A wave of relief washed over Hilda. If the woman had said no, she would’ve had no idea where to turn next.
Carefully, Hilda lifted the cloth bag she had brought with her onto the counter. Rather than take the object out of the bag, Hilda gently lowered the sides of the bag to reveal an incredibly well-loved brown teddy bear. Presently, the bear had a dull brown coat with several mismatched fur patches. The problem was that some of the stitching on one of the patches had come undone and some stuffing had been lost due to the injury.
While it was something Hilda could easily fix herself with a bit of magic, she couldn’t bring herself to do it that way. Buttons wasn’t just another one of Seamus’s toys. Buttons was the teddy bear that Patrick’s mother had given Seamus on the day he was born. From the beginning, Buttons was one of Seamus’s favourites, so it was often that he’d love the bear, almost to the point of no return. And Patrick’s mother was always the one to fix him, restuffing him and hand-sewing him back together. Though she couldn’t take the bear back to Patrick’s mother, Hilda didn’t want to stray so far as to use magic to repair the bear.
“This is my son’s teddy bear, Buttons.” It felt a little too open, sharing the name of the bear, but then it also would’ve felt off if she hadn’t of introduced him properly. “The lost stuffing is here, in the bottom of the bag.” Hilda pointed to the dense fluff around Buttons’s feet. “I need you to put the stuffing back in and sew him back up.”
Hilda didn’t notice it, but in moments like this, her mother’s voice emerged from her. It was the same one that had demanded only the best for Hilda when she was little.
“I don’t care what it costs, but I need you not to use magic when you do it.”
Edith was curious but did not interrupt the woman’s ritual as she placed a bag on the counter and revealed the item she needed repaired. It felt like she was being let in on a top secret assignment, one that only the two of them were to know about. When Edith saw what was inside the bag, her heart broke for the child that it belonged to. No one should have to go through life with their most treasured possessions being broken. “Oh, I see... hello there, Buttons,” she greeted the bear, politely, with a soft smile. Her attitude toward the request changed suddenly from being willing to try, to feeling a need to succeed. Patching up clothing was one thing, but a teddy bear? Well, that would require a bit more patience and skill, though she was determined.
There didn’t seem to be too much damage, on the bright side, and seeing as how the woman still obtained the missing stuffing, putting it back in shouldn’t be a problem at all. “How old is your son?” Edith asked, curiously, as she looked up at the woman.
The tone of her voice didn’t bother Edith in the slightest, as she could tell that the woman was just a concerned mother who wanted her child’s toy fixed. There was no need to question why it couldn’t be done with magic, as it didn’t matter. Edith could fix it. Looking around the store, she furrowed her brows for a moment. “Alright... I never do this, but...” She walked out from behind the counter to the door, momentarily locking the store and putting up the closed until further notice sign. “Come with me. We’ll need to preform an emergency surgery.”
Edith ushered the woman to follow her into the back. While it was likely against store policy, it had been slow all day, and she was the only one working at the time. Out back, she cleared off her work bench that normally housed other magical objects, and draped a cloth over it. She was aware that the mother did not want her to use magic on the bear, but she would need to transfigure a few objects in order to make a needle and thread. “Lay him down. Gently, of course,” she instructed, whipping up the correct materials.
