When the bird flew into his room, Ford was mentally debating the pros and cons of robbing a Muggle modiste.
Cons:
- a potentially grave violation of the International Statute of Secrecy if he were caught
- the clothes would obviously not be tailored to fit, and having them later tailored elsewhere might seem suspicious
- the general morality of the thing
Pros:
- it was the only solution Ford had determined so far for the problem of how he would furnish Clementine with this list of items Mama insisted were necessary for new debutantes, and nevermind what Grace would need.
He'd been sat at the desk in his cramped room for over an hour trying to balance the figures in the various family accounts, but no amount of math scribbled in the margins of his parchment was going to make money appear out of nowhere. They simply couldn't afford it, which meant they'd have to prioritize on what they needed and scrimp and save elsewhere — which in turn meant he would have to admit to them all how dire things were.
Or he could rob a Muggle modiste. Maybe he could claim the things had been imported and that was why they needed to be tailored, after having been purchased elsewhere? But not from France — too many people went to France regularly and would ask about the shops. And where did one import women's clothes from, if not France?
When he saw the flutter of wings at the window he assumed it was an owl, and even after he realized the coloring was wrong he still thought it must have been a letter. Buying some weird, exotic bird to deliver mail didn't seem far-fetched for Tycho, so it might have been him. There wasn't a letter, though... and what was more, the bird's flapping had knocked half the papers off Ford's desk within seconds of arrival.
"Hell," Ford swore as he ducked, then subsequently lost his balance and fell out of his chair and to the floor. Did he really have a wild bird in his bedroom? What was he supposed to do about that? His hand went to his pocket, but his wand had been out on the desk when the bird flew in, and was now... somewhere.
Ford grabbed the nearest thing he could find — a blanket that had slipped off the foot of his bed — and waved it at the mess of wings, hoping to spook it back towards the window.
Cons:
- the clothes would obviously not be tailored to fit, and having them later tailored elsewhere might seem suspicious
- the general morality of the thing
Pros:
He'd been sat at the desk in his cramped room for over an hour trying to balance the figures in the various family accounts, but no amount of math scribbled in the margins of his parchment was going to make money appear out of nowhere. They simply couldn't afford it, which meant they'd have to prioritize on what they needed and scrimp and save elsewhere — which in turn meant he would have to admit to them all how dire things were.
Or he could rob a Muggle modiste. Maybe he could claim the things had been imported and that was why they needed to be tailored, after having been purchased elsewhere? But not from France — too many people went to France regularly and would ask about the shops. And where did one import women's clothes from, if not France?
When he saw the flutter of wings at the window he assumed it was an owl, and even after he realized the coloring was wrong he still thought it must have been a letter. Buying some weird, exotic bird to deliver mail didn't seem far-fetched for Tycho, so it might have been him. There wasn't a letter, though... and what was more, the bird's flapping had knocked half the papers off Ford's desk within seconds of arrival.
"Hell," Ford swore as he ducked, then subsequently lost his balance and fell out of his chair and to the floor. Did he really have a wild bird in his bedroom? What was he supposed to do about that? His hand went to his pocket, but his wand had been out on the desk when the bird flew in, and was now... somewhere.
Ford grabbed the nearest thing he could find — a blanket that had slipped off the foot of his bed — and waved it at the mess of wings, hoping to spook it back towards the window.
Set by Lady!