⫯ hogsmeade

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：emilia seong。⁰² the to-and-fro holiday season exhausted the best humans out there, but dorian felt particularly peaceful during winter. he was just as much of a christmas er as anyone, even though he did not technically celebrate the holiday. but he made a tradition of it, along with his brother, to celebrate it whilst at hogwarts. and he would lie if he did not admit that the smile the holiday brought on his friends’ lips did not make him happy. december was a big deal, especially before the holidays. that period of time was usually tightly packed with exams, and dorian tried his best to handle the academic pressure. he even helped others, just because he knew how hard the subjects were and how short the time was.

one of those people was emilia – the annoying gryffindor. well, dorian found a number of people annoying, yet he still talked to them (perks of growing up with an annoying brother). she was…something else. overly enthusiastic (it made him tired at times), incredibly cheerful (over the smallest of things) and unfortunately inattentive (which made academic life a struggle). so dorian helped her, as much as he could. and he could not deny the fact that he did see her as a friend and he quite enjoyed her company. he did not hesitate approaching her in hogsmeade, even if he was somewhat of a recluse. “hi, em. you look cheery,” he slid his hands in his pockets, the cold was bitter. he was used to warmer winters and he did not quite enjoy cold weather. but he did not make a scene out of it, he experienced far worse weather. “how were your holidays? did you do anything fun?”

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@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Barking... furry..." Caterina repeated, as if saying those two words again would connect the dots for him. She gave up and shook her head, muttering, "nevermind," under her breath. She barely flinched at Mao's loud greeting, easily stepping into the apartment with a smile thrown Ahri's way, who was curiously walking to the front of the door to see who it was. "Hi, baby," she greeted, smiling at the meowing cat as she toed off her boots. "Are you hungry, too? No, right? I fed you before we left." As she spoke with her cat, she made her way to the kitchen, the latter following her to see what she had gotten. Her owner hasn't gotten groceries in a while, she must've thought, parking herself right beside the fridge. "Where do you want all of this?"

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "What does barking have to do with being a furry? Isn't that purely ual? The barking thing?", Emrys asked, just a little bit confused at her remark - he wasn't the kinkiest person out there and, to be fair, he didn't really know about things like that. He fell quiet then, nodding along to what she was saying while shifting the bag once more, letting out a breath of relief when they reached his apetment door. "There's nothing wrong with paper bags. I prefer paper bags over plastic, actually. They're really good for food waste and recycling and all that, but I don't understand why they're not giving out the ones with the handles. The store I go to in Edinburgh has those." He let out a startled noise when he was greeted with a loud, angry meow from the couch, Mao's little head popping up over the armrest. "Oh, my. The boss is angry."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Ew, I'm no furry," Caterina grimaced, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "No offense to furries. To each their own when it comes to that stuff. Thank you." Her voice lowered in volume once she slipped through the door, being mindful of his neighbors. "California still uses plastic bags, but they're reusable, so I guess it's better," she continued on her ascent on the stairs. "I just don't know what's so wrong about paper bags. I always thought they were cuter, too. Not that attractiveness is important to saving the environment, anyway." She shook her head, stopping right beside his door once she reached the top of the staircase, her arms beginning to ache from having to hold the bag the whole walk back.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Why was I fully prepared for you to bark at me just now?", he snickered, finally managing to get his keys untangled so he could unlock the front door, pushing it open with his foot before he turned around and walked backwards, catching the door against his back to hold it open for her. "I just hate how they don't offer bags with handles anymore, you know? I mean, okay, I get it. The environment and all that, but a couple years ago they still had the plastic bags with handles. On the other hand, I could have brought one of my reusable ones." With a sigh, he made sure the door fell shut - it sometimes got stuck just a centimeter before it closed properly in the winter - before starting to walk up the stairs, shifting his own bag from one arm to the other. It did get rather uncomfortable to carry like this after a while.

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "That sounds good, really good, actually," Caterina hummed, pushing the bag further up her chest when she felt it slipping from her grasp. She shook her head and held it away from him when he offered to hold it instead, stubbornly holding it against her as she shot him a tiny, short-lived glare that made it look like she was marking her territory. The bag wasn't too heavy, plus she didn't want to be the girl that made the guy carry everything, when she could manage well on her own. "I get it, you're big and strong, but I am, too," she said, shifting her hands so that both supported the underside of the paper bag. "Maybe not as strong and muscly, but you get what I mean."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "We we have Saturday and Sunday, right? And we only decided on /one/ dish. The carbonara, I mean. So we could make the grilled cheese for dinner today and then curry for lunch tomorrow? Maybe? Because the curry takes longer." Emrys almost reached out to pat her head, only stopping himself when he saw that they were already approaching his building, so he was able to keep his hands busy by getting his keys from his back pocket. "That's totally okay. No need to apologize. But that's the reason why I only go out to get groceries like once a week. Because people irritate the Hell out of me. It gets a lot worse around the holidays, too. You can give me the bag, by the way. I can carry both of them, you know? "

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@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "I love grilled cheese and tomato soup!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with excitement. It was like she could already taste it, the flavors a ghost of a memory of her tongue. "Oh my god /and/ Naan and curry? That sounds like heaven. Why can't we have both? On different days, of course." She rambled, looking down at her feet to make sure that their strides matched, shuffling her feet until she caught up to him. "Oh. I'm sorry," she made, looking up at him with a little bit of a frown on her features. "I probably made us stay a little longer than you wanted to, huh?"

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "There are so many things we could do", Emrys gave back with a hum, mentally going through the list or things he still had at home. "We could make grilled cheese and tomato soup", he suggested, only to stop and let out a noise that sounded almost happy. "Or we could make Naan and curry? I also have stuff at home for Japanese curry with rice. It's the instant stuff, though. You know, the little cubes?" Laughing, he shook his head at himself, only then realizing that he was probably better at cooking than he had thought. But now that he was talking about it, it was almost as if he realized that he actually knew how to feed himself at least semi-healthy things. "I think I have a lot of stuff at home, Cat. I hate grocery shopping so I often stock up on things. And I order a lot of those things."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ The bag surprisingly wasn't heavy for her. At least, with her carrying it in her arms the way she was as she walked out. If she was carrying it like him, she definitely would have struggled and dropped everything on the ground the second they walked out of the store. "What would we make, though?" she asked, breathing in the crisp, fresh air of the outside. "Oh! Or we could just get takeout for today. Since we're going to be making the dessert tonight. Unless you want to put that off for tomorrow, too. Have a nice, relaxing day doing nothing after a long week of classes and then doing everything tomorrow. I would be game for that, too."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Around seven", he gave back while putting his change away, stuffing his wallet back into his pocket before he picked up the other back, easily supporting its weight against his side with one arm. "You too", he cashier gave back, sounding as if Caterina had caught her off-guard with her friendliness. "If we're going to make the pasta tomorrow, we can make something quick and easy for dinner today if you want?", he suggested while he guided her out of the store, studying her for a moment as if to check the bag wasn't too heavy for her to carry. But she seemed to be alright and the store wasn't that far away from his apartment. "I'm pretty sure we could whip something up in no time."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Late? When is late?" Caterina asked, completely missing Emrys' interaction with the cashier because she was too busy putting the last few items in the second paper bag. "I think we have everything," she muttered to herself, moving some stuff around in the bags to make sure that everything was balanced and that it wouldn't tip to the side once they carried one of them. She picked up one of the bags, holding it to her chest, one hand supporting the bottom, with a large smile on her face that said she was ready to go. "Are we ready?" she asked then, turning to thank the cashier. "Have a good day."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² Emrys wasn't blind. Being the silent guy in the room most of the time had taught him to watch people - and being an artist surely helped as well - so he caught the cashier's glance right away, holding her gaze for several heartbeats while his face smoothed out into what his friends called the killer resting face. Completely void of any emotion. Not that he wanted to challenge the cashier, he just wanted to silently tell her to mind her own bloody business. She could judge the people coming in to buy lube and cucumbers at the same time for all he cares. "No, actually", he told Caterina then while getting his wallet out of his pocket to pull out a couple of bills, sending her a reassuring look. "I had lunch with a friend and I normally eat kind of late. What about you, though? Wait." He held up a hand when the cashier cleared , quickly handing her the money without giving her or Caterina the chance to object.

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ Caterina looked up from their groceries just in time to see the worker, who looked just about Emrys' age, give them a judging look, eyebrow raised and lips snarled with disgust, as if to say, "Are you guys serious?" Caterina guessed that the woman saw right through them, instantly connecting the dots and realizing that Emrys was the cute guy she's not dating, and Caterina was the cute girl he's not yet dating. The latter tore her gaze away to look at the cute guy she's not yet dating with a shy little chuckle, before walking away to stand on the other side of the cashier, deciding to load their items in the bags herself, carefully stacking everything inside to make sure everything fit, using the heavier items as a base for balance. "Are you hungry yet, by the way? We still have a couple of hours until dinnertime."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² Emrys hummed as she talked to let her know that he was listening, bending down to get two paper bags for their groceries, placing them on top of their stuff so the cashier could grab them first. "I think everbody who /needs/ a high like that has a different kind of problem, you know? Most of them... Are escaping reality. Or that's what I'm getting from the people I know who /need/ alcohol or drugs. Those people aren't my friends or anything, but you kind of get to know a lot of people when you're working in a library." He paused, once again losing the battle against a violent blush. "Honestly? I'd rather get my high from hanging out with this really cute girl I'm not dating yet, too."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Some kind of trained dog," Caterina echoed with a laugh, shaking her head in visible amusement. She began to load their items onto the table beside the cashier when there was enough room for her to, carefully placing them in separate categories—packaged goods, dry ingredients, dairy, and raw ingredients, which included cat food. "I just don't find a need for it, you know? Alcohol and drugs. I think I'm pretty content with my life at the moment. Plus, if I need to get a high, there's something else to do, you know? Dancing and other stuff. Hanging out with a cute guy I'm not yet dating for the weekend?" She laughed, her gaze shy when she met his eyes. "Stuff like that."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Drinking isn't good for you, anyway", Emrys shrugged, almost relieved that she didn't drink. For a second there, he thought she might suggest buying a bottle of wine or something along the lines - although he did enjoy a good mulled wine during Christmas season, wrapped up in a blanket and reading a book while it was snowing outside. And if there was one thing alcohol did, it was make his tongue a little looser. Emrys never drank until he was completely hammered, of course. "I don't really enjoy the feeling of being drunk. It's... Weird. Everything gets all fuzzy and blurry. I do like a glass of wine or a bottle of beer every once in a while but that's a family dinner or family barbecue thing", he continued then, smiling at her even while he nearly snorted out a laugh at her comment about weed. "Nothing worse than the smell, honestly. I sometimes feel like some kind of trained dog, you know? I can smell that stuff from a mile away. It's making me kind of nauseous, too."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ Caterina shook her head, ponytail swinging from side to side. "I don't drink. I've actually never had a drink," she confessed, her cheeks flaring up with a brilliant shade of pink. "I know the legal drinking age is eighteen here, but back at home, it's twenty-one. My grandparents told me I'm not allowed to drink until I turn twenty-one, so I haven't had any alcohol yet, out of respect for their wishes. Plus, it's not like I'm aching to drink, anyway." As she explained, she made her way to the shorter line up front. "Nor have I smoked anything, either. But I wouldn't want to do that, either. A lot of people in my city smoke weed, so I smell it every now and again. I hate the smell, so I probably wouldn't smoke."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² Emrys was too busy trying to ignore the way too early Christmas song playing in the store by now to hear that she had repeated what he had said - and probably too busy to realize that he had called her cute. Or, well, the fact that he had commented on her in general. It was endearing, though, the way she got distracted every other aisle, slowing them down just a little on their way to the front of the store. "I mean...", he started slowly, lifting one shoulder as he thought about her question. "I don't dislike drinking and I do go out for a couple of beers with my friends every now and then. Not that often, though. Why? Do you want to buy something for the weekend?"

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Cute little bum," she repeated under her breath, quiet enough for him to miss it if he wasn't listening carefully. Her cheeks were flushed by the time she turned around and walked towards the front of the store. It was easy for her to get distracted, however, as they walked through the aisles. Cookies and brownies catching her attention for as long as she was beside them, before moving onto the other snacks up ahead, like gingerbreads and biscuits. "Do you drink?" she asked suddenly, slowing her stride so that he could catch up and she could look at him. It was a random question, indeed, and it had just popped up in her head. "Or do you like drinking?"

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Bottom line", Emrys declared with a happy little chuckle, his own face lighting up with a grin that rivaled hers. "Vanilla is greatly underrated and people don't have taste. Why does it have to be complicated all the time? Right? Never change a running system." He couldn't help but laugh when she hurried away to grab some parmesan, shaking his head a little at her remark without commenting on it. He agreed, so why say anything? "Come on, now. Before the dairy goes bad", he teased, hoisting the basket up into his arms when he felt the plastic handle bend in his grip with the weight of all their groceries. Maybe they should have gotten a cart, after all. "And I haven't fed Mao yet. I'll have to work over hours if he stays hungry for too long. And I'm not exactly fond of spending too much time in a grocery store, Cat. Now move your cute little bum so we can pay and get out of here."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ People would think that it would be impossible for Caterina to look happier than she already was. But her face had lit up like a tree on Christmas day, grin so wide the corners reached to hear ears. And it was all just because Emrys stated that he, too, liked vanilla ice cream. It was such a simple thing to fill her with joy but that was probably exactly the reason why—simplicity. Liking the same things, especially the smaller ones, gave her promise. To what, she couldn't quite figure it out just yet, but in that moment, things felt like everything was, to say the least, amazing. "I don't really like donuts that aren't the regular chocolate glazed twists, but I do like vanilla in a lot of things. Like, vanilla buttercream. And stuff like that." She hummed, peering down at their overfilled basket to check if they got everything. "Not yet," she said, realizing that they were missing the most important ingredient. "We forgot cheese! Parmigiano Reggiano is a little pricey, so..." She hummed, spinning upon her heels before walking away to the assortment of cheeses. Grabbing one packet of parmesan, she held it up so Emrys can see, her smile victorious. "Parmesan should suffice. Same difference to me, anyway."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² The sight before him gave him pause, Caterina beaming up at him like a child on Christmas morning, arms overflowing with groceries. "Oh my", he chuckled with a click of his tongue, reaching out to start untangling the mess of ingredients in her arms so he could put them all in the basket - well, as many as he could fit in there, really - still laughing silently to himself. "I love vanilla ice cream", he confessed with a shy smile after taking the flour and cocoa powder to out them in them in the basket as well, turning to get the ice cream she had pointed out, looking down at it for a moment, before he grinned: "Apparently I do like sweets. I'm basically hanging off of you most of the time, after all. But vanilla ice cream is my absolute favorite. People always say it's boring and bland and vanilla is used almost as if it's an insult, but you can /never/ go wrong with vanilla ice cream. Or vanilla donut filling." He almost blushed when he realized that he had been kind of rambling, nodding his head towards the checkout, shoulders pulling upwards as if to shield his neck. "I think we can go home now, hm? We need to get the cake started so it can set in the fridge."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ Caterina might have been deprived of grocery shopping for too long, which was made rather clear the moment Emrys approached her and she turned around to reveal two arms full of ingredients. She had forgotten to get a basket, so she had been walking around, holding bags of flour and coco powder, multiple packages of cream cheese and mascarpone cream cheese, and one packet of butter, which she held in her small hand. She had a wide grin stretching out to her cheeks, and her expression was so brightly lit, it was easy to ignore the fact that she was actually struggling to hold everything in her slender arms. "I think I did," she said, looking down at the ingredients she hugged to her chest, then looking back up to meet Emrys' eyes. "I was gonna get ice cream," she explained, tilting her head to the side to point at the glass door right next to her. "But my hands are kind of full. And I didn't know what kind of ice cream you wanted. I thought vanilla would go really well with tiramisu cheesecake because that's what I get at that restaurant back home, but then I thought, 'well, I've never tried anything else with it.' Plus, I know you're not really into sweets like that so then I thought, 'maybe cheesecake is enough for Emrys.' So... I've kind of just been standing here for the past two minutes, staring at the ice cream. I don't even know if I still want ice cream."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Wait, is he not?", Emrys gasped, pressing his free hand against his chest as he gave her a dramatic, open-mouthed stare, eyes wide in shock. "And here I was I'm his servant, cleaning the poop of a God and washing his vomit out of my bedsheets. Like the good servant I am, of course." He snorted right after, though, rolling his eyes when she called him by another nickname she probably had come up with in that second, whistling silently as he turned to walk the other way, walking down the familiar aisle to the cat food he knew Mao liked, grabbing just enough cans for the weekend - for both the cats, of course, even getting some more just in case - before he got an assortment of different snacks, even getting the malt paste Mao liked. When he made his way towards the dairy sections, he was humming along to the song stuck in his head, grinning as soon as he spotted Caterina in the, admittedly, rather thin crowd. "Got everything?", he asked as soon as he was close enough, lifting his basket so she could see what he got for the cats.

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "You make Mao sound like your boss," Caterina jested, shaking her head with amusement. Although, she understood what he meant. "I get it." Cats tended to be the pets no one would want to mess with, with their temperamental attitudes. She would be lying if she didn't admit that she wanted to see it, just to get a laugh out of it, but even then, she wouldn't want to risk getting her eye scratched out just because she brought in the cat that stole all of his food. It was a hilarious thought, however, and would continue to be just a thought. At least, she hoped. "Okay, I guess we split up," she agreed, but not without feigning disappointment with a little pout. "See you then Jae-Jae" She said in a sing-songy voice, spinning upon her heels to make her way to the little section of cocoa powder, ponytail swinging. She was quick to grab every single thing she knew she needed in that aisle, grabbing a carton when she found one good enough, and then some all-purpose flour, which she didn't spend too much time on when she recognized a brand.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "No we don't need to buy sugar, I have like two kilos of sugar at home", he informed her with a shake of his head, snatching a box of Sencha peach tee off the shelf and dropping it into his basket rather carelessly, before turning around getting a package of ladyfingers for their cake. They'd get soaked in coffee anyway, so where was the point in making them from scratch? People who wrote recipes really had high expectations, didn't they? "Cocoa powder and vanilla extract, this way", Emrys instructed her then with a nod to their right, leading her out of the aisle and into the next one, stopping briefly to grab two cartons of eggs from a display in between shelves. "I think", he announced then when they entered the baking section of the store - which was, to be fair, rather small. Students didn't really bake that much, did they? "We might need to get some extra treats for the cats. Because I'm almost out of snacks for Mao and I think he might get upset if we feed them to Ahri as well. I kind of want to avoid agitating him if you two are going to stay for two nights. How about I go grab those and some cat food and you get the baking stuff and the pasta? We could meet up in the dairy section. Efficiency and all that."