The house rebuild had been complete for little over two weeks and the last of the dust and grout finally cleaned away.  Much of the summer had been spent taking week long trips to whatever page the wizarding atlas opened on.  Some of the locations had been a long time in the planning; he'd been leafing through the book ever since Johann had given it to him years ago.  Others had been completely random and left to chance.  Moscow, Russia.  Mayan pyramids of Chich'en Itza.  The large hadron collider in France. 

Okay, so the last hadn't been in the Atlas, but there had been plenty of side trips to wizarding Geneva. 

The food had been excellent and the newly-built house and wine cellar were quickly filling up with items he'd purchased along the way.  Over the past two weeks, both wizarding and muggle deliveries had been arriving daily and when the front door chimed, Sasha assumed there would be a large wooden crate on the other side.   He was expecting both a rug from Myanmar and an antique wardrobe from Morocco today.  It was like Christmas, everyday.  You never knew what you'd unwrap when you opened the front door.

Fauna Blake.  The excitement quickly drained from Sasha's expression as he blinked at the young woman standing in the vestibule.  "Oh."  He said simply as he struggled to make the mental shift from present-opening to ... whatever this was.  "You're not-"  Fauna Blake.  What was Fauna Blake doing on his front step?  The scowl of confusion persisted for several long seconds before habit and years of etiquette lessons picked up where his brain had left off. 

Sasha stepped back and held the door.  "Come in, please."  He wasn't sure what would prompt Fauna to visit; it had been, what...two years since he'd last seen Fauna?  Was that right?  At St. Mungo's.  When he'd accused her of being a werewolf.  A brilliant blush spread across Sasha's cheeks and he shook his head.  Presuming that whatever brought her here wasn't likely to be quick (he suspected she would have found some alternative to coming in person, if that were the case), he led the way into the drawing room.  "Can I get you any coffee?  Tea?" 

It was the end of a long, laborious month, and here Fauna was, at the last place she wanted to be. She'd rather be stuck filing. She'd rather be stuck dueling Pratt. At least then she had some slim chance of victory. This visit could only end in awkwardness and yet more conflict, another brick added to the wall between Fauna and Sasha. The gauche wall of former friendships.

She'd asked the auror who'd given her this assignment why they cared about a secrecy violation that could be handled by the Magical Accidents department. Blake, the auror had said exasperatedly, think about the house. Think about the history of the house.

It had slowly dawned on Fauna. The house where Sasha's parents, his younger sister Anna, and the housekeeper had been murdered by Manfred Ashford. The house where Sasha had killed Ashford in defense. The house that had labeled Sasha a murderer to some of his peers. The house that had crumbled in a mysterious fire. The house rebuilt under Sasha's direction.

Oh, Fauna had said. Yes, oh, said the Auror. Check things out. Snoop around a bit. Make sure his experiments are legal. If you catch even the slightest whiff of smoke in the air or gleam of madness in his eyes, I want to hear about it.

Fauna walked up the drive, catching a whiff of the stables so far. She eyed the design on the stones under her feet, and glanced up at the large estate. It looked completely redone, which did not surprise her. This was the boy who had found the time to clean under his fingernails right after Herbology, and whose shoes nearly always reflected sunlight. Though Fauna, in her off time, still scorned aprons and wore ridiculous hats, she'd started to pay attention to appearances. Not always her own, but those of the people around her and what it revealed about them. Understanding people - those she worked with, those who might be victims or criminals or both or a mix, those she knew from Hogwarts - was one of the hardest lessons she was learning as a trainee and as a young adult. How to understand, yet not let her emotions cloud her judgment. How to acknowledge those emotions just enough and trust her instincts. Empathy was useless if one didn't apply it.

It was something Raynor might say, she imagined fondly, while Tulo might remind them that empathy for empathy's sake was the most important thing of all.

As she stood in the vestibule, she glanced down at her shiny trainee boots, tugged down her black, trainee jacket, and smoothed the flyaways from her hair. She'd taken care before leaving Level Two. Sasha respected appearances, and she'd need all the help she could get.

Fauna took a few deep breaths, feeling an old anxiety soften her spine. Sasha flung open the door and seemed - happy?

Fauna blinked. Hope and relief flared for a brief second. The words she'd rehearsed slipped out of her head. Then, Sasha's excitement fell as he took in the sight of her, fell so quickly and so obviously it sent a little stab of hurt through her heart.

When he remembered his manners, she fixed a neutral expression on her face and followed him in. Did she want tea or coffee? Not really, but it would buy them some time and might encourage Sasha to be more forthcoming.

"Tea would be great, Sasha, thanks- thank you," Fauna adjusted to more formal phrasing.

If he disliked that she was using his first name, well, he would just have to tell her. She followed him into the drawing room with a wide-eyed glance around, both impressed and intimidated by the expensive furniture arranged just so, the matching blue and white color scheme, and the white expanse of couches that made her regret her request for tea. She wondered if he'd mimicked the old layout of the house, if he'd copied some aspects and not others, and if the cool formality of the room was completely his taste or his family's. He had no family left that she knew of. She took a seat that faced the view of the well-kept garden. She kept her back straight, acknowledged a flare of sympathy in her gut, and offered Sasha a nervous smile.

Fauna would wait until the tea arrived before she told him why she was here and ruined his day. It was only polite.

Her acceptance of the tea confirmed his suspicions about the not-brief nature of this visit.  He was half tempted to ask if she was sure, but instead nodded his head.  "It will only take a few moments.  Feel free to make yourself comfortable."  Now that it was clear she was here for a purpose, all this tinkering and diddle daddling was just wasting time.  And, building the suspense.  The sooner he finished the tea, the sooner they'd be past the pointless pleasantries.

Anyone who knew Sasha on any sort of personal level knew he was nearly helpless in the kitchen.  Ever since Sasha had started living on his own, after leaving Dreogan's house back in his fifth year, his meals were generally either microwavable, from a restaurant or made by Hogwarts elves.  He'd tried on a few occasions to legitimately cook for himself and the results weren't bad.  But, they weren't nearly as good as what a qualified cook or chef could produce so why settle for the vastly inferior and more time- and energy-consuming method?  That had been one of many reasons he'd chosen to obtain a house elf.  He had much better things to spend his time on then learning to cook, such as learning Chemistry or Potions or traveling.   

Luckily, tea was easy.  The hot-water-on-demand tap mad it almost fool proof.  And, there was almost always some sort of snacking item to be found in the fridge.  The new residential house elf, Giada, had only been with them less then a month but she'd already grown comfortable enough to insist Sasha needed to eat more.  And had taken it upon herself to make sure that lack of access to food wasn't what kept him thin. 

Teapot, cups and hummus and crackers were all assembled on a serving tray.  He even managed to remember the various tea accoutrements before completely leaving the kitchen.  "Pardon the general disarray," Sasha offered as he set the tray down on the coffee table and took a seat in a neighboring chair.  "We're - I'm still in the nesting and settling in phase.  New stuff arrives almost every day.  But, it's-"

This was, undoubtedly, not why she was here.  There was no reason Fauna Blake would just stop by for tea and idle chit chat.  "You work for the Ministry now, don't you?"  What had classmates been saying around the school.  "Auror office?" A recognizable hint of uncertainty tinted his voice.  Was she here from the Auror office? 

Once Sasha recovered his manners, he fully recovered them, refraining from asking why she'd stopped by unannounced. She doubted that she would have done the same. If Sasha Schlagenweit had popped by the Radford estate in the last two years since they'd seen each other, Fauna would likely still be blocking the doorway, peppering him with questions and throwing him suspicious, sulky glances. And a hair toss or two.

The thought made her blush. He was being courteous, and he really had no good reason to be.

She watched with mild interest as he left to fetch the tea. Maybe he preferred to do the simpler tasks on his own, or the house elf was otherwise occupied (not with muggles, she hoped).

He brought back crackers! And hummus, a healthy food choice. She thanked him as he set it all down, and she murmured something about how the disarray was not a problem. What disarray? Fauna glanced at the pristine couches. The room was so much cleaner than the Radford house at its most clean.

His mention of 'we' made her wonder if he meant the house elf in the inclusive way that many muggleborns thought of house elves, or if another person was living with him. She made a mental note to find out later.

"Right, the Auror office. I'm in my third year of training." Fauna cradled the teacup in her hands, blowing lightly on the liquid before taking a sip. There was no way he hadn't noticed her trainee uniform. He wanted to know why she'd come to his house. She bit her lip, refraining from a dozen questions that popped into her head - how he was doing, what he'd been up to in the past few years, if he was okay since December.

Instead, Fauna smiled, a little shyly, and lifted her teacup in mock toast.

"This is a nice change from what passes for tea on Level Two."

Fauna set her teacup down in a slow, thoughtful movement, both to stall and gauge his reaction to her stalling.

"That's actually why I'm here. Er, not for tea, but for Level Two."

She straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eye, a hint of apology in her voice.

"They sent me to check out a secrecy violation that has been traced to a house elf registered at this location. A house elf by the name of," she hesitated. "Giada?"

She knew the elf's name, and also knew the answers to her next questions.

"Just to verify, is the house elf yours?" Fauna questioned calmly. "If so, may I ask how long she's been living with you?"

She settled back in her seat. Did she have time to snag a cracker before he kicked her out?

Sasha poured his own cup of tea and settled back against the seat.  A well-schooled, pleasantly-interested expression settled on his features as Fauna spoke of her training, but he neither interrupted nor asked for additional information.  If his suspicions were right and this was the basis for her visit, he wasn't going to give her any reason to be distracted into prolonging the chitchat.  Instead, he borrowed a tactic from his stepfather and watched Fauna quietly, but intently with the same interested expression. 

He nodded, smiling in return as she offered the toast and mentioned something about Ministry tea but otherwise continued to watch, expectantly.  She proceeded to confirm the official nature of her visit.  Sasha nodded, once more.  "I assumed as much." 

Finally, she explained the nature of her visit and mentioned the new resident house elf by name.  "Secrecy violation?" Sasha repeated his brow furrowing in confusion.  He had a suspicion he was overlooking the obvious, but he couldn't remember anytime there had been a violation. 

There had been that day last week when a delay in deliveries meant both muggle and wizarding delivery companies were at the house at the same time.  The wizards lugging the chest up to the third floor were rather perturbed that they couldn't openly use magic and had sounded very anti-muggle when they'd left.  Sasha had dismissed it as simple annoyance, but maybe they'd seen something.  Or had said something just to cause trouble.

His own pro-muggle tendencies were hardly a secret.  It wouldn't be a surprise if the Ministry assumed any violation complaint was accurate until proven otherwise. 

Slowly, Sasha shook his head.  "Given you know her name, I assume you know an elf lives here.  However, ... I don't know ... the German in me is allergic to saying I own anything I can have a conversation with."  Even the company in Germany he'd worked through had started using the terms "adoption" and "employ" over "purchase" and "own" about forty years prior.  It made little difference whether they were wizarding or muggle; owning or being the master of another sentient being just couldn't fit in a German's vocabulary.  Or thought process. 

"She joined our household ... August 11th, I believe?  But, I'm sorry.  This is a waste of your time.  One of the delivery wizards was probably a purist and is stirring trouble.  I can't remember ... I'm not aware of Giada causing any violation and she would have told me.  She knows to keep herself hidden when muggles are around and I've given her the okay to use whatever concealing magic she feels she needs to to do so.  I'm no stranger to hiding magic from muggles; we've even had a few drills.  You know that scene in ET when he ... hides in the ... toy bin?"  Sasha's voice trailed off. 

Again, Sasha shook his head.  "I mean..."  He hesitated a moment, the furrow in his brow deepening in thought.  "She really hated having to hide when the paramedics were here last week and really wanted to go to the hospital, but she knew she couldn't.  Unless ... she managed to sneak in there without me knowing ..."  Sasha shrugged again; that seemed highly unlikely but it was the only thing he could think of. 

"Would you like to ask her?"

Fauna blinked when he made the clarification that he didn't own the elf, then tried not to wince. Oh Merlin.

She listened carefully to his assurances and the examples he listed, a bit surprised that he hadn't simply asked her what the violation was about. Which could be interpreted as an attempt to be helpful, or to mislead her. She doubted he'd go so far as to try to mislead her, though the subtle dissuasion was probably deliberate, and she was reminded strongly of the letters they'd once exchanged years ago. Hers, full of anger and misspellings and wounded righteousness; his, full of explanations and excuses that she hadn't asked for in a superior, formal tone.

Fauna popped a cracker into her mouth. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. No one liked to hear the words 'secrecy violation', especially if they thought they were being careful in every way. Most people, house elf or human, did not actually intend on committing a secrecy violation.

Fauna nodded when he referenced the movie E.T., allowing a nostalgic sort of amusement to flicker across her face.

"I'm sure you've been careful, Sasha," she tried to reassure him. "Giada, too."

The hospital! Fauna's brow furrowed in concern as she took another sip of tea. She heard, but didn't respond to his question about summoning Giada. He'd mentioned paramedics. Someone else was living with him. Someone muggle?

"The hospital. Are you-" She stopped herself just before asking if he was ok.

"Are you looking after someone? I can come back later, if it's a bad time."

She said this gently, hoping instead that he'd offer some hint as to what had happened last week.

For not the first time that month, the thought occurred to Sasha that he ought to consider hiring a wizarding lawyer.  He had one in the muggle world, to help with deciphering wills, deeds and any other question that might arise that was beyond his capability.  He suspected there were similar reasons to have one in the wizarding world.  He made a mental note to look into that while he took a careful sip of his tea. 

"I'm sure you've been careful, Sasha.  Giada, too."

"Really?"  Sasha set the teacup down and arched an eyebrow in Fauna's direction.  He wanted to comment further but caught himself.  Now was not the time to bring up past disagreements.  Either she had, suddenly, decided to start blindly trusting his judgement or she wanted something from him.  Getting sucked into the past would only play to her favor. 

"The hospital. Are you- Are you looking after someone? I can come back later, if it's a bad time."

Was that it?  Sasha took a deep breath and rolled his eyes before setting his teacup down.  "Again, this is a misunderstanding.  One of the delivery wizards must have thought he'd seen more then he had."  Or, he'd seen exactly what had happened but had jump to the wrong conclusions.  "I have nothing to hide and it shouldn't..." he quickly checked his watch for the time, "be a bad time.  In fact-" 

Sasha gave a quiet whistle, which was immediately followed by a flurry of scraping and pattering from the floor above.  The pattering paused, changed direction and then resumed moving in their direction.  A few seconds later, Baldur came loping into the reception hall and rushed over to greet the visitor.  "Yes, my grandmother is staying with me and Giada helps take care of her.  However, I can't see how this would constitute a violation." 

He pushed himself to his feet.  "I believe they're downstairs and heading outside.  We can step outside and you can ask her, yourself, if you'd like."

Had he really just rolled his eyes at her? Fauna tilted her head and gave Sasha a look, surreptitiously brushing cracker crumbs off her jacket. He just couldn't sit and let someone else (or maybe just her) direct the conversation. Though she was sorry to hear about his gran, she offered no further sympathy, well aware that he wouldn't appreciate it. That was understandable. Less understandable was his attempt to control the situation in such a way that if she asked him to take a seat again, it would only worsen matters.

The procedure, which Fauna suspected was outdated, was to inform the house elf's employer about the house elf's conduct and then let the employer decide how to handle it. As long as Sasha signed the form, she doubted the Auror would have an issue with her talking to Giada directly. It would give her a sense of the dynamic in the house. Still, Fauna was annoyed. She remained seated for another few moments, greeting Baldur with a scratch around the ears and a smile. At least the dog didn't mind her presence!

Fauna finally stood, her palms open at her sides. "Ok, Sasha, sounds good. Let's do that."

Baldur wagged his tail at the errant crumbs Fauna left in her wake.

As Fauna followed Sasha, she told him the one thing he still hadn't asked.

"The report we received is in regards to an incident that took place last week, on August 13th."

He'd been correct to assume it had happened on the day of those deliveries.

"A group of muggles were in a pub, describing a delivery made to your house to the waitress and anyone else who would listen. One muggle stated that an extremely short and skinny dwarf waved him up to the third floor, then vanished. Another muggle said that she saw a rolled-up, antique carpet thudding against an upper window, all on its own. A third muggle then stated that he overheard voices, arguing. One was high and squeaky, scolding a delivery person for bringing a prohibited item to England[1]. The delivery person answered no, you silly elf, it's not a flying carpet, I used a spell to lift the carpet. The elf then said that spells were not allowed, either."

Fauna paused, feeling just how ridiculous her life was in that moment.

"This caused yet another muggle to announce to the entire pub that a mad scientist was conducting strange experiments at Rickmansworth, and that the foreign furniture delivery from another company was a ruse for dodgy dealings."

Had Fauna really needed to repeat the last muggle's statement word for word? No, but she did so in a chipper tone.

"If I could speak to Giada and find out what happened from her perspective, I'd appreciate it."

1.	flying carpet

Sasha cast Fauna a quizzical glance as she hesitated before standing up.  Was she getting agitated?  At him?  Or, at the situation?  He opened his mouth, silently mouthed the start to a question before thinking better of it.  He shook his head and turned to open one of the glass doors out into the backyard.  Completely oblivious to tension, Baldur wagged his tail enthusiastically and loped through the open door into the yard. 

"The 22nd?" Sasha repeated as he walked onto the lawn, chewing his lip in thought.  That would have been last Monday; what was happening last Monday? 

As he listened to Fauna's explanation, he looked up to the terrace on the floor above and watched as a short, stout elf used magic to levitate an older woman in a wheelchair down the back steps.  But, as the story unfolded, Sasha turned back to Fauna with an amused grin on his face.  "Really?  Flying carpets and mad scientists?"  He couldn't help himself.  The contrast of the sober conversation with the ridiculous reason behind it was too much.  He laughed and scratched his head.  "Really?  That's - hilarious.  I don't really know anything about this, but it's got to be good.  You sure they weren't just recounting a movie or something?" 

"I ... maybe Giada knows more then I do."  Which wouldn't take much, seeing as how this all sounded wholly unfamiliar.  Once the elf had safely settled the wheelchair on a sunny patch in the grass, Sasha led the way over to the pair. 

"Oh, I didn't know we had guests!" Giada squeaked in German, in a raspy and (for an elf) lower pitched voice.  She cast Sasha a quizzical look but Sasha shook his head. 

"Fauna, allow me to introduce my grandmother, Katrine Waldgraf.  And, of course, Giada.  Giada, Oma, this is Fauna, a friend of mine," Sasha offered to each in turn.  Katrina Waldgraf gave little recognition of the introduction but closed her eyes against the warm sunlight.  Sasha offered Fauna an apologetic grimace before nodding towards Giada.  "Fauna had some questions for you, Giada."

A tentative grin flickered across Fauna's face in response to Sasha's amused reaction. She'd been dreading this visit, worried he'd resent her intrusion and the ridiculousness of the 'charges', if she could even call them that. Instead, he was showing a sense of humor.

"I know," she shook her head. "I had a good laugh when I got the report."

Laughter that had died when she'd been told she had to go confront Sasha about it, but she would take what mirth she could get.

Fauna followed Sasha into the garden, watching the care with which the house elf levitated the wheelchair onto the grass. She glanced over the grandmother, wondering what had  afflicted her last week, and if it had caused her vague, unresponsive expression. She shifted her stance and offered the older woman a gentle smile and nod, deciding against extending her hand. She didn't want to startle her.

Sasha made introductions, and Fauna barely managed to keep her mouth from falling open as he called her a friend.

Really? She wanted to say, in the same tone he'd used earlier, but a rush of guilt and odd, lighthearted relief stopped her. He was just being polite, she reminded herself. Like when he'd offered tea.

"Hi, Ms Waldgraf. Giada, nice to meet you."

She hoped the elf spoke English, because she certainly didn't know German.

"I'm here on a Level Two errand," she told the elf, and offered an unintentional, sheepish shrug of her shoulders. "I'd like to ask you a couple of questions about a few deliveries made last week. It shouldn't take long, if now is a good time?"

Fauna waited for some response before continuing on.

"From what I understand, both the muggle and wizarding deliveries took place on August 13th around the same time. Would you mind telling me how that afternoon went? If you spoke to anyone, or appeared in front of anyone? Muggle or wizard," Fauna clarified.

"Nice to meet you," Giada answered Fauna, in English, her voice still slightly raspy.  Uncertainty flickered across her face when Fauna mentioned being from Level Two but the uncertainty turned to worry when Fauna explained she had questions.  Her wide eyes darted from Sasha to Mrs. Waldgraf and back. 

"She'll be fine, I'm sure," Sasha offered.  "She probably won't even notice.  Feel free to explain."  The sooner they got this sorted out, the better.  And, by now, Sasha himself was a little curious.

Giada's hands clenched around the seam of her tea towel frock as she looked between the witch, wizard and older muggle woman. 

"I meant to tell you, Herr Sasha," Giada squeaked.  "I'm so so-" but after a sharp glance from Sasha, Giada seemed to gather herself and turned towards Fauna. 

"We only had one delivery planned.  The wizards with the Nepali crate and rug arrived on time.  But, the muggle shippers arrived a day early and at the same time.  Herr - you were out that day."  Giada turned towards Sasha, her hands balling into little fists in the recognizable signs of elf self-punishment before another sharp look from Sasha squelched that. 

Giada continued to glance between Sasha and Fauna, clearly unsure who to address.  "I tried to hide but then the wizards kept using magic and the muggles would see them so I'd scold them.  I went to the other room and told the muggles just to leave the delivery in your office so they could leave quickly." 

She turned back to Sasha, her hands covering her mouth.  "I meant to tell you, but then there were the medics and you went to the muggle St Mungo's and ... I forgot," Giada's voice teetered out to a bare whisper.  Then, with a gasp, Giada added: "you're notes!  Giada's so sorry - I -" her hands started to ball up into, again, but Sasha quickly interjected:

"Remember.  Number one house rule."  He waited to make sure Giada's hands ... well, relaxed was probably asking too much but no longer prepared for self-pummeling before he turned back to Fauna and offered a half-grin and a shrug.  "Sounds like it was an honest mistake."  And, just as much on the wizarding delivery as on Giada, but Sasha refrained from saying as much.  "What happens now?  Do I pay a fine or go to the Ministry to have my knuckles whacked?" 

As the house elf appeared wracked with anxiety, Fauna made her expression as mild-mannered and gentle as possible, which was the easiest thing she'd done all day. She nodded, and kept her hands loosely clasped in front of her, glancing every once in a while at Sasha, whose only interference seemed to be reassuring Giada enough so that she could finish her story.
 
Fauna watched Sasha and the house elf, holding back a smile. Despite her slip of the tongue earlier, she'd always found the house elf arrangement, at least at Hogwarts, to feel strange, and she couldn't help but approve of Sasha's number one rule. It spoke to his muggle upbringing, and the kindness that she'd admired when they'd been friends.

"What happens now? Do I pay a fine or go to the Ministry to have my knuckles whacked?"

"No fine and no knuckle-whacking," Fauna resisted rolling her eyes, and focused on the house elf for a moment. "Thank you for explaining, Giada. As far as I can tell these are all understandable, honest mistakes. The wizarding company put you in a tough spot by continuing to use magic. Someone from the Ministry is speaking to them as I stand here, actually."

That someone was from Level Three, but they didn't need to know that. Fauna turned her attention to Sasha.

"The only thing I need is a signature from you, Sasha, verifying your acknowledgment that Giada was seen by muggles and that you'd try not to let it happen again." One corner of her mouth lifted, verifying her acknowledgment that it was rather silly, but that was bureaucracy for you. "The form will go into a file on Level Three, where it will probably collect dust unless something were to happen again. They'd only consider fining, based on the, er, severity of the next incident."

Fauna produced the scroll of parchment from her interior jacket pocket, unfurled it, and handed it to Sasha, fully expecting him to take a few minutes to inspect every word.

"Do you have a quill on you?" She asked apologetically.

Fauna had a quill, tucked into another pocket. She hoped that maybe, just maybe, Sasha would volunteer to fetch one from his office and she could follow without appearing too intrusive. More than likely, Giada would vanish and appear with a quill in a flash. But it was an attempt. If it didn't work, she'd just return to Level Two and claim she'd tried while looking a little less like she was lying.

At Fauna's dismissal, Giada nodded and offered another strained apology before turning her attentions back to Mrs. Waldgraf, who remained seemingly oblivious to the whole exchange.  Sasha pursed his lips and nodded his head.  Compared to a fine or an old school classroom reprimand, a signature seemed straightforward but he didn't relish the idea of his name shoved in yet another file at the Ministry. 

"It has become my new goal in life to have a file on every level of the Ministry," Sasha mused aloud. 

"Not on me, no," Sasha answered the question about a quill as he took the scroll and gave a quick glance around the yard.  He then tilted his head towards the house and started to walk slowly back to the glass doors.  Mrs. Waldgraf seemed to be contently enjoying the warmth of  being outside and Giada seemed content to be doting on her like a slightly frazzled hen.  Baldur appeared to be more then a little contently lying in the mud at the bottom of the fish pond, occasionally plunging his head into the now murky water when, presumably, a fish or frog swam by. 

"Probably a good time to escape.  I give it thirty seconds before Giada realizes what he's doing and starts lecturing the dog," Sasha offered as he led the way back inside with a little more purpose.  He offered Fauna a half-grin and shrugged.  "I don't know if you've ever heard a house elf rant at a dog in German, but I'll spare you the experience." 

He led the way up the stairs to the ground floor and into the dark-paneled office.  "Will the Ministry parchment explode if I use a retractable ball point pen?" he asked as he took a seat at the desk to, as Fauna had anticipated, thoroughly review the document. 

Though it had only been a couple of weeks since he'd started living in the house, properly, the shelves were already beginning to fill with books: all of his old Hogwarts and muggle-subject textbooks in addition to a spattering of new textbooks he'd purchased on his last trip up to Cambridge.  Several free standing dry erase boards were propped up in front of the book shelves with lists of animal names, charts and periodic tables as well as a few scattered basic calculations.  A stack of notebooks and parchment scrolls sat in a pile on one of the couches.   

"Feel free to shove things aside, if you want to sit" Sasha offered. 

Fauna blinked. It worked? Her sad attempt worked! Fauna turned on her heel and followed Sasha after just a moment's hesitation, glancing over her shoulder at Giada, Mrs. Waldgraf, and Baldur all happily oblivious in the sunshine. She bit her lip. Sasha seemed to have no idea that she was here to verify his sanity and scout out his collection of flammable objects.

He even made a joke about sparing her from Giada lecturing the dog.

"Oh," Fauna smiled slightly, pushing aside her guilt. "Um, thanks, I think? Sounds kind of entertaining. Maybe next time, when I'm here on the behalf of yet another department."

She grimaced. She hoped there wouldn't be a next time!

"Sometimes I think Level Two asks me to do things just to see if I'll say no," she mused in a murmur as she followed him up the stairs. She stalled, she delayed, she pretended to misunderstand, but she hadn't really refused a request from an Auror yet. Fauna was sure something else unpleasant would pop up before the week ended, because this visit was going much more smoothly than she'd anticipated.

They reached the office. He mentioned explosions, and Fauna decided not to add that to her Level Two report.

"Try it," she responded with a shrug and an amused look. She was standing in the middle of the office and could safely smother the flames from a distance anyway.

Fauna glanced around, her gaze lingering on the dry erase boards. She recognized that the diagrams and labels were muggle, but much to her embarrassment, the calculations and many of the elements in the periodic table looked unfamiliar to her. Muggle primary school had not prepared her for this. She'd spent her summers at home helping her mother behind the register and taking day trips to Dartmoor park.

The bookshelves held a wide array of advanced magical and muggle textbooks, some of the spines spelling out Cambridge. Fauna, her face growing warm, carefully lifted the stack of notebooks to sit, feeling more out of place on the messy couch than she had on the spotless white couch in his living room.

"Congrats on Cambridge. I mean, you know," Fauna gestured at the scholarly pile next to her, reverting to old-school-Fauna mannerisms, complete with a fidgety tug on her jacket sleeve.

She understood one thing. Just how difficult it was to get in.

"So, this assignment is ranked among the ones you wanted to say 'no' to," Sasha summarized, looking up from the form and across at Fauna.  He supposed he didn't blame her, necessarily.  He just hadn't expected her to put is so blatantly.  Or, bluntly.  He pursed his lips and sighed, shifting his attention back down to the form.  He supposed the least he could do was try to expedite her ability to leave. 

He fetched a pen from a desk drawer and scribbled his name on the line.  No fireworks.  No explosions.  No attempts by the Ministry parchment to suck up and spit out the very muggle ink in some overly dramatic fashion.  His fingers slipped under the edge to roll it back up when he hesitated and pursed his lips curiously. 

"Congrats on Cambridge. I mean, you know..."

Surprised, Sasha turned his attention back to Fauna.  "Oh.  Thank you.  I'm actually of surprised you know about that."  He certainly hadn't kept his post-Hogwarts plans a secret, but he also hadn't been screaming it from the rooftops.  He just didn't see Fauna asking his fellow new graduates about his life plans. 

"What?  Is that in my record, too?" he asked with a slight chuckle as he turned his attention back to the form.  "Are there 'wizard goes to muggle school' warning bells?  I know it's not the most traditional path."  Truthfully, the closer they got to October, the more Sasha started to realize the reasons why.  He was starting to realize how much he'd underestimated the challenge.

He tugged his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of the form.  Even if only for the sake of seeing if the Ministry parchment was as apathetic about iPhones as it was about retractable ball point pens.