It was mild relief that Johann was faced with a witch at the table. Signing himself up for this was partly a game - he liked to meet people, and partly to prove that despite the abrupt, yet unreported, end to his engagement with Hannah, he wasn't a romantic recluse. Quite the opposite of late, as it happened, but present company were none the wiser.

"I recognise your face from the paper," Johann greeted with a warm, boyish smile, "not to mention heard quite a bit from your dear housemate." He and Roxanne were able to talk for hours if their lunches were that long...

"Jane is it?" He asked, "Johann." He was trying to judge if a handshake was too formal for this bright, outgoing witch who chased a story down, so his hand outstretched, in such a way that a hug or a kiss on the cheek wouldn't be too odd either.

"Lovely to meet you. Did you sign yourself up, or am I unaware there's a story to be found?"

Jane walked into the now beautiful Puddifoot's. Sure, it was pretty before, but pink. Pink made everything better. It was kind of her philosophy. Everything needed a dash of pink, and her wardrobe was no different. She just loved the color. It was, to her, under appreciated. Greatly.

She found her way to the table, where she was not left waiting long before her mystery date showed up. She instantly recognized him from Roxanne's descriptions. She had gotten very good at translating descriptions into pictures, though she hadn't ever envisioned him to look this cute. Since him and Roxie had had lunch a few times, did that mean she called dibs? Was he off- limits?

"Jane is it?....Johann."

Jane took his hand, and shook it, not really knowing what to do either. She didn't know anything about him. A handshake seemed like a good thing for now. "How great to finally meet you." She said politely, trying to act as mature as possible. Roxanne had told her there was something likable about girls who were mature. And if that was the deal, then she was going to be a grown-up.

"Lovely to meet you. Did you sign yourself up, or am I unaware there's a story to be found?"

"Well, to be completely honest, my roommates believe I bring too many arses home, and thought that this may be a real chance to meet someone who 'actually likes me'." Jane replied, air-quoting. She rarely thought her friends were dumb, but this was one of those times. Jane did not want to accept the fact that the men she brought home really didn't care about her, and would break her heart.

"But less about me, what brings you here tonight?" She asked, sitting down, and looking at him.

"That's quite a hope pinned on this evening..." Johann replied, looking a little daunted for a second in response, but he tried to brush it aside.

"I'm here because a friend persuaded me for moral support." He nodded in the direction of the table Elixa and Maiko were already off to a chattering start from what he could see of their body language. "And because I enjoy meeting people. I can't guarantee I'm not an 'arse' but I wouldn't say I try to be, to put your mind at ease." The linguist ruffled his black hair and raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"I'm sure you don't mean to bring 'arses' home either."

Are you listening to yourself?! A scathing voice in the back of Johann's head piped up in the nick of time. Thank goodness for staying off sleeping potions before today, he was able to focus on trying to string some half-decent words together after this shaky start.

I love you the decoration punctuated his thinking time, and Johann batted it out of the way with a hand, attempting to look apologetic.

"Who would you like to meet, Jane?" Johann recovered as best he could, softening his features, "If you cast aside the sickly anniversary of being reminded of your relationship health, what, or who, would make you happy. Not your flatmates - you?"

So Jane had started off on the wrong foot. Wasn't that one of the first date golden rules? Don't talk about religion, exboyfriends, and politics. She was one for three. Great. She didn't exactly see this as a date, Jane wasn't attracted to him, and he did seem to be older than her. 

"I'm here because a friend persuaded me for moral support...And because I enjoy meeting people. I can't guarantee I'm not an 'arse' but I wouldn't say I try to be, to put your mind at ease."

Jane smiled. "Well, thanks for the ease-ing." Ease-ing? Ease-ing? What the hell did that even mean? Jane was losing her touch. And if she lost her social touch, what would she have? "I don't try to bring arses home. They're nice at the bar. They tell me I'm pretty. They just turn into arses later. I don't really understand why it keeps happening," she explained with a laugh.

He brought up what she really wanted, and to be completely honest, she didn't know. "I guess someone that likes me. Someone who is sweet, and likes me. I don't tend to be picky." She explained. "What about you? Are you looking for anyone in particular?"

"So, a bubbly, astute, literate bewitchment is what you're after? Shock of red hair optional?" Johann asked with a kind smile from the other side of the table.

"Me? I'm never really looking, which they say can be the best tactic. I have a tendency to collect dear friends instead." He drummed the fingers of one hand on the tablecloth and glanced past Jane a moment in thought.

"I do accept my gender has its fair share of awful people, but you ladies can be just as frightening. I'm surprised you have the time to chase romance when you're so busy filling the inches of the Daily Prophet - I have got that right now, haven't i?"

Jane smiled. "I always make time for romance. I try not to take life all that seriously, since I believe that if you do, time goes by faster." She explained. "Stop and smell the flowers, you know." She said, leaning on the table with her elbows. She never liked to rush through things, though she did tend to rush into things. Why bother wasting time thinking something through when you could spend that time doing things?

"I don't know even about this. Blind dates are fun, but I generally try to avoid them. It's like, if I don't know who I'm going on a date with, how can I be expected to have fun?" She then tried to reel back. "Not that you're not fun! You're plenty fun! I am having fun tonight, though. Johann." She smiled. "Do you go on many blind dates?"

"Blind dates? Not that I know of, if we count this, it'll be the first." Johann admitted honestly, "so I am glad this isn't a complete disaster, even if I''m not quite what you were looking for this side of the table." He raised his drink to her in a toast.

"To smelling flowers." He grinned, "Though I must admit, that seizing life and forgetting the flowers is the route I take, life passes you by whatever you do, time marches on without pause." He cocked his head to one side, "There'll be a wizard out there for you soon, I'm sure, Jane."

The decorations whirled around them, bleating romantic catchphrases.
"Did you grow up wanting to write about the world, about smelling the flowers?"

Jane smiled, raising her glass, and lightly tapping his. "To smelling flowers." He was good at this dinner thing. That was a nice change from the norm. Most guys she sat down across from were uninterested on toasting anything, and just sat there complementing her. That was nice too, but she was slowly understanding what Hadley and Roxie meant by that they didn't actually care. It was one sided conversation. It was about her, her, her. Because they wanted her, her, her.

She took a sip with a smile as he told her there was someone out there. "I can hope. There's plenty of fish in the sea." She said, placing her glass down on the table. Boys came and went. They did that. She was used to it. Sure, she wanted someone a bit more long term, and sure, she felt as though her fish weren't the best all the time, but you couldn't pick a winner the first time around. Life didn't work like that.

"I don't know when it hit me I wanted to write. I loved spending time with my dad, and he did a lot of reading of news papers, both muggle and magical. He wanted to seek out knowledge. He wanted to understand everything about both worlds. And, I guess, I wanted him to read my stuff. But he didn't have time to read my stuff, constantly working. So, I guess, I wanted to write something he'd always read." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not much, but it's my story." She took another sip. Roxie had said that she worked with Johann. And she worked at the Ministry. With her lovely deducing powers, Jane decided to ask him a question. "When did you decide to work for the Ministry?

Jane Hunter was quite a fascinating girl when she got past her initial quibbles about realising she was paired with a less than eligible young man. Johann was pleased, it made it all the easier to navigate the conversation and at least ensure she left feeling like she had been in an engaging conversation.

She too had enjoyed spending time with her father, only it seemed that they had been able to do it at leisure, whereas Johann had been the one sat in the corner quietly with a book at the office, or if he was lucky, allowed to slink around the bank's more administrative areas and enquire with adults about their roles.

"It's not much, but it's my story."

"I'm entirely sure it would make for most captivating reading written with your style." He assured her, patting the table between them and smiling.

"When did you decide to work for the Ministry?"

Johann folded one forearm over the other on the table, his dark grey suit jacket creasing at the elbows and pulling away from his pale, bony wrists, and exposing more of the white shirt beneath it.
"January last year. I came over here in a hurry, had to leave a freelancing business back home, so needed a steady income to establish myself. Visited the Department of International Magical Co-operation and made a nuisance of myself, then returned the next day, where I was offered a part time job, if I'd stop irritating the hell out of Trading Standards." He smirked and lowered his face, eyes glinting.

"Now I'm full time due to the workload and the tournament, and I haven't stopped irritating Trading Standards. They're too damned fun to stop engaging."

He lifted his head, a mischievous look on his face.
"Have you ever considered writing a story just to stir up trouble?" He asked Jane, "printed anything provocative just to get a reaction? Exposed any foul deeds?"

Well, if he couldn't offer her any luck in the romance department, the least he could do was to put the spotlight on her for once instead of on those she interviewed....

End