Strange Meetings

Quidditch was in the eleven year old's blood and she wasn't going to deny it. But she wasn't entirely sure if it was something she wanted to do. Ryan had never forced her to learn it and was always open to any questions she had about the sport. She didn't have many though so their conversations about the sport were short and usually ended with her changing the subject. Ryan had let his daughter roam around without him for a while, they were supposed to meet back up for lunch around noon. She had a bit more time so she decided to visit one last shop before meeting her dad. She was hungry but she was too busy exploring and didn't want to go back early. She was too stubborn to do that. She knew that she wasn't going to get a break like this again and that she was going to have to go walking around with her dad again.

She ran a finger along the newest model of broom and rolled her eyes as other students chattered on about it. If she wanted, she could just have her daddy buy it for her so they couldn't drool over it anymore. But she wasn't going to have her daddy waste money on a broom that she didn't really want. It would be nice to show up to flying class on the first day having a better broom than the other kids. Or did she have to use a broom that the school provided for that? She wasn't entirely sure but it wasn't worth spending her dad's money.

So, instead she walked away and looked over at the different balls in quidditch. She didn't remember the names but that didn't matter because the names and the prices were written underneath them. And they were also sold as sets. She wasn't entirely sure why she was even in here but she soon grew bored. "I wonder what would happen if I let these balls out of the sets," she whispered to the person beside her, which turned out to be a woman who could be her dad's age. "Uh, I mean, I didn't say that." This was an adult and an adult would rat her out. "I wasn't actually going to do it." Her face grew warm and she knew her face had to be about the same shade of pink her shirt was.

Harley was exhausted. Really. She had been on a trip for work to finally push herself into the area of consideration to be an Unspeakable, but god knows how long it took her. It was around the second month she had lost track of time and only concerned herself with the basics, training, food, and work. Her life had consisted of a constant back and forth between paperwork and fieldwork and experimentation, and to be honest she was wondering if it was all worth it. Deep down she knew it was, but she hadn't seen a familiar face in forever. She missed everyone. She missed her flat and the butterbeers at La Petit Dragon. She just... missed.

She had decided to stop by the broom store on her way home to pick up a new bundle of tail-twigs for her beloved broom, whose ends had been scorched by a god knows what in god knows where. Everything blended together nowadays.

As she perused the shelves looking for her item, she came to stand next to smaller girl. Harley remembered quite well what it was like to be a student, it was one of the significantly better times of her life. There was no doubt in her mind the girl next to her was a student now too. The girl was looking at Quidditch practice balls, and Harley recalled fond memories of her being the Montagnard beater. Better times in general. Suddenly, the girl said something to her, and she turned her head slightly, keeping her eyes on the shelves and quirked a brow. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Those bludgers leave a mean bruise if they hit you hard enough. And don't even think about trying to get the snitch back in before the owners would notice. Don't worry though, I won't tell."

Wynter let out a sigh of relief because it seemed like she wasn't going to get in trouble for saying what she had. Most adults would have given her a stern talking to but this lady didn't. And she was thankful for that because she really didn't want to hear someone go on and on about how she shouldn't be thinking about causing trouble. "I won't actually do it," she said. But it would be so funny to watch. Besides the bludgers, she could do without those. So she wasn't going to do what she really wanted to do.

"I don't know if I like quidditch or not." Her father had always said not to talk to strangers but this woman didn't seem all that bad. And there were other people in the shop in case she turned out to be a bad person. "My daddy was in quidditch when he was a student at Beauxbatons. So was my mom, but I don't know her." There was no such thing as too much information when it came to Wynter, she would tell someone just about anything. "I haven't play but I guess it's in my blood."

Harley smiled at the girl and watched her out of the corner of her eye. "I know you won't. You seem like a good kid," she said. The girl next to her vaguely reminded her of herself when she was younger, curious about everything yet having morals that held her back from satisfying many of those curiosities. Harley turned to look at the girl while she was distracted with the ornate leather boxes. She had blonde hair and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, much like Harley did when she was younger and had the chance to be outdoors more. Perhaps this is what her daughter would have looked like if she hadn't royally screwed up.

" When I was a student at Beauxbatons, I was the Beater for my house, Montagnard. I love it more than anything, the feel of being able to be the strongest person on the team who protected everyone else." Quidditch had been a better time for Harley. "It's okay. I don't think I really know my mum either, but maybe I know yours if she was a student." The girl was still looking around for an item to buy, and Harley was never short on money due to her job. "Hey, pick something out and I'll buy it for you. Anything in the shop. It'll be a thank you, I guess. I was having a pretty crappy day until now."

Wynter smiled brightly at the woman because of her compliment. She always enjoyed receiving them and also liked to give them out, they made her feel so nice on the inside. She didn't know her so she didn't know if she were a good kid or not so Wynter was doing good at being her best self. It was something that Serah had taught her, to be her best self. "Thank you, miss," she grinned.

"My daddy was a seeker for his house," she stated matter-of-factly. "My mom was on the opposite team as him." Ryan didn't really talk about Wynter's mom but she had gotten a bit of information out of him and Serah. Mostly Serah though. Neither went into detail when Wynter asked so she stopped. She figured she'd find out more whenever she finally arrived at school, she was sure she'd find something. "No thank you," she said politely. "My daddy said not to take anything from strangers. And I don't really want anything from this shop." The candy store was a different story though and she was going to beg Ryan to take her in there after lunch. "But I guess you're not such a stranger anymore because we keep talking."

"I'm Wynter," she said, holding out her hand and sticking the thumb of her other hand into her mouth, a nervous habit of hers. She knew that her daddy would be upset because she was talking to a stranger and that she had given her her name. She knew she was too old to be sucking her thumb and Ryan was trying to get her to stop.

Harley laughed a little at the girl's eagerness for compliments. It was innocent and adorable in a way she hadn't seen in a while. "Of course. I don't give out compliments that aren't deserved." At the girl's grin, she returned the smile before frowning a bit. Harley was an Unspeakable now, and even if she wanted to, she could never have a normal life and a child as wonderful as this one. She had recently been assigned to the Space Chamber, where the very concept of space and the fragile fabric that held it together was studied, and the things she had witnessed made her realized why they were called Unspeakables.

Once she realized the girl was talking again, she pulled her thoughts back to the conversation. "A lot of couple I know started that way. Enemies make the best friends, they're just the two extremes on different sides." Harley finally grabbed the Tail Twig kit she had been looking for, but didn't turn around to leave. "You're dad sounds like a very smart man. My name's Harley. Harley Fenwick, and that's a beautiful name, Wynter."

Harley was no idiot. As soon as the girl said her name, she was shocked. The reason Wynter looked so much like her was because she was her daughter. She wouldn't admit it though. Ryan seemed to have the perfect family scheme going on and Harley wasn't going to screw up even more and ruin that. Plus, there was most likely a reason Ryan didn't talk about her, and she didn't blame him. She wouldn't talk about the dead-beat mum either. "Hey, you seem like an intelligent kid. Can I ask for your advice on something?"

Ryan hadn't really talked about Wynter's mother, at least not to her. And Wynter could never get any information out of him or Serah, it was a lost cause honestly. Her dad didn't want her to know anything and Serah went along with what Ryan wanted when it came to Wynter. Though, she had let a few things slip before. "I think my daddy and my mom were friends," she said. She was unsure though, she didn't know much. "I plan to learn more about her once I go to school, I'm sure they have old yearbooks or newspapers or something that I can look at." She was on a mission when it came to her mother, she wanted to know who she was. She had seen old yearbooks that he dad kept but he didn't let her see anything that had to do with her mother. Serah had though, but never gave her a name. So, she was going on nothing really. Besides the fact that she looked like her.

"I'm smart," Wynter grinned. "I give good advice. One time, I picked out what picture Daddy should use for this art thingy and a lot of people liked it. My daddy takes pictures of things." She liked her dad's job but sometimes he traveled, but she liked it when she was the center of his photos. "I also helped him pick out the tie he wore that day and he looked really good. He got so many compliments on it." Of course, though Wynter didn't know, the tie had not matched and Ryan had only wore it for his daughter.

Harley's heart broke as her daughter talked about her mom, or what little she knew of her. "I'm sure they were the best of friends at one point." It was true, Harley and Ryan used to be inseparable. She made him cakes on her birthday and he bought her expensive gifts on hers, and sometimes she still pulled out the old golden bracelet he bought her for the first birthday she spent with him. "I'm sure you can check the Farewell Fires for old letters, and if not you can check the pictures of the old Quidditch teams if she used to play." Harley knew damn well that her letter was in the fire still and a picture of the Montagnard Quidditch Team stood outside the Coach's office, where she was smiling and laughing next to her friend Philip. She wouldn't tell Wynter directly, that way Ryan couldn't blame her, but she'd help the girl on her journey.

"I'm sure you are," Harley laughed. She was sure her intelligence had been passed onto the girl, and it was clear to see the sparkle in her eyes that showed curiosity for how and why things worked. As Wynter told her about Ryan, her heart clenched at the though of her excitedly picking out a tie for Ryan to wear, and she knew he would whether it matched or not. "I'm having a bit of a dilemma, I guess. I ave a job right now, and it used to be an amazing job. It was wonderful and fantastic, but because of the job and my own decisions, I've messed up a lot. Now the job is getting harder, and I think I'm getting tired. What do you think I should do?"

She was really glad she had met this woman, she was giving her such great advice. She wasn't sure why some stranger would be so helpful when it came to a little girl trying to find her birth mother. All the other adults in her life seemed to shut the idea down and tell her it was a bad idea. But not this woman, she was actually trying to help her on her quest. "I didn't think of that," she grinned. Now she knew where to look if the yearbooks were a dead end. "I plan to look in some yearbooks but I'm not sure what she looks like. I just know I kind of look like her." But there had to be tons of other girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. But she had to find the one she looked the most like. And since she was in quidditch, it cut the list down by a lot.

She listened to the woman complain about her job. It didn't really make that much since to her since her dad seemed to love his job. Why have a job you didn't like? "Quit, become a princess," she stated matter-of-factly. That's what she planned to do, become a princess. It was an unrealistic goal, but she was only eleven. It was the perfect goal for a girl her age. "Or get a job that makes you happier. You should always be happy no matter what." Ryan had always told Wynter to own up to her mistakes and take responsibility for what she had done. That usually ended up with Wynter apologizing a million times for whatever she had done and asking if she could make it better by doing something in return. "Daddy always says to own up to your actions and take responsibility. I say I'm sorry and ask what I can do to make them feel better whenever I've hurt someone."