Daniel Flint

Nina had been nervous when she’d sent the owl to Daniel, but for the past few weeks she’d found herself missing his company. The way she had been with Daniel, so herself, was quite a unique relationship. Of course he had a wife, a wife that he was still very much in love with. Nina tried not to think about that too much. Their relationship had never been physical, even if it may have gotten close a few times. A physical relationship wasn’t what Nina expected with Daniel, just someone that truly understood her and she could tell anything to.

When he agreed to meet, she felt a familiar excitement bubble deep in her stomach, it had been such a long time, she missed his laugh. So she offered to meet him in their old spot, somewhere secluded where prying eyes wouldn’t find them. Rumours may be just that, but they were a pain to deal with. 

She heard him before she saw him, and she smiled “Daniel, прячешься в темноте?”

“Daniel, прячешься в темноте?”

The familiar voice caused his grin to grow larger. If he ever had a guilty pleasure it walked in form with Nina. Even being in the same vicinity often made him feel a tinge of guilt. Maybe it was because he knew had he not been married that things might be extremely different between the both of them. The various versions of almost would have been certainties, and it wouldn’t be a reckless declamation of lust. Theodora had been working late, of course she had. Maybe she was with her own version of Nina, and perhaps that wasn’t as wholesome as the two of them were. The flicker of a thought infuriated him, but finally he found his  voice to playfully retort. 

Daniel closed the distance between them, as close as he could get without physical touch.  Lucky for them there weren’t any interruptions he could see tonight. No eavesdroppers as far as he knew. The last thing Daniel needed was new rumors to trigger his estranged wife. 

“для тебя? конечно.” 

“That’s because the muggle stations don’t know as much about what’s really going on. Gas leaks, terrorist bombs, they can’t give out the names of people they don’t know exist,” Alaric pointed out. “They’re scared of something and they don’t even know what it is because we make sure they can’t remember.” How terrifying it must be for them, to be living in a war zone and not even know it. “I survived reading about it in the papers, I can survive hearing about it.” In a way, Alaric felt like he had to listen to it, that he owed it to his parents not to ignore the way their lives had ended. “It would be nice to hear about something other than death and destruction, though. That’s turned into something I appreciate about the Quibbler, how they try to stay away from the war. It’s good to have a break and just read about a quidditch player wishing the ban on matches would go away, you know? Focus on a different problem for a while instead of having life revolve entirely around the war.”

Alaric’s point was a good one. Daniel nodded slowly, “They also have their own catastrophic events that we don’t need to worry about. I suppose it goes both ways, but currently our dangers are worse for them.” Daniel thought about the vision, and for the most part Muggles that weren’t savvy to the Wizarding world would stay ignorant. He wasn’t one for dominating the Muggle World and the Wizarding one that they belonged in. “Mmm. I don’t really believe in the ignorance is bliss mindset.” Which was pure irony coming from the lips of him. “I do believe a civilian has the right to know about the war around them.” He shrugged his shoulders indifferently. “But that’s never been the way. The Quibbler? Maybe I’ll check it out. I normally read debriefings and Daily Prophet unless Theodora leaves something on the table.” He realized he was rambling, but he couldn’t stop the monotone drilling that left his lips. “Oh I really want Quidditch to come back. It’s one of my favorite things, and Theo’s too.” Daniel sighed inwardly, when did things get so complicated?

Counting steps as she danced, Sofiya had to actively force herself to look up as she danced, not wanting to be disrespectful, but finding it hard to concentrate. Despite her lack of motor skills and multitasking abilities, she decided small talk would make this more bearable. “Did you come to this sort of things before or did the ban inspire you?”

Daniel hated small talk. Damn, maybe he should have swirled the girl around and found Theodora instead. However, there wasn’t any turning back now as he concentrated on the steps to the dance. Casually twirling her when the time came, before drawing her back towards him. “Oh yes, my wife and I are normally in attendance.” His dark eyes move from the girl as he nodded his head in the direction of Theodora. “How about you?”

Theodora hadn’t admitted to any wrong doings or adultery. In fact she had somehow always seemed to find a way to spin the blame to him. Tonight it didn’t end well, and since he had already been drinking it was unlikely he would fall asleep. The Wizarding World didn’t really sleep like the muggle world did. There was always an employee somewhere, and being a hitwizard he knew this. All the times they needed an entrance in to get the perp the ministry wanted.

Most of the time Daniel had about as much movement as a plank board without premeditated thought. Dark eyes narrowed as he feld the anger inside him that laid dormant explode into a hot fucking mess. What was it Gilderoy did? Daniel still had the torn bits of article left in his hands. The Witch Weekly shrieked a banshee’s calling.

Usually a man of protocol, and now a man triggered by one article in the paper. He would drink and wait in his office at the Ministry until it was time for him to go to the Witch Weekly The loud pop shook some of the glass near him as he almost clotheslined the receptionist. Instead he gritted his teeth taking a look around most of the absent seats that should fill any minute.

Daniel showed her his badge, “I’m here for Gilderoy Lockhart. I suggest you point me where he will be.” She tried to make an excuse, and he shushed her mid sentence only repeating his request sternly until she finally agreed. How long would he wait? Hours? Possibly. He plopped himself into the desk chair of Lockhart and spun it away from the look of others. One hand reached into his jacket to pull out the flask as he started to chug.

He swiveled back dramatically in the chair when he heard someone enter the office. Daniel’s eyes narrowed at the soruce of it, and before he could stop himself he hurled the bottle towards the figure.

“Who are your sources?” Daniel slurred as he brushed a hand through his unkempt fro of curls. “Or do you agree that you have no concrete sources in regards to tHEODOSA ROAR?” In his mind, he said the name of his wife right. His wand was in front of him, knuckles paled in comparison to the rest of his skin tone.

It’s funny how the universe changes in retrospect. Five years ago he wasn’t really close to Rodolphus. The only events he saw the other were Pureblood ones where their families had coerced them to attend. As far as friendship went, Daniel didn’t really consider him one. That all changed with a flick of a switch in his brain. The same switch that gave the Death Eaters their way in, also paved the road for Rodolphus. Someone akin to him that saw the vision and embraced it. They were closer in the sense that Daniel didn’t really follow Voldemort himself, but he followed the ideology behind it. 

He had changed completely, but on the inside looking out that eluded him. Daniel didn’t think of the people he surrounded himself with as people that didn’t belong. Halfbloods and Muggleborn, he hadn’t cared in the vision of the law. The law had changed now, and it seems that at lease being Muggleborn was a bad omen. 

Daniel glanced over the briefing with a tilt of his head while hw aited for Rodolphus in the foyer. It seemed the Dark Lord had paired them tonight, or maybe he just wanted someone to speak with of like mind. Even with the flock of Death Eaters that existed, it was rare of someone to have seem the vision like Daniel himself did. To hear the vision so clearly in a hive mind. He hummed slowly until he saw the shadow loom over him. 

“Are you ready?”

The only father he had left was his father-in-law, unless he counted the ideology that had sucked him in. His father hadn’t been happy at his neutral stance to things, at least now from his grave he could be happy with him. Talks with Thomas were always a source that drained him. It turned into a botched dryer full of flaming laundry when the man asked him about heirs. In the beginning he could make all sorts of stories up, but after being married close to a decade those excuses failed to work.

Daniel had his sense about him still to research herbal remedies for infertility. Good for him that he was able to murmur the solution to a possible false problem. Theodora and him had jobs, and the last thing he wanted to do was hinder her with a pregnancy if she didn’t want a child. Not to mention his wife and him were far from being on good terms. Neither of this was mentioned to his father-in-law. 

As he exited the meeting he felt himself roll off a sigh he had been holding in.  Rounding a corner he caught sight of Thomas’s employee. Shit. What was his name? Fred? Frank? No. Not a F name. M, name right? Melvin Malfoy? Daniel locked his gaze as he tried to remember the other’s name, before he blurted out the first thing to come to mind. “Ah, Lloyd. Nice to see you.” ...Shit.. Was his name Paul?

Malcolm had been a promiment figure in his life ever since the day Thomas Rowle decided with his father that he would marry Theodora. Malcolm slowly turned into his cousin before the union between him and his wife even took place. Besides his sister and Hestia, he was the only other family he really had. Not counting his parents or his in-laws. Malcolm was Theodora’s favourite cousin, even though she rarely vocalized that in a public area.Daniel knew by the way their encounters went, and defnitely knew the days of his wedding to his wife.

But things had grown worse. Every thing he tried to do or any action he did was wrong. It may not have been wrong in protocols or regulatory standards, but he heard the wrong in his wife’s voice. It weighed on him, and lately that had even impacted on when he fell asleep. Often restless with unanswered questions and trying to think how to make Theodora genuinely believe the vision. He dropped by the Greengrass estate for business he would say. Marriage was a business transaction to a point, wasn’t it?

He took the steps up three at a time before he was welcomed in and he called out for Malcolm. Reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out the flask and took a long gulp from it before he capped it. Obsidian hues raking over the details of the estate. He had been there countless times over the years, but that didn’t mean the details of the surroundigns didn’t change. 

Once he saw the familiar golden hair he smirked slowly, “You haven’t aged a day, cousin.” 

“...Theodora?”

@theodora-rowle

“Good. We’re just getting started.”

“What? No. I’d be happier if you minded your own fucking business.”

“What choices would those be? The logical ones?”

“You make it sound like I’ve lost her. Theodora is my partner and my person. There is no losing one another. She is my better half and without her I would cease to be a functioning human at all.”