Sipping on the tall glass of champagne that had been shoved in her hand practically the movement she had walked through the door of this extravagantly decorated hall, the blonde sighed. The mayhem of the day was starting to catch up with her now that she had finally slowed down. After the day she had had at work she wasn’t surprised at how extremely tired she actually was.
When she had returned home to change for this unnecessary event she had been contemplating skipping out on it altogether, but as it turned out Liam had still been out on his ‘mission’ and being alone wasn’t really what she wanted at the moment. Now though? Now she wished she had just climbed straight into bed with a glass of wine and a good book. She would have woken up in his arms and it wouldn’t have mattered that he wasn’t there when she fell asleep.
Instead here she was, schmoozing up to potential donors for her research projects. She had been struggling with results lately, as had many of her colleagues with their own projects. Obviously St Mungo’s had money, but much of that was allocated for the actual healing of patients rather than the research for future healing methods. Which is how she found herself at the third medical fundraiser of the year. She was pretty sure it was the third out of five. She was actually quite accomplished when it came to swindling old crones out of their large amount of gold, in fact Faith had been quite proud to tell her that she was the largest earner of research funding. Whether it was down to her name, looks, skills or the actual idea of her project she did not know.
To be honest, she didn’t really care. As long as she got the money.
That didn’t mean that she didn’t just want to go to bed. She’d been up 52 hours already, for Godric’s sake.
“If I hadn’t seen you dolled up at the Potter wedding I’d be shocked at how amazing you look dressed to the nines, Cooper.”
Twisting towards the voice that had called to her, she took another sip of the bubbly concoction as her eyes roamed over his lithe figure, taking in the soft grey robes he had adorned himself with.
“You don’t look so bad yourself, Diggory.”
A cheeky smile stretched out across her face as she stepped forward to embrace him in a large hug, the violet of her own robes swishing about her ankles as she moved towards her childhood best friend. She squeezed tightly as she breathed in his familiar scent. He was actually the first person she had seen her that wasn’t a Healer or a donor.
Pushing away from him she slapped her hand against his shoulder. “What the hell are you even doing here, Diggs?”
A smirk crossed his unnaturally symmetrical features and she frowned at the sheer perfection of his look. It had probably taken him five minutes to get ready, she didn’t even want to know how long it had taken her to hide the terrible bags that had surrounded her eyes.
“Guard duty, love.”
Raising a slender brow, she surveyed the room as she took in the few aurors that had been patrolling the room in a subtle manor. She watched as Gawain and Amelia spun each other round in a waltz in the centre of the dance floor, obviously trying to blend in. Due to the fact that they were both ridiculously good-looking they were failing drastically. Kingsley Shacklebolt had taken up position by the bar and he somehow, with his bright blue robes, looked even less inconspicuous than the two parading their beauty round for the world to see. The precautions of auror guards was obviously due to the attack on St Mungos three months ago. This was the first even that had taken place since.
“I thought I’d use my time wisely and annoy my date-less little sister.”
She growled in frustration as she leant her head on his shoulder, her lack of sleep finally starting to catch up with her. “M’not your little sister.”
His chuckle reverberated through her body as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “You might as well be, little chameleon.”
Her head shot up suddenly as his previous comment registered in her brain. “And I had a date… he’s just working.”
His raised brow caused her to frown as she laid her head back down. “When he could be here showing you off?”
Slapping against his chest, she chuckled softly though he wasn’t actually funny. “Leave him alone, Diggy. I’ve been working for two days, I wasn’t even going to come.” She sipped her drink once more before finishing. “You know he hates these crowds anyway. It makes him anxious.”
“Hmmm.”
The silence washed over the two of them as she ignored everyone around her, and he, she assumed, was surveying the crowd for any threats possible threats. It would not do for all of the healers that took part in major projects to die while surrounded by Aurors. And damn good Aurors at that.
“Hey.” Her head shook off of his shoulder as she squinted up at him, her eyes blurry from lack of sleep and her brow raised in confusion. “He hates these crowds, huh?”
Running her hand gently down her face she followed his gaze towards the overly large oak doors, she could see Amelia grinning out of the corner of her eye, an expression that confused her even more before her eyes landed on what they were seeing.
A natural, happy smile spread across her face, scrubbing away her previously tired expression, her eyes glittering at the sight of him wrapped in the navy robes she had bought him for Christmas. She couldn’t believe it.
A hand squeezed her arm gently and she looked back up into Amos’ proud face, she was pretty sure she could see a tear glistening in his eye, but she pushed that observation away… for now. “I guess you’re more important than anxiety, little one.”
A blush spread across her cheeks as he pushed her towards the door. “Go have fun.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck once more, standing on her toes to do so, and placed her lips against his cheek. “See you later, big brother.” Pulling away, she winked slowly before running in the opposite direction, not caring in the slightest how childish she looked as she launched herself at her world.
