Wrecked

Minka took a hard swallow as she folded the last of her clothes and shoved them into her bag. She zipped it up with a little more force than necessary.

A pair of hands reached around from behind her and held her hands gently. A pair of lips kissed the back of her head.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you." George spoke softly into her hair.

"I'm not worried about me…well, maybe a little. But, I'm more worried about you and Daphne."

"Minka, he's just one person. And if you haven't forgotten, I can handle myself. And Daphne can certainly handle herself."

Minka turned around slowly and hugged him tightly.

"You've been so good to me. So has your family. Yesturday was one of the best Christmases I've had in a long time."

They stood like that more a while, enjoying each other's embrace.

"You know…we don't have to go back right away." He pulled away a little to look into her eyes. "Maybe we could go somewhere."

"I have to face this George. You said it yourself; I need to control my own life. And I want to go back to my shop and run it the way I want and trust Daphne because I know she's a good person and after work I want to go out with you and snog in some corner of town."

George let out a small laugh. "Sounds like a plan to me." He bent down and kissed her slowly and passionately. Minka began to shake her head back and forth and pushed him away gently.

"Keep that up, and we won't be heading back for a while."

"Well, in that case." He quickly grabbed her outer thighs and hoisted her up so her legs were wrapped around his waist. He turned them so he could sit on the bed with her in his lap. It all happened so fast, all Minka could do was gasp. "I better keep it up."

She felt herself grin as she moved in to kiss him again. His hands moved up and down her legs slowly and methodically, sending a shiver up her spine. She slowly inched her way down to kiss his neck, hearing him do a small gasp of his own.

"AHEM!" The voice was so loud and deliberate, Minka shot up as fast as she could. She stumbled a little and then turned in the direction of the person clearing their throat. It was Bill.

"We're heading out now if you'd like to come say goodbye." He said it so casually, it was as if he hadn't noticed Minka's reddening face and George's frustrated glare. He gave a cheery smile before disappearing back down the stairs.

"It must be nice…being an only child." George muttered as he stood up. Minka held back her smile as George pulled her bag over his shoulder with frustration still eminent in his attitude.

A loud tapping echoed across the room from the far window as they were about to leave the room. They turned to see an owl hooting and tapping in hysterics at the window.

"That's one of my store owls." George's voice was now filled with confusion. Minka walked over and pulled the window open. The bird darted past her and practically charged at George. It wiggled it's leg at him as it perched on his shoulder, still hooting as loud as it could.

"Okay, okay!" George, tried to brush the owl off his shoulder. The owl nipped at his ear angrily and then flew out the window just as fast as it had come in. "What the hell got into him?" He unrolled the letter and began to read. His expression began to change into a mask of complete horror and what seemed like panic.

"We have to go. Now." He shoved the paper into his pocket and stuck his head out the bedroom door. "Bye! See you all soon!" He ran over to Minka and grabbed her hand tightly.

"What's going on? What happened?"

"Something has happened to your store." And without another word, he apparated them back to Diagon Alley.

…..

A silence seemed to hang in the air. It was as if no one wanted to speak until Minka said something. But she didn't, she remained silent as she stepped up to her store. The door hung sadly from one hinge, the only reason it hadn't fallen completely off is because if leaned against the door frame slightly. She peered inside to see displays were smashed, the register dumped over. Glass from the shattered windows mixed with the different coloured glass from her destroyed Dream Catchers. The sign for her store lay in splinters across the Alley.

Minka held her hand out and touched the door carefully. As if it was waiting for that, it released itself from the last hinge and collapsed to the ground with a bang. Minka stepped over the door carefully and felt the first crunch under her shoes as she walked around the store through the glass. Shelves had been knocked over and all the paperwork had either been torn into pieces or had been flung around the room. She looked down at the register to see that it had been cleaned out.

She made her way to the back of the store towards the stairs. A few boxes had been knocked over and her desk flipped. A part of her brain seemed to sigh in some relief as there were still plenty of boxes with Dream Catchers untouched. She turned back around to see George; she hadn't realized he had come in.

"The Enforcement Patrol is here. They would like to speak with you."

Minka nodded and stepped past him to head back outside. Sure enough, there was a patrol officer outside talking to one of the people who worked at George's store, Mark. Mark had been the one who had sent them the letter and came to talk to them when they arrived.

When the officer was finished, he walked over to Minka. Sympathy was written all over his face.

"Hello, Ms. Maye. My understanding is that you haven't been to your store in several days." She nodded. "Do you have any idea who may have done this?"

"I have a few theories."

The patrol officer simply waited for her to answer. Minka let in a huge breath and huffed it out.

"I have an ex boyfriend who isn't exactly happy that I left him. He attacked me a few days ago before I left. I doubt he did this on his own. But the only other theory I can think of is that a lot of people aren't too happy about me setting up my store here."

"Do you know of anyone specifically who didn't?"

"A few people made themselves known particularily. I don't know any names exactly. I only moved here in September."

As the officer continued to ask questions, a few other officers went inside to investigate. They came back out a few minutes later. They too looked at Minka with sympathy.

"They cloaked themselves somehow that we could not get exact identities or faces when casting charms. We could tell that there were several of them, all men."

"We'll continue to keep an eye out for this Killian, and you let us know straight away if you see him." They gave her a few more precautions as a few of the officers began to use spells to put the store back together.

Once the officers had left to scout out the rest of the Alley, she went to go step back into her store. All the stands, shelves, windows and the door had been fixed and were upright again. Most of the Dream Catchers had reattached themselves. She opened one up to see that their enchantment had been broken and it was simply an empty box. She held it in her hands lazily and dropped it into the trash can beside her.

"Can't you just redo the spells on them?" George asked.

"Once it breaks, it undoes the enchantments and they don't work the same anymore after. I've tried before." She pulled her wand out and gave it a wave. All of the Dream Catchers began to float in a single line and plopped into the trash can one by one.

"Minka, I'm so sorry."

"Why? It's not like you did it." She felt her voice come out a little sharper than she intended. She took a deep breath and turned to him slowly. "I'm sorry too." She said softly. He took a few steps toward her and placed a hand on her back. She leaned in and rested her head on his chest, just wanting to forget it all for a moment.

"Do you think Killian did this?"

"No. He just takes what he wants or threatens to get what he wants. Trashing my store wouldn't get him anywhere."

There was a hiccup of silence as they both seemed to think.

"Come on, let's go get some tea." He took her hand in his and they headed down the street towards the coffee shop. Unknowing to them, someone began to follow.