Disclaimer: I do not own "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" in any way, shape, or form! I only own my OC, "Sophia Millicent Kingston" and the plot of this story!

Summary: Sophie Kingston is a dragonologist at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. One day, Newt Scamander shows up and Sophie is immediately smitten. The only problem? She's already engaged. But Sophie has bigger problems. A mysterious illness is sweeping across Sophie's town, and it may be up to Sophie and Newt to find out what-before it's too late.

Author's Note: Welcome, welcome! Some of you may recognize the characters of Newt and Sophie, and that's because I had of fic of them up at the beginning of this year but then decided to do something else with them! For those of you who read the original fic, then you knew that Sophie and Newt were married by the time they got to New York. Well, this story depicts what happened with them and how they got married! I hope you enjoy it! I have 25 chapters planned for this story, so let's hope it takes off!

Enjoy!

Felix has been displaying strange behaviour, she wrote down, her eyebrows knitted together as she thought of what could possibly be going on. We had recently switched his diet from cattle to pigs, so it might be the change in his diet that is causing the strange behaviour. I have spoken with Vasile, and he suggested switching back to Felix's normal diet-

Sophie Kingston set the pen down and flexed her cramping fingers. She had been writing and writing for hours, her recent examination of Felix the Chinese Fireball still fresh in her mind. She took a sip of the coffee that the Muggles were so fond of. Sophie hadn't understood the attraction-until she had some herself. Now she could barely wake up in the morning without a sip of coffee.

Sophie worked at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary in Romania, and she was among the many who stayed long after hours working into the night. All the dragonologists at the Sanctuary were dedicated to the creatures that they worked with, and Sophie oftentimes put them before herself. She ran a hand through her chopped blonde hair, the tips barely touching her shoulders. Sophie knew that the trend of the times was a short bob, but she didn't think it suited her. Her hairstyle suited her much better, and it was a compromise between the two.

She had always loved magical creatures, and dragons especially so, having been obsessed with the creatures since she was a Ravenclaw schoolgirl at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. When she had her first lesson in the Care of Magical Creatures, Sophie knew that this was what she was going to spend her life doing.

Her mother, Thea, insisted that the job was too dangerous, but her father, Matthew, told her to follow her heart and do what she loved. Then again, her mother was a witch, and her father was a Muggle, so he didn't truly recognize or understand the danger of working with dragons.

She moved from England to Romania fresh out of Hogwarts. Her Care of Magical Creatures professor had seen her potential and got her an internship at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary. She kissed her mum, dad, and her two sisters Astra and Penelope goodbye and left for Romania at the ripe age of seventeen. For ten long years she studied as hard as she could, and eventually began moving up the ranks. By the time she was twenty-seven, she was the Chief Caregiver to the Chinese Fireballs, her favourite being Felix (she took one look at Felix when he was born and decided that he looked like a Felix).

However, during the Great War, she took a break from her studies and enlisted as a war nurse. As much as she was a witch, she was also half-Muggle, and she felt like she owed it to her Muggle heritage to help in this war as much as she could.

But it was during the War that she lost her father. The death of Matthew hit her and her family hard, but they managed to work through it.

Mostly.

Some days the grief would hit Sophie so hard she felt like she needed to lie down. Even though almost eight years had passed since her father died in the second year of the war, the wounds were still as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. She would excuse herself and have a good cry. All in private, of course. As the oldest child in her family, she had believed that it was her responsibility to be strong and take care of the family.

Her mother agreed with this, but unfortunately, had taken it farther than Sophie could've imagined.

Almost automatically, Sophie looked at the ring that sat very pointedly on her forth finger on her left hand. The ring itself didn't weigh much, but to Sophie, it felt like an overwhelming weight bringing her whole spirit down.

Sophie clenched her hand into a fist and the ring stuck out more. She relaxed her hand, and the ring shrank back down. She did that for a minute or so, but she didn't know why. Maybe she was hoping that the ring would disappear. Maybe she was hoping that it would pop off her finger. Maybe...

She yanked it off her finger and tossed it into the drawers of the desk, just like she always did. She grinned and beared it when she was surrounded by her friends and family, but her office was her sanctuary. Here, she could be Sophie Kingston, not the future Mrs. John Williams.

She looked up when she heard a knock at the door and called out, "Come in!" in Romanian (after spending ten years in a country, Sophie knew that she couldn't get by without knowing the language).

The door opened, and Cristina, one of the receptionists, poked her head through the door. "Miss Kingston?" she started in heavily accented English. "There is man here to see you. I told him I see if you busy first."

Sophie knew that the man who was with Cristina spoke English, because Cristina wouldn't be speaking English otherwise. Sophie responded in Romanian, "I'm free. Send him in."

Cristina opened the door more and in walked the most breathtakingly gorgeous man that she had ever seen. He wasn't cute in an obvious way; his blue overcoat looked like it had seen war (and it might very well have-the war had ended not too long ago, and people were still recovering), his hair was such a light brown that it almost looked blond, and they were a mess of curls on top of his head, and his green eyes never quite met Sophie's as he came to a stop in front of her.

For some reason, Sophie felt like she recognized him. She stared at him for a good thirty seconds before she realized how awkward that must be, and tore her gaze away from him long enough to look over at Cristina. "That will be all, Cristina, thank you," she told her in Romanian, and Cristina nodded her head before walking out the door, shutting it tightly behind her.

Sophie looked back over at the man, whose shoulders were now hunching in as he awkwardly gripped his briefcase in his right hand. She held out her right hand to him. "My name is Sophie Kingston, though I gather you know that already if you're here to see me," she said in English.

The man looked at her hand, before exclaiming, "Oh!" and gently setting down his briefcase onto the ground beside him. He grabbed Sophie's hand and gave it a good shake. "Newt Scamander."

"Scamander?" she repeated as she released his hand. "As in the brother of Theseus Scamander?"

Sophie may live in Romania, but she was originally from England, and she was among thousands of witches and wizards who defied the Minister of Magic and decided to participate in the war. As a result, she too had heard of the great war hero Theseus Scamander.

Mr Scamander ducked his head a little, and from his demeanor change, Sophie knew she had done something wrong by bringing up Theseus. "Yes, Theseus is my brother," he confirmed.

Eager to change the subject, Sophie gestured to the chair that Mr. Scamander was standing beside. "Have a seat, Mr Scamander," she said as she sat down herself in her own chair.

"Please, call me Newt," he insisted as he sat down.

"Then you must call me Sophie," she nodded, and just as she opened her mouth to ask what she could do for him, there was a loud growling noise and the ground shook a bit. "What was that?" she blurted, looking around her desk.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Newt discreetly closing the latch on his briefcase. "I'm sure it was nothing," he assured her. "Perhaps it was one of the dragons."

Not really satisfied with the answer, Sophie sat back down in her chair. "What can I do for you, Newt?"

"I have been commissioned to write a book for Obscurus Books, all about magical creatures," Newt began, and Sophie couldn't help but notice the glow in his eyes as he he said the words "magical creatures". "And I came here to observe some of the dragons that you keep here. Dragons are hard to come by in the wild, mainly because the wizarding world doesn't really allow for dragons to be out in the wild, so I thought coming here was the next best thing. I understand that you are the primary caregiver for the Chinese Fireballs here?"

Sophie nodded. "I am."

"Well, I would like to observe them and compare them with Chinese Fireballs that I have noticed in the wild," Newt continued. "I thought that it would be an interesting concept to compare creatures in the wild to creatures that are cared for by humans."

She nodded again. It all made sense to Sophie, herself a lover of magical creatures. This book that Newt was talking about with such passion sounded like it was going to be really good once it was done. "Anything that you need, Newt, I promise you that the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary will provide it for you. We also have Common Welsh Greens, Hungarian Horntails, Norwegian Ridgebacks, Swedish Short-Snouts, Romanian Longhorn, and Ukrainian Ironbellies in case you were interested."

Sophie almost laughed at the excited expression on Newt's face. She ripped out a blank sheet of paper from one of the notebooks on her desk and scribbled down a bunch of names. "These are the names of the Chief Caregivers of each of the dragon species and where their offices are located. My best friend, Alexandra Funar, is in charge of the Romanian Longhorns." She folded the piece of paper. "Once again, anything you have need of, please feel free to ask. I am here from nine am to five pm, though I usually stay longer, and I'm usually here on weekends too, so if you need anything from me, I am always here." She held out the paper to Newt.

"Thank you very much, Sophie," Newt said gratefully as he took the paper from her. Their fingers brushed, and Sophie felt a tingle run up and down the length of her arm, one that hadn't been there when she originally shook Newt's hand. She did her best to ignore it as she let go of the paper. Newt folded it further and tucked it into his pocket. "I appreciate this very much."

Just as Sophie opened her mouth to say something, she heard the same growling from before, though louder. "What is that?" Sophie wondered as she got up from her chair. "Excuse me," she said as she went over to her door. She swung it open and poked her head out the door, looking up and down the hall. The last time she had heard that kind of growling, one of the baby Swedish Short-Snouts had escaped without anyone noticing, and it nearly burned down their lobby.

Sophie frowned but stepped back inside and shut the door once more. Just as she did, this time she saw the latch on Newt's suitcase become undone, though Newt hadn't done it. It had happened on its own.

Sophie knew she shouldn't have been surprised (after all, she and Newt both possessed magic, and it didn't get any more surprising than that), but what peaked her interest was how Newt hastily bent over and closed the latch on the suitcase once more. "I've been meaning to get that fixed," he laughed awkwardly, and before Sophie could question him further, he abruptly stood up from his chair. He grabbed the suitcase by the handle and walked over to the door where Sophie was standing.

"Thank you so much again for your help, Sophie," Newt said as he came to a stop in front of her. He held his hand out to her. "It was very nice meeting you."

Sophie still wanted to ask questions, but she knew Newt wasn't going to give up the answers. Instead, she took his hand and shook it. She felt that same tingly feeling, though this time much stronger as she said, "It was very nice to meet you too, Newt. Let me know if you need anything."

Newt nodded as he let go of her hand, and Sophie opened her office door for him. The two bid each other farewell, and Sophie shut the door behind Newt as he walked down the hallway and towards the lobby, where the exit was.

Sophie leaned against the door and ran her hand up the arm that had touched Newt's. She didn't know why she had felt that tingle, and she didn't know if she liked it or not.

The telephone on Sophie's desk rang, and she broke herself out of her thoughts as she went over to answer it. Her magical coworkers thought that she was silly for owning a Muggle device, but she thought that it would be a useful device to have, especially because she had a telephone at home (her witch mother had very much adopted Muggle customs after marrying her Muggle father) and it was the best way to reach home. If you asked Sophie, sometimes she thought that the telephone was a better method of communication than messenger owls. Owls could lose post, they could get lost, or be just plain rude and lazy.

She answered the phone and sat back down in her chair. "Hello?" she greeted.

"Sophie!" her mother exclaimed, and Sophie winced as she drew the phone away from her ear. "Will you be home for dinner tonight? I'm making your favourite!"

Her mother was always trying to use incentives like making her favourite meals to get Sophie to come home early. Sophie didn't spend much time at home, mainly because her mother drove her crazy, but also because home just didn't feel like home without her father anymore. Her Muggle father was just as daring and adventurous as Sophie, which was something that her mother disapproved of. Thea Kingston was always said before Sophie was born that her father plus magic would be a terrible mix, and lo and behold, Sophie came out a carbon copy of her father, with the same features and the same zest for life, but with magic. The day Thea realized this was the day that she nearly had a heart attack.

But Sophie was in good spirits after meeting Newt Scamander. She wasn't sure what it was about him (maybe it was the passion with which he spoke about his job, maybe it was the positive air that he had about him, or maybe it was just the excitement of meeting someone new) but meeting him had put Sophie in a good mood. Therefore, she responded, "I'll be home soon, mother. I just have a few things to finish up."

"Don't be too long!" she said, and the two of them hung up after saying goodbye.

Sophie quickly finished up her notes and the other things that she had to do, put some books that she needed to look over at home into her bag and then shrugged on her coat. She had just put her hand on top of the light switch to turn the light off, but the sight of her naked finger reminded Sophie of something very important that she had nearly forgotten.

She looked back over the desk she had just left, and with sigh, walked back over to it. She pulled the drawer to the desk open and reached in. She drew her hand back up and stared at the diamond ring with disdain.

With no choice, Sophie put the ring back onto her finger. She immediately felt the effect of putting the ring back on. Before, she felt much lighter, happier. But now she once again felt herself shrink, like she was prisoner and the ring was her shackles.

She clenched her hand into a fist and dropped it to her side as she went out the door, turning the light off and shutting the door behind her without looking back.

TBC...

Let me know what you think! Obviously this story takes place before the events of the first movie, just FYI.

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