Nel, while momentarily startled, gathered herself quickly and extracted herself from my embrace, flipping through the air before coming to a stop some feet from me. I gave her props for not trying to escape again, or look particularly concerned. She looked a little uncertain, but not to the point where I had to consider what kind of impression I had made on my friend. I raised an eyebrow and gave her another once over before clicking my tongue.
"Nel, you little scamp, you stole my design, you naughty girl." I tutted while waggling my finger at her.
"Lys did it too." Nel defended herself, looking uncomfortable on being caught out.
"Yeah, but Lys helps me out and gives me goodies every now and again so I don't mind if she cribs my notes for herself." I lobbed back. "You, however, don't participate."
Nel hugged herself and looked away mulishly. I rolled my eyes before drifting closer while considering the situation and giving her yet another once over, paying close attention to her suit. Its design was not based on mine, that is to say, she didn't look like a female version of The Rocketeer. It looked more like something right out of a steampunk novel. She had what looked like some kind of half-jacket made of what I think was probably brown velvet over a dark magenta satin blouse, both which were open enough to offer a view of her growing... assets. And she had been doing some serious... growing, during the summer. It didn't help that she had a leather corset wrapped around her midsection, which I could see was part of the harness if the stitching was anything to go by. She had on a sturdy brown leather belt, with a large satchel attached to it, followed by a pair of tight striped pants and ending with a pair of knee-high leather pumps that was strapped down tightly.
I was quick to note that she had found another clockwork medallion which was now dangling just above the one she had found in the Room of Requirement. I also saw that she had two rings with a similar theme with roman numerals raised on their sides, one was an X, the roman symbol for ten, and the other had a V, for the number five. I pursed my lips in thought before meeting Nel's eyes. She looked away. Well, well, well. What did we have here? Let it not be said I couldn't spot a flag when it was waved in front of my face. I'd have to pry it out of her in a moment, but first...
"You bungled the propulsion charm, it's not as stable as it could be, that's why I was able to overtake you, and I noticed you wobbled whenever you did a sharp turn, I'm guessing that was due to G-Force bleedthrough, so your cushioning charm is not up to snuff either. Good work on the control charm though, no input lag at all. Took me a week to perfect that one myself." I judged as I inspected the corset more closely causing Nel to plant a palm on my face and push me away. "Nice stitching on that corset, very sturdy. I'm guessing the rest of the harness is hidden under the jacket? Right."
Nel pushed me away again before giving me a searching look. "You don't seem angry."
"About what?" I asked as I waved away her attempt at pushing me off. Really, it wasn't like I was touching, I just wanted to have a closer look at what she'd done. Her discomfort was just a bonus.
"About me... copying... your work." Nel hazard delicately.
"Stole, you mean." I corrected her with an evil little smile before shrugging. "Eh, if you're not cheating, you're not trying. Shows initiative, something I didn't think you had." I gave Nel a considering look. "And on the subject of initiative; what are you doing in Germany?"
"Nothing," Nel responded. A tad too quickly in my humble opinion. She was definitely hiding something.
"Would that 'nothing' have anything to do with those... interesting... looking pieces of jewelry you have found somewhere, that just so happen to match the piece you found in the Room?" I wheedled.
"It's nothing." Nel insisted.
"Riiiiiiight." I said disbelievingly, drawing out the word. "You really have to work on your lying, because that was terrible. It's better if you have an explanation, a simple one, complexity is the bane of any good lie after all. More to remember, more to forget. Just saying nothing just tells anyone with two brain cells that there is definitely something."
"How about none of your business," Nel suggested darkly. Oh, I was getting to her! I hadn't managed to find a chink in her armor before which weighed on me. You never truly know someone until you made them angry. Or got them drunk. And since I doubted I would be able to convince Nel to have a drink with me, well...
"First you steal from me and now you give me lip, not cool." I sighed theatrically.
"You don't mind." Nel retorted.
"Doesn't make it right, though. Lys at least gives me bribes to keep in my good side, you've seen my Caster, right? And the armor for my... well... I haven't figured out what to call them yet, but you know, them! Those? Something like that, anyway! The point is..." I blinked; I'd totally forgotten where I was going with this. Let's see... guns, armor... ph right! "Bribes!" I exclaimed triumphantly. "You are up to something! I can smell it! I want in!"
"You don't even know what it is," Nel muttered.
"AHAH!" I shouted in triumph. "So there is something! I knew it! What are you up to?!"
"Nothing," Nel affirmed.
"We have been over this, besides, cats already out of the bag." I cajoled.
"No." She growled and floated away from me.
I didn't let it deter me and floated right after her. "You have to give me something, you owe me. I saved your ass, you know."
"Ask for something else."
"That's not how it works. The debtor can't determine how the debt is to be paid." I argued.
There was a sound of female dissatisfaction from Nel. "You are assuming that the value of what you want to know is lower then the debt owed."
I blinked before smiling evilly. "Well now, now I'm really curious."
"Too bad." Nel shot my way before picking up speed.
I matched her speed before overtaking her and putting myself in front of her and turning around, all without slowing down. "I can just follow you, you know."
Nel rolled her eyes at me. "Do as you wish, I'm done here anyway."
"See, this is why you are a bad liar, no followthrough. You gave up way too quickly."
Nel groaned.
---
I ended up annoying Nel all across the English Channel, inundating her with questions and insinuations and anything else I could come up with to get her to pop her lid. Unfortunately, my efforts were proving to be less than effective, after the first half-hour she'd seemed to rally and had returned to her normal stoic demeanor and sometime after that she had started to look almost... amused. It was insulting really; Lys would have tried to kill me by now. Or at least thrown something heavy in my direction. Nel hadn't even tried to curse me.
I must be losing my touch.
It became readily apparent that she was heading for London, but to my surprise, she was not heading towards Diagon Alley but towards central London and Hyde Park where we landed out of sight, hidden by a convenient crop of trees. She then dispelled her concealing charm, with me following suit, before walking out of the trees like she owned the place. She didn't even transfigure her outfit, which earned her immediate attention. It was really tight after all, and this was the 1960's, where shame was still a thing. Sort of.
"So what we are doing?" I asked after I joined her walking through the park, after adjusting my clothing, of course.
"I need to make some purchases," Nel answered tersely.
"And that would be?" I asked teasingly.
"I suppose you have to wait and see."
I shrugged and let her lead me out of Hyde Park and into the city. We skipped over a busy highway and into a nearby alleyway that was named the rather sinister name of Serpentine Walk. Do serpents walk? I was fairly sure that snakes with feet didn't exist, even in the wizarding world. But I could be wrong. After that, we walked across Knightbridge and onto Brompton Road which was when I saw a familiar sight in the distance.
"Harrods?" I asked in surprise.
"Suprised?"
"Kinda?" I admitted. "Didn't think you'd even know about it."
"Why not?" Nel asked, and I detected a note of condemnation in her voice and realized that I might have wandered into a minefield, and not one I'd relish walking across.
"Nevermind," I said quickly. "I forgot who I was talking to."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
Oh man, I groaned internally and rummaged around my head for a plausible excuse that wouldn't put me into an uncomfortable position. "I'm just... you know, your postcognition."
Nel just gave me a suspicious look before snorting and apparently deciding it wasn't worth her time. I made a silent vow now to never head down that path again. At least not today.
I'd been to Harrods a couple of times through the years and I always found the experience a bit surreal. In this time this shopping center was seen as luxurious, but to my eyes, it was pretty much your average large scale shopping mall, just with a retro decor. What was a luxury in the 1960s was common fare in the 2010s, or near enough. I couldn't help but wonder how these shoppers would react if some modern shops were to suddenly show up in here. How would they look at a mobile store, or a computer store, for that matter? Hell, dropping them into an appliance store would probably be enough to blow their minds. I'd like to demonstrate a plasma TV to them and see them melt trough the floor in sheer awe.
"DREW!" And excited shout snapped me out of my musings. Then I was tacked by a sweet-smelling, giggling, pink, and soft something. Someone.
Short brown hair, blue eyes, a cute nose, and full lips made for a very pretty face. She had on a sleeveless pink turtleneck that hugged her upper body tightly and revealed all she had to offer. She had on a moderately short white skirt and finally a pair of white shoes. She looked vaguely familiar, I rummaged through my memory quickly and then. Ah, she looked different, her hair was even shorter than before, and her eyes were not puffy from crying, and her face was not flushed from the cold.
"Mary," I said, recalling her name. I reached up and touched her hair. "You cut your hair."
Mary laughed, delighted. "You remembered! I didn't know if you would."
"It's... something that sticks in your memory," I said vaguely, I almost had forgotten. "You are looking better."
Mary looked down, as if embarrassed, before looking up at me. "I am better, but it's still hard, not having them here, even though..." She trailed off meaningfully.
I nodded absently, remembering the death of my own father. "It never truly goes away, I'm sorry to say, but you learn to... remember the good times... as opposed to the end. You learn to celebrate their life and all that it brought you, instead of cursing the unfairness of their death, and all that it robed from you. It helps to have something of theirs, something they treasured, as a reminder."
"You too?"
"Yes, first my father, some years ago, and then the rest..." I answered vaguely. It was true, in a certain way, maybe even in all ways. But I preferred to think of my family as alive and well.
"I'm sorry." She commiserated with an earnestness of someone that shared that particular pain.
"Me too," I said quietly before clearing my throat in an effort to get rid of the lump that had formed there. "Well, enough of that now. Dwelling on the bad parts of your life never helped anyone." I said with false bravado. "Now, what are you doing here? I thought you lived in... eh... that town, by the coast..."
"Eastbourne!" Mary told me with a laugh. "I did, but I live with my aunt now, in Kensington." She informed me with a smile.
Kensington. I knew that name. Probably the only street name I knew in all of England. Heard it in Flushed Away, great movie, Ian McKellen being a ham. A+ Would watch again.
"The Royal Borough?" I asked, not having a clue what that actually was. Sounded super snotty, but that didn't mean much. Half the names around here sounded like that, and the other half sounded like someone might just be making a joke at someone else's expense.
"That's right."
"Fancy."
"It is, my aunt's husband manages a bank, so they don't lack for money," Mary said dismissively. "They live on Hornton Street, near the Town Hall." She told me before her attention was diverted by something behind me. I turned to look, spotting Nel standing there, observing us, and looking a bit bored.
Ah... hmm...