Return to where the Stars shine bright (Sam Dickinson)

Ever since Sam had told Enitan they were moving out of London, her bag had been packed. Granted her bag had never really gotten unpacked, because he’d said very early on that they were going to need a bigger flat, at the very least, and to get her things for her bedroom… like a bed that wasn’t a transfigured coffee table. But two weeks ago they’d gone to a little town he’d told her was called Hogsmede, and even pointed out the big castle where he’d gone to school and later taught at. And apparently fought the horrible bad guys at, but she’d not asked him any details about that. She didn’t like the sad look on his face when it got brought back up. While there, though initially, they’d supposedly only gone to visit a candy store, Sam had started asking her about different houses. One of them even had a for sale sign in the window. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out what he was doing, something that she was super excited about. They were moving out into the country, where she could see the stars every night. And it wasn’t like he was moving away from something he loved. After all, he’d told her that he missed it too. So they were both going to be happy with the change. It was very important to Enitan that Sam didn’t do things just for her, that he didn’t want to do. Still in the back of her mind she was terrified that he might decide he didn’t like her anymore, and take her back to the muggle orphanage. Maybe Hunter or Joanna… no. she wouldn’t think like that.

The morning of the move, Enitan woke up in a nearly empty room, and got dressed in what was probably her favorite of her new outfits, a bright yellow skirt with red tights, a dark bluey green teeshirt with stars on its front, and a brown sweater with flowers. It was warm enough that she really didn’t need the sweater, so for now she just made sure everything else that she owned was in her mother’s carpet bag, and put it near the door, walking through the very barren and empty apartment to get there. The Lizards were still on the built in shelving, wich was obviously staying, along with the table that popped out from the wall in the kitchen. But nearly everything else was already gone. Even the ornaments they’d hung up in the windows, packed carefully between layers of bathroom towels in a nice cardboard box to keep them safe. She put her bag down, and on top of it added her hat and scarf and sweater, since the coatrack had gone as well.

In a way it was kind of sad, looking around at everything that had been home for the past two months and seeing it so empty. But it was a good kind of sad. It was a new beginning. It wouldn’t be her dad’s place, they were going to their home. For both of them. It would be her bedroom, not her dad’s old studio. Even if she had no idea what her bedroom was going to look like. She’d only seen the outside of the house, But Sam had taken her shopping for a bed and dresser. They didn’t match at all, but she didn’t care. Her new bed had a white headboard covered with simplistic drawings of fruits and veggies, and she absolutely adored it. The dresser had actually come from his parents shop. In fact a lot of their ‘new’ furniture had. But the important part was that Enitan had got to help pick it out.

Sam wasn’t up yet, so Enitan dragged one of the chairs from the kitchen to the Mirror with her comb, and set about trying to fix her horribly unruly hair. She’d never really quite got the hang of it, and Sam’s hair was short and thin and straight, so she didn’t expect him to know the first thing about it either, but at least she could do some stuff. In the end, the two puff balls she ended up with were slightly off center, but at least she could wear her hat with them. And then she heard the shower going, which meant her father was finally awake. Putting the chair back in the kitchen, Enitan stopped and stared at the fridge. Technically Sam was ‘around’ which was the stipulation for her using the stove… and if she cooked the last of the eggs, and the ham, there’d be a lot less to move to the new place. They’d been just trying to use up the last of what they had, so there wasn’t much in there to begin with.... How hard could cooking up some ham be? And she was an expert at scrambled eggs…

By the time the sounds of the shower stopped, the tiny flat probably smelled like burnt pork, But aside from it being a little too crispy, it didn’t look so bad. She was pretty proud of herself. She’d even cut up the last of the apples using the circle slicer thing. So she didn’t have to break the ‘no sharp knives without me standing right there’ rule. Ham and apples and scrambled eggs was a great breakfast. Bindi was already eating hers on the window sill; minus the ham of course.

A dark shadow loomed over the giant goat, which approached curiously before eating a blue cloak that was hanging on a nearby ash tree before licking Sam's face with a curious tongue that...

The Seer woke from a bizarre, almost certainly non-prophetic dream to discover Houdini the escapologist gecko walking across his face. Still half-asleep, he groaned and lifted the small creature off his face with one hand while he struggled into a sitting position in the bed. Reaching for his wand, he cast an immobilising charm on his most wayward pet and set it on the nightstand. Normally he would never have treated an animal in such a seemingly callous fashion, but today was an exception. It was moving day, and searching for a small animal did not feature in his plans. Better to know where Houdini was.

Throwing on a bathrobe, he put the immobilised gecko in one pocket and headed for the bathroom. There was silence in the flat, which hopefully meant Enitan was still asleep for the moment. While she was good-natured and eager to please, Sam had discovered that she also believed herself to be as capable as any adult, and thus had had to put a whole list of rules in place, far more than he really would have liked to. But on the other hand, he didn't want to discover her using the long bread knife to cut up an apple or attempting to cook dinner that ended up black and smoking. If she was asleep, he didn't need to worry, and that meant he had time for a shower.

A quick one, anyway. The bathroom felt as bare as the rest of the flat, with just a couple of towels left and a single bottle of shower gel... he was still drying his hair as he left the bathroom, still clad in the knee-length bathrobe and he realised he could smell cooking...

“Enitan?” he sighed inwardly and headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, there she was, resplendent in one of her new outfits that was a terrible clash of styles and colours (Enitan had clearly inherited her father's dress sense) and proudly serving scrambled eggs and only-slightly-burnt ham onto plates. Sam took a deep breath and bit his tongue on a reprimand. “Um...do you remember what we said about not using the stove unless I'm around?” he asked, trying not to sound irritated. He didn't want to sound irritated. Enitan got upset easily if she thought she was in trouble, as if she was scared he was going to send her away. He wasn't, but words alone weren't going to convince her of that. Only time would do that.

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out Houdini, still unmoving. “Can you watch her while I get dressed? I cast a charm so she won't escape for a few hours, but we should probably keep her in sight in case she figures out how to escape from that too” he joked, before adding “I won't be a minute. And breakfast looks tasty!” It took just a couple of minutes to dress in jeans and paint-splattered shirt - it was likely to look a lot worse by the end of the day - and he was back, sitting in the familiar kitchen for the last time. He smiled. “Are you excited?” he asked his small daughter, unnecessarily.

Enitan looked up at sam innocently when he asked her about cooking. She frowned, but nodded. “You were around. I even waited until you were awake.” she was quite proud of herself for that fact it seemed. But still it seemed like she’d somehow messed up. She had been very adamant about waiting… but he didn’t chastise her further, and instead handed her the small lizard, asking her to watch it while he got dressed. And he seemed pleased with what she’d made. So Enitan smiled finally, and took the small lizard from him. “You hexed Houdini?” she asked, trying to look mortified, but amused. Her father wouldn’t have done anything to actually hurt the creature, so she was fine.

Once he left to go get his clothing on for the day, Enitan settled down in her chair, getting a napkin and making the lizard a little bed on the window sill. She giggled when Bindi hopped up, sniffing at the gecko and then curling up next to it. She seemed to think that all of Sam’s lizards were her babies, exept for Blue. but she was good friends with blue, so that was fine too. Although sometimes it terrified the geckos when Bindi tried to pick them up and cary them around… Enitan hadn’t quite figured out how to stop her from doing that just yet. “Bindi finish your breakfast...” she said, almost emulating sam’s ‘stern’ voice without realising it. The rat looked at her incredulously, before dragging a peice of apple over and dropping it in front of Houdini expectantly, before nudging the lizard and looking back at Enitan. She could almost pretend the rat looked worried. “She’s just sleeping. Go ahead and eat it yourself. We can feed her later.”


Sam’s footsteps caused her to turn around in her chair, legs swinging happily as she smiled up at him. “Very Very.” she answered, almost bouncing a little in her seat. She was certain of course, that Miss Jo would probably come to visit soon and annoy Sam with more questions about the ‘suitability of the property’. But if she didn’t, she’d have to get her dad to show her how to send a package with an owl. Everything about wizards was just so much cooler. In the muggle world you just dumped it in a blue box and hoped it got there… or so she’d been told, at least. She hadn’t ever had anyone to mail anything to. And she needed to be sure that Joanna got her christmas present. Enitan had put a lot of work into it, and Hunter of course had to help her get the scarf. But those thoughts were fleeting, back to dwelling on the house. “Are we gonna decorate for christmas? Do we get a tree?” Enitan had never had a tree. Not a real one anyways. At the orphanage they had a small tabletop plastic tree that the lady kept decorated and just stowed away most of the year, wrapped up to keep the ornaments in place. Enitan wanted a real tree, a pine tree, that they had to go out and cut. Maybe Sam would let her use the axe? But probably not...

Once, Sam had thought trying to second-guess Hogwarts students was difficult. Trying to student-proof his classroom so they couldn't play pranks on him or each others, cultivating a completely impassive expression when one or two of the cheekier kids deliberately said rude or shocking things to try and get a reaction... Enitan surpassed them all and could have taught classes in looking totally innocent. Not that she was badly-behaved or naughty, far from it. She was just so...independent. Independent, and only ten years old; two things which were a terrible combination. Sam wondered if his hair would go grey in a year or if it would take two before he looked like he'd aged a decade.

And at the same time he loved the little girl. Almost from the moment they'd met he'd loved her, wanted to protect her from the world she'd already seen so much of. Despite everything, she still retained such hope, such innocence... she was thrilled that they were moving house, and she didn't have a clue that if they hadn't moved, she probably wouldn't have been able to stay with him. It didn't make a difference, because Sam had been making plans to move them both out of London even before the Ministry had gotten involved, but his plans had certainly progressed a little faster than they might have done otherwise.

"Good. Well, we just need to -" he started to say, and then she had more questions, things that Sam hadn't even considered yet. A tree? Decorations? No, the first thing they needed to do was arrange the last of the furniture - Enitan's bedroom was the only room that was properly liveable, and most thing were just stacked up. It wouldn't take long to sort out, but it hadn't even occurred to Sam that they might want to put up a Christmas tree. It was as much as he could do to remember which boxes had which things packed in them - summoning charms were all well and good, but if you tried to summon a crockpot and it was at the bottom of the box with the glasses, it was going to crash its way out and there would be broken glass everywhere, so at least some of the unpacking would have to be done by hand.

But he only had to look at her hopeful little face and any objections went straight out the window. "A real tree? One we can dig up from the forest?" he asked, watching the expression on her face as he spoke "That sounds perfect. We can get some ten-flavour candy canes from Honeydukes to hang on it...wait...when I was a little boy your grandmother used to bake the most amazing Christmas cookies. We could ask her for the recipe and bake some of those as well if you like?" Sam's cooking abilities were decidedly limited, but he suddenly, desperately wanted to bake festive cookies with his daughter.

Enitan hadn’t even noticed her father starting to speak, ready to list out the things that they needed to do, before she’d started asking more questions. It was after all, almost christmas, and the thought had been on her mind. “Digging it up would be better i guess. No-maj just cut them down… going to school after christmas you’d see all these trees out with the trash. It was kind of sad. But then it would have to be a small one, cause if we planted it in a pot, the trees roots are as big as the tree… I learned that in science class.” that class had been fun too, in a way. She’d learned so many cool things about plants an animals, if only the teacher hadn’t been boring. A recording would have been more interesting. “But it should be okay if the pot isn’t that big. And then we can just use the same tree every year!” Enitan thought this was a brilliant and totally logical idea.

She took a bite of her scrambled eggs, before hopping up from her seat and getting the salt, pepper, and Ketchup. She knew she’d forgotten something. Grinning, Enitan had to kneel on her seat to properly put the red sauce on her eggs, drawing a five pointed star over them, with a smiley face in the middle, before setting the bottle down and sprinkling it all with salt and pepper. Now she could eat. Glancing back at the window sill, Bindi was still sitting next to Houdini, chewing away at her apple. Good.

“Cookies? That would be awesome!” before she realized she’d spoken with her mouth full of eggs, and blushed a little,  swallowing. “I’d really like to make cookies.” she said once her mouth was empty. The only time she’d made cookies, they had come from the store in a big bucket of dough, and they;d just rolled them into little balls and put them on the sheet. The house marm hadn’t done it again though, because too many kids had eaten the raw cookie dough behind her back. Enitan didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. No one got sick from it. But the idea of making cookies with her father was just awesome. Somewhere in her mind, there was a fuzzy flash of a memory, of sitting in front of the oven on her mom’s lap, watching the cookies bake. The smile dropped off her face for a moment, and she stared down at her food, eating one of her apple slices. “I think… I think i remember baking cookies… with mom. Rolling balls in red or green sprinkles… can we make that kind?”

Sam had started keeping a book in which he was writing many of the things Enitan said. Not the conventional kind of journal a parent might write about their child, but rather the comments she made that showed her unusual upbringing. He now made a mental note to find out more about the muggle school she had attended so he could understand about that, as well. Having always assumed that muggle schools were dreadfully dull places where children learned little more than how to read and write, it was nice to learn that not only did some of them teach art, but apparently a rudimentary form of herbology as well. "That's a great idea" he said agreeably. Okay, so the tree would get too big after a few years, but while it was small enough to be comfortable in a pot, he could transfigure the pot to grow as the tree grew, and shrink the whole thing so it would fit into the house. Naturally, he assumed this was exactly what Enitan had meant when she'd suggested using the same tree year after year.

He had literally just sat down to eat when Enitan leapt to her feet again "Wha..?" he started to ask, but already she was back, smothering her eggs in tomato ketchup and then adding a liberal sprinkling of condiments. Sam suppressed a grin; he had done exactly the same thing at that age before discovering he actually preferred the taste of the eggs. He let her talk while they were eating, making a mental note to ask his mother for the cookie recipe and not bothering to mention manners or not talking with your mouth full. She knew that already; and now wasn't the time to talk about proper behaviour, not until they were in the new house... he watched the smile drop off her face; her eyes went wistful and distant.

Sam already knew better than to ask what was wrong. He knew. Something had triggered a memory; she was missing her mother, and she would tell him in her own time. He made sure that she knew it was okay to talk about Tatiana whenever she wanted to, and that he was always there to listen when she needed to talk. So he continued with his breakfast, smiling a little at the apple slices but eating them anyway. At some point in her past Enitan had apparently learned something about healthy eating - at least she knew that fruit was good for you. Hence the apples, Sam supposed. He was almost finished when the little girl spoke; quieter, more thoughtful than before. Sam wasn't sure what kind of cookies Enitan was talking about, but... "that's a great idea. I'll bet we can get sprinkles in Honeydukes when we get the candy canes for the tree. You can show me how your Mum used to bake them if you like" he said. It wasn't entirely easy for Sam to talk about Tatiana either. While they had never really been a couple, they had shared a bond and a closeness during their brief periods together and he wished they had had more time to get to know each other.

But he wasn't going to let himself think about that now. Once breakfast was finished, the Seer cleaned the plates with a whirling wand motion he'd learned from his sister and sent them to stack themselves into the one open box that still stood in the kitchen. "Right. Shall we do one last check of the flat to make sure we haven't left anything behind?" he asked.

Enitan nodded slowly in agreement as Sam suggested they get sprinkles when they got candy canes. This Honeydukes sounded like it was going to be a really cool place to visit. Her teachers had often given out candy canes in school when she was at the orphanage. She had to eat them quickly at school, because the woman at the orphanage didn’t like them eating candy. She wasn’t heartless, and did let them have it once in a while, but only as special treats. Which was fine with Enitan, because she preferred fruit when she wanted something sweet. But the fact that the woman thought that the logical solution was to take the candy and ration it out later, as well as making them share it with the others… at least she didn’t have to share anymore.

Watching sam use his wand and do magic was always awesome. It reminded her of a bunch of little kid movies she’d often seen. Especially when stuff floated through the air around her head and put itself away. She half expected a chorus of animals or household objects to start singing; and that always made her smile. “There’s nothing in my room but the bed I was too excited and woke up early, so I finished all my stuff… although you should probably return it to a desk before we go...”  she commented, before looking around the room they were in. there was nothing. Well there was the open box. And a little food left in the fridge. But otherwise Sam had moved a lot of stuff the other day while she’d been with her grandparents. Things had been moved a bit at a time, but at the moment, there wasn’t much left. A few boxes, some necessities. It was sad to be leaving the flat, with its high ceilings and massive windows. But there were stars where they were going. And not so many people. And everyone was a wizard!

“I can check the living room!” she offered, pushing her chair in, and starting to head in that direction before looking back to him. “Or… did you want to do it together?”

She still grinned and watched with the fascinated eyes of one much younger when he performed any magic. Sam found that adorable though at the same time it made him sad. He supposed it was only to be expected as a result of her upbringing; no doubt there had been long periods where Tatiana hadn't dared to perform more than the most basic spells for fear of discovery. He chuckled at the mention of her bed, though had to bite his tongue rather than ask her please, tell him that she hadn't told Joanne Hennings that her bed was really a transfigured desk. Though probably Enitan had said just that, and then immediately launched into a ten minute description of the shopping trip where she'd been allowed to choose the furniture for her new bedroom, so hopefully it cancelled out any 'improper parenting' that he might find himself suspected of.

"Go on. I'll transfigure the bed back...wait. can you put Houdini in your pocket in case she managed to break the enchantment and wander off? That way we'll be sure she's safe" he said, wanting Enitan to feel responsible for something important. There was a limit to the number of things a ten year old could manage when it came to packing, after all. He held out the small lizard for her before following the young girl out of the kitchen. As she made the kind of thorough search of the living room that only a child can manage he went into her bedroom, formerly his studio, and smiled. His pictures were gone now, already packed and waiting at their new house and literally all that remained was the bed, now stripped of sheets and pillows that also had been sent on ahead. This was something he couldn't do silently, so he cast the spell carefully, concentrating firmly on his intention as the bed shimmered and reshaped itself into the desk it had formerly been.

Levitating it, he brought it through to the fireplace in the living room, set it down and sprinkled it with floo powder before sending it through to their new house. He'd done this many times the previous day; the slightly modified magic that made magical house moves a lot easier and didn't attract unwanted muggle attention would move the object a couple of feet out of the destination fireplace. The trick was to make sure you didn't send too many thing through at once before going through yourself to move them out of the way. Of course, a lot of wizards would simply have apparated once transferring their furniture, but that was no longer an option for Sam.

"Okay, have we got everything?" he asked as he straightened up, looking at Enitan and waiting for her to answer "Great, so..." he picked up the now fairly diminished pot of floo powder and held it out to her. "Do you want to go first? Watch out for the desk when you get there...I'll be right behind you."

Enitan carefully checked over the living room once sam had agreed that this was a good division of labor. She liked being helpful. First she checked under the furniture that had come with the flat, to make sure that they hadn’t lost anything that way, before adding one or two more little things to the box on the counter in the kitchen and bringing that next to the fireplace. She even checked the bathroom and dumped the used towels into the hamper and dragged that out too, the shampoo and soap in the bag that had been put in there for them and sitting in the top of it. It was only when she called for Bindi and saw her curled up in Blue’s habitat that she realized that Sam had asked her to do one last thing.

Racing back to the kitchen she looked on the window sill where she’d left the sleeping lizard, before swallowing, her eyes wide. And of course thats when she heard sam in the other room, sending the last of the items through. Biting her lip, she reluctantly sulked back in, looking like she’d done something really bad. “Dad? I… I might have forgot… and when i went back… I can’t find Houdini...”

The only thing left in the flat was the lizard habitats, and she quickly checked to see if Bindi had carried the Gecko in there with her, curled up on blue’s sun rock. But she hadn’t. Enitan felt horrible. Sam had given her one very important task. And she’d messed it up. But staring at Bindi made her realize something. A new “trick” of sorts that she and Bindi had been practicing. Bindi was a really smart rat. And she could tell the different geckos apart by name now. And rats were really good at finding things.

“Bindi. Find Houdini.” the rat gave her a look, before scampering up the log that was in the tank, and beginning to sniff around the small Flat. “we’ve been practicing. She’s good at finding the others. But… Houdini is hit or miss. I think she likes playing Hide and Go seek with her.” she said, hoping Sam wouldn’t be too mad that she’d lost the lizard. 

Sam's first thought when Enitan returned to the living room was that she'd changed her mind. Not in an "I-don't-want-to-go" sort of way. More of a being scared that things were going to change and she wanted to stay just a few minutes longer, to sit down on the windowsill and think about what was happening, even though she'd only lived here a few weeks. But then she spoke and he realised he'd misjudged her look. She wasn't worried about what was about to happen, she was worried about what had already happened and thought he was going to be mad at her.

"Oh, Merlin..." Sam put down the floo powder and ran his fingers through his blond hair "I should have known" he laughed a little, then crossed to his small daughter and gave her a hug. "It's okay. None of the windows are open, so she's got to be in here somewhere unless she somehow managed to roll in the floo powder, learn to talk, and is now exploring the new place..." Of course, knowing Houdini, he wouldn't have put it past the little creature to somehow have break the charm and have actually been sitting on the desk he'd just sent through. He doubted it, though. Houdini was the sneakiest lizard he'd ever owned, but he didn't think she was bright enough to actually make plans.He was about to suggest they check each room in turn when Enitan did something that surprised him.

"You've taught her that?" he asked, clearly impressed. It was sweet how the rat had taken to the smaller lizards, seeming to think they were her babies or friends that needed protecting, but he didn't realise she'd figured out which gecko was which. Maybe she hadn't, and she would just find anything that smelled like a lizard, but he wasn't going to say that. "Where's she going?" he asked, speaking as much to himself as to the little girl as the rat expertly climbed down the shelving and scampered across the floor. Sam didn't move, not wanting to distract the little animal, but when she ran back into the kitchen, he exchanged a look with Enitan and followed, trying to move as silently as possible.

By the time he reached the kitchen doorway the rat was climbing the nearest floor cupboard, somehow managing to grip the smooth surface and using her tail for balance. It was fascinating to watch, and Sam had to resist the urge to rush forward and help the little animal up onto the top of the counter. But she paused near the top, snuffled near the closed drawer and then climbed the rest of the way up onto the counter before she continued to pay attention to the drawer that had formerly held the tablecloth and placemats. "No way..." Sam murmured as the rat stood up on her hind legs and gave a little squeak. He hurried forward and opened the drawer. Sure enough, there was Houdini, blinking in surprise as daylight flooded into the otherwise empty drawer.

"Right. We've got her. Well done Bindi, you deserve a...whole apple?" Sam finished doubtfully as, gecko firmly held in his left hand he turned to Enitan with a smile "that was amazing - you trained her to do that?" he said, an unmistakeable note of pride in his voice. Now they could leave, though, and a moment later they were back by the fireplace and Sam picked up the floo powder for the second time. "Shall we go now?" he asked with a smile.

Enitan exhaled with relief when he wasn’t angry. Of course he wouldn’t be. She should have known that. Houdini always escaped everything, including him. But the surprise in his voice made her chest puff out a little in pride when he asked if Bindi could actually do that. “Bindi is a very smart girl. She can do all sorts of things.” she followed along as the rat made its way into the kitchen, staying near sam in the doorway. “But if we follow too close, Houdini will sense us and get away. I think they think its a game.” she added in a stage whisper. Of the Geckos, Bindi had made it a point to hunt down Houdini whenever she could.

She giggled at her father’s disbelief over her pet’s newfound ability, watching as he carefully took the creature and made sure it wouldn’t escape him again. “I did! Rats are very smart creatures, and train really well to do all sorts of things.” she didn’t add that Bindi used to steal food for her. Probably best that she not tell sam that part. “Come on Bindi. Time to go.” she said cheerily, before crouching down so the rat could run up her arm and nestle inside of her hood. She looked around one last time before picking up the carpet bag and heading over to the fireplace. “I’m all ready.” she added, looking at the floo powder and remembering his instructions. He’d carefully drilled the address into her over the past week, and though it was frustrating, his explanation of why it was necessary. “And if you want to give her an apple, remember to take out all the seeds and spikey bits from the middle first.” 

She took a handful and threw it in, clearly speaking the address and stepping through. It was jarring, but not as bad as apparating. And when she finally opened her eyes and let bindi out of her death grip, she was at the new house already, her feet clopping on the hardwood floor as she stepped away from the fire place, looking around. She didn’t think their apartment had so much stuff in it, but looking at all the boxes and the furniture… although a lot of it was new. Well… if from an antique store counted as new... but that just made it feel more homey. She didn’t want to live in a place that looked like it was supposed to be in a magazine.

Okay, so rat trainer wasn't exactly a career to be proud of, but Sam was at the stage of unexpected parenthood where he took pride and delight in everything his young daughter achieved, no matter how bizarre or mundane. And she really did know a great deal about caring for rats, even if most of it had been learned from her - friend? mentor? - Sam really wasn't sure how to think of Hunter Street, the man who had twice rescued her from the streets and taken care of her. On the one hand, the man didn't seem to have a proper job, had questionable morals and had unfortunately taught Enitan far too many swear words. But on the other, if it hadn't been for teaching at Hogwarts Sam would hardly have had a CV to be proud of, and who was he to judge anyway? What were a few curse words when it meant his daughter had had somewhere warm to sleep and food to eat before he'd come on the scene?

Really, Sam's discomfort wasn't anything to do with Hunter, when he allowed himself to think about it. It was the fact that he hadn't known Enitan existed and so hadn't been able to look after her, and it felt like he owed a massive debt to the people who had been there for her. Part of which showed itself in the way he tried never to be annoyed or irritated with her, even when she flew into a temper because someone treated her like a child, or completely failed to understand the concept of bedtime when there was a good book to be read...and then she did something adorable like lecture him on the correct aspects of pet care, and he just wanted to pick her up and hug her. Even now he didn't want to let her out of his sight for a moment, he wanted them to go through the fireplace at the exact same time so he knew she was safe.

And then she was gone. Picking up the powder with complete confidence, throwing it into the fire, speaking the name of their new home and...gone. Gone, and for the next few seconds Sam was alone in an empty apartment. It felt like a lifetime since he'd been alone. Since he'd gone to sleep in an otherwise empty flat. Since he'd eaten dinner alone. Granted, he didn't often eat alone anyway, most nights he either visited his parents' house or had dinner with Louise, but his life had changed so much that his new normal seemed to have lasted forever. Even being apart from the little girl for half a minute made him feel uncomfortable. "Right, please stay where you're put for once" he told Houdini as he tucked her into a pocket and picked up the box of floo powder. No sense in leaving any behind where a stray muggle might find it. Holding the pot in one hand he took a handful, spoke the destination and stepped into the fireplace, and...

He was home. The feeling was immediate and unexpected. Sam turned and put the remaining floo powder on the new mantlepiece, took the gecko gently out of his pocket and set her down next to the box. "She won't stay there, but there's no point trying to put her in a tank" he said as he turned back to Enitan, who was already looking at the stacked boxes as if deciding which one to unpack first. Luckily Sam had had the sense to write the contents on each with a thick muggle marker pen so they wouldn't spend the next three days trying to find the kettle.

"Right, shall we sort out your room first?" he asked. On the offchance anyone from the Ministry decided to pay a visit, Sam wanted to be sure Enitan's bedroom was perfect before anything else.