Closed where oh where

[Professor Marigold Cooper]

*set just outside of madam pudifoots around the same time as one of the snack weekends

Marigold, for what it's worth, was learning her way around. She was stood just outside the whimsical facade of Madam Puddifoot's, the scent of freshly brewed tea and warm scones wafting through the air. The sun cast a gentle glow over the cobblestone streets, reflecting off the colorful awnings and creating a picturesque scene straight out of a storybook. This was not exactly new to her, though the abundance of green certainly was. Dressed in a light summer dress adorned with floral patterns, she glanced around, her eyes filled with a mixture of anticipation and curiosity. She had heard tales of this enchanting tea shop, famous for its cozy atmosphere and delectable treats, and had been looking forward to this visit for weeks. As she adjusted the brim of her wide-brimmed hat, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of couples and friends, old and new, making their way in and out of the shop, laughter and chatter filling the air.

Just as she was about to step forward, her attention was caught by a sudden movement to her right. Turning her head, she didn't notice the figure hurrying towards the shop until it was too late. They collided with a gentle thud, and Marigold stumbled back, barely managing to keep her balance. She shot out her arms to help the woman keep her balance, and tried to smile at them, hoping no harm had been done since that would have ruined both of their days.

"Awh, sh*t," she said, taking a breath, "sorry, didn't see ya. Y'alright?"​

 

[Georgina de Lacey]

It felt like a lifetime since Georgina had set foot in Brightstone. She had never needed to go to the village while Rory had been preparing for school but Tori was a big fan of the village, no doubt she had Felix to thank for that so when it came to picking up her daughters supplies for her first year, she had insisted on getting what they could from village that stood in the shadow of Hogwarts. Georgina had been looking up at the castle from her spot outside Madam Puddifoot’s when she felt movement next to her and suddenly her daughter had vanished. Sh*t She cursed to herself as she looked around, the door to Madam Puddifoots had just closed and she couldn’t see Tori on the street. She must have gone inside, Tori always went on about that tearoom and Georgina had never seen the appeal it would have to an eleven year old.

Georgina made a sudden and swift movement toward the door of the tearoom, mostly just to make sure that her daughter was actually side. She didn’t mind giving Tori a little more leeway now she was about to start school, but that didn’t mean she could vanish without a word. Before she could reach the tearoom however, she collided with someone, instinctively reaching out to grab the arms that had been held out seemingly for her to keep her balance. “Sorry sorry,” She rambled as she stabled herself and looked at the woman she had hit, she hadn’t hit the ground either so that was good and seemed to be alright. “No me neither, I was too focused on finding my daughter, she ran off,”

 

[Professor Marigold Cooper]

"Oh, well that ain't good now, is it?" she asked, looking around for what she assumed to be a child. She didn't know how old the child was, though she could assume based on what was said that the child was probably of school age, or possibly a bit younger, she also assumed the child would look somewhat like her mother, though that was not always the case, as Marigold knew well. "She do that often, eh?" she asked, more for small talk than any special curiosity. She didn't know this woman and she didn't know her daughter, but she liked kids, she taught kids when she could and coming from a community that utilised the communal raising methods when it came to education and overall childrearing, she understood the significance of wanting to know where your children were, despite not having any children of her own. When she was working with children she was almost always prepared to follow after them, and wondered briefing if it was an infringement of a childs rights to have a trace placed on them that could be followed all over the map if necessary.

Most parents only wanted to keep their children safe, right? "She hang 'round any spots here? Madam Pudifoot's, maybe? They got games an' stuff goin' on now, like cupcake decoratin'. Maybe she saw a mate an' didn' wanna lose 'em?" there were all sorts of reason to be honest, and she certainly didn't want to get in this woman's way. "Ya want me to give ya a hand lookin'?" she was a stranger though, so she figured she ought to introduce herself. "Sorry, I'm Marigold Cooper, just in case ya feel the need to check up on me later." she would be able to tell by her accent that she wasn't from around here, though her best guess was this woman wasn't either.

@Georgina de Lacey ​

 

[Georgina de Lacey]

Georgina wasn’t overly worried, Brightstone was full of kids and there seemed to be some kind of event going on at Madam Pudifoots, it wouldn’t have been her first choice to spend her time but as the woman who went on to introduce herself as Marigold also suggested the tearoom as somewhere she might have snuck off to, it seemed like a good place to start. “I’d appreciate the help, I’m sure she’s fine but if I could just lay eyes on her then I can breathe a little easier and leave her to have fun,” She didn’t want to crowd her daughter too much. As much as the circumstances around it hadn’t been ideal, at her age Georgina had a lot of freedom and she wanted Tori to have that feeling, she would just have the knowledge she could always go back home.

There seemed to be a lot of activity surrounding Madam Pudifoots and the closer Georgina got to it, the more likely it seemed that it was where her daughter snuck off to. “I think I’m just gonna pop my head inside, if I see her that’ll be enough but thank you for sticking around I’m sure this wasn’t on your bingo card when you woke up this morning,”

 

[Professor Marigold Cooper]

"Dunno, ya'd be surprised, I'm used to chasin' around after the young'uns, back home that's all I did sometimes," she said, shaking her head. Some of her cousins could be right terrors when the Aunties were about. She couldn't blame them though because she was the same, and the Aunties always brought back some really nice treats. She would never admit it, of course, but honestly there was nothing better than an Auntie's treat. She was sure they did some magic (other than like normal magic) to them to make them taste so d@mn good. "Kids’ll be kids in any country, no matter where ya go," she added, shrugging. That was probably the truest thing anyone had ever said. Didn't matter what you did or said, really, they had minds of their own by the time they got to whatever age this woman's kid was. Ari was going to hazard a guess that she was probably about the age she would be to attend the school in the first place. It seemed like the most appropriate age for a Gubba to be letting their kids wander wild and free and all that anyway.

"Ara, I can see a couple of little faces in there, so maybe one of 'em might be yours, hey?" she suggested, ducking slightly to peek in through the window, though she had no idea who any of these kids were really. Sometimes trying to spot a kid out of a line of other kids was difficult. Even when none of them looked even remotely similar, they all seemed to have that kid way of disappearing into the ether that some of them just never seemed to lose. "D'you see her?" she asked, looking down the line of shops to figure if there might be another shop they could try. "Park’s real close by too, if ya don't."

@Georgina de Lacey ​

 

[Georgina de Lacey]

There was something familiar about Marigold’s accent but also not, she’d guess Australian but there were differences to the Australians she knew that she couldn’t quite pick out. “Sorry, you’re Australian right? You have a really interesting accent,” She hoped it wasn’t rude, and it must have seemed rather out of place while they were looking for her daughter. But Georgina wasn’t terribly worried, she knew Tori wasn’t stupid enough to go off with anyone unsavoury, and had probably been drawn in to the various goings on that had attracted other kids her age. Spending time with kids her age before she went off to school would be good for her so she had no intention of interrupting her daughter, she just had to be sure.

As she stuck her head through the opening of the door to Madam Puddifoot’s, she saw the familiar back of her daughter’s head and saw her talking a girl a similar age. “She’s there, all good,” Georgina breathed a sigh of relief she hadn’t realised she had been holding in, she must have been a little more worried than she had been letting on. “Sorry to have waisted your time, she just went into the nearest store,”

 

[Professor Marigold Cooper]

"Ya got it right, I am. I'm from Arnhem Land, one of the big mob homelands for Aboriginal Australians," she said, nodding with a grin. She liked talking about home, especially as she hadn't been back in a while. She was hoping to go visit her parents for Christmas, but she also might decide to stay at the school now that she was going to be working there. She couldn't decide yet so she was going to wait and see what happened and make a decision from there. "Ya not a Kiwi, are ya? I'd reckon ya sound sorta British." It felt right, Ari had spent a lot of time between Aotearoa and Australia, so she knew a thing or two about how her brother and sisters over the water were supposed to sound. She could believe the woman had grown up in the country, but she certainly hadn't been born in it. Not that it was a problem, Ari was just genuinely curious. "Did ya go t' school?" she asked, pointing up in the direction of Hogwarts. She'd heard good things, but maybe someone else could give her an opinion, someone who seemed to have a daughter about the right age to attend. She was glad that the daughter seemed to be found, she had fully prepared to go into child finding mode, not that she was an expert, but they'd had to gather to find kids before, especially when they'd run off from their mums and dad's when they wanted to practice their magic they weren't supposed to be practicing.​