August 27th, 1894 — Mayfair, London

One year ago today, Sera had been Woken Up from the imperius curse that had oppressed most of her adult life. One year later, she was — here. Still with Henry, still married, still the socialite she was born to be — it was almost as if nothing had changed. Oh, she'd developed a reading habit — she was certainly a better mother — she was feeling increasingly lonely. But it was almost like, despite the absence of the curse, nothing had changed.

She felt sick with herself. She'd spent most of the day wandering pockets of wizarding London, sweating into her dress from the extended exertion — she felt purposeless. She didn't even want to go to the bookstore, lest she say something she didn't mean — she didn't want to home, for the same reason.

She leaned against the brick wall of a house and exhaled loudly. (This street of Mayfair had mostly wizarding homes, Sera knew.) She wished for a cigarette, although she had never been a smoker. She wished her hair didn't poof up in humid air.

The gate of the home's walkway creaked open, and Sera saw a familiar woman leaving. "Oh," she said, "Is this your house?" (That would only make sense if Vera had married up, but it was not as if Seraphina would remember either way.)

Veronica Gallivan Philomena Sprout

  

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set by MJ | adopt a Bythesea!

Well, that was at least a productive meeting, if not a bit fraught with tension between the husband and wife; for what reason, Vera hadn’t pried but living in a small town like Hogsmeade, people were nosy and she wasn’t an outlier when it came to gossip. Veronica exhaled as she left the couple’s home, her mind already on the shop and the upcoming inventory she’d have to help the shop workers arrange.

She’d swung the gate open, her thoughts already shifting to what she might have cook make for dinner (she’d forgotten to give her the menu again) when a familiar voice sounded from just around the corner. Vera started, head whipping to see if the voice matched the image of the person who had immediately come to mind upon hearing the greeting. “Ser - I mean Mrs. Bythesea,” She immediately corrected herself. “Beg pardon, erm - no, I was just coming from a business acquaintance’s residence.” She gestured back up to the grand house - one that certainly cost twice as much as hers, if not more. And then (it wasn’t as if she had any right to ask, but it slipped out anyhow): “What are you doing here?”

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   Seraphina Bythesea

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A business acquaintance's house, which meant that Vera was involved in business — maybe the Chudley Cannons, which her stepson owned. Sera felt a pang in her chest. Despite being widowed, Veronica née Scamander seemed to have the life that Seraphina had always wanted for herself.

She knew she looked a little odd; leaning against the wall was a strange thing to be doing, especially because it was someone else's house. "I'm on a promenade," she said, with a playful quirk of her lips that she could not resist. Poking fun at herself, and maybe she could pretend this whole day was normal. "Or something like it."

  

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set by MJ | adopt a Bythesea!

She couldn’t help but note the sardonic tone to Sera’s voice and even further noted that her friend(?) seemed to be in a peculiar mood. “A promenade?” She knew what a promenade was of course, but her echo conveyed her confusion at the addendum the other woman had added to her explanation. “I hope it’s been a good promenade in that case?”

  

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"Something like that," Sera said, trying for another playful quirk to her mouth and eyes — but she couldn't manage it, and exhaled a large sigh, expression dropping. "Well, not at all, really."

  

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set by MJ | adopt a Bythesea!

Perhaps nostalgia was tugging at her too much. Or perhaps she was too tired after that business meeting. She couldn’t get a good read on Mrs. Bythesea; and when that usually happened, Vera deigned to leave well enough alone and be on her way. But there was something about the way her former friend - current acquaintance? - was positioned, as if waiting for someone to come across her, that compelled Vera to remain where she was.

“Would…you like to talk about it?” She asked hesitatingly, taking a fraction of a step closer. “I was just thinking I might take a walk myself.” It was a lie, but not a harmful one; she had to take a walk in order to go home, didn’t she?

  

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