Private roleplay with: @Bubba McGarry
4th July 2022
10:00 AM

Lillian entered the shop after her mother, arms hugged tight around herself, sulking. Her mother had insisted Lillian head to London and get her books early. "Get used to the city, Lilli. It's large and bustling, very different from the country. I don't want you to be overwhelmed," her mother had said in that slightly dismissive way of hers. Her father had been no help, saying that her mother was right. The two of them knew their daughter well and were trying their best to make the transition easy for her and, although Lillian knew this, she found it difficult to appreciate it.

However, her dislike of London left her mind as she inhaled the scent of new books. Leaving her mother's side, she scanned the bookshelves, excitement growing with every step. She had always been fond of books, and would probably have gathered enough to fill a library at home if it wasn't for her father's insistence on getting rid of old things. Lillian didn't mind, since she was the one who chose what books to get rid of.

But her thoughts weren't occupied with memories of home anymore. Instead, she dared to walk further away from the safety of her mother's gaze, and slipped into a somewhat quieter aisle, with not many people around, running her finger over the spines of the books. Suddenly remembering that her mother might not have noticed her disappearance, she turned around abruptly and hurried back, bumping into someone as she exited the aisle.

"Oh, sorry," she said quietly, embarrassed as she stopped her hasty retreat.

Bubba caught his reflection in the mirror as he walked up to the door to Flourish and Blotts, he smoothed his hair, trying to get it to lay back down after the wind kicked it up. He inspected the rest of himself before he entered the store. He was wearing a cobalt blue robe, a white button-down shirt with an unbuttoned top button, a pair of tan pants, and all-black trainers. He picked a cat hair off the left shoulder of his robe and walked into the store, absent-mindedly shuffling a few knuts in his left hand. He had his supply list with him and scanned it as he walked in. Nothing too terribly exciting, the Standard Book of Spells - Grade 2, everything else carried over from his first year. He had no real complaints about that, he supposed that was one of the benefits of having the same teachers year on year. He put the parchment back in his pocket, squeezed past a couple of young wizards to get to the section with school books, and grabbed a copy, tucking it under his arm.

Bubba slipped into a quieter aisle and started looking for a book for his dad. While Ben took Bubba's grandfather to Saint Mungos for an appointment, he had sent Bubba to Flourish and Blotts to grab his school book for the next year and get some supplies in Diagon Alley. He also asked Bubba to grab him a couple of books about the Wizarding World in general. Ben wanted to learn more about the world his wife had come from and his son was becoming more and more involved in. They had gone to the Ministry of Magic last week so that Ben could sign the Statute of Secrecy and learn more.

Bubba picked a book he thought his father might like, Political Currents in the Wizengamot from 1915-2017. He tucked this under his shoulder as well and picked up a third book, this time for himself, The Greater Good: How Grindlewald Hoodwinked a Generation. He slyly thought to himself that he could read his father's book before he went back to school and read his in the off time between classes. He started walking out of the aisle towards the cashier, moving to avoid a witch around his age with shoulder-length black hair when she abruptly turned and walked straight into him. As he was already off-balance trying to pivot around the witch he had basically no chance of catching himself, he fell, sprawled on his back at her feet, but not before his books went flying, and landed on his chest with a loud thud. He exhaled as the wind was knocked out of him and looked up at her and heard her say "oh sorry."

Great. She hadn't even entered the school and she was already on her way to a rough start with a fellow student. Or, at least, she assumed it was a fellow student. He looked about her age, maybe a bit older and, being at Flourish and Blotts, she could only assume he was school shopping.

To her horror, the boy fell on the floor, dropping his books. She flinched at the sound, although nothing had really happened to her. All of a sudden, it seemed as if people were glaring at her, even though there was hardly anyone around them, and they had only spared her a quick glance if anything.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated, hesitating for a second, trying to figure out whether she should help him up or gather the books he had dropped. Settling on the latter, she bent down and quickly picked up his books, glancing over the titles before holding them out for him to take. Odd. Maybe I was wrong, she thought to herself. Two of these certainly weren't schoolbooks. Or maybe they were, books for some political elective she definitely wouldn't take.

"Are you okay?" she asked, cautiously speaking a little louder. "I didn't see you there. I just suddenly turned around. My fault, really." She found herself rambling and willed herself to shut up, stopping short. She wasn't usually so nervous, but the thought of other wizards made her anxious. Apart from her siblings and her mother, Lillian had lived an entirely sheltered life, away from other wizards. And now, she was completely confident around Muggles, but fellow wizards, her own 'kind' in a way, were terrifying.

@Bubba McGarry

Bubba looked up at the girl as she apologized profusely. He couldn't help but wonder why she seemed more interested in tidying up the books than checking on him and helping him up. He sat up and leaned against one of the shelves as he took a few deep breaths. He wasn't angry at the girl, he knew it was an accident but it was an accident easily avoided by not turning around like a cheetah, pouncing on a hapless gazelle and he had no doubt the annoyance showed on his face. Once he got his breath back he stood back up and dusted himself off.

He stood there for a moment processing the verbal diarrhea that seemed to be flowing from her mouth. She seemed very nervous and he knew he should be nice but he was still quite annoyed. "Well..." He began in a clearly exasperated voice, "You don't tend to see people when you make a blind u-turn and start charging the other way like a bull." He finished the statement with a wry smile.

He massaged the back of his head, which took a fairly unfortunate bounce when she knocked him over. There was no blood but he had no doubt that he was experiencing the beginning of a massive headache that would persist for quite some time. "Don't worry, I'm fine, or, I will be fine." He said as he looked back over at the girl, "Could I please have my books back?" He asked as he tried to change is smile into one that was a bit more kind.

@Lillian Ward

He was annoyed, and rightfully so. Her first instinct was to respond defensively, evade his comments. But she wasn't much of a quick thinker, and couldn't exactly think up some witty reply immediately. So, instead, she nodded and held his books out for him to take. "I didn't think there was anyone behind me," she said finally after a short, awkward pause. It was a weak excuse, she knew, and didn't exactly excuse her act anyway.

A bit encouraged by the fact that he didn't seem to be holding a grudge, she spoke again. "These don't exactly look like schoolbooks," she said, glancing at the covers once more. Realizing that statement might require a bit of context, she continued. "I assumed you were here school shopping. That's what I'm doing, although this isn't really the right aisle for it," she said with a short laugh, trying to add a bit of humor to the conversation. She glanced back at the aisle as she spoke, suddenly wanting to disappear behind the bookshelves.

Turning back to face him, she calmed her nerves. Wizards weren't people to be afraid of. Even if this boy knew any spells to harm her, her mother was in this store, and wouldn't stand for it. Besides, underaged wizards weren't supposed to practice magic outside school. That was something she remembered her mother constantly repeating to her elder siblings, especially when they were going through 'their rebellious phase,' as she'd called it. With these thoughts, she steeled herself, relaxing now.

@Bubba McGarry

Bubba smiled as he took his books from her, tucking them under his arm again as he listened to her explanation. He was entertained at first but quickly realized that she really was freaking out and didn't want that, "Look, first of all, relax," he said with a smile that actually indicated warmth, he continued in his diluted Boston accent, "I was enjoying giving you a hard time at first but it looks like you're having ten different types of aneurysms just talking to me." He looked over at her, happy to see her calm down a bit before continuing, "Of course I know it was an accident, it happens, you just happened to bump into me as I was going around you so we had a bit of a crash, bang, wallop."

He paused for a moment before he reached into his pocket and took out the piece of parchment with his supply list and indicated it as he continued, "Also, yeah I am here shopping for supplies, my dad's taking my grandpa to Saint Mungos so he told me to get the shopping done while he did that." He put the school supply list back into his pocket before referring to the two non-school books, "but yeah, you're right, definitely not school books before maybe our last year."

He indicated the Wizengamot book, "This is for my dad," and then he held out the Grindlewald book, "this one's for me though." He said before returning all books under his arm and giving an awkward chuckle, "I know I'm kinda weird," he blushed, "probably the only person my age who cares about stuff like that."

@Lillian Ward

She was calm now, no longer worried about having upset a wizard. "Oh, is your grandpa all right?" Always concerned, that was her first thought, even though she didn't know this boy or his grandfather. She knew that it was supposed to be asked as a formality but, more often than not, she would be asking the question sincerely.

"Your schoolbooks are different than mine. So, I'm guessing you're a second or third year? I'm a bit of a newbie, as you might have guessed already," she said with a sheepish laugh. At his next statement, she was a bit surprised that he had described his liking of these books as weird. "Not at all. It seems very interesting. History is fascinating, as are biographies, and I should probably learn more about wizard history anyway. I'm more familiar with the Muggle version of things." This boy was a bit similar to her or, at least, they had a common interest.

"Have you noticed 'fantasy' books by Muggle authors seem to be exaggerated tales about what wizards interact with? They speak of werewolves and winged horses, but they never depict them just quite right. Maybe a bit of history might teach me where that started." This was a thought that had always been on her mind, but she could never really talk to others about it. Her siblings had never truly read fantasy, and her mother, a witch to the core, would simply say that Muggles like to make sense of what they observe. And, sometimes, they catch a glimpse of a wizard or a witch or a goblin, and simply label it as fantasy or a trick of the eye. That answer had never really made sense to Lillian. How could you trick yourself into changing your own perspective.

Bringing her thoughts back into the present, she wondered if this boy interested in history might have a better answer than what her mother usually gave her.

@Bubba McGarry

"Oh he's fine," Bubba said reflexively without thinking, "No... he's not... but don't worry about it, we don't know each other and I don't want to burden you with that." He said, sparing a moment for his father and what he was no doubt dealing with trying to get his grandfather through their appointments. The truth was his grandfather wasn't well at all and no one had any idea why. His mother was supposed to take care of her father but he passed away and the burden passed to Ben and Bubba.

"I'm about to start my second year," He said, smiling and leaning against the bookshelf, the wind evidently having been knocked more out of him than he thought. "I'd assumed you were a student too, you seem around my age, but honestly I assumed you'd be new because I hadn't seen you at school before," He paused before continuing hastily, fearful of being rude, "Sorry not because you're forgettable or anything like that, just, it's a pretty small school, everyone at least knows of each other, even if they don't know them very well." As he listened to her talk about books he felt like he had a good feeling about this girl, most people considered his interest in books "nerdy", it was nice to find someone who might be considered a kindred spirit.

"Well," he began, turning back to the shelves, "I was more familiar with muggle history as well when I started," he continued as he scanned the title of each book, looking for a particular one, "I'm a half-blood, dad's a muggle, mom was a witch - aha!" he smiled as he got to what he was evidently looking for, a meaty sized book, he pulled it out with his free hand and tilted it so that she could see the cover, it said, "A History of Magical Britain from 1688 to 1950". He offered her the book as he continued, "This is the book I read to get myself up to speed, it starts from the Glorious Revolution to before Voldemort's first rise to power. It's really interesting."

He held the book out for her if she wanted to examine it while she listened to her dissertation on muggle fantasy books. He enjoyed her curiosity, most people his age didn't think about this stuff and thought he was weird when he brought it up. His face screwed up in concentration as he thought about what she was saying before he finally hiked his shoulders in a "who knows" fashion. "That's an interesting question that I've never really thought about." He said, composing his words before he chose them so he wouldn't sound silly, "I think what probably happens is John Smith sees a werewolf and tells his drinking buddies, his drinking buddies blab to some coworker who hates his job and figure 'well I hate this job let me write this crap down' and sell it." He chuckled to himself before concluding, "Ok that probably oversimplifies it a bit but hopefully you get what I mean, someone sees something and the further it filters the more it's exaggerated and inaccurate."

@Lillian Ward

She was slightly worried when he talked about his grandfather, but her thoughts soon shifted from it. It wasn't her business, of course, and she wouldn't be asking again.

Excited, she took the book he was holding and hugged it against her chest. It was heavy, but that was probably just because she wasn't all that strong. "Great! I'll see if Mom let's me get this. And no way! I have the same story, Muggle dad, witch mother." She was glad to have found another halfblood. Her mother warned her that some purebloods could be mean to halfbloods and Muggle-borns, and the last thing Lillian wanted was to be bullied. That had never happened to her before, although, being a shy nerdy 'horse girl,' she knew she was kind of a prime target Still, somehow, she always managed to fade into the background, and her presence went unnoticed. In fact, she wasn't even sure if the majority of her old schoolmates even knew her.

"Voldemort," she repeated with a shudder. Even the name sounded ominous. His attacks on Hogwarts were well-known, and she was terrified something like that might happen again. One could say she was terrified of her mother's entire culture, having not been used to it.

It didn't take long for her thoughts to shift again. "I guess that makes sense," she said slowly, although she wasn't really following his train of thought. "Maybe I'll get clearer answers from the history professors. Speaking of which, how is Hogwarts? I'm a bit intimidated by it." Her voice had lowered of it's own accord, half hoping he might say something that provided encouragement and that he wouldn't laugh at her for being worried about the school.

@Bubba McGarry

Bubba smiled as he heard that she came from the same type of family he did. He was always glad to meet people like that, it made him feel like he belonged just that little bit more. Not that he didn't feel he'd belonged, Hogwarts had been very welcoming for the most part since he'd started, with the exception of a few narrow-minded Slytherins, but he could withstand their negativity without issue. The nice (and he scarcely believed it'd be "nice" when he started at Hogwarts) thing was that the thing he was given a (good-natured) hard time about was his general nerdiness, and he didn't mind that at all. Everyone he cared about had accepted him and treated him with dignity and respect, which is all that mattered.

Bubba took in her involuntary shudder as she repeated the name 'Voldemort.' "Sorry, didn't mean to upset you," he said hastily, he was still getting used to some people being so afraid of someone they couldn't even say his name, "My mom was from Ireland, so she knows what happened, but her family lived in America for most of it, so she didn't have to experience it. I guess it's easy for me to say, given no one I really know had to live through what happened." He finished, by way of explanation, with what he hoped was a look of genuine apology on his face. His aim in saying the name hadn't been to upset her, it was just an automatic thing really. He wondered if he would adapt and refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or if he would just adjust to the involuntary shudder some people gave. He sincerely hoped it was the latter. The man had been gone for almost 25 years, Bubba felt like the best way to start to reconcile what had happened was to at least refer to him by name.

He gave an ironic laugh as she referred to history lessons giving clear answers and listened to her asking about Hogwarts and saying how she was intimidated by Hogwarts. His face brightened and he had a broad smile on his face when he talked to her about Hogwarts, "Oh don't be, seriously," he began, hoping to lift her a bit, "I was really nervous when I went to, for the most part, we lived the muggle world, but Hogwarts is wonderful, for the most part, everyone is great. They're kind, funny, and treat you with respect. Sure there are a few people that look down on you for not being pureblood, but take my advice, those are the kind of people that at least I personally wouldn't want to get on with anyway." He finished and then remembered her comment about history professors, "It's funny when my mom was -- when I was younger," he hastily corrected himself, he didn't like talking about his mother unless he had to, "she told me about this ghost who used to teach there - Professor Binns - man could apparently make the Goblin Rebellions as dull as dishwater." He laughed at the memory and was lost in it for a moment before pulling himself back to the moment, "But no, we have Professor Masoud for History of Magic, and I really like him." He paused for a moment, "Still for stuff like your question about Muggle Studies is an elective you can take starting your third year, that'd probably be most likely to have your answer." He finally stopped himself, finally realizing that he'd probably been prattling on for quite some time.

@Lillian Ward