"Look at those eyes," Wynnona said, looking down at the german shepherd.
"Evil eyes," Tilly joked.
"NO! Don't be mean! Hestia's not capable of evil!" Wynnona frowned. Looking away from Hestia, whose pleading eyes kept darting back and forth between Wynnona and the breakfast on her plate, waiting for something to be dropped from the table.
The Blake/Campbell Family all sat around the table. Each up to their own morning jobs. With the two younger girls cooing at the family dog. The two men of the house looking down at a pile of radio parts with frustrated looks. At the same time, the matriarch of the family scribbling notes down in a calendar.
Eventually, Hestia moved along the table. Hoping someone else was willing to share some breakfast with her. She sat down next to Aunt Hela but wasn't only given a couple of scratches behind the ears. Due to Hela's focus being on her to-do list for the day.
"Bipkey told me she plans on retiring soon. So, I'll work out her retirement gift." Aunt Hela said, without taking her eyes off her notepad.
"Can we throw her a goodbye party?" Wynnona asked.
"Depends on if she wants one. Or even if you're here. You may be at school the day she finishes work." Uncle Jack told her.
"Dang it!" Jack yelled as a piece of metal slipped out of his. Hestia let out a particularly big whine. Everyone turned their heads to see the dog had now moved to the backdoor. Scratching at the faded green door.
"Do you two wanna take her outside for a bit?" Tilly's father, Leo, asked. Looking up from a broken radio.
Tilly and Wynnona moved away from the table and made their way out the backdoor. The sounds of the adults' continued conversation slowly getting quieter.
"Should I even bother telling you to buy a new one?" Hela asked.
"No!" Jack and Leo yelled in unison. Sounding like children who were about to have their toys taken away.
The girls watched as the giant dog started excitingly jumping around her lead.
"Do you think I could take Hestia to Hogwarts?" Wynnona asked as they walked Hestia around the block.
Tilly thought about it for a second. "Honestly, I have no idea. The standard is apparently cats, owls or toads, but my friend has a pet jarvey. And I think I saw a kid walking around with an armadillo last year."
Wynnona's eyes went wide. "Woah, that'd be so cool!"
The conversation continued like this for the rest of the walk, with Wynnona asking Tilly questions about their upcoming school year.
"I wanna try something new for the school," Wynnona said as they walked back into the yard.
"What do you mean?" Tilly was a bit confused by what she meant.
"Not interested in pigtails anymore," Wynnona said.
Wynnona had always been jumping from different styles, and her hair was no expectation. Tilly was honestly surprised her fixation on the pigtails had lasted all summer.
As the girls stepped inside, they spotted Hela putting on a cardigan. As she started walking to the front door, Tilly was quick to follow after her.
"You don't have to come with me on the weekends, love," Hela said to Tilly as she waved Wynnona goodbye.
"I only have a few more days of being grounded. So I figure I'd work them off sooner than later."
Hela shrugged her shoulders in agreement, and the two of them started making their way down the street.
Due to the school year's events, it was safe to say that Tilly had been grounded the moment she got home. For most children, this wouldn't be a problem. So it wasn't a big deal to be told they weren't allowed to go outside for a few days, especially when they were book worms like Tilly, who was happy to sit in comfort in her room going through unread books.
And unfortunately, Tilly's family were well aware of this and decided to try a different form of grounding. With Tilly going into work with Leo, Jack or Hela every day for a certain amount of days. Helping with little jobs around the place and not being allowed to bring any books.
While Tilly wasn't 100% on board with it at first, she had to admit it could be a lot worse. It could get boring a lot, but there were always moments that Tilly found somewhat funny, mainly when it came to specific customers.
The most interesting thing to Tilly being the in-laws. The soon be mothers and fathers at Jack and Hela's workplace.
Her godparents ran a little tailor somewhere in town. With Aunt Hela managing finances and sales, and Uncle Jack taking take of product and marketing.
It's a known fact that any kind of work to do with weddings is a risky career choice. Hela once commented that she had lost count of the brides who had tried to take a swing at her or Jack. Or how many in-laws were bitter that a muggle or a mage was marrying into their family.
Now to give a little context to Tilly's hometown. Marigold Place, Ireland, was a small beach town with a population of around 6000. Now all that is reasonably average, but what makes Marigold notable is that it is one of the few mixed muggle/magic communities to be found in Europe.
But what about the Statute of Secrecy?
Back in the 1930s, the Irish population of magic folk wanted to follow their muggle counterparts to being independent. So the Irish branch Ministry of Magic attempted to quiet down the magic population by setting up several Hogsmet style magic settlements throughout the country. This went as well as expected and said settlements eventually morphed into modern merged communities like Marigold.
Well, to be honest, Tilly was still wrapping her head around it. She was just 12 (soon to be 13 in October. Thank you). Despite her brightness, she still had an understanding of how governments worked that any girl her age would.
It's something I'd love to discuss another day, BUT I think it's not something you come to listen to today.
Back to Tilly and the tailor shop. Now in Marigold, it was typical for a lot of weddings to take place there. It was fairly cheaper, and there were many beautiful places throughout the area to have a wedding.
And thanks to good word of mouth, brides often came to 'Mariana's Everyday Alterations' due to the unique fabrics.. (What? NO, they're not magically made! Who's asking?) Because of this Tilly had seen varius types of people come into the shop throughout her life.
Most people were pretty nice, but you would get the people who just seemed to be angry all the time now and again. That day, the family in the shop had a particularly grumpy mother who wouldn't stop making passive-aggressive comments towards her soon-to-be muggle daughter in law.
"Honestly, of all people, why did he have to pick a muggle," Tilly heard the mother whisper to herself. Unaware that the bride could hear what she was saying.
The young woman tried her best to ignore the comments, but once the mother left, she couldn't help but let some of the frustration show on her face. "Dunno, maybe she's right. Maybe I'm making a mistake."
Everyone in the room was quick to comfort her. Reassuring her that the mother didn't how what she was talking. It took a little while, but Hela and Tilly were able to calm the bride down with some shared experiences.
"A lot of people have always disliked that I decided to marry a muggle," Hela told her as she made the bride a cup of tea. "But it's the best decision I've made in a long time."
"You never regretted it?" She asked.
"I was scared when he first asked, but I've never wished I said no," Hela said fondly. "I'm sure your finance feels a similar way."
The bride took a deep breath as Tilly approached her. "And it would be a shame not to wear this dress."
Tilly lifted a sketchbook for the bride. Causing her to smile down at the girl. Finally, everyone made a collective sigh of relief when the bride agreed to go back to planning.
Later, Leo arrived at the shop to take Tilly out for launch. They headed off after Hela told them to go without her. Claiming it was just a bit too busy for her to take her lunch right now.
Leo took Tilly over to a nearby park and handed his daughter her lunch. While Tilly munched on a sandwich, her mind wandered. Primarily to thinking about seeing Diana and Harry again.
Tilly had been getting letters from Diana throughout the summer. Which had become pretty typical for the two of them. Also, some from Hermione. Tilly internally noted that she hadn't gotten a single letter from Harry.
She tried not to jump to the worst conclusion. Maybe Harry and his family had just been busy that summer. Or Hedwig got sick… she really hoped it wasn't that second one.
"What's the matter, love?" Leo asked. Snapping Tilly out of her thoughts.
"What'd you mean?" Tilly said.
"I dunno." Leo shrugged his shoulders. "You seem to be thinking hard bout something."
Tilly let out a breath and rested her head on the table. "I'm worried bout my friend. He hasn't responded to my letter all summer, and I'm starting to worry."
"Maybe you'll see them when we go to London?" Leo said.
"Yeah, hopefully."
"That's not all, is it?" Leo pressed.
Tilly stayed quiet for a moment. Contemplating if she wanted to say it out loud. "I can't let myself think what I'm thinking. Harry's my friend, and there's probably a good reason he hasn't responded."
Leo nodded his head and made a hum of understanding. While Tilly had had trouble with certain ex-friends in the past, Leo trusted Tilly firmly to stick by her decision.
"Why don't you send a letter to your other friend and ask her about it?" Leo prompted.
Tilly looked up at him and suddenly got what he meant. "OH, that's a good idea."
The two smiled, and the rest of lunch went very calmly. Later, Leo walked Tilly back to the shop before returning to his workplace at the post office. Only to find the shop was not in the same state of peace that they were.
The first clue that something was up was a loud crashing coming from inside as Leo and Tilly approachedthe door. They peaked inside and heard Hela yelling.
"Bipkey, get the broom!" The older woman yelled, and the two-spotted a familiar aging elf running past with a broom.
The daughter and father got curious and made their way inside.
The scene before them was utterly ridiculous. The mother in law was standing in the middle of the room, throwing an absolute hissy fit. Two wands had been thrown across the room. The bride was shaking her head in disappointment at her in-law. Meanwhile, Hela stood before the mother. Threatening to hit her with the broom if she didn't get out.
Tilly and Leo look on with minor surprise. This wasn't the first time Hela had tried to hit someone with a broom, and it most likely wouldn't be the last.
Bipkey turned away from the sight to see Leo and Tilly. "Oh, Mr Blake! Miss Tilly. Lunch over already?" Bipkey asked, almost as if her boss wasn't trying to wack someone with a broom behind her.
"Unfortunately so. We came at a bad time, didn't we?" Leo joked.
Bipkey let out a small laugh. "Yes, I think it would be best if you dropped Miss Tilly back on home on your way back to work. Let us handle this."
Leo nodded in understanding and started walking Tilly back outside.
Tilly had always known her aunt to be a quiet and kind person, but she didn't hesitate to put someone in their place when it came to her business. Tilly had seen how that woman had been acting all day and wasn't surprised that it had gotten to that point. However, Tilly did worry about how each of their wands had been throw on the floor. Tilly hoped that the woman hadn't tried to pull her wand on the muggle bride. Hopefully, she was just overthinking it.
Once Leo had gotten Tilly home, she said a quick hello to Wynnona and Jack. Who was watching a cartoon on the television and reading a book respectively. With Jack sitting on the armchair and Wynnona lying on the floor, propping her head up with her hands.
Tilly ran upstairs to grab a pencil and a notebook. Then, returning to the living room and sitting on the couch. When Wynnona saw this, she jumped up from the floor and moved to sit next to Tilly.
She smiled at the younger girl and started writing down her letter to Diana, asking if she was going to Diagon Alley anytime soon and if she had gotten any mail from Harry yet. Once she was satisfied with it Tilly ripped the page out of the book. Putting it aside for when Edna returned from her current mail delivery.
Tilly took another breath. Hoping she was just overthinking things again.
Ooohhh my gosh! I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this out. Things have been real wacky for me due to being made redundant at work right before lockdown in Australia. But the good news is I'll be starting a new job at the end of the month.
This version will be marked as beta and once I finish writing the whole book I'll thought each chapter and update them. Once I've done that I'll delete this version.
Just like last time: This is an AU of the original Harry Potter series. I am taking JK Rowling's world (and fixing her mistakes) just for fun. This story will be very OCs focused and will have many major and minor changes from the original books, but will still follow the basic storyline.
The goal is to hopefully create a more LGBT+ positive Harry Potter at the end of the day.
Comments help the writing process a lot for me.