11 July 2025.

"Here's another one for the stack," he said as he handed another lofty volume of a book over the counter at Flourish and Blotts to the clerk that worked behind the counter. She smiled to him and then placed it ontop of one other book that she had behind the desk for him. Simon knew that by the time he walked out of the bookstore, that stalk was going to be much higher and he was going to have a lot of reading on his hands.

He already had "The Healer's Handbook: Remedies and Rituals for Every Malady" which was a standard reference recommended to him for trainee Healers at St. Mungos. The one he had just given her was "Blood, Bone, and Bane: A Guide to Magical Anatomy" which provided an understanding for how magic affected the body. Those were good starting points, but now Simon was hoping to find some texts that would expand out into more specific areas of medicine, a few that had interested him more than others.

Going to the section where he gathered the others, he began searching the other options that the store had. One of the greatest things about Flourish and Blotts is that they stayed up to date with current trends and titles and always seemed to have what everyone needed.

As he found some titles that appealed to him, Simon gathered them up in his arms. He told himself that he would bring home no more than seven because he could always come back and get more. Living so close to Diagon Alley, having been from London, was absolutely wonderful in the fact that he could come there so often during his summer. It helped him feel a little connected to the wizarding world since he wasn't in much contact with his friends and wouldn't be attending summer camp that year.

Lucille gazed down at the supply list in her hand. She had already found most of the books required, and they were gathered in a hefty pile under her arm. She struggled to balance as she looked for the final two she needed. "Magical Draughts and Potions," she muttered under her breath. "And Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." Once again, she scanned the shelves, trying to find the pair of books she needed. Once again, her search was fruitless.

Where was her mother? Lucille glanced around, her expression a bit like a lost deer, trying to catch a glimpse of her mother. But the shop was quite crowded with children shopping for school, and she couldn't see even a hint of her mother in the throng. She might have panicked when she was younger, but she knew her mother was probably just browsing to find books for herself, and probably had a watchful eye on her, even if Lucille couldn't find her herself. Instead, Lucille took a step forward to the clerk, and then hesitated. She was hard at work and seemed quite busy, and Lucille didn't want to disrupt her with something so trivial as some school books which she felt she should be able to find herself. After all, they must keep 1st year books somewhere in plain sight, especially at this time of year.

Lucille glanced around again, unsure. Her gaze landed on a boy, much older than she was, probably 16 or 17, she guessed. He was scanning the books with much more clarity than Lucille was, and she guessed he probably came here a lot, or at least had done so once, since he seemed quite at home. Besides, he was probably a Hogwarts student and got his schoolbooks from here, too, so he must be able to help her.

She shuffled over, the pile of books she was carrying threatening to slip to the floor, and she struggled to balance it. "Excuse me. I hate to bother you, but could you possibly help me?" She piped up, a little hesitantly, which was a bit out of character for Lucille. She was a confident person, and didn't mind approaching people, but she felt a little embarrassed about asking for help in something as trivial as this. Lucille felt that she should know where the books were, and was worried the older boy would think her to be an idiot for not being able to find them.

His eyes moved across the shelf but he didn't see the title he was looking for on the spines. Perhaps it was one of the green ones that didn't have any writing on it. He was about to reach for one when he heard a voice and he paused at it and smiled at the contradiction. She didn't know him, so there was no way of knowing, but no one could bother Simon Kincaid by asking him for help - he was help in human form. It's what he loved to do and what he strived to do.

Simon straightened up and smiled instantly to the girl. "I'd be happy to help!" he said honestly. He wasn't sure if it would be to reach a book on a high shelf, help her find another store at Diagon Alley, or to retrieve some books but he'd do whatever he could that would make her shopping experience easier. Helping students made him miss his prefect days.

His book could wait, it truly could, because he had time to finish that endeavor whenever. It was still the beginning of July and Simon had nearly all summer to go to Diagon Alley any time he wanted when he wasn't doing his internship hours at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He stepped closer to her, to show that he was done with his task.

"How might I assist you?" It almost sounded something that one of the clerks at Flourish and Blotts would say and that made Simon smile. He liked playing a good role but no, he wouldn't pretend to be someone who worked there. One, he'd never set out to trick anyone but two, he just hoped he could help the girl with her question or task.

He could save that pretending for when he went back to Hogwarts and played unofficial tour guide with the first year students. It was a good tour - perhaps the girl in front of him should take it.

Lucille seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. The older boy didn't seem disturbed. In fact, it seemed to her as if she had just interrupted some idle browsing, where he hadn't intended to purchase anything. Not that that wasn't important, but she guessed that she might not take up too much of his time, if that was the case. He might have spied the books she needed during his browsing.

"Sorry," she started, wincing a little as her words began with an apology. Stupid thing to do. She carried on nonetheless, clutching the books she was holding a bit tighter, almost like a safety net. "I thought you might be a Hogwarts student, so might be able to help me?" Her voice rose up at the end of its own accord, making it seem like she was asking a question, when really she had tried to make it a statement.

"I'm starting my first year this September, and I haven't been here before, so I can't find these two books, and the clerk seems to be busy." She could tell she was rambling in her nervousness, so she simply decided to say the names and then quiet herself. This really did not need to be as awkward as she was making it, she told herself. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Magical Draughts and Potions?

She almost continued speaking, but was determined not to make a fool out of herself even more, and so she simply looked down at the floor, or what she could see of it over the pile of books she clutched. She shifted her weight, and dragged the tip of her shoe on the floor, scuffing the front, more a fidget than anything else. This boy seemed quite kind-hearted, and she was sure she wasn't bothering him, but either way, Lucille still felt a bit foolish asking for help, even if it didn't make much sense.

Assisting @Lucille Rosenhart

"Certainly!" he said with a smile and glanced around the store to get a feel for where the sections were that she needed. Of course, it was laid out - easily enough, but the crowd made it difficult to see the signs. "I was in here earlier in the summer and I truly believe they initially had it laid out pretty easy to understand but as they got more stock in and then a lot more shoppers; things got a little frazzled in here." That was one nice benefit of not going to summer camp but still living in London so one was close to Diagon Alley - you could frequent Flourish and Blotts on several occasions until it became a frequently visited shop.

"When they had that overstock, they were placing stacks of required textbooks in odd places. Let's go check out and see if there's any over here. Follow me. Stay close," he didn't want her to lose him in the crowd but then again, he was one of the older students there and always had looked more mature for his age, and still did.

They went to the Potions section, probably where she had already checked, but then he wove around one shelf, to another aisle, and snaked down to the right of another. They were now in a small section that was occupied by not one customer. There was a book that pulsated like a gently boiling cauldron, one with a spine covered in vines and moss, another with scaled leather that emitted a small hissing sound. "Best to probably not touch any of these," he instructed.

Skimming over the bookshelves in that area he saw three laying the opposite way on a high shelf and smiled. "Here we go, book one, Magical Draughts and Potions," he said as he handed it out to her. The other might be a little trickier because it was not only a required text but often one that students bought when their copy wore out because everyone enjoyed it so much. Still, he was pretty sure Flourish and Blotts had copies around. "I'm Simon, by the way. Simon Kincaid. I'm going into my Sixth Year at Hogwarts. You excited to be starting the journey?"

date 11/07/25

word count 362

speech #8C2626

mentions @Simon Kincaid

notes xxx

Lucille nodded, and followed close behind the boy. Her determination to stay close behind didn't quite stop her from curiously peering out at all the shelves and the books upon them, trying to read the titles as the boy guided her quickly. When he finally slowed down, they were in a section of the bookstore that contained books that Lucille could only describe as shady.

She could hear a strange hissing sound, and she slowly walked towards it, trying to find the source. Just as she was about to reach for the book it was emanating from, the boy warned her not to touch it. Lucille immediately jerked her hand back, and then wiped it on her robe without thinking, as if whatever harmful component it might possess could travel through the air.

Before she could wander off, the boy was handing her a book. She took it and immediately held it tight to her chest, mainly because she half expected herself to drop it, but also partly because of the relief of finally finding it. "Halfway done!" she said brightly, feeling a lot more relaxed now. The boy introduced himself as Simon, and Lucille hastily tried to introduce herself, too, only now realizing she hadn't before.

"I'm Lucille. Wow, you're old." The words slipped out, and the girl was quiet for a second, a little embarrassed. She quickly tried to make up for it, though, hastily answering his question. "Oh, I'm very excited. You know, you grow up around magic, but you're never allowed to do it because of the Ministry, and now, finally, you get to do it. And that, too, in a castle! It's a little intimidating, but I think it'll be alright?" The girl's voice had been filled with childish excitement, up until that last statement, where her uncertainty made her sentence come out like a question.

Although her siblings had encouraged her immensely back home, telling her she'd be fine, she felt it would be nice to get the perspective of a current student. For all she knew, her siblings had graduated having a completely different experience than she would have now; her mother, even more so.

She said something he really had never considered and when they stopped at the bookshelf they were at he glanced over to her. "I never really thought about that. I always thought it would be so amazing to grow up with magic but if you grow up with it and cannot really start practicing it before Hogwarts - wow, that sounds like it could get quite frustrating."

If you had an older sibling or a parent with a wizarding career or even a wizarding hobby, if you were to help with the cooking or the household chores. You couldn't do the potions, the spells, anything. You had to be only a witness. Sure, you surely gained a lot of information in all the observations but to not be an active participant in your own world would be annoying.

"At least you'll have a bit of a foundation when you get to Hogwarts," he smiled. She'd know some terms, some ideas, maybe even some spells but just hadn't practiced doing them. "Took me an entire year just to get passed the amazement that magic was actually real and that going to Hogwarts wasn't some weird fever dream I was having."

As he spoke he scanned the shelves and nearing the end of his sentence he found one of the book she still needed and pulled it out from the row. "Here we go, here's another. Did your parents go to Hogwarts?" My mum was a Gryffindor but she passed away when I was three. I was raised by my muggle aunt."

And that had been such a wonderful upbringing - one couldn't ask for family as great as Aunt Maggie so he didn't mean that it was less that sufficient. What he was trying to get at was that with his mother gone, there was no knowledge of the magical world in his childhood as his aunt knew nothing about it, only that her sister had been a witch. His Aunt Maggie hadn't even realized that it was likely that he too would attend the same school as his mother until his letter came.

date 11/07/25

word count 336

outfit ⁺₊ ☀︎ ⁺₊

speech #8C2626

mentions @Simon Kincaid

notes xxx

As he spoke, Lucille assumed he was Muggle-born, as he spoke of how it would be advantageous for her already knowing a bit about the magical world. Instead, he continued to speak of how his mother had passed when he was three. Lucille was quiet for a second, before deciding to answer his question first.

"My mother did. My father's a Muggle, and I'm sure he had the same experience as you when he found out about magic. Unlike you, though, he can't do it himself. I don't think he minds. He considers magic to be a lazy solution for most things." Lucille smiled, remembering how her father had ensured the kids learn to do things themselves, especially after her siblings had learned the levitation charm. Simon was right in saying that she knew some things already, but truthfully, she mainly just knew a few incantations, and she knew that wasn't all it took to cast a spell. She had never even really focused on the wand movements before, and so she was probably going to be quite evenly matched with the other students.

"I think I'll be a Gryffindor. Or maybe a Hufflepuff? I can't see myself in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, but perhaps the Sorting Hat will surprise me." She certainly knew quite a bit about the sorting experience; Lucille had begged her siblings to recount their tales for her over and over, and to tell her what sorts of people they'd met from each house. So far, she had found that there were all sorts of people within a house, even if you wouldn't expect them to belong there at first sight.

Lucille reached out for the book he had taken off the shelf, the last one she needed. "Well, I suppose this is all, then. I do hope I shall see you again. It'll be nice to see a familiar face at school." She smiled brightly, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, hugging her new books to her chest.

"Best of luck at Hogwarts," he said to her to wish her a farewell. It sounded like she would go far though as she had some knowledge of the place already for her family and would have help if needed.

Simon flashed her a smile and then let her be on her way. First year at Hogwarts....it had sesemed so far away from now but had truly only been years. Still, once upon a time ago he was there with Aunt Maggie getting his school supplies, meeting up with Alexa Mackenzie and Henry Knight for the first time.

All was long before he knew he was a dhampir, long before he knew his father, long before he knew the path that a desire to know such father would bring. Would he change it? Parts of it, definitely. This past summer had been a whirlwind because of the father decision but it was now all behind him. Forward and onward he must go. On to sixth year.

He hoped for good things for him, as he did Lucille and all others that occupied the space of Flourish and Blotts just now. Another year, more adventures - more spells to learn, potions to brew, friends to meet and crazy dances to attend.