I flit, I fly

[Lila Corner]

After William's death, it would be fair to describe Lila's stress level as elevated. She moved through life with tension now, always afraid something terrible would happen, though she could never say what. Change made Lila uneasy, and there were little signs here and there. One of them was the rapidity with which she was ruining her quills. At first it had been picking at the feather itself until nothing but the shaft was left, and that simply wasn't presentable. Next it was pressing too hard so that the quill itself wore down, and finally it was gripping the utensil so tightly that it cracked and no longer held ink properly. Nigh on a dozen fine quills had been ruined in this manner, and Lila subjected herself to the horror of a Hogsmeade weekend solely for the benefit of owning presentable ones again.

The outing was like any other. Gaggles of girls who thought they were women giggled and made eyes behind their fans, and the poor professor was practically in hysterics trying to keep them all together. Finally vast majority expressed their wish to go to the fine dress shop, Twilfit and Tattings, and as the sun was going down Lila doubted there would be time for another shop before the girls all had to return to the castle. She needed her quills, and her mundane suggestion of where to go next had been tutted down time enough to know that she'd simply have to go herself. At least propriety might be satisfied if she could only ask a friend to slip away as well, but none were brave enough or inclined to give up the pretty lace and silks for self correcting ink. With a huff, and taking care to keep her dress from trailing in the slush of the street, Lila quietly slipped away from the girls and made her way to Scrivenshaft's. It was difficult to ignore the occasional disapproving glance people cast her way, but she simply couldn't function without proper quills, and it was terribly bad form to borrow someone else's things only to return them partially destroyed.

Finally Lila was safely inside the shop, and she allowed an attendant to take her cloak before she began to roam. She turned a corner, quite engrossed by the sight of a quill that had been fitted with a metal nib (perhaps that would go towards solving her problem) when she turned around a shelf to reach it and nearly ran into another person. With a small gasp, Lila's hand instinctively went to her fan which popped open to cover her blushing cheeks as she offered a curtsy to the figure before her.