[thd] my time's coming [nerys]

september 2001

Things were getting better. At least, she thought things were getting better. It was the start of a very tentative friendship, even though the two women had known each other for twenty-nine years. Fflur Blevins was being mature, telling herself that Nerys wasn’t trying to ruin her life anymore. She would need to be miles more mature before she came to terms with the possibility that Nerys hadn’t been trying to ruin her life all along, but she wasn’t quite there yet.

She was sitting in the Three Broomsticks, neatly folded into a booth in the far corner. She could see the door from her vantage point, and was stirring her tea lazily as she waited for her sister to show. It was early on a Sunday morning and the restaurant was rather empty, save for a few other people with no where else to go. She was sure they wouldn’t risk running into Robin either, as they were too similar at not being morning people. Fflur wasn’t exactly ready to mention him to Nerys or vice versa.

Fflur looked up as she caught a flurry of motion out of the corner of her eye, seeing an owl rather than a blonde woman coming towards her. The bird had a red envelope clutched in its beak, and Fflur watched with wide eyes as the howler came closer and closer before landing squarely in front of her on the tabletop. It’ll be worse if I wait, she reminded herself, racking her brain for anything she could have done to warrant such a thing. There wasn’t anything in her recent memory, anyway, and she hadn’t had a night of fuzzy memories since giving up drinking.

She picked it up, fingers trembling slightly despite the calm look on her face, and she flicked it open, scooting as far away from the table as she possibly could as it began to yell. “Fflur we just saw a poodle,” the voice was speaking French and was instantly recognizable and she grinned, relief washing over her that it was one of those happy howlers she and her regular group of drinking buddies sent to each other after a long night of drinking when it would reach its peak hilarity. “Do you remember that one time you stole one and ran down the street with it and it almost bit your face off? Let’s do that again, we miss you.” The words were quick and the howler destroyed itself as soon as it was done speaking and Fflur couldn’t help but smile through her next sip of tea.

Looking up, she caught sight of her sister, surely catching what her howler had to say for her. “How good is your French?”

@Nerys Blevins

Brunch with Fflur. The concept was so foreign, and even as she had casually mentioned the meeting with his auntie to her son after she dropped him off at school, it had been hard to make the phrase sound natural. Perhaps she was just being paranoid; her son was young enough not to know what was odd and not in the grand scheme of things, time being a rather immeasurable concept at that age. He hadn't seemed phased by the idea, and she knew she shouldn't either. They had had tea together a few times over the last weeks, always meeting up during the day. It seemed more formal that way, but Nerys supposed it was good. Fflur hadn't asked her out for a drink and, even though the alcohol probably would have made things easier, it made her happy to see that Fflur really seemed to be turning her life around. She wanted good things for her sister, and good things for their relationship.

Nerys appeared right outside the Three Broomsticks, landing easily in front of the long panel of windows that kept the bar brightly-lit during daytime. She walked toward the door and thanked the man who held it open for her as she approached, but was forced to pause when a rather harried-looking brown owl swooped inside in front of her. The red envelope in his claws was unmistakable, and Nerys blinked in surprise. It wasn't a Hogwarts visit day, was it? No, those were usually on the weekends. It wasn't often anyone but a student received a Howler; usually, adults took care of disagreements in much more mature ways. Or, she thought, they ought to.

She hesitated outside, not sure if she wanted to hear the screams that were sure to fill the pub in a moment. But the noise wafted out through an open window anyway. The words didn't sound as angry as she had been expecting; it sounded, rather, like someone was shouting more out of excitement than from upset. Nerys stepped inside in time to catch the last few French phrases, and she turned her head at once to the obvious source of the noise. When the smoke from the burning letter had cleared, Nerys realized it was her own sister who had received the note.

Not sure if she should laugh or not, Nerys made her way over to the table and sat down. Fflur certainly didn't seem phased. "Not good at all," she replied, smiling a bit uncertainly in response. "I suppose you must speak it well enough?" It felt odd to be asking such basic questions of someone she had known since birth, but that was just how it was going to be for a while. The sisters had a lot of time to make up.

The bartender made her way over as soon as Nerys had sat down. "A black tea, please, with milk," she began, before looking over at her sister, uncertain. "Did you order food yet? Sorry I'm a bit late."

Fflur arched a brow as Nerys made her subtle jab towards her knowledge of French, and she shrugged, offering a cool, “Oui, c’est parfait,” before quickly switching to Welsh and adding, “But Welsh is so much better for confusing people.” She cleared her throat and took a sip of tea, the awkward silence setting in no more than twenty seconds after Nerys’ arrival. She mentally praised the bartender for showing up, thankful that she would be able to stall not knowing what to say for a few seconds longer.

“I didn’t,” she said, placing an order for dry toast and reassuring the bartender that yes, that really was all she wanted. She took another sip of tea and watched her sister over the rim of her cup, setting the cup back down in its saucer carefully. “Er, was travel okay?” She hadn’t been sure of the best location when she had suggested this last week, and now she was fairly certain that Nerys was a bit put out that she had been the one to travel and not Fflur. Maybe next time they could do something halfway. What was halfway? Probably some random village in Northern England. No, thank you. Hogsmeade or London would just have to suffice, she supposed.

And that was assuming there would even be a next time. “Work alright and all that?” Fflur had never had one of those water-cooler careers, the sort where you could have little tidbits and gossip to throw about, and she wasn’t sure if Nerys would even want to talk about her work like that. She had always taken everything oh so seriously.

Nerys couldn't help smiling as Fflur answered in French and then immediately continued on to Welsh. She had never studied a foreign language, simply having picked up on those spoken at home, and had to admit she was the slightest bit jealous. "It must have been wonderful to live abroad," she offered, ever-conscious of how her words would be taken. They were still in such a delicate place, not quite friends yet. One wrong move from either of them, and things could be ruined again.

The bartended took her order for a full breakfast, feeling she might as well take advantage of the fact that someone else was cooking for once. She looked with concern at her sister for a moment when all she asked for was toast, but Nerys tried to remind herself that Fflur didn't like to be taken care of. At least, not by her. "Oh, yes," she responded at once, glad that Fflur was keeping the conversation going. "It's rather nice to be back in Hogsmeade." The fact that their last major fight had fallen not far from here didn't need to be brought up. "Things at the hospital are busy as ever," she continued. How much did Fflur really want to know? Honesty was probably the best policy, going forward. "It's a bit weird, sometimes. Running into Eric." She blushed as she admitted it, and moved forward at once. "And you? Have you started classes yet?" Time seemed to blur together lately, a constant cycle of work and childcare keeping her exhausted.

Their food came soon enough and Nerys ate quickly, glad to have something to do as the conversation seemed to be coming in waves. She spoke hardly a word through the meal, asking the occasional question about how Fflur found the castle and whether her toast and tea were alright. She set her fork down when she had finally cleared the plate, a bit amazed at how hungry she had been. "It's lovely to have someone else cook," she said with a smile, feeling Fflur was fortunate to have the school elves to feed her. "I don't suppose you want to walk around a bit? I hardly ever come up to Hogsmeade anymore."

“Yeah, I mean,” Fflur trailed off, not sure how far they were taking their honesty yet. She settled for what she hoped was a happy medium, offering a casual, “I didn’t do it under the best circumstances or anything, y’know.” But her sister wasn’t wrong. Paris was pretty wonderful, even without the steady income or having to figure out if she should spend money on food or alcohol. The latter option usually won out, which also somewhat factored into her only ordering black tea and toast. It was just sort of normal now.

She nodded along as Nerys stepped lightly around her questions, rather taken aback that she had mentioned her husband. No, ex-husband. Was that a final thing? She should know that. She couldn't ask that now. Mum would know. She almost missed the question aimed back at her, too focused on the semantics of Nerys’s living situation.

“Classes? Oh, yeah. It's been a couple weeks now. Hogwarts still starts on the first of September,” she added with a smirk, but she meant it playfully,  and hoped she came off that way. She was on the verge of telling her that she had found a student smoking the other day, but then there would be the possibility of further questioning and she would probably be unable to hide the fact that she hadn’t given her any detention or taken an points, never mind that she had confiscated her cigarettes for her own enjoyment.

She took the food as a sign they should remain silent and eat and was thrilled that Nerys felt the same way. “Isn’t it? Of course, it’s free up at the school, but this is still good.” She nodded enthusiastically at the idea of not cooking, even though Fflur had never really cooked for herself at all, even when she had the funds. Still, she was thrilled again when Nerys changed the subject.  “Yeah, that sounds great.” She pulled out a few coins from her pocket and left them on the table, not pointing out that she had dropped enough to cover both of their meals. She didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, not now.

The air outside was cooler than inside the pub and she pulled her jacket tighter around her. “You been to Zonko’s?” She asked, figuring she knew the answer before she got a reply. “Let’s go in there.”

"Right, of course," Nerys responded, shaking her head to show she recognized her own silliness. "Sometimes I think this job and everything is turning me senile. I'm as forgetful as Grandma these days." And it was true. She was lying if she didn't admit she was overwhelmed; the cooking and cleaning, taking Niall to and from school, coordinating everything with Eric, working a full time job at the hospital, and pursuing her own research on the side? It was more than most could handle, and Nerys was starting to drown. "I suppose it's better to come into Hogsmeade on weekdays like this. Avoid all the students. It must be odd to see them; I always feel a bit strange when I see someone I've treated out on the street."

Nerys was surprised at how glad she was that Fflur agreed to her plan. It was like every time they had a positive interaction, she was shocked. As kids they had been friends, rather close, even. It was certainly possible; it was just hard to figure out where they had gone wrong. The uncertainty of it all made her fear that every word she said could set Fflur off, somehow. Communication just wasn't their strong suit. "Thank you," she said, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice. It was especially generous, given she had eaten about twice as much as her sister.

"I haven't," she admitted. "I wasn't much fun in school, was I?" Admitting it was easier now that it was so far away. She didn't have any regrets about it, not really; she had a great career and that probably wouldn't have been possible if she hadn't given up Hogsmeade weekends to study hard. Going into the shop was a bit of a shock though. "I guess this is why students like it," she laughed, completely overwhelmed by the place. It was loud and crowded, especially given it was a weekday. "Do you think Niall would like these?" She was looking at a display of trick wands that turned to little figurines when they switched. Nerys lifted one to try it out and waved it a bit randomly. It fell out of her hand and switched to a mini model of a dragon breathing fire. Before she could pick it up, it took flight. "They're a bit too realistic, perhaps."

The verity of her words was revealed only moments later when the dragon let out another little burst of sparks directly over a display of fireworks. Nerys let out a shriek and covered her head as several exploded at once, filling the area with green and red sparks.

“It’s less weird than you would think. I think most of them actually like me.” She grinned, by no means meaning to imply that the reason the situation was always so strange for Nerys was because she wasn’t well liked. But she shrugged, continuing on almost like they were having an actual conversation. “I’m sure it’s only because the worst homework I can assign is telling them a new maneuver to practice in bad weather.” She had classroom lessons, of course, but it was all about the history of quidditch and the players and the leagues they supported. None of that really screamed ‘study me’ and Fflur knew better than any of her students that that sort of knowledge wouldn’t make them better fliers. Of course, she didn’t find herself in public Hogsmeade places that often when students were free to roam the village, but that was one topic of her free time that Fflur would be avoiding discussing with Nerys for the foreseeable future, quite possibly forever.

Fflur nodded silently as her sister thanked her for the meal, still not wanting to make a big deal about the whole thing. Nor did she want to mention that Hogwarts professors received a heavy discount so it wasn’t as much a sacrifice as she thought. She suppressed a grin as Nerys admitted she hadn’t been to Zonko’s, not in the least bit surprised. “I wouldn’t say ‘not fun’, not really, more ‘misguided’.” But she was grinning again, nudging Nerys’s arm with her elbow. If anyone was not fun in school, it was Fflur, who was so incredibly focused on Quidditch that she had failed to nurture any other habits or skills. It had seemed worth it for a while, but had all eventually backfired on her.

Still, she had managed to find some time off the pitch to visit the village and even though the merchandise had evolved over the years, it was still much the same. The atmosphere, the random whizzes and bangs from odd places, the crowd despite the lack of students with free time. Fflur watched with a lopsided smile as Nerys tried out a trick wand only to immediately drop it. Hand-eye coordination seemed to be about the only thing that Fflur had to herself. She was about to argue for all the reasons why Niall should get the dragon, realistic or not, nearly deciding that she would by it for him herself, when the dragon set off a bit of fireworks.

The last whisp of awkwardness about this whole day finally evaporated at Nerys’s shriek and Fflur grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her back and away from the explosions. They kept the actually harmful displays in the back; this was more of the kiddy firework display, the ones with bright colors and loud noises. “C’mon,” she pulled her backwards out the door, laughing with each step. “Don’t want to tarnish your pristine reputation just yet, now do we?”

This was why Nerys didn’t spend time in joke shops. Some people found adventure and surprises thrilling; she found them nothing short of stressful. Nerys didn’t resist in the least as Fflur pulled her back out the door, too worried about being spotted causing mayhem in a shop to resist her older sister taking charge.

As they stumbled out onto the street, Nerys couldn’t help covering her face in response to Fflur’s laughter. “You don’t think they’ll really be upset, do you?” She supposed worse things must have happened in the shop, what with the mass numbers of teenagers that must move through it on a yearly basis, but she still couldn’t quite keep the worry out of her tone. “Quit laughing,” she added, lowering her hands to jostle her sister’s shoulder.

“I guess you’ll just have to be in charge of shopping for Niall this year.” If that didn’t quiet Fflur, she didn’t know what would. With a small smile for her sister, Nerys pulled her bag back up over her shoulder and proceeded up the street, eager to move back in the direction of shops where she could be confident she wouldn’t make any more of a fool of herself.

[outtt]

“If they didn’t want us to test the merchandise they would try harder to keep our hands off it.” She shrugged, though she kept the smile firmly planted on her face. It was oddly comforting to see Nerys embarrassed, especially about something so trivial.

She came up short when Nerys mentioned shopping for Niall. Assuming she meant for Christmas, Fflur had to also assume she would be included in Christmas activities with the family, which really was more than she had been expecting, considering the only family functions she had been a part of were either Sunday tea or parties she managed to crash. But she didn’t want Nerys to see her hesitation, though she was pretty sure she could already sense it. “Of course I’ll be in charge.” She nodded firmly and added another shrug just for good measure, though internally she was already counting the ways she could mess this up.

Fflur tugged on the collar of her robes before heading back up the street, following after her sister, the smallest of smiles pulling at the corner of her mouth as she considered how well, relatively, this morning was going.