Alfred had been meaning to do some actual bonding with Charity ever since he had learned of her existence two months earlier. The conversation in the solicitor's office hadn't really offered him much of a chance to get to know her, after all, and she was the only thing he had left remaining of his sister. That was one of the things that had held him back from visiting, though, as well. He'd learned that his sister was dead several years ago, and had more or less finished grieving. How much would Charity remind him of a younger Evelina? Would spending time with her reopen old wounds?

That wasn't fair, though, because it wasn't Charity's fault if she was like her mother, and she didn't deserve to have less involvement with her family as a result of it. Besides, it wasn't as though Evander got to just opt out of seeing her if he didn't feel ready for it. She was living in his house, and he was, Merlin help him, presumably trying to play the role of a parent. If Evander could step up and handle that, Alfred had no excuse, really, for remaining distant.

The one other thing that had stopped him from visiting earlier was that he wasn't sure if she would want to see him. It wasn't as though they had any extant relationship to build on, and she hadn't seemed to be a particularly happy child when he'd met her (though, in fairness, she was quite obviously still grieving her father — and in denial about it, to boot). What if he showed up and she just made some polite excuse and turned him away?

Well, he'd just have to cross that bridge if he came to it, he supposed. He couldn't just sit at home and fret about it forever. Not when he didn't really have forever. After receiving the news about the curse on Friday, he'd started to look at things a little differently. He wasn't going to spend any more time just sitting around waiting for the Ministry to tell him what to do, for example. Merlin, what if he died next week and he'd spent the last month of his life just sitting around his flat!

He'd chosen a Monday strategically because he knew that Evander would be out of the house, and he had a feeling that Evander wouldn't be particularly thrilled about what he'd had planned for the day.

After flooing in, he'd been directed by the housekeeper to Charity's room, where he knocked lightly. "Er — hi," he called rather awkwardly through the door, not wanting to open it when he didn't know what she was up to inside. What did eight year olds even get up to? He wasn't sure. "It's your uncle. The other one."