Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(164) Wake

Florence didn't want to go to work with everything that was happening, but it was still a must. Nicolai was granted a two month leave to get her affairs in order. She had spent the previous day with Penelope, who helped her pack her stuff, since her parents had suggested that she stayed in her childhood home for the meantime. Everybody thought this to be a good idea, as continuing to see their would-be home was bad for her recovery.

The Devereux family had arranged a three day wake for both Karen and Jillian, before they were to be buried at the family cemetery. Florence had asked Julien if she could leave a few minutes early to get ready to accompany Nicolai and Xander to the wake, and her request was granted.

"Please send Nicolai my best too, when you see her. And tell her I'm sorry I will be unable to attend the wakes, but I promise I will be there for the funeral."

"Don't worry, Jules. I'm sure she understands," Florence said reassuringly, "Thanks for allowing me to leave early later. I'm gonna go spar with Hadley."

Florence was still distracted despite the fact that she had plenty to do to keep her preoccupied. She had lost her footing several times during both wand and wandless sparring. Hadley had barely moved during hand to hand sparring, but had managed to knock her off her feet for the third time in a span of ten minutes. She looked down at Florence concernedly, "Are you quite alright, Flo?"

"A lot on my mind, honestly. Can't quite shake it." she admitted, taking Hadley's hand and being hoisted up. She grabbed their towels, passing one towel to Florence as she wiped her sweaty face with the other, "Why don't we get lunch, and you can tell me all about it?"

Florence left out most of the details concerning the Order of the Phoenix, mostly focusing on Nicolai and her mourning, and how she wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

"I'm so sorry to hear that. I haven't really gotten to know Nicolai that well, but no one deserves to go through what she's going through right now... but with the way things are these days... I don't think its about whether someone deserved it or not. This war doesn't pick and choose, even the best people end up losing something. That's the grim part about it." Hadley said, as soon as Florence had finished her story.

"I've been thinking about Nicolai a lot. I was in her place a few months ago. It was horrible. Its like going through the same thing again but now I'm looking at it in third person," Florence sighed, "But the thing about Nic is she isn't shutting everyone else out. That's...the silver lining. She's always been better at managing her feelings than I have ever been."

"Well people grieve in different ways, I guess." Hadley said, taking a sip out of her water cup, "Please send her my condolences though, will you? I may not know her all that much but I have the deepest sympathies for her."

"Thank you, and I will." Florence smiled, placing a hand on top of hers, "You know you should really meet my friends one of these days, I'm confident that they will like you."

"I'd love to meet them... one of these days." she agreed.

They went back to sparring after their meal, Florence not as distracted as she initially was. She busied herself with practice and learning new tactics from her superiors until it was time for her to go home, saying good bye to Hadley, as she had two more hours left.

Fred and George were in their dress shirts and some black slacks when Florence had arrived, the two finishing up a few things around the store as Verity sat at the till, as she was being paid extra to stay and close the store while the twins were out. Fred smiled as Florence entered the store, kissing her on the cheek softly, "How was training?"

"Exhausting," she sighed, pecking a kiss on his lips in return. She gave George a quick hug, before heading to the stairs, "You boys wait here, I'll be ready in ten, I promise. Then we can go." Florence said, before scampering up the stairs.