Ice Cream Chillin' (Cara)

[cara june bainbridge]

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Felix had an excellent point: an entire month to nail down a charm was honestly not that bad. Trying to force a genius idea like charmed chocolate bats in one afternoon was bound for failure. Doing a little research into food charms was the best thing to do first and quite frankly a great way to spend her time off. Popping over the Honeydukes was definitely a possibility too. Making candy and developing ice cream flavors was essentially the same thing in her mind, so sharing some information with Fortescue’s was the neighborly thing to do (and there was little to no competition with one another due to location, so why not?). Aside from Honeydukes, who else was there? The little bakery in Horizont? They always had nice pastries and cakes but none of them seemed to have elaborate charms cast over them…

“That’s a good idea…I may stop by Flourish and Blotts after work and try to find a book on cooking with spells,” Cara stated. “I’ve been interested in that for a while, so might as well use this as my excuse.” And if this ended up being a bust, there were still the classic Halloween and seasonal flavors they could put out instead. While boring, they still sold well. She knew customers were always expecting wild and wacky new ideas for holidays and events, but such a thing was impossible sometimes. Vas had definitely gotten a few of the regulars used to her genius of Taste Test Tuesdays.

“Well, we’ve got a plan. I’m sure we’ll be able to pull it off. If chocolate frogs can be mass-produced with a charm like that, there’s no way it’s that complicated.” Then came the marketing for the flavor, which would not be difficult in the slightest. This sort of thing sold itself just by appearance. One kid walking down Diagon Alley with a cone that had flapping chocolate bats on it would have a line extending all the way to the Leaky Cauldron.

felix valentin fortescue ● 334 ● Come Sail Away by Styx

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[felix valentin fortescue]

September 2025

So far, so good on the new flavor front. As Cara said to him, they seemed to have a plan in place; they just needed to execute that plan. Between the two of them, though, Felix felt pretty confident about the endeavor that they had thought up. Cara even offered to go see if there were any books at Flourish and Blotts that might be of use to them. It was certainly worth looking, anyway.

"I don't think it will be very complicated," Felix agreed when Cara pointed out that the magic behind Chocolate Frogs couldn't be that difficult because the chocolates were mass-produced. "It's mostly the components, and getting everything together." It would make for a fun finished product, too; he didn't doubt that.

"Don't worry if you can't find anything," he added. "I'll do some research on the Chocolate Frogs." Cara would be going above and beyond her job description to do research after hours, Felix felt, and there was no point in burning herself out over a special flavor that was more of a gimmick than anything. The magic, as they were anticipating, was probably pretty simple. At least discussing the possibilities for it made closing the shop go by that much faster.

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

▲

Clearly she needed a little bit of the confidence that Felix had when it came to making new flavors. The same could be said with her experience working with Vas. Both of the Fortescues were creative geniuses in her opinion, something that she strived for in her own endeavors but seemed to be failing at as of late. Hopefully the creative juices here would continue helping her out, because she honestly needed it. And more than just coming up with funky names for ice cream flavors of the week. She could take only so much alliteration before it beat her back down.

“You know how it is,” she stated after Felix said she wouldn’t need to worry if she couldn’t find anything. “It’s impossible to kick the Ravenclaw habit. I wasn’t even good at the studying bit compared to some, yet here I am doing extra…” Cara trailed off as she realized that this really was sort of beyond what she needed to be doing. She was a part-time employee, made to work the cash register and scoop ice cream as a way to make it look like she was actually trying to figure out her life. Was there anything inherently wrong with wanting to do more though? Probably not. Her brain said she needed to, even if that wasn’t a requirement.

Somewhere in all of this, she was getting life experience of some sort. She’d made a new friend in Calliope and working with the Fortescues was pretty awesome. The mess left by customers was far from desirable, but she never would have guessed that her cleaning charms would improve this much. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that if I don’t feel like I’m learning something in all of this, it’ll feel like a failure on my part. Even if it isn’t.” Like with her writing. There were other avenues she had been starting to work on since her official work was going absolutely nowhere. Basically, she needed this task to keep her grounded for a little longer.

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[felix valentin fortescue]

September 2025

"You know how it is," said Cara. "It's impossible to kick the Ravenclaw habit. I wasn't even good at the studying bit compared to some, yet here I am doing extra…"

Felix chuckled. Having been a Ravenclaw himself, he knew the feeling—and how competitive some other Ravenclaw students had been about academics. He didn't mind that Cara wanted to help, but he also wasn't going to make her do research outside of work. She was already doing more than was expected of her as a cashier; Felix wasn't about to have her penalized if she didn't help him with putting together the recipe (or any recipe).

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I don't feel like I'm learning something in all of this," Cara continued, "it'll feel like a failure on my part. Even if it isn't."

"In that case, I'm not going to stop you." Felix smiled, shaking his head as he spoke. "Might as well make it fun for us, even if that's Ravenclaw 'fun'."

cara june bainbridge

[cara june bainbridge]

▲

Fun. That was a scary three lettered word that she didn't utilize in her vocabulary often. Everything since graduation had been stock standard work of some sort - even this. But now she was being given the option of having fun (in her own weird, twisted definition). Learning was definitely fun when it wasn't required by school, at least on the topics she was interested in. After getting out of school, she could barely concentrate on her writing. Going from exams straight into more research and literary work was like never actually ending school. This was all a much needed break. She was starting to hope that doing this extra work on the new flavor idea would spark something new in her head again. Revitalize it all. If not, she'd have to keep working for the Fortescue's until it came back. Having a part-time job at least allowed her to have the freedom she wanted. Sitting at a desk in the Ministry wouldn't.

If she did happen to fail at making a book, she'd basically have a second career as a magic chef though. There was no way the books she had in mind could stump her. And vice versa, where not mastering these charms would at least force her back to writing the book. Cara was positive she'd win out in the end, no matter which way it went.

"I'll let you know what I come up with," she said quickly as the door to the shop jingled open. It was amazing that they'd gotten this much planning done without a customer interrupting. Some days it felt like she barely had time to breathe with how busy it was. Thankfully it looked like they were waiting for someone else to catch up to them, as they held the door open. "I have nothing going on before my next shift. If I find anything interesting in the books I get, I'll stop by," Cara added before quickly putting on her customer service smile for the new arrivals.

felix valentin fortescue ● 337 ● Song by Artist

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[felix valentin fortescue]

September 2025

"I'll let you know what I come up with," Cara replied to him, just in time for the ice cream parlor's door to open, another customer entering even though it should have been obvious that they were closing for the night and really not in a position to serve more ice cream. It wasn't the first time that someone had had terrible timing, but Felix knew that they weren't really able to turn them away, either, lest they lose a sale that could really help them.

Felix nodded as Cara continued to speak. "I have nothing going on before my next shift. If I find anything interesting in the books I get, I'll stop by," she added.

"Yeah," Felix agreed with Cara, trying to keep an eye on the customer at the door who seemed to be waiting for someone else. He, too, put his customer service face back on, ready to stay at the ice cream parlor even later if he had to.

cara june bainbridge