June 27, 1888 - Percy Adlard's Home, Bartonburg, Hogsmeade

Quincey Honeyduke

In the four days since Percy had returned home he had tried not to indulge in self pity. Not with Quin around. Quin had it much worse than a bum leg. But every time Percy stood up to walk around he could not ignore what the troll attack had cost him. He'd glare at the cane with a hatred he reserved for few others.

The healers hadn't been able to put him together, not really. The head injury had been easy enough, the bruising and cracked ribs they had made look like a minor injuries, the leg .... apparently shattered leg bones weren't suppose to wait twelve hours for them to heal.

All that Percy could handle, he'd been given a few days off for the injury, but each day he sat at home he determined his time off would be shorter and shorter. So he'd asked for cases in Hogsmeade. Surely he could help with those. He hadn't heard back yet. But what Percy couldn't handle, what was worse than being able to help protect his community, his town, and his sisters, was the Daily Prophet sitting open on Percy's lap. Surely he could be of some use, they wouldn't turn him away if he volunteered, would they? With a glare at the cane Percy stood up, his leg promptly gave out on him and he went clattering down on the floor, Lily japing fiercely as her master made a fool of himself. Bloody leg, bloody troll.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

This whole not working thing was really starting to get to him. Quin had worked his entire adult life and even some as a teenager. He simply didn't know how to be unemployed. There was always something to do in the shop, always something to clean or bake or someone to talk to. Percy had been generous enough to let him crash in the spare room and Quin was eternally grateful, but he was going to go bonkers soon if he didn't find something to do. Anna was probably sick of him meddling in the kitchen and without magic he couldn't really get into the shop to start rebuilding.

What he had been able to do though was climb up to what was left of the second story and retrieve some of his personal belongings from the flat with a hold in the floor. His old bedroom was mostly in tact and he grabbed clothes and some personal effects, hoping like hell once magic was working again he could really get in there and start the restoration process.

He made his way back to Percy's with am armful of things, pushing open the back door with his hip. "Percy?" He called assuming his friend was likely to be home because of his newly acquired bum leg. They were a hot mess.

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Cursing, Percy pulled himself upright as he heard Quin’s voice. Horrible timing, he thought bitterly as he dragged himself back into the chair, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

“In here!” He answered. Quin entered the room moments later with arms full of stuff. Percy was sure he could guess what that was if given just one guess. “How’s the store?” He asked gently, genuinely feeling guilty for the whole situation. Couldn’t he have led the troll into any other storefront on High Street?

  

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Quin strode into the room to find Percy and ended up flopping both his person and his things on the sofa near his friend. At least he'd been able to do something, assess the damages a little, get his things. Next time he was bringing a box, though. Unable to truly sit still, he started folding the clothes and going through the things he had managed to rescue today.

"It's a mess. I can't tell how badly the rebuild is going to hit me just yet." Would they be able to restore the property he had now or would it require a completely new building? He wasn't sure he had the money saved up for either, but what could he possibly do without it? It wasn't as if he was going to continue to make any more money to solve the problem sitting on his ass doing nothing. "How's the leg?" It seemed the troll had been out to get the better of both of them.

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It was only too easy to believe what a mess the store was. Percy had seen it before the troll had collapsed it and it had been in rough enough shape then. He sighed at Quin’s non assessment though. He had savings, even if it hadn’t been his fault Quin was still one of his closest friends and he’d have offered it to him. “When you do know, I’m more than happy to help where I can.” It wasn’t like saving for all these years was for anything. He had no wife or family and didn’t anticipate one anytime soon regardless of what Cat or Lissy said. Especially not with the present state of affairs.

“As well as can be expected.” He shrugged non committedly. “Come Monday it should be right as rain.” He hoped.

  

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Waving off any more offers of help was Quin's new way of dealing with this mess. Percy had already been good to him, letting him crash in his spare bedroom, not giving him too much grief for drinking himself to sleep some nights (he was getting better about that after the other night in which he barely remembered Felicity and having a heavy discussion over something he couldn't quite recall).

Pausing his organizing, Quin merely shrugged. "I'll have to wait to see what's salvageable." Until this damned fog was gone, what else could he really do. He supposed, if Anna was amiable toward it, he could start doing some baking and selling of sweets and things from Percy's kitchen, but he wasn't so sure that would go over well. He felt increasingly guilty that he'd had to stop paying his employees already, but he couldn't afford any extra expenses. Plus if they wanted a shop to come back to, he'd need every last galleon, knut and sickle he had.

"Ahh now that's optimism." He passed his friend a wry smile. His mind wandered, thinking back to his previous thoughts about Felicity and the hazy memory he had about their discussion last week. It had turned serious at one point, but he could not for the life of him remember for what reason. "When will they let you back to work?" That would certainly give Percy something to do. Workaholics, the pair of them.  

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For the moment Percy allowed his friend to wave him off. But the guilt that tore at Percy wouldn't allow that to last for long. He knew he'd find some way to help Quin even if it was building the store front with his bare hands like a muggle. The fog was a problem though, at least the store hadn't been set upon by thieves yet. There seemed to be few in Hogsmeade, unlike London.

Chuckling Percy leaned back, optimism, sure. He'd take it as that. "Likely by Monday." Percy shrugged off hand. They'd given him time off, but it hadn't exactly been what Percy would want. At least work would have distracted him. Getting to work, now that was a whole different problem. He could probably sleep in his office so he didn't need to deal with how slow he moved. Quin seemed settled enough into the house - although after the other day.... Percy hadn't yet asked Quin about the night Lissy came over. Instead he watched his friend carefully, sure he'd have told him if something were to have happened. He believed Lissy when she said nothing had happened, but that didn't excuse Quin from not sending Lissy back the way she had come.

Hoping to distract himself from his thoughts Percy look down at the headline of the Daily Prophet, the source of his own annoyance this day. "Have you seen the call for civilians to go into Irvingly?" He waved the paper at his friend.

  

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Pausing his sorting at the mention of the thing in Irvingly, Quin shrugged. "Saw it, contemplated it, decided against it." Realistically the money would have been a decent chunk of change to help in rebuilding the shop, but he realized he would likely be useless to do much of anything.

"You'd have gone, wouldn't you?"  He thought he knew his mate well enough to know that had Percy not just suffered a mobility-inhibiting injury he too would have likely signed up to go. Unlike Quin however, Percy probably would have been an asset in the expedition itself. "At least they'll let you back to work soon. That'll keep you busy." If likely behind his desk and again, unlike Quin. A distraction from life's problems was usually welcome to people like them who had a hard time sitting still. Or in Felicity's case when things got a little overwhelming at home. Everything was just out of whack all over the place, it seemed.

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At Quin’s quick dismissal of the venture Percy couldn’t help the amused shake of his head. Sounded much like his friend. But when it came to Percy it was a different matter and one that Quin was perceptive enough to know. “Yeah.” He agreed his tone decidedly resigned.

Attempting to brush it off as nothing Percy shrugged. “Sure, sure. Probably a summer of paperwork and desk duty for me.” He did need to stay busy, right now he was going insane doing nothing. Especially with things like trolls on the loose and his sisters still in Hogsmeade. “Guess we’ll just have to hope a troll doesn’t come a courting to Lissy or Cat.” Quin and Percy hadn’t discussed what Lissy had admitted to the morning Percy came home, in fact Percy had been attempting to avoid the subject with his mate until Quin brought it up. But it came naturally to pull his sisters into the conversation when trying to lighten the mood.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Shrugging, Quin could only say, "Better than nothing," He was trying not to wallow in self pity around other people, but at least Percy had something to go back to. Truthfully he wasn't trying to make his mate feel bad about anything, but rather to make sure he saw what he did still have. They were all still alive, there was that. A troll smashing through the shop and leaving Percy with a lifelong injury was at something they could live through at any rate. Everything would rebound in time and things would go back to a new semblance of normal.

"Well at least we could take that troll on together... or let them handle it. I think Cat could nag one into behaving." Quin was teasing of course. Cat was lovely. "I wouldn't argue with either one of them, honestly." All three of them could have a stubborn streak if they wanted to, those Adlard kids. Quin still wasn't exactly sure where he stood in regards to all of... that. Last time he'd seen Lis, they were both a little too drunk, but after that was kind of a blur. He must have passed out.

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Quin had a point. Percy could have lost his job, as Quin had, or worse. He'd always known that creatures were dangerous, but well... they weren't anything to be afraid of if one knew how to handle them. "True enough. I suppose it might be a nice change, paperwork." Rather than chasing trolls down with no magic. That was something Percy would like to not repeat in his lifetime.

"Cat would boss that troll all the way back down High Street." Percy snorted with a shake of his head. He knew his sisters could handle themselves well enough, but he thought of Cat more as the one who would chase off a troll. Lissy was still his baby sister and he still saw it as his job to watch out for her. Cat had long since proven that she didn't need that from him anymore... or at least not as much.

  

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Quin could only chuckle when Percy agreed about Cat. In the long span of their friendship, even Quin had learned and learned early that Cat was not to be messed with. She'd give it right back if he teased her, all in fun of course, but she was not one who needed to rely on anybody but herself.

"Ah well, hopefully next time, if there ever is a next time, but considering where we live, there will be a next time, hopefully dealing with a troll will at least involve magic." Quin remembered the summer they'd come streaming straight through the park, interrupting the huge town picnic that had been happening. Then his shop, who knew, next time maybe they'd coming dancing at the Coming Out Ball.

"Until they we'll just keep plugging along." What else could they do really?

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Again. Percy really hoped there wouldn't be a troll lose in town again. Once had been enough. "I truly hope there isn't an again." He admitted with a shake of his head. "Even with magic."

"That we do.[/]b" Percy agreed with a nod. "[b]Speaking of I should probably go check on Lily." Where was that dog after all? Taking more care to stand this time, Percy made sure to move a bit slower with his cane and managed to move across the room with some dignity left.

  

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