Iza waited patiently, standing stalk-still, just inside the recessed shadows of the alley door to the Black Chimaera.  She knew the little street rat was still there.  The question was, did the brat know she was there?  Someone had been slipping in every morning when the till was filled and taking a fistful...  Cináed would string the little urchin up by her toes, he he found out.  Iza had been very careful not to let him find out.  As a matter of fact, she'd been replacing the stolen sickles with her own... for reasons of her own, not out of the kindness of her heart.  Until now.

She hadn't actually seen the kid make a grab for the till.  But she'd seen her skulking about in the alley around the same time each morning.  This morning, Iza had decided to lay in wait.

When the child tried to make a break for it, Iza was ready.  She grabbed her upper arm with a claw-like grip, not caring if she hurt her, and shook her, hard, then held out her right hand, palm up.  "Give it!" she hissed.

She didn't mean the money, which she was sure the kid had spent already.

Dilly saw a blur of motion and tried to run, but she wasn’t quick enough to dodge the hand reaching for her. “Arggh!” she yelled, wriggling like a fish on the line. “Get--off--me!”

It was not the first time Dilly had been grabbed. That went with the territory. However... most people seemed to think just because you were little, you wouldn’t fight back. That gave you the element of surprise...

When Dilly couldn’t wrench herself free, first she aimed a kick at her assailant’s shins. Then, reaching out with her free hand, she seized a loose board that was propped against the garbage bin, and gave the barmaid a whack across the knees with it. She’d have liked to smack the cow up the side of the head, but she couldn’t reach that high.

The barmaid did not relinquish her vice-like grip on Dilly’s arm. It hurt...a lot...but Dilly knew it would get her nowhere to complain.

When her tormentor held out her hand, palm up and hissed, “Give it!" Dilly didn’t miss a beat.

She sank her teeth into the wench’s hand.

So... she wasn't going to play dumb.  All right, Iza thought to herself, jerking her hand away at the last second so the little girl's teeth closed on nothing but air.  Iza hoped she'd end up with a cracked tooth.  Nasty little thing.

At the same instant she jerked her hand out of the way of those gnashing teeth, she grabbed a handful of hair in one quick movement: the shorter ones, in front, near the temples; the ones that made you gasp, your eyes water, and your nose tingle when they were pulled.  She wasn't gentle about it, nor was she picky: her ragged nails dragged the girl's scalp when she grabbed, and along with the short hairs, she found a fistful of the rest, so that the girl couldn't escape by ripping her own hair out-- or at least, not without being left with an extremely large bald patch, and possibly losing scalp as well.  Most adults-- if they were nasty-- probably would have slapped the girl instead, so Iza had the element of surprise on her side, as well as extremely quick movement and the child's downward strike with her teeth, which brought her head close enough for Iza to grab quickly, with no warning.

The short length of the little girl's hair actually placed her at a disadvantage.  Yes, normally, it would be more difficult to grab.  But in situations where it was grabbed, it forced the attacker to take hold closer to the head, with a larger fistful and more firmly: it would be doubly difficult to break Iza's hold, because the hair would not tear out easily.

Perhaps others would see this as child cruelty.  Iza did not.  After all, the little freak had hit her with a board, first.  Iza's knee smarted, but she had managed to dance back without losing her hold on the girl, enough so that she wouldn't have a limp, though she'd have a bruise.  It was easy to tell what the child planned: watch the shoulders, the torso, not the face, and intentions were telegraphed clearly by the bunching muscles.  It was that Iza thought she intended to make a lunge, so had tightened her grip.  She didn't know there was a board in the alley or she might have been better prepared and escaped a bruise.

The girl wanted to play rough?  Iza wasn't the typical shopkeep, who might make a grab for a kid but was afraid they'd yell, "Help, police!"  For one thing, Aurors weren't precisely common in Knockturn, nor were they welcome.  For another, the average denizen would not run to the child's assistance but look away and pretend to see nothing.

Rather than let her get away with her little tricks, as soon as she grabbed the girl's hair, she kicked at her knees.  Hard.  Hard enough to cause a limp for at least a day, if it landed true, even though Iza was wearing satin slippers and not boots.

She still hadn't removed her hold on the girl's arm, so in addition to pulling her head cruelly up and to the left, she dug the ends of her fingers painfully into the tendons of her upper arm, making it difficult for the child to even see her foot jabbing at her knee in revenge for the bruise Iza could feel rising already on her own knee.

Dilly gritted her teeth against the pain of the nails scraping her scalp and the yank at her hair. She felt it not just in her scalp but in her neck muscles. They'd be sore later, she could tell. Her teeth clacked together, missing Iza's hand, though fortunately none cracked. And then yes...the kick connected solidly with her knee. She'd be lucky if she wasn't gimping around for the next three days...

Dilly couldn't stop her eyes from watering, but she bit back the urge to cry out, determined to deny the hag at least that much satisfaction. She did not expect anyone to come to her aid. She was well aware that in this neighborhood, no matter what happened most people would just look the other way.

Dilly guessed this must be related to her morning raids on the till; but it certainly did nothing to make her feel repentant. All it did was make her wish she 'd pretended to be cowed. She should have waited till the slitch got done with whatever  it was she intended, and turned her back . That was when Dilly should have picked up that board...

Should would could, she thought furiously. Yeah, the hairpulling and kicking hurt, so did the fingers digging into her arm; and it probably would hurt for awhile. But Dilly had lived through worse when she fell those last few feet at the orphanage, and bounced off the cobblestones. She'd be fine in a day or two.

"Whaddaya want, Chairman Mao?" she asked in her flat Cockney drawl. Chairman Mao being the slang for Cow...  

Iza's eyes narrowed at the little runt, certain her last was an insult, but still pleased that her kick had gone home.  She pursed her lips and frowned tightly to keep from smiling.  She wasn't at all fooled by the seeming capitulation.  She gave the girl's hair another, warning tug.  "The wand, you little twit.  It'll get you killed for sure... and don't try to tell me you left it in your hidey hole.  You'd be too afraid it wouldn't be there when you went back."  She gave her another little shake by the hair.

Of course, Iza hadn't actually seen the kid with a wand, but assumed she had one because she was just so damned good at what she did-- like magic.  And in their world, the words, "like magic" weren't as innocent as they seemed...

"There's a reason wizarding brats aren't all sent to Azkaban before they're ten, for riding their ickle broomies and waving their daddys' wandsies," she hissed sarcastically, knowing all too well from experience.  "Background magic.  If you use that thing here, one of two things will happen: either the Ministry will identify it as a stolen wand and we'll be crawling with Aurors searching for it, or someone will decide they want it.  Either way, you'll regret it."

Iza was one of the few people who hung out in the Black Chimaera who had no need of another wand... but she did need an apprentice.  Or rather, perhaps a minion.  She had her eye on the little rat-thing for her own purposes... and would find it distinctly frustrating if the girl ended up dead or memory-wiped before she could be useful.  It might take weeks to find another unattached, half-starving kid she might bribe, threaten or subjugate to her will.  This one had spunk: if she could be trained, she would be even more useful, since an intelligent servant lived to serve another day.

Of course, intelligence could be dangerous, too.

"If I have a wand," countered Dilly, hands on hips, "which I ain't saying I do...what makes you think I use it? I don't need magic just to snatch a few sickles, or a pie left cooling in the window. I get by just fine without it. So far, the only one who seems interested in whether I might have a wand is you ."

"And as for Aurors," she added, smirking, "why should they care about me when you're around?"

She knew nothing of Iza's history; but she'd gathered from the tone in which the hag said Aurors that she didn't want them anywhere near the place. Dilly thought she might enjoy seeing Miss Angel Cakes go through a grilling by the Aurors. Not enough to sic them on her personally, of course...Dilly herself didn't want to get that close to the coppers.

But she was savvy enough to know that Sweetums didn’t end up in this place by being an upstanding citizen; and her look plainly said so.

"Because I haven't done anything illegal.  Lately.  Yet," she hissed, glaring, giving her hair another threatening tug.  She wasn't concerned for herself, but for Cinaed, his patrons, and the bar itself.  "Use it around here, and I will not only snap it, I will snap you."

She shoved the little rat against the wall suddenly, pinning her knees with a leg so that if she tried to run, she would risk injury.  She eyed her critically: skinny little runt, a few scrapes and bruises here and there, though Iza thought that was probably normal for a kid her age.  She didn't look diseased, though she could probably use a bath.  And a toothbrush.  "I can teach you how to use it where you won't be caught," she said suddenly and let loose of her hair, grasping her chin with one hand quickly so the child didn't have time to think of biting her... but she was prepared to withdraw her hand quickly, just in case.

She gripped the girl's chin cruelly, forcing her to turn her head for inspection, and drew her own face very close to the girl's-- prepared to duck if the nasty little thing spit on her.  "Yes, you are a girl, aren't you?"  She clucked her tongue in mock-sympathy.  "And sooner or later, someone else is bound to notice it... unless you learn better ways to hide it."  The hiss and the gravel were gone from her voice, now: she sounded amused, instead, and cajoling-- though still cold.  She didn't see Dilly as a child... as perhaps she wasn't.

She let go of her suddenly, but not before leaning her weight into the girl's knees painfully.  Turning her back in a calculated move, she affected indifference.  "But suit yourself."  She took a few steps back toward the alley door, but her hand was on her own wand, prepared to subdue the little minx if she attacked from behind.  Part of her hoped she would, although it might be more difficult to come to an arrangement with the girl, if she actually did have to break her.

Dilly wasn't about to attack somebody from behind when they were so obviously hoping for it. "If all you want is to teach me,"  she asked, "why didn't you just say so, instead of all this grabbing and hair-pulling? Didn't anyone ever tell you about flies and vinegar?"

She folded her arms, leaning against the wall. "If we're really gonna talk about this, first things first. You keep your mitts to yourself and I'll do the same. Second...what do you want for these lessons? And don't even try to tell me you'd do it just to be nice..."

"Third...if it's illegal for me to have a wand, isn't it just as  illegal for you to teach me to use it? You say you can teach me where we won't get caught, but how do you know that?"

"Why should I be in a hurry to take lessons anyway? In a couple of years I'll be old enough for Hogwarts..."

"And when you get right down to it...how do I know you won't just take my wand anyway, the first chance you get?"

She listened while the child rattled on with her questions.  Clearly, she was gullible-- or she thought Iza was.  She honestly couldn't care less for the little rat as a person, or a child.

"If I had simply stepped out that door and said, 'Hello, sweeting, let's make a deal,' would you have said, 'Sure thing, sis?'" Iza asked, disgusted that the girl thought the world worked that way.  "I could make you do whatever I asked," Iza suggested lightly, playing with the ribbon at her waist that kept her wand easily in reach despite its unusual hiding place.

Iza's social skills-- especially when dealing with children-- were zilch.  She didn't want a partner, she wanted a tool.  She was willing to reward the little wretch if she did well, but she wouldn't be treated as an equal, or be defied.

She didn't need to withdraw her wand for its favorite curse, but she gripped its handle suddenly.  "Imperio.  Sit."  She retreated one more step up toward the alley door, giving the girl room to obey, aware that the cursed would take it literally and find the first seat available-- which would likely be the step Iza herself was now standing on, looming over the child despite her petite stature.  "Give me the wand."

She was treating the child like a dog.  If the dog didn't want to be tamed, she would punish it, force it to obey, show it who was master-- and remind it that, though she could punish, she would also reward good behavior-- and then give it another chance to prove its worth without being forced.

"If I had simply stepped out that door and said, 'Hello, sweeting, let's make a deal,' would you have said, 'Sure thing, sis?'"

Dilly had been about to say, I might, if it sounded interesting. She got lonely from time to time. The orphanage had been cold and crowded. The food was awful and she never got enough to eat; sad to say living in the street she ate better. However, at least in the orphanage she’d had playmates. But just as she opened her mouth to say so, Dilly noticed Iza playing with that pink ribbon.  

It was pretty, like everything the barmaid wore. In her gauzy robes and with her golden hair, she looked like one of the porcelain dolls Dilly would look at longingly in shop windows. Or like the angels they put at the top of Christmas trees. However, her ethereal appearance was distinctly at odds with the cold calculation in her eyes.

“I could make you do whatever I want.”

Her tone of her voice was a warning. Dilly flexed her knees, prepared to run.

"Imperio.  Sit."

Dilly sighed, and sat on the stoop as commanded. Why fight it? She would be no worse off than she’d been in the orphanage, where in addition to everything else she was forced to sit through boring lessons in math and geography...In fact it felt good to sit down. She was tired, and her knee hurt...

"Give me the wand." What did Dilly want with a wand anyway? It would just get her in trouble...

She handed Iza the wand.

Iza inspected the wand, turned it over in her hands and ignored the child for a moment, trusting to the curse to hold her where she was while Iza took her time to satisfy what was more than idle curiosity, but self-preservation.  Priori Incantatum.  Iza's eyebrows shot up in surprise when the non-verbal spell revealed the wand's last spell.  She tsked and clucked her tongue over it, but clearly the spell was beyond a simple child.  Unless she was just lucky-- or unlucky-- like I was.  She dismissed that thought.  No, the child was telling the truth: she hadn't yet used the wand.

Iza's regard moved from wand to child.  "You will never run from me."  She gave her the direct imperative, which would remain even after she released the curse.  "You will not question a direct order from me."  Ah... but Iza had no intentions of giving direct orders... unless it was a matter of protecting herself or the child from discovery.  Mainly, herself.

She considered adding the injunction that the child must carry out her wishes without questioning... but this was counter to her plan.  Her plan... involved mentoring in a sad, twisted sort of way.  Iza required that the child fear her... but it was possible she might also crave her affection.  No, that's absurd.  Respect.  Obedience.  That is all.  She had no need of a protege, simply a minion.  But a willing minion was more useful... not to mention, if she were imperiused into carrying out her duties, the girl could claim innocence if she were caught, and Iza would be fingered as the culprit.

So she hesitated, for whatever reason, then finally said, "You will never knowingly, willingly betray me."  That was it.  That was all... just so she knew she could trust her...

She considered keeping the wand as insurance, but she doubted she would need the wand or the insurance.  After a moment's hesitation, she held it out to the child again.  "Take it," she said, since she knew she must give her a command at this point to get her to react to anything.

"Now... Let's get to know one another, hmmmm?" she said sweetly, sitting down beside the girl as if they were friends.  "Where did you come from?  Where were you born?  How did you come to our little piece of the world...?" she asked gently, putting her arm around the girl as if she were fond of her...

The curse remained in place.  The girl must answer...

“Take it.”

Relieved at not being turned into a lizard...or one of the crickets they fed on...Dilly took her wand and stuck it back under her jacket, in the waistband of her trousers. She also picked up her grimy cap, and set it back on her head.

Dilly did not object to Iza putting an arm around her. This was partly because it was comforting. Like a dog after a scolding, she needed to be petted and reassured. However...Dilly knew that while a normal person might get mad at her, grab her and give her a talking-to...they would not really hurt her. Iza did not seem to mind hurting her at all. She had punished Dilly quite harshly, for fighting back. So...Dilly was more than a little afraid of Iza.

Iza’s commands were not alien to Dilly’s nature, especially the one about betrayal. Street people regardless of age had a code, and the most important rule was, “You don’t peach on your mates, no matter what.” As for running away...she had already tried running away from the orphanage, and look where that got her...

"Where did you come from?  Where were you born?  How did you come to our little piece of the world...?"

“I’m from here, London I mean. I was born in me Mum’s flat, no time to get to the hospital.  Me Mum worked in a music hall,” Dilly explained. “She got hit by a car when I was two, crossing Tottenham Court Road after work one night. Me Dad?” She shrugged. “No one knows. So...I got put in St. Ursula’s. They say it’s an orphanage, but it’s more like a jail. The roaches are bigger than some of the kids, and you never get enough to eat. And the kind of lessons they had there were boring. Too easy, yeh know? And besides...when you turn 18 you’re out on your bum anyway, so I figured why wait?”

“As for how I ended up here...it was on accident. I was going through a bin one day, just as somebody came out of Diagon Alley from the other side. If a wall opened up right in front of you, wouldn’t you go see what was on the other side? So I did. Then I just sort of wandered around, checking the place out, until I decided I liked this place best. No coppers...”

“See..I dunno about the coppers here ‘cause I’ve never let one get close enough. But where I come from...if they catch me I’ll be back in St. Ursula’s.”

"No they won't," Iza assured the girl vehemently, all the while wondering whether she was in fact a half-blood or a mudblood.  Though it mattered very little to Iza how much Wizarding blood actually ran in Dilly's veins, it did matter how she would be viewed by others of Iza's acquaintance.  While she and  Cináed didn't see entirely eye-to-eye on Purity, they did agree that halfbloods were Wizards.  She wasn't as certain of his feelings about Mudbloods... but the WBA was clear and many of her... friends were affiliated with that organization.

Not that Iza had any friends.  She wasn't that long from her aunt's house, and Nadine had forbidden her to associate with any of her old peers.

But Iza could tell the girl, quite honestly, "I won't let anyone take you back to St. Ursula's."  Not that she wasn't above using it in anger to threaten the girl... but no one else had better dare.  "And I will teach you how to use that pretty piece of wood you've tucked inside your jacket.

"Now, you'll remember what we've spoken of, and your directives," she told her, not quite sure if it would work.  She'd never actually released anyone from Imperius until she was quite finished with them.  She hoped the injunction against running or betraying her would hold.  "Finite Incantatum."

And now, as if she'd never used an unforgivable curse on the child, she smiled winningly and answered the rest of the questions which had so annoyed her a few moments before.

"If all you want is to teach me, why didn't you just say so, instead of all this grabbing and hair-pulling? Didn't anyone ever tell you about flies and vinegar?  If we're really gonna talk about this, first things first. You keep your mitts to yourself and I'll do the same. Second...what do you want for these lessons? And don't even try to tell me you'd do it just to be nice..."  "If you don't try to run from me, and you never try to hurt me again, I promise I will not try to hurt you."  True, as far as that went.  Iza hadn't been trying to hurt the girl when she grabbed her, but the child had cracked her on the knees with a board and then attempted to bite her.  In Iza's mind, turnabout was fair play: she wouldn't have pulled the girl's hair, if she hadn't placed it within reach by trying to bite her, and she wouldn't have been so mean about it, or kicked her, if she weren't getting a bit of revenge for the bruises she knew she'd have from the board.

"Third...if it's illegal for me to have a wand, isn't it just as  illegal for you to teach me to use it? You say you can teach me where we won't get caught, but how do you know that?"  "It is absolutely illegal both for you to use the wand and for me to teach you.  However... It is more illegal for an underaged wizard to perform magic than it is for me to teach you.  Or even give you a wand.  If you're caught, you'll go to Azkaban.  I'd really rather that didn't happen."  Which was very true, as Iza had uses for the girl and letting her be carted off to Azkaban would ruin that opportunity.

"Why should I be in a hurry to take lessons anyway? In a couple of years I'll be old enough for Hogwarts..."  "First of all..."  Iza turned crafty.  "You haven't received your letter.  You don't know that you're going to Hogwarts.  For that matter, you don't know that whatever it is that's convinced you you're a Wizard wasn't a fluke.  There are lots of Squibs who have just enough magic not to be dead, but not enough to be trained."  This was absolutely true, though Iza didn't believe it applied to the girl: she simply didn't want the girl counting eggs before Iza placed them in her basket.  "And any child with a wand would be tempted...  Two years is a long time.  I doubt if I could make it that long, without at least waving it about."  And of course, she hadn't, and that had started a chain of events that set her on this path in life.  It was possible, this was foremost in her mind.  An untrained child could do a lot of damage.

"And when you get right down to it...how do I know you won't just take my wand anyway, the first chance you get?"  "I don't want your wand, little one."  She'd stopped using rat and wretch entirely, for now.  "I think it's clear I could have taken it a moment ago and you would have had nothing to say about it.  I have a wand, and don't have any use for another.  I do have use for a... an errand girl who knows how to use one, however.  If you hadn't a wand after all, I might have found one for you..."  Since Iza had two, that wouldn't have been difficult, though she probably wouldn't have gone to that extreme.

"I need someone to run errands for me, little one," she said, now, smiling winningly down at the girl and using some of that honey rather than vinegar, now.  "Someone who's not afraid of the law.  Are you afraid of the law, little one?" she asked, grey eyes gazing down at her with mock affection, hopefulness and confidence...

"Now, you'll remember what we've spoken of, and your directives...Finite Incantatum."

It was too soon to say whether the Imperius would apply completely, since nothing Iza had commanded was contrary to Dilly’s nature, except perhaps never to run from her. And at the moment Dilly’s curiosity was stronger than her instinct to run.

"If you don't try to run from me, and you never try to hurt me again, I promise I will not try to hurt you."  

Iza may not have been trying to hurt Dilly in the beginning; and when she did, she may have felt justified, that she was just getting Dilly back for what Dilly did to her. But she was the one who had ambushed Dilly first, she was bigger, and she had tried to scare Dilly into obedience. Dilly did not take well to people trying to scare her...

“If you're caught, you'll go to Azkaban.  I'd really rather that didn't happen."  

Dilly would rather that didn’t happen too. She already knew what Azkaban was and had absolutely no interest in going there...

" There are lots of Squibs who have just enough magic not to be dead, but not enough to be trained."  

Dilly knew she wasn’t a Squib, though she did wonder at Iza’s terminology. Did that mean Iza thought Squibs should be dead? Dilly knew there were people who thought Squibs, Muggles and Muggleborn wizards were a waste of space...but would they actually still go so far as to kill them just for being what they were? Dilly wasn’t about to question Iza on that, but she found the idea disturbing...

"And any child with a wand would be tempted...  Two years is a long time.  I doubt if I could make it that long, without at least waving it about."

 That was unquestionably true. Dilly found it very hard not to try out some of the spells she saw people using from time to time; especially since there were so many magic users here. How could the Ministry be sure who was doing what, in such a small space? And why should they even care, so long as you weren’t hurting anyone?

"I need someone to run errands for me, little one. Someone who's not afraid of the law.  Are you afraid of the law, little one?"

“Anybody with a brain is at least a little afraid of the law,” said Dilly. “Enough so’s they don’t do something stupid and get caught. But no...when you get right down to it, I ain’t that afraid of the law. If I was I’d still be in St. Ursula’s.”

Iza threw back her head and laughed: a high, light, tinkling, laugh.  "Of course.  Laws are only there to govern those who don't know enough to avoid being caught.  Having a healthy respect for the consequences isn't fear," she answered.  How utterly charming.  She petted the girl's hair, running gentle fingertips from forehead back, sweeping it from Dilly's eyes in a maternal gesture which wasn't entirely contrived: the child's answer delighted her, as it meant she was probably smart enough not to be caught-- which was why Iza had chosen her in the first place.  Imperiused slaves tended to make mistakes, be too blatant, not think for themselves.  Dilly would do very nicely, for her plans.  Iza's mercurial mood swings allowed her now to be smitten with the little urchin.  For now.

"Little one, in this alley--" and she meant the entirety of Knockturn Alley, though she couldn't rightfully claim it for him  "-- Cináed Tawse is the only law any of us need be concerned with."  Her petting turned into a light pat with the flats of her fingers on the top of Dilly's head.  "Anyone else's laws, we can ignore, as long as we're not caught at it.  Speaking of..."

She glanced up at the crack of sky visible at the top of the buildings which loomed over the alley.  Their exchange of blows and words had taken very little of her morning.  She'd made sure Mannie knew he was in charge while she "exterminated a rat."  He'd rolled his eyes and looked grumpy, since it was mid-morning and she normally didn't ask for his help till mid-afternoon.  He looked tired.  Perhaps he wasn't sleeping well... No matter.  Mannie was in charge, and though he'd do as little as possible to get by, he wouldn't let anyone rip  Cináed off or go drinkless-- and very few of Knockturn's residents came in before noon, at any rate.  Most were... night owls.

Iza turned the head pat into a hair ruffle, suddenly decisive, and stood up.  "I have an errand of my own, this morning," she announced, brushing her crisp linen skirts and adjusting the ribbon at her waist.  She looked down at the girl with a patently fond expression.  "If you'd like to come, I know the perfect place to begin your lessons... On credit, mind you."  She winked.  "Your good behavior, in return for an hour of complete freedom with a wand and no one the wiser... and your agreement to run other... errands for me in the future?"  She offered Dilly her hand to help her stand... and to Sidealong, once she had a confirmation on the agreement.

She paused, as if struck by a sudden thought.  She tilted her head, lifting an eyebrow humorously and peering down at Dilly.  "It was you who raided the till, wasn't it?" she asked.  Well-- and she couldn't be certain there wasn't more than one urchin running around the alley-- they all looked alike, neither boy nor girl and barely human.