Almost

Chapter 3: Remember

Katherine had gotten into a bad habit of only sleeping a few hours a night. She'd put on the tempering, focus on the stillness, and drift to sleep. It was a careful balance—with her magic turned off, she couldn't defend herself or feel the alarms her wards would let off if someone got to close. If she left the ring on for long enough, though, it was almost like it charged her magic. The rush of adrenaline its resurgence brought could keep her up and going all day. Once she left it off for too long and the magic settled back in, the crash would come and leave the static feeling itchy and harder to control.

The feeling came faster if she was anxious or irritated. So, as she and Crawley entered MACUSA the next morning, she spent more magic than normal changing her appearance. She only kept the façade up when she was near MACUSA buildings, a holdover of when there used to be ConJour photographers that would bombard Crawley, or any high ranking auror, with questions about the letters that had plagued the government. All involved had agreed that risking Katherine's face in the paper was unnecessary. It had, however, an unintended consequence of one gossip column convinced that Crawley, as the highest-ranking bachelor in the saga, was using the work to impress women. Is All Fair in Love and War had run for weeks with a photo spread of Katherine in many faces. The writer had even taken the time to point out the ring always on her finger. "Ezra Crawley, auror with the Major Investigations Department, must have the rings made by the hundreds. Any tips on the maker of the ring or the identities of the women should be provided to Benny Ragman, Continental Journal, Special Interest Department Office 12-R62..."

Of course, the column died away after a few weeks as she spent less and less time in the MACUSA offices in any form. Now, it felt like visiting an elementary school classroom after graduating high school—a place she remembered, but that didn't really remember her.

It didn't help, of course, that she had grown herself at least six inches in an attempt to feel more powerful, lengthening the simple burgundy shift dress she wore to fall right at her knees. Her hair sat at her collar bone in jet black ringlets. The color of her eyes was changing with every blink.

"Would you stop that." Crawley took her hand and pulled her onto the elevator. He spoke quietly enough that Red, the elevator attendant, couldn't hear him. Granted, the dwarf was well over a hundred years old—it didn't seem likely he would eavesdrop. "It's a dead giveaway you're nervous."

She rolled her eyes but let them settle into a deep chocolate brown. If he weren't gripping her hand so tightly, she would have immediately started twisting her engagement ring around. Sometimes he knew her too well.

"I don't want to see her today," she whispered back.

Crawley sighed and ran his free hand through his messy waves, pushing them back from his eyes. "She's just trying to follow protocol. Which," he added quickly, noting the familiar fire in her eyes, "is misguided. But not malicious."

"I don't know what she wants me to do. Go to Illvermorny? Is there a magical GED I can get?"

"Come on. You won me over. It'll just take time."

"It's been over a year," Katherine reminded him. "And I shouldn't have to win her over for her to treat me like a human."

He went very quiet and she saw his jaw clench. She knew he was thinking back to the many, many times she could have said the same about him.

"I'm sorry," Katherine said quietly as she squeezed his hand. "I wasn't talking about—"

"Floor Two," Red called out, cutting her off. Crawley dropped her hand as they stepped out into the busy lobby. Witches and wizards pushed past them, buzzing around with hushed voices and serious faces. Katherine looked up at the large clock that hang above them, which measured the danger levels of magical exposure. Crawley had told her that it hadn't dipped beneath High Alert since she had taken off her tempering but had peaked at Severe when the letters were arriving. It had returned to Danger today, but Katherine hoped it was some other scurrying auror's problem that had raised concern.