She had spent the past few years perfecting her craft, and it had finally expanded into a business. She had gotten hold of a rather fetching briefcase over the summer, as her old satchel could no longer hold all her equipment- besides, she felt it looked a little more 'professional'. Not that her bright yellow beanie hat screamed 'professional' as well, but she could try and make adjustments to her professionalism where they were needed.
They were a month into the new year of Hogwarts, and she was already down to the last few pieces of some equipment- she had already made a list and sent it off(by email, of course) to a rather lovely stationary depot in Inverness that had over the years become accustomed to these odd requests that they would sometimes get for deliveries to a middle-of-nowhere village that bordered a castle ruin and seemed to have a rather large owl population. The poor deliverymen had become all too used to handing over large boxes in the dead of night in the middle of a deserted village to a young girl in a yellow beanie who seemed able to heft the boxes with no effort at all.
Well, she kept her wand hidden up her sleeve while she lifted them. They didn't need to know her actual upper body strength was less than the average kitten.
In any case, demand had been higher than ever this year. From lovers looking for a means of secret communication with one another(owl notes are a little bit...conspicious, and she had just perfected her charms on technology that kept them working) to stressed Arithmancy students struggling to keep up with the demands of having to add up twenty different numbers in their head- well, she sold it all.
And here comes another customer, she reckoned to herself, as the door banged on her converted broom closet. She shifted her legs off of the table, adjusted her beanie, and hefted her briefcase onto the table before speaking.
"Open for business!" She yelled at the door. The handle turned, the door opened. Her expression went from businesslike to amused.
"You're joking."
The student attempted to look above the situation, which was difficult to manage in a broom closet. He sniffed as haughtily as possible.
"Yes, yes, I am aware of the situation's apparent hilarity. Can we keep this transaction...anonymous?"
She grinned, raising one eyebrow.
"Off the books? You've got to close the door behind you first, you're letting a draught in."
He attempted not to look abashed as he primly and quietly closed the door behind him, before slowly sitting opposite the girl. He attempted to ignore the amused look on her face as she began.
"So. You want to buy something from me."
He gave her his best 'of course I bloody am why else would I be here' look. It was only met with a bigger smirk, and he gave up.
"Yes."
Her smirk grew to almost reach the ends of her face.
"You want to buy some Muggle stuff. You. One of the most pureblood purebloods in the school. Salazar Slytherin's lovechild wants to get his hands on some Muggle equipment."
As the teenager wearing the green-and-silver robes started to look faintly frustrated, and shifted uncomfortably as if to get up, she realised she had to dial back her amusement and surprise into a more impartial, businesslike manner. She leant back in her faux-leather spinny chair with an air of confidence and waved one hand in the air lazily.
"I can get why you'd want to be anonymous, sure, that's fine. I'll put it in my PDA instead, though, don't think just because you're staying off-record on paper it means you aren't digitally recorded." He looked faintly confused at this statement, and with a realisation the guy had no idea what a PDA was, she ploughed on. "Anyway. You wanted something?"
He squirmed slightly in his chair, looking embarrassed. Feeling classically Hufflepuff, she attempted to make him feel more comfortable. "Hey, mate, I've heard it all. Seriously, even sexual shit. Especially sexual shit." She wished she was lying at this point, but some people don't have boundaries in asking for equipment. She wasn't a sex shop.
Looking vaguely placated but slightly intimidated at the idea of people asking for such products, he spit it out.
"Well, ah, I heard that if one was taking Astronomy classes, there's a possibility-"
"That one could potentially bloody pass if one got some graph paper and some mechanical pencils? Yes, yes one can." She was messing around with him, she knew, but hey- it isn't every day you get a customer who would probably be disowned if they were discovered here with her. Besides, Hufflepuff doesn't always mean 'perenially nice', she enjoyed a little amusement once in a while.
He looked up at her with a mixture of desperation and frustration. She laughed lightly, unclipped the clasps of her briefcase and spun it around for demonstration as she opened it up. Before them both lay a multitude of phones, pens, pencils, calculators, erasers- essentially everything the average Muggle would own. She selected a wad of graph paper, a couple of simple mechanical pencils and a little white chunk of an eraser and set them down on the table.
"This is my starter pack, but seeing as it's fifth year and we're already a month in, I'll throw in a planisphere as well- you'll need one, trust me." She was being too nice again, but she was getting a new delivery in soon, and even bigoted guys like him needed to pass their OWLs. She picked up a slim circular plastic object and tossed it on the table as well. He picked it up and inspected it, eyes squinting in confusion. She revelled in his lack of knowledge of Muggle technology for a few seconds before relenting.
"It's like an advanced astrolabe, mate. Align the disks and you get the horizon you should have overhead. Match the chart to the horizon and all that. Seriously, it's nothing new, they started out in the 11th Century, but hey, magic societies get intimidated by anything preceding the wheel, so." She finished rambling with a wave of her hand. His eyes had widened into comprehension and awe, and she revelled in this expression even more than his confused one.
"So." He looked up. "How much do I owe you?"
"Eleven Sickles."
He gaped, looked down at the kit, then back at her. "Eleven?!"
"The more you look at me like that, the higher the price shall go."
"But that's insane! For-"
"For equipment that you literally at this point cannot purchase anywhere else, unless you want to head off into London yourself and try to buy said equipment with currency you don't know how to convert into. Besides, aren't your family one of the richest around?"
He stared in disbelief. He sighed and reached into his robe pockets.
"You should have been a Slytherin with that sort of cunning."
"I'll take that as a compliment, mate, but Hufflepuffs have the best parties."
I don't know who these kids are, but I think there's a lot of tension in the air here. Maybe they should kiss to relieve said tension.
In any case. The idea wasn't mine, it can be attributed to a tumblr user who suggested that muggleborns would go around illicitly trading stationary to try and help students pass their classes. I liked the idea and couldn't resist a little fic-writing/character making-up.
Unfortunately for you all I'm not a very good writer, but I hoped you liked the concept at any rate. :) Reviews would be appreciated if I made any errors/there are any improvements that could be made/you want to read more of these kids. I liked writing them, maybe more might be written regardless.