Closed: A Maze of Red Tape

[rkdavies]

After making the decision to adopt, Roger and Lavender had met with an agency that specialized in magical adoptions as opposed to Muggle. Roger was glad Lavender had been able to find the place. Until the first woman they had met with - a harried looking, middle-aged woman named Geraldine - mentioned the positives and negatives of the different

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[rkdavies]

"Very great." Roger nodded and straightened out his shirt again, a simple button down over a t-shirt with jeans. He looked casual but put together. Everyone kept telling them to be normal and be themselves.

How were they supposed to do that when whomever was coming into their house could do simple searches and find all sorts of terrible - and mostly untrue but true enough to be incriminating - information about them both, primarily him. If some stupid mistakes he made in the past cost them this, he'd never forgive himself.

Roger breathed out slowly as he came up beside Lavender and reached out to squeeze her hand quickly. Then he pulled the door open.

A tiny, blonde woman stood on the other side of the door, a name badge handing from her neck and a heavy looking bag on her shoulder. In her hands she held her wand and a clipboard with a pen.

"Hello." Roger smiled and the woman smiled back, very bright and bubbly. She reminded him a bit of Kiki, which was comforting and even more terrifying all at once.

"Hi! I'm Chelsi." She took a moment to juggle everything she was holding before extending her hand to shake Roger's then turning to hold it out to Lavender. "I'm going to be the one asking you all the really annoying questions no body wants to answer. Don't ask why I need to know it. I can't always explain, sometimes it's just a thing they tell me I have to do."

[lavender_x]

She looked far less intimidating than Lavender would have expected, a bright smile on her face as she greeted them both. There was a good energy about her and it actually managed to help settled Lavender's nerves, though not by very much. Her stomach was too tightly twisted at this point to actually consider relaxing at all during this interview, which may have made her perkier herself.

"It's so great to meet you. I hope you found the house okay," Lavender told her, offering a smile of her own.

"Whatever you need to ask we'll answer. We're just so glad we were able to meet so quickly."

[rkdavies]

"No worries!" Chelsi waved Lavender off. "We like to get the quaffle flying - so to speak - as quickly as possible. Sometimes it can take a while once you're done with me, so the faster the better."

Roger let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. At least his anxiety seemed to be waning some. He felt like it must be some sort of trick, this woman so bright and perky to get them to let their guard down so she could really figure them out. He might suspect it, but it still worked.

"We can get started then? We really are ready to get this going as quickly as possible." Roger stepped back, motioning for Chelsi to come in around them.

"Good, good. That's what we like to hear!"

Roger pushed to door closed and knocked his shoulder against Lavender's a little. "Can I get you anything to drink? Water, tea, coffee, juice?"

It was a relief to stop his rambling when Chelsi laughed. "Water would be great, thank you."

"Great." He turned to Lavender. "Do you want to show her the family room and I'll get that?"

[lavender_x]

"Yes, of course," Lavender said, "Roger, honey, could you bring out the cookies that I baked too?"

She offered him a warm smile, her hand touching his arm briefly before turning so that she could lead Chelsi from the front foyer towards their living room.

Everything in the house had finally settled down, all the boxes unpacked and the rooms finally getting broken into properly. Though, family room had quickly become on of their favorite rooms with the large plush couches, large television, fire place, and bright windows. They spent most of their nights in here, especially when they had Lily.

"We just recently moved in," she offered, bringing her over towards the couches. She had made sure there were fresh flowers on the end tables to brighten everything up.

"It's been so much fun to set everything up together."

[rkdavies]

Roger nodded and disappeared into the house while Chelsi followed Lavender. She didn't bother hiding looking around the rooms they passed or entered. They knew why she was here, and she was going to have to ask for a proper tour later anyway.

"It looks really great! I'd never think you just moved in." She looked around and motioned to one of the chairs. "Do you mind?"

She had basic background information, even though she hadn't needed the referral form to know the professions and general monthly salary for the Davies. There had been a bit of a battle in the office over who was going to take over licensing for them, and she'd won purely because she had an open slot on her case load and the other women didn't.

"Is it just the two of you here?" She knew Roger had a daughter from the papers, but it wasn't her job to go off information she got from anywhere other than them and their references.

[lavender_x]

"Please, make yourself at home," Lavender told her, taking up the seat on the couch closest to the chair.

She wanted to make sure that she kept the whole thing warm and not too stiff, hoping that Chelsi would see them as the loving couple that they really were. There were so many articles and gossip rumors about them over the years to cloud anyone's judgement.

"Actually, Lily is here most nights. She's Roger's daughter, just turned eight years old," she explained, "We had a great time putting her room together with her."

[rkdavies]

"Oh yeah? I'd love to see that later." Chelsi didn't like making potential parents feel any more under the microscope than they had to. This wasn't an interrogation so she put a lot of effort into it, even as she settled her wand into a pocket of her bag and dug around for a file marked with DAVIES in bright purple ink.

Roger came back then with a tray covered in cookies and water. "Here we go." He settled it on the coffee table then handed a glass to Chelsi and Lavender.

"Thank you." Chelsi nodded as she took a sip before settling the glass carefully on a coaster.

"So. First thing's first. When did you decide you wanted to be parents? Together, considering Roger already has a child."

[lavender_x]

Lavender shifted a little bit closer to Roger, settling back into the back cushions as she tried to relax. It helped that he had joined them.

"Well, I guess that would be five months ago, after my attack. I was told I might be able to have children of my own and it sparked the discussion-" Lavender explained, remembering just how supportive Roger had been through the whole thing.

"Though, maybe even before then. It probably sounds silly but we always used to talk about starting a family when we were growing up together. Even before we knew what that really meant, I guess-"

[rkdavies]

Roger sat close, not actually thinking about if it made a good impression or not. Retrospectively, it probably did, but his only thought was that they were both generally calmer when they were closer. His knee pressed against Lavender's, hand reaching out to rest against hers as she explained.

Chelsi nodded along slowly, eyes focused and bright. Her lips tilted in a small smile. "That's very hard to hear," she said, eyes dropping after a moment to make a note.

"So you two have been together for a while then?"

Roger did his best not to look at her like she must know, like she must have read it.

"Forever, in the way that matters." It wasn't an empty platitude, he meant it. "We grew up next door to each other and were pretty much inseparable. We dated, later on in school, until after I graduated. After we broke up, I was with Maeve and we had Lily."

He cleared his throat - never proud of how things had played out but forever proud of his daughter - and squeezed Lavender's knee. "We found our way back together, back during the Hogwarts Reunion? We were married not long after that. We apparently just needed some space to grow on our own."

"Hmm." Chelsi nodded, thoughtful. "Practically a fairy tail then, aren't you?"

[lavender_x]

Lavender reached for his hand instinctively, lacing their fingers together and she felt instantly calmer, her nervousness dissolving as the dove deeper into the conversation.

It was always easy to talk about her relationship with Roger, their love story her very favorite.

She hardly even tensed when he mentioned his relationship with Maeve.

"It certainly feels that way. Always has, honestly," Lavender told her, sparing a moment to offer Roger a warn and loving smile. Even now she felt a flutter in her stomach as she caught his gaze.

"We work together now, mostly. I'm the lead photographer for the Magpies but I still take on other local assignments for The Prophet. I've even taken Lily on a couple of my shoots. She's really taken to photography."

[rkdavies]

"Is that right?" Chelsi laughed, making another note before looking back up at them.

"Lily and Lavender really bonded pretty quickly," Roger explained. Grinning, he looked at Lavender for a moment before turning back to Chelsi. "Almost immediately, Lily was pretty taken with her. So she's learning about photography right now. She has a lot of random hobbies we're all trying to let her explore so she figures out what she likes."

Chelsi raised her eyebrows. It was almost like they were giving her the perfect answers. That always tended to happen, people telling her what they thought she wanted to hear. The sincerity on their faces was going a long way to swaying her.

"And what does Lily think about this?"

Roger cleared his throat. "We're waiting to tell her until we were sure how things were going to go. We didn't want to get her hopes up or throw her off on something we weren't sure was going to happen."

[lavender_x]

"She was already expecting a brother or sister but when she figured out what had happened she was just so disappointed," Lavender explained, shifting in her seat as she thought back to that sad look on Lily's face.

Her stepdaughter had brought home some sort of craft or card every day for two weeks straight, writing all the things that she loved most about Lavender on each of them. It had definitely helped the healing process, even if she'd had a hard time at first being around Lily.

"We're not telling very many people until we know more. Just our closest friends and references-"

Lavender didn't think she'd be able to break anymore bad news if this somehow didn't work out for them.

[rkdavies]

"Always a good plan." Chelsi wrote for a moment then settled her clipboard and pen across her knees.

"I'm going to be honest with you, you check out. You hit all the boxes." As she said it, she realized that might not make sense, but she powered on. "There are a few more hoops, of course, but basically everyone was dying to be the one to license you guys. So." Shrugging, she held her arms out expansively. "Pressure is off."

"That's a relief," Roger laughed a little. "But I feel like there's a catch."

"There's always a catch." She pointed her pen at Roger then Lavender in turn. "But before that, let's have a look at this house, yeah?"

[lavender_x]

Lavender honestly had never been so relieved in her life, a bit of laughter escaping her to match Roger's at the news. It was written all over her face but she didn't really care.

This was only the first step but it was a step they had worked through. She told herself she'd take this whole process one step at a time.

"Yes, of course! We can bring you into the kitchen first, if you'd like-" she started, getting herself onto her feet.

There was an eagerness there, something she did want to hide to an extent, hoping to look more collected than she felt.

[rkdavies]

Roger followed Lavender up, feeling lighter than he had earlier. The tight ball of anxiety was finally starting to unwind. They still had a long way to go, but it was comforting to know they weren't looking at unnecessary roadblocks.

Chelsi laughed, digging through her bag for a fold and then abandoning it as she got to her feet. "That's fine. Kitchen is a good place to start. I'm sure it checks out. This house is very lovely."

[lavender_x]

"Thank you. It honestly feels like we've been here for years now. It's so nice to be settled somewhere," she told her, offering Roger a warm smile before leading Chesli back out of the family room and towards the kitchen.

They'd really only been here a few weeks now but Lavender was so determined to make this place feel like home. It hadn't been hard, not really, once all of the boxes had been unpacked and the new furniture had arrived.

"We did a lot of hunting before we finally found this place. Our realtor had it in her head that the two of us wanted a grand mansion or something. All I really wanted was to find a nice neighborhood like the one Roger and I grew up in-"