Shy little Eloise Moreau found herself the proud owner of Ollivanders after his death in the war. Now she's left to cope with the loss of her mentor while attempting to run a business.
When Charlie Weasley drops by one day in hopes of buying a new w...
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Levitating her boxes up the two flights of steps she was attempting to climb would have been the smart thing to do, she could admit that. But Eloise had already made it to the second floor landing, and with a single staircase remaining, there was no way she was giving up now. The stack of boxes she held teetered precariously in her arms, rocking slightly as she reached the top step. Victoriously, she made it to the landing and set the boxes down outside of the locked apartment, reaching inside her pocket for her key and frowning to find the pocket mysteriously empty, with a slight rip at the bottom."Oh dear Merlin," she muttered to herself, reluctantly turning around and retracing her steps back into Ollivanders and glancing around for her missing key.
A glint of silver caught her eye as she wandered around the shop, peeking out from underneath one of the great shelves that possessed a few hundred carefully crafted wands. Getting down on her hands and knees and grumbling all the while, Eloise didn't hear the bell ring as someone entered the room. "Aha!" she exclaimed triumphantly, shooting to her feet and feeling rather accomplished for someone who had simply managed to climb some stairs and find a key that she had lost within minutes of putting it in her pocket.
A deep chuckle from the doorway startled her into dropping her key right back to the floor, and gasping dramatically. Instantly her wand was in hand and pointed at the tall stranger.
Before she could do anything else, the man's hands were up in a sign of surrender and he took a step away from Eloise, pressing his back to the door that she could've sworn she locked.
"Sorry, sorry," he said, relaxing slightly when her wand lowered and she sagged in relief that he was not, in fact, breaking into the shop. "I just had a question, I should've realized you hadn't heard me come in."
She nodded quickly, replacing her wand in the sleeve of her robe and looking up to meet the man's eyes for a short moment before realizing, Nope. Not a good idea. The tall man was extremely handsome, to the point where Eloise was immediately intimidated. He had long-ish hair that was artfully windswept, a slightly crooked nose that gave him an almost rugged look, and a sharp jawline covered in a fine layer of stubble. He was extremely muscular, and after a tiny peek at his biceps, Eloise probably resembled a tomato. But she couldn't decide if the most striking thing about that man were his bright blue eyes or his dashing smile.
She looked away as fast as she had glanced at him, feeling the heat flooding to her cheeks as she stared pointedly at her sock-clad feet. "Mm?" was the only thing she could muster as a response.
"I was wondering if you knew when Ollivanders was planning on reopening?" the man asked, stepping closer now that he knew she wasn't going to hex him for entering the room. Another glimpse up at his face told her that he was now smiling charmingly down at her, looking wonderfully at ease as he invaded her personal space by standing a mere foot or so away. She shuffled back abruptly, nearly tripping over her feet as she did so.
"Er, next week," she squeaked out.
"Wonderful! Say, do you know by whom? It's my understanding that the old man didn't have an heir, and I've been trying to find out for a few weeks now," he explained. She nodded along urgently, hoping that he would just take the hint instead of remaining so near in proximity. Eloise was quite obviously not a people person, and had very little experience with people as good-looking as this man.
"Me," Eloise answered, barely faltering. She watched as the mans face went from surprised, to bewildered, to impressed at her words. She understood that, really. She didn't exactly resemble Ollivander or the traditional idea of a wandmaker, and she'd been told that she didn't look her age either. "I'm really not as young as I look. Ollivander trained me for nearly four years actually, interrupted by his kidnapping of course. He left me this place in his will, can you believe it? I thought I'd be lucky to maybe get another apprenticeship after I left Ollivander, as there really wasn't that high of a demand for more wandmakers. That is, there wasn't before Ollivander—" she clapped a hand over her mouth, forcing the flood of words that had escaped her in her anxious state. The man raised his eyebrows, but didn't instantly begin ridiculing her for her embarrassing rambling as many tended to do as the dealt with the awkward girl.
He brushed it off, resting a palm on the counter behind her and leaving her to feel even further trapped by the situation. "That's very impressive," he said in a reassuring voice. His eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "How old are you then?"
Internally beating herself up for prolonging the conversation, she breathed out, "21, nearly 22."
"Huh," he didn't sound overly surprised, which was different for Eloise, but she ignored it. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Charlie," he laughed to himself, extending the hand that wasn't stretched behind her. "My mum would kill me if she knew I forgot to introduce myself."
"Eloise Moreau," she told him, taking his hand delicately and instantly regretting saying her last name. He hadn't said his! He definitely did not care, introducing himself was simply polite, anyways.
"Charlie Weasley," he repeated, not letting go of her hand immediately, apparently not realizing that he was still clasping it. He grinned brightly down at her and she gulped, probably audibly.
"Um, Monday," Eloise said quietly.
"What was that?" he asked, releasing her hand finally and gazing down at her in confusion.
She took a deep breath and reiterated, "I open Monday. At nine."
Sidestepping away from the man, Eloise made her way behind the counter and began moving back to the staircase that would take her to her apartment.
"Eloise Moreau?" Charlie's deep voice called after her.
She spun around, heat returning to her face instantly upon seeing her old silver key in his hand. She darted back over to him and snatched the key up quickly, muttering a thank you and avoiding eye contact as she raced back upstairs.
Only when she maneuvered all of her boxes into her new home and locked the door behind her did she realize that the man had introduced himself as Charlie Weasley.
