Florence didn't want to go to work with everything that was happening, but it was still a must. Nicolai was granted a two month leave to get her affairs in order. She had spent the previous day with Penelope, who helped her pack her stuff, since her parents had suggested that she stayed in her childhood home for the meantime. Everybody thought this to be a good idea, as continuing to see their would-be home was bad for her recovery.

The Devereux family had arranged a three day wake for both Karen and Jillian, before they were to be buried at the family cemetery. Florence had asked Julien if she could leave a few minutes early to get ready to accompany Nicolai and Xander to the wake, and her request was granted.

"Please send Nicolai my best too, when you see her. And tell her I'm sorry I will be unable to attend the wakes, but I promise I will be there for the funeral."

"Don't worry, Jules. I'm sure she understands," Florence said reassuringly, "Thanks for allowing me to leave early later. I'm gonna go spar with Hadley."

Florence was still distracted despite the fact that she had plenty to do to keep her preoccupied. She had lost her footing several times during both wand and wandless sparring. Hadley had barely moved during hand to hand sparring, but had managed to knock her off her feet for the third time in a span of ten minutes. She looked down at Florence concernedly, "Are you quite alright, Flo?"

"A lot on my mind, honestly. Can't quite shake it." she admitted, taking Hadley's hand and being hoisted up. She grabbed their towels, passing one towel to Florence as she wiped her sweaty face with the other, "Why don't we get lunch, and you can tell me all about it?"

Florence left out most of the details concerning the Order of the Phoenix, mostly focusing on Nicolai and her mourning, and how she wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

"I'm so sorry to hear that. I haven't really gotten to know Nicolai that well, but no one deserves to go through what she's going through right now... but with the way things are these days... I don't think its about whether someone deserved it or not. This war doesn't pick and choose, even the best people end up losing something. That's the grim part about it." Hadley said, as soon as Florence had finished her story.

"I've been thinking about Nicolai a lot. I was in her place a few months ago. It was horrible. Its like going through the same thing again but now I'm looking at it in third person," Florence sighed, "But the thing about Nic is she isn't shutting everyone else out. That's...the silver lining. She's always been better at managing her feelings than I have ever been."

"Well people grieve in different ways, I guess." Hadley said, taking a sip out of her water cup, "Please send her my condolences though, will you? I may not know her all that much but I have the deepest sympathies for her."

"Thank you, and I will." Florence smiled, placing a hand on top of hers, "You know you should really meet my friends one of these days, I'm confident that they will like you."

"I'd love to meet them... one of these days." she agreed.

They went back to sparring after their meal, Florence not as distracted as she initially was. She busied herself with practice and learning new tactics from her superiors until it was time for her to go home, saying good bye to Hadley, as she had two more hours left.

Fred and George were in their dress shirts and some black slacks when Florence had arrived, the two finishing up a few things around the store as Verity sat at the till, as she was being paid extra to stay and close the store while the twins were out. Fred smiled as Florence entered the store, kissing her on the cheek softly, "How was training?"

"Exhausting," she sighed, pecking a kiss on his lips in return. She gave George a quick hug, before heading to the stairs, "You boys wait here, I'll be ready in ten, I promise. Then we can go." Florence said, before scampering up the stairs.

"When she says ten, does she really mean ten?" George asked his twin, as soon as Florence was out of earshot, Fred shrugging in response, "You know what? It kind of varies from time to time."

——————

The Devereux house was smaller than what Florence had anticipated, since from Nic's stories, they seemed to be a big family.

There were two caskets in the living room, bunches of flower assortments and candles surrounding them. Mrs. Devereux was sat on the couch with Nicolai, her eyes looking as restless and swollen as Nicolai's was. Mr. Devereux was greeting people as they came in, placing a hand on Florence's shoulder as she entered the threshold to the living room. "Florence," he said, "Jillian has mentioned you quite a few times. Thank you for being a part of her wonderful life, and for coming here today. It means the world to us."

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mr. Devereux." she said solemnly, offering him a hug. "This is my fiancé, Fred Weasley," she said, introducing the two as soon as she pulled away from the hug, "And his brother, George. They were friends of Jillian and Nicolai when we were in Hogwarts as well."

"Ah, Arthur's sons," he gave a small smile, shaking their hands, "Thank you for being here... please, help yourselves to anything."

The three made a beeline towards Nicolai, greeting Mrs. Devereux before Nicolai lead them to a corner to talk, "Thank you so much for coming."

"Hey, we'd do anything for you," George said, "We'll be here tomorrow, and the day after that too."

"I don't want this to derail your busy schedules," Nicolai said, looking to the twins, "You two run a store, for Merlin's sake, you can't be off wandering around for three consecutive days." she turned to Florence, "And you have training."

"Don't worry about all that," Florence dismissed, "This will always be more important."

Xander arrived a couple minutes later, hand in hand with Olivia. Her brother was with them too, and Florence had forgotten until that moment that Jillian and Oliver used to date.

Nicolai spotted the curious look in Florence's eyes as he watched Oliver shake hands with Jillian's father, looking genuinely grief-stricken. "Don't worry, she's made her peace with the Banks' way before." Nicolai reassured, "I'd go as far as saying Jillian and Oliver were friends."

Florence smiled, "That's good to hear."

Olivia let out a choked sob as she saw Nicolai, immediately rushing to give her a hug, "Oh Nicolai I'm so sorry. I only got in last night. I was in Berlin training, but I came as soon as I got Xander's letter." she started sobbing, "I'm so sorry this happened. Jillian didn't deserve this. Merlin... I was such a bitch to her back in school I... I'm sorry."

"Olivia," Nicolai said, rubbing her back gently to console her, "Knowing Jill, she'd probably be grateful that you're here right now."

It had taken them awhile to console Olivia, who had expressed regret that she was unable to apologize for her attitude towards Jillian all those years ago. Xander and Florence parted from their small group to fetch refreshments for the rest.

"It was nice of Olivia to come here," Florence said to Xander as she was scooping punch into a cup, Xander nodding in agreement, "She was very torn up about it honestly. I mean I get her, she wasn't very nice to Jillian before."

"How is Olivia, by the way? I haven't seen her around in awhile. Have you two been seeing each other a lot?"

"Yeah, we still have been. She's only in town for a couple nights at a time, though. But I don't mind. I've been preoccupied at work too, and, well, we see each other when we see each other. But I don't love her any less than before."

"That's good to hear."

"Plus, Quidditch training has made her a bit less... temperamental. Less hotheaded. Its been good to her. And I'm pretty sure Adrianna loves her more than she loves me now."

This made Florence chuckle, "I don't doubt that for a second." she teased.

                                     ———————

Florence decided to stay to help with the cleaning up, Fred and George heading home earlier than her since they had to help Verity close up the shop. She washed the cups and helped sweep up the floor in their living room. Heath, Jillian's older brother, was tucking Karen's children on the couch, as they refused to go up and sleep in their rooms, not wanting to be away from their mother. Florence couldn't help but look at Cassandra, Karen's only daughter, as she was her exact same age when her father had died.

She often wondered how they were going to grow up. Without a mother. They suffered the biggest loss.

Heath had thanked her for helping with the clean up. Florence had very minimal interactions with him. She had played Quidditch against him when she was in her second and third year, but apart from that, they didn't really know each other that well.

"It's not a problem," Florence replied, leaning the broom against a wall, "Anything to help out, you know?"

"No, seriously. Nic mentioned you have work tomorrow, so you really didn't need to stay... but you still did. I appreciate it. A lot."

She offered him a small smile, letting a comfortable silence pass between them momentarily, before looking to him to ask a question, "How are you feeling? With all of this? It can't be easy."

Heath hesitated, before sighing, "It's not. It really isn't. I lost both my older sister and my baby sister at once. Right now, I'm just worried about the kids. They're too young right now to really understand everything... But I don't know how I'm going to be able to raise them. I'm no Karen. I don't think I can do as good as a job as she did."

"You don't have to be Karen..." Florence said slowly, "I mean, I don't know anything about raising children, but I lost a parent around their age. My mum just kind of... gave me all the love she could give me and, I don't know, I never really felt like I was missing anything my whole life." she told him, "I'm sure you'll do fine if you love them as much as Karen does."

"I do. I really do."

Nicolai descended from the stairs, her shoulder bag slung across her chest, "Hey Heath, your mum's upstairs. Sound asleep like a baby."

He looked relieved, "Thanks, that's going to be the first time she's slept in days."

"No problem. I should be heading out now too."

"You know you can sleep here for as long as you want," Heath told Nicolai, making Florence's brows raise, as she thought that Nicolai was living back in her parents' house.

"No, it's fine. I think I'll sleep at my place tonight." she said, forcing a smile on her face, "Thanks for having me, though."

"You're welcome here any time, Nic. I hope you know that."

"I'll take you home," Florence volunteered, picking her bag up from the counter. They said goodbye to the Devereuxs, who again thanked them for the help and for coming to the wake, before they went on their way.

"Hey Flo?" Nicolai said, as soon as the door shut behind them.

"Hm?"

"Do you think I can sleep at the apartment tonight?" she asked meekly, "I can take the couch, I'm totally fine with anything I just... I can't go home right now. And my parents' house is suffocating me. It'll just be for the night.

"They know where you are though, right?"

"Yeah they do. I'm just tired of them tiptoeing around me. I mean, they never smothered me with care as a child, and now that they actually are, its kind of annoying in a way..."

"Of course, you can stay at the apartment. I'm sure Fred and George won't mind." Florence said immediately, offering her hand to Nicolai, "Come on, we best get home quick. You look knackered."