DING-A-DING-A-DIIINNNNGGGG!!!

The bell on the front door of Flourish and Blotts nearly flew off its attachment as two tall and lanky white haired boys burst through the door. They did not seem happy. One especially seemed to be particularly alert and intent on his task. In fact, quite a lot of this summer had sucked. Sure there had been loads of excitement, but there was also a rapidly growing stress. One that Colin couldn't identify, but it was affecting him and Liam considerably. They'd both felt out of sorts since coming home. They'd been in mourning since July. And now they'd been staying in London since ... since that day.

Ma and Da weren't talking. Not to the kids anyway. Ma seemed to have distanced herself particularly from Colin. He couldn't fathom it. The tension was too think, so the boys decided to head out to Diagon Alley. Colin wanted to find something for Clair. He'd love to get a leash for her goat Cinnamon, but he reckoned that wouldn't go over so well. She'd probably just stick it around his own neck!

What do you get a Ravenclaw that has all the books?

Another one so she can read it again!

Colin smirked at his inner joke. Seriously, Clair loved to read, and he'd heard of a new mystery series that was out now. She probably wouldn't be able to find it near home, so he though the set would make a perfect present for his darling girl! "Liam, I'm telling you, Clair is going to love this! She's always reading some huge book or other, I'm sure this will make for nice diversion!"

Colin hurried along into the depths of the shop, nearly bumping into some random brown haired boy who was standing in the middle of the room blocking the way. "Wotcha!" Colin called out as they headed for the mystery section. "I can't wait to see Clair again, Liam! I miss her so much!"

"You just want to snog with her, Cailean."

"Well." Colin gave Liam a quick look of exasperation. "Well, obviously! She's the best kisser ever! Smart, beautiful, brave --- utterly snoggable! Come on! Mystery section's this way!"

@Clair Fernandez | @Koko Riddle | @Cass ito | @Noah Jupe | @EmmaLee LeDames

Date: 11 August 2024
Time: Afternoon
Location: Flourish and Blotts

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After the heat and sunshine of Rioux-Marin, France, Koko was only beginning to re-adjust to the relative coolness and cloudiness of England. She had spent the past ten days with her father and brothers in Coventry, admittedly feeling bored. All of the things that had entertained her when she was younger seemed trivial, pointless, even, and after a summer of training and essentially planning for Leblanc-coded adulthood, Koko simply failed to see the point in sitting around and playing games when she had better things to do.

It was the morning of the 11th of August when she decided she'd had enough. She called out a simple, 'I'm heading to London for the day!' to her father before hurrying to the fireplace and muttering, 'Diagon Alley,' as she dropped the Floo Powder in.

At least she could walk around Diagon Alley under the pretence of shopping for school. The (rather sulky, in all honesty, to anyone who knew her) soon-to-be seventh year trudged through the shopping centre alone, spending an uncharacteristically-long amount of time in Dogweed & Deathcap and the Apothecary Shop. She glanced longingly at Quality Quidditch Supplies before averting her gaze. That would be something for another time.

She bought a few weeks' worth of cat food before finally arriving at the shop that she truly despised. Even Quidditch Through the Ages could not assuage Koko's disdain towards reading. Her frown deepened as she sifted through book after book, ending up with two potion making books and a cookbook in her arms.

The small Slytherin glanced around, noting that there were quite a few other kids in the bookshop, most of them younger than herself – fitting, she supposed, as she was now at the top of the metaphorical food chain. She waved slowly at Colin McCoire, the only person she recognised at first, but otherwise, she was not quite so willing to interact with people, especially if they were to talk about the dreaded upcoming school year.

· · ─────── · 𖢨 · ─────── · ·

@Cass Ito · @Colin McCoire · @Edward Smith @Noah Jupe · @Yasha Volkov @EmamLee LeDames

Ally for Calming Presence is Colin McCoire

stats & abilities

Reducio

stamina: 20 - evasion: 10 - strength: 3 - wisdom: 7 - arc power: 5 - accuracy: 24

part-veela alluring: 10% auto-redirect, countered by impartial
evasive maneuvers: 10% auto-dodge
part-veela scream: can deafen an opponent or provide -1 acc and -1 Eva to up to 5 targets
calming presence: allies have 10% auto-hit
part-veela charm: n/a unless koko wants to get arrested
keeper’s catch: n/a unless there's randomly a quaffle?
part-veela temperamental: +3 to critical success range (so 17-20 is critical success) and +1 to critical failure range (1-2 is base critical fail now)