22 Jun '79: A Place To Call Home: Hestidoc

[Hestia Jones]

22 June 1979

“Okay, so I know it’s not very big,” Hestia said as she stood in the kitchen of the flat, looking around the blank walls. It would need to be decorated properly, maybe even some coats of paint. “But it’s cute right? It’s fine if you hate it, of course.” When she’d asked Doc to meet her here, she hadn’t exactly been upfront with the why behind it, simply writing that she had something to show him. Things had only become official between them this past year, and she was worried that this might be too much. It had only been a week ago that they had graduated from Hogwarts, and it had been nice being back home in Wales. Their home country had been one of the things that had started their friendship so many years ago, and it would forever have a place in her heart. But they would be working in London soon enough, and should live close, right?

So she’d done some research, and found a place they could reasonably afford. And if Doc hated the idea she was proposing, well, her parents would probably help her pay for a place in London if she asked. Because as much as she adored her parents, she couldn’t stay in Wales. Not when her career path involved a secret organization that was fighting a war, not when they could be a target if she stayed. “I mean, I’m pretty sure the rest of the building are muggles. Which means I’ll have to tone it down with the,” she started, pointing to the wand sticking out of her purse. Sure, there wouldn’t be an issue with using magic inside of the flat, but too much magic could draw attention. Thankfully, Doc knew how to do plenty of things without magic - so they could get by, couldn’t they?

“Anyway, this is my complicated way of asking you to move in with me.”

[Doc Dearborn]

Most of Doc Dearborn's life had happened by happy accidents.

His little sister was a gem of a human being - how wonderful was it to get along with, instead of bicker with, a member of the family!

He was a wizard born to muggles - what a fabulous quirk of genetics!

He got into Hufflepuff House - what a way to meet the most fabulous group of people one could hope to encounter!

His talent for Herbology not only got him consistently passing marks in that class, but also provided him a means to have a little hustle at school - no, no insanely entrepreneurial spirit here, just a good spot of luck that his prefect of a roommate didn't have a good sniffer.

But in recent months, Doc had been inspired to start taking his life in an actual direction. A productive one, all the spirits willing. And while he didn't know exactly where he was at the present, who he was with was much more important. Because any direction that Hestia wanted to go, that was where he went. They were together, truly for the first time, and the recent graduate was so grateful for her getting him out of his head about labels and commitments to realize that, with the love that they had, to not pursue it would be a waste. So he'd followed her to a cozy little flat in London, and leaned his long frame against the cabinets of a kitchen in need of some sprucing - a bit of paint would do the trick - to watch her ever so fondly try and speak about why she'd taken them here. He nodded, an amused smile tickling at his lips, as Hestia went on about the size and the cuteness and how it was okay if he didn't like it and that the place was full of muggles and she'd have to be careful with her wand and...you want to live with me?

"I'm only going to say this once," he said slowly, pushing off of the counter to take her gently by the shoulders, leaning down to meet her eye. "I will never hate something you've found for us." He grinned, heart aflutter. In a way, this was "fast," a "big" step to take so "early" on in a relationship. But...he'd wasted so much time denying that he wanted to be with her, they'd known each other half their lives, they were each other's biggest supporters and caretakers, had been for an age. This would be brilliant, and Doc was rather shocked that he hadn't thought of this himself. What had he expected, that they would continue to live in their family homes in Wales and commute to London on the daily? This was far superior to finding a place for just himself. To know that he'd be able to gorge himself on cereal with her on their couch was something out of a fantasy, but something she was offering. "All right - I'm in. But we've got to slap up some paint, I'm seeing a nice white wall here to capitalize on the sunlight, maybe some orange, sunset-like, over there..."

[Hestia Jones]

Doc had been the first muggleborn she’d ever met, on the first day of school. Talking about things she didn’t understand, but he hadn’t hesitated to talk to her. She’d known she would make friends, she knew plenty of people. But most of them had also been purebloods - besides Zach, and the conversation had never seemed to go to muggle things when they were all so busy talking about Quidditch. But a muggleborn, the first of his family to go to Hogwarts? They’d had vastly different lives, and had been eager to learn about each other. She’d taught him which families to avoid, he’d taught her about volcanoes. She’d dutifully explained the rules of Quidditch, and he’d taught her muggle games that they’d played growing up. Her life had changed for the better because of Hogwarts, and because of Doc.

And the fact she was a pureblood and he wasn’t had never really mattered to her, because they were both magical. Blood status was one of the more ridiculous aspects of their magical world, and for so long she hadn’t seen how bad it really was. She had a privilege that he didn’t, and it infuriated her. She served her share of detentions for it, and she couldn’t deny that it had helped her decision to join the Order. Aiden, Jamini, and Rhiannon were so important to her, and they’d so graciously accepted her so many years ago when she’d first terrorized the halls of Cardiff with Doc. They were family to her now, even if she was a bit clumsy when it came to doing anything the muggle way.

As confident as she was in herself, and in her relationship with Doc - this was still something she’d been worried to ask. Everything had just fallen into place in the past month together, and she wanted to continue what they’d shared for so long. How often had she been in the boys dorm, hanging with him and Eddie over the years? Was this really so different from that? She could worry all day about it, and if he hadn’t looked at her the way he did she might have. Grinning back at him, she let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, laughing as he talked about paint colors. “Just make sure there’s somewhere for my Harpies to hang on the wall,” she teased him, before she turned to drop her bag on the counter, digging about in it. “Here,” she finally said, turning around to hand him one of the keys she’d gotten earlier in the day. “I may have already signed the lease and put down deposits.”

[Doc Dearborn]

"You can have all the walls you want for your team," Doc assured her, laughing alongside as he let his mind stroll through design possibilities. They'd put the Harpies posters on one of the living room walls, maybe, and he was sure he could convince his mother to part with a wall hanging or two from her family in India - it was sometimes difficult to remember that they were related, what with how colorful that family was in comparison to the mother who had embraced the more minimalistic Welsh tendencies, keeping the beautiful hangings in storage instead of proudly displayed. They'd have to have photos of their friends and family, of course, and shelves for books and his guitar could have a place in that corner and...

His wandering attention was pulled back to his girlfriend as Hestia gave him a key. A smile blossomed on Doc's face as she went on, and he had to kiss her quickly. "Oh, fy ngalon bapur i," he said with the smile against her lips, gently pulling her closer to him by her hips. "You kill me, Hestia. I would've helped, if I'd known. Do I need to sign anything?" For as uncertain as the little brunette had seemed in walking them up and showing him around, she'd evidently been confident enough to put down a deposit on the place, to get keys and everything. He had to wonder what her parents thought of this whole thing. Did they know she was moving out? Did they know he was moving in? You have told them about the Order, right? That conversation had been a difficult one for him and his parents to grasp, almost as heartwrenching as the one he'd had with Rhi on the trainride home. But she deserved to know the truth, just as they did. He'd been upfront when, teary-eyed, she'd asked if he wanted to fight because of her. Just as he had when his parents demanded to know the same thing.

They insisted he was being foolish. That he should go to Cardiff University under their watchful eye. Stay in Wales. Continue his education. The war had only existed for them since finding out about the attack on Hogsmeade Village and on Rhiannon. He'd sat them down, tried to explain, appealing to the histories of all their peoples in attempts to get them to understand that the attack hadn't been a one-off, that there really was a dark wizard hell-bent on a genocide of humans like them... Another benefit to this is getting out of that house.

my paper heart

[Hestia Jones]

“All the walls I want for my team? Don’t tempt me,” she teased him. If it was up to her, all the walls would have something Harpy related on them. But they would need room for pictures of their friends - they’d have to develop them the muggle way of course - and maybe they could frame some of their favorite poems. Her penmanship wasn’t up to par to write them out, but she was sure that Ana would be able to help her. The white walls of this place would soon be colorful and lively, and it would feel more like a home. And it would be their home, where they would laugh with each other until they cried. Where they’d have friends come over and drink themselves silly. Good things were going to come from this, she could simply feel it. So many things were uncertain right now in their world, it would be good to have something that would be certain. It would be their safe space, their place to be themselves in a world that was growing bleaker by the second.

“Don’t worry about it, blodyn tatws,” she said with a smile and another kiss to his lips, giving his hands a squeeze. “Consider it a gift from my parents, they’re the ones who gave me the money for the deposit. Sort of,” she laughed, grinning up at him, “I didn’t tell them why I wanted to move to London. Or what I’ll be doing for work. Or that I was going to ask you to move in.” It had started off as one lie, that had spiraled into many. But her parents simply wouldn’t understand. To them, the war was so far from their mind. They didn’t worry about their friends being taken as she did, they didn’t fear what was coming. Her father had his concerns of course, given his job at the Ministry, but her mother knew less. They wouldn’t understand her desire to join the fight, and they wouldn’t understand her wanting to live with her boyfriend, no matter how much they liked him. “I promise I’ll get around to telling them about all of it. Okay, maybe just about you living here as well.”

potato flower

[Doc Dearborn]

Doc was riding high for a few moments. A place to live with the woman he loved, in a city he'd long held fondness for, a new space to explore and belong. This would be good for them, he felt in his heart of hearts - sharing the tunnels of Hufflepuff House for so many years had them well acquainted with the other's style of living, and they were complimentary; and even if while in the burrows they had had all of their housemates with them, the two of them didn't need anyone else around to be happy. How many happy days had passed solely in the other's company? If Hestia was confident in their ability to live together, that's all he needed.

Or so he thought.

He couldn't stop a look from passing over his features as Hes went on. About her parents not knowing...any of her plans. While he'd tried to let his friends act of their own accord for most of his life, Doc couldn't help the nagging voice in his head at the news. Keeping family unaware of the Order was one thing - he could understand that, keeping them in the dark as a way to protect them, or something of the sort. But his relationship with her, and with her parents, was something Doc truly didn't want to mess up. What if they came by as a surprise only to find him - and evidence of him living there - at the door? 

"I'd be more comfortable if they knew about me, baban," Doc admitted, gently returning the squeeze to her hands. "Can I ask why you haven't clued them in? To any of it?"

[Hestia Jones]

She knew that look. Sure, maybe she hadn’t been entirely truthful with her parents. They had questioned how she was going to afford this place on her own, and she had assured them that she would be getting a roommate or two, friends from her new job, she had said. They didn’t need to know that her boyfriend was one of them right off the bat, did they? She was having a hard time keeping secrets from her parents, because she loved them so dearly. They had always supported her, but she knew all of this was going to be hard for them to take in. That she was living with a boy she wasn’t married to, that she’d chosen to get directly involved in the war they so very often liked to act like wasn’t happening. But she knew Doc was right, as he often was, that she needed to at least clue them in on some part of her life. “Mam will totally freak out,” she said quietly, returning the squeeze of his hands, “Not about you living here. Well, she will a bit, but she’ll not know how to handle thinking of me and the war. They’re already so worried about the people from London going missing, and now I’m living here?”

People kept going missing, people like Willa. Her dear friend had been missing earlier this year, and Hestia still hated that she’d been stuck at Hogwarts instead of out searching for her. She knew in her heart that fighting was the right thing to do, that if the Order didn’t exist that things could be much worse than they already are. It seemed like the Ministry wasn’t fighting, like the Auror’s couldn’t seem to keep up with the job. She worried, because Ana was becoming an Auror, and what if something happened to her because the Ministry fell? She couldn’t bear to think of it, and so she could imagine how hard it would be for her parents to take in the news that she was fighting as well. “I’ll tell them about you living here with me, although Mam might send a howler back,” she said with a laugh, standing on her toes to give him a kiss before she started pulling him out of the kitchen.

“This bedroom here I was thinking would be ours, but there’s another room,” she said as she opened the door to the second bedroom, flicking on the lights. The rooms were about the same size, it wasn’t as if the flat was that large, but it had a nice balcony so that was a plus. “I was thinking about finding someone to live with us, if you’d be okay with that,” she said, turning to look at him from the center of the room, “Specifically, I was thinking about Benji. Since he’s joining the Order with us. I thought it might be nice.”

[Doc Dearborn]

This is part of us being in a relationship, isn't it? Helping each other through the things we need to do, but are reluctant to? You know better than I, baban.

Doc patiently waited for her to think, letting his eyes rove over the space from where they stood. He could see in his inner eye the changes that they would make together, how they would add life and love to the space, so much so that anyone who entered would feel revived. How soon would they make the space reflect these desires? Hestia already had keys, would they move in at the end of the month? Next week? He was pulled from his thoughts as Hes spoke up so softly, turning his attention back to her with an understanding nod. She was so tight with her family that not cluing them in had to be eating away at her in some way, however thrilled she'd been to show him the flat. "We can go see them to talk it out, write a letter together," Doc offered. "Mine will be the same, but we don't have to do any of it alone anymore, eh?" He tucked her hair back, thinking, and smiled at the peck she gave him as they started to travel.

"Mine don't see how the war has to be my problem. Stay in Wales, stay away from it. But if they're not stopped here..." He raised his brows, meaning evident: If You-Know-Who and his gang were defeated in England, the rest of the world could live without the threat. But if not, who was to say that he would stop here? Curious, he went on, "Have your parents had any conflict with, you know, any of them?"

They entered the bedroom spaces, Doc's heart warming as she spoke of their room, and listened with interest as she went on. A flatmate? He'd just been thinking about how well they knew each other, how they knew how the other lived and could live in cooperation, what would happen if they added someone else to the mix? How would that affect their relationship, taking this step together? But whatever fears crept up in those few moments were dashed as Hestia further explained her idea.

"He would love that," Doc agreed emphatically, smiling as he thought of his longtime friend joining them here. "I would too, that's a brilliant idea." He stepped through the room and opened the door to the balcony, moving outside to take in the city sights. "We're doing this. We're really doing this," he said in quiet wonder, smiling over at the woman he was so lucky to share his life with. 

[Hestia Jones]

Doc was right, that telling her parents about what she was doing in London and telling them that she was going to be living with her boyfriend were both things that needed to be done. But how could she let them worry about her? She was what they had, what they were proud of. They’d always been there to push her to follow her dreams, to pick her up when she fell. Hestia knew not everyone had as close of a connection to their parents as she did to hers. If something happened to her in this war - and with the way things were going something could happen - they would be devastated. They wouldn’t care as much about Doc, they’d known him as long as she had and her parents could see that they cared for each other. “You are right, and thank you,” she said, leaning in for a kiss.

Doc’s parents were also going to have to be convinced, and it sounded like what she expected her own parents to say. Wales was safe, for now, but that was just it. It was only safe for now, and who knew how quickly that could change. Hestia couldn’t sit around and do nothing when people she loved were dying, or being kidnapped, or tortured. “They don’t leave Wales much these days,” she said quietly. Her parents wanted to stay as far away from England as they could, which was partially why they’d been hesitant to help her get the flat. But she’d told them she needed a chance to spread her wings and fly. “But Da had told me of how the talk in England turned to the Dark Lord more often than he felt appropriate.”

Showing Doc around the flat was something she had been excited about, but she’d also waited to mention her idea about Benji living with them. It would be nice to have their own place. It would be nicer if they weren’t going broke in the process. A third person would help out a lot, and with their shared careers going into the Order they would need each other more than ever. “We are really doing this,” she said with a grin. “We can move in whenever, I was thinking about moving some stuff at the end of this week.”

[Doc Dearborn]

I'm right? "I'm learning," Doc acknowledged quietly, meeting her as she rose up to kiss him. Telling his parents that he was moving out and living with Hestia would go just as well as his conversation with them about the Order, if he had to guess. They would proclaim, as always, that they didn't understand him. Where his foolhardy ideas came from. That they should have ignored the unexpected guest from the wizarding world who had shown up for him, and for Rhi, before their first Hogwarts letters arrived, as they said when receiving news from the "other" world that they didn't like. If that had happened, Doc knew he still wouldn't be off to university as they hoped he would. His magic would have come out explosively at some point, and they would've shipped him away, some boarding school for delinquent boys...

At least they like Hestia.

That would be his saving grace, he hoped. They wouldn't trust him out on his own, but even at their most stubborn, his parents weren't immune to Hes's charms. Who could be? He couldn't expect any financial help from them with the move as he was being so "willfully disobedient," but if their paltry take-home's from the Order wouldn't cover rent... They had enough connections to piece this together, didn't they? Maybe Mal's dad needed someone to round up chickens, or Eddie knew a record shop looking for help, Ana had to know somebody who needed somebody, her family was everywhere... You'll figure it out.

He nodded, worrying at his lip as Hes spoke of her folks, and gave a sigh as they pushed further into the flat, hand-in-hand. "I have faith they'll understand, all of them. Not today, and we'll be ready for that - but they'll get there." As frustrating as it was, he could understand their unwillingness to see and to believe. Hell, if it hadn't been for the attack on Hogsmeade, if his sister hadn't been hurt - would he have been fired up enough to demand a spot on the team from Dumbledore? He was keenly aware that he'd be kept on a tight leash, not exactly having the sort of track record sought for future Order members. But he couldn't unsee what he had seen, and Rhi was never spending another night in hospital because of them.

Through their bedroom, to the balcony, the city air and city sights different from any home he'd had - and Benji. He'd be the perfect addition, there was no doubt, and they could all worry a little less about cash if there were three of them. Their mate didn't have plans yet, that he knew of, and in his excitement, Doc was about ready to pop over to the Flitwick's to catch the bloke up to speed. But he laughed, squeezing Hestia's hand. "I've only unpacked this," he said with a gesture at his ensemble, "so that sounds good to me. And Benji's going to claim the balcony, you know," he teased fondly. "But it's worth it - will be grand living with him too, and not all of his plants bite - right?"