valentinanotttâ:
âThe woman was senile and hadnât had a kneazle in many years, although it sounds by all accounts as if she cared more for that kneazle than any of her surviving family does for her. She should be in some sort of home.â While Valentina wasnât always particularly fond of her family, it didnât change the fact that she was indeed loyal to them - or at least to Sofiya, which would likely cause many of the people that knew her to faint. It was a strange thing for Valentina to realize, but at some point things in her life had changed so that every person left that she truly cared about was a hufflepuff.
Not that Goldstein knew that about her, just like she barely knew anything about him other than the fact heâd helped with the paintings and gone running to her when he found something out. âIâm not offended.â Heâd likely seem more Ministry personnel than he cared for during that particular job. âThose portraits like attention, the unspeakables arenât a chatty lot.â Which he should know, considering their job description.
Somehow, despite knowing the man worked with art, Valentina hadnât expected him to sound so enthused about it and she blinked in bemusement in response to his undeniable interest in the subject. To each their own, she supposed. âWe have items from Great Britain and Russia, mostly. A few odd Danish pieces.â Absolutely nothing from America, that was a point that had always been staunchly enforced, but no reason to mention what they didnât have to offer.
Caleb gave a small laugh at the fact the woman didnât own a kneazle. âIf she has more than one she must be loaded. I had a friend that owned several kneazles and made a good living off of it.â It had been some time since he had seen her but it wasnât a close enough relationship to send an owl over. There were only a few people that Caleb had met in the new country that held any significance to Caleb and most were the ones he knew from Illvermony.Â
He had only applied to a place of art on a whim and out of habit to do things spontaneously. It was nothing like the job his father had put in line for him at the Ministry and was still dealing with the repercussions of going against his father. But the job had led him down a path that he couldnât predict including investigating an illegal art trade with Patrick and investigating portraits in the Unspeakable Department. âI can see why. They need people to talk to. And maybe some vitamin c.â
âI heard about some Scandanavian pieces joining the exhibit as well. Hopefully, these purebloods have enough to show off as much as they say they do. Iâve been to enough parties around here and it seems they love to brag about their possessions. I went to a few houses for in house commissions and the state of some of these places would put even New York to shame. You have a house or something like that over here? I can barely afford the small shack Iâm living in now.â














