The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

Good Night, Sean

Sean Buckner sat in the pub at the Leaky Cauldron, an empty pint glass at his elbow, head down against his forearm. 

Upstairs, his gran had finally fallen asleep after having spent the past near-to-twenty-four hours crying about the giant attack on Dunlewey. How many times had Sean heard the story of his grandfather building that house, how his mum had been born in the old claw-foot tub that had to be magically extended to fit anyone in properly. "I hated that old tub," his grandmum had sobbed, "But I didn't want tae see a giant's foot crush her, neither!" 

The time to go to see Annalee McKinnon had come and Sean had been no closer to getting his gran settled down, so he'd sighed and sent Annalee a patronus, apologizing for the late notice but he had to cancel on her and couldn't make it to her family dinner, but that he hoped it went quite well and that he really, really hoped that she'd let him make it up to her in the future. Like really, really hoped...

"Aye right," he'd muttered to himself after he'd sent it. "You've gone and done yourself in." 

The first date and he'd cancelled it.

He reckoned that was probably that.

Come Monday, when he was next in that little hovel of a copy office in the Ministry, he'd find himself getting packages form the Minister's office with notes taped on requesting 1 or 2 copies of this or that file signed with a stuff A. McKinnon at the base, forgotten, and the little meetings he'd come to look forward to replaced by the convenience of the inter-departmentary owl post.

But he'd done what he had to do for his gran, just as she'd done what she had to do, taking him in when his mum passed when he was but a wee'un... Grandmum always had to come first for Sean, because Annie Buckner had put him first always, too.

It was half ten at night and Sean had barely eaten since before the attacks, he'd been busy bein' healed at Mungo's then off to figure out where he and his gran were to stay and then poor Granmum had cried herself through the dinner they'd eaten earlier so that he felt hardly any appetite then, and getting her to calm had wrung him right out. So now he was doing tea at such a late hour - and by tea, of course, it was steins of shit beer with a plate of chips and one of old Tom the Bartender's hot roast sandwiches. He'd eaten half and drank himself on the edge of dizzy (which with so little food was only two glasses deep). Then, Sean Buckner had let himself fall into a bit of wallowing at his table - wallowing over the loss of the little cottage in Dunlewey and a surety that he'd cucked up his love life for good.

That's how Annalee found him.

She waved to Tom at the bar as she stepped through the floo, then walked to the table where Sean had his head down and eyes closed, her kitten heels clicking on the flagstone floor. She pulled out a chair opposite Sean and sat down, her eyes moving over his oblivious form. She reached over and picked up the nearly finished glass he had by his elbow, held it up for Tom to see and he nodded, understanding she was requesting another. It took only a moment for the glass to come flying across the room and land in front of Annalee gently. She waved a thanks and took a sip, staring at the top of Sean's ruddy haired head as she did so. Finally,  the rush of the beer giving her a bit of confidence that everyone always assumed came so naturally to her, she put down the glass.

"So I said to my mum, I reckon that he has a most noble cause for not coming tonight, because I know that much from even my short time knowing Sean Buckner." Annalee leaned forward as Sean lifted his head, exhausted but surprised to hear her voice. He stared at her like she was an apparition. Annalee brushed a bit of the hair from his forehead and let her fingers drift over his cheek as he blinked up at her. "And I spent the whole night telling them what an incredible person they were missing out on getting to meet and how you held up that roof and saved your gran and me and James Potter, the so-called her oof the day. I realized as I was tellin' 'em all, if you hadn't been so brave and strong that all the people James went on saving couldn't have been saved at all so that it was really you who was the hero."