[DDC]{Honeydukes} Up from the ashes, grow the roses of success (Honey Bea)

The heavenly smell of the sweetened pumpkin was calling out to the young witch and her stomach rumbled as she shuffled around the kitchens of one of Hogsmeade's most beloved shops; Honeydukes. Meredith was grateful to get away from the barely contained chaos that was Sugar & Spice, even if it was for just a few hours. Of course, the cafe itself wasn't overly busy that day, otherwise her eldest sister wouldn't have given her permission to help out elsewhere, but it didn't stop the Emerson-run business from being somewhat of a hullabaloo on even their quietest days. The animals were adorable, wonderful company and Mer enjoyed looking after them immensely but even the Ravenclaw student, as patient and compassionate as she was, found that looking after a dozen cats, a dozen dogs, unicorns, pygmy puffs and hedgehogs could be trying at times, especially when they interrupted her routine.

It just so happened that a close friend was in more need of her services than the rest of her family and Merrie, ever eager to help out someone in need, found that one of her other talents was being used that day. Her cheeks were red apples, flushed from both the heat of the oven which she had just opened, and her recent sneak-out with one of her cousins to the island where the International Summer School was being held, Spider Island. The English witch felt that she didn't have the opportunity to go to the Summer school because of her duty to Sugar & Spice and the sweet girl couldn't stand the idea of being away from all the animals for so long. Jonathan seemed to pick up on this, and before the brunette knew it the pair were sneaking out at midnight to go to the island for a while. The reactions had been... mixed upon her return but the quirky girl managed to get straight back into the swing of things and since her trip she had been less distractible and more focused, daydreaming far less. The mini holiday had been good for the teenager.

The sudden jingle of the bell at the entrance of the shop made Meredith smile a little in relief that she was no longer alone. Though she was making plenty of noise with her clanging pots and trays, it hadn't been enough to distract her from the fact that she had been utterly alone. Granted, it had only been for less than five minutes but the sensitive girl feared being alone more than anything and not having Concordia or Laetitia with her made it worse. Not wanting to keep whoever had just entered Honeydukes waiting for more than was necessary, the Emerson witch quickly sorted out the pumpkin pasties previously piled precariously on decoratives trays so that they weren't about to topple over, before sliding her hand under the tray and repeating the action with some finished cauldron cakes with her other hand.

The Ravenclaw slipped out of the kitchen and into the main shop area, the trays wobbling from the slight spring in her step as she noticed exactly who had arrived. "Oh, you're back!" She chirped out, as she meandered her way to the display cases at the front of the shop, making a point of beaming affectionately at Honey as she raised the tray of pumpkin pasties higher towards Honey's face and circled them around teasingly. Before cautiously placing the trays into their places on the display shelf. "Smells good, huh?" She asked, brushing down her apron lightly. "Anything else I can help you with? Any more pastries? Some experimental sweets you need a second opinion on?" Mer kept her voice light and airy, but her tone was making her questions seem a little more like commands. She couldn't help it, she didn't want to have to clean up after the cast of Noah's Ark... at least, not for a while longer. "Please?" she pleaded, her blue eyes sparkling in an attempt to persuade Honeyduke's owner. Mer didn't think Honey would refuse, after all, she was the one who had asked the Hogwarts student in the first place but Honeydukes did seem to be quietening down, so there was no harm in checking.

@Honey Bea Flume

It had seemed like a great idea at first to accept the offer to teach a class at Academy Anansi. Honey Bea could get her name out there and, better yet, get the name of Honeydukes into the ears of a hundred children from all over the globe. It had worked, in a moderate amount at least, as she had seen a handful more international orders come her way, inevitably from the parents of children writing home or sending home the things they had made in her class. But despite the little bit of extra business, the whole thing was mostly exhausting.

She only had class for a few hours a day but had opted to stay on the island a couple nights a week. True, that was mostly so she could have an excuse to take the man she was dating on a bit of a getaway, but the reasons weren’t really important. She had thought she would be able to manage the shop from abroad, spending only a few days a week in the brick and mortar kitchen of Honeydukes, considering the lower amount of foot traffic the shop received during the summer months.

But as July had turned into August and more order started coming in as parents realized they only had a month left to ply their children with sweets and children realized they only had a month left to ‘borrow’ their parents money easily, it was a busy time. And on top of all of that, Honey had another brilliant idea to expand her business, accepting an offer to create a very large, very decorated, and very time-consuming wedding cake for some fancy society wedding in London the next week. She had spent hours and baked her way through countless test cakes, not once stopping to refill the dwindling supply of pumpkin pasties and truffles and cauldron cakes.

So when Meredith Emerson, a student who worked at her second favorite shop in the village, wondered if she needed any help, she had immediately taken her up on her offer. For the past week, Honey had only been going to the island for class and immediately returning back to Scotland, and the constant travel combined with the constant climate change combined with the stress up the upcoming weekend was enough to have Honey on edge.

The happy tinkling of the bell signaling her entrance into her shop made her want to blast it down, but once the smell of baking pastries and simmering chocolate filled her nostrils, she was right back in her happy place. Having Meredith watch the shop was clearly a good decision.

“I’m back!” She replied, stating the obvious. She used her wand to pluck a pumpkin pasty from Mere’s trays, grabbing it from the air and taking a rather large and rather unbecoming bite out of it. The flavor was right on the money; clearly she had followed the recipe exactly, not thinking that she could improve the recipe any further. She couldn’t, of course, but that didn’t usually stop people from trying. “No, none of that stuff.” Honey shook her head at the request, taking another bite as she moved around the front counter, shrugging the bag from her shoulder and tossing it to the side.

She moved swiftly into the kitchen, thankful for the warmth the ovens offered as she was still wearing the warm weather outfit she had donned for the day’s classes in the Caribbean. Shoving the last bit of pastry into her mouth, she chewed thoughtfully for a moment as she grabbed an apron at random from the many hooks that ran along the wall beside her. “I have to make the cake. The real cake, this time.” She looked over at Meredith seriously. The girl had been present plenty of times as Honey was experimenting with flavors and decorations so she shouldn’t need to elaborate.

“Do you want to help with prepping and construction and the like?” Honey smoothed down the front of her apron before moving her hands up to her hair and tying it back. Ever the perfectionist when it came to her work, Honey would more than likely redo everything that Meredith made herself, but she could be pretty useful in all the steps up to that. She hadn’t written anything down recipe-wise, but she knew exactly what needed to happen. “Just close up the shop and clean up from earlier and we can get going.” The wedding was in two days and she really couldn’t put this off any longer.

The Emerson witch allowed herself a small smile as Honey stole a pasty from the tray, her gaze unintentionally intense as the teenager tried to gauge the older witch's reaction, and her smile grew wider as Honey took a bite, happy that she had obviously done a good job. Meredith didn't want to let the other witch down. She was an experimental girl by nature and a large part of her had wanted to tinker around with the recipe she had been given but the Ravenclaw student knew that it hadn't been the time or the place. If she wanted to mess around with the recipe then she could do so at home, it was different when someone was relying on her to do a job right. Besides, Mer knew there was a reason the pumpkin pasties from Honeydukes were so popular, so maybe there just wasn't anything else to change.

"Oh?" Merrie questioned, her eyebrow raised in curiosity. What else was there to be done? A sense of worry began to creep up on the brunette and she was concerned that Honey would send her away back to Sugar & Spice. Her nervous tick surfaced as Mer scratched at her inner forearm sharply, vaguely aware that she didn't feel the stinging that she often felt. She hadn't had much to be nervous about in recent times. The English girl followed the older witch into the kitchen, like a loyal puppy eager to please its owner. Recoiling a little at the sudden temperature increase, Meredith prayed to Merlin that she would still be of use to the Honeydukes owner.

The cake. Blue eyes flashed in recognition, and Merrie nodded, smiling in understanding. She knew all about the cake and she couldn't help but envy the happy couple who would have a cake made by the best sweet shop in the whole World! Of course, if it had been Merrie making the cake, she told herself that she would have started it a week prior, just in case she made a mistake. Deep down, however, she knew that just wasn't true and that she'd likely have done the same thing as Honey. Mer knew for a fact that she was easily distracted by new, exciting things. "Yes, that is a good idea." The teenager stood there awkwardly for a few moments, still a little afraid that she'd be sent away. She knew that not everyone shared her dislike of being alone, and she knew of some people who somehow even preferred it.

It was, therefore, a great relief when Honey asked if she would like to help and the Ravenclaw let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Yes," she exclaimed, taking a step towards Honey, "I'd love to! Anything you need!" The Emerson witch beamed at Honey, eyes crinkling around the edges in happiness. She enjoyed helping other people more than anything in the world. Merrie listened to the other witch's request, making off to the front of the shop immediately and she called out "okay!" Mer instantly decided that magic would help her close up shop much more quickly and she knew that since she was in Hogsmeade, the underage tracker on her magic would be irrelevant. Pulling out her wand, she leant against the counter as she flicked her wand to wordlessly flip the sign on the door from 'open' to 'closed', smirking as it did as she asked without hesitation. She was getting better at wordless magic. To make doubly sure no unwelcome visitors wandered their way in as they worked, Meredith waved her wand towards the door once again, muttering "colloportus."

Upon the hearing the click of the door behind her, Mer swiftly turned back into the kitchens and immediately set about cleaning up after her pumpkin pasty mayhem. "Scourgify," she began, pointing the reed wand towards the pots and pans before repeating the spell onto the worktops. The teenager noticed some liquid still remaining on the worktop, and flicking her wand towards it, trying a different cleaning spell. "Tergeo," she enunciated, having not practised the spell as much as her former spell. She raised her chin in pride, however, as the liquid was quickly siphoned of the worktop and the kitchens looked clean again. Looking suspiciously around at her surroundings, the distractable girl wondered if she forgot anything. "All done, I think," Mer said hesitantly, turning towards Honey with a shy smile. She couldn't wait to see how the cake came together!

Honey watched with amusement as her helped cleaned up around the kitchen. As much as she loved to spend time in this room, she absolutely loathed cleaning up after herself. She was still sanitary, of course, but making a mess was the only really enjoyable part about her craft. There was a reason she had an inordinate amount of aprons to her name. "Right," she said with a nod, her brow now furrowed in concentration. "Here's the plan." She smoothed out a piece of parchment on the nearest surface, showing an incredibly detailed drawing of a seven-tier cake.

Arrows were pointing in every direction with details written in a very small, curly handwriting. "We couldn't settle on just one type of cake, so there's going to be seven, one for each layer." She tapped each drawn layer with the tip of her finger as she continued. "Red velvet, strawberry and champagne, chocolate, triple chocolate, mocha, vanilla, and chocolate hazelnut." She smiled as she paused, feeling rather brilliant for managing to incorporate chocolate in the majority of the layers.

"But the best part is the decorations!" Honey could no longer hold in her excitement. "White chocolate buttercream frosting over the whole thing, with a white chocolate drizzle mixed with edible gold dust dripping from every tier." She reached into her back pocket for a photograph of a serenely moving bouquet of flowers. "This is the bride's bouquet and I'm going to make flowers out of sugar to match." Honey laid the photo on the table next to her drawing and smiled again, nearly bouncing on her heels as she shifted her weight from heel to toe and back again.

Drumming her fingers on the countertop, Honey peered around the kitchen, forming her plan of attack in her mind. Obviously the cakes needed to be done before any of the decorations could be added to them, but she could certainly get a head start on the sugar flowers. She probably should have made a start on them ages ago, but a certain bride-to-remain-anonymous had taken her time to provide the flower photo.

"So," she said suddenly as she turned on her heels to face her younger companion. "It might not seem very difficult, but would you like to start on the cakes?" It would be a bit of a time constraint to redo the cakes if they were botched, but the pumpkin pasties had been a good indication of Meredith's forthcoming success. "Work your way from the bottom up," she added with a nod, tapping her finger on the chocolate hazelnut layer in the drawing. "Pan size is on the drawing and pans are over there," she pointed across the kitchen at a wide assortment of pans and baking sheets and miscellany hanging from the walls and lined up on shelves. She turned the drawing over and scrawled a few notes on the back. "Here's the recipe," she said as she scanned what she had just written, ensuring her memory hadn't left anything out.

She nodded one more time, half authoritatively and half assuringly, before turning to the pantry to fetch her own ingredients for the flowers.