maybe one day i won't miss you [flat 109]

[Kelly Evans]

The front door to apartment 109 opened and Kelly Evans walked through it, shaking her head. The old witch who lived next door had stopped her in the foyer to complain - once again - that her Daily Prophet subscription continued to be delivered to Kelly's apartment and not her own. Kelly, as she had every other time this had been mentioned, tried to explain to her neighbour that it was not her fault that the owls had been directed to flat 109 instead of 110 (stopping short of saying exactly whose fault it was, of course), but ended up promising once more that she would continue to send the owls across the hall if they got lost. To which her neighbour had replied with a grunt and a mumbled insult that suggested Kelly had been raised by wolves. Kelly had bitten her tongue on that last, since she desperately wanted to reply that yes, she had been raised by wolves thank you very much, but at least she knew how to fill in a newspaper subscription order form.

But, she was a grown up now, and grown-ups played nice with their neighbours.

The witch sighed as she dropped her bag and coat on the small side table at the front door, kicked off her shoes and moved along down the hall, coming to a stop in the kitchen. Opening the fridge, Kelly gazed at the almost empty shelves and berated herself for not shopping before work this morning; she should have known she wouldn't have wanted to do it once she'd left for the day. She shrugged and closed the door. Her and Kat had been invited over to Straw and Queety's apartment for dinner, so she just had to wait until then. Taking her wand out of her pocket she poked it once at the kettle, which immediately began to whistle as the water boiled.

She quickly made a cup of tea and then wandered out into the living room and sat down on the couch, tucking her feet under her body. Kelly sipped at her tea carefully, leaning back into the couch cushions as she felt her aching muscles begin to relax. She set the tea cup on the table in front of her and looked around the room; only now, as her mind began to settle just as her muscles did, did Kelly realise just how quiet her apartment now was. Jacques had been gone on assignment for the Ministry for months now, and though neither her or Kelly had mentioned it outwardly, Kat had more or less moved out, as well. Which Kelly understood, truly, she did. Kat had finally found a semblance of peace that had sorely been lacking from her life, and if that meant moving out and on to greener pastures, Kelly was never going to be the one to hold her back from that. Even Straw, lovable, dependable, goofball Straw, had seemed distant, though Kelly wondered if maybe she was the one who had been distant from them, and not the other way around.

The last few years seemed to Kelly to have simply flown by. Between work and watching children grow, there seemed to be no end to the constant cycle of nights into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. For a group that had once lived in each other's pockets, Kelly couldn't help but notice the distance; though, it didn't seem to worry her as much as it might have ten years ago. She knew where they were, and they knew where she was. They would always be her people.

Kelly looked into the large gilt mirror that hung on the opposite wall to where she was sitting, taking in her reflection. Her dark hair was pulled back into a messy bun and there were faint dark circles under her eyes in harsh contrast to her pale English skin. She knew she'd have to shower and make up her face to avoid the inevitable question about whether she was eating and sleeping properly, but for now she was not moving from this spot. She wasn't due upstairs for a few hours yet, so she had time to relax briefly before she had to get up and make herself look respectable again.

"We're adults," she said aloud to the empty room. "When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?"

The mirror, thinking it was being clever, gave a disembodied chuckle and wheezed, "Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, you know?"

[Kat Samuels]

"God Kel, talking to mirrors now? Thank God its the magical one and not the junk one I bought at that flea market a few years back.."

Her sudden appearance from 'her' bedroom was going to scare Kelly, she could already feel the electricity in the air changing but she couldn't help but speak up. So much had changed over the last few years, and so much had remained the same. Kelly, ever constant Kelly had slipped away from her in a way that was entirely new to Kat and she still wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it. Her dear friend had suffered a loss that Kat couldn't even begin to imagine, and as a result, had found a way to stop feeling it, and as far as Kat could see, to essentially stop living. Kat had watched as Kelly had thrown herself at her work, buried herself in it until she had progressed as far as she could, an incredible feat for someone her age, but not necessarily the best one. Kat had been back for five months before she had had the chance to see just how bad it had become. With Jacques gone, Kelly had been working insane hours at the hospital, eighteen hour shifts, no real days off, Kat's own children the only bittersweet solace in her friends life. She was judgemental, of course she was, but she had always only had Kelly's best interests at heart. It wasn't as though Kelly was being a bad friend - not for a second. Kat just wasn't entirely sure there was enough room left in Kelly's heart to be a particularly good friend to herself.

Months had passed since Kat's initial discovery, and the two friends had spent a dwindling amount of time together since. They chalked it up to responsibility, but in truth, Kelly was hurting, and proud, and Kat still didn't know how to help, so she was doing the best thing she could do and shielding Kelly from her own drama. Except, there wasn't really any drama. There was laughter and smiles, whispered confessions and this new feeling in her chest that she could still not describe, but no real drama. That was a first as well. That was until yesterday of course, but that was a whole other situation, and was mostly the reason the Gryffindor had returned to 109 after a long two weeks away from the place she was supposed to call home.

They hadn't discussed her absences, in much the same way as they hadn't discussed Kelly's. The pair had become ships in the night to each other, bumping paths once every few weeks for a quick conversation that stayed decidedly away from the truth. Kat missed her best friend, honestly and truly, but there was only one thing they could tackle at a time, despite the mountain ever growing higher before them. Striding across the room Kat sat down silently beside Kelly, trying not to marvel at how the witch's appearance too had changed. She felt oddly formal in a home that had been hers on and off for the last five years, like she was a pretender, acting out a life that didn't entirely belong to her anymore, but one everyone assumed did. There were so many unsaid conversations, unasked questions. The air was filled with the possibility of it all, but she had to start somewhere, so she chose the easiest option, the one just far enough outside them to break the spell.

"So.... Straw.... What the hell, am I right?"

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly swore, loudly, at the sound of Kat's voice interrupting her reverie, and she would have reached for her wand if she hadn't have left it in her bag at the front door. Very bad habit of hers. "Kat! In Merlin's name, where did you come from? You just scared me half to death." She pressed a hand to her chest as her heart raced, then grinned sheepishly. "I wasn't talking to the mirror, the mirror was talking to me. I was talking to myself," she clarified, laughing. "Although I suppose it doesn't make too much of a difference, does it?" Kelly looked over her friend carefully and was relieved to see that she looked well. Despite the two of them not having seen much of the other lately, and having had a lot on her mind, she still worried. "You look well, Kat. Where are you coming from, or going to, this afternoon? You'll be at Straw's later, yeah?"

The distance between the two women had troubled Kelly, but only as often as she let herself think about it. Kelly had been distant from her friends, she knew that, but it was her way of trying to take control of a life that she'd felt she'd lost control of. Her loneliness was all her fault, she knew that too, but it was the only way she knew to deal with a loss that had been her own, for once, and not somebody else's that she'd only had to empathise with. For the longest time, Kelly had been the rock that her friends leaned on when they needed it, and so to find herself in need of that same support, but not knowing how to ask for it, was alien to her. She didn't like it, not one bit. So, work was her way of making sense of the madness. After the previous evening at the Three Broomsticks though, Kelly had felt a piece of the ice around her heart break away, so she had hope that now was the time she would find herself again.

Kelly shuffled over on the couch to make room for Kat, and grinned ruefully. "Yeah, Straw. I don't know, it seems all very strange and secretive to me. I cannot think of a single thing that would have made Hermione react that way. Not work, surely, she's always been good at separating her work life and her social life." Kelly paused and picked up her tea cup from the table and took a sip. She pulled a face though, and set it back down quickly: it had gone cold, as she'd sat and pondered to herself. "And it couldn't possibly be about that other not-so-secret secret, because Hermione definitely has never been one to care about Straw's love life. Not in a bad, dismissive way, of course."

[Kat Samuels]

She couldn't help but laugh at Kelly's surprise. She hadn't really meant to scare her but hey, when an opportunity arises you might as well run with it after all. "Didn't mean to startle you babes, I was just grabbing a few things I needed..." she trailed off then letting that line of thought go for the moment. All in good time. Kat had so many things to tell Kelly but she wasn't entirely sure where to start, especially with everything playing on Kelly's mind. She knew Kat's own happiness was not something Kelly would resent, but with Jacques never around and Kelly working herself half to death, she didn't want to seem like she was rubbing it in. When had things gotten so complicated? "I'll be at Straw's though, yeah. I'll just meet you there?"

As Kelly began to muse about Straw and Hermione, Kat nodded in agreement, "You know Hermione better than me so I'll have to take your word for that one, but it's all just very odd. Straw only gets really bratty like that when he's in the wrong, so I'd hate to think what he's gone and done. He probably got all champion of justice and didn't follow orders or something knowing him. I just hope it sorts itself o-" Her words were cut short by a big crash and a muttered curse from the second bedroom and Kat felt her heart sink. So much for a time and a place, she would have to curse that witch when they got home later.

Without looking around for the source, Kat sighed inwardly, reaching across and resting her hand on Kel's knee to keep her seated and free from alarm. "So. Uh. Don't freak out, but I met someone. Like forever ago. I'm kind of in love, and kind of living with them, and they're kind of in the second bedroom right now." She let out the breath she had been holding since the first crash and tentatively looked across at Kelly, waiting for a reaction. This was so not how today was meant to go.

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly nodded. "You're right, they've always been tetchy with one another when it comes to work. Let's just hope it doesn't turn into something huge," she replied, before she jumped a mile (at least) into the air again, as a loud crash echoed through the apartment. "Merlin's beard" She cried, looking around once again for her wand and cursing her bad habits. "What in Merlin's name was that Between you and this apartment, you're out to kill me." On closer reflection, Kelly had simply assumed one of the windows in the bedrooms was open, and that the wind had blown something over, more so than a poltergeist had entered the premises, so when Kat put her hand on her leg with her trademark 'I've done something' expression on her face, Kelly raised an eyebrow.

She wasn't surprised to hear that Kat had met someone, but she was a little hurt that Kat had actually fallen in love and was only just telling her about it now. Not that she was going to tell Kat that; Kelly had buried herself in her work to escape the feeling that something was just not quite right inside of her, and so she was partly to blame for Kat's likewise distance. So instead, Kelly smiled, wide and bright, and she rolled her eyes humorously.

"Well that explains where you've been living, because you've clearly not been living here. It's been much too clean and tidy." Kelly squeezed the hand that Kat still had resting on her knee and she looked at Kat earnestly. "I'm happy for you. Really. You deserve to be happy again, especially as happy as Straw and Queety not-so-secretly are. And I'm sorry I've been absent. But seeing as you are now technically trespassing, I'd like to meet this person who has so clearly made you speechless that you couldn't tell your best Toy Girl. You could have Owled."