Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(151) The Business of Danger

Florence felt a sense of relief waking up the next day, and the day after that, and the day after, and all the following days. For the past week, she felt a sense of comfort that she could not quite point out. Julien had noticed it slightly, seeing that she was in a slightly better mood in the mornings. Though she never really vocally acknowledged the feeling of having a lighter burden, she knew it was there. She was able to focus more at work, her sparring and wand dueling getting significantly better as the days passed.

A look of evident shock dawned on Hadley's face as Florence was able to knock her down to the ground, the look of surprise eventually turning to a smile, "That was bloody brilliant! You're definitely keeping up already!"

"Thanks," she managed to say inbetween pants, offering Hadley a hand to get up, "Think I'll be able to go toe to toe with you?"

"With that rate of improvement? I think so."

They had about three weeks to get ready for the dry run operation that was going to be conducted for elimination purposes. People in the program had been stressing about it nonstop ever since it was announced, in fear of being cut from the Auror Department. Even Julien, who was trusted and confided in most of the time by the Senior Undersecretary, had no clue about the criterion, or so he said. Not that Florence was bugging him about it for her own personal need. Hadley was one of the many people who has been greatly unsettled by the news of elimination that she wanted to help in any way.

Alas, like everyone else, the two were left in the dark about it. Training became more intense, their hours growing longer and ending deeper in to the night each day. Florence and Julien would arrive home so late that even Sloan would already be in bed. They had made it a tradition to eat their late dinner leftovers in the living room and pass out on the couch.

Alanna would just leave them pillows and blankets in the living room because of this.

Sirius had also officially moved in to the price manor on the last week of July, this time without his hippogriff companion, as buckbeak was turned in to the care of a professional magical creature caretaker. Florence was slightly thankful with that. She wasn't sure if she was ready to live with the racket of an animal living in her attic. 

"It would have been nice," said Alanna, contributing to the dinner discussion about buckbeak, "Miss Mimsy would have had a friend."

The cat meowed from where she sat on Alanna's lap, as if agreeing with her. The younger girl picked up a stick of carrot from her plate and feeding it to the cat. Florence stared at them, quite concerned that Miss Mimsy was going to get used to sitting at the dining table with them. The cat had somewhat been her enemy when her mother was still alive, but over the course of the past few months, neither Florence or Miss Mimsy minded when they were in each other's company. She would go as far as saying that their relationship was improving, since sometimes Florence would catch herself petting the cat whenever she would find herself sitting next to her. 

"Buckbeak's lived in the manor before," said Sirius, taking a sip from his glass of water before speaking again, "I don't think Miss Mimsy made a good first impression."

"Really? But she's the sweetest thing." Alanna cooed, before scratching the top of the cat's head fondly. 

A comfortable silence fell amongst them once more, only the scraping of silverware against ceramic plates heard for a few good minutes. Sloan cleared his throat, before looking at Florence, "It's going to be your birthday in a few weeks." he said, "Is there anything you want to do that you have in mind?"