tracking methodology." He resumed as he tried to put his own turmoil aside. He asked her to follow him and showed her the print he was previously examining before her arrival. It was big and deep, meaning the creature who did it was of a tall high. Once again, Newt crouched on the floor and demanded Tina what she thought about it.

"It looks like a horse's spoor."

"What else ?"

She crouched in her turn to have a closer look, slightly frowning as she reflected on what else she could tell about it. She noticed it was aiming at the Forbidden Forest and that the next one was surprisingly far from that one, meaning the beast was a quite good jumper. Meanwhile, Newt was looking at her out of the corner of his eyes, wondering why she was so distant today to the point of calling him Mr Scamander again. He started a little when she stood up abruptly and walked with a firm step toward the Forest.

"It went in the Forest." She told him without turning around, staring at the Forest instead, "I don't think it's a regular Horse though, is it ?"

"What gave it away ?" He asked her curiously.

"I don't think Horses have hair like this." She picked up a long and fine blond strand of hair. It was brilliant and silky, shining like gold. Tina found it quite beautiful and wondered consequently what type of creature could have such wonderful hair.

"Well," Newt began, unexpectedly not as admiring as her, "It's a Centaur's hair, if I'm not mistaken. For some unknown reason, one of them left the Forest recently. We're going to find him."

"A centaur ? What is that thing ?" She said as she followed him in the forest, noticing some others footprints on the ground.

"Never ask that in front of them," Newt suddenly snorted, "It might be the last thing you do. Centaurs are half humans half Horses beings. They are as intelligent as proud and they have a slightly complicated relationship with our kind, to say the least."

"Do they want to kill us ?" She watched him with big scared eyes as he examined another golden strand of hair on the floor.

"Frequently." Then he noticed her apprehension and hurried to reassure her, "Don't worry, the horde living here is not that bellicose toward us. Besides, I think there is just one of them so we can just observe him from a distance."

"How do you know it's a he ?"

"Females Centaurs are rarely seen, I don't even know if there is one here. I'm ninety five percent sure it's a Male."

After a moment of hunting the creature down, they eventually spotted him not far from the edge, apparently alone. Newt grabbed Tina's arm to intimate her to crouch behind a tree with him so they could study the Beast without him being aware. She complied, placing herself in front of the boy to have a better look. From what they could see, he was a handsome Centaur with a bright palomino coat and long, wavy blond hair cascading down his naked back with elegance. He was busy picking berries and sages, shaking peacefully his shining tail. Tina watched him in awe, completely taken aback by his nobility. She was unable to take her eyes off him even. Newt, on his part, was examining him carefully, mentally noting every detail he could manage to when he noticed Tina's look. Somehow, it bothered him to witness her staring at someone like this, even if he was indeed a beautiful Centaur he admitted. After a moment, he wanted to stood up for his legs were sore because of the crouching but in the process, he bumped into a small branch he didn't saw before, shaking its little leaves which made a soft sound. Tina suddenly rose her head to meet his eyes and saw that he had froze, a tensed look on his face. The Centaur stayed still in his turn, as if listening his surrounding or waiting for something to happen, before slowly moving away deeper in the Forest. Newt and Tina sighed with relief, then the latter moved to stand up and turned around to face the other student, ready to tell him they had a narrow escape but made a short high pitch scream instead that made Newt jump. He abruptly turned around and found the blond Centaur watching at them calmly not far away. Despite his own panic, he threw himself upon the young girl in a protective gesture. They were both fixing the Centaur who was collectedly approaching them, looking amused by the situation given his half smile. He seemed rather young, not looking older than twenty years old. His azure eyes were gleaming with both intelligence and indulgence.

"It's very chivalrous of you my friend," He said as he noticed the young boy's attempt to protect Tina, "but I think I should be the one being protected." He finished, giving a head gesture in Tina's direction to intimate Newt to look at her.

The latter glanced at Tina, still facing the Centaur cautiously just in case. However he widen his eyes with alarm as he noticed she was taking aim at the calm creature with her wand, looking determined to curse him at any sign of aggression.

"Lower your wand Tina !" He ordered her with urgency and a little roughly as he thought with disdain it was for that exact reason he didn't like Auror. To him, they was just a bunch of careerist hypocrites whose first reaction to something they don't understand was "kill it!". Although his vision of the Auror had something to do with the fact his brother stole what he believed to be the Love of his life but he would never admitted it of course.

"I don't think so Mr Scamander." She replied without moving an inch, fiercely fixing the centaur, "I believe they're not the friendliest creatures so - "

"You've got nothing to fear from us." The Centaur told her softly, searching for her eyes with his beautiful one, "We'll never lay a hand on an innocent filly. However, I couldn't say the same for you." He spoke to the red-brown boy, "You're not really a colt anymore, you're almost a stallion even. I'll advise you to return to school before the other found out you entered our territory without permission."

"How - How did he called me ?" Tina said, so taken aback she lowered her wand in the process. Newt didn't listened to her however, longing to ask some question to the creature as he understood that one wasn't menacing. He took a step toward the Centaur with hope.

"Just a few questions Sir if I may, then I promise we'll leave the Forest straight away."

The Centaur stared curiously at him, thinking with amusement it was the first time someone called him Sir. He liked it though, so he just nodded in agreement and waited for the boy's questions.

"Does Centaurs have a name ? Do you have some specials abilities ?" He asked eagerly. Tina just waited behind him, staring at her surrounding with obvious worry despite what the half man half horse told her.

"We do have name indeed, mine is Firenze. And yes, we're magical Beasts so we also have powers. We're particularly good at healing, divination and astronomy."

"I notice you define yourself as a Beast but aren't you more of a Being ?" He resumed, mentally noting everything the Centaur named Firenze was telling him to put it in writing later. "I - I mean you're as intelligent as humans so I was wondering..." He added in a rush as Firenze suddenly grimaced with disgust.

"We absolutely don't want to be in the same classification than those Hags or Vampires barbarians. If you want to know why, just ask to the Merpeople. They refused the Ministry's "offer" too." He emphasized sarcastically.

Newt decided he shouldn't insist since it seemed to be a very slippery slope given the very despising tone of the man. He chose to ask a last but very important question to him.

"Why do you hate our kind ?"

The question caught Tina's attention as well and she found herself waiting for the answer as strongly as Newt. She fixed Firenze expectantly and for the first time, he seemed to be taken off guard which was quite difficult usually. He took some minutes to reply as he considered the very complicated case of the Wizards and Centaurs relationship.

"I don't think our people actually hate yours. There are conflicts, no denying, but if a Wizarding war were to break out, I think we'll help you getting through it eventually. My horde at least."

"A war ? Did you see a war in the future ?" Tina suddenly spoke with concern, making Newt start for he completely forget about her presence near him. Firenze seemed even more uncertain about his answer than the last one.

"I'm not sure, but you're not unaware of the fact that the Non Magic are currently being torn apart by a global War that could interfere with our world. Also, we Centaurs, have heard about a very dangerous Dark Wizard recently. A former friend of one of your teacher. It's still very cloudy but I have a bad feeling about this."

Tina and Newt exchanged a perplexe look, both not sure to know what to think about all of this. Then Firenze told them it was time for them to return to the Castle safely. Once inside, Tina turned to Newt awkwardly, looking at the floor to avoid his eyes.

"Well, I still have to find some thyme for my potion. It was nice of you to give me that tracking lesson Mr Scamander." She said with a slight, almost imperceptible wobble in her voice. "Have a nice evening."

"Uh ?" He just said but she left hurriedly, without leaving him time to reply properly. He followed her with bemused eyes for he didn't expected her to rush like that. Really, he didn't understood why she seemed so upset, everything were fine before her accident with that underwater spell. "You too, Tina..." He mumbled for himself, strangely disappointed with the turn of event.