It was slow today at St. Mungo's. Anna had arrived at the hospital at a quarter to eight, as she always did. Her hair was neatly done into a small bun and she wore her medi-robes over her normal clothing. She'd gone through the normal routine, checked the few patients she had, and then reported to Healer Thorpe. Anna was assigned the task of reviewing the logs, and then with that task complete, there was little else to do.

Healer Thorpe gave her permission to go to the Healers Room until she was needed, and so Anna spent a few minutes writing a letter to a former professor from NWA. She then wrote a letter to her brother Gabriel, asking him how he was doing and if anything new had happened in Arizona. Upon finishing it and sending it off with one of the hospital's owls, Anna found that the only thing she had to do was twiddle her thumbs.

Sighing in boredom, she stood up from her chair and walked over to the window which looked out upon London, both magical and non-magical. It was raining today, and big fat raindrops ran down the window, as if racing each other. Anna entertained herself momentarily by watching them, then grew tired of it and returned to her chair.

(My apologies if it's not long enough)

Archie was returning downstairs from the topmost floor, where he had enjoyed a glass of milk. Getting a cold drink in the UK seemed to be a harrowing task, he had discovered. They drank their beer warm here. He was used to bottles back home that turned blue when your beer was as cold as the Rockies.

He winced a little. Having his bones reset was always a little unpleasant, but for some reason the ribs bothered him the worst. Being kicked by any hooved creature would do it. It had, funnily enough, been a regular old horse, of all things. The thought made him humiliated. He was a whiz with horses. ...Usually, anyway.

Passing by the fourth floor, he took out his pack of Newports and looked inside, shaking the box. "Seriously? Damn," he groaned, finding only two crumpled little cigarettes left.

Anna sat for a while longer, scratching out doodles onto parchment with her pen and then erasing them with a flick of her wand. Then she finally crumpled the paper up and tossed it aside, standing up. She decided she might as well check on the patients again, perhaps they would enjoy a chat. She had just reached the corridor when she saw a man with brown hair and a slight slouch on the stairs.

He was messing with a pack of cigarettes, which apparently he had run out of. On a whim, Anna approached him, leaning in the doorway to the stairs.
"Y'know, smoking can kill." Anna grinned though, softening her appearance. "You'd better hope Healer Thorpe doesn't see you with those." She stepped closer, examining the cigarettes."Oh, Newports. My Dad used to smoke them, before my Mother made him quit."

Archie must have jumped a mile. Before his brain caught up to the sentence the woman had spoken he heard the word "kill" and he felt his heart jump into his throat. He scrambled backwards instinctively before getting a grip on himself. "Oh. ...Oh God. I must look like a total psycho," he said, waving his hands. "Sorry. You surprised me is all. ...I'm definitely not crazy."

He looked at the pack (which he had accidentally crushed in his hand in his surprise) and then back to her. "Oh, I mean, no. I'm not gonna smoke these in here," he clarified nervously. "I mean, I would have gone outside." Would he have? If he was being honest with himself he supposed he would have found a secluded stairwell instead. The "outside" in the UK seemed to make him terribly depressed. One would think after having suffered sunstroke four times he'd be sick of sunny days, but no.

Trying to place her accent, Archie squinted. Was it American or Canadian? It was so hard to tell sometimes. "Where are you from?" he asked.

Anna jumped slightly in turn, not expecting him to react like that. She shook her head and stepped back slightly, smiling apologetically. "No, you don't. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Although if you're here, perhaps you are going a bit crazy...Just kidding."

She looked sadly at the pack. Ah, well, the cigarettes were rather pathetic looking to begin with. "You can relax, I won't report you. My only patient right now has certainly seen far worse things than 2nd hand smoke. Besides, it's miserable out there. Well, for most. I personally enjoy the rain. Reminds me of home. I'm from Vancouver, Washington originally. But I went to school at NWA. Are you from the states?" She asked.

"I'm Anna, Anna Jenkins, by the way."

Archie brightened and his face relaxed. Although he had never met her, it was like seeing a familiar face in a crowd of strangers. "Yeah!" he grinned widely. "Apache County, Arizona, born and raised!"

"I'm Archie Friar," he replied, extending his hand. "I'm like, way too excited to meet you." He knew it sounded dopey out loud, but he really was thrilled. For speaking the same basic language, people in his new home sure seemed foreign. The chore of having to constantly translate everyone was exhausting at times. "Washington, huh?" he asked in approval. "The Evergreen State, huh? Why, does it rain like all the time there?"

Anna grinned back, glad to see him relax. "Arizona? It's beautiful there. My brother will be a 7th year at Red Rocks this fall. I've visited it a few times, and I've always loved it."

Anna took his hand and shook it, laughing at his proclamation. "Like wise. I can't tell you how great it is to meet someone from the states. Yeah, that's the one. Yes, all the time. London's rain is nothing compared to it. So why did you move to London?" She asked.

He knew the statement might come across as a bit obvious, but he gave it anyway; "No way! I went to Red Rocks! What house is he in?!" Archie, sporty as he was, had a great deal of school pride and was always excited to talk shop with someone about the ins-and-outs of his alma mater.

"Oh my God, I know what you mean. I'm totally homesick. Can't relate to the rain though, I gotta admit. Arizona's dry as a bone."

Archie considered his reasoning. The facts still didn't really make sense even to him. "Well, I heard about a job opening in the Ministry. I make a little more than I did in the States, but mostly it looks good on a resume I guess. What about you? Why're you here?"

"I should have guessed, you be from Arizona. Gabe was in  Kananeski-Anayeni. What about you? I have to admit, the whole house thing is a little foreign to me. NWA doesn't have houses or anything. Just our little islands out there. How long have you lived in London for?" Anna asked. She heard footsteps on the stairs and realized that they were having a conversation in the middle of the stairs.

"Would you like to join me for a cup of tea or something? I'm not busy right now. No need to keep standing in the stairs." Anna grinned, stepping out of the way of a wizard passing by them. "Oh, me? Well, I've always respected St. Mungo's. And after Remembering Day last year, I felt the UK needed me more."

Archie nearly squealed like a little girl. "Me too!" he exclaimed, flooded with the excitement of a frat boy meeting another Brother. "The house thing is fun," he added. "I'm pretty sure they just do it to make life a little more interesting for us."

"Ohhh, well, I guess... three? Three months?" He counted something on his fingers, but he wasn't even sure he knew what he was counting. It helped him think. "What about you?"

Although he always got bizarre looks, Archie would only ever order a glass of milk or a glass of water unless he were drinking liquor. "Sure, that sounds awesome," he grinned. "I hope you're not gonna be embarrassed if I just get milk."

Anna laughed softly at Archie's reaction, but it was one of happiness, not of ridicule. "That's crazy...I wonder if you knew him...no, I suppose Gabe would have been too young. I suppose having houses would be fun. Personally I've never been a fan of competition. Here, let's go upstairs."

She lead the way up, turning back when he said three months. "Wow, not that long. You're new like me, then. Do you like it here? I've only been here a month. Just barely getting used to it. Pssh, no, I won't mind. Besides, I'm getting coffee. It's practically against the law to not get tea in this country, but I've never been a fan."

"Dang, I wish I'da known him! It's the best house in the school. ...I mean, not grades-wise, definitely, but the people were all totally cool." He grinned to her. "I'm sure Gabe was no exception."

Archie cracked his knuckles. "I like it," he replied slowly. "I thought I would be all... settled in? By now? But now I'm pretty sure it's never gonna feel like home. Yeah! Oh my God, the tea! It's like I can't get away from it! If it's not Texas tea I don't want it. And chocolate, that's the other thing. It's like I'm eating baking chocolate. Who do I have to kill to get a Hershey bar?"

"I'll have to tell him about you in my next letter. Gabe loves his school to death...I suppose he's pretty cool too." Anna conceded. "Can't really tell him that though, since he's my brother."

She entered the tea room, smiled politely at witch behind the counter, and sat down at a table, motioning for Archie to do the same. "Never say never. Maybe you just need time. I like London well enough, it's just my friends and family I miss. It's definitely busier here than the west coast. Oh, and for chocolate, you haven't been going to the right places. Forget about the wizarding stores. You need to go to some muggle candy stores. That's where the real goodies are." The elderly witch came to take their order and Anna asked for a cup of coffee and a glass of milk for Archie.
"You never told me what you do for a living."

"I loved it too," he agreed, nearly getting misty-eyed. That was an understatement. He hadn't loved it, he had been in love with it. His classmates had been his best friends and the fact that they let him leave school grounds to go play football for the local high school was amazing. "What subjects does he like?"

Archie lowered himself gingerly into the chair and winced as he did so. "Yeah, I really miss my family," he nodded, folding his arm to support his battered ribs. "I guess I haven't really been out on the town like... like at all," he realized. "It's spooky out there. I feel like I'm on Mars or something."

He stared for a moment before her question sank in. "Oh! Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm a magizoologist... for the Ministry. I work with animals. Which means I'm here like... all the time."

Anna traced patterns on the table with a fingertip, smiling faintly as Archie spoke. It was obvious he missed home even more than she did. "He loves Defense Against the Dark Arts...He talks about being an auror or a hit wizard." Anna shook her head. "He likes danger. Goes out of his way to find it."

She arched a brow as he winced, but of course, he was here because of some injury. That was the only frustrating part of being a healer: nearly everyone she met only came here because they needed healed. She really needed to get out more.

"Maybe we could go out sometime. To the Leakey Cauldron. And I could show you my favorite muggle candy shop." His injuries made more sense when she heard what his job was. "That would have been one of my other picks for a job. I love animals. I used to heal some when I went to NWA."