“He needs to be in bed by eight… no later….” She reminded Timothy, her eyes darting to her son as he made protesting faces. “And if I hear he gives a hard time I’m thinking of taking away his new broom request for Christmas.” She raised her eyebrows, but the younger boy heard this threat and shut his mouth before saying something he’d regret. Timothy of course knew all of the rules and promised her that Kevin would be well behaved. She didn’t know why her son listened to Timothy more than he did his own parents, but she supposed that was the mantra of a child and his sitter; or well in this case his cousin of distant relations. “Jeremy and I should be back in a few hours,” she added to Timothy, pulling her sweater around herself, “If anything comes up I’ll contact you.”
She was meeting Jeremy at their favorite little pub in London after he got off of work, and already she was nervous about what she needed to tell him. Oh, in her heart of hearts she knew he’d be happy about it, but still with all the added pressure of Lamont and his work…she didn’t know if she was quite ready to let this all unfold again. Last time he had himself locked up in Azkaban. She had trekked through it alone. Did she want to have that happen again? It weighed heavily on her mind, especially when she kissed Kevin goodnight and shot one last smile to Timothy. This was it, she had to tell him, and he had to promise her he wouldn’t do anything else to jeopardize their lives.
The autumn air was chilly of course, and Magdalena wrapped her checkered brown scarf tighter as she hustled through the streets towards MacMillian’s Pub it was one of their favorite places to relax after a long day. The food was pub like and the drinks were cheap, but they were both comfortable there and she couldn’t imagine breaking the news anywhere else. She knew she’d arrive before him, so when she let herself inside she nodded to the old bartender Magnus before sitting in their favorite booth in the far left corner. Magnus brought her a glass of white wine, which she sincerely declined, and asked for a glass of seltzer water; the fizz would at least look like an alcoholic beverage to Jeremy until she broke the news.




