walking at night

"Gar, can you keep an eye on the front door? I'll go do my best to seal the back door." Khaat took her wand and went to the kitchen. To her surprise, as she entered, a Death Eater apparated into her kitchen, despite her protective charms on her house. She hoped Gar was not animagus enough that his lion's hearing would detect the distinctive crack as the powerful death eater entered her kitchen.

"What do you want?" Khaat asked. "Your child, " he said, as casually as someone might make a tea order at Madam Puddifoot's, "We cannot let her live, you know."

Khaat heard Gar having issues of his own, and Khaat had mixed feelings. She believed the young man had quite a bit of skill, and she figured he would, at the least, hold his own unless he got seriously outnumbered. But this old, venerable man--he was a very different lot altogether. Khaat felt immense power from him. She wondered for a moment if she was looking at Voldemort himself. She had never felt such power, but, no. Deep inside she could see a slight spark of goodness buried deep inside. She decided talking, at least at the moment, was better than a duel.

"She is no use to you. She is a child. And the more you attack, the more we will defend her. And the more she will grow hatred for you. She will nurture it like a harvest. If you want her to be no threat, I suggest you bear off and leave her alone. Let her forget you exist and let that hatred lapse so that her skills will lapse."

The old wizard looked at her. "Why would you even suggest such a thing?" he asked "Only because I love my daughter. I want her to live. I don't think either of us want to fight the other. Please. Leave her be."

"You are wise enough to know that if I had wanted to kill you I could have already done it. You and your companions tonight." Khaat also knew he was considering her words about Miseria as well.

"I don't know if it's over or not. He may just be leaving us to the rest of his crew," Khaat said. "See? I told you I can use you around here. Nice job, Gar. You have a place here as long as you want it. Thank you--so much."

Khaat went back into the living room to check on jess and jack. She saw the room was secure, but it had left Jess upset and frightened. Old memories, Khaat presumed. "I'm glad you and Garulia were here, Jack. Thank you. You know they're still out there, but their leader was just in my kitchen. He left. I don't know if they'll bear off for now or not. I think they want us to wait and stress. Accio!" She summoned forth a cup of tea that had an herb blend her father, a potionsmaster, made regularly. "This tea is a special tea my father makes, "Khaat said, handing it to Jess, "It is a special blend of herbs and spices made to help relaxation. Drink it. You'll feel better."

Khaat went back into the kitchen to find Jess. "Stop being so hard on yourself. Very few witches or wizards would be able to face death eaters so soon. I think you're bearing up very well under the circumstances," Khaat said. She went over to the cabinet and took out two glass jar with the tea in them. "Here. Take these with you. They're labeled very carefully. One jar causes relaxation. The other causes sleep. In case you have nightmares, the sleep tea will cause you to have relaxed sleep. People report either not remembering dreams, or having pleasant dreams. Never nightmares. There is a charm on it to prevent bad dreams. When you need more, just let me know. I am so sorry that you were put through so much here tonight. I should have told Jack the full story when he and I talked at Hogwarts the other day. I owe you both an apology."