Around 8:15 pm


Fauna ambled down the dimly lit street, checking the house numbers as she passed. Floo powder dusted her dark hair, still damp from her shower earlier this evening. She'd hurried home from work, cleaned up, and thrown on jeans, a warm sweater, and her yellow coat before dashing out again. She'd then stopped at a cafe in Marylebone, picking up a simple half-decaf for Fig, and a cinnamon latte for herself.

She held the coffees close to her, guarding them from the chill. Though Fauna kept her head up, scanning the street and the little nooks and alleys, her eyes were tired and red-rimmed.

It had been a day.

After reuniting with Tia on Level Two,[1] Fauna had known that the full moon horrors were just beginning, that they had to be, given the blood and gore left behind at the safe house. She just hadn't expected it to continue in a personal way. She hadn't expected it to unfold so soon.

Not that she knew Alec Carter personally. She'd only caught the barest glimpse of him, who he was, by looking through his eyes at the direwolf crashing through the door.[2] His response had felt so human to her, so natural, so terrified. He could have been anyone. But he was Alec Carter, and he was dead.

Fauna stood on the pavement, looking up at the unfamiliar brick house that Fig Sellaphix had grown up in. How had she never visited before? They'd been friends for so long. Friends in school, and at parties and get-togethers outside of school. Friends who had only become closer since August, she realized, looking up at the house and imagining what was beyond the lit windows. Fig's room would be messy. His younger brother's would be clean. The kitchen or cellar would be well stocked, well organized, dedicated to potions and herbal remedies. Would they have a library? Would they have an 'I hate the Ministry' banner pinned to the fireplace mantle?

She'd met his father for the first time at the Ministry. His mother, too.

Fauna squared her shoulders and lightly hefted the coffee cups in each hand. Time to convince the parents to let her in. She started down the walkway leading to the front porch, then stopped short at the sound of footsteps.

She tilted her head, blinking at the approaching figure. A glint of silver. A hint of a glower?

Bagnold?

"Bagnold?" Fauna called out in surprise, the two cups of coffee she held suddenly feeling like one too few.

1.	Sun and Moon
2.	Virgil showed Fauna his vision in Too Close to the Moon

Full moons were always exhausting.  By the time he finally escaped the Ministry on the third day of a patrol, Kurby was usually ready to shower, devour whatever he'd thought to prepare before he'd left, and then collapse into bed.  The past couple of months, when he'd tussled with a combination of direwolves[1] and magical terrorists,[2] had left him feeling like he didn't want to see the sun for days once he'd finally made it home.

But today felt different.  They'd finally wrapped up the most necessary work just before seven.  He'd been too tired to protest when Bruce had told him to call it a day; so he'd sent the Capture Unit off, fired off one last missive,[3] and taken the lift to the atrium so he could apparate back home.  But once he got there -- once he'd stripped off his gear and showered and had something quick to eat -- Kurby felt so drained that he couldn't sleep.  The last thing that he wanted to do was stay alone in his flat, isolated with nothing but thoughts and memories of what had happened.

In the old days, the WCU vets would have found a pub to drink and debrief, console what they could and drown the rest.[4]  But the old days were long gone, and he and Gervais Bellingham were the only veterans left.  And so Kurby had picked himself up again, re-laced his boots, tucked a bottle of beer into a paper bag, and apparated to visit one of the wixes who had definitely had a worse 24 hours than he had.

He appeared in the back of the Sellaphixes' back garden like he always did, a crack splitting the silent night.  There were lights on upstairs in the family's home; at least someone was still up. 

Carefully, Kurby had picked his way to the back door to the kitchen, beer bottle cradled against his arm, and reached for the handle -- only to have it give him a strong zap.

The werewolf hunter yanked his hand back, fingers smarting.  Shaking his hand out, he looked up unhappily at the small home.  Had Rafe or Zelda actually locked the door and set their wards?  It probably made sense after what had happened to Figaro...but somehow, it still stung.

Sighing, he rubbed his left hand over his face, and then started around the side of the house to the front door.

After the past few days, he should have been more vigilant, but it was easy to drop his guard when he was so tired.  It wasn't until a voice called his name that he stopped short and actually looked up, left hand automatically dropping to his wand as he froze.

Blake.  No one else would wear a bright yellow coat like that in public.  Kurby blinked at her, confusion flashing over his face before he managed to school his expression again.  What the hell was Fauna Blake doing at the Sellaphix home?  Considering that it felt like sometimes Zelda barely tolerated his own Ministry connections, he couldn't imagine anyone in the family willingly welcoming an Auror.

But it was certainly Blake, and she wasn't dressed like an Auror tonight, not even in her black trainee uniform.  Kurby eyed her, her yellow coat, the two paper cups that she was holding.  She'd been in Hufflepuff back in her hair-flipping days, hadn't she?  She could have known Fig in school, even if he'd never heard the kid mention her.

"Blake," he said shortly, watching her warily.  "Workin' late?"

1.	November 10 - Bark or Bite
2.	December 11 - Cold Moon
3.	January 10 - Silver and Blood
4.	May 21, 2008 - If I Fall

Fauna watched the approaching figure freeze, saw his hand dropping automatically for his wand. Shit, why so wary? Confusion flickered over her face as well, and she turned on the pavement to face him, aware that he hadn't moved since rounding the corner, and all too aware that her hands were full. Damn it. The hot coffee would make a better weapon than her wand, which wasn't saying much. She'd only just been able to start casting Lumos and other basic spells at work earlier.

Damn it!

His voice sounded, and she relaxed marginally. He looked like Bagnold, walked like Bagnold, grumbled like Bagnold. Better be Bagnold!

If he were on patrol though, he'd be decked out in silver and he wouldn't be walking alone. Why wasn't he on patrol? Bagnold didn't need food or sleep. Just ale and anger, grit and grumpiness.

Fauna shook her head blearily in answer, and raised one of the coffee cups in her hand.

"I'm just here to visit Fig."

Bagnold had been first on the scene at the safe house. He must have known long before she had who the attendants were, exactly what had been done to them, and that Fig had been taken to St. Mungo's. He was a friend of the Sellaphix family, as jarring as it was to see him here.

She blinked at the bag he held. For him or for Fig? He'd been walking around the side of the Sellaphix house, but for all she knew, this could be his neighborhood too.

"I would have gotten here earlier, but you know how work is," she lifted a shoulder, gaze flicking down ruefully before meeting his eyes again. An incredibly wise Auror had blocked her way as she'd tried to slip out the door after Auror Xin.

Work must have been horrible for him, losing Carter. The worst day.

The werewolf hunter regarded her silently, his expression unchanging.  He stood casually, but his left hand stayed close to his side, fingers curling slightly, well within reach of his wand.

"Yeah," he said, dark gaze not leaving her.  "I know how work is."

Blake and Figaro could certainly have been friends, but encountering her unexpectedly here was disconcerting.  Whoever had infiltrated the safe house had almost certainly used Polyjuice potion.  Kurby didn't know why the hell that arsehole might be interested in going after Fig again, but he also couldn't understand why he had done what he did to begin with.  Anything out of the ordinary could be dangerous.

Besides which, he knew what had happened to Adrestia Gamp that morning.  Was Blake so close with Fig that she would have willingly left her girlfriend's side to come check on him?  He didn't pretend to understand the friendships and loyalties of the teenagers and twenty-somethings that he was often thrust into contact with, but it still seemed surprising that the Auror trainee would be so quick to come here.

That, perhaps, left him a direct way of checking her identity, though.

"How's your friend?" he asked, eyebrows raising nonchalantly.

Bagnold, even from a distance, his face shadowed, looked like he wanted to bite her head off. Ugh. What was his problem? She understood that he'd had a bad day but - oh no. Had he heard about the vision?

He hadn't moved at all. Odd. The bottle in the bag was still curled against one arm and his other arm - his wand arm, she knew - was at his side.

Fauna glanced around the darkened street, her stomach sinking. She glanced up at the stars, clear in the sky, and back at him. Not a night to be standing about repeating her bland niceties.

Friend, he wondered, deliberately vague.

"Fig?" Her brow furrowed in slight confusion. "Do you mean Fig?"

Slowly, she tucked the second coffee into her other hand, balancing the two coffees against her with one hand, and gesturing with her other hand at the front of the house.

"Um, I don't know, that's why I'm here to see him."

Fauna put her free hand on her hip and frowned, her heart beating fast. Looked like Bagnold, grumbled like Bagnold, stood like Bagnold. Didn't mean he was Bagnold.

"Are you upset because I didn't bring you a coffee?" She shook her head, feigning a casual tone, her voice a little higher than usual. "It wouldn't be the first time I showed up at someone's place not expecting to see you. Though, you know, I was on duty then."

Very different circumstances. Gen's flat. No coffee for Bagnold.[1] It was the first stupid thing she could think of, Merlin help her.

1.

haha

He hadn't meant Fig.  Now Blake was shifting, passing one of the two coffees to her other hand, freeing her own wand hand as she gestured at the house.  Kurby stayed still, eyebrows raised, ready to jump at the first sharp movement. 

As exhausted as he felt, encountering an enemy tonight wouldn't be the worst case scenario.  The hardest thing about the day had been that he'd been left in a position where all he could do was react: react to the attack on the safe house, to the assault on Carter, to Magical Law Enforcement as they threw their weight around.  Actually being able to stand against an adversary sounded immensely appealing.

Blake seemed exceedingly nervous now, her voice higher than usual, even as she tried to affect a casual air.  It wouldn't be the first time...  Brows knitting, the werewolf hunter scrutinized her for a moment.  Was she trying to feel him out cryptically now too?  When the hell had she showed up somewhere not expecting to see him?

It took him a few seconds to realize what she was referring to.  Huffing a sigh, Kurby rolled his eyes, giving Blake an exasperated look.  He was far too tired to field references to Genevieve Garcia tonight.

"Aye, the frantic scribblin' in the notebook gave that bit away," he said sourly, shifting to look up at the Sellaphix family's home. 

Thinking about that morning at Gen's, when Blake had flexed her fledgling Auror muscles and refused to let him leave even though he'd wanted nothing more than to disappear, was making him start to feel sick.  He'd already spent the entire day having to deal with Magical Law Enforcement as they threw their weight around.  Having to be reminded of it again here when he'd come to try and stop himself from thinking made him want to apparate away again.

But that wasn't Blake's fault.  She hadn't known about the vision; hadn't been the one to snap at Ballentyne or bark orders at him in the safe house.  Kurby slowly let out a long breath, trying to force some of the tension to leave his stance. 

"I didn't realize you and Fig were mates," he said at last, glancing back at the trainee.  "How's Gamp?"

Fauna had never been so glad for Kurby Bagnold's exasperated sighs and pointed comments about her note-taking. She let out a sigh of relief, the tension seeping out of her shoulders as she glanced down at the coffees she held in one hand. She and her coffee would live to see another full moon. Bagnold was Bagnold.

It took him longer to relax. He looked like he'd been ready to hex someone since she'd surprised him here. Considering what Fig had been through, what Bagnold had been through, and that they were both standing outside the Sellaphix house, she could understand that. Fauna automatically took a few steps closer to him on the pavement.

"Yeah, we've been friends since school," she nodded. Since her fifth year. Fig was one of her best friends, actually, despite the tense times when their friendship had been in jeopardy.

"And Tia is," she paused. "Doing okay," her tone sobered, Tia's pale face brought to the forefront of her mind. Her fingers curled in at her side, remembering her hand in hers.

"I mean, considering everything from this morning. I saw her earlier, before her family came by."[1]

Fauna swallowed and looked at him, able to see him better now that she'd closed some of the distance. Tia was Tia, Bagnold was Bagnold. Relief cut through her  weariness. Here he was in one piece.

"How are you holding up?" She asked quietly, not yet daring to mention Carter's name, though that was really what she meant.

1.	Could be at Level Two or wherever, keeping it vague as the thread is in progress!

It wasn’t until the Auror trainee began to talk again that he finally, reluctantly moved his hand away from his wand. This wasn’t fifteen years ago; whatever horrible events had occurred early that day, it wasn’t the same as being up against an entire army cloaked in dangerous deception.  Someone had worn Figaro’s face to infiltrate the safe house, but that didn’t mean that he was going to encounter them again here.

Gamp was okay.  Blake was too, if she’d come here to check on another of her friends; he’d seen the way she’d withdrawn after the ambush in December.  Remembering that was a good way to keep his bearings today.  His whole team had made it through the night; no one from the public had died.  Outside of the safe house and aside from Carter, it had been a relatively mild full moon.

But that didn’t mean he wanted to think about Blake’s last question.  Kurby flicked a shoulder in a quick shrug, looking back at the Sellaphix home again as he adjusted his grip on the brown bag in his right arm.

“I’m always fine,” he said, starting for the front door.  “C’mon.  Let’s see if Zelda and Rafe are hexin’ the Ministry on sight tonight.”

Figaro was upstairs in the room he shared with his brother, dozing. Sleeping was always how he dealt with discomfort. It usually followed a shouting session of one form or another, some kind of eruption of feeling, a flailing against gods or men, and then - the crash. Except this time there hadn't been any explosion. Ji-Won had yelled and screamed for the both of them, and the rest of it had been a kind of lucid blur. The color and line had all been reality-sharp, but it had felt like all the adult voices had come through his ears as if through water. His racing mind had been shouting enough to exhaust him. Rather than think or feel, it was easy to retreat into sleep.

Except today he couldn't. He'd come home from St. Mungo's with an achy, itchy legbone and was greeted with tea and cookies from his dad. Rafe had put some things into perspective, and he'd had some helpful information, but really neither of them had an answer to Fig's key question.

He heard a knock at the door. He sat up. No one ever came to their door. Anyone who came over was already friends or family and they knew to come in through the kitchen. It was a muggle neighborhood. Literally, no one came to the front door but muggles selling something, a lost muggle mail carrier. The only other thing he could think of were Aurors. A rock sank into his stomach. Maybe they'd decided he was a suspect after all and they were here to arrest him.

"Shit..." he mumbled. He got up, pulled on a shirt and took his wand out of his shoe and put it in his back pocket. Then he stood by his door - open a crack - and waited.

Downstairs the peephole opened on its own and a big green magical eye whirled around to stare at the two visitors. It swivel-led to and fro, from the coffees, to the silver, to the bag, to where they held their wands. The eye blinked, the porch flickered and went out, and inside a clock on the mantle ticked to hover between the runes for friend and foe.

“You know I don’t like cabbage.” Rafe grumbled, unimpressed as he peered into one of the boiling pans on the hob. Zelda was trying to sort dinner, and as was usual, Rafe was getting in the way. “Tastes like feet.” He muttered, repositioning the pan lid. “Worse, smells like your feet.” He cast his wife a cheeky grin as she swiped at him with a tea towel. Tensions were up, and as usual, Rafe was playing the joker trying to bring them back down as much as he could.

When the knock at the front door came, the wizard’s smile vanished, and he frowned. They’d sealed the back entrance for protection. Family and friends came that way. With a quick glance at Zelda, Rafe withdrew his wand from his trouser pocket and gave his wife’s arm a squeeze.
“Place stinks of cabbage.” He said. Maybe that would scare off any visitors.

Down the corridor, Rafe pressed his face up to the spyglass. Silver, coffee, Kurby and… Rafe blinked. Auror Blake. Kurby and Auror Blake. The Auror in charge of his parole. The witch friends with Figaro who Zelda had mentioned a few times.

With his jaw tight, Rafe unbolted the front door and pulled it open. His gaze danced over the unusual pair. “Miss Blake, Kurby. We weren’t expecting visitors, Zelda is boiling cabbage.”

It had been some time since Kurby had entered through the Sellaphix family's front door.   First the peephole opened to reveal a magical green eye, which swiveled around to examine them.  The werewolf hunter waited patiently as it blinked once and then retracted once more, setting the porch lights flickering.  At the very least, the inquisitive greeting meant that someone was home.

A few beats later, there was the sound of a deadbolt sliding open, and then the door swung back to reveal Rafe Sellaphix, accompanied by an unpleasant aroma that smelled something like spoiled old socks.

Azkaban had left Rafe looking a bit too thin and a bit too old. Even now that he'd been back home for six weeks, the shopkeeper's three years in the magical prison still showed.   But Kurby had almost grown used to that: the way that Rafe's clothes hung slightly too large on his frame, the extra gray in his beard that hadn't been there a few years before. 

The wary, strained look now on his friend's face was far more unnerving.  Rafe greeted everyone with hugs first and handshakes second; it was a fact of life that the werewolf hunter had long ago given up protesting.  Seeing the tension in Rafe's expression as he eyed them now made him feel like he'd unexpectedly trespassed.

"That's probably a decent strategy for keepin' the visitors away," Kurby quipped, flashing the older man a quick, precarious smile. 

At least Rafe clearly knew Blake, even if he greeted the former Hufflepuff with a formality that Kurby wouldn't have expected towards one of Figaro's schoolmates.  But then again, he also never intended on understanding the complex, convoluted world of teenaged children and their friends. If nothing else, it helped that Rafe hadn't run the girl off at first sight.

Kurby shifted position, raising his free left hand as if he were halfway between surrendering or warding off an attack.  "Sorry to drop in, mate," he said awkwardly.  "This isn't work.  We both just wanted to check in on Fig and you lot -- I didn't get a chance to talk to him again after everything went wrong this morning."

Fauna waited on the porch next to Kurby 'Always Fine' Bagnold, feeling far too much like she had that day in July when they'd knocked on doors together in Aberfoyle. It felt like ages ago. The cold wind crept over her hands and stole the warmth from the coffees. Bagnold didn't so much as blink at the green eye swiveling in the peephole. She glanced up at him, squaring her shoulders. Her hand went to straighten her puffy yellow coat, then fell.

Not on duty, not on duty, not on duty.

The door opened to reveal Rafe Sellaphix's familiar face. Why hello parolee! Not on duty. The strange smell wafting out of the house matched his expression, and Fauna held her breath for a second. Ergh!

Her hand twitched. No badge necessary. Not on duty.

Cabbage. That explained the stench. She glanced at Bagnold, letting him explain. He knew the Sellaphix family better than she did. He'd saved a smile and a quip and an apology for Rafe Sellaphix.

The man looked guarded, even with Bagnold. It struck her how little he'd want to see an Auror right now, after contending with the authorities and worrying about Fig all day. She'd only been thinking of Fig.

"Hi, Mr. Sellaphix," she smiled shyly at Fig's father, raising both cups of coffee in a slight gesture of peace.

Zelda had been fending off her husband's desperate attempts to keep the mood in the house light and his efforts to waylay a healthful meal. Cabbage had protective qualities and would be most effective when the moon was as full as it was. That, and strong smells kept bad omens away. When the world was spinning, any chance of security was worth a shot. So, cabbage.

She let Rafe answer the door. Over the bubbling of her pot, she didn't hear what they were saying, but a snatch of a voice pulled her to stand in the doorway. There was a straight shot from the kitchen up through the hall to the front door. Past her husband, she glimpsed enough of Kurby Bagnold. She crossed her arms. He hadn't taken the hint when the backdoor hadn't opened to his rattling. It wasn't that he wasn't in particular unwelcome; nobody was, not tonight. Then she took a step forward and recognized who was with him.

"Tsk!" Zelda scoffed and rolled her eyes. Fauna Blake. Zelda hadn't spent the whole day at St. Mungo's then hours with Talisha, then more battening down the hatches at the shop to suffer the confused earnestness of one of Figaro's so-called 'friends'.

"Merlin, spare me," she mumbled and disappeared back in the kitchen.

In the doorway, Fauna blinked at Zelda Sellaphix. Uh oh, this was it. Fig's mum was going to send her far, far away, to a distant galaxy, where Aurors bothered no one.

Mrs. Sellaphix turned and walked back into the kitchen. She turned and walked back into the kitchen!

Fauna peeked over Mr. Sellaphix's shoulder and spotted Fig on the stairs.

"Fig!" She exclaimed, nearly dropping both coffees.

"That's probably a decent strategy for keepin' the visitors away," Kurby replied about the cabbage with a smile. Rafe flashed him as look as if to say ‘You’d think!’. It didn’t work, did it? Two visitors stood here, all wanting to get inside and be visitors. The Sellaphixes didn’t want visitors. Mrs Sellaphix was making the house smell like Mr Sellaphix would want to be elsewhere to be a visitor.

Behind him, Rafe could hear Zelda’s huffing and puffing. He couldn’t blame her. They’d wanted to be left alone tonight. Besides, aurors were never welcome. Aurors had been the reason Rafe had been locked away for 3 years. Now, his own parole officer / friend of his son was stood at the door going ‘Hi Mr. Sellaphix’ as if she’d come to ask if Fig could come out to play in the street with her. Well no, no he couldn’t!

"Fig!" Blake shouted past him, and Rafe turned on the spot to see his oldest stood at the top of the staircase peering down.

“Ugh. Bloody pointless cabbage!” Rafe muttered, waving a hand and stepping back begrudgingly for the two to enter. “Get down here, lad, or they won’t go away.” Or worse, Zelda would make them go away.