Bake-off

Elvera nodded, she wouldn't like to be on the first floor, she liked her tower even if it was so far from everything. "yes, and everyone who passes through getting to higher floors or down for food, or to the dungeons and outside." she said. "the towers are always very quiet. only the divination class comes up there, plus a few students looking for somewhere privet from time to time, and at the start of the year some first years kept going up thinking it was the astronomy tower. but that was months ago" she said. it was funny some evenings after having to patrol the corridors or coming up from getting some supper walking in on a couple making out on the steps. she hadn't got them in trouble but they had both gone running back to their common rooms rather quick.
she listened as he described his homeland, she knew that if she let herself 'go' enough she would be able to see it, but she didn't as she didn't want to see too much, and wasn't sure how to keep control, and she wasn't sure how well she would be able to see it anyway she hadn't told anyone but she was finding him harder to see. "that sounds like a nice place to grow up, and even if seven families can claim heritage that is still not many given how long it has been" she said.
Elvera laughed when he said that as merlins student she must have been pretty powerful. "I think she was, but i reckon that eden could give her a run for her money. unfortunately though Morgan Le Fey was pretty skilled in the dark arts, which was probably a sauce for much of her power." she said unaware of her own twins involvement with the same branch of magic.
Elvera watched Icarus make the drinks and smiled when he handed her one mug. "thank you it looks delicious" she said taking a sip. she saw him pull a face at his first mouthful and tried to keep a straight face, "Be careful it'e hot" she said repeating his own words back to him. "no plans, I will probably spend most of the time in the shop so morgan can have a break and spend some time in her garden. but really it will still be work, and spending time with my family. how about you? many plans?" she said remembering when she had met Lilith and she had said she was bringing her boyfriend over. that would be nice, she seemed pretty loved up and she hope that he would be nice.
 
Icarus smiled as she was talking about the first years. He was teaching only to them and he had noticed their awkwardness the first week after their sorting. "I love firsties. They remind me of me back at my first year. Like fish out of the water. I remember missing classes because I couldn't locate where the actual classrooms were." he chuckled and blushed as long gone, embarrassing memories surfaced in his mind.
"Sorting is a lifelong memory. I almost passed down waiting to be sorted." he remembered with a nostalgic smile.
He blew the hot chocolate to cool it down and then had a careful sip, while he had a look at the muffins inside the oven. Being carried away by their conversation could lead to scorched muffins and he didn't want to give an opportunity to the imp to start censoring about humans. It had stopped talking for a long time and Icarus was quite impressed as it usually couldn't close its mouth and criticize. For now it had moved to the dining room, hanging with its monkey tail from the chandelier above the dining table. He just ignored it as it seemed that in that way at least it wasn't going to spit more lies or cause any trouble.

Icarus nodded as Elvera was right about the fact that seven families were not enough after so many generations.
"You are right but I guess a lot of males would have died at the age of seventeen. It's a tradition when the males become adults to face dangerous creatures and prove themselves men. Now things are a bit safer as the face off is watched and moderated by ministry officials, creature tamers and experts. Back then I don't think that they had the luxury for such kind of assistance. I can imagine the father taking his son straight into the chimaera's liar for example and maybe none of them two return back." he pointed out as it could be the right expanation for the diminish of the families. "It would be nice to be taught by such great wizrds and witches. They had a different view back then, I believe that we see things nowadays too flat and not spherically like they did." he mentioned about the knowledge of the ancients. "I'm not really surprised that she was into dark arts. Back then there was no one to regulate dark magic so everyone was acting on their will. Still I've studied dark arts back at school but I noticed that it's not that case in Hogwarts. Death eaters could have an impact on that. Maybe the ministry is afraid of creating a new dark lord by letting students study the dark arts." he made an assumption for the lack of that course in Hogwarts.

Icarus didn't have any plans yet as well but he was having some thoughts of travelling around.
"Not really. I know that my uncle will leave as soon as Minoas is out of school for the holidays. They usually choose to travel to the north hemisphere to enjoy the summer, so there won't be a lot of work around here. I was thinking of travelling around here. Oceania is full of exotic islands, I would like to visit some of them and experience the life of the indigenous people, learn about their culture and their magic. Still I haven't made up my mind whether I'll do that or not." he talked about his plans for the holidays although he already was having some sort of holidays since he didn't have any classes. "You do have tight bonds with your family, don't you?" he pointed out as he had noticed that she was close to her family. He liked that, he liked his big family too even though he might haven't been talking with his parents the past few months.
 
Elvera nodded, "yes first years are always sweet, still not sure on their footing, its a shame I don't have any chance of teaching them until third year and don't teach until fifth years." she said. by that age they were sort of set in their own ways, and not as open to new things. she didn't say that, it may just be a divination thing, but those who were more open minded seemed a lot better at the class. "I remember my sorting, the school was a lot smaller then than it is now, it was the first graduating class in my first year, but it seemed huge to me, and there seemed like thousands of people when i was sitting on that stool" she said. realising how old the school was, and she had been living there for more than half of its life, that was a scary thought. it made her feel old though she was hardly 20.
she listened as he explained the greek custom. "That sounds pretty dangerous. I am glad that there is I am glad that I didn't have to face anything like that. did you really have to face a Chimarera? that is impressive" she said. she had heard reference to them in some old scrolls she had read and they sounded like truly fearsome creatures.
she was a little surprised when he said that he had studied the dark arts, he didn't seem like the sort of person who was in to that sort of thing. "I get where you are coming from, there branches of magic mix together, and there was no definitive line on light and dark magic. even now some of the "best" people have used dark magic." she said. she had heard that even Harry potter had used the unforgivable curses on people. "hogwarts only teaches the "light" magic, but really it is all shades of grey." she said
she was glad the subject changed back onto holidays, to much thinking about that sort of stuff was meant to happen in her office, not in a sunny kitchen. "the local people are meant to have pretty unique cultures so i can see you enjoying that as a holiday, you seem to like cultures a lot." she said. he always seemed to be talking about the greek culture and seemed interested in others. she chuckled slightly when he asked if she had tight bonds with her family. "I guess that shows. I am pretty close to my family, I think it was the growing up without them that made me closer to them now, sort of a you don't know what you have till it's gone, but backwards." she said hoping she wasn't rambling. she took another sip of her chocolate to make sure she didn't ramble any more.
 
Icarus let a smile shape on his features. It was nice listening to her memories as a first year and at the same time remembering his own. "I must admit that the sorting here is really peculiar. I could never imagine that an old shabby hat could be the right judge that could determine the students' house." he admitted quite impressed.
"We are sorted by an oracle. I never saw her face as she preferred keeping her face behind veils but she was the one that could 'see' for which house we were meant for." he added, finding the sorting he had experienced much more natural than the one with the talking hat.

Elvera was right, it was dangerous but he kinda liked it. At least now that he had passed through that alive.
"Actually I didn't have the honor to face a chimaera but instead I got a hydra. Lucky me!" he sarcasted as he still had scars on his body from that encounter and the scar on his eyebrow was also an acquisition of that face off.
He nodded a couple of times as she expressed her opinion about dark arts. She was right and he could agree as well. He just had that worldview that you had to get experiences in your life no matter if some of them were careening towards the dark side. He believed that actually every single being had both its' light and dark side. It was just a matter of choice.

He smiled as she pointed out that he seemed to be enjoying different cultures. That was true. From the time he started travelling and got out of the glass world his island was offering, he felt that urge to discover the world around him. "I'm that easy to read?" he laughed as she had figured him out. "Well, as I was travelling for months on my broom, I had to stop in so many different countries and so many different places that I come to see so many amazing things. Did you know that the magical community in Saudi Arabia are using flying carpets instead of broom or that in Papua New Guinea, the local tribes are practising advanced dark arts such as voodoo. I was surprised to find out things like that. I was like living in my own private aquarium and suddenly I realised that there was an ocean out there. I was just used to flying horse races, elemental magic, dangerous creatures that I thought that everywhere it was like that." he finished his long monologue, realising that he got a little bit carried away but he hoped that Elvera would feel what he was trying to say there.

He really liked her last phrase. You don't know what you have till it's gone. "I see that the Ravenclaw in you is still really active. I'm glad that it worked well for you and your family. It's nice to know you have people that care, a place that you can call home and return back whenever life sucks. Like right now for example that my muffins are starting looking a little bit scorched." he said and he turned his attention to the over. It seemed like both his and Elvera's were ready. He opened the oven, hoping for a hand of help from her to take them out.
 
Elvera smiled. she had thought the sorting had was a little odd when she had first seen it but it made sense after a while. "I guess a had cant show any bias, even if the oracle could 'see' the right house she would introduce a bias, as she is only human after all." she said, not trying to discredit an oracle, not at all, seers and oracles were more or less synonyms, and she was proud of her seer ability, it was her strongest magical strength.
when Icaus said that he hadn't faces a chimera just a hydra. she shook her head in as bemused way. "what a shame. that will never do" she said in the same tone. but ruined it by smiling. when he asked about reading people she wasn't sure what to say, she was usually rather good at reading others, at least if she tried, but for some odd reason he was fast becoming an exception. there were other exceptions, Morgan and Eden obviously as they were other seers, but also Lilith, Maya and gwen, the rest of her family, there were a few others, the one she could think of most obviously was a boy she had never met but seen long before Lilith reviled to the family she had a boyfriend, it was like when someones threads came to caught up in hers she found them harder to see. "some parts of you are easy to read, where as others are harder. I would say that your love of cultures is an easy one as you are always talking about your home and its culture." she said, she enjoyed listening to him talk about it she could tell it was something that he loved. and was probably something similar as to how she spoke of her family, though she hardly noticed how often she mentioned Eden, or Lilith or Morgan in a conversation, they just ended up there. "I would have thought being close to your family would be more of a hufflepuff trait but if thats what you think. as for a home, Everyone should have one where they can go when life sucks, though if they don't morgan has decided that Le Fey cottage can be home for people with nowhere else" she said smiling since Morgan had taken in Sapphire she had been talking about taking in children who had been through hell and needed a decent family. she made her way to the oven and when Icarus opened the door she took a mitt in each hand and pulled out both trays of cakes. "they both look perfect, and smell delicious too, Its making me hungry." she said. her stomach gurgling in agreement. as she started to put them onto a cooling rack.

OOCOut of Character:
It was the line from a song, and i hope that you dont mind what i am saying about him being hard to see. but i would guess people who she is close to (like friends with) would be harder to see as she is too caught up in their life that she cant distinguish it from her own.
 
OOCOut of Character:
i've no problem at all with that.


His grey eyes danced at her last words of the oracle being 'only a human'.
"I'm not absolutely sure about that. I mean I remember fellow students spreading all those kind of rumours, probably to get scared other students I guess. They were saying that the oracle was not human and that's why was wearing veils to hide her appearance. They were referring to her more as a presence but the most funny rumour was of her being an ugly hag, hiding her revolting appearance." he smiled, reminding of all those childish rumours that were spreading around the school, almost about everything. "You must be having generally rumours running around school. It's inevitable when you have younger students interacting with older ones." he added wondering what rumours were dominant when Elvera was studying in Hogwarts.

He cracked a smile as well she failed to keep her bemused tone. "Oh yeah, just my thoughts back then. I was like: a hydra? too easy..." he joked and shook his head as he was acting like he was experiencing that moment again. He just then realised that he might have been boring talking that much about his culture and his cheeks flashed. "Poseidon's trident! I must be talking too much about it. You didn't have to use your seer's powers to find that out." he felt a wave of warmth covering his body and he pulled his colar.
"I was referring to your saying, you don't know what you have till it's gone. That was really Ravenclaw. The part about family is definately Hufflepuff." he agreed as he was coming to know better the qualities of the four houses.
By just opening the oven, the warm smell of baked muffins mixed with the sweetness of raspberry, chocolate and caramel was unleashed in the kitchen. The imp stopped hanging for the chandelier in the dining room and rushed into the kitchen like it was magnetized by the fragnant smell. It was just like suddently it was a different creature. It left a throaty laughter and started bouncing foot to foot while hand-rubbing.

"Even muggles have figured them out. Children back in Greece put sweets next to the christmas tree so that they will make sure that their presents won't be mysteriously lost or damaged." he explained the range of the creature's addiction to sweet flavours. When Icarus noticed that the imp was ready to lay a hand on the hot muffins, just when Elvera was taking them out, he warned it. "Be patient you'll have your share." he was like talking to a spoil child. "Let Elvera serve them first." he continued, provinding to her two deep bowls for the muffins. He could hardly wait and start acting like the imp as he stomach complained with a gurgle as well.
 
Elvera was a little surprised when she said that he didn't think that the oracle may not be fully human. "wow, that is interesting, I have never met a hag. but that does sound like the kind of rumour that has gotten out of control" she said when he asked about the rumours she shook her head. "I really didn't pay much attention to rumours. I know there was the usual ones about people dating others, I an remember there was one about one of the gryffindors being a werewolf years ago, but It wasn't as big as this years." she said. maybe she was just more noticing of the size of the rumours this year as she was meant to try and keep the nastier ones under control, not that she had been much help last time, she tended to be a little out of the what in her office, and she didn't see many students either. "of course, a hydra not in the same league as the chimaera" she continued not really knowing what she was saying any more, just saying what coming into her head. "no, Its interesting. I had never thought about the cultures of other people, but you are right i didn't have to see anything to work it out." she said truthfully, maybe she ha been closed minded, and should read up on others cultures. she saw him pull at his collar and quickly turned back to the muffins.
in reference to the ]line she had said she shook her head, "no that wasn't wisdom at all, that was a line from a song my grandmother used to listen to." she said humming the tune slightly as she put the muffins into the bowls raspberry in one and caramel in the other.
took six muffins, three of eachand put the rest in the bowl that Icarus had put out for hershe saw that the imp had already picked up one of the chocolate caramel ones. Elvera smiled and took the last one into the bowl and saw the imp had already taken one. "have that one if you want" she said turning around her hands gull of cakes. "she does seem to be a lot less tormenting when there is sugar around." she said putting them on the counter. "may I?" she said and taking one of the caramel ones for herself. she took the case off and broke a bit off and ate it. "that is really good" she said through her mouthful.
 
"I don't really believe in rumours but I was enjoying the plotting between the students of finding a way to take those veils off her face and reveal he appearance. Kind of rude and thakfully we didn't execute our plan." he said realising that it wouldn't be polite to do what they were plotting as first years.
He listened to the kind of rumours she had when she was a student. It seemed to him that Elvera was a well-behaved student unlike him who used to cause troubles. He settled down a little bit somewhere in his fifth year.
"We had a lot of werewolves when I was at school. They don't have to hide so there weren't rumours about them. Everyone knew who were they. Werewolves are treated better there, I guess people got used to them from antiquity. It's not the same however with the hags. They usually get banished in the mountains or in isolated islands. In middle ages, they used to kill them." he said feeling a little sorry about their kind but the truth was that their lifestyle was a little bit disturbing.

He watched her absent-mindly as she was humming the song and at the same time she was serving the muffins in the bowls. He couldn't control the smile that had formed on his face and he actually he hadn't realise it until he was distracted by the imp, trying to pick at food. He stopped it by picking it up like it was a human baby and place it on the counter, the imp taking an expression of extreme disappointment. "Wait. You'll be the judge so you are going to eat in the end." he explained to it and the imp started licking its lips. "Of course be my guest. I'll take one of yours as well. Their smell is so inviting." he said to Elvera and took one of her raspberry muffins. He had a bite and instantly the acidic but at the same sugary taste of the muffin tickled his taste buds. "Wow, tastes like heaven!" he muttered with full mouth. He swallowed and took another bite, trying not to laugh as he noticed the imp, opening its mouth everytime he was taking a bite, with sparkling eyes. He swallowed his last bite and moaned with close eyes. "Okay, I think it will be hard to beat that." he commented as he was still enjoying the taste of the muffin. "Mine are really sweet, yours keep a tasty balance." he used an argument to support his opinion. "But I'm not the judge." he continued and took one from the bowl with the chocolate caramel ones and gave it to the imp.

"Miss Poopy is going to tell us." he said as the imp took the muffin into shaking hands like it was handed a treasure or a statuete that it was ready to worship. It didn't even reacted to the sound of its new name that so much hated. The imp smelled the treat first and then shoved it in its mouth, letting both chocolate and caramel, stain its face. It chewed like it was stupefied or it was in a slow motion, enjoying every bit of it. After a loud gulp and a long tongue coming out of its mouth to get the chocolate and caramel on its lips, it lost its good behaviour and its sparkled eyes filled with greed. It started acting like it had been poisoned, holding its stomach and then crawling like a soon to be dead, towards the sink where it pretended that it was vomitting. "If you keep disgusting us like that you won't get another one." Icarus said the magic words as the imp went from devil to angel in seconds and sat down again like a well-behaved child.
"I was so sure that this was going to happen." he revealed to Elvera next to him.
"Okay now it's your turn." he tolde her to offer to the imp her muffins. He hoped deep inside him that the creature wasn't go to pull the same acting to her and that it was going to behave to his guest.
 
Elvera shook her head slightly when Icarus said that he had been plotting to take her vails off. she didn't know why but she somehow wasn't surprised. though she didn't say anything. however when he said that there were lots of werewolves in Grease she was a little surprised. "I think thats better, so long as they take precautions at full moon, as it isnt their fault, and most of the time they are just the same as everyone else. though I do agree hags do seem a little disturbing" she said, there was something about eating children that wasn't right.
she stopped eating when he took one of her muffins and ate it. and smiled at the expression on his face. "I'm glad that you like it, though It had better be good to beat this" she said, she took a mouthful and get a clump of rich caramel. "mmm, the caramel is delicious" she said, wiping some of it that had stuck to her chin off. as she did she saw him give one to the imp. she seemed to enjoy it until she had finished, when she clutched her stomach and pretended to be sick in the sink. "Pleasant" she said in a tone that indicated that it was anything but.
She wasn't surprised that the Imp behaved as soon as Icarus threatened her with no more cake. from what she had seemed of it so far it liked to joke around but would do whatever it was told without complaint for sugar. "Now how do you like this one" she said as she gave her a raspberry one. she watched as it was consumed in a few mouthfuls. crumbs falling onto the counter top.
 
"I swear this is so delicious that I would like to get the recipe please." he asked to add it in his collection of recipes. Icarus had his creative side and he was expressing it only through photography and cooking. He also enjoyed cooking for friends and family, not really doing it when he has to make something for himself. In that case he could be content with a sandwich for instance. "I can give you my recipe as well if you like." he offered as he noticed that she liked back his chocolate, caramel muffins. He smiled as she wiped out of her chin some stuck caramel. "That's what I like in this kind of muffins. The liquid caramel. You can taste it even by looking at it." he said for his favourite sweet ingredient.

The imp on the counter seemed to be losing its patient as the two humans where exchanging compliments.
However, when the women approached it with another muffin, its eyes went sparkling again, hypnotized by the fruity smell. It took it in its hands and took at first a tiny bite, processing on its special tasting buds the sweet taste. Its dark eyes widened with excitement and revealed its small fangs before shoving the rest of it in its mouth, munching loudly. Greedily, it swallowed, almost choking at the big amount of food in its mouth. It brought its little hands on its cheek and its eyes filled with tears of joy. "This is so ambrosial!" the imp exclaimed loudly and hopped off the counter to embrace tenderly the woman's leg.
"Ambrosial?" repeated Icarus surprised. "Where did you picked that line?" he wondered astonished with the reaction of the imp. The creature just ignored him and look up at the woman. "Can I have some more, please?" it asked politely with puppy eyes. "Your muffins made cetrainly a good impression." he was going to agree with the imp but not in a such extravagant way. "I think our judge made up its mind. We have a winner! Congrats!" he said as it was obvious who won. Regardless the creature's acting about his muffins, its true reaction wasn't going to be in any way close to that one that had just caused Elvera's muffins. "All this baking had made me starving. Are you hungry?" he asked his guessed, ready to prepare a proper meal in no time.
 
Elvera was glad hat her muffin went down well. "sure i will give you the recipe, so long as i can get yours" she said making it a fair exchange. his muffins were lovely and she wanted to make them again. however he said that he would give her the recipe so that was settled. she would write it down when she returned to the castle (or maybe before) and give it to him.
she watched as the imp took a tentative bite of the muffin, before shoving the whole thing into her mouth, not caring that it had just come out of the oven mere minutes before. the creature swallowed it, or at least tried to before coughing it again as it had bitten off far more than it could chew, literally. she watched as its eyes started to water at first she thought that it was due to the choking but then she realised that they were tears over how much she liked the muffins, she was sort of cute when she was being nice. without warning the imp jumped off the table and hugged her legs, her muffins had never got that reaction before, she laughed glad that she was wearing tights under her skirt so that she at least had some barrier, she didn't need the creatures life in her mind right now. and she hadn't had time to put up her mental wall. at the creatures voice she smiled. "I don't know you will have to ask Icarus" she said not sure if she should give her another cake or not as she didn't know much about her kind. she smiled when he said that the muffins had made a good impression, and that she was the obvious winner of the competition, "Thank you, though I think that there may have been a little allegiance here" she said grateful for them letting her win, but not quite sure if they were teaming up and being polite, though the imps reaction did seem rather genuine. at the mention of food she thought for a moment. "I am a little peckish but not too hungry" she said not wanting to seem impolite or like she was asking him for food, as he had already welcomed her into his house, and supplied all the ingredients to the muffins. next time they would have to go to Le Fey cottage for their baking, if there was a next time, and morgan could be the judge.
 
His attention turned to the imp that was asking more of Elvera's muffins. Elvera looked hesitant, not sure if she was supposed to offere more. "It's ok. Here have some." he said and gave to the creature a couple of Elvera's bowl. "If she can have anything that would be undoubtedly sugar." he explained as the imp took the muffins and held them in its hands like they were valueable stones in display. "Sugar makes them easier to handle." he added.
"Believe me, she wouldn't have been teaming up with me even if I was going to ask her." he made that clear as Elvera seemed to have doubts about her victory. "Next time though I'll be more prepared. I'll have to find a whole new recipe to try out." he promised that there will be a next time and that he was determined to win next time.

"Don't be afraid to say it if you are. It's not any trouble to me." he replied. He wasn't really hungry himself and they had two bowls full of muffins that could satisfy their snacking.
"Okay, let's go to the lounge and finish there are chocolates, along with...this." he said and with a swish of his wand the bowls along with a couple of small dishes, two glasses and a jug filled with water, zoomed past them and headed to the living room. He just took his mug and had a last look at the imp behind him before leaving the kitchen. It had already eaten the one of the two muffins that he had given it and now was playing with the second one, acting like it was an airplane, landing in its wide-opened mouth. "She could just devour all of them. Along with the bowls." he joked as he was leading Elvera to living room.

Everything had settled on the coffe table and Icarus had a seat on the white sofa.
"I must say, that today's bake-off reminded me of those Sundays. We used to organize bake-offs back when I was student at school. We were using the school's kitchens, the imps were always happy to use them as they were going to have a little something of our baking afterwards. We were deviding in teams of two usually and the competition was beginning from the moment we had to go and buy our ingredients. Sometimes we were giving the opportunity to the imps to set a special ingredient for the dessert we were going to create." he remembered and took a sip from his chocolate. It wasn't warm anymore but it was still tasty. Homesickness definately set in his grey eyes and he made a note to write later a letter to friends back home.
"So how you were spending your time with friends? Shopping? Board games marathon?" he tried to guess some.
 
elvera watched as Icarus gave the imp a few of the muffins the look if its face was so full of gratitude it was almost easy to forget how teasing it had been earlier. "thats rare, sugar usually makes people harder to handle, it must be a earth imp thing" she said smiling as she gobbled one of them down and then slowly ate the next. "maybe she wasn't intentionally teaming up with you, but if she dislikes you as much as you say she may have decided not to let you win. if that makes sense" she said "next time we will have to do it at my house and have Morgan and maybe Lil and Sapphire if they are off can be judge." she said hoping that there would in fact be a next time.
she followed him into the lounge taking the mugs of chocolate with her as he was already levitating the rest. she sat down next to him on the sofa.
she listened to him as he talked about his school time, it sounded rather fun. team cooking competitions on the weekends. she could see in his face when he was thinking about his home, that he missed it. unfortunately thought there wasn't much she could do to help that. other than she guessed be a good friend. a few moments passed in silence when she drank a sip of the cold hot chocolate and picked up one of the cakes. and broke a bit off. after a while he asked what she did in her free time at school. "What made you think i had fiends?" she said trying to be lighthearted but unfortunately it didn't come out that way, she had had a few in her earlier years but they had all drifted apart, and by the time she had graduated she only really had one, Eden and it wasn't just chance they had been friends, it was genetics, how could you not be friends with someone who you had spent the first nine months of your life with even if you didn't know it. "I am afraid to say i was one of those boring students, i spent most of the time on the library or common room reading. though i did sometimes go for walks in the grounds, sometimes in my earlier years enjoying the peace and quiet of the forest, not deep just near the edge, i was one of those quiet people who even by graduation people were like elvera? who's she?" she said, thinking back to her time at school, i knew that if she was a student again, she would do it differently, make friends, and socialise a little more, not spend all her time up to her eyebrows in some book or other, either novels or text books, in her earlier years to old texts that required her to translate from runes in her seventh year. though that one had been useful, she had used a recipe for some drops out of it to show Sapphire that she wasn't hideous like she thought she was, and was in fact beautiful. that had made it worth it for her.
 
"That is true. It has the complete opposite impact that it would have to my younger cousins" he agreed with that as it seemed that sugar was almost hypnotizing the earth imp. "Nah, I don't think she dislikes me. She just acts. On the other hand, she might be disliking me because I enslaved her but it's not my fault. She should have picked another, less vigilant wizard." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Okay human judges sound better but again they might favorable me because I'll be the guest." he pointed out as there wasn't any objective judge available, although he was pretty sure that his earth imp was quite sincere.

He felt compassionate for her, especially when she made that question. He listened to her, feeling quite sorry for but not showing. He didn't want to make her feel worse. He was so focused listening, studying the changes on her features as she was explaining how she hadn't ever real friends, that he almost spilled some of his chocolate on him as he didn't noticed that mug in his hands was tilting. "Well you have at least one friend now." he said as he was pointing out himself. He took a napkin from the coffee table to wipe the chocolate from his hand. "A little bit prone accident but I hope you don't mind." he said with a smile as he was leaning back to the sofa.
"Well I have quite different time at school. I was quite popular, not really choosing but I guess I was hanging around with the popular ones. Then I started playing Quidditch, becoming a captain, I didn't have any other choice but the spotlights." he said, slowly realising that he hadn't really chose that but it just came.
"If that will make you feel better, I don't really have any friends in this country. Just you and my family." he said before another sip of the cold chocolate. He could have met more people but his two jobs had been absorbing the most of his time.
 
Elvera nodded when Icarus said that the sugar had the opposite reaction on the imp than on his younger cousins. I think she seems to have it pretty good. I am sure some wizards who trap them are a lot meaner she said guessing that like with house elves some of the wizards could be sadistic to their ‘slaves’ though it was just part of human nature; though she hoped that it wasn’t too many. okay then, next time we should make loads and take them in for my class to try, and I wont tell them who made each, therefore they wont be able to show favoritism. she said thinking that it was a good plan, the other option was to leave large bowls of each in the staff lounge and see which one emptied quicker.
She watched as he listened to her little rant. And didn’t seem quite sure what to say. sorry about that, that’s my rant of the day over, promise. Thank you for saying that, though I think that after being my friend for so long you don’t have much choice. she said watching him mot up some of the chocolate that he had spilled. being accident prone isn’t a problem at all she said smiling.
When he said what his time at the school was like she listened, it sounded a lot more social than hers. that just happens to some people I guess, for some it is a choice, and others it is just an occurrence she said nodding as if agreeing with her own words. I am sure you will make a load of driends soon, tou have just had to refind your feet in a new countrey, new job, new way of life, its not a surprise that you haven’t had time to socialize much. she said. Hoping it was true, and (maybe a little selfishly) that once he did make a load of cool friends he wouldn’t sort of drift away from her, as she enjoyed spending time with him.
 
Icarus nodded as Elvera had surprisingly guessed rightly.
"You are right. Some people treat house elves really badly when they don't cause any harm. Imagine about earth imps that are a nuisance." he said as most people that manage to capture one of them, were using them to burst their anger on them.
Elvera's next idea sounded more neutral and more objective. "Okay that would be fairer, especially if they are unaware of who made them." he agreed with her as she came up with a nice solution.
"No, no it's fine. Seriously." he rushed to say when she apologised for letting herself being more emotional about the fact that she didn't use to have a lot of friends. He liked that she spoke her heart out to him. He just wasn't a really good comforter sometimes and he was afraid that he could say something inappropriate.
"To be honest, I wouldn't imagine before that I could hang around with a girl like you. I mean, it's obvious that we have so few things in common but on the other hand, you are a really interesting personality." he said as it was the truth. He had no estimation for divination arts and he could never associate himself with someone that was into that field. However, with Elvera there was no problem about that. He could listen to her talking about tarot cards and crystal spheres for ever. He hoped that what he had just said wouldn't offend in any way Elvera as they were good intended.

"I wish I had more free time." he commented with his grey, clouded eyes lost at the bookcase opposite to him.
"You need time to make new friends and meet new people, something that I don't currently have in my hands." he exlained further as his two jobs were time consuming. "On the other hand, I can't really start *****ing for having to work. I mean, being accepted right after graduating as a professor? That's an honor." he added, really grateful that he was trusted with a post.
 
Elvera nodded when Icarus said that people treated elves mean when they caused ho harm, but the imps were a nuisance. "I know that some of them are mistreated, but i really should talk to eden about getting an Elf to help out at home, as we are all pretty busy and she isn't as young as she used to be." she said. there were many jobs around the house and shop that morgan was starting to struggle with though she tried not to show it. Elvera tried to do those jobs when she was there bit she was there, but she couldn't be there all of the time, as she was kept busy at the school. and Eden also had her carer, and a daughter, and lil was still at school.
next time we ill do that then. I usually have food in my classroom so they wont know who cooked each." she said thinking of giving them to her fifth or sixth years, whichever she had at the time. she smiled thanks when he said that her rant was okay.
when he said that he hadn't imagined that her would hang around with someone like her she smiled. especially when he said she had an interesting personality. "well I never had much to do with people like you either, but you are a great person" she said glad that she had met him.
"free time is something that i think most people want more of. and by that i don't mean just in the evenings, but whole days off. not sorting through boxes, dusting shelves, or marking papers" she said. her weekends were in she shop so that morgan could have time off. but that time came at a cost to her. she didn't mind, she would have time in the future that was sure. and besides she liked working. "Everyone is allows a little complain now and again. though it is a honour to be chosen as a professor fresh out of school, I thought i had done well after one year" she said taking another muffin. they really were her weak spot, lust like the imp she loved sugar, especially in muffins.
 
He came up with an idea when she mentioned that her mother needed some hepl around house and was considering the assistance of a house elf. "You can have Thasia." he offered his earth imp, almost whispering the real name of the creature. "I don't mind, I can take care of this house on my own and my aunt doesn't work so she takes care of her own household." he pointed out as he wanted to offer some help to Elvera. "Just make sure you won't use her real name. The enchantments from the capture might break if you don't humiliate her now and then with her embarassment new name." he explained the reason why he was calling her Mrs Poopy in the end.
"Think of it. She would be happy to serve you if you give her your muffins. Besides, I think she likes you." he tried to strengthen his reasoning.

He smiled when he told him that she wasn't really associated with people like him. He wasn't surprised as she was the kind of person that would enjoy the most the company of the book rather than a Quidditch player. In their case it might was the situation where the opposites attract. "That's why holidays exist." he pointed out when she mentioned that sometimes days were required off their jobs to dedicate sometime to themselves.
"I'm glad that I just teach flying. I wouldn't have the patience to mark assignments or run a shop by sorthing boxes and keeping it clean. Well, maybe I could tolerate that if I was selling brooms." he said about his professor job as he was considering his second one more as a hobby rather than a job. "You can complain that you were teaching this term. I can't have that demand as I could dedicate easily this period on myself." he said as he could just have some time off the breeding program and travel, maybe meet more people, have a relationship.
"How do you manage to combine work with your boyfriend?" he asked her as he hadn't a relationship since he started working and he didn't know how it was to have both of them in the tight, twenty four hours day.
 
Elvera shook her head at the offer. ”Thank you for the offer but, I couldn’t do that, she is your imp and I am sure that with all the animals that you seem to bread here you have some use for her. and i think Eden really wants to spend some of her money to help morgan though she wont let her” she said. Though his offer was nice. Besides Eden kept offering one of her house elves though Morgan kept insisting that she was fine, maybe it was almost time for the sisters to gang up on their mother and just employ one for her. ”I guess you’re right, maybe this time I will see if I can get back to England for a few days. There are a few places there I want to visit” she said thinking of Morgause her grandmother, and there were some landmarks across the isles that she wanted to see, stone henge, the tor in Glastonbury, and some other places that were meant to hold some ancient magic.
Elvera smiled when he said that she had reason to complain as she was actually teaching this semester. ”no I love my jobs really, this years fifth years are great, and most of the time the shop isn’t stressful at all, there isn’t much demand for divination equipment” she said thinking about the students who had taken her class, she was actually considering seeing if she could take the fourth years next year as they were covering her favourite branch of divination tarot and cards.
When she was asked how she managed to fit her jobs with a boyfriend she shook her head, ”I wouldn’t be able to tell you. As I don’t have one” she said. It was a curious question to ask if there was no intention behind it. She briefly tried to see what was coming for him, if she was suspecting right but she was blocked almost instantly, somehow he had become hard for her to see, this made her more curious but she didn’t let it show instead she took another mouthful of the now cold hot chocolate and just let the future come, like a normal person would have to do.
 
Icarus was expecting that Elvera would kindly reject his offer and he didn't insisted, not wanting to bring her to an uncomfortable position. "Okay. I understand but if you change your mind, Mrs Poopy is available." he said with a smile. The imp wasn't really helping around. Only a few times as a way of scolding when it was causing trouble.
The rest of the time was loafing around, helping Icarus' younger cousins with their mischief, making a hell of a time for his aunt. Sometimes he was feeling bad for bringing the imp with him.
"I've never been to England and I would like to visit the country in the future." he said, imagining the landmarks of magic that were located there. He wanted to suggest to Elvera, to go together but he didn't as it was such a rash thing to say. Elvera was his friend but she was as well a beautiful women. He couldn't act in the same way as he was doing around his boys back from school. And although he had a lot of female friends that were mostly involved in sports and Quidditch, Elvera was not like them.

"Sorry to here that. Maybe I'll talk about your family's shop to my grandmother. You would sell out in a matter of hours." he said with a laugh as his seer, grandmother was intrigued by crystal spheres and tarots which were not really used by seers in their country. "I started sending applications to some Quidditch teams for a professional post. I'm wondering how I'm going to organize three jobs in the end." he said, not planning to quit any of them. He liked teaching and at the same time he was having an eye on Minoas. He couldn't stop helping his uncle either. He was feeling obliged for his hospitality and it was the least he could do for him and his family.
He was having a sip from his cold chocolate when Elvera answered his question on how she was managing to combine work and relationships. He choked on his chocolate and coughed, his ears blushing of embarassment.
"I'm sorry for asking. I though that you had one." he said, hoping that the fact that he choked could be a more possible explanation for his blushing rather than his awkwardness. "That makes two of us. No, I mean...I don't mean I don't have a boyfriend, I don't fancy guys. I mean, I don't have a girlfriend anymore but I did." he stuttered, regreting every single word that was slipping out of his mouth. He looked somewhere at the ceiling as he was trying to work off his embarassment. "Sorry if I brought you in an awkward position but I believed that you had a boyfriend." he tried to redeem himself, avoiding to make eye contact as he was still feeling awkward for his question.
 
Elvera nodded when icarus said that the offer would be open. She wouldn’t take him up on it though. ”tanks once again for the offer, but once again no thanks” she said leaning back in the seat. It had been a really enjoyable afternoon so far, and she was glad that she hadn’t worked. ”you should visit some time, it is really nice, where I grew up until I was eleven. Though I didn’t get to travel around it much, I mainly stayed with my grandmother and we visited the local town and villages every now and then and sometimes went a little further to sell her products, but not sightseeing” she said. The market days had been good, waking up early and heading to wherever the market was with all the stock in boxes and packs. Then Elvera would have half the day to explore, ad would spend the other half selling the muggles skin products or tonics.
”If your grandmother ever visits, I am sure that she would like the eye, I can see her and Morgan talking for ages on different forms of divination, and what have you” she said, this instance using the word see metaphorical not that she could actually ‘see’ it . the news that he was eventually applying for professional quidditch teams came as a little bit of a surprise to elvera. ”which teams? Have you gone for try outs yet” she said, she knew the general procedure for applying for a professional team because her sister had been trying out for one team or another for the last couple of years, and Elvera was pretty sure she would get in when she graduated school, ”well if you ever need someone to cover duties for you just give a shout though I wont be able to cover your actual classes, but any corridor patrols, or what not I will be able to cover” she offered. It was always good when people offered to cover you, it meant that f ever something cropped up you could either swap or cover for them and that made it easer because sometimes there were things that just couldn’t be avoided.
She saw him get flustered when she answered his last question. And a flurry of half formed sentences came out racing each other. She shook her head and rested her ungloved hand on his shoulder to calm him. ”there is no need to worry or stress about it. It’s an easy enough mistake to make, better that way than the other way right?” she said, trying to calm him down. It was true what she said though no one had made that mistake regarding her that she knew of before, no one had been interested enough in her to think about it.
 
Elvera's description of the place she was brought up was reminding him a lot of the island he grew up. A closed society of wizards and witches, living free without the fear of being exposed to muggles.
"You are taking to someone who was born and raised on an island and only got out of it to be confined again in a school." he said about the fact that she really hadn't the opportunity to travel around. "Sounds a lot like my hometown's street markets. The stone paved avenue was always filled once a week with counters, selling vegetables, fruits, seafood as well as books, magical artifacts and small creatures. Some specific times of the year the whole market turns into a festival. Children get so excited because famous wizards and witches visit and duel or have spectacular shows. Something equivalent to muggle stars." he explained, remembering how he ws looking forward for those events when he was a child, wanting to get an autograph from his favourite dragon-slayer.

"Sure thing. I can see my grandmother wanting to learn how to read the tarots in exchange of learning to your mom how to read the bird's flying." he said quite sure that something like that it was going to happen.
He couldn't blame her enthusiasm though. He was probably acting like that when it came to Quidditch.
"No I haven't been to any try outs yet. I'm waiting for their reply first. I have applied to the local team as well some australian ones. I shouldn't be too picky, I'll probably check some others as well." he prefered to play for a local team as his program was going to be hectic and he wouldn't have enough time for travelling around the world. He felt better when Elvera reassured him that there was no problem with what he had asked.
He decided not to ask her how come she was single but to turn the topic into something else.
"Do you teach to third years? My cousin will be having to decide his electives pretty soon. I don't know though what his choices would be." he said, his question coming out of random but he couldn't think of something better to stray their conversation from awkwardness.
 
Elvera smiled when he said that he was brought up on an island, ”I guess you win that one then, though morgause didn’t socialize much.” she said. Smiling, she felt pretty laid back when she was with him. ”yes, I guess eventually all markets are pretty similar. Though the atmosphere is different in each one” she said leaning back on the seat. ”the festivals are always better though, the performers and entertainment, and the ones that were themed. There was one each year we went to that was in a castle and was like a medieval theme, it was always nice trying to get into character. Though we mainly did muggle markets so no famous duelists” she said, though the medieval one had been fun, she had always liked historical clothing styles, even still her style was inspired by those period, though more tones down than it used to be.
”reading the birds flying, that sounds intriguing, I wonder if there are any books on it” she said, she had heard of that method of divination though she hadn’t tried it, or even looked into it in detain but she knew that later that day she would be in the library looking it up. That was an advantage of living in the castle, there was copious amounts of reading material. ”I am not sure on the teams, but I heard the Australians are pretty competitive.” she said. Though she thought that it was the Australians that Lil had said that about she wasn’t certain.
When the topic turned of relationships she somehow felt a little relieved, though also a little disappointed, though she wouldn’t mention that. ”no third years are professor Chamberlin’s class, I only have fifth and sixth, though I may be getting fourth years next year, do you know what subjects he is taking next year?” she said, curious as to what his cousin would take, and if she would be taking him in a couple of years. She hadn’t told anyone about her extra classes yet not even Morgan or Eden. It wasn’t that it was a secret, it was more that she hadn’t had the opportunity and didn’t want to tell anyone until she was sure.
 
He left his almost empty mug on the coffee table and sat back comfortably, picturing in his head the medieval style festival. He had really a few opportunities in his life to socialize with muggles. That was the main reason why he was so intrigued by their technology and their lifestyle. "I've never been to a muggle festival. It must be really atmospheric with all the medieval theme and their idea of what magic is." he said, remembering the actual idea that muggles had for wizards and witches. More like a hag figure on a shabby broom, living in a hut in the forest alone, only with the company of their bat pet. "What kind of entertainment do they have in their festivals?" he asked as he couldn't match their duelist with something that muggles had. Maybe some kind of performers, faking magic. He had heard of that before. Muggles calling themselves magicians, using tricks to fool their audience into believing that they had actually used magic.

"I know it sound so strange but is one of the divination arts that were also studied at my school." he added, although he had never had any kind of divination lessons in his life. "Though the most peculiar one, that I actually learnt during my journey to come here, is the reading of animals entrails. I saw some people practising that in a small village somewhere in Indonesia." he said, baffled that all of the sudden he knew at least something little about divination. Elvera on the other hand, seemed also to be updated at least with the information that the australian teams were pretty competitive. "Look who is becoming a Quidditch fan." he teased her with a smirk.
"I know. I'm aiming for the australian ones or our local team. I know that Minoas would be thrilled if I was going to make it in Thunderers." he told her, as they were both big fans of the team.

It wasn't difficult for him to guess at least the one course that his little cousin was going to take as an elective. "I'm sure he's going to take care of magical creatures. I mean, is in our family so he better does or he'll have extra lessons at home by my uncle." he said with a smile, knowing that the specific course should be familiar to or family members. "Now about the second one, I have now idea. Probably the one that he would make the best of it." he guessed, knowing that Minoas wanted to learn practical stuff that he could use in his after school life. He felt happy for Elvera getting another class to teach. "That's great! They have recognised your talent to trust you with another demanding class." he pointed out, as she already had two of the most important classes. Having O.W.L students couldn't be a walk in the park. It must needed a good organization, descipline and dedication.
 
Elvera wasn't really surprised when he said that he hadn't been to a muggle festival. "well most of the entertainment is music, but there is quite often other entertainments, face painting for the children, food, most of them have a parade of some kind, there are rides too, but they are usually quite expensive, usually they are held in the grounds of old buildings and they are interesting to have a look around. themed ones often have themed entertainment, the medieval one i was talking about had reenactment, of sword fighting. many of the more rural ones have horse shows, and animal displays" she said trying to think of what else. was entertainment but she couldn't think of anything else. "It seems like I have a fair bit of reading to do, I am sure I saw something about that in an old book at home once" she said looking forward to the next time she was home when she could find that book and a few scrolls she had not yet translated form latin, or runes on the matter. she smiled when he said that she was becoming a quidditch fan, "Quidditch the main topic of conversation for my sister, Lilith even if she is talking to herself. you cant help but pick up on things." she said, Lil was so open, and like a breath of dash air among the rest of the family who were all rather serious.
"I should have guessed that for anyone who lives here. sort of a given isn't it? I am not sure on which other ones are 'practical' divination is in third and fourth year, but fifth year start getting more theory based. runes was one of my favourite classes, and cyndi my favourite professor, but that started off theory but by the end it was more practical, and arithmancy was all theory, I didn't take muggle studies or care of magical creatures though i heard the muggle studies class is pretty fun" she said. she beamed when icarus congratulated her on her new class. "thank you, as soon as i heard professor chamberlain was leaving i went to the head master and asked for th fourth years and a few days later I got asked to his office and told i had the class." she said it wasn't anything major but she loved their unit and was glad to be able to teach it. thinking of professor chaimberlin, she had promised her that she would cover her patrol this evening. she looked at her watch, It was almost time for her to start. "goodness, Is that the time, we really should make a move back to the castle I promised I would cover patrol for Zinnia this evening" she said putting her cup down and sending them to the kitchen with a flick of her wand. "can I apparate out of the sanctuary or do i have to leave first?" she asked wondering if it was just an ingoing apparation stopper or 2 way. she gave him a quick hug as she stood up. "thanks for inviting me over, It has been a really enjoyable afternoon and we should do it again some time." she said.
 
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