It stands to reason that Harry’s holding groceries when he runs into Draco Malfoy for the first time in twenty years.
Well— doesn’t run into, exactly. No, more like peers through a shop window like a right barmy bastard, bits of overspilling lettuce brushing his arm and passers-by on Diagon shooting him strange looks.
Of course Malfoy has to look up from the till— because, yes, Draco Malfoy is a shopkeeper on Diagon Alley apparently— and see him goggling. So, of course, Harry has to step inside, as though he meant to make a stop at— right, yeah, Narcissus Needlework Studio— all along, holding brown paper packages of vegetables.
Malfoy’s frowning when Harry makes his way over to the till.
“I don’t want any trouble,” he says. “I’ve registered the shop, everything’s perfectly within regulation—“
“Trouble?” Harry blinks. “Oh, no. I’m not an Auror. Anymore.”
“I know that,” Malfoy says unhappily. “The whole Wizarding World all over Europe knows that. Only you’ve never left well enough alone, have you, Potter?”
Harry’s forty next month. He’s lived twenty years seeing hide nor hair of Draco Malfoy, and he’s never gone looking. Well, except for that one time when he was twenty one and went to the Manor as a trainee Auror for a— well, it was a routine check, really. And that other time when he was twenty five and thought he saw a man at a club who looked just like Malfoy from the back and was convinced for four months Malfoy was back in London and must be up to something if no one knew about it. And that time when he was thirty two— and, oh, alright, Harry hasn’t ever left well enough alone, not when it comes to Malfoy, at least.
This time, though, Harry really didn’t go looking. And it’s definitely Malfoy.
“I just wanted some— thread,” Harry says. A needlework studio should have some of that, shouldn’t it?
“Thread,” says Malfoy. He looks down, deliberately, at Harry’s lettuce.
“For Molly,” Harry says. “As a, um, birthday present. New shop on Diagon, thought I’d pop by. Seemed the place, you know. Didn’t know it was yours.”
Molly’s birthday, Malfoy doesn’t need to know, is in December. It’s June.
Malfoy continues to stare at him, until Harry’s unsure whether to get indignant about it all or turn tail and flee.
“Well,” says Malfoy before he can make a choice. “Embroidery yarn for you, then, Potter. Come along.”
-
“I’ll see you again, I assume,” Malfoy says at the end of what transpires to be a surprisingly smooth purchase.
Harry nods.
He only realises after he leaves that there’s no reason for him to come back. He’s seen it for himself— what Draco Malfoy’s up to these days. Nothing nefarious or suspicious, just yarn and needles and tapestries on Diagon.
Except, well, he’s committed now, hasn’t he? And Harry Potter’s a man of his word. He said yes, when Malfoy asked— Malfoy asked!— so he’ll be back.
And really, if he has to invent Hermione’s sudden new and passionate interest in needlework— well. That’s between Harry and his lettuce.
written for @drarrymicrofic’s prompt “sewing”. i just personally think harry james potter could be seventy five and still rapidly become obsessed with draco malfoy at any given moment.
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One of the most heart-wrenching things that've ever happened to me occurred while trying to research the Super Paper Mario art style.
"Ohh what a beautiful and interesting art style! It is very distinctive! I wonder if anyone else has tried or wanted to try breaking it down and replicating it?" Obliviously, I typed in Super Paper Mario Art Style into my search bar... only to find many people calling it ugly and saying they hate it.
This simply could not be... permanent damage was done to my artistic soul.
No joy? No whimsy in this world? No love of early computer graphics? Of the art that was born from the computer and is difficult to replicate without one? Of the art made when this was something new and fascinating? No love for something unique?
Super Paper Mario don't listen to all those haters I love your geometric art style influenced by what shapes are easily drawn on a computer and the smooth mechanical interpolation within your animations. I love you. Also the music is banger.
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In ep 24 "Knock Knock" I found this interaction between Kalaya and Eursulon so fascinating
Kalaya: You're a true friend of a wizard of the citadel?
Eursulon: Yes.
[...]
Kalaya: Is she kind?
Eursulon: She can be.
It felt like such a big sister thing to be cautious of this wizard and have concern for her little brother. A spirit in a world that can be unkind to wild ones such as themselves.
But more interesting than that was Eursulon's answer. "She can be." It could be interpreted as, sometimes she is kind and other times not. Which we have seen both from Suvi (wielding the power, prestige, and station of a wizard vs loving and cherishing her friends).
But it could also be interpreted in a future connotation. Like she COULD be kind but we have yet to see. Will the citadel justification machine take over or will she retain the lessons learned from grandmother wren and hold on to a respect for the world of spirits
Last Eursulon saw Suvi she was caught between her friends and the citadel. And while wizardry is not innately unkind the systems put in place by the citadel can be concerning. Suvi has the potential to go down an alarming path with the brass of the citadel pushing her along. She has the capacity to be "unkind". But the gut reactions we see from her. The Suvi reactions, not Sky or the citadel, but SUVI are always kind. With her friends in her life Suvi can be kind and would continue to be kind. But her friends keep pulling away and the fall out from the last goodbye may be very influential into who Suvi will be.
Eursulon may not have meant much by his response but it feels very ominous in that we are yet to see the type of legacy this interation of the wizard Sky is going to leave.
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