Introductions, please

The rain had started just about sunrise. The thunder and lightning had filled the skies. Khaat had chosen a sleeveless red linen dress that was trimmed in white with big round white buttons down the side as accents, and paired it with little natural colored heels. But when the rain started, she had gotten out a fairly standard cut trench coat. A plain beige umbrella covered her hair from the rain, and she had tossed an olive green canvas messenger bag on her shoulder.

The lightning shot through the morning skies as she apparated into Diagon Alley, through sheets of rain. She took fast steps down the brick pavement, stepping quickly into Flourish and Blotts. She had ordered some specific legal tomes for her office at the Ministry, and she had been notified they had arrived. She had decided to go pick them up before she went to her office.

She folded her umbrella as she stepped in the door of the shop, and the clerk merely smiled at her. It was a new clerk who evidently didnt' know her from Adam's housecat. She decided to browse a bit through the potions books to see if there were any new books that her father might enjoy before she picked up her order. She also hoped by then that one of the regular clerks would arrive to service her and find her order for her. She didn't feel much faith in the new clerk, who seemed to be having difficulty unwrapping a teabag. It had not inspired confidence.

Amelia’s mother had called her name five times before Amelia had even woken up. She groggily got up out of bed; she didn’t understand why she had to get up so early just to go shopping. “I’m up mum!” She stumbled around her room to her closet where she pulled out one of her many jean skirts, which reached to her knees, and a longer light blue shirt with a V-neck. Her mum told her to dress more ladylike so this is what she gets, a fifteen year old who dresses like she’s twenty. Once she was in the shower Amelia woke up. It took her a matter of minutes to get dressed and ready. The only ones who were in the kitchen were her mother and father, whom from what Amelia could hear were debating something. She pressed her ear to the kitchen door; she wanted to know what they were talking about it but knew if she went in they’d stop talking. “Ernie, the Prophet is rubbish everyone wants to believe. They say Death Eaters aren’t a threat, like hell they aren’t. The Prophet is controlled by the Ministry, which isn’t doing its job,” said Susan. “Su, calm down. I’m just saying we need to just keep the subscription just in case we start seeing death notices, I hope we don’t but both of us know what happens when the Ministry is understaffed,” said Ernie. “Let’s not talk about politics,” sighed Susan. That’s when Amelia came in acting as if she hadn’t heard anything. Rest of the early morning flew by. Susan made sure all of her kids and husband grabbed a trench coat and an umbrella. It took an extra five minute since for some reason her father always had trouble remembering where the umbrellas were kept, the umbrella stand never moved from its spot to the right of the door in the mudroom.

Of course, when the Macmillans had finally all gotten to Diagon Alley it was raining. The bad part about living in Scotland, you never know what the weather will be when you go shopping in Diagon Alley so they just grab rain gear every time and just tell people it was raining in Scotland if it’s not raining in England. Susan took her oldest daughter to get fitted for new robes while Ernie took the boys and Amelia to Flourish and Botts.

Once inside away from the rain Amelia’s father and brothers went straight to the Quidditch section. Amelia laughed softly, if they aren’t working on the farm it’s all about Quidditch. She decided to head over to the Potion section to see if they had any new books for Potions for Potion Dummies, which she defines herself as. She quickly noticed she wasn’t alone in the Potions section. If her memory was correct she was right next to the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, of course, she could only recognize her from the Prophet. She suddenly felt underdressed though she was just shopping so she wasn’t.

“Are you the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot?” asked Amelia praying she wasn’t mistaken. It also didn’t help she couldn’t recall any name at the moment, she only looks at the picture in the Prophet.

Khaat was flipping through a potions book when she heard someone address her. A young voice. She turned and saw a young woman standing in the section of beginning potions books. She was pretty. Perhaps a bit formally dressed, but most students who were her age didn't know enough about current events to know who she was. They knew her father, the Minister. Or knew of him. Whether it was true or not always remained to be seen. But she wasn't quite as well known.

"Yes," Khaat said. "I am. I'm Khaat Lupin. Trouble with potions? I do understand. That's my father's forte, not so much mine." She thumbed through the books and chose one that Khaat believed would have helped her the most back when she was in school. Good wizarding photos, clear instructions, and covered the basics of potionmaking to explain the science behind it all. She removed the book from the shelf and handed it to her. "You might want to look at this one. Its a fairly new book, and I know a lot of my kids have told me they find it helpful."

The figure dressed all in black, with the black leather duster and the black hat swirled into Diagon Alley and strode into the bookstore like a man on a mission. He paused only briefly to get a bead on her and then resumed his stride to the potions section where he stopped, saw her, gave a very brief smile at the young girl to try to avoid frightening her. He whispered impatiently into Khaat's ear.

"How did you get past me?" he was irritated. Khaat was unphased. She reached up and patted his cheek.

"Relax," she smiled easily. "Its Flourish and Blotts, not Borgin and Burkes." She looked to the girl. "My apologies. This is Angus. He works for me." Then she remembered herself. "My apologies. I haven't even gotten your name. You are?"

Amelia looked over to see her brothers arguing over the best Quidditch team and her father ended the argument by saying his favourite team was the best, neither of her brothers dared to argue Quidditch with her father. She chuckled softly to herself; leave it to her dad to end an argument without even trying. She wondered what was taking her mother so long. Then she snapped back to when the conversation had started.

She made note of the name Khaat Lupin, it could come useful someday. She nodded with the mention of trouble with potions. She took the book with ease; she was trying to study Khaat. She wanted to figure out what had gotten her to where she was. “Thank you. I’ll ask my mum about it when she gets back, she seems to know a lot about new books that come out.” Amelia said with a smile.

Amelia backed up a little bit when she saw a figure moving toward them, especially one in all black. She guessed she’d heard too many horror stories about figures in black from her mum and dad. But she doubted anyone would attack a book store though. But if they did she had enough common sense to run back to her father and brothers where she would be safer. From the corner of her eye she saw her father move to closest section to her, it was quite entertaining it was the cooking section and her father didn’t cook, he knew his wife would kill him if anything happened to any of their kids while he was watching them.

She supposed it was some sort of body guard or something. Her mum told her often that people high up in the Wizengamot often used body guards. She never understood why her mum knew so much about the Wizengamot and Ministry yet she never worked for either. She knew she shouldn’t be wondering about that when talking to someone.

“Nice to meet you Angus,” Amelia said politely despite the fact he had startled her. “No need to worry about it. I’m Amelia Macmillan. Over there is my father and over in the Quidditch section in my brothers.” She didn’t want anyone to think she was just wondering around without anyone to watch over her. She certainly would never make out her parents to look like bad parents when they certainly were not.

Khaat saw the startled look on Amelia's face, and she understood why. Angus did look far more like he'd been out werewolf hunting. But then again, he had been out all night. The fact that Amelia had not turned and run as he'd glided in like a phantom spoke very well of Amelia, at least in Khaat's book. She liked that in the girl.

"He doesn't always look like that," Khaat smiled. "My husband usually comes with me, but he's busy this morning. Aurors get called out at all hours. I just get used to it." The truth was that Khaat didn't like having to take a bodyguard with her most of the time, and she frequently left them behind wondering where the devil she'd gone. And that was why Angus had been so determined to find her. There had been rumors swirling that there were still remnants of Gellert Grindelwald's gang and that some of them still wanted her and her famous father out of the Ministry. It wasn't easy being both the Chief Warlock and the Minister's daughter. Nor was it easy being the niece of a famous wizard who had his legacy in every wizard history book--Remus's shoes were hard to fill.

She and Angus glanced over to see Amelia's family. Very prim and proper. All very well dressed. Khaat thought they looked like they were perhaps a wee bit particular on how the kids looked and behaved in public. It made her think that perhaps that discipline and decorum were very important to them, and that wasnt' all bad.

"You have a great looking family," Khaat said to her. Khaat's eye caught sight of a new book on exotic ancient potions. She hadn't seen it before on the shelves. She was curious. Her father loved weird potions books. She picked it up off the shelf. She thumbed through it. Half the ingredients were ones she'd never heard of before. Her father would love it. She decided, rather impulsively to pick it up.

A goblin clerk passed her and looked at her with typical all-seriousness. "Mrs. Quinn," he said, "Your order is in. I'll have it up at the desk for you." He eyed the potions book and reached out to take it and put it with her other books at the desk. "Will you be picking up Minister Lupin's order as well?"

"I will," Khaat said. "I didn't know that he had ordered anything, but yes, of course."

"Very well," he said with typical goblin icyness, leaving, taking the potions book. She turned back to Amelia.

"I'm sorry. I get interrupted frequently. So, what I know about you is that your dad and your brothers like quidditch more than a little, and your mum is on an errand, and that potions is not your favorite subject either. We have that in common. What is your favorite subject? You look very bright. So what is it that does interest you? I loved both Defense Against the Dark Arts and Divination classes."

ooc: I owe you an apology. I was on vacation for a bit out of state with my family. I saw you on tonight, but quite honestly, I fell asleep at my laptop. HAHAHAHAHA. But I'm back on my game now.

Amelia nodded trying not to make it obvious her father was eavesdropping but wanted him to go away. He was being worse than her mum when she’s the phone with some guy. She wondered if she knew her mum from anywhere, she knew if the answer was yes that she was right that her mum was doing stuff for the Ministry, her father told her she was nutty when she asked him about it. She decided to wait until her father had moved on before asking.

She blushed when Khaat had said her family was great looking. It sounded odd to her ears; she wasn’t use to people noticing what her family wears. Her mum was the one that was picky about public appearance; her father blamed it on the first Amelia.

“It doesn’t bother me much. Well, it’s really hard for me to choose which one is my favourite but it’s between Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. I love each of those classes and do good at each so it makes it so hard to choose,” said Amelia.

She looked over to notice her father had gotten bored and had wondered back over to her brothers who were trying to find the book on new Quidditch techniques that she had told them about. She would go over there and get the book off the shelf then hit them with it but she had more important things to do then to tell her brothers how big of idiots they were.

“I was wondering by any chance do you know my mother, Susan, her maiden name was Bones?” asked Amelia, finally she might get answers.

OOC: No worries. I hope you can read between the lines about Susan in this thread, hehe.

"Oh yes," Khaat said, remembering the name from her Hogwarts years. "Brian and Angus and I knew of her from school. I didn't know her well, but I knew who she was. We were in different houses. Your mum was a Hufflepuff, and we were all Gryffindors. I'm thinking we might have had an Herbology class or something together, but that was awhile ago."

"I remember her," Angus said. "She was usually pretty quiet when I saw her, and she was usually studying. I remember her as a very dedicated, hard worker. I can see the resemblance now. I see it in the eyes. "

"I think you're right," Khaat agreed with him. "Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration? That's the makings of a good auror. Sounds like you're good with your wand. You're not too young to consider perhaps an apprenticeship at the Ministry when you turn 16 if you like. You could decide if there is a career there that you might like. Several of the departments do apprenticeships and you can earn school credit for it in your 6th and 7th years. So long as you keep your grades up in your other classes. You wouldn't normally start out working in law enforcement while you're in school, but there are a great many other things to try, and it really does help you with your speed and accuracy with your wand."

Amelia instantly wondered why her mum hadn’t ever mentioned anything about them. Her mum seemed to notice everyone or was it just the fact she hated to brag. She knew her mum wasn’t very social back in Hogwarts due to the fact if she was people always asked about the family member that Voldermort had murdered back in the First War.

Amelia turned a shade of bright pink. She had been told that quite often by her parents but never by someone who just knew her parents. She couldn’t help it her parents didn’t really talk to a lot of people they knew in Hogwarts, she supposed they just didn’t want the memories.

She couldn’t believe that was hearing. Of course her parents had told her about apprenticeships but they were brief about it. She knew that would make her mum nearly faint with pride or fear, she didn’t know. She knew that was a brilliant option given she wanted to work for the Ministry one day. “Thank you. That’s an option I should consider. I haven’t heard much about it until now, only brief mentions. I’m sure it does,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind me asking but how did you get into working for the Ministry? My mum tells me my great aunt Amelia had joined the Ministry after her parents were murdered. I’m just wondering what makes people think of joining the Ministry,” she said.

"I suppose I got it like everyone else does," she smiled. "I simply applied. Gave them the typical application and resume and interviewed. I wish I had a rather exciting, romantic story about it, but I really don't. I think I happened to apply at a time when the Ministry was trying to clean up a bunch of dark arts followers out of office, and they needed people with different sorts of values. Actually, I got my position before my father got his post. He was retired at the time, and after the last battle at the Ministry, the last Minister--before he resigned-- hired my father for the post of Minister.

"I do like the work at the Ministry, but that doesn't mean its always easy. I think the thing I've had to develop the quickest is the ability to try to ignore all the lies that are in the press about me and my family. Sometimes we go through a stretch where there is a new one in the paper daily. Sometimes its funny, and sometimes it hurts. And there's no point in fighting back because it only makes us look like we really do have something to hide. So, I just sort of let the papers say what they want. I suppose thats why sometimes Angus goes with me. Sometimes people disagree with us, and they make life difficult for me or for my father. Sometimes its just safer that way."

Amelia listened attentively to Khaat. She didn’t find anything boring about how Khaat had got where she was now. From what her mother had taught her everyone’s own story is just as important as your own. You can learn so much from stories if you listen closely. If there was one quality Amelia adored about her mum was her wisdom. “I find it rather interesting that you were brave enough to start a career with the Ministry at such uneasy times. My mum and dad often tell me stories of back then,” said Amelia.

She knew from her mum often told her how hard it can be to have family in the Ministry or anyone who high significances in wizarding society. Her mum had people asking her about family members that had been murdered her entire time at Hogwarts then had Death Eaters tormenting her with the fact she was the last of her family her whole seventh year, which made the Macmillan kids respect how lucky they were not to live in the world their parents grow up. She understood that the Daily Prophet was mostly writing lies about people in the Ministry and of high prominence, it was their job. “We read the Prophet but my family doesn’t really believe the Prophet. My mum keeps wanted to unsubscribe but my father won’t do it. She pretty much calls the Prophet pages of crap, of course she uses different words then I do,” said Amelia. She didn’t say they were less vulgar though. She didn’t really care much about language since she typically was well-manned in everything else. She felt her father glaring at her but didn’t flinch.