astray.

Ronnie’s eyes closed, trying to figure out what to say. She needed to go home. She needed to get one of her potions. When the pain in her shoulder was numbed, she’d be fine. Well, no. She wouldn’t but it would be slightly better, “I can’t go home,” she admitted, her voice breaking in a short sob, “I can’t do it.”

“Why not?” He asked, his brow furrowed. He looked her up and down but hadn’t spotted any easily noticeable injuries. “Are you hurt? Have you seen a healer?” Will kept asking. He never felt comfortable with others crying around him as he never really knew how to proceed. “Do you need a hand in getting home?” He offered eventually.

Teddy: It's not my blood but awww, I knew you cared somewhere deep deep deeeeep inside, Ashcroft

Ronnie had not been home yet. She had gone from fighting the field to fighting at the hospital to crying about her mother in a makeshift hospital set up to checking on her friends to walking through a wizarding park near her home. She was in desperate need of one of her potions. Her meltdown in her mother’s hospital room had led to severe pain once her previous potion had worn off. Her arm essentially hung limp at her side to avoid jolts of pain through her shoulder. She should go home. She needed to go home but her thoughts were scattered and frantic and she ended up on a park bench instead. Tears rolled down her cheek and she trembled. She probably looked like a lunatic, sweaty and frazzled from the day but she couldn’t get herself to move. She saw someone approach, “I…” she began but had nothing else to say. 

William was tired, but there was no time to take a break. He was running on coffee and potions and his body would probably shut down soon, but he was going to make the most of the time he still had. He kept ignoring all the wounds that covered his body, they were nothing in comparison to what others suffered. Walking around everywhere didn’t make things easier for him, but then he seemed to have issues with concentration and he didn’t want to risk injuring himself further. Will sighed loudly when he noticed a familiar form. “Vance, what are you still doing here?” He asked as he got near the woman. 

“You would look absolutely amazing with a crown of sunflowers. It would really brighten up your grumpy demeanor,” she teased, holding one up for him to see, “But I can already tell you’re gonna say no,” she continued, raising an eyebrow as if challenging him to disagree.

@will-a​

"A lot of people tried and failed to change my, as you called it, grumpy demeanor, so I wouldn’t hold your breath if a were you,” Will replied, sighing. “There are others around, surely some would be happy to accept whatever you made since you wish to part with it,” he added, motioning at people around them.

“I didn’t see gin as your drink but I suppose it’s more likely than watching you paint a picture or making flower crowns.” Marcus admitted as he came up to his colleague. “In fact, I’m a little surprised to see you here at all.”

@will-a​

"Believe me, I keep questioning my presence here too,” William sighed. He supposed he felt as if he needed to keep an eye on events like those, just in case someone decided to fool around. “This thing is not half bad, although it’s not my drink of choice. They didn’t seem to have anything better at the moment, what usually would piss me off, but I’m trying to be nice and understanding,” he added with a roll of his eyes.

“You know that your reluctance just encourages me further, Will.” Isabelle couldn’t help but laugh at his immediate reaction however as she held out the piece she had worked on. “I think you’ll look rather fetching in it and if I was the type to give up so easily, I wouldn’t be very good at my job now would I?” 

"I’m sure I can find you another victim, I mean, another willing candidate to play around with. I’ll even make sure they behave themselves. How does that sound? Seems like a pretty good deal to me,” William suggested.

“I mean… I guess it really depends what colour you’re going for..,” Cassius replied awkwardly when asked about which flowers were the best choice. He knew practically nothing about them, apart from a few that were useful in healing so asking him from his help was rather pointless. His mother and cousins rarely received flowers from him as he usually picked more practical gifts that would last longer than a few days.

"Don’t look at me, I know next to nothing about flowers,” William quickly added when the other looked at him for help. It baffled him that someone would ask him of all the people for any opinion on the matter when all he had been doing was scoffing whenever someone squealed at the sight of a bouquet. “Maybe it’s best for us to go..,” he suggested quietly, wanting to escape the situation as soon as possible.

“No one is surprised,” Teddy muttered. Ashcroft didn’t seem bothered by his comments, so he didn’t feel like he needed to watch what he was saying. “So, are you going to party or what?” He asked cautiously. 

William sighed, already annoyed with all the small talk. He couldn’t really understand why some continued the conversation even the other person clearly was not interested in doing the same. “I’m perfectly fine having with just having a couple of drinks and then going home,” he replied, shrugging. 

“Uh, uh,” Ronnie replied, “You are not getting out of this one,” she continued, grabbing his arm, “Come on, you’ll have the best dance partner out these. I’ll make sure you don’t look like an idiot.”

"That does sound like a horrible idea,” William muttered, not moving an inch. “I know how to dance, I just don’t want to do it. Wouldn’t you enjoy yourself more with a willing partner?” He asked the woman. 

“It seems that we all needed a break,” he replied after Will’s observation. There was plenty of others not present since somebody always had to be on duty, but it was nice to see some familiar faces taking a breather after all the hard work they’d had on their plates. “Hah– should we take bets?”

"A break, huh?” William’s eyebrows rose. His job was his life so it was not easy for him to understand that there were people who enjoyed being away from the office. “I suppose those will be the usual suspects. And I’ll make sure they’re going to regret it,” he shrugged, smirking to himself. He already had a few ideas for the howlers he was going to send.

"You can have it if you want, I don’t really believe in that sort of stuff,” William muttered, offering the small clover to the blonde. Luck was a weird connotation in general and he much rather preferred to believe that he created his own than that some plant was responsible for it.

"You must be out of your mind,” William shook his head, not moving even an inch when the other tried to persuade him to dance. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know how to, he was actually pretty decent when he put his mind to it, but h simply was not a fan of dancing in general. “I’m sure you’l easily find another partner,” he added, motioning at the others around them.

Ashcroft was an easy target and Teddy was absolutely sure he was not wearing anything green. The man clearly hated colour so there was no need to second guess. He thought he was being sneaky, but unfortunately he wasn’t sneaky enough. Teddy huffed loudly when he stopped next to the man. “Why are you even here when you suck out all the fun?” He grumbled.

"Perhaps my idea of having fun is to make sure others don’t have too much fun,” he replied, raising an eyebrow at the other. He dared Lupin to continue challenging him, not feeling bothered whatsoever by his comments. He wasn’t the first and certainly would not be the last one to think Will thrived on making others miserable.