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“Dom– Dom look at me,” Evan said softly, crouching to be at level with his best friend. He wanted to reach out and bring his arms around her, but he didn’t want her to feel smothered. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

Evan’s voice was exactly what she needed to hear, though she hadn’t known that until she heard it. Someone who knew her, knew all her secrets and wouldn’t judge. Dominique reached out for him, gripping onto his shoulders, a certain amount of desperation in her eyes. “I want to use, Evan, please distract me. It hasn’t been this hard for so long and I just want it to stop, please.”

Matthias didn’t know the other too well, but they had always shared a kind word between one another whenever they met. “Dominique?” he had remembered her name as he walked over to check on her. She was balled up in a booth, seeming as if she was trying to make herself as small as possible. “Qu'est-ce qui se passe?” Matt asked worried, not approaching too closely to give her some space. “Est ce que ça va?”

The voice which said her name rang a bell, but not enough for her to look up, until the French made her recognise him. There was something comforting about being addressed in French, like when she stayed with her grandparents and her grandfather told her funny stories. She looked up then, almost speechless before realizing there had been a question there, two in fact. “Ça va aller. Juste l’attaque, je suppose que ça m’a fait plus peur que ce que je pensais.” She didn’t know what else to say, biting her lip when she knew her face was still streaked in tears. “Merci... pour vérifier.”

Lorcan stroked her hair gently, knowing that it was probably not a sight that people would give a second glance at. With everything going on, people were either too busy trying to console each other or knew exactly why someone would be in need of comforting at this time, “Talk to me Dom. How can I help?”

She felt so completely isolated that she was beyond grateful for Lorcan’s steady presence. That was the thing about him, he was always rock solid and strong when she was at her worst. “I don’t know.” She took a deep breath and pulled back a little to look up at Lorcan. “Edgar Nott terrifies me.” Dom whispered, blinking away tears that just kept falling.

Lorcan had fortunately not been in the Ministry when the Death Eaters attacked this time around. They had given him the day off because of the trial. He spent the day looking for others who he knew might be in or around it, or people who might be affected. He hadn’t found Dom yet which worried him a little. The Leaky Cauldron was not the first place he looked but it was on the list and when he spotted the familiar blond, he slid into the chair next to her and wrapped his arms around her, “Hey…” He whispered, pulling her against him gently to try and comfort her, “Are you okay?”

She had been meant to go to the trial. They wanted her to sketch for the paper, but she had negotiated her way out because of the personal horror she felt where Edgar Nott was concerned. She could have been right there, and she knew it was beyond lucky that she hadn’t been in the middle of it. She barely even acknowledged the presence of someone slipping into the seat beside her, but the voice was familiar and comforting and when he hugged her, she instinctively hugged back, knowing he would never judge. “No.” Dom whispered, blinking tears away furiously, her hands shaking.

“I should be surprised you aren’t too happy to see me,” Lysander said, almost teasing, but there was a minor truth behind his words. “But I’m not. I wasn’t expecting fanfare, at the least.” 

Dominique sighed a little, lifting half a smile at her husband. She was glad to see him, of course she was, but she hated how much work was keeping them apart since they’d left school. “Come and sit?” She patted the sofa next to her.

“Of course. You’re my Snugglepuff after all,” he teased.

Her expression immediately dropped into annoyance, glaring at him. “Now I know why I avoid you at all costs.”

“Well, there are early drinkers, so I’m going to assume there are early shifts, they just don’t give them to me.” Roxanne shrugged. “Can’t be mine either. It’s even smaller than yours, and I’m still trying to toilet train Iggy. I can definitely see problems happening there.”

“You should complain. Demand the early shifts.” Dom suggested, propping her chin in her hand. “This is why school was so good. The common rooms were just there.” She sighed a little, smiling at the mention of Iggy. “How is he doing?”

“What about all those pranks we pulled?” James asked, crossing his arms as if pretending to be a little hurt, “Are you guys really that busy? Maybe you should both take a weekend off, go away somewhere together. I can’t imagine not seeing him a lot is any fun.”

“We pulled a maximum of two pranks together. I spent most of our time at school hating you, remember?” She smiled a little, reaching out and ruffling his hair gently. “Well he has training and my work is kind of unpredictable so we’re like ships passing in the night. It’s not really helping our plan to start a family.”

“Well, yeah, but I’m an early bird, always have been, so I think I’d rather get in earlier than finish later.” She nodded. “We should! We can invite everyone, it’d be such a great time.”

“Is there an early shift at pubs?” Dom asked with a slight laugh. “Because if there is you should definitely try and get on that.” She nodded her head a little. “I’d offer mine and Lys’ place but Lys isn’t a big party fan and we’re so far away. I don’t think drunk apparition would be a good idea.”

“I certainly could be. I’ve got a good house to do it in and a good reason. You know with the recently married thing and all.”

“Recently married? Damn, no-one tells me anything anymore. Congratulations. To Skye, right?” She smiled a little, glad he was happy. “It’s definitely a good reason to have a party.”

“Sure it is but sometimes the hangover isn’t worth it. I prefer to know my limits.”

“We clearly have very different ideas of how life should be lived. Maybe you need to lighten up.”

“You want a party? I can organise you one.”

“You’d do that? For me?” She feigned being emotional at the suggestion, pressing a hand to her heart.

“Perhaps it’s for the best. It gets less fun as you get older and the hangovers last longer.”

“It’s something I’m willing to risk. Being drunk is always fun, even if you’re puking your guts out with someone holding your hair back.”

“Well I would offer to help you out with that but as you know I don’t drink,” Though given recent events, he had considered it, “You seriously didn’t like anything else about school?”

“I would never ask you to either Jamesy.” She replied with a smile, shrugging her shoulders. “Nope. Hated the lessons, hated the teachers, hated the rules. The only good thing about school was the amount of time I could spend with Lys. Now we’re both busy all the time.”

“Well I’m just disappointed, Scamander. I think this calls for a huge rager.”

“That’s not a bad idea. I bet all the ex-students are hankering for a proper party. Are you offering to host it?”

“I dunno. I miss the fact that lessons finish much earlier than work does. I’d kill to clock off at four.” Roxanne pointed out. “Neither have I, actually.”

“That does kind of suck. But don’t you start later than we did at school?” Dom asked, silently thanking Merlin that her work was flexible with her hours. But when there was a big story, she could be in the office was days. “We should have a party. I miss parties.”