| Details for Meeting at Diagon Alley |
| Summary: | Lizette and Stanley meet before their first year at Hogwarts and get to know each other. Yay for future classmates! |
| Date: | 1939-08-10 |
| Location: | South Verdic Alley |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Lizette wanders down the street, which is less crowded now that it's evening and most of the working witches and wizards have gone home for dinner. Lizette looks over her shoulder once in a while to peek back at the still-bright storefront at Rousseau Vineyards, reassured by the flicker of people inside. Augustin had a few customers he had to finish up with, and once they got started about wine… Lizette didn't mind, really- Diagon Alley was an interesting place to explore, and she hadn't been since her mother died. Augustin had thought she had needed a change of pace. Lizette stands on her tip-toes to look through some of the storefronts, wondering vaguely about what she wanted to bring home. Maybe Papa would appreciate something.
Of course, Stanley was very curious what the young witch was purchasing, so he couldn't help but quietly sneak around behind her and try to peer around her to work out what she was looking at. Was it a new gadget? A new broom? He -had- to know! However, to Stanley's chagrin, the witch was somewhat taller than him and he was having quite a hard time peering over her shoulder. Despite the difficulties, he tippytoed to the very tippytoest of his little toes and manages to just barely hover his head over her shoulder. Despite the small moment of utter joy as he overcomes this enormous obstable (or witch, if you want to be blunt), he finds himself quite frustrated with not being able to completely ascertain which item it is she looks at due to being unable to observe her eyes. So, he decides to ask! "Hey! What are you looking at?" he suddenly blurts out into the unaware girl's ear at about half an inch's distance.
Lizette happens to be looking at a magical rolling pin. Not the most exciting of items. Still, despite her contemplative mood, Lizette /isn't/ blind to the world- her eyes narrow slightly as she notices a boy about her age behind her in the glass, although she suppresses a giggle at his over-the-top antics. "Stop it!" she says, to the boy. "Didn't your mama ever teach you manners?" She straightens herself up self-importantly, clearing her throat. "I /was/ looking for something for my papa." She says. "I'm Lizette. My big brother works over there," she nods over to the Rousseau storefront, by way of explanation. "Who are you?"
"Stanley! Stanley Longbottom." Stanley says with a wide grin, simultaneously doing a little curtsey to Lizette in response to her slightly upperclass mannerisms, although more in a playful manner than mocking. He then pauses and observes her from top to bottom for just a moment, making contemplative hmmmm sounds as he thoroughly judges her, a wide grin on his face. "You're going to hogwarts this semester too, aren't you?" he asks. "If you're a Rousseau you're a pure-blood witch, and you look the same age as me. Do you have your supplies and stuff yet?"
Lizette's eyes widen just a little. "So your mama /didn't/ teach you anything!" she grins, covering her mouth with her hand. "Boys don't curtsy!" she says, more seriously. "They bow. Like this." And with utmost grace, she demonstrates, even keeping one arm pinned to her back. With even more dignity, she continues, "Also, when in the presence of a lady, it is most proper to kiss the lady's hand," she says, raising her own hand and arching her eyebrows in a way that would have been haughty if it had not appeared on a chubby little girl's face. She continues to keep her hand there as she prattles on, obviously delighted to have a new conversation partner. "Yes! I'm going to Hogwarts this year," she says, proudly. "I can't wait. Augustin is going to get my supplies with me next week." She grins harder at the mention of his name. "Longbottom, eh?" The English were so funny.
"Yup! Longest bottoms this side of the English Channel!" Stanley replied, playing along, and gave a curteous bow in the manner suggested by Lizette because… well, why not? However, /kissing girls/ is where he drew the line. Clearing his throat, he then assumed the most posh accent he could muster up "You'll have forgive my utter disregard of proper etiquette, however, good madam, as I do not believe contracting 'cooties' is part of the gentleman code of conduct." He finished it with a blank expression and leaving his head slightly tilted upward in a manner which he once saw in a painting of an English aristocrat. However, he can't hold the expression for long before he bursts out into tiny giggles and completely ruins his perfect disguise as an English gentleman. Giggles interrupting his speech, he speaks: "I'm sorry, I just can't do that. It's too funny. But you're going to hogwarts? I hope we both end up in Gryffindor. What are your hobbies?"
"Humph," Lizette says, popping her nose up into the air good-naturedly. "I assure you, real ladies /don't/ have cooties." She pauses for a moment, "..but you may have a point-" Lizette looks at him, narrowing her eyes teasingly. "-you're the one that might have cooties!" she says, mock-shuddering as she retracts her arm playfully. She looks interestedly on as Stanley continues to talk. "You want to get into Gryffindor, too?" she asks, a flush rising slightly in her face as they broach the subject. "I hope I'm brave enough. Augustin wants me to be in Hufflepuff, just like himself, but…" she makes a face. "Gryffindor sounds cooler. And lions are awesome!" Lizette plops herself down on the fountain rim in the middle of the street, taking some strain off her aching feet. "Hmm… I like writing, and maps." she says, after a moment's thoughts. "And unicorns. I can't wait to see you once I get into Hogwarts. And no, it's not stupid girl stuff," she adds, a little heatedly. "Did you know that unicorns have blood that can cure anything?"
Stanley listens happily to the new playmate as she enthuses about her hobbies, nodding along as he listens until she mentions unicorn blood- and its properties. Stanley's eyes light up. A cure-all? A cure against anything? Immortality? Aging? This was big. Stanley knew people liked the idea of being immortal. If he could only get a hold of a large amount of unicorn blood… But ack, Stanley would never harm an unicorn. Never ever. Well. I mean, unless it was attacking him. Or it if was threatening someone. Or if… Actually, come to think of it there was a number of scenarios that would make it okay to kill one. Hmm. But.. ahhhh well. Stanley could never kill anything. He'd rather hug Unicorns, even though he would never admit it. "Cure anything, eh?" Stanley asks curiously. "That's pretty neat, I guess." he then mumbles somewhat somberly, mourning the loss of a great business opportunity before it had even gotten off the ground. "Still, maps are really cool. Are unicorns friendly though? I mean they do have horns, do they use them to stab people?"
Lizette looks affronted that Stanley would even suggest such a thing as an aggressive unicorn. "No! They aren't mean or anything, and they would never ever stab you if they had no good reason to," she says, crossing her arms. "They're…pure at heart," she says, a little dreamily, although she isn't really sure what that phrase means, just that the adults tended to toss it around a lot in conjunction with unicorns. It sure sounded nice, though. "I've actually not been around any, though," she says, looking down at her feet. "I think they'd be like ponies, but more graceful, and I don't think they'd let any old person see or ride them," she says, a little wistfully. "If they can be ridden, though, I want to be the person to do it." She smiles. "I like maps because…well, don't tell anyone, but I want to be an adventurer when I grow up. What do you like?" she asks, simply because she doubted Stanley was as interested in maps as he put on.
Feeling that something is slightly amiss and that she might not completely believe him, he reaffirms: "No, really. I do like unicorns and maps!" he says, rushedly while nodding enthusiastically, as if that somehow made it more sincere. He pauses for a moment, a grin then appearing on his face as he tucks his arms behind his back. "Actually, I love pretty much everything. To answer your question- I love business! Pretty much everything is business though, so I just love everything. Unicorn caretaking is a business, map restoration is a business, cartography is a business.. I just love most things that have anything to do with -doing- something big!" he says, grinning again. "But you want to be an adventurer?" He asks, an even bigger grin appearing on his face as he says that last word. "That's soooo cool!" He grins harder, straining his tiny little cheeks to the point of hurting. "I totally want to help you out with that. Not even kidding. That sounds like so much fun!" he speaks rapidly, almost shaking with excitement in his tiny little boots. Suddenly, a voice calls out: "Stanley! Stanley, where are you? Come help with these crates!", and Stanley turns around toward the direction of the voice, rapidly looking between over his shoulder at Lizette and the source of the voice. "Crap! I need to help my parents with carrying some crates of products. Uh, can we talk more later? I want to hear more about what you want to do as an adventurer!"
Lizette tilts her head as Stanley enthuses about this something called business. "Business? That sounds really grown-up. My papa and my brother both do business, and it gave my papa a lot of grey hairs." She eyes Stanley for a moment. "Are you sure it's fun?" The unfamiliar words fall on her ears, but she nods vigorously anyway, smiling as Stanley ends with '…something big!' "So, Mr. Big Shot, what are you going to do with all those Galleons?" she asks, peering into his suddenly animated face. She grins as he continues on. "…maybe you can be my business partner," she says, looking at Stanley slyly. "You can-" suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a parent voice breaks the relative peace of the now quite-quiet alley, and she jumps up from the fountain rim. "Sure!" Lizette says quickly. "I'm up here sometimes, but if we don't meet here again, I'll see you at school. I've got to go, too." she says, looking up the street to the little storefront. She gives him a little wave and a big grin as she turns to go. "See ya."