[TTD] anything might happen [enitan]

It was nearly halfway through December now, though it hadn't snowed in London. Rarely did, which was one reason Hunter was pleased he would be heading North for the day. He had an interview lined up later, but first he had to meet a friend.

That was an understatement. The friend in question was only ten years old, and finally the poor little kid seemed to be getting a decent break in like. Moxie - as he had nicknamed Enitan when he'd kept her hidden from the snatchers - had lost her Mum, got stranded with muggles, escaped and finally found her Dad, who thankfully turned out to be a decent bloke who actually wanted to look after her. Hunter was pretty impressed, though he hadn't said as much. Not only had the Dickinson guy been willing to jump through hoops for the Ministry to make sure Moxie got to stay with his, he'd actually bought a house up in Hogsmeade so the kid could have her own room and grow up somewhere with space to play. Hunter wasn't so sure about that part - he much preferred the safety and closeness of the city streets to the openness of the countryside - but Moxie had sounded thrilled in the letter she'd sent him, so he was going to pretend that it was the most awesome thing in the world.

Today, though the kid didn't know it, her Dad was interviewing to go back to his old teaching job at Hogwarts. Just like that, he found out he had a kid and was willing to change his whole life so she'd be happy. Hunter grinned as he waited by the fireplace in a Hogsmeade shop. For once he was early, not wanting Enitan to panic that he wasn't coming or had forgotten her, and he hadn't bought himself a beer to pass the time. Not at ten in the morning, anyway, and not when he was effectively on babysitting duty - not that Moxie thought of herself as a child. Then the door opened, and in they walked, the guy tall and wearing crazy-patterned robes with a thick cloak over the top, Moxie in clothes that were clearly new and looking a lot cleaner than she had that day in Diagon Alley just a few weeks earlier.

Hunter promised once again that he'd look after Enitan, and she rolled her eyes and said she didn't need looking after and then threw her arms round her father and made him promise that he'd be there waiting when they got back, and then she took Hunter's hand and practically dragged him to the fireplace.

"You ready?" he asked unnecessarily grabbing a handful of floo powder. He'd checked in advance that the Nottingham cafe destination had a large enough fireplace to accommodate two (small) people at once, so confidently stated their destination and stepped into the green flames. There was the familiar warmth, the whooshing sensation, the landing, and then something blue and squeaky pulling his hair. Several somethings. Pulling Moxie's hair as well. And shouting. A rotund woman, presumably the cafe owner, shouting something about...pixies?

Hunter pulled out his wand and began casting "Stupefy!" at the ones that were closest to Moxie, at the same time trying to remember which other spells would help. Cornish pixies were annoying, but he didn't really want to hurt them.

[OOC: Permission to mention Enitan's initial reaction]

Enitan had woken up early, and begrudgingly helped herself to a slice of buttered bread and Jam, since her last ‘cooking’ endeavor. Sam had clarified that she was not to use the stove without asking first; instead of his previous statement that he needed to be around when she used it. Apparently, him being awake and in the shower didn’t count as around. Knowing it was far too early, Enitan went back to her room, and smiled and looked around, still in awe of it. Between the bright colors and the massive skylight above her bed, though which she could see the stars, she didn’t even care that it was small and awkwardly placed in the eves of the house. It was everything she could have ever hoped for. She could have gone back to bed, but there was just too much excitement. She was getting to spend the entire day with Hunter! Maybe they could get ice cream. She didn’t even care that there was snow everywhere, there was never a bad time for ice cream.

Finally she heard Sam awake, and the two had breakfast, though she was practically vibrating with excitement the whole time, Bindi watching her from her new favorite perch amongst all the Herbs on the shelf in the big window. It was sheer agony waiting for Sam to get dressed, and Enitan busied herself with deciding how to wear her hair. She tried to do the two braids, but after about ten minutes gave up completely and went back to the puff balls. It looked like cotton candy on her head, but at least it looked like she’d done something with it instead of just leaving it wild. After all, she was going to work with hunter, so she had to look nice.

When Sam called for her, she raced down the stairs, stopping halfway and biting her lip, before walking down the stairs. She’d been told not to run like that before, on the steps, but she was just soooo excited. She had to practically drag Sam out of the house, eager to get going, and threw her arms around Hunter when she saw him, thrilled that he was there. “I missed you….” but she had to say good bye to her dad first, hugging him tightly and promising to behave.

And then they were gone, to the fireplace, of course at her insistance. She was eager to see what sort of surprise he had in store for her. After all, he’d promised something good.

The girl let out a wild cry as something dove at her hair, taking shelter under a table as Bindi tried biting at the creatures. “No don’t hurt them, they’re cuuuute!” she yelped, startled when hunter started shooting spells. They were absolutely adorable, even if she didn’t understand why they were attacking her. She crawled further under the table, grabbing a discarded serving tray to hold over her head.

"Stupefy! Stupefy!" Hunter was casting the spell as fast as he could, aiming wherever there was a flash of bright blue even as he hoped the cafe owner didn't keep a parrot. If he accidentally hexed that it was going to be embarrassing. Not that the woman was doing much to help matters - in a brief respite during which he noticed there were at least a dozen pixies floating motionless in the air he heard a door slam and glanced round just in time to see a doorframe behind the counter juddering. Clearly the cafe owner had decided to take refuge in the kitchen.

"Moxie, you okay?" he asked, sounding concerned. Not that he thought the pixies would hurt her, but because she might be scared. And because he was really responsible for her today, not just watching out for her and telling himself that she was a bright kid, she could look after herself... "Stupefy!" he'd spotted the little girl under the table and dropped down to his knees as he heard her shrieking. At first he thought she was scared, then he heard what she was saying and... "I'm not hurting them! I'm just stunning them so they won't hurt us! Here -" he stunned another that tried to fly under the table and handed it to her so she could see it properly.

"They're Cornish pixies. Dunno how they got in...stupefy!" he tried to explain, though there were still twenty or so of the creatures zooming around. Two of them had found the door handle and were coating it with jam, which was at least less worrying than if they were trying to open the door and get outside. Hunter didn't know much about pixies but he was quite certain they were going to frighten the muggles if they got into the wider world, and now that the cafe owner had run out on them, it looked as it if was up to him to deal with the problem. As two more flew in his direction he crawled under the table with the little girl, as he tried to think of a plan. If only they would just stop bothering him for a couple of minutes while he could think...

Just like that, Hunter knew what to do. "Moxie, I'm gonna try a spell. If it works I'm going to go invisible, and then I can try it on you, and the pixies won't bother us, okay?" He concentrated hard, trying to remember the wand movement for a disillusionment charm which was a lot more complex to cast on oneself, and then turned to the little girl "Okay, your turn...Moxie? can you see me? You can hear me, right?" he asked, sounding a little uncertain now.

Enitan felt a little better when Hunter joined her under the table. Especially when he gently handed her the pixie. It was okay. Kind of like it was sleeping. She’d seen this before. or at least similar spells. When they’d moved Sam and put all his lizards into a sleepy lethargic state so being dragged through the floo network and re-located wouldn’t upset them. She pushed one away from her hair, where it was trying to tie it in nots, glaring at it menacingly. She was trying to help them! But apparently they were horrible pranksters, liked they’d just walked into a house with dozens of little kids and a mother who didn’t know how to control them.

Nodding hastily, she was still a little startled when Hunter vanished completely from sight, though she could still feel him beside her. That made things a little better. “Nope. do me? They’re gonna knot up my hair so bad i’ll have to shave it all off!!” she was really worried about that. A well meaning friend of Sam’s had suggested cutting her hair short at one point as a way of managing it. They’d apologised profusely of course, but Enitan was terrified of the idea ever since. She loved her hair. When hunter repeated the process, Enitan took a chance and moved to a different table. The Pixies didn’t follow.

She grinned, knowing that she had to be invisible, which gave her an idea of her own. She kicked a dropped dishrag across the floor, before waiting to see what the pixies would do. They flocked to the area where she’d been, but Enitan was already gone, grabbing the dishrag to use on the Jelly covered door handle and pulled the door wide open, a gust of cold air swirling through the room. “Blow them out!” she shouted, hoping there was a spell for that, and knowing that she’d just given away her position if there wasn’t.

"Okay...but it feels weird, hang on..." Hunter warned as he cast the charm on the little girl. With the trust and innocence of the young she didn't question whether it had worked but instead scuttled out from under the table before trying a little experiment of her own. Relieved that at least they now had a bit of breathing space, Hunter crawled out from under the stable and straightened. Those pixies that were still active were flying around, looking for mischief and chattering happily to each other but now thankfully they weren't paying him or Moxie any attention whatsoever. One flew past with a full coffee pot which it was pouring over the tables and Hunter ducked quickly to one side, even as he mentally ran through possible spells to stop the rest of the pixies.

Then, suddenly, he remembered, and cast "Immobulus" at the one carrying the coffee pot even as the door flung itself wide open, cold air gusting into the room and Moxie yelled something about blowing the pixies out. "Great plan!" he called, then immediately ran to another area so the pixies couldn't trace his voice. Trouble was, he couldn't immediately think how to do that, and he could cast the freezing charm non-verbally. It probably looked weird to Moxie as one by one, the remaining pixies froze in mid-air and hung there, blinking in apparent confusion, but he said nothing until he'd charmed them all. "Sorry Moxie, I don't know a spell for blowing things across the room - well, not without them hitting the window, and that's kind of mean...they didn't mean to hurt us, right? But this should work for a bit... wait" he transfigured a table into a large birdcage, and then crossed to the counter where he cut two large slices of cake and put them into a bag. "

"Hey, lady! We've fixed your pixie problem. You can come out now!" he called in the direction of the closed door before crossing to where he hoped Moxie still was. He held out the bag "figured she owed us a couple of slices of cake. I mean, I've made her a birdcage. If she puts the pixies in it she's got a whole load of new pets, right?" Hunter winked, realising belatedly that they couldn't see each other and that he needed to remove the disillusionment charm. "Oh, Wait, we're still invisible. Hang on...Finite Incantatem!" he tried, casting it twice. There was a sort of shimmering, and slowly he could see his hand...and Enitan's hair...eyes... He breathed a sigh of relief. It would take a few minutes, but the effects of the charm would be gone by the time they got to their actual destination.

"Shall we head off then?" he asked, stepping just outside the cafe door before adding, as if it was nothing more than a casual afterthought "we don't want to be late for our interview with Angelina Johnson, do we?"

[Hunter out]

Instinctively, she turned to where hunter was, before ducking another pixie that randomly froze overtop of her head, before hiding under a table again. But he didn’t blow them out the door, and instead they all started freezing super weirdly, hanging in mid air and looking mighty confused and angry. Slowly she popped out from under the table, and let out a startled little squeak as it turned suddenly into a bird cage right behind her. “I was under that one!” she did wonder however if she would have ended up inside the birdcage had she not come out first, and despite how freaked out that would have made her, it would have been interesting to see. After all, Enitan was small enough she knew she could fit inside most anything.

A grin crossed her face as she watched two pieces of chocolate cake float into a bag, and now that she roughly knew where he was, Enitan stuck out her hand and felt around until she found his coat, grabbing ahold of it so she wouldn’t lose him. Which of course helped him realize that they were both still invisible. She watched him slowly start to materialize, wincing a little. “Oh that's weird! I can only see your eyes and your teeth!” parts of him were coming back in now, but that was a sight she wasn’t going to unsee.

Giggling, she watched the half visible Hunter walk towards the door, slowly following and stopping to shut the door behind them, only to hear what he said, she paused, the door half closed, watching the woman come out and see the birdcage and the frozen pixies, looking bewildered, before what he said fully sunk in. “Angelina Johnson!?” she spun around and looked at him. He was still missing an arm and a leg, but his hand was back. “THE Angelina Johnson? Like  Falmouth Falcons Angelina Johnson?” she chased after him, devolving into excited childlike glee, having completely forgotten the pixies already as she ran to catch up with him, hoping she wouldn’t horribly embarrass herself by going overly fangirl.

[Enitan out]