Could this day have gone any more slowly? Anything that could have gone wrong had, and by the time her shift was over, Mandy was beyond ready to go. She stuffed work robes into her locker, grabbed her handbag and her coat, and Apparated home without even putting it on. She'd been waiting for to get out of there all day. To get home. Not to the house she shared with Rachel, but to Neville's. It was home now. Or would be, soon enough. It was amazing how quickly she'd got used to the idea, she thought, heading up the stairs to get out of her work things.
Mandy showered quickly, then dressed, throwing a few more things into a bag. She'd been taking clothes and things slowly, a bagful at a time, and had most of the little stuff moved already. She was staying there more often than not anyway, and it only made sense to have everything she'd need. In the bathroom, she tucked a few things into the top, then zipped it shut and headed down the stairs.
She made her way through the kitchen, pulling a dish from the refrigerator. Rachel had made an enormous chicken pie and set half of it aside for Mandy to take to Neville's this evening. "You won't feel like cooking, but he needs to eat, and it's better than takeaway." Mandy had laughed, but agreed to come home and pick things up before going to Neville's. She set the dish into the hamper that sat ready, and she could see that Rachel had added a bottle of her favourite fizzy lime drink, as well as what looked like chocolate cake in a plastic container.
Neville probably wouldn't eat much of it, but she and Prawn could certainly put a dent in the rest.
She shut the hamper, then retrieved her bag and Apparated to the landing outside Neville's flat. She didn't want to startle him by Apparating into the flat, and if he was sleeping, she didn't fancy waking him. He was getting stronger slowly, but he still tired easily, and she knew that would likely last for a while. She didn't mind resting with him, actually…
She moved into the flat, dropping her bag by the door. It was quiet, so she called out softly, "Neville?" No answer told her he was likely sleeping, and she took her basket into the kitchen, putting the pie into the refrigerator and leaving the rest on the counter.
Her feet made no sound on the carpet as she walked into the bedroom. But the bed was empty. The bathroom door stood ajar and she pushed it the rest of the way open, turning on the light. Mandy frowned. "Neville?" It was odd that he wasn't in the flat, but maybe he'd gone across the hall?
She didn't really think so, but she walked back through the bedroom, checking the balcony on the way by, making her way through the flat, checking the table and the countertop for notes, and fighting the growing sense of unease she felt. He'd better not be overdoing things, wherever he was, she thought, walking back through the empty sitting room and into the corridor.
Mandy paused to think. Where would he have gone? Her fingers tapped at the doorframe as she thought, looking down the hall, then back in the other direction.
Of course. The stairway that led to the roof. "You'd better just be sitting in that lounge," she muttered, turning to pull the door shut, then headed up the steps.