|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
May 20, 2019 10:16:18 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2019 10:16:18 GMT -7
As they had promised one another after they had met at the Leaky Cauldron, Tamatha and Dmitri had arranged to meet one another again so that she could show him Diagon Alley. She really hadn't played "tour guide" of the magical shopping district before Cameron had come and had to purchase the supplies that she needed for Hogwarts, but Tamatha knew the area and the shops well enough. It was still amusing to her that Dmitri had gone without checking out the place, but at least he wouldn't be able to say that he had never been to Diagon Alley except for once before.
Although she didn't anticipate that Dmitri would have any trouble getting to Diagon Alley, she had decided to make it easy on him and suggest that they meet at the Leaky Cauldron. He knew how to get there, and the place wouldn't be too busy after lunch on a random Saturday.
It had been a few weeks since they had met, though the weather hadn't warmed up substantially in the interim. It wasn't so cold that they wouldn't be able to walk around, however, which was good. Tamatha was willing to bet good money, in fact, that Dmitri would show up in a sweatshirt and not a coat.
She waited just inside the pub, seated at a table and watching the door for him.
@dmitri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
May 21, 2019 20:12:00 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on May 21, 2019 20:12:00 GMT -7
Dmitri wasn't exactly new to the country, but he hasn't spent lots of time exploring it. He worked in the Ministry of Magic and lived outside of the city with his younger sister. He didn't have much of a reason to explore, expect for spending time with her. But due to events in the past years in the area, he didn't want to be anywhere dangerous with her. True, she wasn't a child anymore, but he practically raised the girl, and so he felt as though she was his responsibility. But he had met a nice woman in the Leaky Cauldron late one night, and they had hit it off. True, that was part of Dmitri's conman charm that he had learned growing up. He wasn't about to take all her money and leave her heart broken, he was determined to be good, but that didn't mean that he didn't use the skills he had gathered on the way. The two had conversed through owl. It was quite interesting to get an owl at the ministry. The door to the love room remains locked at all times. He had to physically leave to receive it.
The two had agreed to meet at the Leaky Cauldron one Saturday afternoon, just after the lunch rush. It wasn't that he had never been to Diagon Alley before. He had gone once, to a crooked looking bookstore where he bought a few English wizarding school books for his sister, to help with her studies. They did have a few, in Russian, but he wan'ted her to practice English as much as possible, because that was where they lived now.
Dmitri arrived at the pub to see the beautiful Tammy sitting at a table. It had warmed up a little bit since that night, plus, the sun was out. The native Russian wore a lighter sweatshirt than that night, and even had the pulled up to cling to his elbows, leaving his forearms bear. He walked up to the woman with a smile, not surprised to see her wearing warmer cloths than he was, which wasn't hard to do. "It's been a wile Tammy, how have you been" He greeted her with an enchanting smile.
@tamatha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
May 21, 2019 21:35:49 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on May 21, 2019 21:35:49 GMT -7
Dmitri didn't keep her waiting for long. As Tamatha had predicted, he didn't have a coat on, or even a heavier cloak. He was wearing a sweatshirt, however. Unless he had enchanted it to be warmer on than it actually looked, it appeared to be of a lighter material than what she recalled that Dmitri had worn when they had met before. Although her theory that maybe it was warmer than it looked would have been a decent hunch, he also had his sleeves rolled up so that his arms were partially exposed. She had thought of herself as being pretty hardy after her share of winters in Canada, but it wasn't that warm inside, was it?
He smiled and said that it had been a while, and he asked her how she'd been. For one thing, she was glad not to be quite so cold as Dmitri probably was. (Then again, maybe it wasn't just him, she thought. Why did guys always wear shorts, even with ridiculous amounts of ice and snow?) Luckily, though, it wasn't snowing; the pavement wasn't icy, and she doubted that anything back in Diagon Alley would be slippery. It was cold, but that was the extent of it. The sun was even shining, which made it a beautiful day to be outside.
"I've been good," she nodded, moving to her feet. Her birthday had come and gone, not that she felt it needed mentioning. Plus, as far as she knew, nothing bad had happened to Cameron at Hogwarts since she had returned to school. That was about all that Tamatha could ask for. No news from her sister was good news; work was work… It really wasn't a bad time, all in all.
"How have you been?" she asked Dmitri in return. In the light of day, it was easier to see how handsome he actually was, sweatshirt and all.
@dmitri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
May 29, 2019 17:49:23 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on May 29, 2019 17:49:23 GMT -7
"I've been good," the woman that Dmitri had walked up to said. He had a feeling that there was more to that then just "good" but he wasn't going to pry. Prying was often seen as being rude, or pushy. This was not something that Dmitri wanted to be. He was sure that there was still something that he could gain from her. Currently, what he was after was a nice tour of Diagon Alley. He didn't want to risk that.
"How have you been?" She asked him. He smiled at Tammy as he responded. "I have been good also." Truth is, he had left work the night before on a sour note. Just as they were researching their forbidden subject, they had come to an impasse. Agreeing to come back to it after the weekend with a rested mind. And that was what Dmitri was trying to do...not think about it. "Has work been treating you well?" He inquired. He knew that she worked closely with Quidditch teams, so things must be interesting there.
@tamatha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
May 29, 2019 21:30:01 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on May 29, 2019 21:30:01 GMT -7
Dmitri answered her that he had been well also, at which Tamatha nodded. She was glad to hear it. Whatever monthly quota of horrible stuff the universe seemed destined to throw at everyone anymore had seemingly passed them by—knock on wood. He asked if work had been treating her well, and she nodded again.
“Yeah. It has been pretty busy, though.” Not being too personally invested in any of the British or Irish teams had its perks, one of which was not having been crushed by the season that the Appleby Arrows had been having lately. That match that they had had against Yorkshire really hadn’t been pretty, and the Wimbourne Wasps’ win over Puddlemere United had been excruciating close… until the Wasps caught the Golden Snitch. Tamatha admittedly felt the worst for the Holyhead Harpies players. They hadn’t yet had a victory all season, though someone had to end up losing. She was curious to see what the next few matches would bring—and if there would be any changes to the teams’ managements or rosters as a result. “It’s been a hell of a season.”
Thank Merlin she wasn’t a Quidditch player.
@dmitri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 1, 2019 19:24:58 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2019 19:24:58 GMT -7
Tammy said that work had been busy. Dmitri could understand that. He got his first job when he was 18. To be honest, it wasn't that long ago, but before that, he worked to streets and underground of Moscow.
Dmitri didn't stay up to date on Quidditch. To be honest. He knew more about muggle sports, but that was because he would help his father cheat while running bets during the games. He knew about the game, but didn't have much of a reason to follow it. Not like some of the other ministry workers. "Tell me more." Again, he knew the rules, and that there were many teams. He wasn't really that interested in them, to be honest. But Tammy worked in that world, so he was interested. He had learned, the best way to get what you want from anyone, is to be interested in what they are interested in.
@tamatha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 1, 2019 19:52:51 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2019 19:52:51 GMT -7
“Tell me more,” Dmitri urged her when she brought up her work and how intense the Quidditch season had been. Tamatha knew that shouldn’t have felt so surprised that he was interested in it, but it was also kind of funny to her, all the same.
“Yeah, I mean… I don’t really know how much of it you follow, but...” she prefaced, honestly not knowing if he was wanting some dirty gossip that she didn’t really have or needed the basics on the sport entirely. She figured that it was probably something he already knew about, in general; they had Quidditch in Russia, too, didn’t they? “Some of the teams have been, uh, not doing the greatest this year.” For the sake of her job, it was probably better that she didn’t talk trash about any of the teams in specific. If Dmitri even glanced over the Quidditch scores in the Daily Prophet, though, Tamatha had a feeling that he would know what she meant. (Even just the disparity between Yorkshire and the Arrows… 290 to 40 before the Snitch was caught!) “Of course, that makes my life interesting,” she elaborated, “especially when you have a bunch of coaches and managers pointing fingers and—” She drew in a breath. “It’s kind of crap, but at least none of it’s directed towards me.” There was that silver lining.
@dmitri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 9, 2019 14:01:13 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2019 14:01:13 GMT -7
Dmitri understood the idea of discretion in the work place. Tammy mentioned that some teams were struggling, in one way of another. It told him that she was classy enough to keep things quiet. Dmitri had been taught the art of discretion since birth. Another thing the man who raised him trained him to do, was research. Researching his subject and their interests were key to getting what you wanted. Perhaps, if things continued, Dmitri needed to do a bit more refreshing on the subject of Quidditch. It wouldn't be hard. The local wizarding paper always seemed to be on top if that. "I have always found, that its better to have an interesting job, than a boring one." He stated after she had finished talking. "I am glad that nothing bad is coming directly at you though." Expectations were something that every adult has to deal with in the work place. But he was lucky. Not even the Minister knew what he was working on directly.
@tamatha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 9, 2019 14:28:55 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2019 14:28:55 GMT -7
Dmitri commented that he believed it was better to have an interesting job rather than a boring one, to which Tamatha nodded her head. She knew that her job could have been significantly worse; she could have been one of the reporters who was actually responsible for writing up the articles. When she had still been a journalist, it hadn't been too bad. Nobody back in Canada had ever really cared enough to harass her about what she'd written; they knew that she was doing a job and took it out on the editorial column, if anything. Here? Well, she wouldn't have been too shocked if some of the Daily Prophet staff got the occasional Howler.
"I couldn't really see myself working in some cubicle writing up reports on Doxy bites or something," she smiled. Tamatha supposed that there must have been people at the Ministry who were actually responsible for that kind of thing—and some who probably enjoyed it—but at least she got some human interaction in her working life.
Dmitri added that he was glad, at least, that nobody's frustrations had been directed at her. Tamatha had to laugh. "I'll give it a few more weeks before they're finding something to blame us coordinators for, too." Someone would find some way to make it happen.
Really, it was neither here nor there. She was always as professional as possible while on the job and always had been. Tamatha didn't think that she would have gotten away from Canada if it hadn't been for her work ethic. She had seen that as a blessing for a long time, given the wall—or, more precisely, an ocean—that it put up between her and her family when she had tried to avoid all of the guilt and shame of her brother's death and what still felt like her fault for not having done something.
But, of course, she had since come to realize that Cameron, too, had struggled with her own guilt, convinced their parents that her younger sister needed help before she did something even worse, and now taken Cameron into her care—more or less—since she was a nearer adult relative to her than their parents were.
"Anyway," work—and the family stuff that ran through her head but that she had no intention of mentioning to Dmitri—aside, Tamatha glanced in the direction of the door that led out to the alley. (Actually, it led to a dead end unless one knew how to access the alley, but that was the way it worked.) "Are you ready for your tour?"
@dmitri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 23, 2019 12:25:54 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2019 12:25:54 GMT -7
Office politics was defiantly something that Dmitri could understand, but still felt foreign to him. When he turned 18, and left home, he got his first...legal job. And it wasn't that bad, just a small potions shop. Now that he works at the Ministry, he seemed to be utilizing the skills he gained as a child more. While he didn't talk about his work with anyone, you couldn't be blunt about it. There was a level of tact that one had to use. Perhaps that was why he felt it harder to shake his past habits.
Dmitri laughed at Tammy's mention about writing reports about Doxy bites. Perhaps she thought that he worked a normal desk job at the ministry. And in a way, working in the Department of Mysteries was close to working a desk job. He had never really had one, so he didn't fully know. But Tammy didn't seem to be the type of person to enjoy sitting down in the same place every day for work, doing the same thing over and over again.
In time, she motioned the way to a different door to the pub than he had come in. "Are you ready for your tour?" She had asked. He smiled and nodded "Lets go." And he started towards the door, opening it, and holding it for the woman he was with. Dmitri was a gentleman. At least it was when it suited his needs. "After you." He had caught a glimpse to where the door lead, and it seemed to be a bricked in area. But he was a wizard and knew that there must be a magical trick to it.
@tamatha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 23, 2019 15:36:31 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2019 15:36:31 GMT -7
"Let's go," Dmitri smiled and nodded in response to her question about starting his tour of Diagon Alley. He moved towards the door, as Tamatha did also, and held it open for her. "After you."
"Why, thank you, sir," Tamatha nodded her head, stepping out into the odd not-quite-a-courtyard that led them out to the street. Although it didn't look like it, given the brick walls that surrounded them on three sides, they were just steps away from where they needed to be. Hopefully, she thought to herself, Dmitri had figured out that this wasn't some trick; it was just magic.
She looked back over her shoulder at him and motioned him forward so that he would be able to see the specific brick that needed to be tapped. While there were other ways into Diagon Alley—primarily the Floo Network and Apparation—it was still important information if he ever needed it.
"Alright. So, to get in…" Tamatha began, pulling out her wand so that she could demonstrate, "from the trash can there," which had never once moved, thankfully, "you have to tap the brick that's three up and two across."
@dmitri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 25, 2019 19:57:18 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2019 19:57:18 GMT -7
Tammy was a lovely girl. It was a shame that Dmitri was being nice just to use her for his own purposes. Luckily for her, he was wasn't a bad guy. Not like he used to be. The two walked into the small area. It appeared to be a small area that would usually have an "employee's only" sign on the door leading to it. But this was no ordinary pub, and the wall in front of them, was obviously no ordinary wall. His first, and only, trip to Diagon Alley, Dmitri had used the floo powder system. It was quite simple, and there were fire places everywhere.
She had motioned him closer, and Dmitri moved inches from the woman, watching her every move. She was pulling out her wand when she began to speak. "Quite a nifty trick to know" And the pub was in London. So any which or wizard in the area, could easily walk there. He did work in London, and he did want to explore more of it. But why just stick with the Muggle side of the city. "And you just tap the brick with your wand?" It wouldn't be too hard to remember once simple brick.
@tamatha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 25, 2019 20:33:40 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2019 20:33:40 GMT -7
Dmitri appeared to understand her directions without any hassle. "Quite a nifty trick to know," he said of the one brick that was secretly—or probably not-so-secretly, given how many witches and wizards flowed in and out of Diagon Alley—their entryway. "And you just tap the brick with your wand?"
"Yeah. Three times," Tamatha nodded, counting again just to be certain and then doing precisely that. Making sure that she and Dmitri were both back at a far enough distance away from the wall, she tapped her wand against the "special" brick—once, twice, and once more after that—and waited.
Once it had been tapped, the brick jiggled in its place for a moment, revealing a small hole in the wall. Then that hole grew gradually larger and larger in size, until an archway plenty large enough for the two of them to step through had made itself apparent.
"Here we are," Tamatha smiled, looking to Dmitri. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."
@dmitri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 26, 2019 17:47:48 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2019 17:47:48 GMT -7
"Yeah. Three times," Dmitri's tour guide had told him. That was simple enough to remember. To be honest, if it was up to him, Dmitri would have made it more complex. But he understood that it wasn't necessary. Any muggle who found their way into this are - if that was possible at all - wouldn't have a chance to open it. Even if that muggle had tapped the same brick three times. Just the idea that a wand had to be used was enough to keep Diagon Alley safe from unwanted eyes. And it did have to be easy to access. Especially with the amount of witches and wizards in the area.
Tammy had tapped the brick three times, pausing shortly before she did, and stepped back. Dmitri allowed room for that, moving so that she didn't run into him.
He looked past, through the newly formed brick archway to see the pathway, with shops on either side. The ascetic of these shops were far from the modern world that he had come from just this morning. True, he had seen the area before, but with the bricks moving, and seeing it from this entrance, it did seem different. "Lead the way" He smiled and motioned to his tour guide.
@tamatha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online May 5, 2024 11:22:06 GMT -7
|
|
|
Jun 26, 2019 18:11:28 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2019 18:11:28 GMT -7
"Lead the way," Dmitri told her, and so Tamatha did, stepping out of the archway that led from the courtyard and onto the cobblestoned street. It wasn't packed with people, luckily; it was usually worse at the holidays and in September when all of the Hogwarts students were returning to school. Tamatha had been able to avoid the latter for a while, up until Cameron had arrived and needed to purchase her school supplies.
"Alright," Tamatha began, waiting for Dmitri to follow her, at which point the archway through which they had entered would rearrange itself back into the solid brick wall that it had been when they'd approached it. "So, this is where pretty much everyone in wizarding Britain buys just about everything," she stated. Everyone, it seemed, except for Dmitri.
"This is the North Side of Diagon Alley," Tamatha added. "Most of the shops are going to be down along this way, and—of course—you have Gringotts, the bank, straight ahead," she said, gesturing towards the unmistakably large marble structure down the street ahead of them.
@dmitri OOC: I'm using the MinaLima map as my reference, so you know.
|
|
|
|