Belgian Waffles

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire had finished up working for the day, she had tidied away the last of what was needed and then left her work with a bright smile, there was nothing like helping the new first years find their wands, it was a little strenuous at times, first years were often loud and annoying but Victoire loved it, if she had not already mostly decided what she wanted to do, the girl would've returned to Hogwarts to teach, kids were after all, the future, much like she imagined herself to be. However, on this particular late afternoon, Victoire had other plans, most of the time she headed back to the apartment her father had gotten in New Zealand to ease the burden of travel on her and her brother, and for the next week, Victoire was mostly living alone, her family had gone on holiday and she had stayed behind to work. It wasn't a particularly fun thing, she would've rather go on holiday following all the hard work in her OWLs, but Victoire couldn't quite stop, she had a thirsty to prove herself which had just grown so much over the course of the last year, she didn't want to stop in case it was at that point she did something wrong.

But, Victoire had plans this evening and she was feeling a little nervous about them really, her time with Jean had been like walking carefully on perhaps too thin ice, she didn't want to ruin their friendship much like he, but she didn't want to not have this opportunity to see what they could be. Little doubt in her mind lingered as to what indeed would happen in the future for them and the thought of his siblings was enough to partially frighten the Gryffindor. She lived a little outside of Obsidian Harbour and was meeting Jean, just before heading back. It would be their second official date, and the Gryffindor prefect just ran a hand through her blonde hair as she sat down on a bench waiting for Jean to arrive. She glanced down at her own clothes cursing almost the fact she wasn't allowed to wear nicer clothes and she could only imagine that really she gave off the impression of someone who hadn't had time to tidy herself up after work, which was true, blonde wavy curls sat out of place, a tiredness in her eyes and a disheveled appearance, but the young blonde didn't mind, and she hoped that Jean wouldn't either, though she hoped he wouldn't be too much longer.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

Jean was glad that he was old enough to come and go, more or less as he pleased. His mother treated him like an adult, most of the time. It was his siblings who often asked the nosy, annoying questions about where he was going and with whom, and he definitely hadn't wanted to deal with that. No, not today. Luckily, his siblings were nowhere to be found as he quickly dipped his hand in the floo powder and spoke his destination. He inhaled a deep breath as he stepped out of the floo at the Leaky Cauldron in New Zealand, wiping ash off of his pants. With a quick look around, Jean headed for the door, escaping into the open air of the Harbour. The teenager could feel his excitement for the day finally growing. He'd been looking forward to it, for sure. But, he had to keep a cap on that excitement at home or his siblings would demand an explanation, one he wasn't ready to give to anyone. Jean and Victoire had agreed to keep things quiet for a while, to just figure things out for themselves without involving anyone else. It had been Victoire's suggestion, but Jean knew that it made sense.

Spotting Victoire on the bench, Jean was glad that he hadn't dressed up much. He'd been afraid that she would be really dressed up and he'd be dressed like he was off to the beach or something. It would have been pretty embarrassing. Sure, she'd seen him in worse but he wanted to at least look like he'd tried today. Sidling up to the bench, Jean took a seat on it and slid over until he was right next to his fellow Gryffindor. "It's been a while" he said by way of greeting in his accented English, a smile on his face. It'd been a little over a month. So Iong that he'd even received his OWL results at the crack of dawn. He'd left the results unopened, bringing them with him as he'd promised Victoire. She'd helped him study a lot, so he figured she should find out his results when he did. "Did you get your results?" he asked, more eager to check them out than he had let on when he'd received them and chucked them to the side.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire didn't have to wait too long for Jean while sitting at the bench, she'd played with the strands at the end of her winter jumper looking at him and smiling brightly at Jean, unable to stop the smile on her lips as she saw him and watched him slide in next to her, it had been difficult to organise any dates given that they were limited to Gryffindor and with his family lurking around every corner, and of course there was the serious struggle of the OWLs which had filled her hours, she'd helped Jean on a number different occasions in studying just because it had made sense to study together. It had been a while since she'd seen him, and really this day was one she'd been looking forward to for a long time, any and all time she spent with Jean she thoroughly enjoyed and she was eager to find out how he'd done in his OWLs, and how he was getting along on holiday, the temptation to look at her own results throughout the day had been strong but she'd managed to hold off on it.

"It is good to see you though," she told him with a smile, her own French accent playing on her words, tentatively reaching out and taking his hand for a brief moment, "I did, managed to grab the envelope before work," she told him, the girl leaned over the bench and from within her bag pulled out the envelope which had her results enclosed, "It's been burning a hole in my pocket all day," Victoire told him with a small laugh, "Shall we just open them at the same time, or do you want to open mine and I'll open yours," she suggested as she looked down at the envelope which had her full name on it, Victoire Oceane Fontaine and a heavy feeling and a big wonder, of what might happen if she did poorly, "I think I did alright," the girl sounded like she was trying to assure herself that she hadn't messed up too much, she'd studied so much and had been doing well in the class tests she'd done, Victoire was sure that she hadn't failed anything, "I'm convinced I failed the Arithmancy exam," she laughed slightly, though she clearly felt nervous, her blue eyes lingered on Jean waiting to hear what he thought they should do with the results.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

Holding hands with Victoire was a pleasant byproduct of this whole complicated situation they'd found themselves in. His smile widened as their hands briefly linked, but he had to pull away to get at his envelope. Jean Ivon Snow written across the envelope in flowery script. The teenager had been all about to suggest that they just open them at the same time, but then Victoire had spoken. He was shaking his head the entire time, but allowed her to finish. "Victoire. You know that didn't happen. Bet you earned double the OWLs that I did, easily" he stated, putting his envelope in her lap and picking up hers.

Jean stood up so she couldn't change her mind and take her envelope back. He made a big production of opening the envelope and taking out the parchment inside, his blue eyes peeking over at his date. "Ms. Victoire Oceane Fontaine, blah blah blah OWL blah blah blah" he scanned the letter, "Ah, here's the good part." Jean cleared his throat, shook the parchment and began, " In Arithmancy, Victoire Oceane Fointaine, you've earned an..." he looked up, a look of shock on his face. He quickly looked back at the paper, scanning all of the grades. "Are you sure you really want to know? These tests really don't mean anything even though the professors want you to think they do. I mean they're important if you want to be a Healer or an Auror or something, but otherwise who cares, right?" Jean shrugged his shoulders. He was just teasing her, but she wouldn't know that. He just wanted to ease her nerves, though he knew he was risking getting yelled at.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire looked down at the letter in her hands and just shrugged, she knew that for Jean he was less concerned about doing well, he had studied for them and Victoire hoped he'd done well, but she was concerned about herself, since she had worked so hard for them, and to her they meant so much more, her position within the magical world depended on them, but she just shook her head, "I'm sure you did fine!" she told him, "All the studying will hopefully have paid off," Victoire assured her date, thinking that the work had he done likely meant he had done alright, maybe not excellently, but she could assume still better than some in their year, given the others within the year. Victoire smiled at the letter he placed on her lap as he picked up hers, she held his letter in her hands, turning it over and opening it as Jean did the same with hers, she felt nervous about her results but it was strangely nice to be opening her results with someone else, it was almost like a reassurance that if she failed she would have to keep mostly composed about it.

Victoire blue eyes read through the letter, reading his name and then scanning the rest of it, but was interrupted when Jean spoke, and she glanced up at him suddenly, specifically when she noticed the shock which passed on his face, and she couldn't help but feel nervous, she knew she should've studied more for it, she hadn't put enough work in, but the teen didn't think she could've put in any more work, for any of the classes she'd done, as he continued her expression grew more confused, had she done that terribly, not at all seeing that he was kidding, "What?" she muttered heart beating fast in disbelief, had she just failed everything, after all the work she'd done, the teen stood up and took the letter from his hands, Jean's letter still in her other hand as she looked down at the results of the exams, and realised that Jean had been kidding, "Jean," she said "Don't do that to me," she gave him a light playful shove as she looked at her results, "I thought I'd failed everything," Victoire laughed lightly as she then scanned her results, "Had me scared," Victoire just smiled at him, before holding out his results for him to look at, "You haven't done too badly at all, though now we have clear and written evidence that I'm smarter than you," the gryffindor prefect teased lightly, her heart rate slowing back down, now that she realised that she'd done well, and that he'd been just playing with her.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

Before she'd even shoved him, Jean was in hysterics, laughing at his joke. "How could you think that?" he managed between laughs. Even though she wasn't a Ravenclaw, the supposed 'smart' house, Jean was convinced that Victoire was the smartest girl of their year. She'd helped him far more than he would ever know, more than he'd known as he glanced over at his own results. "Whoa. Two Es? This is great!" Jean exclaimed, ignoring the 4 Poors he'd received. He had even managed a handful of As. All in all, he was quite pleased with his results. With a scoff, Jean put his results back in his pocket, happy that he finally knew. He could enjoy the rest of his break now without that added stress. It wasn't like he didn't know that Victoire was smarter than him. He just never wanted to admit it. "Please. I'm just not a good test taker" he stated with a smirk.

"Sooo, enough talk about school. What do you want to do this evening?" He had several ideas, but he wanted to hear if she had any plans first before jumping in with his own. The teenager had saved up his allowance for this, and he'd even brought some extra floo powder along in case she wanted to head off somewhere else. Jean was willing to do pretty much whatever she wanted. He was just eager to spend time with her alone. This was the first time they'd ever been this alone, no professors, no students. Just them. The realization of that sent Jean's heart racing again, but he forced himself to calm. This was Victoire. They'd known each other forever.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Of course, Victoire had believe him, even as he'd broken into hysterics over his own joke, she wholeheartedly believed people sometimes, and when it came to her results she definitely believed that she'd done poorly, a fear of having failed really all her exams, such important ones too that would mean so much about Victoire's position in the wizarding world, unlike her brother who didn't seem to mind much about doing well, she felt like she had to, and in seeing that she had in fact done incredibly well, the teen was feeling elated, she knew that this meant she could continue all the classes on to the next level, that she could do the NEWT in them, and hopefully do as well in the NEWTs as she'd done in the OWLs, and she was happy for Jean too, who had managed to do pretty well, and she couldn't help the smile at his reaction to his own results, it was strangely nice to spend this time together, to share in the joy of their results, Jean was one of her oldest friends, and it felt nice to share this moment given the studying they'd done together, "Well, now I have two years to get you test ready for the NEWTs," she joked with him with a small smile, although she did intend to help study if he wanted her to, like they'd done for the OWLs.

But, the gryffindor prefect couldn't help but agree that following those results that was more for them to do that just talk about school, she didn't want to have to even think about the place until she was back on the train and heading back, this with Jean was easier now than in school, where around every corner were ears to the ground, or his family, they were alone, "Waffles!" she told him with a nod, as if she'd already decided that she wanted to do that, and was feeling like making waffles with Jean would be a good way to spend their time, "We can make waffles at mine," she told him with a bright smile before holding out her hand to him, "Since I can't go to Belgium, we will make Belgium come to us," she couldn't help the blush which reached her cheeks as she spoke, wondering if it would even be a good idea, but she had everything to make them, and the little apartment she used to be able to work was close by no more than a five minute walk, an open and airy apartment filled with little items which made it clearly hers. Victoire had never made waffles, but she figured they could make them together from the instructions her grandmother had given her, figure out how to use the muggle appliances, figure out how to bet eggs, if Jean didn't want to do that, she wasn't sure what else they could do, but she felt like no one could really say no to waffles.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

The teenager managed a small smile as she mentioned helping him to prep for OWLs but really he was done talking about school. The conversation thankfully moved along and Jean grinned, his head tilting quizzically. "Waffles?" he repeated, a bemused expression on his face. After he'd heard her explanation, Jean found himself nodding his head. He knew that Victoire missed her home often. New Zealand wasn't home for either of them, but he at least had the opportunity to sleep in his bed and go around to his old haunts. She was stuck here. Jean reached for Victoire's hand and took a step closer to her. He liked when their hands were linked together. It felt nice. "Ok. Let's go find Belgium" he stated as they began to walk.

They reached the apartment in no time, only having time to talk about a few silly things as they walked together. Jean had never been into the more residential part of Obsidian Harbour before. He didn't really know anyone here and didn't frequent the area much. He'd never had a reason to before. As they drew closer to the door to the building, a sudden thought caused Jean to stop dead. The normally confident teenager suddenly lost that swagger that he had on the quidditch pitch and off. He didn't bother with English as he spoke to his date in increasingly rapid French. "Uh...Victoire. Will I be meeting your parents? It's not that I don't want to or anything. It's just I would've dressed better. And I dunno...are we even ready for me to meet them? I've never met a muggle..." he was freaking out, not even realizing that Victoire had the apartment to herself. Had he stopped to think, he might've realized that it was unlikely that a muggle would be living, even temporarily, in the wizard town. Once he found out that she had the apartment to herself, it would be another sort of panic that would set in.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire couldn't help but smile at his reaction, laughing slightly at him and then was glad when he seemed to agree, taking her hand and she began to lead him towards her apartment, or at least the place where she stayed when she was working in New Zealand, it was likely a good thing that Victoire's family weren't exactly poor, but she just didn't have the magic which allowed her to move between places with ease and at little expense. The gryffindor grinned at him as they spoke about all manner of silly things as the walked towards it, and she was reminded about how easy it was to spend time with him, how easy it was to talk to him, just so good, but when he came to a dead stop, it slightly startled her and she glanced back at Jean with a curious expression and she just smiled encouraging as he began speaking in rapid french, she found it almost endearing that he thought that he might meet her family, she didn't particularly ever want to meet more of his, and felt it only fair to not inflict hers on him either, "Jean, my family are in Belgium right now," she told him switching to French too, turning to face him with a smile on her face, "They are visiting the rest of my family, I stayed here to work, we'll be alone,"

Victoire didn't mind being alone with Jean, she knew it might be a little scary in that she'd never spent any time alone with a boy like that before and this was one of their first dates, so she wondered what was even expected for them, "Come on," Victoire just pulled his hand a little and then continued walking towards the apartment, switching back to English as she spoke, though she imagined there would be a lot of the switching between them. The belgian girl let go of Jean's hand as they reached the door, and she lead him up the flights of stairs to the third and final story of the apartment block before letting them both into the apartment, it was relatively spacious, the kitchen and living area were open plan and there were two bedrooms, and a small balcony. She guided Jean into the living area as she put down her bag, and slipped off her shoes, "It's a pretty nice place," she introduced, scattered around were both muggle and magical books, in French, and Flemish, though all magical books were in english, and scattered too were pictures, a few of her family and of her old home. She grinned at Jean before pulling him into the kitchen area and handing him a the french recipe given to her by her grandmother, "I figure cooking is like potions, so, can't be too hard,"
​

 

[Jean Snow]

"Oh" Jean finally let out after hearing Victoire's reply. He had to admit that he was extremely relieved. Jean had heard that meeting someone's parents could be extremely tough. At least, that's what his older brothers had told him. He really only had them as reference, and he knew that they sometimes told him things to try and scare him. He followed behind her as she pulled him in, allowing her to lead him to the steps that ultimately led to her apartment. Three flights up and they were in, Jean looking around the living room as Victoire settled herself in. He nodded his head. "It's nice. Very cozy" he replied with a grin as he slipped his own shoes off. Jean looked at one of the pictures on a bookshelf, marvelling that it didn't move at all. "Hey! That's the boy that's always with Emma. He's your brother?!" Jean exclaimed, spotting the boy that he'd eventually learned was named Tholomyes. Now, that he was looking at the photo, he could spot the resemblance, but he really hadn't known at all before now.

He was pulled into the kitchen then, so he followed Victoire, the realization that they really were alone setting in with the teenaged boy. He kept expecting to hear sound of some sort like there always was in his house, but aside from the two of them getting the ingredients ready and searching for pots, there was nothing else. "But, Victoire" he began, a smirk on his face as he glanced down at the recipe. "I only managed an A in potions and you got an O. So, I guess that means you'll have to do most of the work" he finished with a bit of a chuckle to himself. He was mostly kidding, though he had no clue what he was doing in the kitchen. He feared that even with a recipe, waffles were a bit beyond his capabilities. If they wanted to actually eat this evening, he was setting his hopes that Victoire was right and cooking was a lot like potions.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire was a little surprised at Jean's words, and then walked over to the image that he was in front of, and then it occurred to her what he'd said, "Wait, so Emma is your sister?" she asked him, finally able to place more of a name to the stories her brother had of this mysterious and beautiful Emma and she looked at the picture, "Tholomyes is my youngest brother," she pointed to him in the picture, Victoire was sure that she didn't often talk about her family with Jean, likely why they'd never made the connection, "Small world," she commented, but in the back of her mind she was looking at Jean and wondering if she should be concerned about her brother being with someone from Jean's family, "He's a sweet kid," she told Jean, "We shouldn't tell anyone about them being close," Victoire said, though she was happy for the happiness her brother felt, she didn't want it to be ruined by something as small as them accidentally telling any of Jean's family, she didn't want to to think about how they might react to that being true. It wasn't there place to do anything, and she felt like knowing her brother that soon he might move on, and then she wouldn't have to worry about anything, that she wouldn't need to protect him from the slight inequalities of the world and the harshness of Jean's family.

But, Victoire shook all those thoughts from her head and focused on them, and focus on their date, which she had been looking forward to for ages, since it was one of the few times they'd really get to be alone, without too much of a risk of being caught by their respective families, or by people who might then tell others, they were able to do more, though Victoire had opted to for them to be inside and away from the streets but it was just because she had wanted to do something fun. Victoire looked at the recipe and then back up at Jean, "You're helping," she laughed lightly before grabbing the first of the ingredients, "How about you deal with the eggs, and I'll get the other part," she told him, pointing to the bit about eggs, which she figured out the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Victoire had a little bit of trouble with the flour, she stood on the tips of her toes as she looked at the scales to correctly get the right amount of flour, though proceeding to spill it a bit everywhere, "Ooops," she giggled lightly, "I think this is trickier than I first thought it would be," Victoire hadn't even thought about aprons, and she now had flour on her clothes, "I don't have any aprons," she had turned to Jean, "I hope you don't mind getting your clothes possibly a little dirty," Victoire couldn't think of anything to give to Jean if he would rather keep his clothes clean.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

Jean knew immediately why Victoire said what she did. She had reservations about his family, strong ones that led her to want to keep this whole thing hidden. The teenager was still very confused on his feelings about that. He got it, but it made him sad that he couldn't be like Lucien walking around with Clara on his arm. Jean didn't want to have to hide anything, but he could see the value of it for their relationship. He figured that they should at least figure things out and enjoy themselves a bit before complicating things by bringing in their families. Jean didn't think that his sister was dating Victoire's brother. At least, he hoped they weren't. They were too young! "Fine by me" he replied with a shrug eventually.

The teen knew that he wouldn't be able to get out of helping. He wasn't even really trying to, so he laughed. "Fiiiiiiine" he replied, reaching for the eggs. The teen rapped the egg against the counter, watching it shatter, the egg yolk oozing out onto the counter. "Oops" he exclaimed, succeeding in making more of a mess as he tried to wipe it up. He heard Victoire utter the same response beside him and chuckled as he saw flour on her cheek. He reached for it, brushing the flour dust off, his blue eyes on hers for a second. " You had some on your cheek" he explained before he removed his hand and reached for another egg, this one making it into the bowl that he was working with. "Nah, it's fine. It'll make it harder for Lucretia and Katrina to believe I was with a girl if I'm a mess when I go home" he reasoned, successfully cracking another egg, though dropping some of the shell in as well. "Sh-" he cursed, as he scooped it out with his fingers. He rushed to wash his hands and then pulled off the shirt he was wearing, leaving just a tank top on. He breathed a sigh of relief. "This is Luc's. I can't mess it up" he bit his lip. "Ok. The recipe said three so..." he read the next step out loud and moved to the stove, leaving the shirt by the door. There were many knobs and a door, and he stood in front of it immensely confused. Jean poked the burner, thinking it was a button he could press to turn it on. "I think it's broken, Victoire" he called, over his shoulder.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire was glad they could come to some agreement about what they should do about her brother and his sister, though Victoire didn't know the ins and outs of that relationship she was happy to let it flourish on it's own, to just be calm and collected, to not interfere like Lucien had on them, just let it be. But those were thoughts for a later day, and Victoire was more occupied by the fact that she was trying to measure out the flour, while Victoire had seen her mother cook, and on occasion helped out, this was entirely different, she had flour all over the counter, and it seemed to just flume up to her face, and that was when she had let out the small oops before turning round to face Jean with a smile on her face, noting that he too had managed to mess up a little. The gryffindor prefect's gaze met his, her eyes on his as he reached up and brushed her cheek, and Victoire felt herself blush lightly as he did that before just nodding at why he'd done it, it made sense, but it created a small moment where Victoire felt her heart beat faster, however it was away again as soon as it had come.

Victoire focused on what she needed to do, she added the other necessary ingredients to the mixture as it was instructed smiling happily to herself as she did so, listening along with what Jean was saying, she knew that the girl's he mentioned were his sisters and she knew they very much disapproved of him ever remotely seeing her, even being associated with her, and frankly she didn't want them near her either, so she was happier if they assumed nothing, she just watched as he took off his t-shirt and just smiled at him a little, before glancing at the recipe and realising she had almost missed something, "Wait," she exclaimed before opening the last cupboard and rooting around until she found what she was looking for, "Vanilla extract bought from Belgium, the finest in all of Belgium, this stuff goes right into the vanilla Belgium chocolates," she told him holding up the bottle for him to look at briefly before she added the correct amount in and mixed it in, only now paying attention to the fact he was at the oven stage of it, and Victoire realised then that this was one of the few times when she would explain something muggle to him, not that they would be using that,

"It works fine, but we don't need the oven, or grill, I have a waffle iron," she told him, before searching in a few cupboards before finding what she wanted, or the box it was in, clearly never before used, "My gran, in Belgium thinks that not having a waffle iron in the house was like not having a bathroom," she explained as Victoire opened the box and attempted to figure out how to work it, letting Jean read too, as she got it ready, "So it takes about five minutes to preheat and then we should be good to just pour the mixture on to it," she surmised with a small grin at Jean, "You're originally from Bordeaux right?" Victoire gently asked trying to figure out if he might've ever made the trip up to her home country and tasted the finest they had to offer.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

Jean had been afraid that he’d forgotten something or that he was going to blow the whole place up when he heard Victoire tell him to wait, but as he glanced over his shoulder and saw the bottle she was holding up, he relaxed. The teen was grateful for the explanation because he had no idea what he was looking at. It just looked like a regular bottle to him, though he was sure that he should keep that to himself with as much as she was going on about it being ‘the finest in all of Belgium.’ He was grateful as well as she explained that they wouldn’t be using the stove. Jean had been eyeing it suspiciously, wondering why it didn’t work like the one in his home. He knew that muggles didn’t have the advantage of magic, but surely the thing didn’t need to have as many buttons and knobs as it did. The teenager settled himself on top of the only counter that was free of flour as he watched Victoire set up the waffle iron. It sounded simple enough, and he hoped that it would be. With the scent of vanilla wafting through the room, Jean’s stomach had suddenly come to life. He hoped it wasn’t so loud that Victoire heard it as well.

“Yep” he replied with a grin, “Home sweet home.” The teenager loved the area that he lived in. It was a wizarding village, of course. Now that Jean was older and able to wander about alone, he liked it even more. “One day, you should come visit” he stated, rushing to add before she could interrupt and say something about his family, “We could go to the muggle area. I sneak out of the wizarding part and go there sometimes. You won't run into my family there.” He smirked at her, his eyebrows rising as he revealed that secret. The Gryffindor also spent a great deal of time in Bulgaria. In fact, he had a trip planned up there in the next few weeks. The quads were set to get their tattoos, the Zhefarovich ones. Jean wasn’t sure how to feel about it, especially after the stories he’d heard from some of his older cousins. Even his mother had admitted that the tattoo hurt like hell. “I’ve never been to Belgium. We don’t have family there” he added with a shrug, “and I didn’t really travel much when I was a kid. I was always sick.” The teenager had been a fairly sickly kid, and he knew that he probably would’ve been even worse had it not been for his mother’s healing abilities. He looked at the waffle iron, sliding his hand closer to feel the heat of it as the electricity worked. “So, I’m putting a lot of faith in these waffles being amazing and making me think that it’s an amazing place to visit. Otherwise, I might never go at all” he joked.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Waiting for the iron to preheat wasn't too hard Victoire found, since of course she could easily make conversation with Jean, and while she knew of his family, she didn't really claim to know all that much about them as normal people, it was funny in her mind to think of how he'd grown up in Bordeaux, she'd never been to that particular French city, but she knew that it was still likely that perhaps at one point they'd been in the same french city, although divided between the magical and non magical areas. She liked the idea of going to visit him in Bordeaux, of taking some time to go, "Perhaps if we're both home at the same time, I can get a train down," obviously until they passed apparition Victoire was limited to muggle methods of transport, not that she would mind getting the train to where he lived, she was not surprised to hear that he'd never visited Belgium, "Most haven't," she told him with a smile, opting to not pry into his childhood prior to school, "People just go through Belgium," she added with a small laugh, "But once you taste these you'll want to come visit,".

"My family travelled a lot in the summer months," she shrugged, "But, I've never been to Bordeaux before," Victoire told him, clearly indicating in her tone that she would one day like to visit, "Do you think you'll move back there after school is over, or stay in New Zealand?" Victoire asked, suddenly curious as to what his plans even were upon leaving school, she had fragments of plans but nothing concrete, it all depended on how well her NEWTs were. The Gryffindor prefect glanced at the iron and then smiled at it, "I think it's ready," she grabbed the mixture and then poured it over, reading the instructions on how long it would take for them to be able to just sit down and eat, "Can you grab two plates from the cupboard?" she asked him, vaguely pointing towards a cupboard as she watch the iron do what it was supposed to, "These don't look half bad at all, I think despite this mess, we did okay," She turned to face Jean and just smiled at him, feeling so at ease with this, and happy they had decided to take the time to meet up during the holidays, glad that they were alone with out the stresses of family.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

Just the thought that she might come to his city, even if they didn’t enter the wizarding area together, made Jean smile. He enjoyed spending time with Victoire, however he could get it. That’s why he was so agreeable about keeping things secret for now. If that’s what made her feel more comfortable and helped them to figure things out, then he was all for it. The teenager looked at the blonde as she spoke, admiring the color of her hair and the tilt of her head as she spoke to him. It was little things he was noticing that he’d either not noticed before or hadn’t allowed himself to dwell on for long. He chuckled. “We’ll see.”

Jean watched her pour the mixture into the waffle iron as he thought about his response. Even though only a little more skilled with what they were doing as he was, he admired how sure she was as she spooned things into the waffle iron. It was very Gryffindor of her to move forward as if she had been doing this for years. Thinking on his response as he hopped off the counter to get to the cabinet that she’d indicated, Jean wondered whether to tell her about his dream. Ever since OWL year had begun, everyone had been asking him questions about the future. During the course of the year, he’d figured out what he wanted to do. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he was certain that he was capable. The Gryffindor took down two plates easily and settled them right near the waffle iron. “Of course we did. We make a good team, Victoire” the teen replied shyly in French. He ducked his head, looking back up to catch her smile and returning it with one of his own.

The pureblood boy decided to share his future plans. “I’ve been thinking that I really want to make quidditch a career, so I don’t know if I’ll go back to Bordeaux. I might try out for the French National Team or one of the local teams here, if any of them will have me” he stated quietly. He’d finally put a voice to the thought that had been running in his head all year. It was why he didn’t really care what he got on his OWLs. He didn’t think it’d matter if he could just make it onto a professional team. It was why he had been even more competitive than usual this year. It wasn’t just a game to him anymore. He wanted scouts to notice him, needed them to. “What will you do after we graduate?” he asked, wondering why this topic had never come up before. They’d been so concerned with doing well on the exams but had never discussed the why of it. “Mmmm…it smells really good in here” he mentioned as the waffle iron performed its magic.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

At the declaration of them being a good team, Victoire couldn't help the smile at it, looking up at Jean as he'd spoken, she felt like they did make a good team, she felt like their easy friendship allowed them to be a good team, and thus had been shown in the time they'd studied together, and of course in this. Victoire couldn't help but feel proud that they'd managed it, though even if they hadn't quite, it wasn't like that would mean they'd have nothing to eat, "Yeah we do, a great team," she replied pulling the plates slightly towards her and where the waffle iron was so that they could be transferred easily. With the amount of batter which they'd made, she knew they'd be able to make four total, which was easily split between the two of them, and she couldn't help but thoroughly love the scent of the waffles as they cooked, as the smell spread around the house, it was funny to her that prior to this date that she'd been worried about what they could do, what options were open to two underage wizards, but she was happily thankful they'd managed to do something that was as easy as this, nothing too complicated, just simple.

Listening to Jean talk about what he wanted to do after school Victoire just nodded along, she hadn't imagined him as really the academic type, quidditch suited him when she thought about it, she could see him being one of the people who flew professionally, he'd been on the quidditch team so long and she thought he was really good at it too, which meant she was sure that he'd have no problems getting himself on to a team, "The French National team, that would be pretty amazing," she admitted to him, wondering just what that might be like for a person. For her, the future was a little more unclear, she had ideas of what she wanted to do, but they were just that, ideas which she didn't even know if she'd manage any of them, "I don't really know, when I was a kid, before magic, I wanted to be a historian, go to University in Brussels, get a degree, get a masters," Victoire explained with a small shrug, "Now, I don't know, I have a whole world of different options, although I think law would be good," Victoire shrugged again turning to focus on the waffles and placing the now two cooked ones on the plates and moving to cook the other two, "But, you know if all else fails, I do already have a job," Victoire laughed lightly, she just took in the sweet scent of the waffles, and smiled at him, this really was nice, and Victoire met his gaze and just smiled at Jean, she was glad they had taken the time for this, she really was.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

This wasn't exactly what he'd pictured doing on a date, but now that he was here, cooking with Victoire, he was happy that this was what they were doing. Jean didn't know much about cooking, but the room smelled amazing, so he figured they'd gotten something right. As Victoire spoke, Jean grinned and nodded. He thought it would be pretty amazing as well. Whenever he could, he begged his mother to let him and Lucien go to games. The team played wonderfully, but he thought he could outplay them, maybe not right now. Eventually, he was sure he'd be able to be one of the best chasers that the team had ever seen. It didn't matter that he hadn't won best quidditch player. He'd show them all. " That sounds like a lot of school" he replied with a look of disgust. Jean knew that once he graduated, he planned to avoid more schooling. It just really wasn't for him. He knew that Victoire would do well with whatever she did.

With a chuckle, Jean watched as the first two waffles were finished cooking. "I think you could be right" he stated as he watched her put the rest of it in. "Not that I have a vote, but if I did, it'd be for whatever keeps you in the magical world" he stated quietly. The Gryffindor knew that it was a point of contention among them, that his family was very much a magical one, pureblooded and proud and also prejudiced. But, Jean had said that for more selfish reasons than his family. If Victoire returned to the muggle world, the chances of them seeing each other would decrease as the years went on. Jean sometimes went to muggle neighborhoods for the novelty of doing something different, but he didn't really know how to navigate in that world. He didn't have much desire to learn either. If she found a job in the magical world, they'd always have the opportunity to see each other. They'd just have to make the time. Wanting to lighten the mood, Jean changed the subject. "I have tickets to a game next week. If you're not doing anything, we should go together" he looked to her hopefully, knowing that her job kept her very busy during this time of the year.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire just laughed at his look of disgust and then just shrugged, "I've always liked school," she told him, finding really the look of disgust on his face funny in comparison to how she felt about school, Victoire loved learning, she loved very little more than just being able to open a book and learn something from it, she didn't understand really why anyone would dislike such a thing. But, she knew from experience that not everyone did enjoy such a thing and Jean was definitely one of them, and as he continued speaking she just nodded, while the muggle world was a part of her life and likely would always be, she didn't see herself returning to it, just unlike Jean, she had an option to do so, "I won't have spent 7 years working my butt off to get the best grades I can in Wizarding exams to just go to the muggle world where I can't use any of it," she told him, sort of as a way of assuring him that she didn't want to leave the world they shared, even if she had her reservations about it, "Plus, I don't think Brussels University accept students to study in the brief history of the goblin uprisings," she added with a small smile.

Victoire turned her attention back to the waffles and began serving them on to the plates, before looking round at Jean, was he really inviting her to a game, that would be, fun, "I should be able to get one of my co-workers to cover for me if I am, although, since one of them is Esme I won't say what for," Victoire smiled at him, and nodded, "I've never seen a professional game, I want to see what you might end up doing, it'll be exciting," Victoire was excited for it, "Is it in New Zealand?" Victoire asked as she served up the waffles on to his plate and handed it to him, she grabbed the cream, the strawberries and the chocolate and took them all to the table, "Let's see if we actually managed it," she told him with a smile, waiting for him to take the first bite, "I'm so nervous to try these, what if they are awful?" Victoire admitted with a little laugh, she didn't know if she had any talent in cooking, and she knew she was about to find out, thankfully, she knew that Jean would have to take a least a little of the blame.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

Jean nodded his head in the way that people did when they understood that other people did things very differently than they did. He had learned over the years that Victoire actually did take pleasure in learning, but try as she might, that had not extended to him. She’d obviously worked some magic though judging by his grades. He smiled more genuinely at her next words, feeling like they were some kind of reassurance that she wasn’t just going to run back to the muggle world after leaving school. Jean didn’t know what was in their future, especially their future together, but he liked having Victoire around now and couldn’t see that changing anytime soon. “I don’t think that information is useful anywhere, but to each her own” he smirked, a slight roll of his eyes.

She still hadn’t answered his invitation, but she got around to it soon enough. Jean hadn’t known that she worked with Esme, a friend of his brother’s. He could only imagine how she must be around the more idiotic of the first years. It nearly amused him enough to want to go visit Victoire at work when Esme was on shift. “Yep. Macaws against the Thunderers. It’s going to be amazing” the teen explained eagerly. He couldn’t believe that Victoire had never been to a quidditch match before, and he was glad that she’d accepted so quickly. He moved to the table, taking a seat across from her and looking down at what he had as options. “The last time they met up, the Macaws Beater and the Thunderers captain ended up in a fist fight” he added, excitement in his voice. He moved for the strawberries and cream, leaving the chocolate, which he didn’t like anyway, on the table. Quickly enough, Jean was ready for a bite. He stared at the waffles for a second, his knife and fork poised as he listened to Victoire. With a laugh, he dove in. “It can’t be that bad” Jean pronounced before he filled his mouth with waffle, strawberry. His eyes widened and he gave her leg a little kick. “Try it Victoire” he said, his mouth still full of food.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire just smiled at him and nodded a little, it was unlikely that either of them would really need to know it, perhaps the information would never be useful but Victoire was happy to at least try and remember it all, she had found it a little fascinating even if he didn't, as he said, each to their own after all, which she very gladly believed in. The gryffindor prefect had thought about leaving the magical world, but she'd worked hard, in her mind it made no sense for her to leave it just yet, she had worked hard and she had put her all in to the work she'd done so far and she was planning to do the same at NEWT level but she was glad that she always had another set of options open to her if she decided to not continue with magic. Victoire listened to Jean explain who were playing, and though she'd heard little bits and pieces about the teams she had to admit she didn't know much about either, "Which is the better team?" she was asking, which was also a way of asking who he was going to support during the match.

She couldn't understand why a fist fight would be something to be excited about, but she'd watched plenty of football games to understand that they were a little interesting and usually something spoken about often, it made her think of the times she'd watched football with her brothers at home and how much they had, even Theo had revelled in the fights. Watching him prepare his own waffle, she did the same, opting for a drizzle of chocolate and little cream and strawberries, just as he assured her that it wouldn't be that bad, but she couldn't help but glance at the mess in the kitchen and think that it might just turn out to be a mess. Victoire watched nervously as he ate and was surprised by his reaction which prompted her to try them herself and she had to say that he was right, they'd definitely done a good job, they weren't bad at all, she ate happily enjoying that they'd managed something which wasn't really that far from the real thing, "We did good, I'm surprised," Victoire told him grinning brightly, "Does this mean you'll come to Belgium?" she asked him with a small smile, hoping that even if not for her, just because it wasn't a bad place to visit as she continued eating.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

“I’m still thinking about it, but this is definitely swaying me” he replied, digging into another bite. Jean was actually pretty intrigued about the whole idea of seeing where Victoire had grown up, where she loved.

******Later*****

“I can’t wait until we can use magic outside of school” Jean bemoaned, his hands full of suds and water as he rinsed yet another dish and passed it to Victoire. It was her home and she would know better than he did where items should go. In his house, dishes were done by magic, moving around the kitchen themselves and back into cabinets where they belonged, but that was because his mother could use magic. Since they were still a bit away from being of age, they were still restricted by stupid rules. “Hey, Victoire?” he nudged her slightly with his elbow. With a smirk on his face, Jean made sure his hand was extra soapy before quickly moving to Victoire’s nose, leaving a giant bundle of suds behind. He cackled as he moved his hand back to the dish he’d been washing, the final one. Jean barely did chores in his own home, but doing them here, with Victoire, made them feel a lot less like chores. That didn’t stop him from complaining a bit about it though, but if he was going to have to do them anyway, he was going to at least have a little fun with it. His own face was well out of reach of Victoire’s hands, at least he thought it was. The last time he’d checked, Jean had learned that he was just over six feet tall and Victoire was nowhere near that height. Surely, he was safe. Using that to boost his own confidence, Jean shut off the water and held out the last dish.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Victoire laughed lightly at his statement, she felt bad for making him have to do this chore, when she was sure that he never did anything like this by hand, but she only did it here because the apartment was too small to have dishwasher and just too much of an expense, not one that she thought she would need, it was almost funny to watch him hands in the water cleaning the dish, she took it from him, and began to dry it with the cloth she was holding, not waiting to place a wet dish on the dry ones, at his words and the nudge she glanced up, "Hmm?" she asked with a smile watching as he moved his hand and managed to get soap bubbles on her nose, she frowned at him and shook her head with a little laugh, and she put away the plate. Wiping the soap from her nose and just waiting for him to be done cleaning the plate. She took it from him, and just placed it down on the counter beside them, putting the cloth on top.

Victoire was smaller than Jean by quite a bit, though she'd grown, her growth over the past few years hadn't really been to the same extent as him, and definitely in other areas, she stood at just under 5ft 7 which was not particularly tall, and she wasn't going to grow much more than she currently was considering her family and therefore she didn't think she'd ever match or get close to his height, so for her to be able to get her own back on him she knew she'd have to work a little harder. Victoire just glanced up at him, just standing in silence, letting her gaze stay on his for a few moments, she smiled at him, before placing a slightly damp hand on his cheek, guiding his face down towards her and then standing on the tips of her toes, leaning in towards him, just smiling at him, and then kissing him lightly on the lips, while at the same time with her free hand, placing her hand in the water and then smearing some of the soapy bubbles on his cheek before pulling away, "I think you got a little on yourself," Victoire couldn't help but laugh at him, as she settled back on her heels and moved to dry the plate that he had handed her.
​

 

[Jean Snow]

The stare sent his mind off in different directions, and Jean quickly lost the smirk on his face as he let Victoire guide his face down to meet hers. Her getting revenge was far from his mind as he was just ready to kiss her. The teen remembered that they were alone, really alone. It wasn't like her parents were going to burst in on them at any moment, and his mother didn't even know where he was. As their lips nearly touched, Jean moved his hand to her waist to pull her in closer. The Gryffindor enjoyed these moments which were few and far between still, but growing more common with each meeting. Jean now understood what Lucien had told him about having a girlfriend.

"Hey!" he laughed, shaken out of the moment, as he found himself with a cheek full of soap suds and Victoire laughing at him. The Gryffindor leaned his cheek down to his shoulder, wiping the suds onto it as she finished drying the plate. Reaching for a towel, Jean wiped his hands and his face before he moved and hugged Victoire from behind. He leaned his face down and gave her the sloppiest, wettest, loudest kiss he could manage on her cheek. By the end, he couldn't even even contain his own chuckles. "There. We're even now" he stated, a smirk on his face, as he pulled away, even as he knew that they weren't.

 

[Victoire Fontaine]

Having let herself be brought in closer to him to share the kiss she had initiated to be able to get her own back on him Victoire had moved away as soon as the deed was done, she grabbed the plate with the joy at her success clear on her face as she began to dry it off so it could be put away. Seeing Jean's soapy cheek had definitely brought a smile to her face especially since he'd probably not thought she'd do anything like that not while they'd kissed, Victoire hadn't really understood until she'd kissed Jean how good that aspect felt, not just that, but just being close, given the nature of their relationship Victoire was blissfully happy keep all things private and being only close in private, like they were currently. The Gryffindor wiped the plate taking a few steps towards where it would need to be placed, thinking that the kiss and soapy cheek would be the end of that, but of course it wouldn't be. Jean hugged her from behind and she leaned in to him, for the moment of closeness, but it turned out not to be just to be close.

Victoire half heartedly struggled to get out of his grasp and of course the sloppy kiss being put on her cheek, but really she didn't mind too much clearly not actually wanting to be let go, and a little giggle erupted from her, "Jean," she managed to say, as he pulled away and she used the cloth she'd been using to clean off the plate and wiped it against her cheek, giving him a fake frown. Victoire put the plate away and just shook her head at him, "Barely," she told Jean as she threw the dirty cloth at him, moving quickly round him to the sink and using on hand scooping up a little soapy water and throwing it at him. She wouldn't mind any further mess they created, it wasn't like it would take too long in her mind to clean up, which was why she was so perfectly comfortable throwing water at Jean, and as soon as that was done, she moved away from the sink and ready to move from any retaliation he might have, "Now, we're even," Victoire told him a smile so clear on her face, easily reaching her eyes, her expression, just so content with everything about this day.
​