[MP] I'm on fire and I know that it burns [susan]

Angelina truly hated paperwork. Even so, she knew she'd been putting it for long enough, and she finally set up a meeting at the Ministry to finalise and officiate her new contract. When she was informed that there was interest for her to trade into Falmouth Falcons, she was surprised. Her performance with the Magpies has always been consistent, but she's never been as remarkable as some of the younger players who shot to fame fairly quickly. There was nothing wrong with steady performance, and something about that must've appealed to the Falcons, that and her newly-minted national player status. Ange had been a long-time fan of Montrose Magpies, but this was the business, not much room for sentiment if you wanted to shine.

At her agent's request she attempted to neaten up her braids, a style she'd been sporting again frequently, and she wore a newly tailored pantsuit. She should've put on a dress, but there were plenty of Quidditch galas for her to deal with in the future, and she planned on making a fairly quick escape now that the meeting has ended. She was a Quidditch player, and people like her relied on their instincts as much as their skills, and her instincts told her that the Ministry wasn't a great place to dawdle right now. That, and the front page of The Daily bloody Prophet.

It's been weeks since initial news of the former current Death Eater's release and whereabouts were revealed. Ange has never paid much attention to politics or world news and she's aware of her ignorance, but what exactly was the trade crisis with Sweden about anyway? What exactly did Sweden have to offer in terms of exports? And now Japan and Sweden were signing a treaty? She'd been poring over recent issues of the Prophet trying to understand what exactly going on, and why Kingsley hadn't stepped up to say anything, but there was nothing besides disappointment. Even the Oktoberfest seemed like it was a cover-up for something sinister.

Merlin, I sound like a conspiracy theorist.

No, the Ministry didn't feel right anymore. There was very little she could do about it, but she could at least avoid it as much as possible, postpone thinking, feelings of being powerless, and guilt. She really needed a drink. Being underground was really getting to her more than she thought it would.

It was in the lift that she bumped into a redhead she thought seemed familiar. The young woman wasn't smiling, and looked a mixture of stern and frustrated. "Susan... Bones?" Angelina wasn't entirely familiar with the younger DA students who weren't in Gryffindor, but she remembered Susan, purely because of what happened to her family. It was funny, how only life-changing events caused you to take note of someone you never would previously. Unfortunately in Susan's case, it was tragedy. "I'm Angelina, Angelina Johnson," she extended her hand for Susan to shake, "it's been a while since the... well, you know." She had no idea if it was safe to mention the DA out loud, and she was sure the other woman would know what she's referring to.

"Do you have some time? We can go to the pub, get a drink?"

Riots, foreign trade agreements, the Dark Widow... Maybe Susan would have answers to questions Angelina didn't even know she had.

@Susan Bones sorry this post is so choppy, the second half was written without coffee >>

Susan felt rather like she had spent all day hitting her head against a wall.  It would probably have been just as useful an endeavour as the latest round of interviews and witness statements she had been working on and which were probably worth less than the paper they were written on.  So far no one had provided any insight into the identity, whereabouts or agenda of the character responsible for the attack against Rhayader.  It was galling and frustrating to be able to find out little to nothing about the culprit.  Despite all of her best efforts, she felt no closer to catching the Dark Widow or her cohorts. 

Meanwhile a bloody Death Eater was sauntering around and flaunting his freedom in the public eye.  It disgusted Susan that her superiors had seen fit to release Gaius Purcell from Azkaban in the first place – regardless of what political reasons there might have been.  The least she had hoped for when that happened was that the rotten bastard would have the sense to keep his nose down.  Yet now he was attending parties and mixing with influential members of society as though he wasn’t a convicted criminal and a murderer.  It was hard for her not to feel personally taunted by his actions.  She firmly believed that letting him walk free had been a huge mistake and now she just waited for any excuse to arrest him and throw him back in prison.  If no more permanent arrangement could be made.

To make Susan’s mood worse, people were singing the praises of the country that had strongarmed the British Ministry into releasing Gaius.  Sweden was, in her opinion, no ‘beacon of hope’ but an example of just how much injustice people could get away with when they spoke politely and smiled brightly.  There was something about such open, charismatic evil which felt far more dangerous than even a Death Eater on the loose.  Susan counted her blessings that she had not yet had any reason to deal with anyone at the Swedish Ministry personally, since there was a very good chance such an encounter would turn into a diplomatic incident.  She was not inclined to hold her tongue in the company of such despicable people. 

Preoccupied as she was with all of the unpleasant things on her mind, it took Susan a few seconds to register that the woman next to her in the lift was talking to her.  The young Auror’s first reaction was to be slightly affronted.  An expression crossed her face which clearly communicated her unwillingness to make small talk with a stranger.  Just because they were taking the same lift, that didn’t mean they had any reason to chat.  Susan hated people that felt the incessant need to fill all silences with pointless babble.  There was something familiar about her face though… 

Susan blinked quickly as she recognised the name the young witch was offering.  "Oh shit.  Sorry, Angelina.  I didn't realise it was you."  She couldn’t claim to have ever had a very close relationship with the older Gryffindor but she remembered Angelina with the same fondness that she felt towards all of the old members of the DA.  It was a little embarrassing that Susan hadn’t realised who she was immediately.  The young witch gave a small, apologetic smile to soften her hard outward demeanour and belatedly shook the offered hand.

“Oh I'm pretty busy...”  She started to make the well-used excuse.  Truthfully the only reason Susan was ever really busy was because she contrived to make herself that way.  It was easier to be busy than to have to try and figure out to socialise.  However, she felt a little bad for how rudely she had just behaved.  Besides this wasn’t just some annoying colleague who would insist upon regaling her with endless stories about what their awful children were up to, this was Angelina and they hadn’t seen each other in years.  “Yeah, you know what, I could use a drink.”  Susan was technically off the clock and was constantly being reminded by her boss that she needed to take a break now and then. 

“There’s a good bar just across the road.”  When the lift reached the Atrium level, Susan got out and led the way.  She would have been happy to walk along in silence but that didn’t seem like something normal people would do.  Although capable of being quite eloquent when talking about work matters, the redhead was not great at casual socialising.  “Ummm…”  She mumbled, stalling to find her composure.  This unexpected encounter had caught her quite off guard.  “So how’ve you been?”  Susan was vaguely aware that Angelina was involved in Quidditch but aside from that did not really have any idea what she had been up to.  It was weird, Susan reflected, that most of the people she knew from school either worked for the Ministry or had become professional Quidditch players (including her ex-boyfriend).  She just hoped that Angelina didn’t have kids because she was not feeling up to smiling politely through those kinds of stories. 

When Susan smiled, it's like something melted away. Angelina could sense that while the younger girl wasn't completely comfortable yet, but she no longer looked like she wanted to book her for misdemeanour right there and then. She could consider that a victory. The firm handshake lasted for a brief few seconds, but it was enough for Angelina to reflect on what the war has done for young adults like Susan. Not so much in words, but more so in an overwhelming sense of helplessness and grief; it was such a pity. At the end of the day though, they each had their own graves to cry to, and it felt easier to just put on a smile and get through another day.

Said smile slid onto her face as naturally as waking up in the morning for training. She wasn't about to press on the matter. After all, besides the common experience of both of them having been in the DA, they were practically strangers. The bonds that tethered them, if they could even be called as such, were so flimsy, and Susan didn't owe her any niceties. She was about to make up some similar excuse when Susan appeared to have changed her mind. Angelina blinked, as if to gather her wits about her, then smiled a warm smile, "That sounds great."

There was an awkward pause where neither of them knew what to say. She didn't know about the other young woman, but Angelina knew she could be a bit... much sometimes. She was always the one who was eager to talk about their shared experiences, their grief, their trauma, as if talking about it is going to make everything go away quicker. Of course, even now she wanted to know how Susan was dealing with losing her family. Was she coping with the loss through work? Did she want justice, vengeance? But if there's one thing she's learned in the last few years, is that there's a time and place for everything. Weird lesson to have taken a few years to learn, but here she was. If Susan wanted to talk about heavier stuff at all, they could do it when they've both had a few drinks in them.

"I've been alright. Pretty great, actually, Qudditch-wise. Recently made the national team, and it's been... pretty great, yeah." Ange was really wary about coming off as humble-bragging. Luckily, she was about as adept at small talk as Susan appeared to be, and the walk to their destination was not long enough to carry a proper conversation. "Oh, this it? Yeah I know this place, The Burning Beard. A couple of my friends've been raving about their IPAs." Angelina wasn't the biggest beer person, contrary to popular belief. There seems to be this myth that all sportspeople must love beer, which was really misguided. She preferred shots, always.

The pair was guided into a fairly quiet end of the bar. There was a decent crowd going on, large enough for no one to pay any real attention to them, each absorbed in their own conversations. "This place seems to be the new hot favourite for ministry employees, huh? Tell you what, if you have the pull to get me bottomless drinks every time I come then I'll score you some game tickets. VIP viewing booth guaranteed." Angelina was only half-joking, not really realising she hinted at them possibly getting together for drinks again in the future.

The flow of the conversation was disrupted slightly as they each got their drinks, but it resumed as soon as they were both back at their seats. "So, I would ask you the same question, how've you been, but given the state of things I guess the more appropriate question is how are you?" Angelina smiled again, but with a touch more weariness, "And I guess how we'll all be. I can't imagine working at the Ministry is the easiest job right now."

@Louise ahh sorry it's taken so long!! i hope this is ok ><