Hearts and Chocolates

Khaat and Brian arrived at Sparks early that morning. She hadn't been able to be as active in Sparks as she had wanted to be because of Grindlewald's price on her head, and so the running of it fell to Brian and to her father, Robert, and to Lizzie, the chef. The smell of the fresh baked goods in the morning here was beyond compare. And Lizzie had outdone herself for Valentines Day.

Heart shaped scones in every variety, but the ones that got Khaats attention were the chocolate filled ones. There were raspberry ones, strawberry ones, orange ones, cinnamon ones, and an endless array of cookies, cakes, tarts, and a new line of fresh, handmade chocolate truffles as a special holiday treat.

The flavored tea was cherry, and the flavored coffee as a Belgian dark chocolate. The sun had not yet risen and the place was packed. Lizzie had added a fresh red rose to every table and vases of them on the counters. It looked wonderful. when Khaat went in, her first day back, her regulars hugged her and congratulated her on her family's open defiance of the dark wizard's regime.

Brian was content to let her customers greet her and he went behind the counter and poured the two of them some of the dark chocolate coffee. He brought her a mug. So far, early as it was, the day was off to a beautiful start.

Valentine’s Day wasn’t Rose’s favourite time of the year but she definitely enjoyed the festivities. Bouncing around Diagon Alley, immersing herself in the excitement of the day, she understood why people loved it so. She had entered Sparks early today, having decided to help Lizzie out with the decorations. Admittedly, she wasn’t much cop but she could hang up banners and balloons alright. Once she was done, she left the bistro and hurried up the road, through the barrier of Diagon Alley and out into Muggle London where she crossed the road and walked briskly up the pavement to a corner shop run by a couple that had originally come from Birmingham. She bought a packet of gum and a lottery ticket before picking up some baking ingredients and heading back to Diagon Alley. Lizzie seemed to appreciate the supplies and continued to whip up the delights the customers were sure to enjoy. Rose took to the table, deciding to read the Daily Prophet and eat some breakfast instead.

“Lizzie, how much cream have you made?” Rose asked off-handedly from behind the newspaper that bore the usual pro-Grindlewald propaganda. Lizzie replied in kind and Rose nodded, not that the former could see, before folding up the newspaper and reaching for her cup of tea. She’d make sure to keep an eye on people today. Music was already playing lightly in the background and customers were enjoying light snacks with their lovers, friends and co-workers. Rose wanted to make sure everyone was happy and content - it was Valentine’s Day after all. There were to be no tragedies.

The voices of the people in the main room seemed to jump in volume suddenly, causing Rose to get to her feet and peer out through the window of the kitchen door. A gasp ripped from her throat at the sight of the owner. Khaat had nerve that much was clear from her appearance. Lizzie seemed to glow at the sight of the other woman, her grasp on the tray of sweets tightening with pride. Rose regarded the elder woman with amusement and laughed before setting down her tea and opening the door for Lizzie who nigh on danced through.

“Khaat!” Rose called. “It’s good to see you. You look well.”

"Not nearly enough, by the looks of it," Lizzie answered Rose's question about the cream. "We're going to be through what I made before 11. Looks like we'll definitely need more. Your decorations look wonderful. Nice job. I'd have thought we'd been a bit lighter since its a weekday, but obviously I'm wrong." She flicked her fingers to levitate the clipboard with the Valentine's Day specials and floated them over to Rose.

She was used to flinging out orders in what felt like no time at all, but even she was doubletiming it today. The food was still hand prepared but when things got tight she floated pastry trays out to the counters. She made sure that the orders were served to the customers with respect, though.

And then she heard a bit of a rukus in the dining room. She looked out and saw that Khaat and Brian had arrived and were finally home. Lizzie felt like she was floating on air. She picked up two trays to deliver them and took them out of the kitchen, delighted and trying to wait her turn to speak to them.

Khaat saw Ron's daughter, Rose, enjoying her breakfast. She had been delighted when Lizzie sent her word that she had hired Rose as the new manager. "Rose," Khaat smiled. "You look amazing! Its good to see you. Welcome aboard. I don't know if you remember Brian or not. If not, Rose, this is Brian Quinn. Brian, Rose Weasley, our new manager."

"It cannot be," Brian was astounded. "The last I saw you, well, you were pretty little." He figured Rose might have been a toddler the last he'd seen her. "Thanks for joining us!" He heard a whoosh and spun around to see Lizzie's out of control clipboard that had seemed to have been doing some sort of odd circles in the other dining room and was now zooming right for his head. "Oi!" he make a tall reach and snatched the evil, rogue clipboard. He turned and looked at Lizzie who simply shrugged.

"Misfire," she brushed it off. He rolled his eyes at her. He turned back to Rose. "Was she sending this to you, perhaps?"

All around Diagon Alley there were Valentine's Day decorations being put up. It was really quite beautiful how everything was coming along in the preparations for this day. Valentine's Day had never really interested Mariposa, but she always enjoyed watching the preparations being put up. Though today she really have time to be wandering around gazing at everything that was being put up, like previous years when she only walked by. No, today she had a job to get to and she really didn't want to be late or anything. It was her first job and from what she had heard the place was going to be pretty busy. To some extent she hoped it wasn't, she would have a hard time keeping up if it really was as busy as she was told.

Already she felt like she was late and that she would be in some serious trouble for it. Of course Mariposa was always the type to feel like that, she took everything so seriously, especially when it came to work. Her pace quickened as she walked through the streets wanting to get to Sparks faster. Still even in her hurry, Mariposa couldn't stop herself from gazing at the decorations everywhere and she almost stopped a couple of times to watch everything being put up. Obviously it didn't take much to impress the girl. But she quickly reminded herself that she had somewhere to be and ahe continued in her way.

Finally she came upon the Bistro. Taking a deep breath, Mariposa entered the place and found hetself looking at all the amazing decorations inside. It caused a small smile to creep onto her mouth, and she looked around before her eyes fell upon the others that were already there. She gave a small, slightly embarrassed gasp and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, hello." the girl said somewhat timidly.

OOC: My bad for not posting here. I will catch up.

"Hello," Khaat said. "You must be Mariposa. Lizzie told me we had some servers I had not met. I'm Khaat and this is my husband, Brian. Lizzie told me you impressed her when she first met you. And that's not easy to do. Welcome aboard."

"Hello," Brian greeted her. "Khaat and I have been out of town, so we've missed a bit. How long have you been with us?"

Khaat saw Lizzie scowling at her and she realized what she had forgotten. She reached into Brian's coatpocket and produced a tiny framed wizarding photo. Brian only took momentary notice of what she was doing. He flicked his fingers at the shrunken photo and caused it to return to its normal size. It was a beautiful picture of their five children all at play on a beach, building sandcastles--or at least what sort of a sandcastle two 2 year olds and 3 nine month olds could do.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Khaat asked Lizzie and handed her the photograph.

"Oh my goodness, how they've grown!" Lizzie gushed. "Are those identical triplets? And look at that long blond hair Abbey has! She's a beauty. I'm hanging it up in the office."