August 14th, 1888 — Umbridge Residence, London

He'd gone to sleep with a hollow heart, and had woken that morning to find it filled with sorrow. He could usually look forward to exchanging a letter or two with Febby at work - or, if he was lucky, a visit from her once he settled down in the evening. Tonight was not one of those nights. There would never again be one of those nights.

She'd left him - permanently. As much as he'd tried to find to find a reason that she might appear in his fireplace that evening, it was obvious that she wouldn't. She'd removed the locket she'd sworn to never take off and left it on his bedside table, a horrible reminder of what he'd lost. Earlier last night they'd been mourning the loss of a child they'd never have, and now he was mourning the loss of a wife he'd never have.

He might have barked a laugh, but he'd instead spend the entire evening numbing himself with whatever booze he had left in the cupboards, only the presence of a friend able to keep him from collapsing from the sobs he still hadn't mustered the strength (or was it weakness? He hadn't yet figured that much out.) to release.

"Have you ever had your heart broken?" he asked with an alarmingly un-Edric-like sigh. He was still donning his auror robes, yet he somehow managed to look even more disheveled than he had when he returned home. His hair was sticking out in tousled - and not in an attractive way - and there were dark circles under his eyes.

He was an absolute wreck.

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— set by MJ! —

To say Syd was alarmed, would be a little bit of an understatement. An owl, way later in the day than they usually would have agreed to grab a drink and the tone to it had Syd on edge.

And for good reason. By the time he'd gotten out of the hospital, a little later than usual, and made his way to his mate's house, the staff that met him at the door had a look about them that said he was in for a night. In the decades he'd know Edric Umbridge, he was pretty sure he'd never seen him like this.

Between the booze and the existential discussion or lack thereof really, Syd didn't quite know where to turn. Until... yep, there it was. Syd sat in an armchair opposite his friend, watching him carefully. Having shrugged off his coat for the long haul, Syd pushed up his sleeves and took a sip of his own drink.

"No," Syd had so far gone unscathed in that respect. "Pretty sure I've broken one though." He admitted with grimace. "I'd rather my own, I think." Wasn't that the truth of it.

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The following 1 user Likes Sydney Podmore's post:1 user Likes Sydney Podmore's post
   Aldous Crouch

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥

Sydney Podmore had never struck him as the heartbreaking sort, but it wasn't too difficult to imagine how an unsuspecting young woman mind find herself in such a position. The man in front of him was even more of a workaholic than himself - a feat that he didn't imagine many could reach. He did, however, hardly doubt that the hearts they'd broken were broken in the same way.

"Or it could be worse," he said, nearly choking on the heavy thickness that rested in the back of his throat. Even with the booze, he felt like shit; it only confirmed that this tear in his heart was too deep for a alcohol to soothe. "You could have broken her heart and had your own wrecked in the process."

(Did men talk about these things with each other? Based off Syd's expression, he was quick to think not.)

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— set by MJ! —

Leaning back in his chair, Syd crossed one ankle to the opposite knee and regarded his friend carefully. Clearly something major had happened and it had shaken him up badly. Syd wasn't really the best choice to handle this, but he'd do his best. The only person better at avoiding commitment than Syd was his own brother. Clint had it mastered. Syd had also just lied to Edric about it having his heart broken too, so there was that. It was a knee jerk reaction, because he'd never talked about it, not to anyone.

"Without prying too much, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you had something serious going on," Syd was observant, if nothing else. He did also know what it looked like. He was also much better as an outside eye, when it wasn't important to him directly. He'd clearly missed some things where Miss Carmichael was concerned. "If you broke her heart and your own in the process, I'd say you fucked up pretty big." Who went and purposefully put themselves through this much drama? "No judgement mate, I don't have all of the info, nor do I need it, but if you've made both yourself and this poor girl miserable, I can't imagine it was worth it."

It was exactly what prevented him from sticking to something serious for himself. He was afraid to screw up after getting too attached to lose it all in the end. Not after last time.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥

Sydney spoke the truth - he had fucked up, even more than he'd thought possible. He'd doubted himself and his worth, sure, but he'd never guessed that her love for him would cease merely because he said the wrong thing. All her promises, everything they'd been through together - gone, and for no reason other than his own insecurities.

"I was falling in love with her, Sydney. I knew she was the one," he said. "I wanted to marry her." There was a lingering "but" in the air, but he could find the words to explain just what had gone wrong. He didn't know - not exactly, really - what had gone wrong. He had no clue what in his words had compelled her to remove her locket, kiss him goodbye, and disapparate on the spot. He only knew from her expression that it was him.

"I think - no, I'm certain - that it was because I couldn't let go of the past," he admitted, swaying his glass back and forth to create sloshing waves with his drink. "They teach ladies to look forward without glancing over their shoulder when they walk. I wonder how they do that," he continued, clearly too far gone to keep his mouth shut at this point. "How do you keep moving forward without worrying about what's behind you? It makes no sense from a survival standpoint. You're always supposed to be alert."

And then, just as quickly as he started on the subject, he ended it.

"How did you break a girl's heart, anyways? Aren't healers supposed to fix things?"

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— set by MJ! —

Syd looked out the window as Edric rambled. To him it sounded like things were more serious than he'd originally anticipated. He could sympathize with the inability to let go of the past a little too well.

When his friend came back around to Syd's own misfortune he took another pensive sip of his drink. "I was ignorant of, or perhaps I may have subconsciously ignored, her affection toward me," If he'd realized sooner maybe things would have been different. "She sent me a letter expressing her intentions and I did a poor job of expressing my willingness to try, despite some of my own shortcomings, I don't think it was well received, because that was the end of it and I didn't push it. I didn't hear from her until I ran into her at an event a couple months ago." He still regretted it, he likely missed a good opportunity in Miss Carmichael and he wasn't sure he would be about to salvage anything this late in the game.

Syd drained his glass and reached for the closest bottle to refill. "Sounds to me, that if you actually love her enough to talk about marriage, a future together, the past should have slowly stopped being an issue for you. Everybody has baggage mate, I let mine get in the way and I likely missed out on something good thanks to a mistake in the past causing me to act on reservations I didn't even know I still had." That was the crutch of it. One broken courtship had given him too much pause to see a good thing standing right in front of him.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥

Sydney's adventure into the land of heart-breaking as piss-poor compared to his own, he thought - so much so that he actually scoffed out loud at the explanation. "You know," he said, taking another sip of his drink, "if you think there was something good there, you could find a reason to send her a letter. 'Sounds like you broke her heart in the most passive way possible - and it's probably forgivable."

The way he'd broke February's heart - and in turn his own - wasn't as forgivable. She'd given him heart heart, body, and soul, and yet he'd managed to let his own insecurities convince her (and perhaps himself) that it wasn't enough.

"She loved me, too, but I'm not sure if she'd have me now, even if I went to her with a dozen bouquets and a ring," he admitted mournfully. "She was so devoted to me, but I still managed to ruin it. What do I do, Syd? Is there anything I can do? Or should I just...let her go?"

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   Aldous Crouch

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— set by MJ! —

Despite the truthfulness of Edric's suggestion, Syd could only shrug a little and smile over his bourbon. The hypocrisy of the statement was not lost on him, but Syd merely took a moment to consider how to word it.

"I think only you can answer the last one, do you want to let her go or do you want to fight for her?" Syd had asked himself the very same question more than once and had always come up with either an excuse not to try or a mediocre apology at best. He rather thought he'd gone too long at this point. Edric on the other hand, well this was fresh and he could likely fix it, if he wanted to.

"If you do and she loves you the way you say she does, I'm sure you could find a reason to send her a letter." He casually tossed his friends own words back to him. "Or show up with a dozen bouquets and a ring, if she's the grand gesture type. I don't think she fell out of love overnight."

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥

He could fight for her. Merlin, he wanted to fight for her, but figuring out how to was the hard part. February Lynch wasn't some sort of idle debutante who passively hung her head when upset; she would fight him - tooth and nail and probably fist - if he said the wrong thing at the time wrong time.

"I'll write a letter if you do," he challenged. "Or better - if you write a letter, I'll one-up you with something grander," he offered, his brain running through all of his options in that moment.

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— set by MJ! —

Syd barked out a genuine laugh at Edric's next suggestion. "I rather think the year that has passed since the letter arrived means I've missed my window of opportunity. You'll fare better than I will, I'll wager." It wasn't as if his last run in with Ginny had given him any indication one way or another, either.

"I'm curious how you plan to one-up a letter, however." He quirked an eyebrow at least relieved to see a bit of a change in his friend's demeanor.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥

Sydney was the most infuriating person in the world in that moment (probably because he was the only other person in the room in that moment, but that changed nothing).

"Let me ask you something, Sydney," he said, struggling to push himself forward in the seat - and effectively sending an empty bottle of whiskey clattering to the ground in the process. "When you ran into your woman -" For lack of a better word. "- was she cold? Cruel? Or did she at least attempt to be friendly?" he asked.

"Because if so, you have to write a letter. I'll make you," he said, peering his friend in the eyes from across the coffee table. "And in turn, I'm going to leave here. I'm going to get my own place." What better way to escape the past than to literally escape the place he'd spent his entire life?

"And once I do that, I'll definitely be able to one-up a letter." He hadn't figure out the how, but he'd get there - probably when he was completely sober, but he'd get there.

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   Aldous Crouch

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— set by MJ! —

Syd watched Edric with wide, amused eyes, eyebrows raised high. He purposefully ignored his friend's questions on the matter. "Whose issues are we trying to solve here, yours or mine?" Syd had only answered the questions posed to him, he hadn't intended to get lectured by a drunk on what he should or shouldn't do in regards to Ginny.

"There's a flat a few floors up from mine that's for rent." Syd offered by way of changing the subject. He was not penning a letter to Miss Carmichael under the influence of bourbon. That was bad news. Likely unwelcome attention at this point. No, he firmly believed Edric would have better luck in his venture at this point.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥

Edric took a deep breath and shook his head. "Well, I didn't invite you here specifically to solve me problems," he said, sliding another bottle across the table. "I came here to ask you to have a drink." A little smile fell onto his face, and, grabbing his wand, he tried to summon a quill and pen from across the room. The first three efforts were unsuccessful, his voice slurring over each "accio", but the fourth time seemed to be the charm.

"You're going to write your letter while I write out all my ideas. It'll be great, I promise," he insisted, passing the clean parchment over the table before he aimed and then threw the quill straight at Sydney's head.

"I think I have another, better idea for a place, but I want the address anyways."

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— set by MJ! —

Watching his friend's attempts to summon letter supplies, Syd felt an increasing panic he was trying not to show. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Syd leaned forward, nearly sloshing his drink. He was by no means drunk, but he was not in a place to write a letter either. "You brought me here to help you with this shit, you know it, I know it. I am not writing to a letter to a woman who I may or may not still have a chance with, not three drinks in. Hell no." Shaking his head vigorously, he downed the almost full glass in his hands. If he was too drunk he couldn't hold a quill.

"I'm glad you're getting your shit together, but that does not mean I'm ready to," He ducked the tossed quill and left it purposefully on the floor where it landed. He had been thinking about writing to Ginny, but letters clearly were not his style. No he would need to explain himself in person, when he could get his head out of his own ass.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥

Edric let out a loud, brash, almost unsettling laugh as he managed to get off to couch. He lumbered towards Sydney and plucked the quill off the floor, all the while chuckling under his breath.

"But Syd," he said, tossing the writing utensil onto the table, "if we're solving my problems, we may as well solve yours, too. They say women are like flowers, but I think they're just like plants," he said, stumbling over Sydney's feet as he tried to get to the other side of the couch.

"Some are delicate and soft like dandelions, others are snappish like fly traps, and others are like cactuses - they don't need much tending to." He cast him a knowing glance. "Yours sounds like she needs lots of tending to; you haven't watered her in a year!" (Febby was definitely some odd kind of plant that need to be softly...wrestled...to be tended to, but he hadn't yet figured it out. He would - eventually.)

He began pouring himself - and Sydney - another drink. Dealing with women needed it.

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— set by MJ! —

Syd flinched when Edric came living lurching his way, waiting for him to fall somehow. "I think you're losing it mate, just what did she do to you?" He probably shouldn't have asked that, but shooting that last glass of bourbon had gone straight to his head.

All the rambling about plants and cacti had Syd laughing, but he was still a little worried about Edric. "I think my problems are best solved in person and sober. He was not writing a letter right now. There was no way of telling what nonsense he'd spout this many drinks in.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥