Once more the tiny healer teetered on the tips of her bare toes, reaching an arm up to procure a second mug from the shelf almost out of reach. She placed it on the granite surface next to the first mug before turning around to face the much taller man she’d made an active effort at ignoring for the last week. She crossed arms over her abdomen, still feeling mildly uncomfortable about the exaggerated proximity that had just occurred between them only moments before. Actions of that nature were the kind that certainly shouldn’t be discussed again.

Johann’s query incited a small chuckle from the habitually serious healer as she leaned against the surface.
“That depends on two circumstances.” Miss Bombay responded, her eyes searching in an upwards direction to seek out his dark blue ones. “Whether you have told anyone else of the occurrences of last week and if it’s going to happen again. I don’t much anticipate finding a sleeping wizard on my doorstep every Saturday evening.”

Perfectly timed, the kettle on the stove began to sing in a painfully piercing voice as steam erupted from its nozzle, shooting towards the ceiling. Hannah withdrew her wand and flicked it at the kettle, allowing it to go about its business with the mugs. The lid of a silver tub on the work surface shot up into the air allowing for two tea bags to bounce out excitedly and plonk themselves in the mugs. The lid, ceremony completed, dropped back onto the tub with a clean pop.

“How is your antler laden companion? I expect he’s been adamantly accusing you.”

"The only person i've told is Colin," Johann replied honestly, his gaze lowered as he said it and then looked up to Hannah's face appeasingly. "I know you two don't… but I consider you both to be very good friends to me at least," even if I can't put you in the same room some days he added to himself.

"I needed a second opinion, you did have me puzzled. He wouldn't tell anyone else." Johann visibly paused, his mind catching onto a thought, a comment in passing, it was more than obvious he knew something else and wasn't mentioning it.

"As for whether its going to happen again - wine drinking, I hope so, having to take you home to mine, well, that rules out the wine drinking, and whether I'm going to have to sit on your doorstep waiting for you to get back so I can return your shoes and apologise…" He shrugged his shoulders slowly. "I don't make a habit of making the same mistake twice."

Johann's eyes watched Hannah make the tea as he spoke.
"Hamilton is fine. Yes, of course he's been accusing me. Even Gabrielle Murray-Harker has been accusing me. It really doesn't help when you irritate your boss - quite innocently - and you live with her too." He looked genuinely miserable suddenly. "I admire my family very much, but I don't do living with them very well."

The expression to 'love' his family wouldn't have fitted. Johann struggled with the concept of 'love' past his mother and father even in a family relationship. Even if he did manage to express such feelings, he'd rarely identify them as such.

"I am sure I can give him a pair of hooves to go with them another week, just to give him something new to be irritated about." And distract him from spreading some alarming hearsay about how I took you home, was the completion of the sentence.

“Colin?” The healer questioned, twisting her head around from observing the tea making to look at Johann with raised eyebrows. “The male from the department of mysteries that does questionable and barbaric things to corpses for dubious reasons is your good friend?” Enough said, Hannah bit her lip from spouting off with her opinions of the Mr Downer and instead turned her head back to the tea. Hannah had met the man, she’d heard about what he did for money and she had made a very quick judgement. Johann, however, was overly curious and allowed that to cloud his judgement.

The tea was finished and Hannah once more pocketed her wand and took both cups in her hands. She twisted on her bare feet to face Johann and offered him a mug. “It is glaringly obvious to a bystander that you were guilty, Johann. Especially when you came to show admiration for your handy work.” She grinned before taking a sip of her tea and once more leaned against the counter.

“Then find alternative accommodation. I left my family home as soon as I finished Hogwarts. But when you have parents like mine you would.” Someone like Hannah certainly hadn’t enjoyed living with a man who enjoyed lying and a woman who spent more time painting her nails than looking after her child and offering any sort of support. Getting a job and her own house had been to Hannah’s great delight. She certainly appreciated her own space and very rarely saw the parents in question.

Hannah smirked and rolled her eyes at her friend. “I am appreciative of the fact that I am actually liked by you. Or so I believe.” Another sip of her tea and the witch pushed off from the country. “We may as well sit down.” And with that she left through another door into the sitting room.

Johann trailed Hannah into the sitting room, which provided yet another room for his gaze to wander round and become inattentive over.

"Oh yes, I like you." Johann replied hastily, in a child-like phrasing, not sitting down at first but instead stood in the middle of the room looking round, mug of tea in his left hand, steaming paying no attention to it or making any eye contact. Then with a look as if he'd realised something or come to a conclusion, he placed his tea down, shouldered off his wool coat, and sat down, smoothing out his jacket and shirt beneath.

"When I say like you, I mean intellectually, not that I ... what I mean is..." He stopped, closed his mouth and made a curious 'hurumph' sound, "You're a good friend too. A man can have more than one can't he, after all we talk about different things than I do with Colin, and I don't invite you both out together." Johann shrugged, decided very firmly as he sipped his tea that it was time to move the subject away.

"How has St Mungo's been since last week? How are the werewolves, and is there any food left in the cafe after you've been working there?" He asked, adopting his usual boyish grin. He hadn't meant of course that Hannah was fat by the last comment, but more the fact she'd literally eaten both lunches when Johann had bought her it. That was one thing she had in common with Colin of late, he'd had to pay to feed both of them to get something in return...

The living room, like all other rooms in her house represented Hannah’s personality perfectly. Neat, clean, tidy and impersonal. There were two pictures on the wooden mantel over the fireplace. One showed Hannah and Graham stood on the steps of Hogwarts, her beaming proudly at the camera, clad in Ravenclaw robes and her usual school uniform starving out through a pair of thickly rimmed black glasses, long straggly hair falling down past her shoulders in an unmanaged mess. Graham half glared half smirked at the camera, his black robes hanging off his body with a hand on his shorter sister’s shoulder. The second picture was a slightly older girl in smart healers robes, hair scraped back neatly holding a scroll in her hands. On either side of her stood a slim, tall blonde woman and an average height Italian man with dark hair and a big nose.

Nothing else in the room really showed the history or private life of the occupant. A bookshelf stood in the corner of the room besides a desk. The shelf was filled with potions books and book on ancient healing methods, herbology and investigatory healing. The rest of the room was fairly bare. A sofa sat against the wall of the small room and Hannah made her way to a blue armchair beside that. She placed her mug down and lowered herself into the seat.

“It’s a good job you don’t.” The witch stated plainly as she picked up her tea once more and took a sip. “I hardly question the fact you have more than one friend. On the contrary.” Not that Hannah really had friends. Johann was one of the extremely select few that had managed to be referred to as a friend. Hannah wasn’t a person that thrived on social interaction. She was awkward and most people didn’t relish in spending time in her company.

“I simply speculate as to why you pick such a specimen to befriend.” Downer was a bizarre specimen of man and Hannah certainly didn’t think anything of what he called a career. She did wish to inform him that they were hardly in the medieval era researching new forms of muggle torture techniques.

The attempt to change the subject and the distinctly Johann way of doing it didn’t exactly work to distract Hannah. She gave him a slightly disapproving look whilst taking another sip from her cup. “There is.” She stated plainly. “Mister Downer best not tell anyone or I’ll do barbaric and unquestionable things to his corpse.”

“Mister Downer best not tell anyone or I’ll do barbaric and unquestionable things to his corpse.”

Johann chuckled.
"I think he's fine... he was too preoccupied playing tricks on me. I woke up in his morgue down on level nine." Johann involuntarily shivered, remembering the chill when he had woken up half dressed. He didn't elaborate on why he ended up there.

"Besides, I don't think Colin would be too worried if you left food in the St Mungo's cafe or not after you ate there." Johann's eyes had wandered and he hopped up again to take a better look at the photographs.
"Proud moments?" He asked, nodding at them, not looking Hannah's way, "Do you still measure your achievements through academia? Is that why there's an absence of any further photos?"  Johann peered over his shoulder curiously. He wasn't the type to keep photos at all, and the presence of two photos amongst a very sparse flat demanded his attention... which as per usual was a bit too nosy.

“Woke up...?” Hannah repeated slowly, eyes travelling up to the taller man. She sat forwards in the chair, eyebrows raised as her interest had just been piqued. “How were you...in an unconscious state that required ‘waking up’ at a practical enough proximity to his morgue, Johann?” In truth, it was hardly necessary to enquire into how it happened. She knew her friend liked his sleeping potions and she knew how one could overdo it or become reliant on them. They weren’t healthy for a witch or wizard to consume in vast quantities or with such a frequency as Johann, but trying to inform him of the dangers was utterly pointless.

He’d continue until he had a shock to make him stop. One of the best ways to coordinate such a shock would be to collaborate with Colin Downer, something she was never going to do willingly. Things would have to become fairly serious for the young witch to even consider such a strategy.

The young witch blinked when Johann queried her achievements. Two thin brown eyebrows lowered in confusion and her brow creased ever so slightly.
“What else is there?” Hannah Bombay’s life revolved around academia and such accomplishments. She worked, she researched, she ate and she slept. As far as Hannah so far realised, that was all one needed out of life. She was perfectly satisfied with such achievements and perfectly contented with the way she was. Of course she could improve. That would happen with experience and more knowledge. First she needed to tackle her issues with communicating with the living before she even gained a promotion.

Johann had neatly ignored Hannah's queries about his state around Colin.

"What else is there?" Hannah replied to his query about academic achievements.

"Well," Johann began, and settled back down. "I suppose you haven't had cause to discover them yet. Things like, getting married, children, first houses. Not strictly academic." He frowned at himself, "come to think of it, I can't say I've ever measured my life by much in that way either." He raised his eyebrows again and shrugged. "Perhaps you're right."

Sipping his tea, he realised with a glance to Hannah that she might pursue her earlier question.
"I underestimated the potency of a new sleeping potion, coinciding with a visit to Francis Pepper at the end of the day." He muttered, and sipped his tea again, lowering his eyes to Hannah's stockinged feet.

"Anyhow I bet with all the hard work, you're quite looking forward to a holiday. I think I'd quite like to go over and see South America soon, do you fancy it?" Johann leapt from one subject to the next to avoid Hannah dwelling on his response. After all, the most she could do was give him a lecture, and he didn't really heed them from anyone. It didn't affect Hannah directly, so she shouldn't worry.

"Though I'd probably want to spend quite a while over there, which doesn't really work when one is working for the Ministry. Be alright when I was working for myself back home, I could plan to do it." He shrugged again and swished his tea around the mug thoughtfully. "I suppose same for you, but even a short trip would be good, what do you think?" Johann looked hopefully at Hannah, in a similar way to a child appealing to a parent to be released to play - optimism and excitement.

“What is the point in those achievements if you haven’t developed yourself academically and professionally, first, Johann?” The young witch asked bluntly before taking a sip of her tea. So many witches and wizards fell in love, got married and had children so early before they had accomplished anything that would actually help them to support these lifestyles. Hannah wasn’t one of those witches. In fact, she didn’t really have a want to get married to a wizard and have mini witches and wizards. Her parents hadn’t exactly done a great job, save for the finished product and Hannah doubted the whole thing was for her. She was an academic. She was a healer and lived for her job. Who needed a family on top of that?

The German visitor pranced between topics in much the same manner an esteemed harlot pranced between different wizard’s beds. Hannah’s lips pursed in reaction to the sleeping potion incident but before she was given the time allowance to donate her opinion to the conversation, Johann was talking about travelling. The healer blinked. She didn’t do travelling. She did reading factual books and going to work.

And what did she think? “I’ve never been out of the united kingdom.” Came a simple answer from the witch before she lifted the tea to her lips once more and sipped from the mug. She leaned forwards and placed the cup back on the wooden coffee table that stood in the middle of the relatively small living room.

“You do know that an overdose of certain strong sleeping potions is capable of putting you into a coma from which you may never awaken, Johann.” Hannah decided to push the conversation back to a topic she knew plenty about. Travelling was for the adventurous people who were laid back. Not for uptight academics. “When I was training to become a healer I dealt with a case where a wizard awoke from a sleeping potion induced coma after 56 and a half years. He was lucky. But I certainly don’t fancy visiting your bedside regularly while you’re having an exceptionally extensive nap.”

The witch shrugged her shoulders, looking Johann dead in the eyes. “I suppose you have to pray for small mercies, however. For some people taking too much of a sleeping potion could simply stop their heart. That would be more convenient for your friends and family I guess.”

"Never?" Johann asked, amazed. He couldn't think of anything worse than being tied down in the same country for all those years. Escaping and exploring was fun, was a part of life, made you alive.

Hannah was keen to return to a subject she did have knowledge on, and Johann appeased her for the moment.
"Fifty six years? He must have aged and everything too, didn't he?" He asked, leaning forward. "I bet you wouldn't, visiting time would be over…"

Then she looked him in the eye and he found himself unable to look away - half out of fear, half out of curiosity.

"Is that your way of implying I'm an inconvenience for being me?" He asked with a frown. "Because I don't go out of my way to drink sleeping potion and attempt to poison or kill myself. Its something I have to do to function like everyone else." He placed his own teacup down and looked particularly irritable.
"There isn't a chance of an overdose, believe me I'm ill well before that." He meant with the conventional, apothecary brought remedies. Mixing them also made him vomit. The one he'd stolen however, very much appeared to have the potential for coma or death - especially given it had knocked him out within moments.

"You don't have to worry about me. Worry about people who are sick. Though I appreciate the sentiment that you'd at least start out visiting me, if I grew a beard in a coma…" His featured turned into his mischievous grin, which indicated he was making a joke of things to lighten the mood.

"So, I suppose you're not so keen to go out drinking wine with me again after last time? How about if I drink the wine and you drink something non potent?" He suggested.

“It’s something you’ve become reliant on to function like everyone else. You technically need sleeping potion as much as the next person.” This was an argument Hannah knew she wasn’t going to win until Johann really did receive a shock and was shown how bad for one’s health reliance on sleeping potion could be. Hannah would have expected waking up in his friend Colin’s morgue would surely have done it. Apparently not. Johann Storm was evidently stubborn. It was infuriating, but Hannah was starting to come to the conclusion that it was his problem. If he wanted to cause himself all sorts of problems against her better advice, he could go ahead. She would be there when things went bad to say ‘I told you so’ and offer him an annoying, sweet as a jelly bean smile.

“It would be insensitive if I didn’t visit you, Johann. I work in the hospital after all.” The young witch offered her friend a tight lipped smile before she reached forward to her tea again. “I’d be a bit worried if potions I drank sent me to sleep on my friend’s doorsteps though. Anything could happen if they weren’t gracious enough to wake me with water.” And with that Hannah took a sip of her tea and sat back in her chair.

"How about if I drink the wine and you drink something non potent?"

Hannah stared at her friend over the tea cup in her hand. “Like water?” The witch took one final sip, draining the liquid from her cup. “That doesn’t sound particularly fair to me. You obviously put a refilling charm on my glass. I must have had far more wine than you.” Her drunken memory loss that night couldn’t be blamed on the curse from the bandaged wound on her arm. It couldn’t exactly be blamed on Johann. But for a witch that enjoyed perfection and that always acted proper, it was far easier, and made herself feel better to blame him.

"Nope, no refilling charm." Johann raised his hands. "I drank more than you too! Just good company." He smiled, "Very good company." He echoed a little more quietly.

"But water's fine with me." He assured Hannah, "As long as i can drink the wine?" He asked, raising his palms quizzically and shrugging.
"I'll try not to let myself get to the point I need taken home though… your place is closer, and I won't dive into the nearest fireplace if I wake up here." The cheeky boyish grin returned over Johann's steepled fingers.