Time: 2pm

Today was one of those rare days when Benjy was not able to stay with her parents for the afternoon while she was at work, and Jo always had struggled finding a babysitter. So Benjy was going to be helping out at the store. He always loved going to the store and he was always attempted to be as helpful as possible. Jo knew he meant well, which was why she kept her cool as leaves tumbled to the ground and cups were broken. He was eight years old and often dropped things or got distracted, but all the customers thought he was precious.

“Benjy wait up,” she called after him as he was running off to deliver some sandwiches to a couple. She could just picture him tripping up over his own two feet. “Wait hun! Slow down!” She chuckled as he started to walk extremely slowly. He truly was a character and loved to take things too literately. She placed a hand on his shoulder to hurry him up as she walked with a tray of a teapot and cups and saucers. The table of course had to be the farthest one but it was the nicest as it was near the big windows. “Here you are,” she placed the teapot down with the cup and saucer in front of each person. “Benjy you can hand over the sandwiches.” He of course perked up and smiled as he put the plate on the table. Sometimes Jo wished she could have her son here all the time as he tended to bring in some big tips, but it was hard to keep her eye on him and do the job. Thank Merlin for the assistant she had in today who was at the front till, seating people, and helping serve as Benjy was not the quickest.

“Benjy did you want to go into the office and draw?” She asked since he might lose interest in serving people soon. She looked down to see him nodding his head. “How about a cup of tea to go with it?” She asked as she walked him to the front of the store again. “Now let’s pick out a flavour and then you can help mummy brew it.”

So sure maybe Dexter could of been catching up on school paper work. Perhaps he should have been trying to tally up the scores for the last class and their many involvements in his course work. It would have been the way a good Professor and Head of House should have been behaving. Instead however he was off wandering looking to see if he could reconnect once more with his old friend.

A touch of the past, a whisper of his youth had given Dex an urge to travel backwards a little. He made his way from the castle, bundled up slightly due to the light chill of the weather. Fall was hinting on all of the leaves, and there was little doubt in his mind that soon he would see snow white walk ways and snowball fights in the courtyard. Those were some of his happier times, working on papers while seeing kids pelting one another with a well placed no ball. It reminded him of a simpler time when he himself was causing a ruckus in the courtyard.

Dexter had been one of those popular blokes who enjoyed a good time goofing about, he wasn't by any stretch professor material back then. It took years of trials and tribulations for this to come to pass. It took his ex Dora crushing him mentally for anything to truly crystallize. Raising Maddie gave him the most responsibility he had to date, and Dex took to it like a duck to water.

Opening the door of the Tea shoppe he was surprised to see a little boy running about and being semi lead by Jo. When he walked in the little boy had broken away from Jo and ran in a small circle around him. Dex laughed and picked him up and spun him about playfully, "And who might this little imp be?" Assuming it was of course a relation of Jo's in some fashion.

Jo was so happy she was finally getting Benjy to calm down but then the door opened and he went a running. She swore under her breath and looked up to see Dexter holding Benjy, and watched as he spun around. Jo near fell over at the sight. She had never expected this to be the way they met, nor did she expect to have to tell him after Dexter had encountered his son.

In an attempt to regain some composure she looked at Dexter walking towards him with a smile. “This is Benjy,” she said with a smile and ran her hand over his hair as she spoke. “He is my son.” Jo nearly said our son but stopped herself, she had to tell him a better way than that. “He is eight years old and a ball of energy.” She laughed warmly and looked at the two of them.

Jo was not the type of person to get all teary eyed, but she was about too. She felt like breaking down into tears at the sight of father and son together. She tried to regain some composure. “So want some tea or sit down and have some food?” Jo said stepping back and heading over towards the tea she brushed some tears from her eyes.

There was no recognition of the boys obvious features. If Maddie was present and he saw the pair side by side it was likely he would have caught it. Or if someone he knew was really paying attention to the man swinging the boy in the aire they might have said something to alert him to the possibility. Dex however was blissfully unaware of his parental responsibility for the little boy who he placed down on the ground. "A bundle of energy indeed, seems a lot like a young Gryffindor I remember growing up" he gave Jo a playful wink as he looked for the list of teas they offered that day.

"Eight years of age? You don't say, I am sure his father must be proud..." he tried to remember who she was seeing back then. It was all a blur the years had been rough on them both. Though through his foggy memory he couldn't remember if he knew who she had been with eight years back. They had only saw each other six or seven years ago he thought. "Tell me what do you have good for me today?" His love for slacking when he shouldn't was more than apparent.

“Don’t let him hear such things, then he will get ideas that he can be rowdy.” Jo joked trying to keep calm and not just blurt it out that Benjy was his. As soon as Benjy was on the ground he went running for Jo’s legs nearly taking her down, much like he had done many time before. “Christ he is good at that, he just gets me at a certain angle and I go down.” She rolled her eyes and looked at Dexter with a smile. She wished he had known and she had not panicked like she had. Jo wished Dexter had been there part of Benjy’s life as he had grown up. She also was beginning to worry about what he might say.

“I don’t know if his father is proud,” Jo said weakly as she started to look at the teas deciding which to offer Dexter this time. Something had to go with the words she had to share with him. “His father doesn’t even know he exists.” She said as she decided on a tea, something decafe perhaps was the best idea to go with the fact she was going to drop a huge bomb on him in a bit.

She went behind the counter and made a pot of ginger peach tea. “You caught me just as I was going to go on break with little mister here.” She watched as Benjy observed Dexter and it seemed he was plotting his next surprise attack. “Watch out for him.” She barely spoke the words but mouthed them as she pointed down at Benjy. He was known for his not so stealthy attacks but if he caught you the least bit off guard he could cause you to stumble. He loved the game of being a monkey and hanging off people, which no doubt he was prepared to do with Dexter.

“Please do tell me you are willing to sit around over a pot of tea with me.” She smiled at him as she brushed strands of her hair from her face. “I have something to tell you anyway and I figure now is a good a time as any.” Jo wasn’t even sure how to start the conversation she was about to have.

Dexter let out a deep chuckle, "It's good for kids to be rowdy sometimes it gives their heart great joy to run about like the little monsters we all know they are. Maddie was quite the little trouble maker growing up, I can only be thankful she calmed somewhat as she grew older. I think her best mate is to thank for that," he figured that with Ferris as a Prefect Maddie wouldn't veer too far off the beaten path, or at least he hoped she wouldn't. Though he could always be wrong, he had been wrong before just look at his choice in a mother for her.

Watching the little boy scamper off a bit only to have a wily look in his eye caused Dex to laugh a little more, "My my he is just like his mum. I cannot believe the similarities," he gave her a playful wink. "It's a shame he doesn't have a father figure," he offered as if a token of condolence. It was none of his nevermind what was going on between her and her ex.

The offer of a drink was never one to be shrugged off lightly, "Can I be honest I came in for a drink and some pleasant company. I knew I could count on you for the two of them. So of course I would love some tea," Dex caught the little boy looking at him again. This time however the boy jumped onto his back, and Dex lifted him a little giving him a piggy back ride, "How about we let your mum here brew some tea while we manly men go outside for a bit?" Giving the mother a nod, Dex took the son with him outside into the sunshine.

"How about it," he said as he felt a squeeze of approval of the boy laughing at his shoulders. Dex listened as he chirped on about his hobbies, his likes and dislikes. It would have felt like his ear was being talked off if he didn't feel the connection he did. The little boy reminded him a lot of himself at that age, it was refreshing. Dexter took another small lap around the pathway that lead to the tea shop making dipping motions and goofing about before heading in. Opening the door he looked over to Jo, "Hope that gave you enough time for tea and to get yourself a little break," he looked at his new little friend before letting him back down onto the floor. "Did you want to talk in your office again?"

“He is a lot like his dad too,” Jo laughed awkwardly as she tried not to make eye contact. She didn’t want to make it obvious that he was the dad; she wanted to tell him she was just working up to it. “Though I do agree he does deserve to have a father figure in his life, I just haven’t had the courage to tell him yet.” The word ‘you’ almost slipped from her lips, she wanted it to be planned out and the right time for her to say something. Then again, when was the right time to tell a guy he is the son of your eight-year-old child?

Jo watched with a smile as Dex took her son outside. As much as she loved her song the moment of piece and quiet was nice. She started making the pot of tea for the two of the, and some sandwiches. She also made something more up her son’s alley tea wise, rather than the ginger peach. She made him some Strawberry tea as it was his favourite.

She informed her help that she would be in the back office with a guest and hoped she could handle it up front. Jo figured the day was dying down customer wise, which was nice on a social level but maybe not for business. Since she had Benjy today she might go home early, that was of course if the conversation with Dexter went okay.

Jo watched as her son and Dex came back in. Her face lit up as she collected her tray of things. “Yes, shall we head into the back.” Jo nodded her head. “Come on Benjy,” Jo looked down at her son again as she headed into the back of the store.