More yarn. It was strange, the way that this particular fetish (for most any of Zoey's obsessions could unfortunately be categorized dangerously close to sexual if the gauge was the kind of pleasure from it she received) had begun to run its course. A streak of brilliance was what it was. Knitting was so simple, but it seemed a hobby reserved for old women with nothing better to do and, on occasion, a muggle college student. That was actually what had gotten Zoey so hooked on it. Visiting her muggle grandparents in the States, she had spent a bit of time on a college campus, just to see what it was like. It had been her plan, once (and everyone knew how quickly Zoey's plans changed) to attend a muggle university if nothing especially interesting found its way into her path by the time she turned eighteen. In the end, it had seemed to be far too much effort to forge some sort of documents saying she'd graduated from a normal high school and what she'd scored on the SATs, or whatever those silly tests were called. Much easier to find a job like the rest of the Hogwarts graduates. A lot of them had their grades to fall back upon, or rich family members to get them connected to all the best positions. Zoey relied on her mouth, which ended up working just as well, in the end.

But knitting! It was much less an art form and more a way of life, she was finding. The girls at the university seemed to be satisfied making scarves for their friends while they sat in class, or at lunch. And really, what better hobby to have? Unlike painting, or message or aromatherapy, you had something practical to show for it afterward. Maybe that was why she liked cooking so much, or doing laundry. In the end, you could prove it was something you'd actually done and not just something you could talk about at length. As it was, she was trying to find ways to combine her previous endeavors with this new delight. An herbal scent infusion in the yarn she used might prove to make for a lovely aromatherapy pot holder, or a nice knit face pillow for her massage guests.

Her hands twisted in the needles (one of which was her wand) and yarn even as she walked onto Diagon Alley, knowing just the place where she might be able to find everything she needed (and probably more than a few things that she didn't). Sinestra's Secondhand Shop was possibly one of the most dangerous places someone of Zoey's mind frame could frequent. Odds and ends and many things that were difficult to come by regularly in the wizarding world were staples within the mishmash shop, which catered particularly to Zoey because it resembled on the outside exactly what her mind must have looked like on the inside.

Coming upon the shop, she pushed her weight against the door a few times before realizing that she should have been pulling. That was more difficult, what with the knitting needles. Irked, she took both needles into one hand and pulled the door with the other, quickly ducking into the shop and snatching back the other needle in the same movement. She must have looked like she'd just stolen something, moving the way she had. For the first time since she'd apparated from her apartment, she looked up. "Hey Arty, you around? I need some smelly yarn!" she called, moving forward into the shop, but only in baby steps as she resumed her knitting.

She and the co-owner of the Sinestra shop had known each other since school, though Zoey was a few years older than Artemis. Zoey had been on the receiving end of a clever prank involving the Quidditch commentating microphone, and the girls had found they had more in common than would be expected of a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw three years younger. As absent-minded as Zoey could be, and as much as things had changed over the years, she would still make sure to pop into the shop and greet her childhood friend. Usually when a new obsession started.

Artemis was alone in the shop and she couldn't have been more pleased about it. Her brother had gone out to do some scouting in muggle London for some new fashions he could use in his next column. And their unwelcome (well in Arty's eyes) houseguest had decided to cloister herself upstairs. Arty got a small satisfaction in that Carmen was almost as annoyed by Arty's presence as she was by Carmen's. Had it not been for Apollo's urgent pleadings on the woman's behalf she would have been out the door within five minutes of entering it. At some point or another, the beast would exit her lair leaving scorn and sarcasm in her wake, but for now Artemis had a brief respite.

She was sitting at the counter in the back of the shop working on a sales ad for their front window and listening to the WWN. Then suddenly from the front of the shop a cheerful twinkling cut through the wheezy drones of Crochetting with Cassandra. The bell was shortly followed by a familiar voice.

"Hey Arty, you around? I need some smelly yarn!"

Arty had been skeptical about the smelly yarn idea when Apollo had first suggested it. He had just come back from visiting Daphne's bakery with the idea to charm yarn to smell like baked goods. He thought it'd be awesome for Daphne's aprons to always smell like her cupcakes. However, she had pointed out that Daphne's apron's always smelled like cupcakes anyway, and aprons were very rarely made from yarn. However, after further consideration she agreed that more subtle scents might not be such a terrible idea.

However, Arty was much less concerned with crochetting, twinkly bells, or smelly yarn than she was with the arrival of one of her oldest friends. They had met at Hogwarts and despite a slight age difference had hit it off well. Since leaving school, she had lost contact with some of her friends, or lived so far away from them that she didn't see them very often. However, Zoey settled in London leaving her one of the few good friends that Arty had in the area, and also her best respite from the barrage of misfortune she'd been suffering of late.

"Zoey!" She looked up from her work with more enthusiasm than she had shown in weeks. "It's about time you came for a visit!"