31 December, 1892 — Hogsmeade NYE Festival

Juliana was nervous. She had been nervous generally about the upcoming wedding for months, an anxiety that was ill-defined but building slowly towards a climax, but tonight there was a more specific tension in her shoulders. Tonight, she had decided, was when she and Timothy Ainsworth would have the Conversation. She had debated back and forth whether it was to her advantage to have it at an event, in relative public, and had eventually decided that it was. She could easily have found an opportunity to speak to him privately, particularly with their wedding so close at hand, but locked in a parlor together there was a chance that things might go poorly. At a festival, things still might go poorly, but at least he was unlikely to make a scene (Timothy Ainsworth was, she had judged, a man who would have disliked making a scene).

Of course there were disadvantages to the setting as well; if there was fallout that needed to be managed, she would have to do it without attracting attention to herself. Juliana wasn't typically the sort for any degree of advanced or unusual magic, but she had been practicing for this. Hopefully it wasn't necessary, but just in case, she didn't want to be caught unprepared. Living in London and having the freedom of movement that being a woman of thirty with a day job had been to her benefit here — though regrettably not to the benefit of the four Muggles she had practiced the spells out on. (Again — hopefully unnecessary).

She had arrived alongside Hugo and his family, and the children had immediately dispersed to enjoy the various festivities that most interested them. It had taken almost no time at all for her to locate her fiance — or for him to locate her, which may have been more accurate. They exchanged several minutes of pleasant conversation and had acquired twin cups of cocoa before Juliana asked, "Might we slip away for a few moments? I should like to take a turn along the edge of the lake."

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