cauldrons and toads

“Pie, always pie” Tabby nodded with enthusiasm. “Best pastries in London, I don’t know how they do it but it’s kind of incredible!”

“My expectations will be very high then.”

“That would just make me hungry,” she giggled.

“You’re asking me?” Julian was surprised. “Um, I’d say soup of the day. It’s always a good choice.”

“I don’t see anyone else around,” she explained with a small smile. “Soup you say? Fair enough.”

“Definitely the pie. Whenever I come back to town I always order it. Nothing tastes more like home.”

“If it should taste like home then I should order a cheeseburger that is twice as big as I am,” she chuckled.

“Fair enough, I trust your word, stranger,” she nodded in agreement. “Pie it is.”

“Unless... Do you wanna share it?”

“They have too many options, how can one choose?” She chuckled, shaking her head slightly. 

“Oh, I would not be able to eat both. And I do hate wasting food.”

“Alright, alright, alright. Pie it is then,” she nodded her head vigorously. “Thanks.”

“If you mean going from kid to kid and watching their hands, then yes.”

“Oh, I see. That would take some time... Maybe Accio them next time?”

He immediately straightened his back, narrowing his eyes when he looked at her. He was definitely not pleased with her comment. James was no stupid, even if messed up from time to time. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He stopped wiping her notebooks and was now looking at her challengingly. Of course he was not going to start arguing with her, but he was not planning on helping if she ended up offending him.

A slight blush appeared on her cheeks. She was not ashamed of her words, more like she was getting more and more angry. He probably destroyed months of her hard work and he kept opening his big mouth without any important reason. At that point even his breathing was annoying her. “Exactly what you heard. You destroyed months, no, years of my hard work. These notes could’ve been my breakthrough and you ruined them!” Her voice kept raising, any previous thoughts that were holding her back were gone.

“Alright, alright, relax,” he muttered under his breath. The girl looked like she was about to hext him and, truth to be told, he really didn’t want to make a scene. Not in the Leaky where most of the customers knew who he was. The last thing he needed was someone telling his father that he caused a fight in a bar. “What’s so important about your notes anyway?” He inquired as he started wiping the table.

She bit her lower lip, staring at the guy. She was freaking out about the state of her notes and he had decency to tell her to relax. She huffed. He had no idea what he had done. “I’m working on something important, not that you’d understand,” she snapped at him. She didn’t feel like explaining to a complete stranger how life changing could her discovery be.

“I’d say so,” she mumbled, nibbling on her lower lip.

“Are you able to fix it?”

“No, that can’t be right,” she mumbled while looking at the report. “Just how many plush toys disappered this week?” Her voice got louder when she noticed the number.

She moved to stand behind the blonde girl to have a look at the papers she was going through. “Well, it’s in the twenties,” she stated. “Is it bad?”

“Any time, dear. I never want you to panic like this– but since I know it’s inevitable, I just need you to promise me to always take a step back for a moment to breathe. Exactly like you did just now,” Dom smiled. She knew the feeling of panic rising all too well. Anxiety was something incredibly common with her, but when it came to seeing others suffer she couldn’t handle. She always helped whenever she could.

She slowly nodded at the blonde girl. She usually just let herself have a breakdown, knowing it would eventually pass. There were right and wrong ways that she could take while working, so she was familiar with mistakes. But that silly little— No, she couldn’t let herself overthink the situation. What happened, happened. “I’ll remember that,” she assured the girl.

“What if I promise you it’ll be okay?”

“You can’t,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I just need a moment, it’s not the end of the world,” she tried to assure herself.