Fauna waved at Anton and walked away from the cafe, automatically heading in the direction she'd come from earlier. She pulled out her mobile, remembered her password, and after a moment of nervous hesitation, texted Sasha.



"Oh shit!" She pushed send right as she walked into a girl who gave her a very strange look and stepped aside.

"Sorry!" She looked up, blushing. "I just hit the... well, never mind."



Fauna found a side alley to step into and continued texting.



She smiled, easily finding the reindeer emoji because her older sister liked to text her the closest thing to a deer instead of calling her Faun like everyone else.




Fauna glanced at the crowded street and headed further into the alley. She turned off her phone and ducked behind a smelly dumpster and then apparated back to London, in a secluded side street close to her house.



"Excuse you!" She frowned down at the flickering screen, which then stabilized to reveal he had, in fact, called her birthplace a shire. The Shire. She'd gotten enough teasing about it from idiot purebloods at school who didn't even know what a hobbit was, just that she spent her summers exploring the countryside. The former Hufflepuff jabbed out a response.




"I can't believe I did that again," Fauna muttered as she walked closer to her house.



Her brow furrowed. She paused on the top step of the porch, biting her lip. He'd better be joking around. He couldn't say that to someone in her department who saw balrocks - no, balrogs behind every corner.



Fauna rested her hand on the front door, worriedly watching him typing.



It would be fine! Fauna turned off her phone again and walked inside, then remembered she still needed to file a report with Level 3.

Shit.