It was raining… Times like this made Verity extremely glad that she worked in a prank shop. People trying to find cover from the rain would come in and sure that meant she actually had to work, but it also meant more money and larger paychecks. That wasn’t a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. A large grin spread across her face as she watched people shuffle through the door, water rolling off of their coats. “Welcome to Weasleys Wizard Wheezes!” Her voice carried through the store to the door; she’d had a lot of practice being loud without shouting thanks to the tw- the twins. Her smile flickered just slightly as her mind started to mentally correct her thought, but she left it. Sure, things had changed, but the twins were the founders even if one wasn’t around anymore. You make it sound like he’s just taking a vacation, Ver… Jesus. Before she had a chance to reflect on it, though, the thought was shoved away. Nope, not dealing with it. Not today, and probably not ever really.
Although there were people milling about, there weren’t many people actually buying anything. The longer she waited, the more people she saw come and go. Finally she just pulled her sketch pad out and started working on the design improvements that they’d needed. George was good at coming up with ideas, but refining them was her specialty. She was already good at runes, and Verity had slowly been learning how to viably incorporate them into fabrics without lessening the effects. It had been fascinating up until the point that she realized this would require her to actually work on her sewing. “The things I do for Weasley,” she muttered, smiling all the same. Frankly, Verity loved her job. It was the best thing in the world, even if she hardly made enough for her apartment. If she really needed the extra work, she could go back to her dad and see about working in the shop for some extra change. If nothing else, it was a good way to get some muggle money.
Muggle money… When had she stopped thinking in terms of “our advancements” and start thinking in terms of “muggle things”? It wasn’t like she’d known about magic all her life. No, she’d been thrust into this, and slowly she’d adopted it as her own. And frankly, that frightened her. The muggle work had always been familiar, safe, something she could retreat to where sure she might be judged by her hair, but certainly not her blood status. Her hand paused its work as her mind jumped to her time on the run; she knew some of her friends had escaped to France, that Ru had been in and out of places. She’d been lucky to have a place to crash in the US, but that had quickly become tedious. Returning had been nice, if only because it was a culture shock on two levels. The muggle world suddenly wasn’t her world anymore… And she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
Someone was approaching the counter, and Verity pushed the thoughts out of her head. Maybe she’d revisit them when she was wasted, but even that was unlikely. She placed the pad of paper on the counter and smiled at the woman as she approached. “I do! Oh, it’s no bother.” She put her normal “customer service” smile on as she talked, her eyes giving the woman a once over not only to view the product but also because she was frankly quite pretty. And the hint of an accent was charming. Her smile turned a tad more sincere as she continued. “That, m’dear, is an Extendable Ear!” It was one of the products she was having trouble improving, funny enough. She’d find a way, though. She always did. “Say you want to listen to a conversation on the other side of a locked door. Well, now you can. Simply insert one side into your ear – not now, of course, but when you want to listen to something – and the other end goes under the doorway you want to listen behind or around the corner or whatever… Voila! You can hear as if those in question were talking from a mere foot away!” It was a tad sales-pitchy, sure, but that was kinda her job.
