Note: I'm back! Sort of. Maybe. Possibly not. Actually I'm not entirely sure if I'm back for good yet, but here is a chapter for you anyway!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

4: The Society for the Enrichment and Wellbeing of Squibs

That afternoon, having decided to help Imogen vanish the mess in the kitchen to hurry the process along a bit, Dora had disappeared off home in an attempt to avoid any explanations to Carrie, whilst Imogen had disappeared off upstairs to hide in her bedroom, music pounding from the wireless at full volume. Pandora had been left to straighten the last few things in the kitchen and was just shoving a somewhat singed looking tea towel into the back of a drawer when the front door clicked open, announcing her mother's arrival home.

"Alright, love?" Carrie called as she dropped her keys down in the glass dish upon the windowsill. "How was school?"

"It was okay." Pandora consented to calling back as she hastily pushed the drawer shut.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Mm."

As Pandora watched Carrie shrug off her coat before wandering into the kitchen, making a beeline for the kettle, the muggle gave a sigh and confessed:

"I do wonder why we bother sending you to school, Pan. Apparently you never do anything there at all!"

"We did an experiment in Chemistry." the teenager elaborated, wandering over to pull open the fridge, frowning at its contents.

"Oh? How did that go?"

"Alright, I suppose."

At the lack of enthusiasm for the conversation, Carrie changed tactic.

"How're Libby and Claire, then?" she asked as she came to reach over the girl's arm to pluck the milk from the top shelf of the fridge.

"Same as usual. Kevin's left Libby's mum again..."

"Goodness...we'll have to ask Libby for dinner..."

"...and Claire's mum has a new car."

"Another one?"

"Yep. And it was Julian's first day today."

"Was he nervous?"

"A bit."

"I remember my first day at school...I was terribly nervous! I didn't make the best start, really..."

As she reached to push the fridge shut and instead went to snatch a bag of crisps out of the cupboard beside it, Pandora sniggered.

"You went and met Crazy Auntie Cleo, you mean?" she said, offering her mother a raised eyebrow, and the two of them promptly dissolved into laughter until Pandora found herself laughing until her eyes crinkled shut.

When she opened them again a moment later she found that Carrie's expression had suddenly shifted, gazing at Pandora with a somewhat sorrowful look.

The muggle drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily.

"I really didn't appreciate it, when I was your age." Carrie recalled softly as she reached slowly to put down the carton of milk. "That school, I mean. It's a wonderful place to learn, Pandora. I was extremely lucky to have gone there...my parents worked very hard to pay my school fees, just like Dad and I do for yours. And it could have been worth every penny, the teachers were brilliant, they had resources to make lessons interesting, we had more school trips than any other school I ever heard of...they took us to the theatre, took us to museums, galleries...they even bundled us all on a coach and packed us off to France for a week! It's a fantastic school. But it was entirely wasted on me. Because all I could see when I looked at it...was that it wasn't Hogwarts."

Pandora felt her cheeks warming, and yet as her gaze dropped to her feet she couldn't quite decide why...

In just a few short steps Carrie came to stand before her, reaching to cup the girl's face in her hands, coaxing her gaze back up until they could regard one another seriously.

"You're just the same." Carrie whispered, swallowing a lump in her throat. "You're...you're no different, Sweetheart. I can tell. It's...it's right here...on your face..." she trailed off with a sniff, pausing to reach to swipe a hasty hand across her eyes as Pandora numbly watched them grow watery.

Pandora opened her mouth to say something...anything...but before she could think of something to disregard the suddenly serious atmosphere that had descended upon the kitchen, Carrie's hand slid down to rest upon her shoulder and she admitted:

"When we...when Dad and started to think you...that you might not be a witch I...I used to wonder...I still do, sometimes...if maybe I had something to do with it..."

Pandora wanted to give a huff of laughter, then, because of course such a thing was quite ridiculous...

...and yet she could not so much as raise an eyebrow.

Because on many occasions Pandora had wondered the same thing.

"Dad used to joke about it when we were young...he'd say...he'd say I was the biggest muggle that ever there was! And one day...not long after we found out I was pregnant with Imogen...I was terribly sick with morning sickness and Dad owled Nana and Grandad as he was leaving for work to tell them. They both came over to the flat to look after me...cheer me up. Grandad disappeared into the baby's room and painted the last wall Dad hadn't finished...that cheered me up because it looked just right then! And your Nana and I were stood there in the doorway, watching Grandad move the crib Dad had bought into the corner...and it just hit me! I turned to Nana Dora and I said...I said: Is it going to be a witch, this baby? And Nana Dora shrugged and said: Maybe, maybe not! It might be a wizard! So I told her that wasn't what I meant. I said: What if it's neither? What if it's not magical at all? Your grandad said it was possible, he supposed, and Nana Dora she...she let out such a laugh! She said if...if anybody's genes could wipe magic clear out of a family tree it would be mine! And...and even Grandad laughed a little...until they both saw my face. Your nana gave me such a hug, then! She told me not to be daft. And anyway, she said, it didn't matter if the baby was magical or not, we'd love him or her just the same! Like...like they loved me!" Carrie sighed heavily, shaking her head as she recalled: "Then Imogen was born and we knew she was magical early on and I forgot all about the talk I'd had with Nana and Grandad. But then of course you came along..." Carrie's hand came to press against her daughter's cheek, thumb scuffing skin soothingly as she gave her head a little shake.

Pandora felt rather as if she had forgotten how to breathe.

"Listen, darling," Carrie told her, standing a little straighter, reaching to push a stray strand of hair behind her ear as it had slipped into her eyes. "If...if you being a squib has...has anything to do with me...anything at all..."

"It doesn't." Pandora informed her quickly, because she had to. Because it was the right thing to do. Because she didn't want her mother to feel guilty. Because she didn't really know if she was lying or not...

"...if it's my fault then...then I'm sorry. I'm so very, very sorry. It's...it's not what I...what I wanted for you, I didn't want you to be...to feel so...out of place. I didn't want you to feel like I did...worse than I did! But...but the truth is, Sweetheart, if you weren't a squib...well you wouldn't be who you are now. And I love who you are now, we all do, Dad and...and your sister and your aunts, uncles, cousins and Nana and Grandad, your friends too. We all love Pandora. Just the way she is. So...so don't you make the same mistake as me, alright? Don't you...don't you waste your time dreaming about magic and witches and wizards! Don't you ever think for a second that you'd be better off if you were a witch! Don't be like me and wish your life away, Sweetheart! Look...look for rainbows! That's what Nana Dora told me once! Look for rainbows, Pan, and don't bury your head in the clouds because you'll miss them, alright? You need to realise this now. Don't be like me, don't realise it when it's too late. I don't want you to miss anything, Sweetheart. You're much better than that."

Pandora didn't know what to say, then. She rather wanted to turn and run away, hide in her bedroom and pretend the whole conversation had never happened, because it was just much too confusing, her mind felt muddled, she didn't really know how to feel about it...

About being The Squib.

About searching for rainbows when the clouds were so low, so dark and grey, so consuming...

And had Nana Dora simply made a rather thoughtless joke, all those years ago? Had it really been nonsense that her muggle mother's genes had wiped the magic clear from her?

Sometimes Pandora couldn't help but think that it wasn't nonsense at all. Even if that was probably illogical. After all, Imogen wasn't a squib, far from it...

Why her? Why not Imogen? It didn't seem very fair...

And yet there seemed little more to say than:

"Okay, Mum."

At last, Carrie smiled.

"You're a good girl, Pan." the mother said, at last allowing her hands to drop to her sides. "You're much braver than I was, when I was your age."

Pandora gave a soft snort, reaching to tear open her packet of crisps.

"How d'you know that?" she asked, causing the smile upon Carrie's face to widen. "I've never had anything to be brave for. Not any big things. Not like you."

"It doesn't matter, I can still tell." Carrie insisted, reaching to pluck a crisp from the packet before turning her attention back to making tea. "Perhaps you've only had small things so far...normal things...starting school, standing up to bullies, those sorts of normal everyday things. But I had those things too, Pan, and I can see the difference already. You kicked up a fuss about going to primary school, it's true, and you were terribly, terribly shy. But when we dropped you off you pulled yourself together, marched into that classroom and got on with it. When I started primary school...at the same time as all the other children, no less, Aunt Susan says I cried every morning for the first three weeks! As for bullies...they bullied me something rotten when I started secondary school. They would've carried on, too, if Cleo hadn't been around. But you, Pan...you're quieter than I was and yet bullies have never bothered you. You can stand up for yourself if you have to. If you don't have any other choice. That's not something I could ever do. I didn't stand up for myself truly for years and years...in fact I didn't even stand up for me first, I stood up for somebody else..." Carrie trailed off, frowning as she poured tea into a mug, and Pandora wondered:

"Who?"

Carrie gave a soft huff, shaking her head.

"Cain Gudgen came looking for Nana Dora one day when your Dad was out and Grandad wasn't downstairs to answer the door. I was just so furious to see him...the nerve of the man! I told him to get out!"

"Cain Gudgen?"

"Mm."

"Who's Cain Gudgen, Mum?"

There was a long pause before Carrie gave herself a little shake and muttered:

"Nobody, love. He was...nobody. Just...just a troublemaker, I suppose. Back when...when Nana and Grandad got in a spot of bother for...for protesting against the Ministry..."

"When they got banged up in the Ministry holding cells for the night in London?"

"Y...yes. Exactly."

Pandora rolled her eyes, chewing noisily upon her crisps.

"You're doing it again, Mum."

"Doing what, love?"

"Being all funny about it. I don't see what's so awful! If I were Nana Dora I'd find it funny...you know...being held in MLE's holding cells when usually she'd be the one putting people in there, not the other way around!"
"Ha..."

"Everybody talks so grimly about it, for Merlin's sake!"

"Well it was...unpleasant..."

"Well yes, but the way you and Dad look when Im or I mention it! Anybody would think Nana and Grandad had been in Azkaban or something!"

Carrie gave a vague hmm as she reached to pick up two mugs of tea, walking to press one into Pandora's hand.

"Who told you about Nana and Grandad being in the Ministry holding cells, Pan? Originally?"

Pandora took a sip of her tea, wincing a little when it was much too hot.

"Nana Dora." she girl recalled with a shrug. "She said she and Grandad took your parents to Mungo's in protest against the Dousers, so Ambrose Kraft had them marched off to the Ministry and stuck in the holding cells for a night! She said Jasmine Wickes popped down in the evening and gave them both a mug of hot chocolate! Ha!"

"Ha..." Carrie murmured, frowning rather than being truly amused, and with that she stepped past Pandora and out into the hallway, gaze turned to the stairs as she called, quite pointlessly thanks to the booming music from above: "Tea's down here, Imogen!"

Teddy arrived home from work just five minutes late that evening, and as he stepped out of the floo a somewhat singed piece of pink Ministry memo paper, folded into a rather crumpled aeroplane, came nose diving after him, embedding itself in the rug at his feet.

Having risen from where she had been waiting upon the sofa to stoop and retrieve the paper, Pandora unfolded it curiously and, squinting down at the scribbled writing upon it, informed her father:

"Jasmine wants to see you in her office. Immediately or else, it says here on this memo..."

Teddy reached a blind hand sideways to pluck the paper from his daughter's hand, screwing it up into a tight little ball in his fest before turning to throw it back into the fireplace, wondering:

"What memo? I haven't had any memos!" And with that he turned to look his daughter up and down, taking in her shoes and jacket, inquiring: "All set then, are we? Let's go!"

The Society for the Enrichment and Wellbeing of Squibs was based in a distinctly unremarkable, squat red bricked building with a flat roof that was somewhat dwarfed by the tall townhouses around it. An uneven concrete pathway led across an overgrown lawn up to the double doors, and as she shuffled somewhat reluctantly after her father through the cast iron gate towards the door, Pandora eyes the the place and found herself musing that it looked...well...scrappy.

"Give it a good try, won't you Sweetheart?" Teddy was saying as he paused to wipe his boots upon the mat upon the doorstep. "I'll come back and get you in an hour..."

"You said half an hour this morning!"

"What's half an hour extra, Pan? I've got to pop to the shops for Mum, d'you expect me to apparate down the aisles? Come on, it'll fly by and you never know, you'll probably really enjoy yourself!"

Pandora allowed herself one last sigh of reluctance, before attempting to plaster the brightest smile she could muster upon her face as Teddy reached to pull open the door, stepping back so that she could step inside ahead of him.

"You're right, I suppose I might." the teenager agreed as she stepped into a small hallway, the floor tiled dull cream and the walls painted to match, brightened only by a large noticeboard on the wall beside a door to their left, countless pieces of parchment and photographs tacked in place with drawing pins. Pandora wandered forward to get a closer look, and casted her gaze after a large, crowded still photograph of a group of people stood in a field, dressed in waterproofs and apparently getting soaked by the rain, yet all grinning broadly. Young and old alike were stood together, laughter frozen upon their features, and Pandora was just musing that they looked rather like one enormous extended family when there came the sound of footsteps and a middle-aged woman dress in a flowery white dress with thin golden spectacles perched upon her long nose appeared in the doorway, clutching a large jug of orange juice.

"Oh, hello!" she greeted, cracking a broad smile. "Can I help at all?"

"We're looking for...Jeffrey Fawley?" Teddy told her as Pandora retreated to stand beside him, and the woman hastily turned to reach and set the jug back down upon the countertop just inside the room behind her, which Pandora saw was a small, cramped kitchen.

"Oh, yes! Yes he said we had a new visitor!" she recalled cheerily as she reappeared out in the hallway. "I'll just fetch him for you, he was just talking to little Christopher about the ice hockey!"

As she bustled down the hall and through the set of double doors at the end, Teddy frowned a little and Pandora consented to inform him:

"It's a muggle sport, Dad. Played on skates on an ice rink."

"An ice rink?"

"Yes."

One glance sideways confirmed to Pandora that this explanation only seemed to have baffled her father further.

In no time at all the double doors were thrown open again as the woman reappeared, seemingly halfway through laughing about something or other, pausing to look over her shoulder to ask:

"Cup of tea, Jeff?"

"Oh, yes please Nancy! That would be lovely, thank you!" a cheerful voice announced and once Nancy had taken a few more steps into the hall Pandora got a proper look at the person behind her...

He was a tall, broad shouldered young man in his early twenties with a head of thick, somewhat shaggy brown hair and neatly trimmed stubble upon his square jaw to match. He had bright, twinkling eyes, a kind smile and was dressed in a checked blue shirt, a few of the top buttons left undone, and a pair of pale brown chinos that, despite his somewhat casual appearance overall, appeared to have been neatly pressed.

"Chocolate biccy?" Nancy called as she disappeared into the kitchen, and Jeffrey Fawley drew in an exaggerated breath and exclaimed:

"You're spoiling me!"

"And don't you forget it!" the woman laughed and Pandora watched as the man came to a halt before her, greeting:

"Mr. Lupin, I presume! Wonderful to meet you, my name's Jeff..."

"Ted." Teddy supplied as the two of them shook hands, and Pandora felt her mouth go a little dry when those bright eyes were turned on her and Jeff observed:

"And you must be Pandora!"

For a long moment, Pandora found herself entirely mute.

Because Jeffrey Fawley was simply perfect.

He was without doubt the most handsome man that Pandora had ever lain eyes upon, she was sure of it...

Pandora had never really thought of a man as handsome before. She'd thought of boys, of course. Of Declan Harper, of that boy who had sat next to Libby in Geography last year, of Cousin Robin's friend Neil who had been at Uncle Timothy's barbecue in the summer...

She'd had a bit of a silly crush on one of the members of the Wizarding rock band Burning Broomsticks after Imogen had plastered posters of them over her bedroom walls along with the Weird Sisters a few years back. But that had been exactly what it had been: silly. She hadn't really been attracted to them particularly, she had simply thought they were rather cool. She wasn't old enough to be attracted to men. They were just...older. Different. Like some sort of other species...

Or so she had thought, at least...

Perhaps this was all part of her being...what was it her parents always called it? At that awkward age...

How long precisely did That Awkward Age last for, anyway? Did it last until the age of twenty one? Twenty two, even? Had Nana Dora been at that awkward age when she had joined the Order of the Phoenix and met Pandora's grandfather?

Surely if she had been, their relationship would never have lasted...

Pandora blinked.

What in Merlin's name was she going on about?

She blinked again, plastered what she suspected was a rather silly grin onto her face and stuck out her hand, announcing:

"Yes, that's me! Nice to meet you!"

Jeff shook her hand, apparently entirely unaware that she was stir crazy, and turned back towards the double doors.

"Why don't you both come and have a quick look round?" he suggested brightly. "We're a bit thin on the ground this evening, but I'm sure you'll get the gist of what it's all about! It's Hobbies Night tonight..."

"Hobbies Night?"

"That's right." Jeff reached to throw open the double doors to reveal the modest hall within, dotted here and there with sofas and armchairs in which a mismatch of people were lounging with cups of tea and coffee, chatting to one another. A small boy came charging past the doorway, wielding a hockey stick that he was waving somewhat manically above his head, leading a teenage girl who was busy winding up a ball of knitting wool in an armchair to let out a small shriek of surprise, throwing the ball up into the air.

"Slow down, Christopher!" the girl shrieked, causing the boy to come to an abrupt halt, eyes wide as he turned to call:

"Sorry, Rochelle!"

Stifling a snigger, Jeff turned to inform Pandora and Teddy:

"We believe that having hobbies is one of the most important aspects of our lives, gives us something that we enjoy doing that we can focus on, leads to achievement. I makes you feel good about yourself, you know? And once a month we have Hobby Night where we can all share our hobbies, gain new ones, show each other how things are going...how's the scarf, Rochelle?"

The girl in the armchair held up a long, scraggily looking garment that was still attached to a pair of knitting needles with a deep frown, concluding:

"Totally crap, Jeff!"

Jeff offered her a raised eyebrow.

"Oh I don't know...I'd wear it!"

"You would?" Rochelle asked doubtfully, and the man promptly grinned and said:

"Sure! How much are you going to pay me?"

Rochelle stuck her tongue out at him as Pandora found herself stifling a snigger into her hand.

"If you're not careful I'll give you one for Christmas!" Rochelle threatened with a grin, reaching to tuck a strand of copper-coloured hair behind her ear, and Jeff admitted:

"Seriously though, it looks far better than the last one, keep at it! Liz is coming in later, get her to have a look at it! Maybe she can help you."

"Yeah...yeah that's a good idea. Cheers, Jeff!"

"What's your hobby then, Jeff?" Teddy wondered, and as he led the way further into the room, Jeff told them:

"Archery! Absolutely love it, but as you can imagine it doesn't get demonstrated in here all that often!" He paused to look sideways at Pandora in order to ask: "What about you, Pandora? What do you like to do?"

"Um..." Pandora frowned down at her shoes, before giving a shrug and admitting: "I don't really know..."

"You don't know?"

"No...not really..."

"You must do something in your spare time!" Jeff insisted, offering Teddy a raised eyebrow. "Come on, when you come back from school what's your favourite thing to do?"

Pandora felt her cheeks warming a little as she shrugged again.

"I...I just like to visit my grandparents, I suppose."

"Who doesn't like visiting grandparents?!" Jeff laughed, forced to dodge sideways a little when Christopher came bolting past him, narrowly avoiding hitting him in the face with the hockey stick. "I go and visit my grandmother once a month and she still gives me a packet of bubblegum, no matter how old I get! Their marvellous aren't they, grandparents?"

"Yes...they're really great."

"Go on, tell me about them."

Pandora felt somewhat bemused by his apparent interest, but nevertheless consented to telling him:

"Well...my Nana's the former Deputy Head of the Auror Department."

"And does she have any hobbies?"

"She likes to write irritated letters to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, telling them that she can do their jobs better than they can."

Teddy nearly choked on thin air as he gasped in a breath to laugh, and Jeff offered Pandora a wide grin.

"She sounds like a formidable sort of lady!"

"Sometimes!" Pandora sniggered as they came to a corner where a large sofa stood vacant. As he gestured for them to sit down, Jeff asked:

"And what about your grandfather? What does he like to do?"

"He reads books. Loads of them."

"He's spent the past five years writing a full account of the first and second Order of the Phoenix." Teddy said, failing to sit down like the other two. "All being well it'll be a published book by next Christmas."

"So they're both enthusiastic writers of one form or the other!" Jeff observed as Teddy reached to extract his pocket watch from an inside pocket of his scarlet Auror robes, and the Auror gave a huff of amusement and admitted:

"I wouldn't go that far. My mother was allergic to parchment and ink whilst she was at the Ministry. I doubt all that much has changed now!" Snapping the watch open, Teddy observed the time thoughtfully for a moment before closing it again, shoving it back into his pocket. "I really must be off, Sweetheart. Mum'll be wanting the things for dinner!" Reaching to give his daughter's shoulder a squeeze, he turned to inform Jeff: "I shall be back to collect her in about an hour."

"Excellent!" Jeff said as the two of them shook hands again. "That'll be plenty of time to have a cup of tea, meet a few of the others and have a good look around!"

Pandora waved goodbye to her father with far less apprehension than she had first expected, such was the ease of Jeff's company, and before long Nancy brought the two of them a cup of tea. They sat chatting for some fifteen minutes and before long Pandora couldn't help but feel as if she had known him for fifteen entire years.

"Have you ever thought of writing, Pandora?" Jeff wondered as he dunked a chocolate biscuit into his tea, pulling it out just in the nick of time before it could crumble to mush in the hot liquid.

"Writing?" Pandora echoed, frowning down at her mug, and the young man paused to chew upon the biscuit before saying:

"Yes, writing. Like your grandfather does."

"I don't really know what my grandfather does." Pandora admitted with a shrug. "He doesn't really share it with us...only Nana Dora sees it, I suppose. He keeps the manuscript locked away in a big trunk in his bedroom, like some sort of big secret!"

"What about like your grandmother, then? Don't you ever find something so...so irritating or stupid that you feel like you could write about it?"

"What sorts of things?"

"Does it matter? It could be anything! Why don't you give it a go, see what happens? You never know, you might be the next Dickens!" Jeff reached to snatch up another biscuit from the barrel that Nancy had left upon the sofa between the two of them, dunking it into his tea with a little too much enthusiasm for it promptly dissolved into mush, causing the man to grumbled: "Oh sod it!"

Pandora couldn't help it, she giggled, reaching to press a hand to her mouth in a vain attempt to smother her amusement.

Jeff offered her a distinctly exasperated look.

"A giggler, are you?" he said, abandoning his mug somewhat forcefully down upon the little coffee table beside the sofa before getting to his feet. "We've got another one of those. Come and say hello to Rochelle, I think the two of you will get on famously!"

Crossing the room back to where Rochelle was sat tying her knitting into increasingly baffling knots, Pandora spied two men in their late twenties who appeared to be comparing sketchbooks full of cartoon drawings, a teenaged girl in ripped jeans and a cropped t shirt who appeared to be teaching a middle-aged, balding man how to play the electric guitar, and a young man and woman who appeared to be waltzing around the room to a crackling tune on a record player as a number of their peers clapped them enthusiastically.

"Rochelle," Jeff's voice brought Pandora's attention back to the girl in the armchair in front of them. "This is Pandora."

Rochelle flung her knitting down into her lap and looked up at the newcomer with a broad grin.

"Alright, Pandora?" she greeted, shifting to sit a little straighter in her chair.

"Rochelle's been coming here for...how long has it been now?"

"You mean you don't remember?!" Rochelle gave an exaggerated pout, declaring: "That's impossible, Jeff! This place was dull before I came along!"

"Oh I don't know," Jeff laughed, cocking his head over to where the girl with the guitar had paused in her teaching to plaster a fresh layer of thick black eyeliner around her eyes. "We had Hallie, she's pretty cool..."

"Hallie isn't cool, she's just a really good at pretending!" Rochelle insisted loudly, causing the girl in question to pause in her application of eyeliner to offer them an exaggerated wink.

Turning her attention back to Pandora, Rochelle suggested: "Why don't you pull up a chair, eh?" gesturing to the tangled mess of wool in her lap she confessed: "I'm totally stuck with this until Liz shows up and rescues me!"

Spotting an empty chair up against the wall behind them, Pandora shot Rochelle a smile before heading off to fetch it. She was just dragging it back across the room when the double doors were flung open wide, revealing a tall woman in her late twenties who came striding purposefully into the room, high heeled boots tapping loudly upon the tiled floor. She was sporting a pair of alarmingly tight jet black jeans and a silky black blouse with silver trim lacing its way along a plunging neckline that Pandora couldn't help but feel left little to the imagination. Despite her slender figure, made even taller by her hair piled artfully in a heap atop her head, she had a somewhat wide, slightly masculine face, lips smeared with ruby red lipstick that stretched into a broad smile as she threw out her arms and declared in a breathy, slightly accented tone:

"Jeffrey! Darling!"

And with that she launched herself across the room into Jeff's arms, throwing her arms around his neck with such force that he stumbled in his attempts to stay upon his feet. He had barely drawn breath to speak before she had crushed their lips together, her hands reaching to tangle themselves somewhat forcefully in his hair, and when he finally managed to draw back enough to breathe a long moment later the man let out a somewhat choked breath and exclaimed:

"Woah! Steady on there, Sweetheart!"

The woman fluttered her eyelids at him, leaning to press herself up against him as Pandora heard her wonder:

"And where's the fun in that, hm?!"

Jeff laughed, awkwardly, before explaining:

"I um...I was just...I'm sort of in the middle, you know? So...well..."

The woman gave a distinctly irritated huff, expression growing suddenly quite stern as she took a step back from him, looking him up and down.

"You have lipstick all over your face." she informed him critically, as if it were all his fault, and then she demanded: "Hold still!"

Pandora watched her reach to extract a wand from...Merlin only knew where, and she proceeded to wipe the smears of red from his face with a lazy flick.

"Thanks..." Jeff began, smiling brightly, only for her to catch hold of him by the hand and tell him:

"I want you to come outside a minute!"

"Yes...in a minute, eh?" Jeff suggested, reaching to slip a hand around her waist as he turned the pair of them back round to face Pandora and Rochelle, who was eying the woman somewhat distastefully. "We've got somebody new today, see? This is Pandora."

The woman eyed Pandora in disinterest for a long moment before consenting to holding out a ring-studded hand that positively glittered with gold and precious stones.

"Rovena Luga." she supplied somewhat grandly, and for a moment Pandora simply stared at her hand, wondering if she was somehow expected to kiss it.

"Pandora Lupin." the girl said instead, reaching to shake Rovena Luga's hand. "Lovely to meet..."

"Yes, yes!" Rovena Luga said, pulling her hand free almost as soon as Pandora's fingers had enclosed around it. "Nice to meet you, now come on Jeff! Let's go!"

And with that she reached to grab hold of Jeff by the hand and practically dragged him back off through the double doors.

"Stuck up cow!" Rochelle muttered, turning her attention back to her knitting.

Jeff did not reappear for almost half an hour, but Pandora enjoyed sitting and chatting to Rochelle, who she discovered was a member of the pure blood Selwyn family and the youngest of triplets. Her two sisters, she recounted somewhat bitterly, were both witches. She had been taught to knit by a woman named Liz who came to S.E.W.S once every few weeks when she could find a babysitter for her children, which apparently was not very often because the children in question were, according to Rochelle, a right pain in the arse. Rochelle came to S.E.W.S whenever it was open, was always waiting on the doorstep for Jeff when he arrived to open up, and was always the last to leave. She was looking forward to finishing her A Levels at college so that she could finally get a job and move out of the family home because, she insisted, her family were 'a bunch of tossers'.

When Jeff did finally come back, Rochelle took one look at him and giggled:

"Oh Merlin!"

The girl proceeded to leap to her feet, reaching into her pocket to pull a tissue from her pocket, and Pandora looked on as she proceeded to hurry over, pressing the tissue into his hand. As he attempted to wipe the fresh lipstick from his jaw with the help of Rochelle's vague directions, Pandora heard Rochelle point out:

"And your shirt buttons are all done up wrong. Did you notice?"

"What?" Jeff mumbled, face growing steadily pink, and he took one look down at the shirt in question before swearing colourfully under his breath, dropping the tissue to the floor before fleeing towards a side room which, from the briefest of glimpses Pandora identified as a bathroom.

"Merlin, that woman of his is a right slut!" Rochelle spat a moment later as she dropped back down to sit at Pandora's side. "It's like she can't keep her hands off him or something. It happens all the time, you know! It's disgusting, and we've got little kids here too!" Her eyes grew wide and mischievous as she leant sideways towards Pandora to whisper: "Hallie swore she caught them at it once! Round the back up against the picnic table, like bloody rabbits...!" As she dissolved into giggles, Pandora felt her cheeks grow warm at the mere thought and found herself protesting:

"I don't think...I mean...Jeff doesn't really seem the type to...you know..."

"Oh, he isn't!" Rochelle laughed, slapping a hand down upon her knee. "It's all her idea I bet, like I said she's a right slut..."

"What on earth does he see in her?" Pandora wondered, nose wrinkling a little, and Rochelle gave a snort and said:

"Money. Stacks of it. This place doesn't run itself, you know!" And with that she gave an exaggerated wink.

"Oh..." Pandora mumbled, frowning deeply, and when Jeff came wandering somewhat gingerly out of the bathroom door a moment later, she found herself feeling extremely sorry for him indeed.