It was around 8PM and Seva was sitting on the counter next to the register, her feet dangling over the edge and swinging rhythmically. She was slumping over the cash register, the antique holding her up as she leaned against it. She was exhausted from a long day at St. Mungo’s, she had one of her clinical rotations that day and it was a rather grueling day indeed. She almost wanted to ask Hugo to exercise the owls, auguries and fwoopers – which was normally her job – but she enjoyed that part of her day and had actually arrived early today. She normally didn’t start letting them stretch their wings in the store until 9PM, just before closing. She normally stayed about an hour to an hour and a half after closing because it took her a while to do all of her other duties.
Seva watched one of the owls glide around the store’s high ceiling as it hunted the mice she’d released amongst the aisles of the shop. Perhaps it was inhumane, but the owls had to eat something other than feed sometimes and as they didn’t have any snakes at the moment the mice were beginning to over populate the store and no other menageries could take them at the moment. In addition, all of the mice were young and as they usually fed the snakes animals that died of natural causes – which she was sure annoyed the snakes since their prey wasn’t live – she was forced to resort to letting the owls hunt. Well, perhaps not forced, but she saw it as a treat.
Seva named all of the animals, but none of the names ever stuck for two reasons. One, she could never remember the name she gave a pygmy puff the day prior and two because the animal was purchased and was invariably named something else. It was just something she did to pass the time. Besides, how could she not bond with the animals when she saw them three nights a week for several hours?
She hopped down off the counter when she saw one of the owls going in for the kill as she was having a change of heart and quickly grabbed a pair of long leather gloves out of a drawer. It was a stupid move, but she was suddenly moved with pity for the mouse which was cowering in the corner that she had to act. She stepped in between the owl and the mouse and held out her arm, using the other to shield her face form the talons. The owl screeched in indignation but swooped above her head and continued to circle, then perched atop one of the racks of collars and leashes that was scattered about the store.
Seva heaved a heavy sigh and sunk down against a tank housing a particularly energetic salamander which she could tell wanted a blazing fire to hop into. Seva wasn’t inclined to oblige, she didn’t want to be the one to burn down the shop and she had no one else to blame it on at this late hour as Hugo and Elaine had long gone home. She scanned the shop, taking in all of her wares and her furry friends. It was one of her loves, working in the shop, even if it didn’t pay nearly enough for her tuition and her rent. She had refused to take a larger stipend from her estranged grandparents and was determined to finance her own living expenses and studies.
She looked down at her watch and saw that it only twenty minutes had passed since she had last looked at her watch. Shrugging, she got up from the floor and dusted her dress off before heading to the counter once more. There she put away the gloves after taking them off one by one and closed the door with a soft thud. The owl she had angered earlier was glaring at her with its piercing yellow eyes and she merely smiled and waggled her fingers at it in a mocking wave.
It was time to feed the animals, so she went to the back room and got out a cart with buckets that Hugo had prepared for her earlier in the day. It contained food for all the animals, including an extra stock of wood lice and crickets for the bowtruckles and lizards respectively. Pushing the cart out the door, she set to work feeding the animals, whistling quietly to herself all the while. It was peaceful this time of night when there were few, if any, customers about. She had the whole shop to herself and not much to worry about, save for the birds getting out when the door was opened. Seva toddled over to the crup enclosure and stared down adoringly at the tiny puppies that were curled all around each other, their forked tails wagging incessantly in their sleep.
]Awwww She thought to herself and smiled. Tonight was turning out to be a quiet, peaceful night so far. There hadn’t been any customers in hours, weekdays were normally slow since people had work the next morning and children were getting ready to go back to school since it was late summer. Seva liked it that way, she got frazzled when it was too busy.
