May 17th, 1888 - Magdalena's, Diagon Alley

I give you my destiny
I'm giving you all of me
I want your symphony
Singing in all that I am
-Mandy Moore

The grand opening of Magdalena's was going off without a hitch despite being shorthanded. Maggie was cautiously optimistic. Plenty of sugar cookies had been given out and there were several items from the shop that had been bought outright. A quick glance around the shop showed many of her displays being empty or close to. She'd have plenty of baking ahead of her to replenish but it was worth it. And along with that, came a broad smile on her face. The majority of those that had come had been kind though there were surely plenty wanting to see just who it was that had married a class up. A rather unknown lady to suddenly become known.

She hadn't minded really, and had actually been enjoying the night. Everything had been worth it to see the fruits of her efforts be so successful. The sound of laughter and music in the street only brightened her smile. It sounded like hope. Hope and dreams, both things she had plenty of and was finally seeing them come true.

She'd been so lost in thought while enjoying the sounds around her she hadn't heard someone speaking to her until they tapped her gently on the arm. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed as she turned her smile to the person, "I must have been lost dreaming away. What can I do for you?" Back to business. Dreams and hope only lasted as long as the customer service remained tiptop.

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Open to any Adult who would be in attendance of the Grand Opening of Magdalena's!

  

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Marvelous MJ Masterpiece

Maeve would never have thought herself such a stickler for tradition. Oh, she had clung to it firmly enough as an excuse for her career choice, and teased Domhnall mercilessly for failing to find himself in Gryffindor, but her very nature edged her away from the expected way of things. Or so she had believed.

If that was the case, though, why had Lorcan’s elopement—an elopement they had all long joked would happen one day!—hurt her so? Or was it not the action, but how damned long it had taken for him to confess his sins? The lie, when he had insisted there was nothing between him and the former Miss Backus? A persisting hurt from his abandonment of the family after his mother’s death? The fact that he still hadn’t bloody introduced them?

Well, she could fix that last concern on her own.

It must have cost a pretty penny to set up this business, Maeve thought as she looked around the fledgling bakery. Fortuantely for Magdalena Backus—she had not earned Byrne, not yet—Lorcan did not have money, and so Maeve could not rightly think her a gold-digger. That did not mean there weren’t plenty of other names that she could conjure up, though.

The woman herself was, Maeve was forced to admit, rather pretty, and not as young as the auror had expected. She had very much the air of someone accustomed to hard work, but also that she was entirely foolish—she had to be, after all, to marry Lorcan. Annoyingly, she was a giant compared to Maeve. That was decidedly a mark against her.

It was a quarter of an hour before Maeve felt confident making her move, taping the newlywed lightly on the arm to get her attention—family, she thought sourly, could be afforded such familiarity, after all.

“You can tell me what you’ve done to my fool of a cousin, first of all,” she answered, face a mask of resolution, “And next, why you seem to think yourself too good to come and meet your new family.”

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Shit. This must be Maeve. If she remembered correctly Lorcan had referred to her as a "tiny ball of fire." The term certainly seemed to fit as the rather small woman before her made a point of skipping any small talk and jumping straight into it. She had wondered, worried even, when the infamous female auror cousin would be coming around. Ever since she'd heard the howler she'd sent to Lorcan. She hadn't been pleased with their marriage, of that she'd made very clear. And now there she was. Standing in front of Maggie and demanding answers. She was scared shitless. Inside she was pure fear and turmoil but she, luckily, remained calm and cool on the exterior. It was a skill she'd trained herself of during her years as Hogwarts when she'd been taunted over being a baker's daughter with a strange name. It was coming in handy, something she hadn't ever expected.

"You must be Maeve," she answered simply at first, "I've heard a lot about you." She paused, assessing the woman before her and doing everything she could to show no fear. Regardless of her tiny stature, Maeve had a reputation about her and she terrified Maggie plain and simple. "I didn't do anything to your cousin," she continued, taking in a deep breath in the process, "And as you can see, I've been a bit busy. Besides, I didn't know that there was an invitation extended to meet anyone." At least that was the truth. It made it a bit easier on her that way.

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Marvelous MJ Masterpiece

The redhead let out a snort of derision, not believing the wanton blonde for a second. Lorcan was a fool, but not fool enough to hide from the family—he would know doing so would simply shift matters from bad to worse. No, it was his calculating wife who had stalled, had evaded matters, likely because she knew the aurors of the Connolly horde would see right through her—just as Maeve was doing now.

"Too busy for family?" the auror challenged incredulously. "That bodes well for Lorcan, I'd say!"

Her sarcasm was palpable. Maeve was in full, fiery form, hands on her hips to make herself look broader, as she could do nothing about her height. To think, this little madam thought there was any excuse for her behaviour!

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— #PrettiesByMJ —

The snort was enough to rankle Maggie, slowly ebbing away the fear she held over the little red head. She was not about to let this other woman ruin her good night. She had worked hard for this and had sacrificed plenty. Yet, she was being judged quite obviously by someone who didn't know the situation in the slightest. Of course, that wasn't Maeve's fault of that much Maggie was aware but it still didn't give her the right to do what she was doing. That, was where the irritation came into play and resulted in Maggie returning a glare of her own to the auror and even a mirroring of the hands on her hips.

"First, Lorcan is a big boy and can handle his own affairs. I'm quite certain he can make decisions on his own and since you are neither his mother or his guardian, he doesn't have to report to you if he chooses not to," she responded, not about to back down in the slightest, "Second, I know for a fact that he informed family members of our marriage yet as far as I'm aware, an invitation to visit or meet any of you was not issued to me. If there was, I would have gladly accepted."

She took in a deep breath then but was far from over. "And if you honestly thought that come here during an important event would scare me away or cause me to abandon ship, I have news for you that you've done neither of those things," she continued, "I care for Lorcan more than I'm sure you probably think. And while what we did was not exactly the norm and hurt others in the process, we did what we did for a reason. Reasons that, unless we decide otherwise, are our own personal reasons and quite frankly are none of your damned business." By the time she'd finished, her cheeks had flushed and her eyes had taken on a steely glint but she was not about to be pushed around in her own shop. Not by anyone, family or not.

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Marvelous MJ Masterpiece

She stared up at the blond for several long moments, uncertain whether to be impressed or irritated. Finally, Maeve emitted a snort. It had taken so little effort to get the witch to produce a scene—and the language she elected was rather the icing upon the cake.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you speak as rankly as your circumstances would suggest," the redhead voiced. "Clearly it wasn't sweet words that brought my cousin 'round to your way of thinking. Perhaps it's in your best interests that you've stayed away—I'm among the warmer of our brood."

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Maggie didn't appreciate the red head's intrusion on what was meant to be a celebratory occasion. She'd all but tainted it for Maggie and it wasn't something she was likely to forget anytime soon. She leveled a glare at the small woman then. She wouldn't be browbeaten or whatever it was the girl was trying to do into retreating from what had been done already.

"If you've finished with your warning," she said with a tight smile, "You're welcome to one of the sugar cookies and then to take your leave."

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Marvelous MJ Masterpiece

Maeve stood for a moment, then snorted and left without a cookie. They were probably poisoned anyways.

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