living on a latte and a prayer

It was an unlikely friendship that had developed back at Hogwarts, but Mary was incredibly grateful that she still had Dorcas in her life. She had helped her through some of her hardest moments. Who would have thought that their friendship would have blossomed after she had tutored her a few times? Dorcas was so different from Mary, she had always been daring and brave, and back at Hogwarts she had sometimes wished that she could be more like Dorcas. Just...minus the trouble that she usually found herself in. Their friendship had only blossomed during the war, fighting together in the Order tended to bring people together, and now Mary would have to say that Dorcas was one of her closest friends.

But now they were both truly adults with real jobs and it meant that it could be hard to find time for each other, but they both tried. Glancing up from her spot at her table, drink in hand, she smiled when she spotted Dorcas walking towards her. “Hey!” She greeted. “Why does it feel like it’s been years since I’ve seen you?” She asked with a laugh as she hugged her friend. “I hope you don’t mind that I already ordered us a round of drinks, I got here a little earlier than I planned and the bartender kept staring me down.”  

•

Wally laughed softly at her question, not really knowing how to answer. He actually wasn’t in a hurry to get out of the coffee shop, he was just miserable to be standing in line. After they parted ways, he did end up going to the library to check out a few books to read in his free time, but he wasn’t particularly in any rush. “I actually didn’t have anywhere to be.” Wally answered after a moment, deciding honesty would be the best answer. “I was tired of standing in line, and I was already trying to find a way to get myself to the front. Just when I wished for a fiancée, you walked in.” He chuckled again, shrugging his shoulders. It gave him a good story, and he met Mary, so he was thankful to be at the end of the line when she walked in.

Nodding his head, Wally took another sip, definitely feeling more comfortable with Mary now that he was slightly less sober. “I like kids, and most days it’s pretty fun. It just happened to be one thing after the other today and it just eventually pushed me over the edge.” Honestly he just wanted to get out of work, head to the bar and take home some random girl. But sitting here with Mary seemed to be cheering him up better than that possibly could have. A member of the Wizengamot? She must have been an intelligent and talented witch. Although, the second part had caught his attention more. “You’re interested in muggle culture, then?” Wally asked, genuinely glad to hear it. Typically, if a witch or wizard was okay with muggles, they were less harsh towards Squibs. He wondered what her opinion on the matter would be, but he didn’t want to bring it up just yet.

~

Mary had to laugh when he said that he was actually not going anywhere he was just tired of waiting in line. “Well then I guess it was just kismet that I walked in just when you were waiting for a fiancée, hm?” Mary felt her cheeks turn pink when she realized how forward that sounded, but she found herself not regretting it. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of the bar and how glad she was to have run into him again. Or perhaps it was the alcohol. But she felt bold for once and she wasn’t going to regret that. “I can’t remember the last time that I had nowhere I needed to be, I’m a little be jealous,” she mused. 

She looked over at him when he said that he liked kids. “I think you have to like kids by definition to work in a joke shop so that’s good,” she agreed, taking a sip of her beer. What would her parents think if she worked in a joke shop? They would probably be embarrassed. She was sure tat if she hadn’t pursued becoming a barrister they would have been embarrassed. “I think that we all have those days. But it’s good that you like working there. Hogsmeade is beautiful this time of year, isn’t it? I haven’t been back there in ages.” Mary nodded her head at his question. “My parents are muggles. Or no-maj’s as you American’s call them,” she told him with a fake American accent, before she laughed. “They are the very uptight studious Cambridge professor types so if I didn’t pursue something in the muggle realm I’m fairly sure they would have disowned me,” she told him in a conspiratorial whisper. 

.

The quill kept on scribbling frantically, as if Mary was pouring out her soul even though she clearly wasn’t. Rita charmed it to think like her, to write what she saw interesting. “The consequences…” she repeated with a hum. “So, an eye for an eye then, yes?” She asked with that sickening sweet smile of hers. “Well, I’m afraid to tell that it’s exactly how it sounds like” she responded with a smile.

“Is that right? A collective society decided that? Perhaps you mean the politicians and Wizengamot members, yes?” People with their own agendas who cared so little about justice itself. Besides, what was justice if not a relative concept? She was pretty sure that if you asked different people on the matter you’d have different opinions, so the whole concept of ‘collective society’ might be a bit of a stretch.

Of course Rita knew what she meant, though, she wasn’t an idiot, but she liked to toy with people, get them riled up. If not, ask Alastor Moody about it. “I’m just asking questions, Miss MacDonald, that is my job, there’s no need to get defensive” she responded with a jovial chuckle as the quill continued to scribble down.

“And tell me, how was the whole process? How did you end up being a member of the court?” She then asked curiously.

~

It was mildly concerning the way that Rita’s quill just kept writing, Mary certainly didn’t think that she was saying enough for the quill to keep going like that. But she had accepted that the damage was probably already done, not that she thought that she had done anything wrong. It was just Rita. Her reputation certainly preceded her. “If that’s how you want to take what I’ve said than I’m not sure that I can say anything that would convince you otherwise,” Mary noted. “I think that we’re just going to have to agree to disagree.”

“Well we’ve been appointed to represent the beliefs of our society. And I believe that if as a collective we think that we need to move past things like the Dementor’s Kiss than maybe it’s time for our population to make that known. Otherwise we are doing what we were meant to do,” she pointed out. Mary wasn’t so jaded and blinded by what had happened to her at the hands of Mulciber that she wouldn’t go along with whatever it was that society decided. But she did personally feel like there was nothing wrong with holding people accountable. 

“I’m not defensive,” she snapped as she glanced at that damned quill again. Glancing at Rita, she sighed. “Have you ever been the victim of a heinous crime, Ms. Skeeter? Or known someone that went through something horrific at the hands of another?”

Raising an eyebrow at the question, she tried to hold back her annoyance. “I worked hard for my position, Ms. Skeeter. After I graduated from Hogwarts I worked for the International Magical Office of Law while simultaneously attending Oxford to become a barrister  I’m more than qualified if that’s where you’re intending to take this line of questioning.”

—

Alice had spent a lot of her career being a workaholic. She’d made more of an effort in recent years to not work as much. Having Neville helped that. And Alice had also made an effort to not take work home with her. Before he’d been born if Alice wasn’t working late in the office, she was taking the work home with her. It was a bad habit, that she probably would still be doing to this day if she hadn’t had her son. But she’d wanted a better work life balance, and so, she kept work at work. It, of course, made things harder, and at times she felt like she was doing a full time job on part time hours. But she made it worse.

“I didn’t even make one” Alice mused with a laugh. She supposed that was because she had a little boy at home. it was hard to make lunch when her little boy was running around her feet. “He is getting big. I can’t believe it.” She murmured with a laugh. “He’ll be 5 this year.” And she couldn’t believe how fast he was growing.

~

It was strange to think that so much time had gone by since the war, since she had been in the trenches with Alice and Frank and the rest of the Order. It was strange to think that they had a son and that their lives had moved past those days. And it was equally strange to really think about where she was today and everything that she had accomplished since the war. Mary felt guilty that she had focused so much on her career that she had let her relationships with the people that she cared for go. She needed to fix that and this felt like the perfect opportunity to do so. “I don’t suppose that you would want to get lunch? Catch up?” She offered, glancing over at Alice. “It’s been forever since we’ve been able to talk. I mean I get if you’re busy and need to get back,” Mary added as an afterthought, not wanting Alice to feel like she had to. “Wow. That’s crazy. How has it been  five years already?” 

mully kept looking at her, his eyes just staring into hers, a smirk crossing his lips once more as she snapped at him. he couldn’t help the fact that he had some kind of attraction to her. perhaps she had been the key to the lock of dark thoughts that had been consuming his mind when he was a boy. “ i do believe i was here first , so why should i be the one to go ? besides, we haven’t seen each other in such a long time, mary. i would love a chance to catch up with you better…”

~

Mary met his gaze for a moment but then she forced herself to look away. A part of her was screaming to walk away from him, but she didn’t trust him and she didn’t want to turn her back on him. She had no idea what he was capable of, and it made her nervous. “You insisted that I stay so that’s why I suggested that you go instead,” she retorted. Mary crossed her arms over her chest when he said he would love a chance to catch up. The words hell no were on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back. She felt like she was walking on eggshells around him, she didn’t want to do something that caused him to latch out. “If I’m going to ‘catch up’ with you it’ll be somewhere public.” 

.

It was rare of Bellatrix to have a bad day at work. Generally she preferred the days that she spent at the ministry, where it was perfectly acceptable for her to hide in the shadows of the death chamber and continue with the frankly vital work that she was doing rather than moving from guest to guest at overcrowded dinner parties or faking smiles for filthy traitors at charity events far below her standing. However, today had been a bad day. In fact, it was boarding on unfortunate. All starting with a half finished potion exploding from her cauldron right in front of her face and only getting worse. She was hopeful that her bad luck was over, now she was stepping into the elevator to make her quick exit to the manor. She should have known better than to feel hopeful.

It had been promising when her the glare she had shot the other occupant, a young man who looked as though he was barely out of Hogwarts, had been enough to tell him that it was in his best interest to step back out to wait for the next one. However, it seemed he had not been wise enough to realise this didn’t mean he was welcome to hold the door for Mary.

Macdonald. Bella practically snarled the name even in her thoughts. A mudblood on the Wizengamot. Not only bold enough to infiltrate their world, but their entire justice system? Her grandfather was surely rolling in his grave. “I didn’t hold it,” she hissed, her glare not lifting as she turned to the other woman. Perhaps she too could be scared away.

~

The first time that Mary really understood the hatred that some witches and wizards held for people like her was the night that Mulciber caught her alone. Before that there had been little snide comments here and there or a hex or jinx aimed at her but she had been able to write all of those things off. But that night changed her. It made her see that some people were just truly evil people that wanted to rid the world of people like her. It had been a crushing realization to make and it had nearly broken her. It had nearly made her go home to her parents and forget about her magic and just live as a muggle for the rest of her life. But then she had remembered who she was. She wasn’t a quitter, she wasn’t someone that was easily scared away. It was what Mulciber had wanted.

It was what someone like Bellatrix Lestrange would want too. Mary wasn’t reckless, she didn’t go out of her way to seek out people like that, but she wasn’t going to run away either. Mary had just as much of a right to exist here as Bellatrix did. She wasn’t going to let her scare her away. Mary was a Gryffindor. 

“Of course you didn’t,” Mary replied, meeting her gaze straight on. Was she being reckless? Maybe. But they were in the Ministry. What was Bellatrix going to do? “My mistake.” Even confronted with Bellatrix’s stare, it was hard to understand why she was such a hateful person. “Bad day?” 

•

Wally watched her, holding his breath, wondering if she caught on to his slip-up. He let out a sigh of relief as she seemed to let it go, hopefully she hadn’t noticed, but he really didn’t feel like explaining himself now. He didn’t want her to think he was strange for thinking about her. “Good, I’m glad you made it.” Wally smiled at her, genuinely glad to hear that she had made it to work on time. While he hadn’t been in a hurry that day, he wasn’t particularly fond of spending his morning standing in a line, and he was thankful that Mary had agreed to help him convince strangers to let them cut in front of them.

“Oh, no, it’s no big deal.” Wally waved away her concerns, shaking his head. “I work at Zonko’s Joke Shop, just had some kids think it was funny to use me as the guinea pig for some of our new products.” He shrugged, mostly unbothered by it. He knew that he was an easy target, not able to do anything to defend himself. Normally he didn’t mind, he liked the kids that hung around the store, but some days he wished he could throw a silly little spell at them to teach them a lesson. “Where do you work?” Wally questioned curiously, wondering what kind of job she had. Based on first impressions, she seemed rather put together and intelligent, the type of person who could do anything.

~

Mary brought her drink to her lips and took a sip of it as she glanced over at him. She wanted to get to know him better, wanted to actually have a legitimate conversation with him. He had seemed so mysterious and different when they met in that coffee shop, and she truthfully had thought about him on and off since that day. Not that she would actually admit it, especially not to him. That would be entirely too embarrassing. “Where were you headed that day?” She asked. He was probably going somewhere more interesting than work, that was for certain. He just had a different vibe about him than anyone else she had ever met. 

“You’re sure?” She asked him, looking up at him even as he waved away her concerns. “Wow. Kids can be awful,” she said with a frown. Mary could never imagine doing that to someone else, even when she was a kid. “You must have a lot of patience to deal with that,” she complimented. Mary couldn’t remember the last time she had been in Zonko’s, she had certainly still been in school. The shop had never been her favorite place, she had always been much to serious to want to spend much time there. But her friends usually dragged her there on Hogsmeade weekends. “I’m a member of the Wizengamot but I also work as a muggle barrister on the side.” She was certainly busy, but she was proud of the work that she had put in to get her to where she was. 

—

Alice tried to be good when she was at work. Or well, she tried to be good in that she tried to bring lunch in each day. She wanted to try and keep healthy. They certainly had less running around since the war had ended, and Alice found herself sitting on her bum more than she once had. it meant that she was eating more health lunches, rather than going out each day for take out lunch. And it was certainly saving them some money. Today was not one of those days that she was bringing lunch in. She had over slept, and had nearly been late. There had been no time for preparing lunch. 

And so she was heading out of the office to grab her some sort of sandwich.  She hadn’t anticipated on bumping into someone though. “Oh. Mary. Sorry!” She murmured, shaking her head as she stepped back. She hadn’t even been paying attention to where she was going. “Sorry. Just thinking about my tummy” She mused, a grin on her face. Alice could get quite focused when it came to food. “Apart from being hungry, I’m good. I assume they are good too. Frank’s at home with him today.”

~

Today was the kind of day that she was slightly glad that she had left her lunch at home, although she was frustrated that she had gone through the motions to make it. It would be good for her to get out of the Ministry, even if it was just for a half hour or so. More often than not Mary found herself at work before the sun came up and she didn’t find herself home until the sun had come down. And now as the weather was getting nicer and warming up, she was reminding herself that she had made a promise to not be such a workaholic this year. She had just...not done a very good job of keeping up with that promise. 

“It’s okay, it’s totally my fault,” Mary replied, waving off her apology. It was easy to get stuck in your own thinking, especially in the Ministry. She often felt like everyone was only thinking about themselves and what they needed to get done. She laughed and nodded her head. “Honestly, me too. I forgot my lunch at home after I went through the hassle of making it,” Mary admitted with a shake of her head. She nodded her head. “He must be getting so big. How old is he now?” She asked curiously.

.

Rita just smiled a she kept on saying ‘no comment’, it didn’t matter, the quill kept on writing anyways. Rita already heard what it was about, but it was always nice to have an official source’s confimation and not use the ‘off the record’ excuse. And then, there it was, everyone reacted the same when a nerve was touched. People got offended so easily, it was just as hilarious as it was annoying. Unfortunately for Mary, the more offended she got, the funnier it was for Rita.

“So you are saying that, as long as there are rules set and the Government does it, it’s okay to have dementors sucking the soul out of people?” She asked innocently. “Sounds like you are saying that it’s okay to commit crimes against human rights as long as the government does them… I mean, whether we like it or no, those criminals are still humans after all, aren’t they? I mean, horrible humans who did unspeakable things, the worst kind, but still human” the funny thing was that she would’ve said the exact opposite thing to someone else, but she was feeling quite playful this evening.

The blonde smiled again when May agreed with her. “Well, congratulations, you must be really smart to get in here” she hummed softly.

~

The more Rita spoke the more frustrated Mary felt. Rita didn’t know what had happened to her when she was younger, what Mulciber had done to her, and she certainly wasn’t about to open up about that to this woman. But it had changed the way that she thought about these kinds of things. If someone asked her if Nikolai Mulciber should get the dementors kiss she wouldn’t hesitate for a moment before saying yes. So if she could get justice for the victim in this case than she would fight to do so. It was what made her want to be a barrister in the first time.

She held back the urge to roll her eyes at Rita. “I’m saying that if you don’t want to deal with the consequences than you shouldn’t brutally murder someone,” she snapped. She felt like they were just going in circles. “That’s not what I’m saying. As a collective society we agreed to these terms, the dementors kiss has been around for centuries. Perhaps one day we will look at our laws again and reassess but as it stands it is a perfectly valid response to what the man in question did. If you are really so concerned about human rights violations than I suggest you talk to the Magical Law Enforcement office, I’m sure they will be able to help you to handle your feelings.” 

Forcing a smile onto her lips, despite her annoyance, she nodded her head. “It’s been a lot of work. But it was worth it.”

seeing her was almost like seeing a ghost, he couldn’t explain this sadistic, twisted hold she had on his mind, but the grin on his lips made it obvious that he was pleased to see her. “ well look who we have here, my favourite little mudblood” nik stepped forwards, his head tilting to one side as he looked her up and down. “ haven’t you grown into quite something” he bit down on his lip, gazing at her as tho lost in his own thoughts, before he snapped back out of it. “ now, now don’t be rude, we haven’t seen each other in such a long time” 

~

Mary tried to keep her face impassive, not wanting to give him the pleasure of thinking that she was afraid to see him, even though she was. She was so much more than that scared girl that she had been, she was a grown woman that had a successful career and was making changes in the world. And yet he could still make her feel like that girl again. “Don’t call me that,” she snapped. Mary tensed up when he stepped closer to her. “I have nothing to say to you. You can just go and we’ll pretend this never happened. Understood?” 

—

“I blame being stuck underground all day. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re windows are magically charmed brick walls.” Amelia nodded as she glanced across at her very own ‘window’. Even with a clock on the wall, the days seemed to just vanish. “At the very least we should all sit together rather than squirreling away in our own corners half the night.” She offered with a small chuckle. In an ideal world everyone would get home every night in time for dinner, but staying late had become part of the territory of working for the Ministry. At least for those who took a lot of pride in their work. 

“Good, I’m glad to hear it.” Amelia smiled, nodding once more. “Ah I see. Well I always say you can never be too prepared, but it would still be there in the morning if you wanted to head off.” She said. “Oh, I’m doing good. Just muddling on as usual.” 

~

“I mean you’re absolutely not wrong,” she said with a laugh. “Especially the deeper you get in the Ministry the less you know what’s going on. Sometimes when I’m in a trial I completely lose all track of time and I barely know what day it is.” That was partially because some trials were boring, but it was what it was. Mary nodded her head. “Absolutely! I would love that, actually. Most of the rest of my department leaves at a decent time and I’m usually left here alone, I’ll have to come down here more,” Mary agreed. There were times that she stayed just to work on her job as a barrister in the muggle world as well, it was just easier to keep all of her work in one place. But she was starting to feel the burn out.

Mary nodded her head. “I feel like the work is never done,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t know about you, but when I know that I have something that I need to do, I tend to just worry about it all night and then I don’t sleep,” she said with a sigh. “I’m glad to hear that you’re doing alright, though.”

Mary had always loved the Leaky Cauldron. There was something so homey and nostalgic about the pub. It had been her first introduction to the wizarding world when she had been eleven and she could remember dining there with her parents for the first time. It had been one of the only times that her parents had been a part of this part of her life. After her attack they had wanted nothing to do with it, had wanted her to have nothing to do with it either. But she was glad that she had stood her ground. 

Glancing around the pub looking for Marlene, she spotted her in their usual booth towards the back. It had been far too long since she had seen Marlene, which seemed to be a reoccurring theme with her. Mary really needed to get better at seeing the people that she cared for. Making a beeline for her friend, she smiled when Marlene noticed her. “Hey!” She greeted her happily. “I’m so happy to see you, it’s been way too long. How are you?” 

“Damn it,” Mary had cursed to herself when she had gone to grab her lunch only to realize that she had left it at home. She could distinctly remember packing it into her lunchbox only to leave it on the counter. She would just have to pop into Diagon Alley or muggle London to get something for lunch and then get back before the Wizengamot session this afternoon. Grabbing her bag and her coat, she made her way down the long hallway to the lift, saying hello to a former coworker from her old department before she stepped into the lift and went to the main floor. 

Coming out of the lift, she bumped into someone. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Mary quickly apologized. “Are you okay?” Mary finally took a moment to look at the woman that she had bumped into, realizing that it was Alice. “Alice! how are you?” Mary asked. She had always liked Alice and looked up to her. The older Gryffindor had always been kind to her at school, and they had fought alongside each other during their time with the Order. But it seemed like it had been forever since she had last seen her. “How are Frank and Neville?”

“Hold the lift!” Mary called out as she started to walk faster towards the lift. She knew that she could wait for the next one, but she was already running late, or running perfectly on time which was late in Mary’s mind. She had a meeting up in the Auror department with Kingsley and the last thing that she wanted was to hold him, he was a busy man. She was hoping that she could get this meeting down as quickly as possible and then get home, she had some other work that needed to be finished in the next few days. 

“Thank you,” Mary said as she stepped into the lift. Glancing at the other person, she was surprised to see Bellatrix Lestrange. She had held the lift for her? Mary shifted, uncomfortably, she suddenly wished that she would have left the lift go without her. It wasn’t that Bellatrix had ever done anything to her but her reputation preceded her and it made Mary uncomfortable. 

.

“Huh” she murmured as the quill scribbled way more words than the ones Mary was saying. As a matter of fact, Rita had been in the hearing, just not as Rita, but as a little bug, her animagus. Of course, she was not going to reveal that to her. “Well, if the kiss is on the table, I can only assume that dark magic is involved or a very guresome crime” that was a no brainer, literally anyone with a little bit of knowledge would do that. “Isn’t that a bit of ‘an eye for an eye’?” She wondered. “You see, Miss MacDonald, lately I’ve been feeling quite conflicted on this issue and have been wondering… how does that make the government better than the Death Eaters?” She commented. “I mean, sucking someone’s soul out…” she sighed, clicking her tongue. “That’s kind of callous… what’s wrong with keeping those witches and wizards locked up in a cell?” She wondered.

“A Member of Wizegamont! So young!” She smiled, as if that piece of information made her happy. “Good, this court needs some fresh blood” she hummed softly.

~

Mary shifted as she watched as Rita’s quill continued to write, glancing around the hallway. She was starting to think that she should have just walked away from Rita, her article and whatever she would say about her be damned. But she couldn’t walk away now, she was sure that Rita would find a way to twist it. “No comment,” she replied. “I won’t comment on the nature of the crime.” It had been a difficult case to sit through considering what she had gone through herself. And perhaps that would make others say that she was biased but she personally didn’t think so. It made her more compassionate. “Are you joking? The government runs itself off of a set of rules and laws. The Death Eaters were lawless and wanted to hurt innocent people There is no comparison. The government isn’t in the business of using the dementors kiss just because, we only use it for the worst kinds of crimes and the worst kinds of criminals. Sometimes there are crimes that can’t be redeemed by locking them up in a cell.” And sometimes they had wealthy families that got them off entirely. 

“One of the youngest,” she agreed. “I would agree with that. I think that the Wizengamot, and the Ministry as a whole, could use a lot more balance.”

•

Even if her greeting had been rather unexpected, he was glad to see Mary. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since the last time they saw each other. Something about her was intriguing and he wanted to actually talk to her and get to know her. She didn’t seem like the type of person that would normally catch his attention, but she also didn’t seem like the type of person to try and trick people into letting them cut in line at a coffee shop. Maybe that was why he had felt so attracted to her - he wasn’t sure what to expect from her and it was exciting. Maybe he hadn’t struck out tonight like he thought he had, his night seemed to be looking up with the appearance of his pretend fiancée.

“Might’ve been mean, but I won’t hold it against you.” Wally laughed with a small shrug. It wasn’t as if anything was going to happen between him and that other woman, and he was much happier to have Mary’s company. “I’m glad you did decide to come say hi - I haven’t been able to stop thinking about…” He paused, realizing it may have come across as weird or creepy that he’d been thinking about her considering they had only met one time. He cleared his throat and shook his head before continuing on. “About whether or not you made it to your destination on time. I hope the coffee line didn’t make you too late to wherever you were heading.” Wally smiled, hoping he hadn’t scared her off. He was glad a drink appeared in front of him and he immediately picked it up, taking a drink. “I’m good, better with a drink in my hand. It’s been a rather difficult day, but… It’s getting better. And what about you?”

~

Mary had been so against going out with her friends from work but she suddenly found herself very glad that she had let them convince her to come out tonight. She hadn’t really expected to ever see Wally again but it would be a lie to say that he hadn’t crossed her mind once or twice since that day that they had met. What was it about him that she found so fascinating? What was it about him that had drove her to agree to cut in front of all those people? That wasn’t something that she would ever dream of doing on her own, but there was something about Wally that had made her spontaneous. And maybe she wanted to feel that again. Whatever the case, she was pleased to see him again.

“Well I’m glad that you won’t hold it against me,’ she said with a laugh. “That would be terrible.” Mary raised an eyebrow when he suddenly trailed off. She wondered what it was that he was going to say before he had suddenly broke off. When he finally said whether she made it to her destination, she had a feeling that he was lying but she didn’t press him on it. She had just embarrassed him in front of that other woman and well she didn’t want him to think that she was trying to embarrass him. “I did,” she said with a shrug. “I was just heading into work so I would have gotten there eventually. But it was a big help getting there on time.” Mary had arrived a tiny bit later than usual, which was truthfully far earlier than she needed to be there. “I’m sorry that you had a difficult day. Want to talk about it? I’m okay. I’ve just been working.”

open - to anyone

where - down some alleyway on an evening

“ what are you looking at?” nic chuckled, almost crazily, a hand sweeping through his wet hair. it was pouring down with rain, but that hadn’t yet wiped away the evidence on his face. it looked as though he had been in a fight , but the reality was a lot worse than that. “ perhaps you shouldn’t have made that turn down here after all” 

~

Mary didn’t notice him at first. She was too busy trying to get out of the rain that didn’t seem to have any sign of stopping. But then she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and she froze for a moment, before her hand hovered where her wand was stored. “Nicolai,” Mary said, her voice even, not betraying the way that her heart seemed to beat a little faster in his presence. “I’m just going to go.”