The steady knock on the old heavy wooden door of the flat alerted the man, who was trying to settle down with his morning cup of tea. For a moment, he stood still in the hallway of his home, listening to the steady "thumping" noise that continued to shake his door. There was an internal debate as to whether he should answer it or not, but he knew if he didn't, there would only be more problems to follow up with. Setting his teacup down, Adelmo Abate, proceeded to make his way over to the front door, only to open it and watch as his younger sister, attempted to knock her head into it.

He stood there for a few moments and eventually, she realised she was no longer hitting anything, bringing the young woman to peer up.

"Renata, what are you doing here?" the man asked checking his watch. "Aren't you supposed to be at work right now?"

His sister's met his gaze and just in that brief second of time, he could already tell what the next words would be coming out of her mouth.

"I got fired again," Renata mumbled as her head hung in disappointment. "Just before I even walked into the shop, Mr Braskin told me to stay away and never come in again. I think I have a life ban on the place."

Several moments of silence passed and Adelmo had yet to say anything, as he tried to process the news while wondering just what his sister had done to lose her job at the Eeylops Owl Emporium. She had only been employed three days in total and Adelmo thought it had been a perfect fit.

"What did you do?"

The woman entered the flat, brushing by her brother and making her way into the living room where she flopped onto his sofa. She wouldn't meet his gaze as she spoke, already looking quite shameful.

"I was just trying to help, but it all went wrong. So wrong," she began as she dropped her face in her hands. "I stayed late last night, making sure that all the owls were fed, that their cages were clean, and that the shop had a decent smell to it. You can imagine how foul it smells in there with all the bird droppings. Well, one of the owls started making a fuss and Adelmo, you should have seen how sad it looked. So cramped up in these cages, I could tell he just wanted to move around-"

"Oh, Ren, please tell you didn't-"

"Since I was there, I let him out to fly around and stretch his wings for a bit. But then the other owls grew jealous and they wanted to join in as well. And if I was going to allow one of them to do it, I had to allow all of them, right?"

"No, not right, wh-"

"So, I let them all out of their cages and they just seemed so happy and content. When it came time for me to leave, I felt so bad with the idea of locking them up. I came up with the idea that I could leave them out for the night since I would be the one opening the shop this morning. But I guess Mr Braskins decided he was going to show up too and he showed up before I did...and well..."

Adelmo let out a heavy sigh as he ran his hand over the length of his face. His dark brows furrowed together, just trying to think of what possessed his sister to think it was a good idea to go through with such a plan? But then again, as he thought it over, he realised that he shouldn't have been that surprised. It was Renata he was talking about, his sister, who had quite the record of not keeping a proper job for a lengthy amount of time. Usually, her ideas or her heart got the best of her and it ended with something bad happening.

He thought that since Renata loved animals and creatures so much that she would do well at the Owl Emporium, but it was her love for the animals that got her into trouble that time. He could understand that she didn't wish to see the owls in cages, she was never one for such things, but at the same time, Adelmo really wished she would have put more thought into her decision-making.

Just as he went to open his mouth to say something, Renata cut him off once more.

"You don't have to say it," she mumbled, " I know I'm stupid and I shouldn't have done it. I messed things up again. I'm really sorry."

Making his way over to sit beside her, Adelmo placed his hand over his sister's knee and gave it a gentle pat. " Ren, you're not stupid and you know that. You're far from stupid. Yes, you shouldn't have done that, but you did have good intentions. It's just...you really need to think these things through. I don't want you to keep getting in trouble or to keep getting fired. We just need to find a job that suits you."

"But what job is that going to be, Al? I've failed nearly everything I've ever wanted to do. I made all the marks to be an Auror and I failed at that. I couldn't even last as the Welcome Witch at St Mungo's. There's something wrong with me."

"There is nothing wrong with you, don't talk like that. So none of those jobs worked out, it's fine, it just means that you were destined to do something else."

Renata glanced over at him. "Al, I've made myself a career of getting fired."

As much as the older brother wanted to comfort his younger sibling, it was growing difficult to come up with positives because Renata wasn't far from the truth. Since graduating from school, she had not found success when it came to employment and it had all started when she failed to make it as an Auror. From that point on, it seemed everything just followed the same path of ending on a bad note.

There wasn't much he could say because he knew that she had already beaten herself up internally on her way over, and externally after banging her head against his front door that morning. He was doing his best to support her but she was her own biggest obstacle in life.

Twiddling her thumbs in her lap, Renata stared down at her untied shoelaces as one of her legs bounced up and down. Once again, she had disappointed her older brother who had gotten her the job in the first place. Her brother could tell her all sorts of kind things, but she knew she had screwed up royally, and even his kind words couldn't reassure her differently. However, rather than wallowing in self-pity any longer, the woman was alerted by the sounds of nails hitting the hardwood floors of the home.

Looking up, her brown hair was jerked back abruptly, revealing a bright smile on her face as seconds later, a crup pup leapt into her lap. Within seconds, her face was attacked with all sorts of kisses from the magical dog, leaving her to laugh and squeal in amusement.

Enzo was a crup pup, only nine months old and the newest addition to the Abate household. In fact, it was Adelmo that had come into the ownership of the dog by accident. Well, it was more along the lines that the dog insisted that it was going home with the man and even though Adelmo was not a dog person by any means, it was Renata who had insisted that he keep him. She claimed that Adelmo needed companionship, even though the man begged to differ. He was quite content with only having to be responsible for his younger sister.

But he simply could not get rid of the dog because even when he took it anywhere else, it would make its way back. When he tried to offer Renata to keep him, she simply stated that she couldn't because the dog had chosen him and not her. So, Adelmo was stuck with a dog he didn't want, but he had to make the most of it or he would never hear the end of it from Renata. And yet, while Enzo had "chosen" Adelmo, it was Renata, who fed the dog and walked the dog, while showing it affection and attention.

"Stop that," Adelmo scrunched up his nose at the sight of his sister being covered in slobber, " or I'll have to ask you two to get a room."

As he looked at his wrist once more to check the time, the man instantly jumped up from where he was sitting.

"Merlin's pants, I'm running late!" On his feet, the man started to dash around in search of his wand before heading towards the door, but before he could leave, Renata called after him, stopping him in his tracks.

"What should I do today?" she asked. "Would you like me to tidy up around here?"

Adelmo's flat was spotless as he couldn't keep it any other way and the idea of his sister attempting to clean it with magic caused his heart to skip a beat. Of course, he didn't want to insult her as he merely shook his head and came up with a different suggestion.

"Why don't you take Enzo to the park? He's been itching to run for days now and the weather looks like it's actually going to hold. I'm sure he'll dub you as his hero if you take him."

Looking down at the dog in her arms, Renata raised a brow. "Is that so? Would you like to go to the park?"

The dog's one tail wagged happily in response, leaving her to nod her head before she looked up once more. "Alright, I'll do it-"

She stopped as she looked up to the doorway and noted that her brother was gone. Feeling silly again, Renata figured it was just best to get a move on. Still holding Enzo in her arms, the woman walked out of the flat, holding her wand in hand and having the door close and lock behind her.

The park did sound like a good idea as she really needed something to cheer her up and the scenario of Enzo racing about set her in a better mood instantly. Only a couple of weeks ago, the dog had to lose his second tail by the decree of the Ministry if he wanted to be kept as a pet. In fact, he was supposed to lose it back when he was six to eight weeks old, but Enzo had been an obvious stray, a sign by his forked tail when he had been found.

Currently, the dog was chasing himself in circles as he searched for his missing tail, bringing a hint of sadness to Renata, but making her laugh at the same time. The only reason why the dogs had to lose their second tail was due to the fact that it would be easily noticed by muggles. It seemed highly unfair to the dogs as they probably didn't understand the reasoning behind it all and it was always best to keep Crups away from muggles in general.

For some reason, the dogs were highly aggressive and vicious towards non-magic folk, yet fiercely loyal to the wizard or witch that owned them. Seeing as Enzo had attached himself to Adelmo, he was always ready to protect and since Renata was related to his master, the dog would go down snarling and biting for her too.

Sitting on one of the benches, Renata leant back her head for a moment and closed her eyes as Enzo chased his backside only a few lengths away. She was really trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with herself now that she had been fired from another job. Of course, she knew, deep down that she had nothing to really worry about when it came to the means of support or finances. After all, she came from a strong and influential family, her father being the representative of the International Confederation of Wizards and her mother being the Headmistress at the school in their home country of Italy, the Accademia di Magia Crusca.

Then Adelmo became a renown Healer at a young age, enough that St Mungo's had fought like hell to get him to practice with them. So it left Renata, the youngest of the family, trying to figure out how she was supposed to keep up with her family members. She couldn't even manage a simple job such as being the Welcome Witch at St Mungo's where Adelmo worked. It was all simple enough, all she had to do was greet those that entered the facility and direct them to where they needed to go.

Everything had been fine, until one day when a flustered person had come running in requesting help.

"How can I help you, Sir?"

The six words that had caused all hell to break loose within a matter of seconds, or rather, just one. Apparently, the "Sir" was not a "sir" and because Renata had assumed the person's gender, and offeded the pregnant woman that was entering labour, the woman was basically calling for her head. Adelmo had tried to help and reassure that it wouldn't happen again, but it was too late as the woman was not going to let it go until Renata was let go.

Everything seemed to go wrong in the slighest of ways and always blew up in her face in the most drastic ways.  For once in her life, she just wanted things to go right. And they would, at least, that's what she kept telling herself, that one day, soon enough things would go right for her.

"Merlin, I just need things to start going right soon, please. No rush, you know, but sooner rather than later would be appreciated."

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Renata lifted her head up once more and opened her eyes. Enzo was still rolling about in the grass and as she sat there, she heard the sound of a little laughter. Turning her head, she caught sight of a toddler running around in the distance, a large black dog chasing after him and rolling about. She smiled for a second, enjoying the sound of the little boy laughing, but suddenly, she became alert as she spotted Enzo take off out of the corner of her eye.

Enzo wasn't only aggressive towards muggles, but he didn't like other dogs either. Almost instantly, Renata let out a screech and jumped up to run after the small, aggressive little dog.

"Enzo, no!"

From what she could see as she raced towards the scene, the other dog was a lot bigger in size compared to Enzo and if they got into it, Enzo would probably be done for. Not to mention, the toddler was in close proximity, if he happened to get mixed up in it, Renata didn't even want to think of it. She removed her wand but, of course, Enzo had been a lot faster and now he was too close to the toddler for her to get a clear hit and if she ended up hitting the child, she would probably never forgive herself.

The sounds of the two dogs barking and growling at one another, caused everyone in the park to look over. The large black dog had taken to placing himself in front of the boy as a protective barrier, while Enzo had all his hackles up, ready to fight. A man who had been sitting on a bench close by was alerted by the scene and was running over as well. She was sure if something happened, there was enough people to witness and Enzo would be placed down for sure by the order of the Ministry.

Not willing to take a chance of having her brother's dog be put down on her watch, Renata neared the situation of the two dogs growling at one another and tackled Enzo to the ground. The little dog let out a yelp but Renata wrapped her arms around him holding as tightly as possible. Of course, while he was small, Enzo was putting up quite the fight to get back at the other dog.

"What is going on?!" The bespectacled man arrived on the scene, looking flustered as he scooped up the boy in his arms.

"Um, nothing!" Renata stated. "He just wanted to play but he's young and stupid, he doesn't know how to play as of right now."

"It looked as though he was trying to attack my son!"

"No, not your son, just your dog," Renata let out a nervous laugh. "I'm so sorry. He would never hurt your boy."

Of course, just as she said that Enzo turned and bit the side of her face, trying to get free. It wasn't as hard as it looked but the blood dripping from her face made it look otherwise. Immediately, the black dog turned into a man, causing Enzo to whimper in fright, while the two men that appeared were trying to help as Renata was suddenly bleeding before them.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad," Renata pushed herself up to her feet as Enzo coward behind her legs. She lifted her hand to touch her face, only to have her hand be drenched with blood. "Oh, so maybe it is."

Within seconds, the two men witnessed her faint to the ground. Apparently, Merlin wasn't working fast enough for the woman.