A ring around the roses, everybody knows it

[cellarandmoon]

*Old habits die hard, and in Diagon Alley alone, Amrita is still unobtrusive by default; the chime on the door gives only the slightest ring as she slips inside and the new apprentice doesn’t even look up. Amrita fails to observe how it’s changed since Xenophilius Lovegood left--she hasn’t been there nearly often enough to--but there’s a definite shift in the atmosphere of the place. The penmanship on the labeled bottles and jars is tighter, now, more ornamental, the displays more picture-perfect than inviting. And there is, of course, the new apprentice herself: a tall and bored-looking woman arranging bars of soap just-so in a basket, very fashionably dressed with a towering blonde coiffure.

Amrita’s come in almost as an afterthought after a busy afternoon with her Potions tutor and a very productive trip to Craven and Stone, so her intentions here are vague: pick up something nice-smelling, perhaps, and kill some time until Evan’s done with whatever he’s off doing in Knockturn Alley. The array of bottled potions and perfumes is a little staggering, so for now she’s content simply to browse, her eyes wandering from label to label.*