Appointment One: 09:00

Ana had answered the question that was teetering in Hallie's mind. He had took off. Clearly it seemed Theodore Rookwood wasn't taking the drama of the marriage law seriously, or he had a disliking to Hallie. Did he hate her? Was throwing the drink too far? Was Hallie about to enter a lifetime of unhappiness? 

Hallie made her way to the seat that Ana had indicated. Her results were good, although right now Hallie didn't care. She had given up. Forcing a smile that was so obviously fake she replied 'that's good.' to Ana's comment about her fertility. 

That's good. Two words. Although the two words that she wanted to say to her were too rude for the ministers office and would probably result in her being placed on probation. Right now, nothing mattered. 

Hallie's future had always been a mystery. She liked mysteries. She enjoyed taking one thing at a time, not knowing what came around the corner, the many unknown, unanswerable questions in life - probably a reason she hated divinations too. To Hallie life was an adventure and an adventure wasn't that without the element of surprise. That element had been blown away. Shattered. Hallie knew her future: a marriage without love proceeding by a retirement of depression. 

Staring ahead she ignored Ana's suggestion to leave. 'It's weird isn't it. How life pans out.' Hallie paused and stared slightly past Elijah Krum's ear, her eyes unfocused as though watching a film in her mind.

'I always pictured myself finding a man I loved. Where the start of the relationship was full of chemistry and excitement. I'd be wondering if he meant to compliment me or if it just came out.' 

Pressing her Tongue against her lips she looked up at a chandelier hanging precariously from the ceiling. 'I had a vision of the man I was going to marry - and the wedding. Ever since I was a little girl running around the house with a veil over my head as a pillow case I always dreamed of what it would be like. Hearing my Father's stories of his adventures of Hogwarts made me want to have it there as a little girl. Hogwarts is such a magical place.' 

Hallie focused her attention now on Krum. 'Although that won't happen. I won't have my father to walk me down the isle. I won't be honeymooning in a romantic cottage in the south of France by a river. I won't have a husband. Sure we will be married but that man, Theodore Rookwood, he won't be my husband. He will never be my husband.' 

Hallie rose from her seat and walked towards the door, pausing at she grasped the handle. Looking over her shoulder at both Ana and Eli. 'This law won't work. You will turn everyone against you. Trust me. It will turn everyone against each other, look, my own partner clearly hates me already. I mean.' She shrugged. 'Why else would he storm out? Just. Just be careful about how you go about the next stages of the law. After all... You don't want any more enemies.' 

And with that long, long, long monologue Hallie left the room along with a stray tear the escaped her eyelid. Already she was crying about how devastating sad her future was going to be. Not just between Rookwood and herself but between everyday people. The wizarding world would soon become sad, disheartened. The happiness would leave the magic of love like it once did before. Like it did the day her Father died. Like it did when people were living in fear under the reign of Lord Voldemort. 

Hallie needed two people right now: Maura Goldstein and Amelia Cooper. 

(OOC: sorry for replying before Eli I felt it was time for Hallie to leave)

Ana had answered the question that was teetering in Hallie's mind. He had took off. Clearly it seemed Theodore Rookwood wasn't taking the drama of the marriage law seriously, or he had a disliking to Hallie. Did he hate her? Was throwing the drink too far? Was Hallie about to enter a lifetime of unhappiness? 

Hallie made her way to the seat that Ana had indicated. Her results were good, although right now Hallie didn't care. She had given up. Forcing a smile that was so obviously fake she replied 'that's good.' to Ana's comment about her fertility. 

That's good. Two words. Although the two words that she wanted to say to her were too rude for the ministers office and would probably result in her being placed on probation. Right now, nothing mattered. 

Hallie's future had always been a mystery. She liked mysteries. She enjoyed taking one thing at a time, not knowing what came around the corner, the many unknown, unanswerable questions in life - probably a reason she hated divinations too. To Hallie life was an adventure and an adventure wasn't that without the element of surprise. That element had been blown away. Shattered. Hallie knew her future: a marriage without love proceeding by a retirement of depression. 

Staring ahead she ignored Ana's suggestion to leave. 'It's weird isn't it. How life pans out.' Hallie paused and stared slightly past Elijah Krum's ear, her eyes unfocused as though watching a film in her mind.

'I always pictured myself finding a man I loved. Where the start of the relationship was full of chemistry and excitement. I'd be wondering if he meant to compliment me or if it just came out.' 

Pressing her Tongue against her lips she looked up at a chandelier hanging precariously from the ceiling. 'I had a vision of the man I was going to marry - and the wedding. Ever since I was a little girl running around the house with a veil over my head as a pillow case I always dreamed of what it would be like. Hearing my Father's stories of his adventures of Hogwarts made me want to have it there as a little girl. Hogwarts is such a magical place.' 

Hallie focused her attention now on Krum. 'Although that won't happen. I won't have my father to walk me down the isle. I won't be honeymooning in a romantic cottage in the south of France by a river. I won't have a husband. Sure we will be married but that man, Theodore Rookwood, he won't be my husband. He will never be my husband.' 

Hallie rose from her seat and walked towards the door, pausing at she grasped the handle. Looking over her shoulder at both Ana and Eli. 'This law won't work. You will turn everyone against you. Trust me. It will turn everyone against each other, look, my own partner clearly hates me already. I mean.' She shrugged. 'Why else would he storm out? Just. Just be careful about how you go about the next stages of the law. After all... You don't want any more enemies.' 

And with that long, long, long monologue Hallie left the room along with a stray tear the escaped her eyelid. Already she was crying about how devastating sad her future was going to be. Not just between Rookwood and herself but between everyday people. The wizarding world would soon become sad, disheartened. The happiness would leave the magic of love like it once did before. Like it did the day her Father died. Like it did when people were living in fear under the reign of Lord Voldemort. 

Hallie needed two people right now: Maura Goldstein and Amelia Cooper. 

(OOC: sorry for replying before Eli I felt it was time for Hallie to leave)

Ana watched Hallie in surprise as the girl started her apparent speech, and kept at it. Ana watched her from her seat next to Elijah, glancing at him every now and then as if her glances could get some sort of response from him. She silently hoped he would speak up and calm the would-be Auror down. Of course, the man was hardly likely. When he didn't, Ana reserved herself to simply waiting for the monologue to end.

As Hallie finished, Ana stood to see her out, but the girl left without another look. Frowning, she closed the door and looked at the wood of the barrier for a moment before hardening an annoyed look at Elijah. Crossed arms betrayed her annoyance more than her expression, perhaps, as she moved closer to the desk once more.

Her anger at his failure to handle things properly from earlier in the meeting had stuck with her as things had seemingly only managed to get worse and worse. By the time she had taken Hallie out to be looked at, Ana was ready to throttle him. The sort of speech by the female half of their first match seemed to have cooled her down a bit as the implications of what could be ahead of them rested in the back of her mind.

Ana fully believed in the law and the reasons for it, but she didn't really have any interest in fighting it out with those who had to be involved. Odd, she mused, that the adults were the ones she had expected to make more of a fuss and make her life more difficult.

"I'm not sure how you intend these meetings to go, Krum," She grumbled as she sat on the corner of the desk to face him, "but I won't be putting up with such things for the rest of them." Although she wouldn't have to put up with angry Rookwoods for the entirety of the meetings, she wasn't very well going to let him sit there and watch as things fell apart during the others.

The Rookwood had one hell of a punch, Elijah would give him that. He also had one hell of a wife that was like a banshee caught in a sharknado. He wasn’t entirely sure what Theodore would make of her when she was pregnant and nagging about the little things but if all went well, they’d be an infamous couple of outrageous, insulting proportions. No one would be able to stand against them if they decided to work together; they’d just have to get over their spats.

Elijah focused on cleaning his nose up with his kerchief, opting to ignore Hallie for the most part, and was grateful when she’d gone. Only then did he finish wiping up and made a mental note to go to St Mungo’s and get himself fixed up before he slunk down to Ollivander’s in search of a replacement wand; not that he was convinced he’d ever get the wand back that Theodore had taken.

“That’s why you do the volatile ones first, don’t you?” He retorted dryly. “It had the desired effect, anyway. They stormed out. Now they have to stop being childish and deal with it together. They haven’t got a choice either way.” He sniffed and dropped the bloodied kerchief down on the desk before sitting back in his chair.

“I need to talk to you about my match. I want to do someone a favour. If you’re willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, I’d like to take a Pureblood for myself.” Elijah was going to be straight with Ana. He wanted to achieve his own ends with this nonsense and the only way to do that was to ask nicely, naturally.

Ana had, of course, noticed the injury Elijah was dealing with, but right then she was quite annoyed. She would put up with quite a bit, because of their.. situation, for lack of a better word. She wouldn't be afraid to admit to him that she enjoyed her time with him more than with her husband. For that, he would have to suffer through her annoyance and accept that though she didn't necessarily love him like she had once loved her husband, she was okay with whatever strange agreement they had come to.

"Yes, yes. We can only hope that they get past their childish frustration and accept that they're tied with this and there isn't any getting out of it." She sighed and leaned back farther on the chair to watch him. He sat before she finally gave in and decided to help him.

Ana reached into her bag and pulled out her wand, then leaned forward on the desk to look at him properly. As he spoke, she reached out to keep him still by resting her hand on his cheek. "A favor?" She asked, punctuating her words with the spell which would right his nose. The slight crack noise it caused made her frown.

"I don't really see you backing down on this." She mused, her fingers toying with the hair behind his ear before she pulled away to sit up. "I won't say anything against it, but I won't be involved, either." If he wanted to get himself into some sort of mess, Ana wasn't about to be held responsible for it, even in part. The only down side to the law, she decided, was that she and the Krum male likely wouldn't be so strangely invested in one another after it was all said and done.