Home

[Primrose Tinker]

• Seated by a window that faced the yard at the front of the house, Primrose was stitching some clothes by her mother’s request. She had finished work earlier that day, so instead of just wandering around the house all afternoon, she decided to make herself helpful. Besides, sewing and stitching almost seemed quite entertaining to the young witch. After so many months of working as a seamstress, she could do it quickly, so it was hardly as tedious as she had thought it in the past.
  
  “Oh, there you are!” Prim said when her youngest sister walked in the small kitchen of their house. “I was just finishing with your shirt!”
  
  With that, she slightly raised the plain white shirt as if to prove it and then moved to do the finishing touches.

  

[Pansy Tinker]

Pansy wore a smile as she practically ran (it was more like quick walking because she knew better than to run in the house - Merlin knew she'd been reprimanded enough) into the kitchen to fetch herself some water. She had been running around in the chilly outside weather, chasing some of the chickens as they clucked about their pens. It was in her nature to more or less harass any of the non-dangerous animals and the chickens usually amused her enough that she'd get rid of her excess energy in time to do something useful. But first, water.

She hadn't talked to Primrose yet that day since she got home to work and she had to admit she wasn't much interested in the shirt. Nevertheless she dragged a chair over to sit across from her sister, glass of water in her free hand, and clambered on. "Aren't you bored?" She didn't know how Primrose could spend her days locked up in a Hogsmeade shop only to come home and do what she'd been doing all day. It seemed boring. "Needlework is boring. Don't you dislike it?" She quirked her head, genuinely wondering if her sister actually liked doing her sewing and embroidery and whatnot. It seemed aggravating to Pansy, but Primrose didn't look entirely adverse to the idea.

  

[Primrose Tinker]

• “No, not really” Prim replied with a smile, not removing her eyes from her needlework. Being a seamstress seemed much better than being a maid, or a lady’s maid, if most upper class women were like that dreadful Mrs. Wilde Holly was working for. She got to see plenty of faces at the shop, which kept sewing from being terribly tedious. The most unpleasant part of her job was maybe the fact that she had to be around so many gorgeous gowns she knew she couldn’t afford.
  
  But even with that she could deal. Her hands were quite used to sewing, so she would often allow herself to daydream about other things. Like how she was wearing the dresses she worked on, to garden parties and balls.
  
  It was more likely than she’d end up being trampled by a carriage than that she’d ever get to wear something as good as the dresses she worked on.
  
  “At least I do not get my hands dirty when I sew!” she commented as she did the finishing stitches and handed the shirt to her sister. “It would be dreadful if I had dirt stuck in my nails like Mama and Linden do!”

  

[Pansy Tinker]

The idea that she could enjoy the work made Pansy pull a face. She decided not to say anything at first until Prim went on. "But at least dirt means you did something. Needlework is boring." She said it with a slight pout, somewhat off-put by the idea that her sister could be boring. Nevertheless she took the garment when it was handed to her and inspected it as if she were able to decide if it was up to par or not. "It's pretty, though." She said with a smile, referring to her sister's needlework.

"Maybe if I could work like you it'd be fun. But I just prick my fingers!" She said it with an exaggerated sigh. Every time she picked up a needle she walked away with sore fingers from all the times she'd poke herself with them. No, she much preferred chasing chickens and mucking out the horse's pens to anything else. At least they were nice to her after she cleaned up their little homes. "How did you get to be so good anyways?" She asked, still inspecting the garment.

  

[Primrose Tinker]

Prim thought needlework to be as tough of a job as working on a fields could be. If you did one little mistake you could ruin a whole garment, but it wouldn’t matter if you gave a little less food to the chickens or if you watered the crops too much. That was not to say that she thought farmwork to be easy, but it also involved the nature and things were rather simpler where nature was concerned. Imperfections were allowed.

“I practiced!” Prim simply replied to her sister’s question. “Practice always makes perfect - well, almost always. I suppose you need to have some sort of inclination towards something, but even talent cannot help you if you do not practice!”

She was probably hardly as talented as her employers were. The career of a seamstress was not the most significant one, but who knew, maybe if she became good enough she could work for one of those posh fashion designers, like Worth, one day.

  

[Pansy Tinker]

It came as little consolation to her that her sister insisted that practice would make perfect. Her pout resumed its place on her face and she rather thought it was silly to suggest practicing something that obviously was not her forte. "I think I'll leave needlework to you. I would end up with some messed up dress stained with blood from my pricked fingers!" And that would be disastrous. Surely other kids would taunt her for that if they didn't already for her less than spectacular wardrobe. Not that Pansy really cared what other kids thought but it was a nuisance at least to be stopped every now and again just so one of her peers could taunt her.

"Do you like being a seamstress, though? I would be so bored!" She was hoping her sister could give her some insight into how she could stand to do the work she did. Pansy rather thought that she'd lose her mind if she had to be cooped up in the back of a shop, threading needles endlessly and handling fabric without break. No, Pansy wanted an exhilarating profession. Or at the very least to just continue working on the farm. Now that was fun!

  

[Primrose Tinker]

Prim laughed at her sister’s description. Pansy made it seem like those scary and gory descriptions from the stories published around Halloween every year. The ones with terrifying murderers who killed those who expected it less and left bloody and messy scenes behind them. Pricking your fingers hardly left behind such a mess. It might leave a mess on white fabrics, but it was nothing that couldn’t be removed with magic.

“I quite enjoy it!” Prim assured her sister. Her employers were kind and she rather enjoyed working on some of the dresses that were ordered at the shop. Sewing often felt like an art and she always felt proud when she was told that something she had worked on looked particularly good.

“I suppose your ideal occupation would be something more social” Prim commented. “Like working at the counter, in a shop.”

  

[Pansy Tinker]

Pansy could still hardly wrap her mind around the idea that Prim could enjoy being a seamstress. Sitting around handling cloth all day hardly seemed like her idea of fun. Then again hanging from tree branches and digging in dirt were things she thought was fun. She'd rather clean the horses stables than sit around and sew for a living! Prim was correct in her words that Pansy would prefer something more social but her suggest caused Pansy to give a humming noise before leaning against the table enough to lift her feet off the ground and kick them slightly.

"Shop work seems boring too! Can't I be an auror?" She said it with excitement in her tone as if she'd come up with the most brilliant idea ever. "That would be fun! Getting to chase bad wizards and witches and use magic and get into duels!" The thought was entirely thrilling and though it wasn't something she'd thought on overmuch Pansy decided then and there that she wanted to be an auror because that was obviously the most amazing profession in the world!

  

[Primrose Tinker]

Primrose let out a laugh at her sister’s declaration that she wanted to be an auror - a good natured kind of laughter. Despite their differences, she and Pansy were quite similar in some regards! Like their desire to hold occupations that demanded NEWTs. Of course, Pansy was only ten and many ten-year-olds wanted to be aurors, but if her sister continued to have that dream Prim sincerely hoped that she wouldn’t be too disappointed when she realized that she couldn’t become anything better than shop employee, or maybe a Ministry secretary.

“I’m sure my brave little sister could even become the head auror if she set her mind to it!” Prim softly commented with a smile. There was no need to tell Pansy that she’d likely not become an auror. Who knew, maybe Pansy could end up becoming an auror. Primrose could have probably been a healer too, hadn’t their father died. Prim was bitter about not fulfilling her dream, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want her sister to fulfill hers.

  

[Pansy Tinker]

Her eyes lit up at her sister's words. "I bet I could too! Can you imagine how much fun that'd be?!" Her voice was filled with childish enthusiasm, mind already abuzz with flashes of fantastical battles against bad folk. She was sure that when she got to Hogwarts she'd be able to finish and then go on to being an auror. The very thought of it made her incredibly excited and she pushed away from the table she was leaned against to jump excitedly. "Just imagine it!" She said, flourishing her hand as though she were holding a wand. "Pansy Tinker - Head Auror! It would be great!"

There was nothing more exciting than the idea of her becoming Head Auror. Too bad Primrose would be stuck with her boring job. She looked to her sister, leaning against the table again. "Don't worry though, Prim. I'll tell you all the stories of my adventures so you won't get bored from constantly pricked fingers!" She said it with a smile, not at all meaning to rub it in her face that her job was and always would be boring. She was sure tales of her adventures would be excitement enough!

  

[Primrose Tinker]

Prim liked to think that she couldn’t feel bitter if Pansy fulfilled her dream, when she hadn’t hers. By the time Pansy finished her schooling, Prim would be too old to care about her foolish, childish dreams. She’d be settled with being a seamstress and maybe if she worked hard enough she could even become a manager one day. Or maybe she’d manage to marry well, like Holly did. But then, Holly had always been the lucky one in the family. She also never aimed too high, like Prim seemed to do.

“I’ll be delighted to hear them!” Prim said with a small smile. “Perhaps I could sew your robes, so you could both be fashionable and comfortable while chasing criminals?”

She’d much rather be able to heal Pansy when she got injured, but there was no way that could happen. So sewing robes it was.

  

[Pansy Tinker]

Her eyes gleamed further with excitement at Prim's words. "Yes!" She exclaimed instantly. "I'll be the best looking Head Auror there ever was!" The idea that her sister would make her wondrous robes befitting of the awesome warrior she was sure to become made her incredibly pleased. Maybe that seamstress business wouldn't be so boring. "It will be funner than making silly dresses all the time. You can make robes for me and they will be great because you're so good at making things!" She could see it all more clearly now. Going in to get the bad guys while boasting stylish robes made to make her look even more awesome than she was sure to be. She'd be the talk of the town! Maybe even the whole Ministry!

"I can tell you stories while you sew and we'll be like partners!" Her sister may have been stuck being a seamstress which - while less boring than before if only because she could make her auror robes - was still pretty boring. Surely Prim would like the idea of being called a partner even if she couldn't chase bad guys and learn all the good spells like she would. She just wanted her sister to feel included though. She couldn't have her getting sad or jealous because Pansy was going to have a cool job and she wasn't!

  

[Primrose Tinker]

“I’d quite like that,” Prim commented. “Partner.” It was a bit of a pity that it wasn’t likely that this would happen. Ever since her own dreams had crumbled, Prim had had a hard time believing that anyone else’s dreams could. Pansy would likely try very hard at school, just like Prim had and then something would happen, like their mother’s death or a great flood that would ravage the crops and she’d be forced to drop out and work as a waitress or a maid somewhere.

“Perhaps I could help you with poisonous plants and potions,” Prim commented. “I might be only a seamstress, but I haven’t forgotten the few things I’ve learnt at Hogwarts.” Just because she had a simple job didn’t mean that she was simpe. Prim was strongly considering using the money of her salary sometime to buy some textbooks and continue learning new spells and potions on her own. She quite liked learning new things, even if at Twilfit and Tatting’s she’d likely never use them.

  

[Pansy Tinker]

She was beaming. "That sounds great!" Her sister may have been a seamstress and maybe a little boring but she wasn't stupid. "And if I need help with Hogwarts stuff you can help!" Her sister would be a great help, she was sure. Just like she was sure she was going to be the best auror there ever was. Pansy had high hopes for herself, even if her siblings before her hadn't amounted to anything glorious. Pansy was going to be the most successful Tinker and make everyone proud of her, she was just certain of it.

"If you help me then you'll be a little less bored, I'm sure of it!" She was convinced that Prim just had to be bored with her job. There was no way she wasn't! Sewing couldn't possibly be fun and the few times Pansy had attempted needlework she'd quickly given up. That was why she simply couldn't fail at becoming an auror. She'd be bored out of her mind if she had to do anything else!

  

[Primrose Tinker]

“Of course,” Prim replied. She’d help Pansy and maybe she’d be able to follow her dreams, unlike her sister who would always be a seamstress. But at least, by then, Prim wouldn’t be bitter about it. Hopefully.