Eis Estate

“I really can’t stay….”

Sunny woke up in the large bedroom that had been her home for two and a half weeks now and no longer felt the strange confusion that awaking in a place other than Layabout Lane had previously incited. The room was chilly but, before she could even complain, one of the free house elves who were paid to maintain the home tottered in and lit a fire. Sunny sat up and waved at Topsy, rubbing her eyes with one of her balled fists, as she yawned a cattish yawn.

“I’ve got to go away…”

Sunny wriggled her toes, which were clad in thick socks, as the big stone estate often got frigid during the nights. Topsy hurried over to Sunny to help her out of bed. “Miss, you left your clothes out last night. Is this what you want to wear?” Sunny nodded, yawning out the word “yes” as Topsy began unbuttoning the blouse and pants, while Sunny quickly shed her pajamas. The six year old slipped into her clothes and then pulled on some shoes – stone floors meant she could not run around barefoot as she typically chose to do.

“This evening has been…”

Topsy quickly brushed through Sunny’s hair as the little redhead carefully tied her sneaker’s laces. Once she was all made up for the day, Topsy began pushing her towards the large, grad door that led to outer corridor that connected to the rest of the home. “Miss Sunny can go downstairs to have breakfast with Mistress Jack. Mistress is making a small feast as we speak – she told me not to wake you, but you have been sleeping later and later and I see that it distresses Mistress ever so slightly, so you must go downstairs soon – and you must sleep more during the nights, if Topsy may say so, yes, miss.”

“So very nice…”

Sunny suddenly turned and grabbed the elf’s shoulders. “Topsy – have I gotten any mail?”

“Mail, miss?” Topsy repeated. Sunny’s head wobbled and Topsy shook her own, her ears flapping. “No, miss. But why would Miss Sunny receive mail? Mistress said Mistress Jack and Miss Sunny were not to be contacting people outside of Eis Estate?” Topsy suddenly gasped. “Miss Sunny has sent a letter, outside of Mistress’ permission! Ooh, Miss Sunny!”

“I ought to say no, no, no, no…”

Sunny gripped the elf’s shoulders tighter. “Topsy – I forbid you from saying anything about any mail, unless it is to tell me, when I’m all by myself, that I have gotten a letter. Okay?”

“Miss Sunny-“

“Aren’t you paid to take orders from whoever sleeps in this room?”

Topsy gave Sunny a look of irritation and frustration, but she drew her lips into a thin line, turned on her heel, and walked out of the room. Sunny let out a long sigh and turned, walking out after her. Her footsteps clattered on the stone as she thought of the letter she had snuck off to Max, pleading with him to visit Eis Estate soon, as she was terribly worried, and dreadfully bored. If Max could not make her feel any better, she did not know of anyone who possibly could reassure her.

“At least I’m going to say that I tried…”

Sunny hopped down the curving set of stairs that led to the bottom floor, passing wreaths and lights and hung stockings. If her aunt had not broken the bank renting Eis Estate for the past few weeks, she was surely putting herself in debt with all of the Christmas decorations. Sunny came to the bottom of the stairs and entered the main room of the estate, where a large twenty foot tree stood center, decorated with humming instruments, woodland creatures, fairies, and real icicles. Sunny gave it a wide berth, for it had been decorated by a singing, smiling Jack – a Jack that Sunny was not sure she trusted.

“I really can’t stay…”

Speaking of a singing Jack.

Sunny quickly jogged to the country-style, eat-in kitchen, where Jack was currently laying out a feast of waffles, pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, orange juice, and milk, as house elves darted around her, cleaning up after her.

“Baby it’s cold outside." Jack lifted her head and her eyes fell on her niece. Her eyes lit up with joy and a smile unfurled on her face. "Sunny!”

Sunny grimaced. “Hi, Aunt Jack.”

“Sit down and eat some breakfast.” Sunny sighed and obeyed.

She sure hoped Max would respond soon.

Maximus Morrison's life was coming apart so quickly and with such grace that all he could do was sit back and laugh. This last summer had been one of the most memorable of his life. Finally moving to a new home, slowly but steadily moving up at work, and generally moving forward. But now? Well everything was going to shit, wasn't it?

Max folded the letter closed, creasing the paper in his slender hands. He had read over its sloppy and confusing contents at least six times, trying to work out any possible details that he could have missed. But no matter how often he scanned the child's scrawled handwriting no deeper meanings jumped out at him. Sunny was not one for subtlety - if she said she wanted him to come she wanted him to come. But Max knew if he really did travel to see the young girl his arrival might not be welcomed by all Dyllans. Jack had purposely left the house without a word to him and Max doubted that it had been an oversight.

Living at Layabout Lane alone had been a surreal experience. It was hauntingly quiet without Sunny's chatter, Jack's curses, and the constant noise of the pets. Only the rattling pipes remained to keep Max company by the fire at night. In a selfish way it was nice at times. He had the freedom to read a newspaper without it being snatched and could sleep in those extra five minutes without Sunny jumping on his bed to wake him. But there were also noticeable absences. The lack of brewing coffee in the morning was particularity startling and when Max stepped on a rogue crayon on the ground a little pang of distress always shot through him.

As strange as it was, he missed the clinically-insane-spitfire-tempted-amazingly-loud Dyllan girls. They were as much of Layabout as the house was.

Max slipped Sunny's letter into his inner clock pocket and stepped out into the cobbled street. A bitter winter breeze whipped at his face and stung his nose a faint red as he walked. While not one to normally accessorize, Max did have a black scarf wrapped around his neck in a last ditch effort to hold the heat against his body. It was winter.

As he walked down the muggle lane Max's thoughts drifted to his sister cooped up in Hogwarts. The young girl had written him earlier in the week describing even more of her roommates having to leaving Hufflepuff Commons to stay in the Couples Quarters. She had joked that she would probably be next but Max found no humor in her comments. With Jack having disappeared he no longer had to listen to a verbal assault of the Ministry and the ridiculousness of the law. Without the constant rants about overthrowing the government he had been left to his head, the thoughts sitting and festering in his brain. The anger that sometimes cropped up as he lay awake at night surprised and worried him. Never before had he felt less at peace. But then again, Maisie had always been safe.

Max had worked his way down the street and slipped into an ally where he mustered up his courage and apperated with a pop. When he opened his eyes he was standing before what looked like a castle. The towers had a picturesque coat of snow and lights were visible in some of the windows. It was early still.. just about the time he would normally be arriving at work. But he had done almost nothing since he had received Sunny's letter the night before. His mind had been spinning too much to eat more than a bowl of cereal at some horrid hour of the night/morning.

Sleep had enjoyed abandoning Maximus as of late.

For a moment he considered turning back (this was a bad idea, surely) but with another breath of courage he approached the large doors. Upon reaching them he knocked as loudly as he could, hoping that the sound would carry through the insanely large home. Max couldn't imagine either of the Dyllan girls staying (or wanting to stay) in some place so extravagant. Maybe Sunny had sent him on a wild goose chase. A last adventure for the two of them to have, even if it wasn't together.

Sunny pushed herself onto a bench as Jack approached, finishing setting the places at the table. Mongo and Fred darted through the kitchen, yowling and screeching and raising a fuss. Sunny put her elbows on the table, dropped her temples onto her palms, and glared down at the table, taking a long breath in before slowly releasing it out of her mouth in a shuddering sigh. Jack curled her arms around the small girl’s shoulders and pet her hair. “What’s wrong, duck? I made you some bacon pancakes – just for you.” Sunny just sighed again. Jack ticked her head. “Sunny – what’s wrong?”

Sunny steamed. Sunny fumed. There were so many things wrong and she knew she shouldn’t be upset. It was almost Christmas. She had a fun, new place to explore – it was practically a castle… she was going to call it a castle. She had her aunt, her pets, her toys, her books, her things. She had free reign in the estate. She didn’t have to go to school. Sunny Thomas-Dyllan had no reason to be at all upset with her current predicament. She should have been overjoyed, really.

But she wasn’t.

What’s wrong? Why aren’t we in our real home, in our real homes, surrounded by our real family? Why can’t we be with Max? Why are you pretending like you aren’t sad and angry? Why aren’t you acting like you’re in charge of me, like you’re supposed to make sure I’m doing everything I hate to do but need to do? Why are you okay paying mean, rich people to live in their pretty but too big house? Why are you acting like everything is okay and normal when we’ve never been normal, and we’ve rarely been okay? What’s wrong is you’re acting like there’s nothing wrong.

Sunny slammed her hands down on the table and looked up at her aunt, who seemed taken aback – she looked at Sunny as though she was seeing her niece for the first time in a month. But as they stared, they were interrupted by a knock at the door. The redheads’ whipped their heads towards the source of the noise. There was the gasps of the house elves echoing throughout the hallways and Sunny quickly realized that if she didn’t act now, she may not be able to open the doors – may not be able to greet the outer world.

Sunny stood in her chair and lept over the back of it. She quickly ran out of the room, turned down the hallway and ran to the door. She quickly undid the deadbolts, pushing Topsy and Coppo away as they tried to fight her. The small child yanked the door open and saw, right there on her doorstep, the one man she had hoped to see. A true, genuine smile cracked onto the little girl’s face – the first in weeks. And she flung herself into his arms.

There was a nerve-wreckingly long pause as Max waited for any noise or movement within the house. He lifted his hand to knock again, certainty that he had made a mistake and this was the wrong house filling his mind. Before his hand could come down on the wood again the door was swung open. For a second it seemed as if no one was there and then he looked down to find one of the people he most wanted to see.

She flung herself into his arms, relief and warmth flooding into his chest. "Sunny" he mumbled, just for the pure joy at her actually being there. Max held the small girl to his chest, supporting her up at his height. He knew he was squeezing her but after almost a month apart he couldn't quite bring himself to let her go. Max pressed a kiss to the curls on Sunny's head, her familiar warmth soaking into him. The hole that had been in his stomach since their disappearance was momentarily forgotten.

Max didn't really understand the connection he felt to the young girl. Beyond his sister and her friends he had never taken much interest in children. Then he had met Sunny and he had discovered she was one of the most intelligent and mature people he had ever known, even among adults. With every pillow fort, coloring book session, and ostrich debate they had grown closer and he had come to care for her as if she was his own blood.

Gingerly, Max set Sunny down and then crouched down slightly himself, so they were closer to the same height. "Is your aunt here, Sunshine?" he asked her, tenderness filling his tone. Though the last thing he wanted to do at this moment was separate from the little girl who had become a light in his life, he knew he had to talk to the women who had taken her away. There was something completely and utterly wrong about what had happened and Max needed, well, understanding.

Unfortunately understanding was was the one thing he had never been able to get about Jack Dyllan. Nothing about the woman made sense. Every once in awhile he would get a glimpse into her past or start to see why she worked the way she did and then just as quickly the door would slam shut and he would be left in the dark. The longer he lived with Jack the more desperately he needed to know her, every little dusty crook and corner of her brain. But at the same time the more he had come to expect that he would never, and could never know.

Jack was a mystery he could never quite unravel, tauntingly just out of his reach. And the truly terrible part was he had never been brave enough to jump for her as he had wanted to so many times.

Sunny clung long and hard to the only man that could possibly save her. Maximus had always been the one she could depend on in that way. Jack would keep her safe, yes, and provide… but there were things Jack could not do for her. When had Maximus Morrison become Sunny’s super hero? The little girl could not pinpoint it exactly, but she looked at him and was certain he was indestructible. The irony was that so many people looked at her aunt in that way, and only Sunny, the one exposed to both adults on a regular basis, saw the opposite. Everyone saw Jack as a pillar of strength, but the six year old saw her aunt as one, big open wound. And Maxxi always seemed to have a bandaid ready.

She kept herself nice and burrowed against him until he began to release her, letting her slip from his grasp before he carefully set her feet down upon the stone ground below. Sunny stood in front of him, staring up at him as he kneeled to look her in the eyes. Her eyes darted all over him, taking in his deep blue eyes, his high cheek bones, his dark curls, pale skin. Sunny used to look at her aunt like she was perfect. Beautiful, strong, wise. Now, it was hard to look at Jack without being angry. And here she was, looking at Max the way she used to look at her blood relative. She sure hoped it never changed.

He wanted to know where Jack was. Relief was beginning to reach her soul, but dread nevertheless puddled in the bottom of her stomach – surely, Jack was going to be incredibly angry with her for contacting the outside world. She glanced around and then reached out to grab Max’s hand, ushering him to follow. She silently led him down the corridor, passing house elves who were hunched in the shadows, watching furtively. They all knew Sunny had disobeyed orders, and feared that the owner of the estate would dock their pay or worse if he were to find out his tenants had been displeased during their stay. But Sunny could not worry about them.

“Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingle-ing too…”

Sunny approached the kitchen door, which has swung shut behind her. She began to tread more quietly, more carefully, and more slowly. Her grip on Max’s fingers tightened considerably and she stopped outside. She looked up at Max nervously and slowly pushed open the door, revealing Jack, who was happily putting away all the food that no one had eaten, singing Christmas music as she went along, “Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…”
Jack had decided against following Sunny, deciding that it must have been the animals knocking over the hat rack again. And what was a vacation if she were going to be on Sunny’s case the entire time? The girl hadn’t seemed hungry enough for breakfast though, so she put it away – she hadn’t eaten in a few days anyway, so it had not been for her. She heard a creak and the song spilling out of her mouth paused and she turned. But rather than seeing one of the elves or Sunny on her own, she saw a face that she had not thought about in several days.

Why was her flatmate here?

She stared for a moment, the churning feelings she was typically used to beginning to stir – anger, fear, regret, sadness. But she had not revisited these feelings since the first few days of staying in Eis Estate. So she smiled. “Oh, hello, Max. Hungry? It’s not all put away – I can reheat some bacon and waffles for you. Sit down. You too, Sunny, you didn’t eat.”

Sunny took his hand and guided through the castle corridors. As they walked Max's eyes flew widely around as he attempted to take in the splendor of the house that Jack had somehow obtained. He stuck to Sunny dutifully and would have been completely unwilling to leave her side even if it had been demanded of him. At some point in their trek Max registered the sound of a familiar tune being sung. They reached the doors of the kitchen and Max and Sunny exchanged a look before entering to reveal Jack. A singing Jack. A cooking, singing Jack. A cooking, singing Jack in a Christmas-decorated kitchen.

Max realized his jaw was hanging slack and he snapped it shut, attempting to grasp what his eyes were showing him. He looked between Sunny and Jack in awe-struck confusion, only half registering what the redhead said. All he managed in response was a cautious "Sure". Numbly he moved to the table and sat down, still clinging on to Sunny, now for support rather than being led. The cheerful notes of her song still lingered in his brain. He hadn't known she had a nice voice (or sung at all for that matter) and though that was the last thing that should have bothered him about this situation it was what stuck out most plainly.

"Um Jack.. I uh.."

The smell of bacon still filled the air and it bothered Max to see Jack standing by the stove. He had seen her cook breakfast only a handful of times, the most memorable of which had involved a certain Potter boy loitering in their kitchen. An image of Albus suddenly appearing out of that doorway in his boxers and kissing Jack suddenly filled his mind and Max shifted uncomfortably. A sick feeling was rapidly growing in his stomach and the initial shock of seeing the redhead was slipping away into the realities of why he had come here.

"I mean, err."

Max glanced to the doorway again and was only slightly reassured when no man stood there. He wasn't sure why the idea put such a vile taste in his mouth or pang in his chest. It wasn't as if there would be anything wrong if - no, Jack didn't belong here. Even if they weren't of the same blood they had their own unofficial family on Layabout that had unconsciously come to mean everything to Max. He couldn't imagine his life without the little girl beside him. Or the woman who stood before him.

"Yes I'll take some waffles."

Max released Sunny's hand as the courage he had left him. He would say what he needed to say, he just needed a few more precious moments to get his bearings in this new world that he clearly had no place in.

Sunny looked up at Max and hesitated in the doorway, curling her lip in distaste. She had hoped to lock Max and Jack in a room and have them come out, all fixed up back to normal. She had not intended on being apart of this healing process stuff. Still, Max was intent on entering the room so she stumbled begrudgingly after him, letting the heavy, wooden door swing shut behind her. She curled her hand up Max’s arm, drawing herself closer to him. Jack had always seemed imposing and strong, but suddenly, it was Max who seemed big and strong. Maybe it was because Sunny didn’t equate Jack’s happiness with being strong. Sunny was clever in that way : she knew happy didn’t always mean good.

Sunny went to the table with Max and pulled herself up, sitting on her knees, as she still had no intention of eating. However, Jack was beginning to serve the food, and even all of her frustrations could not persuade the little girl to ignore the smell of bacon for any longer. Jack set out a plate full of bacon and a platter with a large stack of waffles. Sunny looked at Max – surely he could handle this while she filled up her tummy. She released his hand and speared a waffle with her form, pulling it onto her plate before shoveling a few slices of bacon onto it – before pouring syrup over the entire plate.

Jack smiled as she saw Sunny prepare her dish. She turned and collected the rest of the platters, setting them out – they had only just been placed in the fridge, so they were still warm enough to not necessitate reheating. She quickly returned to the fridge to fill up to glasses of orange juice. Her own mug was sitting at the table. Of course, it looked like coffee, and Sunny had just assumed her aunt had suddenly taken to coffee or cocoa during the course of this week. What she had not realized is Jack’s mug, the mug she had not been without all vacation, was constantly refilling with a very warm Firewhiskey.

Jack took her place at the table, delivering the orange juices to the two at the table. She wrapped her hands around the mug and smiled contentedly at Sunny, who was now eating. She ticked her head as her eyes drifted over to Max. “I’m glad you’ve come to visit. I didn’t really want any company, but a quick morning visit will be pleasant I’m sure. You look well.”

Food and juice was placed before Max but he just stared at it in a similar way to how he had been looking at Jack. The waffles were too perfectly shaped and the orange juice was much to bright for his comfort. Paired with the redhead's smile and the cheerful Christmas decorations the breakfast's sickly sweetness was almost too much for Max to swallow. As the seconds passed the more and more convinced he became that this was an alien in Jack's body.

Max had picked up his fork when the food had first arrived but he set it down in slow motion as she spoke. "A quick morning visit." he echoed, the disbelief at her nonchalantness showing through in full force. In some corner of his brain Max knew he had been hoping expecting something else from his visit. No matter how sick it was of him to think it he would have almost preferred to find Jack in any manner of sunken hole of sadness than whatever she was now.

Over their time together Max had learned how to deal with many things. Sad Jack, angry Jack, drunk Jack, sad drunk Jack, angry drunk Jack. While he had never learned quite how to fix her moods he had become accustom to them. But this? It was completely new to him and therefore terrifying. And it hurt. Because no matter how upset or angry Jack managed to make herself she had never left him before. Never had she abandoned their home.

"Jack.. what are you doing here?" he managed, speaking slowly, his voice carrying through the room. There were a thousand questions that needed answering but he could barely get out the one as he stared across the table at his roommate who had suddenly fallen out of his life. Something was terribly wrong here.

Jack jumped up after another sip of her drink and bustled about, making sure everything was, in fact, in place. Momo the house elf waited attentively to be of any assistance. Jack had not intended on having the assistance of the house elves, but the estate had come with the little helpers. Jack had taken it as an opportunity to show the creatures kindness – she had dealt with them in her department, trying to pass laws that required certain conditions for them, even if they would not accept full-blown freedom. Beyond that, however, the only experience she had with house elves had been the ones at Hogwarts. It had been interesting being immersed in the little community of them that kept Eis Estate. She glanced back at Momo and smiled. “I think I have it from here. Thank you, Mo.”

“Yes, Mistress Jack,” Momo squeaked, before clicking his heels and scampering out of the room. She finally returned to the table, pulling out the chair at the head of the table and settling down. She wrapped her hands around the mug and took another drink, finishing it off. It refilled – the spell she had used would continue to do so until she performed the counter-spell – and she took another sip. Jack had not been in her right mind for a week. However, her high tolerance to alcohol in the first place made it hard to notice much of a difference. The singing, however. That was a pretty big indicator. But who was to notice? It had only been Jack, Sunny, and the elves.

Jack looked up to smile at the two that were sitting with her, when Max’s words crashed against her like a heavy wave. She stared at him, the ghost of a smile frozen on her face for a few moments. There was something about the way he said it. Max had never been the confrontational one. He had sort of let everyone in the house do their thing, only complaining when his briefcase was forced into being involved or something of that matter. He had never been the one to try and intervene in anyway. It was hard for Jack to process it, really.

After a moment of computing, Jack finally managed to say, “I don’t understa- Sunny and I are on a vacation, Max. Why… You seem bothered.” She could tell there was more than just a question to his question. He had to know the answer, it was not that difficult. So what did he mean?

Max pushed his plate away a little, his lack of appetite quickly transforming in to a full-out unsettled stomach. Momentarily he couldn't even find his words, simply opening and then shutting his mouth again, passing off the movement as a deep breath. Gently he turned to Sunny and spoke to her softly. "Sunshine, you mind giving Aunt Jack and I a moment to talk? I'll come find you in a bit, okay?" Sunny took her cue with great gusto, grabbing her plate and drink and all but sprinting out of the room.

Max wished he could be as lucky as the young girl. What he wouldn't give to be able to run out after her, make a pillow fort, and eat his waffles in peace there. But instead he turned back to Jack, a low chuckle of disbelief emerging from his throat. "Yes Jack, I'm pretty bothered. A month is not a vacation. It's.. moving, disappearing, dropping off the map." Max's hands began to move, gesturing about him as the agitation in his voice grew. "You left me with half a note and no word on where you'd gone or how long you would be there."

His voice grew louder, the words that had escaped him upon entering the kitchen suddenly making themselves very present in his brain. For this Max was grateful. He would rather have something to say than stand there like the babbling idiot he too often found himself to be. "I came home and Sunny was gone. You were gone. Even the bloody dog was gone. Do you have any idea how worried I've been?" Without realizing it Max had stood up next to his chair and was now staring across at Jack with a look of total hopelessness.

"Sunny wrote and it's been the first time I could breathe in weeks. You could have been dead for all I'd know." He shook his head slightly, not wanting to look at her but not quite able to take his eyes away. "I don't understand."