A Phoenix from the Ashes [Verity]

[Verity Bromley]

She’s impressed. That made Verity incredibly happy. To gain the approval from a person who once had her job, who once put her own finishing touches on the place, it was touching. It did a number for her pride and her ego was nearly busting through the roof now. “Really?” Verity asked. The little kid inside of her was squealing and jumping up and down, but on the outside she simply looked flattered. “That’s very kind of you.” She said. She took a drink of her Firewhiskey, letting it burn down her throat. It really was a great drink for the time of year, considering how quickly it warmed a person up. The enxt question caught her off guard again. She wondered if that was a pattern with the woman. Say something nice and then catch ‘em off guard.

Verity wasn’t at all offended by the question; she just wasn’t prepared for it. “My father is a wealthy man.” Verity said. She let that hang in the air for a few moments as she thought about it. “But his wealth meant nothing to me. At one of my former schools, I got a job filing papers for a few of the professors. At the next school, I cleaned the kitchens four days a week. Eventually, I saved up enough money. When I came to Hogwarts, nearly a year ago now, I decided to do something with that money. For once, I had something I worked for. Something that was only mine.”

[Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou]

If Storm was impressed before, there were no words as to how she felt now. This girl, despite being privileged was still too proud to take her fathers money and instead worked for money. Storm knew that she respected this girl to quite a high degree. Even though Storm resented her parents, she still used their money when she was younger.

"Well, you should be proud. All that hard work did pay off in the end for you. Good for you."

Storm would be very proud herself had she been in the same situation as Verity. Storm took another sip from her Firewhiskey, it burned down her throat, warming her up.

"So it seems The Three Broomsticks is in good hands after all."

[Verity Bromley]

Verity was beaming now. She had to take another sip of her Firewhiskey so she wasn't just sitting there, grinning like a fool. With everything that's gone down over the past few months, she never really did stop to think about her success. She did what she aimed to do: build an empire of her own without using her father or his name to help her in any way. This was her baby, her prize, all her hard work has paid off. "Why, thank you." Verity said. "But I've had a lot of help. I couldn't do it on my own." She looked around at her staff, each one hard-working and dedicated. Then, of course, there was Jamie. But he had disappeared ages ago.

"So, if you don't mind my asking," Verity began. This was her attempt to shift the subject. She was proud of her work, but she didn't particularly like to spend a whole lot of time talking about herself. She was a much better listener than she was a talker. "What did you do after you left this place? I mean, what do you do now?"

[Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou]

Storm hadn't completed her Hogwarts education and now that she thought about it, she was happy she had left as early as she did. She was able to travel, sightsee. See and learn things that wasn't present in Hogwarts. Storm was no longer the mental and emotional mess she was before. S=She was... content now. Of course the lack of people close to her was depressing, but by focusing on her work she didn't always have to think about companionship. Besides, she had enough friends from business deals.

"I started my own business. I buy damaged store or broke companies. I renovate them, or fix up it's image and then sell them back. Sometimes even rent them out to shop owners."

Storm had learned very quickly that to gain she had to lose and while in the beginning she lost a lot, she had gained double to amount lost. Her business was booming and had enough money to buy her fathers business.

"It's pretty fun, especially travelling a lot."

[Verity Bromley]

“Interesting…” Verity said slowly. Lucretia was doing what Verity did to her very own shop. Verity had bought the shop when it was damaged. She renovated it and reopened it. The only thing was, Verity kept the Three Broomsticks, and she planned on doing so for a while. “The travelling part is really awesome, then? I’ve always wanted to travel, but I’m afraid I’ll get sick of it too quickly and want to come back home.” She said. “Err…I mean here.” Verity caught herself. Here was technically home now, wasn’t it? Verity had already had the fortune to travel all over the world as she got shipped from one school to another, each farther and farther away until she came to Hogwarts. But there was still so much to see and a lot of it she didn’t really get to enjoy in the first place.

[Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou]

Lucretia remembered when this place was called home. It seemed like another lifetime ago, but she knew it had only been a few years back when she too used to walk through the streets of Hogsmeade. Not long ago, she was apart of Hogwarts.

"It's the reason why I came back here."

Lucretia wasn't even supposed to be here, he was supposed to buy a few stores from Diagon Alley and move on, but she couldn't help apparating here. Then again, she could have always bought a store from Hogsmeade off of someone. She was sure there was bound to be a student neglecting a shop around here. Of course The Three Broomsticks was out of the question, even if she could easily buy out this owner.

"I don't think anyone can forget Hogwarts, no matter how many years they've been away." Lucretia looked out the window to the castle. She knew that inside, it housed people she wasn't sure she wanted to see... yet.

[Verity Bromley]

It was surprising, and yet comforting, to hear someone else talk about Hogwarts as their home. Verity had never really known a home until she came to Hogwarts. The place she was raised was a place of hundreds of awful memories, each one as painful as the next. She had never stayed long enough at any of her other schools to really call them home. The longest she had stayed at a school before coming to Hogwarts was four months, but even that was a one-time occurrence. "Ah," Verity said in an understanding tone. "No, I don't think I'll ever forget it." Her time at the school had been priceless so far, and it wasn't over yet. "So, will you be sticking around for a while? You said there were still some people here that you knew, right? Will you be getting in touch with them?"

[Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou]

Storm knew she might go up there to see some familiar faces, but how many of them would want to see her. Storm had effectively burned every bridge and doubted she could repair some of them.

"I might, there are a lot of people that I know."

Storm really wanted to see some of them, but how many of them would want to see her. Was Savannah still around? What happened to Pandora? Perhaps she could drop by and see how Emilian was doing, he might possibly be the only one who wouldn't mind her presence, mostly because they were able to get along to an extent, even with his feud with Chase.

"Then again, it's been so long, it's going to be hard. Especially with their different positions."

She was mostly speaking to herself, but whatever Verity heard didn't matter. There was nothing to hide, Storm was sick of hiding...

[Verity Bromley]

“It sounds like you’ve done very well for yourself.” Verity said. She had gone off, built a business for herself, and still had the strength to come back. “I think they’d be impressed.” Of course, she didn’t know that for sure. She couldn’t very well speak for the people Lucretia was planning on visiting because she had no idea what they were like, but at least she was impressed. It wasn’t every day that your long lost friend turned up on the doorstep. “Do you have a place to stay?” Verity asked. She didn’t have much to offer, just a make-shift loft upstairs, but it was enough to get through the night. She knew they were other places, especially in Diagon Alley, but she’d thought she’d offer, just in case.

[Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou]

Storm nodded silently; doubting they would be impressed. At first they might be surprised, and then all the negative emotions from before would come back. The question made Storm nod her head. Picking up her firewhiskey she took another quick sip before gingerly placing it down, her fingers still wrapped around the glass. "I have a place back in Diagon Alley. Apparating back and forth isn't much of an issue." Storm knew this place had a tiny loft, but she was too proud to accept a place here.

[Verity Bromley]

Verity nodded. She didn't know that Diagon Alley had places to stay, aside from the Leaky Cauldron, at least. The only places she had been in Diagon Alley were the little restaurant Leo had taken her two on the night that they met, the ice cream parlor where she ran into Jory that one time, and then of course there was that one time with Maverick at the Leaky Cauldron...but that was not what she was going to let her mind ponder on at that moment. She could already feel the heat rising to the tips of her ears. "Well, you're always welcome here." Verity said. "It's always nice to see familiar faces walk through the door." Well, at least Lucretia's face would be familiar if she came back again.

[Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou]

She smiled and raised her firewhiskey, finishing it off. "Depending on how things go, I'm sure I'll drop by at least once more." placing the glass gingerly on the table she stood up slowly, indicating that it was time she left. "I'm sorry I must cut this meeting short Miss Bromley. It was wonderful meeting you." Storm caught herself sounding so much like her mother. Mentally shaking her head she stuck out her hand. "I do hope to see you again... Verity." Storm had to remind herself, this wasn't a business meeting for once Storm should see people as potential friend and not potential business deals.

[Verity Bromley]

"It was wonderful meeting you too, Lucretia." Verity said with a little laugh. "I look forward to seeing you again." She mended, smiling back at the woman. If someone had let it slip to Verity that she would be meeting the former owner of her tavern that day, and that the woman was the young, strong woman she saw today...she would have simply said they were crazy and moved on. When Verity pictured the lady who used to own the pub, she pictured someone older with grey wisps of hair frizzed around her face. She was insanely curious about Lucretia, considering it didn't seem like she was too eager to talk about her past. Verity picked up their glasses and returned them to the kitchen to be washed before she let her mind go mad wondering about that woman any more.