#darkestnightstarter

Narcissa was exhausted. She had barely slept, a common occurrence these days it seemed. Her sleep since she had married Lucius seemed to be plagued with nightmares, of seeing Andromeda and Regulus’s faces as they were sent off to Azkaban. Her dreams always left her feeling unsettled and uneasy and on the mornings when she had them she liked nothing more than to take a hot bath with a book where she could drink her tea in peace. 

But that hadn’t been on her agenda this morning. She had had to be at St. Mungo’s bright and early for a tedious board meeting that lasted far too long. She hadn’t even had time to drink her tea, and by the end of the meeting, she was supposed to meet her mother for lunch. Usually she liked having a busy day, but today she wanted nothing more than to change back into her pajamas and curl up in bed to take a nap while Lucius was working. Narcissa had instructed her house elf to bring her dog, Calliope, to St. Mungo’s after her meeting, so she at least had her dog by her side to get through the rest of her day. She had known that the restaurant would never dare say anything to her about bringing Calliope with her, it was certainly one of the perks of being Mrs. Malfoy these days. 

When her lunch was finally through with her mother, she had kissed the older woman on the cheek, said her goodbyes, and made her way into the streets of Diagon Alley, making sure that she kept a tight hold on Calliope’s leash. She was a small dog and she always worried about bringing her into crowded places, but the streets were pretty empty today, thankfully. 

Until Calliope managed to wiggle out of her collar as Narcissa was browsing at one of the stalls. The suddenly slack leash had made her heart stop and she glanced in time to see her dog rounding the corner after a cat. “Stop that dog!” She shouted, taking after her.

When she rounded the corner she saw someone had managed to grab her. “Thank Merlin,” She said gratefully, relief flooding her features. “She’s such a naughty dog,” Narcissa chastised. “Thank you.”

There was something satisfyingly about cleaning the cauldrons by hand instead of just using his wand. Sure, it was simpler, but Peter felt it just didn’t do the trick to get them quite the way his boss liked them, and the man was very picky. That, and Peter felt the hard work was better, used to that after all. It was also easier to zone out and not have to think about anything while he was cleaning.

He was focused on the detail on the front of the cauldron that his boss had told him to clean, wondering what exactly had been on the cauldron that the customer had brought in, and why his boss had been hush hush about it. Still, that wasn’t his place to worry, and he wasn’t going to get an answer anyway. Instead, he just focused on trying to get the detailing looking decent.

The bell on the door dinged and Peter couldn’t help the sigh that left his mouth, feeling frustrated when a customer came in when he was in the middle of cleaning. “Feel free to look around, I’ll be with you in just a moment,” He called out from the back, trying to sound kinder than he felt. He rolled his shoulders, trying to prepare himself to go speak to whomever it was.

He put the rag down, moving to put the cleaner cap back on it and sitting it back on the shelf. He adjusted his apron, before moving to head out of the back and behind the counter. “What can I help you with?” He asked then, glancing around the store and looking for the person that came in to the shop.