Lexus had finally made her way to London. Her small stint in Hogsmede had been enjoyable but sticking around other witches and wizards simply made her nervous. She still had no idea if the authorities back home were still looking for her and she had a really hard time figuring out which wizards worked for the Ministry here. She knew that since Canada had once been a British commonwealth it's Ministry functioned in a very similar fashion to that of the Ministry here she just wasn't sure how much communication there was between the two. She feared that there were now a group of Aurors searching the UK for a fugitive werewolf. It was that fear that had kept her from seeking out safe houses or black market potion dealers when the moon was to be full.

Her need for social interaction had brought her to Hogsmede but she had left almost as soon as she had arrived. She travelled cross the country until she finally made it to London. Once in the large British city she kept to the places that were distinctly muggle. If there were wizards after her they'd expect her to either be hiding out in the woods or trying to contact criminal wizards to get her wolfsbane. She doubted they'd be looking for her strolling down the streets of London dressed and acting like a muggle. She had managed to acquire a decent set of clothes and had taken to confunding attractive muggle males to get fed three times a day. She was staying at a small inn where she had the owner convinced she was playing for her room. She found it incredible how easy it was to confuse muggles, they never suspected magic to be real which made them more susceptible to it, even so she made sure she didn't do anything too complex or drastic. She had no idea what kind of tracking systems they had here.

For now Lexus had walked down into the underground to get across town. She had been out spending some money she had swiped from her last confunded date and had gone on a wee bit of a shopping spree. Both hands were weighed down with hefty shopping bags making it a little hard to maneuver in the main platform of the underground she had entered. She waited with the rest and entered the tube pushing her way through people. Unfortunately one of her bags had caught the railing and threw her off balance.

Lexus did the best she could to recover but as agile as she was now there was no stopping the impending fall. She stumbled and fell backwards right into someones lap. Her face went bright red and she looked behind herself at the rather attractive and very European looking redhead that she had fallen into, "Sorry." Was her feeble reply. She felt as if she were going to die of embarrassment.

There was something extremely satisfying about riding the Underground.  Minding the gap, alighting from one train in a mass with the crowd, making your way to the next platform, and taking a secret delight in the fact that no matter how fervently the bloke in the pressed business suit shoved past you, he was going to be stuck waiting for the bloody Central line every time it was delayed just the same as you were.  Subway systems had always been the great equalizer in local transportation, and London's system was clearly the best in the world.

Jonas loved it.  Even though it meant more walking, taking the Tube was worth every second of agony that climbing the endless stairs might cause.  This time around, he had made it to the platform just in time to see the previous train disappearing into the tunnel.  The electronic board was stating that it would be a good seven minutes until the next would arrive, so he'd found an uncomfortable metal bench to settle onto so that he could relax for a moment before the rush began again.

He had been sitting there, listening to the distant strains of a busker drift down from the corridor above and amusedly observing a group of anxious Americans who apparently thought that the only way to make it onto the next train was to literally stand on top of the foreboding yellow line, when his grand sport of people-watching was interrupted by someone crashing into him.

"Oi!" he exclaimed, caught halfway between levering himself to his feet to get out of the way and yanking out his wand to curse her in self defense.

It occurred to him mid-action that casting any sort of spell in the middle of a crowded Underground station would probably not go over well.  It was the sort of thing that was liable to cause his contact at the Ministry to murder him, since she'd be responsible for filling out the extensive paperwork as well as covering for him.  Grimacing, he removed his hand from his pocket and instead gingerly braced the woman to help her regain her footing.

"No harm done," he said a tad briskly.  "Might want to watch where you're going the next time, though.  Believe it or not, but rushing doesn't help the train get here any quicker."

Although at first she had found that laughter in his eyes, that shock of red hair and the distinctive english garb to be rather attractive however his brisk nature and almost condescending response to her accidently falling into his lap caused that initial attraction to wash away. Lexus pushed herself up in a huff, doing her best not to shudder when he had placed his hands on her. It wasn't that she was disgusted by his touch, quite the opposite, it had been so long since someone had actually intentionally touched her that it was almost a shock to her system.

She placed her many bags down on the bench next to him and stared down at him, that touch of irrational anger seeping into her normally sweet demeanor, "Listen buddy it was an accident okay? It wasn't like I purposely fell into your lap." She purposely looked him up and down to make it seem as though the experience of being in his lap had been the worst she had ever been through, "And I wasn't rushing. I'm not a freakin' idiot! The train's gone, I watched it pull away, it's not like I was trying run after it, like it's going to stop or something stupid like that." She was in a right huff, her Canadian accent making her stand out more than her raised voice.

She calmed her breathing closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. She had done it again. She had exploded on a complete stranger for no real reason. Sure he had been short with her but she did just fall ontop of him. It seemed the more time she spent away from civilization the more the wolf creeped into her personality warping her into a ball of fury that was set to explode at the smallest of instigations.

She looked back at Jonas and gave him a sheepish smile, "Look I'm sorry I went off on you like that." She glanced back at the empty train tracks. She could barely see the opening past the surprisingly large group of American tourists that were waiting for the next train to come. She felt herself annoyed with them for no specific reason. The few American she had met had been arrogant pricks that were completely ignorant to anything that didn't directly involve them. She shook her head and looked back at Jonas once again, "To be honest I'm kind of lost and I was trying to get to one of those maps when my bag got caught and I fell."

It was really too bad, Jonas thought as the American woman exploded at him over his helpful advice, that there was no way to weed out the bad sort from public transportation.  Maybe he ought to write the Mayor of London and suggest a mandatory personality test before any sort of travelcard could be issued.  But even that was unlikely to solve the problem of normally cordial individuals who made the mistake of trying to ride the metro after a particularly bad day.

He raised his eyebrows as the woman vented, managing to successfully hold his tongue.  And then she was catching her temper and sheepishly apologizing, which was better than one usually got on the Underground.

"Well, that's an easy one, innit?" Jonas asked, a hint of dryness creeping into his voice.  "There's usually a Tube map posted in the car, so even if you don't find one on the platform, you can check your journey once you're on board.  It might help to carry less with you, too," he added logically, glancing at her bags.  "Bit of a challenge to lug half of Marks and Spencer with you on the Underground once it's crowded."

He sighed, glancing up at the display, which said that there were still six minutes until the next train arrived.  His people-watching had been averted; the other Americans had been shooed away from the yellow line by a bored-looking station attendant, who apparently saw no appeal in allowing them to rush the next car all at once.

"Look, where are you trying to get to?" he asked the young woman.  "Maybe I can help, yeah?"

Now that the anger had left Lexus felt as though a giant weight had lifted. She felt and even looked more relaxed and her usual sweet and charming smile returned to her lightly glossed lips. She also found that her attraction for him had returned as well in a sort of 'you're attractive because you're a bit of a douche' kind of way. Lexus did enjoy having a man she could banter with. Although for now she needed to push those thoughts aside and focus on getting back to her hotel. She had been so used to wandering the countryside that she found being in a big city once again was more than a little disorienting.

She felt as if she could smack herself in the forehead for not thinking. Of course there was going to be maps inside the train cars themselves. She had already pointed out the similarities between the Underground here and the TTC back home. In a weird way it made her feel more comfortable and yet more uneasy all in one go. She missed being back home but knew there was no way she was ever going to be able to set foot on Canadian soil ever again. She was stuck here and would have to find some way to start living her life again. A year on the run was enough to prove that she desperately needed to be around other people.

When he offered to help all visions of the irate tourist were gone. She seemed to be a completely different person as she cleared some of her bags off the bench and sat down beside him. She turned her body slightly to him as she wrung her hands together looking a little more nervous than she would have wanted, "See there's the problem. I've only been in London for a few days now and I can't for the life of me remember what street my hotel's on." She didn't mind letting him know that she was staying at a hotel, afterall it was rather obvious she wasn't from around here.

She looked back at him studying his eyes with her own dusty blue and gold ones. She was well aware of how out of place the flecks of gold looked. Much like the few streaks of silver that had made their way into her hair the gold flecks in her eyes hadn't shown up until after her first transformation, "I've got one more night at the Shaftesbury Best Western." Lexus remembered going to Best Western often as a kid. It was the only hotel chain her father trusted, she supposed old habits died hard, "It might actually be on Shaftesbury avenue but I'm not sure. It's just down the street from The Leaky Cauldron."

The words had rolled off of Lexus' tongue so easily she didn't give the sentence a second thought. To any ordinary muggle they may have thought she was a little weird. Being foreign it was easy to assume she had no idea what she was talking about or with a name such as that it was also easy to assume it was a dingy old pub that no well respected Londoner would attend. However in the rare case that Lexus found herself in the presence of a wizard they would know exactly what she was talking about and they would also now know that she was Witch.

Jonas paused, his forehead creasing as he tilted his head to the side to consider her.  Either he had been stubbornly and successfully ignoring the presence of Wizarding Britain for all these years, or there had been a recent and potent surge in dramatic irony.  It was incredible to think that after over a decade of nothing, he could encounter so many remnants of the old life in so short a time.  Downright amusing, actually.

"Yeah, well, that's over by Charing Cross," he said, regarding the young American cautiously.  He slipped his hand back into the pocket of his coat, just to be on the safe side.  "My office is out that way, so that's where I'm headed anyhow.  It's right off the Northern line, so if you change at Tottenham Court Road, it's only a few stops on."

He hadn't seen many wizards from the States in Britain before, especially not any who were clearly familiar with the Muggle way of doing things.  The idea of one staying in a mundane hotel was almost hilarious.  If Jonas had had money to put down, he would have ventured that this young woman - if she was indeed a magic user, if the mention of the Leaky Cauldron wasn't just a coincidence - was a Muggle-born, since a pureblood witch was about as likely to marry a house elf as she was to shop in Muggle stores.

Which begged the question - did he keep his mouth shut or risk saying something?  Jonas glanced nonchalantly down the platform, just to make sure that the woman's clumsiness earlier wasn't to distract him from some imminent attack.  But was there really a threat anymore?  In all honesty, he thought, there hadn't been one for over a decade.

The private investigator sighed and decided to throw in his cards.

"Bit of an odd place to stay, though, innit?" he asked conversationally.  "The Leaky Cauldron's rates aren't so high, and I'd reckon that you'd get a better exchange rate on galleons than you would on pounds right now, the way that the dollar's been holding up."

Lexus had turned her attention back to watching the crowd and was suddenly very glad she had. Her eyes had widened when he spoke continuing the conversation as if they had been old school buddies blowing up things in potions class together. With her head adverted from his gaze she quickly regained her composure and tried to calm her racing thoughts. How was she to play this off? It seemed that fate was being cruel in throwing her into the lap of the only other wizard in London that liked to ride the Underground. Did she shrug it off like it was no big deal or give the man some semblance of the truth. She decided on steering clear of the truth. It was already bad enough that she had bumped into a wizard in the middle of Muggle London, who's to say he hadn't jinxed her? What if he was a ministry wizard that had finally tracked her down and had come to arrest, jinxing her so that she'd fall directly on top of him. Then again if he knew who she was and had purposely jinxed her to bring her closer to him why hadn't he already arrested her?

She gave him her best most sweetest smile trying not to make it look fake or forced, "I tried the Leaky Cauldron but it was full. It was late and I needed to get some rest. That mug-" She paused in the middle of the word. Although she knew she was talking to a full blown wizard she didn't think it was a good idea to actually use the word 'muggle' in the middle of the muggle underground, "That was the closest hotel I could find." She thought she was doing a perfectly good job at lying to him. She had no idea that he was a private investigator of course and probably had a good idea when someone was lying to him or not.

She scooted closer to Jonas and put her arm around the back of the bench. She placed her other hand on his chest and leaned into him giving the impression that they were good friends to any who might look their way while also giving her the privacy to talk about things she didn't want overheard. She pulled a cute looking change purse out of her jeans pocket and popped it open to let him see the small wad of pounds she had inside, "It's all the money I have left and I don't think it would cover even one night at the Leaky Cauldron if I converted it into Galleons." She only had close to ten pounds left. Sure she knew that it would make her look like an idiot. Here she was with 'half of Marcs and Spencers' as he put it and admitting she didn't have enough money to pay for another night at a hotel.

She gave him a soft flirting smile, "I guess I didn't really think this trip through." She knew full well she was playing herself off as a ditsy idiot and the wolf within her was raging at her for it but she doubted she'd ever see Jonas again once this encounter was over and done with and she had gone the last year without having any money. She didn't need to let him know that she had stolen this small amount of money anyways and currently had the clerk at her hotel confunded to believe she was paying for her stay. What she hadn't been expecting though was Jonas' ability to discern when he was being lied to.

Whether the Leaky Cauldron was full or not, Jonas could certainly understand preferring to stay in a Muggle establishment over one in Diagon Alley.  He'd certainly rather take his chances with crying children and hen parties than risk dealing with magical hotel guests who experimented with dancing silverware charms or tried to smuggle in a pet dragon. 

He would have accepted the American at face value if it weren't for the fact that she was immediately on top of him, in a come-hither act that would put most of the procedural dramas that he often watched to shame.  Lying successfully was always a challenge; the best stories were the simplest, without any holes or contradictions to trip up their teller.  But between the details of her tale not quite matching the visuals and with her suddenly leaning into him, it was enough to trigger his mental alarm that something wasn't quite right.

If she had no money, why had she obviously spent the day shopping?  The shift into flirting had happened so quickly that it seemed automatic, like a fallback position or a defensive mechanism.  And if this was the witch's automatic response, when one considered the fact that she was carrying Muggle money and had gone on a Muggle shopping spree, it wasn't too difficult to guess which population provided her with her usual targets.

Jonas flashed her a sharp, pointed smile.

"Funny how those things happen, innit?" he asked in a conversational tone, raising an eyebrow.  "Best laid plans and all, and then all of a sudden you don't know what you're dealing with."

His fingers closed around the wand in his pocket.  He might be too out of practice to out-cast anyone, Jonas thought grimly, but he could sure as bloody hell throw up enough of a shower of sparks to blind the entire goddamn London Underground.  Let this American try to escape the fallout from that one once the Aurors arrived to clean up his mess.

He lowered his voice, keeping his tone even and cordial, but too quiet for anyone but the witch next to him to hear.  "Despite our reputation, London isn't too hospitable for Muggle-baiting," he murmured.  "Now, I'd hate to go complaining to the Ministry because they're a right awful pain in the arse, but I'm not really one to let it go on.  There's plenty of better hobbies, yeah?"

Confusion crossed her delicate features when he first began to give his response. She felt as if he knew something she didn't. His tone indicated that he hadn't been talking about her inability to properly plan out a trip or how careless she had been in spending all her money on clothes rather than shelter and provisions. What the hell was she missing?

Suddenly she backed away from him as quickly as if she had been burned. A dangerous fire danced in her eyes belying the sweet nature she had been previously showing him. She felt the wolf within her stir and had actually bit her tongue to keep herself from growling at him, "Muggle Baiting?!" She didn't even care about how loud she had said it. The Underground was loud all on it's own and her outburst had thankfully caused only a few heads to turn in her direction but it was something she could worry about later. For now she was absolutely livid. How dare he accuse her of muggle baiting. She was one of the rare witches that actually loved muggles, she was muggle born after all, she had grown up with muggles and had never done anything to harm a muggle before (unless of course you counted her killing her parents but that wasn't her fault!)

She had half a mind to pull her wand out and jinx him, in fact she had even gone as far as pulling the hilt out of her jeans pocket, just enough to let him catch a glimpse of the polished wood before she halted. One word had caused her to freeze up like she had been hit with a Petrificus Totalus spell. The thought of him bringing down the Ministry on her head was too much to bare. The fire in her eyes had been extinguished and she had suddenly obtained the look of a lost little puppy that was headed for the pound. She wrung her hands fully aware that she'd probably come off as mentally unstable given all the mood swings she had already shown in the few short minutes they had been interacting, "Okay no no no no no. No ministry, please."

She had turned her body towards him but all pretense of being a ditsy flirty girl was gone and in it's place was an incredibly out of place young woman that was in desperate need of a friend, "I swear I wasn't muggle baiting." She made a motion not unlike a muggle child saying 'cross my heart hope to die', "I needed clothes, a guy I went on a few dates with left me some money to buy the stuff with. The clerk at my hotel thinks I'm his cousin and is letting me stay for free. It beats sleeping in the streets but I swear I wasn't doing anything to hurt them. Please please please don't contact the ministry." She bit her lower lip her eyes still pleading. She couldn't even begin to explain the trouble she'd be in if she was found and there was no way of telling him why she was so afraid without revealing her deep dark secret, the one she swore not to tell anyone for as long as she lived.

A few heads started to turn as the young woman jerked back, sounding shocked at his accusation.  This was not a confrontation that Jonas could win, not in public, not when she was young and female and anyone passing by would assume that he was the one in the wrong.  He stayed still, his body turned just enough to obscure the fact that his hand was firmly in his pocket.

And then she started to draw her own wand, heedless of the Muggles all around them.  It had been years since Jonas had hunted down a suspect, at least of the magical sort, not that that made much of a difference.  Wands, guns, knives - whatever the weapon, as soon as one came out, the situation automatically took a dire and drastic turn.  Drawing on her would only make the tension worse, and he doubted he could stop anything she cast at him anyhow.  Better to give her control and hope that if she really did send something nasty in his direction, his leg wouldn't slow him up so much that he couldn't get out of the way.

But then his threat seemed to sink in.  Jonas frowned as the girl switched from defiant to terrified in a matter of seconds, the fight flooding out of her as she pleaded for him not to tell the Ministry. 

The sudden flash of fear could have certainly been another act.  After all, if he were in her place, he'd do everything he could to tug at his sympathies and then curse him once he let his guard down.  But whether her terror was real or feigned, it struck a little closer than he'd like.  Living with constant dread and paranoia was not something he ever planned to repeat.

Well, he thought cautiously, there was one way to discover whether or not it was an act.

"Did you want to define baiting for me, then?" he asked, a hint of dryness creeping into his voice.  He held up both of his hands so that she could see that they were empty - no wand, no threat, and no defense if she really were looking to curse him.  "Because I'd reckon that confounding someone into thinking that you're their cousin so that you don't pay for a room is going to fall under the definition that most of us use."

Lexus squeezed her eyes shut and gave him a pained expression. Okay he had a point there. She wasn't very familiar with the concept of muggle baiting but it definitely didn't look good on her part that she'd been using magic on defenseless muggles so that she could enjoy a small amount of daily comfort. Being in the city was a lot harder than being out in the middle of nowhere. She had no one to answer to out there, she had gotten used to finding caves or dense wooded areas for shelter and had also gotten really good at hunting small animals for food. Was it really too much to ask to want a comfortable bed and a properly prepared meal? She had left her home country with nothing but a backpack of personal items and a handful of Canadian bills that had barely lasted her the first month she was on the run.

When Lexus opened her eyes she was ashamed at the fact that it had opened the waterworks and tears began streaming down. Unlike her horrible attempt at lying there was no way she was good enough of an actress to fake the tears flowing down her cheeks and the slight tremble her body was making. Lexus was genuinely scared. She had started out her day thinking everything was going to be okay, that nothing could harm her as long as she was amongst muggles. She supposed it was only karma that she'd end up face to face with a full blown wizard that was threatening to turn her in.

"P-please." She choked out the word and turned away from him. She made sure he could see that her hands were now no where near her wand. She was shaking softly and looked around frantically trying to figure out how she could get out of this one. It wasn't as if she could just apparate in the middle of the London Underground, there would be no stopping the ministry tracking her down then. She looked back at him her eyes already bloodshot from the tears, "I swear I won't go back to the hotel, the spell will wear off eventually right?" To be honest she hadn't really confunded anyone until she had been on the run. She had learned it in school and was fairly good at it but it hadn't been something she needed to do on a daily basis and so she wasn't entirely sure what the side effects of it were.

She lowered her eyes becoming very interested in her fingernails which had been painted a very soft shade of pink, "I just - I didn't have a choice, I've got no where to go. I've got no money. I don't know anyone in this freakin' country and I didn't want to spend another night in the streets." She had lowered her voice to a point where only he could hear her. She was sure if there were any onlookers still watching them they would assume the older man had broken up with her or something along those lines.

Dealing with tears had never been Jonas's strong point.  When he'd been an Auror, he'd always done his best to dump hysterical witnesses on someone else.  As the years stretched on and he'd taken up the challenge of raising two children of his own, his strategy had always been to counteract the wailing and rending with a logical argument to the contrary.  This unfortunately had never actually helped the situation - Jonas still held that it would have helped if Gwenna or Artie had ever stopped crying long enough to listen to reason - but at least it had the benefit of exasperating his wife to the point that Anna would shoo him away so that she could soothe the crying child on her own.

He shifted uncomfortably, all too aware of the eyes on them as the young American burst into tears.  At least she hadn't cursed him, but in a way, the waterworks were worse.  Jonas sighed, wondering if this were the time to test his theory that logic worked better on reasoning adults than it did on sobbing five year olds.

"Well, it could be worse.  At least you've got a tenner left, yeah?  And you could probably pawn off most of what you've got in those bags you have, too," he pointed out helpfully.  "Or return it to the store you got it from if you didn't lift it.  A bed in a hostel isn't more than ten or twenty quid a night, so that'll get you through the weekend right there."

There was, he thought, no reason in the universe why he should feel guilty about this.  This young American had apparently been surviving by enchanting Muggles, which still rankled at him.  She had tried to play him and would have probably taken him for whatever she could get out of him if he'd gone along with it.  Jonas had helpfully identified the logical consequences of her actions and she had burst into tears.

But the feeling was there, a twinge in his stomach, and it wasn't just because people were staring or because she was crying.  Jonas did his best not to make a face.

"Here," he said as kindly as he could manage. "You're off to Charing Cross, aren't you?  Like I said, the office is down that way, so that's where I'm headed anyhow.  I'll buy you supper - just supper," he added pointedly, just in case she got the idea that it was all right to try the vamp act again. "And then you can head back to the hotel to gather your things and lift whatever spell you've got set on that poor bloke.  The crime's done, the Ministry doesn't need to know."

And hopefully he'd scared her badly enough that she'd think twice before snaring another hapless Muggle.  Jonas was not sure if he had turned into a one-man morality play or a one-man law enforcement unit, but either way, the successful deterrence was enough to make him feel a little smug despite having to deal with the tears.

"We can trade tips then, too," he offered nonchalantly, lowering his voice.  "I spent some time making do on me own a few years back.  Once you get the knack for it, getting by's not as hard as you'd think."

The tears had not been a trick or a ploy but they did manage to illicit the response Lexus needed out of the man. He seemed to have softened perhaps even feeling bad that he had scared her into tears. His demeanor seemed to shift ever so slightly and he no longer appeared to be on the attack. Lexus' fight or flight instincts dissipated and the wolf inside her no longer identified him as threat even though her rational mind still believed him to be so. She had no way of knowing that this was some kind of ploy to get her to drop her guard so that he could move in for the attack.

She did her best to calm her breathing and pulled a hankerchief out of her purse. It was a fancy lace one that had her school's crest on it. The shield crest of Pinebrook Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardry was easily recognizable to any Canadian wizard but she had no idea how much British wizards knew of her home country, likewise she didn't think she'd be able to recognize the crest of Hogwarts even if she was now aware of the school. What may have stood out though was the golden embroidery that had denoted Lexus as an honour student. It was the whole reason she had gotten the handkerchief in the first place. She dabbed at her tears and gently wiped the bottom of her nose. She was calming down and the tears soon stopped flowing.

She cut him a glare when he suggested she may have stolen all the clothes she had just spent three hours shopping for but thought it best not to blow up on him again. She nodded along with the plan knowing full well that she wasn't about to return the wardrobe she had just painstakingly acquired. She thought it best for him to believe that she would return the clothing and get enough money to spend some time in a hostel before getting back on her feet. Although she would never step foot in a hostel, she knew it was an irrational fear but after seeing the 2005 muggle movie of the same name she had sworn she'd never spend a night in one.

She offered him a soft smile when he offered to buy her dinner. She was well aware that it was a simple gesture, one that spoke more to her stomach than anything else but she found it surprising that he had indicated he didn't trust her not to rob him, after everything she had just gone through with him did he really think she'd try something that stupid, "Dinner would be good." Her voice still had no strength to it. At least she wouldn't be alone while taking the underground back to her hotel.

Lexus has to hold back a laugh when he offered to share some tips with her. He had no idea what she was capable of and not just in a magical sense. She had been on the run for the last year and with the exception of this little encounter she had never run into any problems. She had even been able to keep herself well away from anyone to be able to control her transformations. She had spent the last year, the last twelve full moons without getting caught or any news of a loose werewolf rampaging the countryside. She doubted there was anything he could teach her but she didn't want to seem ungrateful, "Thanks, I'd really appreciate that."

Lexus looked down at her damp handkerchief and ran her fingers over the words Honour Student. Where had everything gone so wrong? She had had such a promising future. She was one of the top students to have ever come out of Pinebrook and had managed to not only gain the trust of a magical native tribe but also be able to pick up on their take on magic that most wizards ignored. Lexus was able to do magic that had nothing to do with her wand. She was practically a prodigy and then everything went down the crapper when that stupid wolf attacked her village. She almost wished she had been killed by the beast rather than carry this curse. She wiped a tear from her eye that had nothing to do with the fear Jonas had brought up in her.

"You probably think I'm a horrible person. I'm really not." She sighed and didn't take the chance of looking at him and bursting into tears again, "I just don't want any trouble with the Ministry. I'm not supposed to be here." She motioned to the place around them, "Not just London I mean the UK. I'm not supposed to be here and I'm terrified the Ministry will deport me." It was the truth even if it wasn't the whole truth. She was terrified of being deported but only because it either meant a life sentence or an order of termination depending on how her trial went, "If it makes you feel any better I've been here for almost a year now and I've only used magic on like five muggles." She knew it probably didn't make any difference in his eyes but it made her feel better. Clearly it was proof that she didn't use magic on muggles as a sport and had only done it out of necessity. There was the clerk at the hotel, the man whom she had gotten the pounds for her shopping spree from and two men to buy her meals and one completely unrelated memory charm on a farmer that had found her naked and bloody the day after a full moon.

"My name's Lexus by the way." She figured if they were going to be having dinner together he might as well know her name. She hadn't even thought about using an alias at the moment. Most of the muggles she had gone on dates with for food, which she had been lucky enough to acquire based on her own sweet charm and good looks, she had given fake names. She supposed it was the weight of the situation she had found herself in that kept her from coming up with a fake name.

Vindication was amazingly satisfying.  It was nice to see that a logical analysis of the situation - or possibly the offer to buy her a meal - had arrested her tears and hopefully stopped any passerby from staring in the process.  The red-haired man filed this bit of helpful evidence away for later use.

The young woman was apparently calming herself down, apologizing and putting some of her behavior into context.  A year on the run would certainly make a person jumpy, although it was difficult not to make a face when she started trying to excuse the Muggle-baiting again.

"Only five Muggles?  Well, that's all right then," Jonas replied, unable to keep the irony out of his voice.  "British law only applies after six or more offenses, so I'm sure the Ministry won't mind."  It took an enormous effort not to roll his eyes.  Was he supposed to accept that breaking the law and abusing innocents was all right if she only did it once or twice?  He'd have to remember that the next time that work dried up; maybe he could get away with robbing Gringotts if he only did it once or twice.

What she was choosing to reveal was interesting enough in its own right, though.  She claimed to have been here in the UK for almost a year, but in that time, she didn't appear to have adjusted to life in hiding at all.  Running like that was exhausting, both mentally and physically.  There was no chance of improvement, nothing to work towards; all you could do was stay one step ahead of whoever was after you.  Jonas had lasted about a week before he'd gotten frustrated with the entire mess and become determined to find a way to rebuild his life.  He couldn't imagine what it would take to keep him on the move for an entire year.

"Jonas," he said, hesitating for a moment before offering her his hand and a crooked smile.  "Like the car, are you?"

He was almost tempted to offer her a business card, but considering how jumpy she was about the Ministry, he doubted she'd appreciate his chosen profession.  Better to put her at ease, keep her from running.  His curiosity was piqued enough that he wanted to see where this led.  Mysteries were always much more entertaining in person than they ever were on the television, where Jonas usually found himself half-heartedly throwing things at the detectives on the screen out of pure frustration.

"The British Ministry aren't very good at locating things, anyhow," he added, flashing her a reassuring smile.  "Have a hard enough time finding their own bums sometimes, let alone one bloke in millions.  Might do you better to stay away from Diagon, though.  The community here is pretty tight-knit once you become a part of it.  I reckon it must be a lot bigger back in the States."

Lexus put her hankercheif back inside her purse feeling that if she kept the symbol of her former life out any longer she'd be thrown into another bout of tears. She was surprised how much the last few years had been more like a dream for her. She still considered her parents old house as her home and her brother and sister her family. Despite the fact that she hadn't really seen anyone from her former life in over four years she couldn't help but long for the normalcy of it. All her nights tending bar at the Lunar at had seem like a dream, as if it were happening to someone else. Then the trip to Montreal and the smell of human blood on her hands, the following year running aimlessly around the UK had been one big blur. She had no idea why she was starting to feel as if she could suddenly build her life back up, she supposed it was something deep down inside her that was just too tired to run anymore.

With the tears tucked away and her bloodshot and puffy eyes the only sign that they had been there Lexus gave him an almost playful glare. It was obvious he still didn't approve of having used magic on muggles even if it had been a small few but she supposed there was nothing more she could do on that subject. The least she could do was be thankful that he wasn't going to turn her into the Ministry on five counts of muggle baiting. She'd just have to accept that they had differing views on what was acceptable out of necessity.

Jonas, what a perfectly English name. It definitely wasn't a name she was going to find back home, unless you counted those no talent excuse for musician brothers that were winning the hearts of thousands of stupid teenage girls back home. She nodded when he inquired about her own name confirming the fact that she had been stupid enough to give him her actual name, "Yeah I think my dad had a thing for cars. My mom wanted to name me Alexis after my great grandfather and I think Lexus came out of some kind of compromise." She was surprised how much she was willing to tell him about herself when it had nothing to do with her current situation or why she was on the run.

She made a note of his assessment on Diagon. She had been fortunate to find the one wizard that hung out in muggle London that wasn't a Ministry lap dog. If she went back into the Wizarding community it would be much harder for her to keep a low profile. Perhaps building her life up again wasn't going to be as easy had she hoped, besides who would give her a job without a working visa, right?

Her brow knitted in confusion at his final statement, "The States?" She looked him over then let loose a wide genuine smile. She suddenly understood what he meant and though she might have usually been offended by the assumption she decided she couldn't blame him. Besides it wasn't like she could tell where he was from based on the way he talked, "Oh right the accent. I guess we do all sound alike but I'm actually Canadian."

She looked back up at the notice board that indicated their train would be there in two minutes. She felt antsy and wanted to get onto the train as soon as they could. Although the conversation was starting to turn into a positive one and they had already gotten past the icky part of their encounter she still felt that she'd be more comfortable packed into a high speed moving train that was packed with plenty of witnesses, "So what are you doing here? I mean I thought people like us pretty much avoided people like them like the plague."