messy // george weasley

ch7: Into the Rabbit Hole

    "Would one of you mind grabbing more sugar from the closet for me?" Willow asked. "Juliet told me that her friend likes sweeter things, and I don't think this recipe is good enough yet."

Seth nodded before making his way to the storage room off the side of the bakery's kitchen. It was early Wednesday morning and Willow, Seth, and her newest employee, Everly, had been baking cakes for the last two hours.

"Thank you again for letting me start so early, Miss Sweetwood," Everly said in a hushed tone.

Willow glanced up at her, "Why are you whispering?"

She blushed, "Oh, I don't know. I'm just not used to needing to be upfront with my appreciation, I guess."

Willow laughed, "Well, you're very welcome. And you can call me Willow, you're older than me anyway."

Everly nodded before returning to the white cake she was carefully frosting with pink roses. She was a sweet woman, and Willow was more than happy to have her as part of the team.

She was older than both of the other two at age 28. She had long, jet black hair that Willow had yet to see in anything but a loose bun on the base of her neck, and she wore her thick, round-framed glasses at the tip of her nose, however, Willow had noticed it didn't seem to be on purpose since she was constantly pushing them back up.

Seth returned to the counter with an unopened bag of sugar, which he placed in front of Willow with a smile. He then sat back on his barstool to continue studying the papers in front of him.

Along with helping her bake, Seth was also working partially as her numbers man. He was currently enrolled in a muggle university studying to be an accountant, so she had planned to take full advantage of this. She had spent all of yesterday attempting to perfect a menu, complete with prices, which was now what Seth was looking over as the other two women worked on a recipe for Angelina's birthday cake.

The entire room smelt of vanilla, which was due to the spilled bottle of it in the trash, and the large, central counter all three people were working on was covered in flour and abandoned cakes that Willow didn't feel were worthy of the birthday party. She knew that this cake was important to Juliet, so she wanted to make sure it was perfect.

As he dusted off some flour that Willow had sent flying out of the bowl she was using, Seth cleared his throat, "Willow, I find it odd that you're charging so low for your food. One slice of cake shouldn't only be a Galleon."

Willow sighed as she stared up at him, "I guess that's what you're here to help me with, Seth."

"So you're giving me permission to rewrite your menu?" he said, picking his pencil up. "I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit with these prices."

"I don't want people to think I'm overcharging them," she stated. "I'm the new kid on the block, I can't make a bad first impression."

"Well, you'll be the only bakery in Diagon Alley if you don't count Honeydukes," Everly interjected.

Seth motioned towards her, "See? Evelyn gets it! I'm going to your office so I can find some more parchment and rewrite your prices. Call if you need me."

Everly rolled her eyes before continuing her piping, and Willow watched as Seth gathered his things before making his way to the back office. It was a spot she had hardly used, but she knew that her dad had filled it with muggle office supplies, so Seth would be content.

Once he had closed the door, Everly turned to her, "Did that twat just call me 'Evelyn?' I've been working with you both for the past few days and he doesn't even know my name yet."