Ducking through the doorway, Nik allowed his eyes to adjust to the light - or lack thereof - in the room, for a moment, "Hey," he greeted the shopkeeper awkwardly, noting the spittle around his mouth from what looked like a coughing fit, "Is the shop open?"

after he stopped coughing he answered the boy. "Oh it sure is... just popped in here to grab a drink" he said with a smile. "but clearly it isn't going to well ahahah.....so what can I do for you my dear boy?" he sat up from his chair and made his way over to the boy.

"No worries." He was always happy to help people - and Xavier was more or less family now, right? Tea..? Ah, so that this wasn't so public. "Of course." Audric followed Xavier through to the storeroom, wondering briefly what was so important... and why Xavier looked so... tired.

He ruffled a hand through his curls as his eyes took in his surroundings, his inner child was super excited about being allowed in the storeroom of Sugarplums but right now he was being grown-up-detective Audric. So he calmed down a little. "How can I help, Xavier?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from the sweets and looking back to Xavier. He wanted to ask what was wrong but... he was here on business and he didn't want to make the man feel uncomfortable.

After a wave of his wand, Xavier locked the front door and escorted Audric to the way back of the storeroom where there was a fairly large table accompanied by seven chairs. It was where the family would eat together when they visited over the summer, that was until he told Ursulla to stop coming by. *sigh*

"Take a seat, please," he said, signalling the chairs. He served them some tea and slid a cup toward Audric, several ingredients and oddly shaped cookies (sent from Peyton) on a silver tray. He walked over to the play-pen where he carefully grabbed his messenger bag as to not disturb Cob's sleep. He set the bag on the table and took out really old looking documents and passed them to Audric.

The documents had basic information about Orion Baltazar II and the other folder was of his father's, Orion Baltazar.

"This is why I needed to talk to you. I've recently found out that I have, more like had, a brother from my father's side." Xavier wasn't sure if Audric needed his family history, but it he did then he was willing to share it. All for this kid's sake. "Turns out he had a kid, but it's as if..as if he/she has disappeared from the face of the Earth." That or his mother just didn't want to tell him anything about them. He was sure it was the latter.

Audric sat down and took the cup of tea from Xavier, cradling the cup in his hands and watching Xavier. He eyed the ingredients on the tray, unsure what they were for. He smiled slightly at Cob and glanced back to Xavier as he was handed the documents. Right, he took a drink of tea, put his cup down and began to sift carefully through them. This was a Baltazar... Xavier's brother by the looks of it.

Ah. Yes, brother... a lost one... and a lost child. "Disappeared..." Audric nodded. "You want me to find the child?" Because he could do that. He took his notepad and a ballpoint pen from his pocket and flicked to a blank page, beginning to scribble down notes from the documents. Right. "Do you know the kid's age?" That would really help...

Xavier nodded, grabbing his cup and taking a sip of his tea, then setting it down. "Yes. The kid's family and I want them with me," he said. Xavier was dead set on this. If there was a stray Baltazar the only place they belonged was with a Baltazar. "I can make copies of the documents if you'd like." Would be easier to keep track that way, no?

The kid's age?

Well...

Xavier leant back on his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't," he grimaced, but then sat up, pointing at something on Orion II's profile. "It says here that he was widowed on 2065, so the kid has to be in their early teens or older, right?" It was still not enough information, but that's all he has as of now. "And it says he lived somewhere near South Wales." ...

Family... "Yeah... family. Important." He couldn't help but feel a little sad at that. He missed his wife... and his kids. He understood the need to have family close. Copies of the documents? "Oh, no need. The notes are just to clarify things in my head." he said, then again... He duplicated the documents and stacked the two sets neatly.

Audric flicked back through the notes... right... "So, between thirteen and... seventeen probably." he said, scribbling a few more notes down in Irish - yep, he never kept notes in English, because it was more likely to be safe if it was in Irish. South Wales... hmm... "Well, that's actually a lot of help..." Audric read through the profile again. Hmmm.. "Cardiff is a good place to start. And luckily Baltazar is a rare name." He knew what to do now. He knew where he'd start...

He finished scribbling down his notes and put his pen down before looking back up at Xavier. "I think... this could be a lot easier than it looks." He picked up the duplicates of the notes and banished them to his office. Now that he had nothing to do with his hands he was playing with his wedding ring again. Something he'd got to doing lately... "Is there anything else I can help with..?" And he took another drink from his tea.

Xavier nodded with a tiny grin that didn't reach his eyes. Family was important and his was currently divided in so many ways that he made his head want to explode. He watched as Audric duplicated the files and then tucked the original ones way in his bag.

"Thanks for your help." Xavier was thankful. The only other person he trusted to help him with this was his wife, but...things were more than complicated with them. Then Audric went and said his name was rare. Psssh. Of course, it was! "It is," he smirked a proud smirk. Not even whatever mood he was in could knock off his pride in his name.

Xavier noticed the man playing with his ring and he absentmindedly glanced down at him. He flexed his hand and instead busied it with grabbing one of Peyton's oddly shaped bunny cookies. He had a feeling Audric understood him more than anyone else did right now.

"No, that's all for now," he said, biting the tip of the bunny's ear. "I'll Owl you if I find more information." And hopefully that'd be soon because he was going to confront his dear old brother at his mother's next week.

For help..? Audric made eye contact with Xavier... something he'd been avoiding - because he avoided making eye contact with anyone lately. "It's nothing, really... I know how it feels to need family around." Lost children especially... but at least Xavier had a chance of getting this one back. "And that can be a blessing and a curse." he added with a small smile. After all, when your name is so rare news travels fast. He knew that pretty well...

That's all? Well it was good that he didn't have anything else he needed a detective for but... "Yeah, and I'll let you know if anything happens." He drained his tea, put his notebook in his pocket and shoved his pen behind his ear. "I have to get over to Londonderry but I'll go down to Cardiff tomorrow."

He stood up and pushed his chair back under the table, and extended his hand to Xavier. "I'll see you soon, Xavier. And don't worry about this, I'll find the child." he said, patting the pocket with the notebook with his free hand.

Xavier nodded with a tiny grin. He really just wanted to invite Audric to a pud and talk nothing but Quidditch or something manly and not...so emotionally draining like what both their family's were going through right now.

It was all Phabian's fault, damn it!

"I know I said it again, but thanks, Audric, really," he said, standing up and pushing the chair in under the table, quietly. Merlin, Xavier hoped this process was fast and the child was found soon.

He had come extra early this morning, having spent a good of two hours making decisions about a couple of arrangements that needed to be taken care of before his intern arrived. His only intern who was his niece's bestfriend and apparently one sugar lover. He did notice she was one of the regular costumers over the last summer. She had looked very familiar with the former owner of the shop,too. That said something.

Moving around, Silas tidied up the place as much as possible but leaving the boxes that arrived newly. He wouldn't deny his intern the joy of ripping the boxes open and enjoy the smell of fresh candy wafting off. He was a very good person, she was welcome.

A little before nine o'clock, he was done and even made tea. Because the cookies he brought from home weren't to be eaten without tea of course. He just needed to find the cups. He couldn't remember where he had put them, maybe in the cabinet. Bending down, he literally half-entered it holding up his wand with a lumos charm. Pretty sure he had a nice set of cups here somewhere.

Everyone in Diagon Alley needed to understand the principle of MOVING when asked to. Did they not know Lex was off to the best shop in the entire Alley so she could intern??? Sugar was NOT to be kept waiting and if she had to shove one more bloody idiot out of her way as she walked, someone was gonna get punched. Cassia's Uncle had given a time, one she was dutifully trying to make...which means she probably should have left Cassia's a little earlier but eh, walking up early in the summer wasn't her strong suit. She barely pulled it off during terms!!!

Finally at the shop, she lef herself in and headed straight for the store room. The room with all the candy ever. She'd never been in there before, not even when Mr. Baltazar was the shopkeep here but she imagined it must have been beautiful, mesmorizing even.

"G'morning Mr. Calverley." She said grinning at the man as she entered. The grin got wider as she looked around and the scents of the different kinds of candy all jumped at her.

Could she live here forever? Yes? Awesome, she would just need time to pack her things.

It turned out that not only did he have a brand new set of cups, he had LOTS of things. Random items that he wasn't sure how they got here in the cupboard and in the shop in the first place. Now this cupboard needed to be cleaned and organized. And by whom of course? Who else but his lucky intern.

Who just arrived!

Pulling himself out of the cupboard, Silas stood with two cups of tea in his hands. "Good morning, Miss Cambridge!" He smiled at the young lady and took a couple of steps towards her extending his hand to shake hers. Except his hand clutched the cup of tea. Awkwaard. Recovering he set the cups down and offered his hand again. Much better.

"Please have a seat," he motioned for her to sit across from his as he sat down on the seat and poured tea for them both. "Help yourself with the cookies, those are homemade," He nudged the plate closer to her then leaned back in his chair holding his cop. "So, you are the only intern this summer meaning you'll get to do all the things which I hope you'd like," Did she? She probably needed to know about the things first. "See those boxes? They need to be opened and needless to say everything in them needs to be organized on shelves," Did that sound boring? He kept his eyes on her face to detect reactions.

"As well as tidying up a bit, helping with costumers and keeping an eye on them," Some kids can't be left alone with shelves and shelves of candy. Or saaaay, gumballs machines! Juuust saying.

Now this was what she was talking about! Coming into a candy shop and getting tea and cookies. She'd admit this made waking up a little more worth it and being stuck at some form of work not as bad as adults sometimes claimed it to be. Lex took the seat offered to her gratefully and helped herslf to one of the cookies that were being offered.

"These are delicious." She decided after the first bite. Home made and they didn't have her gagging, good stuff right here.

The second bite went down a little hard, nearly having her choke but not in a bad way, not at all. After fighting the bite down she grinned. "I've got this whole shop to myself? No Theodore Kinsley schedule to walk in and ruin my day??" YEESSSS!!!! That was possibly going to be the best part of today, did he know? Her head turned in the direction of the boxes he was pointing to, her grin still in place. "I'm excellent at sorting candy." Very true. It was usually the only way she could clear her mind.

"Seems like easy stuff. You can count on my Sir!" And another bite. Could she have a batch to take home?

She liked the cookies! Now that she said she liked them it was safe to say who made them, "Glad you like them, my wife made them,have more," Because it would have been totally weird if he'd announced them to be made by his wife and then having her spit them or gag or something. Let's avoid weirdness, here.

And it seemed that she also liked the idea of being the only intern. He thought that maybe she'd want to have someone to talk to. She apparently didn't. "Theodore who?" he blinked at her confused cookie hovering in midair. Was he supposed to know this person?

"We'll see about that," The fact that she thought she was good at sorting candy was good but it still needed to be tested. "Now, when you finish your tea, you can start by cleaning this cupboard," he told her pointing at the cupboard. "You'll find candy wrappers, sets of cups, spoons, I don't know, rugs... Many random things." And he had no idea how they ended up here. Could be his kids. "You may throw away all the unnecessary and unusable items and organize the rest," Simple enough, huh?

His wife? "Tell her this stuff's epic." She said, raising her cookie to the man in some form of a toast to his wife who clearly knew her way around the kitchen. Not like Lex, no, not like the Gryffindor who'd nearly gotten herself killed trying to cook in her Muggle Studies OWL. Those were some dark times she'd rather not go back to, thanks. "I'll be at Cassia's for the weekend, d'you think you could get her to owl us some?" yes? YES?

Him not knowing Theo was of no concern to her, in fact it was brilliant! Even less likely he'd show up...unless he wanted candy. He liked chocolate frogs enough to accept them from her back at the Kissing Booth. That night there were almost like friends bonding over their common hatred for the kisses for 'kindness'. "Nevermind Sir. It's not important."

Lex chomped into her cookie again as she watched him gesture to the cupboard she'd be...cleaning? This reminded her of her third year all over again, 'cept she wasn't at school and she couldn't use magic. Oh merlin this would be difficult but the Gryffindor put on a brave face and pretended to not be phased. "Not a problem! I'll be on that in a jiffy." Then she grabbed her tea and after several attempts and burning her tongue a couple times she was done and ready to work.

"You said to throw the junk out, yeah?" She asked, stuffing a few more cookies into her pocket before heading to the cupboard. Snacking on the job was totally allowed.

Did she know that she was saying all the right things? Silas gave her one of his perfect-teeth smiles, "Will do," And his wife would be thrilled to hear that and might go on a cooking spree with the energy provided by the sole given compliment. Weird creatures, women were. Oh, she was staying at his niece. The one who didn't want to intern this summer because waking up was effort. Her parents spoiled her well. And the active brother of her was intering at Ollivander's. Sure, why spend the summer with your uncle when you could be around wands and all that. "I am sure that could be arranged," Ignoring the fact that his sister would be fast to criticize and have a cooking tip ready for his wife.

Her enthusiasm was contagious and he found himself gobbling cookies and walking around the table. He wasn't sure how his intern's influence would turn out to be by the end of summer. He hoped nothing disastrous.

"Yes, totally, there's no place for junk in this shop!" He told her raising one of the cookies in the air. "And whenever you're done you may start opening the boxes right after you call on me to see how you did," he told her heading for the door. "I'll be able to hear you, I'll be behind the counter." He was hearing voices. Hopefully people were here pay.

Cookies for the weekend at Cassia's could be arranged. Now that's what she liked hearing. Of course her bestfriend would now need to thank her for getting them weekend snacks that would come in handy for the rest of the sleepover. Can't go around recklessly using magic on an empty stomach now that a certain someone was of age. Ahem.

Lex flopped to the ground--something she'd missed doing after the aging started and her bones were no longer what they used to be--then threw open the door to the first cupboard. Merlin, he wasn't joking about the mess in here. She half wondered if this might not have been stuff Mr. Baltazar left behind, but then, Shopkeeps were probably required to get rid of everything before handing over the shop so........jeez, what did this man get up to while the majority of his clientele was off at Hogwarts trying to stay alive??

The girl reached for a cookie from her pocket and nibbled on it while she reached for the things from the top shelf of the cupboard. From what she could see this was mostly broken stuff, making it garbage unless Mr. Calverley had other plans to magick them clean? Eh, Lex put them in the maybe pile before moving on.

After going through several shelves of the cupboards, the Gryffindor had convinced herself that she was done, leaving two piles on the ground. One for maybes and the other for things she was sure he'd want to throw out. "Okay, I think I'm done." She said, sticking her head out the storage room to get his attention. He could come check the piles if he wanted but mostly he needed to give her the 'okay' to start ripping through boxes of chocolate. Thought she wouldn't be able to eat them just then and there, it would have still been exciting.