Ice Cream And Old School Mates (Angie)

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Zeph's wife, Mera, had taken their son, Benny, to a play date with one of his little mates, so Zeph decided to have a girls' day out in Diagon with their daughter, Betty. Both knew where they wanted to go first, well after lunch anyway... Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Both loved the place, and even though Zeph wanted her twins to have healthy diets, she was all for the occasional treat. Zeph favorite dessert was ice cream, and she knew Betty loved it. Zeph smiled at her daughter as she carried her into the shop.

"Alright, my love, what would you like?" she asked.

"That one, Mum!" said Betty, pointing to a picture on the wall.

"The Double Decker Banana Split?" chuckled Zeph. "Are you sure you can eat all of that?" Betty giggled and nodded. "Well, would you like your Mum to help you anyway?" Her daughter nodded again. "The Double Decker it is then." Zeph leaned in and kissed her daughter on the cheek. Zeph loved her job, but she loved being a wife and mother a lot more. Her family meant everything to her. "So what's after ice cream?"

"Quidditch Match!" said Betty.

"Well there's no match playing today," she said. "But we can go to the Quidditch shop and look at Holyhead Harpies stuff. How about that? That's your favorite team, isn't it?" Betty nodded again. "Mine too."

@angie

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Angie and Olive spent quite a bit of time in the popular Wizarding Alley. The two girls loved to walk the lanes and pop into their favorite shops. Angie, as a single mother doing her best to make ends meet, loved the second hand and consignment shops, especially when it came to buying cloths for the two of them and items for the house. Since it was just the two of them in their flat, Angie was able to decorate however she wanted and Olive just loved everything. Her 4 year old was very easy to please. Whenever Angie wasn't working, she was with her daughter. And she liked to get the young girl out of the house as much as possible. She liked to make every day exciting and give Olive every opportunity to run around and get out as much energy as possible before bedtime. 

Olive had finally recovered from her two weeks stuck at home with pneumonia and Angie had her hands full trying to figure out what to do next. The Blonde woman had also taken the next two weeks off and had to go back to work tomorrow. So, Olive would be back at her muggle day care center. Except, recently, she  had been thinking that it was almost time to remove Olive from the muggle center and try to find a magical nanny or day care center to send her to. She was getting to the age where accidental magic would become common and Angie could only convince the daycare employees that Olive liked to pretend that they were witches for so much longer. It was hard to keep a 4 year old from talking about anything. Luckily, however, it was easy to pass it all off as pretend. 

"Can we get ice cream?" Olive begged her mother after they came out of the consignment shop nearby. The popular ice cream parlor was in full view with colorful flags in the windows. It drew the young girls attention instantly. While Angie knew that she shouldn't be spending a lot of money right now since she hadn't been to work in two weeks, she couldn't resist letting her only child have a little treat. "Alright." Angie nodded and allowed the 3 foot tall girl to pull her along to the shop.

The two blonde girls walked inside and Olive began looking at the pictures on the walls displaying that they could get. However, Angie knew that she would get the same thing that she always got and Angie would abstain. She didn't need or want ice cream. "Are you feeling adventurous today or would you like Strawberry and Chocolate like normal?" Angie asked, squatting down to her child's level. Olive simply nodded and Angie knew she was nodding in response to the latter question, forgetting the first part. "We'll have a single scoop of the Strawberry Chocolate in a cone, please." Angie asked the person behind the counter. 

@zephyra

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Zeph was thinking over a few things regarding the Ministry and her job. She tried to keep her mind off of work when she wasn't there, but it wasn't always that easy. With the recent events, work tended to sneak up on her. If she hadn't been so focused on that, she might have recognized the voice of the woman behind her. Said woman was a school mate of hers after all. However, while she didn't pay attention, Betty did, at least to the girl that was with the woman. Betty smiled and waved.

"Hello!" she said. Zeph then snapped out of it. She turned an smiled at the woman and the daughter, but then did the double take at the woman.

"Angie... James, isn't it?" she asked. As she recalled, the girl had been in Slytherin, and the two weren't exactly friends in school. However, that didn't mean that Zeph wasn't going to be civil and mature. Zeph had changed a bit since school. Others could too. "Zephyra Anders. It's nice to see you again." She gave a nod, and was about to turn back to see if the line had moved up.

"I'm Betty!" said her daughter to the other two. "She's my mum! I have two mums!" Zeph smiled at that.

"Two mums who love you and your brother more than anything in the world," she said. Zeph had never been ashamed of her sexuality and hoped Betty and Benny would never be ashamed of having two homosexual mothers.

@angie

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There were a few other people in the shop, it was a very popular shop, especially for students and young children, but everyone liked Ice Cream, so no matter what time of the year it was, the shop was always buzzing with people with a sugar buzz. Olive, ever the social butterfly began to make friends with a young girl who was in the shop with a woman whom Angie assumed was her mother. "Hello." Olive cooed to the girl who was roughly her age. The woman whom the young girl was with knew her... Angie paused upon hearing her own name being spoken from this woman. Uh oh. How did they know each other? Was she a customer? They looked about the same age, it was likely they went to school together. The girl couldn't have been in her house otherwise Angie would have recognized her sooner. 

"Hi." Angie smiled to her, not really letting on that she couldn't remember her name. Angie was a very different person during her school days than she was now. Olive was the thing to change that. Angie had been the exact same for the first few months following Graduation, however, the girl had got pregnant at age 18, something that she was sure wasn't that big of a surprise to anyone. The woman re-introduced herself and Angie still wasn't entirely sure where to place her from, however as Angie looked at her she began to see the woman a few inches shorter and in yellow and black robes. Angie was almost certain she had been a Hufflepuff and that they had indeed gone to school together. She hadn't exactly been someone Angie associated herself with back in the day. "Yes, hi! How are you? It is good to see you." she genuinely insisted. 

The young girl introduced herself and the fact that Zephyra was 1 of 2 of her mothers. Angie smiled. "Well it's very nice to meet you, Betty." Angie said to the girl. "This is my daughter," "Olive." The 4 year old cut her off. 

@zephyra

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Angela seemed to be nice... well nicer anyway. Zeph was certainly giving her the benefit of the doubt, but she remembered just why the two didn't get along back in school. She wouldn't have called Angie an archenemy by any means, but there were definitely factors that kept them from being friends. Then again, Zeph wasn't crazy about a lot of the Slytherins back in the old school days. She assumed Angie wasn't crazy about the Hufflepuffs either. However, Hogwarts was in the past. Life moved on for Zeph, and no doubt for Angie.

"I'm well, thank you," she said. "Busy. Being a mum and working at the Ministry. Never a dull moment." She was careful not to reveal her job, as the wrong listening ears could be around them, and there were a lot of dark souls who would love to know an Auror had a family. "And yourself?"

Betty smiled at the two, especially at Olive.

"Oh Olive, that's a pretty name!" she said.

"It's a very lovely name," said Zeph. She then turned back as it was her turn to order. "The Double Decker please, with a chocolate-raspberry and butterscotch." She then turned back after paying. "Would you and your daughter like to join us, Angie?"

@angie

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Angie was glad that she had finally registered where the woman was from. She wasn't someone that Angie had associated herself with during their school days, however, she wasn't someone that was on Angie's actively ignore list. Most people weren't. There was just a select group that she had chosen to associate herself with. Many of her best friends now wouldn't have made the cut. Yadiel was probably the exception to that; he was a Slytherin after all, not to mention older. All things that Angie would have appreciated in a person for several reasons. However, they hadn't gone to Hogwarts together so it didn't really matter.

The woman insisted that she was well, just busy being a mother and working. Angie nodded with that. understanding and agreeing to it all. "Don't I know it." the Slytherin giggled. The shopkeeper handed Angie the ice cream cone with a swirl of pink and brown ice cream towering out of it. Olive's eyes glistened. She had consumed tons of ice cream over the past few weeks while she was recovering from pneumonia. It wasn't exactly necessary, but Angie felt bad for the toddler and liked to treat her. She handed the cone down to the girl and Olive began to enjoy it, happily. "I've been great, also just mothering and working." She explained. 

Zephyra asked if she and Olive would like to join them and Angie looked to Olive for her answer. Angie was fine either way, so, if Olive wanted to stay they could, but if Oliver was getting too tired and needed to get home for a nap, Angie would oblige. Olive nodded to her mother. She loved spending time with other children her age. "Sure, we'd love to." Angie and her daughter stepped outside the shop and claimed a table for the four of them to sit at while they enjoyed their sweet treats. 

@zephyra

 

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They seemed so much the same now, she and Angela. In school, Houses set people apart in a lot of ways. While students interacted with those from other Houses, as she had with Mera, they were often in their own little groups and their own little worlds in a way. Now as adults, it seemed like she and the former Slytherin just had a good bit in common. Two working mothers who loved their children and wanted to buy them ice cream.

"Life is funny," said Zeph. "One minute, you're sitting under that Sorting Hat wondering what table you're about to sit at, and the next, you're out in the real world, learning to be mature and responsible. They never really teach one that in Potions and Charms, do they?"

"I want to learn Potions and Charms, mum," said Betty.

"And you will one day, and have a lot of fun with it," smiled Zeph.

When Angela agreed to sitting with them, Zeph placed Betty down while she grabbed their sundae. She took it over to the table Angela had selected with Betty scurrying beside her, obviously eager to have ice cream. They sat it down and Zeph used her wand to bring some spoons over.

"Well then, my love," she said to Betty. "Let's dig in, shall we?" Zeph took a few bites, then looked at Angela. "Do you live in the city these days? I wanted to have a little place outside of London, but I guess I've always been a city girl. Mera, my partner, she's one as well. I guess it's easier given my work at the Ministry. Better than apparating and all." Betty then looked at Olive.

"What kind of ice cream are you eating?" she asked. Betty sounded like a little adult wanting to have an adult conversation.

@angie

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The two little families sat down together at the table outside as the sun shone down the alley. It was a lovely spring day and Angie was glad that she had managed to get them out of the house. Being a single mother really wasn't easy, but she would never complain about it. She would never complain about the lack of sleep or the messy kitchen. She was just fortunate that she had the use of magic. She could have the kitchen clean itself while she did folded laundry or something in another room. Or, even more importantly, she could charm everything to clean itself while she spent time helping Olive learn her letters or numbers at the kitchen table. One of their favorite activities as of late. Angie had kept Olive out of preschool and was teaching her the basic things she needed to know before she started Kindergarten. She wasn't sure yet what the best course of action was when it came to schooling. Angie thought it was important to socialize Olive, however, she did worry about accidental magic. In a perfect world, she would have liked to home school her girl until she went to Hogwarts. But she knew she had to work. She didn't have a choice in that.

Angie nodded when Zephyra spoke about how Hogwarts didn't really prepare them for their lives after Hogwarts in a more domestic sense of the world. Hogwarts prepared them well for careers and taught them how to use magic, something that did help Angie in her home life every day, but it didn't teach her how to change a diaper or potty train a toddler. Of course, she had her mother for that, but she knew that not everyone did. "No they don't." The Slytherin agreed. "But we both seemed to have figured it out on our own pretty well." she smiled. The two across the table began to eat their ice cream, Olive already had pink on her nose and was happily enjoying herself. Angie never fussed about a messy child, she just cleaned her off at the end and that was fine. Angie sipped from a water bottle happily. Zephrya asked if they lived in the city and Angie nodded. "Yes, we live in London." she nodded. "We have a little flat in Kinsington." At least she did own her home. her parents helped her put a down payment on the flat and gave her a little for her birthday and Holidays each year to help with the mortgage, but she was about halfway through payments. 

"I have Straaberry and Chalklet." Olive responded to the other young girl. Olive was normally quit articulate, however, when she was excited or sleepy she still stumbled over some words. "So is your partner at work? What does she do?" Angie asked the woman, just curiously. 

@zephyra

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(Gonna be vague about what Mera does as I'm leaving it open in the wanted)

Zeph smiled when Angie said that they seemed to have both figured it out well. Yes, she definitely did not seem like the student Zeph remembered. That was definitely a good thing though. She had run into a few of her old schoolmates from all the Houses who hadn't matured much over the years. Gryffindors still fool-hearty, Ravenclaws still acting smarter than they probably were, Slytherins who were still a bit nasty, and, of course Hufflepuffs who had some growing up to do. Angie seemed to have gotten wiser as Zeph did.

"That we did," she said. "Truth be told, it's nice to have a bit of order these days."

Zeph smiled when Angie said that she lived in London. If she and Angie sparked a belated friendship, it would be nice to be able to visit. She knew Betty could use a few more playmates.

"We don't live terribly far from Kinsington," she said. Zeph mentioned just where she and Mera lived. "If you're ever in the neighborhood and all."

"I like rass-berry and choc-late," said Betty to Olive. "I like cookies too. Do you like those?"

Zeph was then asked about where her partner worked. She answered the question, explaining Mera's career as well as she could from what Mera told her when they were home.

"Mera and I really don't discuss work a lot though," she said. "It's all about family time when we're home."

@angie

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"Cheers." Angie nodded in agreement when Zeph said that it was nice to have order. For the most part, Angie and Olive's life was ran on a very specific schedule that repeated everyday that Angie had work. On the days where she didn't work, Olive still woke up and went to bed at the same time, but Angie expressed a little more spontaneity. And she liked to do fun things on her day off with her child. She tried to get them out of the house as much as possible, unless they had company, and Angie really wasn't ever sure when one of her parents would stop by. Or Aerick, who seemed to have a little more time for his daughter recently.

"Of course, Olive loves Kinsington park, we're there a lot." She admitted. She did like to change it up and take her to St. James park to Hyde park on occasion, but, truly, any large expanse of grass was a fine enough park for the 4 year old. Imagining could be done anywhere with very little advanced notice. "I love cookies, my mummy says I'll eat anything chalklet." Olive explained to her friend with an ice cream mustache. "That's because it's true." Angie kissed her daughter on the head. 

Zeph explained what her wife did and Angie nodded. She understood and appreciated their parenting philosophy, but it wasn't something that she liked the idea of for herself and her life. She wanted to be able to come home after a stressful day and talk about it with her partner, or, she wanted her partner to be able to rant about work to her. Holding things in made people grumpy. She and Olive talked to each other every night about their days. And, when something happened that Angie couldn't tell Olive about, she'd call her mom and tell her all about it. "And what do you do?" she asked again.

@zephyra

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Zeph smiled when Angie said that perhaps Betty and Olive could play together. Kinsington Park was a good idea. Both Benny and Betty enjoyed the place. She and Mera liked taking strolls there as well.

"I think a play date at the park for the children would be a lovely idea," she said.

"I like the park!" said Betty. "I like to flip in the grass!" she chuckled. "Olive can watch me do a flip there." Zeph chuckled and kissed Betty on the cheek.

"My little acrobat," she said.

Betty giggled about Olive eating everything chocolate, and Zeph gave a small laugh as well. Children and their sweets.

"Betty here loves cakes, all kinds of cakes," she said. "She gets excited for every afternoon tea, at least for dessert."

"Cake's my favorite of all!" said Betty.

When Angie asked about what Zeph did, Zeph decided to keep it as general as possible. Again, there was no telling who was around listening in.

"I work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," she said quietly, but not sounding like she was trying to keep a secret. "Lots of paperwork." That part was true. When she wasn't on assignment, she was at her desk filling out reports. "What about you?"

@angie

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The two little girls were bonding well. Angie hadn't been worried that they wouldn't. Olive had her mother's extroverted nature. Angie just hoped that Olive didn’t follow her same path. Of course, Angie would love her child no matter what happened. But she did have hopes and dreams for Olive like every mother did. Angie wanted her to get good grades and have a good career doing whatever she wanted to do. She wanted for Olive all the things that parents normally wanted for their children. Her parents had never pushed those expectation on her or her siblings. They were given advice if they asked, but for the most part, they were left alone to lead their own lives and find their own ways. Angie was never punished by her parents for her behavior in school, and they hadn’t been upset when she got pregnant. They had never pushed her to continue her education or get a better job than the tea shop. They had just accepted and helped when she asked. Something that she had appreciated back when she was young, but now was beginning to question.

“Could you teach me how to do flips?” Olive pondered. To Angie, it sounded like a recipe for a broken arm, but she was a believer that Children had to learn for themselves and it wasn’t good to hover all the time. Zeph told her that she worked for the department of magical law enforcement and said so quietly. Angie wasn’t sure why she had lowered her voice. She herself knew plenty of aurors, she had just been on a date with one of them. She hadn’t ever known one of them to be secretive about their job, but perhaps Zeph wasn’t an auror, she was just an office worker or something. Either way, she wasn’t sure why she was keeping it quiet. “I work at the tea shop in Hogsmead, Madam Puddifoots. The place I would never have stepped foot into as a student.” she admitted with a laugh. She loved her job now, especially since she was such a people person. Customer service was her knack.

@zephyra

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Betty beamed when Olive asked if she could teach her how to do flips. Betty had never been asked to teach anyone anything before. She felt like a grown up all of a sudden.

"Yes!" she said. "I can show you how to flip and I can show you how to roll and I can show up how to dance! Mum showed me how to dance!"

"Well... sort of," chuckled Zeph. "I've never been the best dancer, but there was this one dance I did as a child that Betty and her brother, Benny, got a kick out of. They dance it at home all the time."

Zeph laughed about Madam Puddifoots and how Angie never stepped in there. Okay, that was one thing they had in common. She never did either.

"I was the same way," she chuckled. "Just never felt the place was quite fitting for me and all. Mera and I would always go to the Three Broomsticks on dates. Once we went to the Hog's Head... once. Butterbeer from a dirty mug is not very tasty. Plus the patrons weren't very student-friendly. I'm pretty sure one or two might have been a dark wizard."

"Mum says dark wizards are mean and do mean spells like the mean witch in the storybook," said Betty. "Mum said the mean witch in the storybook got sent to Aza-ban!" Zeph laughed, and was a bit relieved that Betty had started going on about how Zeph hunted Dark Wizards for a living.

@angie

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Olive, who wanted nothing more than to fly, wondered if doing flips would give her the same sort of feeling, at least at the point where her feet were no longer on the ground. She was the queen of jumping on beds and insisting that she was flying, or, jumping off of benches, or skipping around so fast that she could feel the wind on her face. Olive lived her life enjoying the simple pleasures, as most 4 year olds did, not really knowing what was yet to come. “Mummy, would you let her teach me flips?” Olive asked her mum, looking up to the woman. “So long as you’re both careful.” Angie agreed with a chuckle. Kids would be kids and even if they did get hurt, it was part of learning and growing up. “I have very little dance experience.” Angie admitted. She had danced at parties and in clubs as a teenager and young adult, but she never fancied herself good at it, mostly the alcohol just gave her the necessary confidence.

Zephyra went into a comment about how she had never entered the place when she was a student either. Angie knew a fair few people who didn’t feel like it was a very lovely place to be seen. None of her friends would have ever been caught dead there. However, she had a very different idea of the Hogs Head than her counterpart did. “I actually frequented the Hogs Head.” Angie told her, stopping herself before she said much more. The Hogs Head was the place known for selling alcohol to minors, well, there was a man there who always did. It was how she got most of her bottles when she was under age. “I agree, it’s not the nicest place.” she added. “Olive loves Hogsmead, we were just there getting sweets the other week before this one fell ill.” Angie told them.

@zephyra

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Zeph understood Angie's concern. She was always very watchful of Benny and Betty when they played. She always made sure they were safe and didn't try any unnecessary stunts.

"Don't worry," she said. "Betty's very careful with her flips, and only does them on soft surfaces like grass." She then laughed about the dance experience. "The only time I think I've danced outside of childhood and for the twins is when Mera manages to get me out somewhere fancy. Sadly, that's not that often these days with our jobs and all."

Zeph had a guess as to why Angie might have frequented the Hog's Head as a young Slytherin. Some of the Aurors had been talking to the workers there about selling alcohol to minors since Zeph had been in the Department. She figured it had fallen on deaf ears, and really, it had not been completely enforced given more serious matters at the time.

"I'll be making sure my twins avoid it when they're old enough," she said.

"Does it smell funny like that place we went to near where the Harpies played, Mum?" asked Betty.

"It does, but not like the place we went to," said Zeph. "That smelled funny to you because the special was unlimited mashed turnips."

"Ewwww," said Betty, holding her nose.

Zeph then smiled at Olive when she heard the little lady fell ill.

"I'm sorry to hear you got sick, sweetheart," she said. "Happens to a lot of us at your and Betty's ages. Keeps the Apothecaries in business I suppose."

"I had a tummy ache last week!" said Betty. "Mum and Mummy gave me a special potion and it was all better!"

@angie