[Puddifoots] Classic Fairytale

[Olivia Costa]

Olivia made her way down Hogsmeade, with her hands placed in the pockets of her jacket. The air had a certain bite to it as it blew past her face, causing her cheeks to flush red. Her hair whipped across her face, obscuring her view. Finally fed up with the cold, Liv made a sharp turn and pushed her way into the tea shop.

A rush of warm air met her as she walked in, as well as the mingled scents of different teas. A grin was alight on her face as she took a seat at one of the tables. Someone came by and placed a pot of tea, and a cup in front of her. Olivia grinned up at them.

"Thank you."

Now, many people are probably wondering at this moment, why did the waitress already know what the Puff wanted? Simple, Olivia was a regular at the tea shop. She liked the quiet, quaint little shop. And, every time she came, she always ordered the same thing. Sometimes on bad days she would get some hot chocolate, but that was only once in a blue moon,

Olivia poured herself some tea and sipped it gently, not wanting to burn her tongue or anything. She found that she was starting to get warm, from both the tea and the warm air in the shop. Liv stripped off her coat and hung it on the back of the chair. As she did so, a book fell out of the pocket. The Puff quickly snatched it up off the ground, and checked it over for any smudges or water stains. Satisfied, she placed it on the tabled and cracked it open.

One could never beat the classics. Especially those written by the muggles. Pride and Prejudice happened to be one of Liv's favorite muggle stories. She was always a sucker for romance novels. But, then again, what girl wasn't?

[duran]

Amie's coat that used to be a little too warm for the winters back home seemed highly inadequate now and she shivered outright. It wasn't even the dead of winter yet, and already she was going to freeze to death. Not good. Pulling her jacket and scarf tighter around herself, she glanced at a few of the shops in Hogsmeade. It was her first trip down there and she wanted a little alone time to explore and check it out for herself. She only brought a little bit of money though and promised herself not to spend it all, as in, no shopping sprees.

Spying a comfy-looking little tea shop, she opened the door and couldn't help but smile when a bell tinkled lightly as she did so. Am looked around on the off-chance that someone she recognized was there, and was unsurprised to see that there was none. Instead, she just let her eyes land on a quiet-looking girl with her nose burried in an all-too-worn out book. Even one of the few that Amie had read before, that was definitely a plus and maybe the reason she let her focus fall on her. Pulling out the seat across from her silently, she smiled and wondered how to talk to the girl without really disturbing her reading. It was something that bothered Amie, and she'd "lash out" at people for doing it.

"Mind if I sit here?" She left out little comments like 'great book!' because it just seemed too redundant. It was a classic, of course it was good. Taking that the fellow Rufflepuff wouldn't send her away, she plopped her bag on the table away from her tea and sat down, unsurprised that her stubborn and much-abused copy of The other boleyn girl flew out of it's pocket. She's probably read it nearly ten times, and owned the sequels as well.

Stuffing it back in her bag with all the other mysterious womanly items that were in it that somehow made it as heavy as if she kept a ton of bricks in it, she laughed a little. "It looks like you've read that book 20 times."

[Olivia Costa]

Olivia took another sip of her tea as her eyes roamed the pages of the book. A smile tugged at her lips as she continued to read, and she even gave a small laugh. People glanced side-long at her, wondering what her cause of giggling was. They just didn't understand.

"By all means."

Liv gestured to the chair and grinned up at the girl. She gently creased one of the pages in her book and shut it, making sure not to have the book slam close. The book was placed back into her jacket pocket; it was rude to read when other people wanted to talk anyway.

After looking back at the girl, Olivia remembered where she had seen her before. It was another Puff, that American exhange student. Liv could detect her accent, and that fact amused her. Amie was the girl's name, Liv remembered because when she heard it she reflected on how pretty the name sounded.

The Puff blushed slightly at Amie's comment about her book. "Yes, well, one can never grow too tired with the classics." Another waiter came by and set a tea cup in front of Amie. Olivia grabbed the pot and held it up slightly. "Tea? I'm not exactly sure what kind it is, since I never change my order. All I remember is that it's good." She gave the girl a tentative smile and shrugged lightly.

[duran]

Amie smiled when the girl put the book away, which must mean that she didn't mind talking and keeping Am company. Which was good, since otherwise she would've struggled with just sitting there sipping tea and being quiet. Being quiet was always difficult, except in her classes where she was prone to sleeping. It was easier that way, less embarrassing. She still remembered a lesson in her third year about kelpies, and the professor asked what it was and she shouted out 'It's a pony!' much to Ten and Jase's amusement. It's not like it was her fault, the thing looked a lot like a.. green pony.

When the girl finally spoke, Am had to stare silently for a moment and try to understand the thick accent. Well, maybe in this situation she was the one with the accent, but the girl's way of speaking was what she'd definitely call unusual. Catching the word 'classics' she nodded a little. "Yes, yes.. classics. Classics are good." Amie answered finally, probably sounding extremely slow as the girl was already trying to pour some tea for her.

"I would love some tea, thank you." She said, expecting that the girl had asked while she was trying to decode the words. Amie remembered as a child she'd try to watch British muggle movies, and then would get fed up with misunderstanding them and would turn it off. Apparently, she couldn't do that here but she'd get used to it eventually. "Oh, by the way, what's your name? I'm Amie Duran."

[Olivia Costa]

By the furrowing of the girl's 'brow and the fact that she had not said a word for several seconds, Olivia could only assume that Amie hadn't quite caught on to the 'accent' thing. With a small smile, Liv nodded to the comment. She cleared her throat softly.

Thanks to the many trips Olivia and her family had taken to America, she could somewhat immitate the accent. Not to perfection of course, but it would be easier for Amie to understand. "This better?" The way of speaking felt slightly foreign on her tongue, but she tried to work past that.

Liv poured some tea for the other Puff and set the pot back down, a little bit off to the side so neither would accidently knock it over. "I'm Olivia Costa. I've already heard of you Amie, we're in the same house." She grinned again and gave a small laugh. "Not to be rude, but you did seem pretty lost your first day here, are you getting along better?"

[duran]

Amie blushed a bit as Liv quickly caught on to the real reason for her unusually slow respones, and she just shook her head slowly. "Yeah, I can understand you better that way, but you don't have to strain yourself. I'll get used to it soon enough, or at least, I have to. Can't change everyone, but we can change Amie." With a small smile she remembered that that line was usually used in association with the muggle's alcoholics anonymous, but it seemed to fit in here well.

Dantilly picking up the tiny teacup, Am brought it to her lips and gave it a suspicious sniff before taking a small sip. Luckily enough, it was delicious. "Mmm, well, Olivia Costa," she said, repeating the name to better remember it, "You have wonderful taste in tea." Setting the cup back down, she pursed her lips at the thought of having a house buddy. All of her best friends were in different houses, which did make things more difficult on her. Or maybe it was easier than just having one school united? She didn't really know.

"Oh, yeah, I was. But I've tried to wander aimlessly for a while, and then I've found my way a bit better." Amie shrugged. "I'm used to a much smaller school, that doesn't try to trick you with moving staircases!"

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie groaned under the weight of the bags she was holding. Her mother's birthday, father's birthday, uncle's birthdays, and grandmother's birthday all fell within three days of each other, and that day happened to be tomorrow. Ellie had rushed to Hogsmeade buying anything she thought they would remotely like, and now with only a small amount of money left to her name, she walked into a tea shop she rather enjoyed.

She wondered what bray and Fay were doing, she had left the school, not even mentioning where she was going. She was supposed to help Amie get a better bearing on the school, but she had come upon the birthday emergency and had totally forgotten, until she spotted Amie sitting in the tea shop.

Ellie shuffled over with the bags and plopping them down on the ground, she plopped in the chair next to Amie. She took a deep breath and moved the hair from her eyes.

"I'm soooo sorry, I forgot about hanging out today and then, well..." she indicated the bags, "I got distracted." Ellie looked at the girl sitting across from Amie. "Hi Olivia." She said, what a lovely bunch of Hufflepuffs she thought, order a large iced tea with lemon. She needed something to cool her off.

[Olivia Costa]

"Yes, but what kind of coversation would we have if you couldn't understand a word I said? It's alright, this isn't too difficult for me." Olivia grinned and took another sip of her tea. It must be hard for Amie, having to go through her classes and such while trying to understand what the teacher says through the accent. Why not try to make her life at least a little bit easier?

"Thank you." Liv murmured with a small blush. Compliments tended to take her off guard, and that usually caused a round of blushing on her end. She needed to work on that. "You get used to the school after some time." Olivia laughed softly at her comment on the staircases. "They always lead you to a new place, what's not to love?"

Someone else plopped down next to Amie, looking rather flustered. After a moment of thnking, Liv remembered the girl to be Ellie Rook. Now, Liv and Ellie hadn't spoken much during their time at Hogwarts, save for a few hellos. This was certainly a change in her normal routine.

"Hello Ellie. I hope you've been well?"

[duran]

Amie smiled and shook her head insistingly at Olivia. "Well, as a man would say, a good one. But really, don't bother." She could be so stubborn sometimes, but this was a situation where she didn't want special treatment. Especially special treatment that makes her look like a complete dunce.

Laughing lightly at the shy look the fellow Hufflesnuff got from such a simple complement, Amie rolled her eyes when Liv wasn't looking. It was something so small that she probably wouldn't have even noticed or maybe her ego would've said 'yeah, of course, I always have excellent tastes'. "I hope so, but those stairs will forever spite me. They always like to change with me standing on them, and it doesn't help that I'm afraid of heights. I'm under the impression that they do it on purpose." She'd just finished her little rant on the hateful stairs when the bell tinkled lightly indicating that someone else entered the pleasant little shop.

Am glanced over for a second, not really expecting it to be anyone she would know and was pleasantly surprised to see a rather flustered Ellie. "Pancake!" She chimed cheerfully and jumped up from her chair to seize the girl in an all-american hug.

"Don't worry, I forgot that I was supposed to meet you anyway." Ah, the bluntly honest Amie who admits she just skipped out of the castle thinking she had no plans and would get some me-time. "But it looks like you had much more fun than me." She said with a little pout towards the bags.

"We were just having tea." Am said, doing her usual job of jabbering the obvious.

[Ellie Rook]

"I have, thank you Olivia." Ellie said, continuing the formality. Just because they were drinking tea and in a little tea shop, it felt as though they had to go back two hundred years and drink with their pinkie raised. "I haven't seen you around in a long time." The fifth year said. Of course she knew Liv, but she didn't really know who she was. Its a complex...

"You did!?" Ellie said, sounding hurt, but then perking up again. "Oh, not at all." She said, tiredly. "Too many birthdays, too little gold." She said with a smile.

Ellie smiled as her iced tea came. She took a long drink from the pink straw stinking out of the glass. She sighed and smiled, leaning back comfortably in her chair, formalities over. "What exactly did you do that would make you forget about me?" She asked her American friend.