Girls like boys and boys like girls
And that's the way it has been
Forever

@archibald - outfit

Diagon Alley was fun. Or, it would be if she weren't spending her time alone. That was the problem with being a solitary person and then getting friends. She forgot how to amuse herself alone. Now, Mal was off traveling wherever with her psycho parents and Gian was off with his siblings in some family outing, and she had nothing to do. Okay, not true. She could have taken her broom and gone off flying at the park, or she could be spending her time with her little brother. It was far too hot today to fly around, she didn't feel like getting sweaty. Plus, she was still annoyed at Mason for... his general existence? No, just for being a bit of a prick. He had to learn somehow and mum had told her off for punching him last time. She figured ignoring him would get the point across for now. Hoped so, at least. So she was out of options for entertainment other than going to Diagon Alley and buying stuff she didn't need. Thanfully, mum never really cared what she wasted her money on. As long as she didn't go into Knockturn Alley and was back by sunset or dinner time, whichever came first, she would be happy. Content. She didn't think her mum was every truly happy. Or content. Fine, she wouldn't be angry.

But Diagon Alley was boring by now. She'd scoured every shop, she'd gotten ice cream, she'd bought two books she was probably never going to read and a pair of shoes her mother would find hideous. There was nothing to do and she was bored. Completely bored. Wandering around aimlessly was a waste of time, she might as well just sit down for more ice cream and read or whatever. Or just go home, but that was like admitting defeat. She could go to the park from here, but then she'd have to walk all the way there and then walk home and mum was clear about her having to floo back. That would be such a bother. No, she had to figure out what else she could do- oh. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. She'd never been in there before. Ironic, considering her surname and the face that her dad helped to run it. Did he? She wasn't sure, maybe he hadn't taken up the job again when he came back. Huh, she might ask around for him. She hadn't seen him in like two weeks.

Stepping inside, she looked around for any red hair.

I Am not an activist or anything but Has it been that way forever?

Being part of the Weasley Clan meant a few things. You sported naturally bright orange hair five times out of ten. You were probably not an only child. And you had so many cousins that you assumed any ginger was somehow related to you even if you weren't confident of their name. You could honestly go to a family reunion and miss seeing someone the entire time. At least that was what Archibald believed. He knew all his cousins, but he always had this itching feeling he was missing one. The good part about being Weasley (not that this was the only one) was that The Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was a place you could get a job at rather quickly.

The last thing Archibald needed was a job. He knew that his parents would support him in whatever he needed or wanted. Arch was just a realistic about the prices of art and photo supplies. Both of which he goes through fast. He was practically put to work right away. Arch liked it there so far. Sure he wasn't suddenly decided that he wanted to help with a family business or anything. He and Terrianne already decided what they were going to do and the only knowledge he could get from WWW was how to start up your own business.

The plan was to get as involved with fashion as the two could get themselves involved in. Terrianne had joined him as an intern at Witch Weekly. Initially Arch had gone there for interning because he was interested in photography. But the more him and his sister talked about fashion the more he wanted to join in on her plans. Archibald always found himself following the lead of Terri, but this was something he was genuinely excited about. Sure, when it came to finding a job, he probably should have turned to KA Designs, but he always felt more comfortable around people he knew.

Hearing the bell that told him someone had entered the shop, Arch looked up from his sketchbook with a friendly smile. "Welcome to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. If there is anything I can help you with feel free to ask," he had practiced the greeting and a few other common phrases he would be using at work. He relaxed when he saw it was family.

Are you never gonna get it?
The kids already know...
Some girls like girls
some boys got a boyfriend

Dad had gone away when she was pretty young. About four or five, she didn't remember. Before that, her parents did a pretty good job of sharing custody, even there were no romantic -or even friendly- feelings between them. Mum didn't like the Weasleys, she'd only gotten close to Ron because she played quidditch with Ginny. Ron had just been through a break up at the time and mum wanted fun, what better fun in a pro-light magical world than with one of the golden trio? She'd been opportunistic and while they didn't hate each other, it was never going to go beyond casual fun. Some would be shocked to hear Maeve be so blasé about the whole thing, but her mum had never beat around the bush when it came to her. She was an accident, mum kept her because she wanted to, Ron had been under no obligation to take responsibility. He did, though. Gave her his name -something Tracey now rued- and took her to visit his family whenever they had a weekend together. Or even just a day. Her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, her cousins. She used to be part of the family, but then dad sort of had a break down and needed to leave and mum had never liked the Weasleys in the first place. Needless to say, she didn't make an effort to help them keep in touch and Maeve sort of disappeared from the family. She didn't even remember any of them.

Now, though, dad was back. That didn't mean she'd seen her family again all that often. She'd always seen some of her cousins around school, though they didn't interact much. She figured they were nice enough Terri was fun, if a bit judgemental, it seemed to her. Archie was in her same house and he was nice, but again, Maeve didn't really talk to them. Besides, they were older. Everyone else she just avoided most of the time. She didn't know why specifically, they were just intense in a way she wasn't used to. Since dad came back all the family time had been just them two, she hadn't seen any of the adults yet. She supposed that would come, but there was no need for him to take her by the hand and guide her there. She wasn't some little kid, she could do just fine on her own. Still, she was here to see him, if she could. Maybe he was out, though, he wasn't always working here, it seemed. Didn't need both him and uncle George and the half dozen Weasleys that came to help out, right?

"Oh, hey-" Turning around, she saw Archie sitting at the counter. She hadn't expected to see him. She hadn't spoken to him in months and even then it had only been some passing pleasantries. Well, she supposed this was nice too, so she got closer. He was her cousin. First cousin, even if she didn't really know him all that well. "Got a summer job, then?"

Just tell don't tell them

Any memories Archibald had of Maeve when they were younger were very faint. Honestly, what he thought could possibly be memories of his Uncle Ron's kid could very well be one of his other younger cousins. But he liked to think he remembered her. He felt like he should be closer to her than he was. They were in the same house. They crossed each other's paths from time to time during the school year. However, there wasn't much conversation happening between them. He didn't like the idea of that. Family meant a lot to him. He wanted nothing more than the approval of his family.

Arch gave a small wave when Maeve turned around. "Yeah, a pretty easy thing to do here. Though I think it will be a bit disappointing when my Uncle George finds out I'm not really interested in all this stuff," he had caught his use of the word my in his words. He decided to not focus on it though. Maeve hopefully wouldn't think anything of it. "Came looking for anything? I might not be interested but I know a thing or two about almost everything here." It was one of the many positives of being a Weasley and working here. Uncle George probably has shown you everything at least once for one reason or other. 

Tracey didn't really have anything against the Weasleys, otherwise she wouldn't have let Ron give Maeve his surname. Nothing personal, at least. She was very aware of their public image, though, and while that had been a good thing to have back in the Durant days, now having the Weasley surname would close off a great many doors. Not that Maeve wanted those doors open in the first place. She thought that people who cared about surnames more than attitude were idiots and she wanted nothing to do with them anyway. Mum said that was not how the world worked but whoever said Maeve had to function the same way as the word anyway? She would do whatever she liked, and right now she thought that what she liked was playing quidditch and spending time with Mal and Gian. Surnames had nothing to do with it, otherwise Mal wouldn't have been their friend at all. Not with her dad's side of the family being so close to the Parkinsons, who were purist and Death Eaters for the most part. For the most part because there was apparently also one who was a musician, if the gossiping girls of her dorm were to be listened to. With all that, she preferred spending time with Tamara and the girl was purely a ball of depression and moping.

"It's not for everyone." She did catch that slip of the tongue, but she didn't mind. She wasn't all that close to the Weasleys anymore, even if that was something she sometimes did regret. They seemed like fun people. Right now, Maeve wouldn't be able to pick Uncle George out of a crowd of redheads if they paid her. No, she thought that calling the man 'his' uncle George fit quite well. She didn't take it personally, it was probably in the same way that she knew Archie was her cousin but probably wouldn't present him as that to anyone. What was felt often took precedence over what was. "Not really, I was looking for dad. Haven't seem him in over a week. Though I've never been in here before. I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look around." She knew that Terri had a lot of opinions about Ron leaving her mother and her, but Maeve had never blamed him. Loving people isn't about locking them up or tying them down, it's about them staying if they want to. Dad had to leave, he wasn't feeling well. She had mum, he didn't leave her alone. She didn't blame him. Nowadays, she may not see him as often as she liked, but he was making an effort to be there. That was what mattered.

Terrianne had been vocal about to him about Uncle Ron and all of that. In Archibald's opinion, if there was no love, what was the point? His own parents had been apart for so many years. Up until recently, having the two of them in the same room was something he was scared of. He thought it would be just as bad to have parents around that didn't get along as it would be bad to be missing one of them for part of your life. He also didn't feel liked it was their place to have an opinion on anything. All they could do was be friendly to Maeve and treat her like family since she was after all family.

The boy nodded in agreement. Plenty of people came in and out of this place. Most were students. Some were adults. Not everyone got something and not everyone seemed to come without a friend dragging them in. and if the WWW was for everyone, every Weasley would be working here. And that was not the case.  "Oh, He stepped out like a half hour ago. He shouldn't be gone much longer," Arch honestly had no idea how much longer his uncle would be but saying he should be back soon sounded better then he left and I have no idea when he is coming back. Especially with the history Ron and Maeve had. "It's not busy," Arch stated but it was kind of clear. "I can give you a shorter less detailed version of the grand tour," he offered. The store usually had stayed empty during this time when he was here on other days. He had very little worry about someone coming in for a while now.

"some girls like girls"

Maeve liked spending time with her dad, for all that it didn't happen often at all. These days, it was usually on a weekend or so, when he remembered that his time with her was limited. It wasn't that he didn't love her or didn't want to make time for her, but he was very preoccupied with everything that was going on. Worried. Traumatised. Whatever one wanted to call it. She didn't blame him, she'd read about everything that had happened before and she remembered seeing his face whenever he read the Daily Prophet. He would mutter to himself, but she never caught what he was saying. She didn't think she wanted to know, mum said it was best if she stayed out of all of that. It was the same reason why her mother didn't want her too close to the Weasleys. She thought it was dangerous, with the people that were in power now. As if she were afraid that the Death Eaters would start hunting everyone down. They wouldn't, they were too busy hunting down the muggleborns. Mal said they had a muggleborn in her uncle's house, but not like some other purebloods did, like a servant. Her uncle was... taking care of him? That was weird, for a Death Eater, but she wasn't going to ask about it. Maybe she wasn't supposed to know at all.

"He probably will. Dad never really says where he's going or for how long. I won't wait long, I'll just leave word if he's not back in a while." Shrugging, she stepped aside to let a customer with a half full shopping basket walk past her. She wasn't all that worried about her dad not coming back before closing time. He came and went however he wanted to, if she didn't find him then that was too bad. She'd try again some other day. It was normal by now, though she knew a lot of her friends would think that she shouldn't naturalise this. It was just how things went, no point feeling bad about it. That was stupid and a waste of time. "Sure, that sounds nice."

Maeve stepped back again, waiting for her older cousin to step from behind the counter. She and Archie had little in common, beside the hair colour, a surname, and their house. He was nice, though. She liked him better than his sister, Terri was a bit much. Archie was... quieter, more genuine perhaps? Less intense.

Same Outfit

Archie

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Radio Friendly Pop Song Some boys got a boyfriend Part of him was glad that she agreed to a tour. There were two people at the counter right now and it seemed more than pointless to have them both there right now. Archibald turned his attention away from Maeve so he could tell his co-worker that he would be right back but simply got a wave from their hand before he could say anything. Arch consider himself a good worker and never really asked another employee to tod anything or cover for him. Which was probably why he was able to step away so easily.  After closing his sketchbook and placing on a shelf under the register before leaving the counter. "I guess we can start over here," Arch said as he stopped at the end of an aisle he then turned down it and started walking down it slowly. It was all the firework or exploding like products. They moved these things up to the front of the store but closer to the registers. They were popular items in the summer so it was good to keep them in plain sight. | Maeve Weasley |

credit to nat of adoxography.

"some girls like girls"

    Maeve wasn't really the prankster type of person, though she did believe in revenge and prank items tended to be good for that sort of thing. Her mum had never been particular partial to pranks, even going through school in the same -sort of- generation and her supposed legendary prankster uncles. Her dad wasn't a prankster either, but he worked here for some reason. Apparently, he wanted to help uncle George with the shop, stopped working in the Ministry and came here to honour his brother Fred's memory. She found that to be strange, particularly since he didn't exactly stick around almost at all. What help could he be? Still, apparently it was a time honoured Weasley tradition to at least be familiar with the shop. Better late than never, she supposed.
    Arch led her down the aisles, showing her the front of the shop first. Fireworks and explosives. She could see the fun in that. Didn't think she'd ever buy them for herself, but she could understand the attraction, especially during the summer. Figured it must be somewhat hard to get the products into Hogwarts, especially now that Death Eaters controlled it, but some people always found a way. Picking up one of the packages of fireworks, she examined it. Not exploding fireworks, coloured fireflies. That was- that was cute, especially to go camping or for sleepovers. She should get some, Mal would like them. So she put a few boxes in a basket. 
    "Okay, where next?"

outfit link

@ archie

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