Lover of the Light

“Anyone else and I might have guessed they were staring so intently at the wanted ads, the ways things have been around here lately.”

“How so? Once she wins, they’ll become historical.”

“If you’re a collector, maybe, which I’m not.”

“Oh, thank you!”

“You sure you want to let go of it? There are only like… Twelve. Twelve purple buttons. They made a lot but so few of the purple ones.”

“It’s not something of any interest to me once the election is over, I’d just throw it out.”

“Don’t you think the buttons are pretty? I have ten but they’re all a different color and I long fot the purple one.”

“I have a purple one, you’re welcome to it.”

“I still want to know what it was. I’m curious now.”

“I just think it’s odd that every accessible means of travel we have gives you the spins. I leave to meet someone for lunch and by the time I’ve got there I feel so sick to my stomach that I don’t feel hungry anymore. Not until I’ve had a ginger beer to settle my stomach, at least.”

“I’m so proud of you.” The phrase may house sounded flippant to any eavesdroppers, but anyone who knew Amelia could be sure of at least one thing, and it was that she didn’t use words like proud lightly or in jest. 

Amelia’s entire attitude irked Tessa. The implication that she couldn’t make an informed decision on her own, or that she’d be wrong if it wasn’t a view that aligned with her sister’s got under her skin and made her feel itchy. She imagined opening her mouth and saying something along those lines, of making it clear that it was, frankly, none of Amelia’s business. That her own views were no less valid than her sister’s. That she wasn’t a baby. But she’d never been good at standing up for herself. Sure, she held her own well enough in matters of jest, but for the serious things, her mouth always remained firmly closed. Now was no different. She simply nodded, lips in a tight smile, and said, “I’m about ready to order. Are you?”

“Of course,” she said the words like they were an apology.

“In theory yes, I like Penelope better, but I’m all too aware that now might not be the best time for a candidate like her.”

“No. I meant every word of it. But what kind of an older sister would I be if I didn’t try to impart some sort well-informed guidance onto you? I know she sounds like a nice choice, but now isn’t really the time for nice.”

“You are aware I work in the DMLE too, aren’t you?”

“Tessa, you’re a smart and capable woman with more than enough good sense and Ministry experience to make an educated decision on your own about where you cast your vote. However, too kind for your own good and susceptible to entertaining the ideas of other people equally as kind. Like, say, Penelope Mlavia? Who would, by the way, absolute crumble at the first conflict put before her and take this entire established Government down with her.”

“I get the sense I can ignore the entirety of the first thing you said.”

“And stuck vividly. But, seriously what was your funny thing?”

“It was more funny interesting than funny haha.”

“Well you certainly are, if not better,” Tracy pointed out with a smile, feeling the unfamiliar warm glow of family filling her stomach–– it wasn’t the type of complimentary, verbal love that she’d grown up with and it was as hard to get used to as it was as easy to love. “So if one were to only look at the pair of us, I think they’d be forced to find that yes, we’re all pretty fantastic.”

“There’s an answer I can live with,” Tessa smiled fondly. “Though I have heard horror stories. There’s this girl at work, and the tales she tells.”

“Anyway, and more importantly, who are you thinking of voting in for Minister? The clock is ticking, you know. They’re coming up very quickly and I’m sure I don’t need to remind you how absolutely pivotal this election is in shaping the war’s outcome and, frankly, the entire future of the WIzarding World.”

“Why don’t you save us all the trouble and tell me who you think I should be voting for,” Tessa replied with a roll of her eyes, though fondly.

“Like once, but it was hysterical all the same.”

“It must have been to have stuck with you so strongly.”

“Come here, come here. Let me help you carry that, please. I’m having mental pictures of it spilling all over the ground and it’s stressing me out in advance.”

“Are all sister-in-laws as good as you?”

“We’re in this together then, by the looks of things.”

“Try not to sound too enthusiastic.”

“When some poor, drunk chap’s got some meat pie and some stray dog starts chasing him down the street and then he somehow ends up apparating himself into a tree he suddenly can’t get out of? Because I always find that hilarious, frankly.”

Caught somewhere between amusement and confusion, Tessa’s expression moulded itself into something that wasn’t quite sure what it wanted to be. “How many times have you come across that, exactly?”

“Have you no faith in your brother at all? I’m wounded,” he said with a flourish as he put his hand over his heart. “Alright, we’ll meet there. Hopefully I make it with all my limbs intact.”

~one apparition later~

“You know what I always find funny?”