Getting to the Truth (Mimosa)

Subject: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:24 pm

The paternity test in the brown envelope had been the point in which Jake had taken the news to his mom about the daughter he hadn't known of. He'd told Victoria purely because he wanted some legal advice, and sworn her to secrecy until everything was confirmed. The confirmation that he'd given his mom, along with the news of Azalea's death had brought the older witch to tears as she hugged her eldest child, denoting that she knew he would do the right thing.

Jake had known that much.

Then he'd turned to the other envelope Kit had given him detailing the information on where Mimosa would be spending her summer. India had not been one of the places Jake had visited, and in truth, he knew very little about the country, other than the fact he liked the food. Though, only on occasion. That information had seemed a little bit redundant to Jake, unless Mimosa was going to open up to him, so he'd put that aside after reading through it once.

The more difficult thing to work through was Mimosa's health. The finding that Mimosa had Osteogenesis imperfecta, or OI, had not been something Jake had taken easily. It meant his eldest daughter could be, or would be in pain at any given moment if she got hurt, and Jake disliked that idea, as any parent would knowing their child was hurt. But, research showed that there were precautions that could be taken to ensure that Mimosa didn't bring on unnecessary suffering.

The more recent addition left Jake curious, though. Dyslexia. As someone who always taught practically, Jake would not have noticed such things in the young witch, but he made a careful note of that to ensure he could help her in any and every way possible when she was in his class.

After that, it had been a case of working up the courage to talk to Mimosa that had delayed things. Jake's stomach noted each time he looked at the note he'd written, before finally, on Friday morning, he'd sent it with one of the house elves, with the insistence the small creature read it to Mimosa before he left.

Mimosa,

Please can you meet me at the Quidditch Pitch tonight at 5:30pm. I've heard your Beater training has been hindered by the captain.

Professor Jake Newbury

And that was why Jake stood on the Quidditch Pitch, his Firebolt 2 leaning against him. His stomach knotted painfully as he waited for Mimosa to join him on the pitch. He was going to play Quidditch with the witch, to start with. And if she didn't have to rush off, Jake was... hopefully going to get it across gently that they were related.

It was not going to be easy, but he... he could hope that Mimosa would hear him out.

That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Sun Apr 01, 2018 8:03 pm

Exam time, Mimosa deduced, was literally he most boring time of the entire school year. Everyone had lame books out wherever she went and everyone she tried to speak to was either murmuring notes or a piratical spell under their breath. Her own dorm mates were reciting potion recipes before bed for fear of getting something wrong and Mimosa herself was growing more agitated day by day. She wasn't made to sit indoors and study, no, she was made to go out, explore, breathe, dance, fly.

In short, be who she was.

But the school system never allowed for people to be who they were it just gave you a bunch of books to study and handed you a report card at the end of the day that listed none of the things that made you, well, you. And Mimosa A Harrington would never be defined by a report card.

Besides, she was pretty sure she cooed swap the answer sheets with Bushrah, who really just studied enough for three people.

So when Mimosa got the note early Saturday morning, brought by a positively beaming Pepper, she didn't worry about how a practice session this late in the year would be detrimental to her exam. No she just assumed the obvious, that Jake knew she was the best flyer in the school and wanted to give her all the help she needed. He was technically a professor, maybe he would force the Slytherin Captain to let her play next year? Or as the referee, maybe he could make the call mid game that Mimosa be allowed to play.

The child had already been up and early, dressed and buzzing with energy when the note arrived. So without wasting any time, Mimosa tied her hair into its usual high ponytail and grabbed her Quidditch gear, changing into it and dashing out to the pitch. Her only stop was the equipment shed where the little witch detoured to retrieve her Firebolt Flash before she was reporting to the pitch, a bright grin on her face and her blue eyes dancing with excitement.

"Hiya Jake," she greeted, unable to stand still at the idea of finally getting some proper raining from a professional. If Uncle Seb was here now, he would be training her. But this was surely the next best thing.

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Come Plot With Me <3

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:25 pm

As Mimosa came bouncing in to the Quidditch Pitch, Jake couldn't help the small, fond smile that touched his lips. He only knew Mimosa from his classes, in which she had been very cute to say the least. The kid seemed to be happy, well liked based on the hordes of people that seemed to surround her, but... Jake couldn't really know. Which is why they were here, so that he could get to know her more, before broaching the subject of him being her dad.

"Hi Mimosa!" Jake replied just as cheerily to the young witch. "I hope you didn't mind my note, but I've heard that you haven't been able to catch your break in to the team. I thought I... might be of some use." Jake explained, hoping that didn't come across as too weird, but deciding to just keep pushing with that line of thought.

"So, you made Beater? How're you doing with that so far?" Jake asked, wondering how much the young witch might tell him, or whether this would be stuck to purely facts. "I used to play as a Chaser, but I do know how to handle the Beater's bat, so I should be able to help you a little bit."

There, now it showed that Jake would be of some use, wouldn't it?

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:16 pm

Normal children may have been suspicious at a teacher summoning them outdoors, normal children were raised with a healthy sense of self preservation. Unfortunately, Mimosa's top priority was not self preservation but talking about herself as much as she could, purely for the benefit of those around her. She was, in that respect, not normal. So Jake could have begun the conversation with anything and the witch would have happily jumped into it face first, because it did revolve around her after all.

"It's the captain<' she began huffing at the mention of the mean boy who was keeping her from leading Slytherin to a win. "He's a big meany and he won't even let me practice with the team even though the rest of the team told him too. Alexei and Ozzy both went and asked him to let me play at least in practice but he keeps benching me. Is it because I'm a girl? Or a first year? I mean, I know I have to lift my bat but eventually I'm sure i will." To ehr, it made perfect sense, and if Jake was a good player, he would see that too.

"Oh, I'm doing really great with Beater practice," she informed him, another bright grin blossoming on ehr lips. "I can fly, I can turn, i can even dive... But sometimes that's scary, please don't tell anyone or they'll never let me play. The only tiny thing I can't get the hang of is lifting my bat but that's because they gave me the heaviest bat in the world, Jake. And besides, its no reason to keep me from practicing, I'm sure I can just swat the bludgers away with my hand until I can deal with the stupid bat."

The Defense teacher may not have asked for her opinion of her own skill but he was going to get it regardless because Mimosa knew she was good at being a beater, whether the rest of the world agreed or not.

"Could you teach me how to lift my bat?" she asked when Jake suggested he could be of some help. He was a professional player once, she knew this so he probably understood the technique behind lifting stuff.

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Come Plot With Me <3

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:34 pm

The explanation that came from Mimosa was not as Jake had expected. He had asked her how things were going, so of course he expected her to talk about herself, but he had expected her to be a little bit shy, or unsure, of how to do this. The confidence, though, that radiated from the young witch made Jake's lips turn up in to a bigger smile, listening to her talking intently about her position and how the captain wouldn't let her play.

His smile only grew fonder when she admitted that she was a little bit scared of the diving, but when asked not to tell anyone, Jake nodded and brought his finge up to his lips to show he could keep that secret between the two of them.

However, as the young witch declared that she could hit the Bludgers away with her hands, Jake instantly went in to protective mode. Not because the witch before him was his daughter, but because the proposition of using your hands to swat away a Bludger was just insane.

"Umm, I would definitely not advise hitting the Bludger with your hands -- or any part of your body, Mimosa. The Bludger is very, very hard, and would break all the bones in your hand if you did that. We'll stick to the Beaters Bat for hitting Bludgers, okay?" He prompted, tone serious but not in the slightest bit authoritative. Surely Mimosa could understand that the pain that would cause was not something someone with her condition should ever attempt.

"As to the problem with the Beater's Bat, are you using the school ones?" Jake asked, and once Mimosa had confirmed that point, Jake nodded to himself slowly. "That might be the problem, the school equipment is not the best." He admitted in a faux whisper, turning to the Quidditch box regardless and withdrawing the Beater's Bat. It was heavy, but Jake had a plan.

"Okay, so first thing I would recommend is going to Quality Quidditch Supplies with the voucher you won in my Flying Lesson, and purchasing yourself a custom made bat. You can get lightweight bats that are just as good as this one, which will be much more manageable for you.

"Today, though..." Jake drew his wand from his pocket, and tapped it upon the bat, placing a spell upon the bat to make it feel lighter, even if it wasn't. "Try this?" He prompted, holding it out to her to take. "How does that feel now?"

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:01 am

The young witch made no comment about the Bludger possibly hurting her. It wan't Jake's fault, he was only a Chaser, maybe he didn't know how a Bludger worked. It was a lot smaller than she was and so, Mimosa was sure she could do more damage to it than it could to her. But it wouldn't be very nice to correct him so maybe she will save that for later. After all, he was trying to help her.

"Okay," she grudgingly agreed to using the bat, not looking forwards to another lifting exercise that would one day make her lift her bat properly. When Jake recommended going to Quality Quidditch Supplies with her voucher, the child looked up puzzled.

"Why? I can just ask them to send me whatever I want. I modeled for them when I was little and I get stuff from there for being a good model." The concept of money, payment and salaries was alien to the young witch, all she knew was what she's been told. That she had done a phenomenal job and anytime she needed Quidditch supplies, she would get them from QQS.

When Jake reached out to charm the bat, the girl's eyes grew wide with wonder. "You can do that?" she asked, her voice soft and full of amazement. The child would have thought this counted as tempering with the equipment - something she had heard a lot about from Uncle Seb - but if Jake did it, it must be okay. He was the referrer after all!

Slowly extending her hand forwards, the girl gripped her bat firmly, and for the first time, lifted it clear into the air. The weight of the bat that had proven such an obstacle before was now nonexistent and a huge grin broke out across Mimosa's small, oval shaped face. "Yes!" she cheered, lifting the bat above her head and pumping it as high as it could go.

"I knew I would be able to lift it one day. Now they have to let me play!"

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Come Plot With Me <3

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Sun Apr 08, 2018 8:29 am

The explanation that Mimosa had once modelled for Quality Quidditch Supplies made Jake smile warmly at her. "Did you?" He asked rhetorically, wondering what Azalea would have made of their daughter following in his footsteps with a career in modelling, but also aiding the shop with it's Quidditch lines. "When I was younger, I did a shoot with them too! Though, I'm quite sure your shoot is ten times better than mine! I'll have to look yours up, and..."

Jake trailed off, not wanting to get too full on with that before Mimosa knew everything she needed to. No, it was best not to come off as weird in that moment, because he wanted the witch to like him. So much was resting on getting Mimosa to like him that nothing could possibly get in the way, not even his own excitement.

"But, you can ask them for a bat, and send the voucher, or... just get it how you normally would, it doesn't matter." Jake explained to the witch, noticing the confusion on her features. Too young to understand money, perhaps? Jake wasn't sure... though when he thought of Ivan, the boy knew how to deal with his own pocket money, to a degree, but Jake wasn't going to make assumptions too early.

"You can do that?"

"For training purposes, yes. But not in games. I'm doing this to help you at the moment, but I would suggest getting a more manageable bat over the summer." Jake explained, making it clear that this would not be tolerated during games.

And then, then it came to watching the young witch as she lifted the bat looking mightily triumphant and more than a little bit happy with herself. Jake couldn't help the smile that came to his lips, infected by the joy of his daughter in that moment, but unable to fully appreciate it due to the young witch not knowing about that yet.

"I knew I would be able to lift it one day. Now they have to let me play!"

"Not so fast, Mimosa. Now that you can lift the bat, we need to practice your hitting of the Bludger. Though, it will be best to practice with something less dangerous first..." Jake pointed out, moving to his bag that was sat by his bag. From it he pulled a Bludger sized football and turned back to Mimosa.

"We'll start off with me throwing the ball in an arc towards you," Jake explained, knowing that the simplest way would be the easier looped ball for hitting purposes. "Then we can take to the skies and try that out. If we're successful, I'll enchant the ball to move in it's own manner for you to hit." Jake proposed, allowing the witch to see they were really going to practice.

"We'll save the Bludgers for another time, though." Jake added, both making an opening for them to have another meeting, but also heeding Kit's warnings of the witch's safety. Not that Jake would allow anything to happen to Mimosa, but he dare not even put her in that situation now.

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:47 am

The young Slytherin nodded with beaming agreement as Jake mentioned how her shoot was ten times better than his. She was a professional after all, he was just a Quidditch player. It wasn't his fault, maybe she could give him modelling lessons some day? Would he have to call ehr Professor Harrington, she wondered idly as she moved towards the soccer balls he had brought along.

"Oh, I can't go to Diagon Alley this summer," the child added almost as an afterthought. "I'm going to India, in Mumbai first and then all over for an ad film shoot. It's going to be so much fun." The girl let out a giggle at the idea of it before looking back to Jake and addressing his concern. "But don't worry, I'll ask my Jacques. He'll figure everything out, he always does. He is the bestest person ever!!!"

When the Defense instructor suggested they start with trying to hit the soccer balls first, Mimosa lifted her bat up confidently, still jubilant that she could do so. "Let me at 'em!" she squealed, waiting for the first ball to come her way.

And when it did, Mimosa swung her body sideways, swishing her bat through the air in an almost graceful arc, almost as if she was dancing. Unfortunately, her bat only met air as the child managed to miss the white and black orb completely.

"Jake!! Did you see that??" the little witch squealed excitedly nonetheless. "I almost got that one! Man, I am good a this!"

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Come Plot With Me <3

Subject: Re: Getting to the Truth (Mimosa) Sat Apr 14, 2018 2:15 pm

The insistence that Jacques -- the name with which Jake knew from teaching the boy -- could solve Mimosa's issue of getting the bat was one that Jake simply let be. He had almost offered, but he knew that right now, that would not be a wise decision, so the boy simply allowed the young witch to believe Jacques would sort such things.

Instead, Jake concentrated on the more pressing matter. The matter of teaching Mimosa how to do well with her position of Beater for the Slytherin squad. Her enthusiasm to learn had the DADA professor smiling to himself as he got ready to arc the soccer ball to the witch.

As it did, Mimosa swung the bat with gusto, almost connecting with the ball..

But completely missing.

"Jake!! Did you see that?? I almost got that one! Man, I am good a this!"

"Almost!" Jake encouraged, noting the witch didn't get put out with missing the ball, and opting to carry on with her enthusiasm. Drawing his wand, Jake summoned the ball back to himself, and readied himself to go once again. "Only just missed that one! Keep your eye on the ball, make sure you read the flight of the ball, and swing through the arc."

The explanation was probably a little bit more complex than Jake really meant it to be, but he'd been doing this for so long that he was oblivious to the complexity of the sentiment he'd spoken of.

It was proved only a moment later as Jake arced the second ball, only for Mimosa to miss once more. Jake knew, though, of course, that things rarely happened first time, so over the course of the next hour, he taught Mimosa slowly and patiently how to hold the bat, how to stand to ensure she got the best from her swing. Jake aided her in hitting a number of the balls that he'd magicked to arc towards them, smiling gratefully at the opportunity he'd been given to teach his eldest child to hit a ball arced at her.

But what had been the most beautiful moment was when he'd thrown the ball himself towards Mimosa, and the young witch had hit it soundly, straight back at him, almost hitting him in the face save for the quick reflexes that stopped it not an inch from contact.

The professor had been grinning as he lowered the ball, to see the grin on his daughter's lips, one that matched his own.

"You did it, Mimosa! You did it!" He congratulated the young witch, holding up his hand to her in the universal sign of a high five. For a moment, Jake feared he'd gone too far, but as the young witch pushed her hand forth for the returned high five, Jake couldn't help but feel he'd won her over to his side somewhat.

Though, of course, not quite ready for him to tell her the truth.

"That's enough for today, you've tired me out." Jake told the witch -- though he was more conscious of her condition, and overexerting the witch than it was anything to do with him. "But, when we're back next year, if you want to meet up each week to practice... or something, then that would something I'm happy to help with. The team could really do with someone as good as you!"

The praise was over the top, Jake knew, but what father didn't exaggerate the talents of their children to make them feel better about themselves.

After that, the two of them headed up to the castle together, talking about Mimosa's impending trip to India, which Jake had to play dumb to as she explained what she was going to be doing.

Jake was quite sure, from that point, that he had a chance, but as with all things, only time could tell...

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

» A Study in Mimosa, Part Two (Mimosa & Open)
» The Truth (Kamren, Oliver & Serenity)
» In need of some down time ( Mimosa)
» Letters ( Mimosa)
» Bad News (Mimosa)