-- Work Uniform. -- -- Midday, Hogsmeade Weekend. --

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To say Columbine hated her job at Puddifoot's would be quite the understatement. During the off-season, the place isn't so bad. Sure, it was frilly and ruffly and Cole was used to leather and fur... But this dump was her dump. As wrong as that sounds. However, once it was Valentine's Day, Columbine would rather spend her day in bed, staying nice and cozy and not having a care in the world. Cole wasn't usually so lazy, but that particular day she felt like she could never get a break. There were too many teenagers stuffed inside the tiny tea shop. Too many kissing couples that made Columbine incredibly jealous and bothered.

However, Cole's morning had looked rather hopeful compared to the rest of her day. When she gained consciousness, she felt a familiar warm sensation draped over her body. She had laid there, listening to her partner breathe shallow breaths... It was relaxing. It made her feel like she was sixteen again, cuddled up next to Averie after a long night. Columbine was slowing getting over Averie... She didn't necessarily need him. She just needed someone to lay with her at night. Which was actually what Columbine tended to do. She would lure boys out from parties, coaxing them to her place for a "good time". Whether or not they truly had a "good time", the boy would always wind up sleeping in her bed. She would simply snuggle up to them, stealing their body warmth for the night, only to let them leave in the morning.

She picked the nice, younger ones... The ones who wouldn't dare try to steal anything of hers. Lucky for Cole, there was nothing they could steal. She kept her jewelry in a box in a hallow opening below the bed, almost like a trap door. Cole had found it when Averie left. He had left the board that covered the opening out on top of the bed. Inside, she found ten sickles and an empty syringe. A good find, she believed. However, at the time she felt completely depressed and bewildered.

Being kind, she made this boy breakfast. It was only sausage and eggs, but he seemed rather happy and pleased. He was undoubtedly a muggle. She could tell by the fact that he had never heard of Madam Puddifoot's. Frederick was his name... Cole liked talking with him. But both of them knew that what had happened was a mere one-night-stand... Or would have been if he hadn't passed out, drunk, before anything happened. He was very young, possibly eighteen. He had a nice smile. Frederick left before Cole even had to ask him. It was a shame they never got a chance to bond more.

Work, however, wasn't so pleasant. Teenage couples thought that since the next day was Valentine's Day, they could all visit Puddifoot's... Because that's a nice place to go on a date, right? Hell no! There was absolutely no booze! Cole stepped out from the back room, adjusting her pure white apron so she looked her best. Columbine hardly ever looked "nice", but she had to make sacrifices for her job. She even brushed her messy hair, its waves soft and smooth for once. Cole looked very presentable. But that didn't stop the young boys from jabbing her around just to make their skimpy dates happy.

Pink confetti fluttered everywhere. It got into people's drinks. They didn't notice, since they were too busy snogging. It was times like this that Cole couldn't help but think Puddifoot was a mad woman and needed to be sent to St. Mungo's.

Columbine made sure she used the old, crusty tea leaves for the ruder customers, keeping the freshly made, clean tea for those who were polite to her. She hadn't gotten to the point of spitting in the tea just yet, but she was sure the next day she would be living in that hell. She wanted to go on her break, but she had to wait another two hours. She supposed it was fair... But she still didn't want to wait on those tables and rush around like a train wreck ready to happen.

After giving a rather nasty girl her disgusting, old tea (which had a very odd murky look to it... Cole would never admit that she used dishwater to make the girl's drink), she heard the tingle of the bell on the door. She sighed. Another customer. The girl liked her drink but thought it was a little too heavy for her taste (Cole was so tempted to roll her eyes), and Columbine gently approached the new arrival.

"Hello sweetie! What can I get you?" She asked, as cheerfully as she could. Cole's smile was bubbly and nice... But she realized it was usually her eyes that put people off at work.

Johann, oblivious to the fact it was the valentine weekend approaching, had other things on his mind. For someone who could be astute about casual office flirtations that had happened by the lingering glances of his colleagues, he was entirely missing the fact Hogsmeade was full of couples, mostly gazing into each other's eyes, and if not doing that, locking lips and attempting some form of tongue tennis, citing St Valentine as the reason to exchange saliva in such an enthusiastic manner.

Frankly, it was as bad as when someone had dangled mistletoe over his head and he'd instead told them several uses for it, until they dropped it and sulked off. Not that he got that so much these days, it got a bit awkward.

Instead, Johann was rather more preoccupied with the fact he'd been invited along to the Hogwarts dance at the weekend (which was great for irritating the hell out of Ignan now they were on much better and more chummy intellectual terms, and also for people watching) and also because he had to finally encounter Adelia Delacroix, the department's new intern. He'd not yet confirmed the exact location of the meeting, apart form that it had to be in Hogsmeade, because of all the hoops of paperwork he'd had to get through. Not big paper hoops literally, rather more reams of forms and being nice to people in authority to prove he wasn't going to kill or kidnap Adelia.

Actually, both of those were very much a possibility quite unintentionally, so it had been a  bit of a problem, and he'd had to cut out adding the occasional smart comment at the end of translating trade documents because Gabrielle had given him that look, which meant the riot act was coming, and since she was not only his boss, but currently his landlord, he had wisely, for once in his life, realised it was time to play exactly to the rules if he wanted to keep his job long term.

Pushing open the door to Madam Puddifoot's in the reasons of seeing if it was a suitable place to meet Adelia, he was met by showers of confetti and a witch who addressed him politely,
"Hello sweetie! What can I get you?" with a tired cheerful voice, and a kind smile.
"Oh." Johann replied, surprised at being addressed so quickly as he stepped inside, and still scoping out the place now he was in the saccharine environment (still oblivious of the couples).

Her face was so tiredly genuine, the face of someone who worked in service and the behaviour had begun to become nature, he felt almost obliged, and his eyes darted from her rather intriguing ones, to the menu, and gaped momentarily.
"C-cup of tea?" He half stammered, mind tripping over and curly black hair rapidly catching the confetti. "Sorry, that sounds mundane." He apologised almost immediately, blushing a little in the warmth, his German accent a little stronger, creeping back into his speech as he felt awkward suddenly. He stepped sideways to better read the menu on the wall, and caught a cake on a tiered cake stand with his elbow as he did, realising as the cake was halfway to the ground, sending him fumbling for his wand.
"Merlin, sorry!" He exclaimed. 

"C-cup of tea? Sorry, that sounds mundane."

Columbine looked the man over. He looked far too serious and strict to be stuttering around... Perhaps that was merely Cole's view of him. Her brow furrowed and she shrugged, lightly. "This is a tea shop," she told him, blankly. Of course he'd be ordering tea. He probably wasn't coming here for their caramel stuffed pastries that sit on display all day, untouched (Cole was beginning to suspect they were fake). Columbine continued to look the man over. She wasn't sure if she found his shy demeanor adorable or threatening. In a way, all men were like that to Cole, anyways.

The man sidled over to read the menu, bring one of the cakes on display down to floor with his rigid elbow. Naturally, Columbine took a step back and glared up at the large man. While she very much wanted to curse at him in her nastiest language... However, she was at work. Puddifoot wouldn't take kindly to her foul insults. Especially since it was supposedly "unladylike". Since when was Columbine considered a lady?

A hiss escaped Cole's lips and she pulled her wand from her pocket. Within moments, the cake was picking itself up off the floor and whisking past the heads of all the oblivious teenagers. Puddifoot had expected Columbine to start selling pieces of the stupid cake. But it was okay. Losing a part of her potential pay was perfectly fine with Cole. No, it wasn't. She was rather disappointed in the man. However, he was as big as a house. It wasn't his fault he was so giant. He was made that way.

The cake made its way into a rubbish bin and Cole casually moved the stand which it had been sitting on out of harm's way. The place was rather cramped, anyway. An open area for new customers would definitely make it less stressful. However, Columbine had moved the stand into an awkward position behind a girl's chair... If she were to back out, the stand would be knocked over. But Columbine didn't exactly care at the moment, or maybe she simply didn't notice.

"It's fine," Columbine finally told him, her baby face still a bit pouty but otherwise clear of all hatred. She directed him towards one of their few empty tables and set down a spare menu for him to look at... Instead of the one on the wall. "You here with someone, honey? This place is usually meant for couples..." her regular, flirty persona stepped forward once more as the shock wore down. "A handsome man like you wouldn't be coming to Puddifoot's by himself... Who's the lucky lady?" Not that Cole was thinking of making that "lucky lady" lose her date... Something about those high cheeks bones just made Cole a bit interested.

Or perhaps it was because he was a male with a heartbeat.

"You want anything with your tea? We have a wide variety of pastries that all taste the same," she smiled, sweetly, at the customer and nodded with enthusiasm, "And we did have cake... But we don't anymore." Hopefully all this legitimate kindness would make the man feel better about being a failure. A failure with nice cheek bones.

The cake shot up off the floor and into the bin, and Johann's eyes followed it, feeling very guilty.

"It's fine," The witch told him, but her face really didn't confirm this to him, nor did the way she stared off to one side. Johann bit his lip a little, and fiddled with the pockets of his coat, hiding his hands in there a moment, not sure of what to do with them.
"You here with someone, honey? This place is usually meant for couples... A handsome man like you wouldn't be coming to Puddifoot's by himself... Who's the lucky lady?"

"Er..?" Johann replied. A place for couples? It would be bad to invite Adelia down here then, she might get the wrong idea, mightn't she? He glanced back, and his mind finally noticed the couples everywhere, and then he couldn't see anything but. Looking back at the witch, his head twisting back again swiftly, his face a bit surprised.

"You want anything with your tea? We have a wide variety of pastries that all taste the same, and we did have cake... But we don't anymore."

"Ah, yes about that..." Johann replied, his uncomfortable hands finding some coins in the depths of the coat pocket. "Do let me repay you for my badly placed elbow." Bringing the coins out he gave them a cursory glance to check they weren't all small change, and made a rapid evaluation at the prices, based on the little prices beside the other produce as to how much might be a token gesture to cover his mishap.

"And, no thank you to anything but the tea..." He added, offering the coins over, enough to cover both the tea and he imagined much of the cake.

Glancing back at the couples again he turned back sheepishly and raised his eyes to regard the rest of the decor, and swallowed.
"Truth be told, I've never been in here, so wasn't really aware of the couples thing." He scratched his head self consciously, as well as due to the confetti now scattered in his hair.
"I'm not usually such an idiot, honestly, normally people tell me to shut up and stop acting so smart actually..." He explained, giving another, distracted glance backwards, and leaned forwards, resting his fingertips carefully on the counter.
"I say, they do breathe don't they, when they're doing that, don't they?" He asked, rather confused by the lengthy lip locking engaged by the couples at the tables behind him.

The man looked oddly surprised to hear that the tea shop was couple central. Puddifoot's simply screamed, "take your lovely lady here and kiss like there's no tomorrow." Cole's eyes flicked around his face, narrowing in confusion. Columbine was rather slow herself, so it took her a moment to realize the man was uncomfortable. She released a sigh, the sourness leaving her face as the air escaped her lips. Confetti sprayed across her face. They were both in an awkward position. The man was stuck in an awful shop and Cole was working there. She decided to be a bit more soft with him, to make the misery go by faster. She knew how disgusting the place was.

"Do let me repay you for my badly placed elbow."

How sweet. Cole would actually be getting that small amount of pay the cake would have gotten her. She took the change without a question, slipping it into her apron pocket. If she remembered it later, she'd place it in the cash register. If not, Puddifoot would hardly miss a few coins, now would she? "Thank you," Cole smiled, sweetly, "That's very kind of you. Now my boss won't have my head!" She giggled and pulled out her tiny notebook to take his order. She was glad that Cheekbones had paid her back. It wouldn't have looked good at all to be a fancy business man (who was probably loaded with cash) and not pay for a measly cake. But that was coming from a junkie who was thinking of stealing a few coins from her workplace.

The man decided to just stick with a cup of tea and Cole simply shrugged and pocketed her notebook. She was supposed to pressure him and recite all of the delicious pastries they had available and catch his interest. She was supposed to want his money and love him long time. But Columbine was tired, and Cheekbones was nice. Cole liked nice guys. With her lifestyle, they were hard to come by. "I don't blame you," She told him with a cheeky grin, "They're overpriced, anyhow. Taste like cardboard and cost you as much as a wand. Ridiculous."

"Truth be told, I've never been in here, so wasn't really aware of the couples thing."

"I can tell," Columbine responded, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, "We hardly see your likes around here... Especially not so close to Valentine's Day. Mostly teenagers and their flings. It's rather distressing." And it made Cole feel old. While she was still able to snog drunken boys every night, she hadn't had a relationship in quite some time. She hadn't had a family to tell her it was wrong that she hadn't settled down or didn't plan on it soon. But she had that womanly feeling in her chest telling her she was old and had wrinkles and needed to have children right that moment.

"I'm not usually such an idiot, honestly, normally people tell me to shut up and stop acting so smart actually..."

Columbine tilted her head to the side, studying him, "Everything alright? You seem nervous..." She asked, placing a hand on her hip. Perhaps he was just jumpy. She sort of recalled the smart people at school always being shaky and nervous. Well, at least... When she was around. But the man was stammering and calling himself an idiot. Cole simply thought he was clumsy and goofy. It was adorable. "Don't worry about it, sweetie," she told him, taking a step back, "I know the difference between stupidity and being too large for your own good." If all tall people were stupid, then all of her ex-boyfriends were morons.

She quickly made her way to the back, throwing the fresher leaves into a cup and pouring actual, clean water in. All that good stuff she saved for the nice customers. If he hadn't paid her back, she would have spit in the tea, used old leaves from past customers, used dish water... Used toilet water. But Cheekbones caught her interest. Perhaps he really was by himself. Cole hoped he was one of those important business men that had lots of cash flowing in. Not that she really needed a Sugar Daddy... Well... Maybe.

With her hips shaking to and fro as she walked, she held the saucer carefully with her short fingers and placed it in front of the man. With the tea, she had placed a napkin, a spoon, and a tiny biscuit for Cheekbones. It was common for each cup of tea a customer bought, but she actually picked one of the newly baked biscuits that she usually saved for herself during her break. Another benefit of being kind to her. She smiled at the man, reassuringly, that she did good with the tea, yes sir.

"I say, they do breathe don't they, when they're doing that, don't they?"

"I think they have gills on the side of their necks..." She paused, "they breathe that confetti that's spraying all over us." She chuckled at her own joke and paused, "That's my only possible explanation for all the confetti." Columbine glanced around the shop, her eyes narrowing at all the kissing couples. All the tables were filled and no one seemed to be in need of her lovely assistance, so Columbine plopped herself down, right across from Cheekbones.

"But really... Who's the lucky gal?"