taking a walk

"Nah," she said, "Rob is just way to busy for that. And me, well, I'm just taking a few days off to enjoy the spring. I think I have scoured every inch of the house and planted hundreds of flowers. And now that I know my knee will hold, I am less of a target and perhaps I can go back to a bit of adventuring again. I either need to finish up some of my own odds and ends or find someone who doesn't see pregnancy as a prohibitive factor. And, no, I won't stir up trouble at Hogwarts. You seem to have that very well in hand, I must admit. I owe you an apology for underestimating your abilities at that. I am sorry. You do appear to be doing a fine job so far as I can see. And I hear you're offering Alchemy. That is a long overdue course offering there.

"By the way, something I'd like you to consider. I'd like to offer, to maybe 6th and 7th years, the ability to do an active internship at St. Mungos, in conjunction with Hogwarts of course, for course credit. They could graduate with a position at St. Mungo's waiting for them, if they successfully complete the program. Of course you would have to approve the cirriculum and be the leader in which students would get selected or not. I haven't thought it through completely, because I haven't had a chance to talk to you. You don't have to answer now. It was just a thought I had."

Khaat knew well of the staff shortage since Order members had gone. She also knew that course offerings had had to be compromised. This might answer both their issues, but it would mean he might have to work with her periodically to select the program's students, if he would be willing to do that. The brunt of the work would fall on her and the healers she trusted to train them. His part would be precious little, but the credit would, no doubt, go largely to Vincent. She didn't care about credit. He could have that for all she cared.

"Thanks," Vincent said, smiling at her compliment at how he was doing at Hogwarts. The school was running relatively well, in his opinion, although staff members were hard to come by. Most qualified people were either order members or ministry ones, neither who could teach at Hogwarts. As for her offer, well, it was a good one, but after some thinking, Vincent decided against it. "St. Mungo's is controlled by the ministry, which is in turn controlled by the order, they would not allow such a thing to happen. I thank you for the offer though Khaat. In normal circumstances I would have accepted but Lestrange's promotion to Minister of Magic has complicated things," he explained, his tone becoming bitter once again when he talked of Matt. The man had once been a teacher at Hogwarts, he had turned against them and become a death eater, now he was the Minister. This sort of showed how stupid Jess Potter really was. He was young, so was Matt, young people could not rule the world. They had neither the wisdom nor the experience that their elders had. Unfortunately, that was the case with the wizarding world right now. It had been better, in Vincents opinion, when Voldemort had been alive. At least then there was only one power in control, instead of multiple factions fighting for supremacy.

"I'll send an owl to the Ministry though, its rather a good idea. But I am sure they will refuse," he said, with a sigh. He took a sip of his tea, his eyes looking around the shop. There were plenty of people, as usual, and it was quite noisy. But this was good, you couldn't have a private conversation in a quiet place, because there was always the chance there was someone listening. "Anyways Khaat, how is your job going? Have the Wizengamot done anything interesting lately? How is Order business going?" he asked, asking several questions at one time. He was mainly interested in knowing the last one though, perhaps Khaat would let something slip, perhaps she wouldn't even bother hiding the latest order business, in her current mood anyway.

"No," her eyes flashed as she spoke, "St. Mungos is controllled by me--and me alone. It is not controlled by the ministry. Let us, please, get that very straight. The amount of the budget that they put into St Mungos on an annual basis makes them a funding source. And a pitiful one at that. Nothing more. What little they contribute is directly responsible for keeping St. Mungos at least 100 years out of date before I came on board. And I do have several funding sources now--much better ones.. If I were being controlled by the ministry I would have told you flat out. And I would have had to have their blessing before creating such a program.

'"Save your bloody owl. It doesn't need their permission or I'd have asked Matt Lestrange myself. The only part of my career that the ministry does have a relatively significant say is in the Wizengamot. That's all. I cannot very well hide the fact that I am Chief Warlock, now, can I? And you and I have already been over that topic. I am absolutely not a spy sent by the Ministry or by the Order either one. I am a hospital director. I've never hidden I was an Order member from you, but I don't go running off to Jess telling him whether I saw you or not or anything we talked about. Its none of his business. I doubt he would approve, but I really could care less.

She had not expected that old argumentative side of her to come forward so quickly but there it was. She didn't know whether Vincent would be repelled by seeing a bit of the old Khaat coming forward or not.

"Here is the bottom line, VIncent. If we decide we want to do such an internship for healing, as far as I'm concerned, we just create it and do it. You can have all the credit for it if you want. Fame and credit never interested me much, but it might do you some good in this case. And I have no objection to that. It might help stablize your position in Hogwarts a bit. And it helps me. I need healers I can trust. As I said, I have no opinion about you needing extra protection right now and using the death eaters to do it. However, if we do this, I would object to a Death Eater who wants to be a healer. That seems too oxymoronic to me. "

"But, if you don't mind me saying so, when I consider the wizarding world, it seems to me that the bigger threat to both us us, individually, is Emof. He is power hungry, and he needs a large impressive conquest to give him a base of information. What better feather in his cap than to either take Hogwarts or to take over St. Mungos? After all, where else is every medical record of every magical creature from all over Europe stored? That would be drastically dangerous in the wrong hands. Not to mention all the hundreds of secrets that have been ferretted away at Hogwarts over the centuries. It is a gold mine to the right villain. If I were him, I'd be setting my sights on either you or me. He might move for Matt, but since the ministry is so disorganized, Matt probably just looks like easy prey. You and I don't fall into that same catagory right now. But if you think strategically, he needs to come for one of us to get a base for building his operations. And that does concern me. Personally, I'd like to see him eliminated--either in Azkaban with whatever restrictions I can impose upon him when he stands before me in my courtroom, or dead. Either way works for me."

"

"The credit and the fame do not matter to me either Khaat, I'm surprised you think of me that way," Vincent replied, pretending to be offended. He wasn't actually, because fame and credit did matter to him, but Khaat didn't have to know that. "I'd be happy to help you, and the hospital. Your idea will help the school and the students as well, which is what I want. So it serves both of our interests."

"Its good that you have not allowed the ministry to gain a foothold in the hospital. They like to be in power of most places in the Wizarding World, and I assumed that St.Mungos would be the one of those places where they would like to be in control of. But Khaat, Hogwarts and the ministry don't have the greatest relations now as you can probably imagine, and if they find out that we have agreed upon this, then they would probably make a move against St.Mungos, which is not what I want. Also, the order would probably be more suspicious of you if they found out, which they probably will. Unless of course, you have left them now?" he asked, pretending like he didn't know. Khaat was like her uncle, Remus Lupin, she was fiercely loyal to the order if not to Jess Potter. "I must admit, their recent moves against the ministry sort of diminish their reputation as peacekeepers. I think they too are beginning to become power hungry, it happens to all organizations once they get too much power."

He was slowly trying to make Khaat go against the order. Every member nowadays was crucial to the order, and Khaat leaving them would be a small but crucial victory. Vincent did believe they were becoming power hungry, all evidence led to that, but all organizations were like that. The Death Eaters, the Ministry, the order. They were all the same really. They all had one goal. To get power and to keep it.

Vincent could not resist a smile when she said who their main enemy was. This too, showed a slight change in Khaat, she had indeed changed a lot, her opinions, her attitude, he wondered what had caused all this. Problems with the Dents? Or with Lestrange and Potter? "Emof has always been a problem. I noticed that since I first met him. Remember, when I tried to give him a life sentence in azkaban and you resisted? I noticed him from what he was then. They're easy to find, people who are power hungry. You can tell. I can't help thinking that this cat and mouse chase could have ended before if we got rid of him then," he muttered. It was true really, that it could of all ended in the first trial, if they had given him to the dementors. It was what he deserved. "But for now, he is not the main threat. Not to me, not to Hogwarts, not to you, not to the hospital. He is sixteen, and not old enough to be of any major threat. When he grows older, he will be powerful, and will be dangerous. But lets focus on the present for now. The real problem in my opinion is the ministry. Lestrange is ambitious, and he is power hungry too. You might not have noticed it. But consider his past, he was a death eater. The ministry wants me out of Hogwarts, it wants to control St.Mungos. But behind the minsitry is the Order of Pheonix. I believe that our main threat, Khaat, is Jess Potter," he concluded, with a shrug.

Khaat sat for a moment, stone faced, sipping her coffee, thoughtful as to how to reply. Her stand was fixed, and unless Vincent had suddenly taken leave of his senses, he knew it was fixed too.

"That really was a very good try, Vincent," she smiled. "It didn't work, but it was very well thought out, very organized, nicely presented. I am not worried about Jess Potter or Matt Lestrange. I don't care if they think we're sleeping together. I just honestly don't care." She surprised even herself with her candor. She was honest, but not typically so brutally so. "And, yes, I wasn't hardhearted enough at that point to see Emof for what he really was. I'm all done with that, in case you hadn't noticed. I have no interest in the ministry at this point whatsoever. And I choose which battles I support, no matter who is involved, whether the Order is involved or not. I've told you that before. I did not participate in the battle for the ministry. I was not there. That was my own choice.

"That, also, is part of being a Lupin. Knowing which battles to fight. And some of them just aren't worth it anymore. You want to know what I really want? Alright. Here it is. I want to live long enough to bring my daughter into the world. And I am a liability to a lot of people right now. That makes me a nice looking target for more than one faction. If I make it that far without Emof trying to kill me again, then perhaps I can reset my sights on another challenge. You weren't there when he held me hostage in my own office for hours and tried to kill me. Not that I expected you to be. But neither have you been pregnant. It does change you way of viewing the world. My sights are set right now at not being a target for Emof again.

"Why the dickens do you think I wanted you to consult with me about the courtroom so badly? You and I are probably the only ones who have a fair idea of how his demented little brain works, and I'm the one with the power to make the rest of his existance a living hell. He absolutely knows that. And, he's already told me that if he can get his hands on St. Mungos, he gets every medical record for every witch and wizard in this part of the world. As well as a very secure base of operations. And I am the only one who stands between him and his getting what he wants. I don't want him getting that close to me again, at least until after my daughter is born. If you want me to look at something else, then I'll have to stay alive long enough to do that first."

Vincent sighed inwardly, as she clearly had caught his attempt, and knew what he was doing. She was a smart woman, he knew that, it wasn't easy to confuse, or brainwash her. He decided to change his tactics completely. Unlike her, he wasn't interested in this conversation much, except that he might gain something out of it. But Khaat was being quite guarded, even though she was clearly quite angry and confused. She still wasn't giving him any information about the order or the ministry. Not yet anyway.

"Look, if that is what Ne'os is planning, if he is actually planning on taking St.Mungos," And if your not just being paranoid, Vincent added in his mind. "Then students can hardly come to learn there can they?" he said, not even considering her offer now. "Its just not safe enough. As for your safety," he continued, letting her know he did care about that. "Well, perhaps you should take a couple months off St.Mungos, and perhaps come back to Hogwarts. I'm sure they would understand. It is, after all, still the safest place in Britain, even if it is Death Eater infested, I'll make sure they won't harm you," he suggested to her. He doubted that she would take the offer. Correction, he knew she wouldn't. She was a workaholic apparently, devoted to her job at St.Mungos and Wizengamot. And besides that, there was probably no way she would come to Hogwarts now that Death Eaters were there. And maybe she was right not to as well, perhaps Hogwarts was not safe anymore, at least for her anyway. Her being an order member and all.

"I don't think you have any power over Ne'os at all," Vincent said bluntly, as it was relatively true. He was never one for sugarcoating things. Khaat could believe she had authority with her position, but the truth was that everything in the minsitry was either controlled by Matt Lestrange or Jess Potter. "Or over anyone really. At least not with your Wizengamot position, which I assume you were talking about. Your the head of course, but I'm guessing you have no authority of choosing who is in the Wizengamot yes? Or I doubt you would have chosen 5 biased idiotic order members to be in it. So what power do you have?" he asked her in a cold, serious tone. " Any trial of Ne'os will go in his favor, cause all the Order are either frightened of him or still feel aligned towards him. You'll be outnumbered five to one. The Order aren't hunting him, and all hunting of ne'os from the aurors sort of ended when Diggory was removed. Seriously, the only faction which has a real chance of getting rid of Ne'os now are the Death Eaters," he stated. Which was perfectly true, the Death Eaters didn't spare traitors, and Ne'os was one of them. Personally, Vincent wanted to get rid of Ne'os, but he no longer felt such opposition against him as before. It was mainly Jess Potter and Lestrange that Vincent was now working against.

Returning to Hogwarts? That actually did interest her--a great deal. She was tired of Ne'Os Emof being able to get to her. She was tired of it risking her pregnancy. Hogwarts had always been known to be a safe place, and if Vincent could keep the Death Eaters from harming her, then she would be far safer than where she was now. Even if, on the odd chance that the Order might plan to attack, they would not attack her. She would be safe either way at Hogwarts. She could not say the same thing for St. Mungos. Furthermore, at least Vincent was paying some attention to her. She could not say the same for Rob. She was tired of working all day at St. Mungos, going home only to miss Rob altogether--passing like two ships in the night.

"To be honest," Khaat wanted to reply to his question about the Wizengamot first, "I do have control over who is chosen and who is not to be on the Wizengamot. I have not always executed that right, but the power is indeed mine. Why do you think I wanted you on the panel? I respect your opinion very much. I know we don't always stand on the same side, but that's alright by me. I needed your wisdom and your experience on the court. And do not think, for one moment that Emof will ever stand in my courtroom again and escape punishment. I can control that. I don't care how the trial goes. I will have the pleasure of sentencing him to Azkaban for the rest of his existance. Even if it means I defy the rest of the panel. I will not let him go free again. Personally, I'm hoping to kill him first. However I have to do it."

"Now--changing subjects--actually," Khaat said, looking at him, " The Hogwarts job does interest me. Very much. You're right. I cannot control Emof. Ultimately we can never control another person anyway. I could simply take a leave of absence, which my father has been trying to get me to do anyway, just to get away a bit. I really don't care much about what job you might put me in, so long as it does not risk my pregnancy. My daughter means everything to me. I know that answer comes to you as a surprise, but yes. I would be very interested. I just need to be able to tell Rob about it, and I need to be able to able to notify my father that he will be in charge of St. Mungo's in my absence. Could I be of use to you there right now somehow? You'd have something I could do?"

She had no idea why she was trusting him at this point, but she found herself actually looking forward to going to Hogwarts and looking forward to not having to look behind her back constantly.

As she wasn't talking, thinking about his offer perhaps, he finished his tea, it had become cold now. Finishing, he leaned back, taking out a galleon from his pocket to pay for both of them. Vincent sighed as she brought up the Wizengamot, he thought that she had chosen not to take his offer, ignoring it instead. It was OK though, not much of a disappointment really. He hadn't believed she would take his offer in the first place.

Nodding at her reply, he preferred not to argue about such trivial things, even if he did disagree. She could believe whatever she wanted, it wasn't his problem. But she was wrong, with her Wizengamot position she didn't have any power or authority, no matter what she thought about it, she couldn't make him believe otherwise. Because the thing was, Matt had given her the job, and Matt could and would take it away if she did anything that he didn't like. That wasn't power or authority. "You've changed too much, I barely know who I'm talking to," Vincent remarked after she had done talking about Ne'os. She had said that she would try to kill him. Not a very Khaat thing to say. "I can't imagine you killing anyone really. However, I believe you have a good point, he is too dangerous to be kept in Azkaban, only several days ago 2 death eaters escaped from Azkaban for example," he informed her. "Ne'os could escape all to easily." Though sixteen, Ne'os was talented, no doubt about that. And he had several, followers who would help him.

"You are?" Vincent echoed, raising his eyebrows, obviously taken aback. He had thought she would refuse it immediately. But Khaat was, to put it bluntly, an odd person. You never knew what to expect from her. "That is great. Well, Hogwarts has some open positions. No teaching positions I'm afraid," he stated. Not that she was probably considering any teaching position anyway. "But among others, we are searching for a Librarian, I think that would be a good job for you to do, no? We also need a nurse, though that might be too hectic for you to do," he said thoughtfully.

"I think I would like either position at this point. Although, I think I might enjoy the librarian position more because I think I simply need a complete change of pace. Something very different from what I currently do. " She paused and looked at him and smiled, "Have I really changed all that much, Vincent? You look like you're seeing a stranger. Well, here's the truth of it. Rob asked me to rid myself of all my inner demons, and I've done my best to do that. He didn't like that soft, vulnerable side of me, I guess. I don't exactly know. So, I've done my best to get rid of it, or at least bury it deep enough where it perhaps cannot be resurrected. If you'd have asked me a year ago if I'd have changed who I was for someone else, to be what they wanted me to be, I'd have told you I wouldn't ever have been interested in doing that. And, yet..." Her voice trailed off. She sipped her drink once more.

She had done it for Rob. She had loved him enough to change herself to keep him. And even now, she wasn't sure she really had managed to do that. She didn't know if she had actually changed enough to please him. She still spent most of her time much too lonely and alone. Part of her wondered that if Rob were to leave her, would she go back to being who she had been? Or would she remain changed as he had wanted of her? She wasn't sure she had that answer. Actually, prior to meeting Rob, she had foreseen herself spending her entire life alone, and had been quite satisfied with that. Now, though, she wasnt' sure she could return to that state of mind. She had had a taste of love, and she wanted it enough to keep it, if she could make herself worthy of him.

"I guess I see myself as having gotten only a bit more realistic," she said. " And I know it would surprise you, then, to know I have killed. Out of necessity, of course. Self defense, and a few times just for the sake of justice, like that little nasty business in Texas, but I do not regret it. We both know our world is getting more dangerous every day. At some point, I had to get over being quite so naieve and get over my Camelot style of thinking that just because I thought I had the right ideals, I could fight for them and always win. We Gryffindors are rather flawed that way. Believing that doing the right thing is always worth dying for, flinging oneself in front of the bullet to shield someone else. Sometimes that's all just balderdash. And, sometimes, its not."

"You can have the Librarian job then. .Of course, you first need to go find out if you can take a few months off from work," Vincent said, before falling into a silence and listening to her while she talked. He frowned. "Don't change yourself just because others don't like it Khaat," he replied slowly, in a slightly disappointed tone. "Thats just pathetic. If your husband doesn't like it then thats his problem. That side of you made you what you were Khaat. Now you've just changed, and not for the better either. Seems to be that your husband thinks he owns you. You seem to do everything for him, and yet he can't even seem to give you some attention," he said, acting as if he was concerned about her, though he wasn't particularly sure he wasn't. What he was really trying to do was quite clear, and it wasn't a very friendly thing to do of course. But Vincent had never really cared for other people.

"So who were these people that you killed in Texas? Death Eaters?" Vincent guessed, interested. She might of been on an Order mission, or a ministry mission, whatever. "They say that they would. I doubbt anyone would save anothers life it meant losing their own," Vincent replied casually. He just didn't believe anyone would do that, and if they would, it was just stupid of them. He definitely wouldn't.