It's My Dreams You Take

The house was nice - and empty. Roul stood looking at the simple, if albeit, large cottage as if it were the crown gem. In fact, it was. There was rumour that the Minister was a very simplistic woman, and there probably wouldn't be much to take from the abode he was currently standing in front of, but that wasn't the point. The point was the he could do it.

He could steal from the Minister of Magic. If he wanted to. He knew he could. It would just take the right kind of planning. He was sure he could get something more interesting from her own office, but that took more effort. This was just her home.

Hell, she didn't spend much time there as it was - out of curiosity Roul had been watching. It was just a matter of getting passed the right wards, and going at the right time.

His eyes skimmed the place for a moment longer before he turned and continued walking, looking like nothing more than an admirer of the neat architectural. He would do it, one day.

But today wasn't that day - not yet.

Ev was not surprised that the minister and Eli were not home when she arrived home through the floo. It was the reason she had taken that route home for break. Now, she had to entertain herself until someone did return home. Not that that was really a problem. The girl had been surrounded by so many people the past several weeks that some time to just think sounded rather ideal.

That didn't mean the person who was standing in front of the house failed to rouse her curiosity. He must have been an associate of the minister or Eli. Who else ever came to visit? He must have arrived too early and couldn't get past the wards. Manners dictated that she should invite him inside to wait; her mother had taught her that much.

The girl opened the door as the man started to walk away.

"Are you lookin' fer th' Minister?" Ev called out politely, her Irish accent lilting. "She isn' 'ome yet. Would you like to wait inside?"

Then again, there was always something to be said for fate.

He turned around at the sound of the voice, his expression held nothing more than mild curiosity, although he was internally quite baffled - and excited - at this turn of events.

Would you like to wait inside?

There had never been such beautiful words to his ears before. Here he suddenly had an in, with this small ignorant child (he would have to figure out who she was to thank her properly, in his mind at least) and it took almost no effort at all.

"Oh well I didn't wish to be much of a bother," he said easily, his French accent obvious though not slurring his words, stepping towards the girl and the house in question, "But since you've offered, maybe I'll wait for a couple minutes or so. Who knows, it just might be my lucky day, huh?"

"I'm sure it isn' a bother," Ev replied, opening the door wider as she waited for the man to approached. "She should be 'ome any time, now. An' if she isn', Mr. Eli will be soon."

The little blonde looked up at the man. He looked rather young. In Ev's mind, most Ministry official were older, and the younger ones were the exception. Granted, Ev didn't really know a lot of Ministry officials.

"Are ye an auror?" she asked curiously, then remembered her manners. "Oh! An' would ye like some tea an' biscuits?"

Roul wandered into the house with an ease of someone who belonged there; in his mind, he did. He belonged there to get what he wanted after all. His eyes slipped over the wall in a way that suggested polite admiration, when in fact he was looking for anything of interest.

He needed to get just the right trophy; he wouldn't be getting this chance again any time soon.

"This seems like a rather large house for you to be all alone in," he commented lightly, appearing ready to follow his little helper where ever she would wish to take him.

"No, nothing nearly as exciting at that; I'm still searching for the right place for myself - at the moment I'm my father's assistant of sorts," bouncing on his heals slightly, he folded his hands behind his back, "I never was one for tea, myself, but if you are offering I suppose I could take biscuit or two."

"Isn' it 'uge?" Ev exclaimed. "Our cottage was much smaller. I'm away at school, most of th' time. That's even bigger, an' there are people everywhere."

As she chattered, the girl guided the man back towards the kitchen. Grabbing a little stool, she put it beneath one of the cupboards and stepped onto to it to reach the biscuit tin, bringing it over to the man. "An assistant? What does your father do, then?" she blinked curiously up at him. "Does 'e work for th' Ministry?"

"First time at school I take it?" his voice was level, companionable with just a hint of sympathetic amusement that such a statement should bring on. "I missed three whole classes my first year because I got lost." Roul was ignoring the fact that after the first one, he had just stopped trying. He believed he told the professors he fell down some stairs and ended up in the infirmary in that time.

That had been a popular excuse for his first year self; he had grown a little more creative as the years get on.

"He did indeed; he use to be an archive worker, rather dull work, but there's something for everyone right?" he gave her a wink as he took the biscuit, nodding in thanks. His father had in fact been an Auror, but what was one or two white lies right? "He retired a year or so back, but still keeps in touch. Sends me around to do all his dirty work for him."

Ev nodded in confirmation. "I still get lost," the twelve-year-old frowned.

The little blonde slowly finished her biscuit, seeming to savor it. In actual fact, alarm bells were going on in the child's head. Why would the assistant of a retired archive worker be visiting the Minister in her home? Surely that didn't make any sense.

'If it smells rotten, it probably is rotten,' her father used to say. Golden eyes peeked up through long lashes. Ev started fidgeting with the bracelet she wore, twisting the gem before pulling her hands apart again.

"Right!" Ev exclaimed, cheer a little forced as her gaze flicked rapidly around the room. Where was that switch? There; by the cupboard. "I was goin' to make tea! Since ye don't like tea, I could make ye some coffee, instead?"

Quickly crossing to the cupboard, her little hand deftly moved to flip the innocuous little switch in the wall beside it.

Roul had been watching her carefully the whole time. Children were often the hardest to fool. It was in part a reason he wasn't particularly fond of most of them. He noticed her change, her fiddling, her movements. His gaze followed her movements with a slow ease, calculating each change.

She was just a tadbit too cheery, wasn't she. Not by much, if he had been off his game he'd have missed it - the girl was pretty good - but he wasn't going to be off his game at a moment like this.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it," he waved his hand dismissively, a grin still on his face, the biscuit he'd been offered completely gone. "I shall return when someone is home yes? Thank you for the hospitality, Mademoiselle."

Offer a smile and a wave, Roul was gone from the kitchen and the house before anyone the girl might have called could think of showing up. It didn't matter anyway, those few minutes had been all he needed.

He'd gotten what he came for.

The woman had dropped her meeting instantly; the heads could wait until her personal matters were settled. Come hell or high water Kallie would not let it be said that her family didn't come first.

She hadn't had one for so long it was a shock to many people to hear her drop everything for something "More Important" but that did not matter in the slightest to her. Aparrating just outside of the wards, she rushed up the front walk of her house, through the door, eyes scanning for the girl that should be inside.

"Ev? Evelina?" her voice usually calm and under control spiked slightly with hints of worry. She clenched her hand at her side to keep from panicking. She didn't know what she'd do if the girl did not answer. If she could even keep it together to find the girl. But she'd have to. She would.

Kallie just prayed that it did not come to that.

It was probably a bit ironic that Ev had ducked into the food pantry to hide after the stranger had left, but that was what she had done. Perhaps, she had merely felt the need to uphold the pretense. Partially, she was a bit afraid he wasn't really gone. At the familiar voice, however, she immediately broke from her cover, running across the kitchen and up the hall.

"ÄITI!" she cried out in Finnish, reverting to the language as she almost always did when she was in any way distressed. The girl all but slammed into the woman, arms winding about her waist in a panicked embrace. She was worked up to the point that she wasn't wholly conscious of the words parting her lips. "Äiti, there was this man and I thought he was waiting for you or Mr. Eli so I asked if he wanted to wait inside, but then he was saying he was his father's assistant and his father was a retired archive worker and that didn't make any sense, because why would the assistant of a retired archive worker be visiting the Minister? And my father always said if something smelled rotten, it probably is, so I triggered the alarm on the bracelet Mr. Brock gave me and the wall and tried to act normal because I didn't know what he'd do, but I think he knew I was pretending because he left."

Ev finally stopped to suck in a much needed breath, hold tightening as belated tears stung her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let him in. I didn't know. Please don't be mad. I'm sorry."

Kallie's arms folded around the girl, needing the embrace as much as Evelina did. The relief that flooded through her at finding the girl at least visibly okay was beyond words. However it was over shadowed by the warmth that was spreading through her, starting at her heart and taking over every single part of her body at the word that crossed the little girl's lips.

Äiti.

Mother.

Biting her lip, partly aware that it was only the child's state that made it come out, Kallie made a concious effort not to react any more than the smile she couldn't tug off her lips. However she got it, Kallie would take it. She had spent years longing to hear that word, long since settling that she never would. She gave up her right.

"Kultaseni," the woman cooed softly, brushing her daughter's hair with her hand before she sunk down to match her height. Brown gaze meeting brown gaze. "Shh, its alright, Kultaseni. We all make mistakes; it will be alright."

She swallowed, and was surprised at how easy she found pushing back her fierce protective anger at this mystery man in favour of comforting the girl. Kallie of course was no stranger to hiding emotions, but this one felt too strong to be able to hide as well as she was.

"Did the man hurt you, in anyway?"

He had been there almost the moment the other man had apparated away, luckily for the thief. Upon realizing she was in the closet, he had left her there for her mother to find. She was safer there, in any case, and he had the suspicion that a man was not the person to come to the rescue for such things. His daughter was a smart girl, even when scared and confronted, she had the sense to sound the alarm.

"The rest of the house is empty." He had appeared silently, the presence of the wolves outside the house almost instantaneous to the alarm. The others who had been on this floor disappeared out the door to stand sentinel, while still others searched the upper rooms. He had the presence of mind to stow his weapon away in its holster before he walked into their sight, having secured that area first. His eyes swept the room once more, his posture strong and defensive, until his gaze landed on Evelina.

All at once, he changed, melting with relief as he faced her. "Are you alright, Volchonok?" He asked softly, eyes sweeping her worriedly. He glanced up at Kallie, before around at the wolves still sweeping for evidence of the intruder. He had heard their exchange, and he hoped for the man's sake that he hadn't even glanced at her the wrong way. Being in Evelina's presence was enough to warrant a slow painful death.

Evelina allowed the woman's tone and the gentle hand running over her hair soothe her. However, her hands tangled in the cloth of the woman's robes as she crouched, as though fearful she would leave, otherwise. By this point, she had noticed the smell of other werewolves, many of whom she had encountered at the pack house. This served to calm the girl further.

"I'm alright," she answered both of them at once. "He didn't hurt me. I just got scared when he wasn't telling the truth. He was lying, wasn't he? He would have kept waiting if he was telling the truth, wouldn't he?"

Kallie wasn't planning on moving any time soon. Although she was getting to the point of calm that she as capable of shoving all the worry, and panic that was still coursing through her to a place that only she could feel it, only anyone that knew how to look could see it in the sharp plane of her shoulders.

She only had eyes for the girl, though she looked up at the sound of Brock's voice, meeting his gaze for a moment, glancing at the people leaving her home before she went back to her daughter.

"He was most definitely lying, Kultaseni. You did the right thing," She pulled her close again, unsure if she'd be stopping that any time soon. "I'm very proud of you, and very glad you are alright."