Chapter Fourteen: Pleasant Inconvenience

Chapter Fourteen: Pleasant Inconvenience

Johannes was up before dawn. He dressed quickly and went down to the kitchen, thinking to make himself a cup of coffee before going out to his garden, but Multry caught him looking through the cupboards for the coffee, and she scolded him. Johannes apologised, explaining that he hadn't wanted to disturb anyone so early in the morning.

Multry tutted at that explanation, but allowed Johannes to have a seat in the kitchen and watch as she prepared his coffee. She also insisted he have breakfast, and made him an egg and cheese sandwich to eat with his coffee. As Johannes ate, Multry fixed herself a pot of tea.

"You's out earlier than usual," she observed. "Busy busy week after a busy busy weekend?"

Johannes nodded, but then realised that Multry couldn't see him. "Yes. I have much to do before the bonfire. I want the grounds to look nice when the guests arrive, and now that Madam Lydia's son and daughter-in-law are returning, I would like to have more finished for their arrival next week. And I still have to work in my own garden and in the kailyard."

"The Master Professor should leave the kailyard and the other vegetable gardens to us. You do's new work this week. Fandenz and Gweller work the herbs and vegetables. Mynok watches them. Then the Master Professor checks the house-elf work later. Yes?"

"Yes," Johannes agreed. "Please send Mynok to me so that I can tell him what I need done. And if Tastle and Gweller can assist me later today, that would be good, too. If Madam Siofre or Madam Lydia have no other tasks for them."

"Sorrel helps Madam Lydia today with preparations for Master Bertie and Madam Sally's return. Madam Siofre doesn't tell me yet what she does today."

"You will be left with a lot of work, all alone."

"No, Sorrel works hard, and Penty and Kaffrom can help, too. Shoolie watches the babies in the lodge with Lollie. Lollie is Shoolie's daughter's daughter," Multry said, sitting down at her little table. "Shoolie can teach Lollie more about babies. Lollie is a good elf."

"I am sure she is." Johannes finished his cup of coffee, and Multry immediately refilled it for him.

"Duster and Kilbeena be's very happy to help the Master Professor," Multry said.

"They are good children. I am glad to have them help."

"They helps you this morning, then?"

"No, not this morning, or not until later in the morning. I will be in my garden early. It is not safe for little ones. When they are older...if I am here," Johannes corrected himself quickly. "That is, if they were older, they could help me. There are some dangerous plants. I would have to watch them closely."

"I tell them they help the Master Professor another time," Multry said with a nod.

"Thank you for breakfast, Multry."

"It is always a pleasure to serve you," Multry replied.

Johannes stepped through the pantry and out into the kitchen garden. It was a chilly morning, but he would warm up quickly enough once he began working.

A half hour later, as he crouched beside a bed of immature Mandragora, he heard the gate to his garden open and the crunch of a step on the fine gravel path. He rolled back to sit on his heels and glanced over his shoulder. When he saw who it was, he stood and brushed his hands off on his apron.

"Siofre! Good morning! You are out early."

"As are you. I was surprised to come down to breakfast and learn from Multry you had already eaten and begun work."

"I wished to spend time in my own garden today," Johannes explained, "so I needed an early start."

"You never neglect any other work. Don't feel you must rise early simply to work in your garden," Siofre replied.

"I enjoy the early morning hours."

"I do, too," Siofre said. "How are your Mandragora?"

"Doing very well. Next spring, we shall be able to harvest them . . . Of course, that will require transplanting them . . . somewhere."

"Transplant them? You could put them in the greenhouse, I suppose. They would do better wintering over in the greenhouse, I am sure."

Johannes hesitated. "It would be good of you to allow me to keep them in your greenhouse. I could remove them elsewhere. I could find another solution before then. And with a Charmed cold frame built around them, they can even winter outdoors."

"Why move them anywhere, then, except to the greenhouse, if they would do better there?" Siofre asked. "This is your garden, and it will be yours next spring, and for as long as you wish it."

"I . . ."

"Honestly, Johannes, we have no lack of land. You deprive us of nothing by using this wee parcel. You could have more, and we would only be enriched."

Johannes chuckled and shook his head slightly. "Enriched?"

"Aye. We enjoy your presence here, you know. If you keep a garden here, we will be ensured of your continued visits," Siofre said with a smile. "A bit of . . . blackmail, perhaps?"

Johannes laughed. "Nay, no blackmail required. I would visit, anyway, whenever you wished. And I will continue to look after your gardens and grounds for you for as long as you require. I would return regularly."

"Good," Siofre replied with a nod of approval. "Now, may I lend a hand here? I have to pay another visit to Gwyneth Terwilliger later this morning, but I have time until then."

"Ah . . . I would offer you to soothe the Leaping Toadstools, but I will save that pleasure for myself," Johannes said, smiling, remembering her adventures with those lively fungi.

Siofre laughed. "I could learn something from you, no doubt."

"I am placing a bit of this potion in with each mandrake root," Johannes said, gesturing toward a tub of fine granular potion that looked like black sand. "It only needs a little...a quarter teaspoon per root. It is best done manually...would you like gloves?"

Siofre shook her head. "What about their crying?"

"I have cast a . . . a sort of sleep over them. They are also very young, and even if they were to cry, it would only make you feel uncomfortable. We only clear a little earth to one side, too, and we do not pull them. But if you would like, I could Transfigure some earplugs for you."

Siofre shook her head. "I trust the magister." She knelt beside him. "Show me how much potion."

For the next hour, the two worked together in Johannes's small garden, and when Johannes looked up at Siofre from across a bed of chamomile just as she looked up at him, he felt his breath catch and his heart beat faster. Her sparkling eyes seemed exceptionally bright that morning, and he didn't know when he had ever felt so much life streaming through a person. He would return to the Tyree estate as often as he could for as long as he was welcome . . . If he could stay, he would never leave. Siofre smiled at him, and Johannes felt a blush creep over his cheeks as he returned her smile. He felt she must be able to see it in his eyes, his pleasure in her company, his undeniable pull toward her, his immense regard for her . . .

"I should go in and change now," Siofre said, "and then I must go into Edinburgh and pay a visit to the grandson before I Apparate to Cornwall to see Madam Terwilliger."

"You are going to the apothecary?"

"Aye. There is a potion that I want Murdoch to brew for this job. 'Tis an old Tyree potion, not a standard. I haven't had an opportunity to drop it by until today."

"You could have owled it to him," Johannes said, standing. "Or I could have brought it on Saturday."

"I would trust you to bring it...and to explain that's it's not to be sold or passed on...but I'd like to speak with Murdoch in person, in any case."

"I need to go to Edinburgh today, myself. May I accompany you?"

"Aye, that you may. Where do you go?"

Johannes removed his work apron and cast a cleansing charm on his hands. "I am going to the bookshop, and then I am Apparating to the Mayfield Charmed Glassworks to speak with Madam Mayfield about the greenhouse materials, the number of square feet of glass, the support materials, the charms she will lay on the glass, the pricing, and so forth."

"I should be with you then." Siofre frowned with thought. "Can you make your visit to the bookshop after meeting with Caroline?"

"Yes, that is not a problem."

"Good, then we will go to the apothecary and then to Mayfield Glassworks, and then I can go on to Cornwall from there, and you can return to Edinburgh. I apologise for interfering with your plans."

Johannes shook his head. "I simply told Madam Mayfield that I would be there sometime this morning. I was not specific. And the bookshop has a book that I ordered. They could send it, but I enjoy bookshops. Browsing."

"I enjoy that, too," Siofre replied, "but I rarely make the time."

"You should. We could stop there before we go to Mayfield's."

Siofre shook her head. "I would like to, but I told Gwyneth I would be there to see her by eleven. I don't want to be late."

"Then afterward," Johannes suggested. "We could meet after you are finished in Cornwall. Have lunch in McTavish Street and then go to the bookshop and browse. You said you were not going to take on much work this week or next..."

"Because we need to prepare for Bertrand and Sally..."

"Lydia seems to be handling that well, and it seems there's not much more to do. And Morgan and Fiona are settled. If they need anything from the main house, Lydia is here, and the house-elves. You said to me earlier that I do not neglect my work; neither do you. We can work later this afternoon. Come to lunch with me." Johannes almost held his breath waiting for her response.

"I dinna know . . . I suppose we can discuss the plans for the bonfire and for the grandson's birthday . . ."

"Or we could discuss those things later, when we work in the afternoon. You will meet me for lunch?"

Siofre gave a little laugh. "Very well, I will meet you for lunch. Best I meet you at the bookshop, though. I believe I should be able to meet you at half past twelve, but if I am later, I do not wish to leave you sitting alone in a café."

Johannes grinned. "Good. Very good. But meet me here. We can leave from here. Twelve-thirty. I will meet you at the house at twelve-thirty."

"Aye. It's a date, then."

Johannes's face grew warm. "Aye, a date."

"Let's go meet with Caroline Egidius, then, and discuss glass."

Siofre returned from Cornwall at quarter to twelve, surprised to find that Johannes was not at the house, and Lydia told her that he was not out on the grounds, either.

"We were meeting for lunch in Edinburgh," Siofre said. "I thought we were meeting here at the house, but p'raps we are meeting in the bookshop."

"No, Johannes said he would be back at twelve-thirty," Lydia said. "You're just early."

"All right, then. I'll go make my notes. I'll be in my study."

"If I see him when he gets back, I'll tell him," Lydia said. "By the way, I'm going out to the cottage this afternoon with Multry. Sorrel will be taking care of supper...we thought something light tonight at about seven. Does that suit you?"

"Fine. You are starting on the decorating?"

"Just getting the place prepared for it. Seeing what's salvageable and cleaning away the rest. Gweller may join us at some point, although I know that Johannes wanted some help in the gardens this afternoon. I told him he could have Fandenz, if you haven't another job for him."

"That sounds fine. I'm going to have Brian start the plumbing out there next week, so bear that in mind. I think that all the existing pipes will need replacing, and we need to modernise the bathroom and put a loo in on the ground floor, as well. Don't do anything that will just need to be redone after the plumbing's in."

"Not to worry, sister, I am leaving the kitchen and bathroom for last, anyway. I'll find a good spot for the downstairs loo...perhaps off the kitchen."

Siofre went upstairs to her study. After making her notes in her journal, she paged back over the previous weeks' entries. She had done too much work for which she had deferred payment, she realised. At least the Smethwyck arbitration had been both lucrative and paid in full. The job for Gwyneth Terwilliger, however, would cost her not only time, but money, and more than the few Galleons that she had accepted from Gwyneth. Siofre knew that Gwyneth was concerned about her husband learning that she had been spending money on something he knew nothing about, so she had told the witch that if she were successful, and if Gwyneth still felt inclined to do so at the time, then when her child entered Hogwarts, happy, healthy, and with a father who did not mistreat mother or child, she could pay the balance at that time.

Siofre recognised that she waived or lowered fees far too frequently to be a good business woman, and that she had her own obligations to her home and immediate family...in which she included more than just her children and her sister-in-law...but she could not turn a witch away whom she could help simply because the woman didn't have much money.

Johannes's plan to make more money from the estate itself seemed an excellent solution. The estate hadn't sold any produce, grain, lumber, or anything else, on a regular basis since Siofre's father had passed away. When Murdoch had been alive, he had never taken in more than a hundred Galleons a year from the sale of produce, and usually quite a bit less. No doubt, it would take a few years before they could generate a good income from the estate, but she thought that within the next five years, they could make the place quite profitable. She hoped that Johannes would continue to manage that aspect of the estate. He had said he would check on the gardens and grounds regularly, but that wasn't the same as overseeing it.

The thought of Johannes leaving the estate saddened Siofre, but life was filled with changes, with gains and losses. She knew that the magister wished to have his own bit of land with a greenhouse and establish himself as an independent Herbologist. Perhaps she could lease him a bit of the estate. There was some nice land to the south of the main house, and there had been a house there once, its foundations still standing not far from an old hill fort. It was picturesque, if a bit removed from anything, but she doubted that Johannes would mind that. He could always maintain an office of some sort in Hogsmeade or the Clypeum, somewhere like that. Of course, perhaps he had planned to move someplace else entirely, buy a piece of land in England and not stay in Scotland. Siofre couldn't imagine wanting to live in England once knowing the Highlands, but she recognised that she was biassed.

At about quarter past twelve, Siofre heard a crack. Someone was Disapparating...a house-elf, she thought. Johannes would be arriving soon, but she didn't want to appear to be waiting for him, so she resisted the urge to go downstairs. It was obvious to Siofre now, although it hadn't been unnoticeable before, that Johannes had a very distinct reaction to her presence and her touch. There was something rather nice about knowing that her mere touch, even unaccompanied by any tickling of her magic, caused him to blush and feel attracted to her. He clearly enjoyed it, too. If it made him at all uncomfortable, it was not in a way to make him avoid her...quite the opposite, in fact.

She never ought to have called their lunch a date as she had. He might misconstrue the word, imbue it with more meaning than it had. A wave of remorse swept over her. She ought not be so careless with his feelings. The dear man had had more than enough difficulty in his life without her toying with him...whether she had meant to in that moment or not.

Perhaps Malcolm had been right, and she was doing the youthful Herbologist a disservice in keeping him there at the estate, persuading him even to give up his weekends to her. She would make sure that he went to his home the coming weekend. It might not be a bad idea to encourage Malcolm to take the lad out for drinks. The following weekend, of course, was a different matter. There was the Beltane bonfire and the party the next day, and Johannes would be there as a guest, not as the estate's Herbologist gardener. There would be several single witches there, as well.

Despite...or perhaps because of...Lydia's incredulous questions about inviting Lachina to come to the estate a few days early, Siofre had asked her young kinswoman to come to visit for the week, ostensibly to keep Phoebe company and spend time with Fiona, Morgan, and the babies. Lachina had written back agreeing to come to stay at the estate, although she couldn't make it a complete holiday, and would have to spend a few hours each day at the jeweller's where she was one of three master jewellers and gem charmers. It would still give her and Johannes an opportunity to become acquainted.

Siofre put her journal away in its drawer and left her study, crossing the hall to her sitting room, from where she could see the front drive. As she gazed out the window and waited for Johannes, she reflected on her own feelings for the magister. Her feelings were not as simple as Lydia drew them. It was not merely a matter of finding the wizard handsome or enjoying his company, and her feelings for him went beyond simple affection and appreciation. More than that, she cared about his welfare. He clearly valued family, and it obviously had taken him a long time to recover from the tragic loss of his own. Siofre wanted him to have a new chance at a family. Yet she would not deny that she found Johannes more than handsome, and more than just a theoretically attractive man. She was more strongly attracted to Johannes than she had been to any man in many, many decades, and she was more than slightly fond of him.

She was falling in love for the first time since she was a girl, Siofre recognised, and if Johannes were a different sort of man with a different sort of history...and if he weren't so much younger than she, much younger even than her own son, though older than her daughter by at least a decade...then she wouldn't hesitate to draw him in and to fall in love, herself. She wanted to give him a chance to make another choice before she made one for him...for once she decided to allow Johannes to pursue her, she would catch him and she would keep him.

Until then, she would have to try to restrain herself. Reining in some of her inappropriately suggestive remarks would be a good place to begin. By the standards of the day, suggesting that they were having a date was hardly anything at all. Siofre chuckled drily to herself. Even by the standards of her own girlhood, it was hardly anything at all, but for Johannes, such remarks would surely bring him around to thinking of her as something far more than his employer, more than Malcolm's grandmother, and more than his friend. He was already sliding in that direction as it was.

There was a dull snap, and Siofre looked out the window. There was Johannes, changed from the clothes he had worn to their meeting with Caroline Egidius Mayfield that morning. He was still wearing cuffed brown trousers and smooth brown leather boots, but it looked as though he had changed his shirt and waistcoat, and he was wearing a deep green over-robe, open down the front, and a matching green hat with a creased crown and a broad brim.

Johannes strode up the drive, and Siofre turned from the window and left her study. As she walked down the flight of stairs to the entry hall, she Summoned her cloak and hat. She caught them, and the door opened below her. Johannes stepped through and immediately looked up to see her. His smile was instantaneous and warm, and Siofre returned it.

"Good afternoon, Madam Tyree," Johannes said, still smiling. "You are ready for lunch?"

"Aye, indeed, Professor."

"Then let us depart." Johannes gestured toward the still-open door behind him and bowed slightly.

"I could Apparate us this time," Siofre offered, quickly adding, "if you would like. Or we could meet there, in the small park."

"Nay." Johannes tried to suppress his smile, but he was clearly very pleased. "We do not return to McTavish Street," he explained as Siofre stepped through the door.

"We aren't? Where are we going?"

"You will soon see," Johannes replied, his eyes sparkling. He closed the door with a wave of his hand.

Siofre took his arm. "Very well, Honnie, I will trust you and let you surprise me." She smiled up at him.

A few moments later, she found herself in the back garden of the flat that Johannes rented in Hogsmeade.

"I remembered you said you were not particularly fond of eating out in restaurants," Johannes said, opening the door that led into his kitchen, "therefore, I thought I might spend my meagre culinary skills today...although I have had a little help."

Siofre stepped into the kitchen to find his table set for two, a brightly patterned tablecloth covering the plain wooden kitchen table and two new blue cushions on the wooden chair seats. Sorrel, dressed in a candy-striped set of towels, was hovering beside the cook stove, looking into a pot. He replaced the lid as they entered.

"Everything still nice nice, Master Professor!" Sorrel pronounced. "Nothing overdone...and I passes a little charm over your fish," he added in a whisper, "so's it stays bee-yew-tee-ful."

Johannes grinned at the house-elf's whisper. "Good, thank you, Sorrel." He turned to Siofre and took her hat and cloak. "Sorrel was kind enough to agree to watch the food whilst I fetched you. I did not wish to leave it untended."

"You cooked? How lovely!" Siofre felt genuinely and deeply touched by Johannes's effort...regardless of how the meal would taste. She took a sniff. It actually smelled quite nice, although the aroma of cooked fish did predominate. "What is on the menu, other than fish?"

"You shall see," Johannes said as he held her chair for her. "I hope you will find it . . . enjoyable."

"I am already enjoying myself," Siofre replied.

"Thank you for your help, Sorrel. You may return to the house now. And thank Madam Lydia for me, as well."

Sorrel nodded, smiling, and Disapparated from the kitchen.

"May I offer you a glass of wine?" Johannes asked. "It is a dry Sylvaner."

"Yes, I would like to try it. I've never had that before."

"It is a little similar, I think, to Riesling. It is from a friend in Germany," Johannes replied, pouring the wine into one of the glasses by Siofre's place. "It will go well with our meal, I hope."

He poured himself a glass, set down the bottle, then raised his glass to Siofre. "To you and your good health."

"And to yours," Siofre said, adding, "Slàinte."

Johannes grinned. "Slàinte mhor!"

Siofre laughed. "You have been drinking with the grandson!"

Johannes shrugged and smiled. "That and 'ceilidh' are the only words I have." He put his glass down and turned to the cooker.

"What is it in German? What would you say for a general toast to the health of the drinker?"

"I would say, 'zum Wohl,'" Johannes said, lifting the lid from the pot and pouring some cream into it.

"Tsum Vohl," Siofre repeated carefully. "What is that you're stirring?"

"Our first course. Sorrel soup...of the vegetative variety, not house-elf," he said, looking over his shoulder at Siofre and smiling.

She laughed. "I have not had that. We sometimes had sorrel in salads when I was a lass."

"This is something my mother would make us," Johannes said as he ladled out the soup. "I hoped it would be a refreshing start for our meal. In summer, it is nice served cold." He placed Siofre's soup bowl in front of her, then set his own down. "Oh, I forget the rolls...these are not from me," he said standing and retrieving the rolls and butter from the counter. "Multry provided them."

"Thank you, Johannes." She took a sip of the soup. "Very nice. Tart and lovely."

"The following course is fish, asparagus, and potatoes," Johannes said.

"Then I will skip the bread, enjoy the soup, and be sure to have room for the rest of the meal. Oh, this is good soup!"

"There is more, if you like."

"I am tempted. This soup and some rolls alone would have made a wonderful meal. I do not remember the last time that someone cooked a meal just for me...other than the house-elves, of course. Thank you."

"I hope you do not mind the setting. It is not..."

"It is very comfortable. And I like the cushions. Are they new?"

Johannes nodded as he swallowed his soup. "Found them this morning in a Muggle shop that I know. I liked the bright colour."

"Very cheerful," Siofre agreed.

"More soup?" When Siofre declined, he picked up the soup bowls. "Then the next course. It is trout with dill weed and lemon. The asparagus has a Hollandaise sauce, and there are small potatoes with butter and parsley."

Siofre smiled. "It sounds wonderful."

"You always seem to enjoy fish. I hope this preparation is to your taste."

As Siofre took her first taste of the trout, prepared to be polite if it were merely edible, she let out an involuntary sigh of pleasure. When she had swallowed and flaked off another forkful of fish, she said, "This is very good, Johannes, truly. It is more than just dill and lemon."

"There is also a little white wine, a little butter, shallots, some ground white pepper, but really, very simple. Just a home recipe. Another of my mother's dishes. I always think hers was better. But I do not cook often now."

"Save a bit for Multry and tell her how you made it. We can have her make it...if you don't mind sharing it."

"Not at all. I will write it down for her, too."

"And the sorrel soup?"

Johannes laughed. "Yes, and the sorrel soup. Sorrel laughed when I told him it was sorrel soup. He said that he should learn to make it."

"The asparagus and the potatoes are very nice, as well."

"I am glad my choices were good ones."

"Excellent. This was a wonderful surprise and a delicious meal. Much better than a restaurant," Siofre said.

"The atmosphere is not as good."

"It is not 'as good': it is better," Siofre said. She smiled and leaned back, picking up her wineglass. "I am quite comfortable in your kitchen, in your company."

Johannes smiled happily. "I am glad. How was your morning after we parted? How is Madam Terwilliger?"

"She is doing well. The charms are working as planned. Cadoc has trouble becoming drunk, anyway...or at least, trouble becoming a mean drunk. He seems to be calming in some respects, but now he is irritable because he can't drink without getting sick or passing out as soon as he crosses his home's threshold."

"That is an improvement?"

"Aye," Siofre said with a nod. "But not enough. I wish to observe him this week. I plan to follow him from his home on Wednesday morning, and then..."

"You cannot do that...what I mean is, is that not dangerous? Following that man?" Johannes corrected himself hastily.

Siofre raised an eyebrow. "Nay. If someone else tried, p'raps then. But he'll never know I'm there."

Johannes was quiet for a moment, cutting a small potato into even smaller pieces. "Should you bring someone with you?"

"If I did that, it would be more likely he'd notice us." Recognising Johannes's worry and his reluctance to say anything negative to her, Siofre reached across the table and patted his hand. "Do not worry, Honnie. When I do have a case where it might be better to have help, I can ask Malcolm. But this isn't such a case. I just want to see the wizard . . . evaluate him. I shan't be casting any charms on the man...or hexes."

"And the potion that you are having Murdoch brew?"

Siofre laughed. "I won't be slipping that into his tea. 'Twould likely only make him rather sick to his stomach...although if he hasn't destroyed his sense of taste, he'd spit it out before he swallowed it. The potion isn't for him. It's for Gwyneth, and it isn't meant to be ingested. It's to be spread about the house. I'll do the first application, to the windowsills and the floorboards whilst casting a few charms, and then leave it with her to use as she's doing the housecleaning. Rub it into the furniture as she dusts, put it in the laundry, that sort of thing. Should relax her, at the very least, and hopefully it will pacify and . . . cheer Cadoc and anyone else in the home."

"Oh, I see. And . . . and . . . I am sorry, but I am worried. You are sure it is safe? To follow Terwilliger, I mean."

"As houses, lad."

Johannes looked puzzled.

"Safe as houses...safe as can be. Dinna worry, Johannes. I'll be home for dinner and tell you and Lydia all of the dull quotidian details of the man's life."

Johannes sighed and nodded. "Very well. But do . . . do take care."

"I shall. You know that Lydia's begun the work down at Minerva's cottage?" Siofre asked, changing the subject.

"Yes. She said she is getting it ready to decorate."

"As soon as the plumbing is done, I want to finish the decorating as quickly as we can. I would like to present it to Minerva before the end of the Hogwarts school year. She seemed . . . tired on Sunday. Didn't you think she did?"

"Yes, she did. But it is a busy time of year, after Easter, before the final examinations of the year, and as the Deputy Headmistress, she has new responsibilities this year that she hasn't had before."

Siofre nodded. "I hope that she can come for the bonfire and stay for the weekend, but it will not be a surprise if she comes for only a few hours on Saturday. I was surprised that she arrived yesterday, actually. I could see that Morgan and Fiona were surprised, as well."

"It was good to see her, though, and I think she wanted to see the babies. They grow fast, as she says." Johannes quirked a smile. "I think she was surprised to become the new target for David's vegetables."

Siofre laughed. "Aye, but it was funny. We shouldn't encourage the lad to throw his food, but it is still amusing."

"I think he does not like sprouts," Johannes said. "Either that, or he has decided that they make very good missiles."

"I think he will be a Chaser," Siofre replied. "He's just refining his aim."

"Aiden never minds, either. It is funny. He just laughs." Johannes shook his head in amusement. "I was surprised to see that Morgana eats pickled gherkins. They do not seem a food for babies."

Siofre chuckled. "It was one of her first solid foods. She'd steal them from her mother's plate. She'd ignore her own steamed carrot sticks and boiled broccoli and happily gum away on a sour gherkin."

"I would prefer a gherkin to boiled broccoli, myself, but not now. I have made dessert, if you would like pudding. There is more asparagus and potato, though."

"I think the sweet would be nice. I am looking forward to seeing what you have...although biscuits and tea would be fine."

"It is not biscuits. It is, I think you call it fruit soup, but it seems not like soup to me. Rote Grütze, with fresh cream over it. I made it with mixed berries. A kind of cold pudding. It is best in summer, when the weather is warm, but I like it all the time."

"It sounds lovely." Siofre cocked her head, listening. "Is that thunder?"

There was another, louder crack of thunder.

Johannes looked up as he began to clear the table. "Hm. Yes, I suppose it was. I thought it was not supposed to rain until tonight." Rain began to beat against the kitchen windows.

"No work in the garden this afternoon," Siofre said. Another loud clap of thunder reverberated through the surrounding hills. "No Apparating back in this, either."

"Then after dessert, we can discuss the greenhouse, the bonfire, the party . . . and I have another bottle of Sylvaner." Johannes smiled. "Join me in the sitting room?"

"It is times like this when I do see the convenience of being on the Floo Network," Siofre said, but then she smiled. "This afternoon, however, I think I prefer to be inconvenienced here with you . . ."