You take the high road and I'll take the low road (Zak)

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The sea had been left behind again, and Deva had been preparing for her new job. While teaching life skills to young witches and wizards she wasn't sure that was what she'd wanted. She'd enjoyed it, perhaps most of all connecting to her best friend from back in school. Now that the magical world had decided to start teaching the youngest of the bunch she'd gladly taken on the job of a reception teacher, taking in those that were youngest to get them familiar with the more basic skills in life. It was fantastic. Not to mention the entire mess with the previous version of the school burning down had really messed with her head a lot.

Today it was weekend and Deva had decided to take a picnic on the shores of lake Inverness, close to her hometown. Especially now that it wasn't needed, she'd been spending a lot more time at home. She'd been planning the wedding initially, but she'd grown weary of all the magazines. While on the ship, everything had seemed perfect. But then she'd left and settled back into her old life. She was preparing to care for childre and had found that plan she'd once had somewhere in a box of old paper. The plan that had once informed all her choices, when she'd still worked for the invisibility task force. It seemed like such a long time ago.

Was she actually getting cold feet? Even as she sat there on her little blanket with her picknick basket and her glass of wine, she couldn't tell. Had she ever truly stopped to think what she wanted? Or had she made a plan based on what she thought life should look like and never even considered not following through? Life had turned out to be a lot less predictable. Was it time to reach out to her friends then? Ask them to clear her mind? Surely this was nothing, serious, was it?

She took a deep breath and sighed. She hadn't even found her dress yet. Maybe that was why she was starting to get scared. Just out of fear she wouldn't find what she was looking for. Surely that had to be it. But then she saw a very vaguely familiar face coming in her direction. He looked young. Perhaps a former student? Maybe it was good, she could certainly use a distraction from the milling in her head.

@zakariya

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"Zafar, I am 99.999% sure that I do not need this shit on my face," Zakariya protested through gritted teeth as he sat with his step-mother's make up brush flitting over his cheeks. His father growled somewhere behind him, reminding Zak that "do not be so disrespectful - I am your father and you will call me as such. Your mother wants these pictures to be nice so you will do as you're told," the man said with a firm hand patting itself menacingly on Zak's shoulder.

"My mother could give two shits about this ridiculousness - Samina and I went to school together I will not call you my mother," Zak growled defiantly, though the hand squeezed his shoulder now and almost made him squeak at the end. His step mother, Samina, put her brush down then and quietly left to tend to the star of this photo shoot - the infinitely cute little half-sister born this past September. The photographer stood awkwardly in the background waiting for the family to get their collective shit together.

"We want the Loch in the background, happy faces - young man, it would be good if you could stand closer to your family..." at that, Zafar pulled his belligerent son closer in to the family of four and little Souma giggled to see her brother awkwardly stumble into place. Thankfully the sound brought enough levity to the adults that the photographer was able to get a few smiling shots for Zak's grandparents.

"I'm going now - I have my tutor waiting for me back in London," Zak lied, though Zafar and Samina clearly did not care as the young man gathered his stuff and they continued with their own 'happy family' portion of the photo shoot. Good riddance, Zak thought with more bitterness than he'd expected as he trudged up a small path leading away from the picturesque location.

Along his way, he saw a lady sitting by herself on a blanket with a picnic basket as if she were posing for regency era oil painting. Zak was curious who still had picnics nowadays, especially as an adult without signs of rambunctious children anywhere near. He glanced at his watch for no real reason - he knew he had nothing else happening this afternoon - before deciding that he would take a detour on his way home to find out more about this curious creature.

"Oh, it's you. Miss Angel, right?" Zak recognized the face - she was pretty and certainly fit the name well enough, yet he had not been involved with her rather useless class at Hogwarts to know the name wasn't quite right. "I didn't know anyone did picnics anymore but I guess it makes sense for the professor who taught my mother's husband's daughter how to bake cookies would..." he said with the hint of a friendly-ish smile. "I'm Zak. I don't mean to intrude if you're waiting for someone ...?"

@deva