The weather was starting to turn cold, meaning that most people were going out less and less. The leaves were turning colors, a cold north wind was blowing and everyone could tell that fall was upon them.

To Marie, it was the perfect day to be out and about...and away from work.

Due to the lack of work in the Ministry, Marie had been given the day off. She figured she had some time off coming. She hadn't had an actual vacation in a very long time, maybe more than a year. She had traveled, but it was all work related. Today was her day to relax.

She decided to go shopping in London, she wanted to buy some new muggle clothes, some toys for her dog, Wotcher, as well as some other things. She was experienced at blending in with a muggle crowd. She was wandering around in a pair of jeans, trainers, and a plain shirt with a denim jacket over it. She liked dressing in muggle clothes, it made her feel normal.

With several bags in hand she made her way towards a small cafe. It was the best in muggle London, Marie swore by it. She noticed the rather hip clothing store next door, and made a mental note to go there afterwards.

"Hi there," she said with a smile to the handsome young man behind the counter, "I'd like a short cafe mocha, please."

The man nodded and took her money, and she stared out the window while waiting for her drink. The sun was shining down in golden rays between the few trees outside the shops. She smiled as the young man handed her her drink.

"Thank you very much," she dropped a few spare coins in the tip cup and proceeded to a seat by the window. The view was beautiful, and she felt so peacful.

Astina was walking down the street of London when a brisk cold wind blew from the north. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. It was cold and Astina didnt lioke it one bit. She jogged down the street and entered the first coffie shop that she came to. She turned and puled on the door handle which was almost as cold as dry ice and as soon as the door was open, Astina pulled her hand off of the handle and slipped inside.

As she let the door close, she took time to let the warmth of the place wash over her. She could hear a bell ring somewhere in the shop and she could smell the sweet aroma of baking pastries. Astina walked up to the counter and asked for a large, hot, steaming cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. She also asked for a chocolate muffin.

The man at the counter turned around to fill her cup and Astina grabbed a warm muffin from a basket on the counter. He gave her her hot chocolate and Astina paid her with muggle money. She carefully grabbed her mug and muffin and turned around to see where she would sit.

As Astina surveyed the tiny caffe, she saw a young woman sitting at a table. She looked lonely, so Astina walked over to her table and sat down. "Hello," Astina said to the young woman, "Boy is it cold outside. I really dont like the cold. My name is Astina Sincaltry, what's your name?" Astina asked her in a welcoming tone and held out her hand for the young woman to shake.

Marie looked a bit taken a back when the girl came and sat at her table. Normally she was used to people just ignoring her and hardly giving her a second glance, but this girl was being extra friendly.

"Certainly is getting cooler out," Marie said with a small smile, "It's not too cold yet for my taste. I actually prefer this weather."

She took the girls hand and smiled, thinking a bit of amusement when she had been taught not to talk to strangers. She had in fact ran off and been picked up by a stranger, who she later discovered to be a friend of her Uncle, but it had stopped her from being friendly with strange people.

"I'm Marie Richards," she said, taking another sip of her drink, feeling the effects of the caffine. She wasn't quite sure if the girl was muggle or not, a major downside to being in a muggle cafe, but it didn't matter.

"So what brings you to London?" she figured it was a nice, open ended question.

Astina shook the womans hand. She smiled when the woman said that she liked the weather at the moment. "I dont really like it when it is this cold out. I really like it when it is warm outside. I came in here because of the weather," Astina told the young woman.

Then, the young woman told Astina her name and she thought that is was really pretty. "That is a really nice name," Astina said, "I like it a lot."

"Oh, I was out to see a movie and when I got out, it was really really cold out and I decided to come here for a little something to warm me up." Astina smiled at Marie.

Astina leaned forward and attempted to lean on her elbows when she accadentaly knocked over her cup of hot chocolate. The hot liquid ran all over the table and Astina jumped out of her seat to avoid it getting on her Green Day sweatshirt.

"Oh, oops," Astina reached into the pockit of her Green Day sweatshirt for her wand and had the handle out in veiw when she remembered that she was in a muggle coffie shop and quikly put it away. Hopefuly Marie didnt see it. For all Astina knew, Marie could be a muggle to. But, now that Astina thought about it, the more Marie's name sounded familiar to her.

Marie smiled when Astina told her she liked her name.

"Thank you," she sipped her drink again, "I wish I could say I had some say in choosing it, but it was kinda handed to me."

She watched as the hot chocolate spilled over the table, it almost seemed to happen in slow motion. Marie skidded back in her chair, the hot cocoa dripping on the knee of her jeans. She quickly pulled her leg away, cursing a bit under her breath.

She watched Astina jump, and noticed something brown in her hand, which she quickly put away. Raising an eyebrow, Marie looked at the young girl, and gripped her wand, which was in the pocket of her long, leather jacket. After a quick glance around, she held it under her jacket and flicked it toward the table, making the mess disappear.

"Accidents will happen." she said with a smile, "Just be sure that if you're going to use magic to clean it, no muggles are watching."

She winked and tapped her jeans, making the stain disappear.

Astina stared at Marie with wide eyes, but then smiled. She was a witch too! She and Astina had more in common that she thought. Now that she knew this little tid bit of information, Astina thought that she knew where she heard Marie's name before.

"I know you!" Astina said, pointing at Marie, "My brother Millis told me about you! He works in the Auror department in the Ministry!" Astina lowered her voice and clapped her hand to her mouth.

"Oops," Astina said in a low voice, "I got a little carried away. But I dont think that you know him. He has such a crush on you. When ever I see him he cant stop talking about you." Astina giggled. "It really is kind of pathetic."

Astina looked around to make sure that no one was watching her and she refilled her mug with more hot chocolate. "Mabye you know him," Astina said, lifting the hot chocolate to her mouth, "He's kind of shy, skin like mine but he has blue black hair instead of red. He is really tall, mabye 6' 5". Seen him around?" Astina smiled at Marie.

So this was the girl that Millis kept talking about. She is really pretty. I like her. Astina thought.

Millis...hmm...that name sounds familiar.

She was trying to keep back the urge to force the girl into her seat. She certainly did get excited about talking about the ministry. It was a bit odd that she knew someone who worked as an Auror too...small world.

It finally hit her when she kept thinking about the guys name. She knew him, oh yes, she knew him, they had actually together on a few different cases in her time at the Ministry. He was a good worker, something that Marie appreciated.

"I know your brother, I've actually worked with him a couple of times. He's a good guy, a little shy, but nice non-the-less." she said with a smile, taking a sip of her drink, "Course I dunno how thrilled he'd be to know that you're telling me he has a crush on me...but we'll just have that be our little secret."

She smiled at Astina. Her brother was likeable enough, but right now, well, Marie wasn't really up for dating at the moment. Too much had happened. She never actually picked up on the fact that Millis liked her, but apparently he did.

I'll have to keep this in mind.

Astina giggled. Of corse Millis wouldnt like her telling Marie about his littl crush, but Astina wasnt very good at keeping secrets. Especially if it was a secriet of a crush, but she would have to keep her tounge in her mouth around her brother or he would flay her alive.

"Good idea," Astina said, "My brother wont be very happy with me if he found out that I told you about his crush." Astina couldnt surpress a smile.

Astina took out her chocolat muffin and bit a huge hunk out of the side. When she swallowed she could talk. "You know the one thing about my brother that is really cool?" Astina said, "It is that he is always there for me. When ever I am depressed, he sends me a big box of chocolates. As you can tell, I like chocolate."

(ooc:sorry it is so short. :bored: )

"Older siblings can be nice," Marie said with a faint smile.

Sadly, Marie's siblings had never been there for her like Astina's brother had been there for his little sister. Being the middle child, Marie was ignored most of the time, and she often didn't get support from anyone, let alone her siblings. Mostly she was picked on and pushed around. Hearing of nice siblings like Millis made Marie long for a nicer relationship with her siblings.

"Chocolate is the one thing a girl can rely on," she said with a small smile, knowing how much she depended on chocolate a teenager. It was her comfort food, it was the one thing she ate whenever she was sad, which was alot.

"I agree," Astina said, taking another hunk out of her muffin, "Millis is the coolest guy in the world. You really should give him a chance. That would be cool to see you as often as I see him." Astina smiled as Marie.

"Yeah, I have a friend who has siblings like yours," Astina looked a little sad at that time, "She is always teased by her older sisters. I must say, that has got to suck." Astina giggled, but not at her friends misfortune. Sje was laughing at an image of Millis in her head trying to be a bossy and mean big brother. Astina didnt think he was even capable of being mean.

"Mmmmmmmm, chocolate," Astina said doing a very good impresstion of Homer Simpson, "Chocolate is probubly the beast thing to have happened in the history of food." Astina laughed.

"You know," Astina said, after another bite of muffin, "I thing the best non-junk food int the world would have to be Chinese Beef and Broccoli." Astina did an impresstion of her eyes rolling in her head, "Aah, that is sooooo good! have you had beef and broccoli before?" Astina asked Marie.

Marie's stomach dropped when Astina mentioned her dating Millis. At the moments, relationships in general weren't a good idea more her. After the harsh break up with Alex and everything that she had lost, the last thing she needed was a seriously boyfriend, or any boyfriend for that matter.

"Eh, I dunno about that, between work and everything else in life, relationships can be hard," she said, looking into her drink. She didn't know if Astina could understand that, or whether or not she would tell Millis. If she would, well, Marie was just screwed. She had to hand it to Astina though, she was a cool kid, and she definately spoke her mind.

"Are you kidding? I'm a chinese food junkie, I used to be able to eat it all the time but now that I'm getting older I hafta hold back a bit." she said, thinking of what would happened if she had any rapid weight gain. It would probably have her doing paperwork for weeks, which she wouldn't take.

"Enjoy eating junk food while you can," she said with smile, "The older you get, the most it sticks to your hips."

Oh lord, I sound like my mother. Marie thought, shaking her head.

Astina smiled when Marie said that she wasnt really into a relationship at the moment. "That's okay," Astina said, "Mabye when I go and visit Millis, I can hang out with you for a bit. We can all do something together."

Astina saw that a waiter was coming by and stopped him. He bent down at the hip and Astina asked for another muffin. She watched him as he walked away to the back and came out again with a chocolate muffin in his hand. "Yeah," Astina said, "That is what my mom is always telling me." Astina laughed.

She took another bite out of her muffin and swallowed. "Concidering how much I eat, it is amazing how I only gain about one pound a week. I mean, I eat a lot." Astina gestured at her second giant cocolate muffin.

"Mabye we could go out somewhere sometime, just the two of us, even if you dont start dating my brother. You know, to talk about girl stuff. Well, not exactly girl stuff, but stuff that you would feel more comfertable talking to girls about that a guy. Stuff that...oh, nevermind." Astina looked down at her muffing, her cheeks turned almost as red as her hair.