Building Trust
"So you'll be okay right?"
"It's for 5 minutes, Minka. I think I can handle it." Daphne rolled her eyes at Minka's paranoia. It had been a month since she had opened and the word of Minka's Dream Catcher's had spread. People still came every now and then to ogle at the building or tell Minka off, but Daphne, her new employee seemed to keep them at bay good and well.
Daphne stood long and lean over the customers, her full head of curls just adding to her height. Her clothes mainly consisted of jeans and bold coloured sweaters, bringing out the colour of her dark olive skin. Daphne's hair seemed to change colour every week, but her sarcastic attitude always remained. What also remained was her inability to tolerate those who gave them a hard time. Despite her roughness, she was still good at selling and talking to customers. She was exactly what Minka needed.
"It's about time you went over and talked to him anyway. Since you blew him off and all."
"I didn't blow him off."
"Right, you just slammed a door in his face." Daphne gave a sarcastic smile as she leaned over the counter. Minka shook her head and turned away from her.
"I knew I shouldn't have told you about that." Minka headed for the door, hearing Daphne laugh behind her.
As she stepped across the narrow street, she noticed the old woman glaring at her from one of the shops. She continued to ignore her, not wanting to hear her babble on again about how shameful she should feel.
Since school had started, the store was less crowded than when she had last stormed in. She took a moment to appreciate everything that was staged around her-now that she could see it all. The shelves rose higher and higher, reaching right up to the ceiling. Displays flashed around her, making it hard for her to pick where she would want to look first. The stair case wound around in the middle of the store where the second floor took up the back of the store. Little planes and fireworks flew around the store. It was a child's dream.
She began to poke at some of the items on the shelves, managing to find the Pigment Puffs that were thrown at her. She began to read the back
WARNING: Do not throw directly at persons for powder may stain clothing as well as burn through skin. Do not exceed throwing more than three at a time…
"Burn through skin!?" Minka exclaimed holding the box tighter.
"I told you that you weren't using them right." George appeared beside her, a handful of different merchandise to stack on the shelves.
"You could have told me it was going to burn my skin off! I wore this around on my dress the whole day!" George's expression never changed or seemed apologetic.
"Relax, the box clearly states it may burn skin. So you were fine."
"Gee, well that makes me feel better." Minka muttered putting it back on the shelf.
"What are you doing here anyway?" George said a little irritated as he placed the last of his merchandise on the shelf.
"I came to give this back. It really did help. And say thank you for giving it to me in the first place." Minka handed him the bottle he had given her to remove the stain from her dress due to the Pigment Puff. George kept his eye on the bottle as he nodded. He then turned away from her and began to walk.
"George, wait. I'm sorry." He stopped and turned to look at her. "What happened that day was…You just caught me off guard is all. I didn't mean to be rude." George nodded and gave a half smile. It was odd not seeing him grin the entire time like he had the last time. "We could go for that walk? Maybe start over?"
He nodded slowly. "Sure, just let me put this away." He held up the bottle and headed up the stairs and came back down a few minutes later. They walked for a bit in silence, both more content at staring at the ground.
"So how's business?" He finally asked.
"Good. Now that people realize I haven't become possessed or cursed, people are more inclined to drop by." George finally grinned like he did before which made Minka smile. "How's business for you?"
"Steady, it'll pick up again around Halloween."
"I have to say, your store definitely sticks out from the rest of The Alley."
"Yeah well, my brother and I were never subtle people." He gave a smile as they turned the corner to the other side of The Alley. "So where are you from?"
"I was born here, but we moved to Ireland when I was 11. I went to this tiny wizarding school for the children in my town. My parents were too afraid to send me to Hogwarts given it's…history."
"And what made you come back?" Minka felt her stomach knot and her words fumble.
"Uhm, just, needed a change."
"Would what needed to be changed be the reason I almost got my nose broken on a door last month?" Minka laughed.
"Something like that." She looked up to meet his eyes and saw him smiling back at her. He then turned to point at one of the buildings.
"Best pumpkin tea in the country in there. You had any yet?" Minka shook her head no which only made him grin wider. They stepped inside the old café and sat at a table. George ordered the pumpkin tea as well as two slices of pie.
"It's nine in the morning. We're going to have pie now?"
"There is no set time for pie. Any time is the perfect time for pie." George's face became serious for a moment, and then his grin cracked across his face again.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?" He leaned back in his chair, fiddling with the salt shaker.
"Smile so much?" He slipped into a moment of thought as he poured salt onto the table.
"It's been a while since I have so much, actually." Minka's eyes couldn't help but wander to his one ear and its mangled shape. She wondered if that had anything to do with it. "But, no need to get into that. How did this Dream Catcher come to be?"
They talked for a long time in that café about their businesses, where they live and some childhood memories. They both managed to keep their forbidden topics unspoken.
They made their way back to the road between their stores, ready to part ways.
"Thank you for the start over, George."
"If I had to cut out every person in my life who have slammed a door in my face, I'd have no one left."
They both said their goodbyes and turned back to their stores. Minka turned back around quickly.
"So, what happens if you do throw more than three Pigment Puffs at a time?"
George turned, his smile dubious.
"Stop by after closing some time, I'll show you." And with that he was gone.
Minka went back into her store to Daphne right in front of her. Her arms were crossed and her lips twitched with the anticipation to smile.
"What?" Minka stepped past her to go behind the cash.
"What was that?" Daphne followed her, standing on the other side of the counter.
"It was two people talking."
"You were gone for a pretty long time."
"We went for a walk and got some tea. I was making friends, maybe you should try it."
Daphne made a fake laughing face. "It looked like he had a lot more than friendship on his mind with that smile." Minka rolled her eyes and headed for the stairs.
"He smiled. Big deal. Besides, I'm not looking for anything like that."
"Whatever you say." She turned and went to help customers, leaving Minka with her half excuses and doubt in her mind.
….One Week Later….
"You can head out now, Daphne." Minka closed the register with a clank and started to put the account books away.
"Brilliant. Because I have a party to get to." She adjusted one of the displays a last time and then grabbed her bag.
Minka saw her out; being sure she made it down the street okay. As Daphne stepped onto the threshold, a giant thud echoed from their display window. They turned to see a giant egg completely smashed against the glass.
"Heartless bitch!" Came a voice. They turned to see a person standing under one of the street lights.
"Seriously?! You are egging my store!?" The person then took off, running down the street.
"HEY!" Daphne went to run after them when Minka caught her arm.
"It's not worth it. Just, go to your party."
"You going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go have fun." Daphne left hesitantly, but Minka reassured her that the person had left.
Minutes later, Minka was splashing buckets of water on the window, attempting to get the egg off. As the yolk began to wipe off, she noticed that it had left large scratch marks from the shell.
"Did you frighten more children?" She turned to see George walking over to her. "You should be lucky it's just puffs of powder and…aug, old griffin eggs. Those kids can get nasty."
"No, this time I was a heartless bitch to some guy."
"Didn't tip him at a restaurant?" Minka smiled and rolled her eyes and went back to wiping at the glass.
"Like others, he just doesn't appreciate where I decided to set up my merchandise. Need to add new window to a nice long list of things to do."
"Right up there with seeing what George has for you?" Minka plopped the rag into the bucket of water and held out her hands.
"How'd you know I love presents?" A smirk played across her face.
"Sorry no gift. Follow me."
"I can't, I have to work out this stain." She turned back to the window, about to pick the rag back up. George leaned in close to her ear, his breath hot on her skin. She felt goose bumps creep down her spine and back up again.
"You know, there's this fancy thing called magic? I hear a lot of wizards use it these days." George pulled out his wand and swished it in the air. The egg slowly shrunk in on itself until it disappeared altogether.
"Really need to brush up on my housekeeping spells." Minka muttered to herself. George let out a small laugh and pulled away from her ear.
"Come on, let's go."
Minka locked the door of her store and caught up with him down the street.
…..
"Are you sure this is safe?"
"Relax, no one is around." George ripped open a box of Pigment Puffs, dropping half of the pack into his hand.
"I don't know about this." Minka's hands rose to her cheeks in panic as she looked around Diagon Alley. The stores had closed down around an hour ago and no one was around. The streetlights gleamed on them as they stood in the town centre.
"Minka, we'll be fine…as long as you take a few more steps back." She took another several.
"Ready?!" He shouted over to her.
"No!"
"Okay here we go!" George then threw the Puffs straight up in the air and then ran over to Minka. He stood next to her, his eyes scanning the air. "Okay here they come."
They both watched as they made their way to the ground. Minka grabbed George's arm last minute, afraid of the result.
They all hit the ground with a very loud and low bang. Colour exploded in all directions, almost knocking over George and Minka. They quickly grabbed each other, attempting to stabilize themselves.
"Half of Diagon Alley is going to be multi-coloured now!" Minka said against the clouds.
"Look up!" Minka looked up, and found herself completely lost for words. All of the colours had swirled together in a sort of mini tornado. It swirled round slowly, never actually moving from its one spot. Minka was completely mesmerized as she watched it grow taller and taller until it finally faded away.
"George…that was beautiful."
"I know. But imagine that going off in someone's backyard or in their house. It's one thing to clean a stain, it's another if it tears your house down."
"Should you really be selling that to people?" George shrugged. Minka shook her head and sighed, but couldn't stop smiling as she thought of the giant rainbow tornado. It was then that she noticed they were still holding onto each other. She moved back slowly, pulling her hair back in a ponytail out of nerves.
"Well um, I guess I should be getting back." George nodded, a little nervous himself.
They walked down the deserted street back to their stores. For a while, only the buzz of the streetlights could be heard. It was George who decided to break the silence.
"How's Daphne working out?"
"She's good. She's closing on her own tomorrow for the first time, so we'll see how that goes."
"Wow, good on you."
"Yeah well, have to start trusting people again at some point." Minka's mind trailed off for a moment but she quickly snapped out of it.
"Do you want to talk about i-"
"No. I mean. I just…can't." They arrived at Minka's shop, pausing outside the door.
"Well, maybe you can spend your night off tomorrow talking about it with me over dinner."
"George-"
"Hey, you have to start trusting people again at some point. I'll pick you up at your place tomorrow at six. The old Hazel building right?" His voice was so confident, his expression expectant of a yes answer.
Minka bit her lip and then sighed.
"Make it six thirty. I need time to get ready." And with that she turned on her heel and headed inside, unsure of what exactly she just agreed to.