Visitor

[Mano Berwyn]

"You know," Mano said as he watched the girl leave. "You were the last one I imagined finding a girl." He leaned forward and set his glass on the low table in front of the couch so he could pick up the pictures again. "Why aren't there pictures of her in here?" he asked, finally moving away from the picture of Michael on the bed to much more interesting ones involving the other guy.

[Emilian Sota]

"Well, being here changes people," Emilian said absently as he moved over to his cabinet with a glare toward the glass Mano had pulled out himself. He poured a glass for himself and then glanced over Mano's shoulder at his question. "What?" His eyes widened, then he blinked and narrowed his eyes to be sure of what he was seeing. "Is that...Michael and Dare?" he asked quietly, "Where did you get those?"

[Mano Berwyn]

"Are they not yours?" Mano asked, raising an eyebrow and glancing up at Emilian. "They're all over the place." His head tilted slightly at one, apparently the camera had been forgotten and they had been enjoying the bed. "Looks like you were right all along," he commented, making a low hmm. He had always doubted Emilian's surety that Michael would turn eventually.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian nodded and leaned against the arm of the couch. "They stayed here while I was in Germany with Adara's father," he said absently, watching the figures in the picture. "When I came back home Dare was practically naked on Michael in the bed..." he hadn't imagined that there would be pictures.

[Mano Berwyn]

Mano raised an eyebrow and finally was able to pull his eyes away from the pictures to look up at Emilian. "Why were you in Germany?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He got that Emilian was with Adara's father, but the girl definitely didn't sound, or look, German. What would they have needed in Germany? He glanced back down at the picture, but he was still interested in the answer to his question.

[Emilian Sota]

"Because to seal the deal with her father," Emilian said, reaching out for one of the pictures. "I had to convince him I could handle his estate." He was nowhere near finished, he knew, but he was much closer than he had been when the man had tried to kill him. One hand held his drink to his lips and the other held the picture in front of his eyes.

[Mano Berwyn]

Mano blinked and looked up at Emilian, "You mean you've found you a girl to marry?" he asked in disbelief. He certainly hadn't thought that the next time he saw Emilian Sota there would be a ring on his finger. Or, almost on his finger. "I never would have thought you would find someone before you were twenty-five, I haven't lost a few years, have I?"

[Emilian Sota]

"Like I said," Emilian said, handing the picture back for Mano to add to the stack. "Being here...I think there's something in the water. Like those two," he tapped the picture, earning a momentary glare from the miniature Dare and Michael, then went to sit. "They're living together in Diagon Alley, now. You can't tell me you ever imagined Michael doing anything other than what Soren said."

[Mano Berwyn]

Mano raised surprised eyebrows. Not that he had ever heard anything about Soren trying to find a girl for Michael, but Mano had always assumed that that was what would happen. "What, is he a muggle-lover, too, now?" He had heard that Michael had left the ranks, but he had no idea how far it went, or how true it even was, considering the amount of spies the Death Eaters had.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian didn't answer immediately, but swirled his drink and took a sip as he thought. He didn't think that Michael had been in contact with muggles, exactly. "The guy in that picture? He's a Blackwood," he said. He didn't know much about the Blackwoods, but he knew that Mano knew more names than he did. "And he's a mudblood. So he's at least a mudblood-lover."

[Mano Berwyn]

Mano's eyes snapped up to Emilian. "You've got to be kidding me," he said, looking down at a picture of the two together. It definitely didn't look like it was a purely physical relationship, not if he went by the smiles in that picture. "Has he really gone downhill that far?" he asked, shaking his head. He couldn't imagine being with a mudblood like that.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian shrugged, "The kid's not really that bad. Get past his blood and he's interesting." And Emilian had had to get past more than the blood to be able to accept Dare. He hadn't realized how drastic a change Michael had gone through, not with being a part of it, but to someone that hadn't seen him in even longer than Emilian hadn't it must have seemed like a different person.

[Mano Berwyn]

Mano narrowed his eyes at Emilian. "Get past his blood?" he repeated. "Really, have you gone soft, too? Please tell me the girl's a pureblood." The Emilian he knew never would have associated with a mudblood, much less said he was interesting or not really that bad. Emilian had said that the girl had an estate, though, and Mano hadn't heard of any mudbloods with estates.

[Emilian Sota]

"Yes, she's a pureblood," Emilian snapped, angrily crossing one ankle over the opposite knee. "One of the wealthiest in Germany, as a matter of fact. They raise hippogriffs," he added, wrinkling his nose. He hadn't been too excited about that, but it had eventually worked out, though he had had a nasty pain in his chest for a while to show for his attempts.

[Mano Berwyn]

"Really," Mano mused, going silent for a few moments to take it in. Then he raised his eyes to Emilian's, "So how did you get in with the daughter of such a wealthy man?" Not that Emilian's family wasn't high in the social ranks both in Russia and in England, but it was no match to one of the wealthiest in Germany. Why was a girl of that high rank at Hogwarts, anyway?