"Tell me, what happened?" Sirius said, pacing about in front of Florence as Julien continued to press a pack of ice against her jaw, while Sloan sat directly in from of her. Sirius had fought Dumbledore about leaving the headquarters the minute Sloan received an owl from Robards about the fight Florence got in to.

 Florence felt a pang of pain as she moved her mouth to speak, "I told you, she just punched me out of the blue. That's literally all there is to it." 

"Did you say anything to get her mad?"

"No." Florence scoffed, annoyed at the interrogation, "I don't start fights, Sirius. I only asked her why she didn't like me, before teasing me about something that I apparently don't know that she does."

"Okay, Florence, listen, I'm not accusing you of anything. I didn't say you started the fight, you might have just said something that provoked her, without you realizing it."

"Maybe she's just psycho," she shot back, "Seriously, I really do believe that she is."

"What did you say her name was?" Sloan chimed in to the conversation, hearing the frustration in her niece's voice

"Reagan. Reagan Fawley."

"Fawley." Sloan echoed, a sour look dawning on his face as he had realized something, "That's probably why."

"What is it?"

"Fawley is a surname that's part of the Sacred twenty-eight.." said Sirius, "So I'm guessing she's from a clan of death eaters?"

"Right you are," said Sloan, "And some few good years ago, during Gabriel's first raid, he threw a Fawley death eater in to jail. Barnabas Fawley."

"So that must be her father...?

"Or uncle." Julien suggested.

"I don't think that would be enough of an incentive to punch someone. Most likely, he was her father."

"Was?" Florence said, "Is he not alive anymore?"

"No," Sloan replied solemnly, "Your father made sure he got immediate execution after he was proven guilty of being a death eater. It was Gabriel's first case, he just wanted to do good."

"Great. Now she's going after me since she can't go after dad since technically, he's dead too." Florence flopped back against the couch in exasperation, "What an amazing coincidence."

"But if she's from a family of Death Eaters, why the hell was she inducted into the force? Didn't Scrimegeour do background checks of any sort? I mean, if anything, her surname is enough of an indication." asked Julien.

"Probably got top marks and everything. It doesn't matter if she's related to death eaters. There are several other people of high ranks in the Ministry who are, and no one's bothered weeding them out so far, which is a terrible decision, if I may add." said Sloan, "I'll talk to Robards and Scrimegeour tomorrow about her, if you'd like?"

"I don't want you to," said Florence, "I don't want her to think that I'm scared of her, because I'm really not."

"She nearly took your jaw off with that punch." Sirius pointed out.

"Yeah? Well I nearly ripped off all her hair if Robards hadn't pulled me off of her. She's lucky she isn't bald right now." Florence stood up, plucking the ice pack from Julien's grip, "Anyway, I think I'll be sleeping early tonight. Don't wait up on me for dinner."

"We need to get your jaw checked out at St. Mungo's." Sloan told her, "I don't think that ice pack is going to do anything by itself. We could go and let Nicolai do the check up if you'd like? I heard she's already starting her work at the ward."

"No thanks, I'm okay. I promise. This will be gone tomorrow."

With that, she retreated to her bedroom, leaving the rest in an uncomfortable silence.

 "I don't think I've ever seen her this tactless..." Sirius let out an audible sigh, "If Jane were here, she would know what to do with her own daughter."

"She isn't anymore." Sloan said, his voice cracking slightly, "But we are. And it's up to us to keep Florence in check now. I know we won't let her get too far into her grief." 

"That Fawley girl is bad news, though. She's not going to help Florence's recovery at all." Sirius said worriedly. 

"I can keep an eye on her if you want?" Julien offered, "I had some good news to share before I heard Florence get in to a fight... Mr. Robards offered me the position of being his Junior Undersecretary."

Sloan's eyes lit up with pride, reaching over to put a hand on top of Julien's shoulder, "I'm proud of you, Jules. You've been working so hard... You've definitely earned it." 

"Thank you, dad." Julien smiled. These past few months, he's rarely ever shared moments like this with his father, given the fact that they were both preoccupied with more pressing matters. Julien liked hearing words of praise from him, like every other boy in the world.

"I'll keep a watchful eye on Florence when I start taking over training supervision."

"That would be much appreciated, Julien. Thank you." said Sirius, "I'm going to write Remus about what's happened. Maybe he can come down and talk Florence in to getting her injury checked."

                                                                            ----------------

Nicolai didn't anticipate how labor intensive working at St. Mungo's was going to be. She was supposed to, she knew, as it was not, at all, an easy line of work. But as she had found herself making what seemed to be the 7th trip down to an overly demanding patient, it was as if it took every thing in her power to stop herself from flinging her body out of a window.

She caught Jillian in the hallway, and somehow, she felt like all of the stress had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Hun, are you okay?" her soothing voice asked as Jillian pressed a hand against Nicolai's cheek, "You look exhausted."

"I am," she whispered, "Can't we just get out of here? You know, go home and cuddle under the sheets and never go back to work again?"

Jillian simply chuckled at that, "Well, how will we be able to afford that new place we've been looking at if we don't work?"

"Screw that. We'll just live together in a cardboard box. I'm happy anywhere if it means you're with me."

She and Jillian have been looking around for a place they could rent out together. Nicolai found it a bit weird to still be coming home to her parents' house, while Jillian found it a bit crowded at theirs since her sister Karen had moved back into the family house. They had found a pretty two story house just outside Greater London that was owned by a charming old witch, who had been meaning to sell the property to use the money to go backpacking around Europe.

They had spoken to her a handful of times, and were only a few steps away from signing the papers. Their parents had chipped in a bit for the expenses, but they had a long way to go before being able to pay for the house in full. 

Nicolai thought that moving in together was a huge leap forward in their relationship, and she couldn't wait to start that chapter of her life with her.

She has even spoken to Alexander a couple of times about planning on proposing to Jillian.

It was kind of weird to be talking to him about it, given the fact that he and Jillian had dated previously. She wished she could talk to Florence about it, but she was unreachable for the past couple days, her reasons being that she was too busy with Auror training. Nicolai knew very well that this wasn't the case, but decided not to push her in that matter.

"You can do it, babe." Jillian said, pressing a kiss against Nicolai's temple, "Only a few more hours until we get to go home. Just hang in there."

She sighed, knowing that she was probably just exaggerating a tad bit. 

Jillian had to leave her to rush to a patient's room, leaving her alone with her exhaustion and misery. 

Maybe she could go check up on Fred and George at the shop later?

It was awfully lonely without having Florence to talk to,but she knew that she needed her space. 

Letting out another loud sigh, she picked up her clipboard, before going on to see what her next task was.

She was about to turn a corner when she spotted Julien by the front desk, talking away with the receptionist. Curious, she strode over towards the boy, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Hey! Nicolai, it's nice to see you."

"It's nice to see you too. What are you doing here? Did something happen to you?"

"No, I am quite fine. Florence on the other hand, got a bit rough with someone during training and got her jaw all banged up. She's been pretty stubborn about getting it checked, so I was wondering if I could just bring a healer over to her."

"Hm..." said Nicolai, "Well, you could tell her I've started working here. She could come see me and I'll have her checked out. I'm nearly done with my training."

"Oh, we did tell her you've been working. My dad stopped by a couple days ago and saw you toiling away in the ward. But... I don't know, she still doesn't want to."

"She doesn't want to see me?" Nicolai said, feeling a pang of hurt course through her system. 

"No, no, no. Not at all, it isn't like that at all Nicolai," Julien clarified quickly, "She didn't say that. You know, she's been acting strange these past couple weeks. I mean, my father and I only see her at dinner. Even Sirius doesn't see her as often as he used to."

"I get that... I just... The thing about her stubbornness is that it can be something that's so amazing about her...but sometimes it can be so frustrating." Nicolai admitted, "I just miss my best friend, you know? Xander and I have had about, five lunch dates without her and it's just not the same anymore."

"I know this must be hard for you too. And I'm incredibly sorry that it is. But as of right now we just can't do anything about it."

"I hate that bit..." she grumbled, "But oh well, such is life. Anyway, I can go talk to Jill's sister, Karen. Maybe she knows someone who could come by early morning to check Florence's injury before she goes to work?"

Julien smiled, grateful for her help, "Yes, that would be perfect. Thanks, Nicolai."

"Hey, it's for Florence. She may be acting like a butt right now but I still love her to pieces."