Cored

Chapter 45: Building

"What is your middle name?" she asked Crawley as he cooked their dinner.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you know mine. And in that memory, your mom called you Ezra Fin. Is it Fin?"

"Finian," he answered, stirring the soup he was making. "It was my uncle's name."

She wanted desperately to pick up her phone and look up the etymology of the name, but there was no service. And while she had managed to get the appliances to work, she still hadn't gotten cell service down.

The lack of service also meant they didn't really have a television, and there wasn't abundant leisure reading material, so they were pretty bored once they finished dinner. Which is why Crawley was sitting on her bed while she unpacked. Another day she might have been irritated with him still, but the success of the cabin had her in a particularly good mood.

"You own so many sweaters," Crawley said, watching her fold them into the dresser drawers.

"I like to be cozy," she explained. "And it's not like I wear them year-round, it's December. The real question is if you have enough clothes here."

"I packed for a month when I came for Christmas. Standard auror trick—pack a week's worth of stuff for each night you are gone, just in case."

"You didn't all have a week's clothes with you when you stayed at my apartment."

"Sure we did. We just shrink it down real small, fits in a briefcase. What's this?" he asked, picking up a box amidst her belongings.

She signed when she saw the slightly crushed ribbon. "It's something George gave me. Open it."

He did as she said, and the glitter started to erupt from the little box, surrounding him in his own sort of rainfall. He didn't seem to care for the glitter much, but he pulled the photograph out, holding it gently in his hands.

"Is this your mom?"

She went over and sat next to him. "That's my mom, in the gray. And Fred, on the ground."

"And George is holding you?"

Katherine nodded, staring bleakly down at the smiling faces maneuvering in the frame.

"You and your mom look alike, just in the eyes. When you smile, maybe."

She scoffed and stood, shaking the glitter off of her as she went and turning it to dust. Crawley watched her fold her clothes and conjured a small bedside table on which he set the photograph before closing the box and stopping the glitter. Next to it, he placed the snow globe he had given her for Christmas.

"We'll need to find a place to keep training."

"I thought of that," Katherine said, standing up straight. "Follow me."

She led him down the stairs and outside to a root cellar door. They pulled it open and descended the stairs to a room that looked remarkably like the training room they had been using, but with the ceiling enchanted like a movie screen to show a full view of what was happening outside the cabin just in case someone showed up.

"You'll note there is no scoreboard. I think you had that thing rigged anyways."

"This will work," Crawley said, his hands on his hips, as he looked around.

"Come on, Crawley, this will more than work. Even you have to admit this is pretty cool."

"It's fine," he said with a shrug.

"Well, I didn't see you building us a house."

"I couldn't. My magic would have tipped the registries."