we grow happy as a new dawn

Phillip had assumed that today would be some disaster, that something terrible would happen, but it seemed he had been wrong so far. Marin was always kind of quiet, and Phillip was always sorting of grumpy, but those two aside, the girls seemed to be hitting it off well enough. And that was a relief. Phillip didn't have many friends, certainly not as many as the other three, so it would be rough if the few he had suddenly didn't like each other. Not that he was hoping his tiny social circles would mix often, he lacked the patience for group settings, but he was glad it wasn't all bad too.

Shifting his weight, Phillip was relieved to have a few moments of peace with Billie. It was far from quiet, even on the street side, but it was still better than waiting in that nonsense of a line Wini was in. Phillip lacked the patience for those too. And out here with Billie, despite the street's commotion, he felt like he could think clearly again. A smile breaking on the corners of his lips, Phillip was glad to hear that she liked Wini and Marin, not that he expected she would say any different. While Phillip trusted she wouldn't lie to him, he also knew Billie well enough to know she'd never outright say she didn't like someone. She was far too polite for that, which was far different from how Phillip typically behaved. Billie thought he was decent enough to be her friend, Phillip would never understand why, but he didn't question it.

At this moment, it seemed strange to stand in silence, something they did as often as they had conversations. Phillip was never the type to feel pressured into talking; typically, he didn't care if things were awkward or painfully dull. Nine out of ten times, if he was in a social situation, he didn't want to be there in the first place, so he made no effort to keep the conversation going.  It was different now, though, knowing that Winifred and Marin would return any minute, he wanted to talk to Billie while he had the chance.

"Did you say you had plans after this? Do you need to go by a certain time?" As always, he began narrowing down just how much time he could spend with her before she had to go home or do other plans.

"Ah! There you guys are? Where's Marin?" Wini said excitedly, her words tumbling out over one another in her excitement, her brown eyes shining with happiness as she held up the book she would classify as treasure. Rupert's handsome face winking intermittently from the cover, making her glance down at the book in her arms, her heart fluttering each time she caught the wink as if it was personally directed just as her. It was the Hartwood effect, happened to everyone she guessed. "Can you believe I snagged the last copy!" Wini gushed, showing them the book, her blonde hair a little more mussed than when she had entered the bookstore. "I might have had to fight for it, but the little old witch who was reaching for it already had two copies so it's only fair right?"

The excitement and adrenaline of fighting over the last copy was still buzzing through her small frame. The Hufflepuff wasn't typically aggressive.. but she really, really wanted the book. She couldn't go home without it knowing witches and wizards all over the globe were reading it before her. She was so distracted, in fact, that she didn't even notice how close the two were standing, her mind probably would have been very curious to imagine all of the sweet whispers they were saying to each other if she had been paying more attention.

But right now, she just wanted to get back to William's flat and speed read through the book and then reread it a gazillion more times until she had memorized everything. Marin would probably want to hear her dissertation on the finer points of this book versus Rupert's last one so she obviously needed to be prepared. Speaking of Marin... she glanced around, looking up at the top line of the crowd, looking for his tall figure sticking out amongst the crowd. "Did you guys have anywhere else you wanted to stop at?" Wini asked, glancing between the two of them, hoping the answer was to her liking. Would it be rude to sneak away to read when she had sort of orchestrated this whole meet up? Hmmmm.

“Oh, I can stay for a little while,” Billie replied with a polite smile. “Kendrick can take me back later this afternoon, or I can floo back afterward if I miss him…” She trailed off, catching sight of Phillip’s blonde friend, a scary kind of triumph in the older girl’s eyes as she elbowed her way out of the crowd. “Ah…” Billie smiled a bit at Phillip, shifting back to open up some space for Wini. Her hand slid out of his, and her fingertips tingled a little as she clasped her hands together.

“Wow,” Billie said as Wini appeared, gushing about how she’d gotten the last copy. The younger girl glanced down at the cover dutifully, glancing back up when Rupert gave her a wink that was a little too familiar for comfort. She noted Wini’s ruffled hair and the adrenaline-rush aura and was glad that she hadn’t joined Wini in the shop. The thought was a little selfish, but it seemed scary in there. Billie gave the shop a last, dubious look through the window before nodding to Wini. “Certainly fair. I think you did well.” She smiled.

“Marin’s just over there, we could keep walking that way?” Billie gestured lightly in the direction their taller friend had walked. She gave Phillip a small smile before they started walking.

/end

Upon hearing Billie's answer Phillip nodded a little, mentally taking note of how much longer they had together today, and mentally trying to calculate the likelihood he'd be able to kiss her again this afternoon. The odds were slim, since they were in a group setting, but Phillip was determined. The return of Winifred had the statistics dropping further, but he did his best not to frown at her for it. Try as he might, the teenage wizard couldn't hold back a roll of his eyes when she told them about her adventures in securing a copy of a book he'd never, ever, read.

"No, not really," he barely answered when the Hufflepuff asked if there was anywhere else they wanted to go today. Not shopping anyway, Phillip had had just about enough of that for a lifetime, but he doubted he'd be lucky enough for the group to call it quits for the day. He just didn't have that kind of good fortune.

"Yeah, let's head that way," Phillip agreed with Billie and started moving toward where they had seen Marin last.

/end

The blonde glanced in the way Billie pointed and stretched onto her tippy toes as if that would help at all, but thankfully Marin's height made him easy to spot. "Marin!" she called, excitement bursting out of her, carrying across the distance between them as she nearly skipped toward him, her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders. "Look! I got it!" She showed him the cover and then hugged it to her chest as if this were her most prized possession. Well until she had memorized everything inside, it pretty much was. "I can't wait to read it. Think there will be any sordid details about when he was dating Charlie? Ohh I hope so!" Wini blabbered on, already thumbing through the pages before she stopped with a squeal and flipped the book open to show him.

It was a handsome photo of Rupert in a plain white tee and what Wini always called 'eyes you could get lost in'. "Don't worry, I won't hog it all day. You can read it too," she offered kindly with a bright smile even though her nice gesture if he accepted would probably include her reading it over his shoulder and commenting on every other sentence.

But then Lip and Billie were there with them too and she glanced between her book and her friends. She didn't want to be rude but she also wanted to read her book. Like now. She bit her lip, her brown eyes glancing between them as she thought it over. Lip did say he hadn't wanted to stop anywhere else... "Why don't we head back to William's flat and I can get us some tea and cookies?" Wini offered, mostly so that she could get back and read. She guessed Lip and Billie might have their own plans or wheedle out of her idea, but she was completely fine with that. She slung her arm through Marin's and started walking back down toward the Cauldron, a bright smile on her face.

/end

Marin tossed his (and Wini’s) rubbish in the bin, hovered for a little, and then walked a little further. His fingertips were sticky and it was a bit too warm in the sun, and while he’d do anything for Wini (and, to be completely honest, he did not hate the gossip part of this whole thing, as much as it filled him with disdain), he was already eager for the day to come to a close. He leaned by a shady spot under a shop’s eaves, and waited for a while, using his height to glance over every now and again to make sure he could see Phillip’s head in the distance.

After a while, he decided to head back slowly, and ended up reappearing not long after Wini did. “Sounds good,” Marin said to her suggestion, though he didn’t think anyone really noticed or cared. Everyone knew Wini made the final decision. He let Wini take his arm and steer him through the crowd, leading their little group away.