Free as a Bird

Ayin

Meanwhile Theseus was running late. He was lobbying some of his Ministry colleagues to help him and his friends win the case that he had completely forgotten about Anna's funeral. He quickly put on a suit and combed his hair and rushed to the church as fast as he could. 

However he was too late. By the time he reached the church, the ceremony was over. Everyone had left. He reached the graveyard to find Dakota standing in the middle, tears down her cheeks, in front of Anna's grave.

"Dakota!" Theseus yelled, "I'm so sorry!"

She turned to him, her eyes full of disappointment. She didn't say a word.

"Something . . . came up and I . . couldn't be on time. I'm extremely sorry!" Theseus begged for forgiveness, "Please, forgive me. . c-can we talk?"

"The service was good" she said.

"I-I. . . see" Theseus stammered, "H-how are you holding up?"

"Fine, I suppose" Dakota rubbed off her tears and ruffled her hair. She adjusted her shirt. Theseus was impressed. Dakota had probably broken every rule by dressing up in a black shirt and pants, with her usual leather jacket, debunking the whole "dress" rule. 

"What?" Dakota caught him staring at her.

"Nothing! I j-just. . . c-can we talk, please?" Theseus asked.

"Are you going to apologize for arriving late?" Dakota asked, folding her arms, "Because I don't need your apologies. I'm just glad you showed up at the end".

"Really-?"

"I mean, you had the courtesy to show up, even if it was late" Dakota shrugged, "A lot of my friends didn't show up. I had to drag my coworkers here, promising them food. Nobody cared about Anna. Nobody knew her. I just thought-- people would want to come and honor her for her contributions, but. . . I guess I was wrong".

"I'm so sorry!"

"Theseus, quit it" Dakota had given up, "Now if you want to talk to me about something, just spit it out. I'm going home in a few".

"Yeah, this might require a long explanation. Do you want to sit down, maybe? Someplace else?" Theseus said, "Perhaps a cafe, or something?". He turned red at his request. 

Dakota nodded, "Fine".

The two of them sat down inside a cafe and were drinking some tea. Theseus set down his cup and began the story of how he was in trouble, at the moment and he needed Dakota's help as a moral witness. Dakota listened, her expression slowly changing from a solemn look to straight up anger.

"--So I need your help--" Theseus finished the story.

Dakota pounded the table with her fist, her eyes almost bloodshot.

"You invited me here, to tell me that you need my help so you wouldn't go to Azkaban?" Dakota tried not to raise her voice, "So this is all just a setup so you could use me and get what you want!"

"No, D-Dakota, you misunderstood me!" Theseus said, "I do need your help, but this isn't a setup at all".

"You just want to save your own skin, isn't it?" Dakota snorted, "You never cared about Anna, even though she was your colleague. You wanted to make a lot of friends so they'll have your back whenever you do something stupid!"

"I did care about Anna! Dakota plea--!"

"I'm done playing games" Dakota got up, "You just want to make sure that I was in an emotional position so I could help you prove to the Wizengamot that you're an innocent man. Just forget it, Scamander. I'm out".