Suppose nothing would continue as normal forever. Eloise had accepted that fact long before her son went off to Hogwarts. With each year in school the homework load seemed to have increased, even if he was to attend a normal muggle school, he would still be busy with his schoolwork to help around the shop. Then there was her husband, it was Quidditch season so he would be with the Orchids on their games; she never minded it so much, she actually enjoyed watching the livestreams of the plays – it paid to have a husband bribe a coach or the like to hold a muggle device and stream the game back home (honestly, she'll never understand what Alister told those people, but she wouldn't complain as long as she could watch her husband soar through the skies for the game).
With all said, the shop would be too much for her to handle alone, she finally sucked up her pride to put up a help wanted ad in the papers and everywhere else she could think of. Fortunately, today was slow so it was just her, her embroidery hoop, and the game being played over in Spain. And unfortunately, she was close to wanting to use her husband's Floo powder to arrive at the scene – yes, she knows that's not the right spell, but if that ref made another stupid call about how the Night Mares kept doing stunts like a barrel roll to avoid a bludger…she was going to hit him even if she had to take someone's flying broom to get to Spain herself!
The ringing of the bell broke her thoughts, she looked up and turned the volume on her tablet down as well as setting aside her embroidery hoop as she straightened herself to look presentable for the customer. "Sorry about that, dear, welcome to Lindsay's."
"Oh there's no need to be so formal, Ellie." The familiar woman with the wild, curly red hair entered the shop wearing her best 'casual wear' robes. Molly Weasley, the very Molly from King's Cross earlier that week. "So, this is your shop you bragged about. It's very lovely, dear."
Eloise laughed and watched her wander the store and admired everything they had on display; she always found it adorable how the wizarding side reacted to a humble muggle store – especially when they saw her at the demonstration table and doing everything by hand and not by magic. She smiled at the redhead and leaned on the counter, turning up the game yet again so both could hear what was going on.
"What brings you in today, Molly?"
"Oh a few things; one is to see you again, maybe talk about how our boys are doing – Ron's in Gryffindor, just like the rest of the family." Molly smiled for a moment before turning serious. "The other is because I saw your ad and would like to work alongside you if you'll have me."
"Do you have any sewing skills?" Eloise asked. "I don't mind if you have to use magic, Alister does whenever he's working here…But if you plan on using my family's old machines, I have a strict no magic policy regarding them. They're antiques and I'd like them to last for another few generations."
Molly waved her hand and gave a light laugh. "Oh don't you worry now, I know my way around the trade; I've been making Christmas sweaters for years. I know it's not one hundred percent the same but it counts for something, now doesn't it?"
Eloise smiled, it did in a sense. Getting up from the counter, she started to show her around the store, and the behind the scenes that went on in the business; the fitting room upstairs – and the small lift for those who couldn't use the stairs for whatever reason. A spacious room with mirrors, mannequins, a line up of sewing machines that's been in Eloise's family with the oldest machine being a spinning wheel from the 1400's that just showed how long the family business had been around!
Granted, she seldom hardly ever uses the machines, but there's been days one couldn't resist the urge to gently spin the wheel just because it was fun. Even Molly agreed with that notion as the redhead gently spun the spinning wheel's wheel. During the short tour, while explaining how the shop ran, she brought up her own son to Molly; how he was in Slytherin, to her she found it weird since her husband was a Gryffindor, maybe it was a generational skip? Molly gave a light shrug and waved her hand saying that Eloise shouldn't think too hard about it; it's just a house and it wasn't going to change anything outside the halls, it wasn't going to affect his career.
With the tour over and done with, the two returned to the main front of the store where Molly was armed with her own embroidery hoop and fabric; the project they were going to be working on was making a quilt for the upcoming season, Eloise had the tablet faced them so they could watch the Quidditch match. Like before, Eloise was ready to go after the ref and she wasn't the only one to share that sentiment, Molly had looked ready to climb through the screen to throttle the ref in question.
Just as they were cheering and shouting encouraging words, the bell rang once again. Eloise, turned the tablet down and set the embroidery hoop down again. Always a busy day in the tailoring shop. "Welcome to Lindsay's, how can we…" she trailed off when she saw the figure in the door. "Petunia, what brings you here today?"
"I'm only here for the help wanted ad." Petunia sighed. "It's getting a bit lonely with the boys in school and Vern at work."
"Isn't that just the thing with school years?" Eloise leaned on the counter. "Their homework load is going to get bigger and bigger, they won't have time to be around the family as much, hm?"
Petunia fell quiet and nodded. "I know how to embroider and use some of the older machines…and I know my fabric types. There's no need for a tour, I know your store's layout."
Eloise just chuckled and looked at Molly before pointing at Petunia in a silent comment. "Well, I would love to have you as an employee, Ma'am, but…are you sure you want to work here? If I remember correctly, you and your husband had always found us to be…odd and not-so-normal."
That got the woman to tense up slightly, avoiding Eloise's gaze and focusing on a mannequin that had a burgundy and gold shawl over its shoulder. "Alright, I'm sorry for calling your husband strange!"
"Mhm." Eloise leaned on the counter, not taking her hazel eyes off of the woman. "Honey, I'm not too upset about that, I know how strange my husband can be…but he makes me laugh and that's all I care about." She played with a pen that was tied to the counter. "Like I said, our boys are getting older now, the homework load is bound to grow…and while my husband is traveling for work I'm going to need all the help I can get at the store."
Once more, Petunia had flinched at the words 'our boys' and 'school'. "Well, that's what you get for marrying a professional what's the sport in the magical world again? Quidditch? Quidditch player. They're always going on tour."
"Try having a husband who works in the Ministry of Magic." Molly piped up. "Long hours and never home until the next morning, honestly I worry about his health a lot."
"And I worry that my husband will come home with severe injuries." Eloise agreed. "Oh, right…your husband, Vernon, makes drills doesn't he?" She turned back to Petunia. "How is he doing?"
"Oh, he doesn't make them." Petunia cleared up. "He's an office worker there but…" she lowered her shoulders to relax. "Long hours can make the house feel empty." She looked over at the two women. "So…are you saying you'll have me here?"
"Of course, who else am I going to gossip about husbands with?" Eloise grinned. "And who else am I going to share school updates with? I mean." She pointed to Molly. "I have Molly, but a girl needs to know what her friends' kids are up to!"
Oh yes, Eloise was going to have so much fun with this woman. She nodded and welcomed Petunia to the group, telling her to get an embroidery hoop and to start making flowers from the list provided. Now, given that Petunia was a muggle, Eloise would normally keep the Quidditch stuff on the downlow; however, this woman was Harry's aunt and since Harry was part of the same school Chrys was at she was going to continue playing the current game in Spain.
It was getting to the final play; Eloise, though cheering for Alex's insane speed on the broom, was keeping an eye on Petunia. The poor woman was just tense the entire time and even quietly prayed for a player – no matter which side – to not get hurt by the bludger. She came close to dropping the embroidery hoop a few times whenever one of Alex's plays came to light.
He would be lying forward and lining himself with his broom like a snake, raising his upper body ever so slightly as that would let the wind rush over and give the extra speed. His arm outstretched as he inched closer and closer to the speedy golden snitch and only narrowed avoiding a bludger flying straight for his head. That got Petunia to scream even after he caught the golden ball and won the game for the Tudor's. And it was that reaction alone that gave Eloise the opening she needed to strike.
"For someone with a wizard for a nephew, you seem pretty skittish dear." Eloise turned the tablet off and looked up at her. "Come now, what's wrong?"
Petunia's head snapped to look at her, her breath hitched, and she actually did drop the embroidery hoop this time. She dared not utter a word for a few moments, trying to get over her shock. How did she know..?! "How did you?!" She cut herself off, unable to finish her sentence.
"You tend to flinch whenever the magical side is brought up in any way shape or form." Eloise pointed out. "I suspect there's a history behind that, but it was never my place to bring it up." She picked up the embroidery hoop and moved the white square with the purple rose to the side. "We've had this talk when the Hogwarts letters showed up, Petunia."
"I know!" Petunia shouted before calming down. "I know…" she took a few calming breaths to steady herself before talking. "Eloise, the day Harry came to our home we got a letter detailing how my sister died…It was just…" her voice cracked. "Harry shouldn't even be at that school!" Petunia finally cried out. "Neither should your son or hers! They should've burnt those letters and just live normally! Away from the world of magic!" tears were starting to form.
"My sister went off to learn magic, and magic is what took her away from me! I had hoped and prayed that Harry wouldn't get a letter from that blasted school, that he could just live normally away from the world. His parents were a part of that and it took them away and left him with my family! I know that if he went to that school he would die! Just like his mother, just like Lily! Magic is dangerous and I don't want him dead because he learned it! Of course he was raised without it for the longest time..."
The woman slowly sat down again, breathing heavily with her head resting in her hands. She felt like a massive weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, but she still felt terrified on the inside. Her nephew was away at the same magic school his parents went to, learning the same things that they learned. Harry would die, she thought solemnly, because of magic. Just like his father, and just like her sister, Lily. And there was nothing that she could do now that he was there.
There was a moment of silence before Petunia looked up at Eloise, and nodded to the tablet; she knew of her husband being a wizard, but how could she stand it? How could this tailor handle someone like that? Someone who was on a broom and could risk being thrown off or what happened to that other man and nearly had his head taken from a flying ball? Actually, the better question should be how did she even get introduced to that world? With Petunia, it was because of her sister being born into it despite no-one else in the family having that curse, so how did Eloise enter it?
As though reading her mind, Eloise took the finished square from the hoop and set it aside, grabbing a blank square as she spoke. "He actually came to my world, freshly graduated from Hogwarts and came to Hyde Park where a craft fair was being held. I don't know if you've noticed, and Molly, I mean no disrespect, but the wizarding world is never subtle with their attire. I knew he was a wizard the moment he walked up to my stand to see the quilts my family had on display."
"And you still got together with him?"
"Not right away, after that meeting he kept coming to my family's store…visiting me every day when I'm on the clock. After having him over for a month, I finally asked him, 'Are you here because you're interested in the muggle way of tailoring or are you here because you like me'." She looked up at Petunia. "It was both, he was willing to learn the muggle way if I learned the wizarding world way…this was before we had Chrys but we agreed on the following; he would start life in a muggle school, if Hogwarts or anywhere else sends a letter inviting him over, it's his choice in the end."
"Your husband no doubt influenced him though, how can you say it was his choice in the end?!"
"I told you, we've raised him on both sides. Told him that everything had equal responses." Eloise picked up a needle. "Let me put it this way, take a look at this needle…nothing exciting about it right?" Petunia nodded. "Now, what if I dipped this into poison? What if I just simply poke this in a main artery? This muggle tool is now a muggle weapon, and it's no different than someone using a deadly potion or a dangerous curse to end a person's life; both sides have their beauty and danger." She set the needle down. "There's really no true safe side, the most anyone could do…is seize the night…"
Petunia looked at her with a confused expression. "I…I'm pretty certain you meant to say seize the day, isn't the saying 'Carpe Diem'?"
"It is." Eloise smiled. "I just prefer the Tanz der Vampire's version; Carpe Noctem, it rolls off the tongue nicely, don't you agree?"
Right, Petunia remembered now; Eloise always had a musical soundtrack playing over the speakers during business hours. She remembered the first time she entered the store and she was greeted by Little Shop of Horrors on full blast and the strange woman singing along as she would arrange everything and even dance while helping the customers. It was a sight that she forever couldn't get used to, but…they were a nice change from the usual sensual spa-like music that would play in other shops. And with Mrs. Lindsay's love of the theater, it had always brought Petunia in some kind of mood, in fact, she did buy tickets to see Jekyll and Hyde in a few months come December.
Her thoughts came to a halt when the flapping of the wings came to the window. Petunia looked over to see a golden barn owl sitting in the open window with a letter in its beak. Petunia froze up a little bit as she watched Eloise approach the owl and petted it in greeting, her eyes lit up when she heard Eloise's next words; "Thank you, Karnak, you're such a good boy." Karnak, she knew that name very well.
"You've seen…Ride the Cyclone?"
Eloise smiled and brought the letter over. "I have a bootleg copy, but yes." She looked at the owl. "I actually had to beg Chrys to let me name him."
Petunia smiled. "I had to trick Vernon and Dudley into going along with me and they loved it."
"Let me guess, Dudley even compared it to Cats at one point?" Eloise grinned. "Said it was…"
"Like Cats but replace the felines with dead teenagers from a rollercoaster accident." The two said in unison before laughing.
Molly grinned at them. "You two have to introduce me to this show now, but first…Ellie, start reading that letter, we have to know what the boys are up to!"
"Yes, yes, I'm getting to it." Eloise laughed as she returned to the counter where the two were.
Hey mom!
I know I've recently wrote and told you about my house and classes, but I also have more to tell you about.
For starters, Professor Snape is still terrifying as ever, he actually grilled Harry and I in class after it was discovered we were using a mechanical pencil instead of a quill and inkpot (Sorry for the convenience?). If he wasn't doing that he trying to bite the heads off of the students when were making a potion to remove boils, I won't say much but...I understand why he was strict, it's like home economics…it can be dangerous if you're not paying attention. But that's no excuse for trying to murder someone with his look of death and treating others harshly?
A student did get hit with a failed potion, they're fine now and actually…my friend group adopted him and another person into the fray! Their names are Neville and Izanami, they're kind of made for each other if I do say so myself. I'm currently in the dorm after having charms class, we were learning the spell Lumos (Of course, I already know the spell, but it's still a nice refresher). Not a lot of people were able to get it the first go – which is a given, we were just learning it, but the only people who got it were me and this Gryffindor girl…her ego is bigger than…than…I guess Erik? Except minus the whole noose and chandelier and creep thing. Point being, this girl has an insane amount of ego and I don't want it to bite her in the ass.
I guess with all said and done, that's basically been the first official day of classes here. I'll write back when anything exciting happens or just to let you know I'm doing well. Hope you're doing well too, also when you write back could you tell me how dad's game went? We're dying to know!
Love Chrys.
P.s. Thanks for the gloves by the way! Harry and I love them!
Molly shook her head. "Oh our boys." She turned to Petunia. "Dear, how are you holding up?"
Petunia shook her head and looked at them. "I'm still terrified, but…I suppose if this what updates from school is going to be like, perhaps I can sleep easier now."
"And you know, maybe when El has the next game we could come to your place to watch Quidditch."
"It'll be fun to explain the game to Vernon." Eloise pointed out.
Petunia nodded with a light smile. "Yes, I suppose so." She looked at the letter and chuckled. "So you sent Harry an extra pair of gloves?"
Eloise just had an innocent look on her face. "They're for the winter, they have their dragonhide gloves for potions why shouldn't they have winter gloves."
"You just wanted an excuse to make them gloves based off of their houses!" She laughed. "Wait, don't tell me you're going to send the other friends some as well?"
Eloise just gave a playful scoff. "Please, that Malfoy boy can get his own leather gloves elsewhere." The women just laughed as they continued the rest of their day at the shop.
It was actually fun watching the students work, granted, Vera Truemoon should be doing her own work like everyone else. But she actually enjoyed watching people more, one could always learn something new when it came to people; like the quiet Slytherin boy, she knew he was going to have a pet dog in the future, but she also could see he was more in tune with magic – this was the second class she was able to see him be able to successfully cast a spell (with the first being from Charms and seeing him cast Lumos without fail! How often does one see that in the classroom? It always brought excitement to her face). There was also that fellow Hufflepuff, the one with the rabbit bow, she was so softspoken that she was almost certain wouldn't be able to cast the spell to turn a mouse into a matchbox…and she was partially right, she had the box…with a mouse face, tail, and feet…but she got it at least? (And she could see this girl was an insane chess player!).
But what stood out to her were the Gryffindors in the class; the first being the famous Boy Who Lived, for some reason…he had a ruby in his future (maybe this was the universe's way of saying 'buy gold' except it's buy rubies?) He was definitely struggling with the spell, she had believed his fellow Gryffindor would help him…she didn't. That girl next to him seemed pretty arrogant and talked to him like he was a toddler! How was he supposed to learn if she didn't treat him as an equal? Vera shook her head at that, the only thing she knew with that girl was that arrogance was going to come back…hard…and apparently in the form of a troll destroying a bathroom? Did she even want to know? No, no she did not.
But the ruby future for that Potter boy had won her interest, it was a strange future and it was a future that Vera had decided to consult her cousin about. Maybe there was something about it that would be important for later? She found herself twirling the ribbon in her brown hair in thought, her cousin's methods were a little bit…strange, but they got the job done and they usually always came true in some form or another. Honestly, the bell ringing couldn't have come sooner, and everyone was pooling out of the classroom; she grabbed her stuff and bounded out as well, smiling at the quiet Slytherin boy as they entered the halls.
"Hey, congratulations on your new puppy! What's his name?" she asked.
The Slytherin looked up at her. "What?" he raised an eyebrow. "I don't…have a dog?"
"Not yet you don't." She said with a matter-of-fact tone. "But later on in your future you will!"
"You're getting a dog, Lindsay?" Vera looked over at who said that, she knew this one very well…Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy family. Strange, he was in a dark corridor beside the trophies? She hoped it was something positive and not for nefarious reasons.
Lindsay shrugged his shoulders and nodded at Vera. "A-Apparently I am, according to her."
Draco looked at her and let out an audible groan. "Of course, it's always Madame Fate and her crazy fortune telling family!" he sneered at her. "Fine, what kind of dog is he getting?"
Vera just shoved him on the shoulder. "For your information, my visions don't work like that! I only get a glimpse of a person's future and all I know is that Lindsay is getting a new dog; I don't know the breed, I don't know when, I just know that it'll happen."
"And people wonder why divination is treated as a joke." The Gryffindor girl said with an eyeroll.
Vera's wide eyed gaze whipped around to face Hermione. "What did you just say!?" She demanded. "Divination is not a joke! I'll have you know that divination is more than seeing someone's future."
She didn't flinch, she just crossed her arms. "Uh huh, I'll believe that when I see Chrysanthos' new dog."
"Excuse me?" Draco scoffed. "You don't get to call him by his full name, Granger." He pulled the auburn haired boy close. "That name is exclusive, you are to address him as either Chrys or Lindsay at best."
"Please don't drag me into this." Chrys groaned.
Draco said nothing more and just escorted him – albeit forcefully – away from the two girls. The two girls were staring each other down, silently daring the other to speak before the Gryffindor girl had left to get to her next class. The Hufflepuff didn't really have anything coming up next, but she was going to start heading to Sybill's classroom to talk about the vision she had seen. Right now with Vera, her visions are pretty weak and she can't see much like her cousin, but she had other methods – such as the scrying mirror that rested in her bag; even if the classroom was dark, she could still use it and try figuring some of the visions out.
At the same time, there was always the element of surprise, and she was eager to see what would happen. Even more so is when more than one person were together she could see the conjoined future they had; Draco and Chrys playing by throwing rubber balls around; and the curious Hermione, Chrys, and Draco beside a trap door (were they looking for a treasure? Was it linked to the ruby she saw in Harry's future?). Now she had even more of a reason to see her cousin!
With a light skip down the halls and outside into the corridor, she made her way to where Sybill always had a light snack break before the next class started. She always sat on the edge of the Forbidden Forest where she would be enjoying one of those muggle trail mix snacks, Vera never understood why muggles would put chocolate inside something that was meant to be healthy. Muggles were very strange, but they were still pretty neat in their own right; who else would come up with a dead animal's foot for good luck? Or believe that breaking a mirror would cause seven years of bad luck? They were all very funny, and she enjoyed learning about their silly superstitions.
"Hey Huffel buddy!"
Vera paused in her steps and looked over; Cordelia Tonks, otherwise known as Cora. She was an anomaly in the Hufflepuff house, more so than herself. Vera had always found this girl always bothering Draco and their futures together were always changing; they were at the same trapdoor as with Hermione and Chrys, in the same dark corridor by the trophy cases, it seemed those two were always in some dark area or another. However, alone with her…Vera could see she was flying like the Dark Lord was chasing her!
"Hey Cordelia." She smiled at her. "How were your classes?"
"They were fine." Cora walked beside her. "Are you going to see your cousin?"
"Well, yeah…There's something I need her help with and I'd like to catch her before classes start again."
Cora had a pout on her face. "Aww but if you do that, then we won't get to play my favorite game together!"
Game? When did Cora have a game? True, she'd only just met the girl and started living with her in the Hufflepuff house, but even then, Cora was the type of person to let everyone know about her in one sentence or more! She was the one who started up the Hufflepuff Karaoke session last weekend and made it a permanent thing for every Saturday nights.
"What's the game?" Vera asked, curiously.
"It's a game I play with all of my new friends!" Cora was bouncing on her heels, she grabbed Vera's hand with a bright smile. "It's called….Have you met Vera?"
"Wait what?"
Well, the speed in which Vera had seen Cordelia flying made sense, this girl was so fast it was almost inhuman! How could anyone have this insane amount of speed to them? The speed at which this girl was going made everything rush by in a blur, Vera had a hard time keeping up – actually, no, she couldn't feel her feet on the ground; probably due to the fact that Cordelia was pulling her like a kid would with a kite!
Everything happened so fast in a blur that when they stopped, she calmly walked over to where a group was; Harry, Chrys, Draco, Hermione, Izanami, Vincent, Gregory, and two more Gryffindors who she came to know as Ron and Neville. How very peculiar right now, everyone before her had the same trap door setting and trophy case. Actually, a lot of futures were rapidly changing from person to person; it was hard to keep track of everyone's! She tuned out what Cora was saying to the group and tried to focus on everyone one by one.
No need to focus on Chrys, Draco, Hermione, Izanami, Cora, and Harry; she already saw some of theirs earlier that day. But what of Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle? Well, those two were always at the hip and she could see them with…Chrys' new dog? Oh, dog sitting perhaps? That's a good thing! Ron and Neville? Chess as well? So, there must be a chess tournament happening later.
"Anyway!" Cora pulled Vera over. "Have you met Vera?"
"We're acquainted." Draco rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, but Ron and Neville haven't met her!"
"Seriously, you need to stop kidnapping me like this." Draco sighed. "We're going to eventually be known as 'The Kidnapping Posse' if you keep this up!"
Vera cleared her throat. "Yeah, too late…people are already starting to call us that." She pointed to a small group of Ravenclaws in the distance looking over at the sight. "Cora's insane superspeed didn't really help with your case either." She watched Cora take out one of her cherry lollipops and gave a few innocent licks. "Seriously, I've never seen anyone go that fast before."
Cora just popped the treat completely in her mouth. "I'm just that special."
Hogwarts. School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where the weird was the normal. That usually just included the school of magic and bizarre creatures; however there was always the exception to the rule, such as a girl with superspeed, being able to see the future. Today was just another day at Hogwarts.