InsaneJournal

Characters: Maeve Sheridan & Susan Bones
Setting: Saturday, 26 June, late afternoon at Slugs and Jiggers in Diagon Alley
Summary: Maeve needs to find a job and Susan conveniently owns an apothecary.
Rating/Warning/Notes: PG, pretty tame fare. Repost.

Sitting down on a bench, Maeve took a few moments to get herself situated. Her bag she dropped at her feet and, after extracting her journal, a strip of parchment and a brown paper bag, she pushed it back under the bench, out of the way. The paper bag she opened and set beside her and the journal, with paper on top, she rested in her lap. Glancing down at the list in her lap she considered it for a moment and then dug into the paper sack, pulling out a ham and cheese sandwich, wrapped in wax paper.

A stomach grumble confirmed her decision as the right one and she ignored the list of apothecaries until she'd finished the sandwich and apple she'd packed herself at home. As much as she enjoyed the new freedom she was finally experiencing for the first time it also meant living at home and spending far more time around her mother than she was accustomed to. And it meant regular, bordering on incessant, calls from her father hoping to get his share of visits as well. Maeve loved her parents but she hadn't spent so much time around either since her holidays from school, and those had never been as bad as the past few weeks.

All morning she'd spent with an apartment guide, wandering around Muggle London looking at every low rent flat they had listed. Compared to the ideal budget she had drawn up before looking around she didn't like the prospects offered. So lunch and a new plan of attack had seemed in order. Securing a place of employment first made drawing up a budge much easier than a hypothetical one. Wiping her hands on a paper napkin, Maeve pulled a pen from the binding of her journal and ran it down the list, checking off the order she wanted to visit the apothecaries of Diagon, Knockturn and Memorial Alley in. Packing her things back up, she placed the list in her pocket and headed for the first shop.

Saving any decisions for the end of her hunt, Maeve visited each shop owner with a barrage of questions and demands at the ready. All she cared about was the art of making potions. She had completed her apprenticeship but she knew she had a lot of learning to do on her own before she'd reach the next level. Years of honing her skills lay ahead of her and if she had to be employed by some shop that expected her to spend most of her time ringing on a cash register those years could be endless. At the end of the long afternoon she found herself outside of the shop she'd chosen to end her list with, Slugs and Jigger. Staring up at the sign, Maeve had to allow a small smile at the name of her former master. She mused that it was a shame he had given away his share of the business ages ago or her hunt would have been significantly shorter.

Holding open the door as a customer exited, Maeve left the heat of Diagon Alley in summer for the cool apothecary, immediately assaulted by the aroma so many described as unpleasant but to her was simply a strangely comforting bit of familiarity. Heading for the counter she glanced around for any employee that could help her and looked over a display of wormwood essence while she waited.