POV Elizabeth
Elizabeth woke up late this morning — at the beginning of the second day. Yes, she liked to sleep in, but it rarely came to this. The fact was that the day before yesterday, the last of the work and preparations had been completed, and yesterday was the official opening of a new establishment near the Knockturn Alley exit in Diagon Alley, called The Silk Stocking. Yes, it's not the best name, but it's clear and not hard to remember.
Just remembering how much time she'd had to spend at the local Ministry gathering all the necessary paperwork gave her delicate skin goosebumps. And the amount of oily stares, innuendo, and even thinly veiled demands for a "demonstration of quality service" made Lizzie nauseous.
If only one of them looked normal (even if the girl would have refused without thinking), but no, they were all either short, plump, or on the contrary — barrel-shaped, fat, with sagging cheeks, fat chins, and wrinkles that even some robes could not hide. Disgusting!
But how pleasant it was to see the sharp pallor or even greening of those ugly faces when a spectacular blonde with boldly protruding, voluminous breasts, so in between, mentioned whose mistress she was, and also how possessive these Japanese were! Oh!
One cocky little clerk even fell out of his chair at the mention of a hero who had recently received a high government award. Lizzie smiled contentedly and stretched in her warm bed, which she didn't want to leave, but she was hungry and Sora and Momo refused to have house-elves.
The girl turned her head at a rustle and found a small fairy nesting in her bra, which she had pulled out of the dresser. The sight of the little girl's serious face, somehow cleverly arranging her handkerchief, brought an even wider smile to her already great mood, for yesterday had gone even better than she had expected.
— Hey, little thing! — The fey made a small face, frowning slightly at being torn away from such an important task. — Bring me some breakfast and I'll forgive you! — The fairy pondered for a few seconds, then let out an incomprehensible squeak, waved her arms vigorously, and returned to her important business. — As you wish... — The blonde smiled gleefully and rose to her feet.
To her delight, it was never cold in the house, even when the wind was howling and the snow was falling, it was possible to go inside in just panties... if it weren't for the other tenants, and so she had to limit herself.
Lizzie had to limit herself to shorts and a t-shirt (Junko had already been scolded a few times for this outfit, but Sora had supported her by saying that she could wear whatever she wanted at home. and she wasn't the only one, which made the Japanese girl hiss and continue cursing), the girl walked over to the fake.
Picking up the indignant crumb, the blonde returned the undergarment to its place and moved to the kitchen, not letting go of the petite 'mistress' who continued to 'swear' loudly. Passing through the common living room, Lizzie found the Egyptian there, surrounded by a pile of books that looked very old.
The girl was carefully and leisurely studying a thick folio, as thick as Lizzie's thigh, even waving her wand over it. Kiriko sat next to her, watching this manipulation closely. And off to the side, sprawled on the snow-white carpet, was a cheeky and unscrupulous cat who stole sweets and anything tasty and who had quickly become the ideological enemy of many in the household.
— What are you doing? — Lizzie approached and peered over the dark-haired girl's shoulder, recognizing the poison-detecting charms at work.
— The Master found the library and work journals of a famous mage, but he didn't have time to go through them all, so the Master entrusted me with the task. — A pointy-eared girl next to me snorted loudly, causing two smiles. — Sorry, he trusted us. — Kiriko nodded contentedly and practiced the enchantments that had just been shown.
— So, anything interesting? — Lizzie's interest was 'on duty', so the girl was just making contact with this 'inevitable evil'.
— Me, — she said, again with a flash of childish indignation, and the girl's look forced her to correct herself. — We've been at it for days and haven't found a single useless book or scroll. — Lizzie considered joining in.
— Expensive?
— I don't know the prices here, — Afiri thought for a moment. — But in my homeland, a book like this, — she pointed to a not very thick green leather-bound book on the table in front of them. — You can buy at least three dozen innocent, gifted slave girls of average strength, or a dozen strong ones.
Lizzie pushed those thoughts away and headed for the kitchen — for breakfast. And I don't care that it was the middle of the day when she woke up — then breakfast! After the meal, the girl returned to the living room, where she organically joined the work process.
A few hours passed quite fruitfully: they sorted out a good pile of books, each of them checked with a whole complex of charms for various dangers, and finally the book had to be briefly reviewed to add the description to the card catalog of the future family library.
The blonde understood the value of this work, for she remembered the difficulties she had to overcome during her college years when searching for normal material, not neutered pamphlets called "textbooks". Oh, how she'd envied those who had family libraries, even if they weren't very large, but even some books over forty or fifty years old were hard to find in the public domain, let alone something older and more serious. Anyway,
Elizabeth did her best, and sometimes her hands began to tremble with the realization of what treasures she had in her hands. And also the fact that it now belonged to a family, her family. But people, strangely enough, get tired, so the girls decided to take a break, and just then Momo brought brewed tea with cookies and muffins. Even the lazy cat stirred. Aphiri had cast a whole series of protective spells on the piles of books that had been put aside.
Lizzie frowned: she hadn't thought of such a simple solution, and it was quite possible that someone would knock over a cup and ruin the precious folios. The girls were already reaching for the cups that Momo was filling, with Mirabel (Queen of the Fairies) on her shoulder, when a cat jumped up. It sat on her lap, with its back unnaturally straight and its tail hanging down, listening to something, its ears even pinned out.
A few seconds later, Momo put the kettle on the table and scurried away. The cat wagged its tail strangely and turned towards the corridor, where Momo's voice rang out, — Welcome home, sir. Ah, that made sense now, although Sora was supposed to be back in a few days. There were voices and the girls involuntarily listened.
— Is everyone home? — Sora's voice could be heard.
— No, your mother and the guests have gone for a walk in the mountains. — The housekeeper replied cheerfully, and the voices came closer.
— I see, — the boy's voice came very close, and the next moment he stood in the doorway. — Oh, you're having tea? — the man smiled. — That's right! — Lizzie didn't smile, but she was careful, because there were two blondes near Sora, one of them petite, but the other not at all. The guy entered the living room, followed by the two girls, then a middle-aged man and a young woman, and finally Momo.
— Girls, let me introduce you to the eldest family of the pure-blooded French Delacour family. Pierre and Appolin, — the man pointed to the oldest and then the youngest in turn. — and their daughters, Fleur and Gabrielle. Very nice people. Unfortunately, my mother and the other guests are absent, so I present to you...'' — started the guy, but he was interrupted by the younger blonde, whose eyes had literally been burning with interest since she entered the room, and now she couldn't help herself and interrupted him.
— A real Fae? The very real one? — Gabrielle kept her eyes on the sleepy-lazy cat, tail wagging and ears pricked.
— Her name is Nanao Shishi, and she's a Bakeneko, which means werewolf cat. — The introduced cat flicked her tail once more, then nodded silently, her ears twitching in a way that almost made Gabrielle squeal with delight. Then the boy introduced Lizzie and Afiri, but they did not arouse much interest in the girl, but the sharp-eared Kiriko looked at the Frenchwoman with interest, and she responded in kind. — And this is Kiriko, my daughter.
This news shocked the newcomers: they all froze at first and then stared at Sora with wide eyes. It was a great effort for Elizabeth not to laugh. After a while, Pierre Delacour cleared his throat and turned to the boy with open interest and slight incomprehension.
— Ahem, 'daughter,' you mean adopted?
— No, — the smile never left the man's face for a moment, he seemed to enjoy the whole scene. — It's a real one. — He winked at Kiriko, which made her smile slightly embarrassed.
— But allow me, — Appolin took the floor, a woman of dazzling beauty whose appearance showed incomprehension. — How could she be, she looked twelve, maybe even thirteen years old!
— Magic. — With a mischievous grin that made all three Frenchwomen blink almost equally suspiciously, the guy sat down at the table next to Kiriko, who immediately received an affectionate pat on the head. — Make yourself comfortable! Momo is a wonderful hostess and a master of all kinds of delicious things! — The housewife lifted her nose at the praise, nodded and left the living room.
Then followed a peaceful feast, during which the polite acquaintance of all with everyone continued, and the guests tried to still spin Sora on the details, but did not achieve more. Momo brought a lot of different goodies to decorate the table, and then the fairies arrived — big fans of homemade jam, from which the house elf has to hide it.
At the sight of a whole flock of noisy crumbs, the French were noticeably tense, and Lizzie herself, after making the acquaintance of the local elves, began to treat various little things suspiciously.
But impostors are not elves, not at all. These noisy girls may like to be naughty, but at heart they are very good-natured, bright and cheerful. Within minutes, the French were smiling openly at the rowdy pranksters, and the youngest even somehow managed to conspire with a group of fairies, resulting in Fleur being sprinkled with magic pollen.
But the girl wasn't angry, she took revenge on Gabrielle in a very peculiar way by bribing another group of fairies with jam, which turned the youngest's hair into a nightmare. All in all, it was fun.
— I see, — Pierre said at one point, looking at the piles of books. — Have we disturbed your work? Would you share your research with us, perhaps we can help you? — The man looked back and forth between Lizzie and Afiri, stopping at the dark-skinned woman.
— Not much, — Afiri shrugged calmly, even a little indifferently. — We are cataloging the future library. The lord is very busy and this is the least we can do to help him. — And the boy smiled and nodded at Sora's faithful look.
— However, it looks like the books are quite old, — Pierre continued. — And the titles don't sound familiar to me at all...
— Yes, you are right, Pierre, these folios are centuries old.
— Amazing! — The man was openly surprised, and Lizzie could detect no falsehood in his words. — It is a great treasure, Sora! Can I hope to familiarize myself with at least some of them? — For some reason, the man's last words made Elizabeth as displeased as Aphiri, but the dark-skinned woman hid the first emotion with quality.
— Pierre, darling, control your temper! — Appolyn frowned menacingly, making her husband deflate and droop, and then the woman turned to Sora. — I'm sorry, I feel sorry for my husband, but when it comes to ancient folios, manuscripts and, God forbid, tablets, Pierre is extremely difficult to stop.
— That's all right. — replied the boy. — I just don't know what's in these books yet. I haven't been able to get my hands on them since I got them, so I asked the girls to look through them and check them out.
After Sora's words, Lizzie's unspoken words flashed through her mind: "I'll find out what's in the books, and then I'll decide what I can show my friends and what I can hide from my family. And almost everyone at the table seemed to pick up on this reticence.
Elizabeth, however, was satisfied: she did not like giving away family valuables to strangers; at most, she would have agreed to a temporary exchange, but no more than that. Also, for some reason, it seemed to her that Afiri was in complete solidarity with her. Sora and Appolin left the company after some time and retreated into the depths of the house, citing business.