Changing Seasons [Aras]

[Deleted]

@aras

A few weeks had passed since Elise had moved to London. During that time she had managed to acquire a reasonably sized apartment, furnish it, and get a feeling for the English city. She had been to London before on vacations, but living there was completely different from visiting. The last few years had been a mash-up of apprenticeships and working on the bookstore, and the last couple of weeks were the first time she had ever truly been unemployed. It was scary and nerve-wracking being on her own. The only other time she had ever felt like this was during her first year at school. At least then she knew that she would be home during the summers and holidays. Now she was all alone in a different country. For all the mental preparation she had done to get herself ready for the transition, she realized that she could have done more. There was no way that she could have anticipated the amount of stress and physical drain that would hit her at the end of the first week. And yet it came full force and she was out of commission the following week. Thankfully her father had allowed her to bring the cat, Frank, because without him it would have been awful.

By the end of the second week, her cold was over and the real work began. The reason she was living in London was to convince Ollivander to take her on as an apprentice. There was no one better than the Ollivander family when it came to wandmaking, that much was clear. Her other teachers had served their purpose thus far, but when it came to her wanting to advance in the field, the only real option left was the wandmaker in Diagon Alley. So with little forewarning of her arrival, Elise headed towards the magical shopping district to try her hand at being accepted as an apprentice. The only thing she had against her was the fact that she hadn’t contacted the current owner in advance. From her understanding though, that would have been a bad idea. It was better to be turned down in person than to have it done through a letter. By being there herself, she could make a compelling argument for why she should be taken on, or at least tested out as a wandmaker first. Giving her the opportunity to at least show that she has what it takes would be all she needed.

Arriving in front of the store around noon, Elise went over everything once again in her head. The last two and a half years had been spent studying and learning all about wandmaking. She had done this before, and she wanted to continue. Making a compelling argument to be accepted was all she needed to do. Letting out one last deep breath, she nodded and stepped towards the door, taking hold of the doorknob. She pulled but the door didn’t open. That was strange. Trying again, she was met with the same result. Frowning slightly, Elise cupped her hands around her eyes and pressed her face up against the glass pane in the door. The inside of the shop was dark, and it didn’t look like there was anyone in there. That was disappointing. She had worked up the courage to get this done today, and now she was met with nothing. Deciding that she’d come back the next day, Elise backed up from the door and turned around, almost running into the person that was standing there.

[Deleted]

Aras didn’t like to have to leave the shop. There were some days that he still couldn’t believe that he had managed to save the last thing he had of his father’s, but every day he was thankful that he had. Leaving the shop meant having to come back, and Aras always lived with the slight terror that he would come back to someone from the bank telling him that they were repossessing the place, which was silly, since it had been paid off for generations, but in any case… leaving was not in Aras’s best interests. Sadly, sometimes it was necessary. There were groceries that needed to be purchased and people that needed to be visited, and since the shop more or less opened under his whim (though he did try to adhere to the hours he had posted as strictly as possible) Aras wasn’t afraid that he would come back to find things in chaos in other ways. That particular morning, he had ducked out to buy some vegetables so that he could have something mildly fresh for dinner that night, so his arms were full of brown paper bags. Aras was surprised that when he approached the entrance to Ollivander’s, there was someone standing outside of it. He approached as close as he dared, trying to figure out what the young woman would want. Aras furrowed his brows and stepped closer to the woman – just in time for her to step back, seemingly confused by the dark insides. Aras managed to take a step back to avoid a collision, but narrowed his eyes slightly at the woman. “Can I help you?” He asked, his voice the epitome of customer-service politeness, though he felt rather silly affecting the tone while standing outside his shop with an armful of groceries. He was only a minute or two late for opening, so he wasn’t sure why she was there already, but… some people could be strange when it came to their wands (Aras included).

@elise

[Deleted]

@aras

Elise made some sort of shocked squeaking noise as she realized that she had almost turned around into the man that was standing there. She was so used to the cramped quarters of the bookstore that people typically announced that they were near her to give her a heads up. The entrance of the wand shop had given her that same feeling of security, though was obviously falsified. “Je suis désolé,” she managed out as she tried to figure out who this man standing in front of her was. She hadn’t heard him walk up, and then he was suddenly there. In her semi-panic to apologize rather formally, Elise didn’t realize until a few seconds later that she had said it in French. While she had met plenty of English speakers that also understood French, there was always the possibility that this man didn’t. How embarrassing. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I didn’t see you there…” Even though she had spent years learning the language and had spoken it at school and in the shop, there were still times where it felt strange coming out of her mouth. That was also part of the thrill of learning though, so she had that.

The man asked if he could help her, and Elise looked back at the store window. That sounded rather formal to her, though she supposed he probably also saw her staring through the window a few moments earlier. To anyone that might seem strange. Especially the locals. They probably knew the hours to all the stores. “I had a few questions for the owner, but they don’t seem to be in now,” she responded, turning her attention back to the man. He was holding bags of groceries, and was standing rather close to the door. And he had been extremely direct in asking if she needed help, the way that she would ask someone in the bookstore if they needed it. The realization that this man was probably also the owner only made her earlier blunder seem minute. “That’s you isn’t it?” Elise asked after a few seconds. First she almost knocked over the owner, and then she was making a fool of herself in front of him. This was a great way to make an impression.

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Aras blinked a little as a foreign language spouted out of the woman’s mouth. It sounded like either French or Spanish, but judging from the accent, Aras was leaning towards the former. There were some days he wished he was fluent in more than just Latin, but others, Aras was just glad that he knew more than one language, even if the second language happened to be a dead one. The woman corrected herself, saying that she was sorry for almost running into him. Aras just nodded, accepting the apology wordlessly. It appeared that he now knew how to say he was sorry in French… which meant that he was going to have to learn the rest of the language, too. Maybe that would be his new distraction, beyond just obsession over the store’s financials and paying his debts. The woman said that she didn’t see him there, and Aras gave her a dry smile. “I can see that. But I don’t expect most people to have eyes in the backs of their heads, either.” That wasn’t a wholly unreasonable expectation, considering that there were some magical eyes that could do such things, but obviously neither of the woman’s eyes were magical, and Aras’s main goal wasn’t to make her seem more awkward. She obviously wanted something from the shop or from him – which one, Aras didn’t know yet – so alienating her wasn’t going to do him any good.

The woman finally announced her purpose, saying that she had a few questions for the owner, who didn’t appear to be in. Aras’s smile faded for a moment, wondering why she hadn’t figured out yet that anyone who was going to be entering Ollivander’s with his arms full of groceries was sure to be one of said Ollivanders. Luckily, it didn’t take the woman but a moment longer to reach that realization, asking if he was the owner. “That I am. Aras Ollivander. I would shake, but…” Aras trailed off, lifting the bags of the groceries to show his arms were occupied. Aras stepped up to the door, murmuring the words to unlock the door underneath his breath and using a touch of wandless magic so that he wouldn’t have to set the groceries down. “Come in.” Aras invited as he kicked the door open. “Let’s see what I can do about those questions, hm?” The groceries would survive for the duration of a conversation, he hoped.

@elise

[Deleted]

@aras

She hadn’t realized that she had been holding her breath after explaining that she didn’t see the man when turning around. Thankfully he didn’t make a sarcastic or rude comment, which was atypical of people when almost being run into that way. She had seen it happen way too many times to count, and it never really ceased to amaze her how people reacted. His response sounded like a joke almost, or at least reasoned with the fact that she wasn’t at fault for almost knocking the bags he was holding onto the ground. As for people having eyes on the backs of their heads, a younger her would swear that her grandmother did. She always knew when trouble was a brew. Unfortunately that trait didn’t seem to have carried over to Elise yet. It was possible that it came with having little children running around all day long.

The almost accident wasn’t what was important though. What was, was the fact that this was the owner of Ollivander’s, the Ollivander himself! He introduced himself as Aras, which wasn’t one of the names of the Ollivanders she had studied, but that didn’t exactly mean much to her. They were all the best wandmakers in her eyes. He opened the door, and Elise made her way over to hold the door open for him, even though he forced it open himself. Apparently he didn’t need help even though his hands were full. The door ricocheted off of the wall and was coming back towards her, so she hopped inside, closing it gently behind her. The shop itself wasn’t much different from the other ones she had been in, at least when it came to the aesthetics. It felt different though. She didn’t really have the words to describe it, but each wand shop had its own unique feel, and it seemed like Ollivander’s did as well.

Stepping further in, Elise interlocked her fingers to keep herself from using her hands to talk. She had to treat this like an interview, even if Aras didn’t know what this was yet. He probably thought she had questions about buying a wand. Taking a deep breath, she decided it was now or never. “I was wondering if you would take me on as an apprentice,” she paused, knowing full well that as simple of a sentence that was, there was a lot packed into it. “I’ve trained under other wandmakers for the past few years, but they’ve left me feeling like I’m missing something. Since I just moved here, I figured trying to get an apprenticeship under you would be the next, and maybe final, step that I’ve been looking for.”