"Git," she growled at him before charming the broom to sweep the floor for the third time tonight. "We might as well close you know, I mean, who the hell's gonna notice?" She charmed the till shut and Tom left as soon as she'd finished, duty dispensed for the evening.
After locking the door Damia reached into her bag, moving her keys into an easily reachable pocket. She glanced around, inhaling the night air, relieved to be outside again. She was a druid and her powers lay outside in the open air, with nature. The night whispered to her, begging her to leave the confinement of London's tight alleyways, calling her home... She closed her eyes for a second to appease the side of herself that wanted, no needed, to answer the call. The citybirds chirped at her sleepily, they could guide her home... No wait, that was a warning call. Damia opened her eyes to confront the vampire leering over her. I may as well have turned my wand on myself, she thought dryly as she realised it had been safely stashed away at the bottom of her bag. Which was of course the best place for it on Knockturn Alley. She reached for her other powers, her druidic ones, but they wouldn't respond so far into the city and so late at night. Panicking slightly she pushed forward with her full weight but it simply sidestepped and she stumbled. The birds above her chirped in alarm but otherwise did nothing. Damia couldn't hold it against them, they weren't warriors after all, but her ankle had twisted in the fall and her bag had fallen open spilling the contents across the street.
Lucius Malfoy was watching the scene from the shadows across the street. An odd girl, out this late in Knockturn Alley and alone at that. He recognised her vaguely and assumed she was marked for recruitment into the Death Eaters a few years back. She certainly wasn't the kind of girl he would have any dealings with at any rate.
"Five galleons she's dead within the next minute." he muttered to Severus Snape, who was skulking next to him irritably.
"You're just going to let her die? You can't see what she is"
"What do you mean, 'what she is'?" Lucius hated admitting ignorance to anybody but Severus was particularly skilled at extracting ignorance. A handy skill admittedly and one that had saved them from the Dark Lord's temper more than once.
"She's closing her eyes to talk to birds and you still assume she's an average witch? She's a druid, not a very powerful one from the look of things though." Lucius smirked, that explained the colour scheme of the clothes then. If Narcissa ever stuck to greens and browns... The vampire hauled the girl from the ground, kicking her in the stomach on the way up. That spurred Severus into action, he always got squeamish when there were women involved...
Damia was aware of a few flashes of light above her head before her elbows were grabbed roughly in order to steady her. She instinctively moved away from the man and almost fell backwards, temporarily forgetting about her ankle. She spotted an alleycat watching her, silently berating her for clumsiness. Yeah well you could have a bath, she thought before turning her attention to her rescuer. He didn't look much less threatening than her attacker, his hood had fallen back while dusting the vamp to reveal black eyes and matching long black hair. He bent to her ankle and healed her roughly. The birds chirped angrily causing her to giggle. Giggling? As well as wandering the streets of London alone at night? She deserved everything that was coming to her, Severus thought while pulling her back to her feet for a second time. She stood a little below his shoulders, her dark hair was tussled despite attempts to tame it in a ponytail, her shirt tightly fitting. Her clothes were all traditional druid colours but, as with many school uniforms, had been cut fashionably. She didn't look a day older than seventeen but Severus was certain he had never seen her at Hogwarts. Even druid children had to be educated, if only to teach them how to use a knife and fork.
"Um, thanks." she said quietly after rescuing the contents of her bag from the street. She had her wand in her hand now, as if she could justify its previous absense. She pulled her hair irritably out of the ponytail and I revised my age estimation from seventeen to early twenties. It fell, typically, straight to her waist.
"You're not in the forests anymore, remember that next time." Her light blue eyes flared angrily.
"Yeah the five storey buildings kind of give it away slightly." she snapped back, evidently trying to regain some dignity. She threw her bag over her shoulder and turned to leave. I remembered that some form of chivalry may be required of me at this point.
"Do you need walked home?"
"No." Damia refused as quickly as possible, just wanting to get away from the man now. He didn't feel safe, he felt like a hunter closing in on prey. And Damia was noone's prey. She walked away and thankfully he didn't follow.
The remainder of her walk home was uneventful. She crawled onto the sofa she was currently calling a bed as soon as she could and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.