(acelyn’s) tiny vessels • {izzy}

Andrew traipsed through the streets of his favourite village with downcast eyes and a grey cloud hovering comfortably above his head. The week had been a long, tiring one, and, unfortunately, not devoid of some terrible moments. Like yesterday. It was a pity, really; when the idea of almost being done had been so close, someone just had to bring him down. The boy, bored and drowsy, had found himself distracted in one of his classes, and the professor hadn’t wasted any time before releasing her wrath on him. He couldn’t even recall what had caught his attention after that lecture, which now resided in one of the top spots on his list of moments he never wanted to relive. The boy sighed slowly, and ran nimble fingers through his uncombed hair.

Sheer luck and the carefulness of others were the only explanations behind his safe manoeuvring, as he should have bumped into several people by now. He was in a self-pitying daze, and it seemed as if nothing would pull him out of it. Nothing except for ice cream, of course.

One of the people in the crowd had mentioned Acelyn’s, forcing the boy to raise his head and rest his gaze on the quaint ice creamery. Not surprisingly, a grin immediately lightened his features, and his sourness dissipated, replaced by excitement and a sudden hunger. There was no denying that sweets were one of the few things that cheered the boy up instantly. He was happy to have quite a bit of currency in his pocket, as he was going to get the best dessert Acelyn’s had.

He entered the shop and took in his surroundings, grinning widely. Yep, he was definitely improving already. Heading over to the display of flavours, he noticed a familiar head of dark hair, and immediately recognised who it belonged to. He hadn’t spoken to her in a while, and felt a little bad for his lack of friendliness. His new status as a prefect provided him with a feeling of obligated amicability; he now felt as if it was his duty to reach out to others he didn’t speak to regularly. Andrew put on a brilliant smile and greeted the girl beside him. Though, admittedly, he hadn’t seen much of Isabella lately to even start a conversation with her. Deciding now was as good a time as any, the blond slid beside his housemate.

“Hey, Izzy.” He threw an arm around her casually. “What’re you having? I’ll treat you.”

"Alright, see you later!" With a smile on her face, Izzy waved at her friend before the girl disappeared around the corner. They had agreed to meet again in an hour but until then she had lots of free time for herself. It was one of those nice last autumn days and the Hufflepuff had decided to spend as much time as possible outside. Soon enough it would get all rainy and cold again and then she'd definitely spend enough time inside the castle. Sometimes the half Spaniard wished her parents would have sent her to Beauxbatons where it was a lot warmer but then she always thought about all her family members that were with her at Hogwarts and dismissed the thought again. She would miss them way too much.

On her own now, the girl walked through the streets and stopped here and there. Honeydukes seemed to have some newly invented sweets in their shop window and so she decided to pay the shop a visit. It was always dangerous to go in there since she always bought more stuff than she actually wanted but Izzy knew that it wasn't only her problem. All around here were students who looked at the sweets with shining eyes and she was no exception there. After a while she had some raspberry flavoured sugar quills, a white chocolate wand and some crystallised pineapples in her bag and left the shop again.

Not really knowing where she should go next, Isabella started walking in the directions of Crust & Crumbs to spend her coworkers a visit. The Hufflepuff had spent most of her last Hogsmeade visits working in the bakery but today was one of her few free days. Still, being at the wizarding village and not going to Geri's shop felt kind of wrong.

While she was walking down the street, Izzy spotted Acelyn's on the way and without thinking much about it, the tall Hufflepuff entered the ice creamery. There was nothing better than some ice cream on a day like this one and Acelyn's had one of the best flavours ever. Apparently quite a few others had the same idea and so the dark-haired girl walked over to the end of the queue and waited patiently. Shortly before it was her turn, an arm appeared around her and for a short moment she thought it belonged to one of her cousins. It didn't, though.

As soon as she realised that it was Andrew Mitchell who was talking to her, the girl blushed heavily. Not for the first time she was grateful for her rather dark complexion. If she'd been pale, she would have looked like a tomato by now. "Hi Andy," she replied, opting for a normal smile that wouldn't make her seem like an idiot. "You don't have…" Before she could finish the sentence it was her turn and she quickly scanned the list of flavours. "Uhm… I think I'll have strawberry cheesecake and one choop of scocolate." Wait what? No. No, no, no. How embarrassing. "Sorry," she said hastily, "chocolate, a scoop of chocolate, please." Crap. Well done, Izzy. Well done.

It didn’t occur to him that their lack of closeness might make the girl uncomfortable with his offer to pay for their frozen treats. Even as she protested, Andrew shook his head, playfully waving a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” For emphasis and reassurance, the boy patted his pocket, and the coins jingled inside. Before he could ask her what she’d like, however, it was her turn to be served.

A light bulb lit up above his head, and Andy immediately scooted closer to his housemate until there was only a nanometre of space between them. As she repeated her order, which she’d accidentally botched up the first time, Andrew couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips, though he was slightly confused. For some reason, Isabella seemed to be a little on edge, but he couldn’t figure out why, and he wondered briefly if she was always like this. He’d find out soon enough, he supposed, as he swooped in with his order, adding it onto hers.

“And I’ll have one scoop of sugar cookie, one scoop of strawberry, and another roop of scainbow.” He winked at the cashier, and grinned at Izzy to show that he was only teasing, and not trying to hurt her feelings. Then he gave her a thumbs up, indicating that, despite her earlier objection, he’d ensure that everything was paid for.

Quickly, once their treats had been scooped up and secured, Andy shoved a few coins at the cashier. There might have been an extra sickle or two in there and as he gathered the two bowls of ice-cream, Andrew suggested that any extras be kept. Then, he returned his attention to Isabella and gave her a triumphant grin as he raised her bowl of ice cream. “Now, where are you sitting?”