siobhanxmonaghan

[siobhanxmonaghan]

I suppose there really is no place like home.

Merlin, I'd missed Oxford.

[siobhanxmonaghan]

I take it you weren't a Hufflepuff, then?

I try to be a responsible adult at the department of regulation and control of magical creatures. Mostly, I just fawn over baby unicorns.

Because I say things like “it’s nice I have a job” and you say things like “it’s nice that they found love.”

So, Siobhan Monaghan, former Hufflepuff, what do you do with yourself now that you’re graduated?

[siobhanxmonaghan]

It's nice that it's never too late to find love.

How did you know?

Much better. Everything’s better in Ireland. Best place on earth.

Very sweet. Got me a job. So, Siobhan Monaghan—let me guess. Hufflepuff?

[siobhanxmonaghan]

I doubt your weather is as bad as ours, at least?

Oh dear. really? That's--kind of sweet, actually. 

It’s gorgeous. Oxford’s not bad, either, but I’m partial to Ireland.

That explains it. I started this past year. New librarian—Madam Pince finally decided that she and Filch were going to run off to live our their epic romance.

[siobhanxmonaghan]

I've never been there, sadly. England is home, though--I was raised in Oxford.

A little over an year ago? Thinks like it's been a million years, though.

Kinvarra, in Ireland. Most beautiful place in the world. You?

Aha. Not a familiar name—when’d you graduate?

[siobhanxmonaghan]

Where's home?

I--probably, yeah. I always spent lots of time in the library. I'm Siobhan Monaghan.

Everything’s better back home.

You must have been in that strange little limbo that was both before and after my time. I don’t remember you coming into the library. Ciaran MacNamara. You?

[siobhanxmonaghan]

Oh, I'm sure it's not all bad.

There's...flapjacks and Twinings tea?

Nothing like English weather and English coffee to make you miss home.

Let alone making you miss Spain.

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"I'll trust you," Siobhan declared gravely, laughing in spite of herself. When was the last time she'd allowed herself to just act like a girl her own age, laughing and giggling about the world around her without any other concerns for who and what she was? "Although, I do have to ask--will tequilla turn me into a good dancer, or will I simply just stop caring that I'm a terrible one?" She burst into laughter at Astoria's next words and tried to hide her face behind her hands for a moment. "Oh, you're impossible," she said, looking extremely fond. 

"Oh, Merlin--okay. I have no idea what I'm getting into but okay. And I'll take your word on the cupcakes for the timebeing, but I'd like to try them eventually, as well. I warn you I don't usualy do judgmental, though, so you may have to show me the ropes a little first." 

Truth and Consequences || Astoria & Siobhan

"Trust me," Astoria replied sincerely, taking one of Siobhan’s hands in both of hers with an affected gravity that made her laugh to herself, "after enough tequila, anyone’s a good dancer. Besides, worst comes to worst, you just shoot me a Look and I’ll start drawing attention to myself and away from you." She grinned, releasing Siobhan’s hands and sitting back comfortably. "Did you know that if you announce I forgot to put on underwear! at least half the paparazzi in the room flock to you?”

There was nothing about this that would be even remotely dignified, if Astoria had any say in the matter. She was good at not-dignified. “I won’t cook, on my honor, but I might bake. Turns out I’m really good at baking and I make killer cupcakes. You might have met some of them—either way, we’re going to have a blast, you’re going to meet plenty of people, and worst-case scenario, you and I get very drunk and very judgmental of everyone around us, so honestly, this is a win-win.”

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"Mostly freelance," Siobhan explained. "She's really incredible at her job, so there have always been more offers than she could realistically take on at any time. She's much happpier just picking whatever she really wants to work on. I'll you what, though, I must've been the only kid in the world who could name all the paitings in the Louvre before she could recite the alphabet."

She smiled at his offer, charmed in spite of herself. Her lack of balance was more of an excuse than anything else, in truth, but she didn't think it'd be much of a problem, not when just the way he was smiling at her was enough to make her slightly dizzy. "I wish you the best of luck, I really do. Just promise not to hate me when I step on your feet for the hundredth time in a single night. And ballroom lessons, really?" she asked curiosly. "How did you get into that?"

She took a dainy bite of her food, fascinated as she heard him talk about his family. "That must've been quite a shock to you," she said when he finished. "I have no idea what I'd do if I found out I had a mysterious older brother. It's wonderful that you're getting along so well, though." She hesitated, unsure of how to phrase what she wanted to say. "I've always found that the family you do choose, and the family that does choose you, it's just as important, if not more, as the family you're given.in the first place." As curious as she was about who her father had been, and whether or not he was still alive, she knew he would never, ever take the place in her heart that belonged to her aunt.

Undisclosed Desires || Siobhan and Blaise

"That sounds incredible," Blaise said warmly. "I’d love to see her work sometime. Does she work for specific museums or historical societies, or does she do freelance work? It must be—amazing." He adored art; always wished he knew more about it, truth be told, but it had never caught his attention the same way music had. Eleonora, however, had started showing an interest in art; maybe he should introduce her to Rafael. Anyway.

"Someday," he promised, "I’m going to take you out dancing. I took ballroom lessons for years, every summer I came home from school. We’ll work on your balance and by the end of the night I’ll have you dancing a proper tango.”

Blaise tucked into his food heartily when it arrived, grinning to himself—another thing he knew was food, coming from a home with a mother who was undoubtedly the best cook alive. And this was good. “You’re not prying at all,” he promised, before answering. “I only just met him, actually. My biological mother is my adoptive mother’s sister; Zia Adelina decided she didn’t want children, and my mother did, and so I ended up where I am. Recently, we found out that my biological father had a son from his first marriage—Rafael. I met him not too long ago and—” He hesitated, not sure how to explain how he felt about it.

He was elated, to say the least. He’d always wanted a brother—probably why he attached so quickly to Draco. And now that he knew he had one he felt as though he had about twenty years to make up for, and he was more than happy to get started on doing that. He and Rafael got along beautifully, so far, and he intended for that to continue as long as possible.

"—long story short, he’s amazing. I couldn’t be luckier."

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"Sorry, Muggle movie reference," Siobhan clarified, laughing at Blaise's expression. "Aunt Moira actually did try archery but she wasn't that good at it, unfortunately. She restores old paintings for a living--it's quite amazing, really. The most I ever managed to make when it comes to art was a couple of stick figures, and they were really bad ones. She's a Muggle and she does it all without magic, too, it's completely incredible."

She was pratically gushing--more than gushing, actually, she was pratically babbling, but way too lost in the conversation to find it in herself to worry about it. "I'd have preferred ballet, to be honest," she admitted and wrinkled her nose. "Really, though--no sense of balance whatsoever. As for singing, I'll let you know if the band ever gets together again and because I'm having a wonderful time, I'll pretend you did not say that about Chelsea."

They were momentarily interrupted as the waitress came by with their food, but after she'd left Siobhan found herself still smiling in spite of herself. "I don't mean to pry but--is this a new development? The bit about your brother?" she asked curiously. "You said you were extemely close to your sisters, but that you're just getting to know him. You don't have to answer that if you'd rather not," she asked flushing slightly and biting her lip.

Undisclosed Desires || Siobhan and Blaise

"She sounds incredible," Blaise said honestly. Mothers and aunts—and the people who were both—were important, more important than he could say. "Sounds like she and Emilia would get along," he added with a grin. "What does she do? I mean, now that she’s in France—does she work, or has she taken an early retirement to, ah, fire arrows into the sunset?"

He could hardly imagine Siobhan kickboxing, but the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. “It suits you, funny enough,” he mused, “though I’d definitely have pegged you more for the ballet type. As for singing, I’ll have to hear you to believe it,” he added with a grin. “Chelsea, really? I may have to pretend we’ve never met.

"Mostly, my life revolves around the family business. And the family. My little sisters have an unquestioned monopoly on my life and I’m on call for them whenever they want me. Lately, though, it’s just been—trying to get to know my brother." That was a complicated situation if there ever was one, but he did like Rafael, a lot more than he might have guessed he would. "I like jazz—I love bluegrass but it’s difficult to find real bluegrass around here. And travel. Pansy Parkinson—my COO, and my best friend since I was about eleven years old—convinced me to go on vacation a few weeks ago and I got back to Santorini after years.”

[siobhanxmonaghan]

Moodboard || Siobhan Monaghan 

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"Oh, that sounds absolutely delightful," Siobhan gushed, meaning it. She was glad to see that either Astoria had believed her or, at least, she was kind enugh not to push the issue any further. "I'm not a very good dancer, but I'd like that."

She flashed Astoria a small smile. "I'm okay with not-very dignfied?" she offered quietly with a self-conscious little laugh. " Working for the Ministry means that everything always has to be extremely dignified and you sort of get bored with it after a while.

"So, I'm game with whatever you want. Well, if you promise not to cook for the dinner party," she teased lightly. "I've heard enough stories about your cooking. Have I met them before--your friends, this is?"

Truth and Consequences || Astoria & Siobhan

Of course Astoria didn’t believe her. She was observant enough to know that there was something going on that Siobhan didn’t want to discuss, whatever it was; but if she didn’t want to discuss it, it wasn’t Astoria’s place to pry. “That makes sense,” she said kindly, offering Siobhan a quiet smile.

"Here’s what I’m thinking," she continued, pressing her lips together in thought. "Girls’ night. You, me, a dozen of my favorite ladies—or at least, the ladies who throw the best party. Alcohol, dancing, food. I mean, we could always do something dignified and sophisticated but that involves significantly fewer clubs.

"Or, something dignified and sophisticated. A dinner party, maybe. You come, you meet some more people, you get to know them, all in the safe and comfortable environment of having me around so that if you get sick of it, you can find me and we can judge people together." Astoria raised an eyebrow, grinning. "What do you think?"

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"I'm alright, thank you," Siobhan said quietly. She wasn't sure how she'd begin to explain everything to the other girl, even if she'd wanted to, and she had no idea she did. Astoria's conversation about werewolves had certainly given her some food for thought, but Siobhan was nowhere near ready to admit what she was. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be.

There was also the matter of the assignment the Minister had sent her on, but that was also a topic she didn't particularly want to approach, knowing it'd only hurt the other girl. She settled on a whilte lie instead, hoping Astoria wouldn't question it too much. "It's mostly work. Honestly, my horus have been insane lately and I'm just so tired but..." she let her voice trail off and she shrugged, attempting to make herself as small as possible. "I've just been lonely lately, I guess. It hasn't been that easy, with my aunt leaving, and I was never that good at making friends or even keeping them--and my hours lately certainly don't help. The past year has just been much harder than I thought, I guess."

Truth and Consequences || Astoria & Siobhan

Astoria twisted her lips in sympathy. “In my experience,” she said softly, “fathers are disappointments, more often than not. Sometimes mothers are too—nowhere near as often. But aunts tend to be the greatest.” She reached forward, curling her hand around Siobhan’s and squeezing lightly. “I’m glad you had her. And that she’s got you.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Astoria sat back and bit her lip. “Are you just tired?” she asked, her voice still quiet. “Is it just exhaustion or is there something else going on? If you’d rather not say you don’t have to, but you can if you want, Siobhan—you’ve been antsy since we sat down. If there’s something going on that you want or need to talk about you can. You know that.”

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"I never got to meet her," Siobhan replied with a sad little sigh. "She died when I was born, so there wasn't any time--and I never met my dad at all. It was pretty much just Aunt Moira and me. She told me a lot about my mother, though, and I really can't complain. She was a pretty amazing parent to me, all things considered. Not everyone can say that."

She had to smile at the mention of her job. Despite how it'd been a necessity at first, rather than anything else, she was still surprised at how much she'd grown to love it. "I'm happy when I'm not too exhausted to be anything at all," she answered honestly. "I really do love it, though. Even if my sleeping hours are sort of... all over the place lately. And only about hal of that is because of baby unicorns."

Truth and Consequences || Astoria & Siobhan

Astoria couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah, it was weird at first. And it sort of—happened right when Draco and I got back together. As in, the same night. Daphne’s wanted Beau since they met, which was before I met him. So it’s been complicated since day one, really, but I can’t exactly complain. They’re happy with each other, I’m happy where I am.”

The insight into Siobhan’s past was surprising, and Astoria smiled as she spoke—she rarely heard Siobhan talk about herself like this. “That’s brave of you,” she said honestly. “What was your mother like? Do you remember much about her?”

She couldn’t help but smile at that. “I’m on my way to figuring everything out. What about you? Happy at the Ministry, then?”

[siobhanxmonaghan]

Siobhan nodded, hearing the unasked question in his voice. "Yes, my aunt raised me. My mother was injured during the war and she died when I was born. I never met my father." As much as she'd have liked for her mother to have been a part of her life, she'd gotten over feeling that way about her father. Somewhere along the way, her aunt had become all the family she needed. "Aunt Moira is... she's also very loud," she said smiling fondly. "One of those free spirits that likes nothing better than to let her hair flow in the wind as she fires arrows into the sunset. She's always been a fantastic parent to me and she'd have stayed if I asked her to," she added. "But it was time for her to start living her own life again now that I'm all grown up. She's always been extremely fond of France, she's very happy there."

The answer to how she'd gotten into kickboxing was a bit more complex than she'd have liked--physical activity helped dealing with her most aggresive impulses and keep the vampire side of her well under control. "I was awful at ballet," she lied easily. "But I wanted to do something more physical and as it turned out I was surprisingly good at kickboxing. That's also how I found out I could sing as well." This part was true, at least. "My neighbour heard me singing something under my breathe and he asked so nicely I couldn't say no and next thing I know he'd just dropped me into his indie folk band." She shook her head, looking equal parts exasperated and amused. "What about you, though? What do you do for fun?" She smiled hesitantly before adding. "Besides supporting the wrong football team. I'm much more of a Chelsea girl myself, to be honest."

Undisclosed Desires || Siobhan and Blaise

Blaise listened in silence, rapt with attention. “You lived with your aunt, right?” he asked, curious; he wondered what had happened to her parents, but it didn’t seem right to ask without being invited to do so, and so he ignored the impulse. “What’s she like? You said she was living in France now?”

Chuckling at the mention of Muggles’ reaction to football, Blaise shook his head. “One of my employees got me into the sport recently,” he explained. “I’ve been absolutely hooked ever since—it’s more addictive than Quidditch. I barely follow Quidditch these days, but I don’t think I’ve missed one of Manchester United’s games since I started.

"I had no idea you could sing! What kind of music?" Blaise only barely realized the waitress had come by, and he flipped through the menu, looking for a dish. "And kickboxing? Really? That’s something else I hadn’t expected; you are an enigma. How’d you get into kickboxing?"

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"Oh," Siobhan said in a hush, unsure of what to say next. She hadn't been expecting Astoria's answer to be what it was, not really--she'd always been to afraid of what people's reaction to what she was might be and she'd never dared tell anyone her secret. Telling Astoria wouldn't be wise, not if she still wanted to keep it secret, but it was nice to believe that the other girl might not hate her for it. For the moment, it was enough. "So, you're ex-boyfriend is dating your sister?" she asked, focusing the converstion on the last part of what Astoria'd said. "That sounds... complicated. Are you okay with that?"

She only shrugged at Astoria's mention of Voldemort's name. She'd avoided it in school, more to keep from drawing attention to herself than anything else. "My mother was killed by Voldemort," she said quietly, "Or on Voldemort's orders, at least. She was in the Order of the Phoenix during the First War," she explained. "I felt like the least I could do to honour her memory would be to say the name of the man responsible for her death."

Astoria's enthusiasm was obvious, however, and Siobhn found herself grinning in spite of herself. "It's good to see you so excited," she admitted. "You look... lighter. Happier. It's a good look on you."

Truth and Consequences || Astoria & Siobhan

"More than one might think," Astoria snickered. "I dated Beau Anderson, and another werewolf who’d rather other people not know—both of them meant the world to me. Two of my closest friends are werewolves. My sister’s with Beau now; I mean, I don’t know what their experiences are, but I’m getting really sick of seeing this kind of bullshit go by like it’s no big deal.

"As for Fudge, he was entirely and utterly incompetent. Shacklebolt does what needs to be done and for that, I am entirely grateful." She paused, surprised, looking at Siobhan with interest. "You say his name," she observed suddenly. "I don’t often hear people say his name.

"And no, it’s quite alright, I am embarrassing. And I’m fine with that. In three years, they’ll be begging me to work for them. I can’t wait for Greenwich.” Astoria chewed the inside of her cheek, grinning excitedly. “I liked being a student, honestly. I think this will be good for me.”

[siobhanxmonaghan]

"I--have you loved a lot of werewolves?" Siobhan asked shyly, trying to keep the curiosity and the hope out of her voice. Hopefully, Astoria would pin it down on her kidnness and wouldn't think too much of it. "I never met Fudge," she said, moving the conversation back into safer grounds, "but he wasn't exactly an exemple of competency. I doubt a lot of what happened with Voldemort would've happened if Kingsley or someone like him had been in charge, then." Though, she supposed they'd never know just how different things could have been.

"You're not an embarassment to anyone," she said reassuringly." St. Mungo's is an embarassment to St. Mungo's if they can't see that, surely. It shouldn't matter what people do--"--or what they are--"--as long as they are good at their jobs," Siobhan finished. "Are you excited about Greenwhich, at least?"

Truth and Consequences || Astoria & Siobhan

"Oh, of course," Astoria snorted dismissively, waving a hand. "I like Shacklebolt, honestly. Now, if it were Fudge, that would be a different story. But honestly, having loved more werewolves than I can count, I’m getting a bit sick of seeing them treated like second-class citizens, which is the understatement of the century. On both counts.” Beau, Hannah, Jackson, Elena… she loved them all in different ways, even Everon, and they were treated like attack dogs at best. Pets to carry out orders.

Siobhan, the darling, seemed just as shocked as Astoria would have guessed. “I’m an embarrassment to St. Mungo’s,” she replied airily, waving her hand again, this time even more dismissively than before. “Apparently, I would damage their respectable institution, and we can’t have that. So I’m going to a Muggle university, in Greenwich; I’m close to home while getting the kind of education that will make St. Mungo’s beg for me in three years’ time.”