Neville walked in Flourish & Blotts, smiling at the chime the bell made as the door hit it. For a moment he took in the sight of the place. Even though he had been coming to the store for years (most of those being his Hogwart Years) he was still taken aback by the size of the store and just how many books it held. While crowded at times the books still always outnumbered the customers. On a day like this one however, their wasn't as many people as there might have been, as couples flocked to more 'romantic' destinations.

Without any romantic attachments to tie him down Neville was free to take advantage of the more empty than usual bookstore. He navigated through the aisles to make it to the front counter. He had a book on order ' Mysterious Attacks and Unsolved Crimes'. While his Grandmother's attack had long since become a cold case and was no longer something he could actively work on (he had over exhausted every lead he could find, even the smallest ones) he was still nagged by what had happened. He worried it was something that would haunt him for a long while.

With a gentle yet charming smile he approached the desk and the worker behind it, "I got an Owl that my order was in, for Longbottom, Neville."

Elliot sat quietly behind the counter, reading one of the books she had nicked from the shelves. Well, she wasn't really reading through, it was more like glancing through what the contents of the book held and then determining whether or not she'd hold onto it to actually read later. She was undecided about the one currently in front of her, and it was obvious on her face as well, she having a rather blank expression.

"I got an Owl that my order was in, for Longbottom, Neville."

She blinked, suddenly brought out of her concentration - if one would really call it that - and looked up. Ah, a familiar face. Elliot gave her usual crooked smile as she set the book aside and stood up. "Yes, it just came in the other day. Give me one moment and I'll be right back with it."

Elliot trotted off towards the back where shipments and special deliveries of books were kept, away from the rest of the stock. She searched for only a moment before muttering the summoning spell to make the book float towards her, rather than rummage an extra few minutes to try and find it amidst the rest of the tomes already stacked as high as she was tall.

As she returned to the counter she carefully undid the packaging to reveal Neville's book and held it out for him. "Here you go." Elliot's crooked smile faltered slightly, only feeling awkward about trying to make small talk because of the fact that it was Valentine's Day. If it were any other day she wouldn't feel like this. Not to mention the oddities and awkwardness she had already gone through just two days before...How she managed to convince herself to participate in that she still didn't understand.

"So...how have you been lately? It's been a while since I last saw you in the shop."

Neville tapped absently on the counter as she went to retrieve his book. He glanced around the shop trying to remember if there was anything else he needed to pick up. There was a recipe book he had looked at last time for brewing unique teas (he had to remember to check in on the shop to see if they had any ideas on new seasonal blends) and there were a few new guides to herbology, he wondered if he'd have time this spring to work on a new garden. He had a balcony at the back of his flat that overhanged the back of the tea shop. He had used it to have a few personal planters on the go though the patio underneath backed onto his own personal Greenhouse as well so he wasn't for a lack of space (though the greenhouse was tended by his employees more than himself).

He smiled and thanked her as she handed over the book. He had paid for it when he had first ordered it but he still absently went to reach for his coin satchel before remembering himself. He shrugged at her question, "Oh you know, same old, same old." Though that in itself was a bit of an understatement. He had been busy to say the least at the office. Having been involved in the incident at the Three Broomsticks had set him to work filing papers and following leads he had no idea how to follow. He had spoken with Grimm about the incident but he still wasn't sure if he had gotten all the right information out of the man.

However Neville was also acutely aware of the recent attack Elliot had suffered herself and didn't think going on about Dementors would be the keenest subject for afternoon small talk, "How are things on your end? Still living the dream?"

Elliot kept her eyes down at the wood of the counter since she still felt a little bit awkward. If only today were a week later, or any further along into the year. Didn't help that she caught sight of a small cluster of witches in the corner of her eye. She could hear them giggling between each other, likely gushing over a passage of romantic literature or poetry they found among the shelves.

"Yeah, I'm doing well enough," she replied. She couldn't help but give a half-hearted chuckle. A dream? Hardly. Things have been either rough or awkward or embarrassing lately, she thought. She forced herself to give her usual crooked smile. "From what I've heard the Ministry's been busy lately. How have you been handling it?" It was always easier to bring the topic back to the other person, rather than talk about herself.

Coward.

Elliot's expression darkened ever so slightly as her fingers clenched. She wasn't happy to make that realization again about herself, especially right now. It was an inappropriate thought that came at an inappropriate moment. But she quickly caught herself and went back to her usual friendly expression, hoping that Neville hadn't caught sight of that.  Whatever was going on in her head wasn't his burden to deal with, so it was best to make sure he remained oblivious to it.

"Actually, she continued, "how's your shop doing?" She figured that was a better question to ask. Too much trouble had been going on lately in the Ministry, and it may only bring up more stress for him if she kept to that topic. "I do stop by now and then, but I guess not often enough. I've just been...busy."

Neville smiled tucking the book into his shoulder bag. It took a little struggling to fit it in properly and he absently wondered if he could convince Hermione to cast an extendable charm on it for him. After all these years he still wasn't all that confident in his own wand work. Defense was a strength now and he still excelled in herbology but advanced charms? Well those were best left for others.

He glanced up as she mentioned the Ministry. He hesitated. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to talk about it but more so that he wasn't sure which parts he should or could talk about. Obviously he couldn't talk about any ongoing investigations, those were confidential. He also wasn't sure how much he should mention about the Dementor problems, he didn't want to upset Elliot and there wasn't much he could really share because he simply didn't know. Everything else? The attacks on pubs, the poisonings in December, the werewolf kid that had been kidnapped . . . none of those were cases Neville was working on which gave him little to comment on.

"Well . . ." He began then brightened as she suddenly changed subjects. Perhaps she had felt his reluctance. He hoped she hadn't, he didn't want to turn her away. She was a welcomed conversation on a day like today, "The shop's doing good. Holidays were great for business, we had a new Peppermint tea that sold like crazy. Today's also rather busy but I don't really work the shop all that much anymore, besides I rarely get days off so I'm kinda  . . . hiding." He held a finger to his lips and gave her a wink, "Don't tell anyone."

"I'd heard about that," Elliot replied in response to special holiday tea. "I did stop by once, I think it was a week before Christmas, but they were already sold out of the tea for the day by the time I got there." She gave an awkward chuckle to go along with a shrug. "Never go the chance to try it. Oh well."

"The holidays were pretty busy here as well," she continued. "Lots of gift shopping. The largest purchase I ever saw happened around then. Somebody must have had a family of book lovers because he left after buying over fifty books. Or he was buying his own gifts." Elliot gave another chuckle. This one was quieter, a little hesitant, as she wasn't sure her own comment that amusing. "But since the new year things have calmed down, and will likely remain so until the next term starts at Hogwarts."

And then he mentioned that he was "hiding." Elliot did her best to stifle a laugh, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Hiding? Who, or what, is it you're hiding from?" She leaned forward towards Neville a little, putting her own finger to her lips. "I won't tell."

And suddenly she felt like she was in her little world again, making herself blind and deaf to everything else around her. It was a similar feeling to how she was when she got engrossed in books. It was her comfort zone. Having this silly turn in the conversation with him was making her feel less awkward about the day since she was losing focus on what day it was anyway. So few people she knew helped her to feel that way, but Neville was one of them, and she was grateful for that.

Neville tapped his head, "I'll have to try and remember to send you a satchel." Being the boss had some advantages,especially when most of the tea leaves they used in his shop were grown in his own personal green house. They may have been sold out throughout the holidays but now that things had died down the plants were able to flourish again, just waiting to be used in the next fun and exciting concoction his staff could come up with. He always encouraged them to try new things and if anything was a hit they could carry it in the shop. It helped having many minds on a task like that than trying to come up with everything himself.

Neville felt a small flush of embarrassment when she asked about him hiding. He wanted to say it was from work but that really wasn't the case. Ever since Hannah left, Valentine's day had been an awkward time for him. He had always liked the holiday when he was a kid and even as a teenager even if he didn't have someone special to share it with. With Hannah though, he had been the biggest, sappiest romantic in all of Hogsmeade and that was saying a lot. Without her, all that seemed strange and distant to him now, "Just trying not to get blinded from all the pink." Simple enough explanation right?

"How bout you? Protecting your eyes tonight?"

Elliot pulled back a little at this offer of just giving her a satchel of the seasonal tea, her expression silently saying "oh" before she found her voice and spoke up. "You don't have to do that. I, uh, I can wait. I mean..." She decided to stop herself before possibly saying something wrong.

Thankfully, Neville's question following his offer saved her from embarrassment. At least, of a different kind.

Bringing back up Valentine's made the witch slightly flustered again. The feeling was made worse with the still recent memory of what happened just two days ago elsewhere along Diagon. Elliot pulled a face as her eyes broke away from Neville's face and looked off to the side at nothing in particular.

"Well...I already did something silly for Valentine's just the other day." She nervously stroked her hand along her ponytail, as if the motion would release the awkward feeling in her now and help her feel better. It didn't. "It was a speed dating thing over at Rover's Fancy. It was...okay, I guess." Elliot paused, the embarrassment coming back, and she gave a gentle tug to her hair which she now had hanging over her shoulder. "So, I think I did my bit in celebrating." She glanced back at the wizard. "I'll probably do the same thing as you. I think the extent of romance I'll give myself will come from my bookshelf."

Neville made a face. He felt embarrassed for making her feel embarrassed. He never really was all that great with things like this. When he was in the moment, he was all for it but now being outside of all of it, it was a lot easier to see how uncomfortable it made people feel. The last thing Neville ever wanted was to make people feel uncomfortable.

He nodded along as she mentioned the speed dating. He had heard about it but didn't indulge. Even if he wasn't feeling awkward about his own love life, that sort of thing just didn't work for him. He'd rather have one long romantic date than twenty mini dates. He prefered pampering his dates anyways, giving them a night they wouldn't forget. Speed Dating just screamed forgettable to him. He had many, many issues with being forgettable.

"There's nothing wrong with a good book." He offered her a smile wondering if he should offer her anything more. He was tempted to say they should uncelebrate together but that may give off the wrong impression. Had it been any other day of the year he wouldn't have hesitated. Afterall he wasn't working and there was nothing pressing for him to do at the tea shoppe. He was free to do as he wished for the evening which could easily include a drink or dinner with a friendly acquaintance. On Valentine's though, he would feel obligated for it to be something more, something else, even if that was never the intention it would simply feel wrong for him to not do something special. He hesitated looking far more awkward than he had intended to (well not that he ever really intended to look awkward but it was sort of a part in parcel deal with him)

"There's nothing wrong with a good book."

Elliot's expression eased, glancing off to the side. "True, there isn't," she replied. She certainly had found entertainment through her books more times than she could count. With that thought came the reminder that she should probably reorganize her bookshelves since they were starting to get cluttered with haphazard re-shelving, and general disorganization. Oh, how her inner self disliked it when she started getting careless with her own things.

"I suppose I should let you head off then with yours, yeah?" she asked, gesturing towards his parcel. "Thanks for stopping by again, Neville. It's always good to see you." Her smile tensed as she suddenly wondered if that last bit was too much. Somewhere in the far back of her brain Elliot began to curse the day that was Valentine's and let it crescendo through her mind, cursing how it made every other sentence that came out of her mouth possibly mean something else.

"Uh...good luck avoiding all the pink today too, I guess," she added, readjusting her glasses. "And, um, I hope things continue to go well at your shop. I'll try and stop by more often." She tried to give a chuckle to ease the air around them, but to her it sounded a little too awkward like how she was feeling all over again. "Maybe next time I won't miss out on a special tea." She couldn't keep her eyes on him so she kept her focus down at the wood of the desk in front of her, her hands fiddling again with the temples of her glasses.

Neville was being dismissed. Not unkindly mind, but it was a dismissal all the same. In a sense he was thankful. It allowed him to leave with all his dignity intact which wasn't always the case for him. He gave her a big friendly smile though she didn't seem inclined to look at it. He figured she was just feeling as awkward as he was. It was probably best for the both of them to end it there before either said or did something they really didn't intend to. Social awkwardness can make you do crazy things.

He lifted his package again with a nod, "It was great seeing you too. Be sure to come by and I'll have an owl sent with that tea you missed out on."

He began to leave the shop. With his hand on the door he turned back with a thought, "You enjoy yourself tonight Elliot, maybe next time we can catch a meal or umm something, yeah?" So much for leaving with his dignity intact. He turned back even quicker to hide any sort of flush he was sure had come to his cheeks as he left the shop.

At his last words, before he opened to door to leave, Elliot blinked in surprise and brought her head up to look at him as if seeing him still there would prove that she hadn't imagined what he said. He's just being friendly. He's just being friendly, she reminded herself. With how awkward things were and possible misinterpretations she had to make she wouldn't take his words mean something they didn't.

Even so...

"Yes!" she replied, perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm than she had intended. "I-I mean," she started, trying to salvage a proper reply, "yes. That, um, that'd be really nice. Thank you." She gave her usual crooked smile hoping that she looked more calm about this than how she felt. She also hoped she hadn't caught the attention of any of the other patrons in the shop with her sudden outburst.

"Um, just let me know with an owl, I guess. Or, stop by here again, if you need to," she said as she restrained herself from fiddling with her glasses again. So, instead, she squeezed at her hands to keep them in place.

As Neville walked out Elliot's hands broke away from each other and she subconsciously nudged them higher up on her nose. The invitation was made and responded to, thus there was no point in her lingering on that thought.

He was just being friendly... He was just being friendly...