December 25th, 2017

Setting: Ami is mid-transition between Chicago and Hogwarts; her parents are still ironing out the last Visa and citizenship issues before Ami officially joins Hogwarts. Her mother decides to take her to Diagon Alley for a Girl's Day Out on Christmas Day while waiting for the paperwork to be finished and finalized.

"Mom," Ami called softly, trying not to bring attention to herself. Sliding her phone away into her coat pocket, she plodded after her mom, snowboots sinking in the soft snow. Of all the places she expected to be on Christmas Day, a wizarding shopping hub was not one of them. Really, she wanted to be back in America, hanging at the park with Thomas and the cute new kid at their school (Aidan, his name was?), but here she was, trailing after her mom on a "Girl's Day Out", whatever that meant.

When her mom didn't respond, Ami sighed in exasperation and pulled an earbud out of her ear. "Mom!" she called, louder, this time, jogging to catch up with her mother's ridiculously long legs. 

Finally, Abella turned around, glancing at Ami in annoyance. "Yes, sweetheart?" she sighed, running a hand through her sleek hair, festively dyed with bright red streaks. "Did you need somethi- Ami, dear, take those earbuds out, you're in public company!" Abella admonished, her perfect eyebrows furrowing, meeting in the exact center of her perfectly flawless face. "It's rude."

Ami tugged out the other earbud, stuffing those in her pocket as well. "Can I go to that shop? That one over there?" she pleaded, pointing at a small shop, whose windows were lined with olive green frames, and an ancient sign hung saying, Dogweed and Deathcap. "Please? I won't be long."

Abella nodded absent-mindedly. "I'll just wait out here, Ami. Dogweed makes me nauseous- be back in fifteen minutes, okay?" "Yes, mom," Ami said obediently, and skipped off into the small shop, nearly slamming face-first into another kid about her age. "Freaking fridges!" Ami exclaimed, windmilling her arms backward so she wouldn't faceplant into the floor. "Sorry. Didn't see you."

It was that beautifully wonderful time of year.

Well, occasionally beautiful. Most of the time, it was a chilly, windy mass of blurry streets here in Diagon Alley. Everything seemed like a bland gray, and the air smelled of vibrant humidity. Sometimes, it dared to snow, but Anatole was never fond of it. He would prefer a bright, sunny day as opposed to a gray sky like this afternoon.

His mother clutched his hand as the two stepped inside the door, Anatole in a bland green shirt, his mother heads above him, looking around at the shop and trying to find some way that she could help her son. It was Christmas morn, so maybe she could buy him a present one of these days...

"Do you have any idea what we're searching for? I think it should be on my checklist somehow..."

"Hold on, dear. I'm looking."

"But Mom, that's the reason we're here, to look for things for class! Patricia would be more focused than thi---"

His mother cut him off. "Don't mention her. This is my job now." She checked her wristwatch, snatching the supply list greedily out of the boy's puny hands, browsing over it with her own eyes.

"You know what? I'll just look for it myself..." Reluctantly, the boy walked away, muttering to himself the supplies he had to look for. "Protective gloves...protective gloves."

He didn't notice he had wandered close to the door only to hunt down a pair of stupid gloves. There were millions of different green things he wished he could touch, but this had to take priority.

As the door almost whacked his face, and then another pale blur shot past his eyes, Anatole jumped back in surprise, almost knocking over a few sets of earmuffs. "Oh God! I'm so sorry." They apologized at the same time, and it was a little odd. "...I just wasn't watching where I was wandering. I'll take the blame." He clenched his teeth together, hoping this girl about the same age would accept it.

[This was before Anatole decided to quit apologizing.]

Ami laughed nervously, tucking her hair behind her ears. Why don't you ever watch where you're going? Don't you have eyes, you idiot? You nearly ran this poor child over, and he wants to take the blame. Why were you running in the first place? Yes, here he was, insisting that it was his fault. "I think we both equally suck at watching where we're going- agreed?" Ami looked the boy up and down, taking in what she saw with an analytical eye. 

He looked about her age, if he was here in Diagon Alley he had to be magical, the red and gold scarf wrapped around his neck had to be the clincher... "D- do you go to Hogwarts?" she asked excitedly, glancing back at her mom to make sure she hadn't followed her inside- she hadn't, great. "Is it as amazing as my mom says it is?"

Even without paying the closest attention, however, Ami could already tell that she was going to like this shop. The shelves were lined with plants upon plants, gardening materials galore, books upon books on the magical properties of plants within the wizarding world. Really, a girl could die of happiness in here, if she wasn't too careful. Careful... her subconscious warned. Anxiety Ami strikes again. You could blow your entire Christmas budget in here if you don't watch yourself. Show some restraint, please.

The door, when it was flung open so rapidly like that, set off a little jingle from a bell hung above. Like a Rube Goldberg elaborate contraption, Amanda Evans's eyes shot toward the small scene that was occurring. They enlarged, and right as she was about to storm off toward her boy, protective ever since the departure of Patricia, a man called to her that he found the size of protective gloves she was looking for. Saved by the bell.

"Yeah..." Anatole gritted his teeth as he saw his mother lunge toward him, then turn. Why was she about to sabotage his dreams of meeting wonderful women? "But seriously, I'm really sorry."

Her next question seemed rather surprising to the Muggle boy. "Well, uh, funny you ask..." He laughed, his eyes squinting as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. Should he tell her? Well, what could go wrong? "I go there now, but at a point I didn't go, at least the last time--" He jumped slightly, realizing what he said didn't make much sense. "What I mean is yes? I got my letter and all back in June and am a first year..." This math took the boy a bit of time to think. "Next year, yes. First year next year." He peered into her eyes, trying to decipher her reasoning. Why did she want to know? "Well, yeah! It is. I could say I really like it. Only reason I'm here today is to restock up on some stuff I kinda...lost."

He sighed, his hands clutching his pants as he took off a hat he had on his head.

She couldn't hurt. She couldn't hurt. Her mother must've been a wizard by the first question, but she couldn't hurt him more than the plants could.

His mother would forbid it, but he introduced himself at once. "Anatole Evans." Smiling, he reached out a hand, moving away from the creaky, swinging, dark door.

Ami shook his hand, smiling- the redhead was unusually bubbly, thus unusually socially adept. "Anatole Evans," she repeated. "Nice to meet you, Anatole." Really, she just couldn't stop saying his name- it just rolled right off the tongue. She loved tongue-rolling names! Why couldn't she have gotten one? Anatole, Anatole, Anatole. "I'm Ami, Ami Procoppio." 

Spinning around like a ballerina, Ami threw her arms open as if embracing the store. "Really, there's no better store in the entire universe," she sighed happily, her American accent punctuating her every word. "Okay, well, that's a lie. I've got a weakness for Barnes & Noble, too, but that's beside the point." Walking over to one of the shelves, she picked up a potted plant, and without even looking at the label, said in an intensely infatuated tone, "Aconitum- also known as aconite, monkshood, leopard's bane, mousebane, women's bane, devil's helmet, queens of poisons, blue rocket, or to you wizards... wolfsbane. We grew this along the perimeter of our garden to keep the squirrels away because they're poisonous, you know. They got smart after awhile and stopped eating them. You guys also use them in Awakening Potions- my mom told me so. They're also called wolfsbane because they used to coat hunting arrows with this stuff when they hunted wolves and werewolves." 

Realizing she probably sounded like one of those obnoxious know-it-alls you always see in the movies, she shut her trap, her cheeks flushing the shade of a tomato from embarrassment. You talk too much. Just shut up, now.

He couldn't help but smile at the girl. She was polite, with a firm handshake and a calming attitude. But she had some spunkiness in her he couldn't deny. For once, it was amazing to see a friendly face, especially considered the stress he had experienced with transferring to a school of wizards.

And for once, a girl who contributed to the conversation as much as he did. "Pleasure to meet you too, Ami...Procorppio?" He butchered the last name the first time. So much for being formal. "Pro...cop..pio. Procoppio." He tried to laugh off his mistake. "I've got it, okay." Another thing a prince would do: compliment the lady. "Love the name, even though it is just a little hard to pronounce. Surprised you didn't butcher mine. People usually hang onto the last 'e'." He tried to hide his uneasiness.

She was a little bit of a princess, Anatole had to admit. She appeared to be the type of girl to spin around in a store, smiling with utter joy, skirt fanning out as she spun. And, that's pretty much what she did. "Barnes and...Noble?" He chuckled, picking up a little bit on her accent. "Glad you like it here?" He was unsure whether she had been here previously, or even if this was a routine thing for the young lady.

Both of those options seemed to be extremely plausible as he watched the ginger rush over to a plant. Anatole never liked Herbology, however, he did think that he could have a relatively alright time with Edwina, but it was rumoured that she had to depart. He knew nothing else about plants.

Ami, on the other hand, had been studying, and he doubted she even went to the school. He hadn't seen her around. At the first definition, his mind groaned. She might have been a "princess", but one of these girls as well. He couldn't conjure up a title for them in his frail mind.

"Oh, well, uh...interesting."

That was all he could bring himself to say about her knowledge.

"I'm sorry," Ami said with a small laugh, setting the plant back on the shelf and running a hand through her hair. "I nerd out, sometimes." Sometimes? SOMETIMES? You're pulling my leg, right? You mean all the time. "I swear, I'm usually not this weird." Riiiight. You tell yourself that- go ahead, just lie right to this poor boy's face. He has no idea who you really are, does he? Does he know he's dealing with a murderess and ruthless fighter? Ami's nose twitched as she tried to silence the more sarcastically maniacal side of her- of course, it didn't really fully work.

Turning back to Anatole, she did a quick once-over of the student in front of her. So this is what wizards look like... she mused, her dark chocolate eyes flicking over his brown hair, eager face, red and gold scarf, and overall... really, he just looked like a normal person, like her- albeit, slightly shorter, but still. Just a totally normal person. How many people, Ami thought, have I passed on the street without a second thought, without a second glance, were actually wizards? Were actually magical? Well, her very own mother, for one. Ami frowned, the dark expression marring her normally pretty face.

She brightened up at the sight of a woman behind Anatole, pulling her away from her train of thought. Was she Anatole's mother? "Hi," she smiled brightly. 

She had ranted, yes, and Anatole wasn't sure how to feel. By now, he was close with Rosie, and it just felt awkward having this other girl here with him. Was that strange, even though Rosie was just a friend? Could a guy have two friends who were girls? Wait, was this girl even going to Hogwarts? Maybe she wasn't.

"No, no, it's alright. You just surprised me a bit." His eyes wandered as he pulled down his hat, the morning sun highlighting his tan features. "I...well, I didn't expect that tidal wave of information." This whole situation was getting awkward, and he was sure all the fault lied to him.

Since he had become this next endeavor in education at Hogwarts, he had felt his skills in conversation slowly decline. He no longer used a higher register of speech, consistently remained casual and was constantly fearing one thing or another.

Some little freaking thing inside him had better man up sometime or another.

And considering the large, looming shadow he saw project over him and onto the girl's feet, that sometime had better be now.

"Anatole, who is this?"

His eyes widened as he spiraled his head, smiling into his mother's poignant eyes. "Why, this is Ami. I assure you, she's harmless."

"Well, hello Ami. I'm Amanda, Anatole's mother. Pleasure to meet you." Like her son had done, she shook hands with the young girl. "How do you two know each other?" Anatole could hear her voice, laced with suspicion.

"Funny you ask! We actually just met, and I honestly have no idea what brings her here, but..." He turned his cheeks back towards the girl, hoping she could help him out.

He mentally promised he'd repay her. It was the noble thing to do.

So it was Anatole's mom! "Hi, Mrs., uh..." Ami scrunched her nose, trying to remember how Anatole had introduced himself. Anatole... Anatole... Anatole Evans, that's right. "Hi, Mrs. Evans," Ami said with a wide smile, shaking the woman's hand. Anatole seemed slightly scared of his mother, but that would just be her own misinterpretation. She, in her opinion, was a lovely mother, who seemed to love her child very much.

She scrunched her nose in confusion when Anatole called her "harmless". What was that even supposed to mean? Was he calling her weak? Surely not, he didn't seem like the type of person to do that. Maybe his mother was naturally suspicious of new people? That seemed more than likely, her own mom was the exact same way.

"Funny you ask! We actually just met, and I honestly have no idea what brings her here, but..." Anatole looked at Ami, eyes wide, prompting her to fill in for him. "Oh! I just, um, was looking around," Ami said, gesturing to the shop behind her. "My mom decided to, uh, take me Christmas shopping here, in London." Instead of America, she thought bitterly, the thought clouding her eyes for a brief moment before her cheery disposition returned, brighter than ever. "I saw this shop, and I just had to go in- I really, really like plants," she explained, albeit somewhat sheepishly. What kind of eleven-year-old loves plants? most people would ask. Well, she did, and this shop appealed to the gardener side of her.

Amanda Evans couldn't hold back a pleasant smile from the girl, but yet she had still been rather protective of her son since maybe June. He had gotten a narrow excuse to come here, and she insisted that she come as well, considering she hadn't seen her son since about August or September. After all, it was the Christmas holidays. A great time for family and wizard shopping.

She placed her hands on Anatole's shoulders, fixing the hat he had pulled down. "Well, glad to hear of another friendly face in this strange land. You see, I'm not from here." Anatole just stayed quiet and still with his lips pursed as his mother talked away. "It's all a long and equally strange story, I assure you." Listening patiently to the girl's tale, his mother chimed in afterward, "How adorable! I honestly prefer normal plants as opposed to these...things. Anyways, I hope you two get along well, I'll be looking around if you need me." Smiling once more at Ami, she bent down and whispered something to Anatole. "Not much longer. I've about had enough." Her words stung like needles and were spoken with scorn and annoyance.

Gulping, Anatole frantically nodded as she walked away, pretending to be interested in these magical plants.

"She's right, it was a long story. One I'd rather not talk about, since I think I'll have to tell it fifty times over before I die." A little morbid. How wonderful. The boy lowered his voice, pulling down his hat again. His mother would hate it once she crawled back over there. "My mother wants to leave soon, since we've already got the gloves."