Strangers in the Night | r.j.lupin

Forgotten

Eupheus had swirled the whiskey in his glass with a small smile as his daughter raised an eyebrow at his amused expression.

"I'm going to assume your face is due to my current predicament and not just because you find my appearance funny, dad ," Elvera snorted, and caused her dad to burst a laugh out.

The leaky cauldron was a hard place to be after her mum's passing, but it felt nice to be connected to her a little bit they both felt. And she was sure her mother was laughing down at her from wherever she may be at her daughter's apt for giving herself misery.

The last time the young woman had been in the pub, she had shamelessly flirted with the bartender in hopes of cheaper drinks when she was already way past intoxicated, but this had appeared to have bitten her in her in the bum as said bartender would just not fucking stop hanging around. Three times he'd bumped into her and she knew full well it was no accident, even though he was definitely the clumsy sort.

"You did bring this on yourself, Vera, I must remind you. Poor kid looks like he's going to propose, I'm not sure I'm ready to be a father-in-law just yet."

"Please, I'm 27. It's not like I'm fresh out of Hogwarts," She smiled, sipping her whiskey in a slower pace to her father, still needing a slight dash of lemonade to take the edge off which he needlessly made fun of. She didn't know why she couldn't just enjoy her damn drink with its sweetness, she wasn't trying to prove anything by drinking it.

"To me, my darling, you will always be that tiny little girl waiting for her ol' daddy to take her to Diagon Alley before her first year." How she wished it was simply that easy.

Vera's smile lines had deepened with age to look more like her father, and to curse her from beyond the grave she had inherited the streaks of grey/white in her hair that her mother had began to have at her age. She was often asked if she had dyed it herself and she almost always rode with it, far less embarrassing than admitting to starting to go grey at her young age. She wasn't even 30 yet for Godric's sake.

Eupheus' hair had turned increasingly more white in the past few years and he'd fixed the remaining strands with his wand when he turned 65 which made him look more distinguished. He now wore glasses, his eyesight not being completely what it used to be, but this was expected. Still, didn't stop him complaining, he used to be Hufflepuff's seeker, as he continuously reminded her.

Her eyes maintained their brightness; the piercing green often reminded her of Lily quite painfully. Her face had moulded from the youthfulness of Hogwarts, aged by the trauma of the first war but still soft and smooth with a contrast scar leading from her brow down to her cheek through her eye but thankfully not affecting her useful organ. 

The raw read scar had calmed into a silver but had no sign of budging, but the starkness of it seemed to draw out the colour in her rosy cheeks and lips. Even with her few appearance changes her personality had remained mostly intact; headstrong but inquisitive and sweet much like her whiskey and lemonade mix.

"Darling, as much as I love our meetings, I know that you wanted to talk about you-know-who," Her dad said grimly, and Vera felt herself tense and clench her fists involuntarily and looked around concerned. "I know you're concerned about Harry, but you can't just go storming into Hogwarts demanding Dumbledore let you just hover over him like orange on a pumpkin."

"Dad, it's white on rice. I'm not going demand anything; you know I've always wanted to work there but Black escaping just makes all the more reason for me to. I know Harry hasn't responded to my letters, but if he doesn't know what I look like, there's no reason for him to avoid me in person."

Eupheus sighed at his daughter, not knowing how to respond in way that wouldn't just cause her to feel even more down that she already did. She wrote to Harry every birthday, Christmas and on his parent's wedding anniversary but never had one response. She knew he lived with Petunia, and how she hated that woman, but she wasn't about to go knocking down the muggle family's door and give away his location. If she actually knew his location that is.

She wasn't sure why he'd never replied, as she had heard about his escapades in Hogwarts from talk around, so she knew he was no squib and knew about his magic abilities. It hurt, in all honesty, but he was a young boy, so she tried not to take it too personally.

Vera wasn't going to be a proper professor at Hogwarts instantly, just would be assisting teachers when needed at first and Dumbledore made an offhand comment to her about her improving safety at the school, and she had no doubt that he meant about Sirius Black escaping Azkaban.

It was funny, out of all the friends in that group she thought Black would be the least likely to turn to dark magic. The Tonks family has always been very prideful of the fact Sirius was different and Vera thought he was too, but maybe the fear of death was too great. Fuck him anyway, she'd already planned his death by her hand many a time.

Dumbledore had seemed keen by her want to return to Hogwarts, as he knew her well in her years at Hogwarts and she had spent the last few years tracking down dark wizards and travelling in order to fully try to understand secrets of magic that her final year at Hogwarts had not covered. 

The last few years had been tough, she had been in Romania with the Charlie Weasley for a few weeks investigating dragons up close and personal for the first time. Their father's often saw each other at the ministry and as soon as Arthur had mentioned Charlie working with dragons to Eupheus, he'd suggested Elvera visit. Luckily for her, she had received a lead on a previous death eater who'd been hanging around the area, so was able to justify the trip but when she heard the news of Black at the end of July she'd come back instantly.

She didn't necessarily work for the ministry, but her father was high up enough that with he would ensure her actions were not perceived as working against them. She wasn't against them, she didn't think, but she thought she worked better as a free agent. If she became an auror, she feared she wouldn't have the time to learn she so desperately needed. It was her true dream to become a professor at Hogwarts, as this was the place she always felt safest and her happiest.

"I know you're too old for me to be fussing about your safety but you know.." He trailed off. She did know, you don't exactly see the love of your life torn to shreds and recover not having at least a little bit of separation anxiety. It's not like she blamed him, her lifestyle didn't do anything to ease his mind but she actually hoped going to Hogwarts might help a little.

For the first time in a very long while, she actually felt anticipation for something new. Her life had been on the move for so long, a little permanence was likely what she needed.

"Oh my word!" She raised an eyebrow at his exclamation, turning to see who had caused it and she caught sight of a flurry of red heads who were no doubt the Weasleys.