Ah! Summer! The weather was slightly less damp, the sun shined a little more often, and the temperature wasn't unbearably cold. It was easily his favorite time of the year. Going sailing, to the beach, fishing, enjoying the outdoors in general- which is exactly how Benny Pattershaw found himself sitting at one of the tables outside of a Diagon Alley establishment.

On the table in front of him lay a large, leather bound journal. Scribbling away in that journal was a quill. Benny was muttering quietly to the quill, and the quill was transcribing his words onto the page. His wand twirled between his fingers as he scratched at his chin in thought. He was working on another book- this one about the less popular use of charms in offensive magic. Many light-hearted spells could be incredibly useful if a person was only imaginative enough to apply them in a stressful situation.

"Oh- what was that spell," he muttered to himself. Then he began his many attempts to pronounce it. It was an obscure charm, one he had learned while working for the Department of Mysteries. But very useful. More of an illusory spell than anything else. Twirl. Flick. Wiggle. Absent mindedly he waved his wand around while he tried to dredge the incantation from his memory.

Flick. Wiggle. Flick flick. A few more mutterings. And then, without warning, a very loud KABOOM exploded from the tip of Benny's wand. The force of whatever spell he had accidentally cast in the midst of his mumbling threw him from his chair, to the ground. And the leatherbound book flew into the air and thudded down on the cobblestone with a loud splat.

Benny coughed and shook his head, pulling himself slowly to a sitting position, rubbing the back of his neck. Black smoke was slowly starting to dissipate from his spot in front of the shop, and he could hear a crowd starting to gather and murmur. How embarrassing!

Summer was a time to be lazy, a time where you really didn't give a damn and that was exactly what Lexus was doing. She hadn't bothered going through the motions of dying her honey coloured, white and silver streaked hair or even putting her her violet contacts to hide the glowing ember her eyes had become. She had even gone that extra step in not caring and put on a really cute strapless sundress she had bought the previous summer but never had the guts to wear - it showed far too much of her back which was riddled with scars, large bite and claw marks. She just needed to be out in the sun.

The narrow streets of Knockturn Alley rarely let the sun shine down. Normally she didn't complain as it kept her storefront nice and cool even on the hottest of days but there were times when a girl just needed to soak up the sun and today was one of those days. She had thrown up a sign that said 'Back Later' and closed shop, wound her way out of the fabled Dark Alley and into the bustling sweet brightness of Diagon.

She had no destination in mind. She didn't need one. There were very few places aside from The Leaky Cauldron that she could comfortably go these days. Lexus Dale had once been Beautiful. Even after her first transformation from woman to beast she still retained most of her natural beauty but a potion made from tainted ingredients had taken most of that from her. Now her once Honey hair was horribly streaked with silver and white, the colour of her wolven coat. Her eyes had gone from a sky blue to a haunting ember that appeared to glow in the right light. The fangs of the wolf never quite left when she became human again and were rather insistent in peaking out over her now crimson lips. She had once been able to blend in with the crowd and had lived very comfortably as a muggle, now though, there was no mistaking what she was.

A loud KABOOM, startled her and a large leather tome landed at her feet. She bent and picked up the heavy book looking to the source of the commotion and likely the owner of the volume. She smiled as sweetly as her fangs allowed and waited until he was firmly on his feet, "I think you dropped this." Another point of lazy for her, she didn't even try hiding her accent.

He dragged himself to his feet, brushing off his clothes. (Wizards robes never had grown on him, really. And he generally preferred a more professional attire- standard suits, collared shirts with slacks. Etc.) Benny coughed a few more times and then looked at the woman who was holding his book.

He took it from her hands and dropped it back on the table. "Thank you," he said, covering a final cough with his hand. "I hope I didn't interrupt your... whatever you were doing," he gesticulated around them, "with my, uh... Well, explosion, I suppose."

Benny bent down, plucking his quill from the ground. His inkpot had shattered against the stones, black ink already setting in for a stain. A few quick flicks of his wand- proper wand movements and spells this time- and he had, more or less, cleaned up the mess he had made.

"I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice. He hadn't noticed the fangs- and even if he had, they wouldn't have bothered him much. And the accent wasn't something that tugged on his ear given his current state of distraction and embarrassment.

Lexus gave the man a smile, "I wasn't really doing anything but wandering to be honest. The sun was too nice to ignore today." She was ready to offer him help when he went about straightening his things and cleaning up his shattered ink pot but he had been quick about doing so. Besides she didn't think she would have been that good with the assistance any way. She was never very good with the household clean up spells, she was much better at protection charms. She needed to be in her line of work.

She gave a shrug, "I have a thick skin." She offered a sweet smile to let him know she wasn't hurt. It was all she really needed or wanted to say on the subject. She had discovered early that most spells didn't affect her. It had something to do with the Lycanthropy virus that now ran through her veins. It had actually become a bit of a nuisance really, she had once been rather adept at beauty charms and could do her make up and hair with a simple flick of her wand but since her transformation she had to use much stronger spells to do so. Then after Jonas' cursed dagger made her magic go all wonky she had just stopped trying and had resorted to muggle methods of doing most things.

"Were you trying to cause an explosion?" Her tone was not unkind. He didn't look crazy or anything of the sort but just being a Wizard to begin with was it's own special kind of crazy. When you were given the ability to wield magic sometimes things just got a little crazy all on their own.

"It is a beautiful day," he agreed, dusting himself one more time for good measure. He admired his handy work, pleased to see the ink hadn't left much of a stain. What was there would likely be gone in one or two rains. Lovely! And the lady was not hurt- which was even better. Benny would feel awful if he managed to somehow accidentally harm an innocent bystander- especially a woman.

She asked if he meant to cause an explosion, and he gave a bashful look then shook his head. "No, not trying. But you know- these things do happen." They just didn't happen to him often. Not unless he was actually working on spell creation or alteration. "I was trying to remember an old spell," he explained. "I was working on some notes for a book I've been wanting to write about healing charms and spells. Preventative sorts of charms, really. It seems that muttering to myself while twirling my wand seemed to have... cast some sort of spell by accident." Godric knew what kind of spell.

Benny placed his things back on the table, and motioned at the empty seat as he sat back down. "One of the very first things I learned as a wizard was not to do the very thing I was just doing. A nasty habit, really." Leftover from writing with pens and pencils that he would twirl or chew on when he was concentrating. They were much more convenient than quills. But when in the wizarding world, Benny liked to do his best to adapt and fit in.

"I'm Benny, by the way," he told her. "Benny Pattershaw. Your accent... it's unusual. Are you American?" he asked.

Lexus smirked, a fang peeking over her lips, "I'm all too familiar with explosions in my line of work." She hefted her purse over her shoulder a bit more as it started to slide down, "Recently had some troubles with an older potion that was a little more volatile than I was expecting. One too many stirs and - KABOOM!" She chuckled as if the whole ordeal had been a walk in the park when in reality the explosion had left her with cauldron shards embedded in her back and a concoction that was rather keen on eating her skin.

At his motioned gesture she sat herself in the empty seat across from him. She had no where to be anyway and he seemed friendly enough. She was desperate for normal interactions these days. It seemed like all she did lately was get purchase orders from criminals or talk to aurors about possible criminal activity. Her social life had certainly gone done the tube as of late. She couldn't even remember the last time she had grabbed a cup of coffee or a pint with Jonas.

"Old habits die hard." She said with a smile.

"Lexus Dale." There was no reason to hide her real name anymore, at least not unless she was at the Ministry. Gone were the days when she was jumping at every glimpse of crimson. She wasn't exactly free but she wasn't constantly afraid either, "Canadian actually. Moved out here a few years ago to be with family." It wasn't entirely true. She hadn't gone overseas because she had family here but she didn't indeed have family in London.

"So are you a healer?" She had once wanted to be a healer, had studied for years with aspirations to head her own department at the local hospital, no one could make potions like she could but fate had something else in mind for her.