what a beautiful day to save lives

[Kelly Evans]

The storm had finally fizzled out to nothing more than light drizzle, so as the party wrapped up at the Three Broomsticks, Kelly decided she would walk a little, rather than apparate the whole way home. She'd waved goodbye to Kat, Straw, and the others, and apparated from Hogsmeade to magical London, and set off through Organic Park to make the trip back to Follett Towers. The park rivalled the gardens of muggle London in beauty and majesty, but had the added benefit of being completely shielded from muggle eyes, so allowed the magical folk free reign. She watched with a smile as two small children flew around on tiny broomsticks, their toes skimming the grass and shrieking as they went, their parents scolding them if they floated too high. The sight made them think of the Buckett children, and she was so glad that they would be home soon.

As the sun began to set, sending streaks of orange and pink across the sky, Kelly made her way through the park and crossed the stone bridge, leaning over the edge to gaze down into the lake; she loved watching the water sprites and other magical creatures play tricks. She sighed quietly to herself and settled down on one of the benches that were scattered across the length of the bridge, enjoying the peace and quiet of the early evening. She knew she'd been working too hard, and too much, and so she'd had very little time to do this - simply sit and be. The night's antics with her oldest and dearest friends had really opened her eyes to how much she had missed over the last few, well, years, and she vowed to try harder to find a balance from now on. Work had simply become her way of blocking out everything else in her life that hadn't been going to plan, that she couldn't control, and if there was one thing Kelly hated, it was feeling powerless.

With that thought, Kelly recalled the look on Hermione's face as she had stormed away from Straw after their brief interlude. Her brow furrowed, she wondered once more what they could possibly have argued about. What was Hermione doing back in London so suddenly, and without warning? And why was nobody talking about it? The arrival of Hermione, despite the drama of her quick exit, had brought back fond memories, however, of Josh. The original Toy Boy. Thoughts of her lost friend no longer made Kelly quite so sad as they used to; she had worked hard to think of the good days, when he was alive and well, a light to everybody's lives, rather than the loss. It always left a bitter-sweet taste in her mouth, though, and not for the first time and certainly not for the last, she wished there was something magic could do to bring him back.

[Tristan Clarke]

Now that the rain had finally died down, Tristan and Emily thought it was safe to be able to wander out for a walk. It had been a busy day, collecting new supplies and books for Emily as she was going to be starting her 4th year at Hogwarts in a month. While they had been doing it for the past three years, Tristan still was not used to having his daughter away for most of the year. She had been his buddy, his partner in crime, all these years. They really had only each other. Now, the majority of the year was spent separate from each other, Emily in school, Tristan busy with work. So he cherished these moments when they were able to just enjoy each other's company. Emily was definitely becoming a teenager, and more resistant to the idea of family bonding time. So Tristan really appreciated this moment where he and she could just walk and talk.

As they walked over the bridge, he saw Kelly sitting on one of the benches. He had to do a double take just to make sure it was her. It had been too long since he last saw his old friend. She looked the same but older, more mature. Tristan couldn't remember exactly how much time had passed since they last spoke but it had been significant. It was amazing how one could just get distracted by other priorities. A message would appear once in a while. Then it would be a couple months. And the next thing you know, years would pass and even though you lived in the same city, you never crossed paths with someone. He grinned and gestured for Emily to join him. As they made their way over, he sat down next to Kelly.

"Long time, no see," he began, interrupting her from what looked like deep thought. "What are the chances? How are you doing, Kelly?"

He turned toward Emily. "You remember my old friend, Kelly Evans, right Em? I know it's been a while since you've seen her." He turned back to Kelly. "And it's been a long time since I've seen you, too."

[Emily Clarke]

"Yup, I remember her," Emily said with a smile. She had been quite young when she first met Kelly Evans, but she remembered the woman as one of her first friends when they had moved to London. 

She stared off at the lake as her dad began talking to Kelly. She knew when it came to her dad, once he started talking to old friends, they were going to be sitting here for a while. And she would just sit there, awkwardly answering generic questions that she gets asked all the time. "What year are you in school now?" "What activities do you do?" All those things that she figured people just asked to be polite and make conversation, not because they were actually interested. Small talk was not her forte. 

She did not really want to go for a walk with her dad, since she was so exhausted from all the shopping they had done that day. In fact, she really wanted to curl up with all her new books and supplies and organize them. She often would put on an act that she wasn't a huge nerd but in reality, she loved learning and was looking forward to her new year at school. But Tristan had insisted that they spend time together because "life is short and we don't get to see each other often and blah blah blah." Emily stopped listening at that point and agreed to go for the walk. 

Truth was she did miss her dad when she was away at school. But she would never admit it out loud because that would be too embarrassing. She was trying to step away from the "daddy's little girl" label. So she put on this act of reluctantly agreeing to go for a walk with Tristan. And now that they were sitting and he was about to begin chatting with one of his friends, she wished she had just stayed home and looked at all her new things. 

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly looked up as a voice startled her out of her reverie, and her face broke into a wide smile. She lifted her arms and hugged Tristan tight, glad to see her old friend after what felt like such a long time. She felt like it was only yesterday that Emily was a little girl, and now here she was, at least fourteen, and it made Kelly feel infinitely older than she had a few moments ago. Releasing Tristan from her embrace, Kelly smiled warmly at the girl standing beside him, though her experience of teenage girls kept her from hugging Emily, too. Kelly had been such a teenage girl, so she understood the concern of being treated like a baby.

"Tristan, Emily! I'm really well, thank you for asking. It's great to see you both." Kelly shifted her body slightly so she faced Tristan beside her, Emily on his other side. "It feels like forever since I've seen either of you; although I guess Emily you're away for most of the year so that's my excuse. How are you both? How's work?" The questions were generic but Kelly never asked them of people unless she really cared about the answers. Like Emily, Kelly wasn't particularly good at small talk, she never was. She generally preferred silence over mindless chatter. But when it came to old friends, the simple questions could also be the necessary ones.

Not wanting the girl to feel bored or left out, Kelly turned her attention to Emily and smiled again. "So, Emily, how's your summer going? I hated the summer holidays, I stayed at Hogwarts as often as I could when I was there," she said, thinking back to her days at Trio's Hogwarts with the Toy Boys and Girls. She couldn't help but laugh good-naturedly at herself whenever she thought of those times, and the little clique she and Kat had created about themselves, with Straw, Josh, Logan, and later Hermione.

"As much as I love my life, every now and then I wish I could creep around the Hogwarts halls again. Do me a favour when you go back, will you, and go and see if the fig cupboard past the door to the kitchens is still accessible. After the war, the Room of Requirement was way too popular with kids trying to sneak around, so Kat and the others and I had to find our own secret hideaway. We used to crawl through it and it became our practice space for our band."

Kelly grinned ruefully and looked sideways at Tristan before adding, "And only during proper hours, of course. No sneaking around after lights out." She winked, realising how quickly she could become a bad influence.

[Emily Clarke]

Emily laughed. "Of course I follow the rules and never go out after dark," she said, trying her best to sound convincing. She and her father were close but there were definitely things that she never told him, particularly her excursions after dark with her friends. There was so much of the school that needed exploring, even in the three years she had already been there, there was still so much more to explore. She was a Gryffindor after all, and needed to explore and learn more about the world around her, even if that meant breaking a few rules in the process. "I will be sure to check out that fig cupboard first thing when I get back there," she said with a smile. 

"The summer has been fine so far," she continued. "I'm ready to go back to school. I'm just like you. The summers are a nice break and it's great to see Dad and stuff but he doesn't let me practice any magic at home so it's like I'm a muggle during the breaks, which is super annoying." Most of her friends who had wizarding parents had no problem letting their kids use a little bit of magic during the school breaks. Her father, on the other hand, being well knowledgeable in the law, never let her break the rules, particularly because he was well versed in them all. 

"So you and your friends had a band?" she asked, wanting to know more about Kelly's time in Hogwarts. She had heard many stories from her father but that was a different time, before the war, and at a different house. Emily refused to believe her and her father's experiences were anything the same. But to hear from a friend who was in the same house as she is now and graduated within the last decade, it was cool to hear these sorts of stories. 

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly smiled at Emily's distaste for not practising magic through the summer break and she glanced up at Tristan, who looked amused by how the conversation was progressing. "Ah see, I'm with your dad on this one. My mother paid a lot of money to some very important people to have me home-schooled for the first few years of my teens, because she didn't fully trust the new version of Hogwarts, so when I started going she would force me to practice magic and show her what I was learning." Kelly took a quick breath and quirked an eyebrow.

"The second time she and I were hauled in front of the Improper Use of Magic Office was the last; she had run out of people to bribe to look the other way by then. It was terrifying, and in my opinion so not worth her ego boost." Kelly didn't really hate her mother anymore, she just found her and her ideas ridiculous, so she hoped she wasn't scarring poor Emily for life. "And I'm sure you've heard it before, but reading the theory really is just as helpful as the practice," she added, with a grin.

The witch nodded at Emily's question about their band and she laughed. "We did, yeah. 'The Wizard Amulets'. We weren't terrible, but we probably weren't as good as we liked to think we were, either. The owner of the Three Broomsticks lets us perform a few times and we earned ourselves some sickles, so it was good fun." Kelly paused for a moment, revelling in the memory. "Do you have any favourite subjects yet? I personally loved Transfiguration and Potions; thus the Mediwitch role."

"And how are you enjoying the summer, Tristan?" Kelly asked, looking up at her friend. "I bet it's nice to have Emily home. Plus you would have been existing on takeaway while she's away at school," she laughed. Because that's pretty much what she does when Jacques is away. He's the cook of the two of them, Kelly struggles to boil water and make eggs.

[Tristan Clarke]

Tristan let out a quiet sigh as Emily complained once again about not being able to practice magic at home. Of course, no one would actually know if she practice magic at home. The improper use of magic office only knows if magic is being performed at a home, not if a particular witch or wizard is performing it. So in houses where there were adult wizards home, such as the Clarke's, it was really Tristan's job to enforce the rule of no underage wizardry. And as a lawyer himself, understanding why such laws were put in the place (f rot he safety of the underage wizard and those around them) he felt obligated to uphold the law. Call him a stubborn rule-abiding father but that's just where he put his foot down at home. And Emily often brought it up to other people hoping to get some sympathy from others. He raised his eyebrows at Kelly hoping she would take his side. Thankfully she did. He was especially grateful she was giving Emily an example of what could happen if she did break the law and get in trouble. Sometimes hearing it from someone else besides him was enough to get her to pay closer attention. He was still learning the tricks of raising a teenager.

"Emily talks on and on about Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms," Tristan mentioned in regards to Emily's favorite subjects. "I think she just hears stories about Aurors and wants to be one because of the glamour and excitement without actually knowing what it's really about. I know you have to be good at other subjects as well including Transfiguration." He playfully elbowed Emily. She was not particularly strong at that subject. "She just wants to blast bad guys everywhere. I try to tell her that it's more than that but she won't listen of course."

He knew he was embarrassing Emily to no extent but he could not help it. It was his job.

"The summer has been great though. Emily and I had gone back to Greece for a little bit to visit old friends and her mother's side of the family. Always a good visit. Emily's got a younger cousin who just recently got accepted into the wizarding school there. Muggleborn so the family was asking us all about what to do and how to get ready. We're excited for them. And now we're just getting ready for the new school year. But yes, I will miss Emily's skills in the kitchen. This girl can make a chicken and dumbling soup to die for, right Em? But she's looking forward to being back at school where the food just appears right in front of her without any work of her own."

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly loved thinking back to her own Hogwarts days, where nothing and everything happened all at once. She learned how to be a good woman at that school, surrounded by people that she loved and made into her family, since her own family had been so lacking in anything good. She smiled as Tristan answered her question, happy to see him so proud of her. "Ah yes, the elusive Auror career. It does seem to have a great marketing team, it's always a popular option when people start talking about the O.W.L.S and then the N.E.W.T.S." Kelly had never personally been attracted to the Auror position, she'd always wanted to do some good and help people rather than chase them around the country. "Two of my friends are Aurors though, so if you get to a point where you start thinking seriously that you want to do it, let me know and you could have a chat to them."

Her smile grew wider as Tristan described their Greece trip and she sighed, over-dramatically. "Oh, stop talking. I might curse you out of jealousy. A holiday sounds wonderful," she laughed. "That would have been nice, all the excitement of the first year preparations. Although, the preparations for school are exciting every year, in my opinion. And the food that appears right in front of you was another of my favourite parts of Hogwarts," she added with a grin.

As Emily squirmed under the adult scrutiny, Kelly turned to Tristan again. "I hear that the Ministry is still forcing the annual Happy Birthday ball on Harry Potter and his family," she said, rolling her eyes. "You'd think they'd give up and let him be after so long, but any excuse for a party, right? I hope we will see you there?"

[Tristan Clarke]

"Oh, yes, your friend Straw is an auror, right?" Tristan asked, remembering the guy with the messy blonde hair. It had been so long since he had seen Kelly, nevermind any of her friends. "It'd be great if either of them talked with Emily so she can know the realities of it. Not that I don't want Emily to do what she wants to do but frankly I just think it'd be too dangerous for her. She's my only kid, you know? Don't want her out chasing the bad guys and I'm at home up all night worrying if she's going to come home."

Tristan had lost far too many people in his life, much more than most people should. He was not about to do anything that would even have a slight risk of losing his daughter, who meant the world to him. He grinned at Emily and ruffled her hair playfully, knowing it annoyed her. "You're too important to me, Em. You should get a safe desk job like me."

He then groaned and rolled his eyes when Kelly mentioned Harry Potter's Birthday ball. "You know I never really go to things like that. It's just an excuse for people to wear expensive dress robes and get pissed out of their skull and embarrass themselves in front of their colleagues. I mean I've never gone to it," he admitted, muttering that last sentence out of the corner of his mouth. "But I don't think I'm really missing out much by not going to it. Have you gone before?"

[Emily Clarke]

Emily scowled as Tristan messed up her hair. He thought it was a joke but he clearly did not understand that her hair was different from his. When his hair got messed up, he could just run his fingers through it quickly and it'd be fine. When her hair was messed up, it became a tangled mess that would require rigorous combing to detangle. Luckily, many years experience of being a female has taught her to always have two hairbands on her wrist. She took one off and quickly pulled her hair back in a messy bun. 

"I don't want a boring desk job like you," she said with a pout. "And you know what? Life is just as dangerous sitting on your arse in front of your desk where you can die of a heart attack because you don't get enough exercise. There's nothing wrong with me wanting a little adventure. I am a Gryffindor, you know. Not a scared little badger Hufflepuff like you were."

She looked up at Kelly. "I don't know if Dad's ever told you, but he ran away during the war, like the little scaredy cat he is. He could have helped Harry Potter and the rest of the Order fight off You-Know-Who but instead he ran away to Greece. And he thinks I would do the same thing. If I were alive then, I would have been on the front line fighting off all the bad guys!" 

Emily crossed her arms over her chest in a huff. She knew very well why her father was so overprotective of her. But that still did not stop her for being annoyed with him when he tried to be so much in control, particularly when it came to deciding her future career. She needed to spend more time with Kelly, who would probably be the cooler adult figure and let her do her own thing and explore the world as she wished. 

Then Kelly brought up the Birthday Ball and Emily knew her father would refuse. She laughed when he did. "Dad didn't even go to the Yule Ball when he was in school. He's so bad at dancing and picking up girls. Sometimes I wonder how my mum even liked him. He must have done something charming though to get her to marry him," she smirked at Tristan. 

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly laughed at Tristan's summary of the usual goings-on of the Ministry balls, and had to agree. "True, true, but it also can be a great way to mingle with your colleagues outside of the usual environment," she added with a grin. "I try to go every year, if only so St. Mungo's has a representative for the boring stuff at the beginning. But it usually turns out to be an okay night. Besides, it's nice to see everyone dressed up to the nines in their expensive dress robes," she teased.

The grin on her face faded slightly as Emily reacted to Tristan's parental teasing, and she wondered briefly if that was normal teenage behaviour. It had been so long since she'd been a teenager herself. "He never told me that, no," she said quietly, "and though I was only young from what I remember a lot of people chose to hide instead of face the violence that was unfolding. My family, while they didn't openly advocate for Voldemort and the Death Eaters, secretly smuggled money into their organisation, so I would say that running away and trying to keep safe would have been a much better way to help Harry and the others." She didn't intend to chastise her too much, because Kelly understood being a young girl and the desire to find their own identity, but Emily wasn't giving her dad enough credit.

"I imagine your dad would have done something very good to have your mum fall in love with him," she went on softly, looking sideways at Tristan. "But just quietly, I don't think you want to know his tricks. It might cause very intense embarrassment, for both of you."

[Tristan Clarke]

Tristan's ears turned red as Emily began her rant comparing herself to him. Indeed, while they were family, they were definitely different people. Tristan was quieter, more reserved whereas Emily was more outspoken and often said what was on her mind before thinking of the consequences. That spontaneity is what worried him about her going into a job with the aurors. They had to think clearheadedly and she would be quick to just bash some guy's head who looked at her funny. Curse first, ask questions later. Maybe with age and maturity that would change but Tristan could only hope.

"You know I had a reason to run away. Not everyone is meant to be on the front lines fighting," Tristan reminded her. "Not everyone is meant to be the leader because if we were all in charge, things would not run so smoothly in our world. And besides, if I fought in the war and died, we wouldn't have you around now, would we and that would be a shame." He chuckled and elbowed his daughter playfully in the arm.

"And no, you don't want to see me break out my select set of real skills when it comes to charming the ladies," Tristan joked. "I only reserve it for special circumstances. But let's just say that they clearly worked on your mother. And not every person has to be a perfect dancer and a genius and strong and tall, dark and handsome to be the right guy for you. In fact, most people aren't. What matter's is what's inside. And your mother loved me for what is on the inside. And one day, when you meet some nice young gentleman that makes your heart flutter, you'll understand."

Tristan's eyes suddenly opened wide when he realized he was giving his fourteen year old daughter dating advice. "B-but no dating right now!" he stammered. "You need to focus on one thing right now and that is school. You can worry about boys later." His ears were even more red now.

"Anyways," Tristan continued, changing the topic. He turned back to Kelly. "Well if you're going to be at the ball, I guess I can pop in for a little bit, make an appearance in representation of the lawyers, have a couple drinks. At least I'll have a familiar face to look forward to. But you better be there."