riddlelog | 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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

another day, another dollar [Open]

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