It's not a remedy if there aren't any problems

Making small talk. He was a trifle better at it now than he ever had been when he’d played Quidditch. That may have had something to do with the fact that he’d felt everyone should talk about him. It may also have been because if he didn’t ensure that then all they’d talk about would be his dad. Talking about Harry Potter was the last thing his son wanted to do. So, it was all about James Sirius, naturally. Only, times had changed. He’d changed. Everything about him had been so radically jarred and then re-worked it was almost as though he was an entirely new being. He liked it better like this, though, small talk aside.

It may have had something to do with Anya, mind you. She was certainly responsible for the soppy smile he had on his face when her brother entered. As soon as he clocked James, Jamie remembered all of those old sacred man codes that he was taught by his uncles as a teenager. Number one was bros before hoes but number two was don’t date a man’s sister. Don’t even look at her in a way that could possibly construed as flirting. That included soppy grins. Quickly, James rewrote his features and offered a smirk in James’ direction.

“Uh-huh,” he nodded thoughtfully. “Get a bit nibbled on, did you mate?” He chuckled at the elder man and nodded enthusiastically. “I could probably eat a whole dragon, funnily enough. I’ve not had anything since yesterday.” James reached up and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, offering Anya a smile before addressing both of them. “Can I help at all? With plating up and stuff?”

Anya saw his soppy grin and she couldn't help but grin herself. When she saw him wipe it from his face when her brother came in she went back to what she was doing. She began thinking of anything but of Jamie who stood just a few feet from her. It was difficult considering she was always aware of those around her. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bowl as well as blueberries and strawberries.

James laughed at Jamie's words, "Nope I'm too tough for their taste." He said grinning as he took a long drink from his cup. "Well there's that really big pain in the butt downstairs who would make a nice stew. I don't think he'll be much of an issue." He teased Jamie about him saying he'd eat a whole dragon. "Oh no go ahead and sit down at the table. We got this." He said grinning then looked at what Anya was doing curiously. "What are you making sis?" He went to grab for one of the strawberries and she smacked his hand. He laughed as he grabbed for the serving bowl and walked over to the table.

"You know better than to try and grab for the dessert when you haven't even eaten dinner." Anya chided James as she began chopping the strawberries with ease. She began making the dessert which was just simple and easy to make no matter who did it. She grabbed two short dessert glasses and put the vanilla pudding in it. She topped it with strawberries, whipped cream, and blueberries on top of that. She put them in the fridge so they would stay cool and began doing another dessert with the remaining ingredients.

Anya looked around the kitchen after she was finished cleaning up and found nothing else to do. She grabbed her cup and finished the remaining amount from it. She poured more into it making sure that Jamie didn't see her do so. The last thing she wanted was to scare him away because of what she was. She knew that her brother James didn't have a lot of friends because he worked a lot. She didn't want to be the cause of him losing this one.

It was the result of being half a Weasley that always made Jamie reluctant to heed people when they told him to sit if dinner was being dished up. His grandmother had always changed her mind and even when he’d settled at the table, Molly Weasley would shoo him into the kitchen to help her. Victoire, the ever dutiful favourite grandchild, would already be there and shoot him a disapproving look when he finally picked up a plate to help them.

This time, he had to remind himself, it was quite different although his reluctance remained the same. He swallowed and picked up his drink before sidling over to the dining area, picking the seat that looked least sat in. He settled there, putting his glass down on the table, and listened into the conversation between the brother and sister, envious that they were so relaxed and loving towards each other. The exact opposite could be said about his own relationship with his little sister, and his little brother. He desperately wished it was different.

But what was a man to do?

“Are you sure I can’t help?” Jamie called, rather hating just sitting there. “Light candles, maybe, or something?” He chuckled awkwardly.

Smooth, James, Albus’ voice intoned in the back of his head. Real smooth.

Anya looked over at James when he asked if there was anything he could do. "If you want you can light the candles on the table." She said smiling guessing at the reason to why he was offering. She finished up with the remaining dessert and put it in the fridge. She ran the water for the dishes and let them soak making sure that it would be easier to clean. She wiped the counters down making sure that she didn't knock over her cup.

James sat down at the table and said, "Go ahead and dig in Jamie. My sister is an amazing cook. I'd get fat on her food if I didn't have to run for my life everyday." He grinned thinking about the fire he had to dodge earlier. He piled baked spaghetti on his plate along with a piece of garlic bread. He watched his sister out of the corner of his eye. He was worried about her and knew she'd smack him for doing so.

Anya took a long sip from the cup and placed it back on the counter with it being nearly empty. She apparently hadn't been paying much attention because the cup slipped from the edge of the counter. It hit the floor with a loud clatter. She immediately began wiping up the drink. She waved James away when he tried to come over to help. Her brother was too overprotective of her, it annoyed her beyond belief. She quickly wiped up the floor with the towel that sat on the counter top.

A grin lit up the Potter man’s face when he was given a job and he nodded, fishing his wand out of the sleeve of his shirt, removing it from the holster strapped around his forearm. Lighting the end of it, he dipped it over the erected wicks of the candles and waited for them to ignite before taking the wand away. He blew the flame off of the end of the wand and tucked it away again, a content smile softening the grin that had stretched his features.

“Thanks,” Jamie replied, waiting for James to be finished with the spoon before piling up his own plate of spaghetti. He broke off a piece of garlic bread of his own and was half way through a mouthful when he heard the smash. Jamie quickly swallowed and he put down his fork, already half risen out of his chair when James got up. Jamie frowned a little bit when he saw the colour of the drink but he didn’t pay it much mind, unable to quite work out why it bothered him in the first place.

“Are you alright, Anya?” He asked, unable to help himself. “Do you want me to pour you some more?”

Anya was mentally berating herself for her klutzy moments which she never truly escaped. She thought that being a vampire she would be a little more stable. Of course that didn't work itself out as she got rid of the rest of the mess. Hearing Jamie talk and ask if she was alright made her want to crawl into a hole again.

"Yeah just me being a klutz. At least I'm not nearly as bad as James." She said grinning at her brother trying to lighten everything up. She got the last of the liquid off the floor before flicking her wand at the remaining glass shards. "Oh no I'll get it, I'm just gonna get this in the wash so it doesn't stain." She quickly walked towards the back of the house.

Once she was out of sight she leaned against the wall closing her eyes. She took a deep breath before finally walking towards her brother's laundry room. She quickly went to the wash tub at the back grabbing the stain remover along the way. She ran the water to the wash tub and immediately began cleaning the cloth.

James watched his sister walk towards the laundry room and sighed. He knew that she was going to be mentally telling herself that she needed to be more careful. He looked at Jamie out of the corner of his eye and wondered if it would be safer to tell him the truth. He began adding the plus side and the negative side to telling him. He realizing there was more negative than positive he decided that it would be best to discuss it with his sister. Trying to figure out how to do that was something else entirely.

Anya came back out to where her brother and Jamie were she met her brother's eyes. He was thinking about telling Jamie but wanted to know what she thought about it. She got good at reading her brother from just a look and it took only a fraction of a second. She quickly grabbed another glass and poured another glass of her drink.

James knew that Jamie would feel the awkwardness between his sister and himself. So he decided to tell him knowing his sister would prepare herself for the worst. "I have a question for you. How much do you know about Vampires?" He asked Jamie looking over at him curiously.

Anya went completely still as her brother asked Jamie about Vampires.

When Anya fled, and Jamie thought fled was quite a good verb to use because it certainly felt like it, he returned to his seat. He poured some parmesan over the top of the sauce and began to eat, offering James a smile. Jamie hoped that Anya would return because he didn’t even get to tell her how nice the food was before the accident had happened. He swallowed a mouthful and reached up to wipe at his mouth as, with his other hand, he enclosed his fingers around his glass and brought it to his lips.

The wizard looked round with a broad grin when Anya came back and he opened his mouth to ask her if she was alright when James beat him to the punch, levelling Jamie with a question that left the Potter man staring at his friend for a few moments. Frowning a little bit, Jamie closed his mouth and then opened it again, managing to make himself look like a bit like a fish gasping for air. He pouted, frowned again and took a breath.

“That’s a bit of an odd question for dinner but I’ll humour you,” he commented, finding a smile. “I know plenty, I’d like to think. It might not be very realistic, what I know, but I don’t find vampires particularly spooky – not like Muggles, at least. I’m hardly prejudiced towards them – my godfather’s dad was a werewolf so … and I mean, it’s not really very Potter-ish to be an arse about that sort of thing, is it? And …” Jamie bit his lip and looked between the siblings. “Am I … answering right here?”

James looked over at Anya at Jamie's words and smiled when Anya nodded at him. "Yes you are answering right. Do you think you can find something about Vampires?" He asked then took a drink from his cup. "Five years ago Anya had went to go get medicine for our mother. She was very sick and didn't want to go to St Mungos for treatment. So Anya walked to the nearest muggle pharmacy to get her some medicine. On her way back she was attacked by a vampire. He left her for dead in an alley, I had a bad feeling about her being gone." He paused remembering that night. "I took my brothers with me to go find her. We found her in the alley and took her to St Mungos. She was turned that night and she's been battling with it ever since. We don't tell a lot of people because of the reaction most get."

Anya was no longer looking at them and was looking down at her cup that she held. She wanted to laugh at his earlier reaction to her brother's question. She thought it was funny because he opened and closed his mouth a few times. She however had the distinct impression he wouldn't think anything bad about her. "I live off of the blood that I get from St Mungos. I know close to nothing about Vampires. I want to know everything I can, though I do have some people who are Vampires. I want to know if there is something that will help me for the better. I don't yet quite feel comfortable asking the others like me about it. I actually don't feel comfortable asking anyone about it but James thinks I need to ask someone." She said not looking at them still. She didn't want to see his expression at the omission towards being a Vampire.

Mind. Blown.

Really though, he should have seen. He should have been able to tell. He was too rusty at this.

Sitting back in his chair, Jamie let his fork grow slack in his grasp. Vampires. They wanted information about vampires. He somehow thought that they should have known plenty given that Anya was a vampire but that was a childish consideration that he recognised almost immediately. Jamie also got the feeling that they weren’t talking about vampires in a broad sense.

“You mean one specific vampire, don’t you?” He asked slowly, raising a dubious brow. “The one who hurt you?”

When Anya spoke though, James set down his fork and he regretted his incredulity almost at once. He nodded and rubbed at the back of his throat hesitantly.

“Well, if you’re getting blood you must be registered, right? So, how about I take you to the Ministry in a few days’ time and we sit with someone who’s a little bit more specialised and has pamphlets and stuff?”

"No I don't mean the one that turned me. I already know that he's not registered in the Ministry. My brother has checked already but found nothing on him." Anya said shifting slightly from where she was standing. "The one that turned me is stalking me, he used to have an accomplice but not anymore. I want to know more about my kind so I can protect myself better against him. Though I have a feeling he's no longer in the country." Closing her mouth on the last part knowing she probably said a little too much.

James looked at his sister and knew that she was closing out anything else. "Anya has a difficult time talking about everything. The man who was stalking her I have a feeling is truly out of the country. The only thing is we don't know for sure because Anya can't follow him and he's too quick for me. I barely have gotten pictures of him, I have only one clean picture. The rest of them are a mess of blurs or empty spaces." Hearing his questions he decided to let Anya answer them since they were directed at her.

"Yes I'm registered at the Ministry for being a vampire." She said her eyes still on her cup. Finally knowing it was rude she looked over at him. "Is really someone who is specialized in Vampires at the Ministry?" Her voice held a hint of disbelief and a little bit of hope. Her eyes showed a sign of worry but was quickly gone.

BOOM
The house shook and a dragons roar can be heard from below them.

James sighed and cursed under his breath. "I'll be right back, I'm going to guess that's the youngest Dragon messing around." He went to a peg near the basement stairs and pulled on a leather jacket then took the steps two at a time.

Anya watched her brother disappear then said, "I'm sorry."