Love at first Bite

[Gregory Yearling Sr.]

Despite the fact that Beatrice had told him repeatedly that he wasn't needed here, Gregory had hovered for many weeks in Obsidian Harbour, floating over to Langton when the children's mother was out. He didn't come as often as he'd like but he knew that his presence was felt all the same. When Deirdre had been called away to New Zealand he'd encouraged her to have a break and spend time with her new boyfriend while caring for her youngest sister. Even so, he'd regretted asking her too, no matter how selfish it was to feel so. Gregory was lonely enough as it was with just his eldest daughter with him. He was used to a crowded household; or at least he had been four years ago. Deirdre was gone for two months before Greg finally cracked and pulled himself, nervous and hesitant, to see his children. It was awkward, then it was joyous. Yet now? Now he was solitary again. In some ways he felt that he didn't deserve to see the children, even though their not seeing him was only a little bit his fault. It was Beatrice that was still furious with him and she hung over his visits like a dark presence.

Gregory poked miserably at his practically untouched meal. For a doctor, he didn't take as much care for himself as for his patients, and often forgot to eat in pursuit of their well being. Maybe he had neglected Beatrice a little in the same way as himself ... Greg believed he would never get over her departure from his life. But circumstances proved otherwise; in fact, only moments after he thought so. Gregory glanced up idly as the door of the hotel swung open and let in a summer breeze. It brought with it a complete vision, a lovely woman that made his face go warm. He saw her eyes pass over his table along with the others, and even knowing that he had not been singled out did not stop him from going cherry pink. Greg dropped his fork, picked it up and began poking again as if he really was eating. If she wasn't looking before, she would now; and for all the wrong reasons!

 

[Helen Perry]

The past few weeks had been quite hectic for the normally settled Helen. She had wished at this point that her baby sister had told her just how hectic moving to the other side of the world really was, even with magic. She hadn't even found a place to stay yet but all of the going from place to place trying to find a house perfect for her and her two girls, even though they would not be there most of the time, was more activity than she was used to, having spent a good deal of the last eight years in and around the small city of Pikeville, Kentucky. Running her dress shop filled with dresses she bought as well as designs of her own, in a way trying to fill the hole her husband had left behind with his passing. Which she was now making the preparations to shut down and relocate. Getting measurements in the Metric system would be one of the biggest adjustments for her to be honest, having used the US system of measurement for a good twenty years. Walking out of the door of the last place she was looking at for the day she bid the woman a good day before scribbling her thoughts down on a small pad of paper once she was out of sight. Giving it a bit of a rating if you will.

She was now glad she had arranged for the viewings in order of farthest from to closest to her hotel for that day. While she could have apparated from any of the places a good deal of them were run by muggles and it was honestly more trouble than it was worth to try to when she could just walk the few blocks from the closest place to her hotel, the summer air was warm and the day was beautiful, why not take advantage of it? It certainly wasn't as if she had too much else to do. No friends to make plans with here, certainly no dates. Her love life had been severely lacking since her beloved Brandon had passed. Even after eight years thoughts of him still ached, though not nearly as much thankfully. She could not have lived life as she was back then, forever trapped in a deep black hell of grief. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever move on from him. She had pretended not to notice the glances her eldest daughter was starting to give her as she got older. Telling her it would be 'alright' to move on.

She pushed the door to the hotel she was staying at open and her eyes scanned over the array of tables at the small restaurant that rested within it. A small clang reaching her attention she turned her head to the source of the noise to see a man around her age, maybe a little older hurriedly eating his meal, as if he had to be somewhere in a hurry, she knew the feeling as she had done it several times herself. Giving him a small smile she took one of the only remaining tables left in the place, and if that happened to be near his so be it. Picking up the menu she began to scan over it, she hadn't realized how hungry she was.

 

[Gregory Yearling Sr.]

Gregory suddenly felt like a nervous school boy as he saw the woman give a smile out of the corner of his eye. He probably looked very foolish pushing his food around his plate and not eating a bite of it, so he resolved to attempt to look a little more sane. He put down his fork and sat back, casually glancing around the room as if he was finished and had nothing better to do than peruse the sights. The ploy would have worked a bit better it he wasn't then promptly thrown off course. A group of university-aged students (or so he would have guessed in muggle terms) entered the lobby and made their way over to the restaurant/bar in search of seats. The extremely pretty lady had taken the last one. Gregory could hear their whispers. 'Look, there's more of us than there are of them,' said one. 'How about we just ask?'. Oh no, thought Greg. Please don't bother the lady where she's sitting! Go on, choose another seat. 'Look, that guy's not doing anything.' Flummox me. he thought. The students hurried over to his table and, For goodness sake!, took a seat. There were many 'Sorry sir!'s and 'I hope you don't mind!'s. Well yes I do mind, he thought furiously while giving them tentative smiles and mumbling "Oh, not at all."

Gregory found himself shuffled to the edge of his seat and took the initiative to slide off and escape. The thought came as a good jolt to his midsection; the pretty woman was alone at her table, and now he had nowhere to sit. Dare he ask? Oh, he was a grown man, of course he could ask. Greg wandered 'casually' over to the next table and gave her a hesitant smile. He went red again. Oh stop it, you fool. "Excuse me, madam? Would you mind terribly if I, er ..." he gestured helplessly to his table which now swarmed with giggling young adults. "If I sat here, that is. Only ... I'm not quite ready to leave yet but I don't think I'll be finding somewhere else anytime soon." said Greg in his gentle English accent.

 

[Helen Perry]

There was a small disturbance at the entrance to the restaurant area and Helen couldn't resist the small push of curiosity as she turned around to come almost face to face with a group of, she would guess college kids. Or at least somewhere around that age, at the entrance. Conversing with one another and looking around the crowded place, looking for a seat and as Helen did a bit of a survey for herself, coming up short. Though she hadn't realized it at the time she had gotten the last seat in the house. Brushing it off she looked back towards the menu, running her finger along the lunch entrees before finally deciding on a small chicken dish with a Dr.Pepper and a small chicken noodle soup on the side. Now it was merely a waiting game as Helen put her menu back down in front of her and the waitress was buzzing around the restaurant at top speed. Helen didn't bother flagging her down, it would be rude and it wasn't as if the brunette really had anywhere else to be at the moment anyways. With nothing else to do she leaned back in her chair a bit, surveying her surroundings and drumming her fingers on the table top, she frowned when she noticed the college kids barge someone out of their seat. Had they no patience?

Helen looked up at him, a bit startled when he addressed her. Not particularly used to much contact anywhere and certainly not any here, where she knew not a soul. When the man asked if she minded his company she quickly shook her head. "Not at all." she told him, quickly hooking her purse over her foot to get it out of the seat in front of her, where it had been charmed immovable unless it was by her. Quickly reaching under the table to get it with her hand and sit it in the floor beside of her, where the charm reactivated as soon as she stopped touching it. Looking back over to the mans table, now overrun by college kids she gave him a sympathetic look. "Rotten Luck on that one." she said, her southern accent strong, noticing the mans food was still over at the other table.

 

[Gregory Yearling Sr.]

Gregory sat down gingerly at the lady's acceptance, wondering what on earth he was doing here in so forward a fashion. Obviously no one would take it as such, but for Greg who knew his true wish was just to talk to the lady, it seemed like some dastardly scheme. Perhaps he was just so out of practice talking to women (and with his ego so flattened) that everything seemed like a bid to get them to notice him. It was all bollocks, of course. Everyone knew that it was natural to be nervous when sitting next to someone you admired. In fact, she might not even talk to him at all; he was old after all, and a bit shy and plain-looking. He gave her a small, grateful smile and nodded. "Aye, I rather think so. But then, I wasn't hungry anyway," he said as he smiled properly this time. He hadn't done so for such a long time and his face seemed to lighten and grow softer, younger, as he did. Greg certainly noticed her accent and was pleased to note that she was foreign as well. He himself was certainly not from New Zealand. "Oh, are you not from here?" he asked kindly. Stupid, of course she isn't. She's even staying in a hotel. Greg admonished himself. "I've just come over from Yorkshire myself, to see the kids."

Strangely that sentence seemed to imply a lot of things. Firstly, that he was indeed alone. Secondly, that he had more than one child and of course, thirdly, he did not see them often. Either they were all grown up or he was divorced and saw them only rarely. No doubt she would surmise which one. "Dr. Gregory Yearling," he introduced himself hesitantly, holding out his hand politely. Doctor was a muggle term, he knew, but some wizards preferred that than 'Healer etc.' Maybe she wouldn't mind talking to him; he hoped not. Gregory knew absolutely no one in this area, and frankly he needed a better reason to stay than just popping around to see his sons and daughters while their mother was out.

 

[Helen Perry]

As the man sat down across from her in the seat only her purse had occupied just a few moments earlier she found herself instinctively straightening up in her chair. Moving a bit to lean towards his direction, rather than away from him as she had been before. Pushing back a bit of her dark hair with her right hand, ring finger adorned with her engagement ring. Originally [and still] worn to signify that she was a widow. After eight years it became more a part of her than anything, she still couldn't bear to put it up completely. Her fingers felt so light and empty without the weight of rings on them anymore. She listened to the man speak, such a soft accent and a meek tone. Especially to one used to the loud blaring accent of her home. Where half of the people had no concept of an 'inside voice' and counting syllables would be nearly impossible if one were to try to write haikus for a living. At his inquiry she shook her head. It was an odd question to hear when staying in a hotel but she supposed it was valid. She could live in the country and be visiting someone from a different city. But alas that wasn't the case and her voice made that extremely obvious. "Yorkshire eh? I've always wanted to go to England. Been to Scotland, but not England." she mused lightly.

"Telling you where I'm from wouldn't do much good. Pikeville, Kentucky isn't the most well known place in the world. Though I won't be there much longer, I'm here house hunting." she replied, knowing he would probably have no clue where on earth that was at. "One of the side effects of having your children attend school on the other side of the world." she added, revealing that she too had more than one child. She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows a bit when he mentioned he was a doctor. Impressive, in that moment if briefly crossed her mind if he was a wizard or a muggle, seeing as she was a muggle hotel. But of course that meant absolutely nothing. Both programs were tough as hell to get through. "Nice to meet you Gregory. I'm Helen Perry." she responded with a smile. "I would offer my hand to shake but..." she trailed off, motioning to the table that sat in between them with a small nod downwards. That would just be odd, and it would probably aggravate her still recovering arm.

 

[Gregory Yearling Sr.]

Gregory rested his hands on his lap and fiddled with his fingers, feeling decidedly awkward about sitting there and no longer having a legitimate reason to do so. Luckily his default face was calculating instead of nervous, being so entirely unused to the emotion that his facial muscles had no idea what to settle for except the 'doctoral look'. In playing with his owns hands he noticed the woman's, who was wearing her engagement ring but not, however, on the typical hand. It was on her right ring finger; a widower, then? He felt a profound sense of empathy for her and his eyes did not linger on her hand but moved on to glance at the bar. Gregory deigned not to think about it since it was not his place and he did not know the circumstances. He smiled at her and said "Scotland is a beautiful place. New Zealand, too." added Greg when he heard that she was looking for a house here. True, the country was beautiful but one would wonder why she had chosen to move there, as Greg did. But all came to light when she mentioned her own children attending school here. His face lit up visibly. He loved hearing about other people's children and he didn't often have the opportunity to talk about his own. Gregory was so proud of them, and he sometimes wished that he might have a little child again. He'd missed Artemis turning from a young girl into a woman. "Oh, how many do you have?" he asked quietly. "I have six, myself. The four youngest have lived here with their mother for about three years. They school not far up the road from here."

He recognised that it was foolish to simply blurt out a word like 'Hogwarts' if the woman ... Helen ... was a muggle. Despite their current lodgings, she felt like a witch to him. Like all wizards, he'd come to recognise the glimmer of magical aura around those of his own kind. But how was he to tell if it was true? Gregory simply shrugged apologetically to her and said "That's alright," when she could not return his handshake. It had been instinct for him, and he'd just made a goof out of himself. "Is there are particular area you're looking in?" he asked politely, moving back onto the topic of houses. He knew a few of the wizarding towns around, such as Brightstone, Langton and Appleby. There were large parts of Obsidian that were selectively magical communities too, but he'd had some muggle money to spare and felt like using it up.

 

[Helen Perry]

A bit of a silence settled over the awkward pair and Helen moved the silverware on the table around a bit in front of her. Trying to make this whole thing maybe seem a bit less... nervous? Now what in bloody blazes did she have to be nervous about? Maybe it was the fact that the man in front of her seemed to be simply bored with her company, or dissecting her with that calculating look. Either way the mood had gotten pretty odd and Helen was relieved when he chose to slice through the silence, commenting about the beauty of both the country of her schooling and the area around them right now. "Indeed it is, I went to..." she trailed off, very nearly saying Hogwarts before remembering that they were in a muggle establishment and though the man in front of her just seemed to silently scream wizard one could never be one hundred percent sure if you stumbled across someone in the muggle world. Picking back up from where she left off, only missing a beat she finished "a boarding school for the last seven or so years of schooling there. My little sister and I would travel the country during the summers of our later years there." she said lightly, not having too much to say yet about the latter country. Seeing as she had only been here a couple times and she hadn't much time to really look around, hopefully that would change soon.

When he asked about her children a small smile lit up Helen's face. Alyson and Arianna were the lights of her life with their shockingly blonde hair and Brandon's features. They were both growing up so quickly and having to send her youngest to school was a major wake up call. She would soon have an empty nest, and while the thought of a new baby was nice at the same time she could not imagine having any children at her age, chances are she probably wouldn't even be able to for much longer. "Six you say? Wow, I only have two daughters and boy they're a handful when they're home on break." she answered before saying, "Mine go to school nearby too. An extension of the same boarding school I attended. It just opened up a few years ago, but some of my nieces go there and they really love it."

Watching as he brought his hand back, looking a bit embarrassed Helen turned pink. She wasn't in Kentucky anymore! Not everyone was going to know everyone's business around here. "Sorry about that really... But I did quite a number on my arm a few weeks back and I won't be able to have full use of it again for another week or two." she told him, hoping to maybe explain why she had had to refuse his handshake. At his next question she thought about that, she really was kind of sticking to this general area. Obsidian Harbor was quite close and she wanted to become a bit more involved in her world. Kentucky wasn't exactly the Wizarding capital of the world. Her and her family were actually some of the only ones around that she knew of. "I'm actually sticking to right around this area. This is where most of the houses are plus it seems like a pretty nice place." she replied