Flowers in Winter

Jack's life had become significantly more complicated since the Ministry had fallen. Sure, she had managed to save some of her projects in those last few minutes before the building crashed around them all, but research had to begin almost completely over. Fortunately, she had save a good portion of her files at home, as she too often did research at home and then field work when she showed up at the Ministry. Not everything was lost, but her entire method of work had become more complicated.

Max was facing the same problem, which meant he ended up babysitting the kids for almost the entire day as he continued work from home. So, when Jack could, she rescued him by taking them along with her. Goose and Sunny were smart enough to react properly if any danger presented itself, though Jack made precautions to ensure that would not happen. The problem with them being that clever meant that they often made her job a million times harder.

"Where's the Declaration of Independence?!" Sunny shrieked at the landlady of the home Jack had been visiting, hoping to get information on a suspicious werewolf who had rented the place out.

The woman sputtered, looking into the face of innocence, which was currently balled up in anger. Goose tsk-ed and shook his head, jotting something down in the notebook that he always had on his person. "This isn't looking good for you."

Jack somehow managed to get the information she needed and then bustled the kids with her down the street as they set out to inspect the Shrieking Shack. Goose was rattling off question at rapid fire, the head of his questions overlapping the tails of her answers. They had just reached the end of the street when Jack stopped, looking down at him. "Goose - why are you so intent on exasperating me today?"

He blinked at her. "Oh. Um. Well, Sunny asked me to distract you while she-"

Jack whipped around and saw that the little redhead was indeed gone. Jack sighed - it was only the 842nd time she had done it. Somehow, that little girl must have learned to apparate. "Come on - let's go find the twit."

Sunny had found the last flowers of the season. They were a little limp but she had spotted them as soon as they had entered Hogsmeade, and she was not going to leave without them. Goose had done a magnificent job of distracting Jack while she had run back, squatting outside the Three Broomsticks as she picked the flowers and looped them into a little crowd, before placing them on top of her head. She stood, struck a royal pose, and squatted down again to pick the last of the flowers.

That done, she began walking back and forth across the street, practicing her Queenly gate, the excess flowers held in her right hand like a staff. She paused to look out upon her subjects. A cold-looking family, two crass teenagers, a very antsy looking witch, a sad looking man, a bubbly witch - wait. Someone was sad? Queen Sunny looked at her staff, realizing how beautiful it's petaled head was. It had brought so much joy to her - surely it could do the same for one of her subjects.

She hurried down the street, crown bouncing, rubber boots squeaking madly, as she chased down the figure that had looked so sad. Finally, she reached him and she reached out a hand, grabbing the back of his jacket. With a mighty tug, she made her presence known, and offered the flowers out with a large, incandescent smile.

He really should have gotten something to eat. It was cold, though, and he was upset - as usual - so he couldn't quite bring himself to think about eating. Other things were clearly more important. Like family, and his new job, and getting back to normal. Tobias was on his way back to take the floo to his home in England, ready to bunker down for the night and try to get a good night's sleep in before he went to meet one of the Ministry employees about his new position the next morning.

Keeping his chin tucked down against the chilled wind permeating the streets of Hogsmeade and sinking into Tobias's coat. As he was walking, his focus was settled on the weather. He had always adored winter, so he tried to remind himself of that fact rather than considering the fact that his wife had also loved it. Colleen had never appreciated the cold, though he couldn't really blame her. She had always been more of a summer flower.

Footsteps sounded behind him, but Tobias thought nothing of it. Probably just children running about to get the warmth back into their toes and fingers. But then there was a tug at his coat fabric, and he swung around, his eyebrows lifting in surprise as he saw the little girl looking up at him. His gaze jumped from her face, to the flowers in her hand, and back.

Immediately, the cold started getting to him. It crashed into him like a wave against a ship's bow, and Tobias blinked twice before he had the presence of mind to crouch down in front of her, extending a hand to curl his glove-clad fingers around the stems of the little flowers. "Are you sure you don't want these, little one?" he asked gently, not entirely sure what to call her. He had always had nicknames for Colleen - and, of course, for Cassidy - but he couldn't bring himself to use any of those anymore. It was the same with people using Cassidy's names for him. Tobias would immediately shy away or retaliate poorly.

"You probably have someone important to you who would appreciate these, hmm? I haven't anybody to give these to, so perhaps you should keep them. There aren't many left, after all."

Sunny Dyllan-Thomas' life was a mission of spreading joy and hope to the entire world, and somehow she seemed to have picked up her aunt's disposition towards true empathy, for she could feel sadness rolling off a person in the way you might feel their warmth. Perhaps it was the way she fearlessly looked into the eyes of others, peering intently into the windows of the soul, like a student eagerly examining specimen under a microscope. However it was that it happened, Sunny knew people easily. And while she did not always understand, she knew that everyone deserved to be made better.

Her hope was to help be the answer to someone's prayer.

The strange man crouched, bringing himself to her level, convincing her that he must be a good man. Good men looked little girls in their eyes. From this perspective, she could see a wounded kindness in his soul, the sort of person who desperately needed a band-aid for a scratch she couldn't see. He asked if she wanted them, and she tipped her head, showing him her crown of flowers, before lifting her head again to meet his gaze. "I have all the flowers I want. These were extra, and I think you need them."

He continued speaking and she shook her head eagerly. "Nope. Jack says flowers aren't useful unless they're the biting kinds that keep pests out of the garden. And Goose likes smashing flowers to make flower soup. Max likes them, but he doesn't admit it. And Charlie likes them, but she likes the big, scary ones that try to fight people - oh, that's my family," she explained, realizing he probably had no idea what the names meant. She smiled widely and his last comment. "You don't need to give them to anybody - I'm giving them to you!" The comment registered after a moment, though, and she tilted her head in confusion. "Don't you have friends who would like them? Or a family?"

"So you do," Tobias conceded, a little smile lifting his cheeks for a moment before he took in her next words and tried to piece together the comments in his head. Ah. Her family. He couldn't tell if all of those were siblings, though he doubted the girl would address her parents by their first names. "Oh, I see," he added, nodding.

He swallowed hard as she asked him about a potential family he could give the floral gift to. "Well... Technically I have a family, yes."

What was he supposed to say? That his wife and daughter were dead because the Ministry tried to ruin everyone with that ridiculous fake vaccine? Tobias was not cruel; he wouldn't drop that on the little girl's head. After all, there was no guarantee that she would fully understand it. Instead, he decided it would be a proper time to keep things quiet when it came to what was bothering him.

Lifting a shoulder, he looked down at the flowers again. "It would not make sense for me to give the flowers to them, though. Perhaps I will simply put them on my table, then."

Suddenly, he realized that he likely should not be talking to a child when her parents weren't around. Regardless of the fact that he considered himself to be one of the good guys, it would not necessarily seem that way to those around if they didn't understand the context of their situation. How did she end up on her own, anyway? Glancing around, he didn't see anyone watching her or waiting for her return.

"Are you supposed to be out here with your parents? I can help you find them if you need me to," he offered, knowing that he would not have wanted anyone to let his Colleen wander about on her own.

He had a family - good. Though he said the word technically, and she new that 'technically' was the grown up way of saying 'not really.' Her smile flickered downwards as she stared hard back at him, still aglow with the kindness bred into her out of poor circumstance. She had been victorious, however, for he said he would keep the flowers. She beamed at him and clasped her hands together, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Think of it as a present for your table! It holds up your food and your mail and sometimes you when you need to reach the kitchen light - it deserves a present!"

He mentioned her parents, and she grinned a bit wryly, before dropping it for an exaggerated frown. "Techicnically, I don't have parents." The word did not come out fully proper in her mouth, and she knew Goose would have corrected her on it. "They're in Scotland. But I have pretend parents, only they haven't realized it yet. You'll probably meet one of them in a second. She's really loud and I'm sure she's annoyed with-"

"Sunny, you ghoul!"

Sunny pointed over the man's shoulder at Jack who was approaching, Goose running ahead of her. Goose darted around the man and came to Sunny's side, whispering in a low bellow in her ear, "Jack knows you left!" The boy spun around to face the strange man and lifted his head, puffing his chest out. He offered a hand for a handshake. "Augustine Smith-Krum-Krane-Dyllan-Morrison. You can call me Goose, of course." He was proud of having so many names, of course, on paper he was now Augustine Dyllan.

Jack finally rounded on the kids and pulled them both to her sides, hands on their shoulders. "We're buying a headstone today, because you are both driving me to an early grave, I swear." She gave Sunny a stern look and the little girl smiled up at her. "Nice crown - don't do it again." She looked up at the man and sighed. "Sorry if either borrowed you. They're my personal demons."

It was evident this was a woman who had become very soft on her demons.

Tobias felt like he was staring. The girl in front of him looked nothing like Colleen, and was far more excitable than his daughter, but just the idea that his little girl would never be as old as the one in front of him nearly killed him. Somehow, he wouldn't have minded if it actually did. manage to do away with him. It probably would have been easier, really.

She was going on about her family, and though he didn't understand, Tobias found himself somewhat jealous of the girl in front of him. She knew precisely where she was meant to be, yet she was far younger and far less concerned with what the world might send her way. She probably didn't even realize how lucky she was. A pained look flashed across his face, just before the red-headed woman shouted and caught his attention.

His eyebrows lifted at the boy's approach, accepting the handshake silently. Tobias rose to his full height as the mother-of-sorts arrived, and he nearly offered his hand once more, but she had pulled the children in so he stuck the one not holding the flowers in his pocket. "Bothered? No, not exactly. She seemed to think I needed cheering up," he explained, lifting the flowers as though they would tell the woman everything without his having to vocalize any of it.

He managed a little smile for the trio, but glanced around the streets of Hogsmeade, wondering if he was meant to take his leave. When his gaze flicked back to the redhead, it took Tobias a moment more to place her. He should have caught it when the boy began rattling off his multitude of names. "Jack Dyllan," he greeted, gesturing towards her with the flowers. If his hand had been free, he would have pointed, but the petaled ends of the plants did that for him. "I followed your team for a time. Haven't exactly been paying attention lately, though. I, um, I hope things are going well."

Jack had done her research after Vito had disappeared for the final time, probably destroyed, and she had finally understood the startling ability she had developed while she had wrestled with the insanity that was belonging to a poltergeist (for she knew it was not the other way around.) Of course, there was very little information on the formation of poltergeists, as she was the current leading expert, but she did her research into magical abilities that had no explainable cause, and she had found that creating a poltergeist made someone a hybrid Empath. This explained how she had felt Thaor deciding to end his life, the pain of Nemo from afar, and how she had shared the process of death with Chase Moor. It was not a pretty ability, but it had come in handy.

The power was basically gone once the poltergeist was destroyed, but it was one of those abilities that left a ghost in its place. She could feel it on the fringes, could feel tiny little prickles on the edge of her skin, and they were tickling her skin now. The man spoke, claiming Sunny had seemed to think he needed cheering up. She looked down at the little redhead, who looked up at her with wide eyes, seeming to communicate something urgent, something beyond what a six year old could or should understand. "Well, she might be Houdini, but she's perceptive - I hope they help."

He placed her and she grimaced a bit - how did one ever acclimate to being known? "That'd be me. We're doing well - our defense is, as usual, bloodthirsty, but we recently lost a Chaser so we're not looking perfect." Nick had just been... gone. Coach was having a hell of a time tracking him down and their subs were... To put it kindly, their team had not gotten the pick of the subs. "You are..."