Sinead had only been to Hogsmeade once before, but she was pretty sure she'd visited Scrivenshaft's... she didn't remember all the cats, though? Weird.

Still, cats were about the only animal she didn't mind, so no big deal. Carefully skirting around one which had chosen to sun itself in the patch of sunlight under the window, she made her way further into the shop and scanned across the shelves, a slight frown growing on her face as she couldn't find what she was looking for.

Great. Better go up to the counter, then, and ask.
"Excuse me?" she called softly, approaching the wooden desk with care not to kick any cats on the way (there were seriously a lot of them).

With another Hogsmeade weekend coming up Edina had taken great care to ensure her shop was well cleaned. The same went for the cats. The cats were allowed to loiter around because she was fond of them. Another reason was the children always enjoyed playing with them. Edina stood behind the counter examining the new batch of Quick Quotes Quills that had arrived.

Edina looked up at her first visitor for the day. “Good day my dear. How may I help you?’’

Cynthia needed some new quills. It was incredible how quickly one librarian could go through quills. She really needed to stop let students borrow hers. She made her way through the store, ignoring the tuffs of fur on the ground she passed.

Once she arrived at what she was looking for, she picked up a quill and looked it over before examining another one.

Gianna DeRossi loved shopping in Hogsmeade! The only real question was where should she go first? After a bit of thought, she decided to stop in Scrivenshaft's. She needed a new quill, and she could always use another journal or two. She went through those like there was no tomorrow!

The fifth year Ravanclaw was surprised to find she wasn't the only customer in the shop as she walked inside. There was a little Slytherin girl (Sinead) talking to the shopkeeper. Gianna gave the younger girl a friendly smile but didn't say anything, lest she interrupt her conversation. And the school librarian was here too! "Hello, Ms. Davis," she greeted her. "How are you?"

After a few moments of browsing, Gianna picked up a few quills, one in pink, blue, and purple. Then she made her way over to the journals. Now which color should she get? While she was still trying to make up her mind, a loud MEOW startled her! She looked up to find a cat sitting on the shelf staring right at her. "Hi there, kitty," she said, giving it a little scratch behind the ears.

Luckily she seemed to be the only customer right now, so she was served right away by an extremely jovial looking witch.
"Good morning," she said with a quick smile. "I'm looking for two things, please- a plain self-inking quill, and then I'm looking for something to write notes in; a notebook which I can put down all my research in. Ideally a secure one." Not that she expected anyone to steal her work, but she didn't really want anyone looking at all her notes. Other people tended to think she was weird for writing them in the first place, without looking at them as well.

As she spoke, two other witches entered the shop. One was the school librarian- that was weird, though the quill shop was always going to be the most likely place to find her, Sinead supposed- and the other a teenage girl who was almost certainly a student. The latter smiled at Sinead and she returned the gesture, feeling a little awkward. She didn't really know her way around Hogsmeade or how the weekends out usually worked; maybe she could ask the other girl the best places to visit, once they'd done their shopping.

Harvey needed new quills. Maybe colourful ones. That would make note taking less dull. Trying to decide on precisely what colours he needed, he didn't exactly pay attention to where he was going when he entered the quill shop, and eyes peeling only for colours, he missed the one other student close to the counter and...

WHOMP!

"Argh, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't see you, wasn't looking where I was going," he blabbered, feeling rather ashamed. Trust him to be this clumsy. He hoped he didn't annoy her too much. Or hurt her, for that matter.

And oh dear, Ms Davis saw him too! Harvey felt horrible at the horrible impression he must be making on everyone.

Edina listened to the requests and smiled. “You’re in luck my dear. I have both of those in stock. I’ll get them just allow me a minute.’’ Edina smiled at her other customers on the way to pick up what she needed. Her shop was starting to be busy now. The cats would have someone to play with regularly. Edina needed to just make sure there was no one playing roughly with them.

“Here is your self inking quill. I have a few notebooks you can choose from.’’ Just then one of the cats jumped onto the counter. “Truffles. This is not the time to be distracting your mama.’’ She scolded the cat softly but lovingly. “This book uses a padlock that requires a key to open it. The next one uses Alohomora. They both come in different colors.’’

"Thank you very much." Sinead nodded as the shopkeeper bustled away to the shelves, picking up one of the quills displayed on the counter and examining it as she waited. It seemed that wasn't to be her only passtime, though, as while she was distracted somebody walked straight into her back. She looked up with startled and accusing eyes, only to see a baby-faced kid who didn't appear any older than her, though she didn't recognise him from any of her classes, so maybe he was.
"Uh, don't worry about it," she said, somewhat taken aback by his abject apology. It was kind of difficult to stay annoyed in the face of all that. "Are... you okay?" He obviously hadn't seen her, which kind of made her wonder how he could have been quite so blind. She was literally just standing right there.

As she continued to do so, the shopkeeper reemerged from between the shelves, proffering the promised quill as well as a little stack of notebooks. Sinead smiled somewhat awkwardly at the boy beside her, hoping he didn't think she was just ignoring him, and leaned over the counter to scrutinise the different notebooks. Alohomora was all well and good, but she went to a school where literally everyone was taught that spell... so she might be better off with a padlocked book.
"I'll take this one, please," she decided, sliding one in a dark green colour out of the stack. House colours were pretty hard to overturn; she felt like everything she owned was green now.

Harvey felt a bit silly for the babbling. He hated how he always seemed to do that!

"Yeah, thanks," he replied to her question, noticing that she was about his age. "I'm Harvey, by the way, one of the clumsiest people you'll probably ever meet," he introduced himself, hoping a lame joke might make this a bit less awkward.

He watched as the saleswoman brought over some notebooks, and the girl picked out one with a lock.

"You know, invisibility ink is quite a good option too," he offered, guessing at the reasons for her choice.

“You’re quite welcome my dear.’’ Edina patted the cat’s head while she waited for a book to be selected. Edina also kept an eye on her other customers. She needed to be alert if they wanted her help. “Very well. Will that be all?’’ Edina mentally calculated the total in case that was all. “If it is that would be seven sickles.’’

Okay, it was a bit of a terrible joke and normally it would probably just annoy her, but they were all meant to be out having fun, right? Anyway, he seemed friendly. People were always telling her she needed to lighten up.
"I guess I could see that... I'm Sinead," she responded with a little curled-lip smile, before raising her eyebrows slightly at his suggestion. "I never thought of that. Does it work well? And- are you at Hogwarts?" People did live in Hogsmeade who weren't, right? Like the shopkeeper, for one. But then, why wouldn't you be at school, if you could be?

As the shopkeeper spoke, Sinead realised she hadn't even got any money out, starting slightly and digging through her bag to find her purse.
"Yes, thank you." There- she had just the right change. She placed the coins on the counter in a neat little pile, sliding them over as she stashed her purchases in her bag and turned back to Harvey.

What Levi was looking for, Hogsmeade did not seem to carry. But that did not mean he wouldn't still visit the shops and see what he could buy. He did have a couple galleons burning a hole in his pocket after all. But he wasn't sure that Scrivenshaft's had much of interest.

He did just get a really nice set of quills for Christmas and.. did he really need any more journals? He had several, but they were good for writing poetry and working out song lyrics. The thirteen year old stood in front of the store's inventory board and scanned the listed merchandise. Premade howlers? Now that would be hilarious.

“Run along outside Truffles. Go have some fun with the other kitties or some of the customers.’’ Edina Fairbairn stifled a yawn. Edina had got up extra early to get her shop ready for the students. There was always that extra effort when there were to be visits from Hogwartians. Truffles ran off and Edina looked over the counter. “Can I help you, dear?’’

"He wants the girliest quills you have."

Benton came bounding into the shop right as the shopkeeper had asked the boy if she could help him. "He knows there are some somewhere he is just afraid to ask." Laughing as he moved towards the boy, he knew he was joking, right? He laughed, "Just joking. This place has tons of cool quills and stuff." Benton enjoyed coming in here to get things every once in awhile. Looking at the woman again he gave her a sweet smile. "Got any invisible ink?" That could be fun to write Cassie notes in. Girls liked getting notes and that sort of thing.


He headed for some of the shelves, "What did I really come in here for?" He knew there was a specific reason, but at the moment he couldn't remember. Well it probably would come back to him at some point. Picking up a few color quills he looked them over, "Maybe I should get Cassie one of these, think a girl would like it?" He had already got flowers and chocolates, but should he get her something else?

Edina laughed throatily. “Girliest quills. I have those.’’ Edina smiled at the second boy. “Is that really what you want dear? Are they going to be for a girlfriend?’’ Edina more than happily pointed to her display of quills that could be considered girly. “Pink, there are those with hearts, basically whichever you would to chose for your little lady.’’

Levi didn't much care for cats. Not that he hated them or anything, but was he the only one who found it weird that there were a bunch of cats just roaming around the store? They probably got cat hair on all the parchment and he was pretty sure he could smell cat litter from where he was standing. But he didn't say anything to the shopkeeper about it when she came over. Was he looking for anything specific? Not really... but before he could even reply to the old lady, another voice interrupted.

What the.......????

Levi turned and gave the boy a nasty look. "Excuse you, nerd. Speak for yourself." And no, he did not care if he was joking or not. He didn't even know this boy, not really. Sure, he recognized him from school - Benji, or something. But who said something like that to someone he didn't even know? What a weirdo.

"Actually, ma'am," he started to the shopkeeper, turning his back on the other boy. "I'm looking for some sort of journal to inspire me in my songwriting." And not anything plain. Did she have something cool and magical to help him in that area? And did you hear that, Benji? He was in a band which was cool.

He glanced over at the boy as he spoke again. Was he asking him? Like... what was he trying to imply??? That he should know since he was apparently already looking for the "girliest quills they had"? What a jerk. "I wouldn't know," he said dryly. "Maybe you should ask an actual girl." Or maybe this old lady. She was a girl once. And there... see? She had some ideas.

That was no way to speak to someone. “Come now.’’ Edina’s tone was soothing towards the first boy. “Forgive him. He didn’t mean it.’’ As for the journals Edina hoped she had some that would help the boy find inspiration. “I have one that only opens if you sing to it. The songs can be original or another’s but you must be the one singing.’’ Edina laid a few of the journals on the counter. They came in all colours.

“I think your little lady would love them dear.’’ Edina was all in a dither over him (Benton). How lovely of this boy thinking of buying quills for a girl. “Go ahead. Make your selection.’’

Benton laughed at the nerd comment, he was used to it. HE had been called worse by others at school. He knew he was one of the lamer kids that didn't have as many friends, but it didn't bother him. The friends he did have were plenty and they were awesome. So he just bounded towards the quills as the boy said what he wanted. Another musician? Was that all Hogwarts had anymore? He couldn't help but roll his eyes as he looked at the different quills.

"I thought maybe you'd have an opinion." Benton shrugged and looked towards the shopkeeper. "If I got my girlfriend one of these, which would I get?" The woman was a girl once at least he thought so. His attention back to the other boy, "How would a journal inspire songwriting, don't you have to be inspired by people or nature, or experience? A journal is just paper." That was a bit confusing, but who was he to say. He could care less about music and writing it.

"Got any quills with little pictures of cupcakes on it?" Cassie would love something like that. "What about scented ink?"

Edina smiled. “That depends on what she likes. Is she someone who likes girly things? Is she a tomboy?’’ Edina needed information before she give any advice. “No scented ink but I do have scented quills. I will check about those cupcake quills.’’ Edina left but returned shortly with an armful of quills. The quills were carefully put on the counter. “You are more than welcome to go through this lot dear. If there are no cupcake ones you can choose another.’’

Levi pretty much ignored the very mild admonition from the shopkeeper, not really caring what she thought or if the boy meant it or not. He already figured that he was joking, but it was annoying and he was done thinking about it. Instead, he focused on what she thought would be of use to him in his songwriting.

Yeah, no, not really what he meant. The thirteen year old looked over the journals she laid out on the counter, glancing up as Benji spoke to him again. Oh, was he still here? He rolled his eyes at the boy's words, then picked up one of the journals, turning it over as he examined it. "Muggle journals are just paper. Magical journals do all sorts of things, if you can find what you're looking for." And sure, he got his inspiration for poetry and lyrics in all sorts of places but he didn't need to explain himself.

"Thanks, ma'am, but singing to open it doesn't really have anything to do with writing and not what I'm looking for." Nah, he was hoping for something that automatically rhymed what you wrote in it or rearranged words into iambic pentameter. Or.. something more magical than that. Bt whatever, he could look around till he got bored, which he was quickly getting.