Ice Cream, Anyone?

[Avery Jones]

It was one of Avery's favorite things to go to Diagon Alley after a long summer of no magic. As she was muggle-born, she spent most of her summer away from her Hogwarts friends and with her parents. This summer, they had gone on vacation to France and spent a lot of time on the beaches of the Mediterranean. Of course, this had resulted in lots of sunburns on Avery's part, but she was luckily all healed and pale again as she wandered the streets of Diagon Alley.

Her mother hadn't wanted to let her go alone, but she'd assured Elizabeth that everything would be alright and that she'd be safe. It was Diagon Alley and she was surrounded by wizards. Besides that, students were allowed to do magic in emergencies, so if anything went wrong, she could protect herself.

This seemed to placate her mum and she'd quickly waved goodbye and hurried into the Leaky Cauldron. Now Avery was holding her list of school supplies and carrying multiple bags; she had already picked up her books, robes, and potions supplies. She would need more quills and ink, along with new dragon-hide gloves and parchment. That could wait, however, as she spotted Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor with a grin. She was quick to go over to the shop and enter, glancing at the menu on the wall.

"Oi, if it isn't the little mudblood Jones."

Avery spun to look at where the voice had come from. A Slytherin who was now going to be a seventh year. She glared furiously. "Shove off," she hissed. "I'm trying to enjoy myself. Go pester someone else." With that, she turned back to the counter to order.

It was only with a few more comments from the Slytherin -- which she gladly ignored -- that he left the place and Avery was able to order in peace. She got a strawberry chocolate-chip ice cream cone and then walked outside to find a table. It wasn't too horribly busy, so she took an empty seat, setting her bags down next to her, and gladly dug into her ice cream.

Maybe she would run into someone else she knew around today! That would certainly make up for her run-in with the Slytherin.

[Sebastien Diederich]

Sebastien sighed, idly mixing his now warm and melted dairy product with a spoon. He'd figured once the public got wind of the werewolf fiasco it'd end up in the prophet or at the very least gossip in all the magical social circles, he had just been doing his best to ignore it, and it had ended up in the prophet not front page news thanks to Lucius Malfoy's official betrothal to Narcissa Black, but nevertheless anyone who read more than the cover story knew, not only of the incident but of who was involved. Evidently wizard media didn't have the same respect of someones privacy as the muggle media did. So everyone knew. (unless of course they'd spent their summer away from all things magical, or living in a cave)

This was the first time in Sebastien's life that anyone had ever recalled his existence, and of course they were only doing it now because they feared he had become a monster. Such was not the case. After rigorous and somewhat painful testing procedures the St. Mungo's staff had been able to confirm that he in fact did not turn into a werewolf at night and besides some minor enhancements in his senses he was still just Sebastien.

With this entire scandal it had come as no surprise to him that when he entered the Fortescue ice cream parlor that a number of the older students, as well as parents with young children had cleared out, in the most unsubtle manner possible. (leaving only a few shady drifters, and "new" muggle-born families) Sebastien tried to pay no mind to it, but it irked him, for had it been just a summer prior not a single soul in the shop would have even acknowledged him with a simple greeting, and now they were clearing out as if he had the plague. (then again Lycanthropy probably was equivalent to the plague in magical London, Sebastien thought to himself)

Sebastien didn't feel like eating. He wasn't a huge fan of ice cream as it were, but the heat had made him want something cool, but once he'd been recognized and treated as he was treated by his peers he'd suddenly no longer wanted the dairy product, so he'd resorted to sitting at one of the tables, stirring the now liquid, just enjoying the silence whilst thinking to himself, making sure he'd gotten all the books, and supplies he needed this year of classes.

It wasn't until a girl around his own age and who he was sure he'd seen around school before came out into the dining area, sitting down at her own table and digging into her icecream, seemingly unaware of Sebastien's presence, or at the very least unaware of his pariah status in society.

He had to admit, this peeked his curiosity slightly, and he was left to silently, (and quite subtly) observe the other.