when all seems gone | ariadne

[Deleted]

@ariadne

the halls of saint mungo's felt eerily quiet after the last few days. it had been a mad house after the attack on the quidditch cup and teddy had been here every day since, trying his best to check on the people he worked with who had been hurt. he'd gotten off unscathed for the most part, a few broken ribs that had been seen and taken care of the night of. he was hear to check on people he knew, the people who'd been hurt and to see if there was anything else they could learn from the victims about anything they might have seen. he was taking a moment just sitting in the halls, waiting to hear back how someone was. he rubbed his hands over his face, his elbows resting on his knee's as he took in the quiet of the halls around him. it was still loud, the silence that seemed to have encompassed the world since the finals. he glanced up when he heard footsteps and couldn't help but let his mouth spread into a tired smile at the sight of a familiar face.

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Ariadne was just getting off her shift on checking and serving the patients affected by Hags Fever; in this day and age, all Healers, trainees or not, took shifts in the quarantined ward. Otherwise the Healers who would normally be in charge would have been run ragged. They took every precaution possible, and Ariadne sort of felt like she was in a bubble with all the protective gear she had to wear. She went through the staging room where she degarbed and emerged into the hallway wearing her lime green Healer robes.

Turning a corner, Ariadne was surprised to see a familiar face crouching down; Teddy Lupin, Jame’s...well, godbrother she supposed was the correct term, but Teddy had always been seen as a member of the Potter family. “Teddy!” she called warmly, reaching where he was crouching and smiling. “What are you doing here?” she asked, initially worried that someone close to the Potters had gotten Hags Fever and she didn’t notice them in the ward.

@edward

[Deleted]

@ariadne

he stood up as she approached, stretching his legs a little as they tingled from being bent at the odd angle and he smiled lightly at her. "hey. been a minute." he said in greeting as she reached him and he took the sight of her in. she probably looked as tired as he felt, he didn't envy anyone working in the hospital at the moment. they were run off their feet at the office but he could only imagine it was a lot worse within the walls of saint mungos. "just checking up on some people." he said as he folded his arms loosely across his chest. he was glad he wasn't here for anyone he called family, that was the last thing he needed right now, was to be worrying about them. not that he wouldn't drop everything if they needed him but, there was too much else to worry about. "are you finishing a shift?"

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Ariadne was pleased to see Teddy; it was always nice to see someone in the extended Potter-Weasley family. She nodded as he mentioned he was just visiting a few people and her smile faltered for a minute. Though she was pretty sure James would have told her if someone in their family was ill, it was still sad that so many people were being affected by this illness, in many ways they didn’t think was possible.

“I did just finish a shift, and I have to say I’m starving. I know restaurants are really only open for takeout, but do you want to come with me and eat in the park nearby? It’s big enough for enough people to keep their distance,” she proposed, her stomach grumbling in ascent. When was the last time she eat? She couldn’t remember, maybe the granola bar at breakfast? Yes, that was probably it.

@edward

[Deleted]

@ariadne

he nodded when she asked if he wanted to go get something to eat. he'd more or less finished with what he was doing and what he hadn't done could wait till the morning. it wasn't like the people he needed to talk to were going anywhere. "sounds great." he said with a smile as he started walking down the hall with her. "my shout." he said simply, not really trying to leave room for argument but he was sure there would be one. he crossed his arms across his chest lightly as they made their way along the corridor and he looked to her. "so how have you been?" he asked her. he didn't really know how james was and because he hadn't seen him he hadn't been able to find out about ariadne either, this whole being busy and an adult thing sucked when it meant trying to keep up with the people that mattered.

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Ariadne looked at him quizzically, but continued on in silence. “Oh? Busy, of course with the quarantine and so many sick patients, but I am surviving the best I can,” she said, stopping by her office space and stripping off her lime green Healer robes, revealing a tank top and jeans underneath. She tied her long hair back in a ponytail and they left Saint Mungos, joining the Muggles shopping on the streets.

After stopping in one of her favorite lunch places, Ariadne found a spot in the nearby park that had enough people away from them to settle down and eat. “What about you Teddy? Have things been busy for you in the Ministry?” she asked. It had been a few weeks since the death of Minister Granger, who she knew Teddy considered family. “How are you doing, really?” she asked softly. She felt guilty for not feeling worse about Hermiones’ death, but she didn’t know the Minister well at all. Not like the Potters, and Teddy.

@edward

[Deleted]

@ariadne

had things been busy? it felt like he hadn't stopped in the last few weeks. of things had been busy before they were hectic now. if he didn't know any better he'd say it was chaotic but that was probably only because people felt like they needed to be doing something, helping in some way or at least trying to make the ministry run a little smoother in the sudden absence of a leader. it was hard to think that hermione wasn't in that office, that she wasn't behind the door sitting there, trying to take the wizarding world by storm.

how was he? that was a loaded question and a half. there were so many answers to that question and they changed every second of every day. one moment he was fine, pushinig through and needing to do what he needed to do, the next he was thinking about what had happened, getting lost in the thought that he'd lost someone else he loved, feeling horrible for her family, wondering how rose and hugo were doing and how ron was coping with everything. he was tired, god he was tired of having to say goodbye to the people he loved. "I'm t-.. I'm okay." he said, trying his hardest to keep the composure. "it's hard but i'm okay."

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Ariadne gave him a searching look. “No, you’re not,” she said simply, placing her hand on his shoulder in a friendly manner. “Of course you’re not, but that’s okay. I find it to be incredibly hard to say anything otherwise when people ask that question.” Merlin knew she’d been asked enough times how she was when her parents had been killed. On one hand, they were her parents, they had raised her and she had wanted for nothing as a child, having been favored over Andromeda. On the other hand, the world was a better place with less Lestranges in it. It was a funny way to think, but Ariadne did not consider herself to be THAT kind of Lestrange - if anything she was working to change the family name and legacy to be something far more decent than anyone would have thought.

“It’s okay to not be okay,” she added with a small smile. “I think what we need is a drink, how about you?” she changed the subject briskly. Her shift was over, Teddy was basically family to her through James, and he looked like he could use a drink. “Shall we head to the Leaky Cauldron, or would you like to test the waters in a Muggle setting that my family would hate if I stepped foot in,” she asked, half teasing about the last part. She had almost said that her family would die of shame if she went to a Muggle bar, but she felt that wouldn’t exactly be tactful in this environment.

@edward

[Deleted]

@ariadne

he felt the soft touch on his shoulder and he was aware that she'd probably seen straight through him, she was anything if not perceptive. ariadne lesdtrange was no fool. "i think it's because no one ever actually wants the truthful answer." he said as he rubbed a hand over his face lightly, scrubbing at his chin for a second before he dropped his hand back down against his leg. everyone seemed quick to ask how someone was but it was his experience that the simple answer satisfied most. it was easy to deal with someone who was okay than someone who wasn't. teddy had never been a very openly emotional person, prefering to internalize and deal with things on his own terms rather than spill it to the world and it worked for him, for the most past. usually, well it had. now it took internalizing and a bottle of fire whiskey.

"a drink sounds great." he said with a smile. "well, would we be doing things right if your parents weren't turning over in their graves?" he asked her, in a way that he hoped wouldn't upset her about her parents. he knew their deaths were a lot more recent than his own parents and it might still be raw for her, even though everything he'd known about the lestrange family made him think that the world was better off without them, he wouldn't voice that. because he was sure there were people out there who had felt the same about his parents, such as the people who had killed them. he stood up and held his hand out to her. "shall we?"

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Ariadne chuckled at his comment on their parents. No, her parents would certainly not be pleased to see Ariadne enjoy a drink with Teddy Lupin, the son of a werewolf and, in their eyes, the daughter of a “Blood traitor” in his grandmother Andromeda. “Yes, let’s,” she said, taking his hand as she stood up. Brushing off her Healers robes, she led him to the small office she shared with fellow maternity healers and removed them, revealing leggings and a sweater underneath. “Probably would look a bit odd showing up in a Muggle bar wearing lime green robes with a wand and a bone crossed over the right side,” she said jokingly.

After leaving the hospital, Ariadne pointed down the street. “This is where some of us go after shifts, the bartenders are lovely people,” she suggested, leading him into a quaint looking pub with ornate wooden carvings around the windows and doors. She greeted the bartender, who had spotted her already and was pouring a glass of her favorite wine. “Did I mention I come here often?” she told Teddy jokingly as she accepted the glass. “Order what you like, my treat,” she added, gesturing to the bartender as she took the first sip and sighed with relief.

@edward