Throughout Cora's childhood, her mother had always repeated the same phrase: only complain when nothing could be worse. Thinking back, it was a terrible thing to tell a child, as every bad thing that happens in a child's eyes is the worst possible outcome. But Cora stuck by it, right through to the brink of adulthood. She found it was a very good way to stay positive in hard times, and to keep herself upright when she wanted to fall down and cry.
Only complain when nothing could be worse, she reminded herself when she awoke to the sound of shattering china. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she calculated every possible scenario in her head, ranging from a gust of wind from an open window to a murderous villain in her living room. She reached for her necklace and rubbed it between her fingers. The tarnished pendant had always been a grounding point for her, when she was nervous or frightened.
"Hey, Blondie," Marvin greeted as she exited her bedroom with her wand extended before her. His body, that of an oversized, tri-coloured ferret, was lounging on an armchair. "S'going on?"
Cora's eyes widened as she saw that several of her favourite teacups had been smashed across the floor. "Merlin, Marv, what on Earth were you doing?"
"I don't know if you know what this word means, but I was having fun. Yeah, not sure if you know the definition."
"I don't know if you know what this word means, but sod off. Those were my best teacups."
"They were pretty ugly teacups," he tried to reason, sitting upright on his hind legs.
"Why couldn't I just get a normal pet?" She grumbled to herself. "Should've gotten a Crup, or a Kneazle. Why did I get a bloody Jarvey?"
"Crups and Kneazles suck. I'm interesting. I'm actually the most interesting thing in your boring life lately."
"Your insults wound me, Marv," Cora said sarcastically. "You're going to clean that mess up while I'm gone."
"Like hell I am."
She sighed deeply and returned to her bedroom to get dressed for the day. Her eyes glanced across a picture of her in a white dress and a man in a suit and she smiled slightly. She shrugged on a dark blue blouse and tucked it into her skirt, stomped her feet into shoes and buckled them.
"I'm going to work, Marv," she called when she reached the front door.
"Don't come back."
"Love you too," she said to herself. She took her hat and coat from the rack and locked the door behind her. As she descended the staircase, she almost bumped into one of her neighbours. "I'm terribly sorry," Cora said as she moved around the woman, who was locking up her front door.
"That's okay, honey."
The women shared a smile, then Cora continued walking downstairs. She finally reached the outside world, and tightened her coat around her body to combat the early winter chill. Distracted by the thought of buying herself new teacups for Christmas, she didn't realise the iciness of the pavement and skidded slightly as she took a miscalculated step. But instead of falling to the ground and injuring herself, she tumbled into a man holding a large leather case.
"Good grief, this is the second time I've done this!" She gasped, steading herself on the man and giving him a bright smile. "My apologies, Sir."
"It's okay," he said, offering her a hand to hold while she dusted the spray of ice from her legs. "Always here for people to land on."
"And I'm very glad for that," she chuckled. "I hope you have a lovely day, Mr..."
But he'd already dashed off, and she didn't catch his name. So she shrugged and turned around to walk in the same direction he was. She trailed him for a while, until he entered the Jewellers where she worked. She slipped behind the counter, giving the other employee a wave as she did so.
"What a coincidence!" The man exclaimed as he caught her eye.
"There's no such thing as coincidences, dear," Cora said. "How can I help you?"
"Uh- well," he trailed off, looking down at his case and nodding as though he'd been reminded. "I misplaced my cufflinks, and I have a really important meeting to go to. It'd look unprofessional to turn up without cufflinks, right?"
"I'm afraid it would," she said with a laugh, pulling a tray of silver links from the cabinet behind her. "Are you a silver or gold man?"
"I'm a 'whatever's cheapest' man," he joked. She took a pair of plain silver ones and offered them to him. "These are great."
He handed over the money and she smiled.
"Good luck with your meeting," she called as he left the store. He saluted and gave her a smile, then disappeared from view.
Ten minutes until closing time.
The words ran over and over in her head for sixty seconds.
Nine minutes until closing time.
Her eyes traced over the storefront, double and triple checking that nobody was approaching the doorway.
Eight minutes until closing time.
To her annoyance, somebody came dashing towards the door and poked their head around the doorframe.
"You aren't closed, are you?"
"No, we're open," she replied with a friendly grin. For another seven minutes, she added on in her head. The man walked inside and began browsing the selection of ruby earrings on display. "Are you looking for anything in particular?"
"Just something for my wife," he said with a shrug. "I messed up, gotta make it up to her."
"Ah, I see," she said. She watched him browse the shelves and displays for almost fifteen minutes, before he chose out a beautiful emerald necklace.
"Thank you, Miss..." he trailed off as he payed, squinting to see her name tag. "Cora. It's been great doing business with you."
"You're very welcome," she said, despising that he'd called her by her first name.
"Miss Cora, you seem like a lovely lady," he continued.
"Didn't you say you had a wi-"
"But you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time." A gun was drawn from his left side and she sighed deeply.
"Oh, I'm never in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said with a slight smile. Her confidence soon fell when she remembered her wand was in her handbag in the back room. Her hand drifted up to the necklace she wore, rubbing the pendant between her thumb and forefinger. "How about I get a key from storage to open some cases for you?"
"No, you're staying right there," he said, then muttered, "...keep my eye on you."
"I'm a five-foot-three woman in heels," Cora said, wondering what he thought she could do, especially without her wand.
"Don't test me," he shouted, pointing the gun at her. She sighed deeply and watched him empty three displays into a large bag. When he reached out to grab a polished gold pocket watch, something beat him to it.
"What in the name of Merlin's-" Cora's murmur was interrupted by a loud yell from the man, who tossed the bag away from him and cowered behind the counter.
"-The hell is that thing?!" He cried, pointing to the bag. It was moving slightly and Cora frowned as she edged towards it. With her foot, she opened the bag back up. Inside was a black creature, happily rolling in the jewellery and stuffing it into a pouch on his stomach.
Cora smiled lovingly and lay down on the floor in front of the creature. It was a niffler, she recalled from her studies when she was much younger.
"Hello," she cooed, reaching out to pet the it's fur. It blinked up at her with wide, black eyes. In it's moment of confusion, she grabbed it with both hands. It reached up for her necklace, a silver, oval-shaped locket with somebody's initials on the front. "You shouldn't be here, little one. New York is a dangerous place for creatures of your sort."
The man had long since ran out of the shop empty-handed, so Cora placed the niffler in the pocket of her coat to keep a tight hold on it when she walked home. She handed it her necklace to keep it busy, and locked up the shop. The hardest part of bringing the niffler back to her apartment was making sure it didn't escape. It's eyes and snout poked out of her pocket to look at all of the bright, shiny things they walked past. It seemed entranced by the city lights reflecting on the icy streets and she smiled at the innocence of it. She stopped to sit on a bench, her hands gripping the creature tightly as they both marvelled at the mostly-ignored beauty of Central Park at sunset.
As she reached her apartment, however, her attention was taken away from the animal. A man and a woman were helping a larger man across the street. She carefully tucked the niffler into her pocket, whispering a promise to let it have at her jewellery box when they got home. She didn't even want to think about what Marvin would have to say about their guest, and she didn't have a chance before she was called by someone vaguely familiar from across the street.