TWO DAYS HAD COME AND GONE with not an ounce of change. Unless you considered Lydia's frustration and irritation with Leo a change. He didn't blame her either, his protests to Scrimgeour got him and Lydia nothing more than desk work. Which made Leo grow more and more agitated too, because if Voldemort was back, he knew what was out there. And being stuck at his desk wasn't going to help.

     While he was no stranger to losing a case because of something he did; he had never had one complete taken from him. He and Lydia had been given the chance to check out the manor in the first place, but as soon as they found what and possibly who was inside of it, he were told to drop it. The whole case, leaving them mounds of paperwork on something they couldn't see through. Leaving Lydia's normally tidy desk looking like Leo's mess of one.

Leo let out a heavy sigh as he leaned back in his chair, "How about we call it for the day?" he questioned, spinning his chair around and noticing that Robards was the only one still there. And he even looked to be getting ready to go.

Lydia looked up from her desk, "You can call it whenever you'd like," she replied, "I still have to get this copy done for Scrimgeour."

"Lydia, my dear partner," he said, leaning forward against his desk. "Scrimgeour left an hour ago, come on, late dinner and drinks on me."

Lydia paused and glanced up at him, "On you?" she echoed.

Leo nodded.

     Lydia didn't seem entirely sold on the idea at first. Not until she glanced around at the desks where their team was usually working from during the day.

"It'll be fun, Lydia."

"Even though we don't have a case-"

Leo scoffed at that, "Which is still bullshit..." the mere mention of the fact that they were caseless was beyond irritating to Leo.

"-we still have work to do." Lydia said sharply, to finish what she was saying, as she motioned to his barely touched paperwork and hers that had who-knows how much left.

       Leo crossed his arms and sighed heavily as she went back to her writing. It was days like this that were making him wish that he had never taken this job.

"You don't get invited out much, do you?" Leo asked after a moment of silence.

Lydia's face shot upward towards him, "I do too." she replied sharply. Her voice going up a few notches as if it would convince him.

Leo arched a brow, "Oh, I'm sure you were just the life of the party at Hogwarts." he replied with a little smirk, "Come on, Lydia. That will still be there in the morning." he said, pointing to the work in front of Lydia.

     It took a moment of contemplation, but eventually Lydia gave him a small nod of agreement and reminded him that if they were going to leave early today, tomorrow they couldn't leave until they were finished. Leo agreed to it and the two of them put away their things, and left the department. They both crammed themselves into a phonebooth and let it raise them out of the Ministry. Lydia still wasn't an eager participant, but still, when Leo held his arm out to her on the no-maj sidewalk, she took it.

      There was only one place that Leo thought to go, and it was the Leaky Cauldron. Which Lydia seemed pleased with as they walked in the door. The two made their way to the bar and each claimed a stool, and as if she could feel the presence of costumers, Mona emerged from the back. She looked drained and almost irritated at first.

"Ramona?" Lydia questioned.

Mona's eyes widened, and a smile emerged on her face. "Lydia," she replied, and then her eyes flickered from Lydia to Leo who had seated himself on the otherside of her. "so you're the one stuck with him?"

"Unfortunately."

"I am a joy to work with, Mona." Leo said, putting a hand to his chest a bit dramatically.

"I guess you did get Corner out for a bit," Mona replied, "that counts for something." she smirked, and before Lydia could protest even a little bit about how she actually got out quite often, Mona leaned against the counter. "What do you two want to drink?"

"Firewhiskey please," Lydia stated.

Leo arched a brow, "I wouldn't have taken you as a whiskey type, Lydia," he replied, "I'll take one too, I suppose.

     Mona smiled a bit before she turned to grab their drinks. Leo watched as she grabbed two shorter cups and set them on the counter before them before turning to grab a nearly empty bottle and pouring some for both of them.

"There you are," she said as she let out a sigh, "do you two mind if I go finish cleaning up the kitchen before you order anything? I'm by myself tonight..." she asked.

"The longer I can keep Lydia out and socializing, the better," Leo replied.

Mona smiled, "Thanks."

With that, Mona spun on her heals and went back to the kitchen to keep working on whatever they had walked in on her doing.

"Hm," Lydia hummed, "I see why you like this place..."

Leo rose an eyebrow as he took a sip of his drink.

"Mona," she said dramatically. "Nobody has called her that since third year in school." Lydia stated, "You barely know her and you're calling her Mona."

"Are you trying to get at something, Lydia?"

"You fancy her," Lydia said, smirking a bit. "It's quite obvious."

"I-" Leo took a slight pause to think about his words carefully, "-think she's a very nice young lady." he said as he quickly took another drink.

     He would be lying if he said he didn't like Mona. In all honesty, seeing Mona was usually one of his favorite parts of his day whenever he had a chance to go to the Leaky Cauldron.

Lydia smirked, "I'm sure you do, Black."

Leo didn't say anything at first, he simply looked over at his partner and watched her take a drink.

"Remind me to find a new place to take you."

stay classy!

* edited 10/26/2020 *