Let's get to work

Frank had told her she should just relax and be a kid for the first time in her life. That had infuriated her, of course, and she had gone off on the importance of political involvement until her mother had intervened, getting Frank to work on dishes while Ace went out and helped her dad de-gnome the garden. The gnomes had never been treated worse that day.

Since then, Ace had felt unsettled. Another year was wrapping up at school, and what had they to show for it? A smattering of PA meetings? She thought the Zabini could be a competent enough leader if he just bothered to get up and do his job. Yeah, yeah, he had fallen off of his broom or whatever, but that was hardly an accuse for letting darkness move unbridled throughout the castle.

An exaggeration, maybe, but she couldn't help her passion.  

Summer had launched and the sun was actually sticking around for extended periods of time. The garden was flourishing and the Longbottom clan had begun their plans for family vacations, but Ace had basically ground her teeth to nubs at this point. It was a beautiful Saturday and she was boiling.

"Frank. Can you take me to a friend's?"

One look at her was enough to cuss Frank to say "Merlin save your enemies if that's the face you have when talking about your friends."

He couldn't shake her. She would talk to Christian Zabini.

She hurried through the crowded store, not speaking to the people she knew, not minding that she was bulldozing through. Her eyes had latched on to her target.

A tap on the shoulder. "I've gotta talk to you."

Christian hated this shop, perhaps more than he had even expected to when he came back to it, and certainly more than he ever thought he could. He also hated his brother more than a twin should after having once been so close to the other one. But he was trapped in this stupid store while Apollo went off to his internship, and his father was being as unhelpful as ever, somehow allowing the elder brother to do whatever he pleased.

Now, he was biting his tongue and doing whatever he could to avoid snapping at overly-excited customers running into the shop to pick up the newly released products. They seemed interested in the new club merchandise in particular, which was a bit less irksome to the former player. If one could even call him that; he had only been on the team for two years before giving it up for good. And it was only the house team, and it wasn't as though Hufflepuff was actually that good at anything.

When he felt a hand on his shoulder, his eyes drifted skyward, but that voice was familiar. Christian turned around and lifted his eyebrows, hardly expecting her to come around to find him. Frowning, concern crossed his features.

"Is something the matter?" He began, reaching out so he could rest a hand on her arm and use that to lead her over to the counter. He hoped it would be quieter off to the side, but he wasn't betting on it. "What's wrong?"

He looked surprised to see her and immediate concern took over his face, causing a weird flutter of anger in her that was completely unjustified. Her internal reaction was something along the lines of him needing to point that concern away from her and more towards the club that he had taken on.

"Something is the matter," she said, her voice level, her eyes pointed. She lifted an eyebrow, her weight beginning to shift onto one of her hips. She became conscious of that and stood up straighter, squaring her shoulders. No, he had to take her seriously.

"What is wrong," she said, reiterating his own phrase, "is the activity of a certain club aimed at combating dark forces." She tilted her thread, almost looking threatening.

Somehow Christian had forgotten how intense Ace could be when she wanted to. And intimidating. But he had definitely become less self-aware over the past year. He wasn't as strong anymore. Perhaps the best move he had made in the last twelve months was to move into the flat above the shop for his summer break.

Her words took him by surprise, mainly because they were no longer at the school she was so upset about. His eyebrows pulled together, and all he could do for a moment was frown.

"Look, Ace, it's great that you're interested in it and whatever, but we aren't at school right now. What do you expect me to do? Hold meetings over summer for no reason? You know full well that half of our old members ended up at Ilvermorney, and with everything going all wonky over there what can we do?"

Crossing his arms and leaning against the counter, he shook his head at her. "I get wanting to sort it out in the fall or something, but we don't have any real membership, we don't have anywhere to meet or practice." His mind flicked briefly to his flat upstairs, but he decided against mentioning it for the moment. If Ace had a plan, perhaps that would be more ideal. "Beyond that, we don't have any ability to practice magic outside the castle grounds. It's illegal."

Her mother would have scolded her for the way her eyes flicked down and then up, sizing Christian up. She was one of those kids who would perpetually exasperate her family, though Neville certainly enjoyed the nerve of his daughter, something so foreign to his immediate family. Hannah certainly had that domestic scolding down, but she was not particularly outspoken, nor was he or Frank the type of person to speak out against something unless they certainly needed to. Alice jumped on the opportunity to right any perceived wrong, and it was part of this that kept her from being a normal, social kid. Her mum was constantly insisting Ace relax and make some friends.

Ace couldn't see what she was doing wrong.

"I'd be less worried if we had had a productive year," she said, her words biting. "It wouldn't be no reason. Learning to defend yourself is as good a reason as any. We need to catch up."

Ilvermorny was a good point. "Maybe that's another reason we need to be meeting. Our friends are trapped over there, it seems, and what have we done? Nothing. Isn't that what we are supposed to do? Pick up the slack when the adults don't seem to care?"

She had answers prepared for his questions. "Easy. We recruit. Even easier, it's not very often that the Ministry investigates Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley underage magic. There's enough of it and it's so frequent that they really can't regulate it. If we find a shop owner who will help us expand a room and help cover us, we'd be fine."

A disapproving frown took his features and Christian lowered his chin enough to glower at her, some piece of his temper returning after what had probably been months. "Yes, but-" He attempted in return for her questions, stopping himself as she went on. It would probably be smarter to just let her keep on. He half expected she would try and hex him regardless of the law.

A flash of recognition darted across his face before he could hide it at her suggestion that they find an adult to help them. Christian shifted his weight, turning away as though he were surveying the customers and everything else, but he pressed his lips together, undoubtedly giving himself away.

Finally, he decided he wouldn't get away with it and let out a sigh. "I know a couple people we could ask. About four, actually, in case one rejects us. But... If we do this, Ace, everyone has to be told what could go wrong. We're not doing this full swing without warning people. And we're not doing it here."

She didn't worry about being interrupted. She didn't let people interrupt her, not peers, not professors, no one. She even tried standing up when her mum interrupted her. That one didn't work out so well.

And like that, she won him. It was a quick look, immediately covered up with a supposedly bored look, but she could see the cogs turning in his head, the words twitching at his lips. She couldn't help the slight arch in her eyebrows, the satisfied perk in her lips as she realized how close to victory she was getting. She would have to work with Christian on being more unreadable, in case they ever had a run in with the Dark Followers.

It was going to be a big job, but someone had to do it. She could fix the Zabini boy.

"Fine by me, I'm not about dishonesty," she said. "Okay, then, let's get to it. Let's talk to your people. Come on." She grabbed his wrist and immediately tugged him out from behind the counter, ready to lead him wherever they were going... as if she knew.

Apollo had just gotten off of work when the patronus arrived. It wasn't his brother's obviously, because as Christian had just been saying, that sort of thing was illegal for people (not kids, thank you) their age. It was from one of the graduates that worked there. She secretly hated the boys for supposedly owning the place when they were younger than her. Apollo thought that, perhaps at least in part, he was actually into him but was even more rude to him than she was to Christian to cover it up.

He couldn't really blame her, eh?

He rolled his eyes, though, before heading to the floo and appearing in the flat above their shop instead of at home. When he came downstairs, locking the door behind him, Christian was standing there with a girl who Apollo knew had to be impatient by now. He'd taken his time. His brother was tapping his toes on the floor, and as soon as they made eye contact, Apollo was behind the counter and Christian was finally letting her lead the way out.

First, they went to the Leaky, because - as Christian told her while they walked, "It's full of bizarre people and must have loads of magic floating around. Might be easy to hide."

As an owner of sorts, Christian had met each of the other shopkeeps at some point or another. So he found that it was almost second nature to pick out Declan Arryn from the crowd. He was acting as a server that day, which he apparently didn't like if his expression were any indication. Or maybe he'd had crap customers at the table he had just left. But they were on the way out, too, so that was alright.

"Arryn," he called, lifting a hand in greeting. The former professor recognized them easily, lifting an eyebrow and stopping by the door to the kitchen, waiting for them. Christian turned to Ace, saying, "This part's on you."

Ace followed Christian, elongating her step to ensure she was alongside the other Hufflepuff, almost edged a little in front of him. She walked with squared him and a raised chin, her eyes focused on the horizon. It was certainly odd to see such a mature posture and gait out of such a young girl, but Ace didn't really come off as a young girl. Her aunts and uncles swore she came out of her mother already grown up. Seeing her act all grown up wasn't strange - it wasn't until she acted her age that her actions became disconcerted.

She thought the Leaky was a great idea. There was so much odd magic that they were almost guaranteed to be safe there. And she knew Arryn, having taken his class and thought he actually decently commanded a class. She had only had to correct him once or twice.

Christian wisely handed off the conversation to her and she stepped forward, tilting her head upwards to meet his gaze, offering up a strong hand to shake. "Mr Arryn, Ace Longbottom in case you've forgotten. May we talk in private? I assure you it's of the highest importance."

His eyebrow lifted slowly as they approached, the air of a professor returning without any prompting aside from Alice mentioning her name. At least she hadn't used that title. He didn't need reminding that he actually missed it. Zabini looked uncomfortable but there was a strange, determined glint in the boy's eyes that made Declan squint at the pair of them before nodding.

"Give me a minute," he requested, stepping away to ask Louisa to take over his tables for a while. She looked like she wanted to say no, but couldn't do so to the boss. Declan handed her his book, money and all inside of it.

Lou opened it and blanched, tucking it into her apron pocket, away from her own one. She didn't want him thinking that she would steal anything. But he barely even glanced her way as he led two teenagers off towards his office. A little bit terrified, she went to talk to her new customers.

Down the hallway, Declan passed the staircase that led to the bedrooms for rent, leading them to the room he had transformed into his office a year back. When the kids walked through, he closed the door behind them and walked around to sit behind his desk. It felt like the office he should have had at Hogwarts. Well, would have had if he'd possessed a real position there.

"What exactly is this about?" He asked, looking between the two of them.

"We need your help," Christian started, turning to Ace and letting her explain.