September, 1892 — Diagon Alley
@'Daffodil Potts'

Rolling up his sleeves was at least a little unnecessary thanks to magic but it was something Jack did instinctively.  He was there to work so the sleeves went up.  He tucked in the final turn and crossed his arms over his chest, surveying their project with skepticism.

"So, just here then?" he asked, waving his hands in the vaguest shape possible.  He could think of so many people to call on to build a greenhouse before calling him.  Namely anyone.  But it wasn’t lost on him that she had asked for help only a few months after basically asking him to marry her in a few years.  So how could he not take it extremely seriously?

He raised his wand, the picture of concentration but dropped it again without casting anything.  She wasn't one to be put off an idea once she dug in but that didn’t mean he felt good about this plan of hers.

"Tell me again why you're moving to London?"

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Daff had tried to do it all by herself. She needed the project, something to work on to keep her hand and mind busy, but she had reluctantly asked Jack for help putting the greenhouse together, simply because she missed him and because while she theoretically could do it by herself with magic, he would be of help if only for the encouragement. Her father had given her the basics, enough for her to assemble the sides and all by herself. Magic truly was a wonderful thing, but she wasn't foolish enough to think this should be done solo. She had however, put a lot of physical effort into cleaning out the overgrown garden that was the entirety of the space behind the shop. Though the alleyway behind wasn't very wide and really didn't afford much room, Daff had enough to put the greenhouse up to extend her workspace. Plus she could always magically enhance the actual inside space. She'd done a lot of reading on how to go about that.

"Because, silly, there's already a florist in Hogsmeade." Her family had that down quite thoroughly. Daff hadn't explicitly told anyone why she'd chosen a shop with her own flat over it, or why she wanted to do this venture at all, and fortunately nobody had asked either. Her sisters all seemed quite supportive even if she was sure they had their questions. Her parents obviously had the most information, considering they had invested financially in the shop too, but neither Laurel nor Basil had questioned her motives, just her course of action. At least there she had all of the options.

Carefully she started to lift the assembled side of the greenhouse into place with a levitation spell. "Make sure that doesn't fall?" She requested as she tried to focus.

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"Well, yeah -" he said, side stepping her offhanded answer.  The accusatory squint meant for her was pulled to the walls that were being levitated.  He didn't hesitate to do his part, falling into a natural choreography with with her movements.  "But its not just the shop.  You're moving... by yourself."  His empty hand raised in support of the wandwork done with his other and he risked pulling his attention away from the wall he was holding up to look over at her. 

He had no authority, he didn't get a say, but...  "I don't like it."

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Their unspoken chemistry for projects like this left Daffy able to focus on the magic as she settled the first wall into place against he side of the actual building.

Ah yes, the moving into her own space. That had certainly caused the most uproar so far. Her mother had disapproved, and Daff had carefully outlined everything to her parents on why it was best for her to be so close to the shop. Her father had taken less convincing, knowing his girls were capable and independent, but initially he too had balked at the idea. Fortunately he came around and therefore got the final say on the matter. "Well," Daff paused her wandwork to pass him a teasing smile. "Untill you marry me, you will have to learn to like it." With the Noble door firmly shut in her face and her screw up with Elias, Daff was starting to think that their half-joking arrangement of a marriage was more and more likely these days.

"I will be fine. It makes sense for me to be close. I'm going to look for a roommate." That would help both financially and for company. It would be nice to have another person around, even if her original goal had been to escape a little bit.

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His mouth opened in a silent sputter at her casual mention of their agreement.  He was clearly still processing the idea and she was clearly completely fine with it.  "You like playing that card a little too much." he finally said, collecting himself enough to return her tease. 

"Is that why you're doing it?  Because you're not married yet?"  He couldn't help but hedge another serious question, his eyes on their task rather than looking at her.  He didn't understand this move any more than he understood all her fuss about getting married.  "It'll be great - the shop - but living here?"  he shook his head.  He didn't like it. 

"There's places in pennyworth - right up the road from me."  He offered hopefully.

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   Daffodil Grimstone

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"It is inevitable, you best get used to it." Daffy had screwed everything else up in her life, why shouldn't she have one tiny glimmer of hope that she wouldn't be alone and sad in the end? It was a little tiny spark of light at the end of what seemed like an endless tunnel with no exit.

Shrugging, Daff tried to keep things casual. "No, I have six sisters, I wanted to do something for myself, by myself and that is mine." At least that was what she kept telling herself. This was a way to keep busy, endlessly busy. There was no shortage of things to do, things to fix or order or rearrange. She could always find something to occupy her time with. Like building a greenhouse pretty much by hand (and a little magic).

"You worry more than my grandmother." Daff teased, desperately trying not to give away the emotions bubbling under the surface. This independence, the separation was critical to her well-being. She could suffer from her sleeplessness without disturbing anyone but Winston, who didn't care. She was so tired recently it wasn't such a big deal, but that was just another reason for her to keep going; she was finally sleeping again for more than a few hours here and there. "I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I already bought the building, living here makes sense."

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"You keep saying that.  If you're so sure then why put it off?" he teased, taking his turn in this game of chicken.  She was either very confident about their fate or very stubborn (or both?  probably both.) so the only option was to call her on it.

He relented when she mentioned wanting her own space.  He'd moved out for the same reason.  And she did have a lot of sisters.  "Fine.  But I still don't like it."  he repeated, more matter of fact than anything.  Nothing she could say would make the idea of her living alone so far away feel right but he could make peace with it. 

"Living alone is a lot of  -" he began, thinking about his own experience, when the light of realization lit across his face.  He groaned.  "I'm going to have do so much more cooking now." he grumbled shooting her an accusatory look. 

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Daff chuckled as he dove into the jest. "We can head to Gretna Green after we're done if you want." Honestly, at this point, she might just do that if he was game. Daffy could see herself enjoying a life with Jack, of course she could. It wouldn't be exactly like what she had envisioned and she felt like she might be denying them both the chance to fall in love with someone else, but it could be far worse than marrying your best friend.

"Mum will still feed you, don't you worry." Daff would make sure Jack still got his regular meals. They couldn't have him go hungry after all. Daff was pretty sure that her mother would also make sure she didn't go hungry. Which was far more likely as Daff tended to forget to eat when she was wrapped up in a project. At least she was sleeping better? The pure exhaustion from running herself ragged most days was certainly doing the trick and thank Merlin for that. If she wasn't sleeping and she wasn't eating she'd be setting herself up for another illness like at the end of last summer.

Focusing on the last of the greenhouse pieces, Daff lifted the last piece into place and with another flick of her wrist, secured the walls together. The roof was easy once the walls were up, that part was easy. "You're welcome to check in on me whenever you like, if it makes you feel better." Her floo and door would always be open for him.

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"Perfect." he agreed with a smirk and small shake of his head.  "Mum's always on me about going to church." 

He fell quiet as the rest of the pieces came into place, doing his best to help where he could.  It really was as simple as she'd made it out to be and it was easy to follow her moves but it felt like a heaviness hovered at the edges of their conversation.  "It won't matter, seeing as we'll be married and all." he retorted distantly.  Keeping up the joke that they'd be married meant meals would be completely different and he'd see her every day.  His eyes wandered up to the second floor where he knew her flat must be. 

It was easy to see how they might one-up each other all the way to the altar.  A few more quips and a floo trip and they'd be there.  The problem was he could actually see it. 

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As she levitated the roof onto the structure and sealed it, Daff stood back for a moment and admired their work. Easy as pie really, thanks to her father's directions.

Daff snorted in response to his last quip. "Wonderful, I suppose I can stop looking for a roommate now that I'll have one. Do you think you'll still work in Hogsmeade or change to here?" She was sure the Alley had a constabulary or something of the equivalent he could do. "I'll have to work on my cooking I suppose." Mostly right now she fell back to easy things, breakfast foods, or bought quick things she could snack on between projects. It wasn't exactly normal, but it worked for her.

"There," The roof was on and secure and that was that. She could do the shelves herself tomorrow and then get Hector all squared away in his corner. Jack had been auxiliary help, but she appreciated his company more than anything else. Though she had chosen Diagon Alley for a multitude of reasons, she did miss the ease with with she could see her friends. Fortunately Hogsmeade was just a quick floo trip away. "Speaking of, would you like tea or should I put on a nicer dress to go get hitched?"

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Jack didn't lower his wand until she'd stepped back.  He gave it a once-over and then looked at her, still a bit surprised that they were done, just like that.  Apparently it only took a short while to build a green house and map out your whole future with someone.

"Hogsmeade, for sure.  They'd go to pieces without me"  he answered deftly, crossing his arms over his chest.  Though still playing along he didn't try to one-up her this time.  Truth was he liked hogsmeade, he liked the life he'd made for himself, and he like the way things were there.  But things were changing now and the dread of it nagged at him.  Besides, the only way he could think to escalate the joke would be kids.

"I'm not sure I've even earned tea." he laughed, breaking through his own reverie.  "I didn't even break a sweat."

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Daff surveyed their work one more time with a critical eye. It would hold that was for sure. Tomorrow she would put Hector in there and start filling it with plants, maybe some new pumpkins, some sunflowers, everything or anything she wanted. She had the freedom to do whatever she wanted here, which wasn't to say her childhood home had been all that restrictive, but this was a whole new level of independence she was so very ready for.

"Oh there's always time for tea." She mused, giving him a pointed look. "And I see why your loyalties lie." She added with a quip as she turned back toward the shop. "Come on, Dearest, let's eat." She teased lightly, knowing this was all in jest. For now.

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