Closed; Morning Coffee and Empty Flats

[daphne_x]

The flat just didn't feel the same since Cecilia had been arrested, there was an eerie silence there that reminded Daphne of Greengrass Manor. It gave her the chills to feel such a cold echo in this smaller space. Everything seemed to remind Daphne of Cecilia's absence, a heavy pressure building up in her chest every time she let herself think of

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[george_goesboom]

As much of a mess as he had been over this, barely managing an occasional hour of sleep per night and spending every waking moment chasing Ministry workers down, yelling at receptionists, pacing around waiting rooms, generally doing everything he could think of to somehow tip the scales in Cecilia's favor, he knew that if anyone was struggling more intensely with this turn of event, it was Daphne.

Her best friend was gone, and her own standing in the eyes of both the Ministry and whatever forces still stood in the shadows was shaky at best, and the lineup of people to whom he knew she could turn was a relatively short list.

It was both understandable and unnerving to witness cracks spreading across that carefully maintained facade of hers.

"Hey-" George properly reached to give her hand a quick but solid squeeze (both for her sake and his own, really, to cling to something solid in the midst of the way his entire world seemed to be slipping and tilting sideways).

"It'll be fine, okay? Everything'll be fine- she'll get out, and all of this will get figured out, and both of you will be fine-"

He'd repeated those thoughts to himself enough these past few days, he wasn't sure whether it had made them more believable and certain or more eerily unreal and doubtful-

[daphne_x]

"It's just happening so fast and so slowly at the same time. Do you know what I mean?" she asked, finally tearing her red and puffy eyes from the ceramic mug in her hands.

Daphne didn't understand how this had all blown up with out any of them seeing it coming, each and every one of them taken completely off guard by the arrest and the articles. But every day since, every hour and every minute, was a slow and painful crawl forward, waiting for answers that just didn't seem to be coming.

It was completely maddening and it was clearly taking its toll.

She was sure that soon somebody would be coming for her too.

"I just need to be strong for her. I can't let this get to me or -"

[george_goesboom]

George did know what she meant. Each day that passed by simultaneously seemed like both a slowly dragging eternity leading up to the chances of Cecilia's release, and a lightning fast checkmark being added to the tally of days she had spent locked away - too fast and too slow.

"No one'll blame you if you do, y'know. It can't not be getting to you-"

[daphne_x]

"I can't. I have to be strong for her-"

Daphne wasn't even thinking about herself now, knowing that she'd keep pushing through until there was nothing left.

Though, that end point was quickly approaching if she kept on the way she was.

"We have a plan for these sort of things. We used to talk about it all the time-"

[george_goesboom]

"A plan? What plan?" George asked, eyebrows confusedly scrunching together. He had been aware enough of the state of lingering fear Cecilia and Daphne had been living in since the war, that looming worry that their past wouldn't remain behind them.

He had allowed for little more than vague explanations, because as far as he was concerned, any of these repercussions they seemed to fear lay well beyond the realm of possibility. Nothing like this should ever have been able to happen.

And yet, here they were-

[daphne_x]

Daphne took a long sip of her coffee, the warmth doing little to chase the chill out from her bones but it was comforting none-the-less. Even the sticky sweetness of the cream and sugar were welcomed, licking the taste from her lips before explaining.

"A plan to keep ourselves safe," she started, meeting his gaze as she shifted in her seat.

"There are safe houses set up for the two of us, a system to let us know which one we've run off to in case- well, in case our past catches up with us."

Though, Daphne never imagined it happening this way.

[george_goesboom]

"Safe houses?" George repeated after her again, somehow feeling even more of a step behind now than he already had been since Cecilia had been dragged away and things had just stopped making sense altogether.

"Hang on, are you going somewhere?"

[daphne_x]

"No. This threat isn't anything we prepared for and I'm not in any danger-" she told him, shaking her head.

Daphne rose from her seat then to bring her empty cup to the sink, not even sure when she finished her coffee.

"I never let myself get dragged into the Death Eaters. I ran before my father could force me to the The Mark."

[george_goesboom]

George never would have thought he would find himself associating with anyone that had lingered anywhere near the fringes of the Death Eater ranks - and yet here he was, the love of his life emprisoned for past crimes, moping over coffee with someone who was escaping a similar fate by mere chance and circumstance.

"I guess that's comforting," he managed with a tight half smile.

[daphne_x]

"That's one way of thinking," she sighed, turning back to him with tightly pursed lips and tense shoulders.

It was getting late and the trip to Azkaban was a long one. She didn't have the time to sit around patting George on the back all day, no matter how comforting their little morning routine actually was.

"I've got to get ready. I'll send love to Cecilia for you-"

She was already half way to her own room.