#orphic;starter

when: some time after the speech

where: the riddle house

After leaving Pandora and giving her parents the slip, Anastasia had spent most of the party, slipping between different groups of guests, pretending to be interested in admiring the horticulture whilst trying to catch snatches of conversation. She knew she ought not to pass up the opportunity to be surrounded by some many of the Minister’s inner circle, that she ought to be making conversation rather than just eavesdropping.

She turned round to face the party again, scanning the garden over the top of her champagne glass, trying to pick out someone to approach. After a few seconds she realised that the crowd seemed slightly thinner than it had when she had been watching the Minister give his speech. She supposed people may have drifted inside, but she doubted the Dark Lord operated an ‘open house’ policy. 

She was trying to pick out the precise faces that were missing when she felt someone brush past her arm and something land on the grass by her feet.

“Apologies” she said, though she felt she was quite obviously not at fault. She reached down to pick up what they had dropped, “I think this belongs to you.”

Mary was exhausted, but she knew that if she went straight home and got into bed, she would end up laying in bed for hours. Regardless of whether she got off shift at noon or at midnight, it was the same thing. She had just worked a nearly thirteen hour shift, and she just needed to get out of St. Mungo’s and back into things so she decided to pop into the Leaky Cauldron for a drink and some not hospital food. She had ordered a Firewhiskey and some fish and chips, and she was ready to just unwind. It always amazed her how even at midnight, the Leaky was filled with people. She had always loved the place, it had been her first introduction into Wizarding society, and there was something so...perfect about the whole place. She could sit there for hours, people watching, or sometimes she brought a book with her and she read as she ate. It had come of something of a routine, coming in after her shift, and she was glad for the routine.

She had just sat down to eat when she felt someone hovering. “Can I help you?” She asked.

A wince escaped the moment Remus settled at the bar, leaving him shifting uncomfortably until he found a position that best suited the aches along his spine. He had made it through the workday with a forced smile so another hour longer shouldn’t have felt so challenging. He likely would have been better off skipping the detour altogether but he hadn’t been able to shake the craving for fried food all day.

“Fries and whatever they’re drinking,” He murmured when the bartender approached, offering a sheepish expression at the person seated beside him. “Too long of a day for decision making past that.”