Hogsmeade at Christmas was cool.  Cooler even than Dublin where Mairead had spent every Christmas before.  Dublin never saw snow like this at the holidays; if they even got snow it was just a light, easy dusting like someone had sprinkled powder sugar over the streets.  Here, snow was piled next to buildings in deep drifts that just begged to be jumped in.  Lights and candles burned everywhere - even in the daytime - their soft lights reflecting in the glistening snow.  A mixed aroma of pine trees, simmering warm drinks, candies and woodfires filled the air, leaving all the wayward shoppers feeling light, merry and, most importantly, generous. 

A state Mairead had many years' experience exploiting.  Whether panhandling was common place in the wizarding world, Mairead didn't have a clue but she was going to find out.  Back home, Christmas could be a very lucrative season for the business-oriented, determined child who could master the right combination of impressive skill and a pity-reaping state of dishevelment. 

She'd scuffed up one of her older used robes for this very occasion. Her hair, while normally bushy, was cooperating in the messiest way possible with the help of the dry winter air and the cold wind.  The broken stitches along the top edges of her shoe's soles and the frayed holes in her gloves completed the look.  Smearing a thin layer of rather skin-staining red frosting on her fingertips, licking it off and, then, letting it dry to give the impression of frostbite had been Tito's idea.  He was back in London with Mairead's mum, da, Tito's mum and da and his two brothers.  Mairead would be meeting up with Deaglan in a couple hours to return to London by floo where she'd spend the rest of the holidays with her family. 

She'd situated herself close enough to the Three Broomsticks to ensure that most of the refreshment-seekers passed her by but not close enough for the pub's owner to justifiably complain.  Her flute case lay open in the snow in front of her.  Her flute was raised to her lips, a bright and airy rendition of Little Drummer Boy reverberating from the wood. 

Eithne, the tall wire-haired lurcher lay on the ground behind the girl.  Ailill, the puffskein she'd pilfered from the horde she'd set loose in Diagon, had been removed from her pocket and set in a corner of the open flute case.  Unfortunately, as Mairead's other tagalong pet had continued to grow, a distinctly problematic drama was beginning to simmer in Mairead's pockets.  Macha was quickly reaching a size that put Ailill firmly on the menu list - a fact that had not been lost on the residents of either pocket.  The zipper Mairead had sewn into Ailill's pocket had helped though it had made putting a few small air holes in that pocket necessary.  Needless to say, Mairead figured the puffskein appreciated time away from the coat. 

As long as Macha would stay put, they'd be fine.  But, on not just a few occasions, Mairead had had to linger on a high C note so as to free her right hand and gently shove a black and orange coil back deeper into her pocket.  Luckily, so far, no one seemed to have noticed.

Since the duel which broke out on the 17th -- with his own brother to blame, no less -- it became apparent that some patrolling was needed at the Winter Festival. Adon'd stepped in to give Tulo the day off to . . . probably go smoke something. Adon'd enjoyed strolling the streets and people watching, trying to remember this was not a leisure trip; a fact which he was reminded of when he reached the site of his brother's skirmish, or when he thought he saw, from the corner of his eye, a man meeting Katsaros' description.

It had all been just an apparition, but it helped to keep his senses alert. And so, when he started lapsing into listening with some pleasure the notes of a busker's flute song, he paused when he heard the sustained high note. Near perfect pitch pegged it somewhere around a B or C. He regarded the young girl carefully, ready to attribute it to novice skill, when he noted a jerky movement of her hand towards the pocket of her coat. And the head, no, the two heads. Moloch, the curious creature's striped marking were enough to make it easily identifiable.

While alarming, the appearance didn't much surprise the Auror. Runespoors, like most serpents, were somewhat charmed by music, particularly of the magical variety, and it seemed duly affected. The conjunction with the rag-tag waif, however, was troubling, however. There'd be trouble there. Adon frowned, considering the best approach.

He shoved his hands in his cloak pocket, fishing for some spare coins as he crossed the street towards her. Pausing, he dropped the coins into the yawning and open case and stood a bit, tapping his toe as he waited for the piece to end. The song seemed to drone on indefinitely, and with a bit of a sigh, Adon looped behind the girl and crouched to the ground in order to pat the large dog on the head as he waited.

Perhaps Mairead should consider changing her approach to her pets' living arrangements.  Maybe, just maybe, it would be better if her coat's tenants switched pockets.  She'd assumed the runespoor would protest more about being zippered in but it was legitimately proving harder and harder for the serpent to shift in her pocket without a coil breaking loose. 

Of course, she couldn't go tugging the snake out now.  At the first opportunity, she'd find a quiet spot to swap the two critters.  Even if Macha objected, it was only for another week or so.  Soon, they'd be off with Dazmond to this magical land of Syberia to bring Macha to her new home. 

A fellow was approaching.  There seemed to be no sign of alarm in the man's features so the serpent's momentary slip must have gone unnoticed.  Without breaking the slow but firm beat, Mairead's eyes followed the scarred man as he dropped the coins in the flute case and moved behind her to pet Eithne.  Already, she could feel the marker-thick, muscular coils shifting in her pocket - with this fellow lingering around, Mairead knew she was tempting fate.  She finished the verse up and quickly gathered her things. 

"Thank ye.  I got to get back."  No need to lie about where she might 'supposedly' be going - there was no need to explain herself to this stranger.  He was probably a hooligan anyway, given the state of his face.  Tucking her flute case under her arm, she patted her leg to coax the dog to her feet and made her way around the back corner of the Three Broomsticks.  Once she assumed she was alone, she tugged a shoe off and, balancing on one foot, nestled the puffskein safely in her shoe.  Carefully, she reached in her other pocket and slowly pulled out the runespoor.

"Hey--" Adon said, rising to his feet as the lurcher tottered after his owner. Adon frowned and, shoving his hands once more in his robe pockets, secured his grip around his wand. He followed at a leisurely pace, his long legs allowing for a stride that matched two of her own.

"So. . ." he said, ambling up behind her with a casual shrug, "flute's a good skill to have. Where I come from, people use it to tame all sorts of beasts. Serpents particularly. But," he said, with a light gesture towards the Runespoor, "I've never seen it work on one of those."

The serpent's body weaved around the girl's digits and its tail encircled her wrist in two loose coils.  The two heads were stretched down towards the ground, its tongues tasting the air around it.  Mairead had expected the funny-faced fellow to continue on his way after she'd shuffled off.  She had not expected to hear him moving up behind her. 

Mairead jumped and whirled around, her eyes wide as a rabbit who'd been cornered by one of their lurchers.  Almost as quickly, though, the moment passed.  Her fingers closed protectively around the serpent as her eyes narrowed at the man.  For a moment, Mairead pondered whether playing dumb was an option.  Probably not - the fellow clearly knew what Macha was.  She opted for standoffishness instead.  "So?  What's it to ye?" 

"I'm not trying to tame her," Mairead added.  What a foolish concept.  Taming a creature like Macha.  There would be no taming of her.  "I'm just trying to make a little extra money.  Flute's got nothing to do with Macha.  And, neither do you so bugger off." 

Maggie hated the cold. She hated winter. She didn't even like snow, because it meant she had to shovel it. So as she walked through Hogsmeade, she kept her head down against the wind and buried her hands in her pockets, muttering crossly every time the wind swiped at her face. At the very least, her muttering caused the other people walking along the pavement to give her a wide berth.

She was supposed to meet Mairead at the Three Broomsticks this afternoon, but she'd arrived a little earlier with the intent of wandering around and taking in the sights. Ha. It wasn't long before she headed towards the pub, pausing when she heard a familiar, irritated voice pipe up near the back of the Three Broomsticks.

Maggie headed towards it, immediately worried. Hearing something about Macha, a flute, and buggering off, she paused when she saw Adon talking to the girl. Maggie blinked at him in surprise, then focused on Mairead, who looked... horrible. Her hair was a mess and the state of her clothes were even worse. A mixture of guilt, fear, and anger rose up and she reacted before she could think about it. The kid should have told her she needed a new winter coat!

"Mairead!" Maggie strode forward, stopping short when she noticed the striped snake wrapped around her hands. The snake with two heads. What the hell!

"What the hell?!" She exclaimed, glancing at Adon for an explanation. "Adon? Why is she holding a runespoor?"

Mags glared at the two of them as if they had planned this just to make her panic.The Runespoor seemed content where it was for now, though obviously they needed to get the kid away from it.

Adon rolled back onto his heels, sucking in his breath and frowning as the girl lashed out. Better to make an indication of moderate deference, rather than trivial belittling or authoritative questioning. "Welll..." he drew out in a sigh, "actually--"

"What the hell?!" He knew that voice. Despite himself, he grinned as he turned his head. Maggie'd call the waif by name: Mairead. Well, that was important. "Magg--" he began to greet, but she was barreling on: "Adon? Why is she holding a runespoor?"

Adon kept the smile affixed, hands still in pockets. The wand was there, if he needed to deal with the snake. "Not sure, really. I was wondering myself." He wondered what the relation could be between the two. He knew Maggie had little siblings -- he remembered her comparing his relationship to Adon and Dree to her own with her siblings. Well, this was certainly something that might have happened between the two of them. Only it'd be Adon with the Runespoor and Dreogan looking like Holy Hell.

"Mai--" he trailed off. "I'm Adon." Like she cared. Still, it couldn't help with a little rapport. "You already know Maggie. So," he said, looking back to Maggie as though he routinely conversed with child buskers in possession of highly dangerous creatures, "how do you two know each other? And," Adon said, pointing to the Runespoor, "let's not leave Macha out of the introductions."

Oh good grief!

Mairead was happy to see Maggie, of course.  The woman was cool and fun and knew how to do more amusing things than read and write and all of that.  But, it was clear she was going to make some annoying big deal out of the whole Macha thing, too. And, it was so not necessary.  Couldn't they both see she had the situation completely under control? 

"It's not a big deal!"  Mairead quipped back at Maggie when she demanded an explanation from the bloke.  It wasn't!  So, why were they making it out to be one?  "She's not doin' nothin' - so just leave us the bloody 'ell alone!"  The last bit was directed at this scarred Adon fellow.  "I had her since October, alright?  And she's been fine.  Can ye just take a chill pill?" 

Why was she holding Macha?  Wasn't it obvious?  "I could put her down but she don't like anyone else.  I don't want her to bite no one."  In fact, with the additional company, the serpent was getting a little agitated.  "Alright.  Maybe we'll put you away for now," she told the snake, entirely oblivious to her shift in languages.  She careful coiled the runespoor in the palm of her hand and slipped it into her pocket and tugged the zipper closed once it was safely inside.  The plaid pattern on her wool coat did wonders to camouflage the bulging coil. 


"Yeah - she said that," she offered, looking up from her pocket and nodding towards Maggie when Adon introduced himself.  The first question was hard, though.  Introductions.  Somehow, now didn't seem the time to explain, in detail, how Maggie and Mairead had met.  She didn't feel a need to be forthcoming about setting three crates of puffskeins loose on Diagon Alley.  Especially given the pilfered puffskein in her pocket.  "I don't know.  I met her over the summer.  In Diagon.  She helped me ... with me schooling over the summer.  And, I found Macha caught in some weird trap or somethin' when I was goin' down Knockturn.  She was so hungry, she'd eaten one of her heads.  I had to help her outta it and I just nursed her back to health.  I didn't do nothin' wrong."

Adon grinned at her in greeting, like talking over a runespoor was a common occurrence and there was no danger whatsoever in the situation. Crazy Auror. Maggie frowned slightly, annoyed that she wanted to smile back.

He also seemed overly concerned with knowing everybody's names. When he mentioned Macha the snake, Maggie gave him a look. He was encouraging the kid! Naming the thing and letting Mairead cart it around like a pet would not help anyone! The snake was moving restlessly and any second now, it was going to sink its fangs into the child's arm, so no, Maggie could not and would not take a chill pill!

No matter that the last statement was directed at Adon.

Maggie opened her mouth, about to demand that she set the snake down right now and let the adults handle it, when suddenly the girl spoke to it.

Maggie froze, and shared a startled look with Adon. Parseltongue was a very rare ability with an... interesting reputation. She watched, too surprised to interject when Mairead tucked the runespoor away in her pocket as if it were as harmless as a puffskein.

Mairead went on with the introductions, explaining that Maggie had helped her with her schooling over the summer. That was true enough. Adon would have probably gotten a laugh over how they'd met, but that could be saved for later. Now, the very important thing that everybody seemed to be overlooking except for her was the runespoor in Mairead's pocket and--

The kid's hands.

"I know you didn't do anything wrong," Maggie muttered, distracted by the reddish tint to the girl's fingers. "Is that frostbite?" She exclaimed, moving forward and glancing at Adon to get his opinion. "My god!" She went on before they had a chance to reply, scrambling to take off her gloves and shoving them at the kid. For good measure, she took off her scarf and draped it around Mairead's neck, frowning at the ragged coat that didn't look like it would last another day.

"Why didn't you tell me you needed new winter clothes?" She shook her head, exasperated and feeling guilty. Maggie looked at Adon. "We need to get her someplace warm, and then figure out the... issue." The issue called Macha, of course.