Past 4pm

Many of the Hogsmeade businesses had stalls outside of the shops to better serve the crowds here for the Tournament Opening Ceremonies but that wasn't to say the businesses were closed. Ligeia[1] found the interior of Madam Puddifoot's a lovely retreat after the activity of the day and the afternoon sun. It was much less populated than the Three Broomsticks, for sure, a torrent of students and adults coming and going in shifts.

Buzzard was above her table on a shelf between china plates, scraping his hooked beak in the remains of a stale meat pie bought for him. Ligeia was drinking a black coffee, an aromatic blend called the "Klatchian Brew," the beans treated in an unknown practice, the best from South America processed by Middle Eastern wizards. If you added cream and sugar, that colored it black enough to actually look at.

Ligeia was amusing herself spacing out her Terr-oh! cards on the tea table (The Deck of Death! How Many Ways Will You Die?), a birthday gift from Argyle. Unlike traditional tarot, the Terr-oh! cards had pictures of some kind of catastrophe printed on each, guaranteed to divine any misfortune and 99% accurate to divine how exactly one would shove off the mortal coil (with a 98.99% margin of error, the box said).

"Hmm," she mused. "The Murderous Ex-Lover, Stranded at Sea, and Lethifold for a Cloak. Suggests I shall meet an old friend. Or I should be checking the Prophet obituaries."

1.	same day, still dressed like this

Alex glared at the vendor, irritated that he refused to haggle over the price. It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford the book anyway, just that it was completely unreasonable to expect so much for it. She wondered if she should buy it anyway, then decided that there was almost certainly a copy in either her Father’s library or at Hogwarts. “Fine,” she snapped at the stone- faced man, “I won’t buy your overpriced book.”

She turned away and merged into the flow of people wandering the streets, pulling her bags a little closer to her in order to prevent theft. She paused to take out her watch, and was just tucking it away when someone stepped on her foot. “Hey, watch it,” she snapped, and the culprit looked down at her in surprise.
“Oh, sorry, didn’t see you down there,” the man said, and Alex had to resist pulling out her wand and performing a leg- locker curse on him. By the time she realised that stamping on his feet would be just as satisfying, and not as banned, he had disappeared, and so, deciding that she had had enough of tall people and steep prices, she elbowed her way to Madame Puddifoot’s. There, at least, there would be peace and quiet- unlike the Three Broomsticks, which seemed to be perpetually full and loud.

Slipping through the door, she adjusted her bags again, scrunching the sleeves of her shirt up to her elbow. The silk rustled satisfyingly, and she remembered a little too late that her Father had ordered her not to scrunch up her sleeves because it was hard to get the creases out. Deciding that repair was impossible, she was about to slump down in the nearest seat and demand something to revitalise her when she noticed a vulture on one of the shelves. Standing on tip- toe, she noticed a plume of black feathers, and, feelings of anger dissolving, she walked over to find her friend Ligeia.

“Hello Ligeia,” Alex said, “do you mind if I sit with you?” she asked, sitting down opposite Ligeia without waiting for an answer, “I love the dress. But what do the cards foretell? Nothing too painful, I hope.” She smiled at Ligeia, slightly relieved that she had found her in the chaos of Hogsmede.

As Ligeia took another sip of coffee her roommate at school Alexandra Carstairs entered. “Hello Ligeia, do you mind if I sit with you?”

"Dear Alexandra, of course not," Ligeia smiled, clearing a few of the cards from the other end of the table so Alex had a place to sit.

“I love the dress. But what do the cards foretell? Nothing too painful, I hope.”

"Oh, this old thing," Ligeia said, fingering down the line of buttons. "I figured it wasn't too fancy for the opening ceremonies today. And good for the maneuverability," although nothing about the dress suggested a range of movement or comfort, "I've been spinning several boys dizzy on the dance floor."

She replaced the cards on the table. "Well, you aren't dead yet, so that's a relief. The Murderous Ex-Lover refers to former or distant relations, Stranded at Sea refers to loneliness, and Lethifold for a Cloak is tight, intimate. So, compiling those together I figured I would meet an old friend, or said old friend might have passed on by now." After laying out the three cards there was one extra, bunched in the same orientation as the previous three. "Forgot this one. Double Whammy. It intensifies one of the previous cards, although I didn't notice which one it was paired with."

"But order something, my treat!" Ligeia offered, pulling a small black purse from the billows of her dress. There was the jingle of coins inside and a low muttering. Ligeia noticed the state of Alexandra's blouse and the shopping bags. "Something strong, maybe, you look rumpled. Beat someone over the head as you both went after the same ancient tome?" came the speculation.

The relative quiet and peace of Madam Puddifoot's was suddenly interupted by a loud "DWING!", signalling a new arrival just as they were stepping across the threshold.  Grumpy and in a rather foul temper from yet another string of fruitless auditions, Envy  slammed open the front door with unintended force, dragging her multitude of shopping bags and heavy guitar case behind her. The few tenants in Madam Puddifoot's all swung around to look at her, clearly attracted by the noise created from the unnecessarily violent action. Envy realized this and stopped dead in her tracks, biting her lip in embarassment.
"Sorry!" She stage-whispered, in true Envy fashion. She waited until most of the patrons had resumed their conversations before continuing to her favorite seat, although this time taking extra measures to remain quiet. Setting her bags down beside her, she arranged herself at the table closest to her fellow Ravenclaw's and pulled out a pad of paper. She recognized the two girls in their fancy clothes from her house but didn't bother to acknowledge them, seeing as they seemed a bit busy with their odd little card game. Besides, a nice little coffee and tea joint like this should be a perfect place to hide out for the day while avoiding those annoying Second Thought wannabes who somehow managed to keep sneaking their way into tryouts.
As usual, Envy was dressed to the nines, resembling an eccentric fairy under the dim lighting with all her sequins and glitter. However it was clear from the state her wardrobe was in that she had been out on the streets for quite a while now. The layers of her gauzy, white tutu skirt were starting to get a bit rumpled and her black, star-printed tights had a run in them. The silky black corset that she'd bought only a day before had a bit of dirt on one of the panels. Envy noted these imperfections with a disheartened little squeak and pulled a small, heart-shaped sewing kit out of her bag, immediately setting to work on them as she waited for the waitress to materialize.

Alex nodded at the description of what the cards foretold, although she honestly had no idea what any of it meant. She hated the idea of fortune telling, that your whole life was written in the stars, predestined and inescapable, but she would never admit it. Far better to make light of it than to rant needlessly.

She snorted softly at Ligeia’s surprisingly accurate guess, then said, “No. There was an incident involving an ancient tome, and another involving the compulsion to beat someone over the head, though. I suppose that I don’t have the tranquility necessary to enjoy the crowds, and so I decided to pop in here- and then, of course, I saw you,” she finished, her smile widening.

“I’ll order… Darjeeling, I think. Anything except Earl Grey, really,” she said, before looking up as someone slammed into the room with an exuberance that was not usually expressed by the clientele of Madame Puddifoot’s. She was surprised to see Envy Katakura, looking fabulous in her usual stand- out clothes. She looked down at her outfit disparagingly, close cut trousers and ankle boots with a shirt which she had, once again, scrunched up to her elbows.

Looking back to Envy, Alex was surprised that she didn’t even stop to say hello to either Ligeia or Alex. She twisted around in her seat, reaching over and tapping Envy on  the shoulder. “Envy? How are you?” she asked, smiling at her slightly.

"Was it a foreigner? That would be a jolly welcome indeed, slap someone upside the head." The way the wheels turned behind Ligeia's eyes, you could tell she was actually considering it! Like a violent, drunken Scotsman, a punch to say hello. She didn't quite have the arm muscles for it, however. "I'm sure some of the fellows from Durmstrang could handle it, I hear they're tough as nails over there. They train by swimming in sub-freezing temperatures, run marathons barefoot over sharp rocks and snap boulders in half with their heads! That's the rumor, anyway."

Ligeia also noticed the entry of Envy. She joined Alexandra with greeting. "Dear Envy, that's almost half the dorm now. Can you believe we're about to have a TetraWizard Tournament in our sixth year?"