Breakfast time

It wasn't often that Rosie cooked, but the few times she did, it was always such a lovely experience! Straying from the recipe, experimenting with quantities, spices and substitutes was always the most part of the whole experience. But, Rosie thought it was rather sad to not be able to share the fruits of your labor with some someone else... She always dreaded eating alone, let alone cooking for yourself.

So when she'd gotten a hang of Julian and decided to meet for breakfast, it was the absolute perfect opportunity to have some fun and also share, hopefully, a lovely meal with a dear friend. It didn't matter that she'd been up since  five, having to do her workout in a flurry, then come to the kitchens to convince the elves to spare her a corner and a few ingredients -which was not an easy task at all-, then do her cooking and then run to the tower to change into something that was not covered in Hollandaise sauce, and eventually make her way back downstairs to set up the little corner.

It really didn't matter... Because she'd be sharing her cooking with someone else and that was simply amazing. On a little table away from the flurry of elves at breakfast time, sat two plates, cutlery and a little vase with a daisy in the middle. Towards the edge were two carafes: one with coffee, the other with orange juice, because while Rosie might adore pumpkin juice, it was simply not a breakfast drink. Sitting expectantly on one of the stools, she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, watching her wrist watch from time to time.

When the door to the kitchen opened, she got up on her feet, a wide, warming smile on her face. She waved her hand in the air, signaling the Slytherin to their little table. "Good morning, Jules" she beamed, extending her arms up towards him and pulling him down into a little tight hug, keeping him there for a second. That was Rosie, hugger, and cuddler  extraordinaire. "Trust you've slept well?" she asked with a smile, letting him go and signaling for him to take a seat.

Leaning over the table, she pulled the lid off a tray and then the other. "Heh" she smiled a bit nervously. "We have Eggs Benedict and waffles with Mascarpone cream and strawberries this morning" she explained in her best academical voice after a soft clearing of her throat. "Coffee or orange juice?" she asked, distracted by pulling one glass in front of her own plate and waiting to see whether Jules would need a glass or mug.

Julian was a morning person. Already, since he’d woken up, he’d gotten showered, dressed, and had been contemplating what he wanted to start molding a chunk of clay into. And Neely wasn’t going to be up and ready yet. Breakfast with Rosie was just what the healer ordered. Then he could enjoy the rest of the meals of the day with his girlfriend.

Hogwarts was a time of finding one self. If he knew what was in store for his learning activities, it wouldn’t be learning. That he had gotten back together with Neely after they had... broken up twice - it made him happy, for now. Drama and teenagers went hand in hand, and things moved at a fast pace at Hogwarts.

As long as they were happy at that very moment, that was what mattered. And right then, thinking about food and his mate, Julian was happy. Thumbs hooked into his suspenders as he strode towards the kitchens.

When he saw Rosie, he beamed, used to her friendly greetings and hugging her back warmly. “G’morning, Rosa.” If he mumbled into her hair, it was because there was hair to be mumbled against. Pulling back, he smirked and shrugged before nodding. “Pretty well. Just thinking about that charms coursework.” Julian was feeling rather... unmotivated for school work as of late. Maybe it was just the time of year. “What about you? I see you didn’t need much beauty sleep last night.”

His aunt had been schooling him in sly wording since he could talk. If it slipped off his tongue easier the older he got, that just meant he practiced hard at it.

The smell, however, made him groan a little, licking his lips. “That smells amazing!” He swept her up in another hug before pulling back, glancing over the trays. He sat down and grinned before crossing his legs, foot bouncing in the air. “No tea?” An arm hung off the back of the chair as he slouched slightly, considering. “Orange juice.” Leaving his elbow to hang in the air behind the back of the chair, his hands lightly clasped as he looked her over. “So... what inspired this particular breakfast?” He beamed as he waited.

Rosie giggled at Jules' muffled reply, raising a hand to pat at the place where he'd just talked into her hair. "Hmm, charms has been... interesting lately" she offered with a little shrug and a small smile. She loved Charms as much as any of her other subjects, but she usually found it rather effortless. It certainly did prove its use in combination with other academical fields, however.

She smiled fondly at his compliment and nodded her thanks, not putting too much thought into it. Julian had a rather charming personality, but Rosie knew she wasn't some extraordinary beauty. She was fine being just pleasant. "You look rather dashing yourself" she offered, hooking a finger behind one of his suspenders and pulling it outwards just a little before releasing it slowly. She laughed softly, covering her mouth with a hand as she noticed the rather Gryffindor shade of them and shook her head once, preferring not to bring it up.

"Thank you" she said muffled by the hug with a beaming sort of smile, eyes crinkling at the corners, turning to continue arranging the table. "I'm sorry, I didn't think" she offered a little worriedly. "I take my tea in the afternoon and—" her eyes turned to the floor, glancing back at him to smile and nod as he made his preference known. She placed a glass in front of him, and filled it to the brim with freshly squeezed orange juice, then moved to do the same to her own.

Finally sitting back she exhaled and pulled her chair closer. "Well, then!" she smiled toothily, gesticulating towards the trays. "Please. Help yourself." She waited for him to fill his plate, and swiftly followed him. "How are things with Neely these days?" she asked with a little smile and an arched eyebrow. Those two had quite a rocky relationship, Rosie thought.

Interesting was the right way to put it. He returned the smile. They had definitely found ways to challenge the sixth years, hadn’t they? All the preparation for their N.E.W.T.s, and it was still another year and some change away. That just meant there were scores of papers to write between now and the end of his Hogwarts career.

It was weird to consider it ending sometime in the near future, even if he couldn’t completely grasp the idea. What would he do after? Would he still stay friends with his mates?

Right now, though, there was breakfast waiting. Eyes followed her hand to his suspenders, smirking as he bounced on the balls of his feet. “Thank you.” The red really popped against the light buttercream shirt, in his humble opinion. Even if it shared colors with the Gryffindor house. It wasn’t as if he always had to wear green, though those colors did make him pop.

A laugh answered her concern; “It’s fine, afternoon tea is better.” Unless one needed a bit of caffeine to get started in the morning, but then he supposed that was what the coffee was for. Julian could have gotten up and helped her, but he allowed her to pour his glass of orange juice, watching Rosie carefully. “Thank you.”

The offer to help himself was met by the hungry (growing) boy’s eager hands, fixing a plate of delicious breakfast proportions. She didn’t answer his question... Julian frowned briefly before picking up his orange juice and taking a sip of it. If Rosie didn’t want to tell him why she wanted to cook breakfast, then he wasn’t going to poke and prod until it came out.

“How are things with Neely these days?”

Chuckling, he settled his napkin across his lap before picking up silverware, going to work on the waffle. It wasn’t as if he could eat it whole, after all. “They’re going well so far. She’s fantastic, you know. Perfect and everything.” Scooping up a bite, he chewed on it, groaning in happiness as he nodded his head at her, grinning around his closed mouth. Once he swallowed it down, Julian gave her a thumbs up. “You can cook for me any day of the week, Rose. So good.” After another bite, he shifted in the chair and leaned an elbow on the table, his other arm resting in his lap.

Julian was slouched slightly forwards, eyeing his mate across the way. “How are you and your academics going? Or did you start dating someone, and I haven’t caught wind of it?” She had a deep relationship with her coursework, after all. Six and a half years, so far!

Rosie's smile was heartwarming, hearing that he and Neely had patched things up. "She is very beautiful" Rosie said in response with a toothy smile. Neely Woolfolk was very feminine, and truly beautiful. She also had a lovely ludic sort of air about her. Rosie had let her peek at her test papers once or twice. Their interests were very different, and while Rosa wouldn't go as far as to call anybody shallow, Neely certainly wasn't as preoccupied with her academic pastimes as Rosie was. But that was perfectly fine, because every person was unique with their own ambitions, dreams and likes and dislikes.

"You're good for each other" she finally concluded, in a soft voice with a little smile and a nod. They certainly made a beautiful pair, they came from the same sort of background and they shared the same playful sort of streak... And even if Rosie didn't think that necessarily made a successful couple, she didn't have the experience or the hands-on knowledge about such things, to be entitled to a competent opinion. So, for her, it was enough that her friend was happy.

"Thank you, really" she said with a small blush and an honestly ecstatic expression. "It would be my pleasure to, if only I had the time for it" she offered with a little shrug and a smile. Her studies kept her busy, too busy for even her friends some time, but even if she might regret the lack of their company at times, there was nothing that had her quite as excited as successfully completing a project or experiment. But the appreciation of her friends was a second close.

She tucked a small bite of her eggs, chewing carefully with her mouth closed, like her parents would expect her to in any sort of company of circumstance. She waited to swallow to respond to his question, anxious to fervently deny the last part of it. Her hurry had made her cough a little, and she covered her mouth with the napkin. With a final inhale and eyebrows furrowed she shook her head in denial. "O—Of course not!" she stuttered, voice a little high-pitched, eyeing Jules warily. She hoped he was joking.

"You know I have no interest in such things..." she added, voice soft, blush deep - fidgeting with her fork and knife, eyes anywhere but on her conversation partner. She cleared her voice and relaxed in her chair, taking another small bite of her breakfast, followed by a quick sip of juice. "Otherwise—" she sighed a little, raising her eyes to him. "My grades continue to be satisfactory and the workload isn't too much. It's my personal projects that are giving me headaches" she frowned, brutally stabbing a piece of egg with her fork.

"My sister has always been fascinated with hippogriffs, but with her townhouse in London, she couldn't possibly keep one. And her birthday's coming soon..." she said with an excited look. "So I've been looking for a way to breed a smaller, less dangerous species" she started explaining in a passionate, yet edgy voice, talking a lot faster than usual. "Normally, I started from a derivative of Shrinking Solution, but as it usually goes with experiments, I've obviously had to use quite a lot of ingredients—testing quantities, possible combinations and substitutes" she was gesticulating wildly, talking with her entire body, food all but forgotten. "But then I ran into a bit of trouble procuring top quality shrivelfigs and I couldn't very well bother professor Di Luca about that, couldn't I?" she asked with big eyes, and eyebrows raised.

"So then I thought I should perhaps grow my own, but the Abyssinian climate has nothing in common with the Scottish weather. And even if I tried to perfectly recreate the conditions required for the plant to blossom healthily, I failed repeatedly" she muttered under her breath, eyes narrowing at the poor tortured piece of egg. "So I started calculating an arithmantic formula to predict the exact conditions, location and time that would be suitable for growing a successful lot on British soil. However the closest I got was 2015, in Dymchurch at an exact set of coordinates, after a lunar eclipse and that is only if the seeds I procure have very specific properties" she slumped back in her chair with a long sigh, taking a hand to rub at her temple.

After a few moments of silence, she raised her eyes at Jules and with a little nervous smile she shrugged her shoulders. "So... that's that" she quickly tucked another bite into her mouth and admired a very prosaic painting on the wall behind Julian. "How go your classes?" she suddenly quipped, her voice a little strained. She may not be able to talk about relationships, but once you got her started on her projects...

Julian could only nod in agreement; he thought Neely was beautiful too. In fact, he’d thought so for a long time. Sometimes, though, that wasn’t always enough, in the case of their teenage break ups over the last year. Still... she definitely kept things interesting. There were those who weren’t completely sure if they were good for each other, as Rosie stated, but Julian was happy to accept the compliment. At this current juncture, he thought so too.

Who knew what would change in a month or two?

He was definitely not a seer. It was easier to go with it and see where it took him. Like this breakfast; he was going to keep taking bite after bite until he couldn’t fit another one in his mouth. Julian knew Rosie always seemed busy, with hobbies or coursework, to focus on little else. It was nice to just see her relaxed (kind of).

There was silent satisfaction in his small smirk at catching her off guard. Eyebrows lifted as he let slip on a face of innocence. “Oh... I had just heard a couple of the guys talking about what a catch you were. I thought maybe someone had finally managed to... do that.” It was fun to make her fidget. And though he was teasing, he had overheard a few talk about the girls they’d like to get to know better. Rosie was definitely one of them.

While she dived into her personal projects, Julian took the time to eat. He nodded at certain intervals, made little noises to show he was still listening, but he put away a waffle and a couple bites of the egg before she had finished with the current woes she was endearing. Wiping at his lips, he dropped his napkin back in his lap before taking a gulp of orange juice, smiling as he sat it back down. Delicious.

“Why not enchant a stuffed Hippogriff? Then you’d just need to loop the spell, and she wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning up after it or visits from the Ministry.” She asked about his classes, and he gave a half shrug, grinning as his fork moved some food around. “They’re fine. It’s just hard to focus on the work when there are so many other things to do. I have some fresh clay that my aunt sent, and I don’t know yet what to make.”

"I'm not something to be caught, Jules" she said a bit defensively and a lot embarrassed, adding a small smile to reassure him that she wasn't actually upset. She knew Julian was a smooth talker, but she did not enjoy being the target of that. She wasn't a catch, but she was perfectly fine with that. And she knew that most of the things that made her seem like a good match had nothing to do with the person was, such as her family background, or her financial status or the simple fact that she was a pleasant person. She liked people, but she disliked hypocrisy and false pretenses.

"Enchant a stuffed hipogriff?" she asked again a little disbelieving, then quickly giggled a little, taking her hand to her mouth to cover her mouth. When the fit had subsided she took a quick sip of her juice, one hand on her chest, dragging her breath. "If I turned up with a toy at her door, she'd give me an arched eyebrow and whole lot of unnecessary amused looks" she sighed, thinking how her sister loved to tease her about the most insignificant of things. "And besides, Jules, Rhia is the Ministry" she reminded him chidingly, shaking her head a little. "That would be the really nice part of it, having relatives in the DRCMC, would help my little experiment be recreated legally and used to the benefit of the wizarding population" she added with a little embarrassed smile, bliss in her eyes at just the though of it.

"Julian St.James" she exclaimed, only a little serious and chuckled lightly. "I know your art is beautiful and you have a lovely talent for it, but focus on your classes first, yes?" Rosie smiled an endearing smile, hoping he wouldn't misunderstand it as interfering, but merely an advice. "Now tell me about this clay" she smiled toothily, and tucked another bite in. "Anything I could help you with?"

“Or maybe someone’s just not using the right bait.” He tilted his head and eyed her for a moment before his lips split into a grin. There was bound to be something that made Rosie’s stomach knot up. Something that made her heart skip a beat, someone who made her fan herself. He wasn’t going to push it too hard, though, because it was Rosie. And not that he wouldn’t try and cast out his line for her if he wasn’t already redating Neely.

She was friendly with Julian; she didn’t seem to want to do anything else with Julian.

He raised an eyebrow as she repeated his words. He hadn’t stuttered. It seemed a reasonable step, if she couldn’t actually do what she wanted to do. Besides, a stuffed hippogriff was bound to be loads easier to take care of and smaller. Another bite of food was shoved into his mouth; it was so delicious, he wanted seconds and thirds, even if his stomach couldn’t handle it. Perhaps, though, he should focus on his first round.

“It wouldn’t be a toy, though. It’d be more than that.” Neely would probably enjoy a stuffed animal. Especially considering how dangerous hippogriff’s were... He leaned an elbow on the table, resting his chin against his fist as he watched her, chewing thoughtfully. Once he swallowed, he shrugged. “Legally. So Ravenclaw of you, Rose. You could almost pass for a humanitarian Huffle.” It was... kind of endearing?

Her exclamation made him sit up a little straighter, hand falling back to his lap as he crossed his leg over the other, lightly bouncing as he grinned at her. “We’ll have no issues with classes, Rosie. We have another whole year to worry about it. It’s the Tetrawizard Tournament. You know they care more about socializing this year than actually learning something.” Julian might have just heard someone saying that. It wasn’t the actual stance of Hogwarts, or any of the other schools, per say.

Fostering relationships amongst the schools, yes. Strictly a year of socializing? No. Joking about it, however, was just what it was. A joke.

After another bite, he waited until he swallowed to go into detail about his clay. “It’s fantastic. I’m thinking about making the Slytherin crest. Or maybe the Hogwarts crest, since it’s the Tournament and all.” The colors he could add to it... it was just a matter of mixing the right ones to get the shade he would want. “I have to get my hands on it first, though. See how it wants to be shaped.”

"Well, if the right angler with the right bait happens to come my way, I—I wouldn't be entirely against it" she said with a little smile, chin tucked in and blush spreading high on her cheeks. It wasn't as if she was purposely avoiding a relationship, she just happened to have different priorities right now...

"It would be a toy for Rhia, tho..." she sighed deeply and shook her head once. It wasn't necessarily that her sister would view it as a toy, but the fact that Rosie would know that it had come from a toy and thus wouldn't be able to see it as anything but. Call it a creator's guilt, but it was one of the little things Rosa was very adamant about. If she could build it from scratch, she would.

"Of course it's Ravenclaw of me" she grinned brightly, house pride practically making her radiate. "And I certainly hope you are not implying that Hufflepuffs are somehow less than others" she narrowed her eyes at him and pursed her lips slightly. "I think being a humanitarian Huffle is absolutely marvelous" she hmph-ed and took another sip of her juice.

"We certainly don't have a whole year to worry about it, Jules" she responded in an almost scandalized tone. "And while the Tournament is sure to draw some focus on itself, I can't possibly understand what you might mean by that last bit" she eyed him skeptically, eyes big and confused. "Socializing is surely encouraged, but the most interesting parts are pooling our resources, exchanging customs and knowledge, studying together and learning from each other. Honestly, Jules" she chided and tutted mostly amused and only a little disappointed.

"The Hogwarts crest would certainly be beautiful" she said with a sad smile. While the wound was old and mostly healed by now, there were still moments when having been sorted into Ravenclaw gave her grief. Maybe if she'd been a Slytherin, like Skylar, like her mother and father... maybe she would've gotten the appreciation she needed. "I know how that is" she quickly recovered, with a little snort. "There are days when my experiments seem to take a life of their own and grow themselves into whatever they want to be" she froze, then giggled softly, thinking some of her experiments had actually taken life, when they were supposed to remain inanimate.

"I was thinking about getting a pet" she followed out of nowhere, tucking the last bite of her eggs in her mouth. She hadn't had one since she joined Hogwarts, not permanently, anyway. The odd little experiment, didn't count, as they were usually temporary or shouldn't have been seen by anybody else.

Julian gave her a satisfied smirk, eyebrow cocked as if he knew the answer all along. In reality, what teenager wouldn’t want someone to express interest in them? Even if you liked to focus on academics and ‘experiments,’ the prospect of other extra curricular activities distracted even the best. Perfect example was the drama with the Head Girl the previous year; usually known for her academics, and yet there were posters all over the school about what a bleeping bleep she was.

One just had to be willing to sacrifice school time for socializing time. Here he was in his sixth year and back with the girl of his dreams. He had high hopes that it would turn into one of the best years of his life; it was just waiting for that right moment to sky rocket. It felt like things were clicking into place. Their seventh year would be the year to end all other years. They would have to make it better than the graduating class before them.

That seemed simple enough.

An attempt at innocence crossed his face before he shrugged and spread his palms out in a sign of peace. “I just said they are humanitarians, didn’t I?” Still, he couldn’t help but smirk at the idea. “I’m sure they have a lot to write home about.” Like how Slytherins threw the best parties.

Talk of the Tournament had him growing bored. They wanted to make a good impression as far as Hogwarts went, hosting school and all. “Did you memorize all of that off the brochure sent home? You could be the Hogwarts Ambassador. Fighting to bring us all together, peacefully of course.” He laughed and took another bite. It seemed possible. And if there wasn’t such a position, he felt that Rosie could make it up and apply for it and get it hands down.

“The most interesting parts are the parties thrown.” Julian had consumed more contraband liquor this year than ever. Perhaps it was partly due to his age... and the availability of it all. Either way, it was important to rehydrate and keep up his strength. He took another gulp of orange juice before grinning. “Your experiments are going well, I take it?” Minus the whole hippogriff one, obviously.

An eyebrow quirked at her as he chewed on his bite, wiping at his lips as he considered a proper response. “Don’t have an owl?” Having to make sure he pitched in for food and clean up for the owl was almost like having a pet. Then when he went home for hoildays, he had to actually take care of it. “Neely has her cat... Just something more to keep after. What are you thinking about getting?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, pursing her lips a little, before she simply fave up and sighed, smiling a little at him. There was no being serious with Jules this morning, or any other for that matter. She refilled her glass with orange juice and dabbed a little at the corner of her lips with her napkin.

"I did not" she replied honestly, with a wondering look on her face. "And putting me in such a position would certainly not amount to much, I can barely make peace with myself let alone others " she offered with a little snort. Besides there was something rather menacing and cold about the Durmstrang students, and she'd rather not approach any of them, unless they did so first. She supposed it must be the weather...

"I wouldn't know about that" she said matter-of-factly, taking another sip of her juice, arching her eyebrows at him over the rim of her glass. Friendly tho she may be, she did not necessarily enjoy large crowds and the sort of parties Jules attended. Everybody knew this year had presented the infirmary with more alcohol poisoning cases than anybody would like to admit to. "Yes, yes they are" she quipped with a big smile, finally something she was comfortable talking about, although there wasn't much to talk about, she reckoned.

"There's not much else going on at the moment, however. Preparing for class takes most of my time as of late." Perhaps Jules didn't feel it, but with the 12 subjects she was taking at NEWT level, Rosie was starting to feel the pressure and was growing more and more tired, rendering her unable to work late into the night on her little projects. She could only imagine that next year would be even more taxing... But, she did choose her own hardship after all.

"I never much cared for birds. I use Neith, but she's a family owl and she's only here on Sundays to pick up my weekly letters for back home" she said crossing her cutlery over her plate and leaning back into the chair with a satisfied little smile. Rosie thought cats suited Neely, she imagined it to be something regal and fluffy, maybe a white Persian or perhaps a cream point Ragdoll. She'd have to ask sometime. But while she did find cats to be majestic creatures, she perhaps needed something a little more low-maintenance. Something told her a feline wouldn't take keenly to one of her experiments going wrong.

"A ferret, maybe? Or a chinchilla... Definitely something furry" she decided, with a firm nod of her head. Something she could cuddle with, small enough to carry in her arms or on her shoulder, and something that could scurry away out of harm's way if anything around her exploded. "What do you think?"

She hadn’t memorized it? An eyebrow quirked in mild admiration; if she actually believed it enough to have thought it up on her own, then kudos to her. Julian had been enjoying the skirts the Beauxbaton girls wore. Not that the ones the Hogwarts girls wore were any more revealing, it was just... different. Not quite as drab as black. It showed off their legs nicely.

But then, Neely also wore great clothes. Julian could still look and admire! His brain stopped arguing for a moment. Most of the guys at Hogwarts had probably had the same thoughts regarding the different styles of dress amongst the female population. “I don’t know, Rosie, I think you could do it. Plus you get oddly determined sometimes.”

And how could she have not known about the parties? Eyes widened dramatically as he leaned forward, his face slipping into scandalized. “What?!” It was a quiet hiss. Shaking his head, he sat up straighter and pointed his fork at her. “Next one, you’re going.” He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Rosie deserved a good party. “Don’t say no. You’re not allowed to. It’ll... what did you say, foster the exchanging of customs and knowledge. And... and you’ll get to learn something from the other schools too.”

There, he felt smug as he grinned at her. Threw her little rant back at her for his situation. Julian felt kind of... excited, thinking about getting little Rosie out of her common room and into the party scene. Maybe she’d surprise everyone and be the craziest party animal ever known. Perhaps she knew some wicked dance moves, the best west of the North Sea.

Rosie took a ridiculous amount of classes; Julian had enough to juggle with his social life and the few classes he’d hung on to for NEWTs. Because who knew what one really wanted to do when they left Hogwarts and entered the world of adulthood? He wasn’t talented enough to live off his hobbies. And as amazing as being an Auror or werewolf catcher sounded, it also seemed dangerous. Again, he still had plenty of time to consider his future.

He nodded, however, sympathizing a little bit with her coursework. Another bite brought an end to his eggs, which were to die for, and now he had a couple bites left of the waffles. He really didn’t want to be done yet, it was all too delicious. Owls were a pain in the arse, in Julian’s opinion, but also a necessity in the wizarding world.

“Definitely something furry.”

He snorted, nearly choking on his bite, before he took a gulp of orange juice to help get it down. Once his mouth was clear, eyebrows rose at her question. “Sounds like you should get a boyfriend. They are a lot more receptive than a ferret.” Still... He pursed his lips to the side as he considered, drumming his free fingers on his thigh as he considered. “Chinchilla sounds kind of cute?” He made a face and shrugged, scooping up the last bite of waffle and savoring it with a groan and eyes closed. Perfect.

Rosie's lips curled into an o as Jules hissed his disbelief at her and only moments after she was leaning back into her chair with big, round eyes, that went a little cross as she stared down the tip of his accusatory fork. She opened her mouth a few times to say something, and felt a little like a fish. Eventually she relaxed and giggled a little. '"I don't know, Jules, I don't think exchanging alcoholic recipes and—ummm, ah... bodily fluids—" she blushed something fierce looking away from her friend "is what the Tournament organizers had in mind."

"But if you... insist" she continued, still looking away from the Slytherin "I suppose I can't refuse, can I?" She cleared her throat and fidgeted in her seat, taking another nervous sip out of her glass. Thinking better on it, she raised to her feet and pulled a mug in front of her, filling it with coffee. With a teaspoon of sugar and just a dash of milk, she dragged the cup in front of her and sat back down. It wouldn't do well to think about said parties at the moment. Or any other moment. She'd deal with that crossroad when the time came.

"Jules!" she exclaimed almost scandalized, choking on the little mouthful of coffee she had just ingested. After she dabbed at her lips with a napkin she turned to look at him unimpressed with eyes half narrowed. "I'm afraid to ask what you think my tastes would be, if you think I'd like a furry boyfriend" she said barely audible, with a little huff and a deep crimson blush. This boy... She sighed a little and took another sip of the coffee.

"Chinchilla it is then" she said, still a little skeptical and reticent. "I'll have to make a trip to Diagon during the Easter holiday I suppose..." she mused, watching Jules enjoy her cooking and feeling a little smug about it. "So I take it you enjoyed breakfast?" she asked with a small little smile, a bit unsure of herself, fidgeting with her coffee cup.

“Did you talk to the Tournament organizers? If not... then how do you know? Maybe that’s exactly what they want.” He emphasized his point with a shake of his fork. Honestly... she needed to venture out of her safety bubble. Julian nodded to himself, feeing as if he had gotten a point across. “Get with the times, Rosie.” He couldn’t help but grin, shaking his head suddenly. “Nope, you can’t refuse. I’ll take you no matter what.”

She was so cute when she was tripping over herself. “I never said you needed a furry boyfriend. Though that would probably intrigue you...” He tapped his chin in thought, eyes darting to the ceiling as he considered. Oh well, the possibility of actually hooking her up with any available guy was probably slim to none. She was a nice person, she made amazing meals, and she was smart as anyone he knew. But... was that enough for someone at Hogwarts, faced with the day-to-day drama of teenagehood?

He crossed his legs and let his foot bounce in the air as he considered, hand resting on his thigh. “I guess it would depend... Who do you consider in your taste... range...?” If she was going to pick a flavor of boy, obviously.

Chinchilla from Diagon Alley. Well... it was better than fishing around Knockturn, he supposed. Grinning wide, lips closed around the bite he was still enjoying in his mouth, Julian nodded in agreement. Swallowing it down, he licked his lips. “I want to eat it all over again.” Patting his stomach in appreciate, he picked up his glass and took a sip. "I think you should cook all the time, forget about a pet." His tongue stuck out at her playfully before it slipped back behind his teeth.

With her eyes still on the fork, Rosie bit into her lip softly and smiled awkwardly at Julian. "The times won't have me, Jules and I have years ahead for that sort of thing" she raised her eyebrow daring him to contradict her. She was only 16, and these were the best years to accumulate knowledge! She could do the partying and the socializing when she was out of Hogwarts, or perhaps after her apprenticeship, or maybe when she was finally well settled into her job. Or— Oh, well, she supposed he had a bit of a point.

Her face stayed flushed and eyes big in shock as Jules went on to state that a furry boyfriend might  intrigue her and—huh. She would actually want to meet a werewolf one day. The whole process seemed fascinating, as miserable an existence as it caused for the bearer of the curse. But that was not the point! She shook her head and threw the Slytherin a little glare. "I don't know Jules" she replied in a clipped little voice. She'd never really thought of that. What was the point?  Someone she could carry a conversation with, she supposed. The sort of conversation she was interested in, anyway. Someone kind and level-headed, someone with a passion for knowledge... someone that could keep her on track when her mind went every place. And she didn't much care for looks, but she was sure her sister and some of her cousins would have a thing or two to say if she brought home someone not up to her standards. Oh dear Circe! Definitely someone who would not crack under the scathing judgement of her relatives!

"I don't think I'd be a good fit with anyone our age" she finally concluded in a musing voice. It wasn't that she thought herself superior, no, Merlin forbid! It was just that she had different priorities as opposed to her peers and different expectations. Which... she didn't know much about teenage boys and romance, but she was sure that was not what they had in mind.

"I'm glad" she replied with an honest smile, eyes crinkling at the corners and rosy cheeks. "I'd have no problem cooking all the time, if I knew for sure that no Venomous Tentacula juice or Flobberworm mucus from my working table would end up in the food" she said cheekily with a perfectly benign smile. "What are your plans for Easter break?" she went on while her wand cleared the table of the plates.