Second Glances, Second Chances

Khaat had taken Abbey and had escaped the rigors of the demands of St. Mungos for an evening. The hospital was full of people with the illness, and Michael had asked her for an evening with him. A quiet dinner. Just her and Brian and Abbey. And, of course, Brian was running late.

It was getting dark as Khaat arrived in Hogsmeade. The streets of the little town were deserted. It was eerie. Too quiet. She wrapped Abbey closer to her under her tan trench coat. She walked the streets alone, her heels making a steady tap, tap, tap on the pavement. She was not usually afraid, but tonight she was wishing she had ported in a bit closer to Michael's.

Abbey giggled under Khaat's coat.

"Mama! Pretty!" Abbey laughed. She looked to see that the green stone on her necklace was starting to glow green. She stopped short and looked around. She was starting to get the smell of wet dog in her nose. Werewolf. And he was close. Or he was big. One or the other. And then she heard the deep, sinister laugh of James Blood. It made her blood run cold. She ducked into Honeydukes and levitated Abbey down into the tunnel in the basement and hid her there in a wooden crate. She dashed out the back door and narrowly missed Blood's claws as they took a swipe at her face.

"Go on!" he shouted. "Run! You can't outrun a werewolf, you puny human!" He was right. She couldn't. But she could surely lure him away from Abbey. Blood had been chasing her for months. She had always had her guards to keep her safe. But now, it was Blood, Khaat, and her stone. And that was about it. But if it kept Abbey safe, then it was worth it.

Faith always found herself in odd places when she read. It had been a Hogsmeade day that day, and while most people had gone home, Faith had found herself under the protective eye of the owner of Honeydukes, a lovely man, who had a lovely wife, and they had a lovely home above the shop. Because so few people came in here anymore, Faith had set up shop, actively watching the cash register, while at the same time reading. It had been super quiet for an hour or so, when Faith had decided the position she was reading in was super uncomfortable, so Faith found herself laying the floor behind the counter, legs propped up against the wall, holding her book above her head, snacking on a licorice wand as she read her book.

It was getting late, but Faith really didn't care, she was really into her book, learning about a potion that made your hair change colors depending on your mood for three days after you took the potion. It was very interesting of a story on how the potion had come to be, and she was just getting to some of the main ingredients, when she heard the door open, someone sounded out of breath. Stretching, Faith went to stand up, when suddenly she saw a face, with a child, and the child was floating.

Faith watched in silence as the woman floated the child down the stairs and into the basement, before running off again. Faith waited until the door closed before she stood up and set her book down. She stared at the door, waiting for the woman to come back, before sighing and heading downstairs to where the little girl was. "Hey.." She said crouching down in front of her. "What's your name?" The little girl was sucking her thumb, looking frightened. "Abbey.." She whispered, looking up at Faith, and smiling. "Aww, come here Abbey.. let's see if we can find out where your mum ran off to okay?" Faith said with a smile, picking up the little girl.

Walking up the stairs, Faith held the girl protectively, she was scared, and Faith wasn't quite sure why. "What happened honey.. can you tell me?" Faith asked, getting to the top of the stairs and heading towards the front of the shop. "Doggie got Mama.." She said softly, looking shy and absolutely adorable. "Well I'm sure she'll be okay.. let's see if she's outside okay?" Faith said and opened the front door, stepping out onto the street with Abbey still in her arms.

Khaat had taken to running into the woods, hopelessly trying to hide in the trees. Blood would surely not only outrun her but he certainly could smell her scent, her perfume. Her necklace wasn't helping. It was glowing brighter, and it was starting to screech. Damnit. She needed stealth. Not for it to be broadcasting where she was.

Meanwhile, Brian had finally gotten off work and had ported to Hogsmeade with a large bouquet of spring flowers and another that was little more than a small nosegay of spring flowers. The larger one was for Khaat and the smaller one was for Abbey--for her birthday. But when he got to Hogsmeade, he didnt see them. He went up the walk to Michael's and was about to knock when Michael opened the door.

"You're all late," Michael said.

"What?" Brian asked. "Khaat's not here?"

"No. Should she be?"

"She most certainly should be!" Brian knew something was seriously wrong. Michael grabbed his jacket. Brian ran as fast as his feet could carry him back to the Hogsmeade main street.

"Daddy!" he heard Abbey's voice. He spun around and saw Chase with Abbey. Chase? Where had she come from? And where was Khaat. He ran down the street.

"Chase," he was relieved to see Abbey was safe. "Thank God. Where's Khaat?"

"Not C'ase," Abbey giggled. "Candy lady."

"Did she give you candy?" Brian managed a laugh. He could see Chase spoiling Abbey like that.

"No. No, Daddy. Not C'ase. Candy lady."

"Abbey, where's Mama?" Brian asked. Abbey shrugged. She didn't know.

"Doggie," Abbey said, her delight at seeing her daddy now gone.

"Doggie? What doggie?" Brian frowned.

"Bad doggie," Abbey said unhappily, playing with a button on Chase's shirt.

"Oh God," Brian said, feeling as if all the blood was rushing away from him at once, driven out by fear of losing her.

Faith stood holding Abbey when suddenly some man ran up saying something about a chase.. "Is someone in trouble? Getting chased around or something?" Faith looked around the road, and then back at the man, but she was confused, very, very confused. The man was talking to Abbey, and Abbey kept calling her the candy lady. Sure she had been working, but she hadn't given the girl anything.. but the man looked only at the girl, and Faith was having a hard time figuring out what the hell was going on.

"Okay.. back up here okay? I'm just sitting inside Honeydukes, reading my book, and some lady comes in, levitates her child down the stairs and into the basement, I go down there.. she say some doggie got her mom.. so I pick her up, come outside, and you start yelling weird things about a chase.." She said staring at the man looking horribly confused. "I don't know about any chase's around here.. but that woman obviously just kinda left her daughter in the basement of a candy shop.. she's lucky I was there.." Faith said, readjusting Abbey on her hip and looking at the man.

He looked pale, and she sighed. "Do you want me to watch her for a bit? I can take care of her.. I'm just inside Honeydukes.. I can keep her there until you find that Khaat woman.." She said, raising her eyebrows and flicking her red hair out of her face, staring at the man who looked panic-stricken.

What? Brian frowned. Had she lost her mind? Surely Chase had had a head injury or something. Was it safe to leave Abbey with a woman with no memory?

"Abbey's my daughter," Brian said. "Khaat is her mother. And that bad doggie that Abbey is talking about is a werewolf bent on killing simply because he can. Go inside and lock the door. Don't open it for anyone. Seal up the back door and the basement door so that nobody can use that tunnel. If he breaks in, don't you hesitate--use the killing curse because your life will depend on it." He showed her his Ministry auror identification. "Consider it a Ministry order if you need to."

Khaat would never leave Abbey behind. Not unless it was too dangerous to take her with her." He dug in his pocket and put a large handful of galleons in it. "Here. Anything she wants. And don't give her to anyone but me or...or..Michael. The old fart that comes in and buys ridiculous quantities of fudge on almost a daily basis? Him. Nobody else. One of us will be back."

At that point, Brian didn't expect that they both would be back. Not alive anyway. He paused and looked at her and brushed Abbey's hair, hoping it wasnt' the last time.

"Thank you," Brian said. He'd have to see to Chase's head injury or whatever it was later. Right now he had to go werewolf hunting.

What the hell had she stumbled into? Faith stared at the man with shock as he explained all of this to her very quickly, some werewolf was tracking down some woman named Khaat, and now she had to go inside and lock the door and she had an order to kill some werewolf if he tried to break in. Her head was swimming as he handed her a bunch of coins and said something about a man who buys a lot of fudge.

Faith's mind was racing as she took the coins and essentially said goodbye to his daughter. There was really no time for questions, so she turned around, taking the little girl with her, and closed up the front door. She locked it with a tap of her wand, and then set Abbey on the ground, and disappeared off into the basement to lock the tunnel as well. Levitating a huge stack of crates and putting it on top of the trapdoor.

Going back upstairs, Faith pulled Abbey to the counter and picked her up, setting her on top of it. "Okay.. how about you answer some questions for me okay? Can you do that?" Faith picked up a lollipop from the counter and handed it to Abbey, smiling as she stood up straight, looking down at the little girl. "Who was that man? And what was it he was calling me? You said I was the candy lady like he was calling me some other name.." She said, trying to sound nice, but being very confused, hoping the child would be able to answer her questions.

"Daddy," Abbey said, nodding. She saw a copy of the Daily Prophet under the counter and she saw a photo on the front. She drew out the newspaper. She pointed to the picture of her grandfather. "Papa! My papa!" She listened to the girl asking her about the names.

She pointed to the candy and then to the girl "Candy lady. Not Case. Case go bye bye. Uncca Re-Re say she go bye bye." She pulled herself to her feet by using the edge of the counter. She peered over the counter and was dazzled by all the candy. "Candy!" she said, awestruck. "I get candy?" she asked, wide eyed.

Meanwhile, Brian had made a dash back towards Michael's house. He didn't see Michael anywhere. And then he heard loud high pitched shrieking. It was so high pitched, it hurt his ears. But he knew the sound well. It was the necklace's protection charm. Khaat was somehow face to face with a werewolf. The sound was coming from the woods. He saw a glint of a concentrated beam of bright green light from deep within the trees. There was no time to lose. He apparated to the edge of the woods.

"Brian!" he heard Michael shouting for him.

"Ah.. okay so that was your daddy.. alright." She said smiling at the little girl. One of the most reliable people to ask questions to were children, especially around Abbey's age, because then they would tell the truth, they didn't know any better than to tell the truth, so Faith wouldn't be getting contaminated information. Looking at the daily prophet that the little girl picked up, her eyes widened. "That's your.. your papa?" She said, staring at the image, before watching the girl stand up. She held out her hands to make sure she wouldn't fall off the counter, before she frowned.

"Case went bye-bye? Wait.. Case.. that guy said Chase.. Chase? Is that right?" Faith shook her head and sighed. Whoever the hell this Chase girl was, they thought she was her.. must be similar looking.. She didn't know who Uncle Rei-Rei was.. but she could ask the man and woman later, wherever they ran off to anyway.

Faith grinned at the little girl who looked absolutely dazzled by all the Candy. "Sure why not.. your daddy paid for you to get some.. pick out whatever you want.. here, there's lots so let's go look around okay?" She said and lifted the girl off the counter, setting her on the ground, and holding her hand as she walked her to a wall just filled with candy. "Gotta be careful you don't eat to much okay? Don't want a belly ache!" She giggled and started to pick out candy with the little girl.

Abbey nodded when she asked about Papa. Abbey adored her papa. "Papa makes boo boos better," she nodded. "Papa reads me books." She looked and saw the stacks of schoolbooks on the floor where the Candy Lady had been reading. Abbey went back to the books and began looking through the books. She looked through one, closed it and pushed it aside. When she went through the second book, she stopped at a page and got excited. "Look! Uncca Re-Re!" She pointed to a photo of her uncle in the history of magic textbook. Then the smell of chocolate from the fresh fudge making in the back. "Candy," she said, becoming unfocused on the picture to go find candy.

She walked around the counter. "Case...stay with daddy and mama and me. I was little," she said. "She not stay now. She go see Uncca Re-Re. He say she not come back." She saw all the endless rows of candy and found chocolate kitties. "Kitties!" She pointed. "I get kitties?"

Papa.. her PAPA was the Minister of Magic! Her mother... that meant that the lady who had dropped this little girl off.. was the head of St. Mungos.. Khaat Lupin! Her uncle.. she heard the little girl exclaim that she saw her Uncle Re-Re.. Faith fell to the floor next to her and looked at the picture. "Remus Lupin.." She whispered, her hand touching the book silently as she heard the little girl go off again. These people.. these people who thought she was someone else.. were people in such high standing.. people who were rich, and famous, and did wonderful things for the world, and Faith was taking care of her daughter..

She heard Abbey say something about kitties, and she stood up, seeing her pointing at chocolate kitties. "Oh yeah sure." she went over to the box, and sat down by Abbey, holding the box with the little chocolate kitty inside. "She purrs inside your tummy." She said with a giggle as she opened the box and handed the little sculptured kitty to the girl. It was an adorable little treat, and as happy as the little girl made her with her short attention span, talkative nature, and adorable giggle, Faith kept glancing at the door, hoping any moment they would come back in and tell her what the hell was going on.

"When you say she's gone honey.. does that mean she's gone.. to heaven?" she asked gently, smiling at the little girl as she folded the box up in her hands and flattened her robes carefully, smiling at the girl. "If she's gone.. why did they think I was her honey?" She asked looking at the door and then back at the little girl, confused.