312c Diagon Alley
312C South Side Diagon Alley is home to Cepheus Gamp and his cat Claude. It is above Floriblunders Florist (312).
From the Street
… On the opposite side of the road a shop with sizeable glass windows was lit up, throwing puddles of light onto the cobbles. The air was filled with a slightly sickly floral scent. The cobbles outside Floribuster’s were swept clean each morning and evening, though the clutter just inside the door of the shop suggested that a number of the displays were pulled outside in business hours.
Sandwiched between it and the building next to it was an arched passageway full of shadows which opened up into a little courtyard full of empty crates and buckets. Here the floral scent subsided to something more reminiscent of the Hogwarts greenhouses, less blooms and more damp greenery. A set of stone steps with a wrought iron railing laced with a climbing plant, led straight up against the side wall of the florists. It rose over the crates stashed beneath it…
Floorplan
Front Door and Entrance Hallway
…at the top he turned to his right to attend to the blue front door, complete with cat flap…
A jam jar nestled on the doorstep was filled with a dozen cigarette ends was the only blot on the steps, which like the front of the shop were swept clean.
“Here we go,” Ceph spoke at last, the door giving way. The lamps lit and flared, flooding light into a poky little room. It smelled of wax leather coats and shoe polish - the source becoming obvious once Arcturus had followed him in. Coats and cloaks hung to the left beside a well-stocked shoe rack full of boots, wellingtons and more casual footwear. An enchanted brush was independently buffing a pair of brown leather brogues on the top of the rack.
Hallway
From here the flat extended on one level to their right, heading back towards the Alley. ... he led Arcturus through into a hallway, closed doors to their left suggesting a bathroom, bedroom, perhaps two or a study. Apart from a ravaged toy mouse on the hall floor, there was no signs of his elusive cat.
Master Bedroom
"... There’s a fantastic map of the preserved [merpeople] territories of the British isles hanging in the bedroom. ..."
Guest Bedroom
Previous overnight guests include Andromeda Gamp, and Balfour Spectre with Johann Storm.
Kitchen and Living Room
The kitchen at the end of the hall smelled faintly of Bolognese from dinner but was altogether homely and rather tidy.
There’s no divide between rooms, Ceph doesn’t have a dinner table, he eats at the end of the worktop where there are a couple of stools. He’d transfigure one in a fix!
There are two tall sash windows overlooking Diagon with window boxes outside which Claude likes to sit in. The piano is upright and sits against the wall. Bookcases/shelves dominate the wall with the fireplace which is on the floo.
It’s fairly cramped and cozy, plenty of plants nestled where there’s space. There is a sofa with its back to the kitchen, an armchair, a chair at the tiny desk in the corner. The wireless sits on a low cupboard. There’s a couple of little tables either side of the sofa for putting drinks on. There are some framed maps (courtesy of Adrestia Gamp) on the wall the piano is up against, a mirror above the fireplace.
Bookshelves
He drifted across the living room to a bookcase, ... he examined the shelves, wondering if he had something he might lend Arcturus if he was reading dissertations on fluid dynamics. “Anything I have on liquids is on aquatic lifeforms - preserving habitats and the likes, though merpeople do not come under my remit.”
Ceph’s fingers reached for the shelves, his tone meandering with the distraction. He pulled a slender dark red bound volume from one above his head height and carried it back with him across the room.
One of the books is Mountains or Molehills? which Cepheus contributed to.
Piano
Cepheus owns and plays an upright piano.
Ceph's Cat Mug Collection
Ceph's mugs and tea towels have a cat theme. They don't necessarily match and are mostly gifts from friends and family.
He looked down at the mug he'd carried. The judgemental eyes of the painted dancing feline on the ceramic bore into his soul, and in the face of its oddly entrancing stare he wasn't able to find anything to balance this conversation out.
The cup of tea paused on the way to Ceph’s lips, a tabby cat chasing a ball of wool across the design.
He set aside the teaspoon beside the blue teapot and carried both mugs through to the living room again
