Dogs of War

Blaise had woken the next day to his mother's customary kiss on the forehead. Some days Blaise was afraid he would forget what she looked like because he saw her so little. So he looked forward to the way she woke him up, early in the mornings as the sun was just starting to filter through the windows and to rest on his face as he slept, curled up on the couch. It gave him five minutes alone with her so that he could study her features and fix them in her mind in case, one day, she left and never came back.

She always looked tired now. Her brown hair, which had been long, down to the middle of her back when they lived in Italy and was now cut short because it got in the way, was limp. Sometimes Blaise thought he saw gray hairs but his mother was only thirty-three. Wizards didn't really start getting old until they reached ninety or a hundred, all the books said so. Her blue eyes were usually bright when she woke him up, but there were dark circles under them.

Today she had been moving a little stiffly and Blaise knew that she was going to have a hard time at both of her jobs if she didn't heal the bruises he *knew* she had from the noises they'd made last night while he laid awake in the dark and the creaking of the bedsprings, just slightly softer than her whimpers.

Usually he just stayed in bed, not that the couch was any real bed, not like at home, while he watched her finish getting ready and make breakfast for himself and his father. Sometimes he would get up and help.

Today, without a word, Blaise had got up and did everything she normally did, telling her to sit down and rest. She needed it more than he did. When he passed the bedroom door on his way to bringing her coffee, he saw that his father was still asleep in the bed, sprawled over the sheets with the duvet kicked on the floor. Then, his father was never up at this time unless he hadn't gone to sleep the night before, so Blaise wasn't surprised.

She was still sitting on the couch where he had left her, with her eyes closed. "Her-r-e, Mama," he told her in French. His father didn't like when they spoke French much but he knew that his mother missed her family in France.

Sometimes he wondered why they never visited -- he'd only seen his mother's family once -- but asking Faust about it had only brought trouble to both of them so he didn't say anything anymore.

"Thank you, Blaise," she said softly, leaning over to kiss his forehead again.

"Y-you s-should heal yours-self."

And then she gave him the look. The one she always gave him when he suggested it and shook her head. "You're a good boy, Blaise." She sipped the coffee.

"W-why?" He frowned. "You sh-shan't be ab-ble to w-work."

Her eyes slid to the bedroom door where Faust slept. "I'll be fine. Opening at the Quidditch Supply Shop is always easy and Tom prefers me to cook at night rather than serve."

The message was clear. It was against the rules. Blaise didn't understand all the rules, but he knew that his mother knew them very well. He frowned and sat down next to her, cuddling gently against her side. "I love y-you, Mama."

She kissed the top of his head, softly, like a whisper. "I love you, Blaise." They sat like that for a few moments before Claudia sipped her coffee again. "Are you still looking forward to Hogwarts?"

"Of c-course, Mama!"

"Good. I wish I could afford to send you to Beauxbatons, where I went. But Hogwarts is a good school. I'll make certain you go."

Blaise didn't really understand this, as he'd never had a chance to talk about Beauxbaton. "W-why c-can't I? Does B-Beauxbat-ton cost more?"

"Yes. It requires a tuition that Hogwarts does not. Many families still donate to Hogwarts, of course, but until the other major schools -- Beauxbaton and Durmstrang -- it does not necessitate it, do you see? You must still buy your own supplies, but it is not necessary for you to pay for schooling, if you cannot afford it or even do not wish to. I don't imagine many families who can afford it do not wish to, of course. It's because Hogwarts is the only formal magical school here," she answered quietly.

He knew that there were 'informal' schools, for those with magic but not enough to get into Hogwarts or for those too poor to even afford the supplies or who were not human enough to be granted attendance -- a lot of those families lived in Knockturn after all -- but they weren't very good, he didn't think. Or completely legal, like most the things in the Alley.

"T-thank you, Mama," he told her quietly. She was working so hard, at two jobs, to pay for food and take care of them. He would work really hard at his new job so he could afford to pay for his own supplies.

She smiled at him and he was reminded. "D-did I tell you ab-bout my new job?" She had come in late last night.

"No! You have a job?"

He ducked his head. "Y-yes. I wanted to h-help out-t."

"What are you doing?" She sounded pleased for him as she took a long drink of coffee.

"H-helping out at P-papa's w-work. C-clerk."

"You're helping your father?" Her voice rose slightly and she looked worried.

He nodded again. "C-clerking. Fi-fifteen sickles a w-week. I'll h-have enough to buy my own w-wand and some b-books."

"You don't have to, Blaise. I'll buy them for you."

"You d-don't h-have to! I'll h-help out."

"Shhh." She looked over at the open bedroom door. Faust snorted and rolled over, still asleep. "I know you want to help out, Blaise, but I wish you'd find something else to do rather than work with your father."

"W-w-why? I w-was his sugg-ggestion."

"Because your father..." She looked over at the open door again, hesitating. "He works with dangerous men, Blaise. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll b-be careful," Blaise whispered back. "P-please, Mama. He'll b-be m-m-mad if I s-say no n-now."

"I know." She smoothed his hair down and kissed his forehead. "I have to go now. Be careful. If they ask you to do anything that you don't think a clerk would do, say no."

He nodded, though he didn't entirely know what she meant, and watched her get up and walk stiffly over to the sink, rinsing out the cup. Then she collected her bag, smoothed her hair, and was gone, even as he curled back up on the couch with his blanket and pillow and tried to ease off into sleep.

It was a long time coming, with the image of her worried face so clear in his mind, but finally he managed, drifting off as the sun made its way over the couch. He slept fitfully, dreaming of his mother as she worked, until he heard his father groaning and the bed creaking. That meant it was time to get up before his father did. Faust didn't like Blaise staying in bed late.

By the time Faust had wandered into the main room Blaise was making toast. His father headed for the coffee first. He was even worse about it than Blaise's mother was which surprised him sometimes because Claudia would have needed it more. He quickly darted over to bring up milk, cream, and sugar for his father while the toast toasted. Faust grunted his thanks and took a long drink of the hot coffee. He grimaced. Faust did that every morning -- the first drink was always black and after that he would add in milk, cream and sugar. Blaise smiled and carefully buttered the two pieces of toast when they popped up, leaving the previous ones unbuttered, and put the new ones on a plate in front of his father.

"Morning." Faust folded one of the pieces of toast. "Leave that and go check on the potion. Tell me if it's dried out." He took a large bite.

With a short nod, he left his toast and peaked into the living room, walking over to check on the potion. It was completely dried and he reported that back simply, sitting down at the table to eat his own breakfast.

They both ate quietly, except for the sound of chewing and the clink of Faust's cup on the table. "Are you dressed and ready to go?"

"I n-need to g-go to the t-t-toilet," Blaise replied quietly, swallowing down the last of the dry toast and coughing a bit.

"Hurry up. We need to get moving."

He hurried out of the chair and to the small loo, with a bath as well because their flat was like that, and did his business. After washing his hands quickly he took a few careful drinks out of the sink in order to wash down the toast and soothe his throat. He looked down at his robes from yesterday. He only had two other robes and they were dingier and dirty than these. He wouldn't change.

Happy as he was going to be with this, he went back into the living room where his father was waiting and quickly fell into line. Blaise wanted to reach out and take his father's hand as they exited the flat and made their way down the street and finally, as they were about to exit the building, he did, gently.

Blaise smiled and stared down at the cobbled streets as they walked. "T-thank you for doing th-his."

His father smiled down at him easily, squeezing his hand. "It's good to see you taking initiative, son."

He grinned back at Faust. "I can-n't wait to go to sch-hool and I w-want to help out." He paused slowly and then added, since his dad seemed to be in a good mood, "Mama w-was h-hurting this m-morning, P-papa. I'm w-worried ab-bout her."

Faust dropped his hand. "Your mother will be fine, Blaise. She's just working hard to help support the family."

Blaise frowned and tried to take his father's hand again, saying, "Yes, s-sir," quickly to make up for whatever he'd done.

"Good boy."

Faust fell silent and Blaise decided to watch where they were going in case he had to come here alone some days. Knockturn Alley was bigger than Diagon Alley and more than just an 'alley' if one was being realistic. It expanded out and then into the underground of London, in what his dad said were abandoned places by Muggles. Cellars, storages, and tube stations, mostly. Blaise had been really surprised the when he first saw the place and how big it was. Faust had explained that it was really the 'second wizard city' in Britain, the first being Hogsmeade by Hogwarts. Except it wasn't really a city because it was contained in and using places from Muggle London.

They were walking toward an abandoned building. Or at least it looked abandoned, with boarded windows and doors. Blaise had seen people who had no homes sleeping in places like this. It seemed like an odd place to keep an office but he wasn't going to ask question as he was led towards it and inside. The inside was as abandoned as the out, but Faust led him in even further, dropping his hand again and taking him down twisting stairs into an underground place. The back of his neck tickled. It was sort of scary down here, dark and full of shadows. He could hear his father fumbling for a cigarette but he didn't bother to light his wand.

Finally, they ended up in a set of brightly lit grey rooms that stunk of potions and other things and were sectioned off by half-walls, like cubicles they had for revision at the libraries he had gone to. The brighter lighting put him more at ease and he sighed at relief, peering around curiously.

"Come on, it's this way." Faust had switched to English as he pointed toward a room in the far corner.

He could recognise he was in a lab of some sort, but he didn't dawdle as his father walked stiffly towards the door he was pointing to. Then they were through and he was in an office, or set of offices. The two men from the day before and a few others were there, smoking and jabbing their fingers at something on the center of a desk.

Only one of the men looked up when they entered, but then all the others stopped and did too, staring at them, and Blaise resisted the urge to hide behind his father like an infant. The first man to look was at the seat of the desk and seemed like the most important one, though if Blaise was asked how, he couldn't have answered.

"C'mere." The man gestured him forward. He was wearing plain Muggle clothes, just trousers and a white shirt and boots. Faust pushed Blaise forward. He swallowed. "I'm Jack," the man said. "You're the kid who does numbers, right?"

He nodded quickly and said, carefully, "Yes, sir," with barely a stutter.

The man, Jack, looked me up and down. "You'll be working with Adder." He gestured to his left and Blaise looked over at a man, with ratty blond hair and a pale complexion. "He don't get out much," Jack explained when he saw Blaise's expression. Some of the men in the room laughed. "The deal was fifteen sickles a week, right?"

Blaise nodded. "For th-three days a w-week," he said. "T-that was t-the deal."

Jack laughed. "Clever kid too. Show me how clever you are." He did the same thing the first man, who was at the other side of the desk now, had done and rattled off numbers, making them more complicated. Each time 'Adder' confirmed Blaise's answers, until Jack grinned. "Might have a bonafide genius on your hands, Faust. How come you never said nothing about him before? If the kid's quiet, knows how to keep a secret, you know, then he might be of real use to this organisation."

His father shook his head. "Kid's quiet all right. Didn't know he could do that shit he's so quiet, you see. Barely makes a sound. For all he talks, he might as well be dumber than a sack of bricks."

Blaise swallowed again and stared at the floor. He wasn't dumb. He just didn't like to be teased because he stuttered. And Faust didn't like listening to him trip all over his words.

"Hey, watch it, Faust. Don't talk that way about my little genius here. Go on, kid, get working. Adder'll tell you what to do."

He nodded quickly and went over to Adder, sending his father one last look. He wasn't stupid.

Adder grinned at him. His teeth were yellow and rotting. "Bet you think you're somethin' special? Just a poor dog, like the rest of us. Sit." He pointed to a chair on the other side of the desk.

He shook his head quickly. "N-not sp-special." Then he sat.

"Okay, kid, let's see what you can really do." Adder pushed some parchments across the desk to him. "Those are supply lists. What I want you to do is total up the costs for each individual item over all the purchases. When you're done, tell me."

Blaise nodded and stared down at the long list of numbers with a single-minded focus, ordering and shuffling them in his head until they were broken down in easily addable bits and pieces in his head. Then he added groups, creating ten sums, and when he came to the remainder, ignored that for a moment in order to add up the rest. Finally, he added on the 'remainders' -- the parts that didn't add up to a full ten -- and came up with a set of sums, writing that down quickly. "D-done."

"Bloody hell!" Adder scowled at him. "You'd better not be messing with me, kid." He leaned over the desk and jerked them back, looking over the parchments. "All right," he said finally. "Jack!"

"I ass-ssigned each item a l-letter, st-starting from the t-top," he said. "Um. S-so, A w-would be w-wormw-wood." More than just basic letters made it very confusing.

"I don't care how you did it, kid, as long as it's done," Jack said as he walked over, taking the papers. "They're robbing us on the jobberknoll feathers. Someone had better have a talk with them."

"Will do, boss," one of the men said.

Blaise looked down at the table and noticed that nearly fifteen minutes had passed on those numbers. It seemed like a long time to him and he thought he could have done it faster, but everyone else seemed happy, even his dad.

"Good job, kid. You'll do good around here." Jack grinned. He had perfect, white teeth.

Blaise smiled back slowly and nodded. "C-can I d-do more n-numbers?" He liked numbers and already this was more interesting than home.

"'Course. Don't let him get bored, Adder."

"No, boss. There's plenty of work."

He smiled a bit wider and happily took the papers Adder gave him. This was great.

Adder explained what he would be doing. It was a larger verion of the last, where Blaise was going to be tracking by item the cost and compare that to how much of a batch of whatever item was leftover. This would be harder since Blaise would have to calculate, approximately, how much each bit leftover was worth from the total of the whole.

He settled down to work excitedly, focusing on the numbers and the way they made sense and how he was being helpful and good and even earning money for it. His dad would be so proud of him and each time he gave a new stack of papers back to Adder, he glanced over at his father, who was leaning over the papers on the main desk and talking with Jack.

Faust didn't seem to be paying much attention to him but Blaise was *certain* he'd notice the large stack of papers he'd have done and calculated by the time they were finished. And *Jack* did seem to be noticing, a lot. The third time Blaise looked up and over, he smiled back. Blaise looked down quickly, not wanting to seem like he wasn't working hard. The sixth time, Jack met his eyes again and smacked Faust on the arm lightly, pointing and saying something. Faust looked over, saw the pile of papers, and grinned at Blaise. He smiled back. His father *did* notice!

Adder scowled. "Get back to work, mutt."

His shoulders tensed and he went back to staring at the paper before writing the next sum, 3 knuts, down. He was working. Hard.

It was only when his stomach started to growl painfully, worst than the normal pangs, that he realised it was lunchtime and he'd been working for hours.

Adder was scowling at him. "Go get something to eat. I can't concentrate with all that noise."

He swallowed quietly and pushed his seat away. He didn't have anything to eat with him. Where was he supposed to get something? Finally he decided that the only thing he could do was go over to his father and he did so, quietly waiting until there was a pause in conversation and both of them noticed him.

"What is it?" Faust asked irritably.

He winced. "Ad-dder said to go g-get food. Th-the growling was dist-tracting him."

"Feed the boy, Faust. Can't let my little genius here starve, not after doing so much work," Jack said, looking straight at Blaise's father.

Faust scowled back but dug into his robes and pulled out a few sickles. "There, go get something to eat."

"Be back here in an hour, kid."

"Does he even know how?" Adder pointed out snidely.

"I c-can go h-home and g-get something. I n-needed permission to leave-e," he near whispered, handing the sickles back. He didn't want to waste money.

"You've raised a frugal kid, Faust, I'm impressed." Jack grinned. "Go on, kid. A growin' boy's gotta eat."

He left the sickles with his father and nodded, darting towards the door. He hardly needed an hour to eat. Blaise concentrated on trying to remember his way out of the building. It was confusing in the dark and he couldn't see. Forcing himself to relax, he pictured it in his mind, calling up the images of how he'd made his way in and played them backwards, until he could see above ground and sunlight.

From there it was an easy trip home and he hurried through the streets and then hurried eating lunch and then hurried back again, noticing that he hadn't spent more than half an hour away when he made his way back to Jack's offices, panting only a little.

He'd had to dodge Scratcher on the way. Blaise wasn't entirely certain why the old man with the ragged hair and beard was called Scratcher by everyone in Knockturn yet, but he *had* noticed that everyone, even the not all human people, avoided spending time alone with him. He made Blaise nervous.

Still, he made it back to the offices in one piece and not half as hungry as when he began and ready to work. This was actually really fun and not as half as boring as sitting at home reading the same books over and over. He sort of wished Adder was more friendly, or at least didn't seem to hate him, since Blaise figured they'd be spending a lot of time together.

Except that that didn't end up being right because when he came back, his dad was gone and so were most of the men in the room -- doing their jobs he supposed -- including Adder. The only left was Jack, who was sitting at his desk reading something important looking, and holding a half-eaten sandwich in his hand.

He looked up. "It's only been thirty minutes, kid."

Blaise bit his lip, wondering if what he'd done was wrong, and told Jack that he hadn't needed more time and wanted to get back to work.

"Have you even got work left to do?"

"I -- I d-don't know." He looked down. He should have taken the hour he was given. He'd just wanted to work extra hard and show everyone how good he was.

"It's fine, kid. Go ahead and go back to what you were doing. You're not bothering anyone here."

He nodded, hurrying over to the desk only to discover the papers he'd been working on were gone. Now what was he supposed to do? Should he sit here? Or ask Jack? Or look through Adder's piles of parchment for something to do? He didn't think that Adder would like that and sitting here wouldn't be earning his money, so finally he went back over to Jack, standing next to the desk quietly until he was noticed.

"D-do you h-have someth-thing for me to d-do, s-sir?"

Jack finished chewing his bite of sandwich. "What?"

"Ad-dder's p-papers are gone and I s-shouldn't touch his st-stuff without his per-permission, s-sir." He swallowed and looked down. "D-do you h-have someth-thing or sh-should I find-d Ad-dder?"

Blaise could feel Jack's gaze on him for a long moment before he looked up and met the calculated dark eyes.

"You any good at remembering things other than numbers, kid?" he asked finally.

After a moment of hesitation, Blaise nodded. He was good at remembering things but he was horrible at communicating them. "Y-yes, sir."

"Faces, names, and the like?"

He nodded again. Numbers were easier to remember and deal with than people but his mother always said he had a good memory. Blaise couldn't remember ever forgetting a face or a name.

"I see." Jack seemed to think on this for a long moment before he open a drawer and pulled a stack of papers out. "Pull up a chair, these aren't to leave my desk. I want you to organise them by incident and name and commit it all to memory."

Blaise down and frowned a little. Incident? He glanced at the parchments. Oh, Jack must mean dates. He started reading. But Jack didn't mean dates, it was pretty clear, when Blaise saw all the 'INCDT' markings next to different combinations of letters and numbers. It looked like a code. Oh, this was sort of neat. He grinned.

Maybe each of the 'incidents' were potions? He knew, vaguely, that most of the ingredients he had been tracking before with Adder were potions ingredients. Blaise had seen his father use them here and back in Italy. It didn't really matter though because even though he was able to recognise letter and number combinations in patterns and sort them that way, he couldn't make heads or tails of what it actually meant. When Jack asked him if he understood what he was reading, he answered honestly. He had no idea what the code meant.

"How much more d'you have?" Jack asked next, trying to peer and see how much of it he'd read.

"Three pages." Blaise thought he was three-fourths done, but his brain was starting to feel a little weird. He didn't know why.

"All right." Jack leaned back in his chair and shoved his hand into a bag. He pulled out a second sandwich. "Here. It's ham."

He blinked a bit, looking between the sandwich and Jack. What did he want Blaise to do with it?

Jack stared back. "Kids are always hungry, aren't they?" He was, but he didn't know about all kids. He nodded anyway. "Eat. I have plenty." Jack waved the sandwich in his face.

Blaise took it quickly and unwrapped it, looking at Jack uncertainly. Jack had turned back to his desk and was eating what was left of his own sandwich. He took the first cautious bite, glancing around to see if he'd get yelled at for being greedy. There wasn't a peep. Jack seemed totally engrossed in his own food. Blaise looked around again and started shoving the food into his mouth. He had to eat, and eat fast, in case Jack changed his mind.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. You're going to choke or something," Jack said.

He swallowed and looked at Jack, about to offer what little of the sandwhich was left back. "S-sorry."

"That's better. Try not to finish the rest in one bite."

Blaise eyed the older man and took smaller, slow bites, like he was used to doing at home. At least, when Faust wasn't in a bad mood. It took awhile to finish the sandwich that way but not once did Jack yell at him, not even when he accidentally had a few crumbs fall on the papers.

"All done reading?"

He nodded as he swallowed the last of the sandwich.

"Can you repeat the first ten lines of the first page?" Jack took the parchment back and set them face down on the desk.

Blaise struggled to remember the first page, making certain he had the order right in his head since they looked so similar, and then pictured what he thought must be it, repeating what he'd read carefully.

Jack picked the pieces of parchment up and checked his answers. "And the last five on the second page?"

He reached up to rub his forehead and focused on those. His head felt *really* weird. Almost like his brain was tired.

"You all right, kid?"

He nodded quickly, not wanting to see like he was skimping, and rattled off the numbers.

"Good job, kid." Jack grinned at him. "You don't have to stand there."

Blaise swallowed and brought a chair from nearby over, sitting in it and putting a hand to his head.

"Does your head hurt every time you have to remember things?"

"It's-s fine," he whispered, dropping his hand. He shouldn't complain like an ungrateful little brat.

"Doesn't look that way, kid." Jack frowned. "What's your name?"

"B-Blaise."

"Right. Go home, Blaise. I don't want you hurting that genius brain of yours."

"I-I." His father would be angry at him for leaving early.

"You already helped Adder finish out his work for the week. There's not much else to do."

"D-dad'll b-be mad-d."

Jack fixed Blaise with a heavy look. "Your dad will do what I tell him. He works for me, kid. I told you to go home. There's nothing to get angry about."

Blaise bit his lip. "Am I-I an-nnoying you?"

"No."

"It's b-boring at home."

"It's going to be boring at here if it hurts you to memorise things."

"It d-doesn't! I j-just -- N-not used-d to it-t. All I d-did at h-home w-was clean and r-read the same b-b-books."

Jack frowned a little. "All right. If you want to stay," he pointed to some boxes next to his desk full of parchments. "You can start memorising those."

"Yes, s-sir." He wanted to be useful and it didn't hurt more than his hand did when it got slammed, did it? He swallowed and reached over for the first box.

"I shan't be testing you on those, kid. Not yet at least."

Blaise nodded quickly and went to work, though he could feel that he was slower now, the focusing more drawn out and difficult. It wasn't hard, really, but it made him hurt a bit. He barely noticed when the room started to get noisy again as the men came back. He did notice the smells and blinked, shaking his head briefly. His temples were throbbing now, not bad, but constantly. So he looked around the room. Faust was directing the men how to make the potion. When the pain went away a little bit he looked back down and focused anew, knowing that he had to do well if he wanted to stay and not be spending most of the long, hot days of summer in ths flat, staring at the same pages. He would make his father proud of him and make enough money to buy a wand.

Hogwarts was worth this.

It wasn't until he felt nauseous that he stopped, curling his legs against his chest in the chair, and setting the parchment he had been focusing on down. He'd made it halfway through the stuffed box. They wouldn't mind if he took a short break, would they? He swallowed. Just a small one. Until he didn't feel sick anymore.

"What are you doing?" he heard Faust snap a few minutes later.

Blaise flinched. "S-s-sorry. I needed a br-reak."

Jack looked over at him like it'd forgotten Blaise was there. "Christ, kid, you're sweating."

"S-sorry." He stared at the floor and picked a piece of parchment back up. He should get back to work.

"Are you being lazy?" Faust asked, using the tone.

Blaise shook his head very quickly, then winced when that hurt. Maybe if he asked very nicely, his father would cast a pain relief spell? "P-papa?" he tried quietly.

"What, Blaise?" Faust was scowling now.

"My h-head h-hurts. Will you c-cast a s-spell for it?" he asked in Italian.

"What's he saying, Faust?" Jack asked.

"The boy's whinging about his head."

He flinched and hunched down. "Sp-spiacente. S-sorry."

"Heal the kid, Faust," Jack ordered.

His father did the spell with a scowl, because he didn't really believe in healing spells, but Blaise looked at him gratefully as most of the pain went away. "T-thank you." Then he said thank you to Jack too for good measure.

"Think you're up to memorising more, kid? Or do you just wanna go home?"

He wanted to just stay here and watch the people, but he didn't think that was a choice so he said, "I c-can memor-rise."

"Good show." Jack grinned. "If you need anything while you're working, you just ask me or your father."

"M-may I h-have some w-water, p-please?"

"Of course. Neil, get the kid some water," Jack called.

It was only a few minutes before a woman, who Blaise didn't think was the Neil called to, came back with a glass of water. She grinned down at him, her breasts jutting out of her very small shirt when she leaned over to ruffle his hair. "Cute kid, who's he belong to? Here's your water, Blaise. I'm Lupa."

Blaise took the glass and sipped it. "F-f-faust Zab-bini is my father. T-thanks."

"Jack Frost was partly responsible for a cutey like you?" She laughed. "Poor you."

He frowned at her, confused. "W-who?"

"Your dad. Faust. Frost. Cold like ice and prone to one hell of a storm."

He snuck a look over at his father. That didn't sound like the sort of nickname he'd like much. Faust didn't like to be insulted. "Y-yes, ma'am. He's my f-father."

Lupa gave him a snort. "Bloody hell. 'Ma'am?' Do I look like an old bitch to you?"

He shook his head quickly.

"Call me Lupa."

A man snorted from nearby. "Call her bitch, it's more correct."

Lupa. That meant... wolf didn't it? "Are you a w-w-w --" He stopped.

She laughed again and leaned down, grinning at him. "Werewolf?" He swallowed roughly and nodded. "Don't worry. I don't eat little children."

He concentrated on drinking his water and not thinking about working with a werewolf. Of course Blaise knew there were werewolves here. There were Orcusians and part-veelas and all sorts of other non or part humans in Knockturn Alley. They generally weren't accepted anywhere else. That didn't mean he'd ever met one before! That he knew of. If Lupa hadn't told him, he wouldn't know.

"Why aren't you in school anyway, kid?" she asked after a minute, dragging up her own chair. When Jack looked at her, she said, "Work don't start for an hour yet, I'm relaxing."

"We c-can't af-ford it."

She blinked. "The neighbourhood schools don't cost anything, kid, except maybe some books. Most Muggle ones don't either, I'm told."

"B-because we're from I-italy, it's h-hard to get the papers. My m-mother says we c-can't afford the bribes to m-make the Ministry work f-faster. So I l-learn on my own."

Jack and Lupa shared a look, but neither one said anything for a long moment. Finally, Jack asked, "How long have you been out of school?"

"S-since we moved here, s-sir. About t-t-three years. But I s-start Hogwarts n-next term. That's w-why I want to w-work, so I can buy my own wand. I'll b-be really g-good, I pr-romise!"

"You plan on buying your own supplies?"

Blaise nodded quickly.

"You come to the right place to make money," Luna grinned.

Jack frowned at her. "I'm not planning on using him like that, Lupa."

"What other use do you have for a cutey like this, Jack?"

"L-like w-what?" Blaise asked before he had a chance to stop himself and then he hunched down, waiting to be smacked for interrupting. He *knew* better.

"Nothing you need to worry about, kid. Stick with your numbers."

"Helper for Adder, eh?"

"Exactly, Lupa. And don't be putting none of *that* nonsense in his head."

He was a bit confused now, but he knew better than to ask anymore questions. Instead, he tried, "I l-like n-numbers."

Jack smiled at him. "Good. It's always better when someone enjoys his work."

He smiled back and nodded, sipping more of his juice as Lupa looked him over. "Too bad." She laughed. "Just kiddin', Jack. Clever kid, then?"

He flushed as Jack nodded. "Surprisingly clever."

"Would'na thought Jack Frost had it in him."

Jack gave Lupa a hard look. She gave him a sweet smile and leaned over to ruffle Blaise's hair again. "You work hard and Jack'll be giving you important things in no time. Make your daddy proud or something."

"I want t-to. I c-can't wait to go to Hogwarts." Blaise gave them both a tiny smile.

"Why bother with that shit? Go local, kid. Then you can work and school."

"It's the b-best wizard s-school in Britain."

Jack nodded. "And he can work summers."

"I c-could come back and work n-next summer too?" Blaise thought that would be brilliant. It meant he'd have money for supplies then and wouldn't have to rely on his mother or father.

"If you work out," Jack replied seriously, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "You seem like a good kid. Clever, quiet, hard-working. Stay that way and you'll have a job." He dropped his hand. "How's the memorisation going?"

"I'm h-h-halfway through t-this box." Blaise pointed to the first box on the pile.

"Good. That's enough for today. I don't want to tire out that brain of yours." At Blaise's look, he added, "You can stay here until your dad goes home, if you're quiet. Any trouble out of you and you're out until tomorrow."

"I s-shan't be any trouble, I promise." But he didn't feel right about just sitting here and doing nothing. "There isn't an-nything I can d-do?"

Lupa laughed. "I'll take him. Show him around a bit."

"Keep him out of trouble, Lupa."

She pushed herself up and reached over for Blaise's hand.

"And don't let him see anything that might scare him. Got to protect the children, you know."

Lupa scoffed. "I was a child in Knockturn Alley."

"And I have bigger plans for this one so don't let him get into trouble, understand?" Jack replied sharply.

"I get it, Jack. I'll treat him like a right little prince."

"I sh-shan't be tr-trouble. P-promise."

"I don't doubt that, cutey." Lupa took his hand. "Finished with your water?"

He sipped the last of it up and nodded, looking around for where to wash and dry the glass and put it away.

"Leave it, cutey. Jack'll take care of it."

He looked at Jack. Jack nodded and gestured them away. So, Blaise set the cup down carefully, out of the way, and stood up, taking his chair back to where he had found it before he headed over for Lupa. Close-by, he could smell her perfume and it made his nose itch.

He rubbed his nose. "I'll take you around to meet the girls. They'll adore you."

"G-girls?" he asked as she took his hand like he was a little kid and started leading him through the offices.

Except instead of heading outside, where he'd been before, she was going a different direction, still underground.

"The other girls Jack runs, like me." She looked down at him and shook her head. "You really are an innocent, aren't you?"

"Oh. I us-sually just av-void th-them."

"You mean the ones up on the *street*?" Her voice held a note of distate. "Those aren't Jack's girls. Those are amatuers or women and men so poor they trade sex for food or clothing."

"Oh-h." If Jack... had prostitutes, what was he doing with those potions?

"Come on, the house is just around the corner." She laughed. "Well, it's not really a house but you'll see."

"W-what else does J-Jack d-do?" he asked quietly as he continued to follow her.

"Lot'sa things, really. He's a dabbler. Little bit here, little bit there. Jack's got his fingers in everyone's pies when it comes to the Alley."

Blaise nodded. "I l-like n-numbers," he said finally. He didn't need to know what the numbers were about.

Lupa grinned. "Better you than me, cutey."

He asked her if she liked working for Jack then, because Jack seemed really nice to him but he'd only known him not even a full day yet.

"Oh, Jack's a doll," Lupa told him breezily. "Most of us came to him. He takes care of his people and a lot of the girls were pretty bad off before they found him. Just don't steal from him and I'm certain you two'll get along famously."

"B-b-bad off?"

They turned the corner. "Beaten, abused, half-dead. Half-mad. Some of them were like me, only partially human and not able to make a living in either the Muggle or the magical worlds."

"Oh." He nodded slowly and told her that Jack seemed really nice.

"He can be." She stopped and turned to a door. It looked like they were in front of another warehouse. Lupa knocked and the sounds echoed. "Open up, it's me!"

When the door slid open, answered by a woman who was only wearing half an outfit, Blaise quickly looked away and into the place as they entered. It was an abandoned tube station, not a warehouse, exactly, with areas sectioned off. The stairs down were blocked off at the far side. There were comfortable looking couches everywhere in the open portion of the station and it was darkly lit. Not enough that anyone would have trouble getting around but just dark enough to suggest a bedroom or privacy.

Lupa stepped inside and pulled Blaise along with her. "Hey, everyone, come out and meet our guest!"

He swallowed and took a step to hide behind her, ignoring the perfume smell as he pressed his face against her side. He didn't want to be noticed!

"No one's going to hurt you here, cutey," Lupa told him quietly, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "You're one o' us now."

"Looks shy," the woman that addressed the door said, staring down at him. Then she ran a hand through her long blonde hair and looked at Lupa. "How'd you pick him up?"

"I'm just watching him. He's Jack Frost's son."

"You're jokin'!"

"Swear, Julia. Blaise, this is Julia. She's one of the girls. Julia, this is Blaise Zabini. He's workin' for Jack now. Good with numbers." She squeezed his shoulder. "Might want to go put on the rest of that shirt though. Jack was really keen on not exposing the kid to too much."

"Bother Jack." But Julia flounced off anyway, going behind one of the sectioned off areas.

Blaise noticed that her breasts bounced when she did that.

"Sounds like some of the girls are out," Lupa told him. "It's pretty quiet. Usually you can't get them to shut up."

"I heard that!"

But it didn't take long for a large group -- at least for Blaise -- to gather around, in various stages of make-up and dress and coo at him until he wanted to hide. They all agreed that he was a "cutey" and couldn't believe his father had been partly responsible for him and lots of other things. In all, there was about seven of them, six women, one of who looked fairly young, not all that much older than him, and a young man.

He watched the young man as he approarched Lupa and stared down at Blaise with something between amusement and... another thing Blaise wasn't certain about. Then he said, "Finding them younger than ever, are we? I thought this place didn't deal with kids."

"Oh, hush, Malus."

What was that supposed to mean? Why would he *want* to? He should have just gone home. It would have been boring but at least quiet.

The young man -- Malus -- didn't look happy either. "It doesn't, right?"

Lupa rolled her eyes. "Of course not. This is Frost's kid, Blaise. He's a number-cruncher."

"Oh." Malus looked him up and down again.

"M-m-maybe I s-s-hould go?"

Then he smiled, just slightly, as if he wasn't certain if he wanted to smile or not. "No, stay. You're a skittish one, aren't you?"

Blaise just looked down at the floor. "He is pretty shy," Lupa said. "You hungry, Blaise? We've got food."

He shook his head. "J-jack f-fed me."

Malus gave a short, not-quite laugh and said, "How 'bout thirsty, then?"

"I'll get us all some tea," one of the girls offered. She was the young one, with light brown hair, who had asked him to call her after a bird. Blaise tried to remember what bird it was, picturing the way her mouth moved when she said it.

"That sounds good, Dove." Lupa looked around. "Why are we just standing here?" She led the group, minus Dove, to one of the couches.

Malus ended up on one side of him, placing Blaise in the middle of the couch, and leaned on the armrest in a way that looked uncomfortably stretchy for Blaise but seemed perfectly good to Malus. Set between the two adults, he scooted closer to Malus just because there was no weird perfume on him. The women talked between themselves as Blaise sat there, chatting about customers and preferences until Lupa told them to stuff it.

"Oh, come on. If it's going to be around us for long, he's hardly going to avoid this," the oldest woman said, rolling her eyes. "You don't mind, do you cutey?"

Blaise opened his mouth to answer but Lupa cut him off. "Jack's orders."

Dove returned with the tea and started pouring carefully for everyone. She gave Blaise his cup first. "T-thank you."

She smiled. "You're welcome, Blaise."

He gave her a small smile back and curled his legs up under him on the couch as he took a drink of his tea. He didn't have tea very often, or anything besides water, and this was nice.

"So what *can* we talk about, Lupa?"

"I c-can go," Blaise said quietly. "I d-don't w-want to cause p-p-problems."

"No, you sit right there, Blaise." Lupa ruffled his hair. "And drink your tea. We can talk about something other than sex and money like civilised people for once."

"Civlisation must be very dull," one of the woman, a blonde, who was lounging on the couch across from them said.

"I d-don't mind-d w-what you talk ab-bout."

Most of the women smiled at him and went back to their conversation. Lupa rolled her eyes.

Malus sighed. "It's probably best you don't, you know. Get mixed up in this. How did you get involved anyway?"

"I w-want to m-make money so I c-can go to Hogw-warts," he said before taking another long drink of his tea. "I m-might h-have enough for s-supplies after th-this summer."

"And his dad's involved anyway, Malus. Better Jack get ahold of him than some of the others," Lupa said, sounding pragmatic.

Malus didn't look very happy at that either but he nodded. "Hogwarts, then? Got your letter?"

Blaise nodded. He'd got it only two weeks before.

"Looking forward to it, too."

"You get to go to Hogwarts?" Dove asked softly.

He nodded. "In S-s-september." Claudia had promised that he would. Faust had promised. He knew he would.

"I always wanted to go." She looked down.

"Dove's a Squib," Lupa explained.

"O-oh." He didn't know what to say to that. Being a Squib had to be horrible.

"Ah, don't feel bad, Dove," Lupa told her. "You made it out in one piece which is more than most Squibs get."

She gave a sad smile and nodded before disappearing mostly behind her tea cup.

Malus snorted. "Being magical's not all that great anyway, Dove."

Blaise looked at Malus, surprised. That was what he wanted most of all. He wanted to be able to read the books and to be able to learn and even do his own healing spells now.

"If you're a Knockturn kid, you stay a Knockturn kid. It's just a matter of whether you end up dead in the Alley and when." Malus shook his head again.

Hogwarts was a good school. You could find a job and leave after you finished. His mother had told him so.

"Stop it. You're scaring him," Lupa said scowling.

"Good," Malus muttered. "He'll be better off for it."

"I w-want to g-get out of the Alley," he said quietly, staring down at his tea. More than anything. Hogwarts was the way to do that.

They sat quietly for a bit. One of the other women cleared her throat. "It's almost time to open up, Lupa."

"Oh. We need to get you back then, Blaise," she said, smiling at him lightly. "Malus, why don't you take him back? I need to finish getting ready."

"I'm not your errand boy, Lupa."

"I c-can f-find my own w-way."

"Please, Malus? Jack wouldn't be happy with him wandering around alone and you're dressed already."

"Oh all right. But you owe me." Malus unfolded himself and stood up. "Come on, I'll take you back."

Blaise finished his tea quickly and then stood, uncertain what to do with the cup, but once Lupa took it from him and nudged him towards the door, he had little choice but to follow Malus out of it. Malus pulled out his wand and lit it. The light burst out of the tip, exposing all of the dark corners.

"Y-you d-don't l-like me," Blaise whispered out. Then Malus whirled on him and he cringed back quickly, hunching his shoulders and lowering his head to make himself small. "S-sorry!"

"I'm not going to hit you, Blaise."

He kept himself small, just in case, and didn't look up. People didn't always do what they said.

When Malus's hand landed on his shoulder, he flinched, and he heard the man sigh. "Come on. I am going to tell you a few things, though." He tugged Blaise along by the shoulder and held his wand out with his other hand. "First, if you really want to get out of the Alley, don't get involved in the shit your father's in. That's just common sense. That shit got him in the Alley in the first place, dinnit? Second, work really, really hard at Hogwarts and hope like hell someone takes notice. That's important. You can't just be good, people have to know you're good." He shook his head and his hand moved with the action, shaking the light. "Third, and this is probably the most important, stop acting like such a fucking rabbit. 'Cause if you don't get out, people'll eat you alive for acting like that."

"I-I-I --" Blaise's throat closed up as he tried to respond. He couldn't stop working now. Then he'd never get to go to Hogwarts because his father would be angry *and* he wouldn't be able to buy a wand.

"You're already involved. Which makes you stupider than you think."

"H-h-how else am I g-going to get the money? I c-c-can't ask my m-mother!"

"Well, working for a man that sells drugs, sex, and anything else you can think of that's illegal is probably not the best way to go about making money if you can find another option. Any option," Malus said matter-of-factly. "But too later for that, innit? So, Jack likes you, does he? Thinks you're really clever. Good. Make certain it stays that way. If nothing else, make certain Jack continues to like you. A lot. That's the best way for a kid like you to survive."

The potions were drugs. His father sold drugs. His mother worked two jobs while his father made and sold drugs. The knot in his throat got tighter. Faust was going to be really angry that Blaise knew.

"You... hadn't put that together yet, had you?"

He shook his head and looked up at Malus. "You s-s-shan't tell?"

"Don't see a reason why I should," Malus answered easily. He sighed. "Hogwarts isn't everything, Blaise. Remember that."

"I d-d-don't unders-stand."

"What don't you understand?"

"W-what you mean about Hog-gwarts."

"I went to Hogwarts. It's not easy. What do you expect?" He still didn't understand. Blaise didn't expect Hogwarts to be easy at all. "I'm not talking the lessons." Malus shook his head. "What do you think those kids are going to think when they see you?"

Actually, he was sort of hoping they *wouldn't.* Then they would leave him alone. Malus looked down at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"I d-don't know."

"What they'll see is rubbish. Knockturn Alley rubbish."

"I d-d-don't want them to s-see me."

"What you want means pretty much fuck all, kid."

Blaise kept his mouth shut. He was *good* at not being noticed when he wanted to be.

"I just don't want you getting false hopes up, Blaise," he said finally. "You seem good enough. For a rabbit."

He frowned and pulled away, jerking his shoulder out of Malus's grip.

"What your dad does, what Jack does, what I do, they're nasty things that I can get ugly very quickly. Easily. But you know about ugly, don't you?"

Blaise met his eyes and bit his lip. There wasn't a good answer to that. "I h-have my mother."

"Which is more than some. And magic, which can go a damn long way to protect you even if you don't know how to use it," he agreed, running a hand through his toffee-coloured short hair. "But it's still ugly, isn't it? That's why I say to get in good with Jack. He'll protect you from that sort of shit. He doesn't like his workers getting beat up."

It would be nice to be able to walk around Knockturn Alley and not have to worry. To be able to go visit his mother during the day in Diagon Alley.

"And he'll protect you from whatever the hell your dad's doing, too. Jack's like that. If you're in."

Faust wouldn't like that at all. "My d-dad's g-good to me," Blaise said.

"Maybe in hot Januarys."

"H-h-he is! I'm j-just b-b-bad."

"Rabbits aren't bad. They're too scared to try it," Malus said flatly. "Whatever he's told you is a lie."

"He w-wouldn't lie t-to me."

He gave Blaise a pitying look. "Come on, we need to hurry up."

Blaise swallowed. "I-I." He stopped. "I-I l-love my d-dad."

"Of course you do. Rabbits always do. It's what make them rabbits. Now come on. I need to get back before someone asks for me."

He followed Malus quickly, not wanting to make the man late for anything, but as they were reaching the area that he knew Jack's offices were in, Blaise asked, "W-were you a r-r-rabbit?"

"None of your business!" Malus snapped and from his reaction, Blaise knew that he had been once.

"W-was it y-your d-dad?" he added quietly.

"No. Come on." Malus sped up his pace, taking long strides. Blaise had to jog to keep up with him.

"I j-just w-want to go to Hogw-warts and get a g-good job and h-help my m-mother."

"You'll have to stop being a rabbit to do it."

"W-who was it-t?"

He sighed. "My mother, all right?"

"J-Jack h-helped you?" he asked Malus carefully, keeping his voice low.

"If you could call this helping. He protects me in exchange for my services."

Blaise thought about that for a long moment as they moved quickly. "S-seems like the b-best you c-could h-hope for," he said.

"In the Alley."

"W-working for J-Jack is b-better than wh-what you h-had b-b-before?"

"Working for Jack's the best thing there is in the Alley."

He nodded and filed that information away. He wanted out, but... "G-good money?"

"Jack'll get you whatever you want as long as you're useful to him." They approached the warehouse where Jack was and Malus stopped. "Can you make it the rest of the way on your own?"

What he wanted was for his Mama to be safe and to be able to move to a nicer flat and to go to Hogwarts and not to be scared all the time. He nodded. "I c-can. T-thank you."

"All right. Stay safe, rabbit." Malus turned around and started walking back the way he came. But he moved slower, keeping the light in the room for Blaise to see by.

Blaise hurried into the warehouse, where there was light, and then towards Jack's office, ignoring the lab. It wasn't his concern. It wasn't. The back offices were mostly deserted. Jack and Faust were the only ones in the office proper and Blaise passed Adder on the way out as he went in.

"Lupa show you a good time?"

He nodded quickly, not looking at Faust or Jack too much as he went to stand in front of the desk, uncertain of what else to do. He rarely had any casual time with his dad, where something wasn't assigned for him to do.

"What day are you coming back, kid?" Jack asked.

"I'll bring him back tomorrow," Faust answered. "He can get his three days done all at once so he's out of the way."

"I don't know if we'll have stuff for him tomorrow. The kid clean the files pretty good. Even some of the backlog. Plus, he seems to get headaches from doing too much at once."

"I c-could c-come back in t-two days?"

"That sounds good." Jack smiled at him and gestured him closer, ruffling his hair when he came that way. "Rest up, kid, you got it? That's orders."

"Y-yes, s-sir." He looked at his father to see if they were leaving now.

"Oh, and, he looks like he's starving, Zabini. Fix that," Jack said casually. "You can go. See you in two days, Blaise. Be ready to do some more memorising."

Blaise nodded at Jack and followed his father out of the office. He smiled a bit, glad that Jack had liked him, and when they were in the winding underground ways again, back in the dark, Blaise whispered, "D-did I do w-well?" to his father.

Faust lit a cigarette. "You did fine."

He smiled wider and moved up against his father in the dark, not wanting to get lost or trip.

"Is there any food at home or do I need to send your mother shopping?"

"S-some," Blaise replied, twisting his fingers in his father's robes carefully.

"Good. Fix something to eat when we get back. Something with meat."

They had a bit of that left too, he thought, that Claudia had been intending to make for Faust on her night off and Blaise nodded. "Yes, s-sir."

They walked back to the flat quietly. Blaise headed for the kitchen while Faust slumped down on the couch.

Making dinner wasn't as easy as it could be, though his mother had made the kitchen more friendly to those who couldn't use magic, and it took him awhile to make, but he thought the dinner he turned out was pretty good. It smelled good, making his still surprisingly full stomach clench in want. First the sandwich, now this. He couldn't remember eating this much in one day in a long time.

Faust was silent for most of the meal, chain-smoking, and watching Blaise eat.

"Is-s s-something wrong?" he asked finally, poking at his food a bit. Faust had barely taken a bite.

"No and I'd better not catch you nosing around like that while you're working. Eat your food."

"N-nosing?"

"Asking too many questions or getting in the way."

Blaise looked down at his plate and ate mechanically. He'd been trying so hard to be good. Why wasn't it enough for his father? He didn't understand.

"When is your mother getting home?"

"L-late."

"No waiting up for her."

He almost never did anyway but he nodded. "I f-figured out I'd h-have enough money b-b-by the en-end of the s-summer to b-buy my w-wand and b-b-books."

Faust grunted. "Clean up when you're done."

"Yes, s-sir. And I c-can s-still do b-babysitting on my d-days off. S-so that's-s more."

"Good. You should be responsible for yourself by now."

He was only eleven and not very long at being eleven at that. "Is-s t-there anyth-thing else I c-can do to m-make money? I w-want to h-help."

"If you can find odd jobs, take them." Faust put out his cigarette and lit another. "You shan't be worth much until you've been trained."

"I w-want to m-make you p-proud," he said slowly.

"Fuck, but you're whingy today. Just shut up and go clean."

Blaise flinched and picked up his plate, going to clean it in the sink. He set it down and went to get his father's plate as well. When the plates were clean he went to the living room to sit in the corner he preferred, because it was between the fireplace and the window, making it warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and sat, pulling his legs to his chest. He'd be quiet until Faust went away. His father always found something to do in the evenings.

"What are you doing just sitting there? Go to bed."

He swallowed. It was barely even dark out yet, in May. He wasn't tired and probably wouldn't be for another hour or two, but the look Faust was giving him made him get up and go to the cupboard near the door, pulling out his blanket, pillow, and pyjamas and then go over to the couch. Once he had changed into his pyjamas and put his robes away for the wash, he curled up on the couch and wondered if Faust would be angry if he got a book to read while he lay here.

"What the fuck do you want now?"

He winced. "A b-b-book, p-please?"

Fine. Just get it and shut up already!"

Pushing himself up off the couch, Blaise edged towards where he kept his books, watching Faust cautiously. A bad mood always meant bad things. Bad accidents.

He picked the book off the shelf that was farthest from Faust and started to inch back. "Hurry up!" Faust's arm flew out.

He dodged the hand and hurried towards the couch, hunching a bit. As soon as he was there, he huddled under the blanket and laid all the way down, hoping that Faust thought he was doing the right thing. He held his breath and didn't make any noise, concentrating on making Faust forget he was there. If he wasn't there, he couldn't make his father angry.

After a moment though, Faust stalked over, staring down at him. "Get off the couch and go sleep somewhere else. I want the couch for something."

He got up and moved over to the fireplace, lying the blanket on the floor. He slept there in winter. It was always warmer. Watching his father settle in, he sighed and wished that his mother was home. When she was home, she'd conjure a mat for him to lie on for the night. He liked everything better when his mother was home. But he wouldn't complain. It could be worse, much worse. Faust took care of him.

He curled up and faced the empty fire, resting his head on the pillow. It would be better in the morning when he got to see Claudia again. So, he lay there for awhile, breathing slowly and quietly, with his eyes shut, hoping that he could go to sleep. Hoping that he'd drift off and when he woke up again his mother would be kissing his forehead.