Strictly Professional

At Amelia's words, Jack found herself a little surprised. Amelia was a very put together girl- she never seemed to waver in her thoughts. Jack knew, from observing her and their conversation, that Amelia did not have a charmed life. But she had figured Amelia knew what she wanted and was just working past the obstacles that kept her from getting what she wanted. However, it made more sense that she was just unsure. Jack was sure that Amelia could overcome any obstacles that came in her path if she really wanted to.

The niffler let out a little snore and Jack rolled her eyes, letting him settle back onto the ground. She had never dealt with a lazier niffler. This little guy was a bit overweight as well, which was one of the reasons she had brought him to settle at Hogwarts. The Ministry needed the top specimens and Hogwarts needed the least threatening of all creatures. He was perfect.

Amelia continued on and Jack glanced up, grinning as she watched Amelia comment on, and sort of tease, her brother's rebellious spirit. Amelia was right- many people had liked Raoul. Jack had the same spirit of rebellion and pranks, but she had made more enemies and had rarely had friends. Beyond Vito, she had never had regular company until she met Andrew and Chase. Raoul had always had a flock of admirers, of she remembered right. However, Amelia was right. Most of the professors had seemed a little relieved to see him go.

They both chuckled and then Amelia asked about Riley. Jack let her chuckles subside as she tried to think- how old was Riley? She had not seen him for so long. "Twenty, now I think," she said. "Yeah, Riley's twenty. He's a muggle, like my parents. And I don't mind you asking. My brother's age is of little consequence to anyone, I think." She grinned, because it was true, and that was sort of sad. Jack, a person that people wanted to get information on, had a whole life that no one cared about. There was something just a little sad about that.

Jack seemed to need a moment to think about how old her brother was, which indicated to Amelia that Jack’s relations with her family might have mirrored her own. It was pure speculation on Amelia’s part, and she didn’t like making assumptions because it was a lot like guessing; as a daughter of the world of intellect and rationality (not to mention an academic father), Amelia despised guessing. It was better to know for sure.

But in this case, Amelia sensed the hesitation even in Jack’s answer, and thought it might be safe to perceive that perhaps Jack wasn’t as close to her brother as she might have wanted to be… and Amelia knew all too well about that. She had a rough estimate of his age, and followed it up with his designation as a muggle. It was the second time in this conversation that Jack had mentioned her connection to muggles, a fact that many these days were beginning to hide again, which reminded Amelia distinctly of a certain period they had learned about in their history of magic courses.

“What do your parents do for a living? And Riley – what does he do?” Amelia found herself asking, finding herself getting pulled into Jack’s story. This was partially due to the fact that Amelia liked other people’s stories, and especially liked them if they kept her from having to tell her own. And also, it was partially in response to the realization that was dawning on Amelia that although she had known Jack for seven years, she knew next to nothing about her.

But that was what people did when they were trying to make friends, right? Asked people about their lives? Amelia thought she had read somewhere that that was how it was done.

Absentmindedly, Amelia uncrossed and re-crossed her legs in the opposite direction, wondering if any of her former peers had seen her in the Prophet as a new professor at Hogwarts and realized the same thing about her.

She doubted it.

Amelia seemed really curious about Jack's life now that she had opened up ever so slightly. Usually, this set Jack on edge, but it didn't bother her so much since Amelia was typcally not one to ask for information. Besides, she had shared with her, and Jack also had very few people to share with. It was sort of reassuring to have this conversation about her family as though it were commonplace. It reminded her that they, indeed, existed.

"Let's see. My father makes money, and my mother spends money. And Riley gets annoyed." She grinned. "Really, my father is some sort of broker or something. Some sort of business that he never really elaborated on. My mom dresses up and plays house and makes life difficult. Riley is supposed to be at university, but he might have dropped out. I honestly don't know what he wants to make of his life. I think he thought my parents would decide for him."

She was a little distrubed by her own response for a few reasons. First off, she hated how little her family seemed to disclose. She honestly had no real true answer to what her father did, because he had never wanted to let anyone into that part of his life. And it was always terrible thinking of her mother, but even worse remembering how much she seemed to screw them up. Had she taken up a job, they would not have struggled as much as they did. And then, of course, she was absolutely in the dark as to Riley's present goings-on. He had shut her out.

But thinking it over, it bothered her how Riley seemed so dependent on his parents for affirmation and for direction. Jack felt as though she had done everything on her own, and she had no idea if Riley had even ever had a girlfriend that he met, not that visited because her parents knew their parents. She had thought he might have his own life... Perhaps.

"What about your family? What do they do? They're all magical, right?"

Amelia nodded when Jack described her parents, taking mental notes in her file mentally labeled “Jacquellene Dylan”, which before today had been thoroughly neglected. Sure, Amelia had taken notes on what she had observed about Jack over the years – such as the fact that calling her Jaquellene had the potential to put one in serious physical danger – but this one conversation had provided her with significantly more information than she would have thought the former Gryffindor girl would have been willing to provide.

Jack’s description of her family, while differing in the details, echoed closely to what Amelia would have said about her own family. A father who worked a lot, a mother who spent more time socializing than working, and a brother who was enigmatic and not fully in the familial picture. Now didn’t that sound familiar.

“I think he’s lucky they didn’t,” Amelia responded honestly to Jack’s last comment about her brother, knowing she was showing some of her cards by saying so. Although Amelia had made a small rebellion in order to become a professor – her mother had wanted something more dignified and self-important, like a ministry position or a first chair in a symphony somewhere – there was still a lot of pressure from both her parents to go into something else. Amelia didn’t know how long she could hold out against them, because her track record didn’t really make strong promises in that arena.

A few moments passed before Amelia answered Jack’s repeat of her question. “Yes, my parents are both magical, as I’m sure they would tell you if you ever had the chance to meet them. My mother loves slipping it into conversation, probably to make up for the fact that you might not know it by her profession. She is a concert violinist, and a very in-demand one at that. She spends most of her time being impressive to concert-goers or throwing grand events to bring the best of the upper social echelon to her feet. My father is a spell researcher, mostly self-employed, but he does a lot of work for the ministry. His primary objective is to develop new spells to meet the needs of his clients.”

Amelia paused here, giving herself time to review her answer and find that it had been both adequate and honest. She had presented her parents in a clear portrait, but her description of Raoul was bound to be more vague, both out of discomfort with not having seen him in so long, and not really knowing how to answer the question in the first place.

“Last I heard, Raoul was doing freelance work as a magical creature exterminator,” Amelia said, remembering his description of de-grindylow-ing a pond for an elderly man in Scotland who just wanted to fish without fearing for his life, “It suits his lifestyle, moving around a lot, not being tied down to just one thing. Though he is thinking of trying out for a professional quidditch team, as soon as he finds one far enough away from home, that is-“

Amelia was interrupted mid-sentence by the clock on the wall behind her chiming the hour – 4:00pm – and Amelia realized that the time she had intended to spend unpacking had all been converted to time spent talking to Jack. She hadn’t even realized the time passing, which was a miracle as far as Amelia was concerned, because usually she suffered through every second of social interaction. As she turned back from the clock, she was further surprised to find herself sad to have to say her next words.

“Unfortunately, I am going to have to excuse myself now, though,” Amelia said, reaching behind her for her coat, which was hung over the back of her chair, “The Hogwarts Board of Governors had called a meeting for 4:15, and I don’t think my lateness would be excusable.”

Amelia paused a moment, unsure if she ought to say this next part, but then, upon reflecting on what she knew about friendship (precious little), she decided it was appropriate.

“Thank you for stopping by, Jack,” Amelia said, surprisingly sincere, “It was very nice reconnecting with you. Perhaps I could return the favor sometime?”

Amelia's description of her parents were very similiar to Jack's. As she tied the brief anecdote to a close, Jack commented, "Sounds like the magical, successful version of my parents." She grinned a little, even though she knew this was not the subject that too many jokes could be made about. She knew because she did not lto joke about her own parents- the frustration was too fresh for puns. But she felt that the similiarity in the situations provided some light hearted comments.

Jack really was impressed with Amelia's parents' careers. Prestigious. The kind of prestige that came from actual talent and ability, not the stinginess and cut-throat attitudes of her parents. Still, Jack also knew, from observations and comparing to her own family, that success meant other things. The love of ambitious parents was shown in strange ways, through criticism and harsh decisions, through attempts to control and change. One could always be better.

Jack had broken those in her parents. She was afraid, though, trying to break from those constraints had appeared as more. And there had been the miscommunications. And more than contraints had been broken, but the love that had been the binding had been frayed and harmed, until she left. And then it had been broken for itself too. Not perhaps from her father, maybe not even her mother, but definitely her brother.

Jack was almost stunned by how similiar Raoul's careers had been to hers. Both had went into creatures, and Jack herself had been recruited by a professional Quidditch team. It had hurt more than anything to tell the Falmouth Falcons that she could not join that season- her own guilt and sense of obligation prevented her. Still, she found it interesting.

She opened her mouth to comment that Jack may be interested in using Raoul's services at the Ministry, they were always looking for freelancers to do some of the work they could not get to (they got paid well, but did not recieve health benefits nor an obligation to the Ministry), but a bell rang which stirred Amelia back into the world of work.

"Ah, have to love the board," Jack said. "And they are so easy to deal with." She smirked, having learned from experience that any Board of the Anything was a right pain in the arse. She stood, gathering her things and tucking her furry companion under her arm. Before she could leave, Amelia thanked her for stopping by and asked to see her. Jack grinned. "Anytime, Amelia. That'd be great."