Fool Me Once

Two weeks. That was how long Alex had been avoiding her father. Quite successfully, she might add, given they worked in the same bloody office now. Thankfully being a Hit-witch to gave Alex excuses to duck out whenever Nicholas walked in. And so far he had let her get away with it. Which was worrying in and of itself because her father wasn’t the sort to put up with attitude. When he wanted something, he went for it. Unless it required playing the long game, and that meant he wanted it very badly. All the more reason for Alex to avoid him. If he was waiting for her to come to him, he was going to be waiting a damn long time. More specifically until hell froze over. He had walked out on her one time too many. Alex was done playing his games.

Today though she had other concerns. The new task force was still abuzz with news of the recent death of Nymphadora Lupin. It should have been a rallying cry, a sign of exactly how dangerous werewolves could be. There was even some talk that maybe Remus himself had killed his wife. But no matter how much she wanted to, Alex just couldn’t quite accept that. Not after seeing the way he looked at his children that day in the park. As ridiculous as it sounded, Lupin was actually capable of love. A man like that took precautions. Besides, he had bloody wolfsbane potion. She had records to prove it. He hadn’t killed his wife. And somehow that made this whole issue sit very, very badly with Alex. Mostly because it reminded her of her own mother dying. Remus’ children were only a year younger than Alex had been when she saw a monster slaughter her mother. She knew how they felt right now. And if Remus hadn’t done the killing, then he must have heard it. Which meant on some level, Alex empathized with him as well. The thought turned her stomach. There was no way she could be feeling sorry for a werewolf. But she couldn’t deny the situation was getting to her. For werewolves to have attacked someone who actually championed their bloody cause, who had made the idiotic choice to marry one of their own… It just didn’t make any sense. That kind of attack said they saw Lupin as the enemy. But if he wasn’t with the other werewolves and he wasn’t with the Ministry, then where the hell was Alex supposed to put him?

She was turning the issue over and over in her mind as she came out of an office full of files in the new task force department. Her mind was so preoccupied she didn’t even see the person in her path until she nearly ran them over. Only her quick reflexes pulled her up short just in time. “Watch where you’re-” The words died on her mouth as she looked up at the face in front of her. Damn it. “Dad.” Her voice was completely flat. She was not in the mood for one of his attempts to either bully or trick her into letting him back into her life. She tried to take a step forward, but there wasn’t room to get around him. The doorway had her boxed in. Clearly she wasn’t getting out of this until he had said his piece. Alex sighed and crossed her arms. Might as well get it over with then. “What do you want?"


Nicholas Warwick
(OOC - No rush to reply to this. My Alex muse came back, so I figured I'd start this while I could.)