riding bikes [Indiana]

[lily luna potter]

@indiana

Her Uncle George’s joke shop never ceased to amaze her scatterbrained mind. There were the same old tricks and pranks that had been there since long before she was even a thought, and the new ones that her uncle came up with every now and again to reignite the love for silly stuff. Today was a quieter day, and Lily had found herself wandering Diagon Alley, bored out of her mind and with nothing to do. The magnificent glow of the orange paint job crept into her view as she made her way up the street, begging her to enter. Even if there wasn’t anything to buy or enjoy today, as was the norm for her now, she could still chat up whatever family member happened to be working there that day. The jingle of the door brought up the head of her uncle, and Lily gave him a wave and a grin. He never lost his smile, no matter what was going on. What part of her soul did she have to sell to get like that? Surely it had to be easier than everything that was currently going on in her head.

Since it had looked like George was busy cashing customers out, the red-head made her way towards the pygmy puff display. She had never truly enjoyed the creatures, instead preferring bigger animals, like cats, dogs, and dragons. Anything she could accidentally squish was not the animal for her, and everyone that knew her, knew that. How they trusted her with a wand was a completely different conversation to be held, because that was almost worse than giving her a pet to take care of. The things she could do with the little magic stick…

She reached out and patted a few of the pygmy puffs on the head, or what she assumed was the top of their bodies (it was sometimes hard without any distinguishable features available to her). If only there was one that could change its colors to match her emotions. Hers would definitely be a dark shade of blue, like the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean, or jet black. Compared to the highlighter pink and purple colors of the ones in front of her, a dark colored pygmy puff would actually look cool. She would have to mention that to Uncle George at some point. Especially the one that changed colors with emotions. As she continued to show the creatures attention, more seemed to want it as well and began crawling towards her hands. This was going to be difficult to escape from now.

[Deleted]

Indie had discovered a place of miracles. Toys, tricks, colors, potioned candies. It was like a gypsy tent or... A magical wizard shop... It was AMAZING. She was lost in the shelves, had been for a long time. Her parents had let her go in and hadn't come to fetch her yet, and she didn't bother to keep track of the time. They'd find her when they wanted.

She didn't understand what the little floofballs were, though. She was stuck on a group of them now, her face incredibly close to the little holding for them. She turned her head slightly to see a girl, red hair like hers, hand outstretched toward the little things. One was moving to her hands. Indiana looked up at the girls face. "What are they?" she whispered

lily luna potter

[lily luna potter]

@indiana

The hoard of pygmy puffs surrounding her hands had distracted Lily from the other person that had approached the enclosure. She gave the girl now at her side one quick, side-eyed glance before returning her attention to the pats she was giving the tiny, rainbow-colored creatures. Even if they were always different ones at the display (due to her Uncle’s ability to sell out in a heartbeat if he so wished), the puffs were always happy to see her and receive any sort of attention she was willing to give them. Why couldn’t she be like that still? The crack of the whispered voice next to her caused Lily to snap out of whatever funk she was about to drift into, turning her head once again to look at the other red-head. “Pygmy puffs?” Lily answered, trying not to sound too offended by the fact that the other girl had no clue what they were. Was that even possible? “They’re like…I don’t know. Puffballs with personality.” Yeah, that worked. Kind of like she was when wolfed out and in the rain. A puffball with personality. The personality to gnaw off someone’s face if they got too close, but that wasn’t something she could fully control. “You’ve never seen one before?” Lily found herself asking, which should have been the question to start the conversation with. “They’re like, standard school pets nowadays. I’m not allowed one, but yeah. Seriously, you’ve never seen one at school?” The only explanation was that this girl was a new student (despite being freakishly tall compared to Lily), or was one of those home-schooled, sheltered types that only earned their freedom when mummy and daddy decided to prove that they loved them still. Sometimes she thought Albus would have been better off like that. He certainly had that kind of personality going for him these days.

[Deleted]

The girl said the name of them, seeming confused that Indie didn't already know. Puffballs with personality! That was so cute! Indie squealed a little, then quickly quieted as she watched the girl hold it. Indie shook her head. "No, I haven't. No one at Ilvermorny had one in my dorm," she explained. She wasn't sure if anyone in the whole school had one. Or, if they did, they would be hiding out in someone's room that Indiana didn't go into. "Why aren't you allowed one?" Indie asked, cocky her head to the side. It was strange to think that someone could be banned from having a specific type of pet, especially one that seemed so easy to take care of. Was this girl sheltered or something? An animal mutilator? A pigmy puff eater!? Many scenarios ran through Indianas head as to why this girl couldn't have one of the cute creatures and the more she thought about it the more wild her theories got, all in a matter of seconds.

@indiana

[lily luna potter]

@lestrange

OH! Ilvermorny. The American school. There were loads of these dudes and dudettes around lately it seemed. The one she had talked to a few weeks ago had something about their school, but Lily had forgotten what that was all about already. She had way more pressing things to think about these days. Like why the hell this little tall girl didn’t know what a pygmy puff was. Apparently the answer to that was that she was an American student. Poor excuse, in her opinion. Uncle George had to have imported the little guys before. They were the hottest seller in the store! “Well that kinda sucks,” she said honestly, scrunching her nose up at the thought of her own roommates not having pygmy puffs bouncing all over their dorm, their fur creating makeshift rainbows whenever they grouped up. Almost like how they were when she stuck her hand in the case. “I’d probably squish it on accident,” Lily stated matter-of-factly, raising her hands in a shrug. “Right Uncle George?” she yelled loudly over the shelves. A thumb went up into the air from somewhere on the other side of the store, making her giggle and turn back to face the new girl. “See? That’s why I’m only allowed to pet them in the store. Suppose a dog would be a better pet for me.” If only. She had spent years begging for one, but it always fell on deaf ears. Taking a dog outside and playing with it was best way to tire both her and the animal out at the same time. How come no one else saw that the same way she did? “So you’re new here, right? What was it that has all of you silly Americans over here again?” Lily asked as she scooped up one of the yellow pygmy puffs into her hands and nuzzled her nose against its little face.

[Deleted]

Andy didn't generally spend time joke shops. She wasn't a big fan of them. But, she had seen Lily go in there and realized she hadn't talked to the girl since school... the main thing was, her and Lily weren't really that close. Sure they were both friends with a lot of the same people, but they didn't really talk one on one often. That's why it took her a little bit after seeing Lily go in to go in herself. She sat at the store across the street, trying to decide if it was worth trying to play catch up. She just wasn't great at small talk...

But she had always liked Lily. Lily was never afraid to be herself and that was something Andy had struggled with for most of her life. Now she didn't have as much of a problem with it and it seemed, since Harry Potters disappearance, that Lily had been struggling. Not that Andy could really relate, Andy was the main one responsible for her own parents deaths, so it wasn't really a shock to her. And Harry seemed like a great person, as far as Andy could tell, so Lily had it a lot worse off. Plus Adrian leaving, Lily remembered when Phil left...

Finally she went in, and Lily was talking to a little reheaded girl. Andy slowly approached, nodding at both of them. "Mind if I borrow this one for a bit?" Andy asked the American girl. The girl nodded, saying she had to get back to her family anyway, and Andy turned to Lily. "Long time."

lily luna potter

[lily luna potter]

@lestrange

Lily was too occupied petting the little fuzz ball creatures to care about looking up at the new person that she felt approach the display. The girl next to her started talking to said new person, and then quickly said goodbye, Lily giving her a wave as she watched her leave. It was at this point that she decided to finally look up at the newcomer, who apparently wanted to borrow her. It was Andy! Two things came to her mind immediately with the departure of the American girl and the arrival of her fellow Gryffindor: first, Lily could no longer show her stuff and pretend that she knew everything in the world. The little redhead looked like she was the type to listen to anything she said too. Secondly, she couldn’t act like everything was fine around Andy. She would know. She would be able to tell. That made Lily slightly uncomfortable, even if the company was welcome.

“Hi,” she said after watching the American girl walk out of the store, turning back to face Andy. When was the last time they had actually held a long conversation? It had to have been a while…“How’ve you been? Beat the ever-loving magic out of any bad dudes or dudettes yet?” Lily asked curiously, not even sure how that whole hit-witch process thingy went. She had seen how the aurors worked, obviously having a pretty decent look at the department whenever it had been bring your daughter to work day. That was stopped after a few years of Lily causing problems, and she still enjoyed making the joke that Albus should go in her stead. He never thought it was funny.

[Deleted]

Andy tried not to notice, but she could see that Lily was disappointed, or something of the like when Andy interrupted. The girl seemed nice, but definitely Lily's type. Someone Lily could pretend around. Andy didn't mind having people like that around either, really. People who didn't know what was going on in her life and therefore didn't pity her or anything. In this case, Lily and Andy knew each other well enough that neither of them could really pretend. "One or two," Andy answered, giving a shrug. "Wanna show me around? Never been here," she looked up at toward the ceiling, where the upper level seemed just as bright and colorful as this level. It was all so... Lily, really. The Lily she had seen bouncing around for six years. "Sorry to interrupt your chat," she added, nodding toward the door where the girl had gone.

lily luna potter

[lily luna potter]

@lestrange

She grinned up at Andy as the other girl said that a few criminals had fallen to her already. That sounded like her. Being modest about beating people up. Lily would have gone all out, starting from how the tussle began, to the process of taking down the enemies. Having a vivid imagination helped with things like that, as well as knowing how to give a solid play-by-play of events thanks to Quidditch. Anyone that fully believed her stories was silly though, because that would be their first mistake. Her embellishments had a life to them, which would make sense for younger students to believe her from time to time.

Her eyes widened and jaw dropped as Andy said that she had never been in the store before. “Wait, really? Like never ever? First time stepping inside?” That was honestly a surprise. Even for trying to act tough while in school, Lily hadn’t pegged Andy as the type to skip out on the joke shop completely, especially with all of the Weasleys in her year. “I can give you the grand tour, sure,” she said with a thumbs up. “And no problem. Didn’t even know her name. She didn’t know what pygmy puffs were either, can you believe that? Americans these days, am I right?” Lily rolled her eyes sarcastically before pulling her hand out of the pen that the little creatures were housed in. “Obviously you know what they are, so I don’t need to go over them. Somewhere over there,” she pointed over the shelves towards where her uncle had been a few moments earlier, “is the checkout area and Uncle George doing his thing. Most of this aisle we are in is for the puffs and other joke pet stuff. You know, if you like chew toys for dogs that throw themselves or whatever.” She had tried one of those once during a full moon. It was either lost in the forest forever, or she had eaten it while wolfed out. Hopefully not the latter.

[Deleted]

Andy nodded, not bothering to say again that it was indeed her first time. Lily said she'd give the 'grand tour' and Andy smiled, nodding. Then she said she didn't know the girl who didn't know what pygmy puffs were and Andy chuckled. "I haven't met any of them yet, actually," Andy admitted. Well, aside from Finn from the gym, but. Andy followed Lily's pointing as she started telling Andy hat things were. "Well, it seems like it's a lot of fun," Andy said, nodding a little and looking down the aisle that they were standing in. "And... are you, having fun this summer?" she asked, turning back to Lily and raising an eyebrow. She honestly didn't care about going on a tour of the joke shop. She already knew that very few things in there would interest her. It was easier to get to the point, anyway.

lily luna potter

[lily luna potter]

@lestrange

No Americans for Andy yet…that kind of made sense. Having a big kid job probably took up loads of time during the day and then had her going home exhausted. That was why Lily knew that she needed to find something fun to do. A high-octane energy job. Like being a dragonologist or playing Quidditch. Whilst the latter was going to be slightly more difficult since she dropped from the Gryffindor team in the last week of the school term. Not playing next year was going to suck but she needed time to figure out everything still, and to her that seemed like a reasonable sacrifice. “Yeah, they’re kind of all over the place right now. Some of them are pretty interesting, but most walk around like deer in the headlights. Kind of annoying having them bumping into you all the time,” Lily shrugged as she ran her fingers along one of the self-throwing dog chew toys she had just mentioned. “They are. At least I think they are. Doubt they’d do it for me. Giant tree limbs are more appropriate for my size.” An awkward laugh slipped out of her before she cut the rest of it off. Sometimes it wasn’t as funny as she thought it was.

Andy asked if she was having fun, and she shrugged again. “As fun as fun can be, I suppose,” she said, making eye contact with her friend before looking away quickly. It wasn’t exactly a secret what was going on in her life. Everyone knew thanks to the papers. “Whatever fun means. I seem to have forgotten lately. Like it comes and goes in spurts. One second everything is normal, and then it isn’t.” Great, this was going to become another one of those impromptu therapy sessions, wasn’t it? While all of the ones she had already had helped immensely, it was starting to get exhausting. There were only so many plans of action and ideas she could implement, and sometimes that meant ignoring what people were telling her to do. “But I’m making the most of it, so it could be worse. There have been better summers, sure, and I’m positive there will be worst ones as well,” she quickly added, a defense she had come up with to avoid any more of those awkward conversations. Andy was a tough cookie to crack for her, so it was hard to tell what she was going to say in this situation. Pity was the last thing Lily wanted right now though.

[Deleted]

Lily said that the American visitors were kind of all over the place, but that they seemed pretty interesting, albeit a little annoying. Andy smiled a little at that. She wasn't a big fan of people asking her a bunch of questions and that's exactly what 'tourists', or visitors, did. So she could understand the annoying part. As far as the things in the shop went, Lily said that giant tree limbs would be more appropriate for her size rather than the dog chew toys. Andy's smile widened a little more at that, "have you played fetch as a wolf before? I daresay it's probably not the safest for whoever is throwing the stick for you... granted, it'd be pretty easy to use magic and keep a good distance. Sounds kind of fun." Andy knew loneliness, and she knew that most werewolves dealt with that. And with Adrian Greyback gone... well, Andy didn't know Lily's personal life that well, but she was sure it was lonelier than ever.

Lily didn't seem really committed to her answer about having fun, and quickly looked away from Andy after speaking. She went on to say that she seemed to have forgotten lately what fun even meant, that things were normal and then they weren't. Andy nodded, understanding that feeling very well. Lily said that she was making the most of it, but that it could be worse. "Yeah, makes sense. It's been a strange summer for me too," she admitted. "To be honest, I considered started my summer even earlier by dropping out of school last year... some things kept me there, but," she shrugged, "I don't know if it was really the best thing for me personally," then she found herself chuckling a little, shaking her head, "it's always better to do something drastic, I think. I joined the hit witch program without even..." without even telling Phil about it, who definitely did not approve. "Anyway," she started again after a short pause with that unfinished sentence, "maybe if you're looking for something to do with yourself you should look outside the conventional," she suggested.

lily luna potter

[lily luna potter]

@lestrange

“I don’t think I have,” Lily shrugged again. That was a good question, now that she thought about it. She was sure there had been interaction between her wolf and Adrian’s, though whether or not they had managed to act like dogs and play tug-of-war or self throw sticks for each other, she was unsure of. Most of her memories of turning in the forest consisted of more animalistic instincts – the need to hunt, run, eat – and while she was self-aware for most of that, doing anything other than those listed seemed unimportant to the wolf. “If anyone else has the balls to get that close to an active werewolf, then I’ll let them. The wolf might not though.” Lily would be more concerned on whether or not the person throwing the toy for her was going to be alive the next morning. There were plenty of ways to avoid a werewolf if one was experienced in doing so, but even she was unsure if she could do it a second time if given the chance. Her idiotic plan to become one meant she was one of the lucky few, and that Adrian knew how to control himself. Knowing her own personality, there would be no way she could do the same if someone asked her to turn them, or even to toss a stick around for her. Too many temptations to sink her teeth into…other things.

At least she wasn’t in this alone. Andy always had a way of making even the worst situations feel normal, considering her own experiences in life. Lily hated comparing like that, but it was hard not to at times. Her fellow Gryffindor mentioned that she had thought about dropping out, and Lily raised her eyebrows in shock. That was something she should have been saying, seeing as school didn’t come naturally to her in the slightest. “Hit witch? I can see that,” Lily offered, not meaning to look Andy up and down like she was trying to picture it, even though that was exactly what she was doing. “Me? Outside the conventional?” Lily let out a loud snort, hand immediately going up to her face to stop herself from doing it again. “I’m listening.” And extremely interested on what she could possibly do that was so radical that it would seem even crazy for her to do it.

[Deleted]

Lily said she didn't think she had played fetch and Andy couldn't help but smile at the thought of Lily trying to picture it now. She said if anyone else had the balls to get that close she'd let them, assuming her wolf side would participate. "Hmm.. it might be worth a shot, as long as the willing person felt they could make a quick getaway. Just need to be prepared with a broomstick or something. Or, better yet, just throw the stick from up on the broomstick," she suggested. She was morbidly interested in the idea of playing fetch with a werewolf now. She'd done plenty of other dangerous things, why not add something that didn't end in death to the list? Well, hopefully didn't end in death.

Lily commented that she could see Andy as a Hit Witch, and Andy nodded in thanks at that. Then Lily snorted on her next comment, covering her mouth, and Andy let out a short laugh. She said she was 'listening' and Andy paused, furrowing her brow for a moment as she tried to consider the best way to word her thoughts. "I mean, people expect drastic things from you, but I think you... feel safe staying in school and graduating like everyone else. But feeling safe isn't the best way to grow, I think. There are plenty of places werewolves are welcome that others aren't, you should use that to your advantage and get to know your other half," she suggested. "That's one route, at least/"

lily luna potter

[lily luna potter]

@lestrange

Her eyes lit up at Andy’s idea. Throwing the stick from a broom was genius! How come she had never thought of that before? Flying and playing fetch were literally what she was made for, and even then, putting them together had never crossed her mind. Clearly she was slacking, because that needed to be done as soon as possible. “I need this now,” she started nodding her head, her brain going a mile a minute while she began planning out everything that was necessary in order to complete flying fetch. That was what she was going to call it from now on, flying fetch. Test runs could be completed by either transfiguring herself into a dog, or simply by running on her own. It would be a great way to burn energy regardless. “I think the trickiest part will be convincing someone to throw it for me. Like, I understand that being around a werewolf during the change isn’t something most people want to do.” And she wouldn’t blame them either. Only crazy people hung out with werewolves and expected to walk away unscathed. Even she couldn’t do that, though that was because she didn’t want to. Same difference.

Lily tilted her head to the side, her hair falling in front of her eyes quickly being brushed away. Taking advantage of her other half? What did that mean? As far as she knew, she put herself in a precarious position by becoming a werewolf. There were rules and laws she was supposed to follow, specifically at school and all of which she had managed to break thus far, as well as at home based on her new status in society. “What specifically? Because I don’t think working in the Ministry vying for werewolf rights really works for me. That stuff is great and all, but it isn’t like those will matter much to me when it comes down to it.”