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With a horrendous screeching, the purple double decker bus braked to a stop in front of the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't so much of a braking rather than an effort to stop itself from tipping forwards and planting itself radiator first into the tarmac of the London road beneath. Anyone who hadn't been buckled in would have probably flown through the front window by now.

But as it was, the Knight Bus was, in its own way, special as a magical bus can be, and so no one flew out of its windows and had their faces ground against the asphalt.

The door opened with a rattle. Arcturus stepped out, large bag in one hand, cat carrier in another. He waved to the conductor with the hand carrying the carrier; an irritated meow echoed from its dark depths. "Thanks for the ride, mate," he said. "Never gets old."

"Never does!" the bus driver cackled. The doors shut, the Knight Bus half-roared, half-screeched itself into a distant purple blur that shot down the road, and then it was just Arcturus standing by the side of the road looking like he was trying to hitch a ride from the ghosts of cars at 10pm. He looked around, and then wandered into the Leaky Cauldron as if he'd done it every day of his life.

The noise in the pub was ridiculous, but Arcturus, with his hair tied back messily and stub of a cigarette glowing from between his lips, hardly even stood out from the pub's patronate as he squeezed his way through the throng to the backdoor. Still, he gave a sigh of relief before tapping the bricks of the wall. The bricks shifted, and he felt the same exhilaration he'd felt as a boy when he'd stood there to see the Alley open for his Hogwarts preparations.

Not many shops were open at this time, but people were still milling about in the streets. The dim lights from closed shops and the bright lights from open cafés...Arcturus took it all in as he casually strolled along the cobbled streets. A pair of yellow eyes glinted in the darkness of the carrier as it gazed at the life outside, separated by just a cat-proof barrier.

The seer's shop. The old door. Arcturus stood and faced it, still biting his cigarette as he gazed at the wood. He set his bag down and reached out to touch it lightly with a fingertip. The woodgrain was smooth, worn down, yet weathered and stained by the rain and wind that battered the city. Memories of his first time coming here with Elixa, when he had yet to open his eyes to the other side of the world...

With a final puff on his cigarette, he gently removed it from between his lips and flicked it to the ground, where he crushed its dying ember light beneath his heel. The rain would wash it away. He wasn't concerned with a lot of things anymore in his life, he felt, but it seemed to be a relief for him.

From his coat sleeve - or rather, from the new wand holder that encased his left  forearm like a brace and hidden under his clothes - he drew his wand and tapped on the lock. It would click open with a mighty sound, he knew. Whoever was upstairs would hear it.

That was what he was planning for.

Arcturus felt like lighting another cigarette just based on his nervousness about what he was doing, but if he'd done that someone was bound to throw him out - if not the landlady, then possibly Elixa herself. He'd have to go without his vice for now.

He turned the doorknob and stepped in.

"… he's exactly the same as the day he vanished, even got the clod of mud behind his ear when he turned up. Department of Mysteries has been in my potting shed since breakfast…"

The wireless was reading the last headline of the day - an upbeat story about a witch reunited with her cat after thirty years. Johann's quill stopped scratching on the page long enough to mutter something about cracks in time.

Elixa waved her wand to pair socks in the kitchen, piles of laundry around her, including fresh sheets. She'd caught Johann fast asleep at the end of Arc's bed on Thursday afternoon when she'd got home. She had decided to let him sleep the potion off and say nothing. The day after his father's funeral she was just glad he was somewhere she could check on him and getting some sleep in any form.

"Probably not the same cat, bless her." Elixa commented, being much less likely to believe some crackpot story about it being the same cat thirty years later.

"You eaten tonight?" She asked, but her question fell on deaf ears as she heard the front door unlock.
"What was that?"

There were 4 people who could unlock the door without engaging in breaking and entering. Two of them were in the flat, one was the landlady who owned the shop below and didn't come unannounced, and the fourth hadn't been home since May.

The socks in the air around her outstretched wand all plummeted to the ground with soft bumps on the kitchen floor. Their eyes met across the room, absolutely still as a footstep came from the bottom of the stairs below, the sound of Diagon Alley echoing up the hallway.

Elixa's bare feet pattered across the floor, wand in hand, and peered round the wall from the living room down to the stairs, her heart thumping, wondering if they had an intruder. If they had, Johann was going to do his best impression of the rug, she knew that.

At the foot of the stairs in the gloom was a shock of white and black hair. Elixa's wand swooped to brighten the lamps, bathing the well worn wood stairs in brilliant light before she squealed, eyes like saucers as a taller, nervous looking face appeared above hers round the wall.

"Aaaaaarrrcturusssss!!!" Her cry was excited, and she landed on Johann's toes as she leapt out properly to the head of the stairs as he ascended. "Oh my goodness! You didn't tell us! You bastard you wanted to surprise us! Oh you've got Rustle too - oh my - get out of the way Joh-"

She fussed, allowing Arcturus to make his way to the top of the stairs before applying both arms vigorously to his waist (which was about right for her barefoot height of 5'3") Her grip was incredible and she pressed her cheek into his chest without any reservations. He smelt different! He felt more muscly! He was dressed in a new way!
"You're hooooome!" She exclaimed from somewhere between the three of them, an enormous grin on her face.

"They're looking for a crack in time underneath her tomato plants." Johann explained, stopping to listen to the story. Elixa didn't seem to believe him, though he'd bumped into Francis Pepper leaving the Ministry that yesterday evening who had said just the same to him about the story, respectfully skirting round questions, well aware of what was going on from Gabrielle who had also attended Wolfgang's funeral in Germany on Wednesday.

Elixa was busying herself with washing while Johann worked on a short piece of client work. He'd had very little come in for a few months, between family deaths, the trial, and everything that had happened since the end of July, his reputation had gone awry and he had to get it back on track as soon as possible. He had a few tamer clients who were happy to use him still, so he was pulling out all the stops to prove his worth. Translating user instructions for self-assembling wardrobes and other bedroom furniture was not scintillating but did require him to be absolutely accurate and retain clarity for foreign markets.

"You eaten tonight?" He was doing quite well at tuning out those sorts of questions from Elixa. He'd been out that afternoon meeting the furniture client and had come back to begin work straight away. The click of the lock downstairs distracted them both, and Johann immediately looked around himself for a suitable hiding place - he was sat cross-legged before the coffee table on one of Elixa's matching cushions on the floor, the front windows behind him so he could see her in the kitchen.

Socks bounced everywhere around the kitchen table, littering the floor as he considered the sofa as suitable cover, but Elixa boldly stalked to the top of the stairs, and her lack of scream and her rather excited body language from behind brought him out from the crouch beside his shelter to peer round above her with the height difference.

Arcturus, looking not too vastly different than the photograph he'd sent, was on his way up the stairs with Rustle. He hadn't given them any warning, and Elixa called him a bastard for this on the spot. Still despite the nervous thump of his heart in his chest, Johann suddenly felt his tired features curl into a natural smile at the familiar face.

"So good to see you," He heard himself say, eyes taking in Arc's appearance with the hair and how he was dressed. Johann was looking equally casual, he'd thrown a hooded top over a t-shirt and black jeans on getting back from his meeting, keen to be more comfortable to work. He had forgotten the jumper was Arc's and he'd not returned it six months ago. It hung off him a little more than it had before the healer had left.

The three of them ended up in a hug, Elixa in the sandwich between the two wizards, exclaiming happy words. Johann's longer arms reached his friend's shoulders, and he briefly pressed his cheek against Arc's from old habits before he hugged, just long enough to convey how grateful he was to see him, without being awkward, given everything that had been and now was not.

"Lix, let him breathe for Merlin's sake," Johann let go and pulled gently on the shorter witch's shoulders. She was hugging Arc so tightly he might come apart at the middle!

Arcturus looked up as the lights went on, bathing the stairs in their warm, welcoming light. He didn't get to see much prior to Elixa's overjoyed squeal of his name, but when he finally got to the top of the stairs he was met by an impact of several hundred pounds of witch around his midriff.

The breath that escaped his lips on impact became a laugh as he hugged her back, unable to answer her fussings and still holding the cat carrier in one hand. Suddenly all the familiar memories and smells that he'd come to remember Elixa by were back, and for real right in front of him. All those times when they had been awkward or standoffish didn't matter now; it just felt good to see and hear her again. His really odd housemate.

When he surfaced from Elixa's hair to breathe, he saw Johann. Instinctively - and not because of his regrets and reminiscing - he reached out and yanked Johann into the hug as well, his arm wrapped around the thinner man's neck. Johann felt a little more fragile than he remembered, but Arcturus didn't care. The man smelled the same way he'd always been, though a hint of drowsiness lingered over his person in a way that Arcturus could tell he was a little lethargic. But did it matter right now? No. No, it didn't. Hugging Johann simply made him laugh in an oddly relieved and grateful way, a laugh full of joy and the knowledge he was finally back in a country where he was more familiar with everything.

"I'll be fine," he said, as Elixa began to loosen her grip around his torso. "Things will have come to a pretty pass if a witch can snap me in half! Oh goodness, it's just...it's so good to see you guys again--"

He put the cat carrier down - Rustle was making annoyed meows with every swing of his temporary carrier - and found himself wiping his eyes and sniffing a bit. It was such an overwhelming sensation of happiness that it felt like it would overflow, and had probably already begun to do that. He wiped his nose with the back of his hand, his eyes still watering. There was no describing this awesome surge of emotion in words.

It took him a moment for him to gather his senses about him. "Okay. Okay, hang on let me just...let Rustle out. He wants to get out. He's going to claw me if I don't."

With the latch open, Rustle didn't wait for his master to open the door; he headbutted it open and sauntered out, tail upright. He greeted Elixa with a mew and Johann with a sniff before brushing against's Johann's ankles with a loud purr, and then he went over to Arcturus and continued his hair-shedding brushing all over Arcturus' black jeans. The healer started with "Oi--" and then gave up promptly.

"So..." Arcturus looked around the living room. Elixa had certainly done a lot to change the living room, though he was not quite sure about the socks scattered around the floor. "Is there an invisible multi-legged creature here? I have been duly warned about the untidiness and the shenanigans in the pantry, Elixa it better be no longer there now I'm back. Can I go further into the room? I'm sure you're all raring to ogle my 'filthy tan', as Johann put it so succinctly." He laughed, running a hand through his messy hair and dislodging a few more strands of his white hair from the messy bun sitting at the back of his head. "Do it where the light is better, will you? How are things? Have you all eaten? And no, Elixa, I didn't deliberately not tell you anything because I genuinely did not know we were coming back until the last minute, all right? Can I sit down? I've had a week trying to adjust to England, but a week's rest is not enough to replace six months of hurrying around, hiking and running from dangerous things--"

"Lix, let him breathe for Merlin's sake-."
"No! He might leave again!" Elixa retorted, twisting her neck to snap back at Johann - though by the almost juvenile tone she adopted it was clear she was just playing, and she let go, her hands dragging round his waist as she did, brown eyes gazing up at him with a happy, loving smile beneath.

Rustle was out of his carrier in seconds, and she greeted Arc's cat with the same warm smile, watching him rub his whiskers on Johann's ankles. Since when had the lanky one been the favourite with the kneazle? He must smell of something. Elixa glanced between the two boys, suddenly realising how similarly they were dressed, but decided it wasn't the moment to tease them.

Then the questions began to tumble from Arc, who had forever been the quiet one in the household, never asking questions unless necessary. He was looking around the place with fresh eyes, taking in the way the sofa had been pushed a bit further back from the fire during the summer, but his armchair was still very much in place. Over the new rug which replaced the one a party had burned holes in, the coffee table which she'd polished and repaired the leg of when it had wobbled, and Johann's work, quill and ink. The cushions that matched, the painting of a street from home in Sweden that showed the correct season and bustled with people during the day.

He was right, there were socks everywhere - Elixa's alarm at being interrupted had sent them flying. Her wand shot out from between them all and they flew from the floor, landing back in the basket on the kitchen table.

"… shenanigans in the pantry…"
"Next week, Arc, next week, you didn't let me know," she interjected though he carried on with the questions as the three of them backed into the living room.

"filthy tan as Johann put it so succinctly…" Elixa shot the lanky one a look of surprise and caught his blush.

"All the questions, bloody hell." Elixa interrupted, but her face wore an enormous smile. "Where's Arc and who's this?" She extended both arms towards him in presentation of this new Arcturus Hollingbury. Definitely just as enigmatic, but if anything more attractive than when he'd left.

She reached out, seized his hand and dragged him across the living room before stopping right by his armchair and grabbing both his wrists, tiptoeing to press a firm but loving kiss to his cheek before giving him a playful push into his old armchair.

"Right! All is right in the world again, he's in his armchair. Lock the doors!" She cackled and stooped to retrieve a stray sock.

This was definitely a newer more verbose Arcturus - in that he said more than a few words, and even fired off more than one question at a time. It caught the two of them by surprise and Elixa had to make a comment about it in an almost negative way, save for the enormous soppy grin on her face. This was the most excited she had looked all week, well since she'd come back from spending the night with Rufus Delacroix at the Rover's Return anyhow.

Before Johann could even attempt to answer any of the questions, she had dragged him away to the armchair, and Johann trailed behind, watching Rustle investigating his old home with his nose and whiskers, tail streaming behind him. His ears caught each of the questions in turn.

As Elixa stooped to pick up a sock, Johann took a sudden deep breath, and set off towards the sofa.
"No creature, just laundry. Yes it's still there," he pointed a finger at the closed pantry door in the kitchen, "You seem to have already, already examining…" he blinked, one hand on the end of the sofa as he eased himself down to the floor again, "and the difficult ones: better, have I ever, probably not but she seems quite happy, and you are sat down." He gave a little nod and a smirk, reaching out to arrange his work. It didn't seem likely he'd get to finish it that evening so he would put it back together before Elixa spilled wine on it.

He glanced to Elixa's retreating form who near skipped into the kitchen to pour water into the kettle, and then back to Arcturus where his smile eased a little, still glad, but not sure what to think or how to feel about Arcturus being home with all that had gone on.
"Didn't think we'd see you before Christmas." He remarked a little more quietly, folding parchment back into an envelope before screwing the lid back on his pot of ink. "Did you finish your research, or something bring you back?"
"Realised how much he missed us!"

Johann looked up to meet Arc's eyes with his own, smile fading as he ignored Elixa's protest over the sound of the boiling kettle.

Arcturus found himself deposited in his usual sitting place near the fireplace before he even had time to react. "Elixa, what--" He chuckled, shaking his head at the departing witch. "So excited," he muttered, though he was more amused than dismissive or annoyed than anything.

"Didn't think we'd see you before Christmas. Did you finish your research, or something bring you back?"

Arcturus looked back at Johann. Now that he was sitting down and not in some dim light, he could see Johann's face much more clearer. The linguist looked thinner and more tired than he remembered. There was just something from him that seemed like it was...missing. The healer knew a look of concern was expressing itself on his face; he didn't try to hide it. He did have to chuckle at Elixa's shout from the kitchen.

"We finished," he said. "For now. Maybe. The MAPPERS quite liked my handling style of their research, and I really liked their research facilities. I've never had so much to play with in my entire life! Well, then came the plants..." Arcturus did a half-hearted eye roll. "That was an interesting 6 months. But, no, over time I discovered that as much as I love Malaysia, I think I missed being here, with all of you guys, a lot more." He sighed, reaching behind his head to untie his hair. "I just brought back a few souvenirs - probably fewer than most people would, since I prefer photos and memories over actual objects - and lots of good times. But I think I'd like to be here for a while now, maybe a long while, before I head back over to Southeast Asia. Provided I get the invite, of course."

With his hair down, he ruffled it out and shook his head a bit to clear out his hair. "Sorry, excuse the hair flipping. It's a habit now, I guess. Something I just picked up over the months. For some reason, men with long hair look a bit greasy over there. It's got to be the climate, I swear." He tied his hair back in the messiest way possible. Arcturus had long since stopped giving a bother about it either.

"Well, with my return here," he said, as if he hadn't just done a flamboyant hair rearrangement, "I'm resuming work as usual. Holiday's over, I guess. A week may not be enough, but I like to think there's going to be a lot of work to get to at the hospital, and people will be thankful I'm back." He shrugged. "Egoistic? Maybe, but I did start this job for a reason."

He looked around the room again. "You have some interesting taste, Elixa. I'm not sure if I'll ever hire you to redecorate the family home, or if I feel compelled to..."

The kettle whistled and she reached for the teapot, pouring in the boiling water as Arcturus spoke. Best to make them all a brew and then figure out who needed fed, and what food they had in.

As Arc explained she stirred and found mugs and the milk and sent them all over to the coffee table which Johann was handily clearing his work off in advance of the arrival.

"… a lot of work to get to at the hospital, and people will be thankful I'm back." He explained as Elixa finally made it over to the sofa to sit down on the end furthest from Johann, because the idiot couldn't sit on the floor all evening.

"You'll have to convince Elliot you're worth taking back." She grinned, stirring the teapot again and leaving it a minute to steep. Arc was looking around the place from his armchair.

"You have some interesting taste, Elixa. I'm not sure if I'll ever hire you to redecorate the family home, or if I feel compelled to…"

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise at this opinion.
"Well!" She replied, sitting straighter and squaring her shoulders at him, "Someone had to do something about the state of this place, and if we ever have a family home Arcturus, I'm not sure I'd trust you to decorate it either." She stuck her tongue out at him across the coffee table and poured three cups of tea.

"I'm sure the patients and the other healers will be glad to have you back, as much as we are. I mean, was contemplating subletting out your room you were gone so long." She shrugged, "I demand to see all the photos, and more about this research, though perhaps later as Joh might find it boring and fall a- no, actually I think he does want to hear." She chuckled at Johann and then beamed at Arc again. "So how did you get there? Come on, spill all!" 

Arcturus laughed at her words. "Family home? Don't even count on it!" He plunged a hand into one coat pocket and pulled out a bundle of photos tied together with string. "Here you go, lots of photos. Deathpod[1] pictures included, because those are some nasty plants. I kind of like them in the way some people like snakes, but we are talking about a giant snake-plant..."

He leaned back in his seat. "I don't think I need to convince Elliot to get me back. These hands have handled Deathpods and survived! No patient has been able to challenge that experience, and I doubt there ever will be. I've also worked on finding essences of various Deathpod parts...Elixa, look, hear me out." He leaned forward towards her, his eyes full of the bright sparkle of life. "All the research that's known right know about Deathpods, they're all incomplete because of how deadly the plant is if you do things it isn't happy with. But the MAPPERS, they've figured out ways to get around the plant's self-defence mechanisms! We might be able to find some new research and be able to use it! Already we had huge successes in using pitcher plant water to create magical traps for pests, and there's so much more. The huge variety of wildlife--!"

The healer stopped himself, as if realising he was practically chattering away, and then looked at Johann. "I suppose you haven't read much on the Deathpod either, have you?" he said apologetically. "Or maybe I should start with that first. I'm sorry, I've spent too long with that thing. Near-death experiences aren't technically great, but now that I'm back here I keep looking back at my brushes with it and thinking, 'Wow, there's a lot of stuff in life I'm missing out, and if this plant gets me right now it would be such a waste of my life.' And you know, I think that going all out in Malaysia and just being myself without feeling I need to conform to some sort of, of," he struggled for the words in his excitement, "expectation from society when I can simply be myself for the benefit of society in general!"

There was a pregnant pause. Then Arcturus coughed and leaned back in his seat with the air of a man who's realised he got overexcited.

"Anyway," he said, "I did promise you two dinner. Not tonight, I'm sorry...I'm pretty tired as it is still, and no don't worry I'm fed, my mother makes sure of that. So when we do go out to eat, I'll talk about Malaysia. How's that sound to you two?"

1.	Wiki article

Their eyes met for just long enough to convey the thought of could have really done with you being here, before Johann slid the rest of the work away and scooped it into his cross-legged lap beneath the coffee table.

Elixa and Arcturus began a game of question and answer over the deathpods and St Mungo's and interior decoration. Johann's eyes flicked from one to the other as the teatray clattered onto the table. Both were animated in conversation, and he felt almost as if he weren't there, the lethargy and the lack of understanding of the subject matter reducing him to quiet observation, only shooting Lix a narrow glare when she told Arc to bore him.

He let them chatter, slipping his work into his familiar over the shoulder bag which sat beside the sofa where he was sat on the floor before getting up to join Elixa on the sofa, putting the matching cushion behind himself, sitting cross-legged once more as he tended to do, elbows resting on his thighs. He reached out to collect a mug of tea and wrapped his long pale fingers around the mug, covering the illustration of a sage plant.

When Arcturus suddenly looked to him, and addressed him again he paused with the mug halfway to his mouth.
"I suppose you haven't read much on the Deathpod either, have you?"
"Er, not much more than the book up…" he didn't manage to finish, Arcturus seemed to have become an excited chatterbox and Elixa's nodding head was only egging him on.

He sipped the slightly too hot tea as Arcturus carried on.
"… near-death experiences aren't technically great… wow, there's a lot of stuff in life I'm missing out… it would be such a waste of my life.." Elixa continued to nod with an almost saccharine smile. Johann gave her a sidelong glance, a very small part of him feeling betrayed.
"… I think that going all out in Malaysia and just being myself without feeling I need to conform to some sort of expectation from society when I can simply be myself for the benefit of society in general!"

Johann's eyebrow quirked at this and the earlier proclamation about the hands and the one about becoming a healer. In the letters, Arcturus had been more like his old self, and he wasn't sure if the 'new' self was an improvement for opening his mouth more often.

"… when we do go out to eat, I'll talk about Malaysia. How's that sound to you two?"
"Sounds great! That'd be great, just the three of us!"

Johann purposely kept the mug of tea to his mouth so Elixa could nod enthusiastically and tell Arcturus how much she was looking forward to doing that, and speak politely for the both of them without him having to utter a word. It wasn't that he didn't want to go, more that this sudden arrival, and the timing put him on edge.

Then there was the awkward thought of what they would discuss if it wasn't Malaysia. He saw Elixa turn to look at him as she reached for her tea and gestured for Arc to reach for his. Oh Merlin, she wanted him to broach a topic.

"Been back long?" He managed, "Expect Britain feels very cold." He glanced between them both, "What, it's not a question about Malaysia, is it?" Johann shrugged his thin shoulders and leaned back into the sofa.

"Tsk," Elixa replied, "You're staying here tonight. Not so far to stagger to bed." She reached over and put her cup of tea back on the tray. "Best go see to that before we lose the ability to get upstairs. Wouldn't want to repeat lat time…" She chuckled and headed to the kitchen, seizing the laundry basket to take it upstairs, complete with the bedsheets, Johann's eyes picking out the familiar sheets that had been on Arc's bed yesterday when he'd woken up from an unscheduled nap.
"Back in a tick."

Elixa's feet retreated upstairs and Johann let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.
"I'm sorry i didn't reply to the last letter you sent." He apologised, gaze resting somewhere near Arc's feet.
"It's another story, and it'll require alcohol that isn't brewed in that pantry." He pointed to the door again with a shake of his curls.
"Missed you, mate." Above them Elixa's feet pattered on the floorboards, changing the beds. He raised his mug towards his lips, raising it a little to his healer friend.
"Those damned deathpods better have been worth it." 

Arcturus drank from his mug of tea. He'd drank plenty of tea in Malaysia - and had gotten funny looks at first, because he certainly didn't drink it the same way the locals did - but there was something about being back in England and drinking tea the way he knew best that beat trying out all those new things in Malaysia. It was good to just have his usual cup and smell that familiar smell.

"I've been back a week, actually," he said, once he'd lowered the mug. "Was staying in my parents' house getting used to England again. Certainly a lot drier than I'm used to, but at least I won't be sweating buckets and having to take a shower twice a day. I suppose my hair has come out for the better, though. I can deal with the cold, I can deal with the heat. Just that humidity."

He watched as Elixa took the laundry upstairs, an amused expression in his eyes. "Wow, Elixa doing the laundry. Usually I have to remind her. Maybe my leaving was a good thing - for her." He looked back to Johann. When their eyes met, Arcturus maintained that bright spark of life and enthusiasm for just a few seconds longer, before half-lowering the lids of his eyes.

"It's okay for not replying," he said softly, his old self suddenly back again as he smiled gently. "I had to stop writing as well because we were wrapping up research. When you're staying up for 18 hours a day just trying to get some really intense paperwork done, you just don't have free time anymore, not even to think about anything else but plants and poisons and potions. Keep your story, Joh. I won't ask you publicly or anything, from the way you're talking I can see it's a heavily private thing to you. Whenever you're ready."

He set his mug down on the table. "I missed you too. Didn't realise it until I had time, but I did. Missed everything in this country. At home." The healer looked around the room. "I don't even half mind what Elixa's done to this place. Maybe I'll start changing things a bit, but not now."

Arcturus laughed lightly as he watched Johann raise his mug. "Maybe. Maybe not. Who am I to judge? I'm just happy I got out alive and with lots of stories to tell about those plants. Just happy to be alive." He looked down into the black swirl of his tea. "Excuse the energy. I'm surprised I've even got that much left in me, I've been sleeping a lot and it just leaves me lethargic. I guess you all give me back that life, I suppose." He looked up; their eyes met and he held the gaze. "Especially certain people."

After a minute or two they could hear Elixa's pattering feet on the stairs, but Arcturus didn't pull his gaze away.

As her bare feet trod up the second flight of stairs to the hallway upstairs she didn't hear much of the conversation downstairs as it seemed to stall.

At the top of the stairs she went straight into her own room almost opposite and sent the paired socks and other clothes into the drawers and the wardrobe in the corner before pointing her wand to the bed. Her bright mood would risk her burning a hole in the bedsheets if she wasn't careful, but soon enough the deep red sheets were neatly on and the room smelled all the better. On her way out, she caught sight of a photograph from earlier in the year beside her dressing table mirror, and slipped it into her pocket with a mischievous smile.

Arc's was next, out the door and to her left away from the stairs. He had the slightly bigger room, with a fireplace in, right above the living room. It took next to no time to replace the sheets on his bed, and for good measure she cracked open the window over Diagon Alley at the front so it let in a little air.

Below her, conversation had resumed, she could hear the tones of the two voices but none of the words through the floorboards. At least they were talking - oh boy Arcturus was talkative. That was new, and she liked it a lot. Even if it meant he did deliver his opinions on her choice of decoration and how he didn't agree with it!

As she left Arc's bedroom, she stopped and pushed open the door of the third bedroom opposite. It as yet had not seen a tenant, and was at the back, over the kitchen with a small window overlooking the shop's yard and the lane that ran behind the shops.

There were trunks and boxes in there, more as a storage space and had blank floorboards and an echo with all the hard surfaces. She'd more than once considered setting up a spare bed in there if Johann kept dropping by, but the flat was quite comfortable with two, and three of them would require some co-ordination in the bathroom with hospital shifts.

Ah, bathroom, she reached into the nearest trunk and brought out another towel for Arc and hung it in the bathroom before leaving the linen basket in the corner beside the bath and coming downstairs again.

"Right, so now that's sorted, I can safely retrieve the wine." She told the boys, making up for the lack of conversation on her arrival back downstairs. Either they'd not been talking or they'd shut up pretty quickly so she couldn't hear.

The pantry door revealed a soft bubbling sound when opened and there was a telling clank of glassware as Elixa located wine that was alright for them to drink amongst all the other bottles of speculative alcoholic content.

"Well, can't say you missed much while you were away." She assured Arcturus, plopping back down on the sofa beside Johann, leaving the wine and three glasses to settle themselves on the coffee table beside the tea tray. "But you did miss perhaps costumes of the year so far…" She pulled out the photograph[1] from her pocket and leaned forward, getting to her feet just enough to reach it to Arcturus so he could take it from her.

"You see the things you missed - if you'd left a little later, you could have come along. I think you'd have made a lovely little lady."

1.	From this night in May, a grinning Elixa cajoling Johann to look at the camera

Without Elixa in the room, the more familiar side to Arcturus seemed to be there, and Johann's unease lessened. It was odd to feel that way in Arc's presence, it had almost been the other way before the trip, Johann way too talkative and Arc never knowing what to say.

"… when you're staying up for 18 hours a day just trying to get some really intense paperwork done, you just don't have free time anymore…" Arc explained, and the hint of a smile reached Johann's features, knowing exactly how that felt. He just wished it was where he was back to.

"… just happy to be alive. Excuse the energy. I'm surprised I've even got that much left in me, I've been sleeping a lot and it just leaves me lethargic. I guess you all give me back that life, i suppose. Especially certain people."

For a moment they looked at each other across the room.
"Heh, and I'm sat all the way over here." Johann heard himself say. He had a bright memory of an evening at the Hollingbury family home, where he'd suggested Arc came to sit with him on the sofa, and it had ended with a first kiss between them. The relationship he'd had with Arc had been sweet, happy and somewhat innocent. The two of them fumbling. What he had with Balfour passed that within the first few hours. With the letters back and forth he had more than once considered the what ifs of Arc not going away, if he'd been more patient, whether he'd change anything.

Without realising the two of them were staring at each other, Johann licked his lips and looked away as Elixa's feet were heard on the stairs, though he was sure Arc hadn't stopped staring.

"Right, so now that's sorted, I can safely retrieve the wine." Tea had been safe, wine on a somewhat empty stomach was going to go straight to his head. Still, better than the lethal stuff Elixa was brewing. There were bottles of it in the pantry that could probably light a fire in the fireplace with almost no spark they were so potent.

They were back to being a happy trio, and it didn't take long for Elixa to elect that the conversation should contain a starter of humiliation. He didn't need to see the photo to know what it was. Mug back on the table in front of him, he seized the cushion from behind himself and curled into it, letting out a muffled aargh through it before sitting up properly again, arms around the cushion before his stomach.

"You had to start with that one. I mean, you take photographs of lots of nights out but you had to show him that one?" He protested to Elixa beside him. "I mean you look fine in a suit. But I look ridiculous." He glanced to Arc, rolling his eyes. "You went to Malaysia at the right time just to miss out on suffering." 

The healer took the photo from Elixa and snorted with laughter as he looked at it. "Wow, no I am glad I missed this. Did Elixa do your makeup, Joh? I'd say she deliberately didn't match your skin with the right foundation, mm. No, I'm glad. I'll pass."

He nodded at the pile of photos on the table that he'd retrieved from his pocket. "Go on then. Have a look through my photos. I'm sure there's going to be lots of things and places and things you thought you'd never see me doing but I did."

Arcturus sat back in his seat as Rustle leapt up onto the armchair and deposited himself in a large furry ball in his lap, leaving cat hair trailing behind him. He stroked the kneazle's head as he took another sip of tea, Rustle purring loudly as he curled his tail around himself contentedly. The wine bottle beside them served itself into the glasses, and then the glasses served themselves on the table.

"Is this safe to drink?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "When you opened the pantry door there was an almighty reek. I'm compelled to bring some of my mother's air freshening charms just in case, you know?" He glanced at Elixa, still stroking his kneazle's long fur. "I hope, Elixa, you keep to your word about the pantry, or I'll get in there and sort it out myself. Expect a lot of destruction if I do. I give you a week from now."

Rustle grunted and then purred some more. Arcturus gave the kneazle a scritch between the ears. "So, Elixa, heard you've been picking up a lot of men lately. Too many good-looking boys out on the street?" He chuckled.

"That's precisely why I'm showing him. I mean, it's a rare glimpse of those legs." Elixa teased, giving Johann a shove to one of his folded knees.

"Did Elixa do your makeup, Joh? I'd say she deliberately didn't match your skin with the right foundation…"
"Oh come onnnn, I'd have been here all night trying to match that pasty-white face." She retorted, shrugging her shoulders, taking back the photo before grabbing a handful from the pile from Arc, passing them individually over to Johann as she inspected them.

"Is this safe to drink?"
"Mhm." Most of the comment about the state of the pantry fell on deaf ears.

She was leafing through the photos, one of them handing in midair between the tips of her fingers, waiting for Johann to hurry up and take it.

"So, Elixa, heard you've been picking up a lot of men lately. Too many good-looking boys out on the street?"

Johann received a thump to his arm, which he protested, thrusting the cushion at her in defence like two unruly siblings.
"It hasn't been a lot of men, and they're not on the street. Merlin, you two make me sound like a lady of the night. And besides," she straightened her shoulders, "it's been ladies too."

She thrust another photo at Johann.
"Just because you two aren't getting any shouldn't mean that I'm not - oh hang on, take that back. Some of us are." She waggled her eyebrows at Johann. "This idiot's finally found himself a man. A dragon handler no less! I couldn't believe my ears." And then as if this bit of news was inconsequential and not the most awkward statement, she turned a photo round to Arc,
"What's this?"[1]

1.	An object or place