here there be lions

Curiosity washed over Sturgis, and he subtly turned to take in the sight. He had never seen such a vibrant shade of pink.

“Ah.”

“Mhm.”

Marlene turned away from the flurry of motion that was her Quick-Quotes Quill hard at work, her expression hard and offended—as if it was more likely she would be talking to a cerulean colored quill than to the person at the table next to hers.

“It wasn’t meant for you.”

Leon rolled his eyes. “Of course. Whyever should politeness be expected?”

“I asked for your opinion on this shirt. I have dinner with my dad later. I should probably try a little harder than usual, y’know?” 

“I’ve got two peppers here, I said.” Lily held her extra pepper shaker out demonstrably. “Have you got a salt over there?”

Leon held up the two shakers left on his table, shaking each over the back of his hand to make sure. “Huh, would you look at that. Both salt! Sorry, I hadn’t noticed.” He gestured at the lone cup of black coffee he was nursing.

“Thanks,” Sturgis replied as he glanced at his tan-colored socks. He didn’t find them particularly interesting. Sure, they weren’t white, but given his work as a curse-breaker, Sturgis found it particularly useless to wear white socks when they most certainly would dirty by noon. 

“Not you. Look at her.” Leon tipped his drink to subtle gesture at one of the bridesmaids currently busy toppling off a bar stool, her stockings printed with lurid pink flamingos.

“You don’t have a spare sickle, do you? I seem to be one short. I can pay you back tomorrow, I swear. By owl or however you’d prefer really. I get tipped out tonight, it’s just I had to pay rent and for my courses both today and it took a bit more than accounted for.”

“No, that’s fine. Managing adult money is not fun.” He pulled a sickle out of his pocket and pushed it towards her, smiling almost sympathetic. “You want a drink with that? My treat, for successfully getting through rent and course fees.”

“Come again?” The Leaky Cauldron was typically noisy, but the gaggle of witches celebrating a hen party made the pub louder than usual, and Sturgis found himself struggling to hear, well, anything.  

“I said, interesting choice of socks there.”

“Someone did it deliberately. You couldn’t get that shade by accident. The next question is probably was she trying for that color.” Emmeline craned a bit as the woman disappeared into the crowd, trying to determine if something about her outfit gave her away. 

“You know, you would think she might be jinxed but her cloak was certainly fuchsia enough to make you question if it’s on purpose, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in that color before.” 

“No, I don’t believe I have either.” Leon turned to watch a woman with alarmingly tall neon green hair walk by. “Do you think it’s deliberate or spell damage?”