Disclaimer: You know the drill by now.
AN: Inspired by the Daily Challenge on the Ministry of Magic discord and now repurposed for the Quidditch League.
It was late at night and the kettle was boiling.
With a practiced hand, Ron picked up the kettle and quickly poured out two hot steaming cups of tea, before stirring and removing the teabags. (No more tea leaves. Ever. Professor Trelawney and Divination was more than enough to put someone off for life!) Picking up both cups, he walked over to the small kitchen table and handed the woman sitting there one of them.
"Here you are Padma," he said and she smiled at him, before taking a sip of her steaming hot drink and sighing happily.
"Hmmm..." she said, smelling the steam rising from the cup in her hands. "Thanks Ron," she said as a small smile crossed her face. Ron sat down opposite her, holding a cup of his own.
The two of them sat in companionable silence sipping their tea. In the background, the sounds of London at night could be heard. A quiet hum of background noises that neither of them noticed as they sipped their drinks. Finally Padma spoke.
"Mum is trying to set me up with one of the groomsmen at the wedding," she said in a bitter tone and Ron winced slightly in sympathy. "It's only been a year since...you know..." Ron grimaced and nodded sympathetically. He knew exactly how she felt. Far too well in fact.
"So that's why you're still awake," he said with a frown and Padma nodded.
"It's just..." She made a frustrated gesture with her hands. "My fiancé died and I'm just supposed to be over it in a set time because we didn't get married!" She growled once more in anger. "Like it somehow doesn't matter as much because of it!" Ron nodded and she continued. "Is it supposed to be some sort of magic that marrying someone suddenly makes it okay to take your time!? Does one bloody day really mean that much!? Nobody gives my cousin Hanel this hassle and she's younger than me! But no, nobody seems to think that there's anything wrong with her taking over a year to grieve, to be ready and yet they expect me to be ready in the same time!" Ron nodded sympathetically and said nothing. There wasn't a lot that he could say really. "Just because she was married to her husband and I didn't get to marry my fiance! Did they think I wanted Micheal to die like that!? We fought a bloody war and survived." Tears were beginning to form in her eyes, her expression a mixture of sadness and anger. "And then he just died so unexpectedly, so suddenly and yet I'm supposed to be over it and somehow expected to keep up with the normal, everyday things like nothing happened!"
Ron sipped his tea, resisting the urge to offer comfort. That wasn't what she wanted right now and he knew it. She just needed to vent and who better to rant to than her surprisingly friendly flatmate who actually got it? Who knew what it was like to lose someone that close to them?
"It's just..." She let out a growl of frustration and sighed. "I know that mother wants grandchildren and with Parvati marrying Lavender, I'm her best hope. But I'm twenty-two years old, not forty! It isn't that urgent." She picked up her tea and looked at Ron.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I haven't even asked you why you're up at this time of night."
"It's okay," Ron said with a shrug. "It's just something stupid really." He paused and took a deep breath. "I saw a girl with long bushy hair today and it just...reminded me of her. It was...well you know how it is." He sighed. "It's been almost three years but..."
Padma nodded sympathetically. It was something she could relate to all too well. The loss of a partner in tragic circumstances was practically what had drawn them together like this in the first place really. Her previous flatmates had all been very light sleepers and hated her getting up in the night like this. Another unfortunate side effect of the war really, she supposed.
There were far too many of those.
"Three bloody years and countless fucking hours with mind healers and something like that keeps me awake. It's bloody mental that."
Padma gave him a bitter chuckle. It was not a pretty sound.
"We're both mental then," she said with a slight shake of her head. "The perfect pair of insomniacs who can't sleep. No wonder we're flatmates. Nobody else would put up with us." She gave a bitter chuckle. "Or understand us at least."
The two of them continued to sip their teas in companionable silence. They didn't really need to say anything else really. It just felt...right. Padma eventually broke the silence after a few minutes.
"How's things at the Aurors Office?" she asked and Ron shrugged.
"Chaotic. We're still trying to fill in the gaps left after the war. Nearly five years after the Battle of Hogwarts and we're still replacing our casualties. And picking up former Death Eaters still being fanatical idiots here and there, but now they're being smart about it. Now they're using every legal trick they can get away with to delay things as much as possible. Now it takes longer to actually get them convicted and the evidence." He looked at her. "What about you? Is your boss still the same old tyrant up at the Department of Experimental Charms?
"Pretty much," Padma said with a slight nod. "Still expects miracles and breakthroughs every day even though we keep telling him that this stuff takes time and we're experimenting with something entirely new." She paused and sipped her tea. "How an idiot like him ever got the position is beyond me, but I strongly suspect that bribery was involved. Or a 'good' family name. Or he's the greatest bullshitter in the Wizarding world."
Ron chuckled in amusement.
"I'm thinking of quitting the Auror office," he said, abruptly bringing up the second reason why he was still awake. Padma looked at him in surprise. "I'm thinking...it's mental all the crap we have to deal with and..." he paused. "Well to be honest, I'm getting kind of sick of it all. Harry's the one who thrives off of it. I'm just..." He paused and shook his head once more. "I'm not the same person I was when I was fourteen. And George has been talking about expanding the joke shop. He's got more than a few vacancies."
"What does Harry think?" Padma asked. (She knew better than to ask if he had told Harry. The fact that he was talking about it with her meant that he had already talked about it with Harry.)
"He thinks I should go for it," Ron said with a slight shrug. "There's not as much call for Aurors anymore and he thinks I need a change. And the money is good and I know how the shop works..."
"Sounds like you've already made up your mind," Padma said and Ron nodded.
"Yeah, guess so," he said and he drained his cup.
AN: Okay, this is running late and to be honest, my muse just hates this and I'm almost hating this as well, so I'm just cutting it off here.