Closed we're normal, right?

[Rowan Baros]

“We look normal, right?” She was sure they did, as she walked across the next plaque in front of the meerkats and peeked at it. She’d never been to a muggle zoo, so she’d been excited to come here. They’d decided to leave Percy with Zennon today, it wasn’t that she didn’t like taking him places, but it was nice sometimes to get away. She’d given him a very long bath and then dropped him on her brother’s doorstep. He’d mostly known she was coming, but she liked to surprise him. Besides, Percy was too young still to fully get the experience of being in a zoo, and not yet old enough to be out of the danger zone of accidental magic if he got excited about something. He hadn’t done any yet, but he was getting to the troublesome age where she was starting to look out for it. In a magical environment it hardly mattered because they could always fix anything that happened - in a muggle one, well, it threatened the statute of secrecy.

She squinted at the plaque, covering her face with her hand to shield from the sun. “Did you know they live in mobs?” she turned to look at Ilija with a grin. She watched the meerkat mother standing up to look around for any signs of danger. She felt like maybe she could relate to that. “Like, literal mobs. That’s the word. Mobs.” This was frankly the best part of the zoo so far she thought. The meerkats seemed to share her enthusiasm and chaotic energy which felt very poignant for some great unknown reason. If she was an animgus, she thought she might have been a meerkat - maybe a snake. Two very different things but she had her reasons.

She reached out for Ilija’s hand. “Come on, the aquarium is this way!”

@Ilija Olaf ​

 

[Ilija Olaf]

Ilija was exhausted. Between finishing his education and becoming a fully fledged psychologist who was beginning to take on his own clients, and a full time dad that required his attention whenever he wasn't helping others, Ilija had a lot on his plate. It was why he'd been keen to take Rowan out on a date. He may have been exhausted but he was still going to make sure that there was enough time for the couple, because at the end of the day it was Rowan that he came home to and who had supported him for as long as he could remember. "What's "normal"?" he smiled, following after her as she pulled him away from the meerkats.

It was nice, to spend a day with Rowan surrounded by something that was just for them. It had been a long since it had just been the two of them, and while it would have been nice to introduce Percy to the animals, Ilija doubted that their son would actually remember this experience. It was hard to feel guilty about enjoying time for themselves when it wouldn't make a difference to the infant. Ilija hoped today would be a day to remember, and he was happy to follow Rowan around the different animals. "Are you looking for ducks?" he asked her, knowing it would be worthy of celebration if they managed to find one that looked like Matilda.