Bookshop.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

It's week two, and there is a steady rhythm to the people that come and go from the bookshop where Inara has found herself so recently. Sometimes Ivy has her behind the register. That isn't the part that entertains her though.

Watching people. Seeing what books they go for, what stationary supplies they need, what quills and inkpots and everything else they might be looking for appeals to them before they even realize what it is they want. That is why, among other things, Inara can be a very convincing salesperson.

While Ivy is in the stockroom behind the counter wrangling their copies of The Book of Flying Creatures from taking off out the window, Inara is balancing the ledger from the morning in an otherwise empty storefront.

Comments

[trickswithsticks]

"I really should of thought of that," Leah says, snapping her fingers as she understands. "And they can be recharged, at that. Easier to switch between for subjects, so I don't get an earful from my colleagues who reckon they're cheating."

She's looking through the closed box at the nibs inside. "They're a little high end for students, though. Can we go a level lower?"

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

Manicured fingernails drum lightly against the vial in thought. "I wonder...one moment?"

Inara walks back into the storeroom where Ivy's still working and returns with a jar of what look like Muggle pencil grips.

"Somewhere in the middle between the nibs and charming the quills themselves," she explains, holding a couple of them out in her hand.

[trickswithsticks]

"That'll probably do," Leah says cheerfully. Just to be sure, she grabs one of the grips and holds it up, looking at it with first one eye, then the other, than both.

"You stick them around the quill, yeah? I remember them from learning to write in Muggle school."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

It's the first moment where Inara looks distracted by Leah's eyes, but it passes quickly in order to answer.

"Yes. They take some getting used to, but especially with younger students it might help with their penmanship as well."

[trickswithsticks]

Leah's left eye flicks up to catch Inara's, but she says nothing, being used to it by now. And smiles. "I'll take a dozen, then. And I'm not going anywhere 'til I've had a look at your history books."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Twelve it is, and for history books - " Inara points with her abandoned quill near the register towards her right. "The newer releases for our magical history section are going to be on one of the center displays, but over here is going to be Muggle history and what we have on Hogwarts reading lists."

[trickswithsticks]

Beat.

"...which I have not given you yet," Leah says, with an air of I knew I forgot something.

"You have some parchment? I'll give you the list now."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Oh yes please. I'm placing orders on Thursday, so this is perfect timing."

Inara pulls out some spare parchment and hands over the quill and inkpot she'd been using earlier - green ink for money, Ivy likes to joke.

"And let me know of any special orders I can place for equipment or other materials as well, Professor...?"

[trickswithsticks]

"Ross," Leah says absently, because she's focusing on scribbling down a list of more than twenty books, covering each year. "And as long as their spelling doesn't confuse my read aloud charms, I think we're good for equipment.

"Gone are the days when you'd need to get a new quill for each of Binns' essays."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Leah Ross."

It's offered more to herself and the parchment while Inara watches Leah write than directly to Leah's face.

"Forgive me for not recognizing you more quickly. It has been some time."

[trickswithsticks]

Well, Leah would be the first to admit that she looks a helluva lot different from when she was at school.

She looks up, with one eye, while writing. "Quidditch, or... no, Inara, right?"

The quill goes down and she grins. "How's it going?"

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"That would be me. I'm well, thank you for asking," Inara confirms. "I moved to Hogsmeade just last week, so I'm still settling in and getting to know the town.

"How has year two started? Sokka was by earlier; he mentioned you teaching at the school."

[trickswithsticks]

"Of course, Socks has been tlaking about me," Leah says with a fond smile.

"Merlin's beard, the second year is so much easier than the first. The first years are too new to ask 'what happened to your face?' questions and all the rumour management is handled by the upper years. I get to actually work on curriculum this year."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

Inara smiles at this, remembering aloud, "I hope that goes well for you. I always enjoyed my history classes, but I imagine sometimes it is difficult to try and keep everyone enthusiastic about the material."

[trickswithsticks]

"I liked the subject, not the delivery," Leah says. "I have more Quidditch tactics worked out in History of Magic than I have notes on Goblin Rebellions. How I got the marks I did I'll never know."

By making it up as she went. That's how Leah does everything.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Professor Binns could have taken a liking to you? Not that you didn't earn what you received, but it's not so bad to have a teacher on your side."

Inara had hers, in her way. Most of them just liked how diligent Inara was.

[trickswithsticks]

And Leah - well, no one likes that she'd spend entire lessons distracting all the other students and the effortlessly prove she understood everything she was supposed to learn.

"You say that, but then you grow up nd relise tht teachers are supposed to be on everyone's side. Then you teach for a year and realise that's harder than it looks."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Well, I won't tell anyone that teachers are people like the rest of us if you won't. Professional secrets and all."

[trickswithsticks]

"Ha!" Leah laughs out loud. "No, man. I got a reputation to uphold, here."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Stern, moldy history teacher with magical eyes that watch you while you sleep. The stuff of nightmares."

Even getting the sentence out is impossible; Inara's already laughing behind one hand.

[trickswithsticks]

"Less of the mouldy, alright?" Leah counters, though it's hard to do that through laughter. "It's gonna be at least ten years before I can pull off mouldy."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"I can manage that, I believe. Oh my," Inara settles, dabbing at her eye from her bout of the giggles. "You should come into this place all the time - entertain shopkeepers."

[trickswithsticks]

"I get as much time as I can out here," Leah says cheerfully. "If Sokka's told you about me, you'd know Jo has the Three Broomsticks now. That's where you'll find me practising my flying billiards most nights."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"I'm surprised to hear that Jo is in Hogsmeade, to be honest. I never knew her well in school, but didn't she...go off somewhere?"

Inara's mouth twists as though trying to remember one of Leah's goblin rebellions. "But then, Hogsmeade is a rather lovely draw."

[trickswithsticks]

As someone who also disappeared for a while, but for totally obvious reasons, Leah says nothing about Jo's absence.

"She must've heard I was settling down in a proper job and couldn't bear to let me be respectable on my own," she says cheerfully. "We came as a matched pair in school, why change that?"