Gaining leverage (James and Char)

James kicked the wizard's legs out from under him and pressed the barrel of his pistol against the back of his head. He was confident that none of the other magicals in the room would do anything because he had two soldiers with him. Both had sub-machine guns and they were covering the crowds. He cocked his gun,

"And shepards we shall be. For thee, my lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be." he closed his eyes, "In nomine patri, et filli... et spiritus sancti."

Firing the weapon, James laid the man down to rest in a respectful manner. He stood back up again and pulled out a dart gun,

"That man killed five 'muggle' children for being born without magic. He has been sent to god for his crimes." he said with a heavy heart. He disliked killing anyone, even men who deserved it. He glanced out across the crowd, "I have been told to give something a field test here, today. It won't kill you so I'd like to ask for a volunteer."

Charlotte was just sipping at her butterbeer peacefully before she saw out of the corner of her eye someone appear in the pub, it was a man she had seen before and she couldn't place exactly where but she gasped when she saw just what he was doing.

"Someone help him!"

She cried pushing her way forwards. Gasping as he was shot Charlotte stood stock still while she watched his blood pooling on the floor, tears stinging her eyes as she watched it ooze towards her feet.

Her new sundress outfit wasn't going to get ruined, not today so she stood up on a chair but before she knew it someone had grabbed her and threw her to the front next to the dead man and the ones who had killed him.

"Take her! She's a demon! Just look at her eyes!!"

Squeaking softly Charlotte looked up from the floor in fright, her red eyes watering.

James glanced over as a girl, no more than thirteen, was pushed in front of him by a particularly cowardly man. He looked at the girl's red eyes and, granted, that was odd. But the tears in her eyes were what caught his attention. He glared at the cowardly man,

"You would sacrifice a little girl to save yourself from a small amount of pain?" he scowled, "You are the worst type of scum. I would shoot you right now but there are, obviously, children in this crowd. And they have already seen too much blood."

He held the dart gun loosely in his hand as he regarded the girl in front of him,

"What is you name little girl?" he asked her quietly, "My name is James. I've been asked to do a little test of a witch or wizard. Don't worry, it won't hurt too much. I need you to be a brave girl because it's a dart so it's kind of like a needle. Can you be brave?"

Charlotte looked at the gun, her heart beginning to pound as she thought about what was about to happen to her, about what this man was going to do to her and she bit her lip softly walking away from the dead body but not back into the crowd.

"My name, my name is Charlotte."

Her voice came out scratchy and it broke as she spoke but Charlotte stayed brave even as she fought back the urge to sob.

"W-what does it do? Will it hurt me...I don't want you to lie to me..."

With that Charlotte felt a hot tear run down her face and she shut her eyes thinking of her daddy and how he would be here in an instant to help her if she needed him to and she opened one eye to look at James.

"I can try and...be...I can try to be...brave." she choked out

James sighed a little bit and removed the clip from the dart gun. Throwing the plastic gun away, he took out a single dart and held it up to Charlotte,

"Well Charlotte, this is what I've been told to give you." he showed it to her, "It's a little solution. It's main purpose, I'm told, is to temporarily drain your magical core. You'll be absolutely fine in about an hour's time."

He smiled sadly at her and reached out to her gently with his free hand. Giving her arm a reassuring squeeze, he nodded at her,

"You're being a very brave girl, Charlotte. Braver than anyone here." he gestured over to the side with his head, "What's that?"

Before Charlotte had finished looking away, James stuck the dart into his left leg and pulled it out almost immediately, the solution new in her blood. He held Charlotte loosely in his arms,

"Sorry about the surprise tactic Charlotte." he told her quietly, "Now try to stay calm, it'll start to take effect soon."

Charlotte felt the colour drain from her face as she looked at the dart that was about to be stuck in her and she bit her lip to stop herself from wimping out of this. With a deep breath she nodded and tried to dispel her feeling of sickness.

"Okay James...it doesn't look too bad, just like a needle right?"

A shaky smile appeared on her lips and she grasped James hand when he held it out to her, it was nice to know that someone was there for her.

"Once you've stabbed me, can you...if it's okay...take me somewhere private so I don't seem so scared?"

Charlotte looked around to see if it was her Daddy come to help her but it wasnt and she cried out when the needle peirced her skin, she didn't feel so bad, it might just be okay. Looking up at James with a smile on her face she made to move but then something horrible started.

Gasping Charlotte felt a dull ache start in all her muscles, she felt it spread throughout herself and she closed her eyes to try and get rid of it. Groaning unhappily she hugged her hands around her head, whimpering softly Charlotte tried to stat brave. Then a large jarring pain started along her body and she felt herself start to cry.

"J-James..."

She had trusted him.
He said it wasn't going to hurt...just drain her magic.

Falling to the floor Charlottes hair and clothes became sticky with the dead mans blood and she cried harder, her beautiful sundress...what was going to happen to her? Was she going to die? Reaching a hand out to James she cried out.

"Please...sir...it hurts."

James smiled reassuringly and nodded a little, turning it around in his fingers so that she could see what it looked like from different angles. He even flicked it up in the air and caught it again,

"It's not too bad at all." he agreed before chuckling a little, "It's better than a needle actually. What I hate about needles is that they keep it in for awhile to inject you. This thing? In and out and it's done. And I'm not a doctor so you know that's not a lie."

Feeling her squeezing his hand back, James continued to smile reassuringly at her. The girl was being very brave, a real credit to the magicals as well as her parents, whoever they were. He squeezed her hand back,

"I promise you that once it's done I'll make sure you're away from everyone else in here." he promised her with a small increase in his smile, "It'll just be me okay? So they'll be no one to see you scared."

Feeling bad about deceiving her like that, James stuck the dart in her quickly and took it out even faster, as if getting over with quickly would make his trick seem not quite as bad. Seeing her smile, he smiled back and began to say something, to apologise for his deception, when she stopped suddenly.

Seeing her little face scrunch up in pain, James' heart tightened and he gave her hand another squeeze. When she clutched at her head in pain, James motioned for the two soldiers he'd brought with him to clear the room of the magicals, herding them out into diagon alley so that they didn't see Charlotte when she was scared, like he promised. He reached out to her,

"Charlotte... it'll be okay Charlotte." he tried to tell her, not sure of it himself as this hadn't been field tested at all, "Stay with me Charlotte."

James cursed when Charlotte fell to the floor. He whistled as the two soldiers rushed back in, opening the doors to the muggle side of the pub wide as James scooped the injured girl up in his arms,

"It'll be okay Charlotte." he reassured her as he jumped into the back of a waiting ambulance, setting her down on the gurney as the ambulance rumbled away, sitting beside her head as the para-medic looked her over, "It'll be okay Charlotte. Look at me... look at me Charlotte. I promise you, I will get you the best help that I can. You will be back to normal in no time at all."

Charlotte could hear the people leave the room and although it made her feel a little better about having this done to her she didn't really pay much attention to it because of the pain that was rushing through her body at this moment in time.

"James...w-why did you...why did you lie to me?"

Biting her lip Charlotte felt herself being picked up and it was as if she was a limp rag doll, the only feeling she had was that of pain running through her body from the prick of the needle radiating everywhere.

"I don't want to...I dont want to go to hospital...I want my Daddy..."

Charlotte cried out and doubled herself over as she was placed in the ambulance, she held James hand harder as she tried to take her mind off it.

"Stay with you? W-what?! Am I...am I dying?"

With that Charlotte bit her lip and felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness ring through her so that it only left a small ache but she closed her eyes, them fluttering closed quite slowly before she tried to open them.

James winced a little bit at the question. The truth was that none of the scientists had any idea how the magicals were going to react to the solution, which was why this was being used as a test. For all they knew, draining a magical's core immediately might be incredibly painful, as this test was suggesting. He squeezed her hand,

"I'm sorry Charlotte..." he told her honestly, "I didn't know. It isn't supposed to hurt you Charlotte... but we can remake it now... make sure that it won't hurt anyone else when used. Think of all the people you're helping Charlotte."

The mention of her father figure, a man known to the muggles even before the unveiling of magic, made James feel a stab of guilt. It wasn't strictly true that she'd been a volunteer. One of their squib contacts had trailed her to the Leaky Cauldron and that's why they'd struck there. Cobalt Smith's adopted daughter was too good an opportunity to pass up. He squeezed her hand gently,

"You're not going to the hospital Charlotte." he assured her quietly, "We're going to a safe place. And don't worry, we'll contact your dad."

Wincing slightly as her grip turned even stronger, James shook his head,

"No you're not." he told her firmly, "I just need you to be a big girl and fight through the pain okay? I want you to talk to me. Keep your mind off it okay?"

He shook her lightly as she closed her eyes,

"Charlotte!" he barked out, afraid for her, "Hang on just a little while longer. You'll be okay!"

Charlotte felt her lip wibble and she felt more tears fall down her cheeks, she didn't want to do this anymore, and she wanted to be better, she wanted her daddy and even more than this she wanted to see her Daddy, she wanted him and Arsen here with her.

"Why...why did you pick me? C-couldn't you...have done it on a bad man....on the bad man you killed? W-why me?"

Biting her lip Charlotte sobbed loudly and felt herself subsiding into silence, the tiredness affecting her limbs, she didn't cry any more simply because she couldn't, she just looked up at James with a pained expression.

The frightened way that James looked made Charlottes heart skip a few beats and she let her eyes drop shut again and the grip on James hand loosened as she tried to fight against the sleep. Through her half closed, blurry eyes Charlotte thought that she saw her Daddy, her Cobie and she whispered.

"Daddy...? I don't..."

Charlotte closed her eyes slowly and let go of James hand completely.

"I don't want to...go..."

James swore internally as he saw her lip begin to wobble as she cried. If she pulled out anymore of that cute little girl stuff he was going to start balling. He sighed and lowered his head,

"I was told to." he told her simply, "I'm sorry but my boss told me to try it out on you. The others wouldn't be good enough, it had to be you. I'm sorry Charlotte."

The sounds of her sobbing was like a knife repeatedly burrying itself into his heart and he hated it. Absolutely hated it. But when she suddenly became quiet, the sobs stopping, James was even more alarmed. Looking up, he stared into her pained eyes even though he didn't want to. When her grip on his hand started to slack, he squeezed her hand tighter and shook his head,

"You stay awake Charlotte!" he told her firmly, "You stay awake! Your daddy will be waiting for us!"

James felt tears welling up in his eyes as the little girl in front of him let her hand fall limp and closed her eyes after a tear-jerking expression of love towards a father who wasn't here. He blinked the tears away and began to frantically look around the ambulance,

"HOW FAR OUT ARE WE?!" he demanded of the driver, loudly. The driver flinched,

"No more than two minutes." the driver promised, "We're literally around the corner."

James looked down at the little girl in front of him as he took out what he'd been looking for. He glanced at the para-medic, who nodded. Taking the adrenaline, James stabbed in into Charlotte's leg and injected her with it before quickly removing the needle. An adrenaline shot like that would keep Charlotte awake despite her pain, long enough for them to roll into the lab.

The next thing that Charlotte knew was that she was opening her eyes and she cried out loudly, no words, just a long scream that made her seem like she was demented or something but she was letting out the feeling that she hadn't been able to.

"What? Am I...am I okay?"

Even though there was now no pain just that dull ache Charlotte still didn't fancy getting up from where she sat, but she grabbed James hand again and looked into his eyes, her heart feeling a little heavy.

"You did this to get back at Daddy, didnt you? You didn't do it because of me at all. It's never because of me."

Charlotte turned on her side and looked at James, her red eyes now pink with the pain and fatigue that was running through her body at the moment, she didn't even want to see her Dad any more. She didn't want to move.

"I thought I might have been special."

James breathed a sigh of relief as Charlotte woke back up again, eyes open wide and hand squeezing his own again. He squeezed back at her hand gently and nodded,

"You're okay." he told her with a relieved smile, "You'll be fine. Just gave you something to keep you awake and now you're fine. Thank god above that he wasn't going to take a sweet thing like you from this world just yet."

He stared back in her eyes and sighed a little bit. It seemed that Cobalt wasn't quite as good a father as they were led to believe if what Charlotte was expressing was any indication. He frowned a little bit,

"This has very little to do with your father in the long run I'm afraid Charlotte." he told her plainly, "Yes, my boss would like to have a word with your father. But this test had nothing to do with him, this test was about giving muggles a non-lethal deterrent in case certain types of wizards and witches decided to make war on us."

James looked at the very tired and weak young girl in front of him and sighed, tucking some hair behind her hair idly,

"You are special Charlotte." he told her quietly, "You were the perfect test subject. A metamorph and a teenager. We needed to know that, if push came to shove, we could defend ourselves against students with ill intentions as well. Sorry if that's not the kind of special you wanted to be."

Charlotte looked up at James with a blank look on her face, now that her magic was gone all she felt was her raw emotions and she was angry, angry with their boss, with James, with herself and especially angry at her Daddy. Why didn't he come to help her? Was he with his other student?

"Not like you would have cared, you have killed lots of us, if I looked different, if I was older, you wouldn't care so much. It's because I'm little, and a girl."

Blinking slowly she looked up at James with her red eyes, now unable to change through the magic she held, they showed that they were in fact her real eye colour, just as her White hair was real too.

"You're lying. If it wasn't to do with Daddy, you wouldn't have picked me, you would have picked someone else, but it's always about him, nobody ever wants me for anything good...nobody."

Charlotte felt herself sniffle softly and curl up into a ball, beginning to cry softly, she didn't want to only be chosen because she could be hurt, to be hurt, to be destroyed, she wanted up be picked...because she was the best.

"Would you be happy, if you were declared special for allowing people to use you like a lab rat? To test on? To experiment with?"

James looked down at Charlotte with a small frown. To be honest she'd hit a sore spot when she said he'd killed a lot of magicals. The truth was that had hadn't killed any of them that hadn't killed some muggles first. Even then, every person he killed weighed heavily on his soul,

"Of course I would have cared." he whispered quietly, "You might not believe this... but I don't enjoy killing. I don't want to kill anyone. I'm a religious man Charlotte, every person I kill, regardless of the sins I know they have committed, I send myself to hell just that little bit more. I wouldn't have killed you because you haven't done anything wrong and I wouldn't want to anyway."

He looked at her for a few moments before shaking his head. Stroking another stray strand of hair out of her eyes, he sighed a little,

"No I'm not lying Charlotte. Tis a sin to lie and I have enough sins to be accounted for." he smiled a little, "We picked you because of yer abilities and yer own talents. We could have bought yer 'daddy' anyway. But we went lookin' fer yer because yer were special. You have any idea how rare tha' is Char? Yer special in a world where everyone is special. Yer better than mos' of em in tha' world as well. Take it from a squib."

James shook his head and stroked Charlotte's cheek gently,

"Yer wer chosen fer yer abilities and fer one ting tha' yer father doesn't have a great deal of." he tapped her lightly in the centre of her chest, "Yer heart Char. We looked at some of te people in yer world... and ter hearts wer closed. Tey saw a squib and though' I was scum. Tey saw an IRISH squib and suddenle' I was worse tha' scum! But no yer Char. Yer the kind hearted type of person we need ter work with us to protect those who can't protect emselves Char. We ain't gunna stick yer in a room and mess with yer. We're askin' yer ter work with us. I'm askin' yer to help us feel special."

When Charlotte heard that James had only killed people because they had killed others first she sighed and moved to sit up, tilting her head to one side she slowly sat up on the bench and leant against the ambulance wall.

"You say that, but not many people are like that James, it's most likely a slippery slope into killing people before they kill you, and that's how mass murderers start. It's how..."

Biting her lip she looked at her knees and wibbled them as she placed them over the trolley, placing one of them on James knee Charlotte smiled softly, she didn't feel special, she was chosen for her abilities and as a result of that she was persecuted.

"You chose me for my abilities, and my heart, to stick a dart in me which you didn't know what was going to do. I'm sorry James but it's hard to believe that you picked me because you like me."

When he asked her to help him, to help them Charlotte steeled herself and didn't know what to do, she was wary and she looked into James' eyes with a confused expression, why did they want her help? Was she just going to be a test bunny?

"But...why? You don't need me. You just want to stick more things in me...and even if you didn't, why would I help you...you're going to kill my friends. My boyfriend. My teachers. I don't have that many people left dear to me, I won't let you hurt the ones that are left."

He watched, concerned, as she sat up and sighed a little when she continued to tell him what he already knew. Reaching under his shirt, he pulled out a cross and held it up for her to hold,

"Tis is wha' I have ter control me." he told her softly, "I ain't about ter go against me Lord and Father fer anything. Ter act o' killin itself... it's repulsive ter me. Yer don't have ter worry about me turnin' inter some mass murderin' bleeder... Ter day I kill a man in col' blood is te day I shoot meself in the skull."

James smiled a little bit at the weak attempt at humor as the ambulance stopped moving. He steadied her with a gentle hand,

"Well believe it er no' lil' Chari, I like yer." he told her with a small smile, "Yer a nice person and tha's a rare gift in itself. Sur', it ain't great ter be considered teh bes' person fer a tes', I get tha. But yer could be a great help ter us Char because yer special."

James squeezed both Charlotte's hand and his cross, gently. Tucking the cross away under his shirt, he shook his head,

"No, yer wrong ter Char. We need yer fer so much more than tha. Now... te others won't admi' it but we need yer because some of us need te be reminded tha jus' cus yer magical, doesn't mean yer some monster. Yer a person with feelin's." he stroked her cheek gently, "Te whole reason fer tis test is cus we don't wan' te hurt yer a' all. Ter are some bad people on both sides and we need ter be able ter protect ourselves Char."

Taking both of her hands to steady her, James slowly, cautiously, helped Charlotte to her feet and half-led, half-carried her out of the ambulance. He held her up with an arm around her and gestured at a bright, glass, building in front of them,

"Tis is wer we're makin' te solution." he glanced at her, "Tis is wer we're tryin' ter protect ourselves without killin' people. Killin' tears people up insigh'd Char. Tis is our only oter' option."

Charlotte bit her lip, was she really chosen because she was the best after all? Because she was actually useful and could help James, but she decided that it all depended on what the people were like inside of the building, whether they said the same thing or not.

"James, are any of the people who want to kill me in that building? I won't be able to stop them now, so, will you?"

It was then that the intense venerability that she was in dawned on Charlotte, she was totally exposed here, anywhere, with no magic at all! What was she going to do if someone started to hurt her? Nothing. She couldn't do a thing.

"Will Daddy be there?"

Charlotte bit her lip and she stopped James and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug, resting her head on his chest while she calmed down enough to go in there on her own.

"James, would you mind if I called you Uncle? I always wanted an uncle who was as nice as you, but they all died before I got to meet them..."

James frowned a little and thought about it for a second or two. Aurelia was deffinately in the building but she didn't strike him as the kind of person who would harm a little girl like Charlotte for being magical. And Jack was investigating something back over in Ireland so there shouldn't be anyone,

"No I din't tink ter are people who wan' ter hurt yer in te buildin' righ' now." he told her honestly before smiling reassuringly and giving her shoulder a squeeze, "And it wouldn't mata anywa' Charlotte. I'll protect yer with me life. Yer can coun' on tha'."

Seeing her beginning to panic a little, asking if he daddy was there yet, James gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. He didn't know if he would be or not but it was likely he would either be there now or he'd be there very soon,

"Well I din't know I'ma 'fraid Charlotte." he smiled at her softly, "But if he's not he'll be here soon alrigh'? In te mean time yer'll have ter put up with me."

James stopped when she wanted to and blinked a few times in confusion at the sudden hug. After a second he hugged her back tightly, reassuringly. He rested his chin lightly against the top of her head,

"Yer can call me Uncle all yer wan'." he told her with a happy smile, "Yer can even call me Uncle Jimmy if yer wan'. I've always wanted a niece as cute as yer."

Charlotte smiled softly as she had a reassuring squeeze left on her shoulder by Uncle James, she felt an awful lot better now that she knew there was nobody in the building who was intent on hurting her, so she smiled a little wider.

"Thanks James, I normally wouldn't ask you to, but I can't really do much like this, Uhm, speaking of this, when do I get my magic back?"

Tilting her head to one side Charlotte waited for the answer and pouted a little bit when Jsmes said he didn't know if Daddy was there yet or not, but if he was, she would probably have to wait to see him anyway.

"Oh okay then, well I suppose that we could find something to do right? I know...have you got any paper?"

Charlotte grinned, her magic may be gone but she could still draw well and they could have a little mini session while they waited for Cobie to come and get her from the laboratory. Chuckling softly Charlotte shook her head:

"No, Uncle Jimmy sounds silly...but thank you, for letting me call you it all the same."

He was glad that he could reassure her with such a simple gesture and made a mental note to do it more often, he was her uncle after all. Seeing her smile a little wider, James matched her smile,

"Yeah tha's okay Charlotte. I understan' jus' fine." he smiled a little more, "Din't yer worry abou' tha' Charlotte. It should be wearin' off in abou' half an hour, it's faster because I sho' yer up with some adrenaline."

James shook he head at her pout and poked her bottom lip with a smirk, pouting having been discouraged in the orphanage where he'd grown up with Jack,

"Yer'd best no' pout too much Charlotte. Makes yer lips swell." he joked, using the same thing the nuns have told them. He raised an eyebrow, "Paper yer say? Mmm... well I ain't got any on me at te minute but ter's bound ter be some in the buildin'. I got a pen though."

He handed over the ink pen he'd had in his pocket and smiled happily at seeing Charlotte much happier now that she'd gotten what he was trying to do here. James stuck his tongue out at her,

"Well fine ten." he teased lightly, "Jus' uncle James ten. Makes me feel al' posh."

Charlotte smiled happily and she liked the way that James seemed to have just accepted the way that she had adopted him as her uncle, maybe it was something that was what both of them wanted.

"Oh that's good, even though I don't know what's going to happen to me transformation wise once it comes back, it might be a little haywire."

Wondering just how funny it would be if she started to switch every five minutes from this to a rabbit, then a tiger, then a bat and so on and so forth. Hopefully she wouldn't turn into anything embarrassing, like her older form.

"Hey don't poke my lip, that's what's going to make it swell more than the pouting."

Sticking her tongue out at James, Charlotte moved into the building and she looked around, seeing if there was any paper around for her to use, or any paints, paints would be good right about now, since she had an idea.

"Thanks Uncle JAMES. I'll take good care of it for you."