Afternoon at the Park

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

"Mommy, lookit what i made!" came the voice of Elle Belmont's 4 year old daughter, Olivia. Elle, who was reading a book at the time, looked over the top of it to see what appeared to just be a mound of sand. "That's very nice, Livi!" she said, and then shot her daughter a look of confusion. "What is it?" she asked. "A sandcastle, duh! Silly mommy," Olivia said, and laughed. "oh, well, it's a very nice sandcastle," Elle smiled, and went back to her book.

Elle and Olivia had lived in London for quite a while, and this was olivia's favorite place to play whenever Elle had a day off. Being captain of the french quidditch team, as well as a beater, left her little time off. She barely saw Olivia during the day, only long enough to get her around for school and daycare at Wimblebee's, and by the time she got home some nights, Olivia was already asleep. It was times like that where she wished things had worked out between her and Lee, her ex-fiance. The stupid git.

Elle snapped out of her thoughts for a bit, and decided to help fix Olivia's sandcastle, which was starting to fall over from her hitting it with a stick when it wouldn't stay up.

[Carver & Cruz Family]

Haru had a short day at work so he went over to Taro's house, his childhood home where his older brother lived with his wife, 4 kids and their two younger siblings. The triplets were at Peyton's brother's house hanging with Gerard who was just their age. Haru thought it would be fun if he took his two little siblings, Kenta 10 and Ayame 8 along with his baby nephew Edward out to the park and give his brother some quiet time with his wife. He realized that his brother starting a family with a woman who already had triplets and then taking on their younger siblings after the tragic death of their parents then adding another baby to that made life really busy. Haru was often off and about with his life but he knew he had to make an effort to give back to his family as well.

Taro and Peyton were more than thrilled that Haru was willing to take the kids out. Haru put little Edward in the stroller and then pushed it into the fireplace. The fireplace expanded in order fit all 4 of them in there. Haru made sure that the kids were secure and then he took them to the Leaky Cauldron. While they were there he bought himself, Ayame and Kenta a muffin and then strolled them out into the busy muggle streets of London. They walked down several blocks until they reached the park.

Ayame and saw the sandbox and started running happily towards it. There was another younger girl playing with her mum. "Hold up Aya" he hollered. He wasn't sure where she was heading yet and didn't want her to get lost. Kenta started chasing after, he was showing signs of being a metamorphmagus like his mum, Taro and Setsu were - so his face began to look more and more like a cat and he started shouting "the sandbox is just a big big kitty box". Haru new it wasn't best to leave a baby in a stroller in the middel of the sidewalk but he couldn't let a muggle see his brother looking like a cat. "Kenny! Stop that!!!" Kenta turned back, a mischievous looking cat. Kenta giggled and said innoccently "Stop what Haru". Haru caught up to Kenta and grabbed his hand firmly but not roughly "Hey, don't forget where you are, yeah? You can't just" he was going to continue but realized there was a woman there with her young daught. Haru quickly blocked Kenta's face with his body and hoped that this woman hadn't seen what his brother was doing.

Haru nodded, giving a slight, friendly bow. "Hello there". He tried to act casual hoping to see in the woman's face if the woman saw anything unusal about Kenta. Haru memorized the woman's face as best as possible incase he had to report the innciddent to authorities and get her memory erased for the day. He'd hate to do such a thing but he knew the consequences of not taking precautions would be absolutely worse.

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

Elle was absent-mindedly picking up some of the sand, and then pouring it back into the sandbox. Olivia had been upset that the sandcastle wouldn't stay up, and was pouting, sitting next to what was now basically a large pile of sand. Olivia suddenly heard something, and looked to where the noise was coming from, and noticed some people running towards the sandbox. She looked confused at Kenta's appearance, and looked over at her mother. "Mommy, that boy looks like a kitty," she said, pointing to Kenta. As Kenta and Ayame ran closer, Olivia moved closer to Elle, not sure what to do. She was fairly shy when it came to meeting new people.

Elle then heard Haru greet her, and looked over at him. "Hi," she said. She really didn't know what else to say, so she stood there a bit awkwardly as Olivia tried to hide herself behind her mother. She noticed Ayame and Kenta, and guessed that this was a magical family, which relieved her a bit. Olivia had been showing signs of magic, and Elle was always nervous that Olivia would get ahold of her wand and hurt herself or other people. Elle noticed Olivia hiding behind her, and knelt down next to her. "Why don't you go play? I don't think those kids are going to hurt you," she said with a gentle smile, trying to get Olivia to be a little more outgoing. "Sorry about that," Elle said to haru. "Are you from around here?" she asked, attempting to make a conversation, even though it was quite evident that she was either shy, or cold. It was hard to figure out most times from first impressions.

[Carver & Cruz Family]

Ayame sat down in the sand next to the girl that was half her age. She waved at her "Don't worry, I won't bite" she crosssed her heart "promise". Ayame looked at the girl and smiled at her "I like your shirt. My name is Ayame, you can call me Aya or MeMe if its easier. What's your name?" Ayame was a naturally friendly child. She was sometimes shy with adults but with kids she was brave and just wanted to get to know people. Ayame was used to playing with other kids, having some many young ones in her extended family.

Kenta sat at the edge of the sandbox and kicked some sand around like the mischievious boy he was. Ayame turned towards him and yelled "Stop that you! Stop that!" Kenta stood up on the board flanks of the sandbox looking down at the two girls. He wasn't trying to hurt them, just trying to rile them up as all older brothers loved to do to little sisters.

Haru was just about to respond to the woman when he heard Ayame shouting. He rubbed his chin in confusion and then hollered himself "Kenta go play somewhere else. Don't bug your sister". Kenta laughed madly and ran off to the ungle gym. He played by himself, swining around like a monkey whilst making funny faces at his sister, but Ayame just ignored him.

Haru again turned to Elle to respond but then he remember Edward laying in the stroller a ways down the sidewalk. He put his finger up saying "One second" and ran off and retrived his nephew. Taking in a deep breath he said "No, we're not from around here. We live in Scotland. I live in Glasglow, and these kids live in Whitebridge, not that you should have any idea where Whitebridge is unless you are really into magi" he was about to say 'magical creatures' but stopped himself "into Lochness... rumor has it, Whitebridge is the biggest hotbed for the beast" he saved himself from slipping up to a muggle. "I work in Dia" he was going to say Diagon Alley at the Ministry but saved himself again and said "a diangle shaped building" he felt really stupid for saying that. What the heck was that supposed to mean "yeah, my office is in a weird shaped building down in the business sector" he shrugged. "Second office" he added, the woman would probably think it was weird for him to come all the way from Glasglow for an office. "And you?" he asked hoping to get the conversation off himself.

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

Olivia was quiet for a few minutes, watching what was going on around her. She wasn't quite sure what to think of these kids. Ayame seemed nice enough, but the boy...he kinda scared her. Before she could answer Ayame, Kenta had started kicking sand around, and she got out of the sandbox, running back towards Elle yet again. She hid behind her mother again, and after some more encouraging from Elle, Olivia carefully made her way back to the sandbox. She hoped that Kenta wouldn't come back and kick the sand around. "I'm Olivia. i'm dis many," she said finally, and held up four fingers. "Who's dat?" she asked ayame, pointing over to kenta, who seemed to be laughing madly. Olivia wondered if he was crazy. "He's scary," she added, starting to come out of her shell a little bit.

"I live here in London. I live outside of the..." Elle paused for a minute. She didn't know if Haru was magical, or if he was a muggle. "Well, i guess it's outside the shopping district. we've lived there for a few years, but i don't normally pay attention to my surroundings a lot," she said, playing it safe. She thought it would be a bit sketchy to ask if he was a muggle or not. She looked a little confused when he said that he worked in a diagonal shaped building. "Aren't you coming a little far just to work here in london?" she asked, her french accent becoming more prominent. She knew nothing about this guy, and because of that, she couldn't exactly say that she trusted him. she was trying to not give away any important details to her home in case he was a deatheater or something.

[Carver & Cruz Family]

Ayame watched as the little girl ran away. She felt bad that her brother was scaring her. A smile spread across her face as she rejoined her after words of encourgement from her mum. The little girl told her, her name and age. Ayame giggled "Woah. You are a big girl aren't you?". She knew from interacting with the other kids in her family that they all loved to be called big. "You have a very pretty name to Olivia". Ayame noticed Olivia's gaze wandering over towards where Kenta was acting like a crazy person on the jungle gym. "Thats my brother Kenta. You can call him Kenny too. He just likes to be a 'menace', or atleast that's what my brother Taro says. I just call him wierd. Don't worry about him though. He won't hurt you. Kenta can be a lot of fun most of the time. But you know how older brothers are" she shrugged. "Do you have any brothers or sisters Olivia?"

As Elle began to talk, he could tell that she was French. He thought it was interesting how she had to pause before she described the area she lived in. It was as if she was scared of something. Haru laughed when she asked him why he'd come so far to work. The real question was, why would he come so far with a bunch of little kids. He didn't want to bring a flaw in his explanations so just went with it. "Well.. I was erm" he coughed "just checking to see how business was out here. My main um, port of business of course is back in Glasglow".

Edward woke up from his nap and began to cry. Haru picked him up out of his strolled. He was wrapped up in a blanket sporting the crest of Hogwarts. Haru hoped the woman wouldn't be nosy enough to ask what is was crest for. He was learning how truly awful he was at lying, or atleast lying to a pretty lady. "Sorry, he must of woken up because of the noise Kenta is making. He usually gets over his crying quickly though" he reassured Elle. Then he realized he hadn't even introduced himself yet. As he began to talk, Edward began to calm down again. It might have been the sound of the familar voice of his uncle that put him at ease "I'm Haru by the way. This little guy" he tickled Edward's belly "is my nephew, Edward. Those two runts are my little siblings, Ayame and Kenta" he pointed at them. "What was your name miss?"

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

Olivia's face lit up for a moment when Ayame asked if she was a big girl. She nodded happily, and then beamed when Ayame complimented her name, her initial shyness towards Ayame wearing off. "You have a cool name too," she added, and then shook her head at ayame's next question. "No...it's just me and mommy," she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She would have loved a little brother or sister to play with, as she got lonely most of the time even though she was in daycare a lot. "Do you have lots of sisters and brothers?" she asked, putting some sand into a bucket. She hoped maybe she could rebuild her sandcastle, which was still a giant sand pile with a stick stuck in it. "Are you good at building sandcastles?" she asked ayame curiously.

Elle nodded at Haru's explanation as to why he came so far to work. Something still seemed off, though. She just couldn't put her finger on it. She smiled a little, watching him interact with Edward. She quickly caught herself, hoping he hadn't noticed. She saw the blanket, and realized that he was magical. Then it dawned on her why he was lying. Duh, of course! He thought she was a muggle, just like she thought he was a muggle. It all made sense now. She then heard him ask her name. "Oh, uh, well, i'm Elle, and over there is Olivia, my daughter," she said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

[Carver & Cruz Family]

Ayame was happy to see that Olivia was beginning to ease up a bit. She smiled when Ayame complimented her name "Thanks. Its a Japanese name. My mum and da were both half", she frowned a bit thinking about her parents. Everyday she missed them so much. Some nights she cried herself asleep because she just wish her mum was there to sing her a lullaby again, or for her daddy to read her a bedtime story. At least she had her brother Taro to take care of her, and her other siblings too. When Olivia said it was just her and her mum, she could see that Olivia was hurting too. She wasn't sure where the girl's da was but she understand the sadness of not having a daddy around. "its ok" she reassuringly to the girl "but yes, I have 6 siblings. I'm number 7 of the bunch. I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters." Then the girl asked her if she was good with sandcastles "Yup, I love making sandcastles" and she began to fiddle with the sand trying to help the girl out with what she had done so far.

Haru smiled at Elle. She was cute, but off limits. If she had a kid chances are she was married too. Edward began to wiggle wildly and the blanket fell to the floor, revealing Edward's onesie that said "I love Quidditch" with little snitches allover. He thought to himself 'bloody hell' this is what Taro dressed him in, knowing he was going to a muggle park with the kids. Haru tried to grab the blanket from the floor but it was proving difficult the way Edward was squirming so much. He just hoped Elle wouldn't ask what Quidditch was.

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

Olivia saw Ayame frown after mentioning her parents, and quieted for a minute. She wondered why the girl was sad from mentioning her parents. Olivia didn't know her dad, it was always her and her mom. She sometimes wondered if her dad hated her, and that's why he wasn't around. Her eyes grew wide when ayame said the she had six siblings. "Wow! That's a lot of brothers and sisters!" she said, amazed. "I bet you don't get lonely with all of those people to play with," she said, poking at the sand a little. She then smiled a little, hearing that ayame was good at making sandcastles. "Yay! mine kept falling over," she said, pointing to the broken castle. "I got mad and hit it with a stick," she added.

Elle gave a small smile back, and moved her hair out of her face again. She was so used to having her hair pulled back most of the time, when she left her hair down, it almost annoyed her. She didn't have any rings on, or even jewlery in general, for that matter. She normally only wore earrings, which today happened to just be a pair of silver studs. She noticed Edward was wiggling, and the blanket he had was now on the ground. She noticed the onesie, and figured the family must like quidditch."Here, i'll grab that," Elle said, and picked up the blanket from the ground, setting it in the stroller after she had folded it. She then picked up her book off of the bench, setting it inside her bag, which had patches she had sewn onto it. One was the beauxbatons crest, and the other was the logo for the french national quidditch team. She had charmed them so that they were only seen by witches or wizards. If muggles saw it, the patches weren't visible.

[Carver & Cruz Family]

Ayame nodded "Yup it is a lot. I always have someone to play with. My family is huge" she made a sign with her arms like she was carrying something gigantic in it. "I live with my big brother Taro and he is married and he has 4 kids. Edward" she pointed to Haru holding the baby "that's Haru by the way, my other older brother" she continued "and then Peyton, Taro's wife had triplets before she married my brother. They are 5 now. Two of them are girls so we always play house or dress up or barbies and stuff. Its great fun. Then I have a bazillion cousins. It gets confusing". When she looked at Olivia's sandcastle and heard that she beat it she giggle "Don't worry that happens to me too. I personally like to stomp on mine".

Haru thanked the woman for picking up the blanket for him "He is a lively one. Always has been. Edwards has the strongest kick and bite I've come across yet... well for a baby" Haru laughed at this. Then he saw Elle go pick up her book from the bench and right before she slipped it into her bag he saw the enchanted patches. He didn't know how to say this or if she knew he was a wizard "Who is your favorite Quidditch team?", he wanted to catch her off guard to try and get a genuine answer.

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

"My family's little. There's me and mommy, and then gramma and grampa," Olivia said after Ayame told her all about her family. "Me and mommy live here, but gramma and grampa live in france," she added. She couldn't help but giggle a little when ayame said liked to stomp on her sandcastles. "I don't really stomp on mine...i just hit em with stuff. mostly sticks. sometimes i hit it with my bucket or my shovel," she added, pointing to her bucket. Olivia suddenly had an idea, and ran over to get a couple toys out of the bag, and then ran back to Ayame. The toys consisted of a bag full of dinosaur toys, and all of them had names. "They guard the castle, until i break it. That one," she said, pointing to a t-rex. "Is Carl. And this is his emmemy, Biablo," she said, pointing to a mammoth as she introduced Ayame to her toys.

Elle chuckled when he said Edward was lively. She heard him ask what her favorite quidditch team was as she was pulling a hairtie out of her bag to pull her hair back. She pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, and then answered haru's question. "Well...i'm a fan of the Holyhead Harpies, and the Ballycastle Bats, of course, i also have a bias for my own team," she said. The question had caught her off guard, and had answered the question before she had realized what she was doing. The guy seemed nice enough, and she had to admit, he was kinda cute...but she knew nothing of him, and had every reason not to trust him. She looked back over at olivia and ayame, and was glad to see Olivia warming up to the girl. It took a lot of encouraging from elle just to get her to talk to people from daycare most of the time.

[Carver & Cruz Family]

Ayame said "Thats cool that they live in France. I heard Paris is a really cool because they have the Eiffel Tower. Have you ever seen it? My sister used to have a key chain that was gold and sparkly mini". When Ayame heard the name Biablo "That is a funny name Olivia, how did you think of that one?" She looked over all the toys Olivia had brought "You have some awesome toys. I like to make dinosaur noises. They go Grawwwkkk. My favorite though is the flying kind. They have big pointy beaks"

Haru beamed and laughed "Yeah the Holy Harpies are amazing aren't they? The Ballycastle Bats aren't doing as well this year as they have in the past, but overall a good team." Then when she said her team, he looked at her for a second and connected the dots with her accents "You play for the French Team don't you? Elle Belmont" he set Edward back into his stroller "I've heard about you, can't say I keep track of French teams as much but thats fantastic. I see you are trying to escape wizard papparrazzi here in the muggle suburbs."

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

Olivia nodded happily. "I've been there bunches of times. It's super fun to go up to the top and look around. You can see the whole city!" she said. "Mommy always takes me there for my birfday," she added, and then heard Ayame say her toys were cool, and giggled when she made dinosaur noises. "I like these dinosaurs," she said, pointing to a triceratops. She heard ayame say that she liked the flying ones, and picked up one of the toys. "These ones?" she asked, holding up a saber tooth tiger.

"Yeah, it's quite disappointing that they're not doing as well this year. I thought they had a chance to make the world cup," Elle said when Haru told her that the ballycastle bats weren't doing so well. She nodded when he asked if she played for the french team. "Yes, i've played on it for about 5 years now. Not many people know the french team over here, though," she explained. She wasn't sure why she was telling him this much information...she very rarely let her guard down. She laughed a little at his comment. "The paparazzi can be a pain, they're too sneaky sometimes. Luckily they're normally not in the muggle areas a lot," she added. She couldn't figure out why she was so willing to talk to him. Granted, it was just general conversation, but her lack of trust of people normally even made that difficult. She thought that maybe it was just a fear of getting hurt again after having her heart crushed by her cheating ex-fiance, but she really didn't know.

[Carver & Cruz Family]

Ayame was impressed that the girl had seen the Eiffle tower "Woah, you've seen it for realz! That is so cool. I'm jealous. I wish I could go there some day. Maybe my brothers will take me for my birthday too." she giggled "if I whine enough. They always say whinning gets you nowhere, but they are very wrong" she laughed. Then Olivia showed her, her favorite dinosaur in the bunch "Yeah that one is really cool. Its like a big gigantic tiger" and proceeded to make an angry hiss like a cat.

Haru nodded "Yeah, I'm really excited for the next World Cup. It'll be interesting to see what teams actually make it this year. I don't think the Ballycastle Bats will have made a big enough impact to get it... but there is still some time.. who knows" he laughed at her saying no one really knows the French team "I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea how the French teams are doing. Do you think your team will make it to the next World Cup? Are you good in comparative to the other teams in France?". Then he added "I don't know what is like to have papparzzi fighting for my photo, but my Aunt and Uncle get it now and again. My Uncle is the secretary to the Minister of Magic, and his wife is the Headmistress at Hogwarts. My poor Aunt never gets good press but she is a really amazing woman."

[Elle Belmont-Krum + Family]

"Mommy always tells me that too," Olivia said, putting down the tiger for a different toy. "But i normally get my way when i whine. I think mommy does it so i'll stop," she said with a small giggle. She noticed that while Kenta had run off to do his own thing, he still looked a lot like a cat. "Does he always look like that?" she asked ayame, pointing to Kenta. She had never seen a metamorphmagus before, so while he had scared her before, she had to admit, she was a little curious.

Elle nodded an agreement at Haru's comment about the Ballycastle Bats not making a big enough impact to make it to the cup. She chuckled when he admitted that he really didn't know how the french teams were doing. "My team's been on a winning streak lately, so we have a decent chance of making the cup, but it's still quite up in the air," she said. She had put her guard back up, and sounded a lot like how she did when she answered interview questions for the press. like she was just spitting out information, and going through the motions. It was mannerisms like that that normally ended up with her being labeled as a snob, or as cold. She heard him mention his aunt and uncle. "Your aunt is the headmistress? i think i met her once when the triwizard was going on a few years ago," she said. "I remember it ended early for some reason, we only ever got through the first task," she added, sitting down on the bench again.