September 12th, 1891 — Padmore Park

A familiar wind blew past, ruffling her hair and the corners of the book in Edith's hands. She leaned back against the tree behind her and turned the page. Edith laughed softly at a passage in the book. She loved this one, it was her grandmother Alice's favorite. Or so Edith's father liked to say. She would never be able to ask, after all, since her grandparents died before Edith's birth. Edith shifted where she sat and moved her legs, so her feet were tucked under her skirts. The early September chill made her glad for the petticoats she wore to fill out the shape of her lower garments. Edith stuck a piece of parchment between the pages of the book where she'd left off and set it down. She had hoped to watch some of the other people at the park, one of her favorite pasttimes. Edith could be quite nosy when she wanted to be, quite like her mother. She supposed it was a Slytherin thing, or perhaps it came from her mother's Muggle family, the Harrises. Either way, Edith's eyes flitted around the park in search of someone to... Not spy on, necessarily, but merely... Keep an eye on. Yes, that was it. Edith's gaze searched for some unsuspecting witch or wizard to keep an eye on.

  

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Lola. @TDA makes pretty things.

It was an uncomfortable feeling that for him usually meant some level of danger as he kept walking through the park with the feeling he was being watched.  After a quick mental assessment of what he had on his person he realized that it was all above board.  He had as much right as anyone to be in the park even if he had decided to wear a cloak over his outfit with the hood halfway up on his head letting the ginger hair show in the front but covered enough to hide his notable ears. 

As he continued walking noting that one of the ladies sitting leaning against a tree wasn’t reading as much as looking about.  A lady that was near his direct path.

Bored he said " It is easier to be discreet looking about when you actually have the book in hand and look above it " as he started to pass the lady slowing his pace so she could respond, but not even looking at her.

  

Edith eyed the goblin as he walked away, blushing in embarassment. She kept looking as the goblin kept walking. he hadn;t bothered to look at her as he spoke. Edith frowned. The goblin's dark cloak made him appear even more fightening. Its hood was up to cover the large, unsightly ears he undoubtedly had. And the strange creature had spoken to her! Edith had hardly ever seen goblins outside of Gringotts. Edith was rather frustrated with herself. She'd been seen watching like some common creep. How could she have been so tactless, blatantly staring like that? It didn't help that the goblin's appearance in itself made her shudder. Edith shook herself to rid her mind of unpleasant thoughts. She sighed and picked up the book at her side. Perhaps she'd follow the goblin's advice. It wouldn't hurt to at least be discreet about being so nosy. Edith's eyes scanned around the park once more, hoping to find someone she could entertain herself with, but who wouldn't--hopefully not, anyway--catch her in the act. What a strange morning it had been.

  

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Lola. @TDA makes pretty things.

He was disappointed, but not surprised the girl didn’t speak.  From his glance at the side as he saw her put up her book he stopped in his steps and realized just how boring the book appeared to him.  Though admittedly most things he’d seen humans read seemed pointlessly boring - particularly the reading material of most females of the species.

Though he noticed her looking again which made her interesting in her persistence.

Moving to lean against a tree about six feet away he pulled out his pocket watch and looked it as he said “ Books with technical titles turned to a page with a diagram at the top work best as if anyone mentions anything you can point out something of interest on the diagram to say you were looking at that.“

The only excuse he could make to himself for giving the girl advice on being a better spy was boredom.  Then he put away his pocket watch and pulled out a small notebook that he looked down at with his eyes looking over it towards the girl with a quill in his hand he wrote some notes on a blank page.

  

Edith blinked a few times in utter surpise. The goblin spoek to her, twice! How odd. She was grateful for the advice, though. Edith knew she would have to improve her spying skills eventually. She turned to better face the goblin and a small smile graced her features.
Thank you. For the advicce I mean, She called to him. Edith didn't look at the goblin head-on, instead she favored lookig from the side. He was much less scary, less intimidating, that way, even from the as far way as he was. Edith put the first book back in her satchel, then pulled out her copy of some potions textbook she'd found in the library of her family's home. How fortunate it was that she had thought to bring it with her today! It had been her little sister Eduora's request. They had written to each other recently. Edith opened the book and tried to truly read it. she glanced at the goblin for a fleeting moment, then looked away. She pretended to read the book for several long seconds before looking up and scanning the little crowds of people. Edith quickly found someone to focus on and tried to look invested in the book rather than them. She didn't dare sneak a glance at the goblin again, for fear he would catch her yet again.

  

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Lola. @TDA makes pretty things.

He saw the girl face him for a moment with a smile.  It wasn’t an expression he was used to seeing on humans unless there was an exchange of money and usually a sizable amount since the only humans who smiled at him were curse breakers collecting a bounty. 

He nodded his head slightly with a slight smile crossing his face avoiding letting his teeth show. Then he continued writing in his notebook over the words he wrote before not wanting to waste pages as a cover of sorts.  As he knew how much humans judged each other on they associated with so he didn’t want to look directly at her.  Or say anything obviously to her.

Though he smiled when he saw her switch to a potions book and said quietly but loud enough he was certain she could hear “ Potions books work well for the task as they have lists that can be double checked.  Though never have a love potion or something you could be judged negatively on the page as people make assumptions and judge. “

  

Edith glanced over at the goblin, who had just spoken to her once more. That made three times! Edith considered his advice and thought that could be right. She wouldn't be reading up on love potions, anyway. A Hightower would never stoop so low! As she leant over a bit so as to ensure he'd hear her, a troubling thought crossed Edith's mind. She'd completely forgotten that her father had asked her to bring over flowers for her mother, for her birthday would be soon. oh, no. Edith thought miserably. Quickly, she waved a goodbye at the goblin and hastily packed away her things into her satchel as fast as she could manage. Edith frowned as her mind was racing; what flowers were her mother's favorite, again? She always forgot. Maybe she could owl her father to ask, but.. No, she remembered her mother liked roses. With that, Edith ran off in the direction of Hogmeade's florist shop as her boot heels made a pleasant clicking sound on the cobblestone streets of the village.

  

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Lola. @TDA makes pretty things.

From the corner of his eye he saw her wave and did a slight wink of acknowledgement not wanting to deviate his hands from the holding of his notebook and the writing with his quill.  Though his quill did do a bit of a wave as he lifted it from the notebook between words.  As he understood how important appearances were and he wasn’t the type to be associating with a lady in an open park with no purpose.

He was a bit sad to see her run off, but he realized it was probably for the best.  After all, if he had kept going with advice while fun to give the odds were it would be noticed and such an association for the young lady could be problematic.  Even if the lady did not appear to be one of those ritzy upper class debutants he didn’t want to spoil any chances for her.

After all, enough chances had been spoiled for him over the years so he only spoiled things if they could benefit him. Then he to walked away in the opposite direction the lady went.