In The Garden (Open)

[Kayleigh Doyle]

"No, not like a coin behind me ear. Me da could never do that, but he was always fascinated 'bout how people did that though." Kayleigh thought for a moment. Her luck didn't run good, he couldn't have the same ability as her parents. She was more of the bad luck type.

"He could just do other things like making water appear in a cup." She thought if she explained it more in detail he would think her crazy if he didn't think of her already for saying what she did. Of course she thought that she was all ready a little mental. "I couldn't do the things he and me mum could though but they would always do tricks to keep me fascination in something."

[Flynn Kennedy]

Now Flynn understood perfectly. Her parents must have had magical abilities, but Kayleigh did not. She was a Squib. He felt for her. It had to be a painful thing to see a glimpse of that world, but not really be part of it. In a way, he felt a lot like she did. Even though he was a wizard with full magical abilities, he still knew what it was like to be left out, because of the way his family had shut him out.

"Ah, I see," he said, nodding. "Did they use wands when they did this magic? What happened to your parents?"

[Kayleigh Doyle]

Why was it so easy to talk to this person? She usually shyed away if she didn't absolutely have to talk to someone. That was why she loved working in the kitchen, other than the fact that she liked to cook and that was when she was most happy.

Hearing the word wands, Kayleigh looked at him curiously. There was no teasing or assessing tone to his voice. In fact his tone hadn't changed that much since she met him just a very very short time ago.

To answer his first question, she nodded her head yes. Could her luck possibly change? Of course, that would be put to the test if she ever became really close to someone and nothing happened to them. However, Kayleigh didn't think she was going to ever come to that point because she didn't want to go through anything like that again. The pain of losing someone close, that was hard, she was still dealing with the consequences today.

Her eyes averted to the ground. "They died, when I was nine."

[Flynn Kennedy]

The moment he saw the look on her face, he knew the answer, and his heart ached for her. Her parents were dead, and when she confirmed it for him, he impulsively reached out to hold her hand reassuringly.

"Ah, I'm sorry," he said softly. "Me brother died, too. I found out the day I graduated from school. Two days before me birthday."

He had already told her about his brother, of course, but it was the best he could do to show that he knew how she felt. It was always hard losing anyone that he loved, and Gavin's death, in particular had been tough to bear. When Gavin died, it seemed like Flynn's last connection to his family had died as well. Even though he still tried with Jaden, it seemed like he'd lost his whole family.

To hopefully cheer up, he looked around to make sure no one else was watching. Then he took out his wand, and with a subtle wave of it, he whispered, "Accio flowers." A clump of tulips that was growing nearby suddenly shot up from the ground, just leaving a bit of stem behind, and into his hands. "For you."

[Kayleigh Doyle]

The touch of Flynn's hand caused her to tense up. It wasn't his fault, she just wasn't used to that sort of thing. Kayleigh however knew she couldn't be rude and he wasn't hurting her. She should be able to talk about her parents, it was a form of healing. Between her healer, Georgiana, and Cale, she did a small bit of healing. That was what had her out there today but then again there were some things that brought her back. Loud noises were awful and she hated loud noises because it could end up sending her into panic mode.

Kayleigh relaxed again and before she knew it, there were flowers that appeared into Flynn's hands. She took in a breath. That confirmed that he did have the ability that her parents had. She looked back to him with her eyes widened slightly. It took her a moment that he was offering the flowers to her. Her gaze went to the flowers and she took them carefully a light pink tint raising to her cheeks. Even though it was a friendly gesture, she had never received flowers. The tulips reminded her of her adoptive mother. She took great pride in her tulip garden in America.

"Tulips," Kayleigh finally said looking back up. "Me favorite." She let a small smile show on her face. "Thank you."

[Flynn Kennedy]

Flynn smiled softly, glad that she seemed to relax when she saw the flowers in his hands. She was a sweet girl, and he got the feeling that she'd been hurt terribly in the past. Losing her parents at such a young age, being a Squib, these things could have certainly have contributed to it, at least. And maybe there was more. He just felt for her, and wanted to find a way to make her feel better about herself.

"You're welcome," he said. "I hope you don't mind... about what I can do. I normally wouldn't tell anyone, but if your parents were the same... I thought you would be OK. You won't tell anyone, will you?"

[Kayleigh Doyle]

"I don't really know anyone to tell," she said with a light smile. "I won't tell your secret." Kayleigh wasn't one to go run off and tell everyone something. "And if I wasn't okay with what you can do I wouldn't still be sitting here."

She relaxed against the back of the bench, still holding her flowers. "Besides I like that sort of thing because it brings back good memories and I find everything magic fascinating." Kayleigh did always wonder more about the wizarding world but she didn't know who to ask. She couldn't just go up to a random person and ask because what if they weren't magic? They would think her completely mental.

[Flynn Kennedy]

Flynn smiled, glad to have found a way to make her feel a little better, even if for just a few minutes. From the sound of things, she'd had a rough life, and she deserved to be happy.

"It must have been hard for you, knowing that your parents could do things that you couldn't," he said. "But they were good to you, and they loved you. You were very lucky to have had such good parents, even if you lost them too soon. What happened after that? Where did you go?"

[Kayleigh Doyle]

"I was little, so it wasn't too hard. They didn't use their abilities all the time because they didn't want me to feel completely left out." Kayleigh did predict that Flynn was going to want to know what she did after that. She wasn't going to burst into tears like she would have awhile back.

"I, I was adopted. They were nice and we all moved to America. I had a brother and sister there. We were all out one day infront of the house, several years ago. Me adoptive mum was working on her garden, and me adoptive da was helping her. I was playing with my siblings when bad luck struck again. I dunno how it really happened but before I knew it, they were gone too." Again, Kayleigh looked away and to the flowers. She felt like she had the bad luck of the Irish but not dwelling on that part of the topic, she looked back up.

"Several years later, I was able to came here. Me mum and da used to talk about London all the time and how supposedly magical it was. It was the only place I knew to go because I didn't want to go back to Ireland just yet."

[Flynn Kennedy]

Flynn shook his head sadly. No one should have to lose their family twice. It was no wonder she was so sad, so skittish and uncertain. She had lost so much already, how could she let herself trust again, to love again?

"I'm sorry," he said to her. "Some people.. it just seems like they're dealt a bad hand in life. But things have to get better, you have to believe that. If it helps... you've got a friend now."

[Kayleigh Doyle]

Optimism wasn't one of Kayleigh's strong points. Her optimism wasn't the highest in the world, in fact she was more of a pessimist. She couldn't really believe that things could get better after everything that happened. That was the reason she never let anyone close to her. Anyone that had been close to her died. Sometimes she thought she was cursed.

On the other hand, she was letting people close to her without really realizing it, wasn't she? She had told Georgiana, Cale, and now Flynn. Now they could be considered friends, couldn't they? They were there for her, especially Georgiana. She knew that if she ever needed anything, all she would have to do was let someone know. Maybe having friends was okay. She couldn't bear if she lost anyone of them, however. Kayleigh would believe that it would be her fault if something happened but she couldn't really think that. She finally would need someone to help her through and maybe that was why she was getting better for the moment at least.

A smile started to appear on her face. "Thank you." It did help a little bit. Nothing had happened with anyone so far so she could attempt to look up, right? "It does help, a lot."

[Flynn Kennedy]

Flynn was more of a realist. He couldn't promise her that she wouldn't lose him or her other friends. No one could promise that. Life was something that couldn't be controlled. People lived, they loved, they lost, they mourned, and they died. That was simply the way things were, and to pretend otherwise wouldn't be fair to her.

"You know," he said gently. "Your family... the people you loved... they're always with you. Even if you can't see them. You have to keep them alive in your heart, and they'll be with you every time you laugh, or shed a tear, or see a beautiful sunset. Sometimes people die... but they leave a piece of themselves behind in the hearts of the people they loved. And in that way, they're never really gone."

He truly believed that. Gavin might have had some wrong ideas about things, and he and Flynn might not have been close in those last years, but Flynn could still hold on to the good times and keep the brother that he had loved alive in his heart.

[Kayleigh Doyle]

Kayleigh nodded. She knew that her parents were still there. Her adoptive parents would always remind her of that when she would have nightmares sometimes. However, sometimes it would be hard to remember that they are there when a loud sound was made and she fell into a panic attack because of the bad memories.

"That thought helps me through the day sometimes but then again its hard to even think about them sometimes when there are the bad things that still haunt you." Kayleigh swallowed. "However, things are slowly getting better. I still panic when there is a loud sound. They were all shot." Her voice got quiet as she said the last sentence. "So when there is a loud sound, or something that seems different, it scares me and all thoughts of any sort of safety leaves. If it's not too bad, I think about me parents and it turns out to be okay."

[Flynn Kennedy]

He ached for her. It couldn't be easy to deal with such losses, especially when they were so sudden. And if she had been there when it happened... He could hardly blame her for being terrified.

It was sort of a reminder for him, too, that death and violence wasn't just limited to the wizarding world. It was all around them, all the more reason why life wasn't a guarantee. You had to embrace it, not spend it being fearful. And yet, in a case like hers, that was not as easy as it sounded.

"I can't blame you fer bein' scared," he said to her. "I would be, too. But not all loud sounds are bad. Sometimes they can be good, too. You could try to think of loud sounds that can be good. Like fireworks. Have you seen fireworks before?"

[Kayleigh Doyle]

Being as jumpy as she was, Kayleigh tried to steer clear of fireworks. In her mind fireworks were shot in the sky at night and she didn't really like being out at night. The reasoning behind that was because vision only went so well in the darkness. She would rather see her surroundings, rather than it being in the shadows.

"When I was little, me parents would take me to go see them but I haven't seen any since. I've, I've been too frightened to go after." She didn't really want to explain her reasoning. "I know there are some loud sounds that are not bad, but I'm still a little jumpy about them. That's one of the many things I'm attempting to work on."

[Flynn Kennedy]

In the wizarding world, a muggle who had witnessed a terrible tragedy would have had her memory erased. Of course, that was usually to protect them from learning about the wizarding world, and not to protect them from the memory of the tragedy itself. But someone like Kayleigh... she needed it. It had to be hard to move on with her life when she kept being fearful of the past.

"Have you seen one of those TV things?" he asked. "They sometimes show fireworks on there without the loud noise. Maybe you could watch them there, so you could see how beautiful they can be. And then you wouldn't be afraid."

[Kayleigh Doyle]

"I don't really watch the TV," she admitted, "but I have seen them on there before, on New Year's." The more she talked about things she hadn't done, the more she felt like she wanted to do them. Although, the problem there was to find the courage she needed to go out. That nagging thought of what if she had a panic attack weighed in the back of her mind. She didn't want to go have one in public. It was bad enough when she used to have them almost daily.

What Kayleigh needed was a push, motivation. If she had that then she would start to gain more courage. She was pushed at work to talk to people and leave her comfort zone. That was helping her a little.

[Flynn Kennedy]

Flynn was trying to think of something Kayleigh could do that she would enjoy and would help her overcome some of her fears. He thought of maybe taking her to a quidditch game, but he wasn't entirely sure that would work. It would be a magical thing that she likely would have never seen before, but the crowds would probably scare her too much for her to really enjoy it.

He could try taking her to Diagon Alley, but he wasn't entirely sure she'd even be allowed in. Could squibs enter Diagon Alley? Did they see things like the Leaky Cauldron, which were hidden from muggles?

That could work, actually. Maybe he could bring her to the Leaky Cauldron and, if she could see it, he could bring her inside and buy her a butterbeer.

"I have an idea," he said. "Do you trust me?"

[Kayleigh Doyle]

Part of Kayleigh was telling her that she shouldn't trust so easily. However, the other part was telling her that Flynn was okay. People who approached her and seemed nice were a weakness. Sometimes she didn't trust them completely, but there were the few that she did. Once she trusted someone, she trusted them completely. Hopefully that would never do her wong. Kayleigh would fall to pieces if it ever did go wrong.

Flynn had been extremely nice to her and he trusted her enough to show his secret. She could trust him enough to see what his idea was, right? Kayleigh nodded. "I trust you." Maybe her trusting easily was a way to fill a sort of void she felt since there was no one there anymore for her. However, the man sitting beside her gave her no reason to doubt.

His question of trust interested her and struck her curiousity. "What is this idea you have?"

[Flynn Kennedy]

Flynn wouldn't have blamed her if she had said no. Here he was, a man she had just met, and he was offering to take her somewhere. In this day and age, you couldn't always trust that people were who they said they were. But of course, Flynn would never hurt a fly. He was too kind-hearted for his own good sometimes, and, like Kayleigh, in the past he had been hurt because of it.

"I want to take you to a place I like to go to... It's a magical place, so I'm not sure if you will be able to see it. But if you can... I think you'll like it."

He stood up and held his hand out to her. "I promise it will be OK."

At this time of day, the Leaky Cauldron was usually not very crowded, so she shouldn't feel too uncomfortable with the whole thing. It just would depend on if she could see the pub at all.