Lady Tonks, Lord Potter

Ab Amore Fortitudo Infinitum

Nothing can prepare a person unaccustomed to the tumult of the Burrow for a meal with everyone in attendance. Well, almost everyone, as Enid thought while the noise surrounded her. She sat between Jack Weasley and Dora Potter, wishing at times that she would have remembered the Dictaspool sitting in Ron's office, but then realised that it would have been almost impossible to decipher anything specific due to the multiple conversations happening simulateously. The Weasley children were mostly behaved, with only the youngest boy getting in trouble for talking with his mouth full, and for some reason that made almost everyone laugh except for his father. Ron chided his son, glanced at his wife and then rolled his eyes at Hermione across the table. When she had been given the assignment Enid knew that she would be interviewing the people around the table, but never thought she would be in this specific situation.

"I'm sorry." Jack sighed. "I would like to say it's never like this but unfortunately it is. Not the best impression. Hopefully you can leave this out. Not like those scenes from the entertaining magazines."

Enid smiled. "No, it's fine. Reminds me of home. My brothers..." She took a deep breath. "It's wonderful, actually. After everything..." The rest of her sentence caught in her throat as her eyes lit upon Molly Weasley's face, her infant granddaughter in her arms, and chastised herself for thinking about everything that had come before. Bringing those sad stories to the forefront, whilst everyone was enjoying a meal, was almost cruel.

"Here." Jack reached out and poured some more wine into Enid's glass. "It's fine. We all know. It's why you're here. We know what tomorrow brings."

After taking a sip of the newly poured wine Enid's ears sharpened, as all of the adult voices had stilled; only the chatter of the small ones continued. Her stomach seemed to turn over, the delicious manicotti remaining on her plate destined to go unfinished. It felt as every eye was staring at her, daring her to bring it up, and the air seemed to vanish from the room. "I'm sorry. So sorry. I..." She stood up suddenly, the chair screeching slightly against the floor, and with a quick movement she sat the napkin on the chair and walked across the room, her hand on the doorknob and out into the heavy air of the Burrow's garden.

-ooo-

The light was dying outside, rimming the trees at the border of the Burrow in a haze of bluish purple. The small bench at the edge of the pond looked out over the water and Enid sat there wondering if she could ever do the story justice. The people that she had just shared a meal with had endured so much, yet they seemed so...normal. She had wanted nothing more than to interview them when she had arrived in England, but now? Now she wasn't sure if she could ask the questions, could make them remember those terrible events again, with the ceremony taking place tomorrow. There would be so many people there, so much...

"Mind if I join you?"

Enid's head snapped up and there, with a sympathetic look upon his face, was Harry Potter. She had no idea he was even going to be at the Burrow, but now he was there. The interview she had been so nervous to conduct, the one she had hoped to build herself up to conducting was there but there was no time to prepare. Harry Potter was there. He looked just like the file photos, with the greying temples and tortioseshell glasses, but somehow the clothes made him look...ordinary. As she couldn't find her voice she simply nodded. He sat down next to her and extended his legs, crossing them at the ankles. For some reason seeing his trainers made her give a small laugh.

"That's not the usual response I get from interviewers."

"Sorry, it's just...I never expected to see an ambassador, let alone a member of the Noble House of the Wizangamot wearing Chuck Taylors."

"Dora picked them out for me years ago. Just comfortable." He turned slightly to her. "It's ok, you know. I'm just like anybody else."

She shifted in her seat and looked over to him, locking eyes. "But you're not like everybody else. Not even close."