"This has been a long year for everyone." Mr. Robards' voice echoed through the training room, where all of the trainees were sitting crisscross on the floor, listening to the Head Auror's announcements. They were approaching the end of the first year of training, and Mr. Robards had taken it upon himself to explain what the end of the year entailed for them.

"At the third week of May, we are to have another evaluation of your skills, to pick and choose the best of your bunch that will get the honor of proceeding to level two of your training. I understand that you may be scared, since the last evaluation activity you've had ended up in the loss of multiple lives, and that event will remain one of the biggest failures in the history of the Force. Your senior Aurors were unable to protect you, and had you thrown in to a situation you were unequipped for. Because of this, evaluation will be done within Ministry premises. You will be scheduled and called in one by one to face a respective Senior Auror, and they will use whatever means they choose to evaluate your performance."

A wave of soft murmurs went through the crowd, silencing as Robards spoke again, "Your whole career will be riding on this. The Auror Force is only for the best of the best, so judgement will be harsh. Good luck, to you trainees, for making it this far. I, as well as the Minister of Magic, are proud of how far you've come, and excited to see the potential inside you."

Robards' words rang in Florence's head even after they were released for lunch. She had tried so desperately to bury the events of the dry run in the deepest darkest corner of her mind, the memory of being at the brink of death traumatizing her more than she would care to admit. She saw Hadley wave a hand in front of her face, pulling her back from the trance she didn't realize she was in.

"Are you okay, Flo? You're spacing out?" Hadley asked, Florence shaking her head, "Just worried about evaluations, is all."

"Don't be. You're Auror material. It runs in your blood." Hadley said, trying to lighten the situation, "Wouldn't it be funny if the Senior Auror they assigned to you was your uncle?"

"That wouldn't be fair," Florence chuckled, Hadley nodding in agreement, "You bet it wouldn't. He wouldn't let you do anything and would just pass you on the spot."

"Fail me, more like," Florence corrected, "You should have seen the fit he threw when I said I was gonna be joining the training, nearly had an aneurysm by the looks of it. It wouldn't be put of his character to sabotage my evaluation just so I won't become an Auror."

"That kinda makes sense." Hadley nodded, "By the way, are you free after work? I wanted to get some ice cream at Fortescue's and chat."

"I'm sorry, I have to take Matthew to the cemetery. I promised him about two weeks ago but haven't gotten around to it yet. He wants to put flowers on my parents' graves."

"Oh," she said, mildly disappointed, "Its okay. Do you think Nic and Xander would want to go?"

"You can ask them."

"Okay." she nodded, "How is Matthew, by the way?" Hadley asked, Florence sighing at this. She had not been to the Manor to check up on him for more than a month. Between intense training and trying to fit at least 5 hours of sleep, she couldn't find the time to visit. She assumed he was okay, seeing as Sloan has not stomped around to complain about anything. Still, she felt a sort of odd responsibility towards him, Florence couldn't explain it. So she went straight to her childhood home after the day's training was over, walking in to the threshold and seeing Sirius and Matthew hunched over a game of Wizard's chess, completely focused.

Her brows raised in surprise, before feeling happy that Matthew was getting comfortable enough to leave his room and wander around the Manor. It had taken them a few minutes to detect Florence's presence, the two looking up from their game; an instant smile blooming on their faces at the sight of her, "Hello, dear." Sirius said, "I wasn't expecting you today?"

"Hi Sirius. I'm here for Matthew, actually. He wants to go see Mum and Dad today." she said, before looking to Matthew, "Sorry I couldn't come over sooner, I've just been a tad bit busy."

"No need for an explanation, dear girl. I'm the least of your priorities," he said, getting up from the couch, "I'll just go and change, okay? I'll be back in a few."

"You're going to see Gabe and Jane?" Sirius asked, once Matthew was out of eye shot, "Can I come with? You know, animagus form?"

"Are you allowed out?"

He hesitated, "Of course I am."

Florence gave her a look, "Are you really, though?"

"No..." he sighed, annoyed, "But I'll behave, I swear! I'll stay in animagus form the entire time."

"Sirius," Florence sighed, "I dunno I don't want to get in trouble."

"You won't! I'll take full responsibility. Say you were just forced to take me and I'll handle everyone's wrath." He pleaded, "Please, Florence!"

"Fine... But please... do behave..."

The three of them apparated, stopping by a flower shop briefly to get their usual bouquets of Hydrangeas, before going to the cemetery. Sirius had already shifted in to Padfoot when arrival, the big black dog sprinting in to the vast open space, finally free from the confinements of the Price Manor. Florence couldn't help but chuckle as he rolled in to a patch of wildflowers, getting bits of brightly colored petals and grass stuck in his fur by the time he trotted back over.

"To this day, I think its still absolutely fitting and convenient that his animagus form is a dog." Matthew said, "We just look like we're out and about with a normal, harmless dog."

"Except this dog is actually the first person in history to escape Azkaban." Florence quipped, "Though, they don't need to know that part."

They made their way over to the hill where Jane and Gabriel rested, Florence brushing the wilted petals from their headstones, taking the dead flowers and replacing them with the new ones. "Hi mum, dad... sorry I haven't really been over much. Life's been busy, which is good in a way." she said, before turning to her dad's headstone, "Matthew's been telling me a lot about your days in Hogwarts... now for the first time in my life I can finally say I have an idea of what you were like. I think we would have gotten along really well if we were given more time together."

Matthew put a hand on her shoulder, before sitting down on the grass, "Your father cried when you were born..." he said, a small smile on his face as he reminisced, "We were all still so young and excited for the future. Little did we know that the end was near for most of us. I was right beside Gab when he held you for the first time. When you wrapped your little hand around his finger, I saw it in his eyes. I knew he would do everything in his power to shield you from all the hurt and the pain in the world. I know it sounds impossible but knowing your father, he'd find a way to."

"He must be really thankful for you right now..." Florence said, "With you here, you get to tell me stories about him. I never heard much from my mum, and I don't blame her. Losing him was one of the most painful things she had to go through, and she had to relive it every day when she raised me without him. She's the bravest person I know."

"I miss them every day..." he said, staring longingly at the headstones. "If I could come here every day I would. Its the closest thing I have to actually being with them. " Matthew sighed, "Alastor won't even trust me alone in the house, I doubt he'd let me come here by myself."

Florence frowned at this, looking over to him, "They're still babysitting you? You've been living with them for a couple of months now... I would have thought that they trusted you to be out and about now."

Matthew shook his head, "Unfortunately not. I don't blame them though. If I were in their shoes I wouldn't trust me either. Its gonna take me quite a while to prove my innocence, I think... and until then, I greatly appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to take me out here."

"Not too busy anymore... we're starting to wind down... We have our final evaluation for first year trainees in about a month, then we get a month off after that. So I might have more free time to take you here. Maybe next time I can bring Fred along so you can meet him."

"Your fiancé, right? The Weasley boy?" Matthew inquired, Florence nodding in response, a small smile subconsciously blooming on her face, "Yeah... you two really ought to meet."

"Oh I've met him before. Back when he barely had any hair on his head. Him and his twin brother. Oh, I remember how Fabian and Gideon always got sucked into taking care of them and their brothers. It was always such a havoc."

Florence made a face, "You know I always try to forget the fact that Fred and I were playmates when we were younger but the universe always finds a way to remind me of that..." she said, making Matthew laugh, "Why would you try to forget that? I think its a great story to tell when people will ask you were you met your husband."

"Well, we were in diapers..." Florence said, before bursting out in to laughter as well, "I can't. Its too weird for me to think about."

"No not weird at all."

The pair heard a familiar barking, Florence swiveling her head around to find Padfoot trotting up towards them, before settling down on Florence's lap. "Well, well... looks like someone's had enough of running around."

Padfoot whimpered, pushing his nose in to Florence's open palm, before licking it. "Well, on the bright side, at least you've got your exercise for the whole month down, Sirius."

—————

Nicolai was running extremely late to her dinner with the Haddlowe siblings. Adrianna was in town for just the day, and had invited Nicolai and Florence to join her and Xander for a meal. Unfortunately Florence had already made plans for the evening, and couldn't be reached, so the siblings had counted for Nicolai to at least show up.

Thirty minutes had passed, and the waiter had already made his third return to the table to ask if they were ready to order, Adrianna sighing before agreeing to order, Xander doing the same thing. The older Haddlowe slouched in her seat as soon as the waiter was out of eyeshot, looking dejected, "Seems like Nic isn't coming at this rate..."

"I'm sorry, Dri. She might have just got held up at the hospital. I heard its been very busy these days."

"I would have liked to see at least one of them, but I can't stay any longer. I might miss my Floo back to Germany."

"I know, but we'll catch them another time, okay? Don't worry about it." Xander reassured her sister, their food arriving a few minutes later.

They sat in silence as they ate, this is what usually happened when one or the other was extremely hungry. But after a few bites of her food, Dri set her fork down and broke the silence, "So how is she holding up? Nicolai, I mean..."

"She's been fine.." said Xander, "I've been seeing her a lot in between work when we'd eat lunch together. I mean she's not fully there but you can definitely see she's got back the joy she's lost before."

"I see," said Adrianna with a small smile, "I'm glad to hear that she's feeling much better. And its nice that you two have been spending a lot of time together. I mean I know the break up with Olivia is nothing like her losing Jill but its still comforting for two brokenhearted people to spend time with each other."

Xander chuckled, "Seriously? You're calling me brokenhearted?"

"Yeah, are you not?" Dri retorted, reaching for her glass and taking a sip, "I know you, little brother. More than you know. Exhibit A, I know you've been itching to ask about her the minute I got home this morning but you've been holding back."

Xander held a stoic look for a few seconds before folding, "I just want to know how she's doing... but I shouldn't know because its just going to tear me up."

"You're right about that. I know you're still sad about it but honestly I think it was for the best." said Adrianna, "Don't get me wrong. I love Olivia. More than I can ever comprehend without offending you. That woman is a firecracker. I just never really thought she was for you, you know?"

He frowned, "No, I don't know. Please explain."

Adrianna let out a breath, "Well. I don't know. I somehow always thought you'd end up with Nicolai." she said, setting her utensils down before placing her hands on her lap, watching Xander scrunch up his nose.

"Now before you finish that look of disgust on your face, just hear me out; the reason I've thought it is because the two of you have always had this deep sense of caring for one another, despite the endless bickering that you two do. Hell, there were times when your bickering sounded a lot like flirting."

"Well of course I care about her. She's one of my best friends. Just like Florence. We care about each other."

"Its different with Florence, though." Adrianna insisted, "From your perspective, of course you'd think it was the same thing. You're not the most emotionally aware person, Xan. I've always been able to detect the platonic in your relationship with Florence. Your platonic with Nic... well, it was there at times but I always had a feeling it was bound to be something more..."

Alexander let out a nervous chuckle, "I really don't know where you got that from, Dri."

"I've watched your friend group for years... I didn't just pull this theory out of my arse at the last minute." Adrianna retorted, "That's why I had my reservations about Olivia when I first met her."

"Well from how ridiculous it sounds it seems like you did."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Is it really that ridiculous, though?"

He was about to give another retort when Adrianna let out a string of curse words as she glanced at her watch, the time completely slipping from her mind. "Shoot! I have to get to the Floo Network in five minutes!" she half-yelled, shoving a forkful of lasagna in to her mouth before swiping a napkin.

"Order whatever else you want, I've asked them to bill it to me, bye—thanks, I love you—see you next month!" Adrianna said as she clambered out of the booth and bolted out of the restaurant, leaving Xander to his own devices.

He decided to finish his meal by himself, seeing as it was a very expensive restaurant, and that he also had dessert on the way. He had sat there, simmering in the thoughts that Adrianna had left in his head when the familiar brunette slid in to the booth seat opposite to him, looking extremely apologetic, "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize what time it was. I just got carried away."

Xander smiled; setting his spoon down, "Its okay. At least you made it."

"Barely." she huffed, seeing the empty plates on the table, "And I missed her too, didn't I?"

"Yeah... its okay, she's coming back next month, though. Hopefully staying for much longer than a day." He said, watching as Nic grabbed a piece of bread from the basket, making him laugh as she stuffed her mouth with it, "What?" she said through a full mouth.

"Hungry?"

"Starved." she said, Alexander passing her the menu, "Order whatever you like, they'll bill it to Dri."

"Sweet." she said, managing to get the bread down as she looked through the menu, her nose scrunching up upon reading an item, "Ugh. Ice cream. I feel like I can't have another bite of that for a month."

"How come? You love ice cream." He pointed it out.

"Yeah. But I had about six scoops at Fortescue's with Hadley this afternoon. Its true what they say with good conversations, it makes you want to consume more food..." she said, her eyes not leaving the menu as she reached for another piece of bread.

Xander, oddly enough, felt his stomach drop, "Oh, you were with Hadley for the afternoon?"

"Yeah. She asked to hang out after work and I had a couple hours to spare before I was supposed to meet you and Dri but like I said, I kinda lost track of it..." she trailed off, her eyes lighting up as she pointed to the menu, "Do you think their pesto gnocchi is good? I'm kind of in the mood for some pesto..."

"Yeah..." he said subconsciously, Adrianna's words echoing over and over in his head.