How to be a Git (Haoifen, Morgana, Blake)

Sunday had come quickly, and Hunter's shift at Zonko's was just about to end. He'd been checking his watch constantly for the past hour, and he could swear that it was broken it was moving so slow. But finally, the minute hand clicked over to the twelve, indicating that it was now two o'clock, and Hunter took off out the door, bidding his boss goodbye. He wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment. Mostly determination, but he couldn't help the small flutter of nerves in his stomach at the idea of being face to face with Aoife again.

Yesterday, Hunter had finally broken out of his depression. And he'd decided that Aoife wouldn't ruin his life any longer. He would ruin hers. So he had started by cutting his hair off. A lot of it off. He continued by inviting Seren to Hogsmeade with him. And now, he was about to finish by taking Seren for an ice cream - knowing fully well that Aoife worked Sunday afternoons, of course! As usual, Hunter wasn't sure how Aoife would react. But his confidence was high, because he knew that no matter which way she reacted, he would crush her. She could pretend not to care all she wanted - but Hunter knew her, and he knew that he would come out on top this time.

Hunter had told Seren that he would meet her outside the Three Broomsticks when he finished with his shift. His hand lifted to run nervously through his hair, but then he remembered that he couldn't really do that anymore without looking stupid. So he dropped it and looked around for Seren when he got to their meeting spot. She was easy to find - a pretty girl with a mane of dark hair sitting on a bench waiting for him. He wasn't surprised that she was punctual - it was Seren.

"Hey," he said brightly to her, flashing her a grin and pulling her to her feet. He wasn't sure where all his excitement was coming from - maybe in truth, he knew that if he didn't keep his energy high, he would crash before he'd accomplished his goal. In the very, very, very back of his mind, he knew there was the possibility that he could crumble in front of Aoife the moment he met her eyes. But no, that wouldn't happen. Not today.

"Thanks for waiting for me. The boss wouldn't let me out early - I tried. So, I was thinking that we could get ice cream?" Hunter said nonchalantly, trying to keep his voice relatively normal. Seren didn't know his intentions, after all - suddenly, for the slightest moment, Hunter felt a pang of guilt. Was this fair to Seren? He'd been so caught up in what he was going to do that he hadn't thought about it. She'd agreed to go with him - she was probably genuinely happy that he'd asked her. And it was all just to cause Aoife grief. But then, wasn't that something that Seren wanted, too? To get back at Aoife? Hunter glanced at the girl briefly - if it weren't for Aoife, would he have still ended up asking Seren with him? She'd turned out to be fun to hang out with, and she was definitely pretty enough. But she'd never given him that feeling that Aoife did.

But he couldn't worry about that now. He would be all righteous and chivalrous and everything later. Gryffindor and all that. Now, he had to think like a Slytherin. Or at least, a Ravenclaw, because Gryffindors weren't supposed to do things like this. Use people to crush people, which was definitely what he was doing. So he pushed it all from his mind - he wouldn't be defeated today. "Come on," he said, smiling at Seren and heading off toward the ice cream parlor.

When they finally reached Florean Fortescue's, Hunter went a step further and grabbed Seren's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, and pulled her inside. His stomach jumped a bit at the contact, and when he pushed the door open and stepped inside, he didn't let go. Partly because he liked the feeling of it, but mostly because it would only anger Aoife that much more. There was nobody at the counter when they entered, but the bell had rung indicating their presence. So now, all there was left to do was wait.

Aoife was all for things to take her mind off all the drama happening at the moment, but she wasn’t sure work would do it. Usually, it was great, exciting, dance-y. But now she imagined it would just be horrible. So much time to think. Happy couples wandering in, cuddling, making her feel sick with their affectionate little relationships. Morgana was probably going to be there as well, which didn’t make her any happier. There was wanting to avoid the lovey-dovey happiness, but also wanting to avoid evil silence and awkwardness. Although maybe in a mood like this, she’d welcome the additional depression somehow.

That morning, she didn’t have breakfast, not really in the mood. Instead, she ran down to the kitchens to grab herself a sandwich for lunch. Later she could eat at work, if she felt like it there. Then, about an hour before lunchtime, she made her way down to Hogsmeade. She walked as quickly as possible. This reflection time was bad. Her mind was clouded with thoughts of how she was a terrible, stupid person who didn’t deserve to have any friends, so it was just karma ensuring that she didn’t. They weren’t desirable thoughts and she was eager to start scooping ice-cream to distract herself. Aoife had tried to reverse the thoughts, make herself angry again, by thinking about Hunter being an evil git, but it didn’t work, only made her sadder.

“Hello!” she yelled. She didn’t know if Morgana or the boss was here, but it wouldn’t do any harm greeting nobody. After washing her hands and putting on her apron in the backroom, she was behind the counter. Any regular customers would notice the lack of the bright smile on her face, the way her shoulders drooped slightly and how she hadn’t put music on to dance to.

A few students in groups or alone came in, but thankfully no icky lovey-dovey couples just yet. Aoife suddenly noticed a figure walking past, a familiar small boy. He pushed open the door and waved eagerly. “Derek!” she grinned. Puddifoots’ boy! “What can I get you, kid?” He ordered a three-scoop green bean, broccoli and carrot cone. She looked at him weirdly. “My mum says I need to be more healthy,” he shrugged, sticking his tongue out. “I saw Zonko’s git a few minutes ago. He was with some girl. Who wasn’t you.” Derek looked confused at this, but she glared at him. After a quick goodbye, he was gone again.

So Hunter was with Seren. It wasn’t unusual. The two of them spent plenty of time together now that she wasn’t there to stop them. It was slowly driving the redhead mad. She should be the one in Hogsmeade with Hunter, not that brat. Not in a romantic way, or anything. Hunter and Seren were just friends. She wanted that relationship back with him. But it wasn’t going to happen. That friendship was dead now. Aoife was not going to apologise and she needed to convince herself that she was better off without him.

After Derek was gone, there was a little break where no students came in. A couple of minutes she spent standing there waiting, but then she retreated to the backroom to eat her sandwich. It was good food, she could never understand how house elves could cook this well. As far as she knew, they even squeezed their own orange juice or something. The orange juice she’d picked was really good as well. How cool would a huge orange juice fountain be? The kitchen probably had one that the elves just kept secret. She’d have to ask Rosey.

The sound of the horrible little customer bell made her jump. Aoife left her sandwich on the table and jogged towards the counter. This person better have a good reason to disturb her while she ate- wow. It was HIM. Aoife froze. She’d just managed to get her mind off him but he turned up again. Why was he here? He knew about her Sunday afternoon shift. This was deliberate. Stupid. When would he realise that this wasn’t a competitive little game but real life?

Then she noticed and gasped dramatically. His hair… it was gone. Well, there was still some there, but it was all short and cut. NO! What if it never grew back? What if he was doomed to be a boring short, unfloppy-haired person forever? Oh, yes. She wasn’t supposed to be caring. But this was too big. She had to care. It was breaking her heart, shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces, and she couldn’t stop her lip trembling and her eyes filling with tears.

The main reason she was - or had been - best friends with Hunter was his hair. True, she had liked his other good qualities, but the reason she’d been so eager to make friends was his floppy hair. It had been so beautiful. Aoife narrowed her eyes. For this, he deserved a good slap. But when she was glaring, she noticed the other new thing he had. Seren. And they were holding hands.

HOLDING HANDS.

She wasn’t sure whether to be angry, sad, or uncaring. Instead, she blinked. “Excuse me a moment,” she murmured, polite because they were still customers, even though she hated them. Then she returned to the backroom, let a single tear fall from her eye, took another bite of her sandwich and returned.

“Now, what can I get you both?” Aoife said, plastering a fake smile on her face and trying to hide the hurt but furious expression in her eyes. Customer was always right. The small squeak she let out probably gave her away. But she would not let Hunter see how upset she was. She would not lose sight of all the stuff about being strong that she believed in. She would not break.

On the outside, anyway.

Seren had been looking forward to this ALL DAY! Hunter had asked her yesterday if he could take her to Hogsmeade. And not only was she going on what she ASSUMED was a date with Hunter, but Hunter was acting more like himself yesterday when she had seen him. Seren hoped that he would continue the trend today. She took a bit of time deciding what to wear, but finally settled on her pink jeans with a simple black top and jacket. Her dragonfly necklace hung from her neck as always.

Seren was slightly early to their meeting point. Hunter had to work until the afternoon, so he had asked if Seren could just meet him there. It wasn't as nice as being walked to Hogsmeade from the castle, but the weather was manageable and Seren wasn't about to be picky. She was glad that Hunter had asked her to begin with. Though if this happened again, he WOULD be walking with her. Because THAT WAS WHAT BOYS WERE SUPPOSED TO DO. But for now, Seren let it slide.

Seren didn't have to wait very long, and before long she noticed Hunter approaching from down the street. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw that he had a smile on his face. It seemed to be a genuine one, as well. Yes, he certainly seemed enthusiastic when he got to her, seeing as he PRACTICALLY YANKED HER ARM OFF pulling her up from the bench. "Thank you, I suppose?" she said, raising an eyebrow curiously at him. "I wasn't waiting long."

Ice cream. Seren tilted her head, analyzing his suggestion. There was something off about his voice, but it was so slight that Seren could be imagining it. But most likely not, because Seren was VERY perceptive. Then, she remembered. Sheep Maniac worked at the ice cream parlor. But Hunter had been avoiding her like the plague, so Seren imagined that he wouldn't suggest that place if he thought there was any chance Aoife would be there. And though he seemed to be acting slightly off, his behavior was MUCH more stable than it had been in the past few weeks. And maybe he was just nervous to be on a date. So Seren just said, "Yes, I'd like that," and followed him down the quaint road. But Seren wouldn't put her suspicion away completely just yet.

Seren looked down in surprise when she felt Hunter's hand bump hers, and a smile traced her lips as their fingers interlocked. Though Seren was aware that Hunter SHOULD want to date her because she was SO PERFECT, she would be lying if she said she was expecting him to be this forward. But Seren wasn't complaining. She happily followed him into the ice cream parlor, expecting the solemn-looking Slytherin girl to be working. As Seren had mentioned before, Hunter wouldn't have come in here unless he knew Aoife wasn't working.

But the person who came out of the back of the shop to serve them was not dark and scary. She was small with fiery red hair. Seren furrowed her brow at the sight of Aoife, completely caught off guard by her presence, and looked up at Hunter in slight confusion. Seren could see plain as day that Aoife was most certainly not expecting to see them either. And after the girl's psychotic display in charms, Seren lowered her hand to her wand just in case Aoife reacted violently again. But it didn't seem that it would be necessary. Because the shock on Aoife's face quickly faded, and she suddenly looked as though she might cry.

What? Aoife O'Donnell didn't cry. She threw fits LIKE A PSYCHOPATH and made everyone else's life miserable! Nothing upset her. Nothing phased her. She was FRUSTRATINGLY unphasable. But now, as the redhead quietly excused herself, Seren just didn't have it in her to say anything mean. She just took a step closer to Hunter so that her shoulder brushed his and examined his face. "Did you know?" she asked him quietly, taking advantage of Aoife's absence. Seren was fairly certain that she knew the answer. And she wasn't sure how she was supposed to take it if she was right.

Aoife returned quickly, and had a smile plastered onto her face this time. It was fake of course, and Seren almost felt bad about what the other girl was being put through. It was fine to insult someone who could hold their own and insult you back. But once someone is broken, it's no longer fun. It's cruel. Not that Aoife could ever know that Seren thought that way. She still hated her of course. And she would play along with Hunter. For now.

And for the first time ever, Seren found herself in the position of trying to make the situation less awkward between the three of them instead of Hunter. This wasn't any fun, and Seren wanted to leave as quickly as possible. "I'll take the tea and honey please," Seren said in a calm voice that she had never used around Aoife before. "That comes warm, so we can eat it outside and walk around a bit," Seren added to Hunter. Which was a clear implication that she did NOT want to eat inside the shop.

OOC: Aoife, I'm really sorry but the post did turn out quite long! I got a bit carried away with it :/

Hunter watched for the door to the back room to open, his heart beating the slightest bit faster in anticipation. When it did, he couldn't let his face give anything away. He had to feign complete indifference - no, he had to be completely indifferent. He saw the door swing open and he took a deep breath to steady himself, making sure that his face didn't display the slightest hint of concern when she came into view.

It should have been easy - he had the element of surprise. And he thought he'd enjoy the look on her face when she saw them. And at first he did. Complete shock. But then he realized that Aoife was actually standing just across the counter for him, and his determination faded a bit. "Hi Aoife." He'd meant it to sound completely normal - uncaring and nonchalant. But as he struggled to keep his thoughts straight, the words came out much softer than he'd intended.

And then she noticed. Of course, she noticed his hair first. It was the most obvious. And her gasp of horror might have been comical if it didn't lead to her noticing Seren's hand in his and ultimately end in a very unexpected reaction. He felt his confident demeanor falter at the look on Aoife's face before she'd even said a word. She looked miserable. Hunter searched her face for some kind of retaliation or fire, but it just wasn't there. She looked - defeated. As defeated as he had felt for the past two weeks.

And now, all Hunter wanted to do was hop the counter and wrap his arms around her. Because she was right there in front of him. Because he missed her. Because he'd never seen her look that way before, even if it was only for a few split seconds. He'd seen her cry. But he'd never seen her look like that. What if he did? What if he just went over there and hugged her? And apologized? Could everything be fixed? Could they be friends again? But then, Hunter remembered that Aoife hadn't spoken to him in two weeks either. That she had thrown a chair at him just at the idea of him liking her, and that he had felt just as defeated for the past two weeks as Aoife looked now. And she hadn't done anything about it either.

And Hunter was going to see this through. His hand tightened unconsciously around Seren's, just to give himself something to focus on, and he steeled himself for the rest of the encounter. "Oh yeah," he said with a tone of forgetfulness at her shock. He raised a hand to feel his shorter hair. "I almost forgot that I cut it. I just figured that it was about time for a change, I guess." Hunter was sure that Aoife probably didn't understand the deep metaphorical meaning of what he was saying - that he'd also needed a change from her. But Hunter knew, and that was what mattered. "I think it turned out alright."

It was taking all of Hunter's effort to sound disinterested, and the moment Aoife disappeared again into the back room he let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He stared after the door she'd gone through, as though afraid that she might not come back out. But Seren broke into his thoughts, asking if he knew. And she didn't seem very happy. "I - Er, I - " Hunter stammered. He'd spent so much time thinking about how he was going to go about this that he'd forgotten to account for one very important thing - the fact that Seren was probably the smartest person he knew. He wouldn't be able to get this by her, so he decided to just say yes. "Yeah, I might have known. But can you blame me?" Wasn't Seren the one who always wanted to make Aoife miserable? Hopefully, she would understand. Hunter hoped that Seren wouldn't think that was the whole reason he'd invited her - even though it basically was.

Before he could hear her response, Aoife had rejoined them. His eyes instantly snapped to her, taking her in. She was wearing a smile this time. And it made Hunter miss her even more - her real smile. Not this one. She was trying to sound cheerful, but Hunter knew her too well for that. But what could he do about it now? Nothing, because she deserves this, he tried to tell himself, and hard as it was he didn't let his facade fall again.

Seren was trying to rush them out now. But they were already here and Hunter wasn't going to cut their time short when he'd come this far. So rather than just ordering a butterbeer ice cream, which he wanted, he leaned against the counter and peered in. More determined to deal with Aoife than worry about Seren at the moment, he wrapped an arm around Seren's waist and pulled her a bit closer to him. Hopefully it looked like he'd done it naturally and not intentionally. He had a feeling that she would play along. Hopefully, he was right. "I'm not really sure what I'm in the mood for. Is the toothpaste one any good?" he asked Aoife, dragging out their time in the shop at least a little bit longer.

Even though every second there was killing him.

Why was he doing this? Was he not satisfied already with how upset she was now? Could he not see? Was she that good at hiding her strong emotions? Well, he’d see now. Maybe he’d stop, most likely he wouldn’t. But at least she could stop pretending that everything was totally alright. It wasn’t alright and maybe she’d get over her sadness better if she was open with herself about what a tragedy this whole situation was.

It seemed that he was intending on making this as long and painful as possible for her, first by making light conversation. She frowned. Still, customer. “Hi,” she murmured quietly, hiding her bright red cheeks and awkward expression behind her hair. Aoife had got better at this “being an awesome ice-cream scooper worker” thing since she started working here. Morgana had taught her well. Oh, that girl was so sweet. Why couldn’t she help now?

Just wanted a change? Ridiculous. Surely the stupid dinosaur could see how wonderful his hair looked before. The floppy mop on his head just made him so much more attractive. Now he was nothing special. Looked alright? Maybe it would look alright if before it hadn’t been absolutely perfect. “It looks terrible,” she shrugged bluntly. Nobody else would tell him the truth, so she may as well save him the realisation. “You should be ashamed of yourself and the person who cut it.”

For the first time ever, she hated Hunter more than Seren. At least the Ravenclaw was trying to get the “couple” - ah, painful - of them out of the shop. And she was ordering a nice combination of ice-cream flavours. Aoife would have to try it at some point, as they were warm flavours. It was warming up, now, though, so maybe she’d wait until winter. Anyway, off topic. She needed to stop standing there like an idiot and start scooping ice-cream.

“Honey and tea,” she repeated for her own benefit. The containers glowed blue (coolest cheat thing ever) and she grabbed a scoop. This job had become a second nature now. It took her only a moment to fix the cold treat and hold it out for Seren to take. She was relieved to hear her mention walking around outside. Hopefully Hunter would agree, order quickly and leave.

But things never worked out as she hoped. He had to deliberately put her through more hurt by spending a long time deliberating what he wanted to get. Hunter had always been a git. But only mildly. Then he met the Ryan kid and just got so much more arrogant. This was a whole new level, though. So obnoxious. Doing all this just to hurt another person. Wasn’t Gryffindor meant to be the “good guys” house? With Hunter as a representative, you sure wouldn’t think so.

Toothpaste. “It’s not bad. But you should go for something warm.” Now he should get the message, order a butterbeer or firewhiskey one and leave. Oh, yes, she wasn’t allowed to sell firewhiskey to minors. Or anyone before the evening. So butterbeer? Butterbeer sounded good. He needed to really get the message, though. “You should try butterbeer,” Aoife suggested. Now he HAD to go!

While he decided, she came out from behind the counter. And although she wanted to punch him in the face, or throw another chair, she regained her neutral face and perfect posture as she walked towards a table. This way, while Hunter decided, she wouldn’t have to look at him. Usually she wouldn’t be so rude as to turn away from a customer like this, but this was different.

“Tell me when you’re ready, I just need to wipe these tables.” She wouldn’t waste time staring weirdly at them when she could be doing something useful and distracting herself with happy thoughts of sheep. “Tergeo,” she murmured at each table, getting through them quickly, before turning back around to come back to the counter and put herself in more pain. A sane person would run out of the door, miles away from here. She wasn’t sane.

If you had asked Seren three weeks ago, she would have bet any amount of money that she would never EVER have a kind thought in her head for Aoife O'Donnell. And while her thoughts now weren't exactly KIND, Seren certainly did feel sorry for the girl. As Hunter spoke, it was QUITE obvious what he was doing. Still, when Aoife insulted Hunter's new haircut, Seren was quick to reply in an even tone. "I cut it for him. And it looks FINE." Insulting Hunter was one thing but insulting Seren's handiwork was another. And truly, Hunter looked just as good with short hair. Better, even, and not so little-boy-ish. So Aoife OBVIOUSLY didn't know what she was talking about.

Seren crossed her arms and tilted her head expectantly while Hunter stammered over his answer. She wasn't sure why he was trying to act as though he was innocent. OF COURSE HE HAD KNOWN. And then he came clean and was asking if she really blamed him. And in a way, Seren didn't blame him. She was a very vengeful person herself, so how could she? But HONESTLY! "Do you think I'm STUPID or something?" Seren asked him, still keeping her voice down so that Aoife wouldn't hear. "This is ridiculous, can't you see that just by seeing you, she's had enough?" This entire situation made Seren very uncomfortable, and she hoped that Hunter got the hint that she wanted to leave. Then, she would give him a piece of her mind for bringing her into this without any warning.

"Thank you," Seren said as politely as she could manage, considering that it was still Aoife, and even found herself giving the redhead a sympathetic look as she took her ice cream. Seren had expected Hunter to get the picture and order his ice cream so that they could go, but NO! He HAD TO BE DIFFICULT! When Hunter pulled Seren closer to him, she begrudgingly let him, but she crossed her arms with a huff and stared up at him with an unimpressed expression.

"Now REALLY!" Seren said to Hunter, not bothering to keep her voice down this time, when he let Aoife round the counter to clean tables while he was pretending to decide what he wanted. Seren stepped away from his grasp and shook her head at him. "There's no need for this." The moment Aoife stepped back to the counter, Seren spoke up before Hunter could ask another STUPID question about the ice cream. "Yes, butterbeer sounds great. Give him that." ENOUGH of this nonsense. "Now if you'd like to actually spend time with ME, like I THOUGHT you did when you ASKED ME, I'll be waiting outside." Yes, Seren felt bad for Aoife. But more importantly, Seren wasn't one to let ANYONE get the best of her. Not even Hunter. So with a look between the two of them, she turned on her heel and stepped outside (without bothering to pay, of course, because Hunter owed her THAT much at least for this). If Hunter wanted to get Aoife's attention, he would do it WITHOUT Seren's help!

OOC: I hope that it's not a problem that I've made Seren controversial toward Hunter in front of Aoife. If it interferes with where either of you wanted the thread to go, please let me know and I will gladly change her reaction

The way she said hi really got to Hunter, and he felt his nonchalant facade falter a bit. She sounded so quiet and submissive - afraid, even. That wasn't Aoife. Had he done that to her? He tried to see her eyes, but she'd let her hair fall forward to hide her face. She was hiding - and it killed Hunter to know that she was hiding from him. He thought he was prepared. He'd expected her to retaliate - to shout and maybe throw ice cream at him or something. But Aoife didn't hide. At least, she never had before.

Hunter was almost relieved when her voice sharpened and she told him that his hair looked terrible. That's more like it, he thought to himself, clinging to the only thing that Aoife had said with any sort of fire in her voice and deciding to focus his efforts on that. Seren immediately stood up for him, but in truth Hunter didn't care what his hair looked like. It was never about that, anyway.

"Why should I be ashamed of myself?" Hunter retorted. "Because you don't like it? Last I checked, doing things for you only got me a chair thrown at me and a broken hand." Oh, she hadn't known about his hand, had she? Oh well, too late now. At this point, he was just trying to prolong her antics. Why? Was it because he wanted a fight? Or was it because he didn't want to admit that she was broken, and that it was his fault? Or just because he liked seeing her eyes light up with anything, even if it was fury?

Okay, so Seren definitely disapproved of his actions. Hunter didn't respond to what she had to say because Aoife had returned. And she was telling him to get something warm, like Butterbeer, and then retreating to clean tables while he decided. Yeah, she was definitely trying to get him to leave. That was expected. What he didn't expect was for Seren to pull away from him and tell him that he was being ridiculous, place his order for him, and then walk out, all right in front of Aoife. And leave Hunter alone. With Aoife. "Seren, wait!" Hunter called after her, almost in a panic to be left alone. Seren was the one thing that gave him the upper hand in here.

Hunter wanted to run straight out after her, both to apologize for being a git and to get away from Aoife. But he had to pay, at least for Seren's ice cream. And he might as well at least get his own after all of this. So, closing his eyes and committing to his fate, Hunter turned back around to face Aoife. Without Seren's hand tucked into his, he knew he wouldn't last long before breaking. She was right there. He could fix everything. And before he could stop himself, words were spilling out.

"Aoife," he started softly, hoping she would at least meet his eyes. "Aoife, look, I'm really - " No! Hunter cut himself off at the last second. He couldn't apologize. It wasn't his fault. So, as difficult as it was, he took a breath and turned his gaze to the wall behind her so that he was looking past her. "Butterbeer's fine," he said, suddenly feeling the need to escape the room as quickly as possible.

Haha, neither of them were pleased about that remark. A satisfied smirk flashed on her face for a couple of seconds. "Don't believe everything Seren tells you." Because it was all the lies of a desperate brat, intent on sucking up for the sake of having Hunter as her own property. "Just an opinion. You don't have to listen or take it on board." Obviously. Stupid children.

Then she was getting attacked for conspiring against him. Or something. Aoife wasn't really listening. Maybe she should listen. Yes. "Broke your hand? I broke your nose. But you deserved that." Then she recalled his first comment and she creased her eyebrows in confusion and annoyance. "Since when was asking me out FOR ME?" She was still convinced he'd been under the influence of a madness potion or something. And still was, for that matter. Why else would he ask out Seren?

Now Seren was getting all angry. She must have finally worked out she was being used. And she was leaving. How nice. Although she didn't pay. That was probably Hunter's job, for being a git to her. "Lover's tiff?" she murmured under her breath, still smirking in amusement. What was Hunter without his backup now? He was too scared to face her alone, so she imagined he'd be leaving soon.

Indeed, he was quick to come and order after that. But wait? What was he saying? Aoife glared at him, willing him to hurry up and leave. He was really... nothing. Then he escaped her gaze and ordered a butterbeer. Could he not have just done so at the start? No. Because he was a git.

Quickly, she scooped the ice and handed it to him, drawing her hand away immediately. "Twelve sickles please." If she added that up right. It wasn't a hard sum, six and six, but she was having difficulty breathing normally, let alone thinking like a normal person. Not that she ever thought like a normal person. Normal was totally boring.

"Have a nice day." Have a horrible day.

Morgana walked through the street of Hogsmeade, looking at the students who were pretty much knocking themselves out with hilarious things that Morgana thought were stupid. Just another normal day. Hopefully work would be fine today. Aoife would be there. Which was fine. The girl was calmer when working than in classes.

What Morgana hadn't been expecting, though, was a girl walking out of the shop, looking annoyed, hurt and just very frustrated. Morgana grit her teeth. What had Aoife done? But the frustration in the girl's eyes (whom Morgana recognized as the kid in charms the same age as Aoife and Hunter) wasn't the ordinary 'I've just had a shitty shop worker serve me'-look.

Morgana passed her, only sparing her a look, before walking into the parlour. Frozen air. That's the first thing Morgana noted as her eyes landed on Aoife and Hunter. Morgana almost growled in annoyance. Teenage drama. Pathetic. But she quickly saw that the both of them were in pain. They obviously didn't see this themselves. Idiots.

Morgana stayed in the door for a moment, taking a few seconds to make it all be right in her mind. The girl outside had obviously been on a date with Hunter. Hunter had recently asked Aoife out. Hunter knew Aoife was working here. Hunter asked the Ravenclaw out to make Aoife jealous. Feeble minds. She looked at Aoife, and realized that despite the kids incessant annoying attitude, Morgana would sooner hurl Hunter out of the store, than haul Aoife into the backroom.

But more than that, she was going to ignore them. Seemed like they were wrapping it all up either way as Aoife asked for the money for the ice. Morgana walked behind the counter and leaned against the sink, her eyes fixed on Hunter, daring him to do anything that would be even stupider than what he'd already done. Both of them obviously liked one another. Hunter was open about it. Aoife wasn't. She needed to come around. Or they'd simply outgrow each other. Love never lasted forever.

So, she simply stood there, her arms crossed, her gaze on the Gryffindor kid, waiting to see what he'd do.

Just an opinion. Those words coming from Aoife's mouth were laughable. Hunter had a strong feeling that if he'd encountered Aoife on his own, and when she wasn't at work, she would've slapped him upon seeing his new haircut. This was the girl who had saved him from Devil's Snare in his first year because it might have hurt his hair. Hunter saw a triumphant look cross her face at his and Seren's reaction, but it didn't bother him. In fact, he welcomed it. It was far better than the dejected, broken Aoife that was standing in front of him a few minutes ago. He didn't feel as guilty with this Aoife in front of him.

When Aoife said that she hadn't broken his hand, but his nose, it was such a normal-sounding statement that Hunter was replying before he could even think about it. Just like he would if none of this had ever happened. "No, I broke my hand when I punched a wall - well, a door - " He cut himself off mid-sentence as he realized what he was doing. Why was he even telling her? "Nevermind, it doesn't matter."

How was his asking her out for her? Did she really think that was what he meant? Though he had hoped it was also for her, at the time. "Well, everything else that I've ever done for you wasn't enough to get me a slightly less violent reaction, was it?" Really, after how close he and Aoife had been, she couldn't have responded in a slightly milder manner than throwing a chair at him? No, her reaction was completely uncalled for. That was the one thing that Hunter was certain of.

He knew that Seren leaving would be his downfall. The moment she was gone, he could see Aoife gain some more confidence. And now, he couldn't exactly take off without looking like a coward. Thankfully, Morgana Gaunt showed up at the perfect time. She stepped inside, leaned against the sink, and stared at Hunter in a way that told him he shouldn't do anything else to cause trouble. And Hunter couldn't be more grateful. Running away from Aoife was not an option. But escaping the premises because of Morgana was absolutely acceptable.

So, under the older girl's harsh gaze, Hunter took his ice cream - noting how quickly Aoife snatched her hand back - and pushed his money across the counter. She'd told him to have a nice day. Hunter knew for a fact that she didn't mean it. "You too, Aoife," he said quietly before turning and rushing out of the shop to find Seren. He wasn't sure if he meant it or not.

He punched a… a wall? What had the wall even done to him? Magic was amazing, so some walls probably talked back and got angry. But still, to punch it wasn’t the nicest. Then again Hunter wasn’t the nicest. Professor Leblanc probably wouldn’t be very happy at his bad treatment of furniture, if a wall could be called that. Even if it wasn’t made of wood. Aoife just shook her head, sighing slightly at his total idiocy.

The next statement, she completely ignored. She didn’t really understand what he was trying to get across, but it was most likely annoyance about her throwing a chair at him. It didn’t seem as though it had hurt him, so what damage was done? Why did people care so much? If she’d broken his shoulder or something, maybe she’d feel a bit more regret, but he’d walked off unharmed. No big deal.

It was difficult to hold back her sigh of relief when Morgana silently entered. Aoife had grown to become less terrified of her co-worker, but Hunter had no chance against her evilness. The older girl had saved her and she was grateful. She glanced behind to see her casually chilling with the sink, but was quick to turn back to Hunter.

As she had predicted, Hunter left quickly, almost definitely thanks to Morgana. “I won’t,” she murmured when he was too far away to hear.

“Hi.” She spun around and leaned against the counter to face Morgana, just because she felt like she’d faint or something without its support. Of course, she held back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. It was not appropriate in front of someone like Morgana. Or anyone, in fact. “How much is a firewhiskey ice-cream?”

Morgana watched as the money exchange happened, and watched Hunter's retreating back as he walked out of the shop. Hopefully dragging that Ravenclaw with him. She heard Aoife's statement of not going to have a good day when he was out of hearing reach. The girl turned to her, having put on a brave face. Morgana simply nodded back to her greeting.

She raised an eyebrow as Aoife asked what the price would be for a firewhiskey flavour. "Getting sacked," Morgana simply retorted. She noted how Aoife was leaning heavily on the desk and how she was trying hard to keep a straight face. Morgana felt a weird feeling flush over her. Maybe it was a sense of compassion? Didn't matter, it was gone a few moments later. But just because it was gone, didn't mean Morgana would simply not care that the girl was feeling horrible.

She walked into the backroom and took a box out. She walked back and gave it to Aoife. "Here," it was a box of oreo ice cream. "On me," she said calmly. "Now, why don't you go sit down, and I'll get two butterbeers ready," she said and walked into the backroom again, fetching two bags of butterbeer, heating them up and pouring them into two mugs. The boss always had butterbeer ready for his workers. It was really quite nice of him.

Morgana walked back outside and sat down at one of the round tables, putting the mugs on it. Now they had a clear view of the shop, but the streets had been quiet when Morgana walked to work. So it seemed it wasn't going to be a very busy day.

What Aoife didn’t understand was why Morgana never let her emotions show. If she actually had any. The girl was so cool and superior without even seeming to try. If she was in the same situation as her right now (which she wouldn’t, because she was Morgana), she’d probably just deal with it easily and not be sad or confused or hungry. And although this way of going through her life scared people off and worked for her, the redhead didn’t think it would work for her, because having friends and being carefree mattered to her more than she’d think.

“Oh.” Firewhiskey probably wouldn’t help her anyway. Maybe it would. The thing about all her brothers and extended family being drunks was that she knew drinking made them happy, or sometimes violent. Either way they forgot about what they were meant to be like and all the stuff on their minds went away. But her parents wouldn’t be pleased if she got in trouble for being really drunk, so she’d avoid the firewhiskey for now.

Still leaning on the counter, she stood, hoping that a customer would turn up and she could get really into serving them and forget about everything. No, it wasn’t going to happen. She wouldn’t be forgetting about this for a while. Then Morgana randomly passed her a box of ice-cream. Did it have hidden meaning, was it a code? Aoife glanced at the label. Oreo? What did this have to do with anything? There was no customer who had requested it. Then the older girl was talking. Telling her to sit down? Okay, she’d sit down because she was scared of her. And she was getting butterbeer! What was wrong with her?

Slowly, she wandered over to a table in the backroom and pulled out a chair for herself. Her legs collapsed underneath her and she flopped into the seat, breathing out heavily. Practically getting her heart broken was hard work. “Thank you,” she said a little bit confusedly when she was given a mug of butterbeer to drink. She took a sip, enjoying the warm feeling in her stomach. She still didn’t feel better though. “Uh… why are you doing this?”