It was quite lucky that Flourish and Blotts was close to Potage’s. The cauldron was starting to feel heavy in Pyce’s hands. The bookstore was already in sight between the crowds, and Pyce tried not to speed up so they didn’t lose Katelyn.

Flourish and Blotts was one of their favorite places in all the Alley! So many books! (Of which Pyce was certainly getting a second copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.) First on the list was Book of Spells, so they and Katelyn could read up on the Slug-Vomitting Spell. Then to find a potion book!

The possibilities were endless, really. And a great distraction from the tension that had formed in the cauldron shop. Pyce didn’t want to pry (even if they were endlessly curious,) but they really hoped that maybe their mom would say something to Katelyn’s. Actually- It might help if Pyce actually knew why Katelyn and her mom were at such odds.

Perhaps that was a conversation for inside Flourish and Blotts, though. At the very least, the chatter of the crowd inside would be enough to drown out the conversation from prying ears, and in the worst case, Katelyn and Pyce could distract themselves from unwanted conversation topics with books.

Pyce was still tempted to jump straight to the book part, as this is one of their favorite shops in the whole Alley. But Pyce was also a curious creature.

They managed to get the door in and held it open long enough for Katelyn to walk inside before slipping in behind her.

Did Pyce mention that they really, really loved this place?

WC: 277	Interacting With: @Katelyn Magnolia
Extra Notes: Reducio Part three of the Rotanski shopping trip! And part two for the Magnolias! Our pair have just arrived from Potage's if you want to read it!	Outfit: Reducio A red sweater vest over a white collared shirt with rolled up sleeves with navy blue pants

Pyce took in the wonderful sights and smells of the bookstore, the chattering of other first years and their families, the flipping of pages and the flickering of candlelight. They watched the complete awe Katelyn had at all of this as well. Pyce felt rather giddy, being able to share this with someone who had never seen it before. It was different, seeing their favorite place with someone who had never seen it at all. Because Pyce hadn't necessarily "gotten used to" the metaphorical and literal magic, they had been inside Flourish and Blotts many times over the years, so obviously they knew what to expect, but Katelyn didn't even have a proper frame of reference for this! Muggle libraries were certainly wonderful things, but they couldn't even begin to compare to the bookstore. Because muggle libraries had muggle books and muggle people, but magical libraries (and bookstores) had magical books and magical people! In fact, you could hear owls hooting in the store at this very moment! (Owls were totally a magical thing.)

"To be fair, it is pretty amazing." Pyce smiled, freeing up one of their hands to run it over some of the spines of books. Maybe they could nab a Monster Book of Monsters without their mom noticing. Then- Katelyn started apologizing. And Pyce felt- well, they weren't sure what they felt. But it wasn't Katelyn's fault that any of that had happened! Not really. She hadn't done anything wrong, and her mother had been unfairly snippy after she walked into the shop. At least, Pyce thought so. Especially under the circumstances of how they met Katelyn.

"That's okay, really! But, if you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two?" Maybe that was a bad question. It felt like a bad question. Insensitive. How would Pyce feel if someone asked them that? (They had no idea. Maybe that's why they asked it??)

WC: 318	Interacting With: @Katelyn Magnolia
Extra Notes: Reducio N/A	Outfit: Reducio A red sweater vest over a white collared shirt with rolled up sleeves with navy blue pants

Oh. Oh. Pyce felt incredibly guilty for asking. But Katelyn's answer did help fit some puzzle pieces into place. Being a half-blood, yet so unfamiliar with the world of magic. It made one question why Katelyn's mom hid that from her father. Statute of Secrecy, most likely. But muggles had found out before. And it certainly wasn't Pyce's place to dig any deeper, it was bad enough that they had asked at all.

"It's alright. It's hardly your fault." Adults were such tricky things to understand at times. Parents especially. Pyce had their own questions about certain people that they would never get answered. Maybe they just had to be fine with that. "Your dad sounds daft." Was that- could they say that? They could probably say that, given that he left. Pyce wished they could offer better condolences or comfort of any sort, but they still weren't sure how. "There are loads of muggles who discover magic and, while skeptical, you see them bring their kids to Diagon Alley every year." There were muggles who were much worse than just skeptical, but the majority seemed to be alright. Besides, it wouldn't help any to tell Katelyn anything other than the relevant information. And that information happened to be that what happened with Katelyn's dad was not the norm, nor was it right. It simply wasn't. They probably would have tried to verbalize these thoughts, if it wasn't for the book that Katelyn picked up. Pyce peeked over at the book now in Katelyn's hands.

"What have you got there?"

WC: 260	Interacting With: @Katelyn Magnolia
Extra Notes: Reducio Ah, yes. Important, emotional conversa- Is that a book?	Outfit: Reducio A red sweater vest over a white collared shirt with rolled up sleeves with navy blue pants

Pyce took the book, curious about what it was. They flipped it over to the front cover to discover- Pyce sucked in a breath. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Only the best book in the wizarding world! Written by the best magizoologist ever! While Pyce may have spent most of their free time daydreaming about dragons, they were truly in love with magical critters as a whole (though they wouldn't deny favoritism.) Many a night had they spent pouring over this very book!

"This is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!" Pyce excitedly informed Katelyn. "It's about all sorts of magical creatures! Did- did I mention that we have magical creatures?" They pondered for a moment. They couldn't remember if it had come up, but did it matter? It was coming up now, and Pyce would not hesitate to inform their new friend on everything she did (and quite frankly a lot that she didn't) need to know! "Well, we do have magical creatures! All sorts, really. This book covers just about everything! I have a copy at home, but it's not marked off on my list. I suspect it's because my copy has writing in it. Magic is weird like that. Rules you can never quite parse out. At least, I think." Were they talking more? Or were they just imagining it?

Pyce flipped through the book, nearly shaking in excitement.

"I've read this so many times! Very good book." Pyce nodded their head. "A lot of muggle mythos overlaps with magical creatures. Unicorns, phoenixes, dragons. You might recognize some of the things in here!" Pyce handed the book back, still in a state of nearly shaking.

WC: 281	Interacting With: @Katelyn Magnolia
Extra Notes: Reducio Nerd time for the child	Outfit: Reducio A red sweater vest over a white collared shirt with rolled up sleeves with navy blue pants

"Yes! Very real! I mean- I've never seen either, but I've also never seen a whale. They exist and there's research on 'em! They should both be in that book as well." Pyce wasn't sure they had been this excited about anything ever. "There is a class for magical creatures! And- And we still have to wait-But!" Pyce chirped, more an attempt to get their own spirits up. (Because it was more than unfair that Care of Magical Creatures was a third year class) "The class is real. You just have to be a third year to take it. I know it's a bit of a wait, but it will definitely be worth it!" And it would be! Pyce already had plans to spend their every last minute of free time wandering wherever it was that the CoMC class was held. "Unlike other classes, that just teach you about the animals and their uses or contributions to magic, Care of Magical Creatures lets you interact with them!" Pyce thought for a moment. "Nothing dangerous, I don't think. I can't imagine anything higher than a triple-X class creature. It would be neat though." Pyce sighed wistfully. "Dragons are far too dangerous, but one can always hope. I think both the hippocampus and hippogriff are triple-X though. So maybe we'll get to see one of those?" An absolute shame that Pyce would likely never come across a dragon in their time at Hogwarts. (If they were being totally honest, they wouldn't want to, given that the creature was a quintuple-X class for a reason. But like- maybe a baby?)

Pyce happily took the second book Katelyn handed to them, and opened it to the page about the different dragon species. It was weird seeing the pages so clean. Pyce's copy at home was filled to the brim with notes and doodles. There wasn't a blank space left in the margins.

"Is there any creature in particular you would want to see? I would love to see a dragon, even from a distance."

WC: 281	Interacting With: @Katelyn Magnolia
Extra Notes: Reducio Look at them! I'm sure there is no one in this store at this very minute who has listened to one too many rants about dragons	Outfit: Reducio A red sweater vest over a white collared shirt with rolled up sleeves with navy blue pants