Pop. SNAP! Crackle. Pop.

Abby Reid popped her everlasting-flavored-bubblegum noisily as she waited on her sister’s front porch, watching the sunset and wishing she’d thought to wear a warmer jacket. If all went according to plan, she’d be able to pick up the rest of her things from her parent’s house in the next day or so.

She swung her legs lightly, the heels of her boots tapping against the trunk she sat on. The full trunk looked like it could burst at the hinges. She’d only managed to carry it here by convincing a cutie she’d met on the train that she’d simply forgotten her wand at home. He was such a dear, helping her get it to her sister’s place. It was amazing what a little flirting could accomplish.

Abby sighed, wondering what time it was, as she hadn’t thought to wear a watch. Her sister’s last class ended at 4:00. Or was it 5:00?

A worried look flitted across her face as she then questioned what day it was. It was Wednesday, wasn’t it? Because yesterday was… Tuesday. Oh, right. She went over that in her head a few times to reassure herself that she’d picked the right day and time, and sighed again, glancing down to poke at the stuffed unicorn sitting on the trunk next to her. She had just turned 16, but couldn’t stand the idea of leaving it at home.

Home. Another hour or so would go by until her parents wondered where she was and why she was late for dinner. Abby smirked, enjoying the drama that would spring up because of it, and looking forward to the expression on Aileen’s face when she saw her parked on her front porch. Her sister wouldn’t be able to say no. Not after the tears, the pleading, and all the other tactics Abby planned on employing to stay the night. Just for one night! One night couldn’t hurt, she’d say.

And then that night would turn into a week. A week would turn into a month. Until she was a permanent resident and Aileen wouldn’t be able to imagine living without her.

That was her mastermind plan.

She smoothed out her light cotton-candy colored skirt (a skirt meant for summer, not fall), and rubbed her hands along her bare legs to warm them up. Her feet were cozy enough, snugged tight in her furry winter boots, and the thick curls on her head kept her ears safe from the wind.

A figure appeared in the distance, sporting a shock of bright red hair. Since she had nothing better to do, Abby watched the man cross the street, perking up as he seemed to be heading towards her sister’s house.

She jumped off the trunk, knocking over the stuffed unicorn in the process, and hurried to the porch steps, waving at him cheerily.

“Hello!” She called out as he walked up to the front of the house. A delighted thought struck her. Did Aileen have a date?!

She waited until he reached the steps before she launched into a long-winded greeting. “Aileen is late. I think. What time is it?” She paused for half a second, peering out across the street to see if her sister might appear. No such luck.

“I’m Abby. I’m moving in today,” she glanced back at the trunk, then grinned back at the man.

“What’s in the box? Is it a present? Are you taking my sister out on a date?” She asked teasingly, catching her breath long enough to put her hands on her hips and tilt her head at him. He wasn’t bad looking. Aileen had done well for herself! She was so proud of her!

Carrying an enormous ornamental knife on the Underground had seemed like a perpetually bad idea.  Even if he'd wrapped it or taken other precautions, Jonas assumed that his luck would mean that he'd end up having to explain to a friendly constable why he was carrying a weapon with no discernible purpose on public transportation.  As certain as he was that he could talk his way out of such a situation if it arose, tempting fate during the dagger's triumphant return held less allure than it usually did.  After all the trouble he'd gone through to recover it, Jonas was determined to successfully return it to its rightful owner.

Well, mostly rightful owner, he thought cheerfully to himself as he locked the door to his automobile behind him.  Driving was not his favorite mode of transportation, but it seemed the proper choice to make in order to ensure safe cutlery return.  He had parked a few blocks away so as not to seem excessively Muggle as he approached Aileen Reid's house.  Slipping the keys into his pocket, he tucked the box with the dagger under one arm, whistling the theme from the crime show he'd been watching the night before as he set off for the mostly rightful owner's residence.

Although once he thought about it, Reid technically wasn't the dagger's owner at all.  She wasn't even its possessor, at least not until he returned it to her.  Desirer?  Petitioner?  Claimant?  Appellant?  Jonas ran through a list of possible terms as he made the walk to her house, which at least kept his mind off of his leg.  It was times like these that made him wish he'd paid more attention to his ex-wife when she'd been going on about one of her cases at work.

He had finally decided on 'petitioner' and almost reached the porch when a girl popped up out of nowhere, nearly startling him.  Jonas blinked, squinting at the short figure as she greeted him.

It was clear that she wasn't Aileen Reid, although she looked enough like the older woman to be her relative.  The red-haired man paused mid-step, his mouth pressed together as he tried to calculate whether the professor was old enough to be this girl's mother.  Before he could complete his estimation, the girl had plowed on, calling Aileen by her first name and asking him what time it was.

"Ah," he said, freeing his left arm so that he could check his watch.

The time, though, apparently wasn't of any serious concern to this Abby, who leapt the conversation forward again with her own introduction and a subsequent barrage of questions.

Jonas blinked, his mind racing as he quickly assessed this new information.  "Yeah, that alright?" he asked, flashing Abby a lopsided grin.  'Sister' made sense; he had placed Aileen as a little younger than his own thirty-odd years, which meant that she would have had to have been pregnant at Hogwarts to have a teenaged daughter.  Although one never knew with magic; maybe someone had invented a charm to speed things up.

"I didn't realize I was going to have to pass muster before even getting to the house though," he added good-naturedly, glancing up at the porch.  There was a trunk there that looked fit to burst, along with a well-worn stuffed horse that his daughter Gwenna would have likely strangled her younger brother to own.  He turned his attention back to Abby, flashing her another smile.  "Reckon you'll be kind enough to give your approval so that I can come in, or am I going to need to convince you of me good intentions?"

Oh! So her sister did have a date! Abby beamed at him, glad that he didn’t seem too stuffy or uptight like some of the other guys Aileen dated occasionally. As he kidded about her guarding the house and passing muster before being invited in, Abby perched on the trunk again, picked up the unicorn and set it on her lap, feeling a quick flicker of embarrassment that he must have spotted the stuffed animal.

But she returned his grin and patted the spot on the trunk beside her, letting him know there was enough room for two if he wanted to sit.

“Sorry, you’re just going to have to convince me first,” she said with an apologetic shrug, playing along. “But if you pass the test and answer all my questions, you’ll get the sister stamp of approval, which is very important,” Abby continued with mock seriousness.

She paused and leaned forward to whisper, “Actually, I don’t have the key, and she’s not home yet. So you’re really just humoring me,” Abby giggled, rummaging in her purse until she found an auto-ink-quill and a pink pad of parchment.

“What was I doing? Oh right,” she laughed again. “Name! Everyone has a name, Mr…” Abby waited for him to respond, popping her bubblegum during the rare moments she wasn’t speaking.

“Mr. Trevelyan. Got it,” Abby nodded once, doodling a flower in the corner of the parchment and tapping her foot against the trunk. “What’s next. Hmm… what do you do? How did you and Aileen meet? And…” She peered at the box again. “Did you get her jewelry? She likes jewelry,” she informed him with a grin. Who didn’t?

There was no doubt in Jonas's mind that playing along with the current line of questioning was a bad idea.  Aileen Reid had not struck him as an individual with much of a sense of humor; even worse, he was relatively certain that the Hogwarts professor was a Pureblood, which probably meant she'd go into fits at the mere suggestion that she could be connected to anyone whose family tree wasn't overly inbred for at least the past three generations.  This was aggravated by the fact that she still owed him money.  Upsetting her too much would not get the account settled, which would disrupt his plan to move out of the office and into an actual flat by the end of the year.

But whether or not it was a good idea, the thought of him taking the blonde woman on a date was too funny to let slide.  Jonas flashed the girl a grin, shaking his head at the offer to sit.

"I'm all right.  Got to stay on me toes," he replied cheerfully, shifting his weight to his good leg.  Abby talked a mile a minute.  Jonas was slightly curious as to what she was doing here and not at school; it seemed far too early for Hogwarts to have let out for the year.  "Fire away."

“What was I doing? Oh right,” she laughed again. “Name! Everyone has a name, Mr…”

"Trevelyan," Jonas supplied helpfully, looking bemused.  Abby's ability to talk so quickly while multitasking with an enormous wad of bubblegum was impressive.  It almost made him feel laconic.

He paused thoughtfully, not trying very hard to hide a smile as he considered her next set of questions.  "Let's see," he replied.  "I work as a P.I.  A private investigator," he supplied for Abby.  "Hire out to find things, research people, that sort of thing.  Not as exciting as one would think, unfortunately."  Although, he added silently, with the recent spat of wizarding cases, it was becoming considerably more so.

"And we met during a case I was working.  She hired me on, actually," Jonas admitted.  The truth, though interesting, was not as exciting a story as it could be, so he decided to improve upon it.  "She had just come back from one of her digs in Egypt, and it turned out she brought some cursed book with her.  Read it aloud and the mummy comes back to life," he said cheerfully.  "But it was stolen away by some necromancer who was working in disguise at the British Museum, so we had to get it back before he used it to raise all of the dead in London and turn them against the Muggles.  Bit of a lark, it was.

"And it's not jewelry, but I'll have to remember that for next time," he added amiably.  "You writing all of this down?  Reckon I should be careful what I say if I'm going to be held accountable for it later."

Not exciting?! Abby protested, trying her hardest not to interrupt, though her bubblegum popping had increased tenfold. A private investigator sounded extremely exciting. Perhaps it wasn’t on the same level as an Auror or a dragon tamer, but the idea of digging up secrets and solving mysteries had its own appeal. He got paid to listen to gossip and uncover truths… to a teenage girl like Abby, there was nothing better. She thought of the ‘research’ bit, the boring stuff, as something one of his underlings would do. He had to have research underlings, right?

Her sister met him on a case! Her eyes widened, her grin only getting wider when he started to explain just what the case was about. It sounded romantic. And exciting. And... almost too crazy to be true! Abby studied his face, trying to figure out if he was teasing about the whole encounter or not, but he seemed serious. The mummy also seemed like something her adventurous sister would encounter.

“Wow!” She breathed at the end of his story, the odd box completely forgotten until he casually answered her jewelry question.

"You writing all of this down?  Reckon I should be careful what I say if I'm going to be held accountable for it later."

“Oh!” She said in surprise, looking down at the notepad as if she’d forgotten it was even there. Abby gave him a cheeky grin and showed him the half-drawn flower. “Ah yes, very detailed notes. You won’t get a thing past me,” she declared, setting her notepad and quill aside for a moment.

A sudden thought hit her. Wouldn’t Aileen tell her about this? A new boyfriend, the whole rise of the dead thing?

Abby’s smile dimmed for a second. Her bubblegum popping slowed. She’d thought they’d been close, she and her sister. Or getting closer. They didn’t see each other too often, but Aileen had promised a day of shopping one of these weekends, and she’d also been writing to her weekly. Yet her little notes and letters didn’t mention any of these new developments in her life. Aileen talked about students, other professors, day-to-day funny things, but nothing important.

She grinned at the man again, trying to disguise her hurt. “So! Mr. Mysterious… why hasn’t she told me about you?”

Perhaps he was... uh oh. Abby didn't recognize his last name. Perhaps he wasn't pure?

Abby crossed her arms, feeling silly and childish with the stuffed unicorn on her lap. “Hasn’t she said anything about me? Anything at all?” She went on, her tone more plaintive than she’d intended.

It was unfortunate how he had so clearly missed his calling in life.  If he'd made different choices, if he'd had a different upbringing, Jonas imagined that he could have made a fortune writing B-movies about intrepid adventurers who happened upon unfortunate archaeological remains.  There was likely an entire genre waiting to be tapped.

As it was, he just flashed the girl a smile as she asked why her sister hadn't said anything about him.  "You'd have to ask her, wouldn't you?" he suggested.  "Hard to talk about anything related to a mummy's curse though, innit?  Soon as you say a word, for all you know you've gone and gotten the other bloke haunted by a never-ending buzz of scarabs or half the Sahara's worth of sand in their shoes.  She was probably just trying to protect you," he concluded cheerfully.

He raised an eyebrow as Abby followed her train of thought to its inevitable conclusion.  If this was what he had in store when Gwenna inevitably reached her teenaged years, he was going to start looking up spells now to mitigate the pouting.

"Well, that's where the protecting bit comes in, yeah?" he asked mildly.  "You get into a mess of trouble, you don't want to accidentally drag your family into it."  Which was, Jonas thought, entirely true and a perfectly safe answer, but unfortunately was not really much of a challenge.

"She has said a bit, though," he continued, thoughtfully studying Abby.  He knew absolutely nothing about the girl save for her name.  She looked to be in her mid-teens, which as far as he could surmise meant that she ought to be at Hogwarts.  The other Reid siblings had surely attended; though he didn't remember Aileen, he could very clearly picture a Slytherin boy whom he suspected was the girls' elder brother.

She had a stuffed unicorn.  She apparently liked pink.  Jonas would have guessed that both of those went along with 'teenaged girl,' which meant that he could probably play it safe with his expected assumptions.  There were some things that were true of all teenagers.

"Mentioned a bit of trouble between you and your parents, but that was about it," he ventured, managing to look apologetic at his lack of knowledge.  "Is that why you're moving in?  Quite the commute from here to school, innit?"

Abby's mouth twisted to the side as she thought about Mr. Trevelyan's response, telling her it was for her own protection, that Aileen had just been trying to look out for her. Abby let out a little huff. She didn't like that! She didn't need anyone to protect her. She just wanted Aileen to tell her what was going on in her life so they could share secrets like sisters were supposed to. Did Aileen not trust her? Did she think Abby was going to spill everything to their parents? As if! Abby could so keep her sister's love affair a secret if she wanted to...

She perked up slightly when Jonas mentioned that Aileen had talked about her a bit. He took a moment to study her, and she cocked her head and waited, curious about what he was going to say.

Parental problems? Check! Abby nodded, surprised that Aileen had said something about it, and continued to nod when he wondered if that was why she was on the front porch with her suitcase.

But then he said something that made her enthusiasm evaporate. He assumed she went to school. Aileen hadn't told him.

Her face fell for an instant and then she plastered on a smile and giggled, as if the whole thing was hilarious. "She didn't tell you!" Abby exclaimed with a shake of her head. "I don't go to Hogwarts or anything. No wand," she held up her hands and spread her fingers to show they were empty.

"I'm a squib. So I study at home,with my parents who watch my every move," Abby explained, making a face at the end of that sentence. She'd explained her 'lack of magic' situation so many times to so many people that she almost got tired of it - their surprise and disappointment, their pity, their sympathy. Everyone reacted slightly differently, though. Abby watched Mr. Trevelyan's face, curious but dreading his reaction at the same time. Just once, she'd like to pretend that she was normal.

A few seconds later, Abby heard a noise from within the house and hopped off the trunk to stand in front of the door. "Aileen's home!" She announced unnecessarily, knocking to announce her presence.

Aileen was furious. She'd just flooed home straight from her office, which she had spent the past ten minutes cleaning up. Some gutsy little third year had decided to express her anger about her recent test grade by shoving a niffler in Aileen's office. While Aileen was inside, sitting at her desk. The little devil creature had gone straight for her teapot, knocking it over onto her papers, and then made a grab for her gold bracelet with its sharp little teeth.

She stepped out of the fireplace and immediately smoothed out her robes, worrying that Jonas was waiting on the porch with the very important item she'd requested back in September. It had taken him long enough, she thought irritably, checking her appearance in the mirror and then glancing at the door when a knock sounded.

"Coming!" She called out, rushing to the foyer and taking  a peek through the peephole to see-

Abby?! Her little sister grinned cheekily at her, then waved, as if she knew Aileen was right behind the door starting at her in shock.

No. This was not happening. Not today. Jonas was supposed to be here, so where was he?

A crease formed between her brows as she unlocked the (many) locks and flicked her wand around a few times to dispel the protective enchantments. Paranoid? Perhaps. She just didn't want to risk another theft.

Aileen flung open the door and spotted Jonas Trevelyan beside her sister. And a trunk off to the side. What was this, party on Aileen's porch day?

Breathe, she told herself, giving Mr. Trevelyan a smile that looked like it might crack any second. There were important things, important things to remember. The dagger. Right.

"Abigail," she started, voice chilly. "What are you-"

"I just met your boyfriend!" Abby interrupted, giggling. The girl brushed past the frozen Aileen and then poked her head outside for a moment. "Mr. Trevelyan, could you get my trunk for me? Pretty please?" Abby smiled sweetly, disappearing down the hall of Aileen's house.

Aileen, completely flabbergasted, gave Jonas an incredulous look. She didn't even know what to say. Boyfriend?! Aileen dearly hoped Jonas didn't share Abby's delusions...

Jonas blinked, eyebrows rising as he regarded the teenager thoughtfully.  A lack of magic would certainly explain why she wasn't at Hogwarts, but the announcement hadn't entirely been what he had expected. 

He had met one or two Squibs through the years - there had even been rumors about the old Hogwarts caretaker back in his school days - but he was never quite sure what to make of them.  In many ways, wizard-born Muggles mirrored their Muggle-born counterparts, but Jonas couldn't help wondering which had gotten the better end of the deal.  Was it better to be the blind man in a room full of blokes with perfect vision, or to be the only fellow in the valley of the blind who could see?

The private investigator had just barely started to open his mouth so that he could pepper Abby with questions when there was a noise from inside the house.  The girl's declaration that her sister had returned home startled him into remembering the purpose of his visit.  Straightening, he adjusted his grip on the box containing the knife, turning back to the door just as the myriad of locks undid themselves and the portal opened.

Before he could say anything or even begin to present his prize, Abby had announced his presence, darted past her sister, and probably ruined any chance he had of getting any sort of decent gratuity for all of his work.

"Ah," Jonas said intelligently, looking back at the trunk as he chose to focus on the second and much safer part of her pronouncement.  He wasn't entirely sure how the teenager expected him to get it inside, short of spraining his back in the process, so he instead glanced at his employer, who was staring at him with a dumbfounded look.

Jonas paused, considering the unfortunate details of his situation.  He had known that playing along with Abby's presumption was likely not the smartest idea.  Similarly, the pure-blooded Hogwarts professor's reaction if she had overheard his kidding was probably not going to be the most positive moment in his life.  There was very little he could do to successfully explain it away. 

Luckily, there was always settling for just pretending that it had never happened.

Summoning up his best sheepish smile, he gave Aileen an off-handed shrug to match it.  "Kids," he said, as if that explained everything.  Hopefully the Runes professor would just let him brush it away until he got paid and could leave.  "Err, did you want to fetch her trunk?  She mentioned she was moving in with you," he offered helpfully.

Aileen kept staring at Jonas, slowly realizing that he looked as baffled as she did, and that he kept glancing at the trunk after Abigail had rudely ordered him to fetch it for her. Jonas didn't seem offended though, shrugging and smiling at her, then commenting on Abby's delusion that she was moving in with her.

"Oh, no she's not," Aileen muttered darkly, hovering the trunk inside the house with a flick of her wand. She let it drop to the floor a little harder than she'd intended, and took a deep breath before poking her head outside, much like her younger sister had a few moments earlier.

"Come in, please," she opened the door for him, casting an annoyed look down the hallway where she heard Abigail making herself at home.

"I apologize," she said stiffly once he'd come inside, closing the door and taking a few seconds to put the wards up again.

"She gets these ridiculous ideas, and no matter how much you try to reason with her-"

"I do not!" An amused voice sounded from the living room.

Aileen put her hand to her head, already feeling a headache coming on. "Excuse me," she told Jonas, managing a small, fake smile before stalking off down the hallway to shoo away her sister.

"Abby. I need to speak to Mr. Trevelyan about a very important matter, and-"

"You still call him by his last name? I thought you were-"

"We will discuss your misconceptions later," Aileen cut her off, gritting her teeth. "For now, go to your..." she paused. "Guest room!" she finished, unnerved by the look of victory on Abigail's face as the girl bounded upstairs. But at least she was out of the way. At least Jonas had the dagger.

Aileen reappeared in the entryway, plastered a polite smile on her face, and gestured Jonas towards the parlor. She was about to sit down and then sprang up again, looking flustered.

"Can I get you anything? Tea, coffee?"

Jonas, who was doing his best not to look as though he'd be eavesdropping, had taken the opportunity to surreptitiously examine the woman's parlour, box tucked under his arm.  He glanced up quickly at Aileen's return, covering a cough as he made a fair attempt at keeping a straight face.

"Yeah, tea, thanks.  Unless you've got something stronger about," he replied affably.  "Reckon it might be that kind of day."  There was little doubt in his mind that it was that sort of day, or at least that sort of evening, for Professor Reid.

It was really too bad that there were so many things they didn't tell you when you got your license, the red-haired man thought cheerfully as he waited for the refreshments.  The difficulty in not laughing when confronted with a potentially hilarious situation to the detriment of one's clients was definitely at the top of the list of things he wished he would have been better prepared for, although after ten years in the profession, he knew that he probably should have cottoned on by now.  Though Jonas had a notion that both payment and future recommendations depended upon maintaining his composure, especially when dealing with an image-conscious pureblooded witch, not bursting out in laughter was the best he could manage.

"So here's the dagger," he offered helpfully, taking the box in one hand.  Hopefully getting to the subject at hand would draw attention away from the fact that he was on the verge of breaking down in laughter.  "Turned out it wasn't quite as bad as you would've thought to get it back once I tracked it down."

Which was relatively true, all things considered.  The entire affair had proven to be much more entertaining than his usual work, although the conclusion was providing more than its fair share of dangerous amusement in and of itself.  Jonas took a deep breath to maintain his composure, and then plowed ahead.

"A Mr Tawse and Mr Ashford send their regards, by the by," he added, remembering his promise.  "They gave me a hand in finding the thief.  Tawse said you'd know 'im."

The potential hilarity of this situation was lost on Aileen. After dealing with the niffler in her office, then coming home late to find her sister Abigail preparing to move in and embarrassing her, all she wanted to do was to grab the box and shoo the perpetually cheerful Mr. Trevelyan away.

But good manners and the money she owed him made her act otherwise. She smirked very slightly at his comment about 'something stronger', and disappeared to conjure a fresh pot of tea. She probably had something stronger somewhere, but did not want to fish out the wine glasses and cause more assumptions to pop into Abby's head.

Aileen returned with the tea, pouring a cup for Jonas and then herself, and listening to him explain that it wasn't so difficult to get the dagger back once he'd tracked it down.

That might be true, but tracking it down had taken over a month, and quite a bit of galleons on her part.

Aileen took the offered box, peeking in to ensure the thief had left the dagger intact, and then set it aside on the table. The tension in her shoulders began to lessen.

When he mentioned Mr. Tawse and Mr. Ashford, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Yes, I do," she admitted cautiously. Aileen didn't exactly advertise that she occasionally spoke to an ex-Azzie about curses and the like. The idea that this could have been solved faster if she'd just gone straight to Tawse was more than a little irritating, however, especially considering her current mood.

But at least all she owed Jonas was money. Aileen couldn't be sure exactly what Tawse wanted - besides the obvious.

"I'll have to thank them," she murmured, taking a sip of tea.

"And thank you," she told him sincerely, with a small smile. Jonas might be annoyingly upbeat, and he had taken longer than she'd liked to recover the dagger, but at least he had it. He'd also kept her updated like he'd said he would, and seemed to act discreetly (as far as she knew).

"I hope the thief was suitably spooked," she commented dryly, knowing better than to ask who the culprit had been.

The red-haired man broke into a lopsided smile, clearly pleased with himself.  "Couldn't say for sure," he replied cheerfully.  "I didn't really ask her to rate how she was feeling, but I can't imagine you'd sleep well knowing someone'd tracked you down, yeah?" 

He certainly hadn't slept well the first night after Raynor had decided to come visiting, although that had been partially for other reasons.  Installing his new makeshift security system had since made him feel much better, at least with the knowledge that if anyone really bothered to break into his office, they'd be annoyed by the incessant croaking upon opening his front door.

Jonas shrugged, raising the tea cup to take a sip.  "Either way, if she gives you any more trouble, drop me a line," he offered.  "I've got a contact at the Ministry that I can pass on word to if there's a problem, or else I wouldn't mind rattling her down again.  It was a bit of a lark, to be honest," he added with a grin.  "It's a proper shame that they aren't all this much fun.  Which reminds me..."

Digging into his pocket, Jonas found a folded piece of paper, which was in considerably better shape than his notes were usually kept.  After unfolding it and smoothing it out, he passed it on to Aileen.

"There's the last few expenses.  If you've any questions, you can let me know; otherwise you can settle up when you're ready."  Jonas had spent some time making sure that items like Oyster card charges were carefully categorized in an effort to make the line items look much less Muggle than they would have normally, and he'd taken a handful of items off the account entirely.  Explaining to Aileen Reid that she'd had to pay twenty quid for a bottle of wine to suffer his heightened sense of drama hadn't been on his list of conversations to have this evening.  The investigation had been entertaining enough that he didn't mind paying for a few things out of pocket.

"And then I reckon the case'll be officially closed," he concluded cheerfully.  "Bit of a shame, really.  I was looking forward to undead mummies."

Aileen was both annoyed and amused at how much Jonas had seemed to enjoy tracking down the thief, and the dagger with it. She guessed that if it were up to him, all his cases would turn out to be exciting and a bit dangerous. If it were up to her, she'd never have to hire the man again. All her artifacts had just better stay put!

She nodded and smiled politely when he told her that he had a contact at the Ministry who could give the thief trouble if she were foolish enough to strike in the same spot twice. Jonas was perhaps overly enthusiastic, but at least he was helpful.

Aileen took the piece of parchment and looked over the last of the expenses she owed him, ignoring the creak on the stairs. If she pretended she didn't hear Abby moving around on the first floor, perhaps it wasn't really happening. Admittedly, she sometimes used the same denial tactic with Figaro Sellaphix.

Everything looked to be in order - no glaring surprises.

"Undead mummies aren't nearly as exciting as you'd think," she replied, fishing out the Gringotts Ledger she kept in her purse. "Or so I've heard," she smiled slightly with her head bent, writing out what she owed him in neat, precise penmanship.

As she wrote, she heard Abby rummaging about in the kitchen, which was alright with her. Unfortunately, a few moments passed and she didn't hear the stomping of teenager feet heading back up the stairs, nor did she hear her take a seat at the kitchen table.

Aileen raised her eyebrows, set down the half-written check, and stood up and walked very quietly to the doors connecting to the kitchen. She looked back and shared an exasperated glance with Jonas, who seemed to wear an especially goofy grin today. Aileen flung open the doors with a dramatic flourish.

Abby drew back with a squeal, almost dropping her drink. "I..." Abby started, then held out the glass to Aileen as proof. "Chocolate milk!"

"Fascinating," Aileen said, putting her hands on her hips. "Please go find something useful to do. Something that doesn't involve eavesdropping," she paused, tapping her finger to her chin as if she were deep in thought. "Oh! You can go sit on the porch outside with your trunk, and greet everyone who comes to my door. You seem to love doing that. But don't forget your unicorn!" she added sarcastically, at the end of her patience.

"It's cold out!" Abby whined at her, stepping inside the parlor and trying to hide her embarrassment. Then she looked at Jonas and frowned. "I thought you already faced the undead. And that you two were dating." Abigail looked at both of them accusingly. If they were really dating, there was no flirtation, no affection between them. Just plain boring, those two!

Aileen narrowed her eyes at Jonas. Oh, so he'd put the idea into Abby's head, did he?

She took her seat again with an exaggerated primness. "Please do tell her the truth," she told Jonas, settling back in her chair with a sigh. "Otherwise, she'll be picking out bridesmaid dresses by the end of the week."

That ought to scare him!

Jonas had been on the verge of asking the woman just how exciting undead mummies actually were when the lack of noise from the kitchen caused her to excuse herself.  He tried not to look too amused as the Runes professor exchanged a Look with him, and then left the room to scare away her eavesdropping sister. 

It was really too bad, he thought, that a lack of magic ruined any chance the girl had at a decent education.  His years at Hogwarts may have given him a decent grounding in spellwork, which had largely proven to be absolutely useless in his chosen life, but had offered much more helpful lessons in subjects like How to  Lie Effectively to Authority Figures, and How to Sneak Out After Curfew, and How Best to Irritate Self-Righteous Slytherins.  If he thought that he could have gotten away with it, he would have offered the teenager lessons in snooping.  After all, he'd managed fine as a Muggle for years; being a Squib was no reason for Abigail to be this ineffective.

Unfortunately, her ineffectiveness meant that he was probably doomed to never get paid for this job.  Sighing, Jonas leaned back in his chair, stretching his bad leg out in front of him as he gave the half-completed ledger book a longing look. 

It wasn't that he hadn't enjoyed the job; it had been exciting enough that he would have taken it on again in a second, even if he knew that it would be pro bono.  But expenses were adding up, the holidays were coming, he'd been starting to shirk on some of his more usual, conventional (and thereby boring) work, and he still hadn't figured out how the bloody hell he was going to pay Lexus a living wage and still make rent on top of it.

He hadn't really been listening to the conversation in the kitchen, and gave a start as the two sisters re-entered the room. 

"Ah, what?" he asked, trying to replay the conversation in his mind.  Abby was glaring at him as if he'd just killed her plush unicorn, and Aileen had taken on the normal prim look of a pureblooded Slytherin as she reclaimed her chair at the desk, where she was decidedly not writing out his check.  Unfortunately, the crack about bridesmaid dresses left little doubt as to why.

Jonas hedged for a moment, trying to decide if he was more likely to get out of this if he just apologized or lied and pretended that he had no idea what they were talking about.  The former was probably likely to get him killed, and although the second was equally likely to get him killed out of frustration, at least he stood a chance of just playing it off like he had no idea what had happened.

"Wait, bridesmaid dresses?" he asked with a frown, his forehead creasing.  "What are you talking about?  That's not what's in that trunk of hers, innit?"