Fancy seeing you here! [Caliece]

Hogwarts had finished for the year, and it already looked like being a beautiful sunny day as Sam arrived in London three days after the school term had ended. He had taken the floo network, something he was getting more used to now, given that Iuliana wasn't able to apparate. At first it had seemed strange to have to rely on using the sparkling green powder, but he had to admit that apparation had never been his favourite thing anyway,  and even when he travelled alone in recent months the Seer had found himself using this method. Apart from the odd bit of ash, it was the perfect way to travel, he though as he stepped out of the fireplace, oblivious to the dusty mark on the sleeve of his loose-fitting shirt.

He was dressed in vaguely muggle style, faded jeans and leather thong sandals he'd had for nigh on ten years that looked as if they might fall apart at any moment. Hair showing the effects of a recent trim, though it still struggled to maintain any kind of style for more than a few days and simply reverted to 'shaggy'. He looked relaxed, calm and happy though; despite being alone today, Sam knew he wasn't really alone anymore. He had Iuliana, and sometimes he allowed himself to hope for a world where there would never be any problems again.

It wouldn't happen, of course. You-know-who was finally gone, but people were still dealing with the aftermath, even more than a year on. Diagon alley might look safe and well-cared for now, but there were still a few shops lying empty, a few places in the street scrubbed just a bit too clean. Which was why he had decided to venture out into muggle London today, a place he hadn't set foot for some years. And Sam had a particular destination in mind; one he had always loved and never tired of visiting. He left the Leaky cauldron and walked along streets crowded with shoppers and tourists, his ordinary attire not attracting so much as a glance. He knew, vaguely, that there were buses and other muggle forms of transportation that would be quicker, but he would need to try and remember how muggle money worked for that, and it was just easier to walk a couple of miles. Even crossing the streets that teemed with cars and spewed choking fumes was simpler - just follow the crowd, find Trafalgar Square, try not to step on a pigeon as he wove his way past the fountains, through the people to the National Gallery.

He stepped inside the cool interior and smiled. Whichever muggle minister had come up with the idea of making London museums free for visitors deserved the Order of Merlin, first class in Sam's opinion. As if of their own volition, Sam's feet made their way to his favourite room as if it were only yesterday he had last been here. The room that held the collection of Monet paintings, one of his favourite muggle artists. Never mind that the paintings didn't move. They held their own charm, he though as he took a step closer, accidentally brushing shoulders with someone and murmuring an apology as he did so. 

Caliece still wasn’t used to being out of school, even though she had been out of school for several months now. She had nothing to do now that she had graduated, and she was trying to get her own practice set up but there was a lot involved in that. She would have to get the license and the building to do it in. Plus she might need someone’s help, if the place got really busy. How was she supposed to go about hiring someone? What was a good solid wage to pay someone for that sort of work? Oh all the questions in her mind just kept swirling around. But today, she was going to take a break from all of that. Today was the day she would visit the National Gallery and look the paintings of one of her favorite artists. Even though the young woman hadn’t really done any painting or charcoal drawings since she left Hogwarts, she still loved art. She wanted to get back into it but it was hard to find the time. Maybe now that school was out she could actually find some time to sit down and see if she still had the same skills she did when she was in school.

Caliece was good at dressing in muggles clothing, she had done it a lot when she traveled around France. She woke up early that morning to dress herself in a pristine style. She hadn’t dressed like that at all when she was in school at Hogwarts but her style was changing and she was more careful as what to put on her body. Granted she didn’t always spend a ton on her clothes but she felt out of place wearing combat boots and gloves around all the ‘pretty’ girls in France. So she adjusted. Caliece thought back to Hogwarts and how things were different then, she had a few friends but they were mostly still in school. Now she was pretty much alone, except for Acario, he still stayed in contact. They even when to the festival in Hogsmead. Oh, she was so in love with that boy. Speaking of love….no, Sam, Or Professor Dickinson as he was known as then, wasn’t love. It was just a crush that a school girl had on her teacher.

She shook her head at the thought and finished her look by slipping into the shoes that she picked out for the outfit. She stepped out of her house and Apperated to the area of the town she needed to be. Course she made she to pick the same place, and alley near the building where most muggles didn’t tour. She didn’t want to freak any of them out. She straightened her dress and slicked back her hair before heading into the National Gallery.

She slipped through the crowd of people and into the room that held the collection of Monet. She smiled and she looked around the room. It was so amazing to see the work, time and effort the people put into their work. It was also passion, it had to be. How else would they get such amazing work? She took a few more steps and stopped in front of one of her favorite paintings Stormy Sea in Étretat. She felt the slight brush of someone near her and she muttered, “Don’t worry about…” Her eyes fell up on the person she was just thinking about not but an hour ago in her own home. Professor Dickinson….course she didn’t really know his first name so she didn’t want to blurt out his last….that would be weird.

That could have been the end of things, except the voice that responded to his apology sounded vaguely familiar. He'd glanced down briefly, more to note the position of the speaker than to see who it was, and now he quiet literally did a double take as he recognised her.

"Caliece!" he exclaimed, realising immediately that he was speaking far too loudly and glancing around to check nobody was shooting disapproving glances in his direction "You look...uh..." Half a dozen different phrases ran through his head, all of them complimentary but none of them appropriate for a professor to say to a student. Then he remembered - she wasn't his student any more. She was an adult, and as such, it was fine for them to meet by accident in an art museum, talk about the exhibits, and just be...friends. He liked that thought. Sam had always liked Caliece, in the sense of having found a kindred spirit with whom he shared a common interest, ever since he had met her when he first began teaching at Hogwarts.

These thoughts passed through his mind in less than a heartbeat. What he said was "You look...uh...great" He'd wanted to say more, to tell her how grown-up she looked, but there were a lot of people around and he didn't want any of them to get the wrong idea. "I forgot you liked Monet" he continued, gesturing to the painting they had both been admiring "though I have to admit this isn't one of my favourites. It always feels as if there's something missing, because the sea looks so rough and yet it isn't moving like it should..." he broke off abruptly, remembering they were in a roomful of muggles who didn't know that real paintings moved "like it would in real life..." he ended, somewhat lamely, with a quick grin in the young woman's direction before he carefully looked back at the painting.

He couldn't help wondering how the picture was created, whether the background was done first, what the artist had been thinking when he applied the brush... all the usual things he wondered in places like this. But now, his thoughts were elsewhere, too. He hadn't encountered this situation before, meeting an ex student outside of Hogwarts, and he wasn't entirely sure how to react.

Like he would with anyone else he happened to meet in an unexpected place, he decided. "Do you often come here?" he asked, determined to keep the conversation going.

He still looked good, course back when she was a student she had a bit of a crush on him. But then again, she was an adult now and was actually allowed to think things like that about him. Her eyes looked him over before she felt her cheeks flush and she quickly looked back the painting. The young woman had tried painting the muggle way before and it all turned out rather cartoony. Her passion was more the charcoal, it was easier to shadow thing and make them look real. She had even shown her work to Sam. Her art didn't move either, she didn't know the charms or spells that made them move, besides watching charcoal art move might have been a little odd and slightly creepy.

Her face lit up when he practically screamed her name, it meant that he was happy to see her as well. He had always been her favorite Professor at Hogwarts. He was someone that treated her like and adult and not some kid who was just trying to make it though school. He was even the one that helped her get into the school that she just graduated from, well with the help of a teacher there that though she should be fast tracked through. Normally the program took two and a half years but she had finished it almost half that time. She even now owned her own clinic. She owed a lot to the teacher standing in front of her. She blushed a little, she still wasn't good at hiding her emotions. "You look just the same...which mind isn't a bad thing." She grinned and tried to fight the flush red color from her face.  Sam had been a really good friend at Hogwarts, someone she had a lot in common with and someone she had confided in.

When he told her she looked great she couldn't help but turn the bright red that she was. She wasn't used to compliments from him, unless it was about her artwork. "Thank you..." She turned her face away shyly before looking back at him. The girl had to admit, the slight crush was still there. She really wanted to ask his name but she also didn't want to be a complete nutter either. She looked down at her feet before taking in a big breath. She followed his eyes back to the painting and smiled. "Oh yes, I love his work." She smiled and quirked a brow when he spoke of the painting in front of them. "Really...? It's one of my favorites by Monet. I love the brush strokes used and the way it almost looks like it's moving..." She smiled at him and tried to help him cover his little slip up. "What is your favorite work by him then, if it's not this one..?" She smiled and turned her body toward Sam.

She always been interested in the brush strokes and how the paintings were done because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't achieve the same look. "I always wonder...how or what kind of technique they use to get the lifelike art that they get. I can only do it with shadows of charcoal. My paintings always look like cartoons, or like a seven year old painted them." She let out a small laugh before turning back to the painting and tilting her head a bit. To be honest, Caliece felt a little more comfortable around Sam now that she wasn't in school. She was free to be herself without people looking at her like she's a bit of a weirdo because she's friends with her professor.

"Yes, actually. Well, when I have the free time nowdays. It's hard to find the time now that I have my own practice." She smiled at him. There it was, the way to incorporate her new practice so she could thank the man that helped her get into the school in France. She had wanted to ever since she got in but by the time she got the letter, she had graduated and she hadn't seen him since then. Hopefully he would bite and she could tell him all about the good things he help her achieve. "How about you...? Do you come here often then...I don't see you here...Maybe I just miss you." She was rambling again, she did that a lot when she was nervous.

There was a brief moment of concern - would Caliece remember him? It was a couple of years since she'd graduated, maybe the discussions they'd had about art had meant less to her than they had to him. What if she found the fact they'd been friends faintly embarrassing now she was out of school and doubtless had better friends now, people her own age...but then she looked back at him and he knew that nothing had changed. They were still friends, though now she was all grown up. No, not quite all the way, he noted, seeing the slight blush that rose to her cheeks - though was he any better at receiving a compliment? Sam felt vaguely awkward when she said he hadn't changed, not sure what to say. In the end he just grinned.

It was much easier to talk about art, especially when they were in a place such as this. At least half the room they were in was given over to Monet's work, and even that was just a small selection of everything he'd painted in his lifetime. His favourite...well that was easy - and yet hard at the same time, because it wasn't a single painting. "The Japanese Bridge" he said with a grin, gesturing across to the adjoining wall. "Though I can never decide which is my favourite - it's like he painted that scene once, and it was so beautiful he couldn't get it out of his head and had to keep trying from different angles. One day I want to visit the grounds where he painted it, just to see what it really looks like..." Sam had seem photographs, of course, but it wasn't the same as actually being there.

He nodded thoughtfully as she mentioned the brush strokes "You know, what I find fascinating is the way some of his paintings just...don't work when you get up close. You stand right next to it, and you can't tell what it's meant to be, but if you're on the opposite side of the room it's immediately recognisable. It's almost as if he had some sort of...uh, as if he was able to see two different views at once" he trailed off, realising he'd nearly given himself away again. Sam had been going to say that it seemed as if the man had been using a charm so he could see his half-finished painting from a distance as he worked, before remembering again where he was. It was hard work, pretending to be a muggle.

And then his face lit up with genuine pleasure as the implications of what Caliece said dawned on him. "Your own practise? You mean...you qualified from...from the school already?" he asked delightedly, pleased that he'd not blurted out the name of the magical school she'd attended after Hogwarts. "Where is it? How are you getting on?" Too many questions, he realised. He shook his head and grinned. "I'm sorry, one question at a time. I guess. Look - did you want to have a drink in the cafe downstairs? They do some really delicious cakes there...or they did, last time I came here, which was a couple of years ago. I've got some mug...I mean, I'm paying."

Suddenly it didn't feel weird to be issuing such an invitation, just a good way to catch up. He didn't notice the girl's nerves, he was too pleased to see her again and discover that she'd managed to not only get into the French school, but also graduate in virtually record time. One other thing, though. "Oh, and you'd better call me Sam now I'm no longer your teacher" he suggested cheerfully.

[OOC: I went there a bit over a year ago and the cakes in the basement cafe were so huge we didn't actually need any other lunch that day xD]

Of course she remembered Sam, he had been one of her only friends when she had attended Hogwarts. Not only that but he had helped her so much and even supported her artwork. They had spent several hours together discussing artwork and what they enjoyed. Besides the fact that she had a secret crush on her teacher, she also considered him a really good friend, even now. She touched her face as the redness hit them and she smiled a little as  he grinned at her. He was still just the same man. The kind, caring man that she remembered from school, with only one difference. Now people wouldn't on upon them and think their friendship was wrong. He was now allowed to be friends with her having graduated from Hogwarts.

Besides, their friendship was based almost solely on art and this was perfect place to discuss that. She smiled at him as they looked around the room surrounded by Monet's paintings. It really was incredible to see. "The Japanese Bridge...? Really? I suppose you're right. Maybe he liked it as much as you did and thought in order to get the full picture, he had to paint several views of it." She smiled and gave him a nod. "I would love to see all the places he traveled to paint. I mean it has to be based on something. I just wonder if the place he painted is as beautiful as the painting itself." It was true, she wanted to travel the world, see new places, and she wasn't tied down to that. Not that anyone had showed any interest in her, but the point was she wanted to see the things that most people couldn't. It was a life goal, a bucket list so to speak.

She laughed a little as he spoke of some of the paintings not working close up. "You know. I guess I've never thought of it that way. I though maybe he was just painting it as he saw it. But you are right. Some of them do seem to work a lot better the further you get from them. I wonder how his mind focused that...." She smiled and looked over at him as he almost made a slip. She did things like that all the time. She really had to watch herself when she was out and about, around muggles. It wasn't that she made a habit of it but she came to the museum quite a bit.

Smiling she looked at Sam. "Yes, my own practice. I qualified already. There was a professor there, that actually reminded me of you. They told me that I had the ability to learn things quickly and that I would do better off in my own practice than I ever would in school. But they did promise me that they would visit when I go my own place." She smiled at him and was really glad that he was proud of her. It made her feel accomplished and his opinion really matter to her. "It's in...uh where my parents used to own the toy store. You remember the one I told you about before...." She smiled almost giving away the name of Diagon Alley in a muggle city. They would have looked at her like she was nuts. "Things are going a bit slow, Not many clients yet, and I really need help but over all, better than I could hope for." "A coffee would be wonderful. And a cake...? I don't think I've ever had their cakes here before. I will have to try it out." She grinned at him and shook her head at his words again. "Well, even better if you're buying." She nodded and turned to follow him down the stairs.

Her head bobbed as she nodded to him. Sam, his name was Sam. What a wonderful..name. She pushed those thoughts from her head and smiled. "Alright then, Sam." It almost felt wrong to call him by his first name, but she enjoyed it all the same.

Sam could easily have talked about the paintings for hours, but it was difficult watching what he said all the time. Even having grown up visiting muggle grandparents hadn't really helped, not least because things had changed in the last thirty years. His grandparents had explained things like telephone boxes and muggle money, which looked different now but at least still worked the same way, but muggles had invented so many things since then that it was almost like a different world, and anyone who didn't know about all these bizarre gadgets was likely to get looked at in an odd way. Even as he had this thought, Sam caught a glimpse of someone fiddling with a thin piece of plastic that was attached to their ears with wires, for what purpose he couldn't possibly begin to imagine. Couldn't muggles just enjoy the paintings without needing some sort of distraction?

"If Blue or any of the geckoes ever need taking care of, I'll be sure to bring them to you" he said, meaning it. The place he had previously frequented - also in Diagon Alley - had closed a couple of years earlier, and he felt fortunate that the lizards hadn't needed veterinary care since that time. Then he winked. "And I know where you mean. Did I ever tell you my father has a shop there as well? An...antiques shop" he said, after a pause. He felt proud of that description. Muggles had antiques too, and the heirloom items his father sold certainly fell into that category for the most part. He was glad they were heading down to the cafe though. It was a while since he'd been there, but if there was a table free in a corner they could talk more freely there without fear of anyone overhearing.

It looked like they were in luck, too. There weren't many people in the cafe; less than half the tables were occupied. Probably the muggles were taking advantage of the rare British sun and sitting outside to eat rather than coming down here. "It's self-service, I think" Sam said conversationally after a moment as they headed toward the counters "Well...kind of" he amended, seeing a waitress pouring coffee into cups from a large, steaming pot. It still felt a little strange being here with a former student, even if she was an adult now and there was nothing at all going on apart from two friends having a drink together. Sam had always been fond of Caliece though, she had seemed - well, a little lonely during her time at Hogwarts, and he was glad he'd been able to help her create some happy memories of her time there. He looked at her and smiled, though just for a moment, because his attention was caught by the display of cakes!

There were a dozen or more varieties to choose from; old-fashioned sponge cakes with cream and strawberries on top; huge chocolate cookies, flapjacks...and an enormous coffee cake decorated with walnuts. "I think I've found my lunch today" he joked, gesturing towards the coffee cake. "Do you think they'd be shocked if I asked for two pieces?"

[OOC: Sooo late and so lame! <333]