» Zoography, Open

[William Dudley]

Idony’s birthday was not quite soon enough that what William was doing could reasonably be considered shopping. In the wizard’s mind, it was research. While Innogen, no doubt, would receive a cat or owl before going off to Hogwarts in September, young Idony, it seemed, would be short one playmate—whatever child Barbara was currently carrying would be far too young, Will knew, for a six-going-on-seven year old to deem an interesting companion. As such, he had resigned, her birthday would see her plus one pet, though what sort had, thus far, eluded the interrogator.

Research. The Beast Boutique was a new addition to the High Street, and one the man had found himself with little time, of late, to investigate further. Its proximity to the Dudleys’ Bartonburg home, however, made it far more desirable an option than apparating to London, particularly when all he wanted to do was look. When the time came to purchase, William would certainly go where the quality was highest and the deals were best, but for now, the wizard wanted little more than to see what his options might be.

The smell of animals overwhelmed him as he stepped into the shop, both that of fur, feathers, and scales as well as that of the food and excrement such a collection of creatures brought with them. It was not, entirely, an unpleasing odour, but it was unfamiliar enough to cause the man’s nose to wrinkle, the noise from the beasts themselves different to, but no louder than, that of the streets outside. A particularly brazen cat—or perhaps it was a knarl?—wove its way between his legs, and William had to step carefully to avoid tripping over the creature.

One display in particular caught the wizard’s attention: puffskeins. He had had one—perhaps even two or three; with young children, parents such as his own were always a bit hazy on the difference between death and ‘a change of attitude’—in his own childhood, and could, vaguely, recall it being a low maintenance presence.

[John Morris]

In John's opinion, it had been a particularly boring day. He did have work in a few hours, but he was having an exceedingly hard time filling the hours between sleeping and working lately.

What probably made the whole situation worse, was the fact that John would usually sit alone at home during the day. His children were off at work or school, and his wife had a life of her own, so she was almost never around during the day. John, however, works nights, and tended to have a lot of free time on his hands.

Just a few months ago, any free time John could have was filled up with his "other job." For just over a decade now, he had told his family one story or another as to where he went during the day. The truth was, however, that John was leading a double life.

Several days during the week, John would drink dose after dose of Polyjuice Potion, assuming the identity of William Dudley's rather ugly cousin. The whole point of this ruse was to essentially spy on Will's wife. Due to some rather unfortunate circumstances, Will believed that his wife, Barbara, was being unfaithful. It was John's job to "buddy up" to Barbara and relay any information that he uncovered to Will.

In the more recent months however, John's role had been significantly diminished. As it turned out, Barbara was with child, so there was little need for him to assume the identity of Bernice [Will's cousin] of late. He barely even had to take the time to labor over various cauldrons of potion- the emptiness was almost more than he could bear!

It was almost a gift from the gods that a whole new attraction opened up on High Street just a few weeks ago. It was a magical pet shop and seemed to John like a decent place to waste a few hours.

So, after lunch, John made his way up the winding road and found the shop tucked away towards the end. Peering through the window, the placed seemed to be in quite the disarray- cages and animals scattered from corner to corner and even through the glass he could hear the racket that was coming from the inside.

Upon closer inspection, however, John noticed something that caught his interest much more than the magical beasts in the boutique's inventory- his best friend William Dudley. Excitement flooding through him, John opened the door to the shop and strode inside. "Will!" He exclaimed, winding his way through the cages and waving his arm high in the air, "Will, over here!"

This is both their first posts- yay =]

[William Dudley]

His friend’s voice was in stark contrast to the other noises of the shop, and William recognized it at once. A boyish grin on his face, he turned to see John Morris, working his way towards the man before clapping him on the shoulder in greeting. “Fancy meeting you here!” he offered, genuinely surprised. Though how his friend has filled his days of late was largely a mystery to him, shopping was not quite what Will would have pictured. “And how is dear cousin Bernice enjoying her time abroad?” he inquired. It was, he knew, quite a change for John not to have to be a woman half the time, and he imagined it to be a change that the other wizard relished.

Theirs was a peculiar relationship in the eyes of many of his coworkers and other friends, and one Will had never done much to explain. Raised practically as brothers, it made perfect sense to him that they were close, for all that many struggled to look past the class divide, the fact that Will was a member of the Wizengamot while John was merely a janitor. Neither man, so far as he knew, was particularly troubled by the other’s occupation, and the interrogator had always done his best for his brother—as much so as John would allow, at the very least.