"Looking for Something Special?"

[Merianne Forrester]

Business at Clarity had been exceptionally slow for the past few weeks, and Merry was tired or stocktaking barely-touched shelves. She was paying every worker evenly to sit around and hope for the bell to ring as someone entered, but soon the money would stop coming unless they got more business. Perhaps it was the same with some of the other establishments, and Merry decided to wait it out steadfastly until the holiday rush of children came from Hogwarts. Merry moved down the aisle to push back the bottles of Blush-B-Gone and turn every label to the front, wishing there was something more interesting to occupy her time today. She missed Emer's company. In fact, she missed company in general, and sitting behind the lonely wooden counter was beginning to get unbearable.

Her dress swept past the little smoking bottles of various stacked potions at her feet, and she moved tiredly towards the counter and sat on the high stool neatly, waiting for a customer. It was several long minutes before Merry gave up and decided to tuck in to a chocolate teddy-bear bun, her favourite snack that reminded her of pop biscuits from the Faraway tree as a child. She giggled to herself as she licked chocolate off her fingers, and decided to close her eyes for a nap. She'd hear if anyone entered ... Merry lay, smiling in chocolate heaven on the counter as her hair fanned out around her face. It was a good moment, even in those hard times.

 

[Markus Schwarz]

Mark was bored, yet another day of the same old business at the Magical Creatures Regulation Office. Which was becoming one of the largest departments in the Ministry: students excelled in Care of Magical Creatures, the Ministry shoved them in the department. It was only the Aurors that had more numbers.

And even they had nothing compared to the sheer number of Death Eaters around.

But with so many - both in the office and in his 'other' job - Mark found himself with little to do. Paperwork was easily spread across a department, and the Death Eaters may have been planning, but whatever it was, this time Mark was going to lay low, stay out of it. It wasn't that he was having a change of heart, oh no, he just figured he'd give the others a chance to shine, a chance to show off to their leader.

Besides, Mark was happy enough keeping a low profile and going about daily business as usual. Even if it was quite dull.

And so, one afternoon, with nothing to do, Mark found himself wandering aimlessly about, entering in to a shop without much thought. Perhaps he ought to get something for Clara, currently at home plagued with the flu. Or maybe he'd find something that would take his own fancy. Drawing himself to his full height of 6'4", Mark looked around, wondering exactly what shop he had wandered in to, but not really caring. Whatever happened, it was sure to be a change from the monotony of day-to-day life.

 

[Merianne Forrester]

Contrary to her hopes, Merry did not wake immediately as the bell rang when someone entered the store. She dozed on for at least thirty seconds more before she opened her eyes dreamily and glanced about the wood two inches from her nose. What had woken her? All of a sudden there were footsteps on the dark wood floors, and she practically leaped out of her skin. Merry sat up with a jolt and promptly knocked her head on one of the swinging red bottles hanging just above her. Now that she was alert, she did not react to the bump and hoped that the man who entered hadn't noticed. Soon she had her usual sunny smile on her face and opened her mouth to greet him.

"Hallo there, love. Looking for something special?" said Merry.

Oh dear, she thought a second later. How very handsome. Nothing in her face changed in the slightest, and she was still just as pleasant and willing, but now a feeling of guardedness stole over her. The man she would soon come to know as Markus Schwarz seemed to have wandered in for no particular reason, and so she added "Welcome to the Medicinal Market,"

 

[Markus Schwarz]

Mark's dark eyes narrowed on the counter, where a woman - who appeared to be about his age - had just woken from her slumber. The tall Death Eater had to admit that the woman, the owner of the store, he supposed, was quite a pretty young thing - a thought which caused him to give a very rare smile to the woman. Inconspicuous, and be friendly, he reminded himself. He wasn't exactly the most social person, only speaking to others when it was absolutely necessary, but a facade of kindness was required so as not to draw suspicion.

Besides, the woman was quite pretty. And looked fairly innocent. Where was the harm in friendliness in this case?

"Oh, not really," Mark stated, his German accent evident - although weakened due to his time in New Zealand. "I was merely looking for a way to pass the time after work, and I figured that idle shopping was a good way to do so, to be perfectly honest." Conversation was not something Mark excelled in, he could freely admit. He was having difficulty working out what to say, but for once, he actually was trying. "Medicinal Market, hmm? I suppose, while I am here, I may as well ask: my sister is currently suffering a nasty cold, what would you recommend?"

((LOL lame sorry))

 

[Merianne Forrester]

Merry could tell he was making an effort, a thought which endeared him to her almost immediately. Merry never had to make an effort during conversation, for there was always something nice to say about this or that to pass the time. It was also as she had originally thought; the man didn't seem to be particularly dead set on an item, and had probably wondered in out of boredom or curiosity. That was fine with her, for some had commented that upon visiting Clarity they had no idea what to expect and occasionally found something that interested them that they had not expected to see. She fought to to get flustered by his dark eyes and attractive accent, and managed it quite well. She held her grace.

"Ah, that's a shame," said Merry empathetically as she learned that his sister was ill. The sympathy was genuine. Merry knew all about those nasty colds that seemed to be going around these days. "Well, no-one can cure a cold of course, but I would recommend a good Pepperup Potion for the tiredness, aches and pains etcetera." she told him and she glided around the counter towards the aisles. "However, if it is particularly bothersome for the poor dear, you might want to add a few drops of Spattergroit serum." she turned to smile at him, and the effect was like sunshine breaking through cloud. "It makes the Pepperup effects last longer."

As she spoke, she moved down through one of the aisle's and passed Clarity's Creations, a section that housed many of her own inventions such as Sun-In-A-Bottle, and Essence of Evil. These she did not mention as of yet, because for some reason she did not feel like selling this man anything. Ridiculously, she wanted to ... talk.

 

[Markus Schwarz]

"Sounds good," Mark replied, rather absently for someone usually as serious as he was. But, to be perfectly frank, he was bored of work, and honestly was, for once in his life, just looking for someone to talk to, even if it was nothing more than idle chit chat. Sometimes, Mark had to admit to himself, simple chatter was a good way to ease the soul. Although his lack of experience in this area made him far from easy. Regardless, he tried his best to be friendly. The woman did look like quite a nice person, after all. And Mark may not have exactly been 'nice', but still, it was worth trying.

"I take it you are the owner of this establishment, Fraulein?"

 

[Merianne Forrester]

"Oh," said Merry involuntarily, so softly that it almost came out as a squeak. Her heart was fluttering like a school girl's, and she turned her head immediately to hide her instantaneous blush and smile. Being called Fraulein seemed terribly romantic somehow, but she simply could not let him see how affected she was by his words. Stop being silly and serve the customer, Merry told herself firmly. Gathering her composure once more, she turned back with the two bottles that he was needing and held them out to place them carefully in his hands, being careful not to touch his skin lest she had the shivers again. "I am," she finally replied to his earlier question. "My name is Merry Forrester. What should I call you, sir?" she added politely, trying to restore the employer-customer relationship between them in her head.

Quite honestly, she hadn't felt so girlish in such a long time. But Merry forcefully kept her composure the entire time, and made sure never to get any closer than two meters to the man, just in case they might brush a hand or suchlike. She would surely not be able to contain her smile then, and then she would begin to flirt and goodness-knows what else. "Have you had a look at the Clarity inventions section?" said Merry. Lordy, he's got nice hair. "There's a few rather interesting bits and pieces that you might want to look at." I wonder if he's wearing contacts. Such lovely eyes can't be natural.

 

[Markus Schwarz]

Mark had to work to suppress a smirk. It was obvious that the young woman - Merry - was reacting rather strangely. Was it him, he wondered? This may have happened once or twice before, but it wasn't exactly a regular occurance. Shrugging it off (inwardly), Mark gave the woman a slight, almost awkward, smile. "Thank you...Fraulein," he responded, with a very discreet wink. After all, if it was him that was causing Merry to behave in this way, well, he might as well have his fun. And for once, fun was just that - harmless fun, not at all malicious in its intent. "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Mark Schwarz," he added, nodding his head courteously.

"Inventions?" he replied, the word having piqued his interests. "Are these inventions of which you speak your very own creation, Miss Forrester?" Interesting, were they? Well, there was no harm in looking. Surely there would be some things of interest to him. After all, apart from being extremely pretty, Merry Forrester certainly didn't seem to be a fool. He was sure that the creations - as he turned slightly to look for them - were of high standards. It would seem, to Mark, that she would not permit herself to sell anything less. He hoped. Unless she was merely a scam artist looking to make some cheap Galleons, but looking at Merry, Mark doubted such a thing.

 

[Merianne Forrester]

Oooh, now he's doing this on purpose, the cheeky bugger, thought Merry. She tried to be appropriately affronted, but could only return his smile with a little bit more enthusiasm. She coughed slightly behind her hand so as to not make another squeak of delight, but this time she would have her own back. Merry gave him a very particular smile, one that said I know what you are doing, and don't think I'll let you have all the laughs. Merry picked up the slight awkwardness in Mark's smile just the same, and allowed herself a cheery sort of chuckle. Instinctively after introductions, she reached out her hand to shake his, but it was too late to think better of it. It would be silly to draw back halfway through, so she would have to endure the tingles of contact.

"Certainly," replied Merry, well pleased at having someone interested in her own potion making. "It is why I decided to set up shop. The market was becoming so unimaginative, and I wanted to create love, laughter, and a little bit of deviousness," she answered, and her hand reached up to touch upon a particular black bottle with the subtle scrawl, Essence of Evil. Merry also touched upon an round an extremely enticing vial named Sun-In-A-Bottle. "These two are my particular favourites." With the steady hand of a potioneer, Merry drew the thin black bottle of Essence of Evil down and place it in Mark's hand. "I could tell you a little about this one. It is Essence of Evil, a rather intriguing but dangerous potion that I invented in my seventh year at Hogwarts. It's quite good for meek sort of people, such as myself," said Merry, not looking meek in the slightest.

 

[Markus Schwarz]

A gentle smile on his face, Mark reached out and took's Merry's hand, but instead of shaking it, he bent over and drew her hand to his lips, before drawing his face away and letting her hand drop. Oh, the fun he could have with this...it had been such a long time since he'd allowed himself to relax and enjoy himself and be sociable. Although the last part was something he was still having trouble with.

"I am very impressed," Mark said, with a truthful nod. "I was never as good at Potions as I might have hoped to be. My sister is an expert, but I'm afraid I missed out on the talent. I will simply have to admire your work," Mark said, a smirk crossing his face. He was particuarly intrigued by the potion that Merry passed to him now - Essence of Evil. "A sweet natured girl such as yourself?" Mark joked, admiring her handiwork. "Fraulein, should I be worried about how you behaved in your seventh year?" he added, his intrigue at the potion not waning. "What exactly does it do, may I ask?"

 

[Merianne Forrester]

Oh yes, he definitely knows what he's going to me, squeaked Merry inwardly as she felt his warm lips on her hand. She didn't know whether to pull her hand away to stop the blushing or to faint dead away there and then. She did neither, of course, and returned his smile warmly. Her eyes said she approved of his gallantry. It was strange, for Merry was a good judge of character and good tell that Markus was behaving differently than he usually did. There was a tiny crease between his eyebrows and no lines of frequent laughter around his eyes, the complete opposite of Merry. Merry had dimples on both cheeks, and two impish creases that appeared every time she smiled.

"That's nice of you to say. It would be a shame if I was a second-rate potioneer who could only brew what they knew from a book. It's creativity that makes all the difference." Merry wasn't flattering herself so much as she was describing what she felt were the most important parts of being a good potions brewer. Imagination was everything. "Sweet-natured," she piffed, but smiled all the same. Then she proceeded to laugh as Markus cast mock aspersions on her doings in seventh year. The sound was like a fairy ringing its morning bell. "Not at all, I was very studious. But I suppose I did indulge a little," she told him, her eyes sparkling with mirth. "Essence of Evil is literally a bottle of harden-up," she grinned, but then became serious. "It is for people who have trouble being comfortable with their sunny-outlook, and feel that they need to become more aggressive or less lenient. At least, that was what it was intended for." Merry looked at the bottle with a furrowed brow. "If taken in excess, things can go terribly wrong. That is why it is only sold to adults. Testing it was ... interesting."