amor fati | jade

"Fuck," Harlan ran both hands through his hair as he stopped in the middle of the cobblestoned pathway. He figured it was a sure thing that he would find something for Henry’s birthday in Hogmeade of all places— it was positively teeming with stores for kids, that was kind of the point of the place, wasn’t it?— yet, nothing. He had exhausted nearly every option when he remembered the Carroll’s and their toy shop in town. He didn’t know enough to know exactly what the sold but he no other choice, except—

And he wasn’t that desperate yet.

Picking up the pace, he made his way up the path to where he recalled Jade had mentioned the store was located and he eventually found himself staring up at the large sign hanging over the plum stained door. It certainly was not subtle, Harlan thought to himself.

After a cursory glance to silver watch wrapped around his wrist (it was just before eight), he tried his luck in pushing open the door and was surprised to find that it was still open. It was a Friday night but Hogsmeade, he knew, closed up earlier than London. It took Harlan a moment to adjust to the new environment inside. It was lined with hundreds of toys, cooler than the summer air outside, even in the night.

Nodding sourly to wherever the cheerful faux-greeter who had addressed him was coming from, he stumbled further into the madness, looking (and hoping) that he might see a familiar face, to no immediate avail. The store seemed to be completely unoccupied. Harlan took a few more steps, studying the large climbing structure in the center of the room and knocking over a display of plush toys in the process of his awe.

“Fuck,” He whispered to himself for the second time that night as he scrambled to pick up the mess of brightly colored stuffed animals to put them back where they’d fallen from. It was then that the shrill voice that had greeted him had started to make sounds of alert, something like that of a bird. “Oh, piss off,” Harlan groaned. Thankfully, there were no actual children around.

@Jade Carroll

It was Friday evening and Jade was standing in the back of the shop, rearranging some toys and basically just waiting for the wall clock to announce that it was 8 pm and she could close the shop for the day. She had told Frida already an hour ago that she could leave. It wasn't really much to do anyway and it felt stupid for them both to stick around. Usually Jade did not spend quite so much time at the shop. She focused on creating new toys rather than selling them but her mother had decided to visit her relatives in Russia, leaving her in charge and so she was acting as the sole shopkeeper at the Wonderland of Toys.

To Jade there was nothing more boring than being at the shop with nothing to do. She had redecorated the shop window already earlier, had even gone as far as dusting off the tops of the high shelves that nobody could reach anyway. She pouted a little as she finished rearranging some dolls and glanced hopefully at the clock. She was not going to close up early no matter how intriguing that prospect was. Her mother would somehow find out and probably want to talk to her about it upon her return.

Then the front door swung open and the twittering noise made clear that somebody had stepped in. Jade yawned, shot another glance at the clock and slowly made her way to the centre of the shop to greet the intruder who was making it hard for her to welcome him as he was coming in so late.

She heard him cursing and realised the voice sounded familiar. As she spotted the man picking up a collection of stuffed animals that he had just knocked over, Jade's mildly annoyed expression turned into a grin. “Hello there,” she said softly. “Discovering your passion for pink unicorns, are you now?” she teased as she watched him tidying up the mess. She leaned against a shelf painted in dark red colour which coincidentally was also the colour of her knee-length summer dress. She folded her arms as she observed him and a mocking little smile spread across her face.

“Didn't think you were the type for it but I guess you live and learn. If you cuddle it properly the horn produces rainbow coloured sparks, you know. You might want to try that.” She chuckled softly before making a step forward and bowing down as well to pick up a little diricawl plushy that had fallen below a table and putting it back where it belonged.

Harlan shoved the last plush toy back into the display tower, then again after it had unceremoniously fallen to the ground amidst the chaos he’d created upon his arrival. And to think at one point he thought that Honeydukes was bad— this place had to be his nightmare. Turning on his heels to the sound of a familiar voice, some small reprieve, his eyes met Jade’s as she rounded the corner. “Hi,” He replied in an uncharacteristically unsure tone, giving the toy half of a wave before settling it in both hands, his discomfort evident in the very way he held himself, though his gaze lingered on her.

“Have much practice with that, do you?” He watched carefully as she took another step forward to help in the clean up process. There was a crude joke to be made there but he kept the details to himself, instead allowing Jade come to her own conclusions. Even after the eventful night they’d shared when they first met, they weren’t at that level of closeness.

“Nice place. Very… bright,” Harlan was trying. He finally returned the last plush it's home on the shelf before turning back to her with an exasperated sigh. “Thank Merlin you’re still open,” He shook his head. “I'm afraid I’ve really put off getting my nephew a gift for his birthday,” He winced. The kid was a certifiable shithead, anyway, he didn’t deserve a whole lot. “How have you been, alright?” At once he recognized how rude he’d been and took a step forward to embrace her, the stubble of his cheek brushing over her own decidedly more soft one in the process.

Jade hadn't seen Harlan since they had first met at her family's distillery a few months ago and she wasn't sure what to make of him turning up at the shop now. The young witch decided not to interpret anything into it. He was probably simply in need of a present for a child and yet she found herself wondering if he had thought of her since that day on Skye. Truth be told, she couldn't even explain why she had these thoughts. It usually didn't matter much to her what people thought of her. So why did she even wonder about that now? Was it because he was famous and it would feel like a compliment if Harlan Bellamy had thought of her after just one, comparably short, encounter? It was ridiculous to think about it and yet... Jade shrugged these thoughts off.

His crude question caught her entirely by surprise. A surprised smirk spread across her face. While she had not expected him to be entirely serious in response to her mocking comment, she clearly hadn't expected this either. Jade was rather relieved now that her mother was not here with her at the shop today.

"Practice with what?" she asked, trying to sound innocent although she had a feeling she knew what he was indicating. However, she couldn't quite leave it at that. "Do you mean, letting sparks erupt from horns?"

It was obvious that Harlan complimented the place to be polite and not because he actually liked it but that was totally fine with her. Jade liked the toys and actually also the shop but she could totally see why some people would find it too colourful. "Well, yes," she, therefore, said, smiling a little. "Might be because it's a toy shop," she added, winking at him. "Kids like it that way. Wouldn't want my farm to be as colourful but that's an entirely different matter anyway."

He was apparently glad that the shop was still open and soon also explained why he had come in in the first place - which was clearly not to see her again. "We're generally open until 8 pm," she responded automatically. "Can be longer if the situation calls for it, of course." She added quickly, not wanting to put him under pressure to make a rushed purchase.

"Yes, thank you," Jade replied with a smile, appreciating the question and the little embrace. "How have you been? Back to full practice now that the league restarts, I take it?" She involuntarily lifted her hand to touch her cheek against which Harlan's stubble had brushed only seconds ago and, to conceal the gesture, went on to brush a strand of her dark hair behind her ear.

"You did say that was the point, yeah?" Harlan decided after a moment to play along, his lips pulled into a masked grin as he gesturing to what appeared to be a pyramid of the aforementioned toys behind him. Jade didn't actually answer, he noticed, not that he could blame her. The conversation shifted to the store and his eyes canvassed the space all over again. How she could spend a day there without a headache was beyond him. "Suppose that's right..." He agreed as if he had any real idea what the appeal might be to a kid. The only one he liked was his niece and, thankfully, she couldn't yet speak such opinions.

It wasn't lost on him that he had the uncanny ability to make his way into most places just as they were closing. It was easier that way, for him, less so for the people actually running the show, he imagined. Presently Harlan liked to think that Jade might not mind, either. "I'll make it fast," He quipped but made no sudden move to make his purchase and go on his way.

As they pulled apart from their embrace the toy brooms came again into his line of sight. Maybe he didn't need to be in her hair all that long, but then again he didn't mind to, per say. "Busy, yeah," He took half a step forward to touch a set of toy trains but stayed close to where she was. "Back into a routine," He nodded. When they first met it was the start of summer, just after the finals, and in the midst of his internal crisis accepting just relaxing, laying low. In hindsight, it had gone faster than he wanted. "I think I've found the winner..." He wagged a finger in the direction of the brooms.

His brother was going to kill him for that.

"Oh yes, of course," Jade said, smiling slightly. She would really have liked to know Harlan's actual thoughts on her creations, the shop and, truth be told, also on herself.

"Yeah, it probably is. Most kids seem to like it. I think my mom overdid it a little but I guess she chose the bright wall colours and furniture without considering that there'd be hundreds of colourful toys filling the room." She shrugged and looked around, suddenly finding the place a lot more colourful than usual. She was almost ashamed of it but reminded herself that this neither reflected her taste nor was it meant to please adults as much as kids.

"Don't worry," Jade was quick to respond as he said that he'd make it fast. "I'm in no hurry to get home." Okay, maybe that wasn't entirely true. She had been waiting for the finger of her wall clock to move to 12 for the last twenty minutes at least. Besides she still had to take care of her sheep and her horse on her little farm but nothing of that seemed to be very important now that she had company at the shop and the earlier boredom was forgotten.

Jade nodded along as he spoke of being back into a routine and wondered if Quidditch players liked the time off or were eager to get back into the routine with matches and practice. She assumed that it might differ from one player to the next but she was not curious enough to actually ask Harlan about his take on this.

"I hope you enjoyed your time off though," she said instead, correcting herself immediately, "I mean, you did have time off or have you been dealing with many obligations over the summer?"

She was almost disappointed when Harlan announced that he found a present already. "Oh, I thought you'd need my expertise and some recommendations. I'm shocked you already found a present so quickly!" she said, pretending to be pouting a little before breaking into a grin again, "I guess it just feels right to go with what you know best." She was clearly teasing but the choice of a toy broom was indeed a logical one for a Quidditch player.

Harlan stopped himself before he openly agreed that, yes, her mother probably had overdone it. Instead, his gaze followed Jade as she canvassed the decor, stopped on her just before she turned back to him with a shrug. She didn't seem all that offended by his slip so Harlan figured it best to just left it at that.

Jade mentioned she was in no hurry to get home, a strange concept— if it were him, there, he would have been counting down the minutes. Then again, a person with the countenance of Harlan Bellamy had no right to work in any form of customer service, anyway.  "It's been really nice," Harlan nodded, genuinely meaning it. Relaxing, doing nothing, was something the man had only just learned to enjoy. He couldn't believe he'd spent so much of his life actively avoiding it. Audrey said that it was probably just the first sign that he was getting old, but he refused to agree. However, as usual, she wasn't far off.

"Not as much as usual," Harlan watched as she tidied something on the display. "Took a vacation. For the first time in—" Steel eyes flicked to the ceiling in thought. He couldn't remember the last trip he'd taken for himself, with no correlation to work or family obligation. "— it had been quite some time," His eyes dropped to her with half of a grin.

Her expertise? His brow pulled up, mouth shifting into more of a smirk. "Well, in that case..." Harlan took a step over to the wall of toys to their right. "In your professional opinion, what would you recommend for seven-year-old who calls his grandmother by her first name and tells his father when his uncle has had two whiskys instead of one?" His eyes narrowed, finally letting out a laugh. There was no other option than to laugh at his nephew's expense. "Kids going to have quite a time when he gets to Hogwarts..." He said to himself as the thought occurred to him. Henry deserved a bit of an ass-kicking, anyway.
 

“I'm glad you enjoyed it,” Jade said earnestly. “I guess during the season it can get a little stressful for you, with practice, matches, the media following you, the pressure...” her voice trailed off as she realised that it was not really up to her to interpret his life. Hers was entirely different.

Jade had so many different tasks, she had her farm, the toy production, helping out at the toy shop, travelling to collect information for more travel guides, writing the guides, illustrating them… there was always something to do and when she was tired of one thing she could always focus on another.  The only thing that she really had to do regularly no matter if she felt like it or not was to take care of her animals. Unless she was travelling she did that all alone. When she wasn't around, either her Glen or her mother looked after the animals.

“A vacation sounds great. Where did you?” she asked, genuinely interested. She knew quite a few places around the world by now and clearly had her preferences – that is the countryside and places that weren't getting too hot.

Jade laughed as Harlan asked her for her professional opinion after she had teased him. “Seems like you are not too fond of your nephew,” she remarked. “Well, I'll admit he doesn't sound like a very cute kid from your brief description anyway. Hmm...” she looked around, trying to think of a present that would suit the boy.

Then she grinned a little. “We have a kind of kid's quod. That might be fun. It does not explode as normal quods and is smaller so kids can handle it well. Anyway, if you hold it too long there's paint coming out of it. I've heard from students who used it for a prank and replaced the paint with stink sap...” she laughed. “You can also just go for the toy broom, of course. Might be the nicer gift anyway.”

"Spent some time in Croatia," Harlan said but left it at that. It always felt a bit too indulgent for his taste to belabor the details of an otherwise far too luxurious vacation. Especially not when he didn't know the person all that well. He'd made it a point in his career to avoid that kind of talk altogether, no matter what it had afforded him. He could thank a particularly showy teammate for that.

The conversation turned to his nephew and Harlan was beginning to believe he might be the Scrooge of seventh birthday parties— though, truthfully, he was. "Ah, he's alright," He let out a laugh. Oftentimes he wondered if all families were like his, then he remembered that they were not. The Carrolls especially, he imagined, were nothing like them.

"A quod, hm?" The steel blue of his eyes scanned then landed on what he had been looking for near the toy brooms (of which he was much more familiar with). He took a step over and picked up one of the balls that were hopefully, he assumed, disarmed before being purchased. "Never quite got into the sport..." He commented almost to himself, tossing it between his palms.

It was nothing like a bludger but the concept was the same and thanks to years of practice his muscles learned on the fly. "I'm not giving him any idea like that," Harlan chuckled to himself. He would be first on his nephew's hit list, anyway. "I think the broom..." He set the quod down and ran his fingers of the wooden handle of the one closest. "Of course, I'm partial," He looked back to Jade with a smile.

"Have you got any of those—" Harlan paused to wrack his brain for the name, snapping his fingers in thought. "—the house Quidditch board game?" He settled on, grimacing. It was clear that he was really trying to drive home the sport to his nephew, save him a bit of trouble in his Hogwarts years, but he knew Simon would disapprove. Even better.  "Swear I'll be out of your hair after that..." He met her eye before looking for the board game in the mass of options.

“Oh Croatia? That's nice! Have you been to Dubrovnik? I once visited the town and quite liked it. Though I must admit I found it a little to hot even in spring. I'm more made for Northern countries, I guess.” She smiled and shrugged. It was a fact though, Jade didn't like heat. When she visited places in the South she usually tried to go either in spring or fall to avoid the worst heat.

“Yeah,” Jade nodded, “I never played quodpot myself but I find this a pretty funny toy anyway. I mean, it's one that you can just toss and catch on your own or use to play with others.”

She chuckled softly as Harlan said that he didn't want to give the boy any ideas like the one with the stink sap. “Actually,” she said, pausing briefly, “I thought you might want to prepare it that way. Just to have a laugh at the expense of your nephew. I think the way you described him it might do him quite well to be on the receiving end of a prank.”

Harlan seemed to be more inclined to take the broom and Jade thought the gift was a pretty good and generous one for the boy. She'd probably have taken the quod just to have some fun, looking at the boy's face when he'd get covered in stink sap.

“Oh yes,” she said in response to his question about the board game. “We do have these board games.” She smiled at him as his gaze met hers and made a few steps towards a different shelf to pull out the box with the board game. “We have this. It's a new edition, just came out last month.”

She paused briefly, thinking of what he had said. “Honestly, you do not need to rush your purchase, I'm in no hurry.”

"I agree," Harlan let out a chuckle as he shuddered at the thought of living permanently in a place so tropical— the sticky humidity he could do without. Then again, he hadn't hated it when he willingly extended his vacation over summer, though there were a few more factors at play then. "I have, it's beautiful," Dubrovnik was a comfortable mix. "We must be spoilt by the consistent weather our home has afforded us..." He teased with a grin. England and Scotland both were hardly known for the weather, of course, but they were home either way.

The idea of pranking his nephew with a botched quodpot was appealing, and his face said as much, but he also knew that Simon would have his head for it. His older brother was hard enough on him for trying to toughen the kid up a little, and blatantly embarrassing him would be another story, Harlan imagined. In all of their pretense, his brother's family was annoyingly precious about that kind of thing.

"Oh, great, that's it," Harlan took the board game and studied it for a moment, the toy broom tucked safely under his arm and looking smaller by the moment compared to what it was on the shelf. "Maybe these will do the trick and get him interested..." He sounded unconvinced. "What's the damage, then?" Harlan smiled, turning back to Jade and reaching a hand into his front pocket for his wallet. She could say that there was no rush all she wanted— he was ready to get out of there, the bright colors were giving him a headache.

Jade laughed as Harlan mentioned the weather their home provided them with. “Well yes,” she agreed. “I know most people do not agree with me there, but I do actually rather like Scottish weather?! I mean, it rains a lot, no doubt about that, and it never really gets too hot. In my opinion it's kinda perfect, really. Unless, of course, you do not have the perfect attire.” She hinted at their prior meeting at the distillery and the walk through the rain where she had been wearing a dress and high heels.

She could tell that the idea of pranking his nephew appealed to Harlan but she assumed that he still wouldn't take the quod. It didn't matter to her which toy he bought in the end. Anything was fine, of course. However, she found that her suggestion clearly had its perks.

“If it's your goal to get him into Quidditch, then yes, I think you have made a good choice,” Jade said, nodding.

“You want both? The toy broom and the board game? It's four galleons and five sickles for the broom and...” she pulled out another board game box of the shelf to check the label on it. “Three galleons and nine sickles for the board game. That makes, seven galleons and 14 sickles in total.”

Harlan smiled. Truthfully, he could only actively participate in so much conversation about the weather. Then again, it had a lot to do with how the two of them knew each other, given the first time they'd met they'd gotten stuck in a storm on the Isle. "I agree," He nodded, keeping it as simple as that. Until that summer he figured he didn't like any weather outside of what London so usually provided. He wondered then if that was because it had been all he'd known for so much of his life or if it was because he actually enjoyed it.

"The both, yeah," He held them up and away from his body to study the packaging again; oh, his brother would hate him, and that was the point. The kid probably wasn't going to care less but it was the thought that counted.

Fourteen sickles. Harlan had tucked the broom under his arm to reach for his wallet. "Family doing alright?" He asked, distractedly pulling out the coins before offering them. "Tell your brother and father I said hello, anyway," He nodded as he pushed the wallet back into his front pocket. "Was nice to see you again," He nodded. It was nice to see her again. Jade seemed liked a nice person, down to earth, unbothered by anything she might have heard about him prior to meeting him. "Thanks again," He held up the puzzle appreciatively.

“It's a good choice,” Jade said casually regarding the presents Harlan had picked for his nephew. He  didn't need reassurance and she knew that. However, it felt like the right thing to say anyway.

“Oh yes, thanks,” Jade said, offering a smile. “I will. They'll ask why you didn't pay them a visit.” she teased. “You know they like having you around.” It was no secret that her brother and father liked to have a whisky or more with him. “I could almost feel a little jealous, to be honest.”

She walked to the counter and pulled out a big paper bag with the shop logo on it. “Do you want one of these?” she asked, holding it out to him. "I could also gift wrap these for you, if you like."

A glance to the wall clock confirmed Jade's suspicion that it was closing time now and she smiled slightly. “Well, looks like you're my last customer today,” she said, “I can close up then and grab a bite and a drink before I go home to look after my sheep.” She wasn't sure why she was saying this. However, it felt like a casual comment that one would share with an acquaintance.

Jealous? Harlan grinned. "I'm sure they're playing it up," He figured as much anyway, despite the fact that he really did get on well with her father and brother. Even with his own family, despite their nuances, he knew there was nothing like that kind of relationship. A shared history was always going to be there.

"The bag is fine," He agreed. A custom wrapping would be of no real use to him. "Don't want to keep you any longer," He leaned a hip against the front of the counter and looked over his shoulder casually as if he hadn't already seen enough of the place. "My sister will re-wrap it, anyway," Harlan ventured a sarcastic smile before flicking his eyes back to Jade as she was carefully placing the gifts. "Thanks," He said again. She had no idea how much help she'd been in the final hour.

There was probably a joke to be made about her sheep, but Harlan didn't didn't know her well enough for that. Instead, he blurted out— "Want company?" He wanted to backtrack, it came across as too forward, but the appeal of a beer and some chips had taken control. "Wouldn't mind a drink myself," Harlan took the bag as it was presented over the counter, alluding to the effort he'd put into shopping.