A Muggle auction house - described from my childhood experiences rather than citing a specific location for flexibility for us both!

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"Someone's whole life can end up here." Edwin remarked almost forlornly as he and Morgana wandered the rough aisle. Either side of them were furniture and items piled on top, each with little tags attached with a number, corresponding to a number in the catalogue.

It was a dryer day than yesterday in London. Edwin and Morgana had met at her shop and then Edwin had side-along apparated them both to a safe spot not far from here, and out of view. He'd advised her to wear something Muggle-inconspicuous. He had switched his own Thursday attire for the office of suit and tie for a slightly more casual pair, a light blue shirt open at the neck slung under a navy wool coat which gave his already stocky shoulders a bold presentation. His thinning brown hair had caught in the breeze and was looking sightly less refined now they were in the venue.

The auction rooms were made up of a set of barn-like spaces, lit by ceiling windows. It looked like they had once been sheds for engineering, with various pipes and struts protruding out of walls and across the space. The floor was concrete, left a rather varied grey colour tinged with spots of dripped paint, or had been covered by rugs that had probably been unsold a few decades past. It was altogether cluttered, and the rooms had been pulled together as the auctioneers had taken over adjoining business properties on the street. Edwin thought it was rather charming, wizarding meets modern Muggle industrial.

Muggles were milling about in their hundreds, making it possible to walk down aisles but the occasional set of acquaintances had grouped to discuss particular lots or catch up on auction conquests, and they had to squeeze past them to continue. The atmosphere was quiet, intermittently punctuated by large bangs of lorries being unloaded and shouts of the team of men in scruffy burgundy uniforms and aprons who negotiated the busy rooms with trolleys and boxes. Owing to the fact the main entrance was rather more a shutter door, the January wind nipped through the buildings and the kitchen which served tea, coffee and bacon sandwiches was doing a roaring trade, keeping the customers warm inside to out.

They were both browsing, Edwin allowing Morgana a good look around, his own eyes both busy with looking at the items they passed, and also stealing looks at her doing the same. He was chuffed she had agreed to come with him.

Although it was a workday, Edwin had negotiated with one of his Department who tended to put in appearances at auction houses around the UK along with colleagues from different departments to rescue wizarding items that had fallen into Muggle trade. They were often fairly trivial, biting snuffboxes, set of old potions bottles still with liquid in, so he'd built up quite a set of personas along the way, and a great number of confundus charms and obliviation reports in getting the items out before they were on sale.

His man was here today, Edwin knew, and as Department Head he had come under the guise that he was doing a spot check on proceedings. Another snuff box to be recovered, and a series of other items that had questionable heritage, nothing too unusual, enough of an excuse to take a visit to the place where he was registered to bid, and take along Morgana.

"The largest I heard we recovered," we being the Ministry in this case, "was a pair of vanishing cabinets. Absolutely beautiful apparently, would make for nice corner cupboards, but clearly unsuitable for," he lowered his voice, leaning in towards her a little, "Muggles."

They rounded the end of the aisle, squeezed through a doorway into an adjoining building, a smaller room with a series of glass cabinets.
"Ah, I wonder if we might find our lot in here." Edwin spoke softly, folding over the catalogue to the page where one item was ringed, the biting snuffbox, a small photograph beside. Which as they looked round, they could see being lifted out of a glass cabinet by one of the staff, for further examination by a rather rotund woman, who was most certainly not Edwin's experienced colleague.

Stopping dead in his tracks, he caught Morgana's arm gently to catch her attention, hoping he wouldn't have to intervene when the snuffbox tried to bite off the plump woman's finger.

Morgana had long since decided to stop wondering why she thought about following Edwin to a Muggle auction and just started to enjoy herself. Wearing Muggle clothes was not a problem for her; her choice of outfit this time was a loose-sleeved cream blouse with a necklace of green glass beads paired with a sensible shin-length light ochre skirt and kitten heels. Maybe it was a little overdressed, but Morgana loved overdressing. It made her feel prettier.

Her eyes roved over the selection of antiques as the staff continued to unload their goods. Even though she had to go around groups of people clustered tightly in deep discussion, she usually only noticed them last minute; most of the time she was too engrossed in noting what was available to the point that she didn't quite pay attention to her companion, or where he was. It brought back good memories of the days when she posed as a Muggle antiques enthusiast.

"The largest I heard we recovered was a pair of vanishing cabinets. Absolutely beautiful apparently, would make for nice corner cupboards, but clearly unsuitable for Muggles." She heard the last bit closer to her ear and nodded. His job was clear to her, Ministry official and all; she just couldn't let her secrets slip out in his presence.

Finally she managed to tear her eyes away from an old vase and rejoined her companion as they reached the end of the aisle. Edwin walked like he knew the place, which he probably did owing to his job; it was better if she stayed beside him.

"Ah, I wonder if we might find our lot in here." It was only a few seconds until she felt his touch on her arm. She looked at him, and then looked down at the catalogue he was holding before she opened her mouth to ask what he was doing. It didn't take her long to make the connection when she gazed in the direction he was looking.

"Shouldn't we stop them before anything happens?" she whispered to Edwin. "Anything that ends up in a missing digit, for example?"

"Probably." Edwin replied softly, his eyes not leaving the woman who was reaching out to take the snuffbox from the member of staff who had it flat on their hand. It would most likely try and bite if they attempted to open it.

He took a quick look around him, slid his wand from his sleeve closest to Morgana and decided on a diversion tactic. He'd have to explain himself later, but at least if a cabinet collapsed he'd not have to call out a squad of obliviators when a woman's finger was bitten off by an antique.

CRASH

In the far corner of the room a cabinet with a glass front and shelves suddenly shattered down the middle, the trinkets locked away on the shelves crashed down amongst the crumbling glass, and the room full of Muggles all turned to stare in surprise.

"Heavens." Edwin muttered, and took the opportunity to stalk towards the staff member and the snuffbox, which was still dormant on the man's hand, the podgy woman had turned to look at the cabinet which had inexplicably had an accident with help from Edwin's wand. Stood right behind the staff member willing them to put the snuff box down, Edwin waited, and then - he was in luck. Down it went, the glass lid of the cabinet still open, and quick as a flash, in his pocket while the Muggles were still distracted.

Returning to Morgana, his wand hidden again he tried to look nonchalant.
"I'll just have to hope that the cameras in here didn't catch that in any great detail, otherwise I might not be able to bid here in the near future." He cracked a grin. "Did you want to take a look? No good rushing from a scene, draws attention, don't you think?"

Morgana had not expected that Edwin would do what he did next. She jumped subtly when the cabinet shattered, the crash grinding on her ears for a brief, unpleasant moment. She watched, stunned, as Edwin nicked the snuffbox before anyone noticed him.

"I'll just have to hope that the cameras in here didn't catch that in any great detail, otherwise I might not be able to bid here in the near future. Did you want to take a look? No good rushing from a scene, draws attention, don't you think?"

"Are you even allowed to do that?" she asked him and his grin in a low, astonished tone. "And even so, I would've gotten as close as possible before causing a distraction! It would be so much easier to take it from there! Not that I've done that sort of thing," she added hurriedly, "but one learns underhanded tricks from Muggles once in a while."

She also found herself replaying his movements in her head as if she were a master watching a student, and tried to stop it. It was bad enough that she'd spent her life thieving; teaching someone else how to do it was not on when she was trying to swear free of it. She had standards.

Either way, her hushed tone to him was completely in line with the Muggles in the room, even though her shock and low tone were aimed at something completely different. As she glanced over to see the staff hurry forwards to clean up the mess before someone hurt themselves on it, she hoped that the Ministry would not come bearing down onto the place in the next few minutes. One Ministry staff was enough to deal with already.

She shook her head. "What will you do next, Edwin? It better not scare the living daylights out of me." The brief shock of adrenaline was draining away, so she was saying it out of relief rather than as a reprimand. With one hand she cleared her fringe out of her face and looked around, masking her guilt by association. "Is there anything else I should know about before you explode another piece of furniture?"

"Strictly speaking, no." Edwin replied, looking furtive.

He gave Morgana a curious look over her suggestion.
"Right, yes, that would have been better, just, time, and you were rather good cover stood right beside me…" He reasoned.

Yes, he accepted, he was far better at directing a situation from afar or mopping up after it when others had to think quickly and get into pickles like this. It had been quite a few years since he'd been quite this hands on, and he might have been showing off just a little for Morgana.

But nobody rushed in other than the staff. Edwin could not see his colleague, but perhaps he had already slipped away after witnessing. He'd be irritated, the man did a good job, and Edwin had acted instinctively, and now he regretted it.

"Sorry, I hadn't meant to, but losing fingers would have been worse," He assured her, a hand going gently to her elbow to reassure her sympathetically, and a good opportunity to touch her. They were stood so close to talk that he could smell her perfume. His eyes were distracted by the way she pushed her fringe out of the way.

He chuckled gently at her comment about exploding furniture.
"I can do more than explode furniture, if you let me" he told her, voice hushed, "But then we wouldn't have much fun today would we if I caused more of a scene here. Come on, we'll get out of the way here." He twitched his head toward the door to leave.

"I didn't mean to alarm you." Edwin assured Morgana once they were out of the room and into the next which was full of paintings on every space on the wall.
"Good job I'm not an obliviator any more, though I wouldn't have the luxury of inviting you along on a workday for company if I was." He smiled. "Explosions aside, is there anything that has caught your eye?"

"Sorry, I hadn't meant to, but losing fingers would have been worse." His touching her elbow was a little unexpected, but she took it graciously - if anything, she was grateful that he willingly kept his hands to himself, even if he stood quite close to her. However, the hairs on the back of her neck were prickling a little; it was not a warning sign, just her dislike of being touched. She let the elbow one pass, but if it had been her back or waist...

""I can do more than explode furniture, if you let me, but then we wouldn't have much fun today would we if I caused more of a scene here. Come on, we'll get out of the way here."

She looked around the room. Other Muggles had sort of gotten the idea and were leaving before someone accused them of breaking the cabinet. It would be good to follow as such, so she nodded and walked with him. Keeping calm in the aftermath of a distraction was not unfamiliar to her - she was well used to casually playing along and acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"I didn't mean to alarm you. Good job I'm not an obliviator any more, though I wouldn't have the luxury of inviting you along on a workday for company if I was. Explosions aside, is there anything that has caught your eye?"

Morgana gazed around the current room. Old paintings. She did love a good painting; her time in Paris had taught her much about the whims and wishes of the artistic mind. She appreciated art the same way she took pride in her skills as a thief - many years of constant practice, driven by a passion and a thrill to discover and manipulate, and, as an added bonus, had much to do with hand movements.

"I'm rather spoilt for choice here, aren't I?" she said softly, her question more of a rhetorical statement. "It's a bit like Christmas has come early, and what's more I get to pick what I like. The answer, specifically, is 'nearly everything'. I'm having a hard time making a decision." She looked at Edwin. "Of course, some of the objects are recent and may not have such good value, but most of them are just...exquisite mysteries to be unravelled."

After a minute, in which she realised she sounded a tad mystic for her tastes, she continued in a more down-to-earth tone, "So maybe we should just keep moving before I affix myself on appreciating near everything on offer." She gave a soft laugh. "And I'm well aware you are technically working right now, as you've just so explosively demonstrated, so don't let me hold you up. I'm not quite sure if I should blame or credit you for introducing me to what could possibly be another life-sucking hobby."

Why did I just say 'another hobby'? I still have too much thieving on the mind.

"My first being with Muggle novelties, of course," she added, before Edwin could ask exactly what she meant by "another hobby".

"… The answer, specifically, is 'nearly everything'…" Morgana replied, her eyes busy with the paintings. Edwin was busy watching her, and not the paintings. His answer was most definitely the woman with him.

"… exquisite mysteries to be unravelled."

Edwin snapped out of his fond gazing with a start.

"Yes, yes, such exquisite mysteries," he echoed, having not entirely concentrated on her every word, but more the way she had spoken, her gestures. "Not just the paintings, either." He smiled.

"… maybe we should just keep moving before I affix myself on appreciating near everything on offer. And I'm well aware you are technically working right now, as you've just so explosively demonstrated, so don't let me hold you up. I'm not quite sure if I should blame or credit you for introducing me to what could possibly be another life-sucking hobby."

Edwin shared her chuckle and she clarified as he opened his mouth to reply.

"My first being with Muggle novelties, of course."

"Precisely why I knew you would appreciate a place quite like this." He replied graciously, "and yes, somewhat at work, but as the Department Head I get to be a little liberal as to what I class 'work' rather than what I decide it is for everyone else." He gave a shrug.

"You don't hold me up, you make a routine trip far more interesting." He smiled and nodded, sliding his hand into his pocket tentatively to ensure the snuffbox was still inside.

"If I had the option, I would have your company far more often. Here or elsewhere." Edwin admitted to Morgana softly, touching her elbow once more, closing the distance between them ever so slightly.

"I could arrange to give further explosive demonstrations too." He winked.

Every time Edwin mentioned his being a Department Head, Morgana couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to get some thrill out of the risk of being with a Ministry official, or if she was just digging her own grave. She imagined her brother wouldn't be too happy if he found out, either. Best not to tell him.

"If I had the option, I would have your company far more often. Here or elsewhere."

Morgana suppressed the urge to tell him what was on her mind and paused to think about her answer first. She had been wondering if he had deliberately asked her to come with him as a form of a date, too. It had been a while since someone had been this forward with her.

"I could arrange to give further explosive demonstrations too." Was that a wink? Wow. Saucy. She hoped fervently that he hadn't made a double entendre, because if he had she was going to pretend she hadn't caught it.

"No, I think I can do without the fireworks," she managed, giving him a smile back. He was gradually closing the gap between the two of them. She was dreading the moment he'd touch her waist or back. Best case scenario was when she'd just automatically slap his hand away. Worst case? She didn't want to think about it. She didn't think he deserved it.

That was why she continued her response with, "I would love to take you up on your offer for company, Edwin. And your gentle touch is always welcome, as long as you don't come in contact with my back or waist." She was speaking in a low tone, making sure no one was lingering within eavesdropping distance. "I'm sorry, I just have an issue or two with being touched in specific areas, and you're being a gentleman enough that I think I should warn you in advance before you accidentally make a wrong move."

She smiled at him, tilting her head downwards and looking up into his eyes as she spoke, allowing her fringe to obscure her eyes slightly. Her tone had been low enough to reach a slight hint of huskiness that she only reserved for a certain purpose. Welp, now I'm truly going into the deep end. Hopefully a point of return exists.

But with it a deep-seated thrill was riding on a wave in her chest. It was an old friend, albeit only sailing when she was climbing out of someone's bedroom window until now. If anything, this could possibly the real life-sucking hobby Edwin was trying to get her into, and she felt that it would be much better to pursue it than the much-visited field of burying herself into antiques.

The response from Morgana was rather warmer than he'd anticipated. For all Edwin's flirting he tended to get knocked back more often than not. As such, his face revealed a little more surprise than intended.

"Of course, I wouldn't, my apologies," He uttered graciously, and reached for her hand instead, looking at her fondly.
"Thank you for coming along with me this morning," Edwin spoke softly, smiling gently so his round cheeks swelled,
"I wasn't sure if it would be your thing, last minute, whether you'd be perhaps bored with it all given you own a shop full of curiosities from this side of life."

He glanced down at their hands and then up again,
"I suppose for all the times I've been to your shop and talked with you, I know so very little of you, only that you captivate me, Morgana, every time I step foot in your shop door."

Edwin gave her hand a squeeze and let go, sensing he was being a little to close in such a public place. In doing so he put his hand into his pocket, and his expression changed from smooth smiling to a sudden startled expression as the snuffbox nipped his finger.

"Bloody snuffbox!" He muttered as he yanked his hand from his pocket and shook his hand out, glad it had only just nipped his fingertip.

"I'm glad you don't deal in these!"

She saw the surprise in his face and drew back a little. Morgana knew how to flirt, yes, but it had been such a long while that she wasn't sure if she was overdoing it or not. As much as she would try and match Edwin's level of flirting, she didn't dare try. A woman her age had standards to upkeep - well, in her opinion. It was Not Done for her to act like a floozie.

But she didn't expect him to grasp her hand. As she looked into his eyes in astonishment, she was struck by the amount of honest affection she could see in his expression. And his smile. She felt herself warm up to him once again.

"Thank you for coming along with me this morning. I wasn't sure if it would be your thing, last minute, whether you'd be perhaps bored with it all given you own a shop full of curiosities from this side of life." She saw him glance at their hands. "I suppose for all the times I've been to your shop and talked with you, I know so very little of you, only that you captivate me, Morgana, every time I step foot in your shop door."

She didn't want to admit it just then, but she couldn't recall the last time someone had actually been this gentle and straightforward with her. If he was acting, the wizarding world would have an award-winner. If he wasn't, he was in the process of winning her over.

He squeezed her hand gently and then let go. She let out a breath that she hadn't realised she had been holding the whole time. Their surroundings were filtering back in; she had forgotten, for that moment in time, that they were in a fairly public area. The back of her mind faintly reminded her why love was so dangerous, but she paid no heed to it.

And then his expression changed and the spell abruptly ended.

"Bloody snuffbox! I'm glad you don't deal in these!" Edwin whipped his hand out of his pocket. Morgana stepped back and flinched insinctively to avoid his hand, but forced herself to stop mid-flinch and fought down the sharp and tiny jab of fear. It was not a subtle gesture, so she was hoping no one around them would raise their eyebrows.

"Are you all right?" she asked in concern. "Maybe you should tie it up before we continue on, just in case you want to put your hand into your pocket again. And," she tucked her hair behind one ear, looking to the side, "I should be thanking you for inviting me along in the first place." She smiled. "Because if you didn't, I might not have the chance to get to hear those lovely words. But I have, and thank you for giving me that chance."

The thrill in her chest was soaring. It had been a long time since it had so willingly flown. In that very moment, she knew that she wanted to keep it flying.

"Yes, still got all my fingers." Edwin wiggled them for Morgana to see, and adopted a smile. "I'll just not put my hand in my pocket."

Morgana seemed genuinely touched by his simple enough words, which was lovely. He would never have put off inviting her down here for so long if he knew it would lead to their proper conversation - taking Morgana out of her shop was a blessing.

"I meant it." The wizard uttered kindly, "Its just not easy to say how much meeting you brightens my day, over your counter, There's plenty more I could say, given the chance." His expression had entirely softened, his smiles were taking years off his face.

Edwin reached for her hand with the hand that had just been nipped, feeling bolder.

"And one way to keep my hand out of my pocket, is to hold yours, of course."  He murmured, leaning in a little towards Morgana.

Now would be an incredibly inconvenient time for anyone from his Department to turn up…

"I meant it. It's just not easy to say how much meeting you brightens my day, over your counter. There's plenty more I could say, given the chance. And one way to keep my hand out of my pocket, is to hold yours, of course."

Morgana didn't answer. He was a champion at flattering, and there was only so much she could reply to before a sense of self-deprecation kicked in and she felt that she didn't deserve it. But she was flattered - so flattered that she was looking away from him a tad shyly.

She felt his fingers on her hand, and let him take hold of it. There was a slight warmth from his direction that most likely meant he was closer to her - or maybe it could just be the warmth in her chest. She wasn't quite sure. What she was certain about was that she was being shy about it right now.

There were quite a few places that Aisling would rather have been at this moment. Places that didn't involve interrupting a Department Head while he was out making a mess of things.

But it seemed that a mess had been made somewhere, or else the Muggles wouldn't be fussing about their security in a way that would get flagged. With any luck it would merely be an unrelated incident, but even that might result in trouble. Taking a good look about could reveal more than they wanted, in the end.

She finally caught sight of Edwin, and, well, Morgana's presence was a bit of a surprise, one Aisling wished she could have seen in better circumstances. But still a pleasant one, even if she half-suspected it had made Edwin less cautious. "I didn't expect to see you here." She made her way over towards them with a smile, her expression a lovely mask of delighted surprise. While her presence meant that there was an issue of some sort, such hardly needed to be declared to every person within the auction house.

"I didn't expect to see you here."

If he could have awarded Aisling Knight a prize for most inconvenient arrival time, he would have. Instead he stepped back away from Morgana instinctively to address his colleague.

"Likewise." He greeted, and then realised she meant Morgana. How, awkward.

Not only was Aisling a colleague, she was a woman he'd have willingly loved all his life, and just as he was making moves on Morgana she had to arrive and interrupt - after decades of her being unavailable, and married. Gah!

"I invited Morgana along as a consultant," Edwin explained smoothly, "Good to maintain our Department relations with artefact hunters, more eyes and such. Morgana, do you know Aisling, Aisling, Morgana?" He looked between the women, but something suggested they did. Oh wonderful.

"I suppose you came about the snuffbox?" His hand patted the outside of his pocket.

Morgana was indeed surprised to see Aisling, but experience had taught her many things about keeping her face genuine while masking the true emotions behind. If she knew she had a nephew, she would be qualified to teach him all that she knew about masks, and then some. Which was probably a good reason why she didn't know she had a nephew.

She smiled at Aisling, wondering why she had come. Perhaps it was the security breach then, that called Ais away from her desk. Oh well.

"I invited Morgana along as a consultant." Edwin spoke before she could. [/i]"Good to maintain our Department relations with artefact hunters, more eyes and such."[/i]

If only you knew, Morgana thought.

"Morgana, do you know Aisling, Aisling, Morgana?"

"Yes, I do know her," supplied the shopkeeper. "We go back a long way." Another of those smiles to Ais, to let her know not to talk about it now. It would be for later on, when they were in somewhere more private. She would have included a wink, but Edwin was looking between the two of them.

Very quietly she slipped her hand out of Edwin's grasp while he wasn't paying attention. Things could wait.