Home Sweet Salem

[Maya DeNiro]

Maya walked out with her partner, still unraveling where they should go she took him by the arm and apparated them away right outside the ministry entrance. She let go of his arm, for a brief moment he felt tense when she touched him, in her hand. She would think apparating cause such reflects, Maya did it less with others for that reason. This was her treat to him, in this case or a few many a one time deal kind of thing. Maya disliked side by side apparating. "This and this time you'll have dinner here with me, figure we are partners might as well show you were I came from" she step out of the hedges near her house, the backyard was cleared from all her mom's old cluttered of antiques and gadgets she would get from all around the world. Since they've taken residency in New Zealand, their trading business had stop. They had to shut down the shop, on special occasion she reopen for the residents in Salem and the school nearby, Salem Institute. Maya walked to the back space, taking out a key from around her neck, it was silver and old. She wore it around her neck underneath her shirt at all times. It was a little bit of home, faraway from home.

Maya open the shop's back door, pushing it wide open. Only a singular bit of sunlight came from the front window, the curtain had fallen a little which explain why there was a little bit of light coming to the window. Maya let Leonzio in and closed the door behind her. "I am the heir of Gwen DeNiro who likes cauldron cakes and apple cider" a small movement of the house stop the set up charm from alerting unwelcoming visitors. Maya turn to Leonzio, "It's actually noon here early noon, so if you like I can make something and we can have outside the porch upstairs" she offered Leonzio, as she did she brighten the room, pulling back the drapes and opening the window to let the air wash over the shop. It was moldy inside, fresh air would do and some scented candles. She lit a few and levitated with wandless magic, the candles circle bit of the candler hanging from their diner ceiling.

 

[Leonzio Aiello]

As the partners got out of the ministry, Maya took his arm before apparating to the destination she had in her mind. Leonzio casted a look at her hand on his arm but then he felt being sucked into a void of swirling colors and irregular shapes before everything materialized again into a completely different scenery. From the moment he set his foot on that place, he felt like he was invading Maya's personal world. When she mentioned that she was going to show him the place where she came from, he felt really honored and he decided to be structured. The sun was still high in the sky and Leonzio guessed that it was early at noon,
"Where exactly on the globe are we?" he asked. What his eyes could meet didn't remind him of anything familiar. No distinctive landmarks or at least known to him.

He followed Maya towards a building that looked like an old shop. He watched as she took a key from around her neck and opened the back door of the shop. A beam of sunlight from the opposite window, showered them and Leonzio inhaled the moldy and musty smell that was trapped in the shut structure. He wondered if Maya's mom was someone famous. Her name didn't remind him of anything but then again, Leonzio was dreadful when it came to history of magic. "I love cauldron cakes as well." he said with a smile and thumbed up as he scanned the interior of the shop with his deep, blue eyes. Besides the facts that Maya had just shared about her mother, the italian knew that Mrs DeNiro was suffering from alzheimer and that Maya had taken over her family's bussiness. Secretly, he was admiring her for her courage and her determination. He nodded when she told him that it was still early noon there. He had guessed right.
"I wouldn't like to get you into trouble but the porch outside sounds great. Do you want any help?" he offered and rolled up his shirt's sleeves, ready to offer his assistance.

 

[Maya DeNiro]

Maya forgot to mention where exactly in the world they had wander off too. She was forgetting she been hosting this trip, right. She looked over in Leonzio's direction, "It's Salem, Massachusetts, you know thee old witch city of the western hemisphere" she said proudly about her home town. Really the history of this old place was something Maya should boost a little about. So many lives were taken because of the old witch hunt they had so many years ago. She's read about it and heard stories from witness of the past, what they describe Maya probably would've killed the entire city if she had the sense to hate muggels back then. She loved it though, it gave her that feeling that she was something different and she didn't go around judging muggels for what they were. She was apart of a witch history and something that important made her the witch she was today, stronger and tolerance to anyone regardless of status. Maybe the possible reason why some detested her in the office, Maya had the aura about to come off a little to strong sometimes. Lately she's been calmer though, probably it was the better she chilled out lot more. "If you like, and only if you want to we could go around the place, we lived not so faraway from the school" they lived almost at the corner of the town, away from the muggels and more into the witch community.

Maya went out to the cupboards, dust and spiderwebs greeted when she open them. She had two boxes of rice, some canned vegetables. Maybe they would take a trip to the market. "I think we might need to go to the market" she said when they made their way upstairs in her actual house, the shop was down the stairs from them. "It's been ages anyways, mom hasn't been here in a while so haven't I" she patted her hands together, dust flew everywhere. "Ugh that's disgusting! I apologize for that, we haven't been here because I moved her to New Zealand with me after I got the auror job. Will clean it afterwards, anyroad, up for a trip to the market? Maybe we can even find somewhere to eat, I don't think you appreciate spiderwebs in vegetable soup!" she said making jokes. Oye, she was joking around. Maya felt oddly bright right now, she couldn't remember the last time she cracked a smile.

 

[Leonzio Aiello]

"Salem?" he repeated surprised and glanced outside the nearest window to have another look of the surroundings. "I didn't know you were from Salem." he nodded as her ancestors could possibly be survivors from the famous witch hunt that had marked history. "Interesting. I come as well from a place where witch hunts had occured. They took place earlier that Salem's, around sixteenth and seventeenth century." he refered to the Fairy witch trials of Sicily. Quite the coincedence. "Of course I would love to show me around!" he accepted her offer with apparent enthusiasm. He enjoyed visiting new places, learning about their past and Salem was a place of rich history and mysteries. In addition, for some strange reason he wanted to visit the places that Maya spend her childhood, where her roots were tracing.

"We can combine our visit to the market with the little tour that you have promised me." he suggested while following her upstairs to the house. Indeed, the building looked like it hadn't been visited for a long time.
"I think it would do good to your mother to visit this place once in a while. It must be full of memories that she won't have forgotten." he pointed out. He was guessing that Maya's mother used to operate the shop downstairs and probably, this was the house that she grew up. "No need to apologize. I could lend you a hand with the cleaning later if you like." he offered his assistance, although he wasn't really good with cleaning spells. He had embraced his muggle side for this part of his life's routine.
"As much as I prefer some protein with my vegetable soup, spiderwebs don't sound really tasty." he agreed and continued her joke, cracking up a warm smile. "Let's have a look around. I would like to see the settlement and the market." he said, ready to go whenever she was ready.

 

[Maya DeNiro]

Out of Character:

Sorry for the random side of her, ha she really hasn't been out that much.

Maya nodded, "Yes Salem, my mom's from Europe but I'm from here, she said after school she moved over here, wanting to find something different in life" her mom told her the story, but she left the part why she had left Scotland, her twin sister had a lot to do with the fact why her mom preferred muggel men over magic wizards. Maya stop herself from saying it, she didn't like airing out her family dirty laundry, not that they would presume to have many, it's not right when you did, then later on the feeling of regret took over. "Where about the city you came from? That's so weird, then again I bet there's been years of witch hunt across the globe" she said agreeing to her statement, there had to be muggels, they were very nosy indeed. Maya found herself thinking about an old book she had, she went across the room from the diner she entered apart of the house where she had loads of book stacked. She took one from a pile, summoning between a few with nonverbal magic. She found the book, about the play of the witch trial, she walked back to the diner and gave to Leonzio, "Here the crucbile, best re-counter of what happen, you can keep it" she had a few old copies of the play, it what most muggels around here asked for, they study this during history class in the local high school. It was fun to teach what they didn't know.

"As for my mom, I do, we come here almost twice a month but we never really clean" she said blushing a little, Maya showed him back downstairs and into the main shop, dust was all over the shelves, "That be great, really want to clean this shop up, maybe open it for a little while if I hire someone to work around here" she looked out the window, the civilian of the town walked on by, some would take a peak at the shop, but none stop really to check if they were open of not. She really did missed this place. "If you like to leave now, we best be on our way" she open the front door, as she took a good look around she saw her old neighbor, Connor's mother waved at Maya, Maya waved back, she missed seeing the woman everyday and her son Nathan used to go to Salem while Maya had went all the way to Scotland for school.

"Nice to see you Maya, and who is this you're with?!" she spotted Leonzio, a very think middle-aged witch came out of her house, besides the shop, the house looked ten times better then their old brick establishment, something the woman like to take pride in, but she didn't get paid for it looking lovely, that much she wished could happen.

"This is my friend Leonzio, he works for the Ministry in New Zealand, Leonzio Mrs. Connor, she's been my neighbor for as long as I could remembered" she said to Leonzio, "We were just stopping by for a visit, it's been a while since I did a proper one"

 

[Leonzio Aiello]

Leonzio pulled away a little the dusty curtain of the closer window to look at the settlement outside.
"It looks like the perfect place for a little witch to grow up." he said as he was staring outside, shoving his hands in his pockets. He could feel the eerie atmosphere of the place, a chill descending his spine but he loved the feeling of mystery that was sealed within Salem's past. "Trials took place throughout Sicily but mostly at Benevento and Blockula of Sicily. Muggles there were much more confused about magic. They even believed that witches were also fairies, hence the name of the trials." he explained about his country's trials, which his family survived to the next generations. His attention was drawn away from the view outside the window when Maya approached him with a book in her hands. He took it and studied its old cover, his fingers tracing the carved letters of the title against the soft leather. "Are you sure?" he asked as she was saying that he could keep it. Judging from the exterior of the book, Leonzio could guess that it could be a family heirloom, probably the history of Maya's ancestors. "Thank you." he said and with a smile. "I'll return it to you as soon as I'll finish it." he promised as he was already feeling like he was snatching a piece of her past.

"It's ok. It matches Salem's mystery." he replied when he noticed Maya's blush as she was confessing that they didn't really use to clean. "It needs some work but when we'll be done with it, I'm sure it will attract some customers." he said, showing that he was still willing to help. "What do you merchandise?" he asked as there were so many different things scattered around that he couldn't figure out. Leonzio scratched his chin thoughtful as Maya was mentioning that she might need a shopkeeper. "My brother might be interested but I would prefer to see him focused on his studies now that he was trasnfered at Hogwarts. Maybe during his holidays he could help around." he suggested his younger brother, knowing that Elbio wanted to feel independent. He nodded and followed her outside the shop. A woman waved at Maya from the neighbouring house. An old neighbour maybe. Leonzio's first impression was that of a nosy one.
"Nice to meet you ma'am." he greeted back the middle-aged woman. "Nice house." he complimented, pointing with his head slightly at the house behind her.

 

[Maya DeNiro]

Maya was a little more interested in the witch fairy hunt that happen in Leonzio's hometown, she'd made a quick mental not to ask more about it later. "We sell and trade with a few stores across the world, my mom likes to collect items and if she ever feels that's it's worthy enough she sells it for a decent price. For example artifacts from wizards and witches history, some antiques along that line and potions ingredients. Pretty much anything she thought was useful. There's hardly ever a duplicate unless we decide to make them ourselves. We never had a cousin store, because we felt it was best to keep with one. We did try opening one, but it was to much to handle" she shrug, she did tried establishing one in New Zealand. Instead she was give one, and that shop no one in there knew Maya was an aurour, unless one of her colleagues came in for lunch, she kept to herself. After it burn down once, she was afraid to take her chances and her mom end up being the next person to be target. "You have a brother, if he don't mind, why not? I have ways to keep anyone busy" she laughed a little, her neighbor always been a little to much into everyone face,like the claw that she was, Maya knew when and when not to be well mannered. Kinda of fake, but anything works around here.

"Pleasure is all mine sonny, Maya when you see your mother tell her that she still owe me that cup of coffee and if she's ever back in town, for her to stop on by" the woman fast talk, most Americans fast talk, you couldn't make a good sentences out of them, especially with that New England accent of hers.

"I'll be sure to tell her, I have to go Mrs. Connor, I'll see you around" Maya waved at the woman and headed into the direction of towns city hall. "This building here, one that were coming up is the old city hall. It's to bad we can't see how it use to be, but some places around here still is, just the city hall was the most important part of Salem" Maya said tad disappointed in her tone. "Kinda irritates me when they called witch just by believing this girl" she carefully choose her words to describe the outcry of Salem history, all because of one girl who wanted more then just screw with a married man, the drama they had back then must be the results of today's drama now and days. Maya couldn't believe till she went to the museum, it was all true, but then she thought, it's the biggest history of witches on this side of the earth.

 

[Leonzio Aiello]

While Maya was describing what her family was merchandising, his smile dropped into a grim frown and his eyes lost in his thoughts that were set free from the locked chest of his memories. There were too many similarities between himself and Maya that he was starting to believe that it was something more than coincidence. However, that wasn't the reason why his mood changed so drastically. What her family was merchandising, had reminded him of the jobs he had been assigned while he was trying to earn money to support himself and his brother, while he was being trained as an auror. He tried to keep a straight face and not show that he was troubled by something she had mentioned. "Sounds really nice!" he forced a smile while he was trying not to show particular interest. "I have no idea about antiques but I'm pretty sure that are quite appealing to most people, wizards and muggles." he said, lying about the fact that he didn't know anything about artifacts and antiques. The truth was that it was a dark part of his past that he was trying to cast away from his current life.

He felt relief as she showed interest to his brother's potential employment. "That's good! I'm sure he will be really devoted and eager to help. He always complains that he wants his independence." he regained back his smile, glad that he managed to shift the topic slightly. Leonzio stared impressed at the woman that was talking rally fast. He hardly caught some of her words. Himself he was talking slightly slower, his heavy italian accent was distinctive but he was trying to neutralize when he had it in mind. He said goodbye to Maya's neighbour before following his partner to the center of the town, where the city hall was located.
He could remember a few things about it. It was really referenced in some history books back at school.
"Really interesting architecture. Is good to know that the architecture of the buildings didn't really changed since that era." he pointed out as he admired the distinguish architecture of the town's buildings.
"To which girl you refer to?" he asked, trying to dust his knowledge about Salem by taking advantage of Maya, being a moving encyclopedia. "So where were you used to hang around? Any special haunts?" he asked as he could remember his own haunts that he used to hang around with friends at his hometown.

 

[Maya DeNiro]

Maya noticed the distance stare Leonzio pulled off. She would've question him about what he was thinking about, however not to raid his personal thoughts she left it alone. "Yeah they are, we tried not to sell the real items to muggels, they just sort of use it for decoration anyways" Halloween is when they flock in like crazy, muggels would come for the fashion of the holiday and some materials that would scare off the little trick or treat visitors.Maya tolerated them, she was kind to everyone mostly whoever came in the shop. They won't come back if you come off as hostile and rude. She was reminded of her father every time they came around though, and that just damper her mood when the shop was up and running.

"I don't know, I think it's change over the years" she puffed out her cheeks, a breath of air came out of her. Maya study the building for good grip. "Once you read the play, you'll know whom I'm talking about, her name is Abigail though and her uncle was Parris the town pastor"Maya replied, she met Leonzio's eyes, "You mean hang out? Well it was only three of us and we use to hang out at the towns mall. One of three of us was a muggel, so we had to sort of play it safe around her. She was dating the other one in the group, I always felt like the third wheel" she grin. "We can go there, as long as you tell me more about you? I feel like a simple plain Jane compare to you" she joke, half of that was kinda true, she felt so simple compare to anyone really. Being an aurour what makes her stand out, if she wasn't one, she'd be unrecognizable. Sad but the honest truth.

 

[Leonzio Aiello]

He stroke his chin when Maya explained that they were used to sell replicas to muggles rather than the prototype artifacts. "I feel sometimes bad about them. I wouldn't like to be that ignorant." he said. Being half muggle, he knew a few more things about them than purebloods. He had negotiated with muggles of the underworld, members of Sicilian Mafia. They were just too easy to persuade them that the artifact you were offering them was the archetype. Even his own muggle father, was unaware for many years that his wife was a witch. That was for Leonzio, muggles' epitome of ignorance.

He had another look at the book in his hands as the names that Maya refered to, were still foreign to him.
"I'm definately going to have a look. I just realized that I was probably skipping most of my history classes." he said slightly embarrassed. Salem and San Vito Lo Capo, Leonzio's hometown in Sicily, might were two different spots on the globe, away from each other but still the way children were spending their free time was quite the same. Although the small town by the sea, couldn't afford a huge mall that most cities or towns in US had but the beachgoing market was one of the most beloved places that he could recall from his memories. "I used to have mostly muggle friends in the town I grew up. I was seeing them during holidays and I had to be really careful not to say or do something magical. I had already the target of the mysterious one on my back, I didn't need extra attention." he shared his experience about his muggle friends, understanding how it was to keep a low profile. "I'm glad I've never had to experience something that uncomfortable." he checkled as she described herself as the third wheel, between her friends.
"The guy must have a really bad taste for making you the third wheel." he stated, avoiding meeting her blue eyes by turning his attention at the wonderful architecture that graced the many older homes, they were passing by.

If there was a topic that Leonzio didn't really use to bring in a conversation, that would be about himself. It was going to take a lot of time spent with someone to open up and actually share something about him.
If there was one person, apart from his brother, that he could trust at that moment, that would be indisputably Maya. "I'm sure that simple plain Jane would have a complex of inferiority in front of you. You are a really diplomatoc auror who runs also a shop and is currently planning her next business move. And how old did you mentioned that you are? Just twenty two. I mean simple plain Jane in that age would be still trying to figure out what she would like to do with her dear life." he pointed out how wrong she was for believing to be just a plain twenty two years old girl. From the two months he knew her and from his charisma to read easily people, he had already seen enough things to make him, secretly admire her. Not like looking up to her but he likes autonomous, independed women who could stand on their own feet.
He knew that next he had to talk about himself. He decided to share a little something about him, just to be fair. She had trusted him with some many aspects of her world. He even knew things about her family that he shouldn't know.

"I should feel like simple plain John compared to you. Nothing really special about me. I'm half-blood, grown up in a small, seaside town in Sicily, Italy. As you know I have a younger brother and as far as I can remember myself, I always wanted to catch the bad guys. I wasn't really good at quidditch at school and since I was never picked for my house team, I decided to dedicate my free time in something that I was actually good and that proved to be dueling." he summed up a few aspects of himself, diplomatically chosen, not revealing too much but offering enough to start feeling that he knew a few more things about the man that she was working with. Of course he could say more if he was asked. Leonzio was a good listener, not the kind of a talker that could waffle about himself.

 

[Maya DeNiro]

Maya particularly agree, except her dad and a few thousand others, were not always that ignorant. You caught after a while of being with someone for a few years, her mom told her dad from the beginning so he was not the one left in the dark about our world. It was the thing he wanted to do with it that bother Maya, she refused so did Gwen. Gwen her mom, sided with Maya on this. Muggel getting a hold of magic would be the end of their own, he drop it soon after when he acknowledge the fact they weren't going to consider his plan. She frown, it vanished when she started to discuss about the Salem witch trial.

Abigail William, Salem biggest problem back then. Maya half listen and half imagine what it would be like to meet the notorious little horror woman. Abigail would probably never get to see another day if Maya had encounter such a girl. It's these thoughts she question how far would she go on to stop criminals. "It's alright, I wasn't the best in everything in Scotland, I tried to be but you know, nobody perfect" she shrug to her partner. She was far from it, she was just a little more lucky then she thought when she became an aurour and had realized her grades weren't all that bad. "Actually he was a she, it was a girl" she laughed covering her mouth. "I was a third wheel but they didn't mind because it was all girls" although as she thought about his comment, she noted the little comment he said about her, made her turn a shade of red. He was actually rather good looking to look at for a man of his age, reminded her of someone famous in the muggel world. He had perfect star like looks. "I can't help but notice we all seem similar a bit, like our lives. Isn't that weird" she heard about his friends, and where he use to live in Italy, all seems kind of strange.

He made her feel like someone important, "That all sounds rather a lot now!" she said as they continued their trip by foot. "But I just never noticed, you know you just live your life and it keeps going. And you can't say your simple at all either, I mean we have a lot in common" she said trying to make him feel better about himself. "I never actually liked sports, and we live by sea too, though you will probably have to fly to get there, weird right? So much in common" they reached an old library that was next to a bakery, Maya's probably favorite place to visit whenever she was in town. "The library, we use to go here a lot during the winter when I was home, just to read on old witches hunt, and one of my old muggel friend was a Wicca, so they met here all the time" Maya explained, she really missed them both a whole lot.

 

[Leonzio Aiello]

Leonzio was enjoying his time with Maya. He needed that break from work for a walk with a good company. He was feeling more and more comfortable with her as they were finding similarities about their lives, their place of origin and so on. "So you grew up here in Salem but attended school in Scotland? How come?" he asked as soon as she refered to the place she had spent her student years. He knew that Salem had one of the elite magic schools in the world so he guessed that there was a reason why she hadn't attend at her hometown.

Leonzio at first chuckled but then joined Maya with his roaring laugh. "Still I would feel uncomfortable if I was hanging around with a couple of the same sex. No difference to me. A couple needs its private space and I would feel like an intruder. Since they didn't bother as you tell me, probably they quite liked you as well." he managed to turn his embarassment into a joke with her help. He noticed that she blushed a little bit and he grinned as he was looking around the busy street. "What? Aren't you used to compliments?" he asked her with a mischievous smile.

Indeed they had some things in common but he wasn't finding it really weird. In his twenty fourth year of his life, Leonzio had developed his own beliefs and point of views. He nodded when she refered to their similarities as weird. "Do you believe in fate Maya?" he asked her with a smile. "I believe that what we currently live is already designated and the people that we spend our lives with, our friends, our families, are not randomly placed by our side." he shared his point of view. It wasn't necessary for her to blieve that. He wasn't either a few years ago but he started figuring out that most things that were happening in his life wasn't just mere coincidence. The smell of fresh bread, suddenly distracted him. He took a deep breath as she was introducing him to their local library. "Another connection, I used to hang out with muggles as well." he pointed out with a smile. "But not in a library. We used the company of a campfire by the beach or during winters, we used to explore the caves on the valley. Unlike your friend that believed in some way in magic, my muggle friends were oblivious to the truth of what I am." he continued about his childhood. "I could imagine you as a librarian or as an owner of a bookshop. You seem to like books a lot." he said, pointing at the book she had let him, now resting in his hand.

 

[Maya DeNiro]

Maya grew comfortable to his company so quickly, she could see herself spending more time with them being friends and partners. "My mom is from the Eastern side, so she asked me if I wanted to go to Scotland, I agree. It was okay, I wished though I had went to Salem. Scotland all great but getting use to it wasn't easy for me, so yeah" she shrugged. She'd skip the details of her history there, they weren't all that great really. Her years at Scotland felt rush and then she had so many problems with her peers there. It was so bad, that the best day of her life was graduating, as a perfect, but that didn't imprint her no, she would've left Scotland if there was no significant reason to stay there. Her mom was it, and that was all.

"I see your point" she said laughing with him, she didn't have much to rely on that, she let him have his laugh and shrugged simply. "I don't know, I've never been the type to care for what anyone say, due to half the time it was always rubbish nonsense. I wasn't always this friendly, in fact I question why I ever was in Ravenclaw" then she changed for the better. For the good. " You know my dad he's a criminal, don't know if I told you this, but he is. And I knew I just didn't want to be like him" it would in depth show much more to what she struggle with in her life. Self identity was it? That's as far as she explain why she changed and was a loads more reasonable with others. Loneliness was not the answer too.

"You did so much more then us, I swear you sound like someone who thrive on being reckless" she grin. His stories were ten times better then hers, she wouldn't be able to pull it off anyways. "Did you ever wanted to tell them what you can do? You know magic and all? Sometimes it was hard, because I felt like I was living a lie but then my mom she would say stuff like muggels wouldn't understand, but my dad understood though. I still don't know how they got together" she said biting at the edge of her lip. The smell of bread engulfed her senses, the library would have to wait for them later. She directed Leonzio to the bakery and walked in greeting the owner. "I am a shop keeper already, but not here, I have one back in New Zealand. Only a few people know that I'm an auror, or else I don't really say it to anyone. It's easier for me that way so I can look after the shop" she eyes some pastries, they all good and the fresh bread had Maya mouth watering. "Fancy something great?!"

 

[Leonzio Aiello]

"Salem feels better to me." he agreed with her preferance about Salem over Scotland. "My mother also insisted on my attendance at a school in Italy rather than in Sicily but the distance between home and school can't be compared with the distance between Salem and Scotland." he pointed out again a simalarity but not quite the same. He didn't like it either being far away from home but later he found himself straying away from his hometown as he was getting older.

Leonzio noticed that she had evaded his compliment smartly by changing the topic to what generally people say that made her not giving credit to their words. He wondered what Ravenclaw meant. He had heard the name before but he couldn't recall from where. He reminded him his brother's house in Hogwarts, although that seemed to be called Slytherin. "Don't worry. I used to be the shady guy from the province. Spoiled little brats whose daddies were high ranked workers in the ministry were always trying to test me. In later years they stopped when they realized that I was good at dueling." he shared his own experience of the way people were treating him. The truth was that he had more muggle friends than from the wizarding world. Leonzio knew that Maya's father hadn't the best relations with the law. While he was collecting their office mails, he accidentaly came across with one of the letters he was sending to her.
"Yes, something caught my ears." he nodded, a little bit ashamed that he had learnt that piece of information in that way. "I didn't want to become like my father either but in the end I chose similar job. He's a police officer, some sort of muggle auror." he explained, although he was pretty sure that she already knew what the term meant.

Leonzio frowned when she told him that he sounded like the kind of person that had experienced so many different things in his life. It was true that he had experienced things that most people hadn't but there were also things that he would wish he had never experieced. Either way, he wasn't feeling at all like Maya was describing. "I had to leave my family after my graduation, travel a little, find a part time job to pay for my auror training and my daily needs. I guess I have seen some things but not exactly the kind of things you think I'm afraid." he tried to neutralize the way she was thinking of him. He had a couple of experiences that were going to change her mind about him but he wasn't intending to share them with anyone.
"I tried so many times to keep my mouth shut. There were moments that I wanted to confess about my magical heritage to friends, I hate lying. But rules are rules, I just had to suck it up and pretend that my mother was sending me in a border school somewhere in north Italy." he understood exactly what she was saying. There were numerous times that the words 'magic' or 'wizard' wanted to slip off his tongue but he had to pretend something that he wasn't just for the reason that muggles shouldn't know about their existance.

There was a smile on his face when she referred to her parents' relationship. A witch's and muggle's relationship. "Coincidence. My mother was also a witch and my father is a muggle. Everything was going smoothly until he learnt that she was a witch. There are a few muggles that can deal with our existance but most of them, I believe they would freak out." he spoke about his experience with his father. It wasn't the best memory he had. "An undercover auror? I like it!" he approved the fact that she kept her auror identity camouflaged behind her shopkeeper job. "Apart from you, our colleagues and my brother, there is no one else that knows about my job as an auror. I had also lied to my nosy, muggle neighbours. They threw the question about my job so I had to say something mugglish and the sushi chef was the first thing that came into my mind." he said with a chuckle. He didn't know how he came up with that idea. Probably, because at that moment he was craving sushi. Ηis blue eyes stopped at the bakery's window and scanned the delicacies that were on display. "I think we should definately have a look inside." he said as he eyed the sugar donuts with raspberry jam stuffing. "Used to visit this bakery when you were a child?" he wondered as he held the door open for her to enter inside the sweet smell of the shop first.