#mrsmstarter

"Look, I appreciate more than most how desperate you might be to get a book but we don't open for twenty more minutes," Lily sighed as she opened the door to the bookshelf, a small bell tinkling as she did so. She would have ignored them (and kept reading her own book back in the office) but the banging on the door was rather distracting.

"No the seat next to me isn't taken, but have you stopped for a second to think that maybe that's on purpose? Tell me, why should I give up the peace and quiet for you?" Emma made no motion to pick up her bag from the otherwise empty seat, holding eye contact with the other person, waiting to hear their argument. Perhaps she'd give in, perhaps not. She was undecided.

where: burke manor's gardens

after socializing and pretending to like the disgrace of those muggle pieces of 'art', alecto decided that she needed some air. the perfect spot nearby the fountain and rose garden was waiting for her and she took a seat, letting out a soft sigh. the cool breeze blew her bright red hair in an elegant manner. she closed her eyes for one second and when she opened, her peace was already interrupted by someone.

"needed fresh air?" she asked.

where: burke gala

"don't slouch and stop fixing your dress, you look absolutely beautiful..." her mother hissed. "i mean, you could've had your skin more covered, but i suppose this is better than those auror robes" the woman added and evelyn rolled her eyes. is not like she was always wearing her robes, she liked to doll up way more than her mother realized. "maybe you'll catch a gentleman's eye tonight, darling" the woman went on and evelyn debated on just walking away.

of course she was not interested in finding a gentleman. well, perhaps, maybe, just one in particular. but only to thank him, that's it. well, and also maybe have a conversation with him, and talk about nicer things than dark curses infecting her body.

and just like that, as if he were a manifestation of her subconscious, evelyn spotted him.

"darling, why don't you go and talk to mr. bulstrode's neph---" her mother began but the auror cut her before she could finish. "mum..." she warned her, her blue eyes drifting to beck. "there's mrs. bulstrode, go talk to her, i have to greet someone..." she said and with that, she made her way to beck.

she ran her palms over the skirt of her dress before getting closer to him. "hello, stranger" she greeted him with a genuine and rather playful smile.

lucius had talked to almost everyone of importance at the gala at least twice and his jaw was starting to hurt from how hard he clenched his feigned smiled. it was almost painted on at this point. he reached for his martini to relax and take a good look around the room. he couldn't believe the people were welcomed here. it was a welcome invitation and lucius could already count how many people he would remove if it were up to him. though it wasn't the perfect image yet, he and narcissa were known to host some of the best society gatherings. he could walk away from tonight knowing he was still better than whoever threw this one. lucius shook his head when he saw someone approach. "that seat is taken," he said in reference to the empty seat across from him. it wasn't reserved but he would rather not subject himself to mindless small talk. "don't-or sure, by all means. sit," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. it seemed the person wasn't going to read the room.

rita was all too confident that this event was happening because of her. if it wasn't because of her and anastasia's sad conversation about death that ended with rita suggesting to throw a party, then none of this would occur. which was why rita felt it was her responsibility to make sure it went well. it wasn't the first event she'd co-hosted or thrown, but she had never seen anything to this degree. rita played nice to some of the other journalists and ministry officials, but her gaze turned wild with panic especially after three pinot blancs. "hey-yeah, you. don't you dare touch that," she said, swatting someone's hand away. "unless you want to be cursed for the next three generations. if you so much as touch it, i will promise i will make that come true and twice over."

beck hated events like this. it rotted to his bones in a way that could only be described through social anxiety. and it wasn't because he didn't feel comfortable around people, it was the kind of people he had to make occassional small talk with when he would rather use the cruciatus curse on himself. it was because of that reason that he lost focus in the middle of a conversation, his eye catching on something else in the room. "i'm sorry, you were saying something about...?"

"No you don't understand. I need this book. This is the last copy. It's my little sister's birthday in two weeks and this is her favorite author." When she first got into the store they told her she was lucky and that they had one copy left, but before she could grab it from the shelf someone else got to it. So now Ceren was grasping at straws, trying to reason with them. "If you let me have it I'll buy you a drink." Clearly a dire situation meant that she wasn't above bribery to get what she wanted. And maybe throwing in her best puppy dog eyes. "Please?"