This, obviously, was not a well thought out plan.
Jack lived her home at Layabout Lane, but it was bursting at the seams. Even with herself and Max in one room, Charlie in Max's room, Sunny in the practically-a-closet room, they still found themselves full. Every other night or so there was someone, usually young halfbreeds, staying in the downstairs bedroom. Lize had begun spending the night more, her brother occasionally crashing on their couch when their father became unmanageable. Jack had tried to adjust things but now, as she waited in a chair in Mungo's, she tried to make the proper adjustments.
[i]if we move Sunny and Charlie into the same room, he can have the small room Sunny is - it's about time I put some spells on it to make it less horrid. But there's definitely not enough room for Lize with both girls in that room. And Charlie is an adult - she shouldn't be sharing. He can't share with Sunny though. And we need one of those rooms to stay as a safe room in case anything happens to the school. Maybe an addition to the greenhouse is a must. Charlie would love that.[/i]
As stressful as the considerations were, Jack could not face the two solutions that most people would turn too. Either there were too many people, or not enough house. Jack could not seen closing her home to anyone, nor could she imagine moving. She could expand. Max's huge study could double as an emergency bedroom. They could add to the greenhouse. She would not ask anyone to leave, she would not relocate, and she was not going to regret the decision she had made without even consulting Max. Besides, her explanation to him was en route.
And it wasn't like he would have done any different.
She had fallen in love with Goose. Firstly, he went by Goose. Apparently, one of his friends from the hospital had started calling him by name with a thick German accent when he had let slip it was the only thing he knew about his mother. Augoostine. That had been Brett. The nurses had informed Jack that Brett had passed away from a rare bone cancer last year.
That was the main reason Jack could not let Goose stay. She could not let him be like Brett. Something kept telling her she had to take him to Mungo's. She had brought Sunny that time, only her fifth or sixth visit that month, in the hopes of finding Goose a friend. The head nurse Nancy had intercepted her, and had a hard talk with her. Goose'a condition has worsened, and Nancy wanted to prepare Jack for the time when she came to visit and there was an empty bed. Jack could not accept that. She may have used magical means to speed along the process, but within three hours she had secured a temporary guardianship over Goose and had sped him off to Mungo's.
Her connections with the Lupins helped her get Goose in before she had filled out her paperwork. On top of all the tests she wanted them to run, she wanted information on his parenthood. She honestly wanted any information she could get on him. What was doing this to him, could it be treated, etcetera. The paperwork had been filled out, a social worker had come by to give Jack information for the aftermath, and now all she had to do was wait. Thomas had come by with Lize and escorted the two girls to one of the play centers for kids. Max should have gotten her owl by now, but there was no telling how capable he was at the moment of doing anything with that information. When it came down to it, they were all a little in the dark.
Finally, a healer came out. Jack rose and looked to the man in robes to help her.
"Well... It's not good. But we know how to deal with it."
He went on the explain the disease, a magical disease similar to hemophilia, that affected those most typically among the more inbred of the purebloods. Jack took the information in, registering that the treatment would lessen the chance of fatality, but it was brutal. And not cheap. And it could only be approved by a full guardian.
Jack slipped into the room they had moved Goose into. He was sitting up in bed. In Jack's hand was the information the bloodwork had come up with. She pulled a chair up to the eight year old's bed as he held up an arm. "Look. No needle holes. They did it all with their hands. Must be pretty cheap of they don't even have needles."
Jack grinned, sitting. "Actually, Goose. You're really not going to believe what they used to check on you."
"Try me."
"Would you believe me if I said magic?"
"I'd laugh if you said magic."
So Jack spent the next forty five minutes explaining magic and the magical disease he had. Goose took it like a champion, though Jack stuttered through it all. It was hard being on this end. However, Goose was now just about as caught up as she was and was ready to tackle the next problem.
"So... Were they able to figure out who my parents are?" Goose asked, ticking his head.
Jack nodded. "Yes. I actually know a few relatives of your dad's side. I'm, uh, not a big fan-"
Goose grinned. "Yeah, neither am I."
Jack sighed, scratching her head with anxiety. "The thing is, though, that you need a full, legal guardian to approve your treatment. And it's really in your court now. You can contest your parents' decision to, um-"
"Abandon me," Goose helped.
Jack nodded. "Right. Or-"
"You can just keep signing paperwork and tell them to hand over the pills. Or potions, or whatever."
Jack blinked and Goose grinned at her. Jack tilted her head as though she was confused. "So you... do... want me to-"
"Social worker lady! Can you bring us the paperwork?"
Jack smiled at him, reaching out a hand and taking his as the social worker came in. She began her mumbo jumbo talks but both Goose and Jack had their pens at the ready.
It might have been a poorly thought out plan, but Jack knew it was the only one.
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