5 July 1921
Evening
Lavinia took a sip of her water, her eyes skimming the clientele. There weren’t many in the pub just yet, however she knew that it would be busy soon. It always was at this time. She refused to go home – at least just yet. She’d give a few more hours before heading there.
Gideon would be home any moment, unless he already was. And the fact that she had helped Roisin and Fiona move in early, well… they’d need some privacy for a bit. The thought of her brother being happy again made her smile. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him look as optimistic about life as he had recently. It was refreshing. He laughed now. Genuinely laughed.
And smiled. That, alone, was a big deal.
And Lavinia really liked Rose and her daughter, but she couldn’t help but to feel a bit like she was intruding on the three of them. All of them had, separately, insisted they wanted her to stay around, however Lavinia couldn’t help but feel like her time was limited in the townhome now.
“Can I have another?”
Vini’s blue eyes blinked and she set down her water glass. Oh, right. Working. She grinned at the man who was a regular; he was older, married happily but had grown children. He came in every day after work to have a couple of drinks before going home to his wife.
“Yep, coming right up,” Lavinia responded as she picked up his glass and mixed another Old Fashioned.
Just when she handed the man’s drink to him, she spotted a familiar face approaching the bar. She smiled, a genuine one this time. “Hey. I was wondering if you were gonna come in tonight,” she said and picked up a glass. “The usual?” she asked, her eyebrow raised.
A smile was hard to keep up around arrogant gambling partners with countless mentions of wealth and their own greatness. Their egos themselves were often a sign they were rich and knew it. Flaunting money? Not entirely his style. Well, not on purpose. As an apology, perhaps. But in gambling, never. And certainly not to someone who would soon lose a portion of that wealth to him. Plus, it made them boring. At least their overconfidence made them easier targets. A few compliment to stoke their ego worked wonders.
The game of baccarat had ended in his favour. Card counting and misdirection were on his side, of course, but it could also have been attributed to some… other methods. A satisfied feeling shot through him when he saw the reaction of the particular man who had just been going on and on about how much he could lose without caring. His face was rather pale. However, Victor had to admit that the man handled it better than most.
The sun was long past set as Victor made his way through Diagon Alley, pushing open the door of Blackwood and Son’s. He always appreciated the environment of the shop and the entertainment it held.
Victor entered the speakeasy with a more genuine grin. The place was tucked away from the general public, just the place for a drink. His gaze fell on the woman at the bar, Lavinia, serving a drink to another customer. She was the youngest and only daughter of the Blackwood family, which made her quite unique. Perhaps that was a reason he enjoyed talking with her.
The man strode over to the bar and leaned against it with a grin, waiting for her to address him.
“Good evening, Miss Blackwood.” His dark eyes twinkled appreciatively at her mention of his usual choice in drink, a glass of porter, and he inclined his head in acknowledgement. “Yes, thank you. Add a bit of cherry to the porter this time, will you? I have a taste for something sweeter tonight.” He gave Lavinia a conspiratorial wink, the edges of his smile twitching upwards. “Long day today?”
It definitely did take a certain type of woman to tend bar in a place like this; considering all of the clientele were men, and they could get handsy at times, the small Hufflepuff alumni often had to threaten them with jinxes if they got out of hand.
There were some – like the gentleman she’d served before Victor entered the pub – who would come in for a couple of drinks right after work before going home to their wives. There were others who she had to cut off after a certain point – those were also regulars that she knew, and as soon as she saw them come in the doors, well… her guard was up and she had to prepare herself for the unpredictable ways in which they reacted to a woman telling them they’d had enough.
Victor Carmichael was not that type. She’d think of him as extremely charming. He knew which words to say to get his way, which was dangerous. But she rarely could cut him off from his drinks. He tended to hold his liquor better than most, though.
“Yes, thank you. Add a bit of cherry to the porter this time, will you? I have a taste for something sweeter tonight.”
She nodded and got to work making his drink.
“Long day today?”
Vini looked around briefly. “I suppose. Only because I’m working late tonight though,” she said and smirked, then leaned a bit closer to him. “Gideon’s back from a business trip tonight and his girlfriend and her daughter have moved in, so I thought I’d steer clear of the house for a while before heading home. When I first met her… well, they decided the couch was a good place.”
Lavinia added some cherries to the porter and slid it over to Victor. “I love her, she’s great, but I’d rather not walk in on that again,” she said and laughed.
As Lavinia made his drink, Victor slid onto one of the barstools and took another glance around. Not too many people were around. That was fine with him. The room was much quieter than the loud ego in his earlier gambling experience, which he was grateful for. The occasional clink of glasses and the low lighting that illuminated the bottles behind the counter created a calm atmosphere. Adjusting his sleeve cuff, Victor let his eyes wander back to Lavinia as she replied.
One of his eyebrows arched upwards in surprise at her explanation for her late hours. Gideon Blackwood’s girlfriend and her daughter living at the Blackwood residence? Interesting. Quite interesting indeed.
“That was your first introduction?” He chuckled heartily as an image of the incident played in his mind. Families were complicated, much too complicated for his liking. His own situation with his family reflected that. The last time he had even seen his sister? He couldn’t even recall. Victor pressed his lips together a moment before continuing.
“That certainly does sound like a disconcerting situation to walk in on.” He commented as his laughter began to fade. His dark eyes followed her motions as she poured the drink with swiftness that signalled experience. Victor wondered how much information she would share. “Is this a permanent situation? It seems rather inconvenient.”
“Thank you kindly,” he murmured in recognition as she passed him the drink. He wrapped his hand around the glass and swirled it around before taking a small sip. The rich, malty taste slid pleasantly down his throat. “Wonderful, as always. The cherries truly do enhance the flavours in a positive way.”
“In any case, if you weren’t working late, I would miss your pleasant company.” Victor grinned, taking another slow sip. He savoured the familiar porter in his mouth a moment before swallowing.
Victor laughed and Lavinia couldn’t help but to laugh a little bit as well. Honestly the situation had been more humorous than anything, especially when he had asked Rose what her stance on murder was. Vini had been careful not to make that mistake again, which is why she was working late. She assumed they had learned their lesson too, but she understood what hormones could do…
“That certainly does sound like a disconcerting situation to walk in on. Is this a permanent situation? It seems rather inconvenient.”
Hmm… well, Lavinia knew it was permanent. The question was how long she was going to be able to live with them. She didn’t want to always rely on Gideon for a roof over her head, not when he had his own little family to worry about.
She watched as he tasted the drink she made him. She smiled when he said he liked it. She nodded a bit.
“In any case, if you weren’t working late, I would miss your pleasant company.”
Lavinia tilted her head to the side slightly, looking at Victor. He was right; and she was happy to have not missed him. Honestly, he always brightened her day.
“It’s definitely a permanent situation,” Vini responded, nodding. “It’s really just a matter of days, I’m sure, before they’re engaged. And I don’t mind them being there… I do have a nice area on the third floor, but I don’t want to invade their family time. Ya know?” Did that make sense? So yeah, she supposed in that way it could be considered inconvenient. But seeing how much happier Gideon was now with them in his life, she couldn’t fault him for that.
Lavinia picked up her glass of water and took a sip. “Thing is, though, they both work at Hogwarts so when term starts, all three of them will be gone, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”
That was maybe the only upside. If she could handle the few short months of them home, then she’d be fine.
“It’s definitely a permanent situation.”
So. Gideon Blackwood was settling down. He briefly considered what pureblood the man had chosen. And one already with a child? Intriguing. Victor was already imagining the big deal that would be made of it all. Everything precise and proper, no doubt. Traditions were what purebloods were known for.
As she continued, he lifted his glass to his lips again. The familiar action, a habit built from years of gambling, kept him focused and alert.
“It’s really just a matter of days, I’m sure, before they’re engaged. And I don’t mind them being there… I do have a nice area on the third floor, but I don’t want to invade their family time. Ya know?”
Victor nodded in agreement, but he didn’t entirely agree. If it were him, he would just step through the door in the house that belonged to him. Let them take anything they don’t want interrupted to a more private room. That was very… considerate of Lavinia, he supposed, but it showed she didn’t like confrontation.
“Thing is, though, they both work at Hogwarts so when term starts, all three of them will be gone, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”
Hogwarts, of course.
Something nagged at the back of his mind at the mention of the school. The past flickered through his thoughts unbidden, disturbing his carefully maintained mask. He pushed them away. Not necessary. This was a practised action.
“Of course.” Victor acknowledged the logic behind her words. “That would make things simpler.”
The man tipped his glass towards him and watched the cherries float around the surface of his dark drink.
“Have you considered entering through a window?” He asked after a moment, words laced with underlying humour. “I imagine you have flown a broom before. Or perhaps apparition?”
“Have you considered entering through a window? I imagine you have flown a broom before. Or perhaps apparition?”
Lavinia couldn’t help but to let an amused smirk cross her face at the thought of climbing in through the window. The third floor? Could she climb that high? Honestly, as a child she loved climbing trees much to her mother’s disdain. Blame that on her rambunctious brothers.
But now, as a woman, she couldn’t imagine anything as improper as that.
And yet…
A giggle left her mouth as she lifted her ice water to her lips and took a drink. “I don’t typically use apparition,” she admitted. “I don’t like how it feels and I find that I get much too worried about splinching to focus properly. Doors are so much more reliable, don’t you think?”
That was definitely one of her downfalls; she could get too easily distracted. There had been times where even traveling to Blackwood Manor by floo had become dangerous for her.
And flying – well, Lavinia had not been on a broom since her Hogwarts days. She didn’t even own one at the moment.
“Nope, best to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground,” she added and laughed again. Clumsy as she was, anywhere else would be entirely too dangerous.
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