Professor Delanquar's Office ~ Autumn 2019

Viper made her way down the halls towards Professor Delanquar's office, a small violet box held gently in her hand. Ever since the birth of her and Sevastyan's daughter Lara, and even before that, really, when Viper had been pregnant, something had changed in her: A heightened sense of maturity and responsibility, one could say.

Upon hearing the news that she was pregnant, several of Viper's former colleagues from ECHO had felt the need to send her various parenting books. She was rather irritated and a tad offended at the gesture, but as the pregnancy progressed, out sheer nervousness for the impending task of motherhood, Viper had all but devoured the books, in the end, coming to the conclusion that the books weren't mere bits of useless, scribbled on parchment as she had originally anticipated. Some of the material in a few of the books was actually worth the time to read. Naturally, they all had various styles and interpretations of the roles of parents, all of which Viper made mental notes to consider for future reference, but there was one key bit of information all books agreed on: the intuition of children, particularly infants.

Over and over in all the books, Viper had read about babies could pick up on all emotions of their surrounding atmosphere, especially negative aspects and tensions. The impact definately hit a sensitive spot on Viper, but hadn't truly sunken in until a few months later: when she held her newborn daughter for the first time. Her heart melted the moment her eyes met their daughter's: living proof of the love between her and Sevastyan. It was that moment that Viper swore she would do everything in her power to give her child the safest and happiest future possible.

So here she was now, standing in front of the door that stood between her and what she perceived to be the source of the most tensions in her life, the gift in her hand serving as the "olive branch" she hoped to plant between her and Eglantine.

Taking a deep breath, Viper brought her hand to the door and knocked gently.

Eglantine sat at her desk, her shaking fingers carefully sifting through various 6th year essays on the phycological aspects of transfiguration. Her day had been fairly miserable, between Edwin having come down with a terrible cold the night before and having cried most of the night and morning.
Horatio had done his best to help her soothe the boy, but being such a deep sleeper, he had ended up 'dying' on his side of the bed and being out of it until 7 in the morning.
After finally getting Edwin to sleep, Eglantine had dragged herself through several grading sessions and had then had to deal with a dumped 3rd year.
The young girl had never dated before and thus had been completely crushed when her boyfriend, a Ravenclaw 4th year had left her for a more stylish fellow Gryffindor. After allowing the girl to sob on her shoulder for a good thirty minutes, her patience was at its end and she was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had caught Edwin's cold. Due to the fact she was sniffing and her eyes were red.

The knock at the door forced a sigh from her body and thinking it was either Horatio with a whiny Edwin or a student in need of counselling, she flicked the door open with her wand.
"Yes?" she asked, not looking up.

"Good evening, Professor Delanquar..." Viper greeted in a soft voice as she entered the room in equally soft footsteps. With a newborn baby, it had become a habit to walk, talk, and enter rooms softly.

"Am I interrupting?" she asked tentatively. The witch felt it would be rather detrimental if she started off the "truce" with Eglantine irritated at her and would likely result in the opposite of what Viper was striving to achieve.

Not expecting Professor Viper's almost abnormally soft voice, Eglantine's head immediately popped up and her eyes widened slightly in surprise. Hoping her voice would sound more pleasant than she felt, Eglantine returned the greeting, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk.
"No, not at all." she assured the younger woman. "I was merely skimming. Is something wrong?" oddly the only thing that came to her mind was that some event had occurred during which some terrible thing had happened.

Viper smiled at the offered chair, taking a seat slowly and gracefully, the box sitting gently on her lap. "Thank you," she replied.

"Oh, no. Everything is just fine. Perfect, really..." she added, a sparkle of pure happiness illuminating her emerald orbs as she thought of her beloved husband and daughter. "I just wanted to speak to you for a moment, assuming you are not too busy?"

Green eyes shifted into concern as she momentarily broke from her reverie and noticed Eglantine's current state: red eyes and all. "Are you all right, Professor?"

Eglantine sighed when she heard everything was alright. She immediately noticed how happy and content Viper appeared. Obviously marriage and an infant agreed with her...
"Oh no, not at all." she smiled softly. "It would be lovely to speak with you..." if her memory served her correctly, the last time they had done so had been when Eglantine had bartered Viper's brother for asp blood... but there may have been a more recent time.

Noting the sincere concern she saw in Viper's eyes, Eglantine bit her lip. "Edwin had a cold..." she confessed, softly. "He cried most of last night."

All doubts and hesitance Viper had upon going to Eglantine dissolved at the older woman's response. It had been a rather long time since they had a conversation, between the both of them regarding something other than students antics. "I wanted to give you this." Viper replied, handing over the small wrapped box, containing her peace offering. "An olive branch, if you will..."



Raven eyebrows contracted in concern as her newly obtained mother's intuition kicked in. "How ill is he? Perhaps he should be taken to Juria."

Eglantine's eyes lit with an almost feline curiosity as she accepted the wrapped gift. "Thank you very much." she smiled. Her trembling fingers slowly opened the box and a bit of wandless magic levitated the lovely gift aloft for her to see. Her mouth opened slowly as her eyes widened in admiration. A butterfly and a cat... how appropriate.

"Oh..." was all she managed before a single tear trickled down her pale cheek. "Thank you, Amaranth." she finally stated, giving the potions mistress one of her rare smiles.

"Edwin is not ill enough to visit Juria, but thank you for your concern. Like Horatio, he simply does not know how to bear pain no matter how small." Still, there was a note of fear in her voice, after all, he was her son and his health was very important to her.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it..." Viper smiled gently in response, in response to Eglantine's. She was rather touched at Eglantine's reaction to her gift, especially at the added use of her given name. "I realize we don't get along quite as harmoniously as would be desired, and I know I'm partly to blame for that, but, well, I was hoping, maybe, that we could start over? With a clean slate?" she asked with a hint of hope in that statement.

"Maybe we won't ever be the best of friends, but... I'd like to try to be aquaintances at the very least, allies. I-I'd like for my daughter to know you." Viper added, getting straight to the heart of the matter.

Viper nodded, though she could detect the fear in Eglantine's voice. "Perhaps a humidifier would help? I also have a few incenses that may help relax him and help with pain relief." the witch offered.

Eglantine's eyes still full of tears looked up glassily at Viper. "I would like that very much." she managed. Hardly a woman who usually showed every emotion she was feeling on her face, she pulled her handkerchief out and wiped away a few tears.

Touched deeply by Viper's words, she closed her eyes for a moment. "Nothing would honour me more..." she whispered. After all, from the beginning, although they had had a bad start, she had wanted nothing more than Viper's friendship. Although she had disapproved of the younger woman's more casual life style, she had and still did admire how brilliant Professor Viper was.

Eglantine nodded. "Yes, that might help. Thank you." she had not thought of that, and immediately felt more at ease with the idea that Edwin might sleep that night.

To say Viper was stunned at Eglantine's reaction would be the understatement of the year. Her mind had tossed and turned over the possible reactions Eglantine may have to her request, but it was nothing to the display being presented to the Potions Mistress at this very moment. All she could do was smile brightly in reply. Tentatively with nervousness, Viper reached over the desk and squeezed Eglantine's hand lightly.

"You're welcome. I don't have any incenses with me, and the humidifier is in Lara's nursery at the moment, and I'd rather not summon it from there, as the area is heavily fortified with other charms." Viper replied, thinking of the various protection charms placed around Lara's crib and the possible intereferences that may occur should she cast other spells directed in that area. "Perhaps you'd like to come with me to me and Sevastyan's quarters to pick up the incenses and humidifiers?" Viper offered.

Eglantine rose from behind her desk, levitation charm joined with cane allowing her freedom from her wheelchair. "I can conjure a humidifier," she murmured. "But I would be delighted to accompany you. Does Lara have troubles with her breathing?" she asked, wondering perhaps why the infant had a humidifier in her room.

"Oh, no, not at all. Thank Merlin, it seems she has inherited the Russian Strength." Viper replied with a laugh as she stood from the chair and smoothed her robes. "In fact, I don't believe we've used it yet. We just have it nearby doe rainey days." she explained as she opened the door and held it open for Eglantine.

"Ah...wise precaution." Eglantine nodded, heading toward the door and thanking Viper with a nod as she slipped through it. She had set the gift on her desk and planned to place it on the bookshelf along with Horatio's crystal rose, Kiara's painting and of course Edwin's picture.

Viper smiled in response, taking a quick glance at the clock. Lara would be waking up from her nap any moment now and due for a feeding so their timing would work out rather nicely.

"Lara should be waking soon..." she offered in a low tone as she led the way to her and Sevastyan's shared quarters.