riddlelog | another day, another dollar [Open]

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another day, another dollar [Open]

McKinnon's Rare Manuscripts and Spellbooks

Every morning, like clockwork, Marlene McKinnon can be found opening up the bookstore on a quiet corner of Diagon Alley, feeding the cats, Kitsune and Bastet, and then settling in for a day of the occasional customer and the occasional cursed book causing the occasional small explosion. Nothing to see here, really.

In the window today is the usual display of recently arrived tracts - a few from Egypt, one from Japan, a trio of interesting rituals from North America - but also a discreet sign:

Part-time Bookstore Help Wanted. Inquire Within. Time Travelers Welcome.

"I kept offering the job to Remus, but he's a stubborn pain in my ass."

Diagon Alley

Eventually, the shop does close, and Marlene steps outside instead of heading straight upstairs to her apartment. September's here, and there's a bit of a chill in the air that makes her shiver as she wanders aimlessly down the street. Technically, her destination is dinner or a drink, eventually, but she takes her time about it. She pauses outside Quality Quidditch Supplies for some time, eyeing the very latest in broom technology before she tucks her hair back.

"Sometimes I think I should moonlight as a pro Quidditch player, just for the excuse to buy brooms."

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"Then how would he be a reasonable choice – ?"

She can't quite believe she even asked. Bad enough that she knows which cat is which, or that they have stopped hissing at her (even though they continue going on her nerves), now it sounds like she is even just remotely interested in her life. Perhaps it may be better if she sticks to Knockturn Alley for a little while... Except Marlene simply seems to have the superior connections.

As evident by the fact that the scripture she has set her heart on being so cursed it practically hums.

"He's a pretty great defensive wizard," Marlene says. She's twenty-two, saying someone was great at DADA was sort of like being in a constant state of reminiscing about school days. "Unfortunately, most of my clientele likes having a book that was cursed, rather than a book that's still cursed."

She has to do most of the curse-breaking herself. Her father's got the Edinburgh shop to worry about, after all, and increasingly says that Marlene's just better at it. "But he seems to think I'd lose all my business. I don't think it would end up mattering so much."

She doesn't have to tell Bella why. Bella works for the Ministry - something Marlene's side-eyed on occasion, half because she'd once planned to - but even if she didn't. Registering is somewhat like wearing a sign.

The inflection on most isn't lost on her – they both know Bellatrix is among the select few who prefer the curses intact. In most cases, she dissects them herself at home, every bit as intend on learning to replicate them as she is in the content of the book she bought. In some cases, she leaves them as is. You never know when you need to set a trap.

"Oh, he is the h–" On the verge of using the term 'half-breed', she catches herself, and switches gears. "Werewolf." It's surprisingly low on contempt, she has gotten better at The Tone in those past ten years.

"It would be fairly ironic to consider him dangerous when touching this," her head inclines towards the book, "would be lethal at any time of the month."

There's an arch of Marlene's brow. Don't think she didn't catch that slip, Bella. Of course, there's a few words that start with h that could be on Bellatrix Black's tongue. Halfblood, the polite term for when your mum or da's a Muggle. Or half-breed, which she expects is what Bella had been about to say. Probably Remus hears that often.

"He's the werewolf, yeah," she says though as she pours herself a cup of tea and lifts the pot in inquiry. Partly she's a polite shopkeeper and Bella's a good customer. Partly, she likes seeing Bella struggle between manners and bigotry.

"Well, you know how it is. People have a problem with those who are a little different, especially if they might be a little more dangerous than the average."

Just how hard would it be, she wonders, to talk Marlene into renaming her shop. Something more apt, like Between A Rock And A Hard Place or When It Rains, It Pours. It takes more to frustrate her, nowadays – unless you are Rodolphus, in which case you were born with a gift – and the fact that there is no satisfying alternative for this particular shop certainly helps keep her in check.

Mostly.

"Oh, no, thank you," her smile is all polite deference, pureblood society does its damage well in several ways at once here. She wouldn't always decline, and were this her office, for whatever reason, she would offer, but they are fighting over inches here. Silently, while not really fighting at all.

"People are cautious these days. Who can blame them? Transparency only goes for far, and some people conceal their more dangerous traits well."

She'll give Bellatrix Black this - it's very hard to tell when you've landed a hit. All that etiquette, all those years of concealing the real feelings beneath layers of smiles, arch looks, and a secure sense of superiority. Still, she's fairly sure she has; that's what keeps her smile bland as she sets the teapot back down and picks up her tea to take a sip.

It's not a fight, really. Not at all. If it were a fight, it would be one Marlene would always be doomed to lose. But at the same time, she has to exercise what little power she has, and that's right here and right now.

"We live in very odd times," she agrees. "Time travelers, all those disappearances. My da worries about me living in London, you know, even with the curfew. Still, we wouldn't want to go the way of the Muggles. We're supposed to be more civilized."

Luna doesn't much like the quiet, anymore, but what she dislikes even more is being overwhelmed by the number of people in her general vicinity. It's why she's spent her first few days in this new time puttering about her borrowed apartment and the ice cream store it sits above; struggling to adapt to so many sights and sounds and so much light.

It's not long, though, before the feeling of being cooped up settles under her skin, and Luna tentatively leaves Fortescue's to go explore the world beyond. It's a bit much-- Diagon Alley is abuzz with activity, especially with all the recent strangeness. She's still just remembering what it's like to have more than one person near her at any given time.

So she needs, eventually, to duck down towards a quieter spot. Spotting the bookstore is something of a relief. Anywhere with books is bound to be a place she can feel like she can breathe.

The sign on the door feels serendipitous. It might be good to get a job and help Uncle Florean in that way (it's been absolutely impossible, helping him with the ice cream store.) It'll certainly be good to have a reason to go outside for at least a few days a week.

It may be optimal to hide among the books until she feels something closer to herself again.

So Luna escapes into the bookstore, calling out a tentative greeting as she enters and instinctively scanning the area for anything amiss.

"--Hello? I'd-- like to ask about the work?'

Marlene's head pops from around the corner of some tall shelves and she smiles, even as her eyes assess. "I'll be right with you, then," she says. "You can look around a bit if you want."

This past is different than the one Luna grew up learning. There was no wizarding war; instead they've grown up under a seemingly benevolent administration, one that Marlene increasingly feels oppressed by. Still, even with this peaceful world, she's seen the aftermath of trauma. A friend, another half-blood, had left the wizarding world behind and gone to fight in the conflict in Vietnam.

When he'd come home, he'd looked a bit like this very small teenage girl.

Marlene hops down from the ladder where she'd been placing a book in what she likes to think of as the Black-Malfoy section, after her richest customers, the ones who prefer their rare books still cursed.

"Want some tea?" She asks. "I just made a pot, and I always feel like these talks go better with a cup."

Edited 2017-09-12 14:04 (UTC)

Luna can't help the faintest hint of a startle, when Marlene pops her head around the shelf. She still manages a somewhat shaky smile in return.

"I will, thank you."

It's easy enough to browse for the few minutes she needs to. She doesn't quite take in the names of the books she's looking at, but it's something to do, and it's easy enough to find enough calm in them to breathe properly again.

It makes her smile more genuine when Marlene steps down, "I'd quite like some tea, thank you."

It will be good to have something to do with her hands.

Marlene isn't a fussy person, but she takes her time fussing with the tea, pouring two cups and silently offering cream and sugar before she settles back and takes a sip. It gives her time to assess the girl in front of her, and gives the girl some time to tamp down those obvious nerves.

"I'm Marlene McKinnon," she says then with a faint smile. "Manager of this store, but not the owner. That's my da, but he mostly stays up in Edinburgh." She pauses to pull down a tin of biscuits and pulls one out. "How about you?"

"Luna," she says, putting a bit of cream in her tea with hands that mostly manage to keep steady. Trying for a smile comes even more easily, now, with the calm the young woman is exuding, "I'm-- Luna Lovegood. One of the displaced. My Mum's family usually lives around here and my Dad's has been in-- Ottery St. Catchpole for a while."

The woman even looks like she might be about the age her parents would be, in this time. Luna's been too worried and afraid to see if either of her parents are around in this version of time. She knows they'd likely both be happy to see her, but she isn't certain she's ready to see them while she's still like this.

She's not the sort to ask for life histories, would never even think to ask in most circumstances, but with people out of time she can't help but have some curiosity. "Xeno Lovegood?" She asks, tilting her head to one side. Luna was right that they were close in age - about a year apart, really, and different Houses at Hogwarts so they hadn't had much to do with each other.

But Xenophilius Lovegood had been as odd a boy as he ends up being as an adult. The type you remember. "I remember him from school." She thinks about saying more...but then shakes her head a bit. "Have you worked much with books before?"

The mention of her father has her brightening just a hint; something closer to eagerness in her eyes.

"Do you know him well at all? Is he all right? Do you think he'd-- like to see me?"

The father she had left behind absolutely would have agreed to the latter. She isn't so sure about this strange version of the person she loves so dearly. It takes a moment to get her to refocus again on the reason she is.

"Not-- worked with, necessarily. I am-- was-- a Ravenclaw at school. I like studying very much, and learning all sorts of things, and I did quite like the library there. It's rather focused on things people can-- prove are real and not so much things that are more-- unknown or undiscovered, but it was still rather nice. I've read all sorts of things, but I especially enjoy Charms."

Besides, she thinks she needs things that are a little more tangible, now.

Marlene smiles a little. "He's a year or so older, and I was in Gryffindor. But he used to, ah, expound on history of magic to a certain degree." There's an odd divide between Houses at Hogwarts in some ways, even beyond Slytherins and Gryffindors tending to act like they're sworn enemies. Most only made close friends in their own house.

Still. "I expect he'd swallow a child from the future a bit better than most," she says. It's odd, she thinks. There have been no McKinnons arriving from the future, none at all.

"Well, charmwork is fairly useful here," she says as she stirs her tea. "A lot of what we get are thinks that have been jinxed or hexed." Or cursed. "Those are all charms, when it comes right down to it, so someone skilled with that is good to have around. Most of what you'll be doing is reshelving. We get used a bit like a library, you see. Can't get into Hogwarts as easily after graduation."

That earns a small smile, "That sounds like Dad." She's glad that much hasn't changed. It makes her feel a little more at ease.

Marlene's words manage to make her feel even more so, and she nods after a brief heartbeat, "I-- imagine he would yes. Maybe I-- will stop by." Though she isn't certain she'd want to expose her father-- even her alternative one-- to the condition she was in.

She takes another sip of her tea as she listens to Marlene speak, nodding every so often.

"That makes quite a bit of sense. I don't know if I know quite-- all of the charms that might be helpful, but I'm quite a quick learner, if you don't mind teaching."

Edited 2017-09-25 00:43 (UTC)

"Just as well you come in with that attitude," Marlene tells her. "Some of them are charms you might learn in school, but some are a bit more advanced, and some I've invented myself." She winks. "They're not going to be in any book, because they don't publish twenty-two year olds all that often."

She takes a sip of her tea and raises her brows. "I need someone mostly in the mornings. Will that suit?"

That actually manages to earn something like a laugh, from Luna. It seems to surprise her, as well.

"I'm looking forward to learning them, then."

It's almost like being with her Mum again, meeting someone so enthusiastic about coming up with spells.

"And yes, mornings should work fantastically. I've-- not much else to do, at the moment, so my schedule is rather free."

After settling in and talking things out with the boys, Hermione finally finds herself heading out to McKinnon's, the bookshop Professor Lupin suggested. Everything about this place has her both angry and confused about how it could get to this point. So she needs as much information about the Wizarding World as she can get her hands on. And somehow, she doesn't think the school books will be entirely accurate.

She takes some time looking at the books on the window, then pauses when she reads the job offer. Maybe that's something to consider, but not just yet.

With a deep breath, she pushes the door open and looks up when the woman speaks up from behind the counter. Although Hermione is a bit nervous about being out there and still being unregistered, she trusts Professor Lupin wouldn't put her in danger on purpose. And the woman mentioning him does get her trust points right away. So Hermione smiles a bit and nods.

"You must be Marlene?"

Marlene would tell her it's easier not just to fight but to notice a war. This? This had been insiduous. The curfews had been a fact of life for most of hers, and the rest...well, added slowly, it doesn't seem so bad.

It chafes, but she can still accept it. Still smile, which she does a little slyly at the teenage girl in clothes that aren't out of place, exactly, so much as they aren't the norm for 1980. "That's me," she says. "Are you shopping or job hunting?"

"Perhaps a bit of both?" Hermione knows Harry will be working with his mum and she supposes they should have some income, even if this wasn't really the purpose of the visit initially.

"Profes-- Remus mentioned I might have better luck with books here," she explains as she approaches the counter.

If she notices the slip, she doesn't comment. Then again, if any of her friends are suited to be a professor in the future, it's Remus Lupin. Take your pick of subjects, really, though DADA had been his best.

"Well, we've got them," she says. "Mostly spells, but if you're looking for something else....?" History, perhaps, which she had a small section of, and which had drawn one or two of the other Displaced who'd come to see her.

"History, actually," Hermione says without hesitation. After all, it's perfectly acceptable for someone from a different place to be curious about local history, right?

"I was wondering how things ended up so different here than they are for us," she explains. "But I'd like a little more in depth detail than I might find in a school book."

The shop was empty, or else Marlene might have kept her thoughts more behind her tongue. "Most of the books published in English tell the same story as the history texts used at Hogwarts." The Ministry had a rather firm grip on the emotions of the people, and that included the press. They were used to being afraid, and to feeling that the Riddle Administration was what stood between them and even greater fear.

She has what Hermione is looking for, of course she does. But if that becomes known - well, life will become very difficult for her. That's what has her silently regarding her for a moment before she smiles slightly. "How are you at languages?"

Hermione nods at the explanation. From what she's heard about the Riddle Administration so far, it's no surprise at all that no conflicting information would be available so easily.

But she does brighten at Marlene's suggestion. "Pretty good, actually." Sure, depending on the language she might need a dictionary here and there but she's fairly sure she can manage.

Marlene smiles a little, and sets down her teacup. The rest of the store is empty - her last customer having run out before Fortescue's closed - and she leads Hermione back into the dim shelves. "The Russian and German governments are a bit...what's the best way to put this. Less controlling, let's say, than ours. Germany's been a bit outspoken about some of the Minister's policies, so that might be a good place to start." And a little easier than reading Russian. "The French are more circumspect about it, but they have some good neutral writing on the last decade or so."

She tugs a couple books off the shelf, newer volumes than most of her store. "The last decade's been when most of the changes happened," she says. "Before that...well, Da says these things didn't come out of thin air, but most of the actual regulation didn't happen until Tom Riddle became minister. That was when I was twelve, though."

Hermione glances around the shop as she follows Marlene toward the back shelves. There are so many books she wants to read already just by glancing at them, but she knows they're not a priority right now. She turns her attention back on the other witch when she speaks.

"I'd like to get as many different perspectives as possible," she adds. Any mention of Tom Riddle and minister in the same phrase still makes her stomach turn. But although she grows paler at the reminder, she doesn't mention anything about it. "Do you remember how things were before that? The biggest differences?"

"It wasn't an overnight change if that's what you mean." She runs her fingers across the spines of some texts before she pulls first one in German, then French, then Russian off the shelf. After a moment she pulls one in Romanian free too, setting them on the table behind her. "He didn't become Minister out of nowhere. But before he did..." Her lips thin a bit.

She remembers her da and her aunt talking, after her mother had left them, about the sudden spike in muggleborns disappearing in the months before Tom Riddle became minister. "My da was friends with a few Muggleborn witches and wizards," she says. "And they all just...disappeared, no trace of them ever again. We had a pretty good idea about what happened with them."

Hermione's eyes are on the books the moment Marlene sets them down. She can't wait to read them, but she knows that getting details from witches and wizards who actually lived through these changes is just as important, so she turns her attention to her once again.

"Only the muggleborn? Does that still happen?" she asks, even if she doesn't need to know much more to figure out what happened to them. She knows exactly what Voldemort and the Death Eaters think of muggleborns. And she is fairly sure that that is one of the things that hasn't changed.

"Mostly," Marlene says after a moment. "Halfbloods too, but I never heard of any reported Purebloods going missing." Funny how that works, isn't it. "It still happens, but not as much, which most attribute to the curfews." She pulls down another book and sets it on the table before leaning against it. Only because the store is empty does she go into this much detail.

"You'll never find this in any official outlet, but most of us are pretty sure that the disappearances are at the hands of purebloods. There's a wide streak of racism in our community. I'd hope it'd be different in the future, but." Hermione isn't the first displaced in her shop. "I'm betting not."

Figures. She thinks, but she doesn't say it. It's probably not smart to be saying these kinds of things in this place.

"It's different, but certainly not better," Hermione says with a soft sigh. "I imagine most of the Ministry employees are purebloods? Or at least halfbloods?" She already knows Umbridge plays a big role. Which, while not surprising, irks her almost as much as Voldemort.

"You don't get far unless you're a pureblood," Marlene says dryly. "Halfbloods can get positions, and I used to think about it - I wanted to be Minister when I was in school - but while I could have gotten a position, I wouldn't move up much. Probably better to do my own thing." Umbridge is only twenty, but she's there, certainly. Marlene hears things in her shop, and just a few days before Lucius Malfoy had been ~~complaining~~ commenting to Bellatrix Black that Dolores Umbridge kept finding excuses to come into his office.

"Of course, the defense is that the minister himself is halfblooded. But..." No one else around him is.

Being halfblooded only seemed to fuel him more. "Of course they would use that."

Hermione hesitates for a moment. "Do you know if-- hm, if there are groups willing to--" rebel, fight, change... but she can't bring herself to go that far. "I mean, support groups of sorts. For muggle born?"

"There's nothing very formal or organized," Marlene says. She sounds all the world like they're discussing a club or some such thing, but she leans forward to pick up one of the scraps she keeps on the table and a quill to scribble down an address.

"But now and again a few of us get together, just talking, eating, drinking, maybe practicing some of those spells we don't get much day to day use out of." Okay, so they don't really do the last - but they ought to, and maybe this girl can help her get that started. Marlene had never been in dueling club in school, but she'd had a strong tendency to get herself into fights. "Next one's in Hawkshead. Early October? We try not to be too firm in our plans, but I imagine Remus or Sirius or James could give you direction if you're interested."

Hermione watches closely as Marlene writes the address. And even as Marlene speaks, she's already thinking of ways to protect them and the rest of the people involved like she did with Dumbledore's Army. Hopefully Marietta Edgecomb won't show up and warn people...

She takes the paper and nods casually. Pretending to be only mildly interested even as she plans on definitely dragging Ron and Harry over with her. "Sounds like it could be a good way of meeting others around here. Thanks, I'll ask them closer to the date."

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another day, another dollar [Open]

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RNG was wholeheartedly for her meeting the booklady and maybe working for her :>

\o/

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