Tea & Waffles PV Closed

The fourth year was glancing around as he pushed through the door of the great hall, ready to consume some breakfast. He was not all too sure about what he would want to eat or where he would sit. There were a lot of students around already but Alan easily was able to spot a less crowded area and found a familiar face sitting on one of the benches. With a smile showing on his face the fourth year would make his way over to Gris and sit down on the bench across from her as he gave her a small smile. "Hi Gris, I hope you do not mind me sitting here?" He would ask her, his voice soft and melodic as usual. There was just something ever so calm about Alan in the way he spoke and carried himself that would make other people and sometimes creatures be more at ease around him as well, peaceful even at least to a certain extent. Alan would see the freshly brewed tea and his eyes lit up slightly. Tea? That sounds nice," he muttered as he took a look around on the array of food that was spread out over the Gryffindor table. Alan as always was a little overwhelmed with all of the options they had but he had time to think about it since class would not start for another hour or so.

The fourth year would glance back at the girl across from him. "How has your summer been? Done anything fun?" he wondered with a hint of curiosity as he got himself a cup so that he could fill it with tea if Gris were to allow it. Perhaps she would but the fourth year actually had no idea.

Interacting with | @Dealla Prince | @Griseldis Edelhardt | @Alan Vanes

Ileen was in a particularly good mood this morning – a fact that was probably due to the beautiful weather and the relaxing morning she had spent alone outside. She was even in such a good mood that she had braided her long brown hair into a French braid, something that never really happened. Additionally, she had put on her favorite jeans, which had a tear in the knee, and her dark green cotton sweatshirt. As always, she was wearing her mother's necklace with the tear-shaped glass pendant that glittered on the dark fabric. She just felt good.

So, the young Slytherin had been only a little annoyed that she had had to wait for Dee. They had planned to have breakfast together and as always it had taken Dee forever to get up and get to the Great Hall. She herself had arrived at 8am and had killed the time until now watching the students and their behavior – there was always something new to learn about her peers and collect all hints to anticipate any chaos happening.
After an eternity, Dee had finally shown up and now they were wandering through the hall together preparing their breakfast and discussing where to sit. Not the Slytherin table for sure though since she was still avoiding her own house as much as possible.

Ileen carefully balanced a plate of warm sweet-smelling waffles and looked around with a frown. She felt like celebrating today – it had been the first night in ages she had slept calmly and so she felt quite peaceful. Plus, spending mornings with Dee was always nice. Also, her best friend had asked her to teach her the little she knew about dancing later in the day and that would be hilarious. A smile tugged on the corners of her mouth as she imagined the two of them jumping around outside, an activity for which she would need all the strength she could possibly summon.

Thoughtfully, she glanced at her plate and the mixture of toppings she already had tossed on her waffles. Strawberries, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sprinkles, apple slices, maple syrup…. It already was more toppings with waffles than the other way around, but the brunette was still not satisfied. “Do you see blueberries anywhere?” She turned around and glared at the empty bowl at the Ravenclaw table. Even though the waffles were hardly visible under the mountain of fruit, she needed them to have her perfect breakfast. Not waiting for an answer, she already had spotted another source of her desire at the Gryffindor table and quickly made her way through the hall.
The level of openness and social activity was also a sign of Ileen’s mood that morning, otherwise she would probably not have approached the girl sitting next to the bowl. “Excuse me, may I?” She asked politely and reached out for the bowl of blueberries standing on the table. Her gaze fell on a teapot and an unfamiliar but delicious smell rose to her nose – something exotic. Distracted, she turned her head to look back at the brunette girl and thus missed the bowl. “That smells good. What kind of tea is it?” She would try to catch the pastel grey eyes of the girl and give her a kind smile. Only then she would realize that she knew the person next to the Gryffindor girl and her smile would deepen. “Oh, hey Alan. How are you?”

Reducio

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By SK

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@Ileen Knight | @Griseldis Edelhardt | @Alan Vanes

So, Dee had overslept. Sue her. It was the weekend, she wanted to sleep in! Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure why she'd agreed to meet Ileen for breakfast anyway. She knew how early her best friend got up. It must have been a momentary lapse of judgement.

Either way, she'd fallen out of bed about twenty minutes after she'd been supposed to meet Ileen, and then made her way down to the Great Hall in record time. Half an hour late wasn't too bad, right? At the door to the Great Hall she'd had a few more seconds of delay because she'd had to stop a very cheeky and very stubborn cat from sneaking into the Hall with her, so she'd been approximately 31 minutes and 22 seconds late when she'd stopped in front of Ileen, out of breath and an apology on her tongue. Although it hadn't been entirely her fault. They should have just decided to meet at 9 in the first place. Her apology may have turned a little petulant as a result.

She'd brightened up rather quickly though when both her and Ileen had started piling fresh waffles onto their plates - and then, of course, the most important part: toppings. Although Ileen and her agreed on most of them, Dee had skipped the maple syrup and gone straight for the ice-cream. They both agreed on strawberries and apples, but Dee's plate was also piled with pieces of orange and grapes, and she'd added a dusting of cocoa powder. Honestly, all in all, her eyes had been a lot bigger than her belly, and the pile was a lot more than she'd ever be able to eat.

The resulting masterpiece was thoughtfully considered and then approved with a satisfied nod, and Dee was ready to sit down and start enjoying her waffles - it was a busy day, and with her sleep cut short, she at least needed a proper breakfast - when Ileen suddenly went off on her quest for blueberries, and Dee was left staring after her best friend, down at her waffles, and then back at where her friend was making a beeline for the Gryffindor table, before she groaned, picked up her plate, and followed the Slytherin through the Hall.

"Blueberries aren't even that good," she complained at her friend's back. "They're clearly inferior to all other berries. I'd maybe understand if you were looking for raspberries, but blueberries?"

But Ileen had obviously already spotted what she wanted, and when she stopped to talk to the Gryffindors that sat close to it, Dee stepped closer, her curiosity sparked. Ileen was usually rather picky with who she talked to, so apparently those two at least hadn't been classified as idiots yet.

And then she caught a familiar scent, and breathed in deeply without thinking twice. Ah - green tea. And a good one, from what she could tell. Hopefully the water hadn't been too hot when they'd put the leaves in, that would be a shame. Leaning in next to Ileen to catch another breath of green tea, she noticed she actually recognize the girl sitting in front of the teapot. She was a Gryffindor prefect - they had met at one of her errands last school year. Dee greeted her with a brilliant enthusiastic smile. "Hi - Gris, right? Can I trade one of my waffles against a cup of your tea? I love green tea. I hope you're okay with my topping choices, though."

Turning towards the other person Ileen had greeted, Dee realized that he, too, seemed familiar, although less so. Had they met? Something about him reminded her of a crowd of people, the smell of food in the air, a fire under a summer night sky... She snapped her fingers in recognition. Right - the BBQ at summer camp! "Alan, right?" she asked, including him in her smile. "We met at summer camp! Sorry we left so soon back then, somehow everyone was suddenly gone. How was your break?"

She slipped into an empty spot at the table without waiting for an invitation, deciding that this was a spot as good as any to have breakfast. Better maybe - this one had tea.

Interacting with @Alan Vanes @Dealla Prince @Ileen Knight

While Griseldis was enjoying her self-brewed green tea, a sudden familiar voice from behind made her looked up to see the person who greeted her. It was the friendly fourth year Gryffindor, Alan Vanes. He asked if she could sit with her and she immediately beamed with a cheerful smile of her own, "Hi Alan! Not at all, please take a seat."

After a few encounters with the elder Gryffindor, she noticed that he always had this calm demeanor around him that made her feel comfortable. She watched Alan sat across her and how he scanned around the food on the Gryffindor table, he looked a bit unsure for a brief moment, then he set his eyes on the tea set as if he finally decided what to have first. Alan asked her curiously about how her Summer holiday was while he was pouring him some green tea, Griseldis didn't mind that he wanted to try out the green tea himself so instead, she replied, "It was quite good seeing my family and my Muggle friends in Bridgwater during summer. I made a lot of Chinese dumplings with my mother and my Grandfather even allowed me to train a few young kids Kung Fu, it was so exciting and I truly had a lot of fun! And how about your summer holidays, Alan?" Griseldis would quickly warn Alan to be careful and would advise him to take a small sip first of the hot tea so he wouldn't burn his tongue. She would wait until he finished his tea, and would ask him with a slightly worried tone, "So...how's the taste? Was it ok?"

Before Alan could answer her, she heard a girl's voice mentioning how good the smell was and wanted to know what kind of tea was it. Griseldis turned around and saw it was a Slytherin girl, it took her a while to finally recognize that this girl once joined the crafting animal tea bags errand she hosted. Although, she couldn't recall her name anymore which was a bit embarrassing. To her surprise, the Slytherin girl knew Alan and even greeted him. Followed up behind the Slytherin was a Ravenclaw girl with piercing blue eyes. She had seen her before who also participated in the same errand as the other girl. They once interacted before so she remembered her name to be Dealle Prince. And she was glad that she also remembered her name. "Yes, that's me! And you're Dealle, am I correct? It's nice to see you again." When Dealle asked Griseldis to trade waffles for tea, she beamed at the sight of the waffle with so many fruity toppings with a dusting of cocoa powder on it. "Of course, I would love to trade my green tea with your waffle! It's also wicked to know that you like green tea too." Griseldis would happily pour a cup of green tea for Dealla once she took a seat.

Looking at the waffles that were placed in front of her on the table, she almost drooled but was quick enough to realize it and used the back of her left hand to wipe off the corner of her mouth. Excited to try the waffles, the Gryffindor picked up a small fork beside her, cutting it in half, then ate the piece with some toppings on. Her eyes suddenly widen in a delightful surprise at the taste of the waffle. She felt like the bomb in her mouth exploded and was conquered by the explosive sweetness and tenderness. "OH MY MERLIN! IT'S SO DELICIOUS!!", Griseldis praised.

Alan would smile at the group of girls before he sat down at the table with them, glancing at the waffles, his mouth watering at the divine smell and the thought of a nice hot cup of green tea sounded amazing. "I don't really have any food in return, but I could trade back in chocolate frogs?" the fourth year offered before conjuring up a handful of chocolate frogs from the depth of his school robe pockets. He always carried some around because they were the best ice breaker when meeting people.

Gris asked him how his summer went and he gave a soft hum. "Well I was at the school camp in London, shared a tent with George, Jake and Jack which was pretty fun you know... after that my parents traveled to New Romney with me for a week where I met someone who goes to this school, that was a fun coincidence!", he would explain with a chuckle. He vaguely remembered seeing Ileen and and Dealla at the camp as well but he was not sure whether he had seen Gris there at all. He remembered their faces but aside from that not much, but that was what made meeting new people so very exciting because there was still a lot he had yet to learn about them.

He would also assure Dealla not to worry that they had left him when they were at the barbecue. "It was nice meeting you at the camp, even if it was only for a split second!" he said with a lighthearted grin.

Interacting with | @Dealla Prince | @Griseldis Edelhardt | @Alan Vanes

An indignant snort was the response to Dee's completely absurd claim that blueberries were the least delicious berries. Ileen shot a stern look over her shoulder and shook her head. “Oh, poor girl. How dare you? You’re missing out!”
Thankfully she was distracted by Gris and Alan before this could lead into an argument. Ileen would defend the dearest of her berries with glee and probably the delicious waffles would have grown cold by then. So it was a good thing they were interrupted.

In contrast to Ileen, Dee seemed to know the Gryffindor tea-girl. Gris? As the conversation turned to the summer camp a shadow slided over Ileen’s face and an attentive observer would notice the slight shiver that ran down her spine and affected her hand movement. The shadow, the dead boy… Ileen tried to push the memories away. She didn’t want her morning to get ruined.

Ileen had her eyes still fixed on the blueberries - she had to accomplish her mission to create the perfect waffles. If she knew what the day had in store for her she would have eaten way more to collect some strength though. But she didn’t know so she was okay with creating her masterpieces and sharing them afterwards.
Carefully listening to the conversation and returning the kind greetings she heaped the fruit onto her plate without taking her eyes off the Gryffindor girl. “I would trade a waffle for that tea as well!” Ileen loved tea. Way better than coffee, of course. Though some of the professors might disagree here…
She placed her own plate in front of Gris and Alan and tilted her head. Dee and Ileen switched house tables a lot, why not sit here then today?
“Are these seats taken?” She gestured to the seats next to the two Gryffindors and gave them a smile before she looked at her waffles again. “Unlike the cookies we made during the summer break, these waffles are safe and lacking bad taste surprises,” she promised and a cheeky smile curled her lips. “I’m Ileen by the way. I think we haven’t met so far, right?”

Reducio

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By SK

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@Ileen Knight | @Griseldis Edelhardt | @Alan Vanes

Ileen's retort triggered a bright grin and then a stuck-out tongue, but the dawning argument wasn't continued, when both of them instead focused at the pair they were joining.

Dee winced slightly at Gris's usage of her name, momentarily torn on which part to correct first: That it was actually Dealla, not Dealle, or that she'd prefer not to be called by her full first name at all. Dee was much better. Simpler. Prettier. Not as ancient-sounding. In the end, she decided it didn't matter if Gris was aware of her correct name, as she'd hopefully never use it again, anyway. "Close, but please, just call me Dee?" she requested, picking up a piece of apple and sticking it into her mouth. She couldn't quite recall whether she'd introduced herself with her full name at the tea errand. It seemed unlikely, and at the least, and introduction was usually accompanied by the explicit instruction to use her nickname instead. Ah well, she supposed she could overlook it this once.

All was forgiven with the exchange of waffles for tea, anyway, and Dee lit up with a bright smile when she received a cup of masterfully brewed green tea, taking in the scent before carefully taking a sip. Ah, yes, this made for a perfect breakfast.

While Ileen was busy being impossibly polite and actually asking before taking a seat - Dee hadn't bothered - Alan's grin was returned with a bright one of her own. "It was!" she agreed, then pushed her waffles more towards the center of the table. "Here, help yourself if you want any, I can't imagine ever eating all of these." She was also likely going to eat an unwise amount of sweets later today, so she could easily be generous and share her waffles.

Snorting slightly at Ileen's mention of the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour cookies they'd made during summer break, Dee shot Ileen an amused glance. "Hey, they were great. A perfect success. The look on my dad's face alone made it completely worth it."