"Ní mhaireann solas na maidine don lá." // "No morning sun lasts all day."

Tara woke up with a start the following morning. At first, a wave of panic had passed through her chest, as she did not immediately recognize her surroundings. But soon enough, the memories of the previous night returned to her brain.

Pressing a hand to her forehead, Tara took a long, pointed moment before forcing her eyes open again.

She glanced down at her arm first, again running her fingers over the collection of bandages, mindlessly adjusting how they rested against her skin. She then promptly shoved the blankets off of her legs, slipping out of the bed completely.

Glancing around the room she was in, she was again met with a rather empty and bland sight. The paint matched that of the kitchen downstairs, and the most that there was in terms of adornments was a small pile of books on a nearby shelf.

Padding across the floor, Tara stopped in front of the wardrobe that was propped up against the far wall. Opening the doors, she quickly huffed in disappointment upon finding very little at her disposal. The fabrics that currently covered her body were well past ripped and bloodstained and knew that she needed some sort of change of clothes for both comfort and sanitary reasons alike. Begrudgingly, she grabbed one of the three shirts that were hanging in front of her: a fairly large, light blue button-up.

Peeling the old shirt off of her body, Tara winced as she felt it quite literally rip away from her skin. Once she replaced it with the button up, she finally dared to exit the bedroom altogether.

Moving down the staircase, she found herself emerging back out into the kitchen that she had been in the night prior. B-lining for the fridge, her stomach immediately growled in agreement with her actions. It was only at that moment that she realized that she hadn’t eaten in at least the past 48 hours.

Pulling open the icebox, she was met once more with near emptiness. This certainly wasn’t the best stocked safe house in the world. Furrowing her eyebrows, she poked her head a bit further inside. She pushed past some empty bottles of milk, glared at a head of lettuce, before eventually sighing in defeat and grabbing a stray red apple from the back most compartment.

Standing back up, Tara angrily shut the drawer, only to jump in surprise upon finding someone suddenly standing in her personal space.

Her first exclamation of surprise however instantly shriveled up in her throat as her eyes came into focus on the sight of Theseus leaning up against the counter, his arms crossed over his very wide, and very bare chest.

Tara slapped a hand over her eyes.

“For fucks sake, Theseus.” she grumbled. “Don’t you own a shirt?”

Theseus scoffed, pushing himself up off the counter.

“Uh, yeah.” he replied, nodding towards her. “You’re currently wearing one of ‘em.”

Tara’s eyes flew back open with a glare.

“Not like I had much of a choice.” she immediately began to argue defensively. “Unless you wanted me to continue dragging that bloody shirt all over the fecking house.”

At that, somehow, Theseus let out a low and seemingly genuine laugh.

“I know, I know. I was just messing with you.” he admitted. “You have a very limited vocabulary, by the way.”

Tara angrily crunched down on the apple that she had taken.

“And you have a very limited food supply here.” she countered.

Theseus winced.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.” he said, reaching for a cupboard above where he was standing at the counter. “I haven’t been able to get to the shops much lately. Spending too much time at the Ministry I guess.”

Tara blinked in surprise as she watched him continue to rifle around in the cabinets.

“I thought you said…this is your house?”

“Yeah.”

It’s in a Muggle neighborhood, was the first thought that crossed Tara’s mind.

When the Auror finally turned back around, he was holding a box of bland corn flakes.

“Here. There should be some milk left.”

Tara immediately felt herself smirk as she took the box from his hands.

“There isn’t.”

Theseus cursed softly, reaching down to pull the ice box open and see for himself.

Stifling a laugh, Tara walked over to the small kitchen table in order to eat the first real breakfast she had had in weeks.

About an hour later, Tara found herself peering out through the curtains of Theseus’ front window, watching as people made their way down the sidewalks, chatting and laughing with each other while on their way to who knows where.

When she heard footsteps come up from behind her, she quickly let the fabric fall from her fingers.

Theseus, now donning his own button-up, crossed the room until he landed directly in front of where she stood.

“Here.” he said quietly as he handed over her wand.

Tara whispered her thanks.

“I don’t think you should apparate though.” Theseus continued as she took it. “Not if you insist on letting your ribs heal naturally.”

The witch rolled her eyes, but did not argue the point. She had received a very similar lecture in the past from her mother and knew that she didn’t really have any good reason to object. So instead she just twirled her wand through her fingers once before shoving it into her back pocket.

“I was going to walk anyway.”

Theseus smirked.

“Sure you were.”

For some reason or another, Tara felt her face grow hot. But in the moment, had chalked it up to another flare in her anger.

“Let me escort you back.” Theseus then added. “It’s probably not the safest for you to be walking the streets alone right now. Even in the daylight.”

Tara eyed him with a brief gaze of suspicion but ultimately waved her hand.

“Fine. Whatever.”

Theseus shook his head, walking over to the front door and pulled it open as the two of them walked out into the light of the day.

The walk back to Tara’s apartment was done in almost complete silence. Neither of them really had much more to say to the other considering everything that had transpired. And before they knew it, they were standing outside of the second story door of the small, unassuming building that was her home.

With a small wince, Tara wrapped her knuckles against the door.

Immediately, they heard the sound of a quick shuffle from the other side, before the door was suddenly flying open with a speed that nearly sent Tara stumbling backwards.

Leta appeared before the two wizards, her eyes wide and bloodshot as she took in the sight of them. Theseus Scamander in plain clothes and a serious expression, and to his left, her roommate, her best friend. Alive. But with various visible injuries littered around her face and body, which was currently draped over with a large, light blue button-down.

“Merlin’s beard.” she coughed out, her eyes beginning to water as she all but leapt forward at Tara, wrapping her arms around her in a fierce hug.

Immediately, Tara let out a low grunt in pain.

Leta immediately pulled back.

“Sorry. Broken ribs.” Tara explained dismissively.

In response, Leta had whirled on Theseus.

“You didn’t heal them?”

“She wouldn’t let me.” he countered.

Leta was quick to usher them both inside, shutting and locking the door behind them.

“Someone better tell me what’s going on. Right now. And quickly.” the small witch demanded, putting both her hands on her hips as she stared at the two wizards now standing side by side in the kitchen. “Why did you lie to me? Where have you been? And who, or what, did all of this to you?”

Tara cringed in embarrassment at the sound of her friends nagging. She then turned to glance at Theseus next, only to find him seemingly holding back what looked like a laugh. Upon seeing that she had caught him, the man quickly solidified his expression as best he could, letting out a cough for good measure.

Tara shot him a glare before turning back to her frazzled friend.

“Look, I’m sorry about lying to you, but I couldn’t tell you where I was actually going.”

“You’re going to need a much better apology than that considering the fact that you just turned up at our door beaten and bloody!” Leta immediately countered in a near-screech.

“It was Grindelwald.” Theseus’ voice bluntly interjected.

Leta’s expression immediately paled.

“W-what?”

Tara winced, rubbing at her temples.

“You can’t- you can’t just say that!” Leta began to rant. “You went to Grindelwald? Why? What did he want from her? What did he do to her?”

Theseus and Tara stole another glance at each other.

“Stop doing that!” Leta barked. “Stop having silent conversations. Just tell me. Straight up.”

Tara let out a heavy sigh, turning back to face her friend.

“He contacted me when I first started working at the Ministry. And…I decided to investigate it on my own.” she began to explain. “I found them, and he asked me to join his ranks. I then proceeded to tell him to stuff it and well…” she shrugged her shoulders.

Leta let out another curse under her breath, already beginning to pace the length of their kitchen.

“Leta it’s alright. We’ve got it sorted.”

The shorter witch quickly whipped her head back towards her.

“Oh! ‘Sorted’ is it?!” she spat. “Is that what you would call this? Sorted?!”

This time, Theseus had been the one to step forward in an attempt to quell the ever-growing tension.

“Look. From now on, Tara will have whatever manpower we can spare looking after her. I’ll see to it myself if I have to while we get to the bottom of this.”

“I have to protest.” Tara quickly interjected. “I am fully capable of taking care of myself, thank you.”

Theseus turned back towards her challengingly.

“You really wanna do this now?” he asked her in a low growl.

Tara crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yes, in fact.” she spat. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“The most powerful dark wizard in the entire world has you on his radar. I’m sorry, your highness, but this isn’t a fight you can win by yourself!”

“Oh, but I’m sure if the great Theseus Scamander was in my position he would be charging head first into battle without a second thought!”

“Guys!” Leta shouted.

Instantly, the two warring sides fell silent.

The smaller wizard took a moment to calm her breathing as best she could.

“Tara. Take the detail. Please. If not for yourself, then for me.” she reasoned with a seriousness that she did not often employ.

For a moment, in the silence, Tara ground her teeth together.

“Fine. Fine. Whatever.” she finally relented, tightening her arms around her torso and all but refusing to make eye contact with the other two wizards in the room with her.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* : ｡☆ﾟ.･ ───