Time brings Change

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"It's good to be back, I think. I haven't really been here long either." It had been a couple of weeks but it felt more like a couple of days. She'd been busy studying her textbooks as she would normally do just before the new year started. "I've been in London, at a muggle bakery that's owned by a retired healer. It was actually an interesting year given the circumstances. I learned all sorts of household spells that I'd missed out on growing up in a muggle household."

[Markise Sterling]

A bakery? "Why were you living in a bakery? How'd you even find a retired Healer, and why didn't you just tell your parents? I thought you were close or something," Markise said. Had Anna really been that alone for so long?

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna went on to explain the department at St. Mungo's that had set everything up with a safe place for her to live and sending a note to Hogwarts disenrolling her for the rest of the year. She told him about living above the bakery, and how she was close to St. Mungo's for her appointments. "I couldn't go running to my parents. It would have been awful. I would have spent the whole time being pitied and coddled like a child. And no doubt my parents would have tried to convince me to keep it. They thought I was at school and stressed over the NEWTS and that's why I didn't come home at all. They don't know that I'm not graduated."

[Markise Sterling]

"Then where do they think you are?" Markise asked. For all the stuff he'd pulled over his parents' eyes, he couldn't imagine them not knowing if he suddenly stopped going to school. He was legal, but didn't the schools send that stuff home anyway?

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle wrinkled up her nose at sharing the lies she'd told. She hoped Markise understood that this was an exception to her normal morals and that she hadn't turned into a pathological liar while she'd been away. "They think I am taking a year and just running my bookstore while I explore my options for the future. They want me to go to a Muggle Uni despite the obstacles I've told them about. I might have mentioned doing research on muggle relations, so I just need to really look into my future so I can keep feeding them new information as the year goes on."

Anna sighed and hunched her shoulders a little. As hard as it was, it was easier then telling them the truth. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if her parents knew what had happened. "Don't get me wrong, I love my mum and dad, but it would be too hard to look them in the eye if they knew. I really hate lying, and I'm horrible at it, but hopefully they won't ever find out. I'd hate to screw up and have all the work the hospital did to keep everything confidential go to waste. Besides, they'd probably blame it on wizards in general and not want me to have anything to do with our world anymore and that would be unbearable."

[Markise Sterling]

"They'd blame it on wizards?" Markise boggled at that. "I thought you had wizards in your family somewhere anyway." None of this made any sense. He'd thought she was so close to them and it just sounded like a big mess! He didn't know what he could tell her about any of it.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I don't know. You don't think they would? Maybe I'm being overly worried for nothing, but I'm....scared. My Mum's parents are wizards, all my family on that side is. I just can't imagine growing up in a wizarding family without any magical abilities and not holding some resentment, even if she's never expressed it to me. They'd probably try to be overly protective and want to shield me from all harm, and they can't do that while I'm off being a witch across the country." She did love her parents, but Anna wasn't nearly as close to them as she'd been a few years ago.

Anna stood up and stretched, pulling her hands from Markise. She was so grateful for his support, and she knew he was trying to understand, but she'd talked about more then she'd intended to. Sick of the topic she wandered to a nearby rack and looked at some of the creations to distract herself. "Did you make this?"

[Markise Sterling]

Markise stood up to see what Anna was looking at, then followed after her. "No," he said, "but it's nice, isn't it?" His things weren't on the racks. He didn't want to sew the same thing over and over, so they were all samples, on the walls and in display cases. People rarely asked about them. They wanted the mass-produced clothes he picked out of catalogs, so they could fit in.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle glanced around the racks and displays with a bit more interest. She'd assumed that he'd have made most of the clothes he sold but just realized that would probably be way too much work then he had time for while in school still. "So show me what I'm supposed to be looking at. If I'm going to be spending my money to look good, It has to be on a Sterling Original right?" She gave Markise a smile, hoping to distract them both by letting Markise dress her up. It wasn't like she had anywhere to dress up and go, but she hadn't bought any new clothes in ages that would fit her now.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise smiled as he made his way over to where Anna was. "Most of my clothes aren't for everyday," he told her, and gestured up at the displays. Even when he tried to tone it down, it still came out looking like Big Date clothes, at the least, if not Wow Them on the Red Carpet. "I've got some things over here you could get away with."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna looked to where Markise indicated, taking in the styles and how much fancier they were. "So if you were going to dress me up, for something less glamorous like if we have any dances this year or for a special night or something, what would you put me in?" Anna twirled a long strand of her hair around her finger while she spoke. It was easy to get caught up in Markise's world of fashion even when she knew so little about it. Markise knew enough for the both of them and could make a simple conversation about clothing seem so interesting. At the moment she wanted to be swept away and entertained.