What To Do With a Thing Called Parents (Kamren, Clarinda & Lux)

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"And I believe you're standing in my way, hag,"

The response that came was not unexpected, considering that Lux had just walked out on Kamren without so much as a word of acknowledgement, and Clarinda was not in the least bit surprised. "And I've never been called that before," she said, dryly. Sarcasm wasn't always something she used or turned to, but she found that on occasion, it conveyed meaning better than a more decent way of speaking would.

"I don't think I've told you what I work as," she continued, tone back to a neutral one, showing neither anger nor compassion; it was patient, yes, but showed no emotion, and was what she used with her most difficult patients. "I'm one of the Head Healers at St. Mungos, and part of my job is to stand in people's way - people who don't want treatment, or people who have been affected by spells or potions. I've had years of practise - more years than you have been alive, Lux - so if it's to be a battle of wills, there is no competition. I've dealt with people more violent, more stubborn, and more unloveable than you, and I will continue having patients like that. The only difference is I didn't choose them; but I chose you, which means I will never give you up or give up on you."

"So, Lux, believe whatever you want, but I tell you the truth: you are our daughter, and we love you, and we want you. Nothing can and will change that," she concluded, giving it a second or two before moving to the side and giving her head a tiny jerk in a 'go on, then' movement. "If you want breakfast, be down here washed and clean in twenty. If you aren't here, you're on your own for food until lunch," she told the younger witch, but made no indication of moving first.

No, if there was one thing she had learnt it was to never turn her back on anyone who was angry, and it was obvious to anyone that Lux was furious in that moment.

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Lux didn't expect Clarinet to blow up in anger at her retaliation. Any other foster parent who went through Lux's verbal torrent of abuse either blew up like a volcano or burst into tears like a water fountain. Lux had made it a game, every time she was placed into a new home, to make a bet with herself which reaction she would get. But one day with The Couple told her they did not react in the usual way and now she knew why. The Minster of Magic. Hmph! She hadn't expected the minster of magic to be so...normal. She'd always perceived him as a high and mighty individual with his nose so high in the air it took Jack's beanstalk to reach it. But after spending time with them, she knew they were different than the other foster parents.

Which was why she wasn't surprised when Clarinet didn't blow up.

"And I can't see why people haven't called you a hag before," Lux retorted. "I could list off a few other things you remind me of but I don't want to waste my breath on someone so unworthy of it."

Lux crossed her arms and tapped her foot as Clarinda gave a long winded speech. This set of foster parents really had too many words to say. Maybe she could find a prank to shut them up. Stick masking tape on their mouth or something. She'd gotten lectures before but none as long as the ones The Couple were giving her. Did they not know when to shut up? Even the sound of their voice was irritating.

"I don't give cow shite what you work as and calling me unlovable is the best compliment anyone has ever given me so thank you for that word of encouragement," Lux said in all sincerity though the woman would probably think it sarcastic.

One of the main reasons she wanted to make life difficult for others - besides enjoying the fun she got out of it - was because she didn't want anyone to love her and she didn't want to love in return. It made her vulnerable and that was something she hated. Besides, love equaled pain and she knew how much that hurt. Lux would never let herself go through that much pain again for the sake of love. It wasn't worth it.

She did raise an eyebrow in mild surprise when the woman moved out of the way. Lux had been expecting a long verbal battle until an agreement was squeezed out of her - to inform them about her whereabouts whenever she left the house - before they would let her go upstairs. Apparently they were more lenient than she initially thought. Interesting.

She narrowed her eyes at Clarinet though, and paused for a moment to make sure she was serious about letting her through. But when there was no interference, Lux walked past the woman and up the steps to her room, her mind swirling to compartmentalise and make sense of everything that had happened that night. She hadn't been punished, just made to endure a truckload of words which she supposed was punishment in itself.

She turned Clarinet's words over in her mind, about how she and Camera loved her. It made no sense how someone could love a person who purposely made life difficult for them. It wasn't normal. Then again, intentionally being unlovable wasn't normal too. One way or other, she would find out why they wanted her so badly they would endure everything she threw at them.

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The words that Clarinda was sure was meant to hurt did nothing to her. She had learnt many a thing while working as a Healer, and even more as a Head Healer. One of them was that people said many things when upset, hurting, or otherwise emotionally unstable. The second thing was that if she took everything they said to heart, she would spend the rest of her life upset, and so she learnt to let them roll over her, and quite honesty was no longer affected by anything people she didn't respect. Another thing she learnt was that by reacting positively - by showing grace and love and patience - she was showing them that she cared. But the most surprising lesson was probably the fact that the hardest people to love were usually the ones that needed it the most.

All these things combined meant that the moment Lux claimed to have many words by which to describe her, Clarinda was only fueled to love the Slytherin more. After all, the young witch was now her daughter, and families stuck together through thick and thin, no matter what.

"I'm not calling you that, dear. The files did. I disagree. I'm calling you our daughter," she corrected, wanting the witch to know without a doubt that both Kam and her were serious about wanting her in their family for the sole reason that they wanted her with no hidden agendas. And, of course, that they loved her.

Watching as Lux walked by, a neutral expression on her face, hand not on wand but ready to remove it should the witch have turned back for any reason, Clarinda waited a few seconds after the figure vanished before moving into the kitchen. Moving straight to Kam, she bent down to offer her husband a kiss. "Things will be okay," she murmured. "She just needs more time and love."

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This woman just did not get it, did she? Lux didn't want to be their daughter. She didn't want to be part of any family be it the poorest family in the world or the most important one in the wizarding world. Families meant love and love meant hurt and Lux wasn't about to put herself through that again. She'd been through it once with the Carters and got hurt enough to never ever allow herself to be part of a family no matter how many good memories they had.

She would rather be independent and go without any love than be subjected to that emotion and vulnerable. She had spent too long building walls of ice and knives around her to let The Minister of Magic and his wife break it down with their speeches of love and family. Not gonna happen. Not in a million years.

Lux rolled her eyes and huffed. This woman was slower than the sloths in Zootopia.

"You said and I quote 'more unlovable than me' therefore for anyone to be more unlovable than me means that I am on the scale of unlovableness - if there is even such a word - no matter what you say," Lux shot back.

"And one more thing. I do not want to be called your daughter," she spat out the last word and injected it with as much disgust as she could. It wasn't that she didn't want to be Camera and Clarinet's daughter in particular. It was just that she didn't want to be a daughter in general to anyone. Sure, she knew she was a daughter to her birth parents but she couldn't care birds' pee about them. They'd abandoned her that was the end of the story.

Lux took a quick shower and jumped into bed, falling asleep almost immediately. She didn't need breakfast, having already eaten and drunk her fill in the bar. Besides, she didn't think she could survive through another meal with them. One meal a day together with them was one too many. So she slept through noon and woke up at half past two in the afternoon. She stayed in bed for a while, deciding what mischief she could get up to that would drive The Couple out of their mind. They didn't have a pet she could torture so she would have to think of something else. She knew she had to be doubly careful with her pranks. And more creative. These guys knew magic, unlike her other foster parents, so it would be much too easy for them to rectify anything she did.

An idea formed in her mind and she got up and dressed herself. She didn't bother letting The Couple know she was going out, merely walking out the front door. She knew though, from what Camera said that people would be stalking her and reporting her whereabouts and activities to them but she didn't bother to hide her tracks, knowing it was more than impossible to do so. She headed to one of the alleys that held what she was looking for. Dead lizards. Well, live lizards. She just killed them. And spiders. She put them in a plastic bag which she stuffed into her messenger bag and headed back to the house.

She made her way up to The Couple's bedroom, and found a nice spot on the wall that would suit her purpose. One by one, she took out the dead lizards and spiders and began forming words with them, sticking them onto the wall using thumbtacks. When she ran out of lizards and spiders, she went to the bathroom and took the tube of toothpaste she found there, using it to continue writing. Her final piece of work read, "You people give me a rash!" Deciding it wasn't enough, Lux took the jar of fake blood she owned, dipped her finger in it and covered every wall space she could reach with every profanity she could think of, both Muggle and magical.

Next, she went to their bed, used one of the many pairs of scissors she own and proceeded to slice open every pillow and bolster she could get her hands on, letting the feathers settle by themselves. It would be easy for them to clean up the mess with a flick of their wand but ripping apart the bedding gave Lux something to do and helped her release some pent up steam.

Guest

Clarinda said nothing at Lux's outburst, merely listening and taking in the words, storing them away for later discussion with Kamren. It gave them more insight into the mind of the witch, teaching them how and what she thought, as well as her opinions on things. If she wasn't going to sit down and have a decent discussion with them, they had no choice than to go off what she did give them, intentional or not.

Lux didn't show up for breakfast, which Clarinda had expected, and the two had a nice quiet meal together before Kam left for work. The first part of the morning was spent doing typical house chores - laundry, cleaning, washing up, and the like - and when lunch time came around, Clarinda ate on her own, with Lux not responding to the calls. The witch was probably still asleep, and after lunch was finished, Clarinda left a note on the kitchen table letting the Slytherin know that she had run out for some errands and would be home in a couple hours.

Apparating, firstly, to the grocery store, Clarinda had just filled her trolley when her phone buzzed. It was a text from the security detail they had on Lux, indicating that the witch had left the house. Noting this, Clare continued shopping, but it was the next text that really made her stop and stare. Lux is collecting lizards and spiders in an alley and killing them.

A tiny smile formed on her lips as she pondered on this. What could the witch be up to this time? But there was no time to focus on this as her own security detail approached her out of nowhere, informing her of an emergency at the hospital. Apparating there at once, the rest of her 'off-day' (there were never any real off days for her) was spent dealing with a difficult patient.

Arriving home the same time as Kam, the first stop she made was her bedroom. Opening the door, her jaw inched open slightly as she surveyed the mess. "Kam, dear," she called out. "I think you should see this." There was no hiding the slight amusement in her tone; while appalling, there was no denying that it wasn't something that was permanent. "I think she didn't like our deco," she added, dryly, as he approached.

Slipping out her wand, she gave it a few flicks, clearing a path through the feathers and entered, moving towards the bed. Her eyes skimmed over the words on the wall, a frown touching her features. "I have half a mind to use Scourgify the next time she uses such language," she admitted, not afraid of being overheard, for the witch was not at home; the security detail had confirmed that.

It took less than two minutes and a variety of cleaning spells - some verbal and some non - to clean up the mess, but by the time they were done, the room looked as good as new, with the exception of a small pile of dead lizards and spiders leaning against the wall. After some discussion, they came up with a course of action - to not mention it or bring it up with the witch.

After all, if she had done it for attention or to piss them off or provoke something, the easiest way to show her they weren't affected was to just not give her what she wanted. But, they didn't want to make her think it was okay or anything like that, and so, eventually, they came up with something to do.

Placing the dead things in a small box, they left it on the foot of Lux's bed for her to find when she came home. Attached was a note that read, "I believe these are yours. Please don't leave them lying around the house next time."

Dinner was eaten together, a quick meal before they headed to bed. Laying her head on Kam's shoulder, Clare quietly mused, "How long do you think it'll take to get through to Lux?"

Guest

Kamren had felt slightly frustrated with Lux lack of understanding on what he was trying to get across when he asked her to sit with him. But, he knew that the small spat with Clarinda had settled things - even if only a little. With a sigh as the younger witch left them, Kamren had accepted that it was just part of the long battle they were going to have with each other until one party relented.

Until Lux relented.

After finishing his coffee, Kamren had kissed Clarinda goodbye and apparated off to his office for the day. He'd insisted she call him if she needed him back, work could wait if Clarinda needed him, but she had insisted that she would be fine, and Kamren knew that she would be.

Shortly after lunch the message about Lux's wanderings had arrived with Kamren, he'd simply noted it and continued with work. He, again, was not worried about her safety, because she was going to be tailed the whole time, but he couldn't help but wonder what was going on when the second message came along. Yes, it wasn't nice, but Kamren wondered what she was trying to achieve. But he didn't ask for action to be taken, let the kid wear herself out - that's what you did with toddlers having tantrums, right?

When he'd arrived home that evening, just after Clarinda, Kamren had made a beeline to the kitchen for a drink, and checked the fridge for what food they might be cooking that evening. It was about that time that he was called by Clarinda, and Kamren hurried off up to their bedroom when her call had come from.

"What's wr-" But Kamren didn't need to ask what was wrong as he caught up with his wife. His eyes narrowed at the graffiti on the bedroom wall, and the foul use of the carcasses on the dead lizards. What in Merlin's name was Lux trying to achieve with all of this, really?

"I think it'll be more than that." Kamren replied sourly at his wife's words of using the scouring charm on their daughter. They had not done anything wrong. They'd treated her well, asked her to simply respect them and they would do the same. No rules, no specific time to be home, just respect, and the witch couldn't follow that.

Kamren didn't understand, but he was calm, patient, and willing to try.

They had spent a short amount of time discussing all their options, and, after checking everything was clear of mess, they had settled on not exploding on Lux. It wouldn't make much difference, they were sure of that. But, they were not going to let her think she'd gotten away with it, so they had returned her all the items she had left them, with a small note saying they had returned it.

Dinner was a no show for Lux, which was probably best for Kamren because whilst not completely riled up, he was not happy with the way Lux was treating his wife. Nobody spoke ill of his wife without Kamren getting a little angry, but he would try not to show Lux this, because it would be a weapon for her to use against him, and they didn't need that.

After dinner, Kamren had showered and changed in to his pyjamas before climbing in to bed next to his wife. His body relaxed as she curled in to him. She was okay, and that was all that mattered, really.

"How long do you think it'll take to get through to Lux?"

"I don't know, sweetheart." Kamren replied, playing absent mindedly with her hair as he settled himself for the night. "But I hope it's sooner rather than later." He added, being honest. As much as he wanted children, and as much as he knew Lux needed them too, he didn't want to have to deal with this kind of harshness towards his wife every day, it hurt his chest hearing and seeing such things. Hurt his heart, and there were only so many times you could put up with that before you cracked.

"But I don't know what she wants from us..." Kamren admitted softly, his brow furrowing as he tried for the umpteenth time that day to work the girl out.

Guest

Lux rolled her eyes when Clarinet didn't respond. Did this woman have no brains? Most probably she had peas for brains. Maybe not even that. What the minister of magic saw in her she had no idea. She expected the minister of magic to have a more...intelligent woman for a wife instead of her. This woman could hardly defend herself or rebut Lux's statements.

She'd waited for an hour in the bar, knowing that most of the gang were at their various odd jobs. She took the time to think over and process everything that had happened. It was six years since she'd last been adopted and contrary to popular belief, she wanted it to stay that way. Parents were a complete and utter niusance. Some of the older orphans thought so too and scoffed at the younger ones who dreamed of belonging to the perfect family.

Lux ordered herself a coke and fries, eating absentmindedly just to have something to do. She imagined what The Couple's reaction - or lack of reaction - would be like and began to play different outcomes in her head. The most improbable reaction would be them getting upset or angry. She didn't quite expect a punishment but what she expected was for them to respond in a different way than the rest of her foster parents. She couldn't wait to see what they would do.

It was way past dinner time when the first of her gang started to trickle in. She spent a few hours with them, laughing, joking and drinking. It was well past midnight - almost two in the morning - when she made her way back to the house. The Couple was probably already asleep so she went to her bedroom only to find a foreign item on her bed. It was a box of the stuff she'd decorated their room with. Lux frowned. as she read the note. As expected, they did not react like the rest of her foster parents had but she hadn't been expecting them to return the stuff either.

Frustration simmered in her soul and she gripped the box tightly, lifting it up and marching out of her room down to the hallway bathroom. In one swift motion, she dumped the contents of the box into the toilet bowl then shut the lid, not bothereing to flush. Returning to her bedroom, she sent out a text, got a reply then went to bed.

The next morning, she was up bright and early. She left the house and met up with her contact, taking over the box he held and handing him some money in exchange. She set the box on the kitchen counter and wrote a note. Here's a little present I got to thank you for your kindness. She stuck it on the box and went up to her room.

In the box was a skunk.

» Scrapes, Bruises, and a Thing Called Emotions (Madley)
» There Is My Heart (Kamren & Clarinda)
» The Start of Something Terrible (Kamren and Clarinda)
» Let's Slow Things Back Down for Us (Clarinda & Kamren)
» Everyone has their thing (Open)