Coffee in My Tea

"Some of the other muggle films aren't so weird," Michael said, "but I'm finding that they let you watch really old films for free. Helpful if you don't always have muggle cash around. And, it does give one a bit of a perspective on how they've evolved as it has. At any rate, we'd best be going, then and we had better not take in any muggle cinema on this trip if we can help it. Strangely enough, Robert seems to always find out when someone's misstepped." He rooted in his pocket and dug out a pair of passports. He looked in them briefly and handed one to her. "It seems I'm your uncle once removed--a brother to one of your grandparents. Or at least that's what the passports say. Probably to explain the age difference of us traveling together. I'm fine with it if you are. It's just for the day, after all. You may need that. And, I have the portkey." He picked up a fedora off a shelf. Checking the size, he flicked his wand at it to adjust it just a wee bit.

"This is the portkey," He told her. "If we grab hold of the brim, we should end up in New York." He gripped the hat with one hand. "Grab tight. Put your left hand near my left hand. Since we're going over the Atlantic, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to take hold of you with my other hand so we do get separated in the porting."

It was always more dangerous porting a long distance, and this particular trip meant also going over unsettled seas and through some storms. The last thing Robert wanted was to have her grip on the hat slip or something. If he had hold of her, it would only hopefully give a wee bit of extra insurance that they would arrive safely together. And, hopefully, before the rain set in in New York.

Physical contact with other people wasn't Anabelle's cup of tea, usually, however it looked like it was going to be necessary this time around.

It wasn't like Michael was an immature teenager who would take things too far because of the closeness, so she wouldn't have a problem with him. Besides, it was to ensure her safety and the thought relaxed her, though slightly. Hit held the passport up to her face to look over it quickly and shrugged. "I'm okay with it." she said simply. Even if she wasn't, what difference would it really make? And besides, it wasn't like her to fuss over something so minimal when, as Michael stated just a moment ago, it was only going to be for a day. As she looked at the hat that was to be their portkey, she felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement build within her. This was going to be her first time porting somewhere as far as New York, though it would not be her first time in the city, and with a stranger what's more.

But she knew she could trust Michael, just like she could trust the Brian, Robert and the rest of the Lupins. That fact alone was enough to get her nerves to settle just a bit, but the experience she was going to get with the older man was enough for the excitement in her to almost overwhelm her. With a soft sigh being expelled from within her, Hit took hold of the hat with her left hand near Michael's and she looked up at him, ready to go.

The porting was smoother than Michael anticipated it would be, given the storms he was sure they were going into but when they landed in New York, the rain was hammering down already in a downpour. They landed in an empty alley. It took him a minute to get his bearings. He hadn't been in the States in awhile, but he had some confederates from some old missions that lived a street over. He flicked his wand at the fedora and created a duplicate. He looked over to her to make some sizing adjustments on one of the hats and handed it to her.

"It might fend off the rain a little," he offered. "We're not far from where we need to go, just a block...." He was cut off by thunder and lightning overhead. It was going to be too dangerous to try to port all the way back home in an electrical storm, so good or bad, they were going to be here awhile until the worst of the storm passed. "This way," he pointed eastward and headed out of the alley to the street. He decided she needed to know where they were going. "The man we're going to see is a fellow named Lyle. To the muggles around him, he's a retired locksmith, but he's a remarkable alchemist, and he's made us some incredible alarm badges and wands. Lyle lost his wife, Karen, in the second wizarding war. He and Karen were staying temporarily back in England, on assignment to the Ministry, both of them, when the war broke out. Karen was bloody valuable to either side because she had a photographic memory and she was working as a clerk in the Department of Mysteries. She knew what was supposed to be in a good portion of the prophesy balls they had--priceless information to Voldemort. I don't know if we'll ever know for sure which one of Voldemort's thugs killed her, but Lyle returned here when it was all over. I think England is just too painful for him now."

He suddenly shivered slightly, and that was odd in itself. He wasn't cold. This was something else. It was a sensation he got when something wasn't right, when dark magic or something sinister was around. He started to look around him, looking for anything unusual, but he saw nothing. He wasn't sure he wanted to go to Lyle's straight off. If something was amiss, he certainly did not want to lead it to Lyle. He reached in his pocket and handed her some neatly folded American dollars, just to be on the safe side.

"Put these in your pocket," he told her quietly. "And stay close--unless I tell you to go. Something isn't right, and I don't know what. Let's be on our guard though. I think we'll detour away from Lyle for the moment. If we get separated, use a reveal spell on the dollar bill, and Mr. Washington will give you Lyle's address. In the meantime, there's an old hotel down the street, and there used to be a coffee shop inside. Don't know if it's still there, but lets' find out." Hotels were mazes of corridors, stairwell, rooms and nooks and crannies. It might keep them safe for awhile. "Let me know if you see anything."

Even though she knew there was most likely going to be a storm going when they arrived, Anabelle still hadn’t expected the amount of rain that was pouring down when they landed in the alley. She ducked her head a bit and lifted her hands up over her head, though it did little to keep her dry.

She quickly took the duplicate fedora that Michael handed to her, placing it over her already wet hair to keep it from getting any worse. She could already feel her hair getting wavy from the dampness. Thankfully, it wouldn’t get much worse than that. The girl followed Michael out of the alleyway as she listened to his story about the man they were meeting and his wife.

“I could imagine being in England would be hard for the man after losing his wife there.” She said. Even though she hadn’t lost anyone, ever since her sister started to hate her, it was hard to be around the places they had spent time together now. Hit sympathized with the man.

Hit took the money from the older man and quickly placed them in her pocket, glancing around when Michael said something wasn’t right. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary though, which made her all the more worried. Hit nodded when he said they would detour from their path to Lyle’s, she didn’t think Michael was being paranoid, though she didn’t know him that well. But even now she could tell he was right, that something was off. She just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She listened to his orders and stayed close behind him, all the while making sure she looked around in case something suspicious popped up.