#ashesevent002

“Hey, now, hey, now, easy, watch it, would ya?” came the words, but Abe supposed he didn’t really know who they were intended for as he weaved through the crowd to make his way back to the bar. “Aw, come on, mate, easy on the garland. The ladies worked real hard to make it look nice in here, don’t be like that.” He rolled his eyes with a shake of the head, directing his attention, instead, to the face in front of him. “What can I get you?”

“Hey, thanks for coming in today, did you have an appointment?” Bat wasn’t partaking in the festivities, not just yet – Bat still had a few hours left on the clock today, but come afternoon, the flighty twenty third Podworthy was going to be ready to roam. For now, he was ready to get on with it. “Looking for a shave today? We’re giving away Santa hats with every beard trim, it’s a heck of a deal, I wouldn’t pass on it!”

“Lacewing silk, would you believe it? So hard to come by, I couldn’t leave without it.” Hard to come by, certainly. A strange item to be in search of? Even more so. “This is going to cover my garden beautifully. There were still a few meters left, I can show you where I found it.”

This time, as Agnes sidled up beside the redhead in the sweets shop, she’d done it on purpose; she’d parted ways with the pack for a few moments after spotting the familiar head of hair, not even bothering to make excuses. No, she just said she needed to speak to someone. Agnes couldn’t resist, naturally, but in this case, she was fairly certain Dahlia wouldn’t have wanted her to – she was coming bering compliments. “Heard your dress was a real hit at that premiere of yours. Saw the pictures myself, and I have to say, they almost didn’t do you justice. You outshone them all.” 

A tiny smirk on her face, she twisted herself around, popping some cherry candy or other into her mouth as she leaned against the display nearest the one Dahlia was picking through. “In fact, I was with the Selwyn girls when we saw the pictures, and they were so excited .... they want to make something special for New Year’s, if you’re interested.” She turned her head, tossing a smile in the Prewett’s direction before continuin, never having had a plan to stop. “Actually, I think once they really get on their feet they’ll  ask you to be their spokesperson. Looks to be their plan, anyways. I love that for you, and all without your mother, too. See, I told you we were capable of friendly .. and now look, new friends.”

It was still twenty something days until Christmas, but one of the things which still amazed him of the tiny country was just how festive they all were and how quickly the spirit spread. Back home, it wasn’t customary to be so quick in celebrating Christmas. Even in the week leading up to Noel, it wasn’t extremely popular to bade a season greeting or wish a merry Christmas. But something over here made everyone on the 1st start going crazy and he had lost count the amount of merry and tipsy people he had seen on his night so far wishing such things. 

But he had adapted a lot since being on the island and he was polite in returning the wishes, knowing that this was their custom, despite it being a little bit more than silly. He had a few bags in his hands, little bits he had seen on his traipse through the village, one of them being a large bottle of cherry wine and firewhiskey liqueor chocolates- a treat he would gift himself and most likely share with his new friend Achilles. He was somewhere in the village, no doubt charming his way with a couple of ladies- Reuben liked hanging out with him, together they had formed a friendship they both needed. And both had become wingmen for each other. 

With a hum he side stepped a group of women, before turning around and sending them a wink and smirk. “Joyeux Noël, mesdames.” he greeted, chuckling as they cackled and giggled amongst themselves before he turned back around, almost colliding with the person ahead. “je suis désolé-” 

It hadn’t exactly been planned, more of a passing idea to meet up. Their letters between each other had mentioned their intention to go, Winter hadn’t been back to Hogsmeade in many years and it did hold some fond memories. It also gave him a chance to run the dogs, even if they had been a bit woozy from the apparating. But that had swiftly been countered in the Hogs Head. A couple of pints for him, sugar water for the dogs and now they were excitedly bouncing down the village path, Winter hurrying behind them to keep up. He juggled two cups of toffee apple green tea and his wrist held the three leads. 

With being taller than most of the wix darted about, it made it easy for him to spot Isa a little way further down and he couldn't help but grin to himself at the idea of seeing her once more. It was becoming easier and easier, with each meeting and time spent together to accept the fact that she was indeed just a friend and he treasured the idea she was indeed that. Their spare time between work had mostly been spent with Winter slowly introducing her to more of muggle London and countless trips to museums and galleries to enlighten her mind to muggles and a world so astoundingly new and interesting. 

“Whoa- hey, whoa- no-!” the dogs sped up, no doubt something had caught their attention and he tried to pull them to a halt as they nearly darted past Isa. With his tugging to stop, he almost slipped on a patch of ice and for a few moments sort of remained slipping and sliding over the patch, amazingly remaining a hold on the cups of tea and the dogs without falling on his arse. His balance came back and he tried to shrug off his almost incident with a charming smile in her direction. 

“Good evening, ma’m.” he greeted, trying to act like nothing had just happened, despite the blush on his cheeks. He would blame it on the cold. Yes, the cold.

“Where do you want to start, though? With Abe or at the Wyvern? I mean ... we can’t go ruin Maria’s day without Walburga, that’s just rude, she’d be so put out, but where is she? Are we meeting her somewhere?” She couldn’t remember for the life of her what the plan was, but truthfully, that might have simply been because the girls had the entire weekend ahead of them without nothing but time to do ... as they pleased, of course she hadn’t been listening; she’d been planning. We could go give ‘Merta hell, too, don’t forget.”