𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 ◜➴ 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟓|𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒, 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒

꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂

❐❑ 𝐊𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐘 ❒❏

        ― I HAD CUSTOMERS GOING in and out of the store in a rush, picking up a few things while taking their siblings or children around for school shopping. This time of year was always busy, and seeing the kids so excited for school gave me memories of when I was in school. I hadn't really talked to any of my friends from France, I kind of left for England in a hurry. I felt guilty about it, but I did tell them I was moving to England. It technically wasn't entirely my fault that we hadn't exchanged letters.

        I was busy ringing someone up when the bell to the front door went off, making me say my usual greeting, "Welcome to Kitty's! I'll be with you in just a moment!" I gave the person their change before wishing them a good day, turning to whoever was currently in the store. Ginny, Hermione, Neville, Ron, the twins, and to my surprise, James, were standing there, looking around the shop in awe, "Hey! Didn't expect you to come visit so early." I chuckled nervously, still a bit shaken from my encounter with James this morning, "Looking for anything specific?"

        The twins analyzed me, making me squirm under their heavy gaze. I had no idea what was going through their heads, it made me uncomfortable. The grinned at me, "You own this place?" I nodded slowly, trying but failing to make eye contact. "We'd like to talk to you later about business. We'd like to open our own shop in the future." I gave a slight nod, smiling at them before my attention was diverted to the two young girls.

        "Is all the art in here yours?" Ginny asked, looking around at some paintings and sculptures I had hung or set up around the store. I nodded, walking around to the other side of the counter, pulling the sleeves of my shirt over my hands.

        "That's so cool!" Hermione gushed, gently tracing her finger along the canvas of one of my paintings. I had made it for fun, and it ended up being the best piece I made. It was of my apartment. It served as the perfect still life, I even painted myself sitting at the dining table, "Is that you?"

        I smiled at her, "Seems a bit arrogant of me, doesn't it? But yeah, that's my apartment. I wanted to capture it's lived-in state, I guess. Didn't look very lived in without someone actually living there." The twins snickered at my comment, pointing towards James before speaking.

        "James here knows a bit about arrogance." Fred spoke.

        "Yeah, lots of snide comments about him being the best at everything." George finished. I took a small glance over at him. James had been shaking his head at their antics, but was smiling anyway. He caught my eye, and I gave him a small smile before turning towards the door when the bell went off again.

        "Luna!" I exclaimed, walking over to the blonde girl to give her a hug, "It's been a long time! Is your father around?" She hugged me back, her grinning face faltering a bit as she noticed the other people in the room.

        "Oh, hello. I didn't expect to see you lot here." She spoke. Her voice was incredibly wispy and day-dreamy. She waved a quick hello to everyone before turning to me again, "Yeah, my dad's looking around. He was talking to the owner of the newsstand about The Quibbler."

        I nodded, stepping back a bit so she could step into the store a bit more, "I hope he stops by, then. What did you need, sweetheart? I ordered more of the little charms you like to make your jewelry out of." She gave me a bright smile before going over to the bin of charms and sifting through them. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to find James, an apologetic look on his face.

        "I'm sorry about this morning... And last night. I realize now that what I did was completely out of line. I hope we can learn to become civil." I was taken aback, not expecting an apology. The action made me smile up at him, all the fear I had felt before vanishing at his act to mend things.

        "Thank you for apologizing. I understand why you did what you did, though. Just know that I don't have any bad intentions. I'd be glad if we could become friends." He nodded, giving me a small grin before venturing over towards Neville and Ron. I went back behind the counter to ring up Luna.

        "Hey, Kitty?" I hummed in reply, waving a goodbye to Luna and telling her to write to me soon as she left the store. I turned to Ginny who was looking at one of my sculptures very inquisitively, "What does this represent?" I walked over to her, analyzing the sculpture myself. I made it not that long ago. It was the torso of a woman, but bits and pieces were missing in the chest area. I didn't intend for it to shatter in the kiln, but that's the risk you take when working with clay. I decided to leave the imperfect piece out for show, thinking the meaning and character of it was quite beautiful.

        "She's kinda broken, isn't she," I laughed, "It broke when I fired it, which is fine. It's one of the things that come with being a sculptor. But after getting over the frustration, I realized it was a perfect representation of how I felt at the time. I felt like something was missing, and that I wasn't doing enough for the world. I thought it was metaphorical in a way, so I set it out. It's kinda stupid, but it's one of my favorites. The broken ones are often the ones with the most character."

        Hermione was gazing at the artwork as well, "What did you call it?"

        I smiled, "Broken Bodies, Broken Hearts."

꧁꧂ ꧁꧂ ꧁꧂