Hope In The Air

[Primrose Tinker]

Prim gave him a smile. To anyone else, this would be a waste of time. And surely, when she properly finished her education, Lavender would be able to do so much more than that. She’d be able to cast a patronus and all that. Conjuring a glove with two missing fingers would seem like a first year’s work in front of that.

“Surely, you’ve come up with ways to do things without needing magic,” Prim commented. “I bet you could tie your shoelaces or brew tea faster than me, if we had to do it without magic.” Having magic was like having an invisible servant, in a sense. Tea was brewed instantly, needles sewed all by themselves. Prim saved a lot of time by just using magic for such things.

  

[Hector Harcourt]

Tie shoelaces faster than her without magic? Brew tea faster without magic? That was quite ridiculous—he could do neither very quick at all. He didn't have shoes that tied with laces normally, rather settling for boots with the laces missing, and only on rare occasions did he have tea. It was sort of embarrassing, having to admit to himself that she had more money than he did, but who was he to blame? She had a whole family working to bring income, while he settled for the minimum amount of money Mrs. Aesalon would pay him.

"Possibly. I'm sad to admit that I do neither well. I don't have shoelaces," he said, motioning down to his feet where large books sat snug on his feet without the laces. "And I do not usually drink tea. Only on some occasions do I have enough leftover to purchase such royalties. I usually drink water or milk," he said with a sad smile.

  

[Primrose Tinker]

Maybe fate had sent Hector her way, as the more time she spent with him, the more she realized that people could have a worse life than hers. Sure, she was poor, sure, she hadn’t become a healer like she wanted to, but she had a nice enough job, two lovely employer’s and a big family who supported her and loved her. Tea wasn’t such a luxury for her, with magic or not and she could afford a decent pair of shoes, even if it was once a while.

“If we could find two cups or something and some water, I could magic us some,” she offered. The tea brewing charm was a fairly easy one and you didn’t even need teabags if you knew how to brew it properly. She could also do something about his shoelaces if she found some grass, or a spider web and used some transfiguration, but she didn’t want to offer that. She didn’t want him thinking she was some mighty wizard taking pity on him.

  

[Hector Harcourt]

Hector always believed that he was supposed to despise witches and wizards for their luckiness with magic, and always believed that he wasn't a people person to begin with, but something about Miss Tinker made him feel happy for once. He wasn't exactly sure what was so nice about her, besides the fact that she'd saved his life just a few days before this day, but he felt joyful when he noticed her sitting at the bench.

"I don't know where we could find some cups, but if we could I'd love to have some," he said gratefully, glancing around the empty station. "Do you think they might have some cups for the workers that used to work here?" he asked curiously, motioning towards the booth where one might purchase tickets for using the train.

  

[Primrose Tinker]

“I suppose,” Prim said. “There’s only one way to find out.” She raised her wand and casted accio and quite surprisingly, she did end up with two cups, though one was chipped and they didn’t exactly make a set. But they’d work fine enough, she supposed.

She didn’t even think that this could be considered stealing.

“We’d still need to find water, though. I left school before I could learn Aguamenti.”

  

[Hector Harcourt]

Hector quickly realized it was stealing, but he really didn't give a care in the matter. He'd stolen things before, from the wands of rich people to small stashes of candy from Honeyduke's. He'd never gotten caught before, but he believed it was because he was so incredibly plain, yet rather grumpy and menacing that no one bothered to stop and question him. Anyways, no one suspected the squib.

"Well, there is a drought, but.." he trailed, thinking of any possible ways they could get water. "Maybe if you summoned a spell book like you did with the cups, you could teach yourself the spell?" he asked, thinking that she might be able to learn something while with him. He wouldn't be able to help her, but he couldn't help but admit to himself that it might possibly be amusing to watch her get all frustrated with herself.

  

[Primrose Tinker]

If he had also attended Hogwarts, even if for less years than she had, she might have rolled her eyes at his suggestion. But he was a squib and she couldn’t be too harsh on him for making a rather silly suggestion. He didn’t know better. He had hardly studied magical theory and all that jazz like she had.

“It’s now that simple,” she replied. “The book has to be in a close vicinity for accio to work - it’s not like I can conjure something from say, China! And if teaching it to myself was that easy, I would have known how to do it already!” Magic was not just waving a wand and saying some silly words. It was more complicated than that.

  

[Hector Harcourt]

Hector sighed, nodding his head. He really didn't understand how magic worked, and he would never purposefully suggest something that would sound stupid or degrading to witches. He listened carefully, but he couldn't quite grasp the concept of how magic work from her explanation. Maybe he was just stupid, or maybe it was just because he was never a wizard so he would never understand what it was like to be one. Which ever it was, he felt stupid for opening his mouth.

"I'm sorry," he said, offering her a weak smile. Hector had a pride and didn't want to be told that his idea was ridiculous, which was exactly what she was making it sound like. He couldn't blame her—he might have been just as annoyed by the same suggestion if he was a wizard, but he would never know. "I don't really understand the whole magic thing," he said in an apologetic tone. "There must be some way to find water."

  

[Primrose Tinker]

She hadn’t made him feel bad, had she? Prim had the tendency to sound overly smart, it was a thing about being a Ravenclaw, she supposed. It was a bigger deal to her when people made logical mistakes than it was for most people. She could only imagine what she would be like if she had completed her education. Surely, the biggest smartass around, no doubt.

“I am sure there must be a fount or something nearby, but I doubt it’d have much water with the drought,” she said. “I suppose tea should just wait until another time. And we should really return those cups. They’re not exactly ours.” She might not have felt guilty stealing them, but the longer they remained in her possession, the more uncomfortable she felt about them.

  

[Hector Harcourt]

While Hector was sensitive about the subject of him being a squib, he could usually brush off comments that might come across as offensive. He knew that he didn't know much about hos magic worked, so he shouldn't worry, right? "I guess you're right," he said with a sad smile. "Another time, then."

Hector himself had stolen quite a few things over the year, and he doubted anyone would care if they took a few cups. "I guess so, but I doubt anyone would care if we kept them," he reminded with a mischievous, playful grin.

  

[Primrose Tinker]

His words brought some second thoughts in Prim. Who would care about two stolen cups? For all that she knew, their owners could have died in the fire. Except, how many rich people worked as ticket sellers at a train station? They were likely coming from the slums and they probably had it worse than Prim.

“I don’t need them,” she finally said. “You can keep them if you like, but I have my own cups.” Having said that, she awkwardly put her cup aside on the bench. She didn’t like feeling like a thief, not when she liked to consider herself civilized. Just because she wasn’t a healer didn’t mean that she’d go that far.