A Little Reunion // 7th of July, 1978

[Euphadora Parkinson]

Daddy had gotten Ender a position at the Ministry just as he had done for her a year ago. Dora refused to acknowledge that her brother was granted a position that was not only more respectable than a simple reception witch, but also one that would eventually earn him a higher paycheck in a year’s time than she would ever earn in her department. There was no competition between herself and her brother, she was simply excited to be able to see him regularly as they had while they were in school together and while living in their parents’ home during the summer holidays. It had been far too long since the siblings had spent any decent amount of time together, and Dora had arranged to take Ender out for dinner at the end of his first week of work.

She had met him in the atrium on his first day and after allowing him time to settle in with his office mates, Dora had taken it upon herself to give her brother a tour of the Ministry building. It was a large place, but easy enough for one to learn their way around by week’s end and yet Dora decided to meet Ender in the Ludicrous Patents Office. “Don’t you look dashing at that desk.” Dora beamed from the doorway, looking past the more seasoned office workers who were in various stages of departure. “Have you decided where you’d like to get dinner? I’d offer to cook but neither of us wants that.”

[Ender Parkinson]

A job in the Ludicrous Patents office hasn’t been his ideal after graduation, but his father hadn’t agreed with him that he could get his own job. The pay was decent, and it would allow him to get his own place sooner rather than later. One of the perks of the job was that he now got to see Dora every day, and he had plans to buy her lunch at least once a week so they could both escape their jobs. She’d given him the grand tour of the ministry, which he appreciated, and they had plans to get dinner tonight. Another perk he had discovered in his first week was that while his work kept him busy, it did the same for his coworkers. It meant there was little time for small talk, and Ender hated small talk.

His coworkers were packing up for the day, conversations about weekend plans being exchanged. His weekend plans involved avoiding the family home as much as possible, and possibly viewing flats to see what he could afford after a few weeks of pay. Perhaps he would see if Ethan was free, his former dorm mate one of his friends he found the most tolerable. He did hope that he would be able to spend some of his weekend with Dora, although he was sure she had plans to meet with Rabastan, her not-boyfriend. He checked the clock on the wall as his coworkers started gathering their things, and looked back down to the patent he had been reviewing. It could wait until after the weekend was over, and he filed it in his inbox when he heard a familiar voice from the doorway.

He smiled at his sister, letting out a laugh. “You know, I always hoped that sitting behind a desk would make me look dashing,” he teased, pushing back in his chair to stand up from his desk. He grabbed his bag from it’s place on the floor, not acknowledging any of his coworkers as he strode to the door. “Are you kidding? I’ve missed your cooking,” he said with a laugh and a smirk to her, extending his arm to her. “How do you feel about Italian food? There’s the new little magical place in Chelsea that I’ve been wanting to try. Unless you would rather go to the Spiny Serpent,” he said as the walked toward the lift. Knockturn alley wasn’t his favorite place to go, but the Spiny Serpent was more exclusive.

[Euphadora Parkinson]

“Mission accomplished then, and in your first week. Dashing and quick. You’ll be running this department within the month,” she laughed, glancing briefly at one of Ender’s superiors and flashing him a flirty smile. “Just teasing, Rhys. Have a good weekend.” She would be sociable for the both of them, knowing Ender did not particularly enjoy menial conversations. Dora had typically been the one to set up Ender with his social circle, bringing him into her own until he was confident branching out by himself. He would need to be cordial, at least, if he wanted to move up here. The Ministry was a social game, those with friends were brought up and those with enemies were kept down. The Minister wasn’t elected Minister because of his credentials, it was a popularity game and Euphadora would ensure her brother had the best possible chance of winning.

Taking up his arm, Dora leaned in against his tall frame as they walked down the corridor to the lifts. There were lines forming to leave the building and their steps slowed as they waited their turn to travel to the atrium. “Italian sounds lovely. I’m sure wherever you suggest will end up better than the time I attempted to make us a carbonara. Remember? When Gwendolyn was unwell, and daddy and mum were on holiday in Spain? I about poisoned us,” she recalled with a laugh. The lift doors opened and Dora stepped inside, shuffling in with the other office workers ready to flee for the weekend. “I’ve never been one for reading recipes. You were better at that than me.”

[Ender Parkinson]

He had to laugh at his sister, and mostly because of the look his coworkers shot her at her statement. If it was up to him, he’d never be running this place. Or even working here, but he had learned a long time ago to not question what his father told him to do. Besides, the money he would make would not only allow him to get out of the Parkinson household, but he’d be able to help out Dora when she needed it. He knew she wouldn’t take money from their parents - he wouldn’t either - but surely she would allow him to spoil her some. She deserved it, with the hell she had dealt with over the years from her peers and their parents. He knew she was supporting herself just fine, and she’d made good allies in her years since school, but it would always be his job to protect her. The way their parents should have protected them both, instead of having their heads so far up their asses in grief about the eldest Parkinson that neither he nor Dora ever spoke about. Living up to someone that was dead was exhausting.

Dora took his arm, and they started down the hall towards the lifts. He smirked in amusement as she brought up the “incident” involving one of the many times she’d tried to cook for them both. She did things like that, trying to take care of them both. “Oh, you mean the time we spent sitting in the bathroom together, taking turns vomiting whatever that concoction you made was? Yes, I do remember that actually.” Gwendolyn, bless her, was one thing about his childhood that he missed. She had been the parent they both needed, always there to look after them. But she’d been fired when he had started his last year of school, and he hadn’t seen her since. He made a mental note to see if he could find her as they stepped into the lift, hoping the others would at least give him some distance. He hated when the elevators got crowded, it made him feel as if he couldn’t breathe.

Looking at his sister, he shot her a grin, “Oh, just recipes? I was under the impression you just weren’t one for reading,” he teased her as the lift lurched forward. “Luckily I do enough reading for the both of us. You’re the pretty one and I’m the boring one.” His sister could get whatever she wanted using her looks, and Ender had always been a tad jealous of that. She’d had their father wrapped around her finger since they were kids, in a way that he’d never been able to accomplish. “So Italian it is then, and then if you’d like we can go out after. I might even be persuaded to dance.”

[Euphadora Parkinson]

Dora made a face as Ender explicitly recalled their being sick for the entire evening after her cooking debacle. She had been remembering around that bit, focusing more on the taste, the immediate awareness that something had gone horribly wrong, and the later realization that she’d misread the measurements and used quarts in place of pints, ladening their supper with extreme amounts of salt and butter paired with undercooked meat. “By the gods,” she cringed, burying her face into Ender’s shoulder, thinking of the poison she had bestowed upon them in attempt to take care of the all-but-abandoned children. She rarely cooked; even now that she was living on her own, her meals consisted mostly of take away or a packet of crackers with cheese. Proper meals came when she was being sociable; meeting the girls for supper or, surprisingly as of late, taking advantage of Rabastan’s hospitality and allowing his house elf to put together tea or a full English breakfast for them. She did not typically eat more than a single meal a day without regimented preparation to keep her trim figure. For her brother, however, she would make the exception.

The crowd that had piled into the lift with them were all eager to escape their boring jobs for the evening, and knowing how tightly packed it could sometimes get, Dora positioned them in the front corner of the little cage, so that they could be a quick getaway once they reached the atrium. Clattering to life, the lift moved jerkily, causing its patrons to sway and swing stiffly in place. The witch behind them bumped into Dora, but she ignored the invasion and carried on with their conversation. “One could hardly call you boring. Unless you’re forgetting, you have a masterful eye for art and that’s anything but dull. They don’t dedicate enormous museums all around the world to paintings and statues because it lacks interest.” Ender had painted a number of amazing landscapes, portraits, and still lifes over the years. He’d even given her one of herself as a Christmas gift this past year, which hung in the little alcove over her bed. Had anyone dared to call her brother boring in front of her, she would have hexed them into the next week, and while she wasn’t about to take up arms against her own blood, she also would not allow him to speak of himself in such a self-deprecating manner.

“And for the record,” she countered as the lift shivered before coming to a jerky stop, the steel cage opening and Dora tugging them out before the throngs behind them could close in, “I read plenty. I’ve been known to finish an entire Witch Weekly in a single evening, I’ll have you know.” Fashion and tabloid magazines were not unexpected, but she didn’t care to tell her dear brother about the books she read in bed on the evenings she was alone. It wasn’t just smut and magazines that filled her library, but she rarely found the time these days to invest in a page-turning novel. The books she read while at work had to be blasé enough that she could start and stop on a moment’s notice in order to answer a question, direct a visitor, or her favorite way to pass the time at work was to gossip with one of her many friends in the building. Violet often came down to the reception desk for a chat and to escape her irritating team lead. If Ender wanted to go out after supper, maybe she could persuade her friend to tag along. “Brilliant, perhaps Vi will want to join us later if we're dancing,” Dora suggested offhandedly, a devilish grin on her face. Violet, one of her best friends, was single. Ender was also single. How perfect would it be if the pair decided they wanted to go together? Dora had tried this a few times before, lightly pushing Ender toward a well-off, attractive witch in the hopes he might find a spark with one of them. Never in an attempt to get rid of him, but just trying to ensure he was happy.

[Ender Parkinson]

He laughed as Dora recalled just how terrible that night had been, but he had always loved that memory. Yes, they’d spent the night getting sick and feeling terrible, but they had been together and Dora had been trying to look after him. At home, all they had was each other. Which made living there without her a particular sort of hell, but given enough time he would also be out on his own. He’d thought about maybe moving closer to Dora and getting a place near her in Cardiff, that way if she ever needed him he wouldn’t be far. Not that living at home was far, with the ability to apparate, but it would be easier when his parents didn’t question him every time he left the house. For absent parents, they had plenty of questions about how he was spending his free time. He knew what they were wanting, but he had no desire to join his former classmates in their quest to serve a madman.

He was thankful that Dora positioned them in the front of the lift, not one to want to deal with how crowded it could get at the end of the day. Sure enough, people squeezed onto the lift behind them, and he scooted closer to his sister to avoid bumping shoulders with anyone next to him. He smirked down at her, appreciative of her dedication to telling him he wasn’t boring. “I don’t know Dora, we went to the Louvre and I feel like you thought that was pretty boring,” he teased her. They’d be so young on that trip that even he had gotten tired of looking around the museum. However, he did have an ambition that one day maybe some of his art would hang in a museum and people would admire it. Dora was his biggest fan when it came to his paintings, and he appreciated her for that.

Grinning at her as she pulled him out of the lift, Ender was glad his teasing had gotten a response. He knew more than most what she was capable of, she wasn’t actually a vapid individual. She was smart in her own way, it just didn’t happen to be the way that people appreciated. But he did because he’d learned all his social skills from her. “Oh my apologies, how could I forget about Witch Weekly,” he said, heading towards the fireplaces that would bring them to the surface. There was something in Dora’s tone in which she mentioned Vi, and he had to shake his head. His sister was always attempting to play matchmaker, and while Violet was wonderful she was like an older sister to him. “I’m sure she will come along, just tell her I’m buying for the night. Or tell her I’m dancing, that should spark her interest.” He joined the queue for the fireplace, glad they’d beat most of the rush. “Meet you topside?”

[Euphadora Parkinson]

There had been very few family holidays where she and her brother had been permitted to accompany their parents instead of being left at home with the nanny, but Dora had begged her father to join them in Paris, assuming it would be a romantic trip she wouldn’t want to miss out on. He had agreed only to get her to shut up about it, according to their mother, but Dora was certain their father was happy to have her and Ender along for the journey. “I wasn’t bored, I was just preoccupied,” she argued. Dora didn’t remember much about what was on display at the museum during their visit, but she did remember following their parents around, watching them flirt with each other as if they were teenagers again, newly in love. Dora had found it romantic and enthralling, whereas Ender seemed less than interested in watching their parents snog. “When your work is hanging in the Lourve, I promise to focus on nothing else.” Dora felt that her brother’s work was good enough to be on display now, but she knew Ender felt differently. He was too hard on himself, for starters, but she also knew it would likely take an act of Merlin to get him to submit one of his paintings to a gallery. She would do it for him when the time came and if he was cross with her about it then she would play coy to evade any trouble.

Queues were forming at the hearths that would lead them out of the Ministry building for whatever intended destination they might have, but Dora’s speedy work exiting the lift put them in an enviable position on a Friday evening. Well dressed wizards filed in line behind them as they inched closer to the front of the queue. Dora rummaged in her handbag for her wand and quickly conjured a note inviting Violet to join them for dancing later that evening after she had a proper dinner with brother. Dora sent the message off with a flick of her wrist and nodded as Ender confirmed their meeting place.

She watched the green flames obscure him from view and only a few moments later they stood on the pavement alongside a busy street full of muggle vehicles. “If you’re buying drinks, then I’ll pay for dinner,” she said, taking up the conversation again as if there had been no interruption at all. “Now, lead the way. I’m famished.”

[Ender Parkinson]

There was something to be said about having a sibling, something that his friends without them didn’t get. It meant someone was always there to have your back, to pick you up when you got knocked down, and to knock out anyone who tried to put you down. He and Dora had each other, even when they didn’t have their parents. He remembered that trip to Paris all too well, mostly because of how grossed out he had been at his parents flirting when there was art to look at. “If I ever paint something worth hanging in the Louvre, you’ll be the first to know,” he said with a grin flashed her way. He knew he was overly critical of his own work, but someone had to be. He’d never have gotten better if he thought everything he ever painted was great. He had done some great paintings, but never anything good enough to have the attention of their parents. Art hung in their modest family home, but none of it was his. Which, he thought, was probably for the best. He had wanted attention from them when he was younger, but now he was out on his own with Dora to back him up, and he found he could care less about what his parents expected or wanted from him.

His sister’s well-practiced maneuvering to the exit put them near the front of a line, and it wasn’t long before they were both standing on the street. He extended his arm to her once more, smirking at her offer to pay for dinner. “Not only are drinks on me but I promised to dance. So you definitely owe me dinner,” he joked with her, moving through the sidewalk that was growing crowded as muggles got off from work. Hopefully, the restaurant wouldn’t be too busy, and they could find a seat outside and enjoy the warmth of summer. “So,” he said as they walked, giving her a grin, “Catch me up on the latest gossip? Have Violet and Evan made anything official - that pairing still boggles my mind. How are the Medusas doing now that they are free like you are?”

[Euphadora Parkinson]

The Parkinsons were each passionate in their own ways. Their parents seemingly spent every waking moment thinking about each other, engrossed in their love for one another and having little time or care to spare for their children. Ender was passionate about art; his own or others’. Unlike Dora, who had been excited about their Paris holiday for the romance of it all, Ender had expected to be moved in another way by what the city had to offer. It was clear he had been inspired by that trip, his skill growing immensely as he spent more time focused on his paintings following that holiday. The fact that he couldn’t imagine his works, then or now, hanging amongst the impressive collection at the Lourve was a crime in Dora’s eyes, but her passion had always laid in her relationships and her seeming inability to find fault with anyone she cared for. She wasn’t blind, she could admit that some of Ender’s works were not as good as others, but on the whole she felt he was incredibly talented. Whether he needed Dora to support him in making friends or getting his art out into the world, she would be there for him. It was the least she could do for him after everything he gave her. Ender, though younger, took on the role of protective brother that Dora needed, guarding her against dangers she was too ingenuous to avoid herself.

She took Ender’s teasing in stride, knowing that he would never actually think she owed him anything, regardless of what plans they made or challenges he faced on her behalf. Dancing and disco music was the least trying endeavor her brother would encounter for her. Her arm draped over his as they walked, Dora rolled her eyes as Ender brought up Vi’s entanglement with Evan Rosier. “There’s no bloody way Violet would ever actually care for Evan, let alone “make it official” with that brute. She’s only entertaining him as a means to pass the time until someone more respectable enters the picture.” Her words were pointed and she looked at Ender to gauge his interest in the subject beyond just casual gossip. How romantic would it be if her best friend and brother ended up together instead of Violet’s current fling with the crude younger boy. He might have been Ender’s mate, but that didn’t make Dora like him any better. He was a pig when he was dating Wyn, and he’d remained piggish in the years since. What Violet or Bronwyn saw in him, aside from his handsome face (and his adequate skills in the bedroom), was beyond Dora and she wished for better for her friend.

“Speaking of respectable,” Dora switched subjects to something more favorable, “I expect Ethan to propose to Meredith soon. I’ve not chatted directly with him about it, but they’ve been together long enough and he’s clearly so smitten with her. Understandably.” Meredith was brilliant, and Ethan knew a good thing when he saw it. He was so smitten with the blonde that he was even faithful to her, a rare talent among the more attractive blokes from well off families. How long had it been since Ethan graced her own sheets? Too long, and that was how Dora knew he was serious about the witch. Dora was happy for them both, and there were plenty of other attractive wizards she could entertain herself with in Ethan's absence. 

[Ender Parkinson]

It was the dream of every artist to have their paintings gracing the walls of museums. And Ender had to believe that someday he’d paint something worthy of such a prestigious place. But if he couldn’t believe it for himself, he knew at least his sister believed in him. It was a truth that they both knew, that the other believed in them. He would always have Dora’s back, no matter why she would need it. Even though sometimes, he wondered what she was thinking. Mostly with Rabastan Lestrange. He was a nice enough bloke, but he didn’t parade Dora around like she deserved. She should be no one’s second choice. And he would make sure that she knew that.

He wasn’t surprised at Dora’s opinion that nothing real was happening with Violet and Evan. He knew Evan well enough to know he was a bit of a dick, but both Bronwyn and Violet had seen something in him worth getting to know. Even if Ender was not entirely sure what it was. Evan was his friend though, and he’d never had too many of those. “He is a brute sometimes,” Ender admitted, “Someone more respectable for Violet? That sounds like you have someone in mind. Do tell sister dearest.” Dora was fairly good at playing matchmaker when she wanted, and Violet had always been such a good friend to Dora that Ender felt she deserved someone who wasn’t Evan.

He let out a laugh at her words, shaking his head. It was so like Dora to read between the lines, and Ender didn’t know well enough to debate her. Yeah he was friends with Ethan, but they’d not spoken much since the end of school. But Meredith was a catch, even if she could be a little crazy. Ender just never understood why someone would want to get married right out of school. He’d hardly lived a life yet, how was he supposed to bind himself to someone else for life? “Good for them, Ethan’s family will be pleased.” That one was thing he didn’t miss from the socialite pureblood life they weren’t a part of - there were no arranged marriages being made for them. That would have been hell, and he could only imagine who they might have set him or Dora up with. “Are you still seeing Lestrange?”

[Euphadora Parkinson]

After eighteen years together, Ender should have been able to discern the look Dora had given him as she spoke about wanting her friend Violet with someone more respectable than Evan Rosier. If she had been insinuating anyone else, the lad would have put together the clues she laid out for him immediately, but her dear, sweet brother had always been so reserved that he never saw his own potential in the same way Dora saw him. Sometimes she considered that Ender was simply playing obtuse about his more impressive traits, a learned response from their childhood to never being able to measure up to their parents’ unreasonable expectations of him, perhaps. By avoiding any accolades, the younger Parkinson was able to evade their parents’ attention for the most part. It was the complete opposite of Dora’s approach, instead trying her entire childhood to please both her mum and her daddy, and even in her later teenage years when she’d given up on her mother, she still strived for her father’s absent affection. The siblings could not have been more different, and yet there were very few others who Dora would rather spend her time with than her brother.

“Are you having me on?” she asked in a teasing manner following her brother’s probing question. “I’m talking about you, ya silly sod. Don’t you think you and Vi would get on? She’d be so much better off with you than with that mate of yours.” Dora didn’t consider whatever was happening between Violet and Evan to be anything serious, and therefore Violet was very much what Dora considered single. And as far as she was aware, Ender was single too. It made perfect sense in her mind, and it was obvious, at least to her, that that had been the reason for inviting Violet to join them later.

As the Whitehall crowds started to thin, Ender and Dora turned down an alley where they could disapparate without being seen by any muggles. A short moment later they were a few miles south, a view of the Thames off to their left and the Italian restaurant Ender had chosen just ahead.

Talk turned to Ethan and Meredith’s inevitable union and Dora nodded in agreement with her brother. “Certainly there should be no complaints from the Vanderhydes. Mere’s gorgeous, they’d be lucky to have her join the family.” Despite being older than the little clique commonly referred to as the Medusa’s, Dora felt they were all moving faster toward adulthood than she. Ethan and Meredith would be engaged soon enough. Bronwyn and Regulus had announced an engagement at Wyn’s graduation celebration. And although the date of the wedding between Lydia and Charlie had been postponed, it was so Lydia could become a healer or something of the like. Alternatively, Dora had recently celebrated her one year anniversary as a glorified owl, delivering memos between Ministry departments and directing visitors to clearly labeled offices, the loo, or the lifts. Rather than talk about how her life seemed stagnant and tedious, she’d happily share all the juicy gossip about the Medusa’s with her adoring brother over dinner.

They were seated at a table with a lovely view of the river and after a few more momentary interruptions to their conversation, Dora had a dirty martini and a rather presumptuous question in front of her. “Define ‘seeing’…” Dora mused with a slight chuckle as her brother asked after her own romantic life.

“if that's what you're getting at." Dora took a sip of her drink, but carried on with the current trend of conversation, happy to talk about Rabastan whenever. "Rabby’s moved out of his family home this past spring. I suspect that’s a much bigger deal to that sort of family than our own.” Ender hadn’t said as much aloud, but Dora was certain he would want out of their parents’ home as quickly as possible. If she had been more thoughtful with her money, she might have found a larger apartment that they could have shared once he left school, but then it would have been extremely awkward to entertain her male companions in a small space with her brother in the room next door.

[Ender Parkinson]

He should have known what Dora was getting at, her passion for romance something he found so endearing about her. But Violet Fudge was not a woman to be taken lightly, and in truth sometimes Ender found her to be a little terrifying. She spent her days erasing the memories of muggles, and while he didn’t see Violet as the sort to help the cause, he knew Evan well enough to know he’d taken his mark, and given their activities he had to believe that Violet was at least sympathetic to the cause, if she wasn’t helping. “We get along great, that is true,” he admitted, “But surely there’s something about Evan that Violet likes if she’s still continuing their arrangement. Besides, I’m sort of seeing someone. It’s nothing official yet or anything,” He and Taryn were well on their way to being back together, and while he wasn’t one to jump
Into marriage like his friends, he had been thinking he wanted to get back together with her.

A quick duck down an alley and one apparition later, they were well on their way to dinner. Ethan’s impending engagement was bound to happen, and Ender was wondering just how long his friend was going to wait. Bronwyn and Regulus had announced their engagement just a few weeks ago at her graduation party, and Regulus still had a year of school left. He had always thought Regulus made more sense as a boyfriend to Wyn than Evan ever did. “Mere is formidable that’s for sure. Ethan should probably get a move on that proposal before some other family decides they want Meredith as a match.” Bronwyn’s engagement was something that had been predestined, after her and Regulus swayed their parents after they started dating. He’d wondered why Ethan wasn’t in a similar boat, but at least he could make his own choices about some things.

They were quickly seated with a fantastic view of the river, and Ender was pleased to have a drink in his hand and the freedom to stay out as long as he pleased. His prying question earned him a look from his sister, but it was his job to be nosy about this sort of thing. He wanted his sister to be happy, and to find a love like their parents had for each other. And he didn’t see that sort of commitment from Rabastan, even after his betrothal had been called off. “Not your boyfriend sounds like maybe we should be finding you a date,” Ender teased lightly, not wanting to upset his sister. “Well he’s not the heir, so good for him on getting out on his own. I’m sure Father will be on my case soon about moving. Which I’m planning on doing, was actually thinking maybe there’s some place in Cardiff I could make home. Be closer to you and all.”

[Euphadora Parkinson]

Mismatched eyes rolled toward the heavens as Dora sighed and shook her head. Whatever it was about Rosier that interested Violet, Dora was certain it was nothing any other bloke with the right parts couldn’t satisfy. She’d had Evan Rosier before, and he was … capable. She’d known better and she had also known worse, but Evan took instruction well enough when their clothes were off. It was his personality when clothes were worn that seemed to be the issue, at least for the brunette, and how Violet could put up with him long enough to get him undressed with any sort of regularity was beyond the pretty witch. Dora would have voiced her concern about even Ender spending time with that beast if it weren’t for her brother’s modestly-sized social circle, though she would admit she perhaps had not held her tongue on the matter as well as she ought to have liked in the past. She would have voiced a scathing rebuttal had they not approached their disapparation point and just before disappearing her brother let slip that he had a new girlfriend. “What?!” she gasped but her voice was drowned out by a cracking sound and his figure had already been swallowed by itself before he could hear her.

Relationships of all sorts were clearly to be the theme for their gossip session today, which the older sibling felt was perfectly acceptable given the state of her friend group. Everyone of them paired up in some fashion or another; bedding, dating, planning for impending weddings, or already married as Narcissa and Lucius were. Even Ender had apparently coupled up with someone and Dora vowed to get all of the details from him before they parted ways for the evening - all in good time. Dora chuckled. “I’ll be sure to tell Ethan you said so the next time I see him.” Not that he wouldn’t already know. The Mulcibers were a well-respected family, as were the Vanderhydes. Ethan was so obviously over the moon for Mere, it would have been silly for their parents to consider any alternatives. She knew there were plenty of families who plotted those sorts of things with each other, she’d even fancied herself getting chosen to marry a rich, handsome wizard once upon a time but that was when she was younger and more obtuse to the realities of the world. Her family was aggressively middle-class and the sort of pureblood families who might have benefitted from wedding a Parkinson were not the sort that would raise their social standing as her parents so desperately craved. Ethan and Meredith were perfectly matched in every way.

The wind blew warm in the early summer evening and tussled their dark hair in unison. A duck landed on the river not too far from them and Dora watched the ripples spread out from under it and across the water before dissolving into the gentle tide. She frowned slightly into her drink as her brother discussed Rabastan’s apparent lack of familial standing and related it quickly back to himself. “Whenever you’re ready, we’ll find you a brilliant flat near mine. I’ll introduce you to all the best shops and pubs and cafes, and you’ll decorate your rooms with your art, and I’ll make you some curtains to match whatever colors you’d like.” Anything to get off the topic of heirs, Lestrange or otherwise. Their eldest brother whom they’d never met had at one time been the Parkinson’s heir, but his young death had soured something in their parents. Ender felt the brunt of it. The eldest sibling was supposed to look out for the younger ones, to take care of them. Dora stepped up in Theon’s place as best she could, but she looked to Ender for support more often than he turned to her. She was no better suited to protecting him than she was in accomplishing her idiotic dreams of modeling, but she could fake a pretty smile and profess her happiness with her lot in life better than most. She could do the same for him. “Or perhaps your new girlfriend wants a say in the decorating…” If her love life was up for teasing, then so was his and she grinned cheekily at him.