Handmade, Tailor Fit pv Matilda Nowell

Solène watched the exchange between daughter and father without saying much else. Sometimes it was hard to see other people happy, but she was learning the very hard lesson not to blame others for things outside their control. In reality, it made her a little happy even if she couldn’t fully recognize it in this moment because she wouldn’t wish someone else who had just called her a friend the same kind of sadness she had dealt with.

As Matilda started telling her about Barf and his half-crup genes, she listened intently, dividing her attention as evenly as she could between the girl and her crup. “I know a little bit.” She offered in the first pause as Matilda bent down to give Barf some ear scratches. When Matilda continued to talk about crups, Sol locked back in listening to how they went through a tail removal process to look more normal around the muggle world. Interesting. I wonder whether removing a tail has any adverse effects on the creature, or if they are otherwise left unaltered. She surmised that the procedure was probably done as humanely as possible as well and that it likely wouldn’t be done so casually if it were to bring more harm than good. Then again, people have done other inhumane things to their pets purely for aesthetics, so who knows.

“He does seem like a good boy, if not rambunctious. I bet he doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body.” Likely untrue, but his demeanor now certainly proved that he had taken to his training quite well. “I’ve thought about getting a pet before, but unfortunately, Astrid cannot approve such a request. She has to get permission from my father to take me pet shopping…” Leaving the last part unsaid, it could be assumed that it would have been finished by the fact that he was too busy to answer or forgot to give one. “I’m sorry, Astrid is my governess. She has been in charge of all of my education since I was six.” Since her mother passed away, but that was a different conversation for a different day.

Speak, and you shall summon the one and only Astrid, who carefully opened the door and inadvertently saving Sol from having to possibly explain further. “Sorry to interrupt Miss Solène and Miss Matilda. The seamstresses are ready for you now.” She smiled at all three of them. Solène gave Barf a small smile and some extra ear scritches before standing up. “I’m sure I’ll see you again in the future.” She offered the creature before looking at Matilda’s father. “It was a pleasure, thank you.” With that, assuming Matilda would be on her way in as well, Sol would make her way inside and step up onto the platform.

“Hello dear, first year, Hogwarts?” Solène would nod and allow herself to be puppeted by the seamstress for her measurements.

Matilda smiled serenely at her boy being complimented as good. "Rambunctious is a very good word for it," she giggled. "I remember one time over the Summer," she began, her eyes going wistful and moving in response to nothing that could be seen as she was reliving the memory. "My family and I had gone into town for a farmer's market, and suddenly, Barf just runs off," she said quickly, excited to tell the story, "Suddenky we're all worried, 'oh God, he's about to go after a muggle', but no," she said, barely getting words out between laughs, "A kid about 50 meters away dropped a little piece of bread pudding, you would have thought he dropped a raw t-bone, the way Barf ran after it." She finally came back to the moment and smiled down at the crup; her father had also chuckled at the end, remembering the way Barf acted like he'd been meant to fetch it.

She was taken aback by Solène's telling her that her father had to give her permission to do practically anything. She knew her father to be busy and hard to nail down for any of her events at any time, but to be so absent you had to have someone take your child shopping for anything? That seemed like a pretty lousy way to live. And then to further hear that Astrid had been in charge of her since she was six made her feel bad for such an existence. She wanted to ask about her mother since she'd not said anything about her, but settled for asking, "What does your father do? He seems very busy."

They were interrupted from any further musings by Astrid opening the door and summoning them in. She had never been called Miss Matilda before, only Matilda or Tilly (by her family), but she figured it was something to do with her position as Solène's governess. She bent down and kissed Barf on the top of his head. "Love you, little guy; maybe I can find something for you in here," before standing up and turning to her dad. "I'll try to be quick, Dad; love you," she said with a smile before turning and walking in.

"What do you need today, dearie?" The seamstress asked her as she walked in. "Hello," Matilda said, opening her bag. "I need my black robes altered, a new set of dress robes, and a scarf or handkerchief of some sort for my crup," she said happily.

Interacting: @Solène d'Estienne
Mentioning: @N/A

The story about Barf going after bread pudding would have elicited a smile and a small laugh from the girl. Animals were indeed fickle creatures, and from what she could tell, a crup would just as easily go after any kind of food with as much vigor. While Solène didn’t have much reason to think about a pet right now, it was something to note. Too much work for me. I'd prefer something more independent.

While she wouldn’t have time right away to answer Matilda’s question about her father, she would do so while the sewists inside were taking care of them. “My father works for the Ministry of Magical Affairs of France. Normally, my younger sister and I would attend Beauxbaton. However, my first magic happened while we were on vacation in our summer home in London, and my uncle is a professor at Hogwarts. So, it was deemed a good idea to move into the London home and attend Hogwarts instead.” A fairly matter-of-fact explanation and not one that gave too many details. Not yet, anyway.

Then she realized that Matilda probably knew exactly who her uncle was because she was not a first-year. So she decided to cut that question off before it needed to be asked. “Professor Lécuyer is my uncle.” Sol had shown no real emotion when she spoke about her father, but when she mentioned her uncle, pride shone behind those sapphire eyes. It was clear that if she respected any adult, it was him. “How about your father?” Solène asked as she moved her arms into the proper position, just before fabric was gently shoved over her head. “He seems nice, having come all this way and watching your crup.” A statement as the first robe was magically hemmed to fit her height and stature.

While she was showing Matilda different possible designs and materials that could be made into a scarf for Barf (rhyming is fun), the seamstress's enchanted measuring tape was getting all of her measurements so that once they were done, they could quickly work on her robes. She told the seamstress to stop when she got to an emerald/blue paisley material. It was a little fancier than a dog would wear, but she didn't care; her boy deserved the best. She slipped her words between Solène speaking about her father: "Yes, could you please get that and size it so it can be tied around his neck?"

As the seamstress walked away to cut the bolt of fabric and fashion Barf's hot new accessory, she finished listening to Solène talk about her father. He seemed like a very important man, like her father. "Beauxbatons sounds like a nice place, but I like it a lot here," she said quickly, trying to make it sound as if she wasn't missing much by going there. She was pretty sure, given her own name and accent, that Professor Orion (she still couldn't pronounce his name right) was Solène's uncle, which was confirmed moments later. A slightly wistful came over her face before she spoke, "Oh, he's super nice, and handsome too!" She giggled before turning red with the realization she had just told this girl she had a crush on her uncle.

She signed and screwed up her face as she tried to decide what her father did, because the truth was she didn't understand it at all. "My father is a capital venturist or something," she began, knowing it was wrong but not remembering how. "Basically, my dad is rich, and he gives people money, and if they make money, he makes money too." She said with a shrug, "I have no idea what it means; I just know we're really rich."

Interacting: @Solène d'Estienne
Mentioning: @N/A

As the seamstress worked on her robes, Sol watched her choose the emerald and blue paisley pattern. While she was not fond of the pattern itself, the colors were quite lovely and would shine against Barf’s fur. As she commented about Beauxbatons, Sol nodded her agreement. “I do also think it would have been lovely, and I am sure I will learn to like it at Hogwarts as well.” When Matilda commented on her uncle, Sol’s face scrunched. Thinking about him being considered attractive was immediately nausea inducing. “He is nice, and a great teacher.” In her reality, he was more a father to her than her own father was, but that was something that she had never dared to say out loud and likely never would.

Explaining what one’s father did was no easy feat. Since Solène had no way to know whether Matilda was describing it accurately, she nodded along as if she understood the deeper nuances of a venture capitalist based on the description she had been given. “Well, overall, he seems like an important person, and logically thinking, if you can put yourself in a position to make money when other people make money, that seems like a very smart thing to do.” She still wondered what she would do as an adult; there were too many possibilities. She had often considered following down the same path as her mother and uncle, but time would tell.

The seamstress was close to finishing the third robe, and Astrid had already collected the other items she needed from this store. Soon they would need to be on their way, but they still had a little time left. “Have you thought about when you graduate, if you’ll work in the wizarding world or the muggle world?” Being a part of two worlds couldn’t have been easy, but it also gave Matilda far more options than either side had on their own. Given the draw she had, it seemed she would have an easier time manipulating Muggles if she wanted to.