Febby landed deftly, albeit with a bit of a wobble, on the other side of the wall. Thank Merlin Mr. Auror hadn't seen that. Eyes set on her piglet prize February was well and truly surprised his time when another hand enclosed around her wrist, accompanied by a distinctly unfamiliar voice. Her reaction was the same as last time, a wide swing, this time with her good hand, but unlike Mr. Auror, this bloke was prepared for her haymaker and dodged it easily.

"Let go!" She shouted, hoping like hell Mr. Auror wasn't far behind her. For all her earlier protesting about knowing how to take care of herself in a back alley, February wasn't exactly prepared for this. With both hands secured she couldn't reach for her wand and so she did the best thing she could think of; she stomped down as hard as she could on the attacker's foot and hoped surprise mixed with pain would get him to loosen his grip.

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Oh, for fuck's sake.

He fumbled for his wand (albeit with the hand opposite of the pocket it was buried in) for a moment, listening to the struggle on the other side. Once he'd grabbed it, he apparated with a crack—which he probably should have thought of to begin with before dangerously hoisting her over the wall—to the other side.

He raised his wand, ready to disarm the culprit, before being stopped in his tracks by the the image in front of him: the man had one arm firmly wrapped around Miss Strong-Arm, with his other hand holding his wand, which was pointed elsewhere. Right in the direction of the distressed piglet.

The formerly human piglet.

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   February Umbridge

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— set by MJ! —

The loud crack of apparition was a sound February had never thought she'd be so happy to hear! Between that and her foot-stomping, the shady character lost his grip just enough for Febby to shove off and escape, stumbling right into Mr. Auror. Febs didn't realize she was shaking until she grabbed a hold of the sleeve of his free hand to steady herself. Up until now he'd been an inconvenience, but she was extremely grateful for his presence now; Febs was going to have a large helping of humble pie after this, she just knew it.

She finally cast a look over her shoulder at the man and realized he had his wand pointed at Lydia. "You! You did this!" She still had a little fire in her, despite the racing of her heart and the dizziness in her head. Were she a woman of a weaker constitution she may have collapsed, but she was too angry for that. He needed to learn a lesson about attacking unsuspecting women in the street!

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The woman had formerly been so feisty and full of witty comebacks; now she was shaking and grasping onto his sleeve, doing absolutely nothing to help him figure out how to handle the situation. He didn't have his wand raised high enough, and any attempts to do so would assuredly result in the pig-maid's untimely demise.

He opted instead to wrap his arm around Miss Strong-Arm's waist and shuffle her somewhat behind him, hoping doing such would discourage the suspect from considering her a target again. Then, the staring match—and a mighty unsettling one, at that—began. It hadn't been more than a minute when the suspect finally snapped, his wand moving in his direction, which caused Edric to similarly move.

A shield, of course, had been his first move. (Better to see him and Miss Strong-Arm protected than risking his own demise, which he knew would put the woman in further danger.) Luckily, the spell cast towards them was non-lethal and able to be blocked, giving Edric a moment to consider his next move before finally casting his spell—"Stupefy!"—which fortunately sent the suspect flying against the wall.

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— set by MJ! —

February was absolutely no Damsel in Distress™ but even she knew her limits. She followed his lead and allowed herself to be shuffled behind him, though she peered over his shoulder as best she could, before turning her attention to Lydia who had stopped scrambling about and was now cowering behind a broken box. Febby didn't dare move, lest she make the situation worse, but she worried for her maid's safety as much as her own.

A sudden spell diverted her attention again and she flinched, though Mr. Auror had it sorted and his stunning spell sent the culprit flying back into the wall she'd just jumped down from. Febby let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in and darted around to snatch Lydia up from the tangled mess on the ground while Mr. Auror saw to the seemingly unconscious creep.

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It didn't take long to deal with the suspect; years of being an auror meant he could conjure a rope and tie someone up in his sleep, but he made sure to keep an eye on Miss Strong-Arm and the pig-maid as he sat the still-unconscious man against the wall and confiscated his wand. Good, no more trouble.

Except the maid was still a pig.

"So," he commented, doing his best to avoid the smug smile that was already tugging at the corner of his lips. "Trust me enough to let me handle the pig now?" he asked, motioning towards the squealing creature.

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— set by MJ! —

Relieved that seemed to be over, Febby clutched the piglet close, there would not be a second escape. Thankfully that had not been a long stand off at all and Mr. Auror seemed quite pleased with himself. Febs narrowed her eyes at him, but it was slowly followed by a genuine smile. She swallowed the witty retort on the tip of her tongue and instead settled for resigned gratitude. "Yes, I suppose so." He had proven useful in the long run after all and she certainly didn't think she'd be able to set her maid to rights.

"Perhaps we should send for a mediwizard to take her to the hospital after she"s sorted. That was rather... jarring." And scary, just a little scary. Well, actually it had been quite fun up until a moment ago. Getting grabbed by a creepy stranger in an alley certainly sucked the amusement out of chasing a pig around town with a handsome auror in tow.

Then February was going to have to muster a very sincere thank you.

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As pleased as he was with his efforts and ultimate success, the shaken woman, not to mention her likely-traumatized maid, took priority at the moment and carefully approached her and the squealing creature. He motioned for the woman—whose real name he still didn't know—to hold out her arms with the pig so he could transfigure it (well, her, rather) to its human state.

It didn't take very long, and within a minute he was handing a blubbering, borderline-senile maid who couldn't manage to get two words of sense out. Edric cast Miss Strong-Arm a concerned glance, though an encouraging smile followed. He pulled out his wand and sent sparks off, though his indicated medical attention was needed rather than law enforcement. "Mediwizards will be here soon. Let her sit. Human transfiguration causes enough stress on the body, let alone atop criminal assault," he said in a calming tone.

"I suppose after this I ought to know your name, Miss...?" he asked, all the while examining her for signs of injury that might need to be tended to once medical help arrived.

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— set by MJ! —

Febby waited with bated breath, as Lydia was seen to. Her maid was back and a crumpled mess on the ground, inconsolably crying and unable to form a coherent sentence. Feeling guilty and sorry for her poor maid who had just wanted to get out of the house with her, Febs tried to bend down to try and provide some kind of comfort, but Mr. Auror seemed bent on trying to make sure she was alright.

She waved him away as best she could, though her own shaking limbs betrayed her. She rather thought it was the downfall of the adrenaline rush, or perhaps the surprise of actually being attacked in an alley, but February was nowhere near as bad off as her maid. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Though she could feel the after-effects starting to settle in, she really was fine.

"It's February Lynch." Febs sometimes felt embarrassed giving her name, considering everybody in her family was named after a month, but she was too distracted to worry this time. "And my  maid is Lydia Weston." The poor girl was still a mess on the ground, but hopefully the mediwizards would arrive any minute. "Thank you," Febs swallowed a lot of pride to add, "I apologize for hitting you." The bruises on her knuckles were the worst injury she'd suffered so far as she could tell as she flexed  them and grimaced.

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"Miss February Lynch," he repeated in a whisper, his eyes not meeting hers as he continued to examine her. He was, perhaps, a little more thorough than he usually might be, but for some reason he felt personally responsible for making sure she was tended to—even before the mediwizards arrived.

Edric—gently—caught her wrist once more as she attempted to wave her off and examined her knuckles, the soreness on his jaw coming back at the sight of the forming bruises. She must have been far more fragile than she'd let on if she was going to get bruised by throwing a punch. He cocked a teasing brow as his eyes rose to meet hers as she apologized, though made no immediate comment.

(Except he did, because she didn't have that much willpower re: banter in the moment.)

"Mmm, apologies, apologies," he murmured, unsuccessfully trying to keep a smile off his face. "I suppose I can forgive you—this time."

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— set by MJ! —

Febby was starting to think this was a habit of his, grabbing young ladies by the wrist, but this time was a little different. She watched him carefully, torn between a mix of frustration and very quiet admiration for the care he was showing her after she'd practically dragged him through alleys, over walls and ending in a short duel and a hysterical maid.

It didn't stop her from a snarky retort; "Are you going to give me cause to punch you again, Mr...?" She realized she was still calling him Mr. Auror in her head and since he now knew her name, that was incredibly unfair.

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"I'm not sure yet," he deliberated. "Are you going to give me cause to go chasing you down dark alleys again?" He rubbed a thumb over her bruises once before dropping her hand, now confident that she was fine (though she might do for a counseling session to make sure her nerves weren't too disturbed).

She then prodded for his name, which he supposed would be good to give her, especially since filling out reports was an inevitable fact for her after the incident had led to this.

"Umbridge," he responded. "Auror Umbridge."

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— set by MJ! —

"Well Mr. Umbridge," She cast him a much more confident, sly grin this time, lips curving mischievously upward as her eyes met his. "I can't make any promises." Though she had no plans of meeting anyone in a dark alley from here on out, she wasn't exactly one to sit around idly either. At least she wouldn't go courting another situation like this, that was for sure.

Her hand tingled as he ran his thumb over her bruised knuckles and she pulled it back slowly, smoothing out the skirts of her dress to hide the move. "I should probably try to calm her." She motioned to her poor hysterical maid, barely flinching at the crack that resounded in the alley, signaling the arrival of the mediwizards. Febs cast one more glance over her shoulder, before starting to answer the flurry of questions from the mediwizard.

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   Edric Umbridge

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