Come As You Are [Terrance]

[MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS]

Tess had just finished setting up her newest addition to the bookshop. An
old record player. She clapped her hands excitedly as she pulled out a
Nirvana CD and started to play.

"Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be, as a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy..."

Tess hummed along as Kurt Cobain sang the tune she loved so much. It was a
blessing to find that Nirvanna record, whoever had commissioned it was a musical savior in Tess's mind. She turned the volume to a setting that would make it a gentle hum for the store. She wondered around the shelves, making sure you could slightly here the music throughout the entire shop. The place was small, quaint, and sweet. She wouldn't be able to play all Nirvana songs, just the ones that fit the mood. She decided she would collect records that fit the theme of the shop.

The theme was welcoming, safe haven a second home. It was Tess's dream, her baby. She wanted it to be very clear how much she cared about the people who came through here. Even if they were someone who was unkind, she wanted to find a way to make them feel happy. She wanted a loving atmosphere.

TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER

[TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER]

Terrance rarely left the castle with the students, yet this time felt that it was his responsibility to do so. His plan would be to simply wander around Hogsmeade, something he did about once a year at best in order to play it safe, though that was once a year during the school year. He went out to Hogsmeade rather frequently during the Summer break. He was dressed in a gray short-sleeved polo shirt, blue jeans, and black dress shoes with a matching belt. His attire more or less fit with the current weather rather than what most would consider normal for a staff member accompanying the students.

Heading into the bookstore the Missing Page, Terrance heard the Nirvana song playing and was a bit surprised he even recognized the muggle group, as he wasn't much for muggle music. He listened along while looking through the shop, his eyes wandering around for any sort of book that would actually be an interesting read. He was a bit bored of the books he had back in his office, having read through them all more than enough times. He did stop when he noticed the shopkeeper, someone he swore he recognized, if even from passing, from their school years.

MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS

[MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS]

Someone had entered the shop while Tess was tending the the needs of a few students that had come a few minutes before. Tess merely heard the bell ring but didn't look up to see who was there. She was half way up on of her small sliding ladders reaching for a book that a student was in need of. She was wearing a button up black shirt and a tight navy blue pencil skirt. Her heels where about two inches and one was firmly planted on the step while the other was suspended in air, so she could reach a bit farther. The ladder was as far over as it could slide and she still couldn't reach the book. Finally, however, she clasped a hand on it and the students cheered while she stepped down to hand it to them. "Let me know if you need anything else, ladies," Tess said happily as the girls giggled, making their way to the reading chairs.

Tess finally turned to see who had come in, but he wasn't by the door anymore. Soon, though, she made eye contact with him and her eyes widened. She knew who that was, well sort of, someone from school years ago. Tess replaced her look of shock with a smile and waved from across the room, walking towards him. "Hello, there! Welcome to The Missing Page. I'm Tess," she reached him and lifted a hand, offering for a shake, "I think you already know that, somewhat?" She raised an eyebrow at him. She was sure he was a few years older than her, definitely not a Slytherin. His eyes were kind. Not that it was a requirement to have mean eyes to be a Slytherin, but she knew all the nice ones already.

TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER

[TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER]

Terrance nodded and smiled as he shook her hand. The name was definitely familiar, but he couldn't quite tell from where. "Terrance, but I suppose the name's already familiar to you," he replied with a chuckle. His mind began working through not only where he had heard her name before, but what all classes if any he had with her as well as what house she was in, if not maybe year as well. He knew she wasn't a Hufflepuff as he had made it a point to get to know them all during his school years. She seemed like she was a Ravenclaw, but something about that didn't click right. She didn't seem to be Gryffindor or Slytherin, yet for whatever reason he couldn't really rule out the possibility that she was a Slytherin. Why was that? She didn't have that Slytherin-ish demeanor and attitude of better than everyone. She seemed to be a bit too shy and kind-hearted to be a Slytherin, yet something made him want to push aside the other three possibilities.

"Can't quite remember which house you were in. I was definitely a Hufflepuff," he then said, figuring that saying that would be the easiest way to find out what he was trying to figure out. It was probably his best bet, but there was no real guarantee now was there? She was almost mysterious in a sense, but he did remember just how shy she was, which to him was perfect enough answer to how mysterious she came across to him as. That or maybe he needed to work on his observation skills as they seemed to be declining far sooner than he really wanted.

MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS

[MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS]

Tess nodded, "You do look familiar, but people often do when many of us went to school together." She smiled and chuckled along with him. It was funny, meeting new people who actually turned out to be old people. She couldn't place him in a house or year, however, and didn't even bother trying. She usually just ended up insulting people if she tried to guess their house at school, so it was best to just play it cool until it was revealed. She was pleased when he revealed that he was a Hufflepuff. That made him look a little more recognizable.

"Aw, yes. A lovely house. I was a Slytherin, probably because of my insane charm and charisma," she joked as she raised an eyebrow at him. She started to get a clear picture and nodded slowly, "yes.... yes I think I was a year ahead of you." She was certain now, she had seen him enter as a first year in the sorting ceremony. "Harper, Terrance!" the hat had called, it was then followed by a placement into Hufflepuff. Constance remembered because that was the year one of her dear friends had came to the school. "It's Mr. Harper then, correct?" she said out loud as the pieces started to form in her mind. She wasn't sure if he would be able to guess her name though, considering the hat would have said "Rawlins, Marguerite!" which didn't even have the 'Tess' part of her name in it.

TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER

[TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER]

"That is very true. Quite possible it was only even in passing that we crossed paths, but such is the way things go at school," he replied with a shrug. Students passed by each other with quite a large amount of regularity. It was of no shock the amount of people he had bumped into in the past that he was now somehow bumping into again years later. Which was amusing because you just never knew what would happen when you bumped into anyone. Life itself was like that in a way. Letting philosophy fade from his mind, Terrance focused in as he listened to what she had to say next, which was basically revealing what house she had been in, and that she was a year above him. So she was a Slytherin eh? Well now he knew why he wasn't able to really rule that possibility out earlier.

"Yeah, that's me, Terrance Harper. Wouldn't have really taken you for a Slytherin. You seem more Ravenclaw-ish to me rather than Slytherin-ish," he observed, knowing that all he really had to back that up was the fact that she was shy and worked in a bookstore. Slytherins weren't typically shy, as they were known to be the royal pain in everyone's backsides. He knew one too many Slytherins who were just arseholes just for the sake of being arseholes. It was aggravating to say the least whenever he experienced that, but he had met a few Slytherins since becoming the caretaker at Hogwarts who were genuinely good students and were just in Slytherin for their more well known families. Well, that happened and had been probably why the great Harry Potter had, as he had heard, been considered for Slytherin by the hat. Potter of course chose otherwise, and the rest as they say was history.

MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS

[MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS]

"I'll be honest, some people who are three or four years different than me have gotten offended when I don't recognize them," she laughed and shook her head at the memory. The last time that happened was when she was taking a trip into Diagon Alley to by some new robes for some fancy dress party she had been invited to and she had run into a girl who was quite younger than Tess. The girl apparently knew who Tess was because of Tess's reputation as the only muggle-born Slytherin in her year. When Tess said she didn't know the girl, she got quite upset. "It's a little absurd, if you ask me," she shrugged, not meaning to sound so negative.

She nodded, "Awe, Terrance, yes. As you said," she smiled and gave a short bow, "nice to meet you, officially." She raised an eyebrow at his assessment of house but lowered it quickly, tilting her head from side to side, "yes, yes I can see how it would be confusing." She had often been mistaken for a Ravenclaw due to her love of books and as a Hufflepuff due to her loyalty and kindness. "Truth be told, I am rather ambitious and resourceful, and my cunning is quite high as well..." she paused, "I think the main reason I was put in Slytherin is because of my ability to ignore the things people say about me and really focus on myself, I can be very self... reliant?" she laughed again and placed a hand on her forehead, as if wiping away the thought process, "it is what it is, I guess."

"So, what are you up to now, then?" She asked, wanting to know more about her newly found old/new face.

[TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER]

"Yeah, it's rather odd, but it's just how some people are. It's unfortunate, but not much that can really be done about that," he replied with a shrug. It was a bother that people got offended that easily. They should be more willing to take into account the fact that there was any amount of age difference. That and you really couldn't assume that anyone would really remember you after any amount of time if their life has been busy. He got lucky whenever he managed to remember people from his school days if he hadn't seen them in a couple of years or more. Maybe he was just different than most, but either way it was odd to him that it was that easy for some people to be offended by that.

"I see. Makes sense I suppose. I've been confused for a Gryffindor before, but that may be due to the fact that I tend to be a bit more adventurous than most. Of course, I also tend to make sure I'm able to have a good view of the area around me as I'd climb up whatever tree or post was around that would give me a good idea of what was going on," he replied, shrugging a bit. He did what he had to when figuring out what was going on, but ultimately he was just a Hufflepuff cause he was a loyal and kind guy. He tended to stick to his friends rather than leave them high and dry when the road got tougher. His nature was what it was, whether people liked it or not. If they didn't, oh well.

"I'm the caretaker up at Hogwarts now," he replied with a shrug.

MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS

[MARGUERITE LUTESSA RAWLINS]

He was right, of course. "I agree, and whenever I bump into people like that I usually just decide that they're not really worth my time, and then I kill them with kindness." She chuckled. It was true. Tess had a way of being so kind to her enemies that they just felt really uncomfortable and wanted to leave. She chuckled at the thought some more. It was even better when the kindness worked so well with making them uncomfortable, that she threw the werewolf thing in as well. That was always good for a laugh.

She nodded, "It's funny how houses don't matter anymore once you graduate," she laughed as she thought about this guy climbing up a tree, "well, I'd like to see that sometime. Do you use acrobatics?" she joked, though a part of her knew that it could be true. People learned skills they wanted to learn, and maybe this guy was a crazy ninja somewhere under that smiley exterior.

"What a fun job! Is it strange seeing all the students and thinking about when that was you?" that was how she felt working in the shop. Seeing them all come in here, learning new things with their panicked expressions. It brought back crazy memories.


TERRANCE JEREMY HARPER