Chapter Four: Cousins Meet

Artorius smiled as his cousin arrived at the meeting site: a quiet Muggle park close to where the man worked. The Calvins were all in Muggle attire for the occasion, provided by Gringotts as opposed to Madam Malkin's. Victoria, Lance, and little Alanna had found a bench to sit on, out of the way of the initial meeting between the two men. The four-year-old Lance had been sternly warned against using his magic in the Muggle area; rather than argue with two-year-old Alanna, Artorius had just put a child-lock on her magic for the duration.

"Greg Parker?" Artorius questioned, cocking his head to the side as the stocky man approached, curiosity shining in his brown eyes.

"Yes," the new arrival confirmed, "I assume you're…Arthur?"

"I am," Artorius replied, shaking the other man's hand. "I realize it must seem like I just appeared out of nowhere…" he began sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

A gentle smile. "If your letter was any indication, you're a bit of a genealogist."

"Something like that," Artorius agreed, still sheepish now that he was face to face with his cousin. "It's still a bit of a new interest of mine…I wasn't expecting to actually meet with any success for quite a while." All true, even if he was leaving a few details out.

Brown eyes lit with laughter as the Muggle chuckled at his magical cousin. "Literally meet with success as the case may be," he teased, drawing an answering smile. "Well, if you find anyone else, I wouldn't mind hearing about it."

"Definitely," Artorius agreed at once. "So, um, do you have a family?"

Parker lit up even more. "I do," he replied, beaming. "My son's four-and-a-half now; he's our pride and joy."

Artorius beamed right back. "My son's just a little younger," he confided, just as proud, "And my daughter just turned two."

Victoria overheard enough to lean over and whisper to the children; they waved at their cousin, though Lance was more enthusiastic than his sister. Parker's eyes went wide, then he looked at Artorius for permission; Artorius nodded, stepping back to let the other man approach his wife and children. Parker nodded a greeting to Victoria, then he knelt to be on Lance's level. Little Alanna ducked back behind her mother and brother, shy in the face of an unknown stranger, but Lance, as adventurous and bold as any four-year-old, immediately chirped, "Hi, I'm Lance and I'm four!"

Parker pretended to stagger back in shock. "Four, huh? That's pretty grown up, isn't it?" Lance's head bobbed firm agreement. "How 'bout your sister? How old is she?"

Now the boy turned a little shy. "Alanna two," he told his cousin. "She my little sister."

"We're working on full sentences," Victoria told the Muggle, laughter dancing in her voice. "I'm Victoria."

"I know how that goes," Parker agreed, his own eyes dancing as he briefly looked up at her. He turned back to the little boy. "It's very nice to meet you, your mother, and your sister, Lance; I'm Greg, your cousin."

Lance cocked his head to the side, considering that. "You Alanna's cousin, too?"

"Yes, I am," Parker confirmed solemnly, though his eyes danced even more. "I even have a son just a little older than you."

The boy perked up. "Meet?" he asked hopefully.

His parents shook their heads. "Not today, son," Artorius informed the four-year-old. "Maybe another time."

Parker looked just as disappointed as the boy, but Artorius didn't want to test his son's magical self-control around another little boy. Just then, Alanna, judging by the brief flicker in her eyes, tried to use her magic and ran square into the child lock. She burst into tears when her magic failed to respond, wailing indignation that her magic was locked away from her. Victoria tried to sooth the little girl, but she just cried harder.

"I'm sorry, please excuse us," she apologized to Parker as she rose, pulling Alanna up as the girl screamed.

"No, it's no problem; I understand," Parker replied before mother and daughter whisked away to another, quieter area, leaving father and son behind with their cousin.

Lance looked after his sister, but soon returned his attention to his cousin. "What you do?" he asked, his eyes shining as they rested on the Muggle objects attached to Parker's belt.

"I'm a police officer," Parker replied, smiling at the little boy. "I just got promoted to Detective and now I investigate when people get hurt and find out what happened to them."

"Can't they tell you?" Lance questioned.

"Sometimes they can't," was the reply. "That's when I and my partner come in; we find out what happened, even if they can't tell us and we go after the bad guys responsible."

Artorius sucked in a breath as gold glittered in the back of his son's eyes; neither Lance nor Parker noticed his response. Lance snagged his cousin's sleeve, suddenly very solemn. "Not right for you," he said. "Care too much. Help people who talk back."

Parker blinked at the advice, looking back and up at Artorius, who was just as caught off guard. The father was reminded, sharply, of his son predicting that he would have a little sister, insistent to the point that any mention of a brother was met with protests and wails about 'baby sistuh'. He'd been right, so Artorius suspected that whatever his son 'saw' this time was also right. Still, he had to keep the Statute, so he merely spread his hands and shrugged helplessly.

Lance's eyes, still glittering, turned even sadder at his father's gesture. "Meet again," he declared quietly, drawing Parker's eyes back to him. "Daddy says, even if it gets dark, dawn always comes."

Parker clearly didn't understand, but he smiled. "That sounds like very good advice, kiddo. I'll keep that in mind."

Artorius restrained his own response as he watched the pair and 'saw' both of them, older, wiser, sadder, and face to face with precious little family left. He hoped, prayed he was wrong, but he feared, very much so, that he was right.