This whole day had been wonderful. Flynn and Fauna had spent Valentine’s Day together, ending in a late stop for tea at Puddifoot's. The shop had toned down its lace-and-hearts aesthetic, drawing in a wider range of couples, but Fauna still felt no need to mention to Flynn the number of students she recognized there.

She sneaked glances at him as they hiked up the long stairway to Flynn’s flat. He had such a carefree manner; his steps seemed light and his arm swung easily at his side where she held his hand. The cute Valentine’s note he’d sent her earlier in the week had made her quietly but insufferably gleeful at the office. Though she’d shared her chocolate with the Aurors, that hadn’t saved her from Auror Hughes’ teasing, Radley asking if she had a fever, and Pratt piling on extra paperwork just to see if it’d wipe the doofy smile off her face (it hadn’t).

"Flynn?" She began as they reached the top of the stairs and Flynn fiddled in his pockets underneath the dim light. At the jingle of keys, his dog started a high-pitched round of barking that even Fauna’s floppy hat couldn’t block out.

Fauna glanced up at the flickering lantern, making a mental note to look into getting that replaced.

She flexed her toes in her boots, her breath puffing out in the cold air. "Um," she looked at him, smiling shyly as he swung open the door. "I was going to ask you something. It’s kind of silly-" she frowned. It wasn’t silly. “I mean, it might be bad timing-”

Yap, yap! Went Henry. Definitely bad timing.

They stepped inside, swiping at the wall for the poorly-placed light switch. The door shut, but a breeze weaved around her ankles, as if they’d brought the winter in with them.

“It’s just that I really like you, and I have so much fun with you. Not only today, you know, but whenever we’re together.”

Bad timing or not, it was easier to babble in the dark.

“So I was thinking. Maybe we could… well, go out to-"

Light flooded the room and her words got stuck in her throat.

Wind whistled through the open window by the fire escape, ruffling the plants that had been knocked over and the skirt of an upended chair. A laundry basket moved on the floor, poor little Henry scooting around inside it to bark at their feet.

"Shite," Fauna breathed, gripping her wand in her hand. Though her heart beat fast, Fauna let out a shiver and reached for Flynn, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements from outside - or worse, within the flat.

This year’s ValenBirthday (Or as Flynn liked to call it, Flynn Day) had been wonderful, and it was mostly because he had a lovely Fauna to spend it with. They had a lovely dinner, some tea at Puddifoot’s, and generally just enjoyed each other’s company. He turned to face Fauna as she spoke— “Yes, what is it?” He asked, opening the door. He was focused on Fauna’s face and words, even while he was closing the door behind them and getting light to fill the room. It was only until she cut herself off that he realized what was going on.

Flynn took a good look at his flat, and his face paled.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” His first thought was, that Henry and Mildred had run through the house knocking over plants—but some of the pots had been so heavy that it would have been very difficult for small animals to simply knock them over. His chair shouldn’t have been flipped over. It was obvious, quite obvious that someone had come in and ransacked his home.

“Shite.” Flynn cursed, releasing Fauna’s hand. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and whispered, “ Homenum Revelio.” Nobody but he and Fauna were in the flat. The only way somebody could have gotten in, was through magical means.

He systematically rushed to each plant and his other valuables, checking to make sure they were all accounted for, and checking for any damage done. Luckily, none of them sustained any damage that they couldn’t recover from without his gentle care. He ran from his room, to the living space, to the dining area and the kitchen, and back again.

“No, no, no no no!” he exclaimed, realizing that only two things were missing. One was far more important than the other.

“My pants! And—my plant!” Flynn sputtered, “They’re missing—the one I’m working on—” He finally took the basket off of Henry and checked the dog for any wounds—but she just licked his face. She was fine.

“THEY TOOK. MY PANTS. AND MY PLANT!” He panicked, shaking Henry at Fauna. “It’s an important plant! Yes. My father and I made a hybrid— It’s important for our research.” Flynn lowered his voice, as if worried someone else could hear (though he knew no one else was around), “We’re trying to find a werewolf cure.” Then he added. “My kitten pants are gone too.” They had been dragged in there by Henry at some point last night, and Flynn had forgotten to put them away.

"The plant is also highly poisonous if brewed incorrectly, or if the berries are eaten." Flynn needed to report this, immediately. Good thing his kind-of-girlfriend was an auror trainee.

A prank. For a moment, her mind latched onto the one possibility that would take away her confusion and fear and leave behind mere annoyance. She looked at Flynn's face, and that hope faded. No, his friends wouldn't do this. Her trainee friends wouldn't do this. Even the Aurors had better things to do on Valentine's Day.

She moved closer to Flynn just as he drew away, glancing at him in surprise when he casted a spell. Magic. That would do it. It was much better than her first thought, which was methodically checking the rooms and jumping at every noise.

Like the noise that sounded now.

"Flynn," she began to follow him in his mad rush, then paused. Henry couldn't be growling like that. It was low. Barely discernible. She questioned whether she'd actually heard it.

"Don't touch anything, ok?" Glancing at her distracted almost-boyfriend, she crept to the kitchen and listened. There it was again. Heart beating faster, she wiped the palm of her hand on her shirt and gripped her wand, bending into a crouch.

A pair of accusing yellow eyes stared at her.

Mroooooooooow.

Mildred the cat had wedged her body inside the tiny space underneath the cabinets, ears flattened as she stretched one paw out to swipe at the wand. Fauna's shoulders slumped, and she lowered her arm.

"C'mon! C'mere," she made kissy noises, but the cat was having none of it. Fauna rose with a sigh, reappearing in the living room just in time for Flynn's panic.

"Your- your pants?" She focused on what was strangest, her eyes widening. "What?"
 
Flynn shoved Henry in her face as he continued shouting. Dog and Fauna blinked at each other. A ruff sounded in Henry's throat, fading when Flynn calmed down.

Then Fauna heard him, really heard him, her expression softening at the werewolf cure. Fauna glanced around the flat, pushing back an internal sort of panic. Perhaps they'd taken something else too, something Flynn had missed, and the burglars hadn't really understood what they were stealing. It didn't look like a professional job. They hadn't bothered with discretion. Which could be deliberate, but... the pants. That part just didn't make sense at all!

"It's going to be okay," she patted his arm awkwardly, looking baffled and more than a little worried. "I'm going to contact the nearest Auror. Would you send a signal to the MLE?"

Flynn nodded, looking like he'd already been thinking the same thing[1]. It wasn't protocol, contacting an Auror, but it made Fauna feel better.

Taking a deep breath, she imagined pipe smoke and the tinkling of piano keys, and waved her wand at the open window.

"Expecto patronum!"

A porcupine waddled out of her wand, raising its head to sniff up at her. Message understood, the patronus floated out the window and into the night.

1.	Godmodding approved by Kelly

Flynn nodded, “MY PANTS! My glorious, wonderful, beautiful pants. My favorite pants! The sort of pants I wear under trousers, pants!” He exclaimed, “They were in the pot of my plant! It’s an important hybrid—“ he began to dig through drawers, and he pulled out a pile of parchment. He put his wand on it and muttered a spell, causing the writing to appear on the pages. He let out a sigh. “At least—at least they didn’t take my notes.” Flynn said quietly. The notes consisted of pictures of the plants, as well as pages of writing—a list of potion efforts that did not work.

“This…” he groaned, “How am I going to tell my father? He goes mad when he gets a stain on a bowtie! He’s going to have a heart attack over this, he is.” He let out a whimper.

Then he noticed Fauna’s patronus.

“A porcupine?” He grinned, welcome to any minor distraction that could take his mind off of this awful theft, even for a minute.

"Expecto Patronum!" He exclaimed, and winced as a puff of smoke came out of his wand.

Flynn set the dog down and Henry started yapping again, running in circles around the pair.

"Let me try again--" After all, it was rather difficult to think of a happy memory under this sort of stress-- as Flynn was quite the opposite of happy at the moment. "Expecto-- Expecto Patronum!" And then a cute little hedgehog came out. He focused on the message he wanted to send, and then it scurried off to alert the MLE.

"So... Happy Valenbirthday to me, eh?"

The mess Cooper Evans found when he arrived at the flat was a rather catastrophic mixture of dirt, broken pots, strewn furniture and a yapping dog. His wand in one hand, the other trudging through his hair in order to attempt and make it at least slightly less disastrous, the Auror glanced at the chaos, before letting his eyes fall first on a bloke he recognized but barely knew and then on Auror Trainee Fauna Blake. His lips stretched, and not precisely into a smile.

It was bloody Valentine’s Day, and it’d been almost a month since Bella had been killed –which meant Cooper had been spending his evening strewn on his couch with one leg dangling over the side and the other spread out and a glass of wine in his hand, moping and letting himself bathe in self-pity. It hadn’t been helping that his thought process lately had a tendency to drafting towards Éloi and Gale rather than his recently murdered wife, confusing him to the very core and making him desire nothing else than to drown in alcohol. And get drunk –for when he was drunk he truly thought about both men, which, no matter how utterly nonsensical and wrong was actually somewhat of a relief from thinking of murder and vengeance.

As a matter of fact, he’d been thinking about Éloi and some particularly sinful recollections that had been making him particularly happy, when Blake’s porcupine had dropped in and passed along its message. Cooper had downed the rest of his wine, blinked and hoped to Merlin that he’d simply been imagining the patronus –hence the fact that his mood had rather significantly turned sour the instant he realized it was very much present in his living room. The Auror had proceeded to play around with the idea of just ignoring it and remain on that very spot fantasizing on a bloke, day dreaming of revenge and wondering just what the bloody hell was happening to him –but a sense of duty he hadn’t felt in some time had ultimately made him stand and prepare; the werewolf washed his face, scrubbed his teeth, pulled on his crimson robes and badge and placed his wand in its holster.

He looked rather damn official standing in the doorway to the flat, presently, other than for the fact that he’d forgotten to comb his rather untreatable hair. Scowling just the slightest best at the Trainee, Cooper had to remind himself that this was part of his job –although not so much the part of being called in while off-duty by a girl who didn’t even have a badge yet, but that was hardly to be thought of. Something had obviously gone wrong in this flat, and if it was a serious matter it was something of his duty to be present even if he’d had the night off to drink wine and ponder on his many miseries. With a quick flick of his wrist, the Auror cast a spell to add a bit more light to the room, then turned to its two occupants.

Of course, there were actually three of them, as a dog on the ground didn’t seem likely to stop yapping, and Cooper found his head beginning to pound just slightly –a reminder that wine was a wicked beverage. He stayed at his spot by the door, only now realizing it might be rather impolite that he’d apparated directly into the flat –but sod them if they got mad; they’d broken him from his bliss. He didn’t move from his spot, already quite aware that with dirt and plants all strewn about, and the dog, and the two people who’d obviously been moving around the flat evidence would be hard to find and he didn’t want to contaminate it any further. His eyes settled on Fauna Blake, and he tried to look as nice as he could –although his smile might have been confused fro a grimace. “Blake, please do go ahead and inform me what is so important that you had to call me in on my night off, would you?” His tone was in control and slightly cold, but not entirely unkind or mean. However, when he twisted his gaze towards the ground and at the dog, he couldn’t help but snap. “And could someone please shut the dog up, please?”

Aw, a hedgehog. That explained why Flynn had given her one as a Christmas gift. Her mind focused on this for a few moments, pushing back her earlier panic as she thought of what their similarities in patronuses (patroni? patronusi?) could mean.

"It'll be ok," she repeated, squeezing his arm lightly and offering him a weak smile. Yeah, some Valen-birthday. What would his father think if he knew the plant had been stolen while his son was out on a date with her? And the - the pants? She'd had nothing to do with that!

At the pop of apparation, Fauna flinched, wand out, ready to stun the intruder. She relaxed at the sight of the red robes - until she caught the scowl on Evan's face.

Fauna glanced at Flynn, silently beseeching. He'd be the only one who could quiet Henry.

"I, um - sorry, Auror Evans," she lowered her wand. "I know it's not protocol. But I sent for the closest Auror because, well, of what was stolen."

Because she was a baby and wanted to see a familiar face from her own department. Any familiar face, even if Evans looked like he could use a comb and a strong cup of coffee. She hoped she hadn't interrupted a date, but from what she'd heard, that was unlikely. He'd recently lost his wife. And now he had to show up to handle a young couple's problem.

She straightened, going into Auror-trainee-hopeful mode.

"So, Flynn and I have been out for most of the day. Since around 1:00. We got back here around," she paused, looking at Flynn for confirmation. "Nine PM? 8:50? We'd just come from tea at Puddifoot's. The front door was locked," she gestured at the doorway. "I didn't notice anything strange on the stairwell. But then we got in and turned on the lights, and there was this mess. Window was open. No one was here. Pets are fine."

She bit her lip, well aware that they should have stayed put at that point until the authorities had arrived. "We checked around and noticed Flynn was missing an important plant. One for research. One that could be poisonous," she looked at her almost-boyfriend again, feeling it best to let him explain the details of that research.

"And," she paused for a long moment, taking a deep breath. "A pair of... pants. A pair of pants is... missing."

She blushed, matching the color of the Auror's robes. Time seemed to stretch on and on. Yet despite her hopes, the floor did not open up and swallow her, and the intruder did not return, waving said pants around and cackling like the pants-thief he or she was.

"If you think I should leave it for the MLE..." she trailed off, hearing footsteps on the stairs.

Flynn opened his mouth to say something, but only a meow came out.

Except it wasn’t Flynn’s meow.

Then, a second meow came from the ceiling.

The healer looked up, and there was Mildred, crouched on one of the hanging plants. She wiggled her butt and then leapt onto Cooper’s head—kicking off of his head to go flying t hrough the air like some sort of feline acrobat.

“MRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOW!” She howled, and with a thumthumthumpthump she ran into the kitchen.

This apparently, had distracted Henry so much that she chased after the cat, tripping over random items that had been knocked over in the burglary.

“I… Can’t believe that just happened.” Flynn blinked at Cooper. “I’m sorry, so sorry! They’re a little worked up. I think they’re traumatized.” Mildred was not traumatized. She was just evil incarnate.

At least they weren’t making noises anymore.

“Sir Auror, this is important! So important!” A couple members of the MLE came in, and were obviously a bit stunned to see a full-fledged auror here. “You see…” Flynn sighed, “Yes. Fauna got it right. This plant—it is poisonous when ingested. But it’s part of important research that my father and I have been working on for… A long, long time.” He lowered his voice, “We’re researching a cure for werewolves. They didn’t take my notes, but… The plant being gone is a disaster. A disaster, I say!”

He let out a groan, “And on top of that, they took my pants! My kitten patterned pants! The sort that goes under trousers! My pants, my plants, and my dignity have all been taken!” 

The fact that a wand had been pointing at his direction was not missed, and he was rather grateful when Blake lowered it –and although he didn’t quite appreciate having wands pointed towards his chest, he could manage to understand the act in such situations so he’d let it pass. And somewhere in his mildly drunken mind he actually recalled that it wasn’t too far from protocol as long as she didn’t actually hex him. It also wasn’t quite helpful when she admitted knowledge that calling in an Auror over a burglary wasn’t protocol, and Cooper found himself raising his eyebrows just slightly. “Well, at least you know the rules, even if you rather ignore them in practice,” And could anyone actually blame him if his voice was rather tense and snappy as he reprimanded her?

Blake went into an explanation as to what she and her companion had been up to during the day –which he found himself not at all interested in, but he found he wasn’t an ass enough to yawn at her exposition. He did however memorize the time she gave as her return to the flat, for like it or not he’d have to write up a report over this incident and he’d have to get his facts straight. At his hips, one of his fingers absentmindedly toyed with the tip of his wand in its holster. He was also rather not interested in whether the pets were alive or not –though if he’d been called in over a dead dog he would have been likely to toss her in a cell for disturbing the peace, his peace, and abusing her authority as an almost figure of the law, so maybe it was a positive fact that the animals were alive. And yapping. And giving him a headache.

He managed to keep himself from groaning out loud when she mentioned they’d moved around the flat –disturbing evidence, most probably making a bigger mess out of everything; out of the bloke, it could be expected, but Blake should have known better and his eyes hardened as he stared at her. When, however, she mentioned a pair of missing pants, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth together or stop the low growl that came from the base of his throat, a rumbling of annoyance and anger. He was visibly angry, and actually rather grateful to notice that she was blushing. He was about to tell her that yes, bloody sodding hell, yes the MLE should have been the only law enforcement called in for such an idiotic case as this one, the only one’s called in to deal with a pair of missing pants and that he should write up a report on the fact that she’d made him come in for something so silly, when he heard a sound.

A meow.

There was a second of panic as something with claws landed on his head, but before he had the time to pull out his wand and hex the creature into some other type of dimension, it was flying through the air and disappearing into another room with yet another meow. A cat. A bloody cat. Cooper’s face was red with anger as he turned towards Blake’s companion who was busily complaining. The Auror did his best to reign in his annoyance, knowing it simply wouldn’t be right to yell at a civilian, calling him a bloody arse or making empty threats of jail time that simply wouldn’t ever occur. Meanwhile, he could hear the door opening and the MLE stumbling in, as the bloke went on to clamor about the importance of all of this, and his voice lowered, and then words were spoken that made everything fall into a standstill for Cooper: voices lowered to an inaudible point, movement became so slow it was barely noticeable, and dust particles could actually be seen frozen in the air.

A cure for lycanthropy.

It was pure luck that Cooper’s mind worked quickly –and a shocking fact considering the amount of wine he’d had earlier in the morning. His face hardening, but with decision rather than anger, he twisted on his heals and made sure his badge was seen by the team of MLE that had appeared in the threshold –just in case any of them hadn’t gotten the gist of his crimson robes. “You’re all contaminating my crime scene,” He snapped. Perhaps Blake and her mate would be rather confused in his sudden change of attitude, but he had no reason to explain his motivations to either of them. Lifting his hand, he pointed at two of the MLE operatives. “I want both of you right out side the door,” His voice was commanding, and he was rather shocked, as he pointed at another two. “Both of you at the door to the building, and you two,” His fingers pointed towards the final two operatives. “You two are on the streets, looking for anyone fishy or carrying any type of plants or underpants,” He stated. They stared at him for an instant as if not understanding. “GO!” He said, voice loud and angry, and apparently that made him comprehend for all six shuffled out the door, and Cooper pulled out his wand and closed the door behind them.

His mind was whirling, his life long ambition suddenly so close yet so far; there might be a cure. His green eyes fell on the bloke, then on Blake where they settled. She knew, and that would be an issue, but he’d handle that after he had all the information. For all he knew this might be nothing more than bollocks. “Stay still and touch nothing else unless I tell you to, Fauna,” He made sure to keep his voice kind, yet commanding, as his gaze turned towards the bloke. “Same for you, Sir,” He tried to smile, but it was strained. “I need you to explain about this plant that was stolen –and I need either of you to fully explain everything you touched once you’d found the flat in these conditions.”

But, more than anything, he needed that bloody plant back.

The auror didn’t seem pleased to be here, not at all. Mildred sure didn’t help matters. At least Henry wasn’t yapping anymore!

The more Flynn had explained and spoke, the angrier he had become—until the words ‘werewolf cure’ were thrown around. It wasn’t anywhere close to being a cure—if anything, any potions that have come from that plant would have worked like wolfsbane, but with much more effort and an evil more repugnant flavor. “The plant. It’s a magical hybrid.” Flynn started carefully, “It’s magically enhanced wolfsbane with several healing charms applied to it—it had flowers right now. The flowers don’t look like wolfsbane flowers—more like a moonflower plant.”

He frowned, “It’s about… 30 centimeters high? The flowers are a pale purple color. Highly flammable. Smells a bit… Metallic. The leaves are grey. The flowers bloom at night, so it would be blooming now. But it will close up during the day… The flowers grow bigger closer to the full moon, and then shrink drastically afterwards. The stems are a little furry…”

Flynn’s eyebrows furrowed together, It’s in a large pot—very large. Even though the plant itself looks tiny, the roots go a long way.” He put an arm around Fauna and then rested his forehead on her shoulder. “And, that’s it—I think—“ He paused, “My father should have the other half of the notes? There should be a picture of the plant unless—“

Flynn jumped. “Oh! In the hall, by my bedroom! There’s a photo of my father and I with the plant!” He closed his eyes, “But—it is poisonous. Not only is it important for this research, it is also potentially dangerous in the wrong hands. I don’t want anyone to get sick or hurt because of it.” He wondered who would take that plant—or why? He turned his head so his cheek was on Fauna’s shoulder, and he looked at Cooper.

“Thank you for showing up, really.”

As Fauna and Flynn initially explained, Auror Evans was reminding her more and more of Bagnold with all the snapping, teeth-gritting, and tense scowling. Fauna couldn't blame him, she really couldn't, but the comparison was not a favorable one, and she suspected he was going to blow in three, two, one--

Until Mildred the malicious cat flew at his head, vaulting off toward the kitchen with Henry on her tail.

Wide-eyed, she looked back at the Auror, biting her lip. No, this was not the time to laugh. She resisted the strange urge - just barely!

And then Auror Evans did yell, but he yelled at the MLE patrol, ordering them around with a confidence Fauna only wished she had. It puzzled her for a moment, but she just assumed that Evans was taking responsibility because he'd arrived here first. He wasn't laughing at them or blowing up yet, so this was going better than she'd expected.

She relaxed ever so slightly at the Auror's gentler tone, nodding her agreement and leaning into Flynn's arm. Flynn explained more about the plant in his scattered, adorable way, and when he thanked the Auror, she gave Evans a grateful look too.

"As far as what we touched - well, the door, the lights." She stated the obvious, glancing around "Flynn?" Fauna managed another wan smile at him. "Do you remember what else we...  moved around?"

It was probably silly, but Fauna didn't want to single out her almost-boyfriend for careening through the apartment in a panic while she'd been locked in a staring contest with Mildred in the kitchen. She was the Auror Trainee - she should have taken better charge of things. But it wasn't everyday you returned to your flat to find your date's pants, plant, and dignity stolen!

As Fauna leaned into his arm, Flynn felt a warm fluttering in his stomach. His affection for Fauna had only grown since meeting her in October. They spent a fair amount of time together when they weren’t working. They sent each other gifts and letters when they couldn’t visit each other. His weekends and nights free were often spent with her.  Their relationship was cute, awkward, and flirty—but had never advanced past that point. Them spending his Valenbirthday with her had been great—even with this awful situation. She had handled it with such grace, and even called in an auror for him! An auror!

That really showed to him, that Fauna cared. She would do anything for her friends and family, that much Flynn was certain. Her compassion and kindness was just one of many things he admired about her.
“I moved around… A lot of things. Mostly everything. Including the couch.” Indeed, the couch was missing a few cushions.

He should have known better, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Flynn looked down at Fauna, and then leaned his head against the top of her’s.

“This might not be the right time for this.. But…” Flynn cleared his throat, “Have you considered…. Making us official-like?” The healer didn’t even consider how awkward that would be for Cooper.

The slight weight of Flynn’s chin resting against her mop of hair made her want to grin foolishly. Her mouth twitched up into a tiny smile. Even in this dire situation, the flush hadn’t faded from her cheeks, and she thought about tilting her head up and leaving a kiss on his jaw.

But she didn’t. She kept her gaze on Auror Evans, her twitterpated expression slowly fading to a neutral one. Professional – she should at least try to be. Otherwise, she’d never hear the end of it around the office. And the thought that really sobered her was that the Auror who’d rushed to answer her call had no one. Here he was, faced with a couple who looked like they could upend the cushions well enough on their own, burglar or no.

Maybe that was why she misunderstood Flynn.

“Official? As in… the case?” She shifted to look up at him, a puzzled line between her brows.

She glanced at Auror Evans to see if that was the interpretation he had, too.

There was something strange that happened when one very much felt like strangling a person into an inch of their life, but events made them have to force oneself to smile; Coop experienced it now, the muscles at the corners of his lips actually thumping sorely as he tried to seem helpful and kind and as if the world were fluttered with roses and the air smelt like everything nice, while indeed the only reason he wasn’t cuffing the bloke and dragging him into the nearest cell for the next 72 hours and firing Blake –even though neither decision would really hold, unless he found sufficient reason, but at least he’d have the satisfaction of saying all the words- was because other, more important matters had came into coalition. The Auror kept his eyes trained on the bloke, Flynn, as he went into a lengthy description regarding the plant in question before excitingly remarking that he had pictures –Bloody frigging hell, why didn’t you mention that before, man?, he wanted to yell out, perhaps shaking the bloke’s shoulders until something rolled around in what must be his hollow brain; but he resisted- and then finished by thanking Cooper for coming. “It’s my job,” It was the biggest difficulty of the night, getting these words out without them sounding forced or without them being pronounced through clenched teeth; but he managed, and his head even bobbed happily.

It was the possibility that was now running through his mind which was keeping his act together, he knew: if Flynn had not mentioned a werewolf cure, there was a rather large chance Cooper would have already been driven to murdering the odd man and his Auror Trainee girlfriend. Which really wouldn’t have been positive for his job prospective, so all in all life seemed to be all about helping him out tonight. However, when Blake went on to explain what she remembered touching, and when the bloke nonchalantly informed Cooper that he’d basically touched everything, the Auror didn’t hex anything simply because of the words that came next that made his jaw drop wide open: as far as he’d gathered, Blake and the Odd Dude were dating, but now Flynn was looking rather more towards him than towards the Auror Trainee, and requesting to ‘make it official’.

His first reaction was to shake his head and deny that he rolled that way, but then certain memories came back, and his own emotional debate burned a fierce fire through his brain as he came to one simple realization: Flynn was hot. Cooper gulped, and felt himself blush a deep red. “I-I… Well, I mean I-you-aren’t you dating h-he-her?” He managed to stammer out, glancing pointedly towards Fauna Blake. He couldn’t even imagine how she’d feel about watching her date hitting on a bloke. “A-and, well, that is… I mean… You’re not unattractive,” His eyes actually checked Flynn out, and Oh Dear Merlin, Cooper was going to die. He was just going to die right here and now, because this thing was rather embarrassing and, really, all together very unprofessional. And yet, words kept stammering from his lips. “You’re hot, really… And… Well… I… Someone would… I… Someone… Like, you know, a person… Possibly… Making it official… Yeah… I… Like, haven’t… you know, women…” Words were suddenly failing him, as he gapped at Flynn, then at Fauna, his eyes suddenly apologetic before glancing at the bloke once again and stammering out one last question. “Really?”

It seemed that Flynn had not been clear enough.

Fauna thought him asking her out was somehow about making the case official. She looked so cute when confused. Ah, let’s face it. Flynn thought that she was adorable all the time.

And Cooper… Flynn didn’t even want to get started on Cooper. However, he was very flattered that the auror thought he was handsome. Was Cooper blushing?! He was stammering, gulping, and… Oh dear! Flynn thought that the auror was practically undressing him with his eyes! He self-consciously shifted so that he was standing behind Fauna, and he rested his chin on her shoulder instead.

“I’m flattered that you think I’m hot.” He grinned, though he was trying not to laugh.

“Yes, really! I was asking Fauna out, to make our relationship official. Not you. I hardly know you! Don’t get me wrong, you’re a handsome bloke—but Fauna is who I’m interested in!” how explicit did he need to be around these two? Weren’t aurors supposed to be better at deductive reasoning than this?