Alina was definitely keeping busy in England.  She had worried, briefly, that she would not have enough to do, particularly with such a busy husband, but the Cannons needed… work.  Alina was more than willing to give them the hardest workouts of their lives in whatever weather they came up against.  So, when Alina left from the snow-covered field she was flushed and sweating, but so happy. 

“I will see you all tomorrow!” she shouted into the locker room.  It was not meant to be a kind departure.  Alina was hopeful they would be feeling these training exercises for a month. 

Content with the halfhearted replies to her leaving (they sounded so miserable), Alina smiled to herself and hefted her duffle bag over her shoulder full of her gear.  Her broom was clutched in her hand and she apparated in front of the cottage.  She would have to let Winston out, she remembered as she kicked her wet, dirty shoes off and pushed the door open. 

Rather than being greeted by the giant puffskein, the house was eerily quiet.  Raising her eyebrows, Alina dropped her practice gear by the side of the door and walked through the entryway.  “Alo?”[1] she called out, peering around.  There were lights on.  She knew she hadn’t left anything on when she left.

She hoped Ed’s children hadn’t been scheduled to come… she certainly wasn’t here to receive them!  Fearing this possibility, Alina picked up the pace just a little bit around the house and finally, when she saw the culprit of the lights on… Alina furrowed her brows.  Sitting at his desk, Winston sitting beside him, Eddie was not who she expected to see. 

Truthfully, she didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t him.  It seemed strange; he was rarely in the cottage when the sun was still out (and often harder still to find when it was dark).  So, Alina could think of only one question to ask:  “What happened?”

1.	Hello in Romanian

Today Eddie had spent the entire day wondering what his life would have been like had he not gotten Quincy pregnant 13 years ago. He found himself wondering if his life would have been more relaxing had he made it through the Canon’s try out and become a professional quidditch player instead of an auror trainee. Would he have enjoyed his life more? Would he have been as badly off financially? Would he have been as mentally and physically exhausted?

Such questions had danced around Ed’s mind for the past months as he fumbled through the job as Head Auror; desperately trying to be a decent Head auror and a Decent father and husband. His family had taken a hit from it and now that the Christmas period was over, Ed was feeling more and more guilty.

This Friday, despite the enormous pile of work currently occupying his large desk, Ed had slipped  out of the office far earlier than usual. He was, for the first time in a long time, home before dark and Winston the oversized fluffball was all too happy to greet his master, jumping up him and covering black trousers and shirt in white fur.

When Alina came home, her husband had been bent over his desk for nearly an hour. Covering the old bureau were wads of screwed up parchment tossed aside for the newest clean piece for his scruffy handwriting to cover.
He heard her coming in, he’d heard her arrive at the front door. Ed would have been a poor auror if not. But he knew the footsteps were familiar.
“What happened?” She looked concerned, confused. Eddie put the quill down and offered his wife a small smile, not quite his trademark grin.
“Nowt love.” He then frowned and relaxed back in the chair. “Not that you need to worry about, anyway.” A hand reached out to take hers and he gave it a squeeze. “I wanna’ run summit’ by ye. Ye wanna’ shower first?”

She had hoped, deep down that Ed would tell her that nothing was wrong and that he’d just snuck out of the office to spend time with her.  Alina would not consider her a demanding woman, as far as her husband was concerned anyway.  The team might have a different opinion… but she had mentioned once or twice that she wished he’d be home a bit more.  After all, if she could give up her entire life in Romania to come here, then he could respect at least a bit of her time.  She kept busy during the day, but it was not as though her evenings were filled. 

Didn’t seem too important though, at least not at the moment.  She knew it had been odd he was home, but the look confirmed it.  There was usually a slyness about him, definitely an over confidence – but he was subdued today.  Ed took her hand (she let him) and spoke.  ”Not that you need to worry about, anyway.” 

Alina’s eyebrows rose as she tilted her chin downward to regard him more critically in the chair.  He looked troubled.  Leaning forward, bending (not quite as much as she would like, given their… inconsequential difference while he was sitting), Alina pressed her surprisingly-bare lips to his forehead.  She’d rinsed at the field, a proper shower could wait. 

It wasn’t as though she smelled! 

Returning to her tall-on-the-inside upright position, Alina looked down at her husband and pouted.  “You already know my opinion on extending the bedroom closet into the attic, so what is this you have to ‘run by me’?” 

Receiving a kiss to his forehead only served to allowed Ed’s shoulders to further slump. He’d told her that if they were to marry and be together, she had to move here. He had his kids and career. Back when they’d met and he’d proposed, however, he hadn’t been the Head Auror. He’d hadn’t been pulled in every possible direction and blamed for every problem wizarding Britain had. Eddie had been a regular foot soldier who still had a life outside of work. Alina moved to England and the time he’d once promised he could give had slipped away with disaster after disaster.

A mention of her regular suggestion of remodelling the master bedroom was met with a tight grimace before he pushed himself up to stand, letter in hand.
“Let’s grab some tea.” He rested his right hand on her back, gave her cheek a kiss, and steered her out of the study and into the kitchen. He waved at the table for her to sit and began to fill the kettle as he considered how to approach the topic.

“I’ve been thinkin’.” He began, back to her as he charmed a couple of mugs from the mug tree down and over to the kitchen table. The teapot danced to the middle of the work surface and the milk jug came flying out of the fridge to land on the table as well.
“Ye’ve come here to live with me and put up with me kids and I’m never home. The money a Head Auror makes ‘ent worth that.” He turned to face her, leaning against the work surface.

Tea.

Whatever he had to tell her was bad.  It certainly wasn’t about her larger closet (she half-joked about it).  She let him lead her into the kitchen and was oddly pleased when he began to assemble it, rather than her.  That, of course, meant he was stalling. 

She took a seat, studying him from behind.  Admittedly, not a bad view.  But he was obviously troubled and the longer he didn’t talk about it the longer it would stay a problem.  She idly watched the tea things come toward the table.  She had always had to think so hard about her wand magic – it was like second nature to him. 

She supposed that was a good thing.  It wouldn’t do well for an auror to be slow on the draw, so to speak. 

“Thinking?” she parroted, “That’s never good.”  She teased lightly, wrapping her hands around the mug.  Tilting her head to the side, she continued to listen.  She set her jaw as he spoke and she considered what he was trying to tell her.  She understood the piece that was complimentary, of course, she did those things and they were a big deal.  She was close to petrified of children and he had a slew of them. 

Rather than make assumptions, Alina decided it was more practical to ask another question.  “What started you thinking about that?”

The answer to Alina’s question was simple. It was not, however, easy to say aloud. It felt like a failure after such hard work to get where he was. He’d never been ambitious to climb higher but he’d still done it.
Now he didn’t want it.
“I hate my job.” The wizard finally told his wife with a shrug.

Eddie Pratt wasn’t a man of many words. He had to say something meaningful. Despite what some thought, he didn’t talk just for the sake of it and he certainly wasn’t sure how to word his feelings about his position right now to the witch he loved.
Lips pressed tightly together, he sat himself down opposite her at the kitchen table and reached for the teapot. He busied himself with pouring two cups and taking a sip of his before he spoke again.

“I don’t do well behind a desk. I’m seeing more and more crimes that aren’t being solved and I want to be more involved rather than an overseer.” He frowned, watching her carefully. “It’s selfish, Ali, I know. There’s less money as an auror and I’d have to work nights again. I’d be in the line of fire again but I’m going crazy where I am right now.”

Alina could not imagine that feeling. 

She loved her job.  She loved the fact that she got to go to the pitch and run a practice, fly, dart, show and teach.  She enjoyed planning and participating in the preparation for the world cup.  So, hearing him admit that he didn’t love his job… it was almost unbelievable to her. 

Tilting her head to the side, he let her shoulders drop and nodded.  “Why?” was the simple question.  It was obvious he wanted to say more and Alina could provide him the opportunity to do so: was that not what a wife was for? To listen and help?  Of course, tea would always come first and she watched him prepare it before reaching across the table to hold his free hand.  She could also sip her tea at the same time.  A win on all fronts.

Though she was not particularly happy to hear he would be working nights again, his other concerns… Alina shook her head.  “Eddie, please,” she soothed in her thick accent, “I hope you don’t think I married you for your money.”  She used her thumb to rub the back of his hand.  If there was anything more true, she couldn’t think of it in the moment.  “But if it is what makes you happy, I will support you, of course.”  She gave his hand a gentle squeeze.   

Currently encountering something he wasn’t used to, Ed sat quietly for a few moments, unsure what to do in response to a lack of argument from his wife. From years of experience with his ex-wife, Ed had become accustomed to fielding argument after argument. Being an auror had always been an incredible point of contention. The long hours he’d been forced to work and his mediocre pay had been a constant cause of arguments. In the later years, any discussion about his job had led to terse words and shouting.

Ed was, therefore, unsure what to do when Alina took his hand and promised her support.
He was so unsure what to do that he felt the need to continue with the argument he’d prepared…

“I mean, obviously I know we’ll be more stretched and it’s a pretty massive demotion but if I have to spend another entire day signin’ me name and reading insufficiently detailed reports, I’m be the wizard the aurors are after for slaughterin’ one of our own.”

Alina’s eyebrows rose in surprise.  Had she said something he didn’t agree with?  Alina thought she had said everything right.  Her eyebrows drew in and she went over the words she said again in her head… sometimes her English… no matter how good, it got jumbled.  But no, she knew she had spoken correctly. 

“No, no – prison would be no good for you,” Alina replied with a smile, attempting a joke.  “Too pretty,” she added.  Murder would not be good for either of them, incidentally.  She didn’t really believe her new husband capable of it, but one never really knew and if he hated it as much as he insisted he did, it had to be a viable possibility.  St. George[1] knew how many players she’d almost killed.  Granted, not from hatred necessarily…

Whatever the case, Alina did have other questions: “When do you plan on announcing this?  And how?  It is all about the announcement you know, like retiring from quidditch – presentation everything.”  That part was true, and Alina knew a fair bit about it, perhaps she could help.

1.	St. George and the Dragon is popular imagery in Romania, and also the name of their wizarding Hospital.

As much as Ed struggled to get his head around a woman being supportive a decision he made, Ed decided to plough on, answering her question with a frown.
“Well that’s gonna’ be a problem, luv.” Presentation may have been everything, but Eddie Pratt wasn’t about the presentation. He was about getting the job done. “Carstairs ‘ent gonna’ like it. He’s gonna’ grumble and be an arse. I know it. Me resigning looks bloody bad on him only months after he’s taken over. Looks like his shitty leadership.” In part it was, Ed didn’t like the wizard as a boss.

“I gotta’ play it right, I know that. But the bastard’s gonna’ whine about the wordin’. So…” He took a pause accompanied by a sip of tea, now feeling more comfortable to discuss his plan since she wasn’t shouting at him like prior experience of the last wife. “I’ll let him demote me. That way it looks like his idea. He’s all about the appearance. The public won’t give a hoot after a week and my staff will know it’s a load of bullocks even if I don’t tell ‘em.”

“I wrote the letter.” The parchment that was folded on the table between them, he shoved across to his wife, a grimace twisting his usually handsome features. As ever, the handwriting was barely legible, a rushed scrawl defacing previously chrisp and clean parchment.