06.25pm, Hiraeth Gardens. Flat 3B.


Adrestia Gamp stood at the stove, looking seriously into a pot of creamy, bubbling pasta sauce. It was a basic white roux with some spicy stuff thrown in - red peppers, crushed chillies, lots and lots of garlic. It gave the sauce a pinkish tinge. She was sure to taste it throughout the cooking process but had just added the seafood stock and crayfish, so it needed to be boiled down. The witch was just about to take another taste when the doorbell rang.

Here we go!

Tia hastily untied her Ravenclaw-themed apron, throwing it aside as she left the kitchen and hurried down the corridor towards the front door. Her flat wasn't very big: there was the foyer, which opened out to a living room cum dining room. A passage to the left took you past the kitchen, towards her bedroom, bath, storage area, and a neat guest room.

If the place was sometimes a tip, it wasn't tonight. She had tidied up so that her books had been stuffed back onto shelves, clothes dropped into a laundry hamper, numerous knick knacks hastily arranged on the console table.

"Fauna!" Adrestia opened the door to her date, smiling a little breathlessly and then leaning in to give her a hug - mindful of the bottle she was carrying. "Come on in! Dinner is almost ready, just have to do the linguine and we can feast."

"How does it not match?" Fauna muttered at the screen of her mobile, pausing on the pavement just outside of Hiraeth Gardens. She glanced down at her favorite brown leather boots, worn with age, and then at her red skirt that grazed her knees, and then at the cute floppy bows on the elbows of her pale blue sweater, and then finally at the text from her older sister.

Shoes don't match. Do you have anything else?

Fauna bit her lip. No, she did not, she was standing outside of her date's place. She jabbed 'no, g2g' and dropped her phone into her purse. Fauna brushed her dark fringe out of her eyes, and gazed up at the apartment building, shrugging off the worry as she thought of seeing Tia.

After the day she'd had mooning over her coworkers at the Ministry[1], she looked forward to mooning over someone she actually liked.

When Tia opened the door, Fauna smiled shyly, hugging her back and lingering just a little.

"Hi! Something smells good in here."

Had Tia heard about the catastrophe with the chocolates? She didn't look like she'd heard. Fauna stepped inside, wondering if she was still feeling the consequences of the chocolate, or if the little stomach flip flop was just Tia. The witch wore a casual printed dress in a rose color that was quickly becoming one of Fauna's favorite shades of red.

Of course, Fauna being Fauna, she forgot to say that she really liked Tia's dress, and merely followed her to the kitchen. She stole glances at Tia, and looked curiously at the living and dining room, amused but not surprised by the number of books on the shelves, barely enough room left for a candle to flicker safely. She noted the tidiness, contrasting with the apron thrown across a chair.

Fauna deposited the bottle of white wine (with a yellow bow tied on it) onto the counter. She'd meant to bring something else as well, but had only had just enough time to change her clothes and rush out the door while her flatmate Grace helpfully spritzed perfume after her.

The faint smell of orange blossoms lingered in her hair and, Fauna imagined, the distinct Level Two aroma of stale pastries and strong coffee.

"Uh, can I help with anything?" Fauna took the opportunity to wash her hands, just in case. She looked over at the pot, impressed in the way that all non-cooks were impressed by anything more complicated than plain pasta with olive oil or marinara sauce.

"I'm skilled at chopping vegetables, sort of," she grinned. Wow, she was still feeling giddy! The giddiness of being around Tia combined with the silly madness of the day.

Fauna fidgeted a bit with the edge of her sweater, dying to tell her about it, but said instead:

"What have you been up to? Besides cooking delicious linguine."

1.	That Dweam Within a Dweam

It was so good to see the other witch - after days of nothing bit mentees and maps and weird adventurers trying to nick said maps, Tia thought that Fauna was a breath of fresh air. With the cutest nose. Had she realised that before? What a cute nose. No doubt it was perfect for sniffing out trouble on level two. And she smelled so good, too, like a tiny garden in the middle of the Ministry. Witches always smelled better.

Luckily for them, nothing catastrophic had happened in the kitchen while the door was being answered. The sauce was happily bubbling away as an enchanted spoon continued to slowly stir so that the it wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

"Oh, white, that's perfect." Adrestia glanced at the drink her guest had bought; she drew her wand to brandish at her tall icebox.  "You can halve the cherry tomatoes? They're just for garnish, at the end." The icebox door flung itself open and a tiny wooden box of vine fresh tomatoes drifted towards Fauna.

Unlike Raine and Abby's place, the kitchen here wasn't quite as narrow. But Tia made sure to set the tomatoes on to the counter next to her so that they could work side-by-side anyway.

              "What have you been up to? Besides cooking delicious linguine."

"Oh, just boring Museum and mentor stuff," she shrugged and reached for a sack of uncooked linguine. "Someone tried to steal a map from the exhibit, but nothing came of it. I like your sweater by the way." Tia dumped the pasta into a pot of boiling water that had been waiting on another burner.

She glanced at Fauna just then, hand on her hip, getting a better look at the jumper. "It brings out the blue in your eyes."

And weren't Fauna's eyes just so blue? Tia bet they got her out of trouble with the older aurors all the time. There was no way even the horrendous Ed Pratt could resist giving in to those babydoll lashes.

"I'll pour us some wine while we cook," she looked away with a blush, wondering if she'd been staring too long, and reached for the bottle. "How was your day? Catch any famous criminals?"

Fauna smiled as Tia complimented the wine. Thank you, internet, and her nosy older sister who had given her an idea of what to bring, because she didn’t pay any attention. Her housemates generally stocked the ice box at home while she pitched in for the cost.

Halving tomatoes! That was easy enough. She rinsed off the tomatoes, found a knife in the utensil drawer and began cutting them in half as Tia told her about her day. Fauna glanced at her in surprise.

“I like your sweater, by the way.”
 
“Someone tried to steal a-” Fauna began.

“…It brings out the blue in your eyes.”

“Oh,” Fauna blushed, distracted. “Thank you.”

Using her elbows, she nudged up the bows on her sleeves to keep them away from the cutting board. Fauna gave her a sideways smile at her lingering look, continuing to blush.

“I like your dress, it’s a pretty color on you,” she returned the compliment, absentmindedly wondering whether Tia might appreciate a bouquet of roses to match, sometime.

Really though, what sort of person tried to steal an old map from an exhibit? She pictured an overzealous scholar, or worse, a bunch of criminals intending to use the underground city beneath Edinburgh for nefarious purposes. That would be Level Two’s luck. Fauna held back a snort at her own imagination, then tried to focus on Tia's question. They had security protocols to protect staff at the museum, didn't they? She made a mental note to check if those were up to date.

Right, Tia was asking if she'd caught any criminals.

“Actually, just lovesick coworkers,” she nodded, as if that explained everything.

Setting down the tomatoes and knife, she glanced at her, her mouth twitching up, battling embarrassment with her excitement about telling her.

“You know those little gift packages they sometimes send out, telling all of us to keep our chins up and think happy thoughts at the dementors? Er, as if that helps? Usually they include chocolate.”

Fauna tilted her head, curious if Tia had ever gotten one on the days she was at the Ministry. On Level Two, the pamphlets ended up in the rubbish bin, or pinned up on the board for target practice, while the trainees stuffed their faces before the Aurors could nick the chocolates off their desks.

“Um, so, this time, someone spiked the chocolates with a love potion,” Fauna shook her head, a smile inching up her face.

“It must have been a mild one, but everyone was acting obnoxious all day. Everyone from Magical Maintenance workers who neglected to fix the lifts, to several of the higher-ups and department heads.” She let out a laugh, remembering Pratt. “So embarrassing, Tia! I mean, who does that?”

No one she knew!

She liked her dress!! Tia grinned immodestly, only barely stopping herself from doing a little victory dance over this compliment. It was one of her favourite dresses - the kind she knew she looked good in but was also really comfortable. In other words, the kind you'd wear if you suspected you had a long night ahead and might want to lounge around in pretty clothes.

            "Actually, just lovesick coworkers," Fauna began to describe her Friday at the Ministry.

Lovesick?? Adrestia poured two glasses, filling them both about two thirds of the way, and handed one to the other witch. Her eyebrows drew up in surprise but she nodded at this occasional show of the Ministry's concern for its employees. Sometimes she got stuff when she was doing mentor stuff there. Because chocolate fixed everything, right?

"Seriously?" she giggled, taking a sip and then biting her bottom lip as she tried to imagine those serious aurors getting goofy over love potions. "Oh my gods, that must have been so funny. I totally applaud the mischief makers. They got around you lot!"

Still.... the idea of someone getting lovesick for Fauna (or the other way around!) made Tia wish she had been visiting a mentee on level four today. Even if just to catch a glimpse of the auror-in-training fanning off declarations of love! Alas, it had been nothing but maps and thieves.

Tia glanced into the pasta pot to make sure the water was boiling, and then checked on the sauce by dipping the spoon in and letting it drip. The consistency was just the right measure of creaminess.

"So did you eat any of the spiked ones?" she looked up at Fauna, tasting the sauce and then extending the spoon for the other witch. "Oh, and try this. Tell me if it needs more salt."

Fauna sipped at her wine. She let out a chuckle when Tia giggled. It was really funny, and the love potion culprits had successfully gotten past the Aurors. They deserved some credit.

Leaning over the pot, she held the spoon to her mouth and tried the sauce, very aware that Tia had tasted it from the same spoon a second ago. Fauna's mouth twitched up as she glanced at her. She dropped her gaze as she set the spoon back into the pot.

"Maybe a pinch of salt?" Fauna lifted one shoulder. "I mean, it's really good." It tasted good, and the wine was good!

"Oh, I made a fool out of myself," Fauna admitted lightly. Tia's sense of humor made it easy to admit to, whereas with someone else she might stammer out an answer that said nothing at all. She leaned against the kitchen counter, wine in hand, and watched Tia cook for a moment.

"In the morning, I had a chocolate bonbon, because I was excited about finding chocolate on my desk," she nodded her head once. Reasonable. "Then I went to a meeting, and complimented Pratt's horrible handwriting as he was writing strategies on the board. He thought I was being cheeky, but," Fauna leaned in and lowered her voice. "I wasn't. I did some other weird stuff, like volunteering to fetch coffee. I had to get forms from this one Auror," Fauna chuckled.

"I went to his cubicle, where he has this obnoxious mood lamp. It's this rock crystal thing. He said what he always says when I ask him to sign the forms, he pointed at the lamp and said Blake, green means busy, you're interrupting my work flow, come back when it's yellow. But it's never yellow, Tia. I just stood there, hoping it would change to red, which is, um, passion or something, and I smiled for way too long until he said go back to your desk."

Fauna paused, sipping more wine. "I went back to my desk, and stress-ate more chocolate."

That wasn't even the worst of it. Soon after, upon finding out that both Pratt and Bagnold were stuck in a lift, she'd panicked at Grace and several other trainees, and called Magical Maintenance a bunch of bad words. Still processing this, Fauna neglected to mention it to Tia.

"Around lunchtime I went to the Atrium, where I waved at one of the welcome witches who always makes fun of my hair or my hats," Fauna blushed. "She smirked at me, and for some reason I decided to buy her a pastry from the coffee shop. I gave it to her and started babbling about Auror cliches like pastries and donuts, and then I did a weird hair flip thing."

Fauna tossed her head to one side and brushed her hair over her shoulder.

"I think one of your cousins saw it," Fauna added, eyes widening. "You know, not everyone was affected? Raine seemed fairly normal. Abby seemed fine. I don't get it."

Fauna started to giggle. "I wish you had been there!" Before Abby had decided to take her chocolates away. "Though also no," she added thoughtfully. "I might have bought you a dozen donuts."

She opened a tiny pot next to the stove, reaching in for a pinch of pink Himalayan salt. Fauna was right - it did need a little salt. That was always the problem with creamy pastas! Tia could never get the balance just right. Too much cream and it wasn't salty enough. Too much salt and it was too rich. A vicious cycle.

            "I wasn't. I did some other weird stuff, like volunteering to fetch coffee..." her date explained the day's disasters.

Adrestia's eyebrows went up in amusement as she gave the sauce a stir and then put down the ladle, to properly shoot Fauna a grin. "Oh no, Fauna!!" she giggled, imagining the other witch eating all that chocolate after being perplexed by her own behaviour. "I'm kind of jealous. I wish I'd been around to see all that chaos!" But especially to see it on level two.

The hair flip was just too much and 110% sexier than Fauna probably realised. Tia reached her wine, sipping it to hide a bit of her expression. That welcome witch was lucky.

"Maybe not all the chocolates were spiked?" she theorised, leaning against the counter contentedly. "But it doesn't sound like you were buying pastries and stuff for the people you actually like. I mean. If I'd been around, I hope you would have totally ignored me." Something mischievous glimmered in the werewolf's dark eyes as she winked.

She glanced into the pot - the sauce had begun to bubble again. That was probably a sign. Tia had already burnt it during one of her trial runs for tonight's dinner so she was trying to learn from her mistakes. Trying being the keyword.

"I think we can eat soon," she checked on the pasta and reached for her wand. "Anyway, we never have pranks like that in the museum. Sometimes someone tries to animate a mummy to scare each other or something but," Adrestia gave the wand a twist, "it's usually just people trying to steal old stuff you know?"

The pasta pot rose into the air, decanting its hot water into a sink and the pasta itself into the sauce. "So I take it you don't want chocolate for dessert tonight, by the way?"

"I know," Fauna's eyes widened, glad that Tia shared her amusement about the situation. She even sorted through the inconsistencies in a way that matched her discarded Ravenclaw apron, without ever losing her sense of humor. It was that combination of traits which made Fauna feel like she could talk to her.

"If that's true, I mean, of course I would have ignored you!" Fauna blushed, admiring the sparkle in her warm brown eyes.

She much preferred Tia's logical theory over the scary theory brewing in her brain. As she'd gotten ready for her date, she'd worried that she secretly liked people who were mean to her, and she was certain that if she'd stayed at home tonight, she'd be holed up in the loo crying over her questionable taste as her flatmates reassured her through the door.

Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment. Fauna shook her head, shoving her worries aside. The pasta was ready!

With a flick of her wand, she levitated the chopped tomatoes over to the pasta dish.

      "So I take it you don't want chocolate for dessert tonight, by the way?"

She glanced at Tia quickly, then gave her a shy, flirty smile. "Oh, well, I can never say no to chocolate. If you're uh, offering later."

Especially when those chocolates were offered by a pretty witch.

"So do people try to steal stuff, often? What map did they try to take?" Fauna worried, curious about what had happened earlier.

             "If that's true, I mean, of course I would have ignored you!"

Adrestia laughed, loving what a topsy turvy day it must have been for the other witch. Up was down! Left was right! Ignoring her meant she liked her! Even so, she was glad nobody had spiked chocolate at the museum. The idea of doing nice things for any of the bigoted ladies down in relics made her skin crawl.

With the tomatoes added, everything was ready to eat. She levitated the pot and their wine glasses, continuing to chat while they made their way to the living room. Good thing Fauna wouldn't mind more chocolate, or they would have had to go downstairs for dessert.

"I wouldn't say often, but we get like... an attempted theft once every two or three months?" Tia estimated with a shrug. "Black market collectors, but ancient cartography is usually targeted by explorers who can't get official access, or who don't want to settle for copies."

Her living room consisted of a comfy suede couch and a couple of armchairs facing a fireplace. Just past this arrangement was an old woodwork table that she'd converted into a dining table, complete with matching stools. Colourful blue plates and cutlery had already been laid. The dining area overlooked a window that gave on to a view of their courtyard.

"The funny thing is, the map they tried to take this time was like... completely useless," the pasta pot set itself down and she gestured for Fauna to take a seat. "It was for this old village in Scotland but the place is underwater now. Part of a loch. And then level nine got involved."

The werewolf rolled her eyes as if to say: you know what they're like. "Speaking of the Ministry. Are you guys looking for the chocolate culprits, or is it just business as usual when stuff like that happens?"

Tia had the cutest flat. Fauna followed her into the living room, trying not to look too worried at the mention of an attempted theft every few months. The thieves didn't sound dangerous, but if she had to move mountains of paperwork just to tick a box at the Ministry, everyone else should follow the proper channels, too.

"Matching plates," Fauna said as a compliment, giving her a warm smile as she took a seat on one of the matching stools. Real napkins, and real cutlery set on the table! Meals with her flatmates were nothing short of chaotic. This reminded her that there was more to life than eating noodles out of a Pyrex bowl with broken chopsticks.

"An underwater village?" She raised her eyebrows. Level Nine enjoyed meddling in things that should be left alone, waggling their eyebrows and claiming they had a handle on it as Level Three scurried after them with containment charms at the ready. The map must be useful if Level Nine was swooping in.

"Oh no. Level Nine must be tracking a sea monster."

Fauna chuckled.

"Speaking of the Ministry. Are you guys looking for the chocolate culprits, or is it just business as usual when stuff like that happens?"

"Someone will be looking into it," she answered with confidence. "Someone low on the chain. I hope that person isn't me," she sipped at her wine, horrified at the thought of questioning employees about their feelings for each other.

"There's this whole standard procedure for potential attacks on the Ministry," she lifted a shoulder. "But it's just going to be a bunch of paperwork and a potion kit, and someone testing the chocolate - Merlin, it better not be me - and hating their life, and wishing they were filing," she stood, scooping some pasta onto the pretty blue plate.

"Unless," Fauna paused, the serving spoon in her hand. "Unless someone who ate the chocolate keels over in the next few days. Someone important, you know? Then it'll get interesting. All hands on deck."

As she sat down with her plate full, she glanced at Tia, her eyes widening. "I mean, that would be terrible."

             "Oh no. Level Nine must be tracking a sea monster."

"We can only hope!" Tia agreed with a grin, indulging in the idea of another Loch Ness situation instead of whatever grim reality they were actually up to in Mysteries.

She was relieved to hear that the chocolate mischief was being investigated but she hoped the culprits didn't get into too much trouble - it sounded like an elaborate prank, and Merlin knew how many of those the Ministry's employees got away with on a daily basis! Level four had seen its fair share of pooping pixies and escapee creatures.

Fauna had other ideas, though. "Unless...I mean, that would be terrible."

Adrestia reached for the serving spooning, shaking her head reassuringly at her date. "No no I totally get it," she served herself a healthy helping off the pasta and sauce. "If things always went smoothly, level two would be boring wouldn't it? I know we all want a perfect world but a little chaos is what makes it so interesting. It's what makes museums and history so interesting too."

Even if that chaos came in the form of a werewolf attack on your gap year. She sat down, raising her wine to toast Fauna.

"Here's to... here's to you not being the one to do all that paperwork!" Tia giggled as their glasses clinked lightly. "And to interesting times ahead, of course. May you lead the vanguard, Auror Blake."

Fauna smiled in relief as Adrestia smoothly explained that life would be boring without a little suspense, mystery, and tainted potions. Her fellow trainees understood that. Her family, on the other hand, would look at her like she'd sprouted two heads.

She clinked glasses and giggled with her. "Vanguard? You mean the Trainee Tagalong Team?"

Fauna smile spread, flattered at her assessment. "To less paperwork for the both of us, too."

A pipe dream, but she could pretend!

She took a bite of pasta and raised her eyebrows. "This is good." The cream sauce was perfect, the tomatoes on top (her one contribution!) added flavor.

"Where'd you learn how to cook?"

Fauna assumed Tia learned from family, or taught herself.

The extent of Fauna's cooking boiled down to baking when she felt like it, thanks to Akiva. She remembered that time years ago with Akiva, Sasha, and Fergie, all crowded in Akiva's kitchen, Fauna shunning the apron and Sasha looking aghast at her, but tonight! Tonight Fauna cared about her clothes. She even unfolded the napkin on her lap.

Adrestia raised her eyebrows and nodded in agreement to Fauna's corresponding toast - may the future hold less paperwork! Or, she hoped, more interesting paperwork at least. 90% of her work was technically paperwork. The inherent problem of maps! She took a bite of her pasta just as her date did, letting the sauce linger on the tongue.

It was good, thank Merlin!

"Thanks!" Tia swallowed, twirling another bundle of linguine around her fork. "Trial and error, to be honest? My mum taught me some stuff but only boring English things like... roast or shepherd's pie," she rose her eyes to ceiling. "Not that they're bad, just. You know. Lots of potatoes involved."

Potatoes were delicious but she believed whole-heartedly in that aphorism about variety being the spice of life. Adrestia poked at a halved cherry tomato, remembering that Fauna had sliced them.

"I took a cooking workshop once too. It's kind of a thing I do, workshops and tiny projects -" she gestured at the living area with her free hand: the how-to books on the shelves, juggling balls, amateur canvasses of landscapes, "- when I'm not elbow deep in maps. So what do you do when you're not running after dark wizards?"

Tia popped the tomato into her mouth, grinning around it. "Besides baking cupcakes and being asked out on dates?"

Fauna chuckled as Tia described English cooking. She understood! In the small town she'd grown up in, sometimes there really was such a thing as too many potatoes. As she glanced around Tia's living room with interest, noting the abundance of hobbies, she gave a slight nod. Fauna was more a creature of habit, but she admired a sense of curiosity in other people.

"I sleep," Fauna smiled into her wine, only half-joking. Some days she felt like she lived in the office, and she was only a trainee. Not for long! But still only a trainee.

"Um, what else do I do. I do artsy things," she raised her eyebrows. "Painting, drawing, piano, that sort of thing."

Fauna touched a hand to her mouth and finished her bite of pasta. Creative hobbies helped keep her sane.

"Most of my relatives are muggles who think I go to art school," she widened her eyes a little self-consciously. Given what they knew of her growing up, it was the most believable lie. "So if I'm not working on something for myself, I'm usually scrambling to do um, pictures of flowers and portraits of their dogs, just to sort of prove that I'm doing something with my life. I mean, it keeps me on my toes," her eyes sparkled.

It was harder to lie now that she was out of Hogwarts and could see her extended family on the weekends, but she'd managed so far.

"The piano is more of a hobby." She tilted her head and considered. "My sister is the musical genius," she smiled fondly. "She sings and writes songs and things are finally happening for her on the music scene," Fauna continued. "Sometimes we'll write something together. Which is just for fun, you know? But she keeps trying to get me to do karaoke, and I know it's a trap."

A trap! Fauna took another bite of pasta and shook her head, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Terrifying, right?"

She remembered Tia joking about the terror of singing museum curators. Fauna got the impression that she did not love the limelight, either.

It was funny when people said painting, drawing, piano or things like that. It sounded straightforward but Tia knew that each of those hobbies were complex and challenging. Most of them involved years of consistently building up a skill - drawing especially. She felt like Fauna was naturally inclined to creative stuff.

"Oh my Merlin!" she exclaimed while the other witch described how she coped with having muggle relatives. "That's fantastic! You're practically leading a double life. Like a spy."

Adrestia laughed, poking at her pasta and leaning forward slightly as she legs met with Fauna's under the table. Truthfully, her date would make the perfect spy. Nobody would suspect her! The ultimate disguise is when you're totally above suspicion because you don't seem like the sort.

"Karaoke is hell," she agreed, reaching for her wine glass. "Like, it's okay if people sing together and everyone is a bit crap at it but singing by yourself? In front of friends and foes? Nope!" Tia drank and then shook her head comically. "Nope nope nope!!"

Maybe it was nice for people with great voices and even people with hilariously bad ones, but she didn't fancy karaoke as a form of ritual humiliation. Her voice was average at best, in spite of a short stint of singing lessons last year. She filled her glass up and topped Fauna off as they chatted.

"I might be biased because we've done karaoke for work socials. Evil things." Tia lifted her fork again, "But maybe if you had a small group of people who you can trust to relax around... maybe it could be fun? And if it isn't, you can always leave. My mum used to tell me that when I went to sleepovers: there's always a choice. You can choose to leave at any moment."

The advice had come a long way from childhood parties.