By getting Merula to brag about knowing all the answers. Quinn will try to push her until she starts demonstrating how it should be done. Why learn if you can get someone (Merula) to tell you the answers?
Hi, I'm back to share this. Merula has become Quinn's coworker and made friends with Ruby, who is currently sort of imprisoned in Quinn's apartment 😂
Which Merula doesn't know about, because it's this big ROCC secret.
Also Ruby is canonically gay and I have these fun ideas about Merula's reaction when she finds out Ruby and Quinn are basically living together. There is still only one bed in the apartment 😂
Yes, how do they know each other? They've only been dating for about five years (I think? Hogwarts Mystery timeline can be so vague) and are still lying about it for who knows what reason
The next day Merula went back to Hogsmeade, to Zonko’s. Bilton did not look happy to see her when she entered the store and she held up her hands.
‘I want to apologize.’
His expression became milder. ‘I see. Go ahead.’
She fidgeted with the zipper on her leather jacket. Fuck, she hated apologizing, but it had to be done if she ever wanted to show her face her again. Which she did. ‘I’m sorry for storming out of the store yesterday. I shouldn’t have done that. I let my emotions get the best of me and I’m sorry for that.’
Bilton smiled. ‘I accept your apology, but I will never let you work here again.’
‘That’s fair.’
They said an awkward goodbye and Merula exhaled deeply when she stood outside. With that out of the way she could go back home, but she wanted to pick up a drink for Quinn. To celebrate her closing her first case. Not feeling comfortable going back to the Three Broomsticks, she went to Hog’s Head. Aberforth gave her a curious look when she got up to the bar.
‘Come to look for a job?’
Word travelled way too fast here. Merula crossed her arms. ‘No, I want some herbal liqueur.’ She’d decided Quinn was right, she didn’t have to work. Why not use her position to grant herself a break to think things over?
‘That’s too bad. But let me know if you change your mind. I heard about what happened with Rosmerta and I think you’d do well here.’
Stunned, Merula stared at him. Did he just offer her a job knowing what happened this week? Why would anyone want to offer her a job after this week? Not that it mattered. She’d do nothing for now. Absolutely nothing work-related that was.
Which is what she did the following days. She duelled with Quinn, went to the Dueling Club, practiced duelling at home, went to the theatre, watched the stars, studied new spells, read. Her days were full, although she spent most of the time by herself. With Ismelda abroad, Quinn was the only person she had actual conversations with and she did have a job.
As the days turned into weeks she started to get restless. Doing whatever she wanted was nice and all, but it got her nowhere. Writing letters to Ismelda got harder by the day.
I went duelling, again. Sat in the garden, again. Watched another play. Read another book.
Blah, blah, blah. There was nothing to it. Nothing she could be proud of, nothing to show off with. Sure she mastered some new spells and was a better dueller than ever, but who cared if she had no goal with it? She didn’t want to become a professional dueller. Professional duellers barely had a life outside of training and matches and she didn’t want to be consumed by anything ever again. Her obsession with the Vaults had almost cost her everything. There was no way she would risk that again. No, she needed something where she could excel, but where she could still have a live. Maybe even make a new friend. It’d be nice to have someone else but Quinn to talk to.
Frustration boiled up again. How had she made it to 18 without knowing what she wanted?! After finding the Cursed Vaults and defeating R this was supposed to be the easy part! She would get to live now and what did she do? Hang around doing whatever came to mind. Anything to keep the growing restlessness a bay. Everyone else was doing great. Even Quinn seemed to have settled in. They all had some reason to get up, some purpose. She had nothing.
Aberforth’s offer kept playing through her mind and she kept wondering what he wanted from her. After another day doing the same things by herself, she went to Hog’s Head. At the very least to stop the same questions from running through her mind.
The one-room inn looked grimy as ever and smelled like goats, which made her wonder if Aberforth was some secret goat breeder. There was no reason for this grimy inn to smell like goats otherwise. Aberforth stood behind the bar cleaning a goblet with his hands and a dirty rag instead of his wand, which explained why it didn’t get any cleaner.
‘Is the job still there?’
Aberforth stopped rubbing the goblet and looked up at her. ‘Sure.’
‘What kind of job would it be? I’m not really a server.’
‘I heard,’ he chuckled, ‘but I could use some help around here. I need a day off too every once in a while, but the patrons can be a lot. Not everyone can handle them. I think you could.’
‘So you do want me to be a server.’
‘I want you to make sure they pay before they leave and take any fights outside.’
She pondered the offer. It would give her something to do, some purpose, but at what cost? Working in this goat pen wasn’t exactly the dream job. On the other hand, she could do it. No one would leave without paying on her watch. Or dare to make a mess. She could excel in a small way, until she knew what she wanted. At worst she would get fired and at this point she didn’t know if she cared anymore.
‘Alright, but I don’t want to work every weekend.’ That would defeat the whole ‘having a life outside of work’ thing.
‘Fine,’ Aberforth shrugged. ‘Can you start tomorrow afternoon?’
‘Sure.’
The place didn’t look any better the next day. Or smell any better. She’d dressed for the occasion, with an old band shirt, old jeans and boots that were easily cleaned with a spell. Aberforth stood behind the bar again and he greeted her with a nod. She joined him and stared into the room. There were a few people, some hunched over the table whispering. Like they had never heard of the sound bubble charm. All of them had drinks, some had food.
‘Now what?’
‘We watch and make sure they don’t burn this place down.’
‘Why not? The place can’t get any worse.’
It slipped out before she could stop herself and she mentally prepared to be chastised, but Aberforth chuckled. Feeling a bit more relaxed she asked him about the place and before she knew it, they were chatting about the history of Hogsmeade.
As the afternoon turned into the evening the patrons got a bit rowdy and a fight did break out. A man and a woman rose from their seats, shouting, wands drawn. Aberforth nudged her to show him how she’d handle it. She stepped up to them, both were about two heads taller than her, and yelled.
‘Outside, both of you!’ They looked down at her for a moment. The man raised his eyebrow, as if to challenge her, and Merula drew her wand. ‘I said to take it outside.’
They laughed and she hit them with a jinx she’d taught herself a while ago for duelling. It pinned their arms behind their back. Then she hit them with in the back a few times, pushing them towards the door, until they left. They complained and spluttered, but couldn’t get their arms out of the grip she had on them. Other patrons pointed and laughed at them. Once they were outside, Merula went back to Aberforth.
‘Something like that?’
‘Something like that,’ he smirked.
She had to come between two more fights that evening and served a few drinks. Not that bad for a first night. The following days she broke up some more fights, scolded patrons for making messes and didn’t clean anything herself. For some reason the patrons liked her attitude and Aberforth seemed happy with her. She didn’t know what to think herself. The job itself was okay-ish, but she worked at Hog’s Head for Salazar’s sake! Way beneath a witch of her powers. She itched to do better, but still had no answer as to what she wanted.
On Friday Quinn brought over a group of her friends. She’d asked if she wanted to join and suggested coming to Hog’s Head when Merula said she couldn’t. Seeing them wouldn’t be the worst, so she’d shrugged. Aberforth would like the extra money and she supposed she could clean some goblets for the occasion. One for Quinn at least.
Tonks and Tulip were the first to arrive, claiming a large table. Tulip gave Merula a questioning look when she saw her standing behind the bar, but she ignored it. She’d realise soon enough. Shortly after Quinn came in, with Haywood and Egwu in tow. She grinned at her and waved and Merula returned the sentiment with a small smile.
‘Friends of yours?’ Aberforth asked.
Merula hummed a confirmation. Something like that.
‘Go join them, make sure they pay. We don’t do personal favours here.’
She let out a snort. Like that’s the reason, but she appreciated him acting like he didn’t do her a favour. The seat next to Quinn was still free and she took it. Under the table she gave her hand a squeeze.
‘You work here now?’ Haywood asked.
‘I’m not taking your order if that’s what you’re asking. You can go up to the bar and get it yourself. I’m not your servant.’
Tonks burst out laughing and Haywood turned red. ‘That’s not-’
‘We were talking about what we’ve all been up to.’ Tulip cut in.
She went on to explain how she and her toad Dennis were on an all-salmon diet?! Nothing but salmon, which sounded gross even to a fish lover like Merula. Haywood chimed in, talking about her wonderful, wonderful job. She had the best job ever. She was learning so many new things as apothecary in training. Of course, Tonks was doing great too, living her dream of becoming an auror. Training under none other than her hero, Mad-Eye Moody. Why that man was anyone’s hero was beyond Merula. She’d met him a few times dealing with R and if you asked her, he was unhinged. An accident waiting to happen. Egwu was happy working at Gladrags and working on his own fashion line in his free time. Quinn gushed about her co-workers, who were all just the nicest of the nicest. What lives they lived, no one questioned anything, had any trouble, or had gotten fired. No. Everything was perfect.
‘Well, congratulations to everyone for doing sooo well in life,’ Merula spat, unable to keep her frustrations to herself any longer. ‘Looks like everything is perfect for you all.’ The urge to get up and stomp off was as strong as ever, but she managed to hold back. She didn’t want a repeat from last time.
For a moment they all stared at her, then Egwu scowled.
‘I wish! I missed this month’s rent because I found the perfect fabric and forgot how much I had left. Making your own fashion line is expensive!’
‘But you’ve always made clothes. How did you not know it would be expensive?’ Merula asked. Besides, he knew how to calculate, right? That was just dumb.
‘I never had to pay rent and food and everything else on top of it!’
‘Tell me about it,’ Tonks said, ‘I hate paying rent. Why do I have to pay some rich arsehole for the right to have a roof over my head?’
Tulip made a face. ‘I wish I could afford rent. My experiments are driving my parents mad and I kind of destroyed the couch the other day. After creating toxic fumes in my bedroom.’
‘At least you get to do what you love,’ Quinn said. ‘I keep getting sent out to do things alone and my boss hates me. And he’s threatening to fire me if I don’t get my apparition license soon.’ Merula raised her eyebrows at her. This was news for her too. ‘He told me today.’
‘Ah fuck, I have to do that too!’ Tonks hair flashed blue and she put her face in her hands. ‘And if I keep failing stealth, I’ll never become an auror, but I can’t help that I keep knocking things over!’
Everyone focused on Haywood now, who had a sheepish look on her face. ‘I don’t want to be mean, but my roommate is, kind of a bit untidy. And she keeps using my stuff. I wouldn’t mind if she asked of course! But she doesn’t and when I find them, they’re dirty. I thought having a roommate would be fun, like living in the dorms had been, but it’s not.’ They all nodded and Merula looked at them, stunned by their confessions. ‘I thought I had everything figured out after graduating, but there’s so much I don’t know.’
‘It’s like they forgot to teach us how to live,’ Egwu said with an exasperated sigh. ‘I’m questioning everything I’ve learned.’
‘Just look at us! Some of Hogwarts best and brightest and we’re all struggling!’ Tonks said, her hair still blue.
‘It’s not just us,’ Haywood sighed. ‘I know Barnaby has been feeling extremely homesick for Hogwarts, McNully can’t grow in his job because he has issues networking.’ Merula sniggered. Of course he did. That’s what you got when you turned everything and everyone around you into statistics. ‘and Alanza hasn’t even found a place to live yet.’
‘Maybe they did forget to teach us some things at Hogwarts,’ Quinn pondered.
The rest nodded and named more things they wished they’d learned. Merula listened in awe. It wasn’t just her, they were all struggling. And judging by the things the others were saying she was already doing better than the lot of them. No roommate issues, no budget issues and currently, no work issues. Aberforth told her he wanted her to run the inn by herself for an afternoon coming week, see how it would go. He trusted her. Even if she didn’t want to work in this goat pen forever, it was far from the worst job she had in the past few weeks.
The next couple of days the conversation kept repeating itself in her mind. Maybe life after Hogwarts wasn’t the easy part, maybe they needed to learn that too. If so, she had already shown great improvement, unlike the others. She’d found a job that let her be herself and it didn’t look like she’d be fired anytime soon. Sure she still had no idea what she wanted, but she’d figure it out. She’d show herself some patience this time. For now she would stay at Hog’s Head and entertain herself by yelling at people. Life after Hogwarts would only get better, she’d make sure of it.
