London, England
Two in the Afternoon

“And that-” Pointing to an older building, Frank grinned and leaned closer to Maggie as if to tell her something to share between just them, “-building has changed owners so many times… Right now, it’s a-” Blinking and frowning slightly, he stared at it a bit stumped. Wait… Glancing around with obvious confusion on his face, Frank’s eyes darted from one building to the next. After a moment, he glanced back to where he had been focused, a blush creeping onto his cheeks as a nervous chuckle came out.

“Or maybe it was… that building…” Pointing sheepishly to another one on the opposite side of the street, Frank bit his lower lip and shook his head, letting his hands drop, brushing his arm against hers. “Whichever building it was… the important thing is, I don’t know what it is now.” Now his ears were burning, but he could deal with that. He should have thought of what he was going to say before he started going on about it.

That had been happening a lot over the course of the day. He’d finally gotten a date that would work with Maggie and had been enjoying their time out together. Even though he wasn’t the best tour guide, only knowing certain parts of London to show off, he tried to make it fun and entertaining. He’d even stopped at a souvenir shop and got her a baseball hat so that everyone else would know. And because he thought it looked cute… He hadn’t even known there were so many varieties of tourist hats.

Nonetheless, that had been a few hours ago. Since then, they had walked a lot, talked a bit, and seen some interesting things. The street performers weren’t out as much as they were at night, but it still offered something else to enjoy than just pointing out sights that she probably all ready knew about. If anything, the trip to the muggle side of the city was a nice getaway from the troubles and responsibilities waiting for him.

There had been a lot of discussion since the happenings of the Memorial festivities… Frank didn’t think it was necessary to bring it up any time soon. “Are you hungry? Ice cream, a meal… anything?” Putting his arm around her shoulders, he gave her a side hug and grinned wide. “I’m so glad you’re here.” Then he realized he gave her a hug without so much as a warning, and he let his hand drop suddenly, his blush back again. “It’s just… that I’ve been wasting so much of your day and not giving you time to replenish your energy, that I figured you might…” Shaking his head, chuckling, he looked at her. “Hungry?”

Maggie looked up at Frank, head tilted so the rim of her new baseball cap wouldn’t obstruct her view. It was a very nice view- handsome face, goofy grin, hair a bit mussed from running his hand through it. She didn’t say anything when he got confused and tried to figure out which building was which, because it was more than adorable and she enjoyed listening to him talk. Maggie just quirked an eyebrow at him and tried not to smirk at the blush creeping up his ears.

“It’s fine,” she finally said, walking alongside him. He had long, lanky legs but she walked fast and rarely wore heels, so it was easy to keep the same pace.

“To be honest, I’ve stopped paying attention to the buildings a while ago,” she commented with a straight face, glanced at him, and grinned. Who could blame her when there was something (or someone) much more interesting right in front of her. Maggie was having a very fun day so far. In fact, the past couple of days had definitely gone in her favor, which was ironic considering how many people were reeling from the Memorial ceremony events. She supposed someone had to have a bit of good luck, but she hadn’t expected it to be her.

There was a bounce in Maggie’s step and it wasn’t just because of her sensible flats. After the owl she’d received yesterday morning and the meeting with Colette, finding out she might move out of her parent’s house very soon, and now going on this date with Frank, well, she had many reasons to be happy.

Margaret felt the corners of her mouth curve up. She actually smiled at the kids weaving in and out of people on skateboards. There must be something wrong with her.

Frank then asked if she was hungry, put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.

“I’m so glad you’re here.”

Maggie responded with her typical snort-laughter, scoffing at him even though she felt kind of warm and fuzzy inside. Unfortunately though, Frank soon became sheepish, letting his hand drop and spouting some nonsense about wasting her day. Maggie gave him a look and a gentle nudge with her elbow.

“What are you on about!” She rolled her eyes. He was such a goof. “Okay, Frank, let’s get some ice cream. I’m having such a good time,” she put emphasis on those words, “that I really need to, what do you call it- replenish my energy,” she smirked a little, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the nearest ice cream parlor. 

As they were waiting in line and Maggie checked out the overhead menu, eyes lingering on the mint chocolate chip, she sneaked a glance at Frank and smiled.

“So, what’s your favorite place in London? Magical or otherwise…”

Maggie thought that after they’d stuffed themselves with ice cream, maybe they could head somewhere that was special to him, since he’d spent the whole morning giving her a tour of London. He was sweet like that.

“To be honest, I’ve stopped paying attention to the buildings a while ago.”

A surprised expression came over him as his eyes darted to her face, but he grinned back after she finally gave in. His cheeks stayed red, but he couldn’t pull his gaze away. Finally he bit his lower lip and smirked around it. “That was going to be my excuse.” Maybe he was on the wrong street entirely for what he’d thought he was going to point out. He was just trying to rack his brain for other things to show her so he could have a reason to get closer and point things out.

“What are you on about! Okay, Frank, let’s get some ice cream. I’m having such a good time that I really need to, what do you call it- replenish my energy.”

His initial reaction to her nudge was a raised eyebrow and smile. “Ice-” It was as if he hadn’t processed it yet before she took his hand and started tugging him in the direction of a shop. He quickly fell into step, holding her hand and enjoying it, grinning goofily. Ice cream sounded nice. While in line, he didn’t let go of her hand, assuming that if she wanted to… she would drop it. Glancing from the menu and back to her, he was curious as to what would tickle her taste buds.

“So, what’s your favorite place in London? Magical or otherwise…”

Without thinking, his eyes once again on the menu and scanning for his favorite flavor, he mumbled out “My apartment.” Then he realized what he said and he laughed. “Or the library. Th-the national museum is fairly impressive as well.” He rubbed the back of his head before stepping forward in line. It was moving fairly quickly. “They are working on some addition to it, from what I gathered in… the latest article about it.” Of course, he had to turn to one of the middle to last pages in the Prophet to get a sneak peek at the museum’s advancements.

“What about you?” His eyebrows rose in curiosity. "I mean, back before you left. Or since the lacking of information tour... or whenever, really." Clearly she might not have the same favorite spot now as she might have once upon a time. Silly Frank...

A few steps closer and they were ready to order. Pulling his eyes from Maggie, he glanced at the woman behind the counter, grinning and nodding in greeting to her. “Ah yes, I’d like a cone, with a scoop of Maggie.” Then he realized what he’d said and his face showed how mortified he was at that. A hand covered his mouth before he laughed, moving it up to cover his eyes. “I mean, a scoop of rocky road.” Shaking his head in disbelief, he smirked and pulled his hand away, unable to look at Maggie. “Ah… seems you’ve taken over even the part of my brain dedicated to ice cream.”