Diagon Youth Center

Sunny Dyllan had done it again.

The girl had overcome a lot in her years in the magical world and she was continuing to prove she only had more to give. She had heard a quote before that had been her beacon in life, and it was the slogan of the Diagon Youth Center : It is only by giving the world what I did not have that I fill the missing parts of myself. Sunny believed this to be true, and it had been what had kept her spirits up throughout a lifetime of oppression. So many of her peers had looked down on her - The Magic Muggle, she had been called. The Healers had openly called her a freak of magic. And Sunny, true to her name, had borne it with the warmth and happiness of a girl who found her happiness internally, not from things or people.

It had been lonely during Hogwarts. During the summer she had her aunt, Max, and her cousin Charlie, but not many people wanted to be friends with the girl. The girl who had a wand that never responded. She had carried it with her every moment since she had received it, held it in her hands as she slept, and nearly snapped it in half holding on to it so tightly. Everyone had laughed because as hard as she tried, she would never cast a spell. It was her fourth year when she gave up - she had only had accidental magic once before coming to school. The assurance that she magic in her blood would never come.

And then a werewolf had stormed into her Potions class. Her wand was in her dorm, but Sunny had stood and in a burst of brilliant light, the werewolf was suddenly at her feet. Suddenly, Sunny was no longer a joke. She was an intrigue. And once she had a taste of trouble, trouble seemed to seek her out. Boggarts, Death Eaters, dementors, dragons... Sunny soon found herself tackling it all. But, of course, she was still not safe. She was targeted by Death Eaters and their junior league; she was accused to stealing magic; she was threatened by the Ministry to reveal her 'true' heritage. But Sunny had decided on a very different method than the rest of her family on how to deal with this opposition. Her aunt and her cousin were tough women, yes, but rarely did they leave the house with a smile on their face. Sunny never left home without it. She treated her tormentors with compassion, never accepting the response but never denying the humanity in the person, no matter how hidden it might have been. She held herself tall and kept her eyes soft, her shoulders straight and her laugh genuine. 

And she had survived. She had thrived. And now, at eighteen years old, she was giving children what she did not have at their age. A place where their peers would accept them, where they could find teachers who would invest in them. She had her family, but she had never had friends, never had anyone beyond people who shared her blood who had cared. But now, as she looked at the excited young faces of youngsters and their parents, she felt more blessed and more loved than ever. And she knew, somewhere in the crowd, her aunt and Max were there, having always loved her and she knew they would never stop.

She looked to the official who had okayed this little celebration and he nodded. With a smile, she stepped up to the center door and held out a pair of golden scissors. "Ahem," she said, using her real voice as she could not magically enhance her own without help, her American accent jarring amongst the general European accents around her. "Life hasn't been easy for me, and it's likely to remain hard. There are people out there who don't care to be kind. But they can never succeed because they too seek love and compassion and eventually, everyone falls to the charm of a gentle spirit. I hope that this Diagon Youth Center provides a place where magical and muggle children can feel safe, loved, and encouraged. I hope it will be a place where kids can learn to walk, and where they can plan their graduation trip. Alright, I'm not much of a talker, so I'm going to wrap it up and declare the Diagon Youth Center open!"

She cut the ribbon and opened the door, gesturing for the crowd to enter the colorful building. Inside was a broad room downstairs that led to an upstairs loft. Upstairs were rooms that led to different resources - a playroom for kids under five, a library, an art room, and even a few rooms for extreme situations such as runaways and teen werewolves. Sunny smiled, proud to show off her life work to the crowd, proud to give back to the community she had always been so desperate to be apart of. A community she was now a leader of.

Austin was very exited to meet new people since he only knew people from his house, which was Ravenclaw.He woke up,got ready and headed out the door.He got to the leaky and from there he got to Diagon Alley.He had heard about a Youth Center and he still was on vacations so he thought why not.He walked up to a big crowd and saw that a girl was giving a short speech for the inauguration and then she cut the ribbon, officially opening Diagon Youth Center.He walked in eager to meet new people or even see some of his friends.He was amazed with the place.He felt like his summers wouldn't be useless anymore.He wouldn't spend all day with old doggie Titan.He would meet human friends, but best of all, a library.He surely would find books that weren't in his home and he would have a great time reading them

Blair Shaw's smile was bright and dazzling, as it typically was, as she hurried through the crowds of Diagon Alley towards the new Diagon Youth Center. Her father and half brother were somewhere behind her in the milling crowd, but she did not care to wait for either of them. She found them both pretty intolerable, but she especially didn't want to be near her father today. He had been trying to get Sunny Dyllan thrown out of school for the entirety of her stay there, for the sole reason of her strange magical ties, and Blair was getting absolutely sick of it. She had befriended the redheaded girl during the last school year (her first year at Hogwarts and Sunny's last) as a way of spiting her bigoted father, and now she was absolutely thrilled to support the elder girl's new venture, for she had grown to adore the muggle-witch.

Jude Shaw walked through the crowd, a hand resting firmly on the shoulder of his son, Bertram G. Shaw as he steered the young boy through the crowd towards the ridiculous youth center. Jude was not happy the project was approved, as he had been trying to screw with the Dyllans over a decade. He had begun in an attempt to avenge the death of Alexis d'Eath and every time Jack Dyllan had thwarted his attempts, his thirst for justice increased. His interest turned to the strange magical mutt, but Sunny had her aunt's luck. Jude was not thrilled with the building, but he hoped he could find more information by allowing Bertram into the center. He wasn't keen on allowing his daughter into the center, as she already had an unhealthy interest in the Dyllan child, but he found that he had almost no control over the preteen girl, so he would leave that situation for another time.

Bertram followed the flow of feet, glancing up at his father. "Where's Blair?" he asked. Jude cleared his throat. "Look forward, Bertram." The boy sighed - he was always a bit overly concerned as to his sister's life, though he seemed to be the only Shaw to be concerned for her. He supposed he would find her in the center.

The door was opened and Blair perked. She cheered and whooped for Sunny and then pushed through, shoving past the crowd. "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me." She wanted to be in first.

“It’s part of your probation, Monsieur Krum. Otherwise, le Ministry will never trust you again.”

It had been four years. Four years since Azkaban had finally taken its first Krum having lost out on more than its fair share in the preceding years. The nineteen year old had not been ready but for his sister, he would have done anything in the world. Her eyes still haunted him, assaulted him when he didn’t expect it. Behind his own lids he could hear her screams, see the writhe of her body as she went limp; too exhausted to put up with anymore the man who was supposed to love her afforded her. The Lupins couldn’t save him from what he put him through. The Krums couldn’t save him from what he put him through.

James Reich didn’t open his eyes again. Didn’t flex his fingers or wriggle his toes. He didn’t feel the wind on his face or see the smile of a lover, feel the grace of a woman’s touch. He died in pieces but, unfortunately for him, not quite. The Cruciatus Curse never truly lifted, riddling him further into insanity than the Longbottoms could as much as boast. Sectumsempra ruined every shred of skin. Yet the Healers made him live. He breathed. Perhaps he ate a little through a drip in what was left of his arm. But he didn’t speak. He didn’t hear. He didn’t see. He was a shred of the man he was and that alone, knowing he had to live despite his injuries, satisfied Thierry Eriq Krum enough to go to Azkaban without complaint.

Life, he received. Life for grievous bodily harm, mainly, amongst attempted murder charges, use of the Unforgivables and, most interestingly of all, using spells and methods of torture that made even the sons and daughters of Death Eaters in the Wizengamot shudder. Yet, for good behaviour, for putting up with the Dementors whose aura left him nauseous but no less put off of his meal than he already was, they allowed him parole. He was no danger to the public, the Dept. Of Law and Enforcement ascertained through squinting eyes. Needless to say, the Daily Prophet didn’t agree and Fauve... she still wouldn’t look at him.

“They’ll never trust me, Jeanne.” Thierry muttered, wondering for not the first time why it had to be a solicitor who aided and abetted him, who soothed his worries and, for the best part, treated him like a mother would her son. Where was his own mother? Where was Mira? Where was his father? Where was Elijah? Where was the pretty chit he kept on his arm? Where were the Rookwoods he so treasured? Where was his sister? Where were his brothers? Where was Alice? Where was Fauve? Cepheus? Caelum? Gone.

Jeanne Delacroix was a Parisian through and through. When Elijah had hired her, it hit home just how ostracised Thierry truly was. She wasn’t an English solicitor from the country they’d called home since he’d been a boy. She wasn’t Bulgarian, a testament to Elijah’s trust in his country of birth. She wasn’t a Krum, either, the family of which boasted more than a handful of successful lawyers. No, she was French. She was Parisian. She was old enough to be his mother. A replacement for one, indeed. Thierry hadn’t expected Elijah to stand by him but lord knew, he hadn’t expected to be completely abandoned.

No, that was a surprise.

But probation meant a way out and it was something that his cell-mate across the corridor envied him for. He’d murdered his whole family, allegedly, but after living next to the well-mannered, easy-going soul for four years...Thierry highly doubted it. It was just a very, very good frame up. Probation was something he’d never get and Thierry promised that by hook or by crook, he’d find a way to get something nice into the prison for his friend. Without him, Thierry knew that insanity would have been the best way out. Even without the distress the Dementors caused, the screams still found a way to get to you.

The task was simple enough: work awhile with the children at the new youth centre opening in Diagon Alley and they’d extend is probation, help him get a proper job and maybe, if he in six months time posed no threat at all to any member of the public, they’d reduce his sentence and he’d be released.

Thierry’s fingers brushed over the runic numerical barcode tattooed into the skin beneath his collarbone and he sighed. He knew better than to trust them to keep their word yet despite his cynicism he still found himself stood outside next to Jeanne, his hand lightly grasping her finger as they watched the parents hurry in behind their excited children.

“I can’t do this, Jeanne.” He whispered, his breath grazing her ear. She turned, her hazel eyes glaring forcefully into his before bringing her hand up to light slap at his cheek. Thierry managed a wry, rueful smile for her benefit and she chuckled a little before reaching up to kiss his hurt.

“You can,” she promised him. “I’ll be here, watching. I won’t let anything bad happen, Ted. The Aurors have me in charge of monitoring your progress. Unfortunately for me, that also means you’re in my house for the foreseeable future.”

Thierry winced. “Sorry.”

Jeanne laughed. “It’s fine, my boy. I know you. The only danger you pose to me is interrupting my husband and I when we’d quite like to-”

Thierry made a face. “Don’t even finish that sentence, Jean. I don’t want to even picture it. I get it. You’d take your wand to me.”

Jeanne laughed again and nodded before linking her arm with Thierry’s. “Come on then.”

As they entered, scooped up by the crowd, Thierry felt his head begin to smart and his eyes pull a little as he was assaulted with colour and light and life so fragrant and so flyaway he almost felt like cautioning all of them. But he didn’t. He merely shrunk a little at Jeanne’s side, reassured by the feel of her hand on his lower back. He sighed heavily, his fingers twisting and turning in and out of one another, and looked, despite his misgivings, for Sunny.

Thankfully, Jeanne swept him over in the direction of the redhead and Thierry respectfully tore his hat from his head, not caring about the way his hair mussed, disturbed by the static the action had caused.

“Ms. Dyllan-Thomas!” Jeanne enthused, her accent heavy, an indicator that she herself was not wholly comfortable with the situation at hand. “I trust you are still willing to help the Ministry with ... certain aspects of your old classmate’s ... rehabilitation, I suppose you could say?”

Sunny stood happily at the end of the room nearest the office and break room, watching as children unscrupulously dove right into the activities already placed out for them. Sunny had a few volunteers lined up for these first few days until she got a stronger base - the core of which were her aunt's beloved Weasleys employees, Kirsty, Andy, and Gary. The three had pretty much raised Sunny, as much time as she had spent in her aunt's shop, and though they seemed to regret helping her out now, they had been only to eager to assist her. All three still worked for Jack, and all three were still best friends. Sunny didn't think the center would have looked complete if she didn't have the three of them romping around together, enjoying themselves more than the kids they were assisting.

She smiled about, glad everyone was enjoying herself. Strangers walked by to congratulate her before their children dragged them to a new part of the wonderful place. Sunny looked about for a familiar face but reminded herself not to look too hard. Most of her peers would have nothing friendly to say - she would just have to wait for her guardians and her cousin to share the moment with. She did not need company, though. She had taught herself during her third year of Hogwarts that the only company someone needed was themselves. If not a person stopped by to speak with her, she would find herself just as well off as she had been before.Sunny was not fickle in that way.

Her eyes caught the gaze of one Blair Shaw and her face lit up noticeably - someone who she could practically call a friend. Sunny suspected their acquaintance had only begun out of rebellion on the Ravenclaw's side, but that was nothing Sunny could not handle. As Sunny had been a Gryffindor and significantly older, the two girls had not interacted exceedingly much, but it was enough to make Sunny terribly fond of the younger girl. She was hoping Blair would break off from the crowd and come speak to her, but she was suddenly interrupted by a woman she had never met before.

A French woman too! It always pleased Sunny to hear another accent among the British chorus, for her American accent had been another point the bullies had picked up on. Worse more, raised in a British household confused her language. Though she spoke with the slurs and rolls of America, she still utilized the euphemisms and phrases of the British. Hearing another accent among the noise made her feel less surrounded.

But the woman was not alone. A handsome boy about her age, perhaps older, was at her side. He had plucked off his hat, which had only messed up his hair, but the respectful gesture was not lost on the girl who was so used to being treated like a criminal or a fraud. She flicked him a warm smile, but her attention was drawn as the woman continued to speak on, giving Sunny more to think of. "Old classmate?" She turned her gaze back onto the boy and squinted. "Wait - you're not Theirry Krum? Oh, I haven't seen you in years. It's really good to see you!" Of course, she knew where she had been, but that was best not brought up so casually. And she would never hold a stay in Azkaban against anyone. Her aunt had been there, and Jack was one of her favorite people in the whole wide world. She would never hold jail time against a person.

The other part of the French woman's question finally processed and she turned back to the woman. "Rehabilitation?" She looked back at Theirry before she remembered the whole letter from the Ministry about using the Youth Center as community service for criminals attempting to gain parole. She had okayed it so long as each of them were properly screened for the safety of the children. She didn't mind it at all, but she wanted kids to be able to come to the center, and she knew parents might be skeptical. But if it was people like Theirry that she would be receiving, she doubted there would be a problem. She beamed at them both. "Of course! It would be a pleasure!"

Anali Collins walked through the crowds of people in Diagon Alley pushing her glasses up her nose, heading toward the new Diagon Youth Center that was opening. He father followed closely behind her as she hurried past all the people, a wide grin on her face. Since she'd heard about the center, Anali had been anxiously awaiting the day that it would finally open.

She was glad that both Magical as well as Muggle children would be able to have a place to be where they would be cared for and protected. What interested Anali most was that the person who was opening the center was an older classmate, before she graduated. Anali looked up the older girl and was really intrigued by her. Not to mention she had learned that her father had worked with the girl's relative at one point - her aunt she believed it was.

Her aunt seemed like a cool person from what her father told her and when she met Sunny, Anali noticed that there were a lot of similarities between the two of them. She got there just in time to see Sunny cut the ribbon and she pushed her way through the people who were rushing in with their children. Once she was inside, she looked around at all the people who were there.

Jake finally came up behind his daughter and he put his hand on her shoulder. Anali looked back startled before she grinned at her father. "This place looks great, doesn't it Daddy?" she asked excitedly. Jake nodded as he watched the parents and children. "This place is going to be really successful." he noted. "Yeah. Daddy?" she glanced at him. "I wanna help here. Like volunteer or something." she said. Jake smiled. "Why don't you go ask? You know Sunny right?" Anali nodded. "Yeah. I guess I'll go ask at some point. She seems busy right now." She said softly, pulling on her shirt to lower it a bit.

Outfit