antlerswithego (antlerswithego) wrote in bloodburn, @ 2011-03-28 00:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: diana selwyn, character: eoin mcclory, character: evan rosier, character: james potter, location: london - soho |
Who: James, Diana and Evan Rosier (cameo)
What: News of the Longbottoms arrives
When: 27 March, 1982
Where: Soho
Rating: Mature: graphic sexual content
It was getting dark when James got home, which meant he had to be particularly careful. His workday might have ended, but you never knew with Diana: on a slow day she might have given up by now, but generally she was just getting started. And she didn’t always do her – work – indoors. It was one of the many downsides of hanging on the edges of the wizarding world like this: Death Eaters were everywhere, like cockroaches in a spoiled sandwich, and you had to keep your eyes open. On the other hand, at least you expected them around here, which made it harder for them to catch you by surprise.
Still, after a couple of minutes of lurking there was no sign of Di or any of her clients, so he felt safe enough letting himself inside. A good thing, really: he’d spent all day learning to put up roof tiles, and listening to some bloke bang on about asbestos and how he’d heard on the telly that it was going to give them all cancer. Not possessing a telly himself, or being previously inclined to muck about with asbestos, James didn’t know whether that was true or not – but he had the sudden urge to take a bath, anyway. It’d be bloody ridiculous, after everything, to be poisoned by tiles.
Once inside, he paused, listening. They didn’t exactly have privacy, here. Just – well, carefully controlled snooping. You had to listen a bit in order to find out how scarce to make yourself. If Diana was … entertaining, he couldn’t take a bath, or even take off the ridiculous hat he had to wear everywhere these days to hide his hair, and in fact should probably go out again. If she was badly enough hurt that she needed help he had to know about it – wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t – but otherwise it was better, safer, for everyone if he stayed in the dark about his friend’s work. Since he couldn’t talk her out of it, the only other option was throwing a punch at one of her clients. And he probably would, one day, if he heard too much. And then where would they be?
James didn’t hear anything immediately – which was far from conclusive, but a good enough reason to stop hovering next to the door – so he moved cautiously into the flat, almost tiptoeing. A copy of the Prophet was lying on the kitchen table, but he scarcely glanced at it – it was all propaganda spouted by Ministry bigwigs and slavishly copied down by the journalists, these days. Someone had left a half-eaten bowl of cereal in the sink, which had turned into a sludgy mess, and the breadboard could do with a wipe. He’d ask Di if he could borrow her wand, later, use a scouring charm on them; these days, housework was something of a bright spot, since it was a chance to use magic again.
He sat down wearily at the table, and pulled down the brim of his hat to better hide his face. Another ten minutes, he thought, and if he didn’t hear anything he’d assume no one was about and go have a bath.