Summer Visit

Humphrey Williams walked up to what he assumed was Cobie's Bakery. It looked like what Charlotte had described to him in her letter. It was a beautiful summer day, and he was hoping that nothing would go wrong with the visit. The last time he had seen Charlotte, she had slapped him. They had sent a few owls back and forth, she had said they could still be friends and invited him to come over. Part of the reason he was a little nervous was Professor Smith. The first time he had met him the man had stuck his hand into his chest and grabbed his heart. Sometimes he imagined he could still feel the hand inside squeezing. He shook his head, and knocked on the door. "Charlotte, are you there?" he called out after he knocked.

Charlotte was upstairs in her room, dancing around to one of her favourite songs in a pair of new cut off denim shorts she had just been customising and an old slytherin tshirt that she had managed to buy at Madam Malkins.

Turning down the music slightly Charlotte thought she heard someone calling her, deciding she would see who it was she slipped her feet into her flip flops and padded downstairs to the bakery front of the shop.

A little surprised to see Humphrey there Charlotte smiled anyway, the last time she had seen him was when she slapped him, and although deserved, she wished she hadn't done it.

"Hello Humphrey, it's nice to see you again, how are you doing?"

Humphrey saw Charlotte come to the door in and old t-shirt and a pair of shorts she appeared to be making her own. "Hey Charlotte, it's good to see you too. You said that I could come over sometime, so, here I am. I'm really sorry about how I acted at the ball and after, I know I've said it in my letters, but I figured you deserved one in person as well. Can we hang out for a bit? I've really missed you." he told her.

It was hard for Humphrey to admit he was wrong, even when he knew he was. What had happened was his fault, even though at the time he didn't think it was. A weight seemed to lift off of him, and he realized that he had been feeling guilty about what happened.

The bakery smelled wonderful, so curious about what was being made he asked her. "What's in the oven? It smells really great."

Charlotte smiled happily and was glad that she had gotten another apology from Humphrey. She didn't need one but she was glad that he had apologised in front of her, it meant all the more to her.

"I'm glad thar you're here Humphrey."

Lifting up the counter top Charlotte moved out from behind the counter and wrapped her arms around Humphrey in a large hug, snuggling her head against him.

"You don't need to apologise Humphrey, things were running high that night and we both say things we didn't mean."

Now that they had gotten that out of the way, Charlotte let Humphrey go and smiled even more what was in the oven? It was something that Charlotte loved!

"Well the oven at the moment has some blueberry muffins in, they'll be ready soon, do you like them?"

Charlotte surprised him by giving him a big hug, he hugged her back. When she said she didn't need an apology he shook his head. "Charlotte, you did need an apology. The high tensions are no excuse for the way I was acting, and I started acting that way even before the battle. I'm just glad that you seem to be willing to forgive me. It means a lot." Humphrey said, his voice colored with emotion.

Charlotte started to pull away and he let her go. She walked over to the oven and smiled. After being informed that blueberry muffins were in the oven, he realized that he was indeed hungry. "That sounds delicious. But honestly, I'll eat just about anything at the moment. Feel like I'm hungry all the time."

Charlotte placed her finger over Humphrey's lips and smiled happily at him, she didn't want to talk about what had happened between both of them that day, or even what had happened in general, there were happier times to focus on.

"Hush now Humphrey, let's not talk of those bad memories but make new ones of our own that are happier, ne?"

When Humphrey said that he was always hungry, Charlotte lifted the countertop up again and gestures for him to go through into the back of the bakery.

"Well they'll be a few minutes yet and they'll need to sit to cool for a bit, so, you can have something else if you want to."

Charlotte looked at the heated bakery case that kept the food warm and then back to Humphrey.

"How's your holiday been?"

Humphrey was surprised when Charlotte placed a finger over his lips to shut him up. She was never afraid to let him know how she felt about something, that was one thing he liked about her. "Making happy memories, huh? Maybe you could give me a basic cooking lesson. I'm sure that would be pretty amusing, considering that I know absolutely nothing of how to cook." he told her truthfully.

After Charlotte told her he could pick something to eat, he sat down and shook his head. "I'll be okay until the blueberry muffins come out. Waiting a couple minutes won't kill me."

"My holiday has been pretty good so far. Haven't done that much except go to Diagon Alley. Looked at the Firebolt 1999 broom, I should be able to get it if I save up a bit more. Trying to make it on this year as a chaser for Gryffindor. What about you?"

Charlotte smiled broadly, she wouldn't mind doing some baking, it was something that she always thought calmed her, and it was really good for losing yourself in it, it was one of her favourite things to do, second to all the artistic things.

"A cookery lesson? I'd love to help you learn something, what's your favourite type of cake or biscuit? I'll teach you how to make it."

Chuckling a little Charlotte smiled, glad that Humphrey wasn't going to start eating the table or something while they were waiting for the muffins to cook, they'll be done in a while after all.

"Alright then I'll have to be sure to give you some food to take home though, is that okay with you?"

When Humphrey told her about his desire to be Chaser for Gryffindor, Charlotte beamed happy that he was going to be trying out for the team this year:

"I'm glad you'll be trying out! I know you'll get on the team no problems, well, I've not been doing much either, I met up with Airen and some of my friends have been over to visit."

When she asked him what his favorite cake or biscuit was his mind drifted off to thoughts of food. Images of biscuits, muffins, and cakes danced around in his brain. Eventually, he was able to pick one he would like to make. "Could you show me how to make an angel food cake? They've always been one of my favorites, especially when you put strawberries and whipped cream on top of it."

"What are you chuckling at over there Charlotte? Trying to picture me cooking or something?" Humphrey said jokingly. "As for taking home food, that sounds like a scrumptious idea to me."

"Thanks for the encouragement, hope you're right. Are you going to try out for the Slytherin team?" He hadn't seen her at the flying lessons, but for all he knew Charlotte could be the best flyer in their year. "That's good that people have been stopping by to see you. Staying busy makes the time go faster until we go back to Hogwarts."

Charlotte smiled softly, although she had seen it being made she didn't actually know how to make Angel Food Cake herself, although she was sure that it would go perfectly fine when she tried it with Humphrey.

"Yes of course, I might be a little new to the recipe, but the basics apply to everything so we should be okay, we won't blow the kitchen up I think."

Shaking her head Charlotte laughed a little more, trying to calm herself down so that she could talk, odd thing was, Humphrey might not even think that it was that amusing.

"I was just imagining you eating a table leg or something because you're so hungry, but, I'm glad that our furniture is safe once more."

When Humphrey asked if she was trying out for the Slytherin team Charlotte shook her head, peering into the oven.

"No no, I didn't take flying classes, I'm afraid of heights, so I might just be watching for now."