but it's all going to change,, {pw.kh}

[sephy weasley]

well here we go again, _____________________

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___YOU'VE FOUND YOURSELF A FRIEND WHO KNOWS YOU WELL
but no matter what you do, [/b] _________________[/size][/font]
________IT ALWAYS FEELS AS THOUGH YOU TRIPPED AND FELL[/center]

The Weasleys had a lot of money- what with their several franchises in various fields and such- so Persephone Weasley didn't mind that her business wasn't exactly booming. She supposed that in a time of war, books weren't exactly peoples' top priority. It might have been that or that she never actually made anybody pay so long as they promised to bring the books back when they were done. After all, she'd started the store only to save the majority of the books that had been stored in Hogwarts and the Ministry. The new Ministry weren't much for the old way of learning- they would have just as soon put the books on the fire.

She scoffed slightly as she made her way through the rows of books, which inhabited most of the basement and ground floor and as much of the second story as she could spare. They were encroaching on her living space, as well, and even that was a little too much for her. Sallie, who was undoubtedly her best friend, refused to go into her flat anymore, complaining that it smelled of dust and old paper. Sephy typically shrugged this off- the townhouse Sallie shared with a roommate was much more spacious and tastefully decorated anyway, and altogether a better place to hang out.

Still, she spent most of her time in the Bookstore, monitoring the book flow, as it were, and accepting the occasional payment. Even though the store was typically desolate for hours at a time, she had read nowhere near all of the books it house, and would just as soon sample her stock as go out with Sallie. Hogsmeade was, for the most part, a depressing place to go out these days.

For now, she'd be content with sitting in one of the arm chairs scattered throughout the store and reading about the magical flora of Africa, though she kept an ear out for the bell on the front door.

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[kyle henley]

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Having only moved back to England two days ago, Kyle was still getting used to getting around in Hogsmeade – so as well as doing some shopping for some last touches to the Henley siblings’ new home, he also decided to explore the village again. It was a bit of a déjà-vu altogether, but there were a lot of places which he did not recognize being there four years ago; and yet there were others that he was sure existed, but appeared not to anymore.

Even the overall mood in the village of Hogsmeade was very different - it was less cheery, and a lot more crowded. Of course, it was mostly because of the corrupt governing of the British Wizarding World that people were forced to move from their homes and relocate in this small village. Eight years ago, Kyle would have predicted that surely if Hogsmeade became more crowded, it would be an even merrier place than it was back then. But that of course, was something of the past – the very many lifeless figured that hung around the streets were not exactly the few, cheerful tourists with bags of colorful merchandise in their hands.

What's more Kyle saw changes in people, too – in general, everybody was not exactly at their peak in happiness. But it was the first time Kyle could sense the fear, in fact – he could sense everybody’s fear so strongly that he could swear that he could see it. What was this fear? It could have been anything, as there was so much to be worried about nowadays that it was not surprising that even the people Kyle thought were strongest were weak at the knees. However, there were some people who seemed to take it differently to other – naturally, there were people who fed of this fear and there were those who just simply took it in their stride.

But a change which was a lot more refreshing was the fact that Kyle had noticed that there was a new (or perhaps not, he was away for quite some time) bookstore. Kyle hadn’t had a good read in a while. Well, since reading his sister’s book anyway. Plus he felt like he had too many bludgers to the head, so buying himself and his sisters a couple of books too occupy themselves until they found something more productive to do. So when Kyle got to the door her turned the doorknob and after that almost satisfying ring of the bell at the door, he stepped into the very library-like store.

His eyes wandered towards the front counter, where he supposed the shopkeeper would be, but they weren’t there. Shrugging it off, Kyle walked in a little deeper until he noticed a young woman sitting on one of the many sofas that were scattered around the place. The only thing he could see of her was parts of her brown hair, as the book she was reading was covering the rest of her features. Perhaps she was the bookstore owner? If not, she was probably working there, or just a customer that felt very welcome here – anyway, he was going to ask her who and where the bookstore owner was. He wanted to ask the owner where to find any books about animal rights, he figured Josie would like it.

”Excuse me”, he uttered rather quietly (well the place did feel like a library), though he didn’t seem to notice how quietly he had actually said this, as he waited for a reply. It took him a while to figure that he could have been a little quiet, or the young woman was enjoying her book too much who knows. So he cleared his throat a little before titling his head so he could actually see the person’s first and said, a lot more loudly.

“Excuse-”, but he was cut off at that moment by a recollection; the memory trigger being the young woman’s very bright blue eyes. Kyle’s head jerked forwards in shock, as he suddenly asked, ”Sephy? Is that you?”

It was weird, Kyle knew he should have been less surprised to see one of his only friends at the bookstore, as well- Sephy was a lot like him when it came to books. But he supposed he was so surprised at the fact that he had mostly lost contact with all of his old friends in England; and seeing somebody he recognized almost made his situation seem unreal.

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[sephy weasley]

well here we go again, _____________________

[/font]
___YOU'VE FOUND YOURSELF A FRIEND WHO KNOWS YOU WELL
but no matter what you do, [/b] _________________[/size][/font]
________IT ALWAYS FEELS AS THOUGH YOU TRIPPED AND FELL[/center]

Sephy had heard the bell in the front of the store, but figured that whoever it was would either find what they needed on their own or come find her for assistance. She shifted in her chair but did not stand up- this book was more engaging that she had expected it to be. After a few moments of silence she considered calling out to whoever it was, but was interupted by a voice she thought she recognized. She paused then, her book still raised to her face.

She had been about to lower to book when he spoke again, this time much more loudly. She let the book fall and saw that the speaker was indeed Kyle Henley, looking just about as surprised to see her as she was to see him, and she was totally shocked to see him. He'd left for America almost four years ago, and she'd lost contact with him almost three years ago when he'd stopped writing. After that, all she'd heard of the Henleys was through the occasional newspaper article on their success.

Despite that, she still stood and threw her arms around his neck. She was smiling as she pulled away.

"You should have told me you were coming to visit," She half greeted half scolded, still grinning like an idiot. She definately hadn't forgotten about Kyle, but she had begin to feel that she might not see him again- after all, they hadn't spoken in three years and all the Henleys had a whole lot going for them in California. Still, she wasn't going to complain- it was nice to see him again.

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[kyle henley]

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Even though about half a minute passed since he had recognized Sephy – Kyle was still in shock – his head was still jerked forward, and he was still blinking slowly, his mouth half-hanging open very unattractively. And before he knew it, Sephy threw her arms around him; he only had time to place a slow slow-moving arm around her before she pulled away. He wasn’t very sure why he was acting like this, perhaps whole situation still seemed rather surreal to Kyle, the bright-eyed girl behind the book – the tight hug he had just received, and most of all – hearing the voice of an old friend.

It made him fully comprehend one thing: He was not in America anymore.

Nor did he have the intention of going back, actually. And even though he had started to live an arguably better life in America, the fact that he was staying in England for (probably) the rest of his life didn’t unnerve him. In fact, seeing Persephone in the bookstore made him realize how much he had actually left behind in England, and how – even though he was pretty content in America – he never actually felt comfortable there, he mostly blamed it on his career choice; but he knew it was not it, he had left a lot of memories behind in England. Kyle missed England, and he missed Sephy, a lot.

"You should have told me you were coming to visit"

Kyle gave a slight chuckle at this, finally wiping that rather bewildered expression from his face and finally cracking his first smile of the day – a rather warm smile indeed. He then raised an eyebrow and replied, ”Well it’s great to see you too, Sephy!”

Though his expression turned from joking, to a little pensive – a small wrinkle appeared on his forehead as he frowned slightly, ”But yeah, I’m sorry for the er- lack of contact. And the move was quite sudden, when we found out about everything going on here, we took the first portkey we could find here,” he continued, offering Sephy an apologetic look as he spoke. He was truly apologetic that he did not manage to write to her after a while – and in fact, that caused him to wonder whether she had forgotten about him, but life took over – being even more demanding than ever.

Figuring that he was probably going to stay for a while, Kyle sat down on a couch close to Persephone’s; appreciating the surrounds – shelves of books and comfortable couches to browse the selection – it was his type of place., ”This place is great Sephy”, he added gratefully, he had always wanted a decent bookstore to be built in Hogsmeade, ”You’re running it yourself?”
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[sephy weasley]

well here we go again, _____________________

[/font]
___YOU'VE FOUND YOURSELF A FRIEND WHO KNOWS YOU WELL
but no matter what you do, [/b] _________________[/size][/font]
________IT ALWAYS FEELS AS THOUGH YOU TRIPPED AND FELL[/center]

”But yeah, I’m sorry for the er- lack of contact. And the move was quite sudden, when we found out about everything going on here, we took the first portkey we could find here,”

You didn't write, She wanted to point out, why? But she bit her tongue as she sat back down on her chair, instead opting for something less accusatory.

"Move?" She questioned with genuine interest, tilting her head to one side. Whens she'd seen him here she'd figured he was just visiting from the states. Ignoring the hopeful twinge in her stomach, she frowned. "You shouldn't have come back. London is just not a good place to be right now..." She pointed out, assuming the 'everything' he'd heard about was the war. "I'd leave if I could." She added in a hushed tone, more to herself than him. She knew leaving wasn't even a remote possibility. Sure, she had relatives in France who would take in her a heartbeat, but she had too much here- her sisters, her cousins, her parents and aunts and uncles and now her nephew, too. It would be neigh on impossible to relocate the entire Weasley clan discreetly, and she wasn't going anywhere without them.

"Yeah, I run the place myself," She said, smiling again. Any distraction was a glad one, and she could talk about her bookstore for hours- Sallie could vouch for that one, having been bored to death several times already. "I used to have a storekeeper helping me, but he quit." She added with a laugh, turning her book over in her hands a few times, a smile lingering on her face. "The," She paused here to put down her book and add airquotes, just for clarification, "Ministry threw them all away- probably would have used them as kindling if they'd gotten to. They're not big on teaching people to do anything but cast Crucio curses and employ scare tactics."

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[kyle henley]

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“Yeah, I’m moving back – we live at Witchhazel Place now”, replied Kyle, by ‘we’ meaning himself and his two sisters – who – like Sephy, would never be going anywhere without. The very thought of that was preposterous in his mind, never – not after what they had been through together. He continued, “I appreciate the concern but-“

A sudden flicker of anger flashed in his green eyes, it was very brief – but it was there, but his face retreated to a warm smile promptly as he went on, “I had my reasons to come back I guess”
“Not to mention I heard Honeydukes had a new range of white chocolate bars, of course”, Kyle added jokingly. Though there was a lot of things he missed about London – one of which to tell the truth, was Honeydukes. However it was not the thing he missed most, he missed that feeling of being in a place he could call home; knowing that there were people around him that cared about him and his sisters. Though now with the new war starting, that feeling was slowly starting to fade away. Kyle sat in silence for a moment as Persephone continued; he stared at her for a moment – noticing that, no matter how hard he tried – he could not observe in changes in her physical appearance, she was just the same as always, he was rather happy with that observation, and made him feel a little better.

“Well, you’re doing quite well for yourself – I must say”, Kyle replied as he glanced around the store once more, also feeling that the change of subject was a rather refreshing one. What Sephy stated about the ministry gained a small eyeroll from Kyle –to be honest, he expected nothing less from the scumbags.
“I would offer to help around, but I got myself a job at the Daily Prophet two days ago”, he sighed – his stomach sinking slightly as he realised that if he hadn’t been so pushy with getting the job – there was a chance that he would have more time with Sephy... And work, of course.

Trying to mask any disappointment, Kyle smiled and cracked at another attempt to change the subject again, “Hey Sephy? Recommend any book for an energetic animal rights activist?”, he asked just remembering why he had actually come here in the first place, “Josie gets bored easily”, he added in explanation – suddenly having flashbacks of the many times Josie had managed to freak out Sephy with her charming oddness.

[ack, shortest. post. ever]

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[sephy weasley]

well here we go again, _____________________

[/font]
___YOU'VE FOUND YOURSELF A FRIEND WHO KNOWS YOU WELL
but no matter what you do, [/b] _________________[/size][/font]
________IT ALWAYS FEELS AS THOUGH YOU TRIPPED AND FELL[/center]

The sudden but brief hostility of his expression was not lost on Sephy and she raised her eyebrows at him, wondering if she'd said something offensive or struck a nerve. The question had been on the tip of her tongue, but he'd started speaking again before she could voice it. Her expression relaxed when his did, but she threw him slightly worried sidelong glances every time she finished speaking for the next several minutes.

She'd always known he had a poor temper, but she had also always seemed somewhat immune to it in their school days (come to think of it, she'd never managed to piss off either of his sisters, either, and they were known to be just as hot headed as he was). Still, she couldn't begin to fathom how many things could change about a person in four years and thought it best to bite her tongue. She'd hate to piss him off when it was the first time they'd spoken in over three years.

"Sure, sure," She said, smiling slightly at his candy comment (maybe people never really changed that much). Though the quick change of subject was blatant to her, she decided to let it slide. "They're one of the only stores that hasn't gone out of business recently," She added, putting her book back in a seemingly random spot on a nearby shelf, without even looking at where she was setting it down. Her entire manner when it came to running her store was a little air brained. She never made formal records of which book went where, just because she'd always been able to remember everything without writing it down. "I guess it shouldn't surprise me that candy is higher than books on most people's list of wartime priorities." She added with a good humored laugh, brushing her hair out of her face nervously.

"The Daily Prophet," She said, nodding her head in affirmation. She was a little thrown off by the fact that he had a job already. She knew that he'd only be back for a short while, but she couldn't help but be slightly offended that he hadn't come to speak to her as soon as he arrived. "They're the only decent news publication left. It's a good place to work. And, hopefully, it won't go out of business any time soon." She said, shrugging at her shop in general as she wandered off to find him the book he'd requested.

"Animal Rights Activist." She reiterated with a laugh, glad for an excuse to move. She navigated away from the alcove they'd been reading in, taking a winding path through the bookcases while running her index finger along the spines of the books. They didn't have any apparent order to the, jumping from topic to topic randomly. "That does not surprise me at all." She added, coming to a sudden halt and pulling a book of the shelf. "This one's about the black market on dragon eggs and other dangerous animals," She offered, her brow furrowed. "I think I had one on Demiguises, too, but I don't know where I put it." She offered him the book and leaned against the bookshelves while he examined it. She inhaled deeply, suddenly feeling uncomfortably short of breath as she watched him. The reality of the situation had suddenly settled in on her. Until just then, the whole experience had been a little surreal, like a dream.

"I didn't think I'd see you ever again," She admitted truthfully. She'd meant to say it sort of nonchalantly, but her voice had cracked on the last word. Suddenly self conscious, she looked at her shoes and pursed her lips.