If you must, then by all means

The few days the trio had to prepare came and went both quickly and too slowly at the same time until Friday afternoon found them stepping out of a taxi cab a good hour outside of New York City. It seemed strange at first that the lawyer would live so far out of the city to Alice but staring at the house behind the gate and curved driveway before them left no doubt in her mind that it was the right place. The paneling of the large imposing mansion had seen better days and she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something was watching her as she followed Hatter towards the house. The creeping ivy and dead plants surrounding the connected greenhouse added to the feeling and she squeezed Hatter’s hand as she moved closer to him for additional comfort.

In short, the place gave her the creeps and Alice sincerely hoped they wouldn’t be kept here long before leaving for England.

Feeling Hatter give her hand a return squeeze caused her took look up at him finally and seeing his slightly wary glance at the house before them assured her more than the his grip had and she allowed a small smile. Harry’s energetic jog up the front steps proved he was the only member of their group still as excited as when they’d woken up that morning. Not wanting to be the reason to bring that happiness down, Alice let out a steadying breath and gave Harry a real smile when he looked back at the pair after ringing to door bell. A low rang tone through the house for a few seconds before the front door creaked open.

Instead of a face appearing, the first thing Alice could see was bottom ‘v’ of a vest and she had to look up, and then up some more until the expressionless face of a man she didn’t think would look out of place in a funeral parlor met hers. He stared down at all three of them without a word until Hatter finally broke the silence.

“Hello,” she heard him grin to her left, “I believe Mr. Addams is expecting us?”

The expressionless man gave a rumbling noise of what Alice could only guess was consent before stepping back as he opened the door fully. Harry had been unnerved by the tall man as well it seemed as he stuck closer to Alice and Hatter now as the three entered together and took in the front hall. It was clear that the office on Mulberry Street had been designed to match the house as dark gray wood and somber decorations surrounded them. Not letting his apprehension take over his innate curiosity apparently, Harry drifted away to look at some of the strange items in the hall. Before he could be warned not to touch any of them though, Harry stroked what had appeared to be a dark green stone lizard, that quickly uncurled from around the lamp base upon being touched, and shot a breath of fire at him before scuttling off.

“What the hell was that?!” Alice gasped while Harry laughed and tried to find the escaped lizard.

“That was Gustav,” a young woman’s voice to their right answered calmly and all three of them turned to look at her. Standing at the base of a large staircase, she appeared to be about Alice’s age with jet black hair bound in a single braid that fell over her shoulder and seemed to disappear into the mid-thigh length black dress she wore. “You scared him,” she stated in a flat monotone and looked down at Harry, “He doesn’t like to be touched by strangers.”

“Sorry,” Harry smiled brightly, “Thought he was part of the lamp; didn’t mean to give him a fright.” He then looked around the hall once, “Course I’m not sure what he’d find scary ‘bout me living in a place like this yeah?”

The woman raised one thin eyebrow and cracked the hint of smile at Harry’s comments before turning to their left, “Come with me. Father has been expecting you.” Still not feeling comfortable in the place, Alice took comfort from Hatter’s calm presence and Harry’s nonchalance as the group followed behind the unknown woman.

A short trip down the hall found them led into a study and Alice felt Hatter tense at the wide range of swords on display along the walls. It only took a moment for her to remember what he’d said about his last meeting with his lawyer and suddenly the encounter didn’t seem quite so funny any more.

“Father,” their guide stated as she stopped in front of a large desk. She looked back at their group once as they filed in beside her before turning to face the desk again, “They’re here. Are you prepared yet?”

Alice could only assume the man behind the desk shrinking files and sticking them in an open trunk was Mr. Addams and thankfully he didn’t seem interested in another impromptu sword fight. With a wave of his hand a few more items jumped into the open trunk before it closed with a resonating ‘thunk’. “Yes, I believe that will take of us for the week Wednesday,” he remarked before looking up at their little group. “Welcome dear friends,” Mr. Addams grinned wildly and spread his arms as he walked around the desk.

He glanced over each of them before locking eyes with Alice and she found herself very uncomfortable with the look he gave her. “What an enchanting creature you have brought with you Mr. Hatter,” Mr. Addams charmed and placed a short kiss on her hand that Alice discreetly wiped off on her jeans. No matter how charming he was trying to be, Alice couldn’t help feeling creeped out but this man for some reason.

“Umm, thanks. I think,” she managed to reply with a wary glance at Hatter who just smiled back at her in amusement.

“This is Alice,” Hatter introduced her properly, “Harry’s secondary guardian. I thought it best she be a part of this yeah?” He gave her a quick smile and she saw Mr. Addams nod understandingly.

“Certainly,” Mr. Addams agreed before grinned widely once more, but this time at Harry. “And you,” he continued with a touch of awe, “You must be Harry Potter himself.”

Harry smiled back at the man with ease, “Well if I must be, then I suppose I am.” He looked curiously back at the woman standing off to the side, “She coming along too?”

“Yes,” Mr. Addams clapped his hands once and gestured for the woman to come closer, “This is my daughter, Wednesday Addams. She’s the other half of our legal team and agreed to help with the battle ahead.”
------------------------------------------

Unfinished obviously. Shame it wasn't working out, but I feel better getting rid of it then keep messing with it.
-Laialda

“You sure about this Hatter?” March pressed seriously as the two waited in a room off to the side of the Looking Glass, “There’s no coming back if you change your mind.”

 Hatter raised an eyebrow skeptically at him, “Seeing as how I’ve called in just about all of my favors for this trip. I think we can safely say that the time to back out has long since passed yeah?”

 “True enough,” March shrugged unconcerned now and looked out the door before cracking out a crick in his neck, “Let’s make it look good then.”

David Hatter only just managed to catch himself as he shot out of the Looking Glass. Moaning as his arm was unable to hold him up and he rolled over to lay flat on his back. Fuck me…that hurt,” he groaned before moving his right arm up to wipe off the blood from his spilt lip. Attempting to stand proved that Marchie had likely bruised a few ribs as well, but none of it was damage that wouldn’t heal up in a day or two. With the show they’d up on for the techs running the mirror though, no one was likely to look into his ‘banishment’ from Wonderland outside of work gossip. 

He felt a moment of pure panic as he groped about in his jacket pocket for what seemed to be a missing item before the euphoric rush filled him as he finally grasped the miniature trunk. Hatter’s entire life was in that trunk as it contained not only the money from selling his shop and valuables, but the papers that would prove his citizenship to this world. His entire life fit in that one box right now. 

Looking outside the unfinished building in the construction site the Looking Glass had so violently deposited him, he could see the a single waning moon like a Cheshire’s grin hung high in the sky and me smiled back at it. His escape did feel very Cheshire worthy after all and he took his first breath deep breath of freedom out from under the Queen’s rule.

“Morning Alice,” the freckled red head chirped a greeting at the brunette walking in the door; sending curious looks to the far side where tarps were being set up.

 “Hey Chloe,” she distractedly replied as she stopped in front of the other side of the counter, “Are you guys closing the cafe? I thought business had picked up?”

 Chloe’s look became serious as she paused in preparing Alice’s usual drink, “Actually…they were thinking of closing if we didn’t bring in better numbers by the end of this month, but thankfully some guy bought the place instead.” She smiled brightly before continuing, “He’s got this wicked vision to redesign the place so we will be shuting down for a few weeks while that gets done but…oh Alice it’ll be so amazing when we do reopen!” 

Alice smiled at her enthusiasm and paid for her usual morning drink before taking a sip and sighing contently, “Will it really take that long? I don’t know what I’ll do with out my daily fix.” 

“Pretty sure,” Chloe shrugged and then peered to her left at the people moving about down there. She pointed as her eye caught sight of one of them, “You can go ask the new owner if you want though. Name’s David. He’s got a squashed brown hat on his head and devilishly cute. See ‘em? 

Alice looked down that way and seeing only one person in a hat, nodded that she did before waving a goodbye and carefully picking her way across the floor to speak with the new owner of her favorite café. Just as she was about to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention however, he spun around suddenly in her direction; throwing off her balance and narrowly avoiding knocking her drink out of her hand, and all over her. 

“Whoa! Sorry about that,” the man apologized in a thick British accent and helped to steady her, “Can I help you find something then? It’s a bit tricky down at this end right now ya see, and I wouldn’t want you take a spill.” He grinned widely as he released her and Alice had to admit to herself that the image was satisfyingly attractive. 

“It’s my fault,” she protested, “Chloe told me you were the new owner and I just had some questions about how long the place might be closed during the remodeling.” Alice raised the cup in her right hand a little higher and smiled, “I don’t know how I’ll survive finals week without my morning cup.” 

He gestured to the cup, “May I?” 

Confused and slightly curious, Alice reluctantly parted with what might be the last cup of tea she’d be getting for weeks and passed it to the new owner’s waiting hands. He expertly pulled off the lid and took a whiff of the hot contents and closed him eyes for a second or two before reattaching the top and passing her drink back. “Chinese Black tea with a splash of the vanilla hazelnut cream?” he purposed and Alice gaped for a minute before grinning widely. 

“Wow…at least I know the place will still be good hands,” she chuckled lightly. 

“Yeah, we’ll be carrying my own special blends on the new menu as well,” he gestured back to the counter with another charming grin, “Care for a free sample?”

Sometimes, it is the smallest actions that can have the most dramatic effects. A smile passed among strangers to lighten the day. Words whispered in darkened corners igniting a revolution. It is a theory commonly known as the butterfly effect, or occasionally an event called serendipity. In either case, it is small common day occurrence that compounds to far reaching consequences.

David Hatter, formally a native of Wonderland, was currently experiencing such an event as he sat on the couch of his rented apartment in New York City. The tension was easy to read in his shoulders as he played with the hat that had formally been sitting upon his head and his eyes flickered toward the door expectantly. His younger cousin, Harry Potter, and girlfriend, Alice Hamilton, were also present in the room and seemed to be showing varying degrees of tension as well as time continued to tick by. Not more than a few hours ago, it had been just a normal day for the current occupants of the moderately sized flat.

The appearance of a dove baring a short note had quickly compounded into much more than an innocent correspondence and was the cause of the current state of apprehension.

Hatter had attempted to appear unconcerned at the lack of answers from his phone call with his contact to his old world, and the reassurances that someone who could give him those answers would be arriving ‘soon’ continued to be insufficient as the minutes ticked by into hours.

When the knock on his front door came almost exactly two hours after his phone call, Hatter didn’t feel the need to ridicule the password system for once as he quickly made his way to see who was there.