Hariel woke up earlier than normal the next day, so she dressed herself (something she had insisted on being able to do for a while when she was younger) instead of letting Mey-Rin do it as she usually did and went downstairs, grabbing a book from the library as she did. She settled on the sofa in the sitting room, and began to read.
Hariel was so absorbed in the book that she almost didn't notice Ciel calling for her down the hall. "I'm in the sitting room!" She yelled back, hearing his footsteps begin to make their way there.
"How did you not hear me? I've been looking for you all day." Ciel said, then noticed the book. "Nevermind, I see why."
"All day?" Hariel asked, marking her spot and closing the book.
He gave her a blank look. "It's noon." Hariel blinked and Ciel rolled his eyes fondly. "Come on, I have to go to the Funtom factory outside of London today to check how things are going, and I know you wanted to go into London to pick up some things from Diagon Alley."
Hariel nodded and put her book on the table next to the sofa. "Alright, then let me get something better to wear in public," she gestured to the lounge clothes she was wearing currently, silently telling him that they were ridiculous to go out in. Ciel nodded in agreement and they left the room together, heading for the general area of their bedrooms. A while before they reached that hall though, Ciel split to go to his office and Hariel continued to her bedroom.
As she did, Mey-Rin saw her and followed her to help Hariel with her clothes. Hariel sighed as Mey-Rin fumbled with the back of the dress and reached over to one of her shoulders to straighten it out and make it easier to tie up the back.
"Thank you my lady, I didn't notice that." Mey-Rin said, smoothing down the because of the dress.
Hariel shrugged lightly, "It's fine, don't worry about it. You know," she mused, eyeing Mey-Rin's glasses, "perhaps we should get you a new pair of glasses." She held up a hand to stall any protests, "I am aware that they were from Ciel due to your farsightedness, but honestly if they no longer work for your eyes as well as they used to then new ones should be bought."
Mey-Rin sighed, "I know my lady, I just don't want to be a burden or anything."
Hariel rolled her eyes. "Nonsense. You work for us now, therefore it is my and Ciel's job to ensure that you have the best you can to keep doing your job. New glasses are certainly a part of that. Tell you what, since Ciel, Sebastian, and I are going to London, while they are at the meeting with the Funtom factory I can get you a new pair of glasses, along with doing my business in London."
Mey-Rin gave a small smile as they left the room. "Thank you very much, my lady."
"Not a problem," Hariel waved aside the thanks, "actually, you might as well come with us, that way you can pick out what glasses you want." Again, she held up her hand to stall any protests, "No, it's my decision. You'll pick out your preferred style of glasses today. Come on."
With that, Hariel turned and led a silent Mey-Rin to the front door, explaining the situation to Sebastian and Ciel at their curious looks.
The three of them- Hariel, Ciel, and Mey-Rin- got into the carriage while Sebastian sat in the driver's part of it, setting off as soon as the door closed behind them.
Hariel sat next to Mey-Rin, knowing Ciel had this thing where he preferred to be alone on a bench in a carriage unless he couldn't help it (such as when there were four or more people in the carriage).
It was weird, but then again, they weren't normal.
The trip to London took a while, as per usual, and when they arrived, Sebastian dropped them off near the entrance to the Alley, and told them he would pick them up there in three hours. Hariel gave an affirmative nod to him as she and Mey-Rin began to make their way over to the glasses store near to the Leaky Cauldron.
Hariel leaned against the wall by the door while Mey-Rin tried out a few pairs. It took about half an hour to find a pair that actually worked for Mey-Rin's eyes, and another ten minutes for Hariel to convince her to get a pair she liked instead of simply the pair she had tried on, before they paid and left.
"Thank you again, my lady. I promise I will do my best to be the best maid you have ever seen," Mey-Rin said happily, looking around through her new glasses. Hariel didn't blame her, it must be nice to be able to see properly again (her eyepatch notwithstanding as she could see through it, not to mention her eye actually worked and the only reason for the patch was secrecy).
Hariel gave a small, genuinely amused, laugh at Mey-Rin's promise. "I am sure Sebastian will be very happy about that," she replied, commenting on the fact that he did all the work around the manor.
Mey-Rin giggled a bit, and a small blush appeared at Sebastian's name. Hariel filed that little reaction away for later thought. "Probably, though knowing Bard, he would end up blowing more things up."
Hariel gave mock sigh of despondence and nodded. "He probably would."
As Hariel stepped up to the Leaky Cauldron, she expected to have to guide Mey-Rin into it like she usually did with Ciel whenever he accompanied her, but to her surprise Mey-Rin followed easily.
At her raised eyebrow, Mey-Rin gave a somewhat sheepish grin. "I'm a squib; that is why I have no family and easily agreed to be the Phantomhive maid- aside from the fact that I no longer have to do what I had been doing previously- my parents disowned me and cast me out of the home when I received no Hogwarts letter."
Hariel gave a displeased frown at hearing how her parents treated her, but didn't comment, as it was obviously a sore topic. Instead, she just asked if Mey-Rin could pick up the potions ingredients she needed while she went to go collect some books.
Hariel gave the ingredients list to a relieved Mey-Rin and went to get her books, agreeing that they would meet up at the entrance to the Alley in half an hour.
By the time they returned to the spot where the carriage would pick them up, they had another ten minutes or so left over to wait, so Hariel bought some fish n chips from a nearby stand for all four of them, casting a warming charm that only Mey-Rin noticed on the fourth one (Sebastian had said human food didn't provide sustenance, but it did still taste good, sometimes. He had also said that fish n chips was a favored human meal for him).
When the carriage pulled up, Hariel handed Sebastian bag to him, knowing that he would easily be able to eat it while driving. Ciel made a small pleased noise in the back of his throat as he saw the food- fish n chips being the only 'peasant food' he really actually liked.
I have no excuse for how ridiculously late this is, except that I have had some trouble thinking about how to get through this.
Yes, the whole thing with Mey-Rin's family will be further expanded on and will become a conflict for the wizarding side of things (I can't have drama in just the muggle world for the two kids and Sebby, now can I?).
No, the fish n chips isn't important and I probably won't bring up any of that last bit again. It was just some filler so I didn't give you guys a stupid small chapter.
Again, I have no excuse for the ridiculous amount of time it took to get this chapter up, but I'm sorry. I'll try to be more structured with when I publish things, but don't get your hopes up. Fanfiction is my life, yeah (because my real one sucks), but writing it is mainly just an I'm-bored-and-need-something-to-do type of thing, so yeah…
~Faeries and Vampyres