House: Slytherin
Year: 5th
Class: Potions
Story Category: Standard
Prompt: [Creature] Baby niffler
Word Count: 1421
Title: Rewarding Afternoon
A/N: Newt knew he should have let the nest alone, but he couldn't help himself. The creatures that inhabited the Magical world had always called to him. So when he came across the Niffler nest, he could help but play with the babies that were encased inside.
Newt stared at the uncovered nest in shocked awe. There was a mummy Niffler staring at him. It could only be female for the way it was standing guard over her Niffler babies. She hissed at him, circling her burrow in agitation. But he knew enough to make her mad, they could be vicious for such small creatures.
"Well, hello there. What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be with your babies?" The young man glanced around the empty clearing.
There was no reply, but Newt hadn't expected one. She was a Niffler after all. He was worried as to why she wasn't in the burrow with her young, which he could barely hear. They were making their way out. Newt just chuckled, sitting himself a good two feet from the burrow to watch.
"Makes sense now, little mummy. Your babies are coming out, is it their first time out here, I wonder?" Newt spoke softly, not wanting to upset the female.
Unexpected chatter was his answer, and he just laughed as the female circled the burrow. She continued to chatter at him, until three little bills poked out of the hole. Her chattering stopped as she sniffed them and vice versa. Newt watched their interaction in fascination, he wanted to see the babies so badly. So, he settled into his spot to wait as patiently as possible.
"Impatient little things, but curious. The joys of babies." He murmured.
It took several more moments before seven little babies climbed out of the hole. Newt couldn't believe his eyes, they were adorable. He watched the seven sniff their surroundings while playing with each other. But he could see the mum sticking halfway out of the burrow, was there more? The seven babies stopped in their playing as their mother wiggled back out of the burrow, pulling a smaller baby out.
This one was smaller than all of its siblings, the teen realized that it was a runt. Newt gazed at it sadly, most animals shunned the runt, but he knew Nifflers would be the opposite, as the siblings joined their mother. They all sniffed and chattered to each other, several branching off the tumble around with each other.
"They look so fluffy." Newt chuckled, watching as several more joined the first two in tumbling and wrestling each other.
The babies were all very curious as they checked each other out and anything else that caught their attention. They tumbled, pounced and wrestled each other, just to check out tails, feet and fur. It was something only the babies would understand as they played a game that Newt wasn't sure the purpose of. But watched nonetheless.
His noise had drawn the family of nine's attention. Each Niffler froze and stared at him, except the mother. She chattered to the youngest, having placed the littlest at her feet. Newt watched in amusement as the littlest one tried to burrow its way under the female, just trying to hide away from everything no doubt.
He pulled out a gold coin, knowing it would get the babies attention. No doubt the parent's wouldn't share their horde with the infants. Newt shouted in shock as he was set upon by eight little bodies, even the mother had pounced on him for the coin. It took him a few minutes of detaching them, before he could sit again.
He felt properly frazzled as they seemed to clamber over each other just to reach the coin he'd put back in his pouch. That had not been the best of ideas. But he could give each of them a gold coin, so he quickly transfigured a rock into the size of a galleon and turned it a gold color.
"You move fast," He panted, straightening his clothes, idly noticing that the runt had joined their siblings. "Now, stay there. I've got one for each of you."
He showed the babies the coin again, watching in amusement as they tried to hold back. Chattering to each other in want of the coin. So Newt withdrew his wand, tapping the coin he whispered Geminio and the Nifflers watched in rapt attention as the one gold coin turned into nine gold coins. Each of the babies scrambled forward to horde as many as they could and Newt had to jump away to avoid being attacked again.
"None of that now. There is one for each of you." He said, handing each of the babies a coin.
The mother took her coin and immediately shoved it in her pouch. It was amusing to see each of the babies stare at her for a moment before doing the same. Except for the littlest, who didn't have its coin. So Newt pulled out two more and held them out to the littlest of the Nifflers. Who hastily grabbed them and shoved them into its pouch. Chattering at him, while examining his hand, probably looking for more.
"That's all i've got for you, i'm afraid. Wouldn't want you to get to greed little one."
The runt just chittered and chattered at him, pulling at his hands and clothes as it searched him for more of the gold coins. It seemed to be on a mission, which amused the teen to no end. It was a good thing that his coin bag was charmed to be thief proof, otherwise the little thing would have cleaned him out of coins, with the way it was searching all of his pockets.
"So what are you all I wonder?" He disentangled the runt from his shirt and held it up.
He studied the baby for a moment, before flipping it over. Stroking its tummy absently, their fur really was soft. He checked each of its limbs and paws, and they seemed well enough. So he moved on poking and stroking the Niffler as it chattered at him, chewing on the necklace he wore. Newt chuckled before setting her down.
"You're a fine little girl, aren't you." He murmured stroking her from neck to tail.
The others surrounded the little girl, chattering to her as she continued to chew on the stolen necklace. Several of the bigger siblings pounced on her, and Newt went to help but drew back when the Mother hissed at him. So he sat and watched as the runt fought off her siblings, shoving her treasures into her pouch as quick as possible.
They chased after her for a few minutes, but each time they caught up she was able to hold them off. Not at all afraid to scratch or bite them. It looked as if it would continue until she ran towards Newt, who was drawn out of his thoughts as the baby jumped on top of his head. He just laughed as she perched there, chattering at her siblings.
He could tell she was probably yelling at them. The chattering had changed tones and speed often enough, what he wouldn't give to hear the babies communicate with each other. So the group stayed like that. Newt watching as the other baby Nifflers took to exploring the space around their burrow.
Every now and then the Mother would give Newt a calculating look, before turning back to her others as they made their own adventures around the clearing. Newt wished that he could stay there and study them longer, but reluctantly pulled the dozing girl from his hair.
"It's time for you to go back little girl. You mummy is herding the others." He put her down, and watched as she chattered and yawned.
Newt stood, stretching his achy back. Happy that he'd been able to spend the day with the group of babies. Until he noticed that the Mother was headed his way, carrying the little girl. He knelt down, and let her place the runt in his open hands.
"You want me to take her?" He was shocked, honored but shocked nonetheless.
The Mother nodded, before reaching into her pouch and shoving several coins and rings into the runts pouch. She chattered at Newt a few times before turning away from them and went back into the burrow.
Newt stared down at the little girl he'd just been handed. What was he supposed to do with a baby Niffler? His parents were going to kill him. Not to mention his head of house, but the baby just yawned and curled up further. So the teen just stroked its back before setting it back into his unruly hair and headed back to the school.