Fauna sipped at her coffee, listening to Moira's schedule for the end of the week. All work and no play! Though the bath for the horses could be considered a bit of an adventure. Fauna understood that kind of dedication, but she hoped that Moira might agree to stop by the party this weekend. It would be nice to see another friendly face - friendly behind the stoic exterior.

At her question, she wondered if Moira had seen anyone from their friend group since the Halloween party. Perhaps she didn't know about the drama at work, or Fauna questioning Fig at the Ministry for something he didn't do.

"Several people. Fig, Virgil, Nicholas," Fauna studied her face for any reaction, then glanced up, thinking. "All the November birthdays. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone. We haven't sorted out the details yet. Abby's just mentioned it on Facebook. Er..." Fauna hesitated, unsure if Moira knew what that was. "That's a social media website. Um... an internet thing," she nodded, smiling.

"Sasha will be there," she said helpfully, knowing he and Moira were close. "Raine will be there. I will be there," she gestured to herself, raising her eyebrows with all earnestness. "Abby. Well right, she's planning it."

Fauna would have to find Fig the best birthday gift ever, and hope that he didn't mind her showing up. She probably shouldn't encourage Anton to go either, but he was so friendly. Her eyebrows drew together, "We may have um, accidentally invited muggles. One muggle. Sasha's friend. But I'm sure we'll work it out. I mean, by the time the weekend rolls around we'll have figured that bit out."

Oh the best-laid plans!

"The party planning is in good hands," Fauna set down her drink and reached for her napkin, nudging the coffee mug. She righted it just in time, and smiled sheepishly. Auror reflexes.

Of the three birthday people Blake mentioned, Moira was friendly with only one. The other two she either disliked or didn't know very well. The listed guests sounded more promising, except perhaps for the muggle. A drunken group of wixes and a muggle was a recipe for disaster despite Fauna's reassurances of having things worked out by then.

Muggles spoke an entirely different language to her and to date she didn't have much in common with them either. If she were to attend the party she wouldn't be talking to Sasha's friend much.

Her next mention of Facebook and the internet mostly went over Moira's head. She had heard the terms before because of Abby and Sasha and only knew it was some sort of muggle owl service, without the owls. Supposedly it made the muggles much faster at communicating. In all honesty she didn't really care one way or the other. She liked owls and muggle technology wouldn't last long at her home.

Moira paused when she went to take another bite of food, realizing it was the last one. Eating quickly tended to be a habit among her family members.

"I'm sure the party will turn out wonderfully." With Fig as a main recipient it would certainly not be lacking in entertainment.

"Nice catch."

A slow, polite smile crept up Fauna's face, her eyes uncertain. Was Moira teasing her? Or being sarcastic? Or both?

Moira did not take the bait, that was for sure. Though Fauna could hardly call it bait! She just wanted to include her in their weekend plans.

Fauna brought her coffee to her mouth and sipped, holding the mug with both hands, then setting it on the table with care.

"Hopefully," she shrugged one shoulder, her smile looking more natural. There were no guarantees in life.

"Fig will be there, you know, for his own birthday party," she chuckled, trying one last thing. "Er..."

Contrition flickered over her face. He might not want to see Fauna after all the madness at the Ministry. He could use friends like Moira around.

"I bet he'd love to see you," Fauna nodded. "Not at the party, necessarily, but in general. Like having a good friend around. Uh, I'm not implying that-" she laughed for a second. "Not trying to set you two up. Sorry!" She shook her head. "Sorry I thought that you were um, together at the Halloween party. I'm not sure where I got that idea. Just trying to..."

Fix things! Assuage her guilt about the questioning. Hide behind her shame-o-latte.

"This coffee is pretty good," she widened her eyes, and sipped again.

Moira couldn't keep a slight smirk from her face as Fauna stumbled over herself and apologized and finally settled on something neutral, coffee.

The other witch was overestimating their friendship, it certainly hadn't been a long one. They'd had drinks, shared some letters - that she promptly burned -, and then Fig dropped in randomly for a visit during which she had him nervous, like another guest earlier that month.

"I can tell you who first thought it." Both Blake and Bagnold worked at the ministry, though in different departments. Considering cases tended to overlap, from some of the things she had heard, they might have worked on some of the same ones. It was an assumption that they knew each other, but not a far-fetched one. "Kurby Bagnold." Moira took a drink from her own glass.

Supposedly he had been set straight since he visited the farm to see if she was a murdering animagus[1].

Between the three of them, Figaro was the only one with a loose tongue. Chances were he'd been trying to make a joke and it had gone over Blake's head. Merlin knew Sellaphix's jokes could be extremely vague.

"I might go, we'll see."

1.	Don't Cry Wolf

Fauna's expression shifted from confusion to amusement to more confusion and amusement. What did Bagnold have to do with Fig and Moira's love life, or lack of one, she almost blurted in the same phrasing that she'd used months ago when she'd been out drinking with Fig and the very question had made her laugh until her sides hurt.

Moira didn't seem bothered about it. In fact, she'd been smirking earlier. Fauna returned the smirk with a wry little smile.

Then she agreed to show up to the party! Sort of.

"Um, I'm glad. I'll tell Abby to add you to the Maybe We'll See list."

Fauna shook her head, her smile widening. Good thing that Moira didn't mind her bumbling, her mistaken assumptions, or her attempts to include her!

"What do you mean about Bagnold?" She couldn't help but ask. "I don't remember him mentioning anything. Though usually when I run into him at the Ministry, he's busy grumbling at the lifts, or glaring at the queue for coffee, or you know, grouching."

She did not feel the slightest bit bad about calling him a grouch. He wore it with as much pride as he wore all that clunky silver.

Absently Moira wondered if there really was a list or if Blake was attempting to make a joke, not that it mattered one way or another. Her dad would want her to go out and be sociable and not worry about taking care of things on the farm. One night out could hardly be considered shirking the job but she didn't like the idea of leaving her work for someone else.

The inevitable question came and Moira shrugged, "There's nothing to mention. Bagnold just likes to assume things about people." Though not facts concerning any investigations on his job. Regarding werewolves, potential ones, the politics and public opinions surrounding them, doing so would be extremely hazardous.

"Why? Do you run into him much?"

Having her own assumption verified about Blake and Bagnold knowing each other, was good to know. Normally she didn't jump to such conclusions, preferring to have enough facts at hand to support them. Not just a 'they slept at the same house so something is going on even though they were in different rooms' kind of conclusion.

Well, damn. Fauna had expected a story behind Moira's cryptic comments, but no story was forthcoming. She looked at her curiously, a very faint line of skepticism between her brows. There was definitely something to mention. Did Fauna care enough to ask? Outside of her job, she tried not to pry or prod at anyone into talking about things they'd rather not talk about, unless she was truly worried or annoyed. Fauna felt neither.

Fauna sat back in her seat and lifted her shoulders in a shrug. What to say? Lucky for Bagnold, Moira hadn't asked Fauna about this a few years ago.

"Not really. We tend to stick to our own departments. But you know, sometimes Level Two and Level Four have to work together, and can't rely on just flinging memo chains at each other with 'please see above' and 'please advise' tacked at the end in a never ending cycle," she chuckled, mostly to herself, rather like the office shut-in that she was.

"Um. We've worked on a case or two."

Her tone was light, though her expression went carefully neutral at the thought of Greer.

Moira looked steadily back at Fauna's skeptical expression, taking a drink from her glass. Her dad once called her dragon-like, because she hoarded information and almost never gave anything away for free. Her observations at school also taught her that people, with exceptions, would use information as leverage. She didn't like giving others a way to manipulate her.

Blake, of course, wasn't the sort to do something like that. The other witch was far too earnest for such underhanded dealings and tried to see the best in people instead of the worst.

Listening while Fauna spoke Moira checked the time to be sure she didn't have to leave just yet. There was still time.

The witch's tone gave nothing away, but her eyes became more guarded when she mentioned a couple cases. Moira considered her quietly, something recent or on-going perhaps. Best not to question it.

"Well, it's a good thing the different departments are able to work together. Imagine the chaos otherwise."

Fauna smiled, the warmth in her face smoothing out the last of her skepticism. She appreciated that unlike most people, Moira didn't ask about case details. Moira might be quiet, but she avoided questions that couldn't be answered and only asked about the things that she wanted to know.

"Oh, it's chaos. It's more of a contained chaos? When we actually agree on what to do, it can be kind of impressive."

Merlin, she was blathering on about work again and couldn't seem to stop.

"Most of those I know on Level Two genuinely want to keep people safe. Level Four is more, um, nuanced." Their focus was beasts and beings and everything between. "I mean, even Bagnold," she lifted a shoulder, "I would say that he cares about saving lives."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. He'd saved her life once, and from what she knew of him he'd do the same for any person. She just wasn't sure if he saw werewolves as people, as fitting into that category of people who deserved help, other than Greer, a kid at the mercy of her circumstances. Bagnold had spent so many years saving 'people' and stopping 'werewolves'. That would warp anyone's mindset.

Fauna took one last sip of coffee, holding her tongue about it.

"If you need to get going, don't let me hold you up," she offered, having noticed Moira check the time earlier.

The Ministry with all it's figureheads sounded like it could be quite the hotpot. At any agreement from such different people 'impressive' certainly seemed to be an apt word. Sometimes it could be that way at the ranch, too.

Moira nodded a couple times in understanding. Her uncle had worked in the beast division before the second wizarding war. Caring for both beasts and people didn't have to be separate issues.

Sometimes, though not very often, she could coax a story out of her uncle about his previous work out of him. Usually she did so by asking about a particular creature. Listed facts about creatures was a requirement, but stories tended to help one learn more.

Fauna saying she thought even Bagnold cared about saving lives didn't surprise her any. It was a good thing saving lives didn't correlate to people skills. His people skills seemed at least on par with her own, if on different spectrums.

Glancing up again at the clock Moira shrugged one shoulder and finished off her drink. "I have about ten minutes left, but I suppose I should soon."

"I'm glad we ran into each other," Fauna said. At Hogwarts, even though they'd shared the same common room, they'd rarely interacted. Fauna had struggled with shyness growing up and Moira had kept to herself for the most part. It was nice to feel like they'd both grown as people and might have a few things in common now. A few common friends at the very least. Funny, how much life outside of Hogwarts expanded their horizons.

She took her empty coffee mug and Moira's empty plate to the counter of the shop. They sat and talked for a few more minutes, until Moira said she'd better get back to work and Fauna said she'd better get back to not working.

She pulled on her cupcake hat and mittens, and shrugged on her red coat, and shouldered her bag. The hat was youthful, the coat more adult. Fauna smiled, looking caught between the two.

"See you this weekend, Moira," Fauna waved. "Maybe."