𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐔𝐌 ; regulus black

05 ; dinner

❝ out of touch - hall & oates ❞

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

"oh, that's lovely, couldn't relate."

ophelia always attempted to keep her emotional salt to a minimum when it came to the joy of others– even though the modicum of bitterness that she held dear was scratching at the doors to her mouth, threatening to burst into diatribe into how much she wished all love could cease, if she could not have the same.

that was not to say she was not happy for marlene and dorcas, they complimented each other rather well. marlene was exuberant, vibrant, and untamable by any means, while dorcas was her safe space, and voice of reason.

perhaps she should have anticipated their union; it wasn't as if they weren't blatant about their mutual attraction– as it had been with a few other cases, it was more obvious to everyone else than the duo in question.

they were accompanied by moody, the late-coming remus, and one felix aston, a MACUSA auror who had been transferred to be stationed in england as a next step in the american-british wizarding relationship– a perilous political courting, which was a rather long story she did not want to get into.

"oh, i'm sure the male population will come around. you're a catch." marlene replied, taking a bite out of the chocolate cake that remus had brought– slightly burnt around the edges, but delectable all the same. one of the perks of being an adult, was that you could eat cake for dinner without patronizing from anyone, but your own body.

"hmm, yeah." ophelia chuckled, the place where regulus had pressed his chapped lips to the back of her ear tingling slightly at her lie.

"how's james and lily, remus?" ophelia asked instead, since she was aware that he visited per brother's family more than she did. remus looked rather forlorn, well, he always did. whenever she found herself complaining about the difficulties of her love life, she had to remind herself that at least the love of her life wasn't in azkaban, a traitor.

allegedly, of course.

"oh, they're good. the new secret location is doing them well." remus replied, combing his fingers through his unkempt hair, the scars across the span of his face contorting slightly as he spoke. it have been intimidating, if he hadn't had a smudge of chocolate on the corner of his mouth, which he cleaned hastily.

"how about harry?"

"he's a baby, none the wiser." he shrugged, "he got a new tooth, then lost it immediately by crashing his toy broom. lily was livid."

there was a slight chuckle from felix, who'd otherwise been silent, and a small smile from dorcas.

moody merely listened to the conversation between the three women and remus, his dark eyes glancing around ophelia's apartment with an air of paranoia that he always seemed to ben enclasped in. he trusted no one, it seemed. well, with a face like that, it was hard to find someone who would trust him, either.

"uh," he grunted, tucking away that godforsaken hip flask of his, "yes, good to hear that they're safe."

the others deemed that as satisfactory, and there was a murmur and stirring of shrugs as everyone focused back on the cake. they were interrupted, however, by a shrill whistle.

of course it was coming from moody, whose eyes had narrowed.

felix was the first to speak, possibly to dissuade moody from jumping up as if he had won the lottery. "uh, alastor, what is that god-awful sound?"

"those would be my...dark detectors." moody stated curtly, his eyes perusing ophelia's apartment with intent. ophelia frowned slightly, raising an eyebrow at him.

"who the hell brings dark detectors to a work dinner?" ophelia questioned, internally cursing herself when it came to her that it was probably regulus who had set the device off; the little bastard. it wasn't like he did it on purpose, but she could still blame him.

"this paranoid wanker." marlene noted, gesturing at moody. "c'mon, shut it off, will you? it's making my ears bleed." she waved dorcas off when she attempted to check the claim, shooting her a little look to say it had been a figure of speech.

moody begrudgingly fished out the dark metal orb which had been spinning at an alarming speed, tapping it with his wand. ophelia nearly winced when his eyes moved onto her. "do you know what this means? there is an intruder in your home. my dark detectors are highly sensitive, and can pick up the smallest disturbances."

"his balls." marlene muttered, causing remus to facepalm, and felix to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"well, there aren't any intruders here." ophelia pointed out, idly wringing her hands together under the table. "i'd know, it's a very small flat."

he looked unconvinced, which was rather comical, considering that the others were sporting various looks of amusement. ophelia's mind was working, and thank the lord that she was an auror, and hence had some form of cohesive planning skills. they tended to come in handy on the job.

"perhaps i should check. i bloody well would be embarrassed if rosier has followed me here and takes another chunk of me with him." moody growled, attempting to draw his wand. "this contraption senses unusual human presences."

ophelia raised an eyebrow, feigning relief. "ohhh, okay, this is all a big misunderstanding." she chuckled, the sound slightly forced, but covered up with the vague wave of a hand. "your dark detector has picked up the presence of a lad that is staying in my room."

dorcas nearly choked on her drink, and remus raised an eyebrow slightly. "why, ophelia, why is there a man in your room?"

she was tempted to respond to remus with something scathing, like 'you have enough men in your room for the both of us', but that would be a bit much. "oh shut up, it's nothing like that. i have a friend visiting from france, francis jaques dumont," the worst name she could have come up with, "--and he's just crashing here before his trip to scotland to see friends."

"and why could he not just apparate?"

"good question." she internally cursed herself. "you see," she hushed her voice conspiratorially, "he's a muggle."

there was a collective pause around the table, as everyone stared at her for a second, before glancing away at the walls and the ceiling, as if they had not acted as if she had dropped dead, or grew a second pinkie finger.

felix was the first to break the silence. "...francis jaques dumont?"

"yes." she nodded in confirmation, before shooting a glance at the door, silently praying that regulus didn't decide to fuck with her and exit the room in one of her short lace nightgowns (which, to be fair, weren't for anything sexy, purely to show herself off to herself in the mirror before changing, because it was itchy as hell). "don't judge him, he's french."

"right, okay." felix cleared his throat, and remus looked lightly humored again. "well, i hate to be that person, but who wants another drink?"

╰┈➤ author's note ; just a filler chapter because why not-- dorlene supremacy.