Weekend

Miseria knocked three times on the door, wondering if Khaat is at home. She had now free time so she could visit her and stay for a while. She stepped away few steps, and looked around. She couldn't see anyone here. Not even the locals. Where did everybody go? They weren't afraid of the early attack, right? Miseria sighed. Actually, she wouldn't be surprised about that. Death Eaters were very active these days. Wonder, why? She sighed quietly, and looked back at the door, waiting for the response.

Khaat was in the kitchen, making a pistachio dessert. She really wished Abbey would quit this pistachio fettish she had. This was a new recipe for a salted nut mix, with nuts and dried fruit. But Khaat had doubled the pitachios. She heard a knock on the door and wiped off her hands, and went to the door.

"Mis!" she said, glad to see her, "You don't ever have to knock. This is your home. Come in. So, are you on spring break?" She was hoping Mis might stay for a few days. She missed having her around. She knew school came first, but still, Mis had a special place in Khaat's heart, and she missed her when she wasnt' around.

Khaat let Mis in. "Your grandfather made a new spiced peach tea. I have it ready both hot or iced. Would you like some? Or--I have some muggle sodas. Whatever you like."

Miseria looked as the door fell open and then she saw Khaat. Few moments after that, she smiled. No, she hasn't changed at all. Not even after this short time. Not that she'd expected that. She loved Khaat the way she was already. She stepped in and looked around. Everything was in it's old place. When she looked back at Khaat, her smile widened:"I feel that what I miss is politeness," she explained why she had knocked on the door.

"And with the school - everything is fine. Though, we have a lot of homeworks. Exams are coming and all we have to do is to read, study, read and study. And all over again..." she rolled her eyes. Not that it made her feel tierd. actually she enjoyed reading it all. Even the student books.
"Oh, no, thanks, I'm fine," she said and closed the door instead of Khaat. "So, how's going? How are you and Robert? Everything is fine with you, right?" Miseria asked.

"Rob is busy. Always busy. He works far too hard. I really would like him to start doing some other things in his life besides dedicating himself to being a chef. He's great at it, but he's an even better wizard, and he doesn't get to use his magic like he should. I really would like him to branch out a bit. Maybe work a little less. We don't see each other a lot at this rate, between his scheudule and mine.

"I think everything is the same as it was since you were here last, except that one of your schoolmates, Elijah Krum lives here with his adopted 6 year old daughter, Fauve. They've joined the bunch. And I'm sure you've seen him around with his snake, Nachash. That snake is a bit weird. But as long as she agrees not to eat either of the cats, I'm okay with it. If she eats the cats, the snake will become toast really quick. You'll like Fauve, though, if you get to meet her. She's wonderful. Eli is a terrific dad."

Miseria bit her lip. She was feeling sad about how it was right now with Robert and Khaat. He really should take his job easy. Maybe he could just take someone to help him? Someone who has some cooking skills?
"But does he listen you? I mean -- have you talked with him about this?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and stepping in the kitchen. She could smell it from the corridor that Khaat was in the middle of making something.

On the next moment, Miseria bit her lip. "Of course I remember him. Elijah was the one who almost drowned in the lake," she shrugged. She was talking in the tone that this thing didn't matter. Actually then it was mostly the matter of life and death. She was the one who pushed him out of the water and later almost drowned by herself. Actually she tryed to commit a suicide, and he came there. But she didn't blame him. She was quite thankful that he saved her, and she was still alive. Though, her life sucked right now with all this stuff what had happened to her, she was alright and feeling well.

"Wow... A snake?" she blinked her eyes twice and then grinned. She loved those creatures. And the way Khaat talked about the snake, Miseria could imagine that she wasn't quite good acting. If she wanted to eat all the cats... Wow. Though, she didn't even know what size the snake was. If she was little one, then what could she do to the other animals besides mice and maybe even smaller kind of rats?

Khaat shook her head, "Nah. He is pretty stubborn. He does what he wants to do. At some point, he'll figure it out for himself. I just let him do what he wants to do. Pretty much. Mis, if you ever get married, make sure he is a man who is ready for it. Don't ever marry a man who is not ready for commitment. It is an enormous mistake. Its more heartache than its worth. Don't get me wrong--I love Rob. But in order to be married, I have to be happy being alone far more than he is ever with me. And, frankly, that stinks. But I love him enough to stay--so far. But enough negative talk. Come see the flowers that Daddy planted with the help of a friend of mine. I'm not done making the yard into a sort of a private peaceful sanctuary, but at least the hard work is done."

Miseria raised her eyebrows and coughed quietly. "I really doupt that I will ever get married," she said quietly. The one she wanted was Josh and he had disapeared once again, leaving her alone again. Probably her was away again because of the family issues. And the other part of it was that no one wanted Miseria. For example, her looks. Who on earth - mostly wizards - would pierce themselves, wear dark clothes, dye hair into blue, wear heavy chains and heavy combat boots. Probably no one who had brains. But she did. And she was also extra pale so that some of the people thought that she's a vampire. Cool, huh?

"Yes, sure," she said, smiling again. "But now tell me about yourself. How are you? Is everything fine with you? Right now, leave Robert out," she said, looking at her with one raised eyebrow. She was truly worried about her mother and the curiosity was also a big deal. Well, right now. Though, when wasn't she curious?

"I am fine. Your grandfather won't accept anything less. He insists on checking on me nearly daily. I don't know whether he's doing this for me or for Abbey," Khaat laughed. "Be glad you're at school so much or he'd be checking on you just as often. You are carrying his first great grandchild, and believe me, he takes takes that very seriously. You want a funny story?

"I made your grandfather the second in command at St. Mungos, so he slipped a piece of paper into a stack of forms he said he needed me to sign. Well, I trusted him blindly, and just signed them. One form made him my family doctor. The very next one was my agreement to take 2 weeks off on medical leave and leave him in charge. I didn't think it was very funny then, but now I do. I enjoyed the two weeks off. I got a lot done, and got a chance to de-stress. But I'm pretty much back to work now.

"Tell me about you? How are you feeling?"

Miseria laughed quietly. "Well, you deserved those two weeks off, of course," she said, shrugging. Actually, inside, she was thanking her grandfater because of that. Khaat was also working hard and that made her sometimes worry. She had problems when she was few weeks pregnant, right? But it all was in the past, and she was happy of it. Past. Great.

"Oh... Uh... Well, I've been trough a lot lately," she said in a surprised tone. Actually she thought that Khaat knew everything already. The Seer, what she was. But she wasn't disapointed. She felt that Khaat was truly the one who she could trust and to who she could tell everything. So why not? "Alright... first... I escaped from one Death Eater with who I managed to engage in a duel.." she started, and then started laughing, this time quite louder. "I don't even know what he wanted to do to me when he managed to catch me, but because of him, I had to climb out of the window... It was the 5th floor..." she laughed even more. Now, as it was the memory, it was funny.

Khaat laughed. She knew that narrow scrapes were part of their world. And, yes, as a mother she didn't like that Mis had been in a narrow scrape. But all seemed to have ended well, and that was what was important. "So, it seems you are following the path to your destiny after all. Learning how to battle Death Eaters. You know, you might have to have some of those narrow scrapes to become a signficant threat to them. And apparently they don't knwo about that. But let's leave it that way, or it will become a lot more dangerous for you and your child. Let's just keep that our secret for now."