Too Late For Young Girls To Be Out

[Ariadne Reinhold]

Six o'clock, and the sun had well and truly set. It was always the problem with going out in the winter time, the sun set far too early. And Ariadne would have to go home sooner or later, else her father would rage, her step-mother would fret, and Astrid would scold her for making a scene. Lousy supportive friend, indeed. Astrid was always motherly towards Ariadne, just because of the whole two months older thing, but Ariadne knew how much power she held. The eleven year old smirked, eyes twinkling behind a thick pair of glasses. Mars crawled about on her shoulder, and she reached up a hand to pat the tarantula.

Six o'clock. Too late for young girls to be out, indeed, but Ariadne knew how to handle herself. She was going to Hogwarts very shortly and she knew she'd turn out to be one of the most powerful witches ever. Of that, she was entirely convinced.

It was just a pity nobody else understood that fact.

 

[Gabriel Reinhold]

At last, Gabriel had finally found his older brother. It was strange, trekking after a man 14 years his senior, a man he'd never really known. But then again, there was always some strange, twisted obligation to family. Especially when Adam was the only other family member he had.

Adam and his daughter, that is.

Elouise Reinhold had died young, when her daughter was only two months old, and since then Adam had been crossing the world, trying to cope with things. Gabriel had heard he had recently remarried, another witch who had a young daughter, a similar age to his niece. So at least things seemed to be settled for him.

But now Gabriel needed help. He needed a steady anchor in the form of family. He needed friends. He needed to start anew. And he was sure his brother would help him out there.

If his brother was willing to see him. Gabriel had done a lot of stupid things, and he wasn't quite sure he had his brother's forgiveness. Gabriel wasn't ever going to fully change - a leopard can't change its spots, after all - but he'd grown up and learnt how to behave.

But - what was this? That girl was the spitting image of Elouise. But there was a certain way she seemed to carry herself...she had the haughtiness of a Reinhold, definately. That had to be young Ariadne, the girl he had only seen a couple of times in her early life. Well. At least he'd be able to befriend the young lady, even if he couldn't get his brother on side.

"Little late for a young lady to be out unaccompanied, is it not...Miss Reinhold?"

 

[Ariadne Reinhold]

Ariadne did not like to be disturbed when she was lost in thought. Admittedly, her thoughts were never great ponderings of the world, they were more selfish thoughts on how amazing she'd be as a great sorceress...but still, being interrupted was less than ideal.

The messy eleven year old looked up to see a man smiling at her. Of course, she'd been taught about stranger danger, but there was an odd familiarity about this man. Still, an interrupting stranger was an interrupting stranger, and Ariadne didn't like that at all.

"What's it to you?" she replied, snarkily, before realizing. That man had just referred to her as 'Miss Reinhold'. She'd never met the man before in her life.

"How do you know my name, creep?"

 

[Gabriel Reinhold]

Gabriel sat down on the bench next to the snarky girl. Oh yes, she was definately his niece. She acted exactly the same way he did when he was her age. He chuckled to himself, while the girl stared at him in a mixture of annoyance and anger.

"You need to control yourself, Ariadne. It's something that you'll learn when you get older, though, I hope."

Avoiding answering her question, he looked away from the girl and up in to the sky, where streaks of pink and orange were fading in to a cover of black. Gabriel loved evenings. Such a relaxing time of day. He stretched his long legs out, before turning back to the girl, who by this point looked about ready to strike him, or at least set her spider friend on him. Gabriel had never been keen on spiders. He didn't dislike or fear them, he just didn't like them. Ariadne, on the other hand, seemed to love the creatures. Judging by the way her hand flew protectively to her pet, that is.

"Come now, don't you recognise your uncle when you see him? Although, I suppose I haven't seen you since you were an infant. You look an awful lot like your mother, but you definately have Reinhold blood. Very much like your father in demeanor. Although your father was always a bit of a stick in the mud, so perhaps you're more like his brother. And by that I mean you're just like me. Gabriel Reinhold, at your service." And with that, he stuck his hand out, wondering if the girl would be polite enough to shake it.

 

[Ariadne Reinhold]

Ariadne was, indeed, furious. Things had to go her way, and if she didn't...well, there was trouble. Astrid always made sure she held her tongue, but Astrid wasn't here. And neither was her father. Nobody could stop her from saying what was on her mind. Indeed, she was just taking a breath in order to say what she thought of this guy's smarmy attitude when he stated that he was her uncle.

"You're f***ing with me, aren't you."

Ariadne didn't exactly have the sweetest tongue.

Nevertheless, against her better judgement, she extended her hand to the man, shaking it cautiously. There was something about him that she liked. Maybe he would be a good ally. He seemed to be pretty cool, though he did have a tendency to talk down to her, something Ariadne didn't like at all. After all, one of the reasons that Astrid was on her side was that Astrid never talked down to her - and because of their relations, they were allowed to be equal.

"Dad never said anything about an uncle...but I think I saw a photo once. He wouldn't tell me about it. You must've gotten up to some pretty bad s***, right?"