Sam sat down in a small cafe in Diagon Alley. He was waiting for his niece, Scirey. It had been far too long since he'd seen her, but he had been busy. Alas, the Auror office was hard on relationships, even familial ones. Besides, Sam had a request of his niece. In Harcroft Manor, every single Harcroft who survived to adulthood had a portrait. Even his wife, Laura, had one, which Sam had comissioned when they had got married. He did not, however, have a portrait of himself, and the other portraits had been nagging him. Hopefully, he could comission Scirey to paint one.

She was late. To a family lunch. This would be reported to her father and he would worry. And nag. And question. Was she slipping? Could she handle living on her own? Was this a sign that the oldest Riven daughter was out of her league and needed to be brought back to the nest? Scirey bit her lip and sped up. She was over reacting. Being late was not going to cause her family to move her out of her apartment and under their suffocating grip. It was normal.

Finally, Sci had made it to the cafe. Sci smiled when she spotting her Uncle Sam. He was her connection to her mother and Sci loved him dearly.

"Hello Uncle," She said as she slid into the seat across from him her satchel dropping it light on the floor. Her art supplies made a slight clinking sound as it was jostled. She brought her art supplies with her everywhere.

"Sorry, I'm late, how are you?"

Sam watched as Scirey hurried to the cafe. No doubt she was worried about being late.  Smiling as she sat down, he greeted her " Hi Scirey. Don't worry about being late, I've not been waiting long. I'm fine, it's been busy at the office recently, but nothing I can't handle. How've you been?" Sam asked. He hadn't seen her in a while, and he did worry. Scirey was one of his only connections to his sister, so he did worry about her.

Uncle Sam had always said a mouthful. Sci smiled as she settled into her seat. She always felt closer to her mum when she was with her family. If Scirey looked close enough she could see a bit of her mum in her uncle's features. They both did talk a lot too. Well, kinda. More like said a lot at one time.

"Good. Ciarra has recently come home," She said talking about her roommate and best friend Ciarra Belisario who had recently changed careers from auror to werewolf hunter. "How's Josh doing?" Sci asked curious about her younger cousin. She liked Josh even though he was like seven years younger than she was. He was near her younger brother's age and they were friends of sorts.

"It's good to know Ciarra's back, though I do wish sometimes that she hadn't left the Aurors." Sam commented. " Josh is doing fine, he finally managed to become an animagus last summer, then he competed in the First Task." Sam replied to Scirey asking him how Josh was. "There is one thing I wanted to ask you, though.  You know we keep portraits of all those born into the family in the Portrait Gallery?" Sam asked, "I haven't yet commissioned my own portrait to put there. I would like to hire you to paint the portrait. Will you do it?" Sam asked his niece. He hoped she would agree to do it.

"It's good to know Ciarra's back, though I do wish sometimes that she hadn't left the Aurors."

Scirey just shrugged. She wasn't entirely sure why her best friend had left, but Sci was glad she had. Ciarra was happy, far more than she had trying to prove herself in the aurors. She seemed to finally be doing what she wanted and not just standing in her father's shadow. But Sci said none of this and instead listened to her Uncle talk about Josh. You could tell that Sam was extremely proud. Her little cousin was all grown up. an Animagus and a school champion.  Sci was about to ask about the task and how well Josh had done when her uncle spoke first.

"There is one thing I wanted to ask you, though.  You know we keep portraits of all those born into the family in the Portrait Gallery?" Sam asked, "I haven't yet commissioned my own portrait to put there. I would like to hire you to paint the portrait. Will you do it?

The color in Sci's pink cheeks drained, her blue eyes widened nearly engulfing her thin face as she just stared. For a second she was frozen, unsure she had heard her uncle correctly. Hire her? There were far more important artists around. Why did he want her? Was this because she was family? Was he feeling sorry for her? Or was this her chance? Her artwork had always been a hobby, something she'd always done. Her way of expressing her feelings. Sure, she drew covers for a book store but that wasn't really her work. She was just taking someone else's vision and putting ink to parchment. A portrait though was more. She would be capturing the personality of her uncle. She would be making something so long lasting... Slowly an excitement washed over Sci and she began to smile.

"Uncle, I--" Scirey had never really been good at words. The stutter that plagued her at times of stress or excitement returned. She paused took a deep breath and smiled at her uncle, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Of course I'll do it...if you really want me. I've never done a magical portrait before..."Not an enchanted one. She of course drew people but she hadn't ever done something on such a grand scale. Book covers were different. It was like going from riding a broom to riding a hypogriff. Two different creatures. 

Sam watched as Scirey paled at his request. he was glad she had agreed, though. He didn't really trust other artists. "Scirey, you have drawn people before. I am confident that you can do the portrait and do well. Yes, it is you that I want to hire for the portrait. I I hired another artist, I would no doubt get a very good portrait of Senior Auror Harcroft. It would not, however, be a good portrait of Samuel Harcroft." Sam said, hoping that Scirey had got the idea.