drfrxserโ:
Who: Open Where: Leaky Cauldron, 7AM
Coffee. A universal godsend and cure for the tiredness that always comes after a nightshift. He shouldโve gone home.ย Sam is acutely aware of this fact, and belatedly he debates if he should just call it quits for the day. Unfortunately, on route to clock out, heโd had several forms shoved in his direction and the instruction from his supervisor to get this done ASAP. Which meant he had at least half an hourโs extra work before he could officially go home and with an order of ink to collect at 8 it made sense to kill the hour, get his items then go home to bed.
So caffeine was very much the order of the moment and the nearest proximity to Diagon Alley with semi-reasonable coffee was the Leaky Cauldron. Explaining how heโd ended up at a corner table a plate of full English and healthy pot of coffee in front of him, while neatly scripting the contents required for the forms. Twenty-five minutes later, the forms were gone and Sam was left with another thirty-five to kill.
With little else to do, he pulled over the nearest newspaper, folding it over and pressing out the puzzles and quizzes section and took his pen to the daily crossword. Yet for the last five minutes heโd sat, seemingly stumped by one of the words. โEight letters, involves hard or tedious work, Third letter I ends in Eโฆโ Normally the answer wouldnโt be hard to come by, but the brain-fog of the night was fast catching up with him. With a huff of resigned frustration he glanced around for a friendly face who might offer their insight. โSorry-โ he spoke with an apologetic smile, hoping to catch the attention of the nearest person โyou wouldnโt be able to help me with this? You look like youโre rather smart and apparently Iโm rather stuck it would seem. I canโt think of the word that might fit hereโฆโ
~
One part exhaustion with two parts frustration. That is what engulfed Xenophilius, especially since he realized he was called to the Ministry due to something he had written. He hadnโt quite expected them to be involved with his Quibbler writings, but a specific article involving pro-werewolf views had sparked quite the controversy. Given that Doraโs dearest friend was a werewolf, he hadnโt seen it as a bad thing. He was actually a bit disgusted by the treatment of them and other races.ย
And to think he had passed up taking his own wife to the doctor for that. He really did feel awful, and the only saving grace came from the comfort of knowing Sirius was with her. At least she was in good hands, and he was starting to warm up to the idea of the man being in his life. After all, there was a plethora of people that came with Pandora; and he had to get used to them. And that was fine; he saw her as being well worth any of the work.ย
He was mostly waiting until he got the alert from the charmed mirror in his wallet. A gift from his wife that would tell him when things were done and she was home. She had made sure he knew sheโd tell him once Sirius got her home safe, and he figured tea would help get him to calm down from his awkward meeting. Xenophilius never dreamed that heโd be standing in front of people explaining that his defense for werewolves was merely personal opinion and not the works of someone trying to start an uprising.ย
Just as his brain was starting to wind down from the sip of earl grey he just had, he couldnโt help but eavesdrop a bit. He was often a fan of puzzles; which was something he bonded over with his wife when they had first met.ย โToilsome.โ He said quite flatly, looking at the man and offering a small smile.ย โEight letters, third letter is i and ends with an e. They used that same clue last week.โ