Whispers in the night of conspiracy felt like it came from a novel that Eva may have read in her younger years. Espionage and secrecy to take down a corrupt government; a most intriguing genre of casual reading. Now, this wasn’t a novel. Now, this conspiracy seemed a reality. Surprisingly, however, Eva didn’t feel nervous or anxious. Instead, she felt a fire in her stomach, a fire urging her to seek the right answers. Perhaps she’d missed her calling and should have taken the red robes as a youth, instead.

"Do you trust Elixa entirely? Not just with your secrets, but with mine?" Harper asked quietly.

The question caused a crease of Eva’s brow as she considered. Heck, she trusted Elixa to tie her up and do Merlin knew what. She’d trusted Elixa for months with the secret of their relationship, having not been ready to make her sexuality something public. She’d most probably fallen for Elixa, too. She was trustworthy, even if Glass was a distant relative.

“I do, yes.” Eva nodded, and took a gulp of bubbly. “But that’s me, and this is huge, and could destroy our careers. This doesn’t have to happen tonight, I just needed to share that with you.” She waved her hand at the brooch.

Outside of the bubble, Elixa had a vague idea what the other two were discussing. Had she not known about Eva’s excursion to Azkaban, she would have imagined they were discussing things about work, as those who worked together were prone to do. Lix might do the same with healers from the hospital, unless she had been aiming to seduce them. It seemed unlikely that she’d be seducing Harper Graves that evening, but more surprising outcomes had occurred in the past…

Attention off her, Elixa Mordent had drifted from room to room of the cottage, unhindered. It was a cute, comfortable home that contrasted the image she had of Harper Graves at work. A definite escape from London life, at the government. It was warm, welcoming, cozy. There were touches the owner was probably unaware they were making, which indicated personality.

The bedroom door latch lifted with ease, and Lix stole in with the intention of burglar’s stealth, but in her boots, was rather more a sashay across the floorboards. Harper’s familiar followed cautiously, watching her with honest, round eyes. Wondering what this stranger was doing in his owner’s bedroom. What she could possibly want, and why she was wandering instead of fussing the Spaniel.

Lix’s hand touched the bedclothes, admiring the quality, a smile playing across her lips. A comfortable bed, for sure. A freshness of herbs still imprinted upon the fibres. She looked about herself, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. How criminal to be dressed like this, in a bedroom all alone. If they were still in some state later, Lix would ensure she and Eva rectified rather than wasted this outfit.

“Let’s see what your mistress hides…” Lix whispered to the spaniel, expression pure mischief as she seized the handles of a chest of drawers and pulled.

By the time Elixa returned to Evangeline and Harper, their serious and most secretive discussions had driven Eva to drink. Although she could hear no word of either witch, Lix’s approach was enough to draw their gaze. The grin upon her lips was joined by a suggestive raise of her dark eyebrows before the reveal. No shame in rooting through someone’s knicker drawer…!

“Who do you take these off for, then, Graves?”

            “But that’s me...doesn’t have to happen tonight, I just needed to share that with you."

Harper pressed her lips together and nodded, thinking about the vials she had transfigured into tampons to hide in her toiletry kit. There wasn't any rush... as far as Edwin Glass knew, nobody was wise to his deceptions. They had to play this game with patience instead of fury and swiftness. That was fine: that was the law, after all. Patience. And Harper knew the law.

"Later, then. Come over and we can look at the pensives together," she replied just as Elixa's footsteps preceded her appearance wi--

            “Who do you take these off for, then, Graves?”

The Healer was holding up a pair of startling red cheeky knickers, with lace and satin in all the wrong places. Harper made an exclamation of surprise, not sure whether to laugh or yell, and did neither. "Is that what you were doing?" her cheeks burned; she exchanged a brief, embarrassed look with Eva. "I don't know, I guess I thought it was an alluring style."

And it was, absolutely, but opportunities to show off her less professional talents were far and few lately.

"They don't really look like I get much use out of them, do they?" Harper sighed as she got up to reclaim her lingerie. "But a witch must always be prepared for a for a bedroom emergency..." she smiled dryly at Elixa, a little humour in her eyes. "I'm sure you can relate."