Warm Hearts, Cold Dessert PV: Opeila, Mildred

@Opeila Seilun @Willow Anderson

With February coming to an end, Mildred watched as the School grounds burst with life once again along with the snow melting away the loneliness of winter. Perhaps, it had been due to all the errands she's been partaking in since as of lately she's been craving ice cream, like really badly, everything seemed to look like an ice cream cone to her! she was minding her business in one of her classes when the professor started to look like an ice cream cone! lord knows what happened if she didn't snap out of her own hallucination or whatever she should call it, she might have gone and bit the god- damn professor! could she even get expelled for that? she decided that it would be a great time to pay a visit to perhaps the best place in Diagon Alley, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour!

As Mildred walked through the crowded streets of Diagon Alley, She looked at everything in awe. Despite the numerous visits to the magical alley, it always seemed like it was her first time. She watched as many crowded the windows of Quality Quidditch Supplies as they admired the brooms in the display, Mildred had never been particularly interested in Quidditch although she must admit the brooms did look cool. Focus! she told her self, she was on a mission and that was to get ice cream, although it was hard with so many people there.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spotted the parlor. She opened the door and walked in, feeling the warmth of the room ease away the coldness from outside, without even noticing those in the parlor she made a bee-line to the display full of the sweet treat. She looked at the variety of flavors, making a mental note to herself that she should really come here more often! there were so many flavors, strawberry and peanut butter? what did that even taste like? Mildred spent at least 3 solid minutes looking at ice cream flavors, her favorite flavor of all time was salted-caramel but she wanted to adventure a bit out of her norm, she could practically feel the glare of the parlor's worker Mildred didn't mean to take this long it was just there were so many flavors! She finally decided to pick something random and went with a flavor of chocolate and raspberry.

Mildred paid the staff and began to dig into her ice-cream right then and there, she sighed in relief this was exactly what she wanted, the flavor she had chosen had been somewhat tart- yet sweet at the same time, a perfect combination! wishing to find a perfect spot she looked around. It appeared that today wasn't so busy as it normally was, perhaps it was due to the cold weather although she did spy one lone patron sitting at the ice-cream bar, upon further inspection Mildred knew her! well, they weren't friends but she recognized her from an errand she just completed. Mildred went back and forth on whether she should say hello to the girl although in the end she was in a good mood and decided to try to be social for once, she decided to go over and say hello she quickly walked over and tapped her on her shoulder and smiled "Hey! Willow was it? fancy seeing you here!"

Opeila had owled Lady Margary after she had ruined one of her robes with a potion- god, how she hated that subject!- and her grandmother had picked her up at the weekend to go to diagon alley with her.

Now Opeila was walking around with a brown paper bag, that said "Madam Malkin's" on it, while her grandmother wanted to go to the apothecary shop to get some thing. Opeila didn't want to go with her, she hated to be surrounded by all the strange liquids and plants around her. With the smell of flowers and herbs, she always had the feeling, she would suck in toxic dust or something.

So Lady Margary had given her some money to get ice cream. Again, Opeila was infinitely thankful to have the grandmother she had. She had seen other children, who's parents and grandparents had made them go into the shops with them, but Lady Margary could understand her granddaughter's dislike for potions. In the end, it was her daughter, Opeila's mother, who poisoned herself with one.

Opeila got in the queue at the ice cream parlour and spent the time she had to wait looking at the other guests. Two girls caught her attention. They looked familiar somehow, she was sure that they went to Hogwarts as well, but Opeila couldn't remember their names or their house.
When it was her turn to order, she bought a plain chocolate icecream and then walked towards the table with the girls. Maybe she could make some new acquaintances here?

"Hey! Uh, would you mind if I join you?", she asked, smiling at the girls.

@Mildred Wilson @Willow Anderson

Sometimes Willow would miss technology. Especially in moments like this where she was sitting at a counter with nothing else to do. She should've brought a book or something. Eventually she found herself lost in her thoughts, thinking about her schedule for the rest of this week. She always had some homework she could do some extra work on, some research of her own she could do. The list goes on. Even though she was lost in her thoughts, the taste of the ice cream never wandered far from her brain. While it was still chilly out, she always felt like ice cream was for every season.

She was broken out of her thoughts when someone approached her. She recognized her from the errand but couldn't remember her name for the life of her. She was always terrible when it came to names, especially with how much happened during their errand, she decided she would play it cool. "Hey you! I didn't think I would see anyone I knew here today!" Of course right as she finished that sentence someone else came up, someone she had probably seen around but she could also be mistaking it for a hundred other people she's met. There were surprisingly a lot of people that attended Hogwarts.

She quickly scoot over on her side of the table, making room for the new friend. "Please, join us! My name is Willow!" Her non-ice cream holding hand went into her pocket and pulled out a bundle of colorful bracelets. "Do you want a friendship bracelet?" She gently placed them on the table so the newcomer could look through them and pick one out if she wanted to.

@Opeila Seilun @Willow Anderson

She paled when she had realized what she had just done, did she just really do that? she should have not gone up to bother Willow, fearful of her response. Mildred's eyes darted about, looking at anything- anything to help her escape. She looked at the exit- too basic, she could run out there right now and be considered the school's freak, yeah no she wasn't going that route. ice cream? maybe she could run into where the ice cream was being served... although she was sure she would be banned from the parlor forever and she might just rather be considered the school's freak then rather no longer have ice cream.

Thankfully, it had seemed that the young Hufflepuff girl wasn't too displeased to see her, sighing she decided that it would be alright. She nodded at her response, "Yeah! it's really cold outside didn't think anyone else would be out to get ice cream" she looked at willow, "so! how have you been?" It was this moment that someone her age approached them, she was sure she had seen her before although she didn't know who she was. Mildred waved and smiled at her "Hey! nice to meet you" she pointed at herself, "Name's Mildred Wilson, what your name?"

Disappointed in her outbreak before, while, she has not known Willow for exactly the longest, Mildred knew she seemed very kind and would have not turned her away. She watched as Willow take out a colorful handful of bracelets, and gasped at how beautiful they were. She wondered just how many the girl had on her, did she carry them like someone who carried their glasses would? every single day? She waited and resumed her ice-cream while waiting to see what the new girl would pick.

One of the girls almost seemed overly happy, what told Opeila right away, from which house she was. Yes, definitely Hufflepuff, the Slytherin thought, when the girl got out some friendship bracelets and offered her one.
Opeila sat down at the table and looked at the bracelets. The girl, who had introduced herself as Willow, definitely knew what she was doing. Opeila picked up a green one that had some blue and yellow areas on it as well. (I hope, you are alright with that, Willow?)
"Uhm, sure! Thank you."
She already knew that she wouldn't wear it. Opeila couldn't wear a sign of friendship of a person that threw her friendship at everyone. But she did admire the girl's handiness, no question. Willow better never met Jack Burnett, she suddenly thought. He'd give her a hard time because of this.

The second girl now asked her for her name. Oh damn. Right, she hadn't introduced herself. "Hello, Mildred. Opeila Seilun, first year Slytherin." She smiled at both girls and then started to eat her ice cream.
"So- What are you two doing here? I mean, what brings you here in the middle of term?", she asked the girls and eat another spoon of icecream.

@Mildred Wilson @Willow Anderson

Willow turned to to the newly introduced Opeila. Willow reached her hand out and put the bracelets away now that Opeila had picked one. "I love that bracelet! I've been waiting for someone to take it, you have lovely taste!"

"Opeila, that's a beautifully unique name. It's lovely to meet you!" She smiled going back to her ice cream for a moment. "I think every season is a good season for ice cream, and I wanted to get out of the castle for a little bit. It can get super stuffy spending everyday there." The castle was too dark for her taste, despite it housing a huge amount of students it felt especially devoid of life. Plants and greenery specifically. Sure, it had an amazing courtyard and lake, but otherwise inside it felt like a very old, neutral toned castle.

She still wouldn't trade her experience here for anything. That castle had quickly become her home and she could never truly dislike it. "What brings you to Diagon Alley?" She looked between the two girls for whoever wanted to share first as Willow was working diligently at her cone of ice cream, already feeling the sadness of when it inevitably was over. She wished she could make ice cream cones last forever.

@Willow Anderson @Opeila Seilun

Huh... Opeila was a Slytherin, which of course nothing against them- it was just out of the handful of people she had met so far Slytherin were some of the nicest bunch she had met, of course, seconded to Hufflepuffs they truly took the crown when it came to befriending random people. Mildred didn't want to feed into the stereotypes that fueled houses yet she couldn't help herself, she just thought that Opeila might have been more... snappy- or something like that, but then again she herself wasn't the greatest Hufflepuff.

Mildred watched Opeila picked one of Willows bracelets, they were truly beautiful. She wondered just how many the girl had on her- and where did she find the time to make these? she glanced at the handful on the table. Of course, Mildred has yet to make one or know how long they take, who knows perhaps they could take ten minutes max to make or maybe an hour? she decided to ask, she looked at willow and picked up a bracelet to look at it, "Just how long do these take for you to make them?" The thread was woven just like an expert would weave it, it seemed like Willow had been doing this for a while.

She had to agree with the comment of how Opeila is a beautiful name, to this day she was still bitter at her parents for naming her such an outdated name. she looked at Opeila and said, "Yep! you have a really nice name!" She listened to Willow and nodded her head at her comment, "Definitely agree- it can get very stuffy spending every day at school, could you imagine if they never allowed us to go out? I'd go insane." she shuddered just thinking about that, I mean in her option Hogwarts didn't have many strict rules.

Mildred was definitely not going to mention her daydream of one of her professors looking like an ice cream cone- she nervously scratched the back of her head, "Oh you know- I just really wanted Ice cream and that's how I ended up here!" Ice cream was a really good treat though, she asked the girls "Do you guys have a favorite dessert?"

Opeila chuckled when Willow got excited about her choice. "Thank you, Willow. It is beautiful!" She still couldn't quite understand the Hufflepuff's way to basically force her friendship at everyone who spoke to her, but she didn't mind right now. The other girl, Mildred, now asked Willow how much time she needed to make one of those bracelets. Curiously Opeila looked at her.

Willows reaction on her name made her smile a little. She only just could stop herself from sighing. Yap, that was her parents taste. They loved uh... unique names. "Thank you. My parents kind of like unique names. They wanted me to not be like everyone and uh... started with the name." Mildred agreed on Willow's opinion. "You've got very nice names as well!"

Somehow it didn't surprise her at all, when both girls said that they got stuffy in the castle. "Do you? I love spending time in there. I somehow feel like there are countless secrets that are still waiting to be discovered. I mean... Hogwarts is huge!" Opeila smiled. She indeed love the school. It somehow gave her freedom.

When Willow asked what brought her to Diagon Alley, Opeila picked up her Madam Malkin's bag. "New robes. I ruined one of my omd ones" she shrugged. "I'm here with Lady Mar- well... my grandmother."

Then Mildred asked for their favourite desserts. "I don't have one, actually. I like cauldron cakes quite much, but I don't have a favourite."

@Mildred Wilson @Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Mildred Wilson @Opeila Seilun

She smiled at the compliment about the bracelet Opeila chose, she really did try and put a bit of love in each one of them. Even if it may not be a symbolism of her friendship to them, she just thought they were cute little bracelets. "I've been making them for about three years now, so I've gotten a lot quicker." She pulled out a very simple two-color one, "This one... I can get down in about fifteen minutes without distraction." She pulled out another one that was fairly complicated with multiple colors, beading, and a closure that made it to where it could be taken on and off by resizing. "This one takes about two to three hours because I requires my concentration and if I mess up I have to start over. But these are my favorites to make, because they challenge me and with more effort comes more love put into them." She nodded, putting the bracelets down and returning to her ice cream.

She listened to Opeila as she talked about what she loved about the castle, and she could agree but she just needed an escape every once and awhile because of how easy it was to feel trapped in a routine not just the castle itself.

She had to think for a moment about what her favorite dessert was, but it wasn't a hard choice. "My grandma's butter cookies are my favorite dessert ever. I always have some in my dorm if you ever want to try them, they are absolutely delicious and just melt in your mouth. They also make me feel like at home which is always a nice benefit." She smiled softly, thinking about her family always brought her so much joy yet it always came paired with a pang of sadness from being away from them.