first timer | nell

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

july 2028

LONG BEFORE GRADUATION, YVONNE DE SNAIJER knew she wanted to eventually cut ties with her family. It felt horrible to admit, given Lila's help throughout the years, especially when the De Snaijer's parents were ultimately killed. Although she was thankful, she was also forced into a life she didn't want. There were other factors of course, that grew with the resentment she had held but finally graduating from Hogwarts was the biggest relief the teenager felt.

Funnily enough though, with her future goals in mind, Hogwarts was the one place she would be going right back to. Regardless though, it was summer. And summer meant trying new things, such as getting your first part time job, in an area of expertise your boyfriend had experience in...working alongside no other..than his aunt. Stepping through Horizont Alley and approaching The Queen's Wands and Woodworks, Yvonne swallowed the nerves in her throat.

This was probably the worse idea she had yet, but sometimes risks - even stupid risks - were worth it. Pushing the door open, the De Snaijer smiled small at the little chime while eyes wandered around, taking in the different creations amongst her.

| eleanor gwendolen ollivander |

SORRY FOR THE WAAAAIT D:

[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

▲

Nell knew that eventually she was going to need to get some kind of help for her shop. She had made it three years without having to get an employee that wasn’t one of her brothers occasionally helping out with menial tasks like sweeping the shop or sitting behind the cash register when she had to run an errand. There was finally a point where she felt like having a part-timer would be beneficial. Whether that was for just a normal cashier job or potentially turning into an apprenticeship, she wasn’t sure yet. She planned to teach them everything she could regardless, as needing to know the wares was extremely important. That tended to be the problem with working at Ollivander’s. The employees had to be a wandmaker, only because they needed to know all of the ins and outs of the wands that were being sold. Luckily her own shop had more than wands, and giving details and taking orders for her charmed furniture was fairly easy to do.

The girl she had hired was supposedly Gideon’s girlfriend. Nell didn’t want to pry and certainly didn’t want to interfere with her nephew’s life too much. She liked having a solid relationship with him, which she often wondered if that ticked off her sister at all. All the better, really. Needless to say, Nell was nervous because she’d never had someone work directly under her that she couldn’t lovingly bully, and she didn’t want to come across as the crazy aunt. She didn’t think she was that way, but anxiousness had a way of making things weird sometimes.

She had spent all morning pacing back and forth between the shop and workshop portions of the building. If there had been a carpet there, she would have worn it out by now. It was a bad habit of hers, something she’d always felt like she’d get yelled at for by her sister. Even in school, there had been points where her roommates had told her to sit down because her pacing made them nervous too.

Eventually, the front door to the shop opened and Nell hurriedly made her way there, sort of hoping it was a customer and not her new employee, Yvonne. She was wrong, of course, and instantly felt the nerves take over. Her single thought was to not act like an overbearing adult. ”Th-Thanks for coming in, Yvonne.” Nell found herself stumbling over her words. Merlin, she hadn’t been like this since her NEWT exam in Potions. Or maybe telling Veronica she was leaving to start her own shop. Maybe both. ”Umm…I guess to start I can show you around the shop? And if you have any questions, just ask away.” Yeah. That seemed like would work.

yvonne rae de snaijer ● 459 ● Song by Artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

NOT EXPECTING TO SEE ELEANOR Ollivander so quickly, Yvonne almost jumped out of her skin as she heard someone speak in her direction. Smiling as wide as she could, the De Snaijer nodded happily. "It's my pleasure..thank you for giving me the opportunity!" Despite her disconnect from Lila and her siblings, Yvonne had finally learned over the years that kindness did indeed cost nothing. And if she was kind for even the smallest of things, a door of opportunities could open for her.

Not even noticing that Eleanor had stumbled over her words, Yvonne nodded. "A tour would be great." It would be a great ice breaker and allow the De Snaijer to form any kinds of questions after all. "You..make more than wands here right?" During her time of living in England, Yvonne was forced by Lila to visit the Ollivanders, and it grew rather tiresome every time the eldest twin needed to change her wand. The feathers and cores tended to be the same over there.

Listening to stories about Eleanor from Gideon only sparked something within the De Snaijer, and despite having a career path in mind, what was learning one more potentially useful skill going to do?

| eleanor gwendolen ollivander |

[eleanor gwendolen ollivander]

▲

Nell really wasn’t ready to have an employee. She had so many concerns about accidentally turning into Veronica and becoming an absolute bitch to anyone that worked under her. It was one thing if Frankie came by and tended the till or cleaned up the workshop, or if Benny wanted to assist on a wand or two because he felt like it that day. To have a complete stranger as her worker though? If Ollivander’s had operated that way it also would have been different. Nell had always been the lowest rung employee, even as an apprentice. It was all so nerve-wrecking and she had been losing sleep over it.

Thankfully talking shop was one way that Nell was able to diffuse her anxiousness. It had always been that way, even in school. Worried about some new person that had approached her? Talk about Potions. Going on a date? Bombard them with details about wandmaking. It always ended up with her not getting another one, but it helped in the moment. She swore she was an actual functioning adult that had a business she ran. And not being in a committed relationship had other benefits too. No one else around her seemed to know about that part though, which she was fine with.

”Yeah…so the wands obviously,” she motioned with a broad gesture at the shelf that held her several dozen wands she currently had available. ”And then also all of the furniture over there. Self-rocking rocking chairs are the big seller. Mostly to expecting mothers. I make them all in the workshop out back and then use a series of charms on them to achieve the autonomous movement.” That was about as basic of an explanation she could give about her work. There were other pieces too, ones that matched the rocking chairs, and ones that could be custom ordered. Her waitlist was currently lengthy, to the point where she couldn’t take any more currently.

”But with the wands, I do things a bit differently from the rest of my family. Different woods and cores mostly. I try to specialize for more complicated careers and things like that.” Nell stepped to the side so Yvonne could take a look at the wand shelf. Their woods, cores, and length were all written on the end of their boxes.

yvonne rae de snaijer ● 388

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[yvonne rae de snaijer]

━ callin' it quits now, baby, i'm a wreck━

FOLLOWING ALONGSIDE ELEANOR, YVONNE MADE sure she was listening as if this was an active test. In some ways it felt like it but in other ways she knew that if she ever had doubts she could simply..ask a question about it. Yvonne hadn't exactly let it slip to Gideon that she was thinking of doing such a thing - working for his aunt - but instead she was careful with her choice of words.

Gideon had made it clear that Eleanor (Aunt Nell) was very clear with her instructions and tended to 'geek' over the joys of wand-making. Eyes widened though, watching through Eleanor's gesture as she pointed upwards to the wands that sat comfortably on the shelf, at least a dozen on display. Yvonne could already tell that they were different from the kind you could see at Ollivanders and that's what made the experience more interesting.

"I see! How long does a rocking chair usually..take you to craft? I'm sure the charm is easy to cast instead of the woodwork right?.." Yvonne finally had more of an interest in charms, but learning how to whittle and be precise with different types of wood seemed interesting no less.

"Right!..I visited..Ollivanders when I first moved to England and eventually noticed the same types of woods and cores there..Especially after I broke my last wand..What tends to be your popular wand core?..Or is it different all the time?" As Yvonne spoke, she noticed Eleanor moving to the side so she could look more at the wand shelf and the De Snaijer jumped at the opportunity. Seeing them more clearly made her interest sky rocket.

| eleanor gwendolen ollivander |