how long | sarah

[ares edward lestrange]

━ wasted on sunday, erase you on monday ━

march 2029

FOR THE LONGEST TIME, ARES Lestrange had fought in some kind of legal court battle against the mother of his child. Sarah Oliveira. For years of Sebastian's life, Sarah disappeared, which only resulted in the Ministries ordering joint custody of Sebastian to both the Oliveira family - with Callisto being the main guardian - and Ares himself.

He didn't mind it, given at the time he was dealing with his own personal things regarding his own family, but now Ares was more settled. He had a bigger home for himself and his son and money was never a problem. The only problem that was blowing smoke up his ass was the various court days he would have with the warmer weather approaching because of his useless baby mother demanding a retrial and reconsideration on the custody of their son.

For a long while also, Ares sought out lawyers, knowing that he still had a strong case to keep the custody at 50/50 with Callisto as the main guardian, or even being approved as the sole guardian of Sebastian. His case was solid, as was the evidence. But even bitching and barking about the situation to drunk patrons here and there, and even Diana whenever she found herself at the bar of Hogs Head was getting draining. All of this nonsense was draining.

Alas, Ares continued to work like normal, cleaning up after the patrons on the early Friday evening and huffing to himself. He felt like a miserable teenaged girl, who had just been refused permission to go out for the weekend. Instead all Ares could think about the stupid mistake he had made all those years ago, thinking with his pants instead of his head. But he never once regretted Sebastian. One of the very few stable points of the Lestrange's life.

| sarah jane oliveira |

[sarah jane oliveira]

March 2029

Sarah Oliveira had put her mind to regaining custody of her son, Sebastian, as soon as it had been taken from her. Getting to a point where she had a reasonable case to argue in favor of giving that custody back to her was another story. Though she had given birth to Sebastian herself, being a former convict who had been locked up in Azkaban hadn't helped her reputation any, and Sarah knew that Ares had been able to weaponize that against her. How could a convicted murderer, a woman who had killed her own brother, be a suitable mother to an impressionable little boy? There was no way.

Some way, however, Sarah felt, she would emerge victorious over Ares. Still in the service of Elaine Dupree at the time, she began a calculated rehabilitation of her image and scored her position with Magical Interpol to aid in recapturing the same people with whom she had been imprisoned. She was reasonably good at it, too. At least, she put in the effort because she knew that it was beneficial to her.

Unfortunately for Sarah, it seemed that Ares was always able to maintain one step ahead of her. No matter how much more "normal" she tried to make herself out to be, there was always something that worked to her disadvantage. Trying too hard would only backfire, though, and Sarah wasn't stupid. She was biding her time, giving Ares the runaround however she could without doing anything too harsh. If he wouldn't work with her, then of course she was going to make him uncomfortable, even if that came through the legal processes available to her.

The only thing worse would have been if they had married each other, Sarah thought, and she was grateful that they hadn't. Getting an annulment or a divorce and working through child custody would have been hell.

While Ares had consistently maintained his custody of Sebastian over time, something else had come up more recently that Sarah knew she could use to her advantage: She could put the pressure on her own mother. Callisto legally had custody alongside Ares, but Sebastian had spent a good deal of time with her parents, too. Her mother, however, had developed a pattern of behavior that made Sarah look saintly. She wasn't the one who had gotten drunk and walked out at Christmas, temporarily disappearing.

Add to that the ongoing climate against tensions against werewolves—which included Sarah and both of her parents—and she was feeling pretty confident as she arrived at the Hog's Head on a Friday evening after work. As much as she could have used a drink after a long week at work, she was there to add some pressure to Ares's work week.

Still in her work attire—because walking around in it was a fun way to make people squirm anyway—she opened the door to the pub and walked in.

ares edward lestrange