Closed For the First Time

[Hamish Reid]

Hamish was home again, working on cleaning up the place- he didn't understand how two people that were never there could trash it. The first few days back were always hectic- deep cleaning, restocking the fridge, just getting everything in order. It was chaos, but it was his chaos, and now he was expecting company. He had dressed up just a touch, putting on neater clothes than he would usually wear. He'd told Seamus they'd have company, though he wasn't sure if his brother would be home for it. He hummed as he pulled the Ratatouille out of the oven, setting it to cool.

 

[Ophelia Reilly]

Ophelia had been invited to visit her penpal. It was one of the better programmes at Beauxbatons, giving her the ability to speak with a boy who was interesting and at another school. Beauxbatons was good, and she'd finish out her time there, but she found it a little isolating and quiet. She had a few friends, younger kids, who thought her stories about Hogwarts were fun, and she kept them drawn in. Ophelia had dressed nicely, wearing a form fitting summer dress. Her blonde hair half up, and out of her face. A subtle amount of make up. Really, Ophelia didn't need to do much, as a part veela, but she wanted to make a good first impression. She arrived at the address with a little present, a selection of teas. The house was nice, the area not too unlikely, where her family's tea shop was. Though less built up than London. She knocked on the door and waited for the boy to open the door. ​

 

[Hamish Reid]

Hamish swallowed nervously when he heard the knock on the door. He ran a hand over his hair before jogging over, opening the door. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. "Ophelia?" He asked, stepping back to hold open the door for her, ushering her inside. "Seamus is out right now, but I made some Quiche, he'll be back later but I'm not sure when," He chattered nervously. "How was your journey? I hope you didn't have any trouble with it," He bit his lip to keep himself from chattering too much.

 

[Ophelia Reilly]

Ophelia took a little step back as the door opened. ”Hi!” she greeted with a warm, accented tone. Her English accent played into her words, but she spoke with light tone, high-pitched but not grating. She nodded and followed him inside, listening as he chatted away. ”Side along apparition makes the journey very simple,” she told him, the journey had been nothing. ”I'm staying with my cousin, Noemie and her husband,” she explained further. ”I brought you some tea,” she held out the little gift of tea, a bag with an assortment of blends. ”It's nice to put a face to the letters I've been getting,” ​

 

[Hamish Reid]

Hamish smiled shyly at her. "That's good, yeah," He rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you close with your cousin?" He asked, struggling with trying to sound casual. He swallowed nervously, accepting her gift. "Thanks," He smiled shyly. "Do you recommend any of these to go with a spinach quiche?" He asked, twisting the tea box in his hand. "Yeah, it's good to see your face- er- I mean- yeah," He stammered, clearing his throat gently.

 

[Ophelia Reilly]

Ophelia gave a little shake of her head, the boy seemed nervous. "Not particularly close, she's a good bit older than me," Ophelia replied with a shrug. It hadn't helped that she'd lived in London and her cousins in New Zealand but it was helpful now. "Oh actually, there's a great black tea in there that'll go really well," she said. She gave a little laugh, "No need to be nervous Hamish, I don't bite, and we already know each other," she partly wanted to blame her part-veela blood for making this more awkward. "Did I ever mention that I'm part veela?" she asked, not remembering if it had come up at all.​

 

[Hamish Reid]

Hamish smiled softly as she told him which tea, opening the box and pulling it out. He swallowed hard at her statements, and nodded shyly. "I, ah, probably," He admitted gently. "I'm sorry... I don't have a lot of friends, um, it's why I joined the program," He brushed his hair back out of his eyes. "I, um... don't really have any... girls in my life, my mom is never around, I'm... not quite sure how to act, I don't want to mess things up," He gave her a shy smile.

 

[Ophelia Reilly]

Ophelia held her hand out for the tea. ”Do you want me to make it?” she wasn't sure how much he knew about tea, or how interested her would be in tea, but she was quite content to help out or let him do it himself. ”You won't mess anything up, trust me, Hamish,” Ophelia assured him. She knew that the veela parts of her were probably making some of this a little worse, and there was little she could do to stop them. ”I also joined because I have few friends. Moving school in Sixth year doesn't make it easy to break into established groups,” People were friendly with her, and she'd made a couple of friends but not many, and it had left her a little lonely. ​

 

[Hamish Reid]

Hamish nodded and offered her the box. "Would you show me?" He asked, wanting to see how she made tea. "I hope not," He replied, giving her a shy smile. He didn't want to mess anything up, he liked her letters. "For what it's worth being there since first year doesn't make much difference," He tried to joke lightly, running a hand through his hair out of habit.

 

[Ophelia Reilly]

Ophelia gave a little nod, ”Of course,” she said, she found where he had boiled water and then began preparing some tea. ”Tea is actually rather simple, but don't tell my parents that,” She went through the steps as he spoke. ”Sometimes making friends just comes slower to some people than others,” she said, not pitying him nor trying to make him feel better, she couldn't change how things actually were for him at school. ”How do you like tea? Strong or light flavour?” ​

 

[Hamish Reid]

He chuckled at her words. "I won't if you won't," He replied, trying to relax as he trailed after her, watching to see what she was doing. "I fall a bit more in the middle, I like it a little lighter but strong enough to appreciate the flavors," He replied. "How do you like your tea?"

 

[Ophelia Reilly]

Ophelia gave a little laugh along with him before falling into the familiar routine of making the tea. "I'm about the same, sometimes a lighter tea is better and on some days I want the deepest flavours," Ophelia told him with a little smile. She finished it and then turned to him. "That needs to stew for a couple of minutes and then we're good to drink," she told him. "Do you want to show me around?" she wasn't sure if Hamish just wanted to sit down and just eat or if he wanted to wait till the tea was ready first. ​

 

[Hamish Reid]

Hamish smiled, watching her work. "That's a good way of thinking," He agreed lightly, taking a few mental notes for how she worked. She moved a bit gracefully, something he wasn't used to seeing. It was nice. He blinked at her question, turning his eyes away from the teacup to smile shyly at her. "Oh, of course," He agreed, offering out his hand.