The Hogsmeade Wars

~:2:~

Lily and Ann Marie waited patiently for Sirius's interview to end. Occasionally a classmate would wander in, in search of the perfect mischievous item, them wander out with nothing more creative than an Insulting Quill, but for the most part the shop remained pretty quiet.

James Potter sat in reflection, but it was by no means quiet. Lily tried to ignore him as he drummed his fingers annoyingly on the wall, whistled, ground his teeth, stomped his feet, snapped his fingers, coughed, shuffled, shifted, and finally gave a long and exaggerated sigh of boredom.

Finally, a buoyant Sirius stepped out of the office and patted James on the shoulder.

"Done," he said. He pointed at Ann Marie. "You next."

As Ann Marie rose and made for the office, Sirius and James saw themselves out.

Ann Marie was not surprised when she stepped into the office. It was a little dark, but even in the bad light she could see boxes of Zonko's merchandise strewn here and there on the floor, and a book shelf that took up most of the left wall that was filled with joke books and biographies about famously insane Wizarding folk. She wouldn't have guessed from the stern look on his face that Mr. Pawloski was a kidder, but in this case, apparently looks could be deceiving.

The manager cleared his throat.

"Ann Marie Carraway," he said, looking at her form. "Shall we get straight to it?"

She nodded. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.

"Didn't your brother get caught shoplifting here?" asked Pawloski.

Suddenly Ann Marie wasn't so hopeful anymore. She made a mental note to brutally murder Jack.

***

Lily Evans convulsively clutched at her application form. It wasn't that she was nervous per se, but she wasn't feeling particularly at home in this shop. This was were the idiots ruled. People like James Potter and Sirius Black were just the tip of the iceberg here. Once again, she wondered what had lured her here; what had possessed her to willingly walk up and try for a position at a joke shop.

It remained to be seen.

Lily wondered how Ann Marie was doing. She would be good in this sort of place, but she had a bit of a flaky personality. She seemed to be more cut out for serving tea at Madam Puddifoot's, not breaking up fights between moronic boys over who gets the last box of Self-Splattering Ink.

She glanced out the window, hoping for some sort of distraction. Nothing. The street outside was practically empty, but for a dog frolicking in the rain. Lily looked more closely. Yes, it was definitely frolicking.

The front door opened and Peter Pettigrew stuck his head in.

"Oy, Lily," he said.

"What?"

"Have you seen James or Sirius anywhere? Or Remus?"

It took a great deal of restraint not to roll her eyes at this boy, who genuinely looked like a toddler searching for his mother. She gave a polite little smile. "They were here about fifteen minutes ago - well, not Remus, I haven't seen him yet. I've no idea what fresh hell they're planning on raising now."

Peter nodded. "Thanks anyway," he muttered, and left, looking more bemused than before.

Ann Marie stepped out of the office, her face blank. She shrugged at Lily and indicated with a quick turn of her head that Lily was to go inside now.

"Good luck," Ann Marie muttered.

"Thanks."