Nearly noon, Cartography Hall

Adrestia Gamp gingerly stepped down from the little pedestal at the end of the long room, careful not to fall in the heels she had especially worn for today's exhibition and talk. It had been a long morning: first ensuring that the maps of old Edinburgh were just perfect for the exhibition and then finally delivering her short lecture about their research into the city laying dormant beneath current day Edinburgh. A spooky realm rumoured by muggles to be haunted by ghosts. They weren't wrong.

The Cartography Hall was quite big, with an upper gallery that overlooked the chamer below, where the exhibition had taken place. Here, they kept their maps locked up in glass cases in the centre while the ones on display were framed along the walls (just as they were on the upstairs wall). The visitors today were gathered at the end across from the hall entrance - towering windows behind Adrestia let in the noon day sun.

She smiled at the crowd as they began to disperse, looking for the face she had latched on to several times during her talk.

"Fauna!" Tia grinned at the auror-in-training and went to greet her with opens arms, a friendly hug. "Thanks so much for coming! I hope it wasn't too dull??" she laughed cheerfully. "No criminals to catch here, unless they're looking for treasure maps."

Fauna rarely woke early on Sundays unless prompted and pestered by her housemates. This morning, she'd woken before them all, and crept around the house in her cupcake slippers, coffee in hand as the dog followed her, ruining her stealth mode with the jingling of his collar. She'd patted Pez on the head and then nudged him out of the bathroom, closing the door. It took concentration to get her messy hair buns just right!

She didn't usually bother. Sundays were goofy hat days. Today though, she wanted to look nice, and had picked one of her favorite yellow dresses (she had many) and her heeled boots that she normally wore for special conferences at the Ministry.

As she'd tried to sneak out the door, one of the twins had teased her about going back to work in her fancy work shoes, and Fauna had smiled, letting him think what he wanted. She'd considered inviting one of her mates with her, but decided against it as the exhibition had loomed closer. Adrestia was a new friend. Adding more people sometimes made it hard to get to know someone.

Her stomach had fluttered all the way to the museum, hoping that she'd get to talk to her afterwards, and hoping that Tia had remembered she'd invited her, even. Otherwise she'd just be that weird cupcake girl from the slumber party who showed up in her best yellow dress. Sans cupcakes! Should she have baked a cupcake?

No, that was batty. She'd show up, be casual. Be cool, Fauna!

In the Cartography Hall itself, Fauna had found it easy to get lost looking at the old maps and photos displayed, her nerves and the crowd fading into the background. She'd pulled out her mini sketchbook, drawing a few lines of the hidden city, and interspersing her own whimsical ideas -  little burrows and hobbit holes, cranky dwarves and goblins, and vaults with treasure.

When Tia stepped to the pedestal, Fauna tucked her sketchbook in her purse, standing off to the side in the crowd, and lifting her hand in a half-wave when Tia noticed her. Much to her relief, the witch beamed. Adrestia spoke with knowledgeable ease and a bright, upbeat charm. The sunlight caught the lighter strands of her hair, and brought out the rosy red of her blouse.

Fauna gave her one of her gentle air-hugs, happy that Tia found her straight away.  She smelled good. Something flowery.

She drew back with a shy smile. Treasure maps! Fauna shifted her purse on her shoulder, hoping her sketchbook was well hidden in its depths.

"Oh, you know, criminals did try to get through, but I stopped them," she put her hands on her hips and looked back at the exit, then ducked her head and let out a chuckle at herself.

"Well, it was either me, or the idea of ghosts in underground cities scared them off."

If there were criminals afoot, Fauna would bet on Tia's presentation skills. She'd watched the audience a bit, when she wasn't watching Tia, and they'd looked interested. They tended to be older and wiser, but there were a few parents with kids, and younger bookish sorts to even out the crowd.

"And it was interesting! I don't think anyone here could call you dull," she smiled as she glanced around.

Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that sounded terrible. No! She meant to say lecture! No one could call the lecture dull. No one, in general. Not that anyone here was dull. Tia was not dull!

Tia laughed, tickled by the other witch's cute remarks about criminals being scared off. Fauna was really adorable and such a welcome break from the usual audience of map lovers who asked super hard questions (or super boring ones). If that sketchbook she'd caught a glimpse of was any indication, however, Fauna wasn't just looking at pretty maps without thought.

Clever and cute.

Grinning, Adrestia looped her arm with Fauna's and guided them along the side of the lower gallery as they spoke. "And it was interesting! I don't think anyone here could call you dull," the auror-in-training remarked with a look around. A look came over her face and Tia was quick to bat away the implication, not lingering on it.

"Some of my colleagues do!" she rolled her eyes in good humour. "The ancient Egyptians are the worst. Rockstars of the museum. All I ever get are families, bookish wixes and lunatic treasure hunters. I like the hunters a lot. They want to be the next Indiana Jones, whatever that means." The two witches stopped in front of a door, and she let go of Fauna to unlock it.

There were lots of smaller rooms around the Cartography Hall, mostly for the use of work and restoring old maps, but Tia had her own private office where she usually work on less hands-on material. It was a small square room with an enchanted  window that looked over a countryside view. There were book shelves and framed maps and little statuettes. A long desk was just in front of the window, full of parchment scrolls and quills. She let them in, glancing over her shoulder at her special guest.

"Some coffee and snacks?" Adrestia smiled. "I like your dress by the way. Hufflepuff loyalty, or is it just because you look good in yellow?"

As they walked around arm in arm, slowly, each of them a little taller in heels, Fauna was happy to explain exactly what Indiana Jones meant. She told her he was a character in a series of movies, an archaeologist of sorts, who was always getting into adventures and escaping rolling boulders and traps. And saving the world. She mentioned his hat, because obviously she approved of the hat.

Fauna hovered in the doorway of Tia's office, then followed her inside once she realized Tia was holding the door open behind her.

She glanced at the enchanted window, and at the scrolls piled on the desk, admiring and envying Tia's small office. Abby Reid had decorated her cubicle earlier in the month and it still bore the confetti remnants of her influence. Oh to have a door! A door that closed and locked!

Yellow? Fauna glanced down. Oh.

"Both," she replied without thinking to the witch's playful question, then laughed at herself.

"Um, coffee would be great, if you're having some," Fauna said, smoothing out a wrinkle that creased the sleeve of her dress and somehow resisting the blush that threatened to rise to her cheeks. If she looked good in yellow, Tia certainly looked lovely in rose.

"You looked very pretty up there. I mean, professional."

She tilted her head, plagued by awkward phrasing once again.

"I mean both," she smiled bashfully, the blush breaking through.

She made a mental note to look into this Indiana Jones bloke. Fauna's description of the character made him sound impressive, and it would give her some context for some of the treasure hunters who made appointments with this department. Adrestia liked learning new things, short-lived as her obsessions were. Muggle adventure movies would go on her list!

            "You looked very pretty up there. I mean, professional." Fauna was saying, while Tia approached her desk where she'd prepared a tray for this morning.

A silver coffee pot, accompanied by plates of strawberry and pretzel snacks, awaited. She drew her wand and glanced over her shoulder to raise an eyebrow at the other witch. "I mean both," her visitor's blush made her want to find other ways to repeat the action.

"Thank you?" Tia laughed, tapping her wand against the pot to heat it up and then levitating the entire tray over to the round table by the window. "I don't usually wear skirts. Or heels. But I try to dress up when I give talks, or want to impress cute aurors-in-training. Sexy librarian look and all that," she winked at Fauna.

Subtlety wasn't her strongest point. Adrestia gestured at the seat across from her, and began to pour coffee into two blue cups of paisley pattern. "How do you take it?"

Her eyes widened slightly at the compliment and the wink. Tia wanted to impress her?

Tia thought she was cute?

This only made her blush persist, and Fauna quickly ran over the whole slumber party in her head, trying to remember if she'd said it before. Cute!

She ducked her head and her smile widened.

"Er..." Where were her words? "Cream and sugar, thanks."

She lived on coffee, and often battled Penny for the last of the sugar at home.

Fauna took a seat at the round table underneath the enchanted window. Though Tia might not care for dressing up in heels and skirts, her office was full of thoughtful, pretty things. The blue cups, the statuette of Bast on her bookcase, the peaceful view over a country landscape of rolling hills. Perhaps Fauna found these things lovely because she spent too much time around Aurors, but she relaxed in her chair, glancing at Tia's hand as she poured the coffee, and then up, gaze lingering on her face for a moment.

"Do you handle many of the lectures here?"

She should. Color Fauna impressed (it looked similar to her blush).

"Or do you battle those... what did you call them... ancient Egypt rock stars," Fauna raised her eyebrows, looking curious. "Whoever sings the loudest, gets to talk to the public?"

She chuckled. Oh Merlin, why was she so dorky.

Clouds of milk dispersed in the black coffee, and Tia stirred in a spoonful of Demerara sugar before she passed the blue cup over the table. Sweet and milky - that was totally Fauna. She looked like something you would pick up off a plate for high tea at Claridges, or a cute face in the window of an antique toy shop.

            "Do you handle many of the lectures here?"

Tia poured a bit of cream into her own cup, glancing up at the other witch thoughtfully. "Or do you.... gets to talk to the public?" Fauna continued painting a pretty picture of their geek-glamorous Museum staff. Adrestia snorted and picked up one of the strawberry tarts.

"Competitive karaoke with my colleagues would be the worst," she assured her, biting into the tart. It was just juicy enough. "I give most of the talks to do with maps, so even the rockstars need me every now and again. It's all pretty sedate either way."

Hard to get more sedate than a museum! She had to remind herself that she was speaking to someone who probably had much more exciting adventures on a daily basis.

"What about you? Do they let you trainees chase any bad guys?" Adrestia grinned, looking over Fauna as if she were trying to imagine her running after a rotten convict. "Our subjects are already long dead, so all I have to chase after is deadlines."

"No, I think you'd win it," Fauna widened her eyes a bit, then reached over to snag a strawberry tart. "I mean, I haven't heard you sing, but..." she trailed off, amused at the thought.

Fauna's sister dragged her out to karaoke clubs sometimes, which was Not Fun for Fauna, considering that her sister was a professional singer and all Fauna could do was blush and stammer in front of crowds.

"Er, well yeah," she paused, sipping at her coffee, catching her teasing tone. "I hate it when they run," Fauna let out a little laugh. "I try to be polite. I don't wave my wand around like an Auror on a power trip. And still, still they run."

She shook her head. "What they don't know, is that while I'm being nice, another Auror is out there," she waved her hand in the air, "casting apparation restriction charms, or scouting the area," she said with silly emphasis on 'scouting', letting Tia in on the joke.

"You've seen us at the Ministry? Shiny buttons, coffee-stained boots. Looking frazzled," she smiled self consciously, curious about how often Tia visited for the mentorship program.

             "I mean, I haven't heard you sing, but..."

Adrestia laughed and grinned into her cup of coffee, a touch of pink in her tan cheeks. She wasn't horrible at singing but her voice was a little too deep to be a traditionally sweet singing voice. The other witch was nice to listen to, though. She had a funny, likeable way of describing things.

Even serious things like catching Dark Wizards!

"So that's how you guys do it." Tia nodded to herself, grinning. "Misdirection. One pretty Auror to distract them and another to scout," she could understand why a criminal might underestimate Fauna.

People sometimes didn't take pretty witches very seriously. Like it had anything to do with skill or intelligence - or hurling hexes at them.

"I'm more likely to see beast handlers and vampires to be honest. A centaur, once." Adrestia confessed thoughtfully as she thought about the weird things she had witnessed in the past. "I'm only around on weekends, or when a mentee wants to meet in the weekday.  I miss all the exciting stuff. Do you socialise with level four? Or am I your first?" she winked.

Fauna touched a hand to her mouth as she chewed on the strawberry tart, eyes widening slightly. Pretty! First cute, now pretty? She swallowed, and hastily took a sip of coffee, glancing at her with a bashful smile.

"That's how we chase the bad guys," Fauna managed to say.

She'd heard about the vampires, and the lone centaur, which in her opinion was exciting. She was about to say so, when Tia winked at her.

"Do you socialise with level four? Or am I your first?"

"Oh, uh, first? Well, um," Fauna blinked, then let out a laugh at herself, her face growing warm.

"Level Two works with Level Four at times, or at least we are encouraged to cooperate instead of snipe at each other," she shrugged one shoulder. "Penny's one of my roommates. I'm sure you've seen her around! Lots of polka dots."

She paused, forgetting her earlier silliness and nerves for a moment.

"That's really cool that you're doing the mentorship program, in addition to working here," she glanced around the office. "It sounds like something that really helps people."

Fauna smiled earnestly at her. She still felt guilty about having little to do with SAWS after Hogwarts. Mentoring was a concrete, helpful thing to do, and took time and energy, and she thought well of Tia for it.

            "Penny's one of my roommates. I'm sure you've seen her around! Lots of polka dots."

Tia raised her eyebrows at the other witch, mouth twitching into a grin. Fauna was roommates with the Penny Pickler? Oh but that made sense - she had been to Penny's party and she had totally caught sight of Fauna there but the connection hadn't been made. She assumed the two girls were simply friends.

"Everyone knows Penny," Adrestia confirmed. "I've sent a few Lupophobes in her direction." Nobody got the job done better than Penny - if she didn't educate, she'd at least annoy the hell out of them.

The strawberry tart was gone before she knew it, so she picked at some of the tiny pretzels as they spoke. Her gaze flicked over to the view, where the sky was growing grey, and then back to Fauna.

"Thanks," she smiled self-consciously, both pleased and embarrassed by the compliment. "I just... I want to give other werewolves a fighting chance. At like, being emotionally healthy. I didn't have it too badly when I was turned but it would have been nice to have someone who understood."

Yikes, this was heavy talk. Was this too heavy for coffee and snacks? She didn't want Fauna to think her entire life was about werewolf issues! Even if it was a super integral part of it.

"Do trainees have mentors?" Tia asked, trying to move the attention away from her and the scar she could feel on her hip. "Or is it more of a communal mentorship thing?"

Fauna nodded, her expression softening a bit. Tia's admission cleared up something she'd been trying to think of the best way to ask. Were the werewolf mentors always werewolves? Tia was, at least. It couldn't be easy, but Tia handled it openly and graciously.

"You want to make sure that they have support not just from family and friends, but from people who know what they're going through," she sipped at her coffee, understanding her. Fauna had a dozen more questions, but those could wait.

"Not really mentors, no," Fauna smiled. "It's very much shared. The Aurors bring the trainees out like we're the ducklings and they're the long suffering mama ducks."[1]

She bit into a pretzel, then gave Tia a look of amusement and hesitantly, jokingly said:

"It's like - Oh Fauna you got hexed into the river again," she mimicked Pratt's disappointed face and tone. "Come on, pick yourself up, dust yourself off."

She dusted off her hands.

"I mean, unofficially," she widened her eyes slightly. "I like to follow around Longbottom and Trevelyan. They're both levelheaded and just very kind sorts. I also admire your cousin's, um, badassery? She's able to make snap decisions and they're usually the right ones."

She remembered Gamp at the Lilly lakehouse. Quick thinking, brave.

"How many cousins do you have?" Fauna tilted her head, then let out a chuckle. "Sorry, that was random. I've met Cepheus, Ari, and Gamp. I mean Andie."

It was so, so strange to call Auror Gamp by her first name, but Fauna managed.

1.	just for funsies - baby ducklings vs stairs

She was relieved that Fauna really seemed to understand where she was coming from, with the mentorship thing. Not a lot of people did! Even Tia's own mentees had their doubts when it came to Ministry sanctioned support. In her opinion it didn't matter who was sanctioning it - real people were the ones pushing through.

            "It's like -" her guest explained level two's metods, "- Oh Fauna you got hexed into the river again."

Adrestia laughed, careful not to spill her coffee. "Did someone hex you into the river for real?" she just had to ask. The mental image of Fauna having to drag herself out in those training robes; absolutely drenched and probably still adorable as ever. Did those doll lashes stay on in the water?

Either way, it seemed like for every Pratt there was a Longbottom and Trevelyan at least. She raised her eyebrows as they broached the subject of cousins.

"Oh, I have a few. Haven't met the distant ones." Tia shrugged and smiled cheerfully at the thought of her relatives. "You've met the cousins I'm close to. And there's Queen G, not really blood related but we feel bad for her because she married into the freak show." A nervous giggle.

Andie and Ceph were her drinking buddy cousins, so she was glad Fauna already knew them. "So what's it like living with Penny? Who are your other roommates?"

All the cool kids lived together, it seemed! Kind of.

Fauna laughed too. Tia had a nice laugh.

"Sort of! A fake river. It was a training simulation. Something like 'how to use your environment to your advantage'."

For Fauna it had been 'how to get thrown into the fake river twice and crawl back out'.

She bit her lip at the mention of 'Queen G', who she'd never met, but she'd heard had been involved in that Witch Weekly article drama yesterday. Tia had many interesting relatives in the wizarding world! Fauna only had a few, but Addie was the best half-sister she could ask for.

"Penny? You always know when Penny's home," she smiled. "We listen to each other rant about all the asshats at the Ministry - there are too many." As if Fauna needed to tell Tia that. "I also introduce her to new music and we shout lyrics across the hall at each other."

Out of loyalty, she chose not to tell about the many, many times Fauna and her flatmates had coaxed a sobbing Penny out of the loo.

"Then there's Theta Pepper, she works on Level 9. Has a good head on her shoulders. Brilliant, really. Was a Ravenclaw, so," Fauna shrugged as if that explained everything. "You can always rely on her for a sympathetic ear and to remember where you've misplaced your Ministry badge."

They've had too many instances when 'accio badge' had ripped another trainee's badge off their jacket.

"Grace is an Auror trainee like me. We've been friends for years. She and a bunch of other trainees and I rented the house right after school. It was," Fauna paused. "Chaotic at first. Lots of misunderstandings and er, silly arguments."

She took a sip of coffee, and blushed. To tell or not to tell?[1]

"I once stupefied a guest. I mean, I didn't know he was staying over, and I woke up and walked into the kitchen to find this naked bloke raiding our fridge. Instead of saying hello, I said stupefy."

Fauna laughed, her cheeks still pink.

"Do you live with anyone?"

1.	But he isn't wearing anything at all

It sounded like Fauna was having a really good time living with her friends - even Penny would make a good flatmate, Tia supposed, if you could handle her manic moments. The other flatmates probably made that easier, having each other to cancel out an overdose of one's annoying habits.

            "Was a Ravenclaw," she described Theta Pepper, "so..." [/i]

"I get it." Adrestia winked, tapping her chest emphatically. "Claw pride forever." Ravenclaw was her alma mater and, to this day, she contended that it had a better view of the grounds than Gryffindor Tower. The best place to bring a hot drink in the rainy springtime.

A glimmer entered her eye as she sipped on her coffee and listened to Fauna confess to having been hex-happy about an unclothed guest at their flat. She laughed, spilling a little of the drink into her saucer, and grinned at the other witch. Tia could just imagine the look on Fauna's face when she realised what she'd done!

"I live alone so I would probably have a much better reason for hexing a naked wizard in my kitchen," she replied with a smirk. "A naked witch might make me hesitate." Tia fixed her with a vivacious look, "You have such a nice blush, you know that? I'm super jealous, I can't even get that pink if I cake on my make-up." She doubted many people could - especially not with her skin tone. Fauna was as fair as cream.