"Miss Sakuya!"

Sakuya, currently dressed in her outdoor winter attire, turned to observe Hailey as she ran up to her from down the hallway. "Yes Miss Potter. How may I help you?"

Hailey pouted. " I keep telling you to call me Hailey."

"Miss Hailey then." Sakuya said, with the barest hint of a grin.

"Whatever." Hailey brushed it under the rug. "Hey, Remi told me you were going into town today, could you take me with you?"

"Certainly, but may I ask why?" Sakuya said.

"I need to pick up Flans Christmas present, I commissioned it from the dollmaker last month, but I couldn't pick it up until now, you know, due to school." Hailey explained.

Sakuya nodded. "Very well then, since you have already talked to the mistress, I assume there will be no problem, please hold still."

Tick~

…

Tock~

Hailey had no time to steady herself, as she suddenly found herself standing in an Alley in the capital of Romania, Bucharest.

Haileys legs gave out from under her as she fought to steady herself, and settle her sudden nausea and disorientation.

"Are you alright Miss Hailey? I understand the sensation can be unpleasant for most people, especially for your first time." Sakuya said evenly, from Haileys perspective, she hadn't moved

"Now I know why Remilia prefers to walk." Hailey mumbled, struggling back to her feet and trying not to throw up. "I'll be fine Sakuya, although a little warning next time."

"I'll keep that in mind Miss Hailey." Sakuya said, her perfect poker face undisturbed. "Do you need any assistance?"

"No I'll be fine, I know where to find her." Hailey said, after her stomach had settled.

"Very well, I will be running my own errands now, I will come find you when I am finished." Sakuya said, before departing the Alley, every part the perfect maid.

"I wonder how many weird looks she gets for dressing like that in public?" Hailey wondered idly. Finally feeling confident enough to walk on her own power, she too departs into the city, and ironically gets a lot of weird looks for how she dresses in public.

She found her in Titan park.

She sat on the stone steps, blue eyed and blond, in a baby blue dress and a shawl that looked far too small to stave of the Romanian winter. She was playing with her dolls.

Surrounding her, sitting on blankets and bundled up warm, sat a gaggle of children, who were watching transfixed at the show the woman was putting on.

It was like a tiny stage performance, orchestrated by the puppeteer's hands. The dolls twirled and danced upon the pavement, moving with almost unearthly grace. They took each others hands in slow waltzes, or gripped each other tight in the tango, some stood solo, dancing around the partnered dolls with pirouettes and bounds. One doll stood to one side, gently winding a music box adding to the almost ethereal performance.

And above all, the puppeteer's hands twitched and flexed, with almost invisible strings that could only be seen when the light caught them. Her posture was perfect, and her eyes shut, a contented smile at her lips, she was almost a doll herself.

It felt like almost an hour before she had finished. And only then did she open her eyes, and nodded her head in a shallow bow, while her dolls curtsey to her small crowd of children, who applaude excitedly.

She then turned to Hailey, who had sat down with the other children, she nodded again to acknowledge her presence, before addressing the group in Romanian. "Excuse me a moment everyone, this young lady has some business with me. Won't be a moment."

The children nodded and began chatting amongst themselves, while Hailey stood up and let Alice lead her away from the group until they were still visible, but out of earshot.

"Well met Hailey." Alice said, this time in her native English. "Thank you for waiting for me to finish. Some of my clients can get awfully impatient."

"It's no problem Alice, I like watching you perform." Hailey said. "So is it finished?"

"Of course." Alice said, taking a handcrafted wooden box out from behind her. "It is finished to your specifications."

Hailey took the box and peered under the lid. "It looks amazing, I'm sure they will love it. Oh did you remember the extra-extra durability?"

"Of course, although I do wonder to the recipient to warrant such sturdiness." Alice said. "That and it feels strange to give someone else a doll of… well you know."

"I get what you mean, but I know this person will appreciate it." Hailey said. "Now about payment, Do you take wizards Gallions, or would you prefer pound sterling? I can get something else if you like, but I'd have to go exchange it."

Alice thought about it. "...I'll take the Gallions, I could always do with some gold for my experiments, and I could always make something from and sell it for thrice the coins worth."

"Right on." Hailey said, producing a large pouch full of the coinage. "Is this enough?"

Alice took the bag and gave it a light shake, listening to the jingle. She nodded her head. "This is satisfactory, thank you."

"Great, I just suddenly got a lot of this stuff and I have honestly been wondering what to do with it." Hailey said, putting the box into a large carry bag.

"Inheritance I take it, found out you have a wizard in the family?" Alice asked conversationally.

"Parents actually, Lily and James Potter, got a Gringotts vault full of the stuff, just heaped up in a pile. Although I think Rans gonna make me clean up in there next summer." Hailey made a face at the thought.

"Now those names sound familiar…" Alice pondered.

"Apparently they got killed by a dark lord when I was a baby, but I somehow killed him after." Hailey said.

"Ah, now that rings a bell… I must say, it never occured to me that you would be that Potter, but now that I think about it, it is fairly obvious." Alice said ponderously.

"You heard about it?" Hailey asked.

"I don't keep up with Wizard news, but even I heard about it. I was just leaving England at the time." Alice said. "All the celebration made for a quiet exit, so I suppose I should thank you in a way."

"You're welcome?" Hailey said.

"But regardless, I hear you've recently enrolled in Hogwarts. Are things going well?"

"I guess, I mean it's not awful." Hailey said, making a face. "Did you go?"

"Briefly, They did not appreciate my approach to magic, and I did not appreciate their teachings, so I left." Alice said. "It was a minor inconvenience at first, but I soon adapted."

"Wish I could. I was doing fine without it, but Yukari wants me to attend for whatever reason." Hailey said.

"Ah, well far be it from me to get in the way of the Boundary sage and her games." Alice said diplomatically. "By the way, is there an ETA on the… relocation yet?"

"Hey don't look at me. I'm still waiting too." Hailey said. "That said, she said she's gonna be taking me over permanently after I finish school, so I'd say maybe seven years. She might do you earlier though, considering your situation, and you'd be a fairly low impact introduction."

"That is good to know I suppose." Alice said.

"Hey, I gotta wait for Remilia's maid to come pick me up, mind if I sit around and watch some more?" Hailey asked.

Alice smiled. "Of course you may."

It was the end of Alices day, Hailey had returned some time ago, and all the children had been rounded up by their parents, leaving Alice to wander home alone in the chill Romanian evening.

While walking through an alley however, she turned around and addressed the air. "I suppose I should thank you for waiting until after the performance… Or were you just aiming to follow me home?"

There was a moment of silence, before a stunner shot out from the air, Which Alice effortlessly deflected with a doll carrying a large kite shield.

"You have lost the initiative, you might as well come out now." Alice said.

No response, not even a spell this time.

With a sigh. Alice twitched a finger, and then wrenched her hand back, pulling the two invisibility cloaks off their startled owners.

The two wizards quickly took dueling stances, although one looks a lot more nervous than the other, who just looked angry.

"Aurors I assume, here to arrest me?" Alice said dryly. "You lot certainly are tenacious I'll give you that."

"Damn right we are." The angry one said. "You are under arrest for breaches of the statute of secrecy. Multiple counts of resisting arrest, and the murder of no less then thirty seven on duty Aurors."

"Thirty eight." Alice countered.

The Angry one looked momentarily confused, but the nervous one just pailed. "What did you do to Daniel?"

"Was that his name?" Alice said, tilting her head. "Frightfully boorish man, tried to attack me on the way here."

The Nervous man swore, while the Angry man got angrier. "What did you do with him?" he repeated the first man's question.

Alice nodded her head to one of the Alleyways bins next to the duo.

The nervous one sidled over and took a peak under the lid, and dropped it with a cry of alarm quickly turning green in the face.

"Yes tasteless I know, but I had somewhere to be, and I couldn't just leave a body on the street, if its anyone's fault it's you lot for not leaving me alone." Alice said.

"You… you monster!" the angry one said, although he too started paling.

"All I wish is to be left alone, all these deaths could be avoided if your wizards would internalise this simple fact." Alice said irritably. "Now…"

The air was full of dolls now, all brandishing weapons, their glass eyes almost seeming to glow. "Will you let me go on my way, or should I increase the count to forty?"

Tock~

Hailey arrived on the main Foyer of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and immediately lost her lunch.

"Oh dear." Sakuya said airily, holding the bucket in front of Hailey. "Poor thing."

"If… If I didn't know any better... I'd say you enjoy this." Hailey said, looking up at Sakuya irritably.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Despite her words, Sakuya smirked.

Chapter Notes:

Apologies for the chapters brevity, to make up for this, I have included a bonus chapter. An alternate start for our little Hailey, hope you enjoy.

This probably would have been done sooner, but as it happens, I'm Australian, and my house has burned down… so yeah, thats fun.

My families ok, and I still have my Computer, Switch, 3DS, and my cat. But pretty much everything else is gone.

I hope you guys are having a better new year then I am.