Night had almost completely fallen; somewhere beyond the tree, a thin line of dark blue stretched across the horizon but the stand of fruit trees that lined the drive along the river.  The drive beyond the gate was swallowed, quickly, by the darkness beyond the streetlight.  For several moments, Jacoba had hesitated at the gate, staring through the bars of the wrought iron gate towards where, at the end of the road, a few houselights glowed through the darkness. 

Well, waiting in the dark wasn't going to make this endeavor any easier.  She easily found the edge of the box' casing to the gate's lock and, with a fingernail, eased it open.  Not surprisingly, the wire was still loose - of course, if no one had known of the lock's slight failing, no one would have bothered to fix it.  She pressed her finger against the wire and the gate swung, silently, open.  Jacoba glanced at Isaac before nodding her head and stepping through the open gate. 

That, of course, had been the easy part.  However awkward or unpleasant the two of them showing up at her Oma's door had been, this was going to be infinitely harder.  Oma's nurse had been a warm up - and an easy one. 

She would have said, again, how much she appreciated Isaac being there but she'd said that a dozen times over the last few days.  It would seem, now, superfluous.  But, visiting home - it was the last step.  Sasha wasn't in Germany, school had turned up nothing.  His phone still wasn't working - he wasn't answering any of his messages.  By necessity, they had to rule this option out.  It wasn't ideal but it was logical - if he'd come home, everything else made sense: the lack of contact, the quiet.  If he was home, all those elements that made her want to panic made perfect, logical sense. 

The house came into view at the end of the drive, which curled in a circle at the front steps.  She paused at the bottom, trying to desperately come to any conclusions about what tactic she was going to use here.  Her stomach was churning, violently, as she ascended the stairs and pressed her finger to the doorbell. 

The man that answered the door was tall, deep-chested and the bald patch on his head was larger than it had been the last time she'd seen her father.  He was still dressed in his full tailored suit and he looked down at the two on his doorstep as the door swung open.  She saw it, but she tried to ignore it: that brief moment of confusion that crossed the man's face just before recognition dawned.  His eyes lingered on Jacoba's for several minutes before saying, as he began to swing the door closed: "get off my property before I call the police." 

"Look - just ... give me a second, please," Jacoba implored, reaching out to catch the door with her hand. 

Behind the man, Jacoba could see the tall, lean, still-ever-blond form of her mother standing on the far side of the foyer.  She tried to catch her mother's eye but, no sooner than she had, Gerhard looked over his shoulder in his wife's direction and the woman stepped through the door into the dining room.  He turned back towards the two on his doorstep, his gaze lingering on Isaac a moment. 

"If you're pregnant, again, I don't want to know about it," he said, looking back at Jacoba. 

Jacoba closed her eyes, color rising in her cheeks as she shook her head.  "I never was- look, please, can I just come in for a moment.  I don't need anything from you.  Just ... I've got a question.  Please." 

It was nearly dark and there was one final stop that needed to be made at the end of what had been a horribly long and stressful weekend.  This was perhaps going to be the most difficult visit, and he was well aware of that fact.  As much as he wanted to find out if Sasha had actually ended up back in London, he knew he was really there to ensure Jacoba was all right when it was all said and done.  He somehow hoped that perhaps the reception they would find at the house would be better then he was imagining, although he was extremely doubtful that would be the case.

He followed her up the drive not commenting on the broken lock on the gate.  She paused at the bottom of the stairs and he reached out to touch her arm, hoping to be encouraging.  With any luck Sasha would be inside and right now having him there seemed the best one could hope for given the other possibilities that had flashed through his mind the past couple days.

The door opened and the look of confusion wasn’t completely lost on him.  He couldn’t shelter the young woman next to him from whatever was to come as she stopped him from shutting the door on them.  There was an undeniable anger that he felt as he watched the other man finally recognize his daughter, but he pushed it aside as he knew he needed to stay calm and level headed.  He met the other man’s gaze for a moment, not really expecting the next statement.

"If you're pregnant, again, I don't want to know about it.”

He glanced sideways at Jacoba for a moment when she answered him, ignoring the coloring of his own cheeks.  How it was a parent could completely turn their back on a child he would never really be able to understand.  Clearly Gerhard Schlagenweit was simply someone he would never be able to comprehend and he found he didn’t want to either.

He could probably spend hours going on about the fact that casting a child out of their home to basically find their own was was completely unacceptable, but it wouldn't be appreciated and it wouldn't get them any closer to an answer.  It was his damn sense of chivalry, the need to protect a woman who was clearly going to be in a difficult and likely painful situation that brought about the feeling.  The quiet, usually mild mannered professor had certain buttons that could be pushed, and right now he was trying not to let that happen.

“We just need a few moments of your time and then we’ll be on our way,” he said, keeping any sort of emotion out of his voice.  “Honestly, I'm sorry for the intrusion, but that’s all we’re asking for.”

Hopeless futility simmered in Jacoba's gut as she watched the old man linger in the doorway, his hand still on the door.  She'd seen it so many times before; it was remarkable how certain traits just didn't change that much, even after so many years.  It was clear he was struggling with stubborn indecision.  Pride versus reason.  On a few rare occasions in the past, reason did manage to win. 

She must have done something to win some karmic points or, maybe, there was some separate karma-equation for periods of hardship.  Whatever the reason (she'd have to check with Erwin on that), reason seemed to win out.  Not enough to grant them permission to enter but just enough to not insist on calling the police. 

"Make it quick," Gerhard Schlagenweit demanded, impatiently.

Getting to this point had been Jacoba's main worry since they'd started on this adventure: getting to the door and getting the man to listen to her.  She really hadn't given much thought to what she was going to say when she got to that point.  And, she knew she only had a limited amount of time before he grew impatient.  Now, how to ask without raising suspicions. 

"Look," she said with a sigh.  At least she had one advantage playing to her hand.  She, legitimately, wasn't supposed to know where Sasha was. "I'm trying to get in touch with my brother but I still ... I don't know where he is.  Please - I just want to talk to him."  It was pathetic, really, that she had to steal away in the night like this to ask to find her brother.  But, it was the state of things around the Schlagenweit home. 

The scowl on the man's face deepened and, for a minute, it seemed the temptation to close the door was growing stronger.  Before that urge could win the battle, Jacoba quickly spoke up again.  "Look, I'm sorry.  I just - I want to talk to him.  I don't know if he's still at that school in Austria or whatever or - is he here?" 

Her father shook his head.  "No," he said, simply.  For a moment, it seemed he was going to leave it at that but then he shook his head again.  "Stay away from him, you hear?  He doesn't need trouble from you.  Now, if that's all you needed, you can be off."  The man turned and started to close the door.

Isaac watched Gerhard as he seemed to weigh the options for a moment.  He had never been one to question different parenting styles, but shutting out a child completely was something he would never be able to understand.  He didn’t really have to though as all they needed right now was to try to find out if Sasha had been home and he was somewhat hoping in the process figure out if Hogwarts was now common knowledge in the household.

It seemed curiosity or perhaps reason won out in the end and Jacoba was allowed to ask her question.  Of course he wasn’t entirely surprised by the answer given what he had already heard.  The door started to close again and before he could think the matter through he reached out to stop him from doing so by over thinking the outcomes, placing a hand on the door.

“I…just hold on one moment,” he began, “she’s not looking to cause him any trouble.  She just wants to know he’s alright…that’s all.”

He met the other man’s eyes directly, part of him suddenly well aware this had the possibility of not ending terribly well for anyone involved.  Clearly the other man simply wanted to be rid of them, but they needed more of an answer then what he had just offered.  Sometimes in a moment of anger or frustration people were more likely to offer information without realizing though.  He was just hoping in risking confrontation that it would end on some sort of positive note.

Even in the shadows of the doorstep, Jacoba could see the line of red that formed around the old man's face when he looked down at the foot in the door.  She was certain her father was weighing his options; measuring Isaac.  Their only real advantage was that Gerhard Schlagenweit was, thankfully, not one to call out the police.  He took care of his problems himself. 

It occurred to Jacoba, belatedly, that they'd gone about this the wrong way.  They should have just bypassed the house and gone straight to the barn to ask Wilhelm.  Gerhard had met Wilhelm Schroeder through the Goethe Institute in London shortly after the family had settled in the UK and had hired him as their gardener shortly there after.  Wilhelm had had some experience with horses as a child so, as horses became an increasingly common aspect in the Schlagenweit's lifestyle, "Barnhand" became one of Wilhelm's official job titles.  As his work precluded Gerhard from taking as much time off as Sasha's show circuit demanded, it was Wilhelm that usually traveled with Sasha.  It was Wilhelm that tended to Sasha's animals, following care instructions much more specific and detailed than the average sane person would tolerate. 

Though, of course loyal to his employer, Wilhelm had always seemed a relatively reasonable man.  Jacoba had always suspected the man was the member of the Schlagenweit household that knew the most about her brother.  He was certainly the one that spent the most time with him.  He would have been infinitely easier to approach.  But, now that Gerhard knew they were there it wasn't like they could change tactics.  When she and Isaac moved off this doorstep, Jacoba was certain her father would make certain they left the property.  It had been a stupid, foolish oversight on her part. 

"Just - it's a simple question.  Where is he?  Is he still at that school in Austria?"

"Switzerland," her father corrected, still clearly considering his options.  Finally, though there had been no real apparent reason for the change of heart, her father drew the door open and stepped back, gesturing for them to enter.  Perhaps it was curiosity or perhaps enough suspicion had been raised that her father had come to expect this wouldn't be an easy conversation.

"Who are you, exactly?  What business is this of yours?"  The man asked as Jacoba stepped through the door into the well-lit and spotless foyer.  "Why is it suddenly urgent to find Sasha?  Is there something I should know about?"  All four of the questions had, unquestioningly, been directed at Isaac.