Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

15 April, 1986 - Coincidence

Nearly two years after Miriam's wedding, Lavinia was having a bad day. These happened occasionally and usually, Lavinia just did her best to contain them since she had no idea how the hell to make them go away. Usually, on a day like today, when she didn't have to go into work, she'd have just curled up on the couch and read a book. Or maybe tried baking. But definitely stayed in the house because people were frustrating and she didn't have the energy for interaction. But today she'd opened the fridge intending to force herself to eat breakfast if only because Remus was giving her very pointed looks, to find that there was nothing to make for dinner. So, with no idea why she did it, she offered to go grocery shopping.

Years later she would freely admit that this was quite possibly one of the best coincidences of her life. But on that day... well. She pissed about it.

Lavinia was walking along mainstreet on that cloudy spring afternoon, generally having a not very good time when the sky opened up and rain started pouring down in sheets. This did absolutely nothing to improve her mood and she swore quietly, ducking under the overhang of a nearby shop to rummage through her bag only to find that she didn't have her umbrella. She swore again, a bit more vehemently. The last thing she wanted was to get soaked through on her way home. And she did need to get home soon. She needed to make sure she had all the ingredients for Remus's potion which she'd brew tomorrow and she'd promised to make dinner. Which she didn't at all want to do because... well. She just didn't.

But... she peered out from the overhand she'd tucked herself under and got a face full of water thanks to an unexpected drain pipe.

"Shit," she snapped, wiping her face and scowling out at the sky. Why did it have to rain today of all days? She was already in a bad mood. Not for any good reason but... it was just one of those days where she'd woken up and reached across the bed before she'd had time to think and... and for some reason, even after all these years, the cold sheets had surprised her this morning. And then the surprise had ebbed and her heart had gone small and cold and shriveled away as the void in her chest came surging forward.

"Shit."

"I don't know," said a voice from a few feet away, making Lavinia jump terribly and nearly stumble out into the downpour in her surprise, "If I've ever heard someone swear that much because of rain."

Lavinia settled her racing heart and turned to stare at the source of the voice, finding a brown haired young man standing in the door of the shop whose overhang Lavinia had claimed as shelter. He raised his eyebrows at her slightly, his expression somewhere between amusement and mild interest.

Lavinia blinked, trying to decide whether or not it was worth replying. Then, shrugging and realizing it probably couldn't hurt, she explained, "I forgot my umbrella." Which wasn't entirely the reason she was swearing so much but... well. It was the direct cause.

"Ah," the young man murmured, nodding and taking his eyes off of her to stare at the pouring rain outside with a calm sort of contemplation on his features. "Still, it's just water. And the streets will look so nice when the lamps come on."

Lavinia frowned at the man, trying to decide if he was just oddly personable or if she'd met him before and just didn't remember it. Not that it mattered really because at the moment she didn't care how pretty the streets would look in the rain. She was annoyed and hurting and about to be very wet. Which was maybe why she bothered saying anything to this odd stranger because she didn't think she normally would have.

"It's a mile walk home for me," she told him drily. "I don't fancy catching my death out there." Which wasn't entirely true, actually, but she wasn't going to tell a total stranger that.

This time, the stranger frowned at her. "Right little ray of sunshine aren't you?" he asked a bit sarcastically, though a smile played on his lips and a bright kind of amusement danced in his eyes, which, under different circumstances, might have piqued Lavinia's interest but today...