in with there is some more fudging of wizarding involvement in wwi and younger sons are essentially treated like daughters would have been
------
Newt stays on the Eastern front for the remaining two years of the Great War. At first he spends his time observing the Ironbellies, learning their social structure and habits and how they conduct themselves, getting them to trust him, figuring out how a wizard and a dragon can work together. There are very few volunteers when Newt is ready to prove to Theseus and the other generals that rider pairs can be created, but the few who do show up keep the Eastern front free of dark wizards until World War I finally ends.
+
Newt returns to the Scamander home three months after the muggle governments finish their Treaty of Versailles. He stays for a joint moot between the American and other European wizards on what to do about the rise of dark wizards under Grindlewald as the only man to successfully create a dragon training regime.
He turns 23 a scant few days after his return.
It seems strange to go back to work after a war, but he dutifully returns to the Ministry. He is granted a permission to the Beast Division thanks to his work with dragons during the war. (It’s a promotion according to Newt, anyway, because he not only continues his work with dragons and expands it to other magical creatures- he now gets actual funding.) He is even in talks of perhaps writing a pamphlet that details his time with dragons and provides a guide for other wizards who come upon them. His parents are pleased with the change, but his salary is still meager and they want for Newt to find someone who will be able to support him after carnage that has left a generation in ruins.
It’s only a few months after his return to England that his mother arranges his second marriage with his father’s permission- his father is too sick now to take care of the negotiations himself. Theseus acts as an advocate for Newt, which their father had not allowed during the previous negotiations due to the war.
When Newt is summoned for his formal notification of marriage, he tries to hide himself in house visits for some of his last house-elf allocations before the war and then under the pretense of checking in on some diricrawls he has just rescued from a disreputable breeder in Scotland.
Unfortunately it is hard to run from one’s mother.
“Love, please,” his mother says, “You're certainly old enough now. Do you expect Theseus to take care of you for the rest of your days?”
“I've been doing fine on my own so far. If my book comes through I'll be doing even better.”
“But you can't know that it will- even if you do come to write it, what are the chances of it making much money?”
Newt bites his lip to keep from frowning. He knows wizards don't put much stock in magical creatures, but a guide to dragons will surely be worth a little. Even if only to the Ministry employees. Of the Beast Division.
His mother smiles softly. “You see? I'm sure it won't be a reflection of your talent; you've always been good at essays. It's just that there's very little interest in beasts, on the whole.”
She reaches her hands out to him, the way she always has when trying to convince him of her point. Newt can't help but take them.
“Your father is not well, love,” she says softly, “It isn't going to be long now. The Scamanders have always been just on the periphery of the big wizarding families, despite our money. Your brother will need good connections when your father dies-”
“Both for his position in the Ministry and to marry well, himself,” Newt finishes. He grins crookedly at her. “I know.”
His mother smiles, “And the Greengrasses have them. I want you to be taken care of.”
For the first time, Newt almost wishes he still had the war to run to. At least this time his mother knows of Newt’s preferences. She has taken care to look for suitable match, and even Newt has to admit his intended is perfect- on paper at least.
Julius Greengrass is tall, handsome, charming, witty and wealthy. In his photographs he gives a crooked smile that is both roguish and charming. Julius is 28. He keeps a well known stable of Hippogriffs (several of which are from the Scamander herd) for racing and security, and the family has an extensive owlery. Newt hopes the animals will mean that they will have an interest to bond over that is not simply their mutual duties in fulfilling a contract.
So Newt resigns himself to a marriage for the good of his brother.
They are married in summer, at the Greengrass estate in Wales. Theseus joins the wedding party as Newt’s guardian, to witness the vows and the sealing of the contract in place of their father.
The Welsh hills that make up the Greengrass estate are far from the Scamander townhouse on the outskirts of Godric’s Hollow. Newt is beyond nervous that he is now expected to live so far away from his family, but with Theseus there to observe and approve it doesn't seem so bad. The estate is beautiful and Julius has said he is fine with Newt keeping his job at the Ministry, so Newt will be able to see Theseus at work and he has hopes that this marriage might turn out okay.
+
Julius Greengrass is a patient husband, and Newt is thankful for it.
Julius knows that Newt and his former bride never consummated their sham of a marriage and that Newt has not been with anyone sexually beyond some hurried and sloppy kisses at school. He teaches Newt how to pleasure with his hands first, then with his mouth. They are married two months before Julius decides that Newt is ready to be taken to bed so he can show Newt how to be a real and proper husband. It is painful at first. It does get better over the next few weeks, and eventually Newt allows that there is pleasure in fornication.
He just also happens to think it’s a bit much that they must have sex every day.
He writes to Theseus about it at one point, mostly curious to know if his brother thinks Newt is overreacting about it, because sometimes it is so hard to understand people, and fornication is one of those things that he knows is just normal in other relationships if the gossip rags are anything to go by. But Newt has never really understood other people, not like his brother does.
Julius comes storming into his room that evening. “How dare you?!”
Newt tenses at his desk, startled. He looks up from his notes unsurely and half stands. “Julius?”
His husband slams his hands down on the desk and shoves his face in Newt's. There is a piece of parchment crumpled in one fist. “How dare you write such slanderous things about me to your brother?”
“What do you mean? I haven't- I wrote but haven't even gotten a-” Newt looks down at the hand with the parchment. Indignation wells up. “Did... did you read my letter?”
“I am the master of this house and I will read anything I wish,” Julius snarls. He grips Newt’s wrist in his free hand and pulls, nearly causing Newt to fall on his face on the desk. “Just as you will be available to me for anything, any time I wish. You are the lesser partner, here. Understand that, or I will have to make you understand it.”
Newt feels the blood drain from his face and his legs start to tremble. “I- I’m sorry, I just. I thought-”
“You aren’t here to think!” Julius snaps. Then he sighs, and his body loosens from its tense rage, and his voice is soft when he looks up at Newt. “I allow you to work. I allow you freedom to come and go. I haven’t even asked that you learn how to be a proper pureblood.”
“Am I not?” Newt asks, both earnestly confused and wary.
“Oh, Newton,” Julius shakes his head.
The smile that spreads across his face is not comforting.
+
Newt learns. He learns that Julius is a good husband who will do well by Newt, if only Newt would listen. He learns to leave work early to direct the house elves and make sure dinner is ready for Julius’s return, no matter how late, sitting by the table and keeping it warm with warming charms if needed. He learns his husband’s tastes and how to act in public when they go out, because Scamanders have no idea how proper society works and it shows in every movement. (It almost doesn’t matter because Julius doesn’t want them to go out very much. He prefers to keep Newt’s pretty face in private, because Newt uses that pretty face to lead on other men and make Julius angry.)
Julius simply wants Newt to be good for him, and Newt is just not trying hard enough, so Newt must be punished. Newt may not see his family- not while he is such a disgrace; they'd think Julius wasn't teaching Newt anything. His notes for the book on his time with dragons are burned when he forgets his place in public and argues with Julius, but he agrees he should not have been so stubborn and those were just slightly more polished, so it’s not really so bad.
And it should be enough that he’s allowed to keep his job and go about in public without a house elf to chaperone. Newt learns to hide the bruises that come when he fails to uphold his duty to his husband. He learns to put people off with his awkwardness so they don’t ask too many questions. He learns to be silent until spoken to and to keep his eyes down so he doesn't entice the wrong attention.
He never quite learns to be good enough.
+
Three years after their wedding, Theseus appears unexpectedly to tell Newt that their father has died. He comes to the estate because Newt hasn’t been to work in three days and none of Theseus’s owls have delivered his letters. He finds Newt with open wounds on his right hip and one eye nearly swollen shut.
Julius is served with the divorce notice via Howler delivered by junior Aurors to his hospital room.
Newt doesn't have Julius Obliviated from his mind, because he doesn't want to look at the scars on his hip and have to wonder where they came from.
FILL [2/?]: Newt/other, eventual Gramander; arranged marriage, abuse, h/c, learning to trust
------
Newt stays on the Eastern front for the remaining two years of the Great War. At first he spends his time observing the Ironbellies, learning their social structure and habits and how they conduct themselves, getting them to trust him, figuring out how a wizard and a dragon can work together. There are very few volunteers when Newt is ready to prove to Theseus and the other generals that rider pairs can be created, but the few who do show up keep the Eastern front free of dark wizards until World War I finally ends.
+
Newt returns to the Scamander home three months after the muggle governments finish their Treaty of Versailles. He stays for a joint moot between the American and other European wizards on what to do about the rise of dark wizards under Grindlewald as the only man to successfully create a dragon training regime.
He turns 23 a scant few days after his return.
It seems strange to go back to work after a war, but he dutifully returns to the Ministry. He is granted a permission to the Beast Division thanks to his work with dragons during the war. (It’s a promotion according to Newt, anyway, because he not only continues his work with dragons and expands it to other magical creatures- he now gets actual funding.) He is even in talks of perhaps writing a pamphlet that details his time with dragons and provides a guide for other wizards who come upon them. His parents are pleased with the change, but his salary is still meager and they want for Newt to find someone who will be able to support him after carnage that has left a generation in ruins.
It’s only a few months after his return to England that his mother arranges his second marriage with his father’s permission- his father is too sick now to take care of the negotiations himself. Theseus acts as an advocate for Newt, which their father had not allowed during the previous negotiations due to the war.
When Newt is summoned for his formal notification of marriage, he tries to hide himself in house visits for some of his last house-elf allocations before the war and then under the pretense of checking in on some diricrawls he has just rescued from a disreputable breeder in Scotland.
Unfortunately it is hard to run from one’s mother.
“Love, please,” his mother says, “You're certainly old enough now. Do you expect Theseus to take care of you for the rest of your days?”
“I've been doing fine on my own so far. If my book comes through I'll be doing even better.”
“But you can't know that it will- even if you do come to write it, what are the chances of it making much money?”
Newt bites his lip to keep from frowning. He knows wizards don't put much stock in magical creatures, but a guide to dragons will surely be worth a little. Even if only to the Ministry employees. Of the Beast Division.
His mother smiles softly. “You see? I'm sure it won't be a reflection of your talent; you've always been good at essays. It's just that there's very little interest in beasts, on the whole.”
She reaches her hands out to him, the way she always has when trying to convince him of her point. Newt can't help but take them.
“Your father is not well, love,” she says softly, “It isn't going to be long now. The Scamanders have always been just on the periphery of the big wizarding families, despite our money. Your brother will need good connections when your father dies-”
“Both for his position in the Ministry and to marry well, himself,” Newt finishes. He grins crookedly at her. “I know.”
His mother smiles, “And the Greengrasses have them. I want you to be taken care of.”
For the first time, Newt almost wishes he still had the war to run to. At least this time his mother knows of Newt’s preferences. She has taken care to look for suitable match, and even Newt has to admit his intended is perfect- on paper at least.
Julius Greengrass is tall, handsome, charming, witty and wealthy. In his photographs he gives a crooked smile that is both roguish and charming. Julius is 28. He keeps a well known stable of Hippogriffs (several of which are from the Scamander herd) for racing and security, and the family has an extensive owlery. Newt hopes the animals will mean that they will have an interest to bond over that is not simply their mutual duties in fulfilling a contract.
So Newt resigns himself to a marriage for the good of his brother.
They are married in summer, at the Greengrass estate in Wales. Theseus joins the wedding party as Newt’s guardian, to witness the vows and the sealing of the contract in place of their father.
The Welsh hills that make up the Greengrass estate are far from the Scamander townhouse on the outskirts of Godric’s Hollow. Newt is beyond nervous that he is now expected to live so far away from his family, but with Theseus there to observe and approve it doesn't seem so bad. The estate is beautiful and Julius has said he is fine with Newt keeping his job at the Ministry, so Newt will be able to see Theseus at work and he has hopes that this marriage might turn out okay.
+
Julius Greengrass is a patient husband, and Newt is thankful for it.
Julius knows that Newt and his former bride never consummated their sham of a marriage and that Newt has not been with anyone sexually beyond some hurried and sloppy kisses at school. He teaches Newt how to pleasure with his hands first, then with his mouth. They are married two months before Julius decides that Newt is ready to be taken to bed so he can show Newt how to be a real and proper husband. It is painful at first. It does get better over the next few weeks, and eventually Newt allows that there is pleasure in fornication.
He just also happens to think it’s a bit much that they must have sex every day.
He writes to Theseus about it at one point, mostly curious to know if his brother thinks Newt is overreacting about it, because sometimes it is so hard to understand people, and fornication is one of those things that he knows is just normal in other relationships if the gossip rags are anything to go by. But Newt has never really understood other people, not like his brother does.
Julius comes storming into his room that evening. “How dare you?!”
Newt tenses at his desk, startled. He looks up from his notes unsurely and half stands. “Julius?”
His husband slams his hands down on the desk and shoves his face in Newt's. There is a piece of parchment crumpled in one fist. “How dare you write such slanderous things about me to your brother?”
“What do you mean? I haven't- I wrote but haven't even gotten a-” Newt looks down at the hand with the parchment. Indignation wells up. “Did... did you read my letter?”
“I am the master of this house and I will read anything I wish,” Julius snarls. He grips Newt’s wrist in his free hand and pulls, nearly causing Newt to fall on his face on the desk. “Just as you will be available to me for anything, any time I wish. You are the lesser partner, here. Understand that, or I will have to make you understand it.”
Newt feels the blood drain from his face and his legs start to tremble. “I- I’m sorry, I just. I thought-”
“You aren’t here to think!” Julius snaps. Then he sighs, and his body loosens from its tense rage, and his voice is soft when he looks up at Newt. “I allow you to work. I allow you freedom to come and go. I haven’t even asked that you learn how to be a proper pureblood.”
“Am I not?” Newt asks, both earnestly confused and wary.
“Oh, Newton,” Julius shakes his head.
The smile that spreads across his face is not comforting.
+
Newt learns. He learns that Julius is a good husband who will do well by Newt, if only Newt would listen. He learns to leave work early to direct the house elves and make sure dinner is ready for Julius’s return, no matter how late, sitting by the table and keeping it warm with warming charms if needed. He learns his husband’s tastes and how to act in public when they go out, because Scamanders have no idea how proper society works and it shows in every movement. (It almost doesn’t matter because Julius doesn’t want them to go out very much. He prefers to keep Newt’s pretty face in private, because Newt uses that pretty face to lead on other men and make Julius angry.)
Julius simply wants Newt to be good for him, and Newt is just not trying hard enough, so Newt must be punished. Newt may not see his family- not while he is such a disgrace; they'd think Julius wasn't teaching Newt anything. His notes for the book on his time with dragons are burned when he forgets his place in public and argues with Julius, but he agrees he should not have been so stubborn and those were just slightly more polished, so it’s not really so bad.
And it should be enough that he’s allowed to keep his job and go about in public without a house elf to chaperone. Newt learns to hide the bruises that come when he fails to uphold his duty to his husband. He learns to put people off with his awkwardness so they don’t ask too many questions. He learns to be silent until spoken to and to keep his eyes down so he doesn't entice the wrong attention.
He never quite learns to be good enough.
+
Three years after their wedding, Theseus appears unexpectedly to tell Newt that their father has died. He comes to the estate because Newt hasn’t been to work in three days and none of Theseus’s owls have delivered his letters. He finds Newt with open wounds on his right hip and one eye nearly swollen shut.
Julius is served with the divorce notice via Howler delivered by junior Aurors to his hospital room.
Newt doesn't have Julius Obliviated from his mind, because he doesn't want to look at the scars on his hip and have to wonder where they came from.