Johann settled his back against Hannah's front door. She wasn't in, he had hoped she might be.

It had been a full week since she had last spoken to him, when she had left him sat cross-legged on his bed, confused at what he had done. In that time, he had assumed or supposed a lot of things, including that she was embarrassed, or he had said something rude, or accidentally hurt her while getting her back to somewhere safe to sleep.

He'd have to wait until she returned, he figured, drawing his wool longcoat in around him, and wrapping his arms around his bent legs, as he had while contemplating Hannah's sudden departure the week before. Exhaling with a sigh, he surveyed his surroundings. A quiet, Muggle building not far from Diagon Alley, where nobody had moved from their front doors to pass Johann in half an hour now. Still, he was sure Hannah would return at some point, and he'd be there to see her.

Still, he was fiendishly tired again, despite his unscheduled nap on Francis's floor a matter of days before which had led him to wake up in Colin's domain of the Department of Mysteries. Unstoppering the bottle, he contemplated sleeping potion, sniffing at it. He didn't want to sleep long. Raising it to his lips he took just a taste. Restoppered the bottle, and had just slid it into his coat pocket before he nodded off, head leaning to the right against the wall, and shoulder heading that way too, his arms loosely hugging his legs still, and black curls falling across his pale face.

Saturday afternoons were much loved by Hannah Bombay. She habitually spent a couple of hours shopping in London and spending her wages. Shopping relaxed her. It was the one thing other than work that she enjoyed and looked forward to with excited anticipation. And the items she purchased the most? Shoes. It was easy to forget how young this witch was. She was smart, mature and a workaholic. But she loved shoes and shopping just as much as any other woman in her early twenties. And when one had a healthy wage packet what else was one to do with it? It wasn’t as if Hannah could take it with her when she went into the afterlife.

So at about 5PM that afternoon Hannah was walking along the corridor to her apartment, high heeled shoes clicking on the marble floor and large paper bags with muggle shop names on them in hand.  She approached the door and stopped dead as she spied a figure asleep on the doorstep.

“What in the...” the young witch whispered as she transferred the bags from her left hand into her right hand and withdrew her wand with the now free hand. Wand pointed at the man, she approached slowly before finally registering who it was that was camped out and evidently clocked out across her front door.

With wand out and nothing else to do, Hannah pointed it at her visitor. “Aguamenti” the witch muttered and a jet of ice cold water shot from the point of her wand, blasting itself into Johann Storm’s face.

"ARGH!" Johann exclaimed as his face was soaked, as was his scarf and wool coat. His arm flew up instinctively to shield his face and he curled more into a ball protectively, face screwed up before opening an eye tentatively and getting to his feet swiftly. His head spun momentarily, but his wand made it out and extended to his assailant.

"Hannah!" Johann exclaimed, half pleased, half irritated. Water dripped from his nose and his hair, and soaked into his warm scarf. When he realised the foe was more a friend, he turned his wand on himself and began to dry out, a broad grin across his face.

"I haven't seen you all week, had to find out where you lived to pay you a visit to check everything was alright. You left in a hurry last weekend." His hair curled more fervently once wet and dried swiftly.

As thoroughly expected the man woke up instantaneously. If only she could use the spell on her patients without being suspended. Hannah’s bedside manner was cold but not wet and cold. She appreciated having a job so she could buy things like those in her shopping bags and by blasting patients with cold water on a regular basis she would very quickly be out of a job. As it was, blasting Johann with the water provided adequate satisfaction for the moment. Especially seeing him spring to life, wand poised to defend himself again an attacked. Hannah had yet to hear of a dangerous attacker commencing with aqua hexes before...

"Hannah!"

The young witch dipped her hand into the robe pocket and produced a ring of keys as she calmly responded, “Johann,” to him, contrasting dramatically with his shocked greeting.

Johann pointed out the obvious. That they hadn’t seen each other for a week and she’d ran off with a hurry. Hannah sighed and stepped up to the door, fiddling for the correct key. “For a reason” she stated bluntly, inserting the key into the hole and twisting it. “It seems I made the mistake of not having you pegged as a chauvinistic wizard. I won’t make it again.” She pushed the door open and stepped inside, twisting on her high heel to face him. Or to look up at him at least.

“What do you want?” Had he come to gloat a little, rub it into her face a bit more or get her drunk again? Hannah didn’t know and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. What had happened last week was humiliating enough for her.

"No mistake at all." He uttered swiftly. "I came to see how you were, you've been on my mind all week." Johann admitted, now dry, and his wand back away in his jacket. He smiled down at Hannah.
"Though the drinking was pretty fun, I don't think you quite shared the bliss over the hangover." His eyes raised momentarily, looking over her head and into the flat, curiosity.

"Oh, and to return these." He jumped at himself as he remembered, and reached into his wool coat to a magically enlarged inner pocket, to retrieve Hannah's shoes. He'd stumbled across them mid week, the 'imp' had been in and tidied up, it could stand his room no longer, and neither could his mistress. Yet another reason Johann had to find somewhere else to live, especially with Vedir's papers still coming in thick and fast.

He held the shoes out by the backs, a long finger tucked in each as he extended them to Hannah.
"Figure you mustn't have missed them, otherwise you'd have mentioned they were missing to me earlier." He smiled, "I think  you picked up everything else you left on the floor before falling asleep." He smiled again, hands going into his pockets.

All Hannah could do while Johann spoke was to stare at him with no idea of what to actually say to him. She’d been on his mind all week. That was mildly disturbing. He considered hangovers to be bliss. That was mildly psychotic. He alluded to her dressing once more after whatever sordid acts had occurred in that room. That was mildly horrifying. So rightly so the woman just stared, speechless. What else was she supposed to do while her brain hurried to process all this?

As far as Hannah saw it, she had been invited out for a drink with a male friend where she had partaken of a few glasses of wine. Then subsequently she recalled waking up in this man’s bed feeling nauseous and suffering from memory loss. The man hadn’t even been clear with the facts and Hannah’s protected ego had certainly not wanted to ask for them. Each of the awkward friends was as terrible as the other.

The moments felt like hours before the young witch snatched the shoes from him, glanced up and down her corridor and stepped aside to allow him to follow her in. She didn’t exactly fancy her neighbours hearing about her picking things off a male’s floor before going to sleep. Hannah Bombay was a healer not a harlot. She had a damn good reputation and some sort of drunken mistake wasn’t about to ruin that.

“Well don’t merely stand there, Johann. You’re not a vampire, you don’t require an invitation.”

Oh, good, perhaps she wasn't mad at him after all, Johann thought as she told him to come in, and not be a vampire. In surprise, he stepped inside swiftly, which outwardly might have seemed too swift like he was particularly pleased.

The door closed behind him and he had a moment to flit his eyes about the hallway of Hannah's flat. It must be good to have one's own space - Johann missed that. He really should sort that out, he told himself again. He didn't want to seem ungrateful to Gabrielle for moving out too swiftly though - it was more comfortable than Vasily's floor in a cat pee smelling cottage in Hogsmeade which in turn had been more comfortable than the short time he'd spent camping in Ignan's chambers at Hogwarts when he didn't want Johann to be there at all.

"Sorry for falling asleep on your doorstep, by the way." He apologised. "Its been a bit of a long week." Johann's shoulders relaxed. "Haven't really had time to sleep, like the night you were there - spent it all working on paperwork. Thank Merlin you don't snore." His eyes were still preoccupied by surveying Hannah's flat nosily, his voice occasionally pausing as he did.

"How was your shift? How are all the people injured by the attacks last week now, are they getting any better?" He asked with genuine concern all of a sudden, not realising there had been any significance in his previous comment at all.

The older wizard’s greedy eyes flew around the flat trying to take in their surroundings. Johann was eager and inquisitive. Hannah was able to read that much into him. It had been glaringly apparent the first time she’d met him. She hadn’t liked that trait so much then. But to be honest, she wasn’t overly keen on it still. Hannah Bombay was a especially private individual and this man was the first person that wasn’t her brother that she had let into this apartment. People didn’t really know where she lived either. Hannah liked that.

The healer knew what long weeks were like. Especially now. Being a healer didn’t allow for much sleep or time for one’s self. Today, however, she was presented like her usual self. Well she looked smart like her usual self. Her hair fell perfectly over her shoulders and today she appeared positively muggle (minus the wand still encased in her left hand). The white and black coat was tied neatly at the front by a thick black belt and the skinny dark jeans clung comfortably to her legs. The witch had done a good job of blending into the crowd in muggle London. Having experienced the majority of her Saturday afternoons on Oxford Street and in Covent Garden she should have had a grasp of muggle styles by now.

The witch decided not to look at Johann while he spoke. Instead she busied herself with unbuttoning her coat and hanging it up on the coat stand. It was a good job she wasn’t looking at Johann as he had the audacity to change the subject and continue on as if she hadn’t avoided him for the last week, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred between them. The witch slipped her wand between the brown belt around her hips and her jeans before folding her arms and turning on her heels.

She drew a breath slowly and looked up at Johann Storm, coming to the conclusion that something needed to be said. The pumpkin patch had been beaten around for long enough.

“Did we sleep together, Johann?” The witch practically battered the pumpkin over its head. “And I don’t mean actually sleeping.”

Johann Storm's expression would undoubtedly have been the same if someone had told him he was female, or had smacked him round the face with a large fish, or told him he was about to be arrested. His jaw lowered, his mouth forming a surprised 'oh' shape with his lips, his eyebrows sought out his hairline and his eyes widened.

"No!" He exclaimed after a moment of gawping at Hannah. "No!" He repeated, raising his hands this time, palms outermost to reiterate that it wasn't the case.
"Merlin, is that what you - is that why you ...?" He stopped himself and placed his hands together in prayer which he did when thinking, and rested his fingers on his closed lips, tilting his hands forward as began to speak again.

"I took you back to my room at Gabrielle's because I didn't know where you lived last week, and I couldn't leave you to get home on your own. I literally had to carry you the last bit, and just put you to bed. I spent the night working on papers half drunk myself. I couldn't sleep anyhow... I don't, you know..." Johann's mind raced to catch up with his mouth, "I hope you don't..." He stopped himself again.

"You're not disappointed are you?" He asked all of a sudden, hands still pressed palms together he extended them to point to Hannah as he posed the question. In all the thirty odd years of his life, Johann had never yet felt the need to follow the rudimentary procedure of 'insert part A into hole B to create children'. Or if he had, his mind had failed to acknowledge the body it so easily abused with lack of sleep, food and reliance on sleeping potion. It was little wonder he was a bit off the wall.

Well Johann didn’t need to seem so appalled by the enquiry. Hannah had simply wanted things clarified. Merlin knew she couldn’t bear to look at him properly before she asked. The idea that she couldn’t remember was...horrifying. Hannah remembered everything and she hated to ask about something like this. But there was simply no choice in these actions.

The wizard informed the tiny witch how he’d had to practically carry her while she’d been in the drunken stupor and a hand covered her mouth, her humiliation only increasing. How in the world had she ended up in such a dreadful condition? Was she certain Johann wasn’t just exaggerating things? She couldn’t be sure. Perhaps memory loss was an convenient thing after all.

“Di-disappointed?” A laugh escaped the healer and she shook her head, kicking the shoes off her feet and flicking her wand at them. The pretty heels began to dance towards the box underneath the coat stand. Why would she be disappointed about not having engaged in sexual relations with her friend while intoxicated to a considerable level?

“I’m relieved, Johann.” The healer paused, frowning before shaking her head again. “I don’t mean to offend.”

"None taken." Johann replied cordially without hesitation.

"I think I can understand why you've been avoiding me all week now you've asked that." He replied softly, his hands finding the pockets of his coat again and his head lowering to study the floor of the hallway. "Reckon I'm stupid for not even have the question cross my mind in all that time?" He asked Hannah honestly, stubbing his toe on the floor uncomfortably. Johann hated not seeing something, not noticing or figuring out a situation. He was the first to admit affairs of the heart were beyond his knowledge and understanding.

As he thought back to the previous weekend he shook his head.
"Perhaps we should agree to never mention it, and avoid wine?" Johann suggested, smiling slightly, looking up to Hannah again. "I'm sorry Hannah." He apologised, glad he finally understood what was causing them not to speak, though he wished it was something more straightforward.

"Nice place you've got here. Pity I didn't know where you lived, I'm sure you'd have been more comfortable in your own bed." 

"Perhaps we should agree to never mention it, and avoid wine?"

Arms folded once more and Hannah’s lips twitched ever so slightly, struggling to form a tiny smile. “I’ve never heard such sense produced by your vocal chords before.” After this comment she did allow her lips to create a smirk. She wasn’t planning on going near alcohol ever again. Now the young witch was fully aware of the reasons for which she had avoided the damaging substance in the first place. It hadn’t been a fun morning when she had finally returned home. Alcohol and its effect were certainly deplorable and a healer should have known better.

Not mentioning it didn’t last long. Already Johann was comparing his bed for what he imagined hers to be like. She frowned, bit her lip and turned around in her bare feet, decided to head into the kitchen instead. She could disregard the latter part of his most recent comment for both their sanities.

“It suffices.” Hannah stated abruptly, under the illusion he was following her down the hallway and into the small but bright and inviting kitchen. She flicked her wand at the gas ring under the kettle and it sprang to life, commencing heating of the water above it. “I don’t spend a large amount of time here.”

A couple of moments passed while she listened to the steaming kettle and Hannah leant against a surface, folding her arms. She looked up to Johann uncomfortably. “Thank for...you know?” It was polite to thank him wasn’t it? Especially after all manner of things that had been running through her mind.

Johann followed Hannah after a moment, into her kitchen. He'd still not taken off his coat, one because he wasn't sure if he'd been invited in formally, or whether she was still  a bit mad with him.

"I don't think I really had a choice in the matter." Johann replied honestly, though he gave one of his boyish grins. Actually he'd felt rather flattered by Hannah's drunken attention, retrospectively. Women didn't throw themselves at him, they thought he was weird, and well, he was after all.

He closed the distance between them both, leaning on the worksurface beside her. Then something unusual came over him, and he wrapped two long arms around Hannah for a moment, her familiar scent fresh again. There was a silent pause between them both, and then he let go and stood beside her again.

"Sorry, don't know what happened there..." He apologised and hastily walked across the kitchen to the other side, his back to Hannah. Johann cleared his throat and shoved his hands back into his pockets yet again, his fingertips of his left hand feeling the bottle of sleeping potion there, not wanting to dare look round at Hannah, and rather more doubting his own sanity.

"You're not making tea are you?" He asked, changing subject suddenly, looking back over his left shoulder, his subconscious logging how little detritus there was in the flat with regards to it having Hannah's personality imprinted on it. At least, as far as the hallway and kitchen went. She did say she spent hardly any time here, but Johann had assumed it would resemble her in some form.

Close contact for Hannah when she was sober was standing metres apart with a glass divider for separation. Hannah Bombay was a witch that put considerable value on personal space.  She didn’t allow people to get close to her emotionally and she certainly didn’t do it physically which was why she’d spent the last week in obvious avoidance of Johann Storm. Just in case the strange older wizard wanted to discuss or continue such close physical contact.

But that issue had been put to bed (quite ironically) and Hannah was simply left feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed. She was kicking herself for being such a moron, for primarily drinking and secondly getting that drunk she’d forgotten the activities and relied on a man to look after her. Well, at least Hannah had believed the issue of proximity had been rectified; until the man leant against the counter next to her.

The best words for Hannah to have possibly described what happened next were ‘awkwardly creepy’. The taller man loomed on the witch who barely reached above five foot and two long gangly arms wrapped themselves around her now stiff and highly uncomfortable body like two venomous snakes slithering around her abdomen, enveloping her before they proceeded to compress the very life out of her. The healer stood stock still, wondering two things. The first was what in Merlin’s name had bought on such a strange and disturbing action. The second was how was she going to get out of this man’s snakelike lanky arms.

He stepped back and Hannah’s light brown eyes continued to stare directly in front of her, making contact only with his chest as she started breathing once more. She hadn’t realised she had even ceased respiring during the...act. He apologised and she still didn’t move, a waxwork frozen in time.

"You're not making tea are you?"

Hannah blinked. Tea. Yes, yes she needed to make tea. The witch finally looked at Johann, eyebrows raised. She could completely ignore the great misdeed that had occurred only moments before. “Of course I am.” She said coldly before proceeding to tiptoe and grasp a cup from the shelf above her head. “Shall I make it two?”

“Of course I am. Shall I make it two?”

"Please." Johann replied, turning to look over his shoulder, and then turned round cautiously at the other end of Hannah's kitchen.

"Milk no sugar." He added and fell silent while she dealt with the tea, both of them trying to ignore the awkward moment that had happened just before.

"You won't mention I was asleep on your doorstep will you?" Johann asked quietly, as if that was the biggest issue of the evening, clearly.