Ministry of Magic, Germany

Violet looked between the adults in confusion not sure what they were talking about and she felt a bit nervous by the tones going around the room.

Bastain sigh and sniffed again, damn his allergies..

He looked to Karl, feeling bad for the guy, he had no idea what he had gotten himself into by marring Kate. About to be cought in the middle of a civil war.. a magical civil war that could turn very ugly very quick.

"Kate it is either have this place warded or move to a magical naighborhood, a magical person and child being in the muggle would at this time is not safe. Right now the blend of muggle and magical blood is... dangerous for all of you.." he concluded with a sneeze.

"Our Ministries have ways of keeping track of magical use, they can dectect when a magical child does accidental magic.. or more specifically when a child in the muggle world does accidental magic. It is very hard to pinpoint when anyone does magic in the magical world, since magic is everywhere. Here is it like a light on a christmass tree. I think who was behind these attacks has access to this information." he finished telling Kate the rest and his own theroy.

"For the safety of your family I advised to protect yourselves" he said to both Kate and Karl.

Violet hugged her Dad again, the subject matter being talked over going over her head... they wouldn't hurt would they?

As much as Kate hated being told what to do, she couldn't deny that it was probably best to proceed with caution. She gritted her teeth; it was the old argument she used to have with Julian all over again. Coming from the Muggle world, she felt safest there, but Julian had always sought refuge in the magical world. Now it was sounding like he was right, and she hated to admit that she might be wrong.

"You think?" she questioned, spotting the weak point of his argument as soon as he'd said it. "So you're not even sure -- this is just a theory of yours." Kate folded her arms and shook her head as if she found the whole thing funny, although she clearly didn't.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going anywhere based on a hunch of yours. No disrespect, but it's asking rather a lot to uproot ourselves with so little evidence. I'll look imto getting some wards, but that's all I'm doing until I know for sure what's going on." Julian sighed; Kate was being predictably Kate about everything. What a surprise.

"I'll do it for you," he offered, not sure whether she'd really do it or if she was just saying so to get them off her back about it. "I can pull some strings with the German Ministry, you won't even have to pay for anything, and they'll be better than the ones you get anywhere else." Although he still wasn't exactly sure about these "ward" things, the fact that Julian was trying to do them a kindness did not escape Karl, amd he gave Julian the thanks that his wife could not.

"That's very generous, thank you," he said simply. He'd never imagined that marrying a witch could be dangerous, really, viewing it only as a novelty. It had never occurred to him that people could or would do harm with it, having only seen the everyday, useful types of spells that Kate used, and of course whenever Violet would use her magic. Spotless kitchens and color-changing puppies hadn't exactly made him aware of any real danger they might be in, but now he saw that there would be nothing he could do in a magical situation, which left his whole family vulnerable. That his wife's ex-husband might be so kind as to offer the protection that Karl couldn't was nothing short of perfect graciousness -- although he was sure it was all for Violet, not for him. It was generous all the same.

"It's no problem at all, really. It's the least I could do since you've done such s good job looking after my daughter," Julian said, really trying to be fair to Karl. It wasn't his fault that they'd gotten divorced, and the guy seemed like someone he might've been friends with in any other situation.

Bastain looked Kate as if she had gone crazy.. who cared if his theory was wrong or not? the fact of the matter was there were dangerous wizards hunt to destroy families like hers.. really the woman was just impossible...

He was about to say something rather rude when Julian stepped in and volunteered the wards for them. Well at least he wouldn't have to pester Kate about it he knew his brother would get it done.

He then took out a cell phone from his bag and murmered a spell on it. He handed it over to Karl, "Here, it works like another phone only it can contact me at my office in the magical world here are the numbers you can reach me at" he said handing Karl a card with the numbers on it. Perhaps just in case something did happen he could call for help. Dispite his less then pleased opinion of Kate at that moment.. he didn't want to see any of them harmed. Seeing one family ripped apart by this was enough.

Violet bit her lip, her Dad was right, Karl had been good to her, she hadn't minded him being her step Dad. Though she has been confused over the matter of Karl adopting her.. she was not an orphan why would he had needed to adopt her. Now she wouldn't need to worry over the issue she supposed.

She looked at her Dad for a moment and kissed his cheek. "Be right back Dad, promise..." she moving to hop off his lap. She wanted to thank Karl to, though she probably owed him more then a simple thank you. She went over to Karl and hugged him breifly, "Thank you, you've been awsome, letting me keep my Puppy and everything. Make sure you take care of Mummy and my new Baby sister while I am with my Daddy kay?" she said knowing he would do his best anyway.

Karl accepted the phone, slipping it into his pocket with an expression of surprise and gratitude. "That's very kind of you," he told Bastian awkwardly, looking at Kate. Frankly, neither Bastian nor Julian seemed as unreasonable as she'd made them out to be. He couldn't attribute the misrepresentation solely on her hormones, though, since he'd first heard of them before she'd gotten pregnant. Kate being his first wife, Karl supposed there was a lot he didn't know about just how much a divorce could change people's feelings, even to the point where they didn't realise their view was biased.

As if to prove Karl's musings to be correct, Kate reacted to Bastian's offer of assistance with a barely-suppressed eye roll. The way that her new husband seemed to be getting along with her ex and his brother clearly did not make her happy. "Yes, thank you," she said stiffly, feeling that any obligation of gratitude was now over. Violet's little display with Karl, however, brought a genuine smile to her face. Whatever their issues as a couple had been, Julian and Kate had raised a very sweet little girl.

"Thank you, Violet," Karl replied, returning the hug. "Don't you worry about your Mum, I'll take good care of her. And we'll send for you as soon as your sister arrives, so you can meet her." Behind Violet's back, Julian silently nodded his agreement to this request. He saw no reason she shouldn't meet her new sibling, when he had every intention of introducing her to Shelly as soon as possible. It would only be fair.

"Is there any way we could get her packed?" Julian asked Kate, who nodded, rising carefully to her feet. Karl made a motion as if to stop her, but she ignored it and walked to the door.

"It'll just be a minute. Violet, do you want to come help me? I don't want to forget anything." Julian looked relieved at such an end to things, scarcely allowing himself to believe that this was really happening.

Violet nodded to her Mum and waved to those assebled "Kay Mum coming" she said breaking into a run and zipping passed her mother up to her room in excitment.

Bastian sighed he wasn't sure what else to say really, inronicaly enough they seemed to get along with Karl they hadn't expected they would. "Well this is going better then I expected" he finally said. Glad his brother got Violet back and they had convinced Kate and Karl to becareful. Things seemed to have gone well..

"I appolgise for the intrusion into your house Mr. Becker, this was something we need sorted out with Kate, until today we had no idea where Kate took Violet. It made us worry, then with the mention of her marrying in the paper.. We wanted to secure Violet if anything" Bastian explianed.

Karl shrugged, knowing that none of this was personal. He hadn't taken it as such for a moment. "I understand. You can never be too careful." Julian felt a twinge of guilt at how easy-going Karl was. In a weird way, it was all going the way he'd hoped because Karl was being the voice of reason. He didn't like thinking that marrying Karl might actually be good for Kate. It wasn't that Julian wished her any harm, it was just that he didn't enjoy the thought that someone else was doing a better job than he had.

There was an awkward silence as the three men waited for Kate and Violet to return, with nothing to say. Julian opened his mouth to make a comment about quidditch, before realising Karl wouldn't have any idea.

"So, you're....expecting a daughter, then?" he asked, the first thing that came to mind. Clearly, not helping the awkwardness of the situation.

"That's right," Karl said, smiling a bit nervously. This was all pretty weird, and everyone knew it.

"Gotta name picked out?" Julian inquired, feeling obligated to ask a follow-up question and pretend this wasn't extraordinarily uncomfortable for everyone involved.

"Adelaide." Julian nodded and picked up his previously neglected glass of water just for something to do. He had nothing against Karl personally, but Kate really needed to speed things up, as it didn't appear that any of them were very good at small talk.

Violet zipped around her room gathering the stuff she wanted to take with her to her Dads place by the time her Mum joined her in her room.

"Mum? Does he mean it? I am going to live with him for the summer? Isn't it great? We were wrong, he does like me better then work now" the little girl cheered as she pulled out her dark purple suitcase and started putting her favorite clothes into to the biggest compartment.

"Make sure Karl calls me when Baby Sister gets her kay, He might forget" she said lightly patting her mothers stomach before zipping off to get more of her toys.

Kate thought it best not to correct the mistaken conclusion that Violet had come to. If it worked, she saw no reason to try to fix it -- it would likely only upset her. To be safe, she didn't make any comment at all about Julian, instead focusing on spell-weaving, shrinking and rearranging Violet's clothes to fit more compactly while she was off getting toys. Knowing her daughter, the little purple suitcase would weigh as much as Violet by the time the little girl was done, but considering the indefinite length of the stay, Kate allowed it for once.

If Julian was truly serious -- and by the looks of it, he was -- this might be the last time Violet lived with her, and she wasn't going to tarnish the memory by being strict about what she packed. "Don't you worry," Kate said reassuringly, [color=brown]"I won't forget."/color] Shrinking Violet's luggage down to pocket-size was the work of a moment, and she transfigured it, backpack-style, so that Violet could carry the weight of it comfortably.

"You're all set, sweetheart," she said finally, knowing they couldn't stall any longer. Kate led the way back down the stairs, a sound which brought a sigh of relief to Julian's lips when they heard the commotion.

"Have you got everything?" he asked Violet, beaming.

Violet nodded happily "Yep, got my toys, clothes, books, and toothbrush" she chirped motioning to her backpack.

Bastian sneezed again, muttering in Russian so only Julian would get it.. "Damned dog..."

"Oh!" Violet said suddenly said crawling under the table to hold her puppy.

"Now I got everything" she giggled scratching her puppy behind the ears.

"Have a safe trip, my love," Kate said, patting Violet on the head since she couldn't exactly bend over or pick her up. "We'll send you letters and see you real soon when your sister is born," she promised, trying not to look as anxious as she suddenly felt. Kate had meant it when she told Bastian she doubted that Julian would win full custody of Violet, but it was hard to feel that same confidence now that her daughter was actually leaving her side.

"I guess we're all ready to go, then," Julian said, gently slipping Violet's backpack off and carrying it himself. Karl gave Violet a hug and then stood next to Kate with his arm around her shoulder.

"We'll walk you out," he said, leading the way to the front door.

She nearly skipped out side, happy to be staying with her Dad. It hardly occured to her she wouldn't be living with her mum again. She didn't quite understand what went on between her parents, or why they faught.

"Yay the magic car! Can't sit in the front Dad Please?" she asked as ministry cars had spells for protection in the small chance of a crash. Intead of air bags, the spell wouldn't harm her in the even they crashed.

She turned again and waved to her Mum and Karl, "Love ya guys" she said with a grin.

Bastain leaned over to his brother "If your able to drive brother could you?" he muttered the alergies from the puppy made his vision blurry. And he didn't want to risk driving,

"No problem," Julian muttered, putting Violet's suitcase in the trunk.

"I think I'm going to need you in the back seat, sweetheart -- the puppy's gonna need some room," he pointed out, opening the car door. No need to draw attention to the fact that his brother's allergies were just about suffocating him. He figured if Bastian was in the front seat with the window down, he'd be upwind from the puppy and hopefully getting fresh air would help until they could go to an apothecary. Plus, Kate would have a fit if she saw Violet sitting up front.

"We love you too," Kate called, leaning against her husband as they watched from the front door.

Violet pouted for a split second before nodding sliding into the back with her Puppy, " okay Daddy, First car ride eh Puppy" She said grinning letting the little pup sniff around.

"Thank ya" he muttered getting into the front and conjured an hankerchief to block a sneeze.

"Gesundheit Uncle Bas" Violet chirped from the back.

Bastain chuckled, he had missed the little girl, not as much as Julian of course, but she was a sweet thing.

"Thank ya Darlin" he said wipping his nose.

Violet waved out the window of the closed door to her Mum, sliently wishing her well and her new soon to be sister as well.

Julian ducked into the driver's side and pulled away from the house, tapping the gps with his wand a few times to get it to guide them back to Bastian's place. Once they got to the main road, he'd know where they were, but he hadn't been paying much attention on the drive there. The drive back, however, took no time at all -- which was probably best, since Bastian didn't seem like he could be cooped up with the puppy for much longer.

Deciding it would probably be best to avoid having the puppy get inside Bastian's apartment and shed all over his furniture, Julian slung Violet's suitcase onto his back and let her out of the car, headed for a broom shed just next to the building where they could Apparate.

"I think we're gonna head home now so Violet can get settled...thank you for everything, Bas," Julian said sincerely. It was hard to believe the state of his emotions when they'd headed out for Violet's house -- everything was all happiness and comfort now that he had his daughter back.

Bastain nodded "No problem Juli, anytime, brothers first aye?" he said waving it off. What were brothers for right? Having your back in a bar fight, leading his case to get his little girl back.. Bastian was sure he'd do the same for him.

"Thank you Uncle Bas" Violet chirpped with as grin as well taking her Dads hand.

Bastian nodded again with a chuckle "Your Welcome Lass, enjoy your self aye"

"Goodbye Uncle" she said waving her Puppy's Paw at him.

With a last happy wave at Bastian, Julian turned, grasping his daughter's hand. Once they got into the little broom shed, he shut the door and picked Violet up again as he'd done back at her house. He took special care to make sure the as-yet-still-unnamed puppy was held securely between them, and then, counting down slowly, turned on the spot, Disapparating with only the faintest discernible pop.