The Master Becomes the Grass Hopper?

Jack turned her head to see Michael hurrying up the stairs and the crossing the room quickly to reach her and her discovery. She stepped away as he drew near to inspect the lock. She began to wonder who she was helping him steal from, but he sounded like the Potionmaster friend Michael had mentioned before. Brian Lupin... she could only identify the name as having to do with the Ministry... Wait, wasn't he-

Michael cracked the code, which told her that he at least new the man they were stealing from. She told herself that there was probably only good things to come from this, though it would be stupid to fully and blindly believe that. He burst into a long-winded story which confirmed that he was friendly with the man. She told herself I'm helping save someone's life. Now shut up and listen to Michael.

He taught her how to shrink and un-shrink things and she nodded, filing the knowledge with the other things she had learned that day. He began to pour over the map and said nothing to her. She said, "I figure this is something I should not or need not know, otherwise you would have told me, but is there anything I can do to help?"

Michael sighed heavily. He didn't disclose this easily, but if Jack were to throw her lot in with him, he owed it to her to be straight up with her about who he was and what he had been. He sat down on the edge of the large heavy library table that she had tossed the books on.

"My dear," he said rather heavily, "I think it is time that I tell you who I have been, or rather what I have been. You might change your mind about throwing your lot in with me." He looked at her to be sure he had her full attention before he continued.

"In my younger days I was an employee of the Ministry, and of the Order of the Phoenix, but that was a very long time ago. They hired me for my particular expertise. Every government on the face of the planet has special employees they tell no one about and do not acknowledge. I was one of those." How the hell was he going to tell her this? He felt like he was wandering around it rather blindly.

"I was a wizarding espionage agent," he continued. " I still do special assignments from time to time on a freelance basis, especially when there is no one else who can do what I do. I've been recruited to save a woman's life. I've been recruited because there is no one else who has the ability that I do to get in and out of impssible places and liberate people or things that need to go back to their rightful owners. Besides that, she's my goddaughter."

There. He'd said it. That was more accurate than saying he was a common catburglar. He wasn't. He was so much more. He always had been. It would not take long for her fast brain to connect the dots, now that he'd been talking about government, that they were in the home of the new Minister of Magic and that he was desperately trying to save none other than Robert Lupin's daughter, Khaat, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. That was heavy information indeed. But he trusted Jack. He was a good judge of character, and he trusted her.

Jack listened to his little story, surprised to find he wanted to tell her his story. The only reason she had said something was to relieve him of the obligation of either avoiding the subject, or feeling as though he had to confess something. Jack knew there were things people chose not to share and she respected that, seeing as she had her own secrets... And yet he told her.

When he finished, she had no idea what to say. 'Cool' seemed inappropriate, as well as any other casual remarks, though she did not want to make a big deal out of it. Most people preferred such weighty information not change people's opinions and she proved so by keeping things casual. But it was impressive, so she nodded her head. "I understand. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Don't discount me, Jack. Its not every day you meet a catburglar. Does that mean I'm going to steal something from the minister while I'm here? No. He's my best friend. And he is trusting me to get his daughter back. The plan we found are, as far as I can tell, his best bet on where he believes she is. By
helping me find these, you may well have already helped to save her life. Unfortunately I know this building much too well. " He shrank the building plans again and put the tiny piece of paper in his pocket.

"So you know, I started as a prankster, a class clown. Much like you. But unlike you, I had to learn to steal just to survive. When I combined the two, well, it worked very well for me. Always has. But, I never ever took something just for my own self gratification. Not that it wasn't tempting. But I always worked for either the Ministry or the Order, one or the other. The Dark Arts are some of the most detestible things I can think of. I tell you this so that if you choose you do not want to be around me, you can make that decision openly and freely, and with an informed mind.

"I do see, though, immense potential in you to be of tremendous use to either the Ministry, or the Order if it ever re-forms. They need people who have the capacity to do some of the things that I know how to do. Silence, stealth, distraction. I'm not suggesting you learn to steal, but you do have enormous potential. I cannot do what I do forever. And someone will need to pickup and know how to operate in the shadows. Do you think you could be that sort of wizard?" He knew it was a big decision for her. But he also could see her keen mind and her immense courage, and her quick wit was her greatest strength. Those were the key elements. The rest could be taught.

Jack listened to him, feeling some of her uneasiness and her doubts begin to fade away and then almost completely dismantle once he said he had worked for the Ministry. Unfortunately, Jack had never been one for trusting "the man" or organized government, but the Order... now that held some weight in her books. Even if she was a little disappointed in them at the moment...

He continued on, explaining exactly what he had done for both groups, though he left a lot to her own imagination. She thought he must have acted as a secret agent/spy and she tried to push images put of her head of him dressed head to toe in black, throwing ninja stars and karate kicking some faceless minion before jumping out a window to drive off in a sports car-

This was the problem with watching muggle movies.

He told her she had potential to do the same sort of work, and while it was a kick to her ego, she did not take feel overly proud by it. In a way, it was a fact. Some people were not cut out for the that type of work, others were. She was an obvious example of the latter. He then asked her if she could see herself becoming that sort of person and she paused.

She believed in upholding right in the equation of right and wrong. But she had become muddle in the distinctions between the two... Ever since Vito. She knew the DEs were wrong, but did they deserve the harm they inflicted? She believed any Order or Ministry member who believed so, deserved the punishment they prescribed. Jack may not be a feelings type of person, but she had a rather philosophical mind and a heart that liked to screw with her...

She took a breath and then carefully framed her answer. "I would do anything to save someone, good or bad. I don't do the politics of it. I can't." Personally, she did not think she had enough of a filter to maneuver around difficult questions; she would tell everyone how it was. "I could do this sort of stuff. Whether or not I could make a career of it, I could not promise." And then there was the problem that she had been thinking of becoming a Magizoologist... "But I could see myself assuming some sort of role like that."

His eyes sparkled, and he laughed a little, looking deep into her eyes. "You've seen a muggle movie on spies, haven't you? I"ve seen that starstruck look before, believe me. Well, I'm not a gunslinger, if that's what you're thinking. No gunbelt, no six shooters either. No, wait. Those are westerns. Well, I don't do that either. I'm the 'throw-the grappling-hook-up-on-the-roof-and-slide-down-the-skylight' guy. Actually, the climbing and rappelling is the best part, if you ask me. I let someone else do all that shooting stuff. Not that I couldn't. But I don't like it. That's far more Robert's forte. He and his brother were the warriors. Where the hell do you think Harry Potter got it? It was genetic from James, really. They were all a great wad of adrenalin junkies, really.

"Anyway, you've given me the answer I needed to hear. The very fact that politics does not interest you in the least is the very best quality of all. That's what I was really looking for. People who get involved in politics end up having an axe to grind in one sort or another. Personally, I don't believe in any of that rot. Generally, I stand with the good guys because that's where the people that I love stand. I won't ever do anything I don't believe in. Ever. Even if it gets me killed. However, if I do believe in it, I'm more than happy to surrender all for that too. I'm either in or I"m out. Completely. And I am always, always 100% up front and honest with my friends--all the time, no exceptions. Its just my rule for life.

"Let me just caution you on one thing, though. While you're deciding what side of the fence you want to stand on, the day will come when you need to make up your mind about what you believe in. It comes to each one of us, like a rite of passage. I try to remain as neutral as I can, but I will always, always choose to stand on the side of love. Always. You'll find that's the side that wins. You don't have to pick between factions. I never have. And neither have my friends. We all have friends on both sides of the law. We choose love. It helps keep us grounded and keeps things in perspective for us. Politics just never worked for any of us. However, protecting the people we love, well, that, to me, is always worth dying for."

Jack listened to his speech, and while she did draw some comfort from parts of it, she also knew she would be spending the next few nights tossing and turning as she tried to figure out where her mind and her heart put her. She knew some of the things she believed in, but she could not get past some people's hypocrisy to ally herself with them.

And then there was the problem of putting herself the people she cared for. Some people she did not even know how to classify- Andrew and Chase for example. And then she cared for a lot of people but they did not seem to care back. Her brother, her cousin, and most of all Vito. Well, technically he had admitted to caring but... nothing was technical when it came to him.

So she really did not have anyone to ally herself with. Perhaps Matt? Does your awkward, eccentric older friend count? Or the moody poltergeist who hates you for making him care? Or the family that forgot about you? Or the friends who would rather never see you again?

Basically, Jack would always choose "love" but it would never want to choose her back. It was rather adverse to her motivations and it did not cause her much more than pain, and yet she chose it over and over again. She always knew she would pick that, but maybe it was not the thing she should do.

He said the factions did not interfere but Jack knew first hand that was not true. When it had come down to choosing between Vito and Andrew and Chase, she knew it had been seen as bad versus good, Death Eaters versus Potter's Army. Her decision had not been based on that, but she had "sided" with a murderer. And she would have to remember that always.

In a quiet voice, Jack said, "I-I understand. I... I will do the best I can."

Michael had seen the look in her eyes much too clearly. The look itself had not lasted all that long, but he had seen. The stamp sized blueprint now in his pocket, he turned and started to walk down the stiars. "Oh, and by the way, Jack," he said, "I am generally a fairly good judge of human character. Occupational hazard, I'm afraid. You are far too young and beautiful a spirit to carry such cynicism about humanity, my dear. Someday, when you feel safe enough with me, you will have to tell me who has hurt you so and made you so defensive down below all that comic relief." He decided to change subjects. "Let's go 'borrow' some equpment from Robert, shall we?"

He went downstairs and continued downward into Robert's potions lab. The bloody place alwasy reminded Michael of something out of an old muggle horror movie. Michael was always just a little creeped out by all the hundreds and hundreds of jars with insects. Robert really did like bugs a lot. And he never ever said which ones were originally bugs and which ones were originally human. Michael wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

He drew himself out of staring at all the bug jars and went over to a shelf of rather disorganized chaos and began borrowing a few knapsacks and other pieces of mission gear. Climbing ropes and grappling hooks and such, well, he had all that. But he wasn't normally prepared to equip a small platoon. Robert, however, seemed to keep everything, and the stuff he never used, he seemed to toss around into this pile of chaos. That was just like Robert. Anything his mind didn't have space for simply got cast side.

Jack stared at Michael, a slight iciness entering into her demeanor, though she simply nodded curtly and said, "Okay." Why was it that the people that she could stand to allow herself to be around were much too perceptive for her own good. She was able to walk through crowds of people and hitch on a smirk, but not around these people.

She nodded again and followed Michael, lost in a whirlwind of her own impeding, frustrating, maddening thoughts. Why was it that people seemed to be able to see right through her, even if she was acting the same. Why was it that people wanted to get close to her, people wanted her to spill her guts, when both things were foreign and insane to her.

She slowly looked up as they descended into the room, which looked like the lab of a crazy scientist. Jack whistled appreciatively, moving to examine jars of weird bugs and pickled creatures, turning to view everything in near sight. She turned to Michael again. "What are we looking for?"

Michael saw the very clear change in her demeanor. He'd struck a nerve. He decided to stop hitting it for her. He'd made the offer to llisten if she ever decided to talk. The rest was up to her. He didn't exxpect her to have some sort of deep emotional catharsis just because he had offered. He would not have had a mini-meltdown for anyone either. Not under any circumstances. He saw few things in life as being worth that sort of energy.

He laughed when Jack whistled at Robert's lab. "Yeah, Creepy, isn't it? Our minister has a bit of a quirky side to him that he doesn't like to share much of. He's a hell of a potionsmaster,though. But the bugs, well, he loves bugs for some asinine reason. I really would like the man to tell me which of these poor sots were human once, but...that's not gonna happen.

"What are we looking for? Well, I'm sifting through my dear friend's junk and robbing him of anything that will help me break into a building and rescue his daughter. I left some of my equipment go. I guess I didn't think I'd ever be working again. I was perfectly content in retirement. I really was. And if you're wondering if Robert will be ticked? No. He won't. He'd give up everything he had, even his own life, if it got his daughter back. You'd like him, really. He's a Gryffindor too. Well, his whole family is. "

He drew out a number of knapsacks and some spare climbing ropes. "What the heck is he doing with so many knapsacks anyway? And what's he got climbing ropes for? The man doesn't climb. Well, not really. He really does need to throw out half this crap. He'll never use it. Hm...maybe I'll just come back and get it for myself. His wife would most likely appreciate a lot less junk in her house."