Twelve! Very respectable. Niobe's eyebrows lifted to show she was impressed. Of the two of them, Niobe liked to think she was the normal one, but look at Pollux with his nice business and his nice friends and his nice book club.

"No, thanks, though. I'm all set. Working on something, actually. You ever heard of a place called Lapin? L-A-P-I-N, I think. I keep hearing about a werewolf-only club but can't manage to connect the dots."

It wasn't very common for Niobe to involve Pollux in her work since very little of her work involved things she thought Pollux might know about. But Pollux was clearly getting out and about in his community, so maybe he'd heard something.

It was rare that Pollux found himself without words; rarer still around his sister, with whom he shared a long-running custom of banter and oneupmanship. But at Niobe's question, he blinked, a momentary look of uncharacteristic surprise showing on his face.

This was quickly accompanied by a loud splash, as if Saoirse had accidentally dumped an entire pile of dishes into the sink all at once.

"Sorry!" his employee gasped, as she quickly scrambled to vanish the water that had sloshed out of the sink and all around.

Well, this hadn't started well.

"Lapin?" Pollux repeated quickly, as if to draw his sister's attention back to himself.

With this new line of conversation, he half wished they'd stayed on the subject of him socializing with Muggles. When she was after a story, Niobe could be a bit like a Nibbler with its heart set on one particular galleon. While independent journalism was undeniably a public good in holding those in power accountable, it wasn't necessarily a public good when it came into contact with everyone else.

"I can't say I hold the necessary qualifications to frequent a werewolf club," he said, summoning up his best regretful smile. "What dots are ye trying to connect, then? I didn't realize you'd been reassigned to the Food-and-Drink beat, Nibs."

Niobe had heard but was oblivious to the panic behind Saoirse's fumbling of the dishes, so she paid it no mind. She sipped her beer as Pollux was no help.

"Just trying to figure it out," she said sincerely. "It's not an assignment or anything. It started when Calaveras got that new owner and started having Full Moon parties, right? That's when I started hearing about the other side of that coin. Werewolves-only club. At first I thought, has to be Puddifoot's they're talking about. That place in Hogsmeade is run by a werewolf now and they have a safe house and all that. But that doesn't fit; it's a tea shop. And then for a hot second there was shitty off-books Wolfsbane coming out of Knockturn, which stopped right quick. Then I'm hearing this name of Lapin and I can't figure out if it's a person or a place."

Niobe winced and shook her head, resigned in her frustration. "I just hate that I can't pin it down."

Her gaze went far away a moment and contemplated how mainstream she was now, that she didn't have any connections to secret underground clubs.

Pollux relaxed minutely. At least his sister seemed to be more in Puffskein mode, lazily nosing about her curiosities, then in true Niffler form this time around.

"Are ye sure they didn't mean Lupin?" he asked, unable to help himself. "Y'know, Friend of Lupin and all?"

Niobe was unfortunately far more removed from Muggle culture than he was, and so the chances were slim that she'd appreciate the cleverness of his misdirection, beyond the reference to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor during their seventh year at Hogwarts. At the very least, it would give her another wolf den to trudge into.

He took a sip of his own pint, disappointed that his nerves were still jittery enough that he couldn't really appreciate it but appreciative for something to do that would keep him from glancing at Saoirse.

"If ye do happen to find thon secret club," he remarked easily, sliding back into his normal conversational tone, "put in a good word for us, won't ye? We're just about ready to step up production again, and I wouldn't say no to a new market."

"Lupin, fock. Didn't even think of that. I should say thanks, I guess. Damn it."

A Remus Lupin connection was something else to look into. Just having another name, made the spider's web of connections in her mind fractal out into several more directions. She thought for a moment, forgetting to be supportive of her brother's further business ventures. She remembered herself.

"If you're looking for new places to sell your beer, there's a vampire coven in Camden. I think the Wizengamot's going to approve legal bites and they'll need something other than bagged blood to serve to the influx of mortal volunteers. Oh."

She acted like she'd just thought of something. "Could host a wee book club there. You could do Dracula."

His sister had taken the bait, deferring the potential threat to another day. Pollux felt a wee tinge of guilt as he flashed her a bright smile, happy to bask in the fact that he'd been the one to come up with a clever connection even if he knew better than she that it was bollocks.

It was only Niobe, wasn't it? For all their quibbling, the two Thursby siblings shared a strong dislike for injustice and abuse of power, even if Nibs leaned squarely towards truth while Pollux centered community.  But the werewolf community in London had their reasons for staying underground, and it wasn't his place to reveal their secrets.

Surprising him, his sister returned a suggestion of a new opportunity. Pollux blinked, regarding her, though the final quip made an eyebrow inch upwards. It was funny how the Ministry was so encouraging of vampires when they rapped him on the knuckles for even considering serving a pint to a Muggle.

"That one goes a wee bit too heavy on the reverse colonialism and anti-feminism for our usual crowd," he retorted, slanting her a dry look. "Don't suppose we could interest the vampires in reading theory instead, do ye?"

Niobe was now questioning if she'd ever actually read Dracula, but it didn't matter. Pollux apparently did the homework for the both of them.

"Let me know if you plan to ask them. I'll want to see that, I do."

Niobe stood up then, her glass nearly empty, and began to gather herself to head out.

"I'm away, then. I've got to meet Talisha [nb]Lawyer, Talisha Crowe. Wish me luck. Alibi me if I go missing."  A delightful exaggeration, but she was a strange person, and Niobe never knew what exactly to expect when she got her owl.

"That's all, Saoirse!" Niobe called in farewell to the younger witch.

The young server had apparently recovered from her fumbling of the dishes a moment ago. All of the water spill had been dried and she was in the process of returning the clean cups and plates back to their home on the shelf.

"Good seein' you!" she called to Niobe, giving her a wave with her wand hand.

At the mention of his sister's next stop, Pollux didn't quite manage to hide a wince. He'd ended up going on a few dates with Talisha Crowe after the Valentine's Day blind dating event[1] back in February, which had fizzled out when he'd gotten distracted and stopped returning her owls, as was his tendency. At least his sister was better about maintaining relationships.

"You'll be the first I do tell," he agreed cheerfully, as he picked up Niobe's empty glass. "Let me know if you have any luck hunting up our Lupin."

He glanced at the magical clock on the wall. Less than half an hour now until they were due to open. With a sigh, he swept his sister's glass away to the sink and went to go check the kegs to see what else needed to be done in the time that they had left.

1.	February 11, 2012 - Love is Blind