My world is different to anything you know (Hunter/Sam)

Sam hadn't realised that Enitan had stopped following him. He opened the cutlery drawer and sent knives and forks to lie on the table with his back to the rest of the flat. It was only when he looked up, meaning ask if she wanted her drink in a glass or if she'd prefer to drink it straight from the bottle that he realised she wasn't beside him. In that split second he felt a surge of panic. He'd lost her! Almost immediately he heard her asking about his paintings, and then she was in the kitchen, still carrying her bag and tucking it under the...her chair. “I do. Ever since I was a little kid. When my sisters went off to Hogwarts, they used to send me letters, but I was too little to write back. So I used to draw pictures instead, and I never stopped. Some of the ones in the shop were mine, too. Did you see the giraffes walking on the plains? I did that one - and charmed it afterwards. I keep hoping Louise might want to use some of my pictures in one of her exhibitions, but...” he stopped, having been talking as he served the food onto the plates; and now he brought them over to the table and then, with a quick flick of his wand summoned their drinks and a couple of glasses, deciding Enitan could choose whether she wanted to drink from the bottle or not.

It was a relief that she said she liked his flat. And Sam wasn't worried that she was just being polite, because ten year olds didn't usually do that, not about things like this. Ten year olds might know not to tell someone that their hat was the ugliest thing they'd ever seen, but she wasn't going to pretend she liked it here when she didn't. Now that she was here, he realised that a lot of this was just going to slip into place. His earlier worries about how to find her a bed, or clearing out the small room that served as a studio...they didn't matter. Not really. They had the rest of the afternoon and evening to sort that out, and he supposed she might not mind sleeping on his sofa for one night. Or he could sleep on the sofa and she could have his bed. And tomorrow...

“Blue's probably on the windowsill in the studio. He likes it in there” Sam said “I'll introduce you after we've eaten. And the geckoes should be in their tank, which is in my bedroom, but one of them probably won't be. I named him Houdini after a famous muggle who could escape from absolutely anywhere” Lifting his knife and fork, Sam cut his pie in half, letting the hot steam waft upwards and eating a couple of chips while the pie cooled enough that it wouldn't burn his mouth. It was going to be okay. They could do this.

The idea that her dad was a painter made her very happy. The one class she’d absolutely loved at the stupid muggle school she’d been forced to go to had been her art class. In fact the art teacher had been one of the nicest, most supportive and caring people that she had met, so much so that Enitan had at one point, despairing that she would never find her father, actually begged the woman tearfully to adopt her. But she understood why the woman had said no. she had five children of her own, in too small of a house. Mrs. Kirby had understood that Enitan was different, and didn’t talk to her like a child. Enitan bit her lip, staring down at her food for a moment. “I like art...” she said softly, though she looked a little sad. She didn’t miss anyone at all from that horrible time and place. Anyone except Mrs. Kirby. “The Muggle school i was forced to go to, the art teacher there was really nice. She let me come eat my lunch in her classroom, and sometimes stay after school when the other kids went to their programs. She even taught me how to use her pottery wheel.” Enitan smiled. Perhaps some day she could go back and find Mrs. Kirby, and let her know everything had turned out alright. “I like painting too, but pottery is so much more fun.” and totally not because she could make messes with it and not get in trouble so long as she cleaned them up.

Stabbing the top of her pie with her fork, she broke the crust, turning it more into a bowl then anything else, using her chips to dip into the innards, blowing to cool it off before eating. She was really impressed that he had done the paintings in the shop. She had noticed them, in passing at least, though she’d been more mesmerized by the dancing glass ballerina.  Next time they were there, she would take a closer look. She assumed there would be a next time. After all, he worked there, and Enitan didn’t want to leave his side. At least right now. “Will I be coming to work with you? I can sit in a corner and read all day. I’ll be nice and quiet.” she asked hopefully. He’d mentioned the shop was his parents, so she hoped they wouldn’t mind at all. “And i can help watch for people with sticky fingers! I’m very very good at that.” she smiled, nodding.

But he was already talking about the lizards, which was only fair, since she had acced about them too. Perhaps she should ask less questions. She didn’t want him getting upset with her. But there was so much she wanted to know, to learn. Her mother had promised that he would be a good father, but Enitan also wanted him to like her, not just because he had to… and she very much wanted to like him. “I know Houdini! Well… about him.” she smiled. “I had to write a paper on him. We got to pick some famous person, and i thought he sounded cool…. Where does your Houdini like to hide?” she asked, glad that Bindi was staying in her hoodie at the moment, curled up in the pocket asleep. She didn’t want her rat to eat his gecko… did rats even eat geckos?

It was strange how normal this felt. They'd been here ten minutes but already it felt natural, like she'd been here for years. Maybe that was because, in a way, she had. With his unusual gift, Sam had spent most of his life either knowing things that he shouldn't have known, or feeling things that made no sense until the day they suddenly fell into place. Today, with the little girl turning up and immediately recognising his connection to her, one of those puzzle pieces now made sense. The Seer had had visions of her before knowing why, had known something was missing without knowing what it was, so now life had caught up with him, it felt far more comfortable than it should have.

What was surprising was that they had things in common. It shouldn't have been - Sam had known students who had enjoyed art, painting - who he would have called friends had they not been children in his care. But to hear it from this little one was exciting. He wanted to ask what sort of things she liked to paint, what kind of things she'd made in her pottery class, whether she had any of them in her bag to show him... and at the same time what she was saying took his breath away. All the time he had worked at Hogwarts, Sam had worried he hadn't been good enough. All the times he felt he'd failed, but he had never considered that he might have made a difference just by being there for them, having an open door when one of the students needed to talk. Hearing about Enitan's art teacher, someone else who had let students eat lunch in the classroom and had offered after-school classes (though in Sam's case they had been fake detentions to avoid the Carrows during that terrible year) - she sounded like a kindred spirit. Maybe one day they could find her and thank her. But instead, what he said was “I haven't got any pottery stuff here, but we can get some. And I'll sort out some paper and paints for you, if you like, so you won't have to borrow mine.”

But the little girl's plans for the future were...troubling. “Yes. That's what we'll do tomorrow” he said agreeably, as his mind raced and he ate his pie. She had said she could sit quietly and read, which was good, but he'd have to find suitable books for her to read to help prepare her for Hogwarts, so she would be able to get top grades. Then she'd be able to work in the Ministry, become an auror or head up a department and... She's ten years old, and its far too early to worry about what she'll want to do when she grows up. But Sam suddenly understood those parents who had worried about their childrens' progress, who had written letters demanding extra tuition or claiming their child should definitely be achieving Os. And at the same time, he resolved not to be one of those parents who did that. After all, if he could split his time between shop and studio, was it really such a bad life?

“You know more about Houdini than me, I expect” he grinned “I never met anyone who knew who he was before.” As for where the gecko was, that was another matter entirely. “My Houdini could be just about anywhere - I always make sure to keep the windows closed, to be sure he's safe. He likes warm places, and high places, and...” Sam shook his head “He could be anywhere. Do you want to help me look for him later?” And then, because he remembered that it wasn't just them and the lizards now “What does Bindi like to eat? Do we need to buy rat food or something?” even as he had the sudden sinking feeling that the furry little creature would be quite happy sharing pie and chips.

Enitan’s honey brown eyes lit up when he mentioned getting some pottery stuff. “I don’t really need that much, you can do a lot with just clay.” she said reassuringly. Her teacher had explained to her how expensive the pottery wheel was that she had, and that was the only thing that Enitan had to go off of, so she assumed it would all be rather pricey. But clay. That was cheap. And she could do a lot with clay. Though they’d need a kiln. Would a regular oven work? Maybe… Ms. Kirby would have known. Maybe the person where they went to get the clay would know when they bought it. She liked the sound of that. They. plans. For the future. Even if it was only the immediate future. “Ms. Kirby brought in cookie cutters one day, so we could make fun shapes, and then put them in the oven and we got to paint them the next class. To go on christmas trees. I still have all mine… I wrapped them in mum’s scarf. She wouldn’t have minded.” She was pleased with herself. And Ms. Kirby had said hers were the best. Maybe someday she could be a potter, and sell her fancy pots. Was there a charm that protected them from breaking? Maybe she could invent one! Could you make money off of inventing charms?

The girl’s mind liked to jump all over the place, but she’d always been good at following a conversation while doing so. “Awesome.” she grinned. “I can finish reading my book. It's called Matilda. It's about a girl who can control things with her mind. Like move them around and stuff. And she’s super smart and awesome. And...” she clamped a hand over her mouth. “Not supposed to tell people the endings of books.” she looked sheepishly down at her food, continuing to eat, nudging bits off to the side of her plate. Bindi was good and knew she’d get to eat when Enitan was done. “I’d really like to look for him with you. I’m good at finding stuff.” she said, holding a pea up for Bindi who was being good and patient on her shoulder, half hidden by the frizzy helmet of hair the young girl sported.

When he asked about what her rat liked to eat, the girl paused and looked at Bindi on her shoulder, as if the rat was going to tell him. “Fruits and veggies are really good for her, but not too much or she’ll get sick. She can eat rice and beans, and stuff like oatmeal, but raw. She likes breads too, the brown kind with all the grains on top. And she needs some meat. Without lots of fat. Hunter recommended liver. But she likes steak and Kidney pie too. I just don’t let her have the steak. And there’s a bunch of stuff she can’t eat too… Cheese is good, but only a special treat. Or she’ll get fat and lazy.” Enitan was proud about how much she knew about her rat. “They do make special rat food… but she’s never eaten it, so i don’t know if she’d like it. and Hunter said its missing... 'Vital Nutrients.' but i don't know what that means. it sounded important though.”

“Okay, we'll get some clay. Do you know if it needs to be fired - I mean, put in a special oven afterwards? Louise will know someone who has one if we need it” Sam asked, oblivious to the fact that his questions mirrored the little girl's own thoughts. He liked the fact that Enitan had brought things she'd made with her. “Can you show me after we've eaten? I'd like to see them. Then we can clear out the studio and turn it into your bedroom, if you're okay with that.” It was strange, given how much he'd enjoyed turning the second bedroom into his workspace, that he gave almost no thought to having to lose it again. He still had the backroom at Louise's gallery to paint in. 

 But the mention of his girlfriend brought him back to reality in a different way. He'd left the shop early without leaving a note; hopefully Cassandra wasn't going to drop by at closing time like she sometimes did. Not for the first time, Sam wished he owned an owl so he could send letters without needing to visit the owl office. Living so close to Diagon Alley, it was convenient most of the time, but there were times - like this - when he wished for the extra simplicity of just opening the window and sending a letter with his own bird. But there were the lizards to think of, and now a rat...and owls ate... Right. Bad idea. Sam had been eating while they talked and he thought, and when his mind returned to the present, Enitan was telling him about the book she was reading. It sounded like a muggle book, or perhaps one written by a squib who had seen their parents use magic but had never learnt how it worked. “It's okay. I don't think I know that one” he reassured her as she clapped a hand over her mouth. Sam tried not to laugh even as he wondered who'd told her not to blurt out the ends of stories.

He supposed he also shouldn't have been as amused as she fed a pea to the rat as it materialised out of her hair, small nose twitching hopefully as it first examined and then delicately took and ate the offered treat. At least Bindi was going to be easy to feed. “That sounds fine. I've already got some greens and vegetables for Blue, he won't mind sharing. We can get the oatmeal and other things tomorrow, if you think she can manage on pie and vegetables tonight...” Sam hadn't failed to notice the small pile of food on the side of Enitan's plate and privately thought that the rat would be quite well-fed until they could go shopping. Just so long as the little girl wasn't squeamish about insects, he thought - the geckoes ate mealworms and crickets, as well as any flies that they discovered in the summer. Technically they weren't supposed to eat the flies, but none of Sam's pets had ever been much good at obedience.

The girl was about half done with her food, and unlike most children was eagerly eating her vegetables. She nodded, then stopped to swallow before answering his question. “It depends on the clay… we’d have to ask at the store when we get it.” he kept bringing up this Louise when they were talking about art, and Enitan really did want to know more about the woman he was dating. She’d half expected to find a married man, and maybe with siblings, but she was kind of glad he didn’t have any other kids. Not because she wanted to be the only one, but because she’d heard horror stories about being the odd one out in an otherwise tight knit family.  “Is Louise an artist too? Is she nice? Do you think she’ll like me?” Enitan stopped. That was probably too many questions. She went back to eating, letting Bindi have some more of the food she’d set aside for her. The girl was starting to get full, but she didn’t want to waste any food.

“I’d love to show you.” she finally said softly, a little nervous when he asked if he could see her artwork. After all he was a really good artist and she wanted to impress him, but she didn’t think her stuff was all that good. “They’re not really christmassy though. I always wanted to put them in the window, but they wouldn’t let me.” there was only one window in the room where the girls slept, six of them in three bunk beds, and Enitan’s bed had framed the window. Apparently it wouldn’t have been fair if she got to hang up her artwork. “Bindi usually shares my food. I didn’t want her to go hungry. I promised hunter I’d take good care of her.”

She was excited about seeing his studio however, even if he was offering to clear it out to make her a bedroom. She felt a little sad that she was taking something like that away from him, but he didn’t seem to mind all that much. “If you have a studio why is all your painting stuff in the living room?” she asked curiously, her head tilting to the side slightly as bindi climbed onto her arm. The rat seemed to know that rats didn’t belong on tables, but was not above helping itself to the girl’s finished dinner.

Sam hadn't realised how hungry he was. Wasn't a surprise - well, a shock - like this supposed to make people lose their appetites? But he'd almost cleared his plate already and was idly wondering if they shouldn't have bought some cake as well. Then Enitan asked about Louise, which wasn't surprising. But this wasn't easy in the same way as talking about his parents or sisters, because they were family. They'd always been there, and Louise...well, he'd chosen to be with her. He recognised the worry in the little girl's voice, but  wasn't immediately sure how to answer. I'm sure she'll like you, but she's going to be totally shocked at first didn't sound right. In the end he just went for facts. Same as with his family. “She's a year younger than me. We were at school together, but when I left, we sort of lost contact for ages. Then a few years ago we met again by accident. She's a photographer, and she owns an art gallery.” Did that answer the question? What would a ten year old think was “nice”?

It didn't matter if the shapes - or whatever she'd made - were Christmassy or not. Sam still wanted to see them, wanted to hang them up in the window just because she hadn't been allowed to before. “You can hang them up here. In any of the windows that you like” he said. Tidiness or polished decor wasn't something that had ever affected the Seer. Nor was he concerned whether they were 'good' or not. He wasn't expecting something professional standard from a child anyway, he just wanted to know everything about her from all the years he'd missed. But then she mentioned the paintings in the living room, the ones stacked up by the sofa and tucked in against the bookshelves and he realised that the state of his flat went a bit beyond untidy, all the way into disorganised.

“That's...overflow” he admitted “The things in the living room are pictures I've brought from the gallery, or ones I need to take over there to finish.” And the ones he'd thought about selling but hadn't got around to it yet. And the ones that he simply hadn't stored. And some that he just hadn't sorted through and...there were watercolour pads in with the books as well, weren't there? Not to mention the huge box of chalk pastels actually underneath the sofa - he'd forgotten about those. There was really too much stuff in this flat already; and now there was going to be a whole lot more. Maybe they'd need to find somewhere bigger. He smiled. “Don't worry - I've got a lot of stuff, but we'll get it all sorted out. You'll have your own room by tonight, I promise.”

Enitan nodded when he started talking about Louise, leaning forwards. Unfortunately he didn’t really tell her anything she wanted to know, and she was worried there might be a reason for that. But she did like the fact that Louise was also artsy. She liked artsy people and they tended to be more likely to like her. “Does she do Wizard pictures or Muggle ones?” she asked, really curious now, petting Bindi as the rat finished off what was left of Enitan’s pie. “Do you think she’d show me how to use a camera? I’ve always wanted to learn...” and she really wanted Louise to like her as well, especially if she was involved with her father. After all, the woman could be a very important part of her life… which made the girl hesitate in petting the black and white creature. Would she have to call Louise Mum? She couldn’t do that. There was only one Mum. and it wasn’t some stranger. Maybe… they could come up with some other name that would be okay. They could think about that later. There wasn’t any need for her to stress about it now.

She was thrilled to death that Sam wanted to hang her projects in the window, like she’d always wanted. They would be awesome, and it would make the place feel like also hers. Which was important. This was home now. Which made her start thinking about what she needed to call him. Was it too soon to call him dad? It wasn’t polite to call him Sam… she really didn’t know what she should do, and was a little worried about asking. Fortunately his description of why his paintings were all over the place was amusing to her and helped take the girl’s mind off things for a moment, though she probably should ask at some point…

She giggled at how sheepish he looked, but was happy still, sitting back and sipping on what was left of her cherry drink. While he explained that he’d make sure to clear all his stuff out of the studio. “I don’t mind sharing with some of your stuff. Not at all. It's not five other annoying girls.” she grinned. Sharing her room with his artwork would be much better. “And I don’t really have a lot of stuff… So I don’t need that much room.”

He was going to have to introduce her to Louise, and soon, The question was, how to do that? Should he send a letter explaining what had happened and asking her to come over...no, that would be a terrible way for his girlfriend to find out. As much as he didn't want to have an awkward conversation, Sam knew that face to face was the only way to go. But for the moment, it was easier to answer yet another question. “She takes both kinds. Actually, muggles can go into the front part of her gallery, which is really a shop. None of those pictures move. Then there's the main part of the gallery - you get to that through a giant photo of the British Museum - which is where the magical pictures and sculptures are. And then there's...” there was just the smallest pause at this point as Sam belatedly realised that the third part of Louise's gallery was nothing a young child needed to know about. He cleared his throat and took a swig of butterbeer, feigning the sudden need for a drink before he continued, In the same moment knowing with crystal clarity that if he didn't offer some reason in advance for why Enitan couldn't get into one part of the place, she would be sure to ask the first time they visited, and then he continued “her office, which is covered by a curtain and protected by spells, so only people who want to pay for something expensive can go in there.”

Sam thought he'd covered that one quite well, and as for the other question “Why don't you ask her yourself, when you meet her? I was thinking, I'll send her a note in the morning saying I've got family stuff to sort out and I can't go over to her gallery like I usually do, and ask if she'd like to come over here in a couple of days.” That was...less satisfactory, and Sam was well aware he was simply postponing the inevitable awkward conversation, but he wasn't sure what else to do right now. Somehow telling his family about a newly-discovered daughter seemed almost easy by comparison.

Then Enitan giggled, and Sam grinned again . Her laughter was infectious - and he was delighted that she seemed completely unconcerned at the amount of pictures he had around the place. That was good - though he had a twinge of terrible sadness when she said she didn't have much. As if for the first time, Sam realised that everything the little girl owned was inside the bag she'd tucked underneath her chair. That any child should have been living like that chilled him - and if she hadn't had her friend, this Hunter, Merlin only knew what might have happened to her. They would have to find him and thank him somehow. First things first, though. “Have you finished?” he asked, nodding to the plate that a certain rat was now licking with undisguised enthusiasm. Sam hadn't ever had mammals as pets, but this he supposed he could get used to this one easily enough. At least Bindi seemed better trained than Houdini...

“What would you like to do next? See the lizards, hang up your sculptures, or shall we sort out your room?” he asked. Sam wasn't trying to be the sort of parent who offered a set of suitable choices at this point. He was simply unsure what to do next, and had decided that leaving it up to a ten year old would be easier than making a decision.

The girl’s hands were now clasped under her chin, her elbows on the table as she leaned forwards eagerly to listen to him describe the Gallery. It was like the way into Diagon Alley, she thought to herself, smiling. Magical pictures and portraits she’d heard about before, but statues, she perked up a little at that, and then remembered the dancing ballerina music box in his parent’s shop. “I’d really like to see the magic statues! Do they dance? Or twirl? Or fly? Are there statues of quidditch stuff?” she settled down a little, finishing off her drink and not even noticing the pause. What he said made perfect sense to her. After all if someone wanted to buy something expensive you would want to make sure that other people couldn’t take the money. “I’d really like that. Maybe she can come over for dinner? Food always makes everything easier...” she was hopeful that Louise would like her, and in some ways still worried about what would happen if the woman did not. And she was really really hopeful that Louise would show her how to use a camera.

“Yes I’m done. Thank you for dinner.” it was a holdover from the muggle orphanage. The children had been taught to always thank the woman in charge for dinner, which Enitan had hated. After all, it made them feel like if they forgot, she wouldn’t feed them. But some habits, even ones you didn’t like, were so deeply ingrained that they were hard to break. She picked up Bindi from her plate, and set her back on her shoulder. The hood of her sweater was down, and the rat curled up in there rather contentedly to sleep from the looks of things. “Oh! I can show you my ornaments! And we can figure out where to put them… and then we can see the lizards?” so long as she wasn’t sleeping in a cardboard box, Enitan wasn’t really worried about the room. It hadn’t hit her yet that Sam actually intended to give her a small space completely to herself and that she wouldn’t have to share it with anyone.

Hopping off the chair, Enitan pulled the bag back out and set it down, digging through it again while Sam cleared the table. There was a lot in the bag, probably more then should have rightly fit in it, though not too much more. But her mother had been after all, a witch, so that wasn’t surprising. “I Should probably also give you these… Mum said they were all our important paperwork… and that they would be very important.” She set a stack of papers on the table, the top one of which was Enitan’s birth certificate, that were bound together with string in a crosshatch pattern and tied with a neat bow. She didn’t say another word about them, no longer concerned as she’d done the important thing and given them over to the person who mattered.

Eventually, she found the scarf, and pulled it out. Her mother had bought it in africa, and it had been one of her favorites. Enitan fingered the wild patterns sadly, before she set it down on the table and started carefully rolling it end over end, pulling out various clay shapes the size of her hand (though probably about the size of sam’s palm or slightly smaller). They all had been painted with watercolor and then glazed, probably by the teacher. The first was a star, with small triangles cut out of it so it looked like a lattice of some sort. It started almost white near the tip, and faded from yellow to orange, red, and then ending with a hint of purple. There were two more stars, with different sized triangles cut out from them, an apple painted strange colors for such a fruit but that matched her Appleby Arrows scarf she was wearing, a fancy tree that had been painted with about twelve different shades of green, a cardinal that she’d obviously tried to turn into some shimmery tropical bird with blacks and greens and purples, and several others. There were about twelve in all.

Magical statues?! What had he started? Sam started to explain that the whole point of the gallery was that it was a bit like a shop, and there were certain things in it for a while and then there were different things, so he couldn't be sure what was going to be there when they went for the first time. And then he decided it probably didn't matter. Let Enitan spend a few days imagining a wonderland of flying, dancing statues - and it was always possible that there might be something just like that for her to admire. “Yeah, and we could cook...” he began, and then grinned. That might not be the best way to impress poor Louise who was going to have enough of a surprise as it was. “...or we can get a nice takeaway. But no pizza, I promise!”

Sam finished his butterbeer and automatically got up to begin clearing the table. The kitchen was the one place that he was careful to keep tidy; flies and ants were the kind of house guests he had no desire to entertain, though the lizards had been delighted by the unexpected food supply during the heat of summer. Since then, Sam washed the dishes as soon as he'd finished eating, and now he asked the rat “Are you finished?” and waited for her to twitch her whiskers before taking the plate and putting everything into the small sink. A flick of his wand and the dishes began washing themselves; all normal, everyday mundane tasks as far as Sam was concerned. He was far more interested in the amount of things that seemed to fit inside a relatively small bag. Clearly it had been charmed so Enitan was able to carry it easily - that would account for why she didn't want any help, Sam thought, not considering the possibility that the small girl hadn't known many people she could trust enough to help her.

As he turned back from the sink, Enitan was putting a stack of papers on the table. Sam reached for them automatically, glanced at the birth certificate, flicked through and saw recognisable things like Tatiana's apparation certificate and NEWT grades, and strange ones that said words like visa and permanent residence on them, and put them aside. For now it was enough to know that they existed and that when he spoke with the Ministry about the fact that Enitan was now going to live with him, he would have the relevant paperwork. Of far more interest were the little sculptures, wrapped in a brightly-patterned scarf.  Little shapes, cut out and decorated and painted and glazed. Sam liked them immediately.

“They're great! I love this one” he said, picking up the one shaped like a tree. The colouring was nicely done, different shades of green blending into each other, and yet painted in such a way that it wasn't entirely realistic. Sam suspected it wasn't meant to be. “Okay, lets go hang them up...did you want to put them all in one window, or hang them around the flat?” he asked, starting to walk towards the main body of the flat and then belatedly remembering the washing up. Another spell, this one spoken quietly rather than non-verbal, had the plates and cutlery begin to dry themselves and stack up on the counter.

“I can make grilled cheese!” Enitan offered the moment he suggested cooking, she considered herself to be an expert at making grilled cheese. And hunter and his roommate had seemed to like it. Although she’d burned the tomato soup because she’d been more worried about making sure she didn’t burn the sandwiches. Perhaps takeaway was a better option. She was getting the impression that her father wasn’t a very good cook either. “Takeaway is probably better… so we can spend more time talking and less time doing stuff.” she nodded energetically, before giggling as he asked Bindi if she was done eating. It made her really happy that he seemed so willing to just accept things, like her pet, so easily. Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard as she thought it would be.

While she got out the scarf and began the unwrapping, she watched him flip through the paperwork curriously. He looked a little sad at some, pleased at others, before he set them off to the side to focus on what she was doing instead. The smile he gave when he saw them warmed her heart, and she smiled back brightly as he announced that they were good, great even. “I used every color of green that my teacher had, and even made some of my own with more yellow, and teeny little bit of red, or brown.” her teacher had done a wonderful job teaching her about colors. She still had a lot to learn, but it was obvious that art was something she was very interested in.

“You have a lot of windows… maybe we could put them in the livingroom ones?” those had a lot of different panes. She’d have to make more, even to get a single row of them, hopefully out of the reach of running lizards. “But not this one. This one stays with me.” she picked up the star shaped one carefully and held it closer to her. Tatiana had needed a clear view of the stars to get her visions, something sam would have known from his travels with her, and the more clearly she could see them, the less light pollution… the more clear they were; in a sense. To Enitan, the stars were how she knew her mother was watching over her. “I don’t like the city… you can’t see the stars… so I made my own...” there was a sad pain to her voice when she said that, gently tracing the geometric patterns on the star, before gathering them all up so she could follow him out into the living room.

Grilled cheese? That was...probably not going to be an impressive dinner. Definitely stick with the takeaway plan. Sam went through several options in his mind even as he continued the conversation about the ornaments. “Did you try adding purple? It makes the green darker but also brighter, like it's under the sea...then you can add white and yellow if you want it lighter of course” he suggested absentmindedly as they continued to examine the ornaments. He wasn't saying it in an instructional tone, rather speaking as if to a fellow artist who had recently started working with new media. “Okay, shall we do that now?” he asked.

But the little girl picked out one of the ornaments as if it was crafted from precious jewels, handling it gently and he sensed there was a history to this one - no. She'd made them at a muggle school, so that must have been after her mother had died. So that one was made in her memory? “May I see it?” he asked, leaning over and realising what the shape was. His breath caught in his throat as he saw and she spoke of the stars. Tatiana had loved the stars - had needed them, he recalled suddenly. They may not have remembered to exchange addresses (or even surnames until the very last moment), but they had spoken of dreams and visions, of what they had Seen and how they had Seen it...

“You must miss her a lot” he said, unsure of what else to say in response to the heartbreaking words. “I guess...I know what you mean, too. I grew up on the edge of a small town; there were places to play and you could always see the sky. Maybe...” he phrased this carefully, not wanting it to sound like he was offering something that might not happen “I don't think I want to live in London forever. That was the great thing about living at Hogwarts. You could always see the sky. Especially from the Astronomy tower, wait til you see it...” he smiled, and as they walked through to the living room he put an arm around Enitan's shoulders. It felt natural, as if he'd known her for years rather than hours.

“Okay, so we can stick them up with spellotape, or if you want them higher I'll levitate them, and you tell me where you want them...oh, and there's Blue if you want to go and say hello. Maybe...does Bindi want to come to me for a few minutes? Just so they don't scare each other” he said, pointing towards the iguana that was sitting on a bookshelf next to the window, about three feet from the floor. Blue had survived several years of interested students at Hogwarts so Sam doubted a rat would worry her, but he also wasn't sure she'd met one close to before. 

Hearing her father talk with her about color seemed so natural it was almost strange. She liked the fact that he didn’t talk down to her like a lot of adults did. They just assumed because she’d grown up so strangely, that she wasn’t smart, or didn’t know anything. He reminded her a lot of Ms. Kirby, and that made her smile. He must have been a wonderful teacher. And he was her dad. She could have ended up with all sorts of terrible people. She’d heard horror stories from the other kids. Some of them had even been taken away from mean and nasty parents. Enitan couldn’t imagine that. Her mother had always done everything she could, the curly haired girl knew that. She’d lost all of her savings when they’d gone on the run, and she didn’t trust the ministry after what had happened. Enitan didn’t know the details, but she knew there’d been something called a trial, where they had accused her mum of stealing magic from ‘real’ wizards. She’d heard parts of the conversation with hunter, enough to know that much…

She saw the look of realization on his face when he saw what exactly it was that she was holding. Her mother had said they’d spent so much time talking about their visions, and divinations, that they’d forgotten to talk about anything else, like names… so he knew… he had to know why this one was important. “Its not so bad… when i can see the stars. Cause i know she’s looking out for me.” Enitan seemed very certain of that fact, but did relax a little when he started talking about how amazing the view of the sky was where he’d grown up. She’d spent most of her time hiding, and couldn’t really see the stars. She had no idea what a night sky devoid of light pollution looked like. She’d never even seen the milky way.

“My mom said a lot of the same stuff about liver-moony...” she hesitated, pretty sure she’d pronounced it wrong. “Hogwarts is easier to say.” for her school was a far off thing that she didn’t need to worry about yet, and the implications had yet to sink in. fortunately Sam changed the subject before they really had a chance to. “Maybe… at the top of the middle panes?” she suggested. They all had strings on them, where they could be strung up from nails or hooks, or hung on christmas trees. Finding a blank spot to lay them all out again, she began trying to arrange them in groupings. The plants, the shapes, and… other.

But when he mentioned the Iguana, she had to stop and look, setting the star down with the others for the time being. “Oh he’s so pretty!” she breathed, her eyes a little wide. But she didn’t know. Did you pet iguanas? Did they like being petted? Or would he bite her if she tried. “Bindi’s sleeping. She’ll be okay.” the girl said matter of factly. She could tell the rat was sleeping by the way her breathing felt against her shoulders, where she was curled up in her unworn hood. Approaching the iguana gingerly, Enitan smiled. “Hello Blue… can we be friends?” she asked, holding her hand out slowly like one would for a cat, or a rat.

They were going to have to leave London. It was surprising how quickly Sam came to the realisation, and how easy it was to consider picking everything up and moving...where? He had no idea, as yet. Somewhere in the country, where they could see the sky, where Enitan could run and play. Where she could go out at night and be safe, see the stars...a wizarding community, then. Somewhere there wasn't going to be hundreds of artificial lights from huge department stores and office blocks and factories. Godric's Hollow, or Tinworth, or...

No. Sam told himself not to be ridiculous. That part of his life was over. But even as Hogsmeade slipped into his mind, he knew it would be perfect. Enitan would be going to Hogwarts soon, too soon; he didn't want to be parted from her so soon after they had met. Even knowing that logically she wouldn't see him any more often if he was only a couple of miles away, it would at least feel right knowing he was as close as possible if she did need him...and what was he thinking anyway? But why was he even thinking this, it would be almost a year before she had to go anywhere. They had time. “I had a friend there - at Ilvermorny, I mean” Sam said quietly. “I used to write to several different professors when I was teaching.” He hadn't exactly lost contact with any of them, but he found it difficult to know what to write about these days.

He watched Enitan lay out her decorations. She had a good eye for design, he noted as she tried out different groupings of shape, size and colour before apparently deciding on an arrangement she liked. Or had she just been distracted, he wondered as she spotted Blue. It was considerably warmer here than in the kitchen; the main source of heat was Blue's tank which he used occasionally, but the iguana stayed in the living room most of the time because Sam kept the temperature higher in the whole room. When they'd walked through, it hadn't been particularly noticeable, but now it was obvious. “Its okay. He won't bite you” Sam said encouragingly to the child “See, he's bobbing his head. That's his way of saying hello. You can pet him if you like, he won't mind.” The Seer had watched his pet carefully for any signs of stress or worry, but Blue seemed entirely unconcerned about the newcomer.

Across from the bookshelf where Blue was reclining were the tanks. The first was of course empty; the second held several geckoes. Sam assumed Houdini was going to be elsewhere, it didn't matter how carefully he sealed the tank, that particular little escapologist always got out if it wanted to. While Enitan's back was turned, Sam levitated one of the shapes, the tree he had admired, so it hung in the central pane of the large window. “What do you think? I like that one there” he said, lowering his wand.