Defeated

Khaat had left the graduation right after the diplomas were handed out, Vicent's warning ringing in her ears. He had seen danger coming, clearly, and wanted her well out of it. A Lupin never ran from a battle. Never. Until now. She had run. She had promised him that she would leave, and she had. She wanted to go home and talk with Remus's portrait to give her some connection with her uncle who had mentored her. Perhaps the portrait still had enough of his wisdom left that it would settle her nerves about this whole thing. If not, she could always find her father or Brian and always get some wisdom there.

She found herself walking and before she knew it, she was on the main street in Hogsmeade, the starry night sky lighting up the shops that were still open. She was thinking of perhaps stopping off in the pub for a hot butterred rum to ward the chill away. Even though it was a mild summer evening, the whole evening's events left her feeling a bit chilled. It seemed to happen when dark magic was too close to her. She conjured a woven dark charcoal gray shawl and wrapped it about herself. She knew she probably looked ridiculous wearing a shawl in June. Only another seer would understand it--that, or someone like her father who was married to a seer. She sighed heavily, feeling overwhelmed. She wished it would rain, and rain long enough to wash away all her confusion.

"What!" Khaat turned, her face growing instantly pale. "Jess! No! Was he alright? If they hurt him, I swear..." she began and stopped. She calmed herself and took a deep breath. If they had hurt him, Vincent would send for her. Vincent was smarter than to just let Jess die. Vincent was not a murderer. She trusted in that, and he was far too smart to let anyone waste a prime bargaining chip like Jess Potter. Yes--if they needed a healer for him, Vincent would send for her. She was positive. And she was counting on Wilson rallying the fraying Order forces together to rescue Jess. If he didn't, well, then she would take it upon herself to gather her father's forces together to rescue him. Nobody here knew Robert had an army of his own in Paris anyway. It would be quite a surprise if they ever found out.

"Okay," Khaat sighed, taking a deep breath. "Let's go talk." She led Miseria inot the Three Broomstick pub which was pretty much deserted tonight because of the Hogwarts graduation. "Hot buttered rum for me, please," Khaat ordered, needing to ward off the child her seer's powers had given her, "And whatever she likes." She laid a couple of coins on the bar. "What would you like, Miseria?"

"I have something better," The bartender said, "Its called a Seer's Special. I'll make you one of those."

"How did you know I was a seer?"

"Are you kidding?" the bartender frowned at her. This was not his first day on the job by any means. "Anyone wearing long sleeves and a shawl in June is a seer. You think I don't know that look? You guys get too close to the dark arts, its like shoving you into the snow. Trust me. This will warm you right up. And what for you to drink, Miss?" he looked at Miseria.

The bartender left and returned with a glass of ice water with a decorative wedge of lemon for Miseria, and a tankard full of some strange smoking brew for Khaat. "Don't worry," He laughed, "Its not lethal. Just something to ease the nerves and warm the blood. Its a centuries old brew we've used for seers since the time of the founders of Hogwarts. Legend has it that it was originally from the family of Rowena Ravenclaw but we have never been able to establish that for certain. It was one of Dumbledore's favorite drinks."

"Albus's?" Khaat echoed.

"None other. When you lot started to get mixed up with Voldemort, he often had that 'ice for blood' feeling and would slip off here to warm up. He drank one of these probably once a week in those days. His favorite was the warm caramel flavor, so we've started just brewing them that way unless someone especially orders another flavor. Try it."

Khaat smelled the brew in the tankard. It had the most luscious warm buttery caramel aroma. It was quite pleasant. She took a sip and swallowed, letting the smooth, comforting brew slide down her throat. It was wonderful. It was like a sorely needed tonic for her troubled soul. She felt herself relaxing a bit at just the first sip. No wonder Dumbledore liked them so much. This could easily be one of her new favorites. "It's wonderful!" Khaat smiled. "I told you," he laughed. "People who arent seers dont' tend to like it as much. I'm not sure why," he said, "But you lot, you take to it like mother's milk. Enjoy."

"Thank you, " Khaat said. She took her tankard and moved across the room to an empty table in an empty corner. They could talk here. She sat down and waited for Miseria so they could continue talking.

"Rob wasn't a Death Eater then," Khaat said, "Well, as far as I know he wasn't. I think he became more concentrated on his illegal potions empire when he stoppped teaching at Hogwarts, and I think that played with his mind. I really believe he had some good in him, and the longer he was with those Knockturn Alley influences, the more warped his miind became. He is not at all the man I fell in love with anymore. He's like a stranger to me, and your grandfather and I are doing everything we can to be sure that Abbey doesn't fall into Rob's hands--not ever. If that were to ever happen, I'd never see her again. That's why I closed up the cottage here and moved in with Brian. Rob and Jen don't even know him, much less where he lives. Besides that, Brian is a highly skilled auror and isn't going to take any chances with Abbey.

"My guess is that this is just the start of the Death Eaters trying to make another attempt to control the wizarding world. I don't think we've seen much of anything yet. It's liable to get a whole lot worse here before it gets better. What I'd like for you to do is to start training with my father and Brian so that you have some really well developed skills at defending yourself. The day may come when your life or your daughter's will depend upon it."