Curse this house! At least they could have done worse, right...?

Dion was still peeved. But the house they'd gotten was, he'd admit, a nice house...if you ignored the massive amounts of enchantments, the house elf who tried stubbornly to follow its century-old routine, the shower that changed temperate randomly, the portraits that shouldn't shut up about propriety...the floors that dropped away, the fireplace that constantly sent you two or three addresses too far...and, well, so on.

Oh yes, a lovely house. And it had all been for the low price of 25,000 galleons. He'd be lucky to see that paid off by the time he got to Senior Auror! But it had enough bedrooms and was, well, roomy enough. That and the fact they wouldn't be able to get a better deal much of anywhere was reason enough to put up with it. And maybe it was fixable.

He'd spent this Saturday morning enjoying the temperate summer air on the house's front steps, trying to fix the peeling paint, the grimy windows and the landscaping. It was going to take years to make the house really presentable, but at least they could try.

Dion was therefore standing at the base of the front steps, waving his wand and directing a paintbrush high above him. It was, slowly but surely, restoring the faded gold lettering that read 19...and all of the gold leafing and decoration surrounding the number. The steps and landing were half-painted, one side in new vibrant color and the other in the original peeling, ruined paint.

Of course the wilted flowers all around him still made the newly painted side look like a dump. That he wasn't sure what to do about.

Amilè took a deep breath as she looked around her enterance hall. It had been well over a month since the Auror office had been set into a turmoil, but that didn't mean it was time to stop checking every dark corner. Constant Vigilence. The general public used the Auror's creed in such a comical light that it lost significance to everyone... except the Aurors themselves. It was ingrained into their very beings. The moment they let their guard down would be their last unless they were very, very lucky. Even though she was the youngest Auror in the office, the French woman knew that much.

As she stepped out of the door, she checked the wards. Once satisfyied, she stowed her wand and began her walk. Ever since she had graduated from Hogwarts, Amilè had lived in the medium sized house in London. It was an old house, built in the proper-pureblooded style. It was everything she had been born and raised into. It was confortable and safe... suprising since the hallways were impeccable and there was almost no sign of anyone living there. Her OCD extended to far more than her job and friends. Every single little thing had a place and it would, without fail, return there...

Amilè kept her hand in her pocket as she walked down the block. It was a calm day. People were sitting outside and talking, waving as she passed by, Her walks were as common as everything else she did. People began to recognize the patterns of her life... Now that she was a full auror and out in the open, she didn't feel as safe about it. Having such stark patterns of behavior... it wasn't smart. She had only just begun to start thinking about changing those age old habits and it was more difficult than she imagined.

Even on this special day, she couldn't break her habits to even go out. Twenty-Two years old. By Merlin, she felt ancient... And somehow, she was 4 years younger than the next youngest auror. And younger than Tarelin who was still a trainee.
Twenty-Two Years old. She didn't know if she wanted to do anything. She hadn't even planned anything with Veronique. There was nothing special about it anyway. Another day and another year. Thank God she was still alive.

Yet there was something new on her walk. One of the oldest houses on the street, older than even hers, was now occupied by a young, blonde male. One of her thin eyebrows raised in confusion. She'd have to check it out... He looked like he couldn't have been more than eighteen. So, he was 4 years younger than her at least. Finally, she recognized him as the two third year Hufflepuff twins... Well, he certainly didn't look like a 3rd year anymore.

Deciding on politeness, she smiled and waved to the blonde. "Hello. Did you just move in?" 

Dion turned suddenly, not having noticed Amile's approach, and the paintbrush streaked a bit as his concentration failed. The brush dragged across the wood, messing up one of the golden patterns. He said something impolite under his breath, pulling the brush away from the wall and catching it before he turned around. When he turned, however, he had a polite smile on his face.

"My apologies," he said. He looked Amile up and down; there was something passingly familiar about her that he couldn't put his thumb on. He tilted his head for a moment - before realizing he was staring. He blinked, shook his head, and smiled again.

"I moved in just the other day," he said, trying not to glance at the house as a shingle picked that moment to fall off the roof and land on the dead flowers with a thunk. Dion was both angry...and glad it didn't get up and start hitting him, like one of the tea kettles had earlier that morning. "With some others," he added, though 'some others' didn't really do the rather eclectic group much justice.

"Do you live around here, Miss...?"

Amilè didn't realize she had unintentionally startled the blonde until she saw his paintbrush jerk. Her expression remained calm, although inside she was smiling. It was too bad she couldn't wear the satin slippers on the job. It was so much easier to be absolutley silent when she wasn't wearing sturdy shoes.

She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in mild suprise at the eye color of the young male. That solidified her theory that this was one of the twins from Hogwarts. She hadn't met anyone else with such... individual eyes. With a slight blush, she realized that he had been staring. She pushed it aside, placing it on the fact she probably looked slightly familar. She wasn't as individual looking. Except for her hair, of course.

"I moved in just the other day with some others."

The French red-head smirked when a shingle from the obviously neglected house chose that moment to fall off the roof. She winced as it snapped a few flower stalks. The blonde obviously looked flustered. The magical house was probably putting up a fight. They usually did if they were left unoccupied for as long as this one apparently had.

"Do you live around here, Miss...?"

She smiled as she filled in the blank. "Vaillancourt. Amilè Vaillancourt. I've lived just down the way since I graduated from Hogwarts. Have you just graduated... ?" Even though the face was recognizable, she couldn't for the life of her remember the name of the twins.

"Dion Fayette," he said. Her name sounded familiar, and not just because she shared a surname with the Potions mistress (and the long red hair, of course). He couldn't place her, though; given her apparent age, it was likely she'd overlapped him at Hogwarts. Or he was just looking at her and seeing Juliette. But how likely was it there were two completely unrelated Valliancourts?

"All of us just graduated, actually," he said, absently cleaning off the paintbrush and capping the paint tin. He paused, awkwardly, trying to find a way to explain the housing situation in a tactful manner. "Decided to bunk with our friends, my brother Dax and myself," he said. "Since we're all going to be Aurors, it made the most sense to coordinate." He was trying to make that add up to so we won't have any wild parties, but he didn't think he was very clear.

Somehow, mentioning they'd all been low on cash didn't make the house seem any more glamorous. "The Potions mistress is a Valliancourt, too," he observed. "Any relation?"

Amilè smiled slightly. "Pleased to meet you, Dion Fayette. I think I remember you and your brother. I beleive I was a seventh year your third." Just like that, his brother's name popped into her head as well. Dax. When she was at Hogwarts, the two of them were practically synonomous. He went on to explain how he had just graduated and was living with a bunch of friends. He capped the paint tin and cleaned off the brush.

The French Auror smirked when she heard that the lot of them were going to be aurors... Rather, were going to train to be aurors. It was much more difficult than it seemed and there were always a few that didn't make it. "Aurors? Really?" A small chuckle eminated from her. "Then I guess I will be seeing plenty of you on an everyday basis. I just graduated from the Auror Academy a few months ago and started the corp in May."

The red head was not small, but her delicate features didn't make her look like Auror material in the least. "And yes, Juliette is my cousin."

Of course, any 'You're cousins? No wonder you're hot too!' comments didn't get to his head, too overpowered by her admittance she was a former trainee herself. His body language changed noticeably; his back straightened fully, his chest unconsciously puffed out and overall he went from relax and casual to a stance best described as official.

"Really?" he asked, obviously interested, his interest completely transparent. "We're all kind of waiting to find out if we got in or not..." He paused. Dion wasn't the sort to ask for charity, exactly, but like everyone else in the house...he was stressed.

"How...what's it like?" he asked, frowning. "The tests and interviews, I mean. The - the others are kind of stressed." Not that she needed to know he was, of course.

"I know you can't tell me exactly what they're like, but...were the NEWTs really a good prep?"

Amilè saw the very physical change in the younger blonde's demeanor. His back straightened and he looked far more professional than the obviously "just-graduated" boy he had been just moments before. A small glint appeared in the auror's eye. So everyone in the house was supposedly going into training? No wonder he seemed so eager to know about the entrance exams. There was a good possibility that she had met a few of them at the mixer a week or so ago.

She shook her head, her stick straight red hair moving side to side. "You have nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Not many who want to be Aurors are silly enough to slack off during Hogwarts. If you did well on your NEWTs, then I'm sure you'll do well on the entrance exams."

"How many of you are there, may I ask?" Her slight French accent showing through.