Date: 2 July 2023
Time: 2:oo pm
Word Count: 433
Interacting With: @Aurora Griffith

When Tristan's mother was set on doing something, nothing would get in her way. This time around that thing was getting Tristan ready for his First Year at Hogwarts. Which meant that quite literally the day after he received his enrollment letter, he was being dragged off to Diagon Alley. Even though Tristan had never once seen anything out of stock in any of the shops, his mother had got it in her head that all the 'good stuff' would be gone if they started shopping in August (even though he was required to bring standardized items?).

After being trapped in Madam Malkin's for two whole hours when his mother insisted that none of the standard sizes for robes fit Tristan properly, he begged his mother to let them split up the shopping list. While she agreed, Tristan was distraught to find that she had handed off the most boring tasks for him to complete. Apparently, he wasn't trusted at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes anymore after a set of firecrackers with the store's logo on it was found in his room.

Shopping for some boring school supplies by himself was far better than shopping with his mother, though, so Tristan knew better than to complain. Shuffling into Flourish and Blotts, he was greeted by shelves and shelves of books filling his view, it made him feel like he was at the start of a horrendous corn maze.

As Tristan weaved through the shelves, trying his best to follow the list in alphabetical order to make this trip end as soon as possible, he passed by a couple of people. One older-looking woman with thick glasses that obscured her eyes, obviously the shop owner, was filing a random selection of books. Most were First Years like him since they were being dragged around with their parents. The odd one out was a rather short freckled girl with bright red hair. While she appeared to be on the younger side, she wasn't looking for any books required by the school so she clearly wasn't shopping for her First Year.

After about a half hour in the store, he had found all but one book: Fantastic Books and Where to Find Them. He ended up circling the store once more and found himself standing next to the small ginger girl again. Yet he still couldn't find this stupid book. It wasn't even like they needed it until their third year and it wasn't even a mandatory course! Frustrated, Tristan thought aloud, "God why do I need a book written by some stupid guy named after a fecking lizard..."

Gee, today was a busy day, wasn't it? And the morning wasn't even over yet! Before we left London, I still wanted to look around Diagon Alley. I know I had already been there before and the novelty was wearing off by this point, but I hardly ever got to see it, and it was simply an amazing place. My mum, brother and I, had come in early to get school supplies in such, and now was just a time where I could look around the alley before we had to leave. However, there was one place I actually wanted to take the time to look through again...

I was really glad that my mom had taken us to go pick up our supplies much earlier, since last time we came on the 1st day of school. I remembered that Flourish and Blott was one of the first shop that we entered. Now though, it was one of the last. We had gone inside early for picking up my 2nd year schoolbooks and my brother's 5th year books. Schoolbooks had never really caught my interest, I mainly liked fictional books, but if counts, being half muggle, all the books in the shop would have seemed fictional to me when I was still a 1st year.

However, one book I simply fell in love with after I first started reading it. 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', by Newt Scamander. When I first got it, I had a lot of questions. For one, why was the author named after an amphibian? Funny since the book was about animals, though. Sure, I had already gotten the book, but I was flipping through it excitedly. I simply adored animals, all types, so this book was made for me. I tucked it inside my jacket so I wouldn't put it down anywhere, then looked around the shop.

Oh, there were so many books everywhere, I felt like I was in a literary paradise! I was reminded that I had never actually taken the time to enjoy being here. Books with quirky and interesting titles too(e.g., Dragon Hatching), when I first came into Flourish and Blotts, I couldn't help but think: This is so much better than the bookstore in Folkestone! It didn't even matter that a lot of them were schoolbooks, because they were so much better than schoolbooks.

I found myself standing by a blonde boy who might have been a first year, but it was hard to tell since he was taller than me. But again, literally everyone is taller than me... "God why do I need a book written by some stupid guy named after a fecking lizard..." My head snapped up to look at the boy. "What?" Then I realized what he was talking about.

"Oh, you must be talking about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by Newt Scamander. Shame you think that, since it's my favorite book, and I really like lizards..." I wondered briefly what his problem was. Did he not like animals? Or was it just that he was upset about something? "Just a question, but, do you need help with something? Are you alright?"

It probably wasn't my business to meddle with, but I didn't like seeing anybody in a bad mood. Besides, that was my favorite book he just insulted, and if this boy was going to make such a big deal about it, then something might as well be something wrong, or I was the one making too big of a deal over it. Probably the latter.

Word Count: 378
Interacting With: @Aurora Henderson

Like many children his age, Tristan had very little control over his thoughts, along with control over his volume. So his thoughts sometimes would loudly release from his mind unwittingly. In this case, several of the adults in the store turned their head towards Tristan, before turning around and muttering about how such a rowdy boy shouldn't be unattended.

One person who obviously heard him was the redheaded girl next to him, though maybe not so obviously since she originally seemed pretty engrossed in the shelf in front of her when he came over. She did hear him though, and whether it was because they were close in age or simply because the girl was the socializing type, she felt compelled to answer him rather than ignore him.

"Just a question, but, do you need help with something? Are you alright?"

Tristan turned to her, likely more surprised by the fact he had said that out loud than she was. He shook his head to recalibrate himself as he took in the short ginger in front of him, awkwardly spitting out, "Oh, uh, I'm fine, just trying to find this book I have to have for school this year."

It was then he realized she had said that book was apparently her favourite. Odd that this girl's favorite book was a school-sanctioned one, but he wasn't about to be even ruder after that outburst, especially to a girl he had just met, lest he wants to get a well-deserved slap from her. He quickly added to his last statement, "Sorry about calling it stupid, by the way, didn't mean to batter on a book ye like."

He had never heard about the book before and she clearly did so she was probably at least a Second Year (though to be fair he was clearly way less of a bookworm than she was). Maybe she knew where it was in this store and could end up being his savior so he could finally get this errand over with? Tristan knew this girl had no reason to help him find it, he was just a younger kid who had interrupted her peaceful browsing, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, "Would ye know where I could get a copy of it?"