Picking Up the Newest Troublemaker

Jack was going to knock someone out if this was a prank.

Jack was almost ninety-nine percent sure she had no more family than the family she knew about. Her grandparents were all retired in Florida; her parents were hording their precious possessions in Ireland; her brother and his baby daddy were attempting to survive in a small flat somewhere; Elliot was decomposing in St. Michael's Cemetery; and Chip was dead as far as Jack knew. The only family Jack was in constant contact with was her dear niece, who was currently being babysat by Josie Carmichael from down the street.

So, it seemed perfectly impossible that Jack should get a call saying that the Ministry was currently holding her underage cousin in their custody. No matter how much she had argued on the phone, they would not give her more information, but simply demanded she come down to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and pick up her cousin.

Jack had quickly called Kirsty in to cover her at the store, and then made her way to the Ministry. She signed in with the security wizard, who raised an eyebrow when she said she was here to pick up some cousin of hers. "Oh. She's related to you, huh?" He weighed Jack's wand, shaking his head. "She's an interesting one, that. I saw her get brought in." He handed her the wand. "Good luck." Jack narrowed her eyes at him and continued on, unperturbed about the coming challenge before her.

She walked down the familiar halls of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, heading into the wing dedicated to the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. She stopped as she reached Dennis Mitchell's office, She glanced at the door, which read, Dennis Mitchell, Magical Minors Division before knocking three times on it.

Charlie was a bit pissed off. But more than that she was disappointed with herself for actually letting them catch up to her again. Stuck here in this confined office with the sweaty, slightly overweight, Dennis Mitchell was not her favorite way to spend the morning. Charlie drummed her fingers on the desk, filling the silent room with a small amount of noise. Pat pat pat pat pat pat pat. She hadn't said anything in awhile, no, she had done enough snarling and yelling when they first brought her back. She had already asked the questions and demanded answers and threatened the head of the department. There was nothing more to say until her ride arrived.

Now, this was something Charlie had not anticipated. A ride. It was sheer luck really, that the Ministry had pieced together the muggle Chip's family history and connected her to the last living people on Earth that seemed to share her DNA. And not just any relative, not just any cousin, a witch. It was such good luck. Charlie had to admit that she was curious about the woman that was about to walk through the door. Dennis had told her next to nothing and Charlie didn't like waiting for surprises. They put her on edge. She just hoped that this cousin wasn't too mean or strict, but even if she was Charlie was still getting out on a good deal.

Now that the adrenaline of running had worn off Charlie was beginning to realize what a bad decision the whole thing had been. She wouldn't have been able to return to Hogwarts in the fall or the fall after that. Forget families and normal relationships. She had just been scared and panicked in a moment of weakness, jumping on impulse rather than think it through like she always did. And even though it had been a bad idea, look at where it had got her. Somewhere seemingly okay. Better than the orphanage at least.

Charlie's thoughts were interrupted by three knocks on the door. Immediately she stopped tapping her fingers and looked up at Dennis. He eyed her unhappily and grumbled "Try not to do anything weird. We've only got one shot at this." One shot at what? Getting rid of me? Charlie ignored him for the most part, not even giving him an eye roll. Dennis moved to the door at what felt like a snails pace, opening it and greeting the woman behind it. "Thank you for coming Miss Dyllan." When Charlie couldn't take waiting any more she turned around in her chair to get a look at her mysterious cousin.

She couldn't help it, a smile came on to her face. The woman was young, probably not too much older than herself, and had flaming red hair. Charlie sat up a bit straighter, taking her appearance in and sizing her up just a little bit. After all, she was about her become her new mum.

The door opened before her and Jack found herself face to face with the sweaty brow of Dennis Mitchell. "Mitchell!" She announced, distaste evident in her tone and her grimace. "I'd say its been too long but... then I'd be lying." Jack was very familiar with the people of the department. She had been in and out of it often when Nemo had headed it, and had even had to work there for a month as punishment. She remembered Mitchell. He had been one of those insufferable people who followed every bit of protocol to the T, regardless of the circumstance.

She crossed her arms. "So what us this? Some ploy to get me back in her so you can nail me with some illegal broom parking tickets? Or did I forget to initial my tax forms? Or are you just going to beg for be to come work for you. I already told you where you can shove that job-"

"Ms Dyllan," he repeated. "I assure you. This is no ploy."

He turned, revealing a school age girl. Jack would guess the girl was anywhere from three to five years younger than herself. Jack deflated a bit. So, it wasn't a prank. Still, Jack had no proof this girl was related to her.

"Look. All of my tolerable family spare my niece is dead, so-"

Dennis handed over a file, saying, "You're father's brother Chip Is currently presumed dead, yes?"

"Yes."

"We'll, with her mother gone, and her father MIA, Charlotte is quite without a place to stay, and without a guardian." Jack flipped through the file, checking the results of the DNA tests. The tricky bastard had another secret family no one knew of. And it seemed unavoidable - the other redhead was family. Mitchell continued on. "We naturally bypassed your other family as they were flagged as magical intolerant from the last time they were involved with the Ministry."

"That's one way to put it," Jack muttered, still looking over the paperwork. She finally looked up at Mitchell. "So, how come she was so suddenly dragged in here. Why wasn't this handled more smoothly?"

Charlotte waited and listened, her posture relaxed but her mind racing. She had untwisted her waist and now faced forward again to give an air of indifference for Mitchell's benefit. She wasn't naive. She knew how delicate this situation was and how it could be ripped out from under her at any moment. Right now it was clear that the Ministry weren't her biggest fans and Charlie wasn't sure if their desire to have her gone would outweigh their desire to deny her this small victory.

Maybe she was being paranoid, but who wouldn't be after the last two months?

"Why wasn't this handled more smoothly?" Charlie's stomach lurched, remembering exactly what she had done to get here. Mitchell looked visibly uncomfortable and shifted his weight from between his feet, trying to come up with an appropriate response. "Um, well, we did handle it." Charlie knew how much he hated looking incompetent but he was doing a mighty good job of it right now. "We called you as soon as we realized. She was just taken in on Thursday, anyway. Hasn't been here long."

Taken in. It took Mitchell a moment to consider his word choice, at which point he winced slightly. Charlie's arrest had been tactfully left out of her public file. Besides, it hadn't exactly been an arrest, just an armed escort back to the Ministry after breaking the law. But she was a minor and these things could be explained away and erased from Ministry responsibility.

A small part of Charlie was proud of the amount of sweat she had caused Mitchell in the last week. She was powerful enough to have a red label 'dangerous' next to her file in with the other runaways. Dangerous. A small little underage girl like her. Charlie didn't want to hurt people and felt terrible for having hurt the young man, probably changing him into a werewolf just like his attacker. But she couldn't deny.. she liked feeling this powerful. Mitchell didn't like her, not one bit, but even he had to respect her when one person had caused this much stir in the small office.

Charlie's back was still facing the door and she sat up a little straighter in the rock hard chair. For the first time she had to consider the possibility that her newfound relative wouldn't accept her once she found out what Charlie had done. Most sensible adults wouldn't.

Jack didn't care what sort of kid was being held by the Ministry of Ministry - she knew the way the organisation worked, and everything was inefficiency to the ten-thousandth power. Whatever this girl, her cousin, had done, she was sure the Ministry was either handling it with more care than necessary, or they had been utterly negligent in their handling of the situation. She doubted they had dealt with the young redhead in the most appropriate degree possible - and especially so if Dennis Mitchell were involved.

"I didn't ask if it was handled, I asked why it was handled so haphazardly," Jack said shortly. "Why I wasn't notified immediately, I do not know. Why I was not notified when another member of my family, especially a witch among a family of muggles, I do not know. What I do know is that someone messed up. And what I do know is that I see you right here." She paused, in which Dennis shifted, his eyes darting towards Charlie, his face turning a bit red. He opened his mouth to retort and Jack put up a hand, "I'll leave you be - it's not like I expected more."

She glanced up and smirked. "Kidding, Mitchell. You know I'm mad about you." She rolled her eyes and looked down at the file, beginning to scan the more interesting issues. She looked up, her eyebrows up, looking straight at her cousin for the first time. "You're fluffy, yes?" She said, "You know... I specialized in werewolf relations at the Ministry." She looked down and saw some of the responses from professors at school, claiming she was clever but wasn't the most well-behaved. Jack grinned, "Our files are similar - perhaps we are related." 

She looked up at Dennis sharply. "So, now what. I'm her only relation?"

He nodded, still looking flustered.

Jack nodded thoughtfully, before looking at Dennis. "So? That it? Can we go?" She looked to the girl. "Charlotte? I'm Jack. I hope you're okay with kids and animals."

And just like that it was over. They could go.

"It's Charlie." she corrected, standing up from her chair and grabbing a medium sized suitcase that carried every possession she owned in this world. A single stem of her creeping vine was trying to wiggle it's way out of the zipper on the side. You're fluffy, yes? Charlie couldn't help but grin at this description. It had never been put quite that way before. Yes, she was fluffy. And claw-y. And teeth-y. When Jack described what her job had been at the Ministry, Charlie was surprised that she had never met her before. Throughout her Hogwarts years (especially early on) she had spent quite a bit of time in that department as she learned the rules and regulations that were in place.

"Sounds fine to me." she nodded in approval. She got along quite fine with animals, enjoying Care of Magical Creatures only behind Herbology. Children were the more questionable subject. The incoming first years each year were the youngest people she dealt with and Charlie felt pretty uncomfortable with babies and toddlers. She worried when she was around any person who couldn't completely take care of themselves. But if Jack had kids then Charlie wasn't stupid enough to make a comment that would jeopardize her staying there.

Despite all of the research the Ministry had done into the Dyllan family over the last couple weeks, they had neglected to tell Charlie almost anything. She knew that Jack was her cousin on her father's side but as for the rest of the family she had been told nothing. The brief mention of Jack's parents had sparked her interest. Magically intolerant? Charlie wondered if they were muggles too, just like her parents. That had been another mystery in Charlie's life - why she was a witch. Being put in a room with her newly discovered family brought back up old questions and she had to bite her tongue not to spit them all out at once.

Just as she was about to walk out of the door Charlie turned back to Mitchell and gave him a little wave, a clearly fake smile plastered on her face. "Bye Dennis! It's been fun." she called back sarcastically.

The door swung shut behind the redheaded pair and Charlie let out a viable sigh of relief. She was really out. With Mitchell finally out of the picture it felt like there was so much more freedom in her life. She turned to Jack, making eye contact with her cousin for the first time. "Thank you for doing this. I won't be trouble, I promise. I'll be out of your hair as soon as I can." Charlie knew what a burden taking her in would be for the young woman and now worried that she would be kicked out again. She couldn't take being kicked out of yet another place. This was her last resort. There was no where else to go.

Jack smiled and nodded, repeating the name. "Charlie." Oh goodness. If Elliot were here, what would he say? The two had been close even though they had been so different in temperament. He had often said the world was lucky there were only two of her, for any more would surely spin the world off course. But, this girl even looked a tad like her when she had been that age. Though it was undeniable that she had Elliot's large eyes and graceful brow, a bit like their father.

The thoughts of Elliot and Chip suddenly sobered her, for she realized the toll her family had taken. She liked to think Chip was on some tropical island with a new name and plenty of entertainment for himself. She wasn't sure what Charlie knew of their family but she surely would find mostly disappointment in their family tree. All were either gone or as good as. The girl wasn't connecting with a tight knit, happy family, but one wracked with death and detachment.

Dennis seemed flustered, like he wanted to say something but was afraid no good could come of his attempting to make the situation any better. His instinct here was right, for Jack would never ease up on the man. She strode out with another dangerous glance, managing to overhear Charlie's little departing remark to the man. Jack smirked despite herself and closed the door after the younger redhead.

Charlie immediately got to business and Jack stared at her for a moment before breaking the silence with, "Bullshit. You're a Dyllan. I'm anticipating trouble." Jack smirked and said, "Alright. Quick facts. I own a shop in Diagon, so you'll be helping with that on occasion. My niece Sunny lives with me, and she helps. She's six - my brother's daughter. I also play Quidditch so there are times where I'm gone. But my roommate is almost competent at running house, so long as Sunny doesn't take control. We also have a boy about your age staying with us - he's a werewolf, so rest assured, you'll be taken care of in that respect. You follow?"

Some quick facts about me? Every relative I've ever known is dead and I'm really sorry if I bring some crazy bad luck and you're next. It's nice to meet you.

Charlie listened to Jack's quick speech with her eyebrows raised at the slight angle. Okay, yes, there was the slightest bit of family resemblance. The bordering on exasperated way she talked about people, as if it was more work to babysit them than just do the job herself. Charlie was painfully aware of how similar she sounded on occasion.

"So you'll be taken care of in that sense." Charlie wondered how much her file showed Jack. As a werewolf she had always been monitored and almost always been labeled as at risk because of her entirely muggle surroundings while not at Hogwarts. She knew how much had been blacked out for the Ministry's protection. It looked bad to have a kid under their jurisdiction that had maimed a man to the brink of bleeding to death. Bad for publicity. Foreign relations, even. Made you look sloppy.

But what Jack said about the other boy had peaked her interest. Charlie wondered if she knew him. The community of teenage werewolves was small and surprisingly tight knit. Similar to a brotherhood. Or a twisted cult. "I follow." she said with a shrug and a easy smile. "I've got quite a supply of wolfsbane with me too. But it's always nice to have some company." Charlie paused, as if considering wether to add her next sentence. "Actually, I've been experimenting with growing my own wolfsbane this summer. When I get back to school I've got this friend who's a potions wiz. He agreed to help me try and brew some of my own." A light entered Charlie's eyes whenever she discussed agriculture, but specifically this project with Mclaggan. She knew the dangers of such a complex potion gone wrong but couldn't bring herself to care. It was just so.. exciting.

The younger girl did not turn and run for the hills as most would certainly have done. Jack found that she was becoming more and more easy as she found the girl seemed to get along well her with her own personality. It was the same with Sunny - the meeting with the little girl had been absolutely easy. They had just seemed to get along, naturally meshed, and jumped jumped into their acquaintanceship without hesitation. This situation was a tad more tentative as it had been completely unplanned, even moreso than Sunny's arrival, but they were doing well considering the surprising circumstances.

Jack nodded as Charlie informed her she had wolfsbane. "Good - I do have quite a store as there are a few werewolves who I sort of sponsor in that way, but it's good to know you know how to get your own as well." She listened with interest as the girl explained her own experiments - it was naturally very frowned upon to use Wolfsbane not brewed by a potionsmaster, but Jack did not care so long as it worked. "I'd like to look into your version. I could help you brew, I just want to make sure your time under the moon is safe." Jack paused. "So... anything you'd like to tell me, or anything you'd like to know? I'm sure once we get home you'll start to figure out that we're just normal people trying to survive and enjoy the process - nothing special."