A long overdue meeting

Jess' eyes shot up and he shook his head after Mari kissed him. "No no no," he shook his head. "Sorry," he began, "I misunderstood. I meant I was jealous of you... because Darren visited you, not me," he told her, tripping over his words as he attempted to explain himself.

"He's my best friend Mari," he said, before realising what he'd just blurted out, "And not like, not like you and me are friends, but he's my best... non... romantic... friend," he said, this time feeling pleased with the way he said things. "He visited you, but not me, that's what I was a little bit jealous about," he finished

Mariana felt relaxed at this aclaration, she was afraid of what Jess was thinking only two seconds ago before he spoke. "Oh well thank god for that. It would feel rather strange if you were actually yeah yeah..." she said not quite finishing the sentence the way she wanted to, but it showed the point anyway.

"He's my best friend too you know. Well one of them anyway." she replied smiling, or did Jess think she doesn't have any more best friends who are boyfriends and not in the romantic sense of the word. He was elaborating his point too much. What did he think that she was 3 and needed a drawing of it? "So are you staying yet willingly or do i have to tie you up?" she asked trying to cheer him up, what did ever come upon her to mention Darren in a moment like this?

Jess put his hands in the air and then behind his head. "Fine, I surrender," he told her with a smile, trying his best to simply block out the talk of Darren - pretend it had never taken place. "I'll stay, gosh, pushy much?" he asked, chuckling all the while.

"How long have you lived here anyway, I vaguely remember your housewarming party, but I think you'd been here a bit longer than that, right?" he asked, looking around at the appartment.

He surrenders? Well that was a music for Mari's ears. "Excellent now when that's settled..." she said clapping her hands in mock satisfaction though she was not for one second serious. She sat back down and took a sip of her tea. Maybe kissing him again so quickly was not a particulary good idea and besides she only did it when she felt confident about herself.

"I got this appartment about a year after i graduated. When i finished my internship at St. Mungo's and got a permanent job since living alone requires paying the bills along with the rest of the package." she replied wondering if this would result in remembering the past again. "Did you never consider getting your own place?" she asked wondering how someone as independent as Jess could endure leaving in a house or in a castle which was always full of people coming and leaving.

Jess grinned and returned the kiss, a little shocked when she ended it more abruptly than he was expecting. He then took a sip of his tea and chuckled as she mentioned her bills and whatnot - it was funny how the real world could sneak up on you like that.

She then asked him a question, one that had occurred to him quite a few times before. "Well," he replied, slowly at first, "I do have a few little houses around and about," he replied. "I mean, I bought a little home back in Australia, because I enjoy visiting there, and I still have our old house... you know, from when we lived together," he said, looking at her for a moment before changing his direction.

"But I don't know, I suppose the reason I choose to stay at Grimmauld place is because it suits me. I feel like... I feel like I'm connected to the past," he told her, "and it does help to concentrate a little bit, certainly makes organisation a little easier when i can just yell down the stairs for someone to come up and talk to me when I need it," he laughed as he told her

It was hard for Mariana not to be surprised by the last bit of information. Their house, she was sure he sold it by now or maybe they signed it as both of their proprety and so he couldn't. What was the right reaction to the news? Fortunately she wasn't looking at him so she stared at nowhere in particular for a few seconds. "Small? I or anyone else never got the impression that our house was small." she replied stopping in the middle of the sentence. Well it wasn't big either, still Jess didn't seem to inclined to stretch the story,

She could not help, but laugh at the new direction conversation was going. "It is most certainly an intresting way to phrase hanging out with people. Does good old headmaster Shacklebolt still live there? I saw him few months ago, and he almost scared the hell out of me too since he was supposed to be dead and well nobody warned me otherwise." she said thinking about it with a grin.

Jess laughed and shook his head. "No, I suppose you're right, it's not small, but I didn't mean it that way," he told her, rolling his eyes a little and laughing again. "Grimmauld is great though - there's just the right amount of people there all the time, and it's big enough that I can sit up in my study and have everyone believe that I'm out and about," he told her with a smile.

"And yeah, Kingsley still lives there, though he doesn't stay as long as he used to anymore, he's generally out most of the time," he told her, grinning as he thought of some of the experiences he'd had with Kingsley of late. He was still a little shocked now with how the old man was still alive - it was a surprise to him how he managed to pull out of the situations he got himself into.

Mariana raised an eyebrow wondeirng whether to ask the next question. "What did you mean then?" she asked resigning the fact that if they were ever going to get over the past, it had to be with humour. "You're probably right, but you see the annoying thing about wanting to be alone is that you can still hear them pass through there like it was a metro station." she commented more for herself.

Silence seemed like a tense situation so she kept rattling about not too important things. "Is he going to be a headmaster again? I don't know how would i feel having him for a collegue when he was my teacher for so many years." she asked vaguely remembering their talk over tea couple of months ago. "Yes i believe he said something about being wanted by the aurors and death eaters. Must be an unpleasant expirience." she added bringing back the memories of that vague exuce for a conversation.

Jess frowned but followed her train of thought. "Well, I like it there, and I find it peaceful," he replied, slightly defensively. "Well, relatively peaceful, but when I'm puttering about at home, I always feel quite lonely, and things get stagnant. There's always something new happening at Grimmauld, maybe you could join me there?" He suggested, before realising exactly what it was he'd said.

"I mean... only if you want to," he added, looking at the ground momentarily as he spoke.

"I doubt it," he then told her, resuming their prior topic of conversation. "Amelia has the position now, and I don't think she wants to leave the job any time soon, nor do I think she needs to. Her youth is good for the job, I believe," he explained

Peaceful? What an odd expression for the house at Grimauld street number 12. Maybe their conception of peaceful was too different to discuss about it. "You don't have time to be lonely at home dear." Mariana pointed out to her husband considering their earlier talk about never being at home. The next words took her a bit off guard, she did not expect such a direct proposition.

His reactiion to his own words made her wonder. "Loose that worried grin I am still your wife. We should be past that evasiveness." she said smiling.

Him feeling uncomftable made her self esteem return. "I stay there sometimes, though i mostly sleep at St. Mungo's now during the crisis. But i will take that as an open invitation." she said hopping into his lap again not worrying about her weight or anything else at the moment. She used his distant look to kiss him by surprise again, that way it might take him longer to interupt her.