day dreaming | nell

[gehry benjamin ollivander]

All I can do
when my head's in the clouds

Is be here in the moment

May 7, 2027
eleanor gwendolen ollivander

It was always a little busier this time of year. On most days, the weather was quite lovely compared to overcast skies and general gloominess. And days like this, Benny was happy that he was off work already. While nobody liked the morning shift because you had to get up early, at least there was the benefit that most customers didn’t come through that early, and then he was free of real work for the rest of the day. But he didn’t have any real plans that day. Actually, he’d missed that April had turned into May a week earlier, and then all the sad and sullen expressions he’d noted made more sense.

A year ago, his former school burnt to the ground, and the loss of such a special place had hit everybody. Even Benny. The ordinarily aloof and untroubled Ollivander had felt the pain and fear, especially since Gideon was…had still been a student there. The boys were close, but now he’d gone to finish his school in America—so far away. Walking out of Pi Pâtisserie, Benny pushed down his yellow framed sunglasses from his head onto his face and sipped his hot coffee. Like any good Englishman, he was raised on tea, but he’d started seeing this new brand appear in Diagon and Horizont Alley.

Spellbucks Coffee had been truly eye-opening. And by eye-opening, it meant the amount of caffeine in their Enchanted Espresso literally made your pupils about as wide as your eyeball, and you could quite possibly see into the future if you tried. Just up ahead was his sister’s shop, and since Benny didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day, he decided to drop in unannounced, as was his custom. Pushing through the door, he didn’t see any customers in the lobby, and Nell had her back turned behind the counter. ”Have you tried Spellbucks yet? It's life-changing.” Benny quickly announced his presence. His beverage, however, was still scaldingly hot. So with a lazy and minimal movement of his fingers over his disposable cup, he cooled it just a bit.

Much like his oldest sister, he had a little bit of a knack for non-verbal magic and wandless magic if it was something small like this. Surely, it could be something great with some effort, training, and practice, but as long as Benny could keep himself from burning himself on coffee, he was good. ”You should go outside. The weather is lovely today.” He approached the counter and leaned on it, a quick grin on his face and friendly eyes. Well, at least they were behind the sunglasses that he still had on.

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[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

▲

The realization that only a few months remained before incoming first years would be shopping for wands again in London had caused Nell to start working overtime. For the entire month of April she had essentially forgone making any new pieces of furniture that weren’t already ordered and rearranged her time to solely dedicate it towards building new starter wands. These were never inherently difficult and she had the supplies by the box full. The tricky part was distinguishing them between one another so there wasn’t a goof up on the Hogwarts Express on the way to school in September and kids swapped wands on accident. Little Horace Donisthorpe’s phoenix feather and maple wasn’t going to work with energetic Felicity Atkinson who’s only aspiration at eleven years old is to one day own a herd of Abraxan. Oh the stories she heard from parents when broken wands were brought in to her before the term had even begun.

Her most recent venture was not a wand for a child though. No, it contained the tail feather of a Thunderbird, which was a core she had never used before. Not only was it expensive and hard to import, it had also tried to blow up in her face twice whilst attempting to gently guide it into the carved out beech wood wand. Her hands were covered in tiny burns and one of her fingernails was now purple. If she did manage to get the thing in, she was already contemplating on selling it to the first person that matched well enough with it just so she could get it out of her shop. Having it laying around for years was bound to have it attempt a break out or burn her entire store down.

Hearing the door to the shop jingle open behind her, she hadn’t even managed to turn all the way around before recognizing Benny’s voice. He was asking about Spellbucks and then going on about how nice it was outside. If she hadn’t been trying to stuff this feather into its wand for the past two hours, she probably would have done just that. A large groan came out of her as another spark fired off the feather and ricocheted off of her glasses. Normally they were used for magnification but today they acted as a safety precaution. Gently setting wand and feather down inside a glass case that was charmed to prevent anything from exploding inside it, Nell backed away and turned to face Benny. “If you can get that feather into that wand, I will lock up for the day and go wherever you want,” she said, her voice exasperated. The longer this took the more likely she was going to have a permanent furrow in her brow from concentrating too hard.

gehry benjamin ollivander ● 466 ● Dancing In The Dark by Bruce Springsteen

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[gehry benjamin ollivander]

All I can do
when my head's in the clouds

Is be here in the moment

May 7, 2027
eleanor gwendolen ollivander

Benny lifted his sunglasses when a spark fired from Nell’s workstation. A curious expression on his face at what that could have possibly been from. Unlike his other older sister shop, Benny never knew exactly what was happening behind the scenes at Nell’s shop. Veronica was predictable in her own way as much as the wand work at Ollivander’s was. Predictable was easy to navigate and exist with, but unpredictable was interesting. When Nell turned around to face him, he saw magnified eyes through her lenses but a general frazzled and frustrated demeanor.

His head quirked slightly to the side at her suggestion. A feather? His brain went through the lists of wand materials that had ingrained itself into his brain as a child. ”What kind of feather?” This sounded interesting, and his attention was now focused on the new task. He walked behind the counter, approached the workbench, and saw the feather mentioned earlier behind the protective glass. His eyes grew wide. ”Is that—“ Benny’s head excitedly turned around to look at Nell and then back to the workstation. ”—A Thunderbird feather. I’ve never seen one in person before.” Veronica had certainly never had on at their family shop, and he’d only seen pictures.

There had been a short period of time where Benny had been acutely interested in magical birds, though the books now simply collected dust and were on a shelf next to a set of books on the various uses of cheese-based potions. The Thunderbird was not a bird native to the British Isles or even Europe, something distinctly American. Benny sipped more of his espresso and then suddenly handed it to Nell. ”Here—hold this. You’re welcome to try some.” Pushing his sunglasses off his head, they fell back neatly onto his face, and he took a seat at the workstation. The chair was very low, so he absentmindedly waved his hand almost absentmindedly and lifted a few inches. Benny always did the same at the family shop since he towered over his siblings.

He looked at the feather again. It glowed in a way that made it look alive on its own. Next to it was a beautifully carved beech wand. ”Beech—good choice.” Benny mumbled. His father had often spoken of a powerful wood, which many customers requested, though the customer was not always right at Ollivander's. Gently he picked up the feather, raising his sunglasses a moment to really look at it before letting them fall back down for protection. Even Benny knew better than to approach such work without something on his face. ”Where’d you come across this? I’ve never seen one in person.” What an exciting turn of events. Benny was even happier he didn’t have to work later today. With his other hand, he picked up the wand and watched as the feather seemed to come alive as he put it near the wand.

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[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

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Nell kept her mouth sealed as she listened to her brother ask about the feather. She knew he'd know what it was, and had been right when he seemed to figure it out. His magical bird stage was akin to her own flying horse stage when younger, and weirdly parts of all sorts of both subsections of animals could be used for wand-making. Maybe that was what intrigued her the most about all of them. Nowadays, such an obsession was completely replaced by her need to acquire and use whatever she could for cores. Literally nobody wanted the standard stock that Ollivander's had once they realized there were better options out there. She liked to think she was that better option, because her sister definitely couldn't provide it. The only thing the family store did have was an absolutely insane amount of wands to choose from, some that had been made centuries ago by ancestors that were way more proficient in wandmaking than she and Veronica were. That wasn't a knock against their own talents, but they simply made them differently these days.

"I hadn't either until it came in," she responded to her brother's statement. But she had seen Thunderbird feather wands before. They were about as insane as this one was shaping up to be, so it wasn't like she didn't have forewarning on what could happen when she tried shoving it into the wand. "I'm good," she added abruptly as Benny handed her his drink. Whatever it was, it probably had his heart rate going above what was considered healthy. She was already fired up from failing to get the feather to slot in. Fueling her frustration with Benny's caffeine concoction would lead to a horrible night of sleep. Assuming she'd be able to sleep.

Watching her brother adjust her chair and get himself situated into the workstation was sort of strange. She hadn't had anyone else use her tools here yet. Not even her dad had wanted to impose. But here Benny was, super caffeinated and using sunglasses for eye protection, about to figure out how to wrestle a Thunderbird feather into a wand. Nell briefly wondered if she needed to be concerned, but her brother's energy levels would definitely match that unpredictability of the feather perfectly. Maybe the wand was meant for him, which would be sort of funny.

He commented on her choice of beech for the wood, and Nell kept herself from stating that it was obviously the best option. That would make her sound like Veronica. Benny knew as much as the rest of them did about wands, he just chose to do different things with his life. "Bought it. It took six months to pass through customs to get here." Nell crossed her arms in front of her in frustration. It was because it had taken so long and was so expensive that she was upset that this wasn't working the right way. And now there was a chance she wouldn't even be the one to 'make it'. That sort of detail mattered to her immensely. "I'll give you half the maker credit and sale if you manage to get it," Nell said flatly. "It's only fair."

gehry benjamin ollivander ● 536 ● Song by Artist

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[gehry benjamin ollivander]

All I can do
when my head's in the clouds

Is be here in the moment

May 7, 2027
eleanor gwendolen ollivander

”Six months?” Benny half swirled around, eyebrows furrowed in shock. Merlin, that was a long time to wait for something. Didn’t she have Cursebreaker friends that could bring it back for her? If Benny had to wait that long for anything, he’d lose interest before it even arrived. In this way, he admired his sisters for their endless patience. Perhaps they had taken it all, and none was left for Benny. It was a blessing his parents didn’t push him as they did the older ones. Frankie might hold a different opinion about that, but Benny tried not to linger on how his older brother behaved these days. He much preferred his memories from when he was small.

”Merlin…’ It was no wonder she was frustrated. Imagine all that gold spent, time waiting, and the damn thing didn’t want to cooperate. Well, now Benny had to make it work simply because he knew he could. Benny was not blind to his own talent or his professors' frustrated and shocked faces when he knew what he was talking about. But Merlin-forbid Veronica made him work in the shop. He liked working at the bookstore. Laying the feather back down, he tilted his head as he stared at it. With a mind of its own, one needed a careful approach.

At Nell’s offer, Benny turned completely around in the chair. Again he tilted his head curiously, but he pushed up his sunglasses to properly view his sister. ”Putting a feather in a wand is hardly worth half the credit.” Really, he wasn’t interested in any credit. What in the world would that do for his reputation? Benny turned back around, sunglasses falling back down. ”Take the credit, Nell. You deserve it.” There was a difference—Benny sitting here because he wanted to. Not because it was expected of him, wiggling his fingers in anticipation, he picked the feather up and tried the very straightforward method of sticking the quill part into the hollow wood.

Immediately it sparked, and he was glad his sunglasses were on. Benny took off his sunglasses to inspect them for damage, but they looked brand new. ”Oh—that charm worked. I wasn’t sure it would.” And with a shrug, he was hunched over again, feathering his fingers and hands steady. Despite the excess of caffeine and sugar, he felt quite calm. And that seemed to do something as the feather stopped resisting. But as soon as Benny felt the excitement of success, it rejected him again. ”Merlin—ok.” A frustrated breath exited his nose. ”You’re never going to get this feather into the wand as frazzled as you are right now.” There was some magic on top of magic when it came to wands. His father could never quite explain it, and neither could any of them. He supposed it was just that Ollivander instinct.

Still, Benny stopped. There was an excitable and stubborn energy. Wands with this core were known to cast their own spells, or so it was said. ”Here—“ He had an idea. ”—why don’t you try it, but you have to stay calm.” If there was something Benny could claim to have mastered, it was remaining calm.

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[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

▲

"Six months." Something about repeating it really sealed the deal on how ridiculous the whole thing was. Though to be fair, this was a Thunderbird feather they were talking about. An extremely rare and highly regarded magical item needed to be tracked, investigated, and properly handled as it made its way to her. The paperwork alone was a book, mostly legal documents dictating that she wouldn't have her payment returned if the feather was lost or damaged in transit and that legally they weren't responsible if someone stole it. The typical jargon that kept them safe if something went wrong. She'd ran it by a magical contracts attorney that she knew and it all checked out. Of course she had her own set of paperwork sent to the sellers in order to make sure everything was legit and this wasn't a smuggled feather or illegally harvested from a Thunderbird. The Americans took the creature very seriously, which is why she did as well. This was an absolute exception and rare acquisition. Doing everything the right way would garner trust and hopefully more feathers or other unique core materials in the future.

Nell shook her head as her brother tried to say she deserved all of it. "That's absolutely not happening if I can't manage the most important part of it," Veronica would call her a quitter if she heard her say that. But it was true. The feather did not want her to touch it. Her hands were tied on this one, and it wasn't like she could return it. She also didn't have a license to sell exotic magical creature parts, just purchasing them. If he refused his portion of the pay, then she'd just silently use it to buy him coffee for a few months. That was where it would end up anyways.

The first spark it issued as Benny tried to snake the feather in was basically what had been happening to her the entire time. There had been a point early on where she wondered if it was possibly the wood that the feather was rejecting. When tested with several other wand shells though, it repeated the reaction. Seeing it do the same to her brother at least confirmed that it didn't have anything to do with her. It preferred to be stubborn, apparently. All at once though, it stopped fighting him and went sort of limp. That wasn't the right word for it, but compared to how it had been bending away from the wand this whole time, looking all flopped over was fairly apt. That only made her more anxious, because Benny suddenly stopped trying to get it in.

Nell's first instinct was to argue that she was calm, despite not being true. Benny had a point though. She was beyond frazzled now. Stress was practically her middle name to begin with, so she hadn't really thought about how it could be effecting the current wand. Most didn't fight her this much, eventually giving in because they seemed to realize it was for the better. Calming down right now would be impossible though. Unless... "Accio calming draught," Nell cast, the door to her flat opening and the sound of a vial clinking off the wall gently approaching her. "This might help a bit," she stated as it landed in her hand and she pulled the cork stopper out with her teeth with a satisfying pop. Normally she used it to manage anxiety, but it would probably work for this too, right?

Taking a smaller than normal sip of the calming draught, Nell felt the immediate effects of it starting to kick in. "Okay, move over," she asked as she stood above the work station and picked up the Thunderbird feather again. It didn't react violently as it had been, though her moment of excitement definitely made the individual tendrils flex in reaction. Taking a deep breath to even herself out again (and allow another second or two for the potion to fully kick in), Nell carefully started to slide the feather closer to the wand. The first part went in nicely, another 'reverberation' of sorts occurring when it looked like the feather sensed the magic of the beech wood it was being paired with.

She hadn't realized she was holding her breath until the Thunderbird feather was completely slid into the core of the wand, after which she let out a long exhale and quickly rounded out the remainder of the wand. "Brilliant. Can't wait for that to blow up in the face of the first person I hand it to." Thankfully the legal liability on that would be on whoever was holding the wand, as everyone knew wandmakers couldn't be held responsible for damage caused by their creations. She simply made the tools.

gehry benjamin ollivander ● 800 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[gehry benjamin ollivander]

All I can do
when my head's in the clouds

Is be here in the moment

May 7, 2027
eleanor gwendolen ollivander

”Merlin, can’t you get the Cursebreaker to bring one next time?” Did Cursebreakers have to pass through customs? Perhaps the goblins had agreements or ways of moving all their items. There had to be, Benny thought. But he didn’t care enough to think too hard about it. At least he could make himself useful for once instead of just brooding in a corner. From what Benny remembered in school, he hadn’t changed all that much in personality. Either way, Gringotts must have some kind of legal backing for transporting their gold and goods, right?

Leave it to Nell to refuse to take the credit. Some might call it honorable, but Benny knew it was pride. Hence the spots of green wherever one looked rather than red. In any case, Benny didn’t want to spark something larger than what this feather was capable of if Veronica ever saw his name on a wand box in Nell’s shop and not hers. As much as he ‘didn’t care’ about all these things, it didn’t mean he was blind. It was simply easier to take things in stride, although Benny struggled a bit when his brother made his remarks when a little less than sober.

The lightbulb that went off in his head dinged loudly. Of course. The feather responded to his energy when he took a breath and calmed himself. When Benny had initially taken a seat, he had been full of excited and curious energy, and the feather reacted as such. So, he thought to test the idea with Nell considering her infamous nerves. A draught flew into her hand at her command. Benny waited and watched. He peered over her shoulder from a distance. That way, he wasn’t hovering or disrupting. ”Look at that.” Benny beamed at the success of it all. ”I imagine whomever it picks will be strong enough to handle it.” Surely they had to be, or it truly would blow up in their face.

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[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

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"You know that would be highly illegal," Nell had shot back, only realizing her tone made her sound exactly like Veronica. Merlin, of course she'd be like that. Years of working under her sister and being subjected to her stress was bound to rub off on her one way or another. It was a miracle that Gideon seemed to be a normal child, unwavered by his mother's ability to be a sociopathic bitch towards her own family. Thankfully the calming draught scrubbed those thoughts away instantly. "Even if Rhys was willing," she started again, slower this time, "That would be risking his job and other wandmakers would look down on me for breaking the rules." Many already disliked that the Ollivanders had such a stranglehold on Diagon's wandmaking, and there had been whispers about her store when it first opened. That was only one of the reasons why she also made furniture in addition to the wands. Diversifying had been about more than trying to keep herself busy.

Benny seemed more excited about the outcome than she was. Yes, it was great that the feather was in now and seemed to be reacting properly with the vessel. She still wasn't happy that it had taken this long though. "Or it'll sit on my shelf for decades collecting dust." If there was one thing Ollivanders were good at, it was making more wands than they could sell. Some would call it hoarding. Her dad said it was 'preparing for the future'. They were all compelled to make wands, after all. Even though Benny rarely sat in the chair, he still could. Nell assumed Gideon would follow his mother too, eventually taking over the shop. If not...well that would leave an interesting absence. Veronica would rather die than see Nell ever running Ollivander's. While she had no confirmation on it, her running theory was that her older sister's boggart was of Nell running the shop in her stead. Or maybe Frankie. She didn't know what would be worse.

Finishing the last few steps to round the wand out, calmly and carefully, Nell slumped back in her chair. "Ok. Where'd you want to go again?" she asked her brother. She was all his for the rest of the day. Attempting another wand after this one would only lead to more frustration.

gehry benjamin ollivander ● 388 ● Song by Artist

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[gehry benjamin ollivander]

All I can do
when my head's in the clouds

Is be here in the moment

May 7, 2027
eleanor gwendolen ollivander

Benny raised an eyebrow, giving Nell a look before slowly looking away. ”Sorry mum.” He sarcastically droned out a response. She was probably right, but it seemed reasonable that Cursebreakers had some kind of exception? There was no way anyone made that much gold by following the rules or boundaries. Or maybe Benny had watched too much television or perused far too many outlandish graphic novels in the store. Again, he looked at his older sister—although more from the perspective that she was clearly missing something. ”Can’t he say its for work or the bank or something?” It was worth a shot. Benny’s mind raced with ideas on utilizing this new connection. This gave him another thought. ”Get Vasilia to ask him—then he’ll do it.”

In the pit of his stomach, something sat heavily for a moment, but he brushed it off. Benny told himself it was because she was a friend—a good friend. And she deserved someone better than that. How many times had he walked into the pub, immediately noting how well she hid how upset she was? And how many times had Benny noted how Rhys’ eyes wandered when Vasilia wasn’t looking. Still, despite his suspicions, it did appear that Vasilia had Rhys wrapped around her finger. In any case, Benny kept all this to himself as usual. It wasn’t as if he would swing in like some brave, overconfident Gryffindor to save the day.

”I wonder who will end up with it?” Benny mused out loud. What kind of person would they be? Quiet? Loud? Adventurous? It was fascinating to study wands and those who wielded them. ”Outside.” He responded simply. That was his original request, but he didn’t feel picky that day. ”I’m going to assume you didn’t eat lunch. We can start there.” Workaholics. So typical of an Ollivander, or most of them. And Benny suddenly felt hungry from all the excitement.

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[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

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Nell wasn't going to risk her job and life, let alone Rhys's, just to get a Thunderbird feather. All of her suppliers would instantly blacklist her from distribution too, and then she'd be stuck with locally sourcing cores and woods. Which severely limited her to even less than what her sister was using at Ollivander's. Could she switch to solely making rocking chairs and other furniture? Absolutely. But she'd have to say goodbye to wandmaking the way she was currently doing it. Returning to private sales was not what she wanted to be doing at this point in her career. "Please, I don't like even joking about that. I agree, sometimes it would be easier to circumnavigate customs, but I can't do it." Nell had no problem being boring about her material procurement. Black market wandmaking was not in her future.

"Probably someone impressive," she commented on the wand as she carefully set everything to the side for later. Hopefully she was around to see it sell. Or as Veronica had put it the month prior during her lovely visit, 'maybe her children'. The mere thought of that right now made her gag slightly. Benny would probably agree. "How'd you know?" she said as she waved her wand at her jacket, summoning it into her hand. "Skipping meals while hyper focused on a wand is our speciality after all. Can't buy all those core materials if you're spending money on food," she joked. Except it hadn't been much of a joke while she was still apprenticing under her sister and was trying to get her own business started. Coffee suited her just fine as a continuous meal throughout the day.

"I ate lunch at the Violet Hound the other day, so maybe not there," Nell mentioned as she slipped her jacket on and ushered her brother outside so she could lock up. "And I'm not doing ice cream for a meal again."

gehry benjamin ollivander ● 322 ● Song by Artist

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[gehry benjamin ollivander]

All I can do
when my head's in the clouds

Is be here in the moment

May 7, 2027
eleanor gwendolen ollivander

Benny shrugged playfully, dropping the subject. He never said he would have taken those routes if he were in either of his sister’s positions, but they were merely ideas. Even if he didn’t seem like it, behind the bright yellow sunglasses and blown pupils were many ideas that Benny typically kept to himself. But reputation was important, and even he saw the need to maintain and build as a competitor. As much as he loved his family’s old shop, how one felt when you walked in and all that—he always found something interesting at Nell’s shop. Never in his lifetime would he have imagined seeing a Thunderbird feather, let alone handling one. It would have been far too much work to seek that type of adventure.

”That’s a good point!” Benny agreed, although he caught his sister’s tone. Skipping meals was rare for Benny as he sometimes ate about as much as a Graphorn. ”You may have the business mind, big sister, but otherwise, we’re like two bowtruckles in a branch.” Playfully, he lightly bumped Nell with his shoulder, a goofy grin on his face. If not for the physical resemblance of the siblings, one might not find them that similar if going by personality. ”What’s wrong with The Violet Hound?” Benny wondered, brows furrowing. ”They have an excellent pie.” Vasilia’s shepherd’s pie was nothing short of excellent. Still, Benny didn’t fight Nell on it. ”The Fountain has a decent sandwich.” Benny offered. He visited The Fountain of Fair Fortune occasionally when he felt like a change of scenery.

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[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

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Like bowtruckles in a branch? She hadn’t heard that phrase in a long time. Sure, they were more like that now than when they were younger. Had all of them been born on a more compressed timeline, she could see how they’d be even closer. Veronica aside, of course. Nell always had a feeling that even if a year or two separated them, her sister would still be the same way. Something about being the eldest and having responsibilities. As if they all didn’t have those. Just because she chose to start a family earlier than the rest of them and happened to be born first, didn’t mean she was the superior Ollivander. And anyways, if Nell was spending her meal money on wand materials, Benny was spending it on things that could make him high. Which then made him hungrier, right?

”Sure. Like bowtruckles,” she nodded at him, not fully convinced. ”I mean, I’m fine with the Violet Hound. I just like to, you know, diversify my meals a bit.” Which was rich coming from her. She spent way too much on muggle take-out these days. It was so difficult to will herself into cooking after spending all day bent over wands or furniture, putting fine details on them, or trying to get finicky charms to work. Her brother obviously knew where all of the good food places were, so she was more willing to let him choose than sit around and contemplate what was the healthiest or whatever. ”Wherever you want. It’ll be quicker than letting me decide. Honestly,” she said honestly. At this point, after having spent all morning fighting the Thunderbird feather, any kind of food worked for her. Except ice cream for lunch.

”Lead the way and I’ll follow,” Nell added as she heard the shop door lock with a tap from her wand. That was probably opening her up to having a long lunch, but it wasn’t like she’d had any customers today anyways. Even Fridays were barely busy for her. All she had to do this afternoon was prep for the normal weekend crowd. In which she could force Benny to help her set up for after lunch…

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