Butterbeer for Your Thoughts (OPEN)

Sophia ignored the appreciative gazes that she garnered as she walked towards the bar of the Three Broomsticks. She'd mostly come to give herself a reprieve from her tower. Lately, she had been waking from slumber with a feeling of unease in her stomach and no memory of the dreams that had put it there.

She finally concluded that too much solitude played a large part in it. The North Tower was far from a den of despair, of course, but enough time alone in any part of an old castle was liable to put a chill in anyone's bones.

"Butterbeer, please," she told the bartender, leaning against the bar as she waited. A rueful expression settled on her face.

The new waiter was going to steal from the cashbox later that night.

The owner was going to catch him before he left.

Sophia shook her head. Politely thanking the bartender - who was going to surprise his girlfriend with flowers - she moved off to sit at a corner table and watch her fellow patrons.

Alice walked in the shop with her shy smile as she took off her black leather jacket.
She noticed someone leaning against the bar and Alice came near her.

"Would you mind if i sit beside you?" She asked.

Sophia turned to the newcomer, a smattering of trivial images flickering across her mind before she suppressed the tendency. She really shouldn't have been walking around without her mental shields up, anyway.

She smiled kindly. "Feel free to do so," she said. "I don't mind."

Taryn sighed as she walked into the Three Broomsticks, taking off her pea coat and shaking it for good measure. She hugged the coat to her chest, her colorful scarf draped around her neck messily. She saw two women sitting at a table, a part of her wanted to sit down with them. But another part of her wished that one of them was Kae; no scratch that all of her wished that. She sighed and bit her lip, wondering why on earth she'd came here in the first place.

"Screw it," She whispered putting her pack of cigarettes in her coat pocket; and with that she began walking over to the table. "May I join you two?" She asked, forcing a smiled. Her perfectly white teeth gleaming at the pair.

She sudden hoped that she wasn't interrupting a date. She'd known all too well how easily people judged her and Kae's dates for just a friendly open table, just because they were two women.

"Am I interrupting a private conversation?" She asked again.

Sophia was not fully prepared when the second woman approached. Anguish seemed to roll off of her in waves, slamming straight through the casual shield she'd chosen to erect.

Anguish. Such keen anguish...

Sophia choked back a sob. "I'm so sorry," she murmured. She finally occluded her mind completely, dulling the stranger's emotion until it was very faint, easily negligible.

The Seer gasped softly, grasping the edge of the table.

Taryn's eyes narrowed, "You're sorry?" She asked softly, arching an eyebrow in confusion.

Taryn tried not to think about how much this woman looked like Kae, of course lately Taryn had been finding likenesses in random people with Kae. She did it just to feel closer to her deceased lover.

Sophia waved it off, a bit too insistently. "Nothing," she said, her breathing returning to normal. "Please. Feel free to join us. We were only just getting acquainted.

"I'm Sophia, by the way."

Taryn smiled, a small smile but a smile nonetheless. "Taryn." She said taking a seat, as she draped her coat over the back side of her chair. "Thank you for letting me sit here," She said, clearing her throat and remembering her social manners. "I mean, I dont even know why I came here. But its always nice to meet someone new."

"It's nice to meet you, Taryn," Sophia said in her gentle Scottish brogue. "You must be new in the area. I haven't seen you before."

Her brown eyes studied the other woman. Such inexpressible grief. Sophia couldn't even imagine. Granted, Sophia had never loved anyone, before. Apart from her family, she'd never been comfortable enough to let anyone that close.

Still, Taryn carried on, although, whether it was with courage or hopelessness was yet to be Seen. Sophia suspected Taryn herself didn't know.

Sophia warmly returned her smile.

Taryn nodded her head, wondering if it was acceptable to smoke in the establishment. Muggles were so uptight about such things, she wondered if wizards in Europe were the same. "Yes, I am new. I just moved from America. Career choice." She said, not adding the fact that she could no longer live in the loft that her and her lover had shared.

Despite the fact that the loft overlooked Venice beach in Califonia.

"Yes. I did notice your accent," Sophia laughed softly. "So, what career brings you to Hogsmeade in Scotland?"

"I'm a professor at Hogwarts." She replied.

Taryn didn't think she had an accent, but no Americans ever did.

"Oh, really, now?" Sophia asked. "I teach there, myself. Let's see... which positions were open, again? Well, y'don't really strike me as the Domestic Magic sort, so that leaves either Charms or Potions. Wait. Potions, it is. You have the faint lingering smell of herbs about you. Most Potions masters do."

Taryn generally smiled at the woman, she was charming and fun. "Yes, I am the newest potions master." She said.

Kae had been the person to get her into potions. She'd always been an herby type of person. The type of person who burnt sage constantly, and always caught stuff on fire with her malfunctioning potions.

"A very useful art, Potions," Sophia replied. "I fear, my own subject is looked upon with far less esteem." She smiled. That was actually quite an understatement. Most people thought Divination a load of bunk.

Taryn cocked her head to the side, slightly. "Oh? What do you instruct?" She inquired pulling out a small vial from her coat pocket.

Taryn fondled the vial in her hands thoughtfully, before taking the cap off and slipping the liquid past her lips.

Sophia waited until Taryn had swallowed her potion before replying, uncertain how she would respond.

"I'm the Divination professor," she said. "As you might imagine, many of my students find it quite useless. Though, admittedly, for many of them, it is."

Taryn smiled, despite her stomach yelling at her for swallowing such a vile liquid. It would get over it, eventually. "Divination is an art." She stated simply, "An art disregarded, undermined, and insulted by only the stupidest of beings."

"I wouldn't say stupid so much as ignorant," Sophia countered, her tone the faintest bit chiding. "Most people are left untouched by Gifts of Precognition, and even most of those with some Talent in the art, intuition, dreams, aren't aware that they have it and it is easily brushed aside as coincidence.

"Though, I must say, all the misinformation that abounds certainly doesn't help a lot of people take Divination seriously. Granted, I feel it's all to the best, really. The future is not made to be dabbled in."

She blushed faintly. "Och, I apologize," she laughed. "School's not even in session, yet, and already I'm lecturing."

Taryn shrugged, "Oh dont worry about it. I lecture all the time, sometimes to myself." She said smiling at the blushing woman.

Taryn sighed as she felt the potion taking affect through her system.

"Are you alright, then?" Sophia asked as she noticed some of the tension leave Taryn's body. "I imagine after a while, your muscles would start to get sore." She shut her eyes a moment and shook her head. "Not that I'm assuming you're tense or anything of the sort. Never mind. Forget I said anything - it's none of my business."

Taryn nodded, "Oh yes, I took that potion because I have insomnia, and if i do not take the potion three times a day I wont sleep." She spoke kindly, her voice light and inviting. "It is a creation of mine. And dont worry about over stepping any boundaries; I'll let you know if you offend me."

Taryn didn't add on that she doubted this intelligent woman would ever really get on her nerves. Taryn regarded Sophia as a woman that Kae would've loved.

Sophia smiled warmly. She didn't mention that the act of trying to appear alright when she really wasn't must have been taking its toll on her. Taryn was doing a remarkable job of masking her grief, and had Sophia's shields been fully erected when the other woman approached, she'd have no idea how deep it really ran.

"I'm afraid my talent with creating things ends with making tea blends," Sophia said lightly, adding wryly, "Not much of a cook, either. Fortunately, at Hogwarts, I can leave that to the house elves. It's when I leave work that I must eat out or starve."

Taryn laughed. "I think good cooking comes well with a potions master, at least. I've found this is the case with myself. Kaelen says" She stopped herself, her face falling dark, "Er...used to say I was the best cook she'd ever met."

Taryn closed her eyes, imagining the first time she'd ever cooked for Kaelen. And how after that first night she had cooked dinner for her for years; save for the nights when they went on dates.

"I'd imagine it would," Sophia remarked. Her expression grew somber. "She was very important to you. It must be very hard to have lost her."