May 28th, 1892 — Coming Out Ball; Great Hall

Cane was a graduate. He took it as well as he did most things - seemingly with absolute indifference. He was not sure how he had done on his NEWTs. He tended to do well so he wasn't worried about them. Besides, he already had what he needed for the occupation he planned to take. Though he also had other plans that he was keeping unvoiced for the moment.

True to form, Cane had spent part of the Coming Out Ball tucked away with a book. He had just declined a girls request to dance with her when he spotted his sister. Putting his book away in his pocket, he approached her. "Are you enjoying yourself?" He asked curiously. He had thought he had seen her dancing with a man before but that could have been another blonde in a similar coloured dress.

  

Maddie nodded keenly, 'it's so strange' she acknowledge to her brother giving him a half hug. 'This is like to be the last time I'm in the school for a very long time.' she laughed, her tone genuinely mirthful and amused, but also a little sad. It was the end of a part of her life that had seemed so big and important at the time.

'What's your plan now that you are a gentleman of the world?' she thrilled for him, she had no doubt he would get the grades for whatever he wanted to do, but she realised she had no idea what her little brother wanted to do in this world. It had been almost question for the eldest 2 - with Rye and Maggie there had been almost no question of what they would end up doing with their lives. Maddie had certainly struggled to find her own way in the world and how she intended to spend her life. 'So what of your plans little brother? Now that you're graduated' she joked to the much taller sibling. He did look very dashing in his dress robes.

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"Alumni tend to be invited back so perhaps you can come back next year for this," Cane pointed out logically. He probably wouldn't but only because attending balls wasn't exactly a passtime he was interested in picking up.

"I will be joining the Crowdy Memorial Library as one of its librarians," he shared when she asked what his plans were. It was unlikely to be surprising as immersed in books as he always was. "I shall also be trying my hand at being an author." That part of his plans he had less confidence in.

  

She shook her head, her nose wrinkling at the prospect. She couldn't imagine she would return without someone she was intimate with being in attendance as well - although never to say never.

'Oh that's so exciting Cane' she enthused, 'When you say writing - do you mean fiction or factual books, like research?' she pressed genuinely interested. She had once considered it herself, and while she had enjoyed it, she had realised she preferred to keep it as a private journal rather than seeking to get public engagement.

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Cane chuckled when his sister shook her head, wrinkling her nose. He resisted the urge to pinch it as he might have if they were at the family home. The coming out ball probably wasn't the place for sibling antics such as that.

"Fiction," he answered immediately as he usually did. "Tales of the fae and such."

  

'Oh how wonderful Cane!' she exclaimed genuinely delighted for him, 'I met a published from London a year ago, he was friend of Ana's he said if I wished to send him something he would take my letter, allas I've no skill in but I'm sure he would let me make an introduction.' she laughed thinking of how silly she had been in thinking she might make a writer.

'when you become bigger than Dickens I shall require the first copy of all your books, all of which you shall sign for your beloved sister!' she teased, and gave him a warm hug, practically hopping up and down with excitement for her little siblings new vocation in life.

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"You did?" Cane asked in response to Maddie stating that she had met a publisher, realizing he knew next to nothing about his sisters social life. No matter. If she met anyone worth talking to, she would likely bring him around the bakery to meet everyone.

"I don't think anyone could become bigger than Dickens. Least of all books that do not have immense amounts of misery." He was kidding. Kind of.

  

'I have total faith in your little brother' she enthused, but laughed at his joke. She gave him another spontaneous hug. They were not as close as she would have liked. She and Maggie had been as thick as thieves, but they had been at school together, and in the same house - she felt she had missed out on that relationship with her brothers. Herb had always seemed a little jealous or antagonistic towards both she and Maggie - he had been pulled from school to work, while the rest had been able to complete their schooling. He was to take over the business while she and Maggie had been able to choose their roles in life. Cane had been able to make choices as to his future. She and Cane were not close for very different reasons - they seemed to have been ships in the night for most of their lives. When she had been at home he was too young to be interesting, or indeed interested in her - and then different houses and years.

'Yes, he's up in London, I'm sure he would meet for a lunch if you wanted to meet him.' she offered, 'especially as you already have ideas as to what you want to write about.'

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The hug was awkward for him. He was not a particularly physically demonstrative person even with his closest relation and this was the third hug in a go. Still, he did return it and listened as she continued to speak about this friend in London that she had.

"We could do that," Cane said, mostly curious as to who this person was.

  

'I'll set it up as soon as I get back to Hogsmeade' she promised faithfully and fully meant it. Perhaps one day she would revisit her own writing but she was sure that was year away - once she had mastered her new field of work. It would be several years before anyone took her prowess as a breeder of magical creatures especially seriously - and until then anything that she wrote would be considered a bit of a boondoggle.

'You know there is an apartment above my new shop?' she ventured, as an unmarried woman she couldn't live alone, not when she had living family and guardians from whom she was not estranged, so the living quarters was currently unoccupied. 'If you want to use them - as your bachelors lodgings there will be no one there to bother you.'

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Cane looked at his sister as she mentioned the apartment above her shop. "Above the Beautiful Beast Boutique?" He pondered though he did have to wonder if there would be a smell. Or sounds. Animals tended to be noisy. "Does the sounds of the shop travel up?"

  

She shook her head in the negative. There were all sorts of charms on the rooms to ensure it remained a quiet and contemplative space. 'It even has it's own entrance at the back, it shares the yard with the shop, but it's cut off from the shop, so it would be entirely yours.' She had called it an apartment because it was over the space but in truth it was a modest family home, there were 3 bedrooms, a parlor, a kitchen and a small water closet, set over the 1st and 2nd floor of the building above the shop.

'The offer is there, if you want to come by and see if it will suit you, I'm there most days!' she offered with a smile. Sure that now he was a working man, staying with his mother wouldn't be the most appealing choice- not when he had choices. She was also sure that funds were bound to be tight, as they were in most jobs straight out of graduation.

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To give a sense of the shop

  

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Well, now he was more intrigued. He didn't know how their parents would react to the idea of him moving out. Especially so soon after having graduated. He liked the idea of having his own space to write and do as he pleased, though.

"I think I will, thanks Maddie," Cane said after a bit more thought. "For now, would you like to go dance?"

  

'you are very welcome' she grinned, delighted that after years of separation both by age, house, and then by class, it would be nice to see him more often. She barely saw Maggie, and Herb was so busy with the family business, more and more of which was falling to him as the eldest son, and defacto 'heir' to the business. The oppertunity to see more of her youngest sibling would be a blessing.

She nodded with a grin and extended her hand to her little brother.

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