Come Find Me (Bernard)

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Everything was moving so quickly. Anna won the tournament yesterday and a part of her still felt like it was a dream. Sure, she was up most of the night with everyone from her house as they celebrated and congratulated her, which was fun but also tiring. She was able to see Oscar for a few minutes after the feast and before bed, which was nice. She still wished he would have sat with her during the meal. She just wanted to be with him, but oh well. It was over and done with.

Anna had a free period today and somehow was able to slip out of the castle without being noticed, which was a miracle in and of itself. Everyone wanted to congratulate her, which was fine. It was just nice to be able to have some time to herself as well. She sat down on a bench and closed her eyes, relaxing a bit. It was hard to believe the year was almost over. Her last year at Hogwarts. She was going to graduate and still wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do with her life. Sure, she was signed up for the auror program, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to stay in that. She'd have to see.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice when someone walked into the courtyard as well. 

@bern

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Bern had been a big supporter of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He loved watching and didn’t miss even a second of any of the action. He made sure he was wide awake and early for every task in order to get a good seat. He himself would have entered if he had been old enough, but alas, the stupid age limit kept him away. He was glad when Molly Weasley’s name came out of the goblet, however. He knew of the Great Weasley Legacy and he knew that a Weasley would do them proud. Anna hadn’t failed. All of those thoughts ran through his head as he entered the courtyard that day, his uniform a bit messy, his tie undone, if he wasn’t currently in a class, his tie was never tied. He normally tied it as he walked towards his class from his break, and as soon as the professor dismissed the lesson, he would pull it undone. It felt so restricting.

Anna was sitting in the courtyard, which obviously promoted his ponderance of the tournament. He didn’t know her particularly well, they had spoken a few times, mostly just in passing. It was possible that she remembered him, but he wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. She seemed to be lost in her thoughts and he contemplated letting her be alone. But if he didn’t take this chance now to talk to her while no one else was alone to crown their little celebrity, he wasn’t sure he’d get it again. “Hey… Anna Weasley? I just wanted to say congratulations… but I know you’d win the whole time.” he insisted, in his normal, casual but enthusiastic way.

@annelise

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Anna jumped slightly when she heard a voice coming from behind her. She turned around and smiled at the familiar face, "Hey Bern." The two of them weren't particularly good friends, but she knew him in passing. They'd spoken with one another every once in a while and she recognized him. She made a point of knowing people's names. She smiled when he congratulated her. "Thanks." It really was sweet how many people cheered for her throughout the last year and she appreciated it more than she could say. "So how has your year been? Other than cheering for me, I mean," she joked a little bit, unable to help herself. Anyone who really knew Anna knew that she was a complete tease. If Bern didn't know that about her ... he was about to find out.

@bern

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Bern was glad that Anna hadn't gotten upset or anything that he snapped her out of her thoughts. Not that he really expected that she would, as he wasn’t sure he had ever seen her upset, however, he could understand her becoming frustrated with the amount of people that seemed to always crowd her and want to talk to her. If her was in her position, he’d want his space too, and time to be alone in his head. “It was good. Not really eventful besides the tournament at least.” he explained when she asked him how his year was after making a joke about herself. He appreciated her joke. He appreciated any jokes. Bern had a good sense of humor and loved to show it, and he especially loved to see it come out of other people. Those were the type of people that he liked to spend his time with. “So what does winning mean for you? I mean besides the glory and the money? Have more opportunities opened up? I bet everyone wants you to come and intern for them now.” he speculated. He could imagine that she could get almost any job she wanted no within the wizard world.

@annelise

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She nodded when he said that the year wasn't too eventful, other than the Tournament. Oh, the tournament. That thing felt like it took up her entire year, but then again she was in the middle of it, so she felt like that was only natural. All the people that watched ... well to them she was sure it was just something that happened every few months for a few hours. Wow, that was a different way to think about it. "Did you enjoy the tournament? Watching it, I mean?" A part of her wondered what it would've been like to be able to simply sit there and watch someone else go through the tasks. Might as well as about it. She shrugged when he asked what winning meant. "I'm sure I can work wherever I want," she said, not trying to brag, just stating the facts. "Right now I'm enrolled in the auror program, so I'll start that after graduation, but I don't think I want to go into that. Still, I don't want to quit until I know what I do want to do with myself. Does that make any sense?" She hadn't really talked about this with anyone, mostly because she didn't know how to explain herself. It was interesting that she was telling someone she hardly knew. "Do you know what you want to do when you graduate?"

@bern

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"Yeah it was fun to watch. I mean, from our safe spot in the stands." he laughed, scratching the back of his head a little, realizing that it would have been entirely different for her in the middle of the arena and in the middle of all the danger. While they knew all the danger was real from watching in the stands, it was a different world. Especially, he supposed, because he didn't know any of the contestants well, and while he would have been worried if any of them got hurt, that wasn't the main thing on his mind while watching. He was much more into the sheer adrenaline and excitement of the event. She didn’t seem to bothered by his second question, though, and he kind of began to regret even asking. “I think it’s fine to change careers, right? If it’s not a right fit then you shouldn’t be stuck with it.” he was one to talk though since he was pretty much forcing himself to be okay with working in his family’s restaurant for the rest of his life. At least he had job security. For how much he hated answering that question, you’d think he’d think twice about asking it, knowing it would get turned around on him. “I’ll just be working in my parents restaurant probably.” he admitted. Sure, he loved music and drumming was a passion of his, however, he wasn’t naive enough to think he could make a career out of it.

@annelise

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Anna smiled when he said that he enjoyed the Tasks. Well that was good. As hard as they were, the Tasks were in her past now, so it was easier for Anna to look back on them and smile. As she was living them? Quite the opposite, but she was glad that the Tasks achieved their purpose. They entertained people, and they didn't hurt the champions too badly. That was a win. "I'm glad you liked it," she told him, actually meaning it. She nodded as he agreed that it was fine for her to change careers to make sure you were doing the right thing. Anna sighed, "I guess part of the problem is that I'm not sure what I do want to do." She shrugged, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. "But I'm working on that." Not getting anywhere, but working on it all the same. He didn't seem as excited when he answered the question for himself. "What kind of a restaurant is it?" Anna asked, trying to get to know him a little more, but trying not to push at the same time.

@bern

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Bern thought it was kind of funny that Anna insisted that she was glad that he liked the tournament, not that she had much of a say in how it went, but she got into a bit of hostess mode and it made him smile. He didn’t know the Gryffindor girl well, but from what he did know of her, she was a very nice person, and it showed in every conversation that they had ever had together. Anna then went on to explain that it was more about the fact that she didn’t know what she wanted to do. Bern had felt that, but he also really wasn’t feeling the crunch of time like she was, and he knew that he always had a fall back with his family's restaurant. Though they would be gutted if they weren’t his first choice. “Jump around maybe? Who says you can only do one thing?” in fact Bern knew that people would likely be discouraged from jumping aimlessly from career to career, since it would limit the number of available positions for people actually trying to get that career, but still. It was an idea. “Oh it’s an Asian-fusion place. Kind of modern, but popular, especially with muggles.” he explained.

@annelise

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He suggested that she could jump around and Anna nodded thoughtfully. "That's a good idea," she answered, thinking about it. It really was a good idea, the only problem was that she had no idea what she wanted to even try. Maybe just try everything? Or ask people about random jobs and try them (if she didn't already know she wouldn't like them). Anna chuckled, "I just have to figure out which ones to try out." She shook her head at herself, knowing that her indecisiveness was a problem. She couldn't stay this way forever. She shrugged, "I'll figure something out," somehow. She wasn't exactly sure why she told him about her worries for after graduation. It wasn't like they were a big deal or Bern would even care. They hardly knew one another. She smiled as he described the restaurant. "Is it in London? It sounds really unique." Which could be an interesting place to visit. Maybe with Oscar ... she started trying to decide if he would want to try something like that.

@bern

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“Maybe you can do odd jobs or something?” he offered another suggestion. There were always posts in the papers in London about people seeking baby sitters and people to come and help them do whatever home improvement project they were currently working on. He wasn’t sure how Anna would feel about not having job security with something like that, however, it was an idea. Bern was nothing if not full of ideas and suggestions. “Yeah it’s in Greater London, a little store front a few blocks from a couple of parks.” he explained, kind of vaguely, but he could give her the actual location if she asked for it. Or, she could probably look it up if she really wanted to go there. It wasn’t regular that they had magical people walking into their shop. Their customers were primarily muggles, but every now and then a friend would walk in of his or his moms or his siblings and that was always fun. But since his dad was a muggle, the place was aimed more towards muggles.

@annelise

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Anna nodded at Bern's suggestion, "Yeah, I'll probably end up doing something like that. Odd jobs where it's not a ton of commitment so if it doesn't work out I won't feel guilty about stopping." She had a feeling she might end up doing a bit of that, now that he brought it up. Anna just didn't want to sit around. Even being the Tournament Champion, she had to do something with her life. A job felt like a good way to do that. She nodded as he described where it was. "Well maybe I'll come visit sometime." Anna's head cocked to the side a little, "Are you going to be spending most of your time in the summer there? Or what are your plans?" They didn't know one another particularly well, but that didn't mean they couldn't become better friends now and Anna found herself curious. She did like people. Getting to know them was always fun for her.

@bern

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There was no shame in doing odd jobs, at least in Bern’s perspective. There was no shame in not knowing what you wanted to do with the rest of your life. There was no reason to rush it and no harm in taking your time to figure it out. Bern planned on doing so. Well he planned on working in the restaurant until he decided if he wanted to stay there or if he wanted to go somewhere else. She asked if he was going to be in the restaurant over the summer or if he had other plans, to which, he shook his head. “I’ll be there working all summer. Just about everyday.” he admitted. To his knowledge, his parents didn’t have any plans to take them on any sort of holiday. That would involve closing the place and missing out on potential sales and customers. Plus, his parents weren’t exactly the type that liked to travel. They were happy home bodies. Bern would have days off over the week, but they would likely be spent lounging when not with the guys. “Probably’ll play some music with my friends in my downtime.” he admitted with a shrug.

@annelise

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Anna nodded when Bern explained that he'd be in the restaurant for most of the summer. "Well maybe I'll come visit if I'm in the mood to try something new," she said with a smile. "What do you do there? Cook or waiter, or a bit of everything?" Honestly, Anna shouldn't be as fascinated by a restaurant as she was, but she was honestly curious. She'd never really spoken to someone that worked in one before. She quirked her head to the side when he mentioned playing music. "You do music?" She didn't know that. "Do you play an instrument or sing?" Anna couldn't really sing well, but she enjoyed music, of course. Didn't everyone their age?

@bern

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Anna suggested that she might stop by the restaurant during the summer if she fancied trying something new and Bern nodded. She was right about the ‘trying something new’ part. Not that they were the only restaurant in town that labeled themselves as Asian-fusion and mixed together various recipes and traditional foods from various Asian countries, but they certainly had their own twist on every recipe. As a vegetarian, Bern hadn’t tried a lot of the food in the way it was meant to be eaten, but him not eating meat had helped his family learn to branch out and add tofu options to the menu. “Waiter and cashier mostly.” Bern admitted. His dad knew better than to let him in the kitchen. Bern wasn’t good with raw meat. “Oh yeah, I play drums.” Bern admitted. He had mostly figured that everyone knew that. He was almost all banging on something. Sometimes he just couldn’t help it. “I couldn’t sing to save my life. Truly, it sounds something like an ill mouse.” he laughed. “Do you like music? I mean, I suppose most people do.” he said.

@annelise

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He explained that he was a waiter and cashier and Anna nodded. That was good to know. She wasn't really sure if she actually would go and visit him, but she'd keep that in mind. Anna had no idea what she'd be doing this summer, in all honesty. "Do you like it?" she asked. "I've always wondered what it would be like to work in a restaurant." Maybe not always, but as a child she did think about it a bit, probably because her grandfather was always talking about how much he liked muggles and restaurants were a big part of movies and such. She smiled when he said that he played the drums, but couldn't sing. "I can't sing too well either," she admitted. "I do all right, but I prefer to only sing when I'm on my own." Anna laughed at his next question. "Yes, I like music a lot. Do you play on your own or with friends?" she asked.

@bern