"Good. Keep on top of that," Lorcan told him. "Let's see if we can't find a way to get in there and get our children back. We've functioned well for hundreds of years without second rate American wizard schools, and I don't see that we need them now. We need to send a clear message about that. England plays second to no one in magic education." He listened to Flint moving on to the next subject.
"What?" Lorcan frowned, listening to Flint tell him that there was talk of a bodyguard for Lupin. "Well, that's a day late and a quid short, isn't it? Is Bishop inept, or is there something we don't know? That's perhaps very significant.
"I don't know Lupin well, but I am observant. He's put himself in harm's way repeatedly for what he believes the greater good to be. Stupid Gryffindors, but that's neither here nor there. We've seen him hire guards for his family, but he's always operated without one. If he needed a guard, why would he not use his own staff, like he does for the rest of his house? And, if the talk seems to be more on Bishop's end of it than Lupins, that is even more interesting. That seems to suggest to me that she's initiating it. She's found reason to assert herself and her position to enact her privilege to protect him whether he likes it or not. Now, why would that need to be, Flint? And why now?"
He liked the idea that Flint was on the short list to be tapped to be on Lupin's protection detail. "Well done, Flint. We don't know much of anything about his personal life or his personal habits, what he likes, what he doesn't like. The extent of my knowledge of his personal habits is that he likes a pint and some fish and chips as well as any other self respecting Brit, which tells us nothing. And, from my one or two conversations with the man, he always seems to have a card or two up his sleeve, always knows a bit more than he tells. I bet he's a real bastard at chess or poker but that might be enlightening. His circle of family and friends seem to be unfailingly loyal, and he seems to be equally as committed to them. His estate and his daughter's are both unplottable. Not that we haven't tried. And that's about the extent of my knowledge, outside of what everyone else knows from the papers. If there is indeed this being created out of Bishop's office, we really do need to know more about why this security detail is coming about only just now. And maybe we need to know more about Bishop herself. Flint, just how indisposable can you make yourself, do you think?"
His mind was racing. Bodyguard, bodyguard...he repeated in his head, thinking. Flint had to be not just a shadow in the corner. Flint needed a reason to get closer to his client-to-be. He looked at Flint again with a new idea in his mind. "Maybe...Just, maybe....How about I give you a piece of additional equipment that I'm guessing won't be standard equipment but might give you a leg up on the competition? I think I can maybe help you out a little." He went to the wet bar in his office and slid the wall sized bookcase over in front of it to reveal a small potions worktable and shelves of stocked potions and potions supplies.
"It's always handy in here to have a few first aid supplies," he told Flint. "I just replaced the credenza with a bigger piece, that's all. Some healers, potion makers, and a few of the higher paid private security experts all carry a few potions on them in a zippered leather pouch in the breastpocket of their suitcoats. I would imagine a man like Lupin would find it a necessity. I have a couple spare pouches here for missions work. I can outfit one for you with, maybe ten different one-time vials of potions and, perhaps two vials for some other necessities--like bandages shrunken into the vials. Every bodyguard should certainly be able to anticipate the worst, after all, right?" He smiled, rather liking being able to give Flint a hand. He filled ten small thin vials with one time doses of the most commonly needed potions in an emergency--pain potion, coagulant potion to stop bleeding, antitoxin for most common poisons, and several others. He took two large rolls of bandages and shrank them small enough so that each one fit into one of the two extra vials. He put them into the slots and then handed the open pouch for Flint to inspect.
"Do you think this might be useful for your purposes?" Lorcan asked.