the unhallowed affair - t.m.r

le retour

Vivianne nodded, deflated. "I love your uncle, but he's un facilitateur, and I don't think he realizes."

"I'm sorry," she frowned. "I'll do what I can to help."

Vivianne tsked, shooing her away with her hands. "Don't worry about him. Go see your aunt."

Juliette did as she was told, carefully making her way through the store, trying not to step on anything. The place was so cluttered she didn't understand how customers moved, let alone found anything they were looking for.

She hopped over the counter, in which she heard Vivianne scold her in distaste- "What if a customer came in?"- to which Juliette just laughed, because she highly doubted anyone in a Dark Arts shop would care about class.

Quickly brushing past the heavily beaded curtain, she found herself in the back room, looking at her aunt Corvina.

Corvina Borgin did not see her niece first walk in, because she was currently drawing what appeared to be a Celtic Shield Knot out in salt on the middle of the rotten wooden table.

She then placed a small silver locket in the center of it, before looking up and finally realizing Juliette was here.

"Oh, Juliette, darling! I didn't see you there!" She moved to stand up, muttering something about trying not to bump into the table and mess up the sigil. But Juliette knew by now that she wouldn't. Her and the rest of the shop owners have done this same protection spell Corvina was just doing dozens of times. They do it on every object that has even the faintest trace of Dark Magic, just to be safe.

"Hi, Corvina." She smiled, pulling her aunt into a hug.

"How was your travels? Were they safe? You didn't see any Germans near the border, did you?"

"Tante Corvina," she hushed. "They've had control of the northern part of France for the past two years. If anything, they're more worried about who's moving south."

"Merlin," Her aunt tutted. "They haven't reached Lyon yet, have they?"

Lyon. Her home. "No, but they are growing closer everyday."

The thought made her heart race. While she told her aunt that her trip up to London was safe, it was the scariest it had been in a while. It seemed as though the German Reich Party were tightening their grip around the seas and borders, trying to examine everyone who left, almost as if they were determining who was worthy enough.

Juliette ended up not going the way she planned, and instead of taking muggle transport, she took the magical route of Floo Powder.

"How are your parents? Did my sister go over-the-top for your graduation?"

She laughed, nodding. Aurora Alderidge (nee Borgin) always knew how to be extravagant. Her graduation party was quite large, and held in a rented out ballroom. The decor was stunning, but when planning it Juliette remembered suggesting it should be toned down.

"Nonsense, ma cherie," Her mother said. "Ce n'est pas tous les jours que vous obtenez votre diplôme maintenant, n'est-ce pas?"

So, Juliette huffed, knowing her mother was right.

"What's this?" She nodded, pointing to the object her aunt was cleansing before she walked in.

"Just a locket," Corvina shrugged. "There's nothing special about this one. A man came in a few days ago with a box of old jewelry and fine china. He said his wife died, and he couldn't hold onto it anymore without feeling sad. Would you mind cleansing some of his stuff? I really should be out front."