[title]

august 2001

Edith Holthouse had always looked forward to lunch: food, drink, not working. Of course now she had a bonus reason: Elias Dörfler. They hadn't been advertising that anything had changed between them. Hell, they had hardly talked to each other about it. Edith had returned to day shift mid-July, and now, nearly a month later, she was sure no one was none the wiser. She had done her best to remain professional, maybe occasionally too professional, with only one real noticeable change: she had been smiling a lot more.

She wasn't sure what the appropriate level of smiling should be in a situation like this but she was certain she had been overdoing it. Otherwise, it was business as usual. Lunch with the same familiar group of coworkers, coincidentally sitting next to each other, not recoiling if her knee accidentally brushed up against his. But there were those few days when they both had to, most unfortunately, 'work through' their regularly scheduled lunch hour and they would be destined to eat lunch together, all by themselves.

Today, however, Elias actually did have to work through lunch, attend some meeting that Edith didn't listen about when he had explained it. She had a backlog of paperwork that she had been procrastinating and should have been using the quiet lunch-time office to work through it. Instead, she was doodling, biding her time until it was time to eat and take occasional glances at Elias's face. And according to her watch, that was only a few more minutes away.

Edith pushed her doodled parchment aside and grabbed her brown paper bag full of lunch, lovingly packed for her by her ancient, muggle roommate ("You're looking so thin, dear."), and headed to the elevators. It was much brighter in the atrium, but her eyes adjusted quickly behind large glasses as she looked off to one side for either a sight of Elias or an open table. She only found the open table, clearly having been too eager to get to lunch and arriving too early. So cool, so suave, Edith.

Just as she moved to claim her spot, she heard her name. She had yet to find another Edith working at the Ministry; her head snapped toward the sound, only to find a very pretty, very nicely dressed, and very Dörfler waving expectantly in her direction. Edith might have still been in her post-Hogwarts daze when she met her those few months ago, but she had no problem placing her face now. Had Elias neglected to tell her that his sister would be visiting? Or had he told her and she had forgotten? They hadn't exactly been using their free time to talk, but that wasn't really a good reason.

She returned the wave and rerouted herself, feeling suddenly underdressed though she was wearing Ministry robes just like she did every day. "Elias is in a meeting," she said quickly, in lieu of a greeting and without thinking. Was she supposed to know that? Was that something that 'just friends' knew? "I mean, 'hi'," she added with a smile. Maja probably knew. Elias would have told her. It had been a couple months now, right? She should know if Maja knew. Why had she avoided talking about their -- relationship? -- with the one person she really ought to be discussing this with?

No. Stop. Change the subject. Get out of there. "I'm meeting him for lunch in a few if you want to join." She smiled again, though internally she was scolding herself. Or, y'know, just do the opposite. Maybe Edith had jumped the gun in assuming she was here to see her brother at all and they could avoid whatever awkwardness was bound to happen.

@Maja Dörfler @Elias Dörfler

Making her way to the heart of the Atrium within the British Ministry of Magic, Maja could hardly contain her satisfaction with herself. She and Elias had been owling over the course of the past week or so, trying to coordinate a time that one could visit the other, but unable to settle on something that worked for both of them. At least, from her brother’s perspective.

In truth, the word “thoughtful” wouldn’t often be used to describe the younger Dörfler. She took after their father in being a bit more self-serving, though she doubtless loved her family. The unpleasant turn of events in June – when the youngest Dörfler child had the misfortune of being placed under lockdown thanks to that wretched Vulchanova woman – had her rethinking things, however; so, naturally, she’d decided to lead Elias astray in thinking she couldn’t make it, only to surprise him work. She’d gotten permission for the day off from her supervisor (though not without working overtime the night before to sweeten the pot) and had arrived at the Ministry without a hitch. Elias should be arriving any moment for lunch, at which point she would astound him with her presence.
It was a brilliant plan.

As usual, Maja was dressed smartly in a dark gray Muggle-style blazer and knee-length skirt, her hair coiffed in a neat bun. Though the Dörflers were Pureblooded, they had adopted pieces of Muggle clothing as they saw fit, and anything deemed “professional” attire was almost always acceptable. Personally Maja liked the sharp, crisp impression that the blazer-and-skirt combination gave, almost as much as she enjoyed traditional robes.

Steely gray eyes narrowed, cat-like, in search of her brother’s familiar form, but came up empty. She frowned prettily for an instant, but wasn’t deterred. It was only just now noon; doubtless, he wouldn’t be able to come down for lunch right away most of the time.
In her periphery, a dark-haired woman made her way to an empty table, glancing around as though looking for someone. The brief glimpse of the profile registered with Maja, though, and the German witch’s brows drew together slightly as a glimmer of recognition tugged at her memory. If she wasn’t mistaken, that looked a great deal like—

“Edith!”
Maja raised a hand gracefully in greeting, the final confirmation having dropped into place as the older woman turned her head once again. After a moment’s hesitation the German witch approached the nearly-empty table; she didn’t want to intrude on the other woman’s lunch hour, but at the same time she was friends with Elias and likely had lunch with him. In all honesty, she had quite forgotten Edith in her plans – but if she was with the other woman, she’d likely find her brother more quickly.
It was though Edith had read her mind, – though, to be frank, why else would she be there if not to see her brother? – quickly supplying that he was in a meeting. Maja was rather taken aback by the lack of greeting, however, and arranged her face in a polite expression of interest to avoid appearing caught off-guard. Perhaps it had been a busy week.

“I see; I'd wondered where he might be. And hello,” she added rather unnecessarily as Edith corrected herself, returning the smile.
“I’d like that, thank you.” Her visit was a casual one, with no personal or family matters to discuss, so Maja wouldn’t mind Edith joining them. Or rather – she corrected herself – Maja herself joining them, since she had shown up unannounced.

Brushing aside the minutiae, she took the proffered seat across from Edith with another small smile and settled herself.
“Elias doesn’t know I'm here,” she confided, with a conspiratorial glance over her shoulder. “Thought I’d surprise him. How have you been?”

Edith kept the smile on lips as Maja settled into the seat across from her. Usually she actively planned against this, finding the smallest table available, no extra chairs lingering to invite any unknowing coworkers to sit with them. But then, she had to remind herself, she had started this by bringing up Elias in the first place. She very well could have let Maja go up to find his desk empty and figure things out for herself.

Though Maja probably assumed that Edith was meeting Elias for lunch, right? She was leaning more towards the idea that he had definitely told her about them. And why wouldn’t he? He had said (or had he just heavy implied and Edith was assuming?) that he would handle everything about the engagement or lack thereof. At some point he should have mentioned Edith, at least to Maja.

It didn’t matter. She could wait for Maja to bring it up.

“Oh brilliant,” Edith assured her, smiling more so because she was glad that this truly was a surprise visit and she hadn’t simply forgotten that the younger Dörfler was visiting. “He’ll love it.” She clearly remembered the last time that she had purposefully surprised him: laser tag, a United match, and too much tequila. And he had handled that all so well, too, not talking to her for months. True, that might have been unrelated to the surprise, but still.

The woman shifted in her seat, unsure if she was supposed to start eating or not. Her bag lunch was sitting in front of her, neglected, but Maja hadn’t brought anything. Not that she looked like the bag-lunch-in-the-lobby kind of person. They were probably going to head off to some chic cafe, which was probably for the best. She could have the excuse of having already brought her lunch, unable to accompany them, able to avoid the awkward situation blooming in front of her, completely her fault.

“I’m well, thanks,” she said with a nod, either too nervous or too socially inept to return the favor of asking how Maja was doing. She racked her brain for something to talk about; this wasn’t usually a problem for her, having no lack of topics she had opinions about and she usually wasn’t shy about letting people know them. Yet the only things she could come up with that they had in common were the fact that they were both currently in London and they both knew Elias.

“Er,” Elias was probably the easiest topic to ramble on about. “He said he loved that cake you made him for his birthday.” Elias had gone home to Germany for a family dinner in honor of his birthday. He had invited her, but she had made herself believe that he didn’t actually want her there so she could feel better about not wanting to go in the first place. There was no way she was going to insert herself into that sort of situation, meeting and mingling with his family. But Maja didn’t need to know just how intimidated she was by the Dörflers.

It had apparently been a nice night, Maja having made his favorite dessert — he had told her the name of it several times and Edith was still unsure of how to say it correctly so she didn't bother trying. It was something with coffee, which she didn't even really like, though she managed to drink a cup of it any time Elias brought her one.

“Sorry I couldn't make it,” she added quickly, figuring it was the right thing to apologize considering she had been invited. Minor details of broken engagements and constant snog sessions aside, meeting the rest of his family seemed like a much better option in the very far and very distant future. “I guess I thought it'd be too soon, y'know?" Edith stopped short, realizing what she had just said, not remember thinking ahead before she said it. She shrugged it off, changing the subject abruptly to their other shared topic. “So how to you like London?”

“I do hope he will,” Maja replied with a smile. “He may think something’s gone wrong, though, for me to show up unannounced.” Her expression faded ever so slightly at the thought, remembering the scare they’d had at Durmstrang just a few months earlier. She had returned to her desk after running several hours of various errands to find a hastily-scrawled note from her brother, saying that Jürgen’s safety was at stake and asking her to meet him in the village at once. She fought back a shudder, even though it had turned out all right in the end, but felt the ice cube slip down her spine all the same.

Instead, the brunette smiled pleasantly at the subsequent compliment on her domesticity.
“I’m glad he liked it enough to tell someone else,” she replied, laughing softly. “He must have meant it, then. Even if it tasted like Flobberworms, he’d likely lie about it through his teeth to me.”

‘Sorry I couldn’t make it.’

If Maja had possessed any less self-control, her eyebrows would have disappeared into her hairline. Elias had invited her to dinner? Not that she didn’t like Edith – all things considered, she found she did genuinely like her brother’s friend – but she was Muggleborn, and as pleasant as their parents could be, Maja wasn’t quite sure how they’d handle it. Elias knew, of course, just as well as she. Why would he consider subjecting Edith to such a potentially tense situation? Maja was aware that Edith’s experience with the Dome had been distressing (she had been polite enough not to ask for particulars, and Elias did not provide them)… perhaps he had invited her to help with that? Maja was at a loss; and so preoccupied with pondering this that she’d nearly missed the next surprising tidbit.

‘Too soon for what?’
She bit the words back sharply before they had a chance to roll off her tongue. Too short-notice, did she mean? Too soon after the Dome? And was she, Maja, supposed to have known about it?
The German witch racked her brain for any mention Elias may have made to her, but came up empty. The obvious response would have been to ask what Edith was referring to, of course. Simple and to the point. But she had a nagging sense in the back of her mind that this is something she should have been looped in on, and asking would highlight her ignorance of the matter. Maja abhorred that. It was egotistical and petty and absurd and she knew it… but there it was. She felt a small surge of annoyance toward her brother: why had he not mentioned any of this to her? Inviting anyone to the family home for dinner was no casual ordeal in the Dörfler household.

Edith had changed the subject rather abruptly, though, which raised the slightest suspicion. Perhaps Elias had asked her out of sympathy or something of the sort, and now she was feeling like a charity case; Merlin knew Maja might feel similarly, were she in that situation. Regardless, her brother was about to have a lot of explaining to do…
Maja couldn’t not acknowledge the older woman’s apology, though, however perplexing. She’d have to concede something in order to avoid looking like an utter fool if she simply played along.

“Oh, no need to apologize,” she dismissed with a casual flutter of her fingers, smiling pleasantly. “I— ah, Elias hadn’t actually mentioned it, but it would have been a pleasant surprise all the same,” she added graciously, genuinely hoping her perplexity over the circumstances was not the dominant emotion.

Having accomplished that, she fielded the change of subject deftly.
“London is lovely,” she replied sincerely. “It feels very modern but also very… historic, with the layout. Berlin doesn’t feel as though has retained as much of that history of architecture and layout,” she added thoughtfully. “Much of the city needed to be completely rebuilt after the Second Muggle War, and so it lost much of that historical fingerprint. Parts of London were destroyed too, of course,” she added, frowning slightly, “but the layout seems… retained. I suppose what I mean is that London still feels like an ‘old’ city, whereas parts of Berlin don’t seem to have that same impression.”
The German witch lifted a shoulder casually. Despite being Pureblooded, she did have some knowledge base with regard to the goings-on that affected both Muggle and magical worlds – an effectively global-scale war was certainly one of those goings-on.

Maja became (very belatedly) aware that Edith had not yet touched her lunch, and gently flapped a hand encouragingly in her direction. “Please, don’t let me detract from your lunch hour! Never seems to be long enough, as it is,” she continued ruefully.

“Busy week here?”

“Ah, right, of course.” There was a small part of her that was genuinely upset that he hadn’t mentioned it, even though there was a much, much larger part of her that was incredibly relieved because he hadn’t. It wasn’t that she was afraid of anyone finding out about them (or maybe she was a little bit so) but for once, she was incredibly concerned with what the witch on the other side of the table thought about her. Edith smiled a small smile, her thoughts going a million miles a minute trying to think through all the possible reasons he hadn’t said anything, completely pushing aside the fact that she didn’t even want to go to Germany in the first place.

But thankfully Maja handled the turn in conversation rather beautifully. Edith nodded along as she listened, really only having a grammar school level of understanding of London during the Blitz. Her father had lived through it, outside of London, but still very much a part of the muggle population that gathered around their radio sets to learn the news. Both of her grandfathers had joined the Army, but learning that little tidbit of Holthouse history didn’t seem like information that Maja would be genuinely interested in.

In fact, she had almost completely gotten herself sidetracked in her thoughts as she weighed the options of expanding the conversation or not that she nearly missed Maja’s urging to eat. Edith glanced down at the brown bag in front of her, almost looking a bit sad when the frumpiness of it was taken into consideration. “Oh um, no that’s okay,” she started, not wanting to admit that she had lost her appetite somewhere between hearing her name and sitting down across from this particular Dörfler. “It’s leftovers. A few more minutes won’t do it any harm.” Never mind that she was uncharacteristically embarrassed to eat a sandwich made with leftover Sunday roast and the crust cut off, just like Claudine knew she liked it.

“So busy,” Edith said automatically before realizing her haste and backtracking. “Actually no, I’m not really busy at all. It’s been a slow week. For me, anyway. Elias has been swamped though.” Her words got faster as she spoke, but not too fast that she made the mistake of joking that Elias reviewed his schedule for the next day in his sleep. “Always an important meeting with an important person or other,” she offered instead, thinking that was a very normal thing to say. Still, despite how normal a thing it might be to say, the warmth she felt in her cheek at the residual thought of sleeping in the same room as someone was most certainly not.

But she carried on, not wanting this feeling of confidence in her ability to hold a conversation to get away from her. “I’m just glad that he’s able to go to lunch today,” she went on as she examined her watch. “He’s hardly had time for me--”  Edith had been about to finish her sentence with ‘even after proper working hours are done for’ but she instead transitioned into a very awkward and noticeably out of place “--eeeeting up with his quidditch team.”

She realized one second to late that she could have said her originally planned sentence with innocent intentions, considering she and Elias had been friends before this whole situation they and frequently spent time together outside of work, Edith almost always getting alcohol involved in everything. Edith nearly winced, eyes wide behind wider glasses, at how poorly she was handling what should have been an incredibly simple interaction. She blew a lungful of air through nearly pursed lips. “What I mean is,” she started again, not knowing at all what the hell she meant. She was still distracted by that insignificant detail that Elias hadn’t said anything about inviting her to Germany.

Before she could second guess herself or reconsider her plan, she added a quick question in one breath: “What do you mean he didn’t mention it?” She would forever deny being so hung up on this thing that was probably nothing more than semantics, but she was too invested in this to be anything but.

Goodness, was Edith feeling alright?
To be fair, Maja’s interactions with the other woman were limited, but she seemed awfully… scatterbrained? Nervous? She’d answered, then retracted her comment; now her speech seemed rushed, and was picking up speed by the second. The Klyk alumna nodded along politely, all the while attempting to covertly assess what – if anything at all – was going on. There was another slip of her speech, and Maja barely resisted the urge to frown habitually in consideration.

Despite the odd delivery of her statement, Maja was prepared to jump onto the topic of his Quidditch team so Edith could have a moment to regroup. But just before she could inquire as to how the season had been going, Edith plunged ahead to clarify and the question died on her lips.

“Whatdoyoumeanhedidn’tmentionit?”

There was a horrifyingly long second of silence. Maja blinked once, momentarily unable to discern what she’d just heard.
“What—? Oh,” she added hastily, as comprehension belatedly dawned on her.
“Ah, I merely meant he had not told me he had asked you to his birthday dinner. Not that he needs my approval or anything of the sort,” she interjected quickly. “It’s just that having dinner guests is… quite the elaborate ordeal in our household.” Maja had, quite frankly, no idea how to explain the sort of rigidly formal, traditional take on such a seemingly innocent event to a Muggleborn.

“I am sure he had good reason,” she went on, her dark, manicured brows contracting slightly in contemplation. “I am certain he would have said something, had you ultimately been able to join us. I cannot imagine it would have been for any personal reason. I understand he has been quite busy; perhaps it merely slipped his mind.” She offered a small smile that she hoped was at least somewhat reassuring. However, Maja was confident that the most recent possibility she had provided was almost certainly not the case. As she’d alluded to, an invitation to dinner was a serious ordeal. There were two chief reasons that would explain why Elias hadn’t mentioned any of this to her: 1. He hadn’t expected Edith to accept the invitation anyway (or be able to attend), or 2. He was actively trying to keep that knowledge from her, Maja.

But why?

As though the cosmos, too, was interested in her musings, the German witch became acutely aware of an all-too-familiar gait in her peripheral vision. Lifting her head a fraction of an inch, Maja needed only a fleeting glance to confirm. Her mouth curled slightly; she raised her eyebrows slightly at Edith, gently tilting her head in the direction of her approaching brother.

“Well, in any case, he can help us to… clarify. Here he comes now.”

aaand enter, @Elias Dörfler ;)

Work was a much more pleasant place now that he and Edith were speaking again. Those weeks in which she had disappeared from work without a word had been torment for him: not understanding the reason for her absence, not knowing whether he had played a part in it, and, above all, the horrible feeling that she was intentionally keeping away from him had added up to create a very distracted and very unproductive Elias.

The weeks since his early-morning arrival on her doorstep had provided such a contrast in outlook and mood for the German that he had felt positively weightless at times. The moments where he and Edith could be together, whether walking around her neighborhood or sitting quietly but knowingly with friends at lunch, gave him a sense of calm that had eluded him for months, maybe even years. True, it wasn't perfect: there were blips. Hiccups. The matter of his birthday had required some delicate navigating and white-lying to make happen, but what other option had he had? There was the situation with Zofia, too, though that had gone about as smoothly as was possible for such an event. She had been understanding enough.

The silence from his parents on that matter was unnerving, however: were they just waiting for the opportune moment to breach the subject, or did they truly not know what had passed between Zofia and himself? Would the burden of sharing that unpleasant piece of news lie with him? There were few things Elias hated, but conflict was certainly one of them. It had been easier to let the days slip by, pushing those concerning thoughts to the back of his mind whenever they emerged. Surely it was the case that if his parents were going to express their displeasure with his decision, they would have done so by now. He preferred not to think of this period as the calm before the storm.

But, all in all, Elias was happy. Work was busy, but Edith was by his side. He was one meeting away from lunch with her (and only her -- a rare gift that was due only to the change in his daily schedule). He took notes as diligently as he could, though his mind had drifted away to the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes more than once over the last hour. But the final questions had been answered, Elias had shook hands with their visitors, and he had dropped his files off on his desk before taking the lift to the atrium where he would meet her.

His eyes landed on Edith's face at once, but he barely registered the fact that she was sitting with someone else. A quick glance at his watch told him that he had taken only two minutes from the official ending time of his meeting to reach the lunch area. It wasn't as fast as apparating, but it was about the best he could do while within the walls of the British Ministry of Magic. Magical security had never seemed more inconvenient.

It wasn't until he was a few paces away that Elias realized who was sitting next to Edith. His legs kept moving at the same pace, but his brain had kicked into overdrive. Had he made plans with both girls for lunch today? How could that have slipped his mind? Was he so caught up in his time with Edith that he was, in fact, as distracted as he had been during their month of mutual silence?

"Maja," he greeted her at once, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek before continuing in German. "Did we have plans to meet today? I am very sorry if I am late; I must have forgotten to write it down."

He dared not look at Edith in case they gave away something private in front of his sister. It was better, surely, to focus on his unexpected guest for now. He only hoped Edith would understand his need for hospitality. "I hope Edith has been keeping you company," he added, not bothering to switch back to English, though he doubted his friend would miss hearing her name in their dialogue.

The silence that followed her stupid, stupid stupid question was very, very, very silent. Edith was inwardly cringing, doing her best to not betray herself with anyway outward expressions. She had already given herself away enough by asking her question in the first place. She wasn’t sure what sort of answer she had been expecting. It wasn’t like Edith was exactly going around saying things to people about how she was seeing someone. Of course, they had spent a weekend in Lunt and her family certainly knew about things, but that was different. Wasn’t it?

“Right, of course.” Edith hadn’t comprehended more than half of the explanation that Maja offered, focusing in on the simple ‘elaborate ordeal’ that set of alarm bells in her mind. It had always been there, in the back of her mind, of course, that something like this would come up sooner or later. Again, he had already met her parents and it hadn’t been some elaborate ordeal. Awkward, sure, but certainly neither elaborate nor an ordeal. She didn’t want to focus on it, wouldn’t focus on it, especially not now when she had already derailed the conversation far too much.

She nodded, looking at something behind Maja, over her shoulder, avoiding her gaze at all costs. “Probably just forgot, yeah.” She was speaking to convince herself more than anything, still not too sure why she was getting worked up about all of this in the first place. She had no idea if she had the grounds to be upset, if there was actually anything to be upset about in the first place. She noticed Maja turn her head to look at something and took a chance to steal a glance at her watch, figuring her best option at this point would be to simply escape the entire conversation.

Finally looking back to Maja, Edith matched her arched eyebrows with her own, turning to look in the direction she was indicating. As if the universe had noticed that she needed the extra boost to this situation to make it completely awkward, there was Elias. They made eye contact for the briefest of seconds before she darted her attentions elsewhere, by now so used to pretending like he wasn’t the first thing she noticed when she walked into a room.

Her first instinct was to take a large bite of her sandwich, but something told her that a mouthful of leftover roast wouldn’t help her case at all here. She instead fiddled with the edges of the brown paper bag, relieved yet somehow incredibly offended that Elias paid her no mind, neither looking at her nor speaking in English. Too many thoughts were going through her mind; was she mad or upset, should she be, did she need a reason, was the atrium really the place to give Elias a piece of her mind?

She rolled her eyes at no one in particular as he continued speaking in German, though she nearly missed hearing her name, much more used to hearing it surrounded by accented English words. She didn’t usually appreciate being talked about, but she certainly wasn’t okay with it when she was sitting. right. there. It was too familiar, there were too many similarities between this and being talked about with pity after the war or after the Dome and she had thought better of Elias than this.

Oh my GOD, “You speak English, Eli.” The last four words were meant to be self-contained, not to be spoken aloud, but Edith had never been very good at containing her emotions once she realized she had them. Still, they weren’t quite as loud as she would have liked to say them. She didn’t even notice that she called him Eli, something she hadn’t called him in the past couple months, unable to explain why using a nickname seemed less familiar than using his given name. Still, she exhaled sharply as the weight of her words sunk in, realizing a second too late that she was at work and didn’t need to be making any more a fool of herself than she already had.

“Sorry, I just remembered I have some very urgent stuff to do.” She didn’t bother specifying what sort of stuff it was, nor was she bothered that Elias would be more than aware of how little she cared about doing her work in a timely manner. She stood up, lunch in hand, offering the younger Dörfler her best attempt at a smile. “It was really nice to see you, Maja.” Clearing her throat, she didn’t offer Elias a second glance, deciding that taking the long way around to get back to her office would be well worth not having to walk too close to him.

Maja’s stomach twisted uncomfortably at another change in Edith’s affect. Clearly, what she’d said was not what the other woman wanted to hear, as they had been making occasional eye contact up until this point but now Edith looked pointedly away, appearing somewhat dissociated. Maja felt compelled to say something else of reassurance; but hadn’t she just done that, to this effect? The chestnut-haired witch wasn’t entirely sure what else to say – unfortunately she had never been particularly adept at offering empathetic comfort, as it was – and so she pretended to inspect one of her rings, wishing she had a mug of tea or something to better divert her attention.

It felt like hours before Elias finally reached them and their palpably uncomfortable silence, though it couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen seconds. He greeted her formally and addressed her in their native tongue, and Maja responded automatically in the same.
“No, no – I have the day off, so I thought I would unexpectedly grace you with my presence.” She gave him a wry smile.

But across from her, in her peripheral vision Maja noticed Edith shift slightly in her seat, and it took a few seconds for the German to remember that the other woman couldn’t follow their conversation at all. She felt a twinge of guilt at their own discourtesy and did her best to remedy it.
“Ja— erm, yes” – she slammed on the brakes mid-response, her brain making the German-to-English transition much more quickly than her tongue – “we were just catching up. As I was just saying to Edith, I hope—”

“You speak English, Eli.”

The outburst was a relatively calm one; but it had sufficient edge to it that it led Maja to quite abandon the rest of her sentence. Normally well-composed, the Klyk alumna could feel her neutral mask give way to surprise, if only a brief flicker. There were a few heartbeats of stunned silence before Edith spoke again.

“Sorry, I just remembered I have some very urgent stuff to do.”

“Yes, of course – please forgive me for detaining you.” Maja replied with as much pleasant neutrality as she could muster, returning the other woman’s smile. “It was lovely to see you, too.”

The nineteen-year-old watched her go for a moment as her sense of surprise ebbed before swiveling her blue gaze to her brother, tilting her head towards Edith’s vacated chair in silent instruction for him to sit. If she hadn’t suspected something was afoot before, she certainly did now. From the – albeit very limited – prior interactions she’d had with Edith, Maja had gathered enough of an impression to identify an outburst such as that as relatively uncharacteristic; and certainly out of proportion to the situation, assuming no emotional undercurrent. Which, clearly, there was.

Maja leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest and arching a carefully-manicured brow. She wasted no time in getting right to the point.
“Something you would like to clue me in on?”

Shocked, Elias shut his mouth just as he had opened it to reply to Maja, stunned momentarily by Edith's rudeness. Turning to look at her for the first time since his arrival, Elias was surprised to see that she was pointedly avoiding making eye contact. Elias was not sure how he was supposed to communicate with Edith when Maja was standing beside him, but it seemed that Edith wasn't satisfied with his approach. The tension in her voice suggested to the diplomat that her interruption was about more than the language in which he was speaking; clearly, Edith was on edge. Her lack of eye contact was a clear indication that she was barely containing whatever emotion she was feeling -- and his experience as Edith's best friend had taught him that on the rare occasion that Edith did let down her walls, she didn't do it delicately.

"Edith -- " the German started in his most soothing voice, ready to negotiate whatever conflict had emerged before he approached, but he was interrupted at once. If he had thought Edith could hardly fail to miss her name in his conversation with Maja, so too he was sure that she had intentionally omitted his name from her farewell. Shocked, Elias teetered on the edge of calling her back, but the fear of a full-blown outburst at his place of work, not to mention in front of his little sister, held him back. He stood quiet and still for a moment as she passed by, wishing he could catch her fingers between his, if only for a moment, to let her know that he would be coming after her soon. That he was on her side. But they were surrounded by potential onlookers, so Elias turned back to his only hope of being clued in on the situation: Maja.

Although she appeared disconcerted by Edith's abrupt departure, she had clearly handled this unexpected turn of events with a bit more grace than Elias had. Maja had managed to get a parting phrase in before Edith marched away, and was now staring at Elias in a meaningful way that made him shift uncomfortably. He had gotten closer with Maja over the years, and her intense gaze made him feel sure that she was not about to let the awkward situation pass them by. Following her gaze, Elias lowered himself into Edith's vacated chair with as much dignity as he could, trying not to look guilty of anything.

"What do you mean?" Elias asked, stalling for time. But even as the words left his mouth, he saw from his sister's crossed arms and searching look that he wouldn't be able to brush things off so easily. Under the pressure of those blue eyes, Elias could do no more than lean forward, placing his elbows on the table and his fingers to his forehead, half-blocking his view. A sigh escaped his lips, half-muted by the palms in front of his mouth. "What did she say? Is she upset with me?" His resolve was breaking; the question sounded pathetic, but it was hard to hide his worry (and the obvious emotional investment behind it) in the presence of one he trusted so completely as Maja.

Elias shut his eyes for a moment, not willing to look at Maja as the next words came out. If he trusted her as much as he said he did, then it was shameful to have waited even this long to be honest with her. "Things with Zofia -- they, well -- I had to end things with her."

whoops this thread is almost a year old sorry ily @Olivia and @Christine

“What did she say? Is she upset with me?”

Maja stared at him, bewildered. Was Edith upset with him… Was he completely and utterly oblivious to social cues? The other woman couldn’t have been more explicit if she’d slapped him. The Klyk was about to tell him as much – but apparently he wasn’t quite done.

“Things with Zofia – they, well – I had to end things with her.”

The brunette blinked owlishly, caught completely off-guard.
“…Why?” she countered reflexively, before her brain could fully process the context in which he’d supplied the response. A hundred more questions tumbled through her mind – ‘When?’ and ‘Do Mother and Father know?’ and ‘Have you taken leave of your senses entirely?’ – but she shoved them all aside, trying to make logical sense of his response.
What Maja had meant by her pointed question was something more along the lines of: ‘What on Earth did you do to make your placid friend so upset?’ She hadn’t directly asked what was bothering him – but that was how he had responded. She’d asked about Edith; he’d replied with something about Zofia.

Curious.

Maja’s thin brows contracted in a frown.
“I do not understand. What does Zofia have to do with—?”
She broke off abruptly. Quite suddenly, with a definitive CLUNK like the last tumbler of a lock falling into place, she did understand. Or thought she did.

The German stared at her brother, mouth slightly open as the gears in her calculating mind whirred rapidly. It didn’t make a shred of logical sense for Edith to be upset over Elias breaking things off with Zofia. His engagement had nothing to do with his friendship with Edith – he was certainly still allowed to be friends with her, despite the fact that she was Muggleborn. If anything, Edith should be at least neutral about it.

Was it possible she hadn’t known? Unlikely. But, again, even if she’d recently found out about Elias’s betrothal, she wouldn’t have a reason to be upset. Unless…
Her heart rate sped up.
Unless.
Elias had a strong moral compass. He was a man of honor; of keeping his word. Something profound must have happened for him to have had suddenly broken the engagement. Something that directly conflicted with his sense of morality regarding keeping the engagement. The mere fact of Edith having feelings for him – if that was even the case – wouldn’t have been enough. He would still see it as his duty to fulfil the engagement and marry Zofia, Pureblood to Pureblood, as their parents had intended.

She was jumping to conclusions; but at the same time she knew she wasn’t. Maja knew her brother well. They’d always been close growing up, and had become closer still throughout their early adulthood. There wasn’t a single thing she could think of that would drive him to abandon a ‘familial duty’ without warning like this. Especially without telling her, Maja.

He had to have felt attracted to Edith. And to an extent that compromised his ability to keep the engagement.

Oh Merlin.

The cogwheels suddenly came to a grinding halt – and the sudden silence in her mind was deafening. She could only blink at her brother, at a complete loss for words. But she had to say something… anything. She needed the confirmation – but couldn’t quite say why, except maybe to selfishly validate her own hastily-drawn conclusions. Her tightly-crossed arms had gone slightly slack, and her rigid posture had softened somewhat.

When she did speak, it was so quietly that he wouldn’t have heard her, had he not already leaned across the table to close some of the distance between them.
“Was it because of Edith?”

Burying his face in his hands was all Elias could muster after his confession. It was supposed to feel good to get secrets of your chest, or so he thought; instead, he felt nauseous. He had never been the secretive type, never one to do anything that he would fear someone else might learn of. He strove to conduct himself with dignity, to make his family proud. As happy as he had been over the past few weeks, Elias had been stuffing a lot of the complicated aspects of his new relationship into a small room at the back of his mind. He wasn't even sure, really, if it was a relationship, though the fact that he had essentially broken up with Zofia to pursue it suggested that it was.

Maja's question did nothing to encourage movement from her brother. Elias continued to stare at the table through his fingers, maintaining the physical barrier to eye contact that was his only hope. If Maja didn't already know, perhaps he should not have said anything. As the silence dragged on, however, Elias could practically hear the gears turning in his little sister's head.

When she finally spoke, Elias lifted his face from his hands, a tragic look on his face as he begged for mercy. "Not -- completely," he admitted. He had articulated his thought process once before, but it felt harder to defend to someone he felt sure would not agree. "My friendship with Edith has been complicated for some time." At least Maja would understand his delicate phrasing. They had been raised by the same parents, after all.

"It was not only Edith, though," Elias continued, now desperate to make his sister understand. Her silence and stunned posture made him fear that he might lose his one potential ally in the family. He just had to make her understand. "You know everything that happened at Durmstrang. We were lucky to all make it out of their unharmed, Maja. None of that would have happened if it were not for the rules around blood." The last word was spoken with distaste. "I cannot be a part of that in good conscience anymore, Maja. You were not here during the war. You did not see."

There was no other word to better describe Maja’s current emotional state than “thunderstruck.” And when he finally lifted his face from his hands, the naked despair etched into his expression felt like a knife in her stomach.

Elias had always been unshakeable. Always composed. Always in control. Never faltered.
Now he looked to be coming apart at the seams, and Maja had no idea what to do. She could only nod dumbly as he attempted a few words of forced explanations.

“Complicated,” she echoed faintly. “Yes, it certainly does seem to be…”

And then he referenced last June: Vulchanova’s meltdown that endangered their youngest brother, when both she and Elias had risked their necks in an attempt to help. Maja hardly needed reminding. She had half a mind to ask what that had to do with all of this, but  he answered that soon enough. It was about blood status. The way he’d spat out the word ‘blood’ made her flinch involuntarily.

“You were not here during the war. You did not see.”
She was not. She did not.

She needed to think. She could not. But suddenly her brain clicked back into gear, and Maja shook her head once.

“This—” she began, blinking. “We— Not here.”
The Klyk Vampira alumna rose from her seat abruptly, taking her brother by the elbow and steering him towards the Floo fireplaces.
“Your boss will not raise an eyebrow over a long lunch break, hm?”
The German witch took a pinch of power and tossed it perhaps more aggressively than was necessary into the fire, calling out his address as the pair disappeared into the flames.

[[ Maja out! ]]

Elias had expected Maja to be surprised. The news he was sharing was not only that he had disregarded the wishes of his parents in refusing Zofia, but also that he was doing it to make himself available for a woman they would never approve of. He wasn't sure if he could hope that he would be able to convince Maja that his choices had been the right ones, but he would never dare to dream that the rest of his family might approve. His only chance with Maja was, really, because she had met Edith and knew about their past. His parents would never approve once they learned about her blood status. Never.

The idea of ever confessing to them was -- well, unimaginable. He could practically hear his mother's response now: "She's a perfectly nice girl, I'm sure, Elias, but don't be so ridiculous. The world is full of nice girls." Or, his father's pessimistic view of the situation: "Whatever got into your head, get it out. There is no way you two would ever be happy. She isn't part of our world."

Maja's response, however, was not what he would have predicted. Her flustered manner was completely uncharacteristic; he would have expected serious advice or warnings, but not stunned silence followed by fragmented thoughts. Elias was unsure how to help her process what he had admitted, so he allowed himself to be steered away from the table. A long lunch was hardly going to be well-received by his boss, but he had worked late nights for Edith in the past. He could do it again.

Stepping straight into his living room, Elias didn't even bother to dust the ash from his robes or wipe his shoes on the mat. He collapsed onto a chair at once, but this time did not hide his face in his hands. He wasn't sure if he was in for a conversation or a lecture, but he was ready to defend his choice.

[/thread]