A thousand thoughts buzzed through her mind. The most horrifying was the fact that everyone in the room was probably staring at her and shaking their head at her clumsiness. Arya despised such attention, in fact, she wished she could open up a hole in the ground and sink right through it. Pathetically, she did not know whether she should be blushing from the frowns and stares that she knew were around her or if being horrified at her public display of clumsiness correctly described her feelings at that moment. She hated disturbing others and, were it not for the fact that she frequented the Leaky Cauldron at times, she might have considered apparating away to avoid the stares. Where was her brother when she needed him? Brayden would have probably done or said something to calm her down right there because he would have known how she was feeling right then. He knew her best. In her mind, she irrationally cursed him for his absence.

She was, however, thankful that her laptop had not been on the table at the moment. She would have lost everything and there was no way she could afford another one. She bit her lip again, as she usually did when she was frustrated, and began to clean off the soup on the table with the drenched napkins. It was no use, it wasn't working. The napkins were too thin and she hadn't brought enough with her so it looked like she was only moving the thick soup around the table instead of cleaning it up. Almost to the point of trembling with agony, she did not stop trying to clean it up anyway. The poor young woman did not dare to look up at the man sitting across from her. He was probably angry. He has every right to be angry with you. You're causing such a commotion, she thought bitterly to herself.

She had not noticed the bits of soup that had fallen on her shoes and jeans so when she suddenly felt a tongue lapping at her jeans and, subsequently, her shoes, she froze in shock and surprise. Arya dropped the napkins, her hands now smothered with soup, and slowly looked down at the dog attacking her. She stared, eyes wide, as it began to eat the soup off of her. A chill went through her spine the entire time but she did not dare move or even breathe. Arya liked small animals, cats being her favourite, and small dogs were fine, but this one was big. And Arya was frightened, to say the least. Suddenly, the soup disappeared and she quickly looked up to the man across the table now with his wand out, eyes still wide in surprise. Her mind quickly processed what had happened. A spell. Of course, he had used a spell. Why hadn't she used one?

Arya slowly began to turn red, now embarrassed that she hadn't thought of using magic. She was a witch after all. Still red, she gave the man a relieved look. "Thank you so much, sir," she muttered loud enough for him to here. Arya took a small step away from the dog, realizing it must have been his and wondering how she had not seen it before. Thankfully, the dog ran back to the man and she breathed a sigh of relief before flopping limply onto her chair. She ran both hands across her face, suddenly tired from all the emotions she had felt all at once. Arya glanced sheepishly at the man and gave him a small, thankful smile this time. "Sometimes I forget I'm a witch... You have quite a dog. It won't get sick, will it?" she managed to say, a little sadly but still with a small pathetic smile on her face.

Arya's small smile faded when the man commented on the lack of food the dog had been given that morning. After her mind processed his words and the possible underlying meaning to them, her eyes widened when realization set in. That dog could have eaten her. Arya could not guess any other possible reason why the man had said those words the way he had said them. It had been as if he was trying to suggest something and Arya had gotten the message. She stared at the dog, stone-faced, as she tried to determine if the creature looked like it would be capable of eating a human. She came to the conclusion that a small individual like herself would be easy prey for the gargantuan dog before her. A shiver went went up her spine as a brief, bloody image of herself being attacked by the dog passed through her mind. Luckily, the dog seemed to like soup more than human.

Her mind returned to the situation once more when the man mentioned that the dog was a Canis lupus. Arya frowned very slightly in confusion at this new bit of information. She had never been a fan of science and Canis lupus sounded very scientific-y to her. The girl knew she had heard the lupus part somewhere before. Once again, Arya was pummeled with a flurry of emotions, all quite noticeable and very open to the public. First she gasped in shock, then she froze for a few seconds, and finally the poor girl's eyes widened at the man, a bit of fear in her eyes. Her gaze went from the man to the wolf a hundred times as the former turned back to his book. A small part of her whooped with relief when she realized the man had not seen the barrage of emotions that had embarrassingly just crossed her face. She did not expect him to continue speaking but he continued, this time commenting on her failure to use magic. Her eyes were fixed now on the wolf so when she spoke, it was not to his face. "Oh no no no no... I am a witch. Muggle-born, yes, but a witch. Ha ha..." she replied in a shaky, high pitched voice and laughed nervously as well. Arya had never been good in situations where she was insulted. She quickly shook away the insult and let it bury itself in a corner of her mind.

Truth be told, the young woman could not get over the fact that she was sitting across from a wolf. Once she began to realize that the creature was tamed - how else would it be allowed in this establishment? - her fear began to subside slowly. She watched it, now with some wonder in her eyes. The fear was also still there but it was not as prevalent anymore. His name was Darks, if she had heard him correctly. Arya was a cat person, but that did not mean she hated dogs. In fact, she liked all animals, although cats were her favourite. However, she had never been so close to a wolf before and, now that she could observe it, she could not help feeling awed at how majestic it seemed. Sure, she was still scared of the creature but, somehow, Darks reminded her of the feeling she felt when she saw mountains: sublimity. It was a feeling of fear and wonder at the same time.

"How in the world did you come about acquiring such a magnificent companion?" she blurted out, finally tearing her gaze away from Darks and back at the man, her face a mixture of anticipation and excitement, but her eyes gave away the fear she was also feeling.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting when she asked him where he had gotten his wolf. She did not know the guy but for some reason she expected everyone to just answer all her questions. His obvious display of disinterest was not fully registering in her mind just yet and usually she would have not continued a conversation like this one after making a complete fool of herself. However, the problem now for him was that her curiousity had been sparked and nobody could stop that. Her mind was currently thinking of all the interesting ways this man may have found, kept and tamed a wild beast like a wolf successfully. Perhaps he was an Auror. Arya had always felt extremely intimidated by the Aurors and considered them a bunch of cold, formal and important people with no-nonsense attitudes; so pretty much people that would find her completely irrelevant. Maybe they would be allowed to have exotic pets like a wolf. Yes, Arya could see the value of having a wolf when fighting criminals. Her eyes turned back to Darks as she wondered, with some shock, how many people the wolf may have killed for his Auror master.

She simply smiled and laughed nervously again when he insulted her, waving a hand as if trying to wave the insult away. She couldn't deny that the remarks hurt a little but she was stronger than that and she was also used to it. She cleared her throat awkwardly even though she did not plan on speaking and quickly regained her composure when he continued to speak, explaining how he had acquired the wolf. Her mind clicked into focus again as the topic turned away from her and back to the wolf. Yes! She was right, he must be an Auror. Arya hardly knew anything about the Magical government, nevertheless the positions in it. Almost everyone she had known in Hogwarts had wanted to be an Auror; that was the only reason she knew what an Auror was. 

"You're an Auror aren't you? That's - well that's amazing! On behalf of... well... the general Magical population, I thank you for your service..." she stammered as she tried looking anywhere but at him, trailing off at the end. What were you supposed to even say to Aurors? She was terrible at conversing with people obviously more successful and important than her. Nevertheless, her mission was set: she needed to know more about the wolf. Arya enjoyed stories more than anything - especially interesting, wacky ones. And she could sense that this man with a wolf would be a great story. "How did you find him while working? I can imagine it must have been difficult to tame him. Is Darks useful in your line of work?" she asked, her enthusiasm returned. She had sat down long before but as her interest built, she moved her chair closer to the table and leaned in closer, her eyes shining with wonder at Darks. Arya was a cat person but for some reason the wolf was calming her. It was far more calming than the man, which was why she had been flicking her eyes back and forth between the man and the wolf. 

She was intrigued with the way the wolf obeyed the man's commands and thought of her own cats. No, surely she could not even compare her small, domestic cats to this magnificent beast. Yes, it had been a little difficult in the beginning to tame them all, but a wolf was a different matter. She felt a mixture of excitement and unease before Darks, something she had never felt before around other dogs. Granted, Darks wasn't a dog but a wolf. She thought she wasn't a dog person but this large wolf was too interesting. She was in awe of the man who could tame this creature, an animal out of nightmares. Arya wondered fleetingly if he would let her touch Darks... or if Darks would even let her.

She was fairly certain he could not be anything but an Auror; forget that she had very limited knowledge of the departments and positions in the Ministry. Her mind was currently creating possible stories about an Auror and his wolf. Her imagination was in full blast and she knew that once she sat down she would need to get all her ideas onto her laptop quickly before she forgot it all. Her mind buzzed and her eyes shone at the tales that were being fabricated in her mind about a brooding, dark anti-hero Auror and his tame wolf. She knew the story would be received well if she published it. She jolted back to reality when he addressed her questions. She frowned very slightly in disappointment when he said he wasn't an Auror. She had been so close to actually asking him about his past for her story. But wait, if he wasn't an Auror what could he be? The fact that he did not explain who he actually was only made her all the more curious. 

Arya stiffened when he referred back to Darks. Surely, he didn't mean... Her eyes wide, she looked around, sighing with relief when she saw people around them, and turned back to him a little more confidently. He couldn't make the wolf attack her in front of everyone. That would be insane in front of all these people. Reassured, she turned her attention back to the mission at hand. "If you're not an Auror then what are you? Sorry, it is difficult for me to figure out how anyone could get a wolf while at work. I have only stumbled upon cats, myself," she inquired, with a small giggle at the end. She knew having so many cats while living alone may seem strange to people, which always made her laugh a bit. "This might sound weird but could I interview you for a story? Just a short story. I love stories and Darks is so interesting," she asked a little nervously, a slight blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. She hadn't realized how embarrassing and absurd her interview idea sounded until she had said it out loud. Her eyes tore away from the man and focused on the wolf. She half wished he could say no so she didn't have to interview this man who she now realized was probably annoyed with her. However, her other half wanted to know what he would say.