p class="MsoNormal"Dinner at the restaurant had been perfect, she honestly couldn't have asked for a better evening. The food was delicious, the waiting staff were super nice and helpful, the whole place felt homely and private and of course she was with the woman she loved. The only thing that could make their date night better was what she had planned for back at the house./p
p class="MsoNormal"Laura had asked Lafontaine to set up the library for the second part of their date while they were away and Laf had been more than happy to help them out. She'd left very specific instructions for the Ravenclaw wanting the night to be perfect since it had been a while since they could spend this time just the two of them./p
p class="MsoNormal"They apparated on to the top step of number twelve being careful not to stumble backwards as they landed. Letting themselves into the house, they quietly ascended the stairs as not to wake anyone in case they were sleeping early. Laura took Carmilla's hand and directed her towards the library earning herself a questioning raised eyebrow. The Gryffindor just smiled in response as she led her girlfriend to the second part of their date night./p
p class="MsoNormal"The room was softly lit with candles giving it a warm glow that contrasted with the drab decor. The old loveseat that had previously been shoved into the corner was now sat in the centre of the room, draped in fuzzy throw blankets and sat facing a small out of date television. It wasn't the fanciest machine in the world but it would do the job, Laf had taken it from their old bedroom at their parents' house and set it up here./p
p class="MsoNormal"Carmilla stared surprised at the transformation, the last time she'd been in here it was dark and kind of dingy just like it had been since her arrival. Now it was warm and inviting, a total contrast, she honestly couldn't believe her eyes. She turned to look at her girlfriend and found her beaming with a dazzling smile splitting across her features./p
p class="MsoNormal"The blonde witch could barely contain her excitement, "do you like it Carm?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The Ravenclaw grinned "I love it cupcake, thank you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Laura engulfed her girlfriend in a hug, partially to stop herself from doing a signature 'Hollis happy dance" and sighed contently./p
p class="MsoNormal"This was what she had wanted more than anything throughout all of the planning and working and the struggle so far, a nice quiet night with Carm to make her feel as if the world was still normal. For a few more hours they could pretend they weren't on the very cusp of war or bedding up in the house of a, totally and completely innocent, wanted Azkaban escapee./p
p class="MsoNormal"Laura pulled back slightly to kiss Carmilla sweetly on the lips, the moment was over far too soon for raven haired girl trying to chase another from the shorter girl. She was too late though, Laura had already made her way over to the small television excitedly looking through the videos on offer, "so what do you want to watch first?"/p
div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" /div
p class="MsoNormal"She let out a long drawn out sigh as she flopped onto her unmade bed. She knew they wouldn't find anything but Kingsly had shown up at Grimmauld Place looking for her so they could make a start on the investigation. So the two Aurors had went and met up with a handful of their best informants but none of them knew anything about the ambush that had put Baxter in hospital./p
p class="MsoNormal"This was great, just fantastic. She couldn't go back to work without the information, she couldn't find the information, she wasn't even 100% sure that she wanted to go back to work but she did want to get to the bottom of this. It was all so frustrating./p
p class="MsoNormal"If only she could talk to Hermione, the younger girl would be able to help her think more logically about the situation. As it stood though, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about it through an angry haze. She briefly thought about going to Carmilla but remembered that she and Laura were on a date and she didn't want to disturb them./p
p class="MsoNormal"There was only one thing for it, she jumped up from her bed and left the room with determination. The landing was quiet with nothing but the soft light of the wall lamps giving any indication of life, she didn't want anything on this floor though, no, what she wanted was in the attic. The Auror made her way up the narrow staircase to the attic room that had been taken over by Lafontaine when they moved in./p
p class="MsoNormal"The pink haired witch knocked on the door, probably harder than was necessary, and waited for ginger friend to open the door. She tapped her foot on the old landing as she waited impatiently, letting out a frustrated puff of air Tonks decided to knock again. Finally there was shuffling on the other side of the door letting the Auror know that she'd been heard. As soon as the door was open Tonks barged her way in, not waiting for a greeting from Lafontaine./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey Tonks, come in Tonks, no I wasn't sleeping at all" the Ravenclaw mumbled sarcastically as they shut the door behind their friend./p
p class="MsoNormal"The older witch flung herself on the recently vacated bed waiting for her ginger companion to sit beside her. She felt bad having woken Lafontaine but she was in desperate need of another person to tell her she wasn't going as crazy as she felt./p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know what to do Laf" she frustratedly began to recall the events of the day, not bothering to hold back when it came too voicing how she felt about her boss./p
p class="MsoNormal""Look Tonks" Laf decided to be extremely straight forward with their friend partially because that's what she needed right now but also so they could get back to bed, "deep down you already know you won't be happy staying at the Ministry with Scrimgeour as your boss. I know you love your job, we all know that and I'm sorry to sound insensitive here, but I think the Order needs you a lot more than the Ministry right now."/p
p class="MsoNormal"This was it, the kick she needed, and Lafontaine was right. She wouldn't be happy with the situation at work, so much so that she could see it eating away at her and the Order needed her to be on the top of her game at all times. She now knew exactly what she had to do… she just had to do it./p
p class="MsoNormal"Laura had asked Lafontaine to set up the library for the second part of their date while they were away and Laf had been more than happy to help them out. She'd left very specific instructions for the Ravenclaw wanting the night to be perfect since it had been a while since they could spend this time just the two of them./p
p class="MsoNormal"They apparated on to the top step of number twelve being careful not to stumble backwards as they landed. Letting themselves into the house, they quietly ascended the stairs as not to wake anyone in case they were sleeping early. Laura took Carmilla's hand and directed her towards the library earning herself a questioning raised eyebrow. The Gryffindor just smiled in response as she led her girlfriend to the second part of their date night./p
p class="MsoNormal"The room was softly lit with candles giving it a warm glow that contrasted with the drab decor. The old loveseat that had previously been shoved into the corner was now sat in the centre of the room, draped in fuzzy throw blankets and sat facing a small out of date television. It wasn't the fanciest machine in the world but it would do the job, Laf had taken it from their old bedroom at their parents' house and set it up here./p
p class="MsoNormal"Carmilla stared surprised at the transformation, the last time she'd been in here it was dark and kind of dingy just like it had been since her arrival. Now it was warm and inviting, a total contrast, she honestly couldn't believe her eyes. She turned to look at her girlfriend and found her beaming with a dazzling smile splitting across her features./p
p class="MsoNormal"The blonde witch could barely contain her excitement, "do you like it Carm?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"The Ravenclaw grinned "I love it cupcake, thank you."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Laura engulfed her girlfriend in a hug, partially to stop herself from doing a signature 'Hollis happy dance" and sighed contently./p
p class="MsoNormal"This was what she had wanted more than anything throughout all of the planning and working and the struggle so far, a nice quiet night with Carm to make her feel as if the world was still normal. For a few more hours they could pretend they weren't on the very cusp of war or bedding up in the house of a, totally and completely innocent, wanted Azkaban escapee./p
p class="MsoNormal"Laura pulled back slightly to kiss Carmilla sweetly on the lips, the moment was over far too soon for raven haired girl trying to chase another from the shorter girl. She was too late though, Laura had already made her way over to the small television excitedly looking through the videos on offer, "so what do you want to watch first?"/p
div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" /div
p class="MsoNormal"She let out a long drawn out sigh as she flopped onto her unmade bed. She knew they wouldn't find anything but Kingsly had shown up at Grimmauld Place looking for her so they could make a start on the investigation. So the two Aurors had went and met up with a handful of their best informants but none of them knew anything about the ambush that had put Baxter in hospital./p
p class="MsoNormal"This was great, just fantastic. She couldn't go back to work without the information, she couldn't find the information, she wasn't even 100% sure that she wanted to go back to work but she did want to get to the bottom of this. It was all so frustrating./p
p class="MsoNormal"If only she could talk to Hermione, the younger girl would be able to help her think more logically about the situation. As it stood though, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about it through an angry haze. She briefly thought about going to Carmilla but remembered that she and Laura were on a date and she didn't want to disturb them./p
p class="MsoNormal"There was only one thing for it, she jumped up from her bed and left the room with determination. The landing was quiet with nothing but the soft light of the wall lamps giving any indication of life, she didn't want anything on this floor though, no, what she wanted was in the attic. The Auror made her way up the narrow staircase to the attic room that had been taken over by Lafontaine when they moved in./p
p class="MsoNormal"The pink haired witch knocked on the door, probably harder than was necessary, and waited for ginger friend to open the door. She tapped her foot on the old landing as she waited impatiently, letting out a frustrated puff of air Tonks decided to knock again. Finally there was shuffling on the other side of the door letting the Auror know that she'd been heard. As soon as the door was open Tonks barged her way in, not waiting for a greeting from Lafontaine./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey Tonks, come in Tonks, no I wasn't sleeping at all" the Ravenclaw mumbled sarcastically as they shut the door behind their friend./p
p class="MsoNormal"The older witch flung herself on the recently vacated bed waiting for her ginger companion to sit beside her. She felt bad having woken Lafontaine but she was in desperate need of another person to tell her she wasn't going as crazy as she felt./p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know what to do Laf" she frustratedly began to recall the events of the day, not bothering to hold back when it came too voicing how she felt about her boss./p
p class="MsoNormal""Look Tonks" Laf decided to be extremely straight forward with their friend partially because that's what she needed right now but also so they could get back to bed, "deep down you already know you won't be happy staying at the Ministry with Scrimgeour as your boss. I know you love your job, we all know that and I'm sorry to sound insensitive here, but I think the Order needs you a lot more than the Ministry right now."/p
p class="MsoNormal"This was it, the kick she needed, and Lafontaine was right. She wouldn't be happy with the situation at work, so much so that she could see it eating away at her and the Order needed her to be on the top of her game at all times. She now knew exactly what she had to do… she just had to do it./p