RP: You're looking a little green today, Frog.
Eloise’s feet dragged against the street and she trudged to her flat. The day had been long and she hadn’t spoken to an adult in hours. It seemed that her supervisor had taken her idea for a children’s book club seriously- she had three groups of ten children each throughout the afternoon, listening to stories and running around the small children’s area of the shop. Parents had been grateful for some time alone without their offspring while they shopped, and several had offered her tips which she politely refused. Eloise hadn’t any idea people would listen to her suggestions, and certainly had assumed they would give her a chance to think about what she’d be doing with the kids before they threw her to the wolves…but, in the end everything had worked out.
She had read Frog and Toad are Friends, one of her favorite children’s stories. Eloise chuckled as she thought about the cleverness of the tale and her shock at seeing it sitting amongst stories about dragons (real ones, of course) and three headed dogs. Why on earth had a muggle story about friendship made its way onto the shelves of one of the largest wizarding booksellers in all of Britain? Eloise had decided to not question her good luck, and read from the story all afternoon. She had always loved the part in the story when Toad looked frantically for his lost button. He and Frog searched high and low, under rocks and in the homes of other animals before Toad gave up and yelled, “The whole world is covered in buttons, and not one of them is mine!” It was a little scary how profoundly this line had affected Eloise today. She couldn’t be sure why, but while sitting and reading the tale to a room full of children, she had laughed. Laughed loud and hard, louder and harder than she had in ages. Instead of breaking down, as she had frequently in the last few months, she laughed. Megan would have thought her insane, and Wayne would have been concerned for her health, but there she was. Laughing at a simple children’s book like it was the funniest thing she’d ever laid eyes on. The children had started to become scared; some even cried out for their mothers, but Eloise continued to laugh and read, not caring who heard her.
The whole world is covered in buttons, and not one of them is mine.
Did she want to end up like her dad? Working at Flourish and Blott’s for the remainder of her days? Sure, she was getting her NEWTS, but what then? Where should she go from there? There were too many choices, too many damn buttons, and not one of them seemed like the right one for her. It was still early, she knew that. The world was in front of her. Too many damn buttons.