Puddifoot's
Monday evening
Just past closing, around half past eight
Six days after the blue moon

"Oh, aren't ye just the wee dote!"

The glass of wine that her friend had been kind enough to pour her sat abandoned on a nearby table, just out of reach over her head. Saoirse Dixon sat on the floor, her patchwork skirt tastefully arranged to cover her knees, beaming with delight at the two nearly-toddlers who were cooing and babbling together with their new gifts.

She'd hunted everywhere for them -- all through the secondhand stores and independent toy shops of both magical and Muggle London. She'd finally found the perfect gift in the little junk shop in Diagon Alley that shared their mother's name: two small, soft plush elephants, perfect for the gnawing of new teeth, which were enchanted to raise their trunks and let loose a bleating trumpet of confetti whenever they were squeezed. The twin toys had cost more than she might have intended to spend, but it was all worth it now to watch Artemis and Apollo play with their gifts and make a mess all over the floor.

It felt as if she could spend forever and a day admiring her friend's wee ones, but Pandora hadn't invited her over solely so Saoirse could play with her kids. Feeling a little guilty, the werewolf eased herself to standing, returning to join the other grown-up at the table.

"I can hardly believe they'll be a year old next month," she gushed. Settling in, she took up her glass of wine in her hands again, wrapping her fingers around the cool glass. "Ye must be so proud. Have you any plans to celebrate it with them?"

The atmosphere inside Puddifoot's was always a bit heavy. Decidedly not stuffy, it was instead comforting - like a weighted blanket. The smell of pastries in the oven mingling with the familiar scents of coffee and tea permeated the air. The lighting was dim, both to alert the public that the tea shop was closed and in an effort to soothe the twins off to sleep.

That last seemed an impossibility now, as the sounds coming from the floor were anything but sleepy. A bright smile filled the witch's face as she looked passed the charcuterie board and open bottle of wine toward her pups where they lay among a mound of blankets and pillows on the ground. They, and the floor around them, were covered in colorful confetti and Dora couldn't help but laugh.

The tooting and trumpeting elephants were the sort of gift Dora herself might have given before having children. They were an incredibly thoughtful gift, both practical and engaging for the little ones and the pair of them were completely enthralled by the presents.

They were also Pandora's worst nightmare. She had no talent for spells not relating to love - so she would have to clean the floor by hand. They were also enchanted to make noise, so her only hope for quietude was praying the enchantment wasn't permanent. Still, it provided Dora's babes with a distraction so she could enjoy a bit of time with the lovely Saoirse and that made her incredibly grateful.

Pandora needed a chance to reconnect with the world. She had been lying low since the birth of the twins but now that they were both teething and Apollo was learning to walk, it was time for Dora to reenter society. Artemis was still behind, but she would catch up to her brother soon enough, Pandora was sure of it.

As her werewolf pal rejoined the adult table, Dora reached over and grabbed a chunk of sliced gouda to snack on- she was always ravenous, but more so this soon after a full moon. She washed the dairy down with a swig of red wine and let out a contented sigh. "Oh yes," she said, "An entire birthweek. I didn't want their special day to get lost in all the excitement of Halloween so we're going big. Kale thinks it's too much, but you only turn one once. You should be getting an invitation by owl any day,"

Truthfully Dora hadn't even thought about sending out the invitations. It might take more than a day or two for Saoirse to get hers. "Hopefully you'll be able to come for a bit at least, the pups adore you,"

"But that's practically ages away. Tell me what you've gotten yourself into lately?"

Saoirse flashed the other werewolf a smile in return, clearly delighted at the thought of an invitation. She adored the twin pups in return, and it would take hell, high water, or a full moon to keep her from their first birthweek celebration.

Despite her excitement, October couldn't have felt farther away on a night like this, when the warmth of summer still lingered. Saoirse raised her glass to take a sip, savoring the fruity tannins against her tongue.

The question of what she had been up to lately was trickier for her than for most people. Pandora was one of the few with whom she was willing to let go of most of her secrets. Her friend was a little too connected to the Ministry for her tastes, but then, it was hard to find those in the United Kingdom who weren't. At the very least, she trusted Dora's discretion -- and her unspoken understanding that registration wasn't for every 'wolf.

"Aw, not very much since the brightest night," she replied, wrinkling her nose. "Just sleep and work and sleep, or that's been all it's felt like."

Even the full moon had felt particularly dreary. Saoirse much preferred to spend her wolfish nights roaming amongst the trees far from any human rather than locked in a damp and smelly cellar, but the dangers of the past year had made that harder and harder to justify. She wouldn't put it past whoever was hunting them to watch Floo travel and portkey use around that time of the month. But in return, it also felt incredibly unsafe to try and sneak into the Ministry safehouses, as some of the more fearful amongst their community had been wont to try in the past. After the kidnapping and murders of the Dunnigan brothers, even that carried an incredible risk.

"How did yours pass?" she asked Dora, craning her neck to examine the charcuterie board. In a conversation between werewolves, there was no need to specify what she was asking about: the full moon hung heavy over every passing month. "Have the Ministry bloodrobes been after ye much or are they lettin' folks be now?"

Dora leaned back in her chair and sighed contentedly. Soon enough one or the other of the twins would start crying, but for now the moment was perfect. Honestly, Dora's life had been perfect lately. She was suited to motherhood, even if events didn't always work out to plan.

She had planned on being married by the time she had kids. She had planned on opening her own line of beauty salves. Instead, things were better than she had planned. Though still unwed, she wouldn't have asked for a better father for her children. She had never planned on taking over Puddifoot's this young, but the business had never seen better days.

When Saoirse brought the conversation around to the hairy time of the month, Pandora grimaced. She had come to terms with her own condition years ago, but recent events had every sane werewolf on high alert. "Everything seems to take more planning these days than I've a mind for," she said.

"Kale usually keeps the little ones on full moons, and his sister, Kia, used to handle the Ministry - but they usually leave us be anyway," Pandora paused to take a sip and laugh, but things weren't quite as squared away as they seemed.

"The problem is, one of my best helpers, Jack, do you know Jack? Jack Howell? Anyway, he's been using one of the cells in the basement since all this nastiness started and I'm surely due for an inspection soon," She didn't usually spill other's secrets, Jack being an unregistered werewolf wasn't exactly brandied about, but Dora trusted Saoirse to keep her mouth shut. Plus, she was honestly worried about a surprise inspection and could use her friend's advice.

Saoirse did indeed know Jack Howell, who always struck her as being more like a big lovable puppy than a 'wolf. The world of unregistered werewolves was small indeed, even if some of their community preferred to stay solitary. They were best equipped to protect each other when they banded together like a pack, even if it meant taking risks by allowing knowledge of identities to spread.

She made a face at Dora's mention of an inspection. Of course the British Ministry would be more interested in making sure their rules were followed than in keeping everyone safe.

"Surely they shouldn't have any right to barge in and inspect unless ye request it," she replied, sounding more than a little salty.

It gnawed at her sometimes, what all of her fellow 'wolves had to put up with as soon as they did what the Ministry said and registered. Inspections and reports and harassment, and if they set even a paw out of line, it was threats of collars and cages. For all of the claims they liked to make about improve to standard and levels of support, all they really cared about was intimidation and control.

Looking unhappy, she let out a sigh, letting her gaze drift back to the pups. "It's all part of keeping us edge," she said sourly. "Let themselves in whenever they'd like and try to put the rest of us into a fright, all just to remind us that they're the ones with teeth all month long, while we grow 'em for only one night."

Saoirse's response was much as Dora expected. She hadn't yet met a 'wolf whose hackles didn't rise at the mention of the Werewolf Wing. Even those like Dora, who chose to ally themselves with the Ministry, kept those from Level 4 at a distance.

Pandora had long ago come to terms with her condition. She was a werewolf and that wasn't likely to ever change - even with all the ELF nonsense going around. She held resentment only for the fact that she had had no choice in any of it. She had been taken to St. Mungo's after being bitten - Dora never had a chance to go unregistered.

She often wondered how different her life would have been if she had gone undetected. Would she be more like Saoirse, with her fiery passion?

The Ministry had always treated her fairly and Dora did believe that working within the system was better than trying to tear it down from without, but she couldn't deny that the system currently in place was flawed beyond repair. She had stopped trying to convince her friends to join the Registry long ago.

"I gave them the right when I allowed my home to be used as a Safe House," Dora replied quietly while shaking her head slowly. "It seemed the best idea at the time - the Ministry's cells leave quite a bit to be desired," Plus, Pandora had always felt the need to help others and she had the resources to do so. It would have been selfish of her not to open her basement to those who could benefit.

"I wouldn't mind so much if they used those teeth to actually help every now and again," she replied with a glint of malice in her eye. Puddifoot's had been extremely lucky to have not been targeted by all the anti-werewolf drama plaguing their community. "I just wish they would spend less time worried about us and more time hunting down the idiots causing all this unrest,"

"Aw, sure," said Saoirse, intent on taking as long as she could to top a cracker with an elaborately arranged construction of cheese and other accoutrements.

It probably had seemed like the best option for Dora at the time. In Saoirse's experience, there were two types of 'wolves in England: there were those like her friend Pandora, who had grown up close to the British Ministry and still trusted them to do the bare minimum to assist, and then there were those like Oscar Trumane, who knew better than to expect anything but betrayal. Community was what kept them safe, not the government, and Saoirse was sure that unlike Pandora, she didn't want the Ministry using their teeth at all. How anyone at all could trust them after the horrors that had passed just over a decade before, the werewolf would never understand.

But more and more these days, she felt like she was biting her tongue in lieu of pressing a friend. It didn't seem worth it to argue the subject right now, certainly not when there delightful young pups wrestling with their new toy in front of her.

"How's Kale been, then?" Saoirse asked her friend innocently, as she lifted her overly complicated cracker to try and take a bite. "Has he been by much to help plan the party?"

She knew that the relationship with Dora and her children's father was the very definition of It's complicated, but that didn't mean she couldn't be a little nosy about how her friend's personal life was faring.