Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

9 October, 1988 - Old

Days and weeks and eventually months passed with little of note happening in Lavinia's life. This, she decided, was a good thing. She liked when her life was boring, liked when every day was normal. Loved it, actually.

She spent her mornings with Remus and her days at work and her evening and, occasionally, her nights, with Ethan. She met Miriam for lunch every Friday afternoon and enjoyed her company and sometimes the company of her wife.

Ethan took her to London and they spent a weekend in Belgium and an afternoon wandering the hills near Lavinia's house with no goal in particular. In May, Lavinia met his sister, a quiet but shockingly funny woman who had informed her that where Ethan was the artist of the family, she, Beatrice, was the writer. And then the woman had wandered off on some tangent about the latest book she'd read and left Lavinia to riddle out why exactly, Beatrice seemed to think she'd just explained everything she needed to about herself in that one word.

All in all, life was blissfully ordinary and Lavinia had never enjoyed it more. It seemed to her like everything might finally be working out. Like she might finally have figured it out. Might finally be happy. Not just okay and not just existing but... happy. It was the strangest and lightest feeling in the world and Lavinia was amazed by how long it lasted.

In October of 1988, the Mungo Bonham ward experienced something it hadn't for many many years. Certainly not in Lavinia's time working there and, according to Robert and Elias, not at any point that they could remember either. Bertie said he had once worked in the ward when it had happened, but by his best guess, it had been at least thirty years.

This strange thing was that a fifth person decided to join the ward's staff. In addition to the trainee who had joined nearly four years ago now and who hardly seemed like a trainee anymore for all that it was still his title, Robert informed them all that a young woman would be working with them starting in October.

Lavinia thought this would be rather nice. She enjoyed her coworkers company and had had no trouble whatsoever at work, but she did think it would be rather nice to have another woman in the ward. It shouldn't really have mattered, actually, because Lavinia didn't suppose it would make much of a difference one way or another, but she was still rather of the opinion that she could do with having more women in her life. Miriam was, of course, a delight and her wife, Kama, was equally lovely, but Lavinia didn't see Kama terribly often and Miriam on her own was simply a lot. Not that she didn't adore the other girl, but she had long ago learned that Miriam was best done in small doses. Besides, she thought, it was always good to see younger women working in the hospital because they rather seemed to be in the minority.

What Lavinia hadn't at all expected however, was the mere child who walked into the ward on that early October morning. Granted, she was taller than Lavinia was but... but she was so young. Her face is so smooth and round and her eyes... Her eyes looked so very innocent. So... unhaunted.

It was like a punch to the stomach and though Lavinia had made absolutely sure that none of her shock showed as she's greeted the girl warmly and showed her around, when she'd returned home, she'd plopped down on the couch next to Remus, staring at the wall as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm fucking old," she informed him, tearing her eyes away from the nothin in particular that she'd been fixed on. She had never before felt old, really. She knew she was still young, really. But... but looking at that girl... She'd felt suddenly, strikingly old.

Remus snorted, probably both at the sentiment and her frankly unnecessary profanity. "First of all, no. You're really not," he pointed out. "And second of all, where exactly did this come from?"

Lavinia sighed and returned to staring at the wall. "There's a new trainee in the ward and she's so... young." Which wasn't exactly what was throwing her off, but... but it was so weird. So very weird. She knew, of course, that she was nearing thirty and it wasn't really that she thought that was old, it was more that... that it felt like it couldn't have been that long ago that everything had fallen apart. And before that she'd only worked in the ward for a few years. Which somehow seemed a lifetime ago. Like those few months she had taken off to go into hiding had stretched for eons.