“Do you think Macdonald would notice if I lightly stabbed her boyfriend?” Nick asked. even though he already knew and didn’t care much for the answer. “No one needs two kidneys. And he’s touching my stuff.”

Anna loved her brother dearly, she really truly did, but spending free time at his place felt like crowding him somehow. When Rufus had offered her the chance to hang out as his for a while she’d jumped at it. Plus, she missed the kiddo.

Now she sat curled up on his couch, careful to keep her deaf ear (god, she still hadn’t fully unpacked all of that yet, deaf in one ear) facing away from him and her good ear towards him. “Talk a little louder,” she pleaded, “I still haven’t had time to look into any sort of hearing aid or stuff like that.”

It really hadn’t been that hard at all to pick out which strange man at the seedy bar Dallas had told her about. There was only one that stood out, and he kept staring at Dallas whenever Dallas had his back turned. Her creep radar blared in her mind. Tall Dark and Stalker could find someone else to gawk at as far as Lily was concerned.

“Did anyone ever tell you it’s rude to stare?” She asked as she sat down across from the man. 

Walden didn’t want to be here. Severus tested his patience like no one else seemed to manage. It was for Narcissa’s benefit more than Severus’s that Walden had never once punched him. And it was for Narcissa’s benefit he was here in the first place.

“Have you seen Cissy?” He asked the moment the door opened. “I’m worried.”

When the receptionist had told Lily she had a visitor, she’d honestly expected it to be James or one of the others. If she’d known it was Severus she wouldn’t have shown up. Seeing him hurt the way that seeing Petunia hurt, the way all lost things hurt. 

“What do you want, Severus?” She asked, arms crossed. “I only have 15 minutes for my break.”

“How do you feel about being in weddings? Specifically, my wedding.”

Anna had done many things in her life she wasn’t proud of in her life; but lying to the staff at St. Mungo’s and telling them she and Rufus were engaged was maybe higher on the list. It had gotten her into his room though, even with the press of Ministry personnel and security. 

She’d grabbed an elephant from the rumbled of Acid’s top floor and placed it on the end of his bed. The giraffe she’d grabbed for herself she held in a stranglehold, dangling over the edge of the chair she’d squeezed herself into. It was the smallest chair she could find but it made her feel a bit safer.

When she saw the sheets move Anna’s head shot up. “Rufus? Are you awake?”

“Allison, no—!” Anna shot out a hand to stop the young girl but it was too late. The hot chocolate the girl had been carrying had already sloshed all over the robes of some handsome Asian ministry employee who probably didn’t have time for this.

Anna winced, shuffling herself in front of young Allison. “I’m so sorry sir, she’s only four. We’re still working on watching where we’re going.”

“I was watching!” Allison protested. “My cocoa was the one not watching.”

“Well, looks like we’ll have to work on teaching your drinks how to watch with you.” She said, glancing down at Allison with a smile. The girl’s younger brother Nate, not her old enough to walk, tugged on Anna’s hair and babbled happily.

“I really am sorry sir,” she said turning back to the stranger. “How can I make it up to you?”