They were having their daily duelling session when Tonks walked into the living room. The room had been cleared of all furniture for that purpose, and Dolohov had relocated his…workshop to an unused storage room, somewhere on the third floor.

"Everything alright in here?" Tonks asked Sirius. His cousin had selected a bright orange for her pixie haircut that day. There was no trace of her usual smile and good humour; she was frowning, and she had her wand out, Sirius realised.

Panting slightly, he made a soothing gesture. "Yeah, we're just practising a bit. Been doing that for some time now."

"Oh," Tonks said uncertainly. "I see." She lowered her wand a fraction, but all she probably saw was that Evey was sprawled in a corner, having been hit by a Stunner a few seconds ago. Macnair had a bleeding gash on his eyebrow arch and Sirius himself thought he had a broken rib, thanks to Evey, though he had no idea how she'd managed to do that – and neither did she. The girl wasn't very good at duelling. Dolohov, as usual, was in pristine condition. Sirius sometimes wondered if the hexes affected him at all, when anyone actually managed to hit him. His reflexes were annoyingly fast.

"Rennervate," Macnair muttered in Evey's direction.

Evey stood up groggily and smiled when she noticed the newcomer. "Wotcher, Tonks."

"I think that'll be all for today," Sirius said, wincing as he took a step forward.

Tonks noticed. "Are you hurt? Do you need healing?"

"I think Evey cracked one of my ribs," he explained.

Tonks scowled at the girl, who flushed. "I'm sorry! I'm usually good at wandless magic, but offensive spells are more complicated than the rest. I'm still struggling to adjust their potency. I'm so sorry, Sirius," she repeated, biting her lower lip in embarrassment.

"It's alright," Sirius said. "It's easily fixed." He eyed Tonks dubiously and lowered his voice. "You can fix this, right?"

"Sure. Aurors receive a first-aid class." She hesitated. "It wasn't my strongest skill, though, if I'm being honest." Sirius gulped reflexively, but Tonks pointed her wand toward his side and muttered an incantation before he could stop her. Instantly, the pain subsided.

Sirius made a few tentative moves, then smiled gratefully. "Much better, thank you. Do you want some tea?"

Tonks nodded, and they made their way to the dining room with Evey following on their heels. "Wait there for a minute," the girl said over her shoulder to the other men. Macnair and Dolohov exchanged a puzzled glance but complied with a shrug.

Evey sat beside Tonks while Sirius put some water to boil in the kitchen. He was just close enough that he could hear what the girls were discussing. "I hate to bother you again, but-" Evey began to say.

"You've run out? Already?" Tonks exclaimed, clearly shocked.

"No, no! Um, well, that is, we'll probably need more soon, but that's not what I wanted to ask," Evey went on quickly. "They have their birthdays soon – they were born a day apart, how cute is that? – and I was wondering if you could go shopping for me again? I'm really sorry to bother you with this, you know. Believe me, I'd much rather go myself. Or send someone who has nothing better to do, at least."

Sirius heard Tonks sigh. "It's fine, Evey. I don't mind. Just tell me what you need."

The kettle began to whistle at that moment, so Sirius didn't catch the rest. When he stepped into the dining room a minute later with the tea, Evey had apparently gone upstairs, but Macnair and Dolohov had joined Tonks at the table. The three of them were talking in low voices. "What's with all the secrecy?" Sirius asked with a faint scowl.

His cousin gave him a small smile. "Evey was quick enough to mention their birthdays, but she didn't say that hers was the next day."

Walden woke up early on the thirteenth of May – his birthday, he remembered a moment later. Merlin, he was thirty-nine. In just a year, he would be–

Nope. Better not to think about that.

Evey wasn't in the bed, he realised suddenly. That was odd. She always slept late. As he sat up and looked around the room, he saw that he was alone. Bloody hell. Please tell me they didn't plan a whole thing to celebrate, he thought, feeling uncomfortable. He hated birthday parties. He hated being the centre of attention.

He hated getting old.

With a reluctant sigh, he stood and walked to the bathroom. He showered leisurely, and spent the usual amount of time dressing himself. He was getting better at it, but he still kept forgetting that he only had one arm, sometimes, all the more if he was distracted. He decided to put on a shirt, just in case there were other people downstairs. Before he was done with all the buttons, however, the door opened slowly. Walden turned to see Evey walk in, carrying a large box that she placed on the floor at his feet.

"Hey," she said with a bright smile. She stepped around the box to close the distance between them and put her hands on his half-buttoned shirt. "Don't worry," she told him without preamble, "there's no surprise party waiting for you in the dining room." Walden relaxed at once, and Evey finished buttoning his shirt. "Can I at least wish you a happy birthday?"

"Must you?" he grumbled in reply.

She chuckled. "Should I take the present back too, or…?" she said nonchalantly.

"I'm going to be a real twat and say that it depends what the present is," Walden said with a small grin.

"Fair enough. I'll give it to someone else if you don't like it. And by that I mean that I'll keep it to myself." She pointed at the box. "Go on, then."

"A box! You shouldn't have."

"You'd better open it," she said mysteriously.

Walden complied good-naturedly, suddenly curious, then stared at Evey in shock. "What? You don't like it? Are you allergic or something?" she asked worriedly. "Gods, Tonks is going to kill me."

"No, no, it's fine. It's perfect. I just… It's unexpected." That was a euphemism. In the box, the puppy was utterly quiet and was observing him with keen interest.

Evey sighed with relief as Walden petted the dog, then crouched beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's cute, right?"

"Aye. Newfoundland?"

"Yes. I wasn't sure that Tonks could get one, especially on such short notice, but luckily a colleague of hers knew a bloke, who knew another bloke."

Walden picked up the puppy cautiously. She didn't protest but started licking his face the moment she was close enough. "Aw hell. You found my Kryptonite."

Evey laughed. "I know the current environment is not ideal for a dog, but they're supposed to be calm and they don't require too much exercise. We can just walk her around the backyard. We won't be living here forever, anyway."

"Hopefully not."

"And they're great with other animals," Evey went on, "including magical creatures, apparently."

"Aye, they are. I've often thought about getting one, in truth, but with the job…" He shrugged. "V, this is amazing. You are amazing." He turned to kiss her but she moved away.

"Nope, not right now, thank you," she said amusedly. "What are you going to call her?"

"Nana. Or is that too obvious?" That was the kids' nurse in JM Barrie's Peter Pan.

"It's brilliant. I love it," Evey said with a smile.

"And I love you," Walden said.

"Come on! You've finished your breakfast. Can I have my present now?" Tony asked almost pleadingly. If Walden had received a puppy, there was no telling what he might get. His brother was outside now, playing with the dog. Well, the dogs. Sirius was with them, although in human form.

"Merlin, you're like a little kid," Evey muttered. "And what makes you think I got you anything?"

Tony snorted. "You couldn't help yourself. Come on!" he insisted.

Evey sighed heavily, but he could see that she wanted to smile. Oh, this was going to be good. "Alright, fine." She paused in a clear attempt to sustain the mystery a little while longer. "The thing is," she went on eventually, "I knew exactly what you wanted, but given the circumstances-"

"What I really want is a woman," Tony cut her off. "Or several women. Preferably at the same time. But that's probably not what you had in mind."

"That's exactly what I had in mind," Evey told him deadpan.

That brought him up short. "It is?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but as I was saying, given our current situation, bringing anyone here would be a problem." She flashed him a sudden grin. "So you'll have to go to them."

"I don't-" he began to say, confused now.

"You've been cleared to get out of the house," Evey explained smugly. "Just for today, mind. And you have to be cautious, and avoid places where you might be recognised. So…you can't go to Diagon Alley. Or Knockturn Alley. Or any magical alley."

Tony stared at her in astonishment. "How the hell did you manage that?"

Evey shrugged. "I presented all the right arguments." That was a tenuous explanation but, to be fair, he didn't really care how she'd accomplished it. "Oh, and you can't feed, either," she added. "But I doubt you were going to, anyway."

"Furthest thing on my mind right now," Tony said dreamily. He could go outside? The entire day? Alone, with no retinue? That was worth a thousand puppies. He leaned forward and crushed Evey in a tight hug. "My hero," he whispered. He felt her laugh. "Do I have to be back before midnight?"

She pushed him away with all the might of a sparrow. "No, Cinderella," she said teasingly, "this time you can stay the night. Just be back before lunch tomorrow, alright?"

"Of course. Wouldn't want to miss your birthday," he said. "This time we got you presents, too," he added with a mischievous grin. Evey eyed him suspiciously but made no comment. "By the way," he went on as the thought struck him, "how come I can go out and not Sirius? Surely they trust him more than they trust me."

"Well, you're supposed to be dead. Even Voldemort thinks so, as far as we know. Sirius is a criminal on the run and everyone's actively looking for him, thanks to the Daily Prophet," Evey explained with a grimace of distaste at the mention of the newspaper. "No one has any reason to think you might be out there. Even if someone recognised you, though it's unlikely, considering how improbably youthful you look, they would assume that they're mistaken. But still, be careful, and discreet, alright? I vouched for you."

Tony glanced at the grandfather clock. It was almost nine. "Is there a specific time for me to leave or…?"

"Go right ahead," Evey said with a laugh.

He blew her a kiss before departing.

Evey sat staring at her present for a long moment without daring to speak. She could feel that Walden was anxiously awaiting a reaction, pacing in front of her, but she simply couldn't think of anything to say. It was another minute before she gathered her wits.

"A ring," she finally managed to articulate. "You got me a ring."

Walden sat down beside her. "It doesn't have to be that sort of ring," he said quickly. "I had no idea what to give you, V. I'm terrible at this. Tonks suggested jewellery, and I took her advice. Although, now that I think about it, she did look doubtful when I told her to purchase a ring. But it doesn't have to be a marriage proposal," he repeated earnestly. "It can just be a ring. You like it?" he added nervously.

Of course she liked it. It was gorgeous. It wasn't gaudy at all, a simple, delicate gold band with half a dozen tiny scintillating emeralds incrusted on top. "Wal, it's perfect. I love it, I really do," she assured him. "It's just… Look, either you ask me or you don't, but now I don't know what to think, and it's killing me. Do you want to get married?" She looked up at him uncertainly. They had never discussed marriage, not seriously anyway. Tony was always joking about it, but it had never occurred to her that Walden might consider it. They had only been dating for four and a half months, after all.

Now that her brain was functioning again, though, Evey realised that it didn't matter how long they'd known each other. She loved Walden, and she couldn't imagine being with anyone else. She was fairly certain that he was her soul mate, if such things existed, and in a world where magic was real, it was entirely plausible.

If Walden felt the same way about her…

"Yes," he replied without missing a beat. "I do. Not here, though. Not now. But when we get out of here…" He placed his hand over hers. "Yes. I would very much like to marry you."

She smiled at him. She felt almost dizzy with happiness. "Then my answer is also yes."

As Walden leaned forward to kiss her, there was a loud knock. "Oh, for pity's sake," Evey muttered. "He always has the worst possible timing." Walden nodded in agreement as he stood up to open the door.

"You done with that cheap thingy? Because the real present is here," Tony announced. He walked up to Evey without waiting for Walden's invitation and handed her a badly gift-wrapped package. "You deserve so much more than that, piglet, but it's all I could come up with on such short notice," he said apologetically.

Evey frowned up at him, wondering why he was being so uncharacteristically serious. She unwrapped the package carefully, half-expecting a trick, possibly something that might blow up in her face.

It didn't explode. It was a photo album, one that Evey recognised right away. It was one of her mother's, she knew, and it was full of pictures of family vacations from when Matt and Evey were kids.

Fuck. As if the previous moment hadn't been emotional enough. "Thanks, but I'm going to cry now," she warned them just as the tears began to spill from her eyes.

"Yes, I thought you might," Tony said matter-of-factly as he sat down beside her and put an arm around her.

"So you went by my house?" Evey asked Antonin some time later, when she'd stopped sobbing. Tony felt awful for making her cry like that, but she did seem happy about her present, at least. Nana was in her lap, and Evey was idly scratching the puppy behind the ears. "Dumbledore promised that it would be kept as it was until I was able to reclaim it." Tony sat on her right and Walden was on her other side, with his hand on her back.

"I did. It's been…cleaned up, but otherwise I suspect it's just as you left it. They put several wards on the place and some minor Muggle-repellent charms to prevent anyone from entering. As far as the Muggles are concerned, it is to be kept as it is until the 'investigation' is over." Tony sighed. "I wanted to grab more stuff, but I wasn't sure what else to take."

"Don't worry, it's fine. I'm glad I got the album. I just…" She put her face in her hands for a moment. "I can't believe I never thought of this before, but I have no idea what they did with…with the bodies," she said weakly.

"They were cremated," Tony told her softly. "I met one of your former neighbours. I wasn't going to linger, but she practically held me down until she had explained everything she knew."

"Yeah, I know the one," Evey said flatly. "The neighbourhood's blabbermouth, Miss Chatwin."

"Uh-huh. She said they were cremated and that the ashes were scattered in the town's cemetery. And, well, obviously she believes you're dead, too. I asked if she'd seen anyone prowling the area, but she was adamant that there hadn't been anyone near the house since the Muggle police left. She seemed quite certain, so I assume she keeps watch," he said disdainfully. He glanced at Evey. She still looked sad. Tony had known that it would be an emotional moment, but it was her birthday, for Merlin's sake. He decided to change the subject and pointed to her hand. "Shiny," he commented.

She smiled delightedly, and he felt relieved. He hadn't completely ruined her big day. "Oh yes, about that," she said. "Looks like we will need a wedding planner after all."

Tony turned to her, startled, then leaned forward to gaze at his brother. "You proposed? You said it was just a birthday present!" he said indignantly. He couldn't believe he'd missed this!

"Well, it was," Walden said defensively.

"And then it wasn't," Evey said with a grin. "So… Do we need to ask Kreacher, or…?"

"Kreacher?" Tony repeated with mock horror. "Of course I'll do it." He paused. "Actually, there won't be much to do. It's already planned in my head, down to the last painstaking detail. You'll just need to pick a date and invite some people, I suppose. Oh, and you'll require food. I forgot about that."

They laughed, and then Evey insisted on showing them the photos from the album. Tony realised that she'd almost never mentioned her family before, except in passing. He and Walden knew practically nothing about them. To be fair, Evey had always avoided the subject – probably because she knew that she would break down if she started talking about them. She had apparently emptied her tears reservoir for the day, however, and she spent the rest of the day telling them family anecdotes.

In the end, Tony decided that it'd been worth making her cry a bit. The way she spoke, it was obvious that she'd been keeping all of this bottled up inside her for too long. She needed this.

Maybe it would do him good to share his own feelings, some day – about being immortal, about how the Dementors at Azkaban had nearly driven him insane with guilt, and how difficult returning to the world had been for him.

But not today. Today was Evey's day.