colleen, in the pink

“You sound like my mum.”

.

Colleen’s proud grin made it clear she didn’t take that as an offense, in the slightest. “She seems to be a wise woman.” She took a last sip from her coffee before lifting herself up from the table. “Eat your fish, Potter. See you around.”

“Just under a year— will be in March I came here.”

“And how– shoot, sorry, I think I’m being called over by my Gryffin folk,” Colleen excused herself before getting up. “But I’ll come find you soon! Got something you could potentially help me with.” With a wink, she made her way back to the Gryffindor table.

Cory snorted. “Your voice is just at a special octave I like to call annoying.”

.

Colleen rolled her eyes. “Shameful reaction to constructive criticism. You can do better than that.”

“Anything except mayonnaise. And bananas.” He paused, considering for a moment. “Fish and marmalade.”

“Everything else is fair game.”

“Fish oil is important for you, you know. For your heart. You shouldn’t go without it.”

When: 19 January 1980 Where: Hogwarts Who: Leigh + @colleenmulpepper

“Aloha,” Leigh giggled, stepping forward. “Do you know how much I loved your piece?”

.

When Colleen recovered from a startle, her face went mellow at the girl’s comment. “Aw! What part caught your heart, babe? Wait – was it the ‘Superfoods to reduce anxiety’? Oh, or the ‘DIY winter coconut oil bath soak and Hogwarts bathrooms where you should try it’?”

“Yeah.”

.

Colleen scrunched up her face so as to look profoundly grossed out, even if she wasn’t that deeply wounded by the idea. “You’ll eat just about anything, won’t you?”

“Ummm,” Cory drew out only to say, “On time. Have to be sharp for practice.” She proceeded to add a heavy dose of both cream and sugar to her mug.

.

Of course. “Well, if just me speaking at this tone is enough to tick you off, I wouldn’t say you’re that sharp, now, are you?”

“I — thank you?” She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. didn’t quite understand.

.

“You’re welcome.”

“I don’t know if I was so much picking her side as I was picking coffee.”

“How were your holidays, though?”

.

“Oh, they were busy, that’s for sure . With the Menagerie accident–” she shot Doris a knowing look– “There was just so much unexpected stuff we needed to cover. Insurance things, one of the clerks quit, even one of our more special potion vials was lost in the confusion, somehow.”

Pandora’s eyes lit up at once. “Oh, it can be a project! It shouldn’t be hard to have a makeshift greenhouse in my backyard.”

.

Colleen inched closer to Pandora in interest, her chin resting over her fist. “At number four, you mean? We have actual greenhouses at our place.” The idea excited her for a moment, before she considered the distance. “Nah, that’d be impractical. I can’t apparate that far yet.”

“And then if you just so happen to get the coffee…”

.

“Oh, you’ll be the first to know. I’ll try to grow it, of course — I can get you seedlings too, if you want.”

“Oh, coffee. We grew up with it. Dad always tried to push the tea, but mum wasn’t having any of it. They’d argue over it all the time. And it’s not like dad doesn’t drink the coffee, but he was very religious with his afternoon tea and mum always insisted on having a cafecito for her afternoon pick-me-up. She always won.”

.

Colleen smiled a delighted, bright smile, like a kid looking through the glass of toy store, their dream toy just bofore their tiny hands, but so decisively out of their grasp. Oh, the things she would have given up to have a mother by her side, parental quarrels — she figured her dad would be so good at them. “I’d guess you picked her side then,” she said, fondly. She’d pick her dad’s side, certainly.

Pandora laughed. “it’d make a good investigative story, come to think of it. I’m sure you’re not the first one who’s wondered about the coffee.”

.

“You know, that’s right, it would... And if I do that, it would sound very legit when I escalate it to, say, Sprout or even Dumbledore. Because then it will be a story, not just me snooping around.”

“Oui — yes. It was home until last year.” She smiled softly.

.

“You really have it, you know. That French girl charm thing.”

“Oh, yeah. I had some. But all coffee tastes the same to me.”

.

“So you don’t care for coffee, but you’ll try shit-infested gourmet coffee nonetheless?”

“You’ve gotta talk so loud before I’ve had mine?” Cory nursed a steaming mug, bringing it to her lips.

.

Colleen thought to herself — ‘Man, Corinne really knew how to take the joy out of freshly brewed coffee,’ but she held back from saying it just as she began opening her mouth. “Right. What time did you go to bed last night?”

“Yes, I think the culture is different there. The American’s cafe for a child— and at night is unheard of, but when you are used to it— is no problem.”

.

“You mean, in— France?” She took the queue. “It’s where you’re from, isn’t it?”