July 18, 1888 — Ollivander's Wands, Hogsmeade

With a small sack clutched in one of her hands, Billie scurried her way down High Street, peering at each shop she passed and mentally ticking off how many more until her destination. The fog had her constantly double checking everywhere she wandered. Just yesterday she had found herself turned around and down a street she hardly recognized.

When the ragamuffin finally reached the wand shop, she didn't hesitate a moment and shouldered her way through the door. She was on a mission! An old woman in Pennyworth had enlisted her to rid her cupboards of mice, and she'd mended her cap in return. It now stayed on her head instead of sliding off every other minute. However, the woman had insisted Billie exterminate the poor, little creatures, which she had done rather reluctantly. A few she had given to Pounce, the part-kneazle she'd claimed as her own, and the rest she dutifully carried down the foggy streets to share with her other feline friend.

"Adonis!" She chirped out, eagerly, completely forgetting what little manners she possessed. The waif was much too ready to be rid of the dead rodents. When sense returned to her, and she spotted Gideon, Billie quickly called out, instead, "Hello, Mr. Ollivander!" Looking about to spout out something else, she suddenly stopped and frowned at all the wood shavings that littered the floor.

Gideon Ollivander

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

To say Gideon was bored was perhaps the understatement of the century. He'd actually begun to wonder if one could truly expire from boredom. Sure, others within Hogsmeade were having a rough enough go without magic but his craft revolved solely around it. Without magic, there were no wands being made. And this was his supposed to be his busy season, dammit!

Eventually, he'd decided to sift through the wands already made with more rare and expensive cores to see if he could perfect his carving techniques. Seeing as how they were more expensive wands already, he figured they'd be the most likely to be picked up by those that could pay for them so adding intricate designs only made sense. He'd originally thought he'd only do a few but he ended up realizing that he had far more of the higher end cores than he'd thought so got lost in what he was doing.

Several boxes with velvet centers were now displayed in glass cases showing off the fancy carving work with shavings upon shavings of wood scattered about all over the ground. He'd just finished off another wand to be put on display when the door opened and the little sprite Billie came wandering in with a sack and yelling for his cat. A brow was raised but an amused expression came across his face when the little boy looked up and saw him and piped up a greeting.

"I'm not sure if I should be offended or not that you think to greet Adonis before me," he answered with a smirk, the playful tone to his voice taking out any sort of thought that he was reprimanding the child, "How have you been, Billie? Surviving out in this fog?" He didn't seem to notice his frown or where his eyes had been drawn to. Hell, it was obvious he didn't even realize the mess all over the floor he'd left amidst his working.

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Love MJ Sets

Billie grinned impishly at Gideon and held out the sack that stunk of dead rodent. She didn't apologize for her oversight of not greeting him first and instead commented, "Well, I didn't think ya wanted no dead mouse to eat." Logically, to her, it was a perfectly reasonable explanation. Not that the man couldn't eat a mouse, but, typically people preferred other food. Also, the little things didn't have much meat on them to begin with, and she found rodents altogether too chewy.

"'M good. Yeah, there's been lots of work, 'specially from people who don't want to go out in the fog and send me instead!" She stood up proudly, deciding that admission made her seem either more brave or grown up. Really, she just didn't have much choice, and she naively decided she'd probably be okay.

Billie crammed her hands into her baggy pockets and surveyed the area, particularly the ground. "What, um, whatcha doin'?" She carried the small sack over to the table she saw Adonis slinking out from, and she unceremoniously dumped out the two mice for the feline to snack on. After she was done, she returned to squinting at Gideon so she could hear his explanation. The shop hadn't looked like it did now the last time she was in there. She edged toward where the brooms were kept.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Gideon couldn't help the bark of laughter that left him at the little lad's admission. He couldn't fault him in such logic. The fog may have been hindering his shop but he would hate to think it could ever get so bad that he'd have to stoop to eating rats just to get by. He'd likely reach out to Gervaise in such a case. Probably. Maybe.

"Well at least you're being kept busy," he said with a nod, smirking slightly as Adonis inspected the offering Billie had given him. The cat seemed pleased to some extent but looked more interested in batting the mouse corpses around than actually eating them. Gideon had a feeling he'd end up having to dispose of them later but that would be alright. Adonis would be preoccupied for a bit at the very least.

"Carving wands," he answered simply as he picked the one up he'd been working on to show it to Billie, "Can't make them without magic but I can make them look fancy with a sharp blade." He was truly bored without magic and it was evident by the wood shavings on the ground just how many he'd carved. He, however, hadn't noticed the mess at his feet that had been drug around by his own movements as well as Adonis's.

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Love MJ Sets

Billie located the broom and began coaxing the wood shavings into a more manageable pile instead of strewn about the shop. She peeked at Adonis and beamed when the cat seemed to like the mice. She had always figured felines played with their food, so she assumed the rodents had been a success! Really, she just enjoyed feeding animals, even if it might not be the right kind of food.

"How the heck many have ya carved?" She blurted out, not one to beat around the bush. Judging by the debri she continued to sweep, it had to be more than she could count! Which, really, wasn't saying too much. She squinted at the one Gideon was working on and tilted her head to the side. "Do lots of people buy 'em like tha'?"

She knew very little about wands. Most of her knowledge she'd either picked up from Gideon or from others she frequently ran into. Her first week in town, she had called one a 'magic stick,' and the older gentleman she'd asked looked as if he were about to box her ears for being so impertinent. He'd thought she was playing tricks, but she truly didn't know.

She paused in her sweeping and asked a third question. "Is it hard?"

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Gideon chuckled as he shrugged in response to Billie's first question. He'd honestly lost count long ago. Probably more than he really should have carved but.. well, what else was he supposed to do with all of his free-time. It was supposed to be a far busier season but thanks to the fog, he was lucky if another soul even walked into his shop. It wasn't as if a wand shop was a necessary stop in the day to day goings of the Hogsmeade residents. Especially when magic, quite simply, didn't work.

"I'm not entirely sure how many anymore, Billie," he said with another shrug after he set the wand down he'd been working on once the little lad had looked at it, "And some do but only those that can afford to. See, the carvings add to the value of the wand. The witches and wizards that like fancy looking things are the ones to typically buy them." And even though most children could care less when they got their first wand, some parents were more uppity and preferred the fancier ones.

He watched with a bemused smile as Billie seemed to take the initiative to sweeping up all the shavings. He liked that about the little lad. He just did what needed to be done without being asked. Though, Gideon hadn't really realized just how messy the shop had been made thanks to his carving. "It isn't too hard," he answered as he continued to watch Billie, "It's more a matter of being creative enough so that they don't all look the same. It would be far easier with magic though. But this at least helps to pass the time."

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Love MJ Sets

"Ohhhh, Billie murmured in understanding. She scrounged up the dust pan and started to sweep one of the small piles she made into it. "Rich folks always want things all fancy. Even their underclothes!" The latter comment she whispered so loudly that it was a wonder why she had even attempted to be quiet at all. The waif didn't even realize saying such things was impolite, either. Oh well. Her mother had worked in a well-to-do household and occasionally was drafted to do laundry. Being her daughter, Billie was also forced to help, and she could never get over how decorative even the children's clothing was.

She emptied the dust pan into a bucket and moved to gather up another pile. "Do them designs make 'em work better?" She asked Gideon, curiously. Fancier boots lasted longer, so maybe prettier wands did, too. She cringed slightly, realizing that maybe it was a stupid question, so she turned and went back to work scooping up piles and dragging more curly bits of woods out from under a table.

"When's the magic comin' back, anyways?" Billie had heard about the fog's effects on magic, but she didn't understand it in the least. Or anything really, though, she tried. She assumed Gideon would know far more about it than she did!

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Gideon barked out a hearty laughter at the lad's hushed words about undercloths. He was still clearly a bit of an innocent little sprite. "That they do, Billie, that they do," he said once he'd recovered from the laughter, having to even thumb away some tears from his eyes the hearty laugh had brought from him. The little lad surely had a way of keeping things interesting for Gideon when he was already bored almost to tears thanks to the fog.

He watched quietly as Billie continued to clean up the mess on the ground before the lad looked up to him and asked his question. He shook his head slightly in response. "Nope," he answered simply, "It's just a bit of ornament. They'd work just the same if they were a solid bit of wood. Though the more carving that's done, the easier they can break over time. Strips away some of the strength and integrity after all." He tried not to do too much carving though. He'd hate for a wand to be broken quickly because too much of the wood had been stripped away.

"I wish I knew the answer to that," he said with a sigh, "An expedition went underway some two weeks ago. Hopefully the find the cause sooner rather than later. This should be my busy season, after all." And.. it was far from that. Which was extremely frustrating.

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Billie wasn't completely sure why her comment had caused Gideon to laugh so hard, but she took it in stride and giggled along with him, appearing almost proud that she'd made an adult laugh.

She dumped another pan full of shavings into the bucket and squinted about to make sure she hadn't missed anything. "Ohhh. Then, ya gotta be real careful with them fancy ones. Sure sounds like too much worryin' to me," the child commented, honestly. She couldn't imagine having to be concerned about breaking something she didn't even know how to use.

Billie shuffled away to put the broom back while she listened to Gideon, "Two weeks is forever! What if they don't find nothin'?" She nodded to him. "Yeah, all them kids who is goin' to that Hogwarts place are all talkin' 'bout how they can't get their wands."

"Ya want this for your stove or somethin'?" She gestured toward the bucket of wood curls.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Gideon nodded in regards to the "fancy" wands. He didn't wield one himself, never had really. His first wand had been a rather simple one and he still missed it at times. But.. he'd been rather meticulous in crafting his current wand and was quite pleased with the wand he currently carried. It had been one of his first using a mermish core. They were interesting cores truth be told and he had started carrying a variety of them after he'd made his own. Especially using cores he'd gotten himself from the mermaids in the Black Lake.

"Don't worry, lad," he said with a good natured chuckle, "They'll find something I'm sure. And when they do, all with be right as rain and we can go back to living how we always have. I'll tell you this much though, I've a new respect for muggles surviving in this life without the use of magic."

He glanced at the bucket Billie was indicating to and gave a slight shrug. "I suppose that would be good for it," he said, clearly having not thought about it in such a regard, "Come with me, I'll show you were you can put it." Getting up from his stool, he smirked at the sight of Adonis now sleeping under a table with the dead mice tucked under his paws as if they were being cuddled against him. He headed into the back of the shop once he knew Billie was following him and pointed him in the direction of the wood stove that helped to heat the place. "You can just put the bin there," he said as he pulled some cold cut meats and cheese from a small icebox he kept down in the back room before turning back to the boy, "Hungry Billie?"

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Billie tilted her head at Gideon. She had never truly given it much thought that the man probably hadn't ever lived without magic for long, nor did she realize just how much the people of Hogsmeade seemed to rely on it. She hailed from a village that only contained muggles, and she figured if she could get by, then it must be easier for adults in general. And Gideon owned a shop. That was a big step up from stablehands and scullery maids. "It ain't so bad. It's just more work, I think. An' luck. People are kinda the same."

Lifting the bucket up into her arms, she trailed after Gideon. She took notice of Adonis snoozing under the table, of course deciding that her decision to bring him mice had been a good one. She shuffled over to where the man pointed and set the bucket down next to the stove. She poked a bit at the wood curls and then turned to face him once more.

Her face lit up with a wide grin. Was she hungry? What kind of question was that? Did people actually say no? Before her mouth could say anything, her head bobbed up and down eagerly.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Gideon chuckled at the lad's words but didn't bother to respond to it. More work wasn't always a good thing though, especially if one could use magic to see things through. It was just much more convenient to flick his wand and see something done. It was also the only way he could actually craft his livelihood. Without the use of magic, there was no way to make the wands. And without the wands, well, then they came full circle and there wouldn't be magic. It was awfully frustrating.

"Here then," he said with a smirk and offered the food toward him, "Have at it." He took to cutting the cheese into slices so that they could be had with the meats at the same time. "I'll see if I can find some crackers to go with it," he added after he'd cut up a few slices of the cheese and got up to search for them.

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Billie's eyes went round as saucers as the food was offered to her. Usually, people just gave her bread or vegetables that were near to going bad. Meat and cheese was something special, indeed! Excitedly, she drew closer to Gideon and watched quietly while he cut the food up. "Thanks!" She suddenly blurted, what little manners she possessed somehow finding its way out of her mouth.

When Gideon got up to search for crackers, she tried to do the polite thing and wait until he came back, but she had very little self-control in the food department. She reached out and snatched up some cheese and unceremoniously crammed it into her mouth.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Gideon chuckled at her sudden thanks. "You've earned it, lad," he said as he continued to rummage about. He eventually found some crackers and brought them back to the table where the food was at. He chuckled again as he took note of the boy's full cheeks from the cheese being stuffed into his mouth.

"You needn't wait for me," he said as he set the crackers on the table, "I'm not all that hungry." He motioned to the food then, giving him permission to have at it all.

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