Friends are angels sent down to earth to make good days ...
The words were blurring and after the fourth time she'd scratched out a mistake on the parchment, Mira frowned and threw her quill down. Her thesis was nearly done, but her thoughts were too busy with other things to give it the concentration it deserved.
Her gaze was drawn to the newspaper hanging off the edge of her desk again, and pushing her chair back, she stood and flicked her wand at the lamp. The light went out and it was completely dark; there wasn't even a sliver of light shining from Harry's office. He'd had a late meeting and probably grabbed something to take home for dinner after.
It was just her and whatever errant Ministry workers had decided to stay after hours when the halls were dark, but most importantly, quiet.
Her thoughts had turned to Euan many times the past several weeks, but every time she had made an attempt to visit him, his cubby had been empty or there had been other trainees hanging about, probably trying to do what she longed to. Mira didn't know them though, and didn't suspect he'd want anything resembling true comfort in front of so many people. Between the two of them, workaholics both, they hadn't had a fantastic chance at really getting to know one another, but waking up with him in a pile of people on his birthday, along with the affection she already had for him, compelled her to try again.
There was no reason to think he'd be in after hours, but a stronger part of her reasoned there was no reason he'd likely want to go home, either. She didn't know what it was like to lose a parent, let alone both, but she did know what it was like to lose someone important to you, who you loved, and have all that hurt exposed to the world. The papers had not been kind to her family when Joshua had died; the connection to the Death Eater Rosiers had been too good for them to pass up.
Shaking away the bad memories the best she could, Mira padded quietly through the maze of cubbies, hopeful when she saw a light where his should be, and relieved when she rounded the corner and found him sitting at his desk with the lamp on - the lone penetration into the dark.
"Hallo," she greeted, voice soft.
Euan looked up from his desk to see Mira. "'Lo." He gestured for her to sit in the other desk's chair. "Lot of work?" he asked.
"Just writing my thesis," she said, gaze flicking over his features. He looked tired. "It wasn't coming though, and I figured it was late enough that you'd either be gone, or I'd finally find you alone." Mira offered him a small smile as she shifted the chair about to face him and sat on the edge.
"I've become predictable then," Euan tried to inject some humor, already knowing what Mira wanted to talk about. "Eventually I figured I'd wait all but the most persistent out."
"For some quiet?" She tipped her head.
"For people to stop asking questions." He shrugged, not really sure how to put it without sounding callous. But then again, when had Tate Abercrombie ever really been a father to him?
She'd come by to offer comfort. How that would take shape, she hadn't really planned, but she tipped her head to the other side as a thought occurred to her. "This is a question, technically, and I'm sorry up front," she said, nose crinkling slightly, "but do you want to go get some drinks? I know a pub in Chelsea that's good for ... well, the drinks are strong and the company only cares about football."
"I spent the first night at the bottom of a whiskey bottle," Euan confessed. "Guess the apple doesn't fall from the tree after all." There were reasons he didn't really drink, his father having been the prime example of too much excess.
"No pubs then," she said, tiny frown furrowing her brow. Mira stood then and held her hand out. "Come on. I've something in mind that doesn't involve whiskey or too many questions, at least the kind you'd rather not answer."
Nodding, Euan followed her lead. Not that he wouldn't mind a drink, of course, but he wasn't his father. "Alright." He was happy just to go with the flow.
They were silent as they made their way to the Atrium, but it wasn't awkward and Mira linked her fingers with his and gave his hand a light squeeze. She hadn't a clue what he was feeling - Euan was always a bit of an enigma to her. If she could maybe distract him from what had happened though, then perhaps that was something.
They appeared with a soft 'pop' of Apparation in the dark entryway of Peregrine Cottage and Mira was unsurprised that Cassie wasn't home. It was Friday night; she likely wouldn't see her twin 'til the morning.
A flick of her wand had the candles littered throughout springing to life and Mira tugged him further into the little house. "I was thinking ice cream," she offered as she pulled the icebox open. There were at least twenty flavors within. She glanced up at him. "What do you think?"
He smiled. "Rose likes to fix things with ice cream as well. Which is good I think. I have a terrible sweet tooth. Do you have any strawberry?"
"As it's my favorite, it's ..." she bent, digging, "... always in here." She stood with a triumphant smile, carton of strawberry in hand. "Here," she said, pushing it into his hands. "Spoons are in the top drawer by the sink, and think of Rose when you crack the lid. I, dear sir, am going to change." She grinned at him before darting up the stairs.
Nodding, even though she wasn't there to see, Euan simply summoned the spoon from the indicated drawer before digging in. He hadn't realized how hungry he really was. A sandwich at tea was rather long ago, now that he thought about it.
Padding back down the stairs in her fuzzy blue slippers, overlarge tee and little shorts, Mira stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hands on hips as she considered Euan. "I probably should have fed you real food first." She eyed him doubtfully.
He had to swallow the mouthful of ice cream before he could answer. "I don't...er, I dinna," he corrected himself, hazily remembering that she liked hearing his natural accent, "I dinna really eat real food. So is na a real change."
A real smile curled her lips as she padded up to him, the brogue titillating her senses. She liked the way words sounded; it was part of her charms work, making sure everything was enunciated and said just so. It made her pay special attention to the slightest inflections in people's voices, but Euan's, she just enjoyed. "I don't really eat it either, which explains why our icebox is full of ice cream and not much else."
She snatched a spoon and tugged on his arm, pulling him towards the sofa. "This is the long day at work, life can go stick itself up someone else's arse, thing we do," she told him as she curled onto the sofa and tugged him down next to her. "We get slippers, which you'll have to procure at some point," she informed him, "and ice cream, and things at least taste better. It's the little things." She shifted towards him and dug her spoon in. A large dollop was procured and she licked it, nodding to herself and the satisfactory flavor. Maybe some Blackberry swirl after this. "You've gotta start somewhere, you know."
He really didn't know, but he didn't want to say so aloud and seem odd. "Sure." His spoon dipped into the ice cream again. "I suppose I should thank ya for savin' me from th' Ministry. I dinna really leave it now, except to go home and shower and catch a little sleep." Work, with its schedule and routine, had become his safe haven.
"Yeah, I didn't think so. I didn't want to go home for a long time, either. Or school, really." She crinkled her nose and contemplated the ice cream on her spoon. "I don't recall that there was anywhere that I wanted to be."
"Someplace that doesn't ask questions," Euan supplied. "But can still offer a distraction from your thoughts." Alcohol offered the easy, blanket solution to his problem, but that only masked the issues rather than solve them.
He glanced at her. "I don't know if you know this, but I won't have to go to some Ministry appointed healer because of this will I?" The auror trainee couldn't imagine having to spill his inner most thoughts to some stranger. He had a hard enough time talking with his friends.
"I do know as I process all the official paperwork for that kind of thing," Mira confirmed, blue gaze tracking up to his profile. "Your mentor can suggest you see a Ministry head healer if they think your work is being affected, and it's required if you experience the death of a partner, mentor or trainee in the line of duty, but for personal things, it's optional. It's there if you want it," she told him. Mira didn't think he did, not by the way he'd phrased the question.
"Auror Savage really would na know the difference, would he?" Euan shrugged. After all, they hadn't really gotten a chance to feel each other out before all of... this happened. Besides, the Slytherin really did not seem the type to want to sit down and discuss feelings. Nor was he, if Euan got down and thought about the whole thing. It was easier to pretend like everything was okay.
"Auror Savage?" Mira echoed, curious blue eyes drawn from the pint Euan was holding to the man himself.
"Jonathan Savage," Euan clarified. "Auror Jones, my mentor, was put on desk duty for th' rest of th' duration of her pregnancy. He has taken over my trainin' for th' foreseeable future."
"Ahh," she said, blue gaze dropping to the carton as she dug her spoon in again. "No, I don't think he'd likely be able to tell if something was off since you both have been working together for such a small amount of time." Warmth touched the height of her cheeks then and Mira astutely kept her gaze on the ice cream as memories of telling Auror Savage off surfaced. "I'll be sure to come visit you during off hours, I think. You'll have to let me know when Auror Vane is back so I know it's safe to come during business hours."
"I'll be sure t' do tha'." Euan's gaze found itself mimicking Mira's, looking down at the slowly melting ice cream. "And ya know me. I'll be around."
SUMMARY: Mira knows what it's like to lose someone close and takes it upon herself to try and help Euan the best way she knows how - with ice cream.
Her gaze was drawn to the newspaper hanging off the edge of her desk again, and pushing her chair back, she stood and flicked her wand at the lamp. The light went out and it was completely dark; there wasn't even a sliver of light shining from Harry's office. He'd had a late meeting and probably grabbed something to take home for dinner after.
It was just her and whatever errant Ministry workers had decided to stay after hours when the halls were dark, but most importantly, quiet.
Her thoughts had turned to Euan many times the past several weeks, but every time she had made an attempt to visit him, his cubby had been empty or there had been other trainees hanging about, probably trying to do what she longed to. Mira didn't know them though, and didn't suspect he'd want anything resembling true comfort in front of so many people. Between the two of them, workaholics both, they hadn't had a fantastic chance at really getting to know one another, but waking up with him in a pile of people on his birthday, along with the affection she already had for him, compelled her to try again.
There was no reason to think he'd be in after hours, but a stronger part of her reasoned there was no reason he'd likely want to go home, either. She didn't know what it was like to lose a parent, let alone both, but she did know what it was like to lose someone important to you, who you loved, and have all that hurt exposed to the world. The papers had not been kind to her family when Joshua had died; the connection to the Death Eater Rosiers had been too good for them to pass up.
Shaking away the bad memories the best she could, Mira padded quietly through the maze of cubbies, hopeful when she saw a light where his should be, and relieved when she rounded the corner and found him sitting at his desk with the lamp on - the lone penetration into the dark.
"Hallo," she greeted, voice soft.
Euan looked up from his desk to see Mira. "'Lo." He gestured for her to sit in the other desk's chair. "Lot of work?" he asked.
"Just writing my thesis," she said, gaze flicking over his features. He looked tired. "It wasn't coming though, and I figured it was late enough that you'd either be gone, or I'd finally find you alone." Mira offered him a small smile as she shifted the chair about to face him and sat on the edge.
"I've become predictable then," Euan tried to inject some humor, already knowing what Mira wanted to talk about. "Eventually I figured I'd wait all but the most persistent out."
"For some quiet?" She tipped her head.
"For people to stop asking questions." He shrugged, not really sure how to put it without sounding callous. But then again, when had Tate Abercrombie ever really been a father to him?
She'd come by to offer comfort. How that would take shape, she hadn't really planned, but she tipped her head to the other side as a thought occurred to her. "This is a question, technically, and I'm sorry up front," she said, nose crinkling slightly, "but do you want to go get some drinks? I know a pub in Chelsea that's good for ... well, the drinks are strong and the company only cares about football."
"I spent the first night at the bottom of a whiskey bottle," Euan confessed. "Guess the apple doesn't fall from the tree after all." There were reasons he didn't really drink, his father having been the prime example of too much excess.
"No pubs then," she said, tiny frown furrowing her brow. Mira stood then and held her hand out. "Come on. I've something in mind that doesn't involve whiskey or too many questions, at least the kind you'd rather not answer."
Nodding, Euan followed her lead. Not that he wouldn't mind a drink, of course, but he wasn't his father. "Alright." He was happy just to go with the flow.
They were silent as they made their way to the Atrium, but it wasn't awkward and Mira linked her fingers with his and gave his hand a light squeeze. She hadn't a clue what he was feeling - Euan was always a bit of an enigma to her. If she could maybe distract him from what had happened though, then perhaps that was something.
They appeared with a soft 'pop' of Apparation in the dark entryway of Peregrine Cottage and Mira was unsurprised that Cassie wasn't home. It was Friday night; she likely wouldn't see her twin 'til the morning.
A flick of her wand had the candles littered throughout springing to life and Mira tugged him further into the little house. "I was thinking ice cream," she offered as she pulled the icebox open. There were at least twenty flavors within. She glanced up at him. "What do you think?"
He smiled. "Rose likes to fix things with ice cream as well. Which is good I think. I have a terrible sweet tooth. Do you have any strawberry?"
"As it's my favorite, it's ..." she bent, digging, "... always in here." She stood with a triumphant smile, carton of strawberry in hand. "Here," she said, pushing it into his hands. "Spoons are in the top drawer by the sink, and think of Rose when you crack the lid. I, dear sir, am going to change." She grinned at him before darting up the stairs.
Nodding, even though she wasn't there to see, Euan simply summoned the spoon from the indicated drawer before digging in. He hadn't realized how hungry he really was. A sandwich at tea was rather long ago, now that he thought about it.
Padding back down the stairs in her fuzzy blue slippers, overlarge tee and little shorts, Mira stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hands on hips as she considered Euan. "I probably should have fed you real food first." She eyed him doubtfully.
He had to swallow the mouthful of ice cream before he could answer. "I don't...er, I dinna," he corrected himself, hazily remembering that she liked hearing his natural accent, "I dinna really eat real food. So is na a real change."
A real smile curled her lips as she padded up to him, the brogue titillating her senses. She liked the way words sounded; it was part of her charms work, making sure everything was enunciated and said just so. It made her pay special attention to the slightest inflections in people's voices, but Euan's, she just enjoyed. "I don't really eat it either, which explains why our icebox is full of ice cream and not much else."
She snatched a spoon and tugged on his arm, pulling him towards the sofa. "This is the long day at work, life can go stick itself up someone else's arse, thing we do," she told him as she curled onto the sofa and tugged him down next to her. "We get slippers, which you'll have to procure at some point," she informed him, "and ice cream, and things at least taste better. It's the little things." She shifted towards him and dug her spoon in. A large dollop was procured and she licked it, nodding to herself and the satisfactory flavor. Maybe some Blackberry swirl after this. "You've gotta start somewhere, you know."
He really didn't know, but he didn't want to say so aloud and seem odd. "Sure." His spoon dipped into the ice cream again. "I suppose I should thank ya for savin' me from th' Ministry. I dinna really leave it now, except to go home and shower and catch a little sleep." Work, with its schedule and routine, had become his safe haven.
"Yeah, I didn't think so. I didn't want to go home for a long time, either. Or school, really." She crinkled her nose and contemplated the ice cream on her spoon. "I don't recall that there was anywhere that I wanted to be."
"Someplace that doesn't ask questions," Euan supplied. "But can still offer a distraction from your thoughts." Alcohol offered the easy, blanket solution to his problem, but that only masked the issues rather than solve them.
He glanced at her. "I don't know if you know this, but I won't have to go to some Ministry appointed healer because of this will I?" The auror trainee couldn't imagine having to spill his inner most thoughts to some stranger. He had a hard enough time talking with his friends.
"I do know as I process all the official paperwork for that kind of thing," Mira confirmed, blue gaze tracking up to his profile. "Your mentor can suggest you see a Ministry head healer if they think your work is being affected, and it's required if you experience the death of a partner, mentor or trainee in the line of duty, but for personal things, it's optional. It's there if you want it," she told him. Mira didn't think he did, not by the way he'd phrased the question.
"Auror Savage really would na know the difference, would he?" Euan shrugged. After all, they hadn't really gotten a chance to feel each other out before all of... this happened. Besides, the Slytherin really did not seem the type to want to sit down and discuss feelings. Nor was he, if Euan got down and thought about the whole thing. It was easier to pretend like everything was okay.
"Auror Savage?" Mira echoed, curious blue eyes drawn from the pint Euan was holding to the man himself.
"Jonathan Savage," Euan clarified. "Auror Jones, my mentor, was put on desk duty for th' rest of th' duration of her pregnancy. He has taken over my trainin' for th' foreseeable future."
"Ahh," she said, blue gaze dropping to the carton as she dug her spoon in again. "No, I don't think he'd likely be able to tell if something was off since you both have been working together for such a small amount of time." Warmth touched the height of her cheeks then and Mira astutely kept her gaze on the ice cream as memories of telling Auror Savage off surfaced. "I'll be sure to come visit you during off hours, I think. You'll have to let me know when Auror Vane is back so I know it's safe to come during business hours."
"I'll be sure t' do tha'." Euan's gaze found itself mimicking Mira's, looking down at the slowly melting ice cream. "And ya know me. I'll be around."
SUMMARY: Mira knows what it's like to lose someone close and takes it upon herself to try and help Euan the best way she knows how - with ice cream.