The Bogeyman's Ghost || Benji

Saturday, 23 October 1920,
The street by Gigglewarts
1 PM

Everything had gone according to plan from the moment the pair arrived in Hogsmeade. They'd already been there for an hour, in truth. Not wanting to draw suspicion, Rae had dragged her boyfriend up and down the streets. They were no different than any other couple out for a Hogsmeade date. They visited the joke shop, had some candy, and had just walked out of the Old Headmaster, where they'd grabbed some butterbeer and shared some chips.

The day had been going so well that Rae had nearly forgotten the point of the mission, but the man was always there. Keeping to the shadows, he'd followed them from place to place like she knew he would.

Now it was time to get to work.

Rae left Benji by the door of the Old Headmaster's and made her way toward the alley by Gigglewarts. The levity of the afternoon faded, and a seriousness took her even while she employed a casual gait. It was a little nerve-racking, knowing she had someone on her tail but being unable to acknowledge them. Like Benji, she also wanted to know what he wanted with her and why this little song and dance had been going on for as long as it had.

Billie wasn't a part of any strange groups that she knew of and she hadn't done anything warranting surveillance. In many ways, Rae was the typical 14-year-old girl living a relatively unremarkable life. There was nothing worth the attention of strange men in cloaks.

She was aware of the moment he entered the alley, a figure looming from afar. Inside her chest, her heart hammered with warnings. Every instinct she'd developed told her this was the point at which she ran. It was a struggle to resist but she did.

Rae never turned. On the other side of the alley, she could see the street opening up again with the Tea Leaf casting its shadow on the cobbled stone. She kept her gaze fixed there, but listened for the sound of his careful footsteps. It was the first time she'd been so deliberate. Usually, surrounded by her friends or in the presence of her mother, it was easy to ignore the foreboding entity of a man. Now, he had her full attention despite her gaze being turned in the opposite direction.

She'd only made it halfway down the alley when the crunching of dried, dead leaves grew louder. In an instant, there was a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from going even an inch further.

Rae didn't scream, not yet. She knew Benji was somewhere nearby.

They were committed to the plan.

Benji was perfectly relaxed.

He was relaxed as they wandered into Hogsmeade along the dirt path from Hogwarts. He was relaxed as they perused the various shops and stopped for candy and snacks. He was perfectly unbothered as she left him just inside the door of The Old Headmaster, his eyes remaining on her and not on the man that had been following them all afternoon.

Benji had been overly aware of him the moment Rae had subtly pointed him out, only taking the man in through his peripherals and never making an indication he actually noticed him. "I'll catch up with you later," Benji said loudly, but not so much that it'd be obvious he was trying to be overheard. If the man thought she was alone, it'd be easier for her to lure him into the alley they'd sniffed out.

He waited a few minutes, leaning against the wall of the pub, waiting until he saw the man trailing her again. He kept a good distance, staying far enough back where he wouldn't be noticed, but close enough to close the gap quickly if he needed to. His eyes bore into the back of the man's head, a quiet storm brewing in the boy's stomach. He needed to know who the hell this bloke was that thought it fine to follow a girl around - basically stalking her.

Rae didn't know him. What business did he have with her? Certainly nothing that he couldn't talk out with Benji.

She was doing good, remaining casual as she disappeared into the alley, the man close behind her. Benji picked up his pace, his heart beginning to thunder as he turned into the dark space. The man's hand was on her shoulder, and all at once, the boy saw red.

He rushed the man with all of his force, grabbing him from behind and shoving him away from his girlfriend and towards the brick wall.

Rae turned the moment the hand gripped her shoulder, ready to confront the man who'd appointed himself her stalker. She was ready, or so she'd thought. The moment dark eyes rose to defiantly take in the stranger, something curious caught her attention.

He wasn't the same man.

Her expression fell, confusion clouding her gaze while her mind scrambled to reconcile what she knew against the person who stood before her now.

This man was taller. Unlike her actual stalker, he had dirty blonde hair and dark eyes. His cheeks were not quite gaunt, but they gave his face a severe look. His thin lips pressed into a hard line as he looked down at her, his gaze boring into hers as if he...knew her. There was recollection in those dark irises that went beyond common sense and reason. He shouldn't have known her because she didn't know him, and yet...she felt she'd seen those eyes before.

There was no time to process any of it. Barrelling from the other end of the alleyway was Benji Laurence. When the boy struck, the sudden impact sent the man staggering forward against her in his attempt to remain firm. Even with her attempts at moving out of the way, he still managed to crash into her, disorienting her for a moment before tripping into the brick wall.

Rae shuffled out of the way at once, disoriented by this new player in the arena while trying to keep her wits about her.

The girl wasn't the only one thrown by the events of the afternoon. There was a moment of bewilderment in the stranger's eyes. It was there for a second, a flicker of dim light before his eyes sharpened again. In a flash, his wand was out. Without a word, he sent Benji flying into the opposite wall, sticking the boy there by his feet.

"Get away from him!" She screamed. Rae knew that pound for pound, she wasn't much of a threat, but if she took him by surprise, her chances went up enough to make a difference. "Expelliarmus!"

He deflected, but in the moment he took to cast the shield, she rushed forward. Like a rabid alleycat, Rae lunged at the man. She latched on, hoping to give Benji some time to free himself.

"Benji, it's not him!" She didn't know who this man was or what was going on, but it seemed they'd made a new friend.

"Just hold on!" The man insisted, easily manoeuvring himself around to take hold of her. He pried the girl off him, shaking her roughly for good measure. "Stop!"

His momentum sent him barreling into the brick wall along with the stranger, the force of the impact causing a grunt of air to expel from his chest. He may have noticed how Rae was caught in the crossfire if he wasn't so zeroed-in on committing homicide. "Who the fuck..." Benji was wrestling to steady himself and go for a second attack, when the man's wand was out, throwing him back against the opposite wall, knocking the air out of him.

It all happened too fast. Rae was screaming, her wand was out, and Benji lunged forward to grab and shield her, but his feet wouldn't move, freezing him to the spot against the wall. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Rae, no," he croaked as his girlfriend, feral little creature that she was, launched herself at the man, latching on to him. If it hadn't been the heat of the moment with so much going on and at stake, the boy would have stopped to admire the ferociousness of his girlfriend. Never let it be said that big things didn't come in tiny packages. Benji's wand was out in a second, banishing the sticking charm and then raised at the man who thought he had a right to put his hands on Rae.

"Benji, it's not him!"

HUH?!

It wasn't him? The guy that had been following her for months?

So now there were two men after her? For a moment, Benji forgot where he was, trying to make sense of what was happening - that was until the stranger thought he'd get away with manhandling his girlfriend and shaking her. "Relashio!" Benji said, whipping his wand at the man, and then following it as quickly as he could with, "Stupefy!" He bet when the man thought he'd try to kidnap a fourteen year old girl, he didn't think it would result in two feral teenagers jumping him in a dark alley.

He didn't care who the hell the man was at this point. Benji was going to kick the shit out of him.

"Relashio!"

It was moments like these--rare as they were--that made it obvious why she and Benji were such a good team. It wasn't every day that the pair took on adults with zero respect for personal boundaries. The life of real danger out on the street had passed, and neither could say they were still in a constant struggle for survival. That sense of safety would've made many complacent, their instincts dulled to what a dark place the world could really be.

Not them.

The moment brought her back to her scrappy days. She didn't have a wand then, only thin arms that struck with surprising force comparative to their size, and teeth that didn't discriminate what they sank themselves into. She'd always been a wild thing, unafraid of throwing herself into the thick of things or defending against even the biggest of contenders. Benji was the same. Their lives, though different, had paralleled in many ways.

It was no wonder, then, that now faced with the stranger, the pair was unrelenting in their assault. Where one was subdued, the other quickly jumped back in to provide cover. Neither would be going down without a real fight, and together, they had no intention of losing.

Rae pulled away from the man the moment Benji's spell forced him to let her go, her wand drawn once again.

The relashio set him on edge. He got a shield up in time to block the stupefy--only barely--and was already being faced with a, "Bombarda!" that sent dust and debris floating in the alleyway. Rae couldn't see through the smoke, coughing while she searched for any signs of movement. The moment she caught even the faintest glimmer of light, she would fire another one and another one until the man was inundated with explosions that made his head ring.

She wasn't quick enough.

In a flash, without a word, her wand yanked itself from her hand, flying off in the direction she'd seen the man. The whipping of wood shooting through the air alerted her to Benji's own wand being accio-ed as the dust finally began to clear.

"Enough! Will you both listen?" the man spat, obviously frustrated by what he'd been put through. He pocketed both their wands, clearing away the last of the debris to open up the alleyway again. Before either could lunge, he lifted his hands in show that he wouldn't attack again, but kept his wand in hand should they decide they weren't nearly so civil.

Children these days.

"I'm going to reach into my pocket. I have something I'd like to show Ruth." And he didn't feel like getting jumped for it.

"Conduct yourselves with some decorum for Circe sake." A man of his breeding wasn't built for scuffles in alleyways with street children. It was bad enough they'd already scuffed his boots and stained his suit.

If there was truly one thing about his early life that Benji was grateful for, it was that he'd learned , young, how to survive. Would he change the circumstances if he could? Of course. But there wasn't a way, and if there wasn't, then he was glad it had shaped him and built him into the kind of boy that wouldn't hesitate to fight a grown man in an alley to protect his girlfriend.

His relashio hit, dropping Rae from the man's grasp, his stupefy evaporating against the man's quick shield. Benji moved to grab his girlfriend, but she was whipping her wand in a frenzy casting bombarda after bombarda. The boy coughed and wheezed as dust and debris exploded around them, coating his throat and stinging his eyes. He couldn't see to try and figure out what the man was doing, but he quickly felt his wand fly from his hand. "Shit!" the boy cursed, forcing his eyes open against the sting, ready to rush the stranger to get his wand back if he had to.

"Enough! Will you both listen?"

"Fuck off!" Benji shouted, "Give us our wands back, coward." He put his arm out to push Rae behind him as the man indicated he was about to reach into his pocket to show her something. "Show it to me," the boy snapped, "You're not coming near her."

Decorum. Benji snorted. If the man wanted to start talking about decorum and proper shit, the Hufflepuff had no problem name-dropping and threatening him with everything he knew the Laurences could do.

And while he'd never wielded his new name like this before, there were definitely benefits to being a rich, pureblooded little shit from a powerful family.

In a sentiment she was sure she shared with her boyfriend, Rae didn't care to listen. In her experience, there was never any reason to listen to an adult who displayed questionable behaviour. A man following her down an alley after another had been trailing her since May of that year certainly constituted questionable. That he'd raised his wand at them--even if only in self-defense--only made his position worse.

"Give us our wands back, coward."

"What he said," Rae said, nodding toward Benji even while she avoided the hand that pushed her back. "My ears don't work without my wand."

They were in this together. That meant standing shoulder to shoulder rather than one before the other. Ruth Anaya wasn't a shrinking violet. She hadn't forgotten whose fight this was, even with the backup, and had never been one to back down. Even now, she didn't want Benji painting her as the delicate flower or some damsel needing to be protected. That would only paint her as a bigger target. There was no need to give the man the impression she was anything less than a holy terror that would claw his eyes out with or without her boyfriend there for support.

It wasn't uncommon for the weak to be picked off. She'd seen it happen enough times. It was important to either show your strength or prepare to be a victim, and that was a title the girl had long since cast off.

They weren't afraid of him, despite their wands being gone, and they would make sure he knew it. She could compromise, though. Rae slung her arm over Benji's shoulder in show of stubborn solidarity against the man who thought two children who'd just jumped him cared anything for something as frivolous as decorum.

It suited him, didn't it? Taking a proper look at him, Rae could see that he was well-dressed. He reminded her of someone who might walk around Arundel Castle or other such venues. Despite his newly disheveled look, the man appeared...expensive, which only deepened her confusion.

What on Merlin's green earth would a man like that be looking for her for?

"I'm going to reach into my pocket. I have something I'd like to show Ruth."

"Show it to me. You're not coming near her."

"Float it over and we'll decide if it's worth our time."

He was ready to protest, but held it in with whatever great training he'd developed for self-control over the years. Something must've told him how futile it would've been in his present company. Instead, he reached into his pocket and animated what looked like a palm-sized picture. "It's got nothing to do with you, boy. You'll find no value in it." A polite way of asking that he stay out of his business.

"Have a look," he continued, directing his attention her again. "I'm sure you'll find something to talk about after. No ears required."

Rae pulled a face at him, finding it remarkable that he still didn't get that he wasn't the one in control in this exchange. Maybe it was her own naivety, maybe it was the result of a cavalier attitude she'd developed toward authority, but being disarmed didn't make her any more amenable to whatever control he believed he exerted. The girl had a good look at his face by now and would happily report him for theft if he made off with her wand.

As the picture drew closer, Rae squinted and leaned forward for a better look.

"See anyone you recognise?"

"N--" Rae's eyes widened as they landed on the third of three figures in the old black and white frame. She'd been set to tell him he was full of shit, maybe even rip the picture before his eyes to show just what she'd thought of it...but the woman standing on the right with her bright smile stopped her. Rae's entire body went loose, her arm slipping away from Benji's as if she'd fallen into a daze.

"...Nan?"

She reached out, but the picture pulled back.

"Ah ah. Not before we talk."

For all the ways he admired his girlfriend, equally, Benji found himself exasperated by her. Here he was, trying to puff up his chest and protect her from being taken by some weirdo, and she needed to prove she was just as tough and unbothered. If he wasn't more pissed off by the stranger who now had his wand, he might have rolled his eyes and pushed her back behind him.

It was her lucky day.

"It's got nothing to do with you, boy. You'll find no value in it."

Like Benji cared. He sneered at the man. Anything to do with Rae, had to do with him, as far as this man could be concerned.

The Hufflepuff kept his eyes on the man as the photo floated towards them, not stealing even a peak, less the stranger got some thick idea in his brain to make a move while they were distracted. Benji had learned over the years to be aware of his surroundings at all times; to be in the know of what everyone was doing around him - if it was a place he felt the need to keep his guard up. He had been careless before and it had nearly gotten him killed. Since then, he'd learned better.

Not that he thought this man was trying to kill them, but Benji didn't know his intentions aside from following his girlfriend around and that was alarming enough.

"...Nan?"

The sound of her voice tore his attention from the man back to his girlfriend. Seeing the look on her face as the man pulled the picture back, Benji's own furrowed into concern and confusion. He took her by the hand, pulling her closer to him as his gaze slowly returned to the stranger. Her nan? Why would the man have a picture of Rae's nan?

"Talk then," Benji said lowly. "What do you want with her?"

"Ah ah. Not before we talk."

Talk...?

"Talk then. What do you want with her?"

The conversation may as well have been taking place on the other side of the village. It was so distant. Rae could barely make out the words being spoken between her boyfriend and the stalker who carried around a picture of her grandmother. Why...did he have it? Who was the third person in the picture? She had questions, the kind that gave her doubt and made her head hurt.

The casual stance she had taken up by Benji tightened into something more guarded as she watched the picture float away. Silly as she knew it was, a part of her felt like she was losing the woman again, watching her move further and further away until she could barely make out her features in the frame.

While the girl found herself enraptured by the fleeting image of her grandmother, Roger Burke fixed a passably curious gaze on her. For a moment, he too turned his gaze toward the photo as if to verify its contents for himself. Her reaction confirmed questions he never cared to ask. She'd called for her miserable, mean-spirited grandmother instead of the woman he'd taken many trips with. The man had wanted to believe, if only for the sake of sentiment, that his hired hand had gotten that tidbit wrong, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

"Whatever I want is between me and my daughter," he replied dismissively. He hadn't travelled all that way to be interrogated by a boy who thought himself a man.

Roger reached into his pocket and fished out their wands, offering them back to them both.

Rae took hers, dark eyes scrutinising the man with the foreign accent and high society clothing. She'd heard him. Her ears worked perfectly. She pretended not to. Instead, she stuck her hand out again, meeting this 'father's' gaze with stubborn dismissal.

"Picture. Hand it over." She flexed her fingers demandingly, waiting for him to give her a proper look like he'd promised.

"Aren't you pleasant?" the man remarked dryly. "Didn't you hear what I said?"

Rae looked to her boyfriend, her impatience growing by the second. "He's still talking and nothing useful either."

Now, even the man looked at Benji, wondering if he'd missed something. It was safe to say this wasn't going anything like he'd imagined. He'd expected more out of the girl than a demand to have the picture returned. Surely, he couldn't have been alone in thinking something of this magnitude was worth more than a dry-eyed blink and little else.

Who raised her?

"Whatever I want is between me and my daughter."

Daughter? A puff of air expelled from the boy as he tried not to laugh, and yet didn't make any real attempt at stifling it either. So the man was a creep and a liar. "Nice try. She hasn't got a dad." If she had, she wouldn't have spent so many years on the streets starving, fighting for everything she had and getting taken advantage of by disgusting creeps. "So whatever you want with my girlfriend is between all of us." He narrowed his eyes, standing his entire five foot eight inches, not intimidated in the slightest of the man who tried to so easily dismiss him.

Benji snatched back his wand, holding it tightly in his fist, ready to cast at a moment's notice if need be. He watched as Rae stuck out her hand, beckoning for the photo she'd only caught a glimpse of.

"Picture. Hand it over."

Benji studied the man. Nice clothes - not as nice as the ones his uncle and cousins wore, but nice nonetheless. Expensive. He probably had money on him. It'd been awhile since Benji had pickpocketed or stolen anything, but a rich creep in an alley seemed the perfect target. They could knock him out quick, take what they wanted and be back behind the wards of Hogwarts before the man would revive.

"Aren't you pleasant? Didn't you hear what I said?"

"He's still talking and nothing useful either."

"Should we make him useful then?" Benji asked, his lips perking upwards in a smirk as his hazel eyes remained trained on the man in front of them. It was obvious the stranger was out of his depth, not knowing who and what the two kids he'd found himself faced with were. They may look innocent and well-cared-for now. But the streets were still alive and well in both of them.

Some things had changed. The core of them? Still rigidly the same.

Benji's hand twitched as he lazily pointed the end of his wand towards the man. "You heard her," he said casually and nodded his head a bit. "She wants the photo. Are you giving it to her, or are we taking it?"

Benji genuinely hoped it was the latter. It had been too long since his last real fight.

"Nice try. She hasn't got a dad."

The man sneered at the impudent boy, already nearing the end of anything that could be considered patience. Whether either of them would've liked to believe it, Roger didn't have the entire day to while away in an alley with a pair of children who still had snot dripping from their noses. The man didn't make a habit of interacting with children who weren't his own for the simple reason that many were hooligans. Vile, dirty hooligans with poor manners and no understanding of their place.

His children were well-behaved. He'd ensured his wife saw to that. They knew how to behave in the company of their elders and their betters. There was none of this backtalking and brutish violence.

Well...he supposed except for this one, but she hadn't grown under his thumb. By the looks of it, Ruth had been allowed to grow every bit as wild as her capricious mother had been. Blown here and there by the wind and her whims, no real head on her shoulder, but with the pig-headedness of her grandmother.

It was an unfortunate combination, one he hoped could still be removed with enough attention and persistence.

"I don't need anyone to tell me your seat is chronically at the back of the classroom," he remarked with a derisive roll of his eyes. "Everyone has a father; basic biology. I won't spend my afternoon explaining why your father should've gotten off your mother while he had the chance."

It wasn't what he was there for. "Deny all you'd like. She's got my eyes." And bad taste in romantic partners. No. They deserved each other, he thought ruefully. Was this really all he had to work with?

"Oi, watch the way you talk to him," Rae cut in. This man, whoever he thought he wanted to be, whatever proclamations he had come determined to make, hadn't been given permission to talk to them that way. It had been a lifetime of people looking down on children like her and Benji. This one seemed like he needed something, and if that were the case, he needed to remember the golden rule.

There would always be more flies with honey.

The girl happened to like honey. A lot.

"Should we make him useful then?"

"Oh, I intend to." It wasn't every day that someone looking like him wanted something from her, and Rae intended to take that as far as she could. Either the man would grow exasperated and fuck off, or the pair of them would return to the castle with a few extra things. This wasn't a role she was unfamiliar with. On many occasions, she'd watched the older girls fleece the rich blokes like him, returning with mini feasts and sometimes fine jewellery that they then sold. Without a little gang to worry over, whatever she got would be hers to keep.

"You heard her. She wants the photo. Are you giving it to her, or are we taking it?"

The man put his wand to the face of the picture, holding it clearly for them both to see. "One step and it goes up in flames. I don't assume she's got any more of Andrea lying around." Making this one particularly valuable, he would assume. He had no issues torching it. There was another tucked away in his study. "Not very observant, are you?" He nodded the pair toward the other end of the alley where a man leaned casually against the wall. "He's with me and likes a fight far more than I do."

Roger didn't care to get himself dirty. That was what hired help was for. "I've been very civil. Let's not have that change."

Rae followed the man's nod, recognising that man at once. She tapped at Benji's shoulder, pointing without a care for how obvious she was being. "HIM. Benji, he's the one who's been showing up everywhere." Had they both been trailing her? She'd only ever seen the other one before.

She straightened, facing the man once more. "Ruin the picture and I leave. You want civil, we want second lunch." The first had only been a diversion. "Then we want candy to take back to the castle, I want a new hat from the clothing store and that pretty pastel pink dress in the window. Echo needs more treats, and Benji likes art. If your pocket doesn't stretch that deep, we have nothing to talk about."

"I don't need anyone to tell me your seat is chronically at the back of the classroom. Everyone has a father; basic biology. I won't spend my afternoon explaining why your father should've gotten off your mother while he had the chance."

There was nothing more satisfying to Benji than when he knew he had gotten under someone's skin. The fact that he'd gotten under an adult's skin, was even more thrilling for the boy who had a real problem with those who demanded subordination without any real authority. Another smile cracked along the boy's lips, even as Rae stepped in to defend him. It was true. Harry Cuddrun should have gotten off Liza well-before they conceived their son and set him loose upon the world, but he wasn't their problem anymore.

Currently, he was this man's. As dismissive as he was trying to be.

Benji had learned long ago to wear who he was as a shield. His past and his behavior wasn't something he'd ever shy away from. It had made him who he was. Some rich uppity fuck couldn't make him feel any type of way about it.

"Oh, I intend to."

That was his girl. He knew exactly where this was going the moment the words fell from her lips. Rae may have come a long way from the manipulative eleven year old girl he'd met back in first year, but she still knew how to pull her out when the time was appropriate. One day, he reckoned, she'd make a great partner when it came to negotiating with the people he'd have to twist to the family's favor.

One day.

"He's with me and likes a fight far more than I do."

Benji glanced over his shoulder, Rae insisting the second man that had appeared behind him was the one that had followed her. The smile fell from his face as he locked eyes with the stalker, less confident now that he could take on two fully grown men and keep his girlfriend safe.

"Ruin the picture and I leave. You want civil, we want second lunch. Then we want candy to take back to the castle, I want a new hat from the clothing store and that pretty pastel pink dress in the window. Echo needs more treats, and Benji likes art. If your pocket doesn't stretch that deep, we have nothing to talk about."

Silently, Benji reached out and pulled her closer to him, taking the slightest step back towards the wall so he could keep an eye on both of them. While Rae was still trying to see what she could get out of all of this, Benji's mind had instantly pivoted to how he could get them out of this.

He glanced back at the second man, watching him carefully as his hand tightened around Rae's.

This time, when Benji pulled her closer, she didn't resist. It wasn't a matter of having a weak moment or a result of any rising fear. The girl was now distracted by the appearance of the second man. The whole thing was starting to feel more like a mousetrap, one she and Benji had inadvertently sprung without ever realising.

Never one to be so easily intimidated, Rae squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, scoffing openly at this man who'd yet to introduce himself beyond his preposterous notion of being her father.

Admittedly, he was the first in her life to ever make such a claim. There weren't many lining up to assert any kind of familial tie with a girl who'd run from orphanages so often that they'd stopped looking for her. It wasn't from a lack of men, either. Since the time of her grandmother's death and her being turned out onto the streets, there had been plenty of them. They'd all wanted something, but none had ever wanted to be her 'father'.

Rather than any sort of sentimentality toward the gesture, Rae felt a growing suspicion settle in her chest. She didn't have anything to offer now, nothing more than she'd had to offer before, and nothing she was interested in giving.

What changed?

Rae waved the man's words off. "You and your friend can like fights as much as you'd like. My sweet tooth's still acting up, and there was someone else eyeing up that dress in the window earlier. If we don't hurry, they won't have any left in my size and I'll not be walking around in a dress you will have to magically adjust." She linked her arm with Benji's at the elbow, resisting the intimidation the stranger was trying to throw at her.

She turned, tugging Benji along with her.

"Are you coming, or are we just heading back to the castle? The candy shop is back this way. I saw they had Cadbury Flakes--do you know them? Came out earlier this year. I've only had one bar, but it was heaven in my mouth. You'd like it, Benji. He'd have to get us each a bar." Expensive as chocolate--hell, anything with sugar--was these days, the man had come with big claims, and she would ensure she benefited from them.

For the first few seconds, the man remained standing where he was. He did little to hide the stunned look that etched itself into his hardened features at the audacity of this...this...

Breathe.

He was there for a reason. Even more, he knew how to handle difficult and disrespectful children. It was only a matter of biding his time and playing his cards right. With evident reluctance, the man followed closely behind, but it wasn't long before his longer strides saw him getting ahead of them. A man of his standing wouldn't be led, and certainly not by children.

"We'll find somewhere quiet to speak. You may have your candy after."

This wasn't a negotiation. He determined where they were going and on what terms he spent his own money. Now it was his turn to walk, whether they followed or not. Roger walked them to a small cafe on the corner, nodding them toward the outdoor umbrella seating. It was a whimsical sort of place, the umbrellas changing colours now and then. The one he indicated changed from a soft baby blue to a gentle lavender before deepening to violet. It shifted over to magenta, lighting again to rose.

Rae plopped down in one of the seats, not fussed, given how open the area was. Plenty of people walked the streets, leaving no shortage of witnesses should it come to that.

Roger nudged a menu over to them. It was a simple one with a few baked goods, warm sandwiches, and soups. Perfect for...second lunch, as the little glutton had called it.

"Order whatever you'd like."

Benji wasn't easily intimidated either; not after everything he'd experienced in the past few years. But it didn't mean he wasn't cautious and well-aware when the odds were stacked against him. Contrary to popular belief, Benji Cuddrun hadn't been a stupid boy, and Benji Laurence wasn't either. Whether this man was telling the truth about Rae being his daughter or not, made no difference to the boy who was feeling more and more uneasy about the entire situation as it evolved.

"You and your friend can like fights as much as you'd like. My sweet tooth's still acting up, and there was someone else eyeing up that dress in the window earlier. If we don't hurry, they won't have any left in my size and I'll not be walking around in a dress you will have to magically adjust."

He felt her tugging him on, chattering away about a dress and chocolate and...all Benji could focus on was the man wandering behind them, and wherever his friend had gone. As he glanced over his shoulder at the stranger, he suddenly got the mind that he was leading, which was better as far as the Hufflepuff was concerned. In front of them, he could keep an eye on the man and keep a lookout for the second one.

"We'll find somewhere quiet to speak. You may have your candy after."

When they were directed to sit at a table outside of a cafe, Benji inched his chair closer to hers, draping his arm around her shoulders, his other hand still clutching his wand in his lap. The man handed them menus, but Benji's eyes remained solidly on the figure sitting across from him.

"Order whatever you'd like."

He wouldn't. Rae could certainly order whatever she wanted, and he'd keep watch while she enjoyed. He didn't want anything from the man. Benji was perfectly capable of buying his own food and treats, and he wasn't hungry anyway. "No thanks," he said easily and nodded sideways at Rae, "You eat, pretty." Hazel eyes pierced through the man like daggers, distrust apparent to anyone who caught a passing glance at the boy. He made no effort to hide it.

One wrong move, and Benji would show the entirety of Hogsmeade exactly how serious he was about Ruth Anaya.

"No thanks. You eat, pretty."

Rae shot her boyfriend a sideways glance, pausing a moment over his refusal. Since when was Benji Laurence not hungry? Was there ever a time the boy had been offered a meal but declined? Not in living memory, in all the time she'd known him, had Benji ever looked a good meal in the mouth and said he didn't want it. Rae reached a hand up to his forehead, pressing the back of it against his skin to check his temperature. He didn't feel hot, just reasonably warm. The boy hadn't mentioned not feeling well earlier either, but then he was always trying to play healer and wouldn't have told her if it meant calling off their plans.

She felt harder, relenting only when he lightly swatted her hand away. Even then, the boy's gaze remained locked on their second-lunch guest. Well, host, she supposed. He was the one paying after all. Benji was unsettled in ways she wasn't, born of different circumstances in their early lives.

Rae was cautious, but she was also indulgent. It was a dichotomy that could only make sense to those who'd lived it. There had always been men. They'd always wanted to spend what they had. They'd always wanted something in return. The danger didn't come with the indulgence; it came after, when the piper was ready to collect and you refused to pay him his fee. This piper hadn't named his price, nor had he hinted at what he'd like from this exchange, outside of a talk.

It all sounded like a crock of horse shit to her--they never just wanted to talk--but she would humour him for so long as it tickled her fancy to do so.

If Benji wouldn't eat, she'd eat enough for them both. Rae went down the menu, ordering for herself a classic BLT and for her boyfriend's stomach--eaten in his honour--a generous slice of savoury pie with lamb filling. Her dessert would be a milkshake, and for Benji's stomach, she ordered a few of the little cakes.

The man looked at her, barely managing to contain his shock and disdain.

"You can't possibly be planning to eat all that."

"Why not?" she asked, lowering the menu to the table once more.

His dark eyes swept over her, and his lips parted as if he meant to ask where she put all the food she ate. He refrained. Instead, the man chose to move the conversation forward, ignoring the way the boy stared daggers at him.

"Your adopted mother has agreed to meet with me tomorrow; Ms. Dragomir, I believe it is. We'll also be having a chat about this...predicament we find ourselves in now. I gather she's a busy woman. How is she treating you?"

Now she sideeyed him.

He was meeting...with Billie...? "What do you want with her?" Rae asked, her nose wrinkling lightly at the thought. Just how tangled was this man trying to be?

Roger wasn't used to being questioned by children, and he was finding very quickly that he had a distaste for it. "I'm hoping to have something arranged for the winter break. There's much to do and not nearly enough time."

As much as he didn't like to be questioned, Rae didn't like not being answered. "Arranging what?"

He plowed through as if she hadn't spoken. "If you don't have anything decent to wear, you'll have to let me know ahead of time. We can't have you around the estate looking any way you please."

Catching onto his game, the small girl realised she too could play and she could play it just as well. Twisting in her seat, she turned to face her boyfriend. "Do you hear anything? There's this...this," she swatted at her ear, "sort of...weird buzzing, but maybe I'm just hearing things."

Those things happened from time to time, especially when she was being ignored while simultaneously talked at.

"Must be the crowds."

Her hand at his forehead did nothing to distract the boy, other than a lazy swat to bat her away. He wasn't sick, but he wasn't particularly in the mood for eating either.

Benji Cuddrun, for that name represented who he truly was, had always been a protector. Of himself, of his little sister, of his friends, his food, and now his girlfriend. Having been raised in a world that offered none, Benji had become the shield for others that he'd always needed. He didn't care who this man claimed to be - her father or the fucking King of England. And even if he was one or both, it didn't shake the boy's resolve to keep him away from Rae.

"You can't possibly be planning to eat all that."

"She'll eat what she wants," Benji interjected, hoping she'd take a single bite of each and leave the rest for the pigeons that wandered around the village. They could have a good meal on the man's sickle, and be happier for it.

The two were talking about Miss Billie now. Apparently she was meeting with the man for some odd reason. If this man really was Rae's father, he supposed it was a good thing her adoptive mum was cutting him off at the pass, or as much as she could anyway. Maybe she could take on her panther form and eat a limb or two to teach him something about stalking teenage girls.

"If you don't have anything decent to wear, you'll have to let me know ahead of time. We can't have you around the estate looking any way you please."

The...estate? What estate? Rae wasn't going to any stupid estate, unless it was his. Granted, Benji knew he didn't have a say in anything if Miss Billie agreed, so he chose to simply bite his tongue. If Rae didn't want to go, she wouldn't. Why would she? She didn't know this bloke. Why would she go to his estate?

"Do you hear anything? There's this...this...sort of...weird buzzing, but maybe I'm just hearing things."

Benji pursed his lips as he turned his attention for a moment to his girlfriend, shaking his head nonchalantly. "Definitely hearing things," he played into her little game, brushing her curls away from the side of her face. He glanced at the man again, before leaning closer to her, "Better let me check though." He nibbled lightly at her ear, an uncontrollable smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

Benji had never claimed that he wasn't a possessive boy.

Benji Cuddrun Laurence, the bane of fathers everywhere, the reason the man would need a pain potion for his headache when he returned to his London flat. Where Roger could ignore the cheek and the blatant disregard that exuded from the boy and his own daughter, the man could feel his blood boiling at the impropriety taking place before him with his daughter. Hooligans that they were, the man dreaded to think what else they may have gotten up to.

Uncultured, lacking guidance on proper decorum, crass. It set his teeth grinding.

Rae held no such hangups.

The girl giggled when Benji's teeth grazed her sensitive ears, his lips tickling the cartilage while stirring a different sort of feeling entirely. It was safe to say that, for a moment, she'd forgotten that the man...this man...the one who wanted to be her father but still hadn't told her his name, was even sitting there.

Funny how that worked.

Rae turned to nuzzle her face against Benji's, having never been one to shy away from public displays of affection. It was unbecoming of most girls, out in the public eye where all could see, but Rae was a nobody from nowhere who'd managed to find a home. There was no one to fuss at her about being a lady, and no one to chastise her for 'cheapening her image' by giving the impression of being 'loose'.

Not until, apparently, now. Her lips had barely brushed against Benji's before her chair was violently yanked around the table. Benji's went flying in the opposite direction so that Roger now sat, an immovable oak, between them. He never looked at the boy, turning a stern look to the girl instead. "You're not going to be walking around having anyone think you're some common street girl." He turned next to the incorrigible child who thought this was a pissing contest of sorts.

"Does she look like a joke to you, boy? Some fancy carnival ride. You treat her with respect, or you don't talk to her anymore."

The man had lost his ever-loving mind.

Rae pulled her chair from him, re-creating distance while she shot him the side eye of the century. "You can't tell me what to do." There weren't many souls who could. "If I want to fuck him on this table, what are you going to do about it?"

The very definition of crass.

Roger's hands balled into fists atop the table, though the man made no other moves. Andrea had done a piss poor job of raising Ruth before her passing, and it was quickly becoming his problem. He straightened in his chair, casting his gaze down at the openly defiant girl who would embarrass him at events without intervention. "A girl of your breeding doesn't talk like that. I'll ignore it this time for the sake of a good lunch--something that's becoming increasingly difficult with children who don't know how to behave."

Benji had a decision to make.

As his chair went flying, yanking him with it and away from Rae, all he saw was red. Who did this man think he was exactly, laying down rules and bullshit like he'd been in the girl's life the entire time? Whether he really was her father or not made no difference to the Hufflepuff who now had the man between him and his girlfriend.

It wouldn't do.

"Does she look like a joke to you, boy? Some fancy carnival ride. You treat her with respect, or you don't talk to her anymore."

"Don't tell me how to treat her," Benji snarled, jumping up from his chair to move back around the table towards her. "You don't know her, or me, and I'll do whatever I want. Take it up with my uncle if you don't like it." Benji was bluffing of course, and hoped the man wouldn't. James wouldn't appreciate anyone showing up on his door to complain about the improprieties of his nephew. He was helping to mold Benji into a respectable heir. One no one could challenge, and it would be made harder if he had a reputation well before ever taking the ducal seat.

Still, Benji didn't care about that right now. He cared that the man was trying to put himself between him and his girl.

"If I want to fuck him on this table, what are you going to do about it?"

Benji's eyebrows raised slightly. Well. He may not have said that, but the idea was exhilarating. Was that an option...? Could they, maybe pause this conversation, for clarity's sake. Was that something that was literally on the table for him?

No pun intended. Genuinely, he wanted to know.

"A girl of your breeding doesn't talk like that. I'll ignore it this time for the sake of a good lunch--something that's becoming increasingly difficult with children who don't know how to behave."

Benji was tired of this. Free lunch or not, they could get one back at Hogwarts. "C'mon Rae," he said eagerly, pulling at her arm so she'd stand and come with him. "You don't have to listen to whoever this bloke thinks he is."

Rae's ghast had never been flabbered harder than it was in the moment this man tried...lecturing her...on propriety.

Who--genuinely, who--did this man think he was? Who did he think she was? It had been well and good that he thought he'd found some missing piece of his DNA, and the Slytherin girl had seldom been one to turn down a good spoiling, but if there was one thing she wouldn't abide, it was a perfect stranger trying to insist upon who he thought she should be.

Benji was right there with her. Like Rae, he saw the ridiculousness of the situation for what it was. When she'd hatched the plan to catch her stalker, a million scenarios had run through her head. This was covered in none of them. This was the sort of nonsense the girl didn't suffer easily, and today wouldn't be the day she started.

She rose when Benji tugged at her arm, needing no further invitation. Disappointed as she was that there would be no second lunch at the cafe, the girl stood on principle. In this case, it was not allowing this no one to think he had even an ounce of control over who she was and who she was meant to be.

Father? Not her father? It boiled down to nothing. Rae moulded herself and shaped her future and wouldn't allow anyone else the opportunity without her say-so.

"You don't have to listen to whoever this bloke thinks he is."

Benji was right. She didn't. There was something, a tiny pang of something resembling curiosity kindling at the bottom of her stomach, but for the sake of her dignity, she ignored it. The thoughts would follow her back to the castle, no doubt, but she wouldn't allow them to keep her at that table. Alone, when she roamed the castle grounds in the silence of the late night, Rae would interrogate every word spoken.

She had questions, of course, she did, but it wasn't the time to ask them. She'd wait for Billie to get a feel of the man first, then see where it went.

"Wait," Roger said as the pair turned to leave. He tossed the picture across the table. "Take it. I don't suppose you have many pictures of her."

Rae hesitated, not sure she was willing to accept even this small act of perceived kindness after all that had happened. But she did take it. He was right. Rae didn't have a single picture of her grandmother. How could she have known the day she staggered outside to finally get help, that she would never see her home or her grandmother again? There had been no time to take anything, not a single memory outside of the ones stored in her mind. In recent years, to her horror, she'd found those memories beginning to fade, and it had terrified her.

She wanted the picture. Whatever else this man was, she felt she deserved it.

Rae snatched it off the table, treating the gesture like nothing while her heart thumped heavily inside her chest.

"You said what you wanted. Tell your goon to stop following me."

After that, she let Benji pull her away, realising only after they'd gotten a fair distance from the cafe just how hard it was all hitting her.