into the fire

“You’re her dad, of course you’re biased! I’d be worried if you weren’t, honestly.” Frank grabbed his jacket off his chair and put the rest of his files on the to-do pile for tomorrow. “Any magical stuff happen yet? Mum always told me those were the best and the worst moments,” he laughs.

“Oh, mate, you’re absolutely right. The pub on the corner it is! They have some excellent cheesy curly fries as well, if you’re down?” 

His words made Edgar smile.  He was her father,  yes, but in his eyes (and Ella’s), he hadn’t earned the title of “dad” yet.  He knew that it was unconventional, allowing Ella to call him by his first name, but he wanted her to feel comfortable and safe.  If or when she decided to call him dad... well that would be one of the happiest days in recent memory.  “Not yet,” he admitted.  “She’s still a little scared of magic.  I don’t think anything’ll happen until she’s open to it, you know?”

“Please, Bonesy,” Jack scoffed and pointed his fork at Edgar. “You work at Mungo’s. They only bring in the best of the best. But I don’t doubt Ella is brilliant.” He took another bite of food and tried to discern what exactly it was that he was eating. His palate was still very unrefined and he couldn’t quite pin down which crustacean or fish he was eating. Whichever it was or whatever combination it was, it tasted pretty good. 

Jack flinched slightly at Edgar’s reply. He hadn’t forgotten what Edgar had been and he hadn’t meant to be insensitive “Right, sorry…I’m just…” Jack trailed off, his appetite fading slightly. In all honesty, he didn’t 100% know what he was doing. He wrote as a liaison for the Ministry and still he knew nothing and hasn’t been told anything. His gut was telling him it was all wrong. “I guess I’m just trying to see what people think.” He lied. “Helps me think.” 

Ed rolled his eyes.  “Ella is worlds smarter than me.”  The two were growing closer with every passing day.  It felt as though Ella was finally beginning to trust him, which was all that he wanted from her.  Trust.  It was something he never thought he would have with her, especially with how rocky their relationship started.  “The girl can say the alphabet backwards. Who can actually do that?”  Smile.

Noticing Jack’s flinch, he reached over and squeezed the young man’s shoulder.  “It’s okay,” he replied easily.  Edgar would always say something was ‘okay,’ even if it wasn’t.  Perhaps it was a bad habit, but he always put the comfort and feelings of others before his own.

She rolls her eyes. “I have a lot to say– plus considering you only speak half of the time someone’s got to make up for it I reckon.” Another helping of pancakes finds its way to her plate. 

“How are you studies going, by the way? I feel like I haven’t asked you in ages.” Amelia bites down the small swell of guilt that bubbles at the surface– she should be more on top of what’s going on with her eldest brother but she’s been admittedly occupied. 

Chuckling, Edgar also grabbed more pancakes.  He watched his sister closely, oftentimes wondering why she was graced with such an amazing metabolism.  There were days he saw her eat more than him and she still was skinny.  It wasn’t fair.

“I think the kitchen sounds nice. We can sit by the fire and have the elves get us some warm cider. Maybe some pumpkin juice while we’re at it.” 

Al nods in the direction of the kitchen and starts off. “You ken that if anyone else had found ye, ye would’ve been in deep shite, right? Ye ha’ tae be smarter than that. D’ye ken a spell for disillusion? I ha’ almost perfected it. It’s beyond N.E.W.T. level but ye cannae be too cautious, like.”  

Edgar nodded in agreement, happy to head back to the kitchens.  He always felt bad when he didn’t spend time there.  He didn’t want to be rude and come in for food and leave.  Making friends with the house elves always seemed to make their day (and his) a little brighter.

Now that he was getting older, the thought of having kids did sometimes come to mind. That wasn’t to say that Jack was sure he wanted any. He’d only just…thought about it. He had a real soft spot for kids, especially the ones that came to hang around the Prophet during the summer helping peddle papers. For a moment he imagined little Smudges running around, no doubt wreaking havoc just as he and his brother had all those years ago. Ed’s voice brought him back from his thoughts and he smiled. From what little he heard he gathered that Ella liked books. “Smarty pants. Must take after her pops.” 

After a moment of comfortable silence and eating, Jack pushed away his unfinished plate. “So off the record,” Jack spoke through a bite of seafood special. “Just between friends, what are your thoughts on Deputy Minister Ibis supposedly disappearing?” After swallowing another quick bite, Jack chuckled. “My gut’s tellin’ me somethin’s up…”

Edgar chuckled and shook his head gently.  “I’m really not that smart,” he replied modestly.  Part of him knew that he was brilliant.  He had to be not only to be a Healer, but to climb the ladder at St. Mungos as quickly as he did.  “She’s worlds smarter than me and she’s only seven.”

“Indeed it is, Ed. Indeed it is.” Jack’s smile didn’t waver one bit as he looked back at the healer. “You should come bother me at the Prophet sometime. Although, I’m not sure both of us can fit in my office at the same time.” He was joking of course, but his office was indeed tiny. But it wasn’t as if he spent much time in it anyway, unless he was writing. He was more often than not at the Ministry chasing down some tired looking low level bureaucrat. 

Nosing around the rest of the spread of food, his interest was piqued by what could only have been the seafood special. “Seafood de jour ahead.” Nothing about it looked special but, he guessed it was all in the taste. Appraising the selection of food with a less than discerning eye, he finally chose the special dish. While he had not eaten much of it in his life, it was better than bumming more fudge off the girl that gave free samples at Sugarplum’s Sweets Shop. He helped himself to a plate and paid for it in full. “How is Ella these days? Forgive me, I’m such a arse I didn’t even ask.”

With a chuckle, Ed shook his head.  “I wish I could, kid.  I’d love to see your office.”  He wondered what it looked like, if it was as quirky as his younger friend was, or if it was neatly organized.  A person’s office said a lot about the person that occupied it.

Jack gasped softly and feigned a look of surprise as he glanced back at Edgar. “Just sometimes?” he clicked his tongue and shook his head. “I’ll have you know I’m an absolute delight, Bones.” This was a joke of course, sardonic in nature. He knew very well that lots of people did not share that sentiment at all. In fact, not even his own father he suspected even had that view.

Salad. Jack thought to himself. Not something he was accustomed to eating. Green generally wasn’t a color he saw often on his plate unless it had been formed into a sweet. Jack lifted an apple off of one of the fruit trays and rubbed his against his jacket to give it a quick shine. “Yeah? What makes it so special?” He commented teasingly. “Magic crawfish? Bread baked with extra love?”

Ed chuckled. “Sometimes is better than never, is it not?” he asked, returning the tease.  He found Jack to be rather endearing, in his own special way.  After two years of looking out for the younger boy in Hogwarts, Edgar had grown rather fond of him and his... quirkiness.

“Really?” Jack cracked a cheeky smile. “You like havin’ me around, Bonesy?” He nudged Edgar playfully in the ribs with his elbow. 

The smell of the cafeteria wasn’t actually half bad. In fact, it reminded him of how hungry he was and made his stomach complain of emptiness with a low grumble. He nudged the healer gently again and nodded toward the array of food choices. “What do you recommend, doc? I’m absolutely famished. Truly, I think I could eat a whole Hippogriff.”

Ed shot Jack a look.  “Sometimes,” he replied, just as playfully.  He didn’t mean for it to come across as rude if it did.  However, there were moments when Jack got on his nerves.  He didn’t mean anything bad by it.  A lot of people got on his nerves as of late.

It was obvious the mood had shifted a bit after he’d mentioned work. It seemed everyone was in over their head nowadays. While Jack was busy himself, it was mostly self-inflicted. His desire for a good story and the truth kept him going, even if if meant searching achieved Ministry budget reports until odd hours of the morning. Still, he couldn’t imagine the work as a healer at Mungo’s. Too much pressure, too much at stake. He nodded quietly, trying to be as understanding as he could. Ed wasn’t just a lead for a column, he was a friend that deserved a sympathetic ear. “Sure, Ed. I understand.” 

“Better than my cooking, that’s for sure.” Jack followed Edgar along to the cafeteria with a slight bounce in his step, trying to lighten the mood. He’d taken his nightly wideye potion and was ready for another all-nighter. “But you can’t deny, some Leaky nosh would hit the spot. Or a pumpkin patsy…”

Edgar hated when he felt the mood shift, especially when he knew that it was his fault for making the mood make the shift.  Ed was in way over his head, and he knew that something was going to give at some point.  That terrified him.  “It’s okay if you don’t, just being around helps so much.”

Zoe’s nose crinkled as she held in an awkward nervous laugh. She didn’t know how to feel at the declaration, that he hadn’t really noticed her at first. It made her feel slightly pushy and forceful. She scooted herself off his lap and sat at the opposite end of the sofa flattening, down her skirt. 

“I’m glad that I can make you smile, everyone deserves to smile.” She looked at him for a few moments, questioning. Was he just being polite in returning her advances or was he generally interested in her. Her head started to spin mainly from the alcohol but also due to the way she was replaying all their encounters in quick succession.

“I should probably get going,” she stood up playing with the hem of her shirt. 

She scooted off his lap and he realized immediately that he said or did something wrong.  The last thing he ever wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable.  He wanted her to feel welcomed and wanted whenever he was around.

Ed was truly attracted to Zoe in ways he didn’t think he would find himself attracted to another person, at least not as quickly as things progressed between them.  Everything felt like a whirlwind of flirting, and lust... and her giggle that made him so happy.

As she stood, he did as well.  “Please don’t go,” he replied, not meaning to sound as pathetic as he did.  “I mean, if you really want to, you can, but I thought we... I thought that...”  He let his voice fade away.

“I know a late night when I see one,” Jack mentioned sympathetically. “I hope you’re gettin’ enough sleep. Mungo’s needs you sharp, Bonesy.”

“Always?” He snorted and shot Edgar a playful look. “Since when has hospital food ever gotten above a two star rating?” But who was he to be the judge of that. He wasn’t much of a cook at all. In fact, when he did, if often ended in disaster. 

Ed shrugged.  “You know how it is.  Or well, you probably don’t.  But work is... such a major part of my life, and now Ella is too and...”  He knew that he was spreading himself too thin.  He was in the process of looking for an assistant to help him a bit.

“Aw, Bonsey. You mean that?” Jack chuckled and let Edgar take the file from him. His eyes followed it to the top of a tall stack of others. Must’ve been a busy week. He noted. 

The reported rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. “I can’t believe you’d really leave me to fend for myself with the rest of those beasts. It’s hard enough having to write the bloody piece.” 

 “Trying to get me off the scent of something big, hmm? Well…” Jack sighed suddenly remembering the empty feeling of his stomach. “It’s working. Cafeteria is it.”

Edgar rolled his eyes and glanced over at the tall stack of paperwork he needed to get through.  How much of it would end up spread across his dining room table as he worked on it at two in the morning?

Sighing, he shook his head.  “There’s nothing big going on, Jack.  I promise.  You’d be the first to know.”  He always admired Jack’s ability to get information out of people.  He admired his tenacity, even if it could wear on his patience at times.

“But food is always good.  C’mon.”

“No one has to know,” Jack held the file sideways to see if that would help his comprehension of this potentially ancient and secret written healer language. When it proved fruitless, he peaked out from behind it and looked at Edgar. “Any strange cases come in today? I’m doing a segment for the Tragedies column for tomorrow.”

Ed watched as Jack held the file sideways and had to force back a chuckle.  “You’re lucky that I like you, kid.” he replied easily as he took the file back from Jack and placed it on a growing pile of folders on the other side of his desk.

“I can’t divulge that information, and you know that.”  He ran a hand along his chin for a moment.  “You’ll have to wait for the nightly report just like every other reporter.”

“It’s alright. I know a lot of people are on edge these days.” Jack made himself comfortable on one of the desks at St Mungos and popped one of the delightfully dangerous sweets. Pulling some official looking medical paperwork onto his lap, he flipped through it. How could any read this? “Seriously, is this english? Or an actual known language for that matter?”

Edgar was on edge since the attack over two years ago.  It changed him, permanently.  It would have changed anyone, nearly dying.  There was still a small part of Edgar that wondered if part of him did actually die.

As Jack ate one of the sweets and pulled over some paperwork, Ed sighed slowly.  “You can’t read that, Jack,” he replied, keeping his voice even as he took the paperwork from him.  “It’s private.”

“Oh hell. Sorry, Ed…Guess I should have mentioned they were––” Jack looked down at the crumbled sweets packaging and winced. Where did he even get these? “–exploding bonbons. You alright?”

Ed exhaled slowly, allowing his body to slowly relax.  He didn’t mean to snap or go on edge, but everything was truly beginning to weigh on him.

“It’s okay, Jack,” he replied easily once that slow exhale ended.  “I’m good.  It’s... been a while.  Didn’t mean to snap like that.”

“This is bribery, most like.” He folded his arms and leaned against the wall. “Good thing I’m no’ above bribery. It’s why I wasnae picked as head boy. I’ll ha’ whatever’s freshest, unless there’s pie. I would kill for a pie.” It had been forever since he’d eaten (in reality, it had only been a few hours, but he was a growing boy). 

“We should go somewhere more private if we’re gonnae break the rules.” 

Edgar smirked over at him.  “Precisely.  And that’s why you’re my best mate.”  He looked down at his bag of treats.  Most of it was for a third year that just had his heart broken, but he could share some with Al if it meant that Hufflepuff wouldn’t lose any points.  The house didn’t have many points to begin with, people seemed to overlook them.