Turbulence PV Serena Finished

"Would be hard to get worse," George mused. Although George had not been around for the supposed glory days of the school, he got the impression that they were long, long past. Nowadays it was a school for rejects. Conservative purebloods pulled their kids to be home schooled or sent abroad to proper schools. But for muggles, half-breeds, and the stubbornly British, Hogwarts managed to stay open. Just barely. "I think it will... one way or another. At the least, you'll be graduated before it crumbles to pieces. Being that you are, apparently, so old."

The boy looked down at the broom in his hands. He was starting to get old, too. Still, it didn't seem like time was flying by or anything. Quite the opposite - one year tiptoeing by so the other could follow on a more tightly wound rope. He kept Hogwarts in his prayers at night, that's for certain. It had to last - for him, and for all the half-breeds and rejects who needed it. And they would always need it.

"Wouldn't it?" He agreed with Serena. Who would want to hang out with people two years their junior? It wasn't like he had spent the entire train ride to London with June Selwyn, of all people, for company. Disappointment struck as soon as the ring was off of Serena's finger - she was still pretty, but a beard couldn't be beat. He thought she looked familiar, but he couldn't really place where he might have met her before. The common room, he supposed. "That ring... that's such fun."

George put the bristles of the broom to the floor, seeing how it felt in his hand. He puffed out his chest and pushed his shoulders back, standing tall and proud as a lion, his hand gripping the end of the broomshaft. It wasn't the height of luxury, but having a broom like that in your hand? That was worth a million pounds, let alone 28 galleons. "It is beautiful," he agreed, a wistful sparkle in his eyes as he brought the broom up in both hands, holding it to his chest as if it were his baby.

"Don't worry. I'm excited to be the captain. Not sure everyone else is as excited to have me," he admitted, letting a bit of his insecurity shine through his carefree face. His gaze slipped from the broom to steal a quick glance at her hairless face. Perhaps she wouldn't catch it - she had little time to come up with appropriate consolations before George pushed an earlier topic. "You made it?"

George continued to play with the broom, turning it over in his hands, holding it at his side, and even testing how it felt to sit on. He already intended to buy it, so he didn't mind risking damage to it - his heart was set. A deep breath in, then out, and his shoulders relaxed. He rocked himself forward and back, feeling how stable it was compared to the school broom. "This is lovely," he said, daring to cross his legs.

"So did you use a spell to make that wand thing of yours? Or like... did you make it from a kit? Or just... a chunk of metal?" He wanted one of those! Especially if it were hand-crafted product, that stuff was the surest indication that you really knew what you were doing. One of a kind. It occurred to him that she could make a lot of money selling them, but the last thing he wanted was to expand the market. "Do you think you could make me one? You can say no. It's not a captain command, just a George... begging."

Interacting with @George Henry

"Excuse you, I'm rather youthful!" She responded back with a pout, feigning irritation at being called old. She did not care, in reality. If anything, she liked being her age. Most people often thought she was younger than she actually was. She would not be surprised if people started thinking she was a first year. She was as tall - and probably as immature - as one!

Serena gave a weak 'mhm' response to his comment about hanging out with younger people. Her best friend was two years her junior after being held back a year! What was she even supposed to say to that? Nothing, that's what. So she opted for just agreeing and moving on. "Right? I got it from a joke store," She said with a grin as she admired the ring on her finger again. It was a recent purchase and she loved it. It was just such fun.

"I think you'll be great," The Hufflepuff responded, not catching the insecurity that crossed his face. She genuinely did think he would be good for the team and she was hoping to have a captain that helped them train, which he seemed like he would be able to do once he got settled into the role. "And I do think everyone is happy to have you with us," She would have hyped him up some more if she thought he needed the comforting but she got distracted by the earlier topic.

Looking around awkwardly, she stared at the Starsweeper on a wall not too far away from her. XXI it looked like from here. "Uh, yeah. I like crafting, I suppose," She replied a little awkwardly, not entirely sure what more to really say on that. "I also urm made some - uh like broom racing gear to wear. For Jack too," She continued, deciding not to use the word 'armour'.

Turning her attention back to the brooms, she observed a giant tree broom that was called Pine Chopper. Her eyes scanned the information near the broom, reading about it. The slender tree was rather sturdy. She also did just like the idea of flying on a giant tree, since that was pretty hilarious. "I could uh probably make something but it might take a while? It's just a metal contraption I prototyped but I'm not sure how reliable it is, I guess? It's a bit fiddly. I'm not even sure you'd want it," She continued, trying to explain that this might not live up to the hype at all. It was going to be kind of awful. Ugh, what if it did not even work?

A few of the brooms had specifically caught her eye. The Oakshaft 79 was one of them. She wanted it because of how vintage it was. It was made about one hundred and fifty years ago from what she knew and was still a contender amongst the most popular brooms. It was beautiful. "I'm just going to check on something, I'll be back," Since she had made up her mind, she decided to quickly go place an order for delivery, as she did not really want to carry out a bunch of brooms. A part of her felt a bit awkward spending so much money in front of him too, after their conversation about money.

Finding someone who worked at the store, she asked them if she could place an order for delivery. Following them to the counter, she quickly wrote down the order and placed a ridiculous amount of money. The order was not for one broom. It was for three - Oakshaft 79, Pine Chopper and Starsweeper XXI - which totalled over 519 galleons, which she realised was an obscene amount of money to spend in one go but uh, in her defence, she did not spend money often? Okay, that was not a defence. Whoops.

Finishing up quickly and as quietly as she could, so she did not draw too much attention to it, she made her way back to George after shoving her receipt into her pocket and hoped he did not overhear any of the conversation, "Right! Well, I think we're almost done here?" She asked him as he seemed to have picked a broom. "You're getting it, right?" She asked, urging him to go pay, "I think that person is free over there if you want to buy it now and then we can like go for ice cream or something," She continued.

Once he had finished up with the purchase, they headed out of the store.

[THREAD FINISHED]