Let's get to work

Jack had been trying to get out more, trying to be a little more present recently. She would take the kids to Diagon and either bother Keiran, Oliver, or her old friends at the Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes. Otherwise, her life became a cycle of work, practice, and taking on projects at home. But home was in a transnational period, even now, as she tried to reclaim it all as her own. Though she had once before required assistance making the payments, the Falcons had received a few more sponsors, giving her a bit more financial freedom.

Yep, the house was all hers... Yay.

These attempts to get out and about usually bore little to no fruit, but the entrance of these two students were absolutely intriguing. She maintained a lazy demeanor, but her sharp eyes were studying the two - the firmly planted blonde, the exasperated brunette. Interesting.

Part of her wondered how many strings she could pull to get them in at Wheezes, though with all of the explosive product, that wasn't ideal. That left Satan's, which was already being used for the Knight's Watch, and was certainly not appropriate for children. But they had been right, it seemed, in approaching Oliver.

Oliver revealed a secret passage, and Jack had to bite her tongue to keep from making a snarky comment. The blonde turned back and gave her a questioning look, to which Jack gave an interested shrug. The girl squinted and followed her friend, leaving Jack to bring up the rear.

Jack considered the whole little plot, making a secret decision to help on her end. Because the Unspeakables had the task of trying to find treasonous behaviors, they had access to basically any legal file they could want. Reports of a high spike in underage magic was something she could easily access and... potentially neutralize. She stayed silent as she examined the alley, pretending to be focused on the wards.

Ace couldn't believe their luck. She looked to Christian, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. But it was her job to ensure everything was taken care of.

She avoided eye contact with the redhead, afraid to levy the accusation her way, though knowing it would reach her. "And we can be certain you will do nothing to reveal us?" she said, looking at Oliver. Jack felt a small smirk touch her lips as she looked over at Oliver, curious for his answer.

Christian wasn't sure what to think anymore. If men like his former - and, actually, returning - professor needed secret places like this, what was the world coming to? It wasn't like he had figured it was a particularly great sort of world, to be honest, but he had always innately looked up to his professors, and if a family like the Hayes one felt unsafe, he supposed that he would need to start taking a more serious look at his surroundings.

Ace's question wasn't exactly uncalled for, but he frowned at her nonetheless. This was a man who had tried to save Muggles from a burning building, who had left the Order when he felt he couldn't provide them with the leadership they needed. Who had returned when called, as far as Christian understood it. Why would he want to lie to them?

Indeed, Oliver looked unimpressed by the question, crossing his arms and settling into his stance as he looked down at the blonde. "I have zero interest in pulling the attention of the Ministry. I do have my reasons, believe that. But only ones that will benefit you lot, so don't test me."

Even Jack had no idea that he was planning to approach @Elijah Krum. It would be foolish, probably, but it was an easy way to perhaps find out what - if anything - the man knew about Alice. If he could ascertain that part while helping these students, then perhaps it would all work out for the better.

"Do you want the space or not? Because I'll have to commandeer it, so to speak, if so."

She was messing up left and right. She trapped her breath in her mouth, her eyes stinging inside her skull from the effort of not revealing how much her continued failure rattled her. It was embarrassing, honestly, but it was also infuriating. If it wasn't for her, Potter's Army would have faded away into nonexistence! It was her efforts keeping the good fight going! And yet, when she left, it would be her impression that caused rolled eyes and seeds of resentment, while Christian got upgraded to Contact Number One.

She supposed it was for that very reason that she needed him. Still, it hurt.

Not that she was letting it register. A shadow of vulnerability passed over her, transforming her face and softening her features to be a tad more reminiscent of a young girl's... but it was gone as soon as he spoke as she steeled herself, squaring her shoulders and putting out a hand to shake on it. "It sounds like our goals are all in alignment and views in accordance. I apologize for any affront to your character. I believe I speak for us both when I say the space will do nicely."

Thank you, Madame Textbook.

Christian looked between Oliver and Alice, hoping that she wouldn't put her foot in her mouth. Unfortunately, when she spoke, Oliver's eyebrow lifted slowly and Christian just rolled his eyes, turning away to wander down the path a ways.

"There's one other thing," he pointed out, thinking of it belatedly. "We don't know who all is out there. We don't have a way to get in touch with them all at once. How are we going to fix that?"

Oliver, whose arms were crossed despite their apparent agreement, lifted one hand in a sort of shrug. "Unless Jack has a better suggestion, I've got an idea. But I'll have to run that past Hayes. Actually, both of the Hayes'. But I wager they could come up with something similar to those coins Potter and them used back in the day. Think we'd have any of those lying around Grimmauld Place, Jack? I'm not interested in running it past Nick, so if that's something that has to be done, I'll just get Keiran and Millie to do it."

Jack wanted to laugh at the girl, but she recognized a girl who was not to be laughed at when she met one. Longbottom wouldn't have a sense of humor about it, and Jack could understand that. She was pretty intense when she was the girl's age. Of course, around that age, Jack had been going into battles, had been sitting at a table with the Minister of Magic and Kingsley Shackebolt, making plans to fortify the castle. Intensity was a requirement back then.

Those destructive powers, while perhaps dormant, certainly had not been vanquished though, so it did not behoove Jack to squash the passion out of a youngster who could prove valuable.

Jack waved a hand with a "pfft" and Oliver's words. "Kidding me. I have a dozen of those laying around at home from my time. We had actually developed some Weasley's Wizards Wheezes products that did the same - y'know, little pranky things that kids carried around that would vibrate and the time would etch onto the side until you rubbed it away. We only used it a few times before I graduated, but I'm still a major stockholder over there. I can handle it. The problem," she said, looking at the two students, "is getting it to everyone. You have to get people to show up. That's the hard part."

Ace didn't even blink before she said, "We can do it. People like him, and they're scared of making me mad. We can do it."