20 March, 1894 — Potts/Grimstone Wedding, Plunkett Farm, Hogsmeade

Ezra was here for Hanna, because Hanna did not often turn down invitations of any variety and Byron was generally incompatible with crowds of people. Sometime soon Hanna would move out of the need for a chaperone, and he was looking forward to it (he had assumed without realizing it that this was a function of time and not of marriage; Hanna did not seem as though she was likely to marry), but until such a time he was happy to be of service whenever she needed him. It was the least he could do, really, after she had saved his life. But he hadn't realized that Rosalie Hunniford was going to be here — not until he was here. He still would have come, because Hanna was more important than his discomfort over being around Rosalie, but if he'd known perhaps he would have prepared himself better.

The ceremony had been nice, he supposed — he was, understandably, cynical about any event that involved celebrations of undying love — and Hanna had only looked a little fidgety by the end of it, so he thought things were going reasonably well. He checked in with her anyway, asked if she wanted to stay for the reception or make her excuses, but she wasn't ready to leave yet so he'd gone to try and find her a drink.

Rosie passed ahead of him, and he saw something flutter down behind her. He considered not saying anything about it and letting whatever she'd dropped be lost, but... well, maybe they were mature enough now to have moved past that sort of thing. One could hope. He'd barely spoken to her in a year.

"Excuse me, Miss Hunniford," he called as he bent down to retrieve it. "I believe you dropped this."

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Rosalie Hunniford

  

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Rosalie had become something of a professional at avoiding weddings. There was always an excuse mentally prepped weeks in advance — a last minute patient she couldn't leave, an administrative task she forgot to attend to, an illness in the family — that superceded her need to attend the event. And, for years, her mother had allowed this behavior to remain unchallenged, for the Hunniford matriarch seemingly understood how difficult it was for Rosalie to watch others enter into their happily ever after. However, as years had gone on and Rosalie had become more of a recluse, that behavior was something her mother now saw as a threat to the family's reputation.

The only benefit to being forced to attend this particular wedding was that it was Miss Potts getting married. Rosalie was still getting to know the owner of Wildflowers but she thus far had come to like the newly minted Mrs. Grimstone. The woman was a good influence on Delphine too, which only solidified Rosalie's opinion of her.

Everything else though — from the flowers to the ceremony to the loving looks shared between the newlyweds — had curdled Rosalie's stomach. Her fourth wedding anniversary would've been next month if all had gone as it was supposed to, if Ezra hadn't tried to share what was his deepest secret while still bound to the curse. And yes, she realized she had moved on and had no right to be upset over events from so long ago. But, she was.

She would be fine once she was home and far from the wedding.

Rosalie had made it through the ceremony and the start of the reception without acknowledging Ezra. She was always aware of where he was in her peripheral vision — lmost as though he was some sort of flame she couldn't help but watch — and still she hadn't even spared a glance at him. It would ruin her to do so when she was feeling like this, and then any chance she had of enjoying the evening would be squashed.

Or, she wouldn't have spared him a glance had her bracelet not chosen that particular moment to unclasp.

"Oh, thank you." She said as she turned to Ezra. The charm bracelet featured mostly flowers and herbs, though there were a few of personal significance that he might note if he spent any length of time investigating it. She returned to where he stood, a polite but tense smile on her face. "The clasp has been giving me trouble, thank you for returning it."

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It would be simple to just hand it back to her and then turn on his heel to leave, and he knew Rosalie wouldn't begrudge him that; he assumed she didn't want to have a conversation with him at a wedding reception any more than he did. But he was cognizant of the idea that people might notice if he quitted the conversation too suddenly. This long after their failed engagement it was no longer worth noting if they were simply at the same place at the same time, but if he was observed to be especially standoffish it might be noted. He didn't want to give anyone the impression he was fleeing. He already had enough of a reputation for having handled the recovery from their engagement poorly; he didn't need to go adding to it.

So he glanced down at the charm bracelet in his hands and tried to think of something to say. Small talk. Just for a second or two. He could manage it. "There's a decent jeweler in Diagon Alley," he remarked. "Lionsbridge Jewelry. My mother had three rings resized there. I'm sure they could fix it up for you."

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There were many aspects of her relationship with Ezra that Rosalie often struggled to not think of, but it was rare nowadays for her to miss the weight of her ring. She had only worn it for a few months, after all, and there were many other more important parts to focus upon. However now she couldn't help but wonder if Lionsbridge was where he had purchased the ring, if that was the same jeweler he had walked into with such high hopes only to have them crushed a month before the wedding.

"I think I've heard of them," Rosalie hadn't before today but doubted he knew her well enough anymore to spot the white lie. Her parents preferred the jeweler her grandmother knew of, the same one her bracelet had been purchased from. "They're near the bakery right, Ivy Leaf?" Ivy Leaf was central in Diagon Alley, everything could be described as nearby unless it was at either far end.

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stunning set by Lady <3

Ezra hadn't been to the bakery she mentioned, but nodded all the same. He went to London primarily for errands that couldn't be accomplished in the village closest to his home in the Cotswolds, not to meander about eating cakes. He very rarely went out socially, these days; if he did, it was only to the Ministry club after work or to the various events one of his sisters wanted to attend. Maybe Johanna or Cecilia went to these types of places, but if they did it was while he was busy during his workday; he'd never been asked to accompany them. So he didn't know the bakery, didn't know where it was, but if she did he didn't see a need to disagree with her and prolong the conversation. He wasn't trying to seem as though he was avoiding her, but he wasn't trying to idle through endless rounds of small talk, either.

"Are you here for the bride or the groom?" he asked, as he offered her the bracelet back without having considered it too closely.

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Rosalie accepted the bracelet with a short, appreciative nod and slid it into one of the three hidden pockets sewn into her dress. The clasp would have to be fixed before she wore it again, lest it force another awkward interaction with former flames.

"The bride." Miss Potts — or Mrs. Grimstone now — was Delphine's roommate for a few months. "And you? Have you taken an interest in brooms?" That Ezra could've been here for Miss Potts felt inconceivable, like two halves of her life converging most unexpectedly.

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stunning set by Lady <3

It took him half a second to get the reference. Elias Grimstone was fairly famous, as far as broommakers went, and that was probably the only reason he did. If Grimstone had been a broommaker of middling reknown there was no way Ezra would have known it. He owned a broom (he thought? He had at one point owned a broom, and he didn't remember having gotten rid of it) but he was hardly a fanatic.

"Hanna," he explained, then thought perhaps a nickname was too familiar for the context. Rosalie would know who he meant, he thought, but maybe someone else who happened to overhear them would wonder why she was still on a first name basis with his family. So, for the sake of appearances, he clarified: "My sister. She's friends with Miss — Mrs. Grimstone," he concluded. "I'm only here to chaperone." As though there were any real trouble one could get up to at a wedding, of all the events. It was hardly a hotbed of salacious activity.

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Rosalie ought to have guessed at Hanna's friendship with Mrs. Grimstone, as Hanna's general oddness fit in well with the bride's eccentricity. However, as focused as she was on Ezra's curse, she hadn't spent much time considering his siblings these days. Why should she when they all likely detested her for leaving him as she had? Rosalie certainly wouldn't have been able to stomach the sight of any ex-beau of Delphine's or Ambrose's.

"Right, of course. I hope she's having an excellent time." Had they spoken for long enough yet that she could take her leave? All the questions Rosalie wished to ask were ones that he wouldn't and couldn't answer in such a public space. "Thank you again for returning my bracelet." She then added, hopefully allowing them both a graceful escape.

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Ezra recognized the dismissal for what it was. He felt a twinge of regret that this was what they had come to, but what was he to do about it? He no longer resented her, and he didn't think she hated him either, but they were still locked into nothing more than a handful of sentences exchanged before they abruptly cut off. But even if he'd known how to repair things, to get to the point where they could at least operate as friendly acquaintances, the reception of someone else's wedding was hardly the place or the time.

"Yeah, alright," he agreed, shoulders sagging in a slight gesture of defeat. He didn't know why he'd bothered to try and say anything to her at all, instead of just handing her back the bracelet — or why he'd bothered stopping her and picking it up in the first place. "You're welcome. Take care."

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Walking away from him shouldn't have been this hard. Not after years of fraught conversations and continued heartbreaks. Not when he had given up on himself long before he'd ever gave up on her.

"Ezra - " she started as her expression fell. That she used his given name as opposed to Mr. Applegate was something she prayed wouldn't be remarked upon by others. This wedding was meant to be amongst friends, surely there was no one present that would wish them harm. "I'm sorry." Sorry for having caused this encounter, sorry for forcing them down this path, sorry that they'd never gotten to experience this day themselves.

"I'm sorry it's come to this."

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stunning set by Lady <3

Ezra tensed when she used his first name, apprehensive of what might be coming next. But then she said almost exactly what he'd already been thinking, and that really gave him pause. It was strange, wasn't it, that after all these years they were still so much in sync? Or maybe he was looking at it the wrong way, seeing synchronization where it was really just the way anyone would feel in this situation. He'd just sat through a wedding ceremony; maybe he was seeing stars align because there was romance in the mood, not because there was actually anything to it.

Still. "I was just thinking that," he admitted. "Wishing that — well, I don't know. Maybe it doesn't matter."

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She knew exactly what she was wishing because it was the same reason she had hoped to avoid the festivities altogether. The ache of what could've been had become less intense over the years, but a romantic setting like this made those feelings too challenging to ignore. Rosalie often wondered if the feelings would ever be fully gone.

She was terrified of the day they were.

"It does." That she answered too quickly was something she hoped he wouldn't hold against her. What they had was vibrant and alive and so incredibly special. They — she ought to have fostered that as opposed to the fear that had won out. A breath later and she added, "it matters." We mattered.

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stunning set by Lady <3

It was both painful and gratifying to hear her protest. He'd been thinking a moment ago that he didn't know what he'd been trying to achieve in talking to her, but maybe it was just this. He'd told himself they ought to be able to talk as acquaintances, casually, but had he ever really expected that? Maybe this was the real best case scenario from this interaction: just hearing that he wasn't alone in the sentiment of wishing everything had been different. Drowning in nostalgia, the both of them — had he expected anything different from a wedding?

"Maybe," he said with a small, sad smile. "But it doesn't change anything, does it?"

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It could change things if they wished it to. The path back wouldn't be without potentially devastating challenges, but if they were both feeling this way — if they were both lost in the could've been's maybe this miserable life could be changed.

Or, more likely, Rosalie was too caught up in all that she'd lost to realize how far gone they were.

How impossible the road back was.

Unable to voice the necessary reply, Rosalie offered only a halfhearted shrug.

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stunning set by Lady <3

He took her shrug as agreement. It wasn't a surprise that she didn't say anything to accompany it; what more was there to say?

"I was getting my sister a drink," he said eventually. "I suppose I'd better go do that."

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"Yeah, I was supposed to be leaving too." She wasn't supposed to, but she wouldn't be able to get through the reception without drifting towards him now. Not when she knew he was feeling as she did, not when the ache in her chest felt as heavy as ever. "I have a shift at the hospital tonight." She explained further despite realizing he wasn't supposed to be privy to her schedule anymore.

Sighing, Rosalie took a short step back. "I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening."

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stunning set by Lady <3