It was awful strange being here in Diagon Alley for the first time, entirely on her own. And it had been even stranger having to lie to Davet about where she was going. She'd told him she needed to do some shopping, and like the good cousin he was he'd offered to take her to all his favorite haunts in the area but... she couldn't very well tell him she needed to go shopping for magical items for her upcoming sixth year (but first too!) at Hogwarts. Her parents had always decided to not share that with the extended family, given no one else seemed to show any inclination.

It really was too bad. Living a double life was SO difficult. She felt endlessly sorry for being the Flora, Fauna and Merryweather to Davet's Briar-Rose.

Until she'd just distract herself by moving on to the next outfit project to chase away the thoughts. Today, she wanted to be Vanellope Von Schweet spin off, which while she could have gone easy... instead she'd chosen to stay up all night the previous evening with her cousin making jewelry out of candy wrappers. Naturally they'd needed to EAT the candy first, but neither of them had been complaining. Until the massive stomach aches later. It had all been worth it though, because she had LOVED the look of the square wrapper earrings they'd pieced together, and the choker with different colors of wrapper hot glued to the front.

So when she'd noticed one of her earring was missing, she'd been devastated and had quickly doubled back everywhere over the alley. It was only a last ditch effort that she was now here at the rubbish bin in order to attempt to sort through it. Did she want to? No, but considering her jewelry was technically trash... the likelihood of it being here was high.

"Gross."

Why oh why had William taken upon himself to siff through a whole rubbish bin in search of his younger sisters stuff, when she could easily have done it herself? Will knew why, but didn't want to look too closely at the reason as he left WWW feeling like he'd smell gross for the next week. Stopping next to the bin to peer down into the rubbish he gave off a loud sigh as he mutterd to himself. "If there is a dead something in there like a rat, snake or worse then I will never forgive Livvy for making me siff through it all on her behalf." Methorically he rolled up his sleeves and stuck his hands into the bin to start siffing through it, tossing out stuff as he went. A diary/sketchbook shouldn't be too hard to find right?

Fynley, who had been spending as much time around Diagon Alley to avoid going back to the hometown he called the ‘old people’s home by the sea’, had just finished gazing at the brand new broomsticks on display before heading off through the street. He had promised his Mum that he would be back in time for dinner, whatever that might be. Since moving back to the UK, his Mum had yet to find a job and instead was pretending that she was the perfect housewife and had been cooking dinner every night. The problem was that she was a terrible cook and if it wasn’t completely inedible, it was burnt or undercooked or in some bizarre way both. Fynley had taken to grabbing a sandwich on his way home just in case. He didn’t want to intentionally hurt his Mum’s feelings by telling her she was awful so would sneakily consume a BLT later in his bedroom and try to palm off his leftovers to the family dog under the table.

He walked with his hands shoved into his pockets with every intention of leaving Diagon Alley when young lad was distracted by small heap of rubbish somehow finding its way onto his feet. He glanced up to see where it had come from, spotting another lad around his age head deep within the rubbish bin on the side of the street.

His brow raised.

“Are you alright?” he asked as he headed over to the poor guy. Maybe the kid was hungry and couldn’t afford food and was looking for remnants? Or maybe he was one of those dumpster diver types who thought they could find treasures in other peoples trash? Either way, the guy was gonna absolutely reek when he came out.

This was not how Will had planned to spend his day with his hands and practically his darkblond head too stuck in a rubbish bin, siffing through the garbage. He had to find the diary or he'd have to explain to their mother why Will hadn't been able to stop his two sisters shenanigans again, that most always resulted in one of them breaking down in tears, and the other storming away in anger. He was the oldest and should know better was his mum's usual starting point.

When his hands connected with something that wasn't a gum wrapper in the bin Will shuddered and jumped backwards several steps. It had been something dead he just knew it. Calming down his pulse Will turned his dark blue eyes to the source of the voice who had asked 'are you all right?', a boy about his age. "Yes, absolutley terriffic," he murmured back. "Or no actually I'm not. I reek like the content of the bin because my kid sister threw my other sisters diary in the bin, and it's my job to find it." Turning to the bin with a loud and heavy sigh Will stuck his hands in the garbage again.

Fynley was also in the unfortunate position of being big brother to a much younger sister who was the golden child of the family. Somehow fifteen year old Fynn became responsible for the actions of eight year old Peyton who no matter what she did, resembled a cherub with her curly hair and angelic features and therefore got away with everything. This meant that the lad was completely empathetic to the plight of bin boy, even if the stench that was coming from him was a little unbearable. “Why is it that we have to do everything for our little sisters when nothing is ever our fault?” It wasn’t like Fynn decided that he wanted a sister, it was his parents decision and therefore entirely their responsibility.

But that was a whole debate to be had and today didn’t seem like the occasion even if he did want to get it off his chest.

“I’d offer to help but I don’t want to stink” he chuckled. He was actively trying to impress his future schoolmates not scare them away. He leaned against the front display of Weasley’s, watching the other guy shove his hand back in waiting for him to come across something gross that was inevitably lurking in its depths.

It was the curse of the bigbrother to always have to clean up his siblings messes Will pondered as his hands connected with something bigger and more solid. Pulling it out and up to show the other boy the dead rat he made a eww noise as he muttered. "Yuck, gross, being the oldest really sucks sometimes. Did you see that dead rats forked tail?" Throwing the rat unto the other garbage on the ground Will responded "Because our parents most of the time finds a wonderous way to always include us in the 'issue' even if we weren't even there or involved to begin with. Same goes for sisters they always have a knack for making sure we get involved, don't they? I have 4 sisters, how many do you have?" It was why this fifteen year old boy with his new glasses (which he detested) stuck to the brim of his nose now pulled out an old issue of the daily prophet.

Discarding it ontop of the other garbage Will shrugged his shoulders with a small smile pursing his lips over at the other boy. "Yes, I probably stink by now. Got any good ideas on how I can get unstinky when I've finally located the diary?"

Even being the older brother, Fynley was not sure that he would ever go diving into a bin for the sake of finding something his sister had lost. Fynn had always maintained that he was not responsible for the actions of anyone but himself and it wasn’t like he has asked his parents for a sibling. His nose wrinkled at the sight of the dead rat, disgusted by how it had ended up there in the first place. “I was trying not to look” he commented.

It was always a relief to find someone in a similar situation as yourself who you could have a good old moan with. Not that Fynley would describe himself as a moaner, in fact he was pretty good at keeping it to himself and just having a little grumble when he was on his own. “Thankfully just the one” he answered. There was quite a big gap too so it was obvious that she had been completely unplanned and yet she was the apple of his parents eyes. It wasn’t that Fynn didn’t get on with his parents but as he grew older, he became much more independent. “But one is hard enough work.” he chuckled.

“Take a shower?” he laughed, speaking the obvious but he couldn’t think of a spell off the top of his head. “Or you could go into the apothecary. They might have an ‘odour be gone’ potion to get rid of ‘Eau de dead rat’ if you’re lucky.”[/b] Just as long as he didn’t ask him directions because he had no idea where it was.

“I’m Fynley by the way. Most people call me Fynn.”

Will grinned at the comment. "I totally get that. I wanted to not see that rat either, but duty and all...." He continued to rummage through the garbage until he struck gold, and pulled his sisters diary up, and out with a loud victorious yell "I found it!". Thank snidgets too because William didn't know how much longer he would have standed inhaling all the garbage smell for something that wasn't even his.

It felt good that the other boy seemed to sympathize with his predicament, and didn't leave him in his hard time though. "On some days I'd say that I envy you for having just one sibling, but I do love all my seven siblings very much." Will shared thoughtfully. Laughing he nodded understandingly "Sister can be hard work to deal with. They are so curious and nosy." His sisters were 4 years old, if you didn't count baby Emma, and already a handfull which was why he stood where he stood, and smelling pretty awful.

Chuckling Will said "An 'odour be gone' potion. Good one, thanks! I'll look it up at the apothecary later if I can't stop smelling, but a shower is probably the best course of action." And to throw all his clothes from head to toe in the wash or his mother would have words. "It's nice to meet you Fynn. I'm William, but most call me Will. Are you a fifth year too perhaps?" He introduced himself with a wide smile.

Who would have thought that twirling a sign all day would turn out to be such a workout! It had been only about a week since Logan officially started working his summer job, so he was still very much getting used to everything that came with it. But one had to admit that he was already a pro (or he was starting to get on the nerves of the street vendors). The alley was his runway, his voice loud and clear, and already he had masted his signature sign-flipping move.

He was making such moves as he aimlessly maneuvered his way toward the south end of the alley. "EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC OF MUSIC AT ATTICUS' ATTIC!" he shouted, spinning and throwing the sign up in the air before catching it once again. "INSTRUMENTS! LESSONS! ALBUMS! BAND MERCH! STOP BY THE MUSIC SHOP TO --"

Suddenly a pungent smell hit him and caused him to be on the verge of gagging. Was that smell coming from him?! He knew that he probably looked like a hot mess at this point in the day, but his attire -- a TDK tank and black shorts -- surely wouldn't make him sweat that much. Little did the blond, who was using the sign to fan himself, know that he was standing not far from the rubbish bin by the joke shop.

Listen, was junk forager a glamarous job? No, not by any standard. But honestly, Vera kind of loved it. It gave her free reign of the Alley. She had reason to just walk up and down and up and down, seeing all who was out and about for the day and frequently passing by the shops to give a wave to her friends inside. And she was pretty certain she'd found some good pieces! She'd taken to going to all of the shops to look through their lost and founds - most of the employees were happy enough to just hand over whatever they had to free up more space. She also made a good impression by picking up whatever she found on the ground and taking it TO lost and founds so they could hold it for a few weeks for collection, before she'd swing back around to pick it up as merchandise.

It was a good gig - and she was doing well, so she thought.

The part that wasn't her favorite? Trash days. Generally she didn't have to frequent it too often - her lost and found hook ups more than enough to fill her quotes for each shift - but some days were slow and she would have to resort to picking through trash.

Which was currently where she could be located. She'd grabbed a plastic covering to go over her cropped blue shirt and dangled just far enough over her jean shorts that they were well protected as well. Her brunette hair was also piled on top of her head to keep from getting TOO messy and a little pin was clipped over her nose to help with the smell. See came very prepared for when this particular task was necessary.

Though... her preparedness didn't particularly leave her looking anything less than a mess when the familiar voice came booming through the alley. She nearly groaned hearing it, which wasn't the usual reaction (anymore) but she was a little less than thrilled to be seen looking as she currently was. Nothing to do to fix it now though, especially when he'd stopped practically right next to her - though he didn't seem to notice. Which she planned to use to her advantage as she quickly stripped her protective wear and tossed it to the other side of the bin, her nose pin going into her pocket, before she greeted him. "Is the fanning yourself a narcissistic ploy to also pull more customers?" She asked teasingly, not moving any closer as she hoped the smell was not currently clinging to her clothes or hair. She'd asked Papa to help with a charm for that... hopefully it worked.

What in Merlin's name was that smell? And where was it coming from? As he continued to rapidly fan himself in a poor effort to waft the mysterious smell away, Logan looked around the general area in search of the source of the stink. Had someone sprayed some pungent old lady perfume that smelled like all of the Bott's beans flavours mushed together outside of the junk shop? Or maybe there had been a dungbomb fight inside Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and the fumes were escaping into the alley?

Of course, the one place he didn't look was right behind him. It wasn't until he heard a more than familiar voice that he did such a thing. The rubbish bin went unnoticed for the blond's eyes were a bit preoccupied as he took in the sight of Vera. Plus he was trying with all his might to not let that awful smell defeat him.

Had they been a few years younger, a comment very likely would have been made about smelling the scent of troll and blaming Vera for it. No such commentary was made, however. In fact, such a thought didn't even come to mind. "Maybe. It's clearly pulled you here," he responded, returning the teasing without second thoughts, especially since he had been reading a certain book that encouraged such things. A smirk was beginning to appear on his lips, but then, without warning, he started to gag. "Can you smell that, or has your job destroyed your sense of smell?"

It was rather comical to watch him clearly searching for the source of the stench, especially when the most common cause was out in the open. But she figured maybe with all of the roaming Logan also had to do for his job, he'd simply not noticed where in the Alley he was and how close to the bins he had stopped. Or perhaps it was also simply that most weren't as familiar with all the garbages, period. It was a weird thing to have an internal map of.

When he turned and noticed her, she gave a small wave of her hand in greeting and stepped a bit closer to him - further from the cans behind her while she hoped the charmed perfume she'd gotten to dispel any linger scents would do it's job. It wasn't the exact citrus scent she usually went with, this one a bit more orange-y then a refreshing lemon, but it wasn't rose water or anything so it did the trick.

His response surprised her, though she took a fraction of a moment to appreciate the fact there wasn't any hint of blaming her for the smells like they might have done before. "I suppose it did. Was that the point in trying out your new strategy in front of my place of work?" She felt a wave of sympathy as he gagged, knowing how bad her first days had been as well, and she reached into her pocket to fish out and extra nose clip - holding it out towards him for observation - or if he wanted to try it. "I can still smell it, but it's not as bad as my first week. These are my secret weapon though. This and enchanted perfume." Which she doubted he'd want to go around smelling like her all day, so she didn't offer that. "you know, if you WERE trying to get my attention, there are much easier, not detrimental to your nose type of ways."