As usual, Loch had some firewhiskey. He had a disturbingly high drinking budget for when he went out, even with his small potion operation. Most was admittedly leftover money from France, he was surprised he hadn't burnt through it all but he never really remembered how much he spent each night. But that mattered not, soon his fortunes would change and he would have far more money then he would know what to do with. If this worked out, of course it would, why wouldn't it?

But firstly on his list, was the last information gathering. He would assume due to the last full moon, the Ministry would start doing drills and overnights. It was only two weeks until the next full moon and after how bad the last was, they must be doing overtime as soon as possible. Not to mention they're just letting the murderer of two werewolves and Alec Carter wander free in the meantime.

He needed to find out how much heat he would get on himself from advertising, this was key. He assumed very little, the full moon was a black eye and the Ministry couldn't afford another slip up. But there may still be some people on watch and could go straight after him when he made his move. As such, who better to ask then the Auror he was friendly with? Plus it worked nicely as just hanging out.

He had listed in his letter that she can bring others, although with a high number of people it meant he may be restricted in what he can do, but it may also mean she will be open to getting drunk and then he can work his way on getting information, or she just may feel confident as so many are around. Plus meeting new people was always good, for business and for just not being a shut in. He wasn't much of one but distractions from potions was good, a watched pot never boils. Which in cases is a good thing he doesn't want some boiling over.

Of course she may not show up, especially since it was on such short notice, however if she didn't then hey. Calaveras serves steak. He did not remember Hogwarts ever serving steak. So it was a massive step up in wizarding world food.

Fauna had been surprised but happy to hear from Lochlainn. She'd wondered from time to time how he was settling in, though with the madness of the wolf moon and its gory aftermath, she hadn't realized it had been a few weeks since she'd seen him.[1]

She must have read his letter dozens of times as she'd rushed about getting ready.[2] A steak dinner! But bring friends! She may have suggested something more casual, but at 5:00 in the afternoon, she settled for owling invitations to two of her favorite people, Tia and Fig, hoping that at least one of them would be able to make it on such short notice. She'd told them that they could show up at 6:00 or later in the night if they liked, and that she was meeting a new friend.

Inspired by last night's adventure with makeup (thanks, Virgil!), Fauna had dolled up her eyes first. Otherwise it had taken her far too long to decide what to wear to a nicer restaurant. She didn't want to put forth too much of an effort as she worried that Loch would think it was a date (he didn't, did he?), but if Tia could make it, she really wanted to look pretty for her, and if Fig were there she'd need shoes to walk in or dance in or tipsily stagger in, and so in the end she'd slung on some low heels and what she thought might look good.

Fauna apparated to Diagon, finding Calaveras at the very end of the street next to Knockturn. She stepped into the 1930s-inspired club, wearing a white blouse with ruffled short sleeves, and a dark navy skirt, both of which draped nicely. She'd put her hair up in a loose, Grecian bun. Around her neck she wore a heart necklace - anatomically correct in black and gold.

The speakeasy style reminded her of a grown-up Spellpunk, and if she'd looked closely at the sign she might have noticed that Meredith Renfield owned both clubs.

Passing the bar, she weaved around the round dining tables on the edge of the dance hall.

Fauna found Lochlainn at one the tables, a glass of firewhiskey next to him. Of course!

"Loch," she touched his shoulder. "Hi!"

She opened her arms to give him a light and airy hug.

Fauna glanced around, still standing for a moment. There were several chairs at the table, and several place settings. Black, tapered candles flickered light over the white tablecloth and gleaming sets of silverware.

Clearing her throat nervously, she smiled.

"Er, I sent an owl to a few friends, but I don't know if they'll be able to make it. I only got home about an hour ago."

Fauna took the seat beside him and draped her coat on the back of the chair. "Hey, thanks for the invite."

1.	A Huffle of Measles and a Puff of Brewing
2.	Catch up and a Snack up

She did appear! That was very good for him! It always looked less weird when you weren't sat in a dingy restaurant eating steak with someone else. So for that it was also a good thing, and meant he can go ahead with his plan. And to have a nice relaxed night otherwise, well the heels looked like she expected to dance, something he wasn't good at so he may have to stay out of it, he didn't really want to accidentally break anyone's bones.

"Fauna!" He said with a grin, he turned to face her. She wanted a hug? He wasn't too used to hugs as greetings so he hoped it didn't turn out too bad. After he stood from his seat he wrapped his arms arms around her back, while making sure there's more then enough space for her to duck out of it then let go a second or two later. Then seeing her work her own chair he sat back down while glancing over what she was wearing.

"That's fine, if they show up I can buy them drinks or if arrive early enough, free meal for them." He shot a small smile. He was happy to do something good, even if it wasn't that good buying meals for people who worked, it was better then just being completely selfish with his money. It helped to counter his shady potions and those done in France. It absolutely did not on a karma scale but it was always good to think you can do something good.

"I must say you're better dressed then me, either you love dressing up in less then an hour. Or one of the invited is someone you want to impress?" He attempted to tease her as he sipped his drink. He himself dressing smart, although much more comfort and casual. A good pair of black trousers on him with some worn in black shoes, not shiny but not dirty. A somewhat wrinkled salmon pink shirt. Then to top it off a woolen trench coat stopping at his hips, again in black to fit the outfit theme more or less.

At the last thing he shook his head and finished his drink, giving it a little shake. "Ah its fine its fine. I know Ministry has had a tough time this month. With things kicking back in now figured better to catch up beforehand and make sure you atleast eat something decent. What drink do you want?" He offered as he glanced at the bar.

Loch hugged her back, and offered to treat her friends whenever they arrived. She smiled more warmly, a slight wrinkle of confusion forming between her brows. The last they'd spoken, he'd explained how he'd lost his money in Paris and was starting over in London trying to start up a new business. Fauna wished him well and hoped he didn't feel pressured to spend more than he had.

Her eyebrows spiked in surprise at his very accurate observation. "Oh," she touched her hair self-consciously. "I'm, er, that obvious?"

She chuckled under her breath and shook her head. Still, she did feel reassured that he had guessed the reason for all of her effort.

When he acknowledged how tough it had been at the Ministry this month and let her know that he wanted to do something nice, she smiled again and glanced at the menu.

"I think I'll try the El Guapo."

She looked over the ingredients - prickly pear syrup, tequila, lime, ginger beer. Couldn't go wrong.

"Just know that I can't, in good conscience, let you pay for everything," she looked up from the menu hopefully. "Really. I'm just happy to be here and catch up," she insisted with a nod, holding his gaze so he would know she meant it.

As if on cue, a waiter stopped by their table to take their drink orders.

Fauna glanced over the rest of the menu, automatically drawn to the simpler entrees and something that wouldn't be messy to eat.

"Back to your comment from earlier, I invited my friend Fig, who I've known for the longest time. Fig Sellaphix, do you remember him? He was a Hufflepuff too."

Once a Hufflepuff, always a Hufflepuff. Fig was a few years younger than her and might have been under Lochlainn's radar during school.

"Also," she hesitated, her face flushing. "I invited Tia. She's the one I mentioned who works on Level Four sometimes? I hope one or both of them can make it. They're good people."

Her favorite people. "Though I'm sure you have met plenty already," she added kindly, gesturing to him. He cleaned up just fine! Wrinkles in shirts popped up out of nowhere, she knew.

Loch settled back into his chair properly as the waiter arrived and nodded. "Bottle of nettle wine for me." He said gently before he looked back at her. "Never tried it before, should be interesting." With a flash of smile. Always good to try new drinks, plus a bottle means better for sharing or for pricing the night, Whiskey wasn't cheap.

"If you can't let me pay for it all, pay for your friends drinks then or for the drinks in general." He offered, although he found himself perfectly fine to buy things. "I got a potions job. So I can afford."

He started to scan the options on the menu also, fish he usually preferred to stay away from so that's a no go. Mushrooms? He was a fun guy without them. Potatoes? The garlic bread seemed interesting. Can never go wrong with it can you? Unless they burn it, but then its just crunchier.

Fig? He may remember someone like that but not very well. He didn't socialize much outside his group so he only knew people from around his year, even then mostly didn't like him. He was perfectly nice! They just couldn't take that they were never going to amount to anything and should give up on their quest to do anything meaningful, they were such idiots.

Sellaphix he knew though, they were on the corner to Knocturne, the potentially a problem family, he doubted they would be. Some old people selling potions in a corner, why would they care and what are they going to do honestly? And if they did prove themselves troublesome, just one strand of hair...

And Tia the level 4, sounded interesting, he wasn't sure on who Fauna kept as friends but if they're as lively as his interactions with her has been then they should be fun.

"I've met a few people, although honestly I've spent most of the time working." If drinking counted as work, it was work to drink that much though. "I met another Hufflepuff a bit ago. Remember someone called Tessa Fennekin?" He didn't think it would be good to mention that he tried, poorly. Very poorly. To hit on her.

"I will," Fauna nodded, making a mental note to help pay for the drinks. Fauna smiled a little. She hadn't had nettle wine before either, nor the martini she'd ordered, but she liked to try new drinks whenever she had the opportunity.

The bowtie pasta looked good to Fauna. She shut the menu and glanced up in surprise. Tessa!

"Yes! I know Fenneken. Er, Tessa," Fauna corrected herself, perking up. Hufflepuffs reunited!

"She was in your year, right? Um, I'm just getting to know her lately. We've been on patrol together once or twice."

She paused. Once that fateful December. She'd felt a little closer to Fenneken and Harris since then, trading nerdy banter with Harris in the lifts and listening to Fenneken's vampire theories.

"It must have been good to see her after a few years," she added, thinking that they'd both become more confident. "It's funny how we've all changed since school, isn't it?"

Fauna glanced around thoughtfully at the tables full of unfamiliar faces, and at the dance hall where a musician was setting up. She never would have guessed that Fenneken or Harris would have ended up on the Capture Unit, and she'd surprised many by becoming an Auror. Lochlainn too, had seemed to disappear after Hogwarts, only to return with the work ethic that Hufflepuffs were known for.

"She seemed to be doing okay, which was good, although it was on the tenth so I'm not holding anything against her."

It was odd that both of the Hufflepuffs he was now reunited with were female, admittedly it was an equal 50/50 chance but conspiracies are always fun to indulge in. One of his favorite that he had never heard anyone say but just imagined store owners having, entirely caused by him. Was the influx of french people asking for wolfsbane ingredients. Someone must of thought there was a secret ring of french werewolves lurking about somewhere.

The main meal, an important choice. A semi easy choice for him. It was obviously going to be steak. Hogwarts never served steak as far as he remembered, but at the same time he feels like the poor Elves would of been worked overtime desperately trying to get everyones to their tastes as some people won't touch theirs if its medium rare or super rare, or well done. It was probably a blessing the Elves never had to do that. They were too nice for that sort of punishment, the nights he snuck out of the common room to get some snacks. At the same time though he felt like every Hufflepuff had done so at some point, could you really be a Hufflepuff without going to the kitchens right next door at some point?

"So, now that all that is out of the way. How has the month treated you? Didn't break your leg on the dancefloor while drunk or anything?" He gave a grin, last he'd really seen of her was going onto the dancefloor with her work friends and with the common phrase being break a leg, he had to make sure. Dancing was probably more dangerous then being an Auror at times.

Admittedly dancers didn't usually have to deal with criminals or dark wizards. some may of, but it wasn't a regular occurrence. How many dark wizards were left though is another question, most were gone now since You Know Who was beaten, he supposed some may of even became dancers. Which likely would put them as more dangerous then an Auror.

The waiter returned to their table, bearing a bright pink El Guapo cocktail and a bottle of nettle wine. Fauna waited a few moments as the waiter uncorked the bottle and poured a glass for Loch, and left an empty wine glass for her. Loch ordered steak (no surprise!) and Fauna ordered the bowtie mushroom pasta, and as soon as the waiter left, Fauna answered Lochlainn's teasing question.

"Um," she smiled cheekily. "My dancing was fantastic. Epic. Anyone will tell you. Don't ask them, just believe me," she quickly added, widening her eyes.

He was one to talk! His favorite move was sitting and chugging firewhiskey.

Fauna had heard the rest of his question, but didn't want to bore him with the details just yet. If Lochlainn had caught up with Tessa on the 10th, then she'd likely told him about Carter's murder, at least. Losing a department head was never easy, but full moon action had been sparse this month. Instead they were all cleaning up the gory aftermath. Trying to make sense of the senseless.

"Cheers," she lifted her bright pink drink to clink against his wine glass.

"Oh, and congratulations," she paused with the drink near her mouth. "On your new potions job?" Fauna guessed shyly.

Had she heard him right earlier? He'd found a job, so he could afford to go out for a nice dinner.

Fauna took a sip of her drink. Mm, tequila.

Lochlainn returned a doubtful smirk on the comments of her dancing, he was surprised she didn't hug the floor upon standing up let alone managed to dance. "I'm sure your drunken stumbling was the envy of the room." He teased her before setting back to allow the Waiter to serve the bottle. Of course he didn't have much of a leg to stand on when it came to dancing. His favorite move was sitting and chugging firewhiskey.

"Cheers." He clinked his glass to hers and sipped the wine. "Hhhm, this certainly is...a drink." He said, it wasn't grape juice that had gone off, so that was something but he really couldn't say much more about the drink as he drank it. For certain, it was a sipping drink. That was all he could really say about it. He did however seem more sophisticated with it however, so he held the glass by the stem and swirled it a bit to appear more intelligent.

Ah yes his potions job, the tricky part to describe to her, how could he explain it? "Yeah, helping brew some potions. Its going well so far." He smiled. "Made some good money, expecting some good things soon." He said with a cheerful sip of his wine, none of it was a lie, just a slight...alteration of the truth, what she doesn't know can't hurt her. If anything, if it goes wrong for her, it will help her that he didn't tell her the entire truth.

"Its good to be brewing again, its fun to make potions. Its unlimited potential, anything spells can do, potions can do better. It just takes time and patience." Now this was completely true, although they were harder then alot of spells. Ultimately they were better...if you didn't need something right away. With another sip of the nettle wine he looked down at the table. He took the napkin and started folding it.

"Sorry, potions are very good but a spell will likely be sufficient yes. Hey if you ever need some though just owl. I can whip you up something. Just give like...two weeks notice?" He joked.

Did he just swirl his wine in the glass? Fauna glanced down quickly at the table cloth, trying not to laugh.

She raised her eyebrows, listening. He seemed a touch nervous and uncomfortable talking about himself. One moment he focused on how potions could do anything that spells could do, and the next moment he was fiddling with his napkin and admitting that spells did the job just fine.

Fauna smiled and sipped more of her drink, trying to put him at ease.

"Um, well, I hope I don't run into any immediate trouble," she teased back with some hesitance. "Or I'll have to rely on, you know, magic."

Fauna's smile widened genuinely. Magic! She had magic again, and it was wonderful. Lochlainn had a job that he liked! That was cause for celebration too.

But where? Had he said?

"Where do you work?" She tilted her head. "I'll bring you a coffee sometime."

That's what Hufflepuffs did in dire times.

"I mean, it'll be a nice break from this interesting month."

Fauna used the same term he'd used to describe his wine.

Ah where did he work? It probably wouldn't be good to admit he's illegally selling potions to the few people that pop into his shop, some were obviously annoyed with the pricing or the work hours. But if they valued discretion it was better, don't want everyone to know the 120 year old wizard needs a girding potion for when he gets home at night. Even selling a bit of polyjuice but he kept that even quieter, he had a good amount and always had some brewing. However he wanted to keep a good amount as insurance policy and an escape plan.

So he certainly couldn't tell her about his illegal shop. So he needed to take some creative liberties. He sipped some more wine then nodded. "Its just some run down place in Knocturne, I really wouldn't recommend it. I'm only staying for a bit before moving on to bigger and better things." Ok so that was mostly true, just...missing some details. It will have to do, lies are always better and more believable if there is some truth in it.

He finished work on his napkin, having folded it into a swan. Then with a gentle flick of his wand he animated it. "Just meeting for drinks or maybe during breaks would be better, Knocturns a bit of a horrid place." Another truth, although there was some interesting stuff inside the the alley, it always striked him as odd that its the one place you can buy flesh eating slug repellent.

With another gentle wand movement he offered the now moving swan to Fauna. "Try giving it to Tia. Or do Level 4 have rules against creating fake animals?" He tried to joke, he'd heard there are some rivalries between the Aurors and Animal Lovers. And things must be fairly heated considering the murder of Level 4's head. Technically not in their boundary but he was one of their own.

"Oh, ok," Fauna's eyes widened in surprise. She quickly took a sip of her drink, her face adopting a neutral expression. She doubted he'd appreciate her worry when he was just trying to make a living, but still, her brow furrowed slightly for a moment.

If Lochlainn had found work in Knockturn, no wonder he'd been a bit vague and hesitant about mentioning it before. She hoped he'd found a shop that wouldn't take advantage of someone new to town. He knew he could come to her with any trouble, right?

Fauna sipped at her drink to avoid mentioning it too soon. She'd try to keep an eye out for him. He'd found work, at least! It was a start.

Loch was making a napkin swan. Was that for her? She smiled nervously as he floated it over to her.

At the mention of Tia's name she glanced hopefully around the dining hall, then looked back at Loch. Oh. Fauna blinked at his phrasing.

"No, but Level Two might. Er, possibly." There was a story behind that.

"Are you offering to be my wing... wix? Wingwix?" Fauna joked, letting out a chuckle at the strange term. She'd offered to be his 'wingwitch' last time and to help find him dates. She had not done that yet!

"If so, thank you. I need all the help I can get."

Fauna added another charm to the animated swan, one that turned its head to look around the restaurant just like she had a second ago. She smiled in amusement at Loch, her eyes crinkling warmly. It was always nice to get to know someone tolerant and accepting and kind, and his invitation made more sense to her now. He had simply invited her here as a generous gesture and in hopes of making more friends.

She started to tell Loch about the rivalries between Two and Four, but changed the topic before it could get too serious, still very cognizant of Alec Carter's death and her involvement with the vision that had predicted it. She told him of a few adventures in Knockturn too, but downplayed the seriousness there as well. No need to make him uncomfortable about where he worked.

Their dinner arrived. Fauna ate every bite of her pasta, finished her drink, and helped Loch with the bottle of nettle wine he'd ordered. Fauna, such a helpful Hufflepuff! She helped pay for the meal and drinks of course, and then she and Loch decided to move to the bar.

It was still early evening. They easily found a few empty seats, and Fauna set her napkin-swan on the counter next to her glass of wine.

"Level Two has a rule that we don't follow," Fauna began, remembering his comment from earlier. She reminded him in a more serious tone that a group of students had been kidnapped last February, trapped on Level Nine, and when they'd gotten out, well... a Hufflepuff (always a Hufflepuff) had flung a hex at the first person they'd run into. Solomon Carstairs. There he was in his office, sipping his tea (she assumed), and the next moment he was a duck, feathers flapping, wand on the floor, teacup overturned. Every once in a while the Auror trainees (and Abby) left a rubber duck where he would find it. Every once in a while they made duck jokes on purpose.

"...And that is the story of how my boss turned into a duck."[1]

Fauna laughed into her wine glass, her cheeks a telltale pink from wine.

1.	Wrecking Ball

The last time Figaro had been to the edgy and upscale Calaveras in Diagon Alley was in November. A bit of blood and excitement prevented he and his one-time date Hannah Bombay from getting even as far as ordering. An owl from Fauna to come join her with other friends was welcome, like things were back to nearly normal. She said she'd met someone new and wanted to make them feel welcome, but the pretense didn't matter. He was back at work, back at his own place, back to getting on with it.

He rolled in dressed more casually than last time. Hands in the pockets of an unseasonable coat, a hat, grey trousers, football trainers, an old shirt from work.[1] The host greeted him at the podium with a look of disapproval for his attire, but he sidestepped her.

"I'm meeting someone, thanks."

He spotted Fauna at the bar with a model. Fit under a pink shirt, square jaw, well-kept stubble, and he looked older. Could have been a Quidditch player - not the sort he expected to see with Fauna Blake at all. Figaro approached with a smile and opened his arms.

"Hey, hey! I made it. Sorry, I'm late, I was sleeping."

Figaro hugged Fauna then stepped back to offer the guy a hand. "Alright? I'm Figaro."

1.	Red with the Sellaphix family familiar, a scarab beetle.

"Wait, he got turned into a duck...and you don't constantly remind him? If I was around I'd take almost every chance, if he's in a meeting and he stands up, just summon an egg onto his seat. How are you not exploiting this? You must be quackers." He shook his head and sighed, it was an interesting story. What mysteries were in level 9? Probably a hangover cure, that would be excellent and obviously something hidden.

The wine had gone surprisingly well, it was much better then he thought nettle wine would be thats for sure. For a start it didn't sting like most nettles. So he didn't need dockleaf wine to counter it. Although he knew sadly that dockleaves healing nettles was a lie, the sap just helped soothe the area. But who knew you could make wine from leaves? Leaf juice tasted good! So he went and placed an order for another bottle. If they didn't finish it, then who will stop him from taking it home?

He was going to pour another glass out for the last of the bottle when a man in a red shirt appeared. Figaro?...Figaro...fig...Oh yeah one of the ones Fauna invited! A Sellaphix! He wasn't sure what to expect from those living on the edge of Knocturn and Diagon, but he expected those working in an apothecary to dress a little better. Where was the mans fashion sense? Although if he'd only just woken up it can be excused.

He grinned and shook the hand firmly, staring into the persons eyes for a few seconds. "Lochlainn. Good to meet you." He let go and took a fresh wine glass, before pouring out some nettle wine into it. "Want some nettle wine? Its surprisingly good." He offered the glass towards them. "Oh and feel free to take a seat! We've been talking about Ducks. They're Ruddy amazing."

Tia had been surprised when she returned from a talk to find an owl from Fauna.

It was a Sunday evening and her weekends, although relaxing, did sometimes bring the former Ravenclaw back to her workplace for various events. The Wizarding Museum was at its busiest when families could afford the time to bring their children around and stare at various wonders or artefacts; and today she'd gone to attend a colleague's public talk on underwater archeological exploration; an oddly packed lecture hall.

After having some leftover broccoli stir fry from last night, she threw a coat over her day outfit and went down to Calaveras to see about this new person Fauna was meeting. Why not, right? Meeting new people was fun.

Finding the sexy auror at the restaurant was easy - at this hour, Tia went straight to the bar and was able to spot the other witch right away. There was a tall guy next to her, talking to a young-- oh. Talking to the attendant from the safehouse. What was his name? Fergus? Fig? Figaro. Like, the The Marriage of Figaro. How did Fauna know him??

           "Want some nettle wine? Its surprisingly good...free to take a seat...talking about Ducks.. amazing." The other man was saying when Adrestia approached the trio.

"Ducks! Why are we talking about ducks?" she interrupted the conversation cheerfully, slipping between Fig and the duck man to give Fauna a quick hug and kiss. "Hey, looking cute. I love that necklace," Tia brushed her fingers against it before taking a seat on Fauna's other side before someone decided to invite her to take one.

Boys! Adrestia glanced from one to the other, lifting her hand in a little wave. "Hi, I'm Tia..." she settled on looking at Figaro. "We've... kind of met. Earlier this month."