another day, another dollar [Open]

[likedietrich]

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."

Comments

[scinlac]

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."

[likedietrich]

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."

[scinlac]

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."

[likedietrich]

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."