March 29, 1892 - Hogsmeade

“Ambrose, no! Don’t touch that.” Delilah scolded quietly as she reached down to take his hand, trying to intervene before her son could reach out and pick up the discarded trash on the sidewalk in front of them. She was sure it was just another advertisement, probably for the new tea shop opening, although as her son turned to her with a grin on his face and the piece of paper stuck proudly to his shirt, she wasn’t sure what was on it. Delilah grimaced as she plucked the paper from his shirt before her hands smoothed out the fabric of his shirt.

Going out with her children was always interesting, and she was always thankful to Sarah, their nanny was around the help. Ambrose loved animals and other children, was terribly shy around grownups and always seemed to have the agenda of getting messy - if there was a way, he was going to ensure it happened. Lavinia on the other hand was becoming old enough to act like a proper young lady and Delilah was proud of her for it. They’d spent the day having Easter outfits fitted and mended, with Sarah and Lavinia going on ahead of them to Honeydukes to pick up some sweets for the family, leaving herself to fend with Ambrose.

Delilah scooped up Ambrose who as if on cue, wailed as though Delilah had broken both his legs. It earned a few stares from passersby, but she merely ignored them as she sighed. Pressing a soft kiss against the dark curls of her son’s hair it didn’t take long for the alligator tears to die down and for Ambrose to squirm in her arms, ready to be set down so he could join his sister; as soon as his feet hit the ground he was tugging her toward Honeydukes to remind her “Mama, you said ice mice!”

She hadn’t, but Delilah couldn’t help but chuckle quietly as her young son squirmed through open the door to the sweets shop, and without much warning, watched as he ran straight into the back of the legs of someone. He didn’t seem to mind much, blinking up at them with wide eyes. Stepping forward to take her son’s hand, Delilah finally turned her attention toward the young man, although the apology died in her throat. Instead she told her son to go find Sarah, and he did rather happily.

A smile curled against her lips. “Long time no see,” Delilah laughed under her breath, finally recognizing Jesse Hatchitt; they’d been friends for a long time and then life had gotten in the way, and neither of them had any will to continue their pursuit after she’d gotten married. When was the last time she had truly seen him outside of passing? "Sorry for that. He's rather excited. Are you after some ice mice too?" She joked quietly, although her eyes didn't stray from him.

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Jesse Hatchitt

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   Melody Crouch

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Fallon had been gone nearly three weeks now and Jesse was still sour about it. If their marriage survived her tenure as an active auror, he would thank his lucky stars. This was hard and he kind of hated it. Alright, he really hated it.

Fortunately he had quite a few things to keep him busy. Work obviously, but he wasn't slacking in his uncle duties either. He had Beatrix on hand today while her mother took Tristan down the way to see about something at the quidditch shop. Jess was probably better suited there than here, but who could say no to a trip inside Honeyduke's? Bea swung their joined hands idly. That his eldest niece and nephew were nearing double digits was not lost on Jess; it felt like ages ago, but even with Lester away at school, Jess was starting to keenly feel the passage of time.

"I'm thinking of getting some of that fudge with the pieces of peppermint in it, what about you?" He asked of Bea as he pulled open the door for her. He meant to step in behind her, when something ran smack into the back of his legs and nearly had him buckling at the knee. He managed to keep himself upright, when a voice from the past hit him nearly as hard as the youngin' who nearly knocked him from the stairs. "Lila?' He stammered, pretty stupidly, as if she was a ghost. Bea looked at him like he'd lost his mind, still in the open door of the shop.

Regaining his composure, he held the door aloft for Delilah and the little one to enter the shop as well. Once they were inside, he managed to form a more coherent sentence, "Fudge for me, probably chocolate frogs for Bea." He grinned. "It's good to see you." Merlin was it ever.

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Jesse stammered and Delilah just smiled as she entered Honeydukes behind him, her full attention on him as he finally managed a sentence. Her eyes trailed toward her son who was tugging at Sarah’s hand to look at the candy and then to her daughter who hadn’t even noticed that anyone new had entered, her whole focus on some display.

As he spoke she found herself flickering her gaze to him, giving Jesse her full attention. “Both are good choices. I see your choices haven’t changed much.” She hummed in agreement. “I’m thinking of some ice cream for myself.” Because if she got any kind of candy her kids would want her to share, or her siblings would want a cut of whatever she’d brought home. Delilah studied Jesse for a moment; he looked nearly the same as when they parted ways, although she was sure he’d mature. In some ways, at least.

There were a lot of things she wanted to do to him; hug him, for one, although that would raise too many eyebrows and draw too many eyes. (She was still in mourning, after all.) Instead Delilah shuffled closer to him as her smile deepened. “It’s good to see you soon. It’s been way too long.” She brushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “How have you been?” She tilted her hand, settling for polite small talk. How boring.

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Jess had to take a minute to take her in. He shouldn't and he knew that, he was married now and so was she, but there was a history there that was sort of hard to ignore. "Not a whole lot, no." He still found her just as beautiful as he had in their trouble-making years. "Bea why don't you go grab some treats?" Jess handed her a basket and let her wander. She was old enough to handle that. Plus it was Honeyduke's, kids could get lost in here for hours and be entertained.

Lila shuffled closer and Jess was overcome with a sense of Deja -vu. That was unexpected. "My niece, one of Gabe's." It was like he completely forgot his manners. "It has been way too long," Jess agreed with a chuckle. He forgot what it was like to be near somebody who actually liked him. "Been alright, got promoted to the head of my department and uh, married recently." Boy did that feel awkward. "How about yourself?" He would much rather hear about what she was up to these days. Their social circles had kept them apart for quite a while now, he wondered about her every now and then.

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Tilting her head, Delilah glanced at Jess for the first time in a very long while. He looked older given the length of time since she’d seen him, but he looked good. Once upon a time she would have tempted him away for some much needed alone time, but she couldn’t do that anymore. She frowned and shuffled her feet a bit.

Then, her eyes widened and she huffed a quiet laugh. “Promoted and married. The promotion is amazing and well deserved, so congratulations on that,” Delilah grinned at him, “But Jesse Hatchitt, I didn’t think I’d ever see the day you’d get married. That’s fantastic.” A bit awkward, considering the circumstances (and a bit hurt she didn’t get an invitation to the wedding, although Lila completely understood that decision, given their past and that they’d fallen out of touch for so long.) “Do I know her?” A curious question, more than anything.

She shuffled her feet again as she took a quick glance around Honeyduke’s to find where her kids might actually be. No one was screaming and nothing was knocked over, which was a win for her book. “Well, I did the normal thing after you get married. I had two kids who are my whole world.” A pause then. “And I lost Zachary during the hurricane last year, but we’re making due.” A stark contrast to getting married, but she supposed that was life. Delilah missed him terribly, but at least she had two beautiful children from their time together.

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   Fallon Gillespie

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The congratulations on the promotion felt like it should; he had worked hard to get where he was in the ministry, that made sense. The second part however, still felt weird, especially because with Fallon away, he didn't especially feel married alone in his house with only the staff for occasional company. "Thank you," He said almost sheepishly. "Ah, unlikely? She's a few years younger than we are, and an auror, Fallon Abernathy?" Now Hatchitt, obviously.

Jess was pleased to hear that things had worked out for Delilah; she too deserved the happiness she'd always wanted and it would explain the little rapscallion who had bumped into him earlier. However, he felt the ping of guilt when she mentioned having lost her husband recently. "Lila, I'm so sorry." He said as he reached out to touch her arm gently. It had been an unconscious thought, they'd been so close for so long that he had to wonder if it was inappropriate or not, given their circumstances. Still, he couldn't stop now and so he gave her arm a brief, gentle squeeze before dropping it back to his side.

It was odd to think how comfortable they were still now, even after all these years, after parting amicably and getting married to other people. Jess didn't realize just how much he'd missed her until now and he was struggling with that fact probably more than he should or more than was reasonable, given he was married.

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Fallon Abernathy. The name was familiar, like she’d heard it in passing once or twice, but it certainly wasn’t a name Delilah could instantly place a face to. “An auror. That’s impressive.” And she meant it; she didn’t know many women who worked and were married - she was lucky that Zachary had been the one to push her to follow her dreams. They had been a picturesque family…

His hand against her arm made her look up at him, but Delilah smiled at him. “Thank you, Jess.”  When his hand dropped away she felt cold where he’d touched her; her fingers where his hand at been. It was odd - she hadn’t thought about Jesse Hatchitt in years, and now here they were, catching up like they hadn’t seen each other in days. “But, if I had to pick a bright side, at least I’ll be around more. I moved back in with the family -” She paused then, her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip. “And well, if you ever need a distraction, I am more than happy to leave the house.” She loved her kids more than anything, but sometimes it was nice to turn off mom mode.

Plus, she had to get out there again eventually, right? Not with Jesse, he was married. (An idea she was still wrapping her head around - she needed to meet Fallon at some point, but that wasn’t a discussion for today.) “Even for a drink. I could use a few of those these days.”

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Jess just shrugged about the auror business. It wasn't his favorite and he didn't want to think about it, let alone talk about it. Lila didn't need to know that. He tried not to burden anybody with it, even Gabe was tired of him, so he just kept it all bottled up.

"A small consolation, I suppose. I'm glad to hear you have the support." At the mention of a distraction, Jess felt a similar need tug at him as well. He could certainly use the distraction, an easy conversation, something that had never been, nor never needed to be complicated. Somewhere deep down he knew his marriage was starting to fail and he knew he was partly to blame, but it had him wishing for simpler days sometimes.

Smiling slowly, he nodded. "I'd like that." He really would. "We should grab a drink after work sometime, like old times." He felt like it was crossing a line to invite her to the house, even with Fallon gone and it was completely innocent, but the last thing either one of them needed was the gossip mill getting ideas.

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She could tell something was off based on his shrug, but Delilah didn’t press the issue; she understood the idea of not wanting to talk about things - she’d bottled up her emotions after Zachary’s death and dealt with it on her own before she was ready to speak about it to anyone.

She managed a smile as she nodded her head. “Thank you, Jess. I appreciate it.” Of course Delilah was ready to pack her things and move out as soon as she could, but her parents loved having their grandchildren around and it was nice to have people to watch them when she wanted to slip out. It was far and few in-between nowadays, but then again most of her friends hadn’t married as quickly as she had. (Or she missed the things they did during the day because she was busy working.)

Lila reached up and gently squeezed his arm. “For old time’s sake. Maybe a grown-up place that's not the Three Broomsticks.” She laughed then and let her arm fall back to her side. No one would bat an eye if they saw her with Jess because they’d been such good friends and he was married. And she was in mourning. It would work out.

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Jess felt a little jolt shoot through him at the hand on his arm, but he quickly pushed it down. Buried it along with everything else he wasn't ready to deal with. Instead he focused on her comment, which elicited a chuckle, "Plenty of pubs in London to try." Since they both worked there too, it wasn't so strange to stop by the Cauldron or even one of the other smaller ones near the Alley.

"It would be nice to catch up more." Lila had once been his best friend after all and though he hadn't really realized it, since they'd parted on such amicable terms, he missed her presence in his life. Not to mention she was much more level-headed than he had ever been, he could use some of that in his life these days. Somebody to talk him off the ledge and sort through his personal life. "I should probably find my niece though, let's get that drink sooner rather than later?" He requested, passing her another smile.

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