A girl with a black conductor's cap made her way to the front of the rather long concession line. She ordered herself a small lemonade ice and paid the lady $4 for it. Everything here was overpriced. But that was how they made the money. Their entrance fees and special discounts, such as summer passes, brought muggles in by the busfull. She had seen that firsthand, for when she parked about five charter buses drove to the special bus parking and unloaded. Most were children, but a few buses carried Japanese muggles, equipped with cameras.
She found herself a seat and sat down. There were a few extra tables open in the eating section at the front of the park as it was too early to be eating. Most people would be waiting in the extremely long lines for roller coasters and other such entertainment. But it would be very crowded and there was no need to worry about being overheard, especially since most muggles wouldn't have the slightest idea what she was here to discuss. Yes, she had suggested coming to a muggle theme park. After all, they would never belittle themselves so much as to enter such a place.
When she said they, she meant the witches and wizards that believed that bloodline were everything. In fact, they prided themselves solely on their family tree. Muggles prided themselves on different things, like brains. She couldn't help but snort at all the bumper stickers out there that declared that so-and-so's student was an honors student. She happened to like the ones that made fun of those, like the one that read "My horse threw off your honor student." Muggles could be so funny; she knew this firsthand. She had grown up with a couple of pranksters. She was surprised that her brothers hadn't been kicked out of school. The younger one almost had. But once the older one had left, he had quieted down. The school figured the older brother was the instigator, but she knew better. Her mom had threatened to hex him to Jupiter and leave him there. And she would have, too.
She stirred her drink as she was nearing the bottom of the cup. The guy should be showing up at any minute. Her mom had mentioned the name, but all she remembered was that he was British and that he was seeking help recruiting wizards and witches around the world to stand for the side of equality. She couldn't help but think how lucky he was to be able to travel; her parents were too keen on the idea of her traveling the world with all the troubles occurring in it. Her mom was heading up the recruitment in America; there was a good amount already amassed for such a purpose. So he wasn't here to help recruit; she was sure of that. She just wasn't sure why he was coming or why her mother had sent her instead.
Just then a shadow overcastted her table and she looked up to see a family of muggles walk past. She couldn't help but be a bit disappointed. She had no idea who she was waiting for or why, but she did know it was important. She sighed wistfully as the muggles walked on, dedicating the day completely to fun. Looking around her, she noticed a rather tan, burly sort of man with red hair heading her way. Instead of obviously staring at him and drawing more attention to herself, she focused on getting the last of her drink. She might as well finish it; she did pay for it.
Deciding against throwing away her cup just yet, she looked up to see a rather freckled face, as opposed to tan, of the red-haired man she had noticed previously.
In a most definite British accent the man asked, "Are you here waiting for someone?"
Unsure if she should be straightforward or not, she hesitated, "maybe."
"You must be Amy Kudo," the red-head stated as he sat down.
Kaida shook her head no. She watched as the same shade of red as his hair crept up his face, all the way to his hair line. Before he could get up or make any kind of apology, Kaida spoke, "I'm Kaida Kudo, Amy's daughter."
With an expression that clearly said 'oh,' the young man relaxed a bit. Then he held out his hand and said, "I'm Charlie Weasley."
Kaida gripped her hand in his and shook it, making note of the many calluses that roughened his palm. She also couldn't help but notice that he had what looked like a once-severe burn scarring his forearm. Perhaps she could ask about that later.
Charlie glanced around him. "Could we possibly go someplace a little more…private?"
"If you're worried about people overhearing us, don't. For one, they're muggles and won't understand half of what we say anyways. Second, it's loud, so you'll be unlucky if they could hear us at all. But if you still insist on someplace a little more private, we could go on one of those," Kaida pointed up.
Charlie just stared. He followed her finger to a small box gliding on a wire. And his mum thought flying on a broom wasn't safe! There was no way that wire should hold so much! But sure enough, those boxes were holding quite a few muggles in each of them. So if there were a few adult muggles in them, then they would be able to hold him and Kaida. Slowly he nodded his head, unsure of what he was getting himself into, "sure."
Kaida led the way to the semi-long line for the skyrides (as the sign clearly told Charlie), and stood behind a bunch of rowdy kids and one very tired looking mother. The distance seemed to stretch to be twice as long as before. But they finally made it to the very front of the line without losing too much of their sanity. They hopped into a green box, sitting across from each other, then the attendant closed the door and they were off, being pulled throughout the park on a wire. A wire, sighed Charlie.
Trying to break the silence, Kaida said, "this takes us to France. We'll probably have to hop off there, unless there's no line." Unfortunately, this was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Charlie now wore an expression of complete bafflement. Thinking over what she had said, Kaida said, "oh. The park is divided into European countries. France is just a part of the park. It doesn't really take us to France."
Apparently that had been what was so confusing as the look of bafflement vanished off his face as soon as she finished. She heard him mutter "muggles," but could understand where he was coming from. According to her mom, the Weasleys were a pure-blooded family. And just because you are willing to stand for equality and all that, doesn't make it any easier to understand them. Heck, she didn't really understand her brothers after all.
Charlie was the first to break the silence. "From what I was told, Amy does a lot to improve muggle awareness in America."
"Yeah, but I don't think it was very hard. I guess we're such a melting pot from all these different cultures, that it's not nearly as bad as it sounds in England. But it was tense before I was born. Mom's really helped with breaking that tension. Especially when she married my Dad. He's a Japanese muggle businessman. My two brothers are also muggles, so to speak. I'm the only one who can do magic, besides my mom, of course."
"You have two brothers? I have 5 brothers and a sister. Second oldest child," Charlie supplied. After a pause he added, "we have a cousin who's an accountant but we don't hear much from him. According to my aunt, he works too much."
"Accountants are wont to do that. One of my brothers is older; he works for a reality tv show, it's a muggle thing. But he works as the person who pulls together the tricks to play on people. My little brother, on the other hand, is currently at college studying business, much to my dad's delight. He's not as thrilled with Haruko's, my older brother, job. Mom convinced him it was okay though." Kaida nodded her head, further affirming her story. She glanced out the window, "we're almost to France. Was there anything you wanted to say before we land?"
"Yeah, is there anyone your mom can spare? I mean, to help us in England?"
"She didn't mention anything to me, but I can call and ask her."
"You mean on a phellytone?"
"Telephone. Yeah." Noticing his look of uncertainty, she added, "It's perfectly safe. They're public phones. No one really taps public phones unless they know someone's going to be calling from them. And nobody will be able to overhear me, there's construction going on where the LeManns Raceway used to be."
She didn't give Charlie time to argue, or even ask what "taps" meant, as the attendant opened the door to let them out. She had gotten out first and made it to a phone before he could protest. It wasn't like she could hear him anyway, as the noise from the construction was rather loud. She looked at a sign that read, "Please excuse the construction and the construction noise" while waiting for her mother to pick up the phone. Apparently the fine print said something about being slightly behind schedule, hence the construction during open season.
She placed a quick spell on the phone, making it easier for her to talk to her mom. Just as she had finished, she heard her mother's voice say, "Hello?"
"Hey mom, it's Kaida. Charlie has a question about recruiting. I couldn't answer it, so I was hoping you could talk to him for a few minutes. It's of the immediate nature."
"Put him on the line," her mother sounded slightly exasperated.
Kaida placed her hand over the mouth piece and tapped Charlie on the shoulder and handed him the phone. "She wants to talk to you," Kaida had to shout. She then had to fix his hold on the phone, as he had somehow gotten it upside down.
Kaida winced when she saw him yell into the telephone. He apparently caught on quick however, as he stopped yelling and started talking like a normal person. Desperate to know what they were talking about, Kaida performed a quick spell to let her hear the conversation as well. She knew it wasn't right, but she didn't want to be left out.
Charlie had apparently just finished some spiel. "If there was someone who you could send to help us out, he'd have to be able to travel well. I don't think he'd be staying in England too much. After all, we are trying to unite other countries under this cause as well."
After
a short pause, Amy responded, "I hadn't realized it was getting
so bad over there. Most of the people here may support the cause and
all, but I'm afraid they're either too old to travel or they have
children and can't leave them. Some people just aren't willing to
go to another country and stand up for their principles. I'm sorry.
I really am."
"Isn't there someone young who supports our
cause that doesn't have children? We could use anybody who's
willing to help. Please, think about this. It could spell disaster
for us all."
After another pause, Amy said, "put Kaida back on the line. I need to speak with her for a second."
Kaida pretended like she didn't know what was going on and took the phone back a bit clumsily. Listening hadn't done her a wink of good; she was still on square one. "Hey mom. What's up?" She hoped she sounded casual.
"Can you think of anyone who'd be willing to travel to help this young man?"
Kaida ran through the names she knew in her head. Most of the people who had just graduated wanted to work at 9-5 jobs. In fact, those that had wanted to help the muggles from her class had already went off. None of them were the convincing type; they tended to strike first and ask questions later. Those that were older than her were ready to have families or had already started having families. "What about the Spellmans? They love to travel."
"Karen's expecting. She's not allowed to travel, bedrest."
"Oh. I didn't know she was going to have a baby. When's it due?"
"In April. I thought I had told you. Never mind that though, can you think of anyone else?"
"How about the Romanos?"
"They hate traveling. Besides, I still haven't gotten them to believe there'll be trouble coming here if they don't try to help."
Kaida
ran through more names. All seem to lead to some dead end or another.
God, if only she could think of someone who wanted to travel as badly
as she did…and that was when she had it. "Mom, what if I were to
go? I know I'm not the most brilliant speaker or anything, but it
would be better than nothing, right?"
"Kaida…no, it's too
dangerous. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You
could die."
"Mom, I know it's dangerous and all, but I can make a difference. Aren't you the one always telling us to stand up for what we believe in? I can't do that here. Not now at least. Hopefully, never here. So please, let me go. I can help heal people and get others to stand up for what they believe in."
"Kaida, you don't have the money to live on the road."
"So? That would never stop you and I won't let it stop me either. Please, mom. It's my chance to make a difference like you have."
Her mother sighed. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you over the phone. Hold on one second." Kaida held on for more than one second, during which a lot of talking could be heard in the background but nothing distinguishable on the other end of the phone. Finally she heard the phone get picked up again. "Alright. You can go, but I want you to stay safe. You'll be staying at a place called the Burrow; I'll be sending your things there. Charlie knows the place. I want you to mind your manners and stay safe. I don't know how I'm going to tell your father—"
Kaida interrupted her before she could really get going. "Mom, I have to go. I'll talk to you later, ok? Bye."
"Alright. Bye, honey."
Kaida waited to hear the resounding click of other phone hanging up before hanging up her own. She couldn't get over the idea that soon she'd be able to travel the world.
Unsure of what to say, Kaida led him away from the construction zone, not saying a word, as she was mulling things over. The sound of Charlie's voice broke her concentration, "is she going to send someone?"
Kaida looked up at him and blinked. Slowly she said, "yeah, me."
"Well that's alright. At least I tried," Charlie started. Kaida soon realized he had stopped. She turned and looked at him. Perhaps it wasn't such a great idea on her part. "You? Well, that's good. You don't mind traveling, do you?"
Relief washed over her. "Nope. Always wanted to see the world anyways. My mom said she's send my clothes ahead to the Burrow. D'you know what the 'Burrow' is?"
"My house. Or rather, my family's house. I'm in Romania most of the time, working with dragons."
Kaida couldn't help but let out a small giggle. But she refused to tell him what she thought was so funny. After all, he might just think her weird if he told her that her name meant "little dragon" and now he'd be working with her, although not the same way. Perhaps she'd get to see some dragons after all. As a child she had tried to convince her parents to let her work with dragons. Her father had never been keen on such an idea, and apparently neither was her mother. As she grew older, it had just seemed right to do something else.
"What do you do…well, before now?"
"I just finished training as a Healer. I was going to start searching for a position next week. Guess I don't have to now, eh?"
Charlie shook his head no. "No need for it just yet. Although, being a Healer could come in handy sooner than you think."
"Mmm. So, did you want to explore the park a bit before we leave? I do insist that we ride at least one roller coaster." Kaida watched Charlie, hoping he'd say yes they could stay a bit longer. She wanted to show him that muggle people could have fun.
"Uhm. Well, it's about a 5 hour time difference…" Charlie seemed to be doing the math in his head. Kaida shot him her cutest and hardest to resist puppy dog face. After catching the look Kaida was shooting his way he stated, "we can stay until mid-afternoon, alright?"
"Yay!"
After waiting in line for one roller coaster after another, as well as a few show-coasters, Kaida decided it was time for a short lunch. "Are you hungry for something in particular?"
Charlie merely shook his head no.
"Alright. Well, if we go to the Festhaus, there's a bunch of options. You have the normal range of greasy American food, and some not so greasy American food, as well as German dishes. Come on!" Kaida led the way to the Festhaus and into the food section.
"It's really loud in here," Charlie all but shouted into her ear.
"Yeah, so much the better for not being overheard." Kaida grabbed a tray and started down the slow moving line, selecting food to put on the tray. Charlie grabbed a tray and followed her lead, grabbing the food he wanted to eat for a price he was willing to pay.
"Why is everything so expensive?" He eyed the $4 corn-on-the-cob with distaste; even the butter cost him an extra $0.50.
"That's how they make their money," she spoke like it was as obvious as the nose on her face. She placed a lemonade on her tray and got out of that line only to get into a line to pay for the food. She saw Charlie hastily grab a cup of reddish-looking liquid that she guessed was fruit punch and follow after her.
"Why did you want a noisy place to eat?" Charlie asked as soon as he caught up to her.
"I wanted to ask a bit about what's going on. I mean, my mom doesn't mention much and I was so busy with school that I'm a little out of sync. So I thought I should know a bit more."
"Oh. Yeah, sure. That's fine."
They made it to the front of the line in fairly good time, if the line to grab the food was any indication. Once at the front, Kaida told the lady, "we're together." Spotting another confused look on Charlie's face, she told him, "the food. My mom insisted that I treat you to lunch before I headed out. It's not a problem, if you want to thank someone, thank her." She turned back to the cashier and handed her the grand total, which, to say the least, was obscene.
Picking up her tray yet again, Kaida led the way to a fairly empty picnic bench and sat down. Charlie sat next to her. "So we don't have to shout." Kaida just nodded and started on her food. She watched Charlie out of the corner of her eye. He was thoughtfully eating, as if he were pondering what exactly to say about the situation.
After eating a few bites, Charlie started, "I guess it's not as bad as it was before, but it certainly is going downhill. Fudge is no longer Minister of Magic, which could have helped, if they would have hired someone decent, that is. As it is, we're trying to do all we can to get some support for this war. Right now, there have only been attacks to major muggle transit, which is easily blamed on terrorists. But if it gets worse, it won't be easy to hide that we exist or who's the real culprit. It could spell a lot of trouble."
Kaida nodded her head. "Dad says that people fear what they don't understand. He doesn't think it's a good idea to tell muggles about our existence. Could cause more problems than it could solve."
"Yeah. Well, that's half the battle. The other half is to stop these people from killing everyone that has the least bit of non-magical blood in them. I doubt He-who-must-not-be-named would stop at that. He'd probably go for squibs next and then weak wizards. I swear that man just wants to exterminate the world. I don't get why." Charlie seemed to have been caught up with his thoughts. Kaida thought about all the gruesome so-called "terrorist attacks" that had happened in England. She did remember one serious one at a train station. All those poor people. What had they done to deserve death? They probably never met a single one of those wizards or witches that had instigated the attack. And the poor muggles didn't have a chance to defend themselves. Too bad she was no Martin Luther King, Jr. He had some great speeches. Heck, she just hoped she could help somehow.
Obviously recollecting himself, Charlie continued, "Anyways, we're trying to head off any attacks that they're planning. We've been fairly successful, all things considered. I've mainly been in Romania, talking to the witches and wizards there, convincing them why they should help out. It's been fairly successful. But it seems that for every two we convert, they get another. It doesn't help that we don't really help that we don't really have anyone to help in Africa or Asia. We do have one guy convincing people in the Caribbean to help out. They practice a voodoo sort of magic. It's a bit weird, watching it." Charlie paused to eat. Kaida couldn't help but want to recruit in the Caribbean. She had never seen anyone practice voodoo, although she had heard that there was a magic school in Louisiana that taught it.
"There's really not much to it. The job, I mean. You'll probably need to get a job at a hospital and talk to those who come in. I mean, if they seem receptive. You don't want to talk to the wrong people. And you have to be careful with what you say; you don't want to offend anyone."
Kaida merely nodded her head. What if she was horrible at this and she actually turned receptive people into muggle-haters? Her family would be so ashamed.
Her horror at shaming her family must have been apparent, for Charlie added, "don't worry. I'm sure you'll do fine." He then proceeded to finish the food on his tray. Somehow Kaida had finished the food on her tray after all the bad mental images of train wrecks and thoughts of shaming her family. They threw away their trash and placed the trays in the return section.
"Did you want to explore the park some more? I'll give you a few more hours, alright?" Charlie seemed to have enjoyed the park. She didn't even need puppy-dog eyes this time.
"Oh, good. We can see some shows." And with that, Kaida dragged Charlie to the part of France where the animals were. She made him stand through the wolf show, a personal favorite, and sit through the pet trick show. With the heat starting to bear down on them as well as the fact that they had since dried off from the water rides, Kaida dragged Charlie into the air-conditioned building to watch the Irish dancers. She was able to drag him onto another coaster before he said it was time to go.
They left the theme park and headed to a relatively deserted wooded area. Kaida took one last glance around her before grabbing onto the portkey. It was time to explore new worlds and brave new adventures. She just hoped she would survive them all.
A/N: Okay, this story came about after I discovered that the name Kaida meant 'little dragon' in Japanese. So then I decided to make a character that was the child of a Japanese businessman and a witch (I never really decided on a race for her). I thought it would be fun to see Charlie do some recruiting in America, cause I'm curious what they would be like here. This is a one-shot unless I get enough people clamoring for more; but I'm not sure where I'd take it from there. I don't know whether Charlie would be interested in such a girl or not. Plus I think I want her to go to Japan and recruit there. Oh and the last name Kudo means "potter" according to a last name meanings website, so I thought that would be a funny little twist. Sorry if you didn't find it as funny as I did.
Please Review so I know how much you liked it, or not. But do bear in mind that I am American and have no clue about British slang or terms. (I am willing to learn some )
